This is a choice that will most likely bring ridicule and snorts of derision, but I vote for Mike D'Antoni of the Lakers. He got the Lakers to the playoffs on the last day of the year without the benefit of training camp and a full year with the team, and lost all starters for varying lengths of time with injury. No coach except for possibly Erik Spoelstra got less credit and more criticism than D'Antoni.

the entire standings, I would vote for Mike Woodson. I don't think anyone saw a No. 2 seed coming.

The Nuggets have one of the youngest teams in the league and they had a phenomenal season...and all this after building an entire team around Carmelo. Karl did a great job developing players like Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried.

Of course Mark Jackson (Golden State) did a phenomenal job getting them into the playoffs. Also, Tom Thibodeau did a masterful job with the Bulls, playing the entire season w/o Derrick Rose.

I think one of those three should win, giving Karl the slight nod.

I love Mikey D, but his team has superior talent, the biggest fan base in the NBA, favorable scheduling because of their popularity (Sunday night home games are de rigueur), media attention out the ass (yes, some of it negative, but much of it positive, especially with Kobe's bitch at Yahoo Adrian Wojnarowski)...oh, and they have some guy named Bryant who is still the closest thing to MJ this milleneum (playing on willpower now more than just his talent...something LBJ is just starting to begin to understand) when it is crunch time.

Also, as much as I think Hardy is the most intelligent poster on this board, and as much as I think Karl is an under-appreciated coach, I can't include the Nuggets because of their 6th man...the high altitude air for their home games. Home 38-3, Road 19-22. They play anyplace other than Denver and their total record isn't 57-25, it is 47-35.

I think the likely winner will be Woodson, but mostly because he is in NY (and MSG still can't get Zeke's stench out of the carpet) and their record is so good. However, I think two coaches did better jobs:

Runner up should be Frank Vogel of Indiana. The Pacers played to half empty home arenas all year, had Danny Granger out almost all year, and still are the 3rd seed in the conference with almost 50 wins. Anyone tell me their leading scorer? No? Not surprised.

Winner should be Kevin McHale of Houston. Houston is not a basketball town (unless you are Britney Griner), and the Rockets lost several strong players, took a HUGE gamble on James Harden (which seriously paid off), as well as a gamble on Jeremy Lin (which payed off on a majority of nights), developed a team with only four guys with more than two years in the NBA, made solid players out of Omer Asik, Chandler Parsons and Patrick Patterson, dealt with Aaron Brooks and Francisco Garcia being out most of the time since they were traded to them mid season, and dealt with their first round pick Royce White going to D League because his fear of flying kept him from being able to travel with the team. Oh, and have I mentioned McHale's 23 year old daughter Sasha dying a week and a half into the season causing him to leave the team for a while as the season was just starting? And how about playing in the same division as San Antonio and Memphis (and Dallas, while not as strong as in recent years past, still a .500 team and no team with Dirk is a pushover)? Or having the second highest scoring team in the NBA (BARELY being the top scoring team, just behind the high altitude aided and offensive minded since the ABA Denver Nuggests bu just a tenth of a point), while only having one real superstar on the team (Harden)?

Please, bitches.

didnt realize the discrepancy in home v. away record for the Nuggets. However, as you mentioned the West is loaded that for Denver to finish 3rd, after trading away a first team all NBA star in Melo (whom they built the team around for almost a decade) is an accomplishment irrespective of their home court advantage.  

I don't think McHale will win. Slipping into the 8th spot in the playoffs is not an accomplishment, especially if you were not predicted to be a pre-season"dreg". Nobody thought the Rockets as Championship material, but nobody really viewed them before the season as one of the worst teams either. Most figured the Rockets to be in that lower tier mix, fighting with teams like Dallas or Portland for the final 1 or 2 playoff spots. I think they finsihed as expected. A team like Golden State, was viewed in a much poorer light than the Rockets before the season began, so I view their accomplishments this year  to have exceeded that of Houston's (Now of course if the Houston Astros slip into the playoffs this year, than THAT would be coach of the year worthy!)  

I also agree with your Pacer assessment. Vogel gets no love from the media pundits, but he is a heck of a coach. They play as hard as any team in the league, and have prob. given the Heat as much trouble as anyone over the past two seasons.

NBA Playoffs (at least in the West) should be wide open! Pick your opponent to play the Heat in the finals!!

while (as I mentioned) I love Karl and think he is one of the more underrated coaches in the league over the past 20 years, they have way more experience as a team than Houston's players. If anything, getting rid of Melo allowed them to become a better TEAM. It isn't like Iguodala, Miller, Lawson, Gallinari, Brewer, and McGee are players no one has ever heard of.

Houston should have been in the 7th seed, and only lost it on the last day because the Lakers got a home winning streak in their last few games and they lost TO the Lakers in LA (in OT). Additionally, Karl (while underrated) is still recognized as a good coach. No one has ever paid attention to McHale in Minnesota. And I think people picking Houston in the middle of the pack were being optimistic about Harden and Lin. Turns out it worked out, but there was no real idea that it would, and McHale did a great job of facilitating that, bringing along such a young team, being competitive, and dealing with personal loss.

So then if you knock Karl down, who is your COTY pick now?

And I pick OKC from the West. Durant will be a superstar, Westbrook is a year more mature, and Perk and Fish will help with experience, and they are hungry.

insult was added to injury when after they lost David Lee in the fourth quarter of a super tight game (which they might have won if Lee wasn't hurt), they lost on a last second Denver layup. Ouch.

Have to agree with you about the job Jackson is going with the Warriors. They could have won that game, and Denver only lost three times this year at home.

Hope Lee is back for game 2.

the lakers win in spite of that moron. he takes Gasol out of the post, he has the best defensive big man in the game and you cant tell it. he wasn't man enough to tell Kobe to sit and rest, and I cant help but put fatigue as a factor in his injury. 2 former mvps, a scoring champ, a multiple time assists champ, a 3 time defensive POY, and Pau Gasol...you are meant to be better than the 7 seed.  

Jackson in GS deserves a lot of credit, but I cant help but think steph curry was gonna be a star sooner rather than later with or without him. spo gets the most hate, and he overcomes it, but he has Lebron, D Wade, Bosh, an underrated core group of role players in chalmers, haslem, miller, jones...and added the best long range shooter ever to a team that was already world champs.

its mike woodson. hands down. Melo should finish top 3 in mvp voting. jr smith has made himself about 10 million a year on his next contract with his play this year. amare has been hurt basically all year. Tyson chandler hasn't been what he was last year. he has a 35 year old rookie. he has what used to be marcus camby. he has a guy that retired 2 years ago. he has a shooting guard that cant shoot ( shumpert). he has the fattest pg in the league (felton). he has done an amazing job this year. this one should not even be close.

the rockets have a really good roster, and barely made the playoffs. harden, lin, asik, and a very underrated parsons should be better than that. and you cant count the personal issues off the court as a factor. that doesn't make one a better or worse coach.  

the pacers were this good last year. granger is the 3rd best player on the team behind paul George, who is an emerging star, and hibbert. George hill is really good, he learned from the best coach in the nba, coach pop, for years. david west isn't what he was, but still valuable. these 2 teams on paper should crush the knicks. woodson got the most out of his 2 most talented players, melo and JJJ RRRR SWWIIIIIISSSSSSHHH