The Hawks came out of nowhere to win 60 games during the regular season and finish as the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference.
As a reward for the accomplishment, Atlanta’s Mike Budenholzer was named Coach of the Year.
The race was fairly close, mainly because there was a go0d argument to be made for Steve Kerr winning it in his first season with the Warriors, for taking a good team and turning them into one that’s potentially historically great.
I’m not sure I agree with Kidd and Stevens finishing third and fourth respectively, mainly because of their team’s won-loss records. The Bucks finished 41-41, and the Celtics finished sub-.500 at 40-42 in the watered-down Eastern Conference.
Gregg Popovich gets overlooked because he’s been guiding the Spurs to at least 50 wins going on 16 straight seasons, and would have been a better choice for third; three of us placed Popovich there on our hypothetical ballots.
But this was a two-man race all along, and Budenholzer winning the award for what he did with this Hawks team was indeed well-deserved.
Full voting results can be viewed below, and if you’re just dying to know who, exactly, decided that Jeff Hornacek was worthy of a vote, a complete list of who voted for whom can be viewed here.
Coach, Team1st2nd3rdPts
Mike Budenholzer, Atlanta 67 58 4 513
Steve Kerr, Golden State 56 61 8 471
Jason Kidd, Milwaukee 1 5 37 57
Brad Stevens, Boston 2 4 28 50
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio 3 -- 23 38
Kevin McHale, Houston -- -- 13 13
Tom Thibodeau, Chicago 1 1 2 10
Quin Snyder, Utah -- 1 4 7
David Blatt, Cleveland -- -- 3 3
Doc Rivers, L.A. Clippers -- -- 2 2
Terry Stotts, Portland -- -- 2 2
Rick Carlisle, Dallas -- -- 1 1
Dwane Casey, Toronto -- -- 1 1
Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix -- -- 1 1
Monty Williams, New Orleans -- -- 1 1
