Gregg Popovich wins Second Coach of the Year Award

[benji]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/78783 ... coach-year

SAN ANTONIO -- Gregg Popovich is the NBA's Coach of the Year after leading the San Antonio Spurs to 50 wins in the lockout-shortened season and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

The announcement came Tuesday. Popovich also won the award in 2003 when San Antonio won its second of four championships, and he might be headed for a fifth ring if the Spurs keep this up.

After a 12-9 start, the Spurs lost only seven more games the rest of the season.

Popovich received 77 first-place votes. Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was second (27), Indiana coach Frank Vogel was third (7) and Memphis coach Lionel Hollins was fourth (6). Boston's Doc Rivers and Denver's George Karl each received a vote.

[George7]

Maybe Pop deserved this,but for sure Thibbs deserved this thing even more than last year! I mean,he had his team to get the regular season crown,with Derrick Rose and Rip Hamilton missing more than half of the Bulls' games this year! Well ,I see though that they rarely give the award to the same coach twice,so concerning this,Pop was the favorite for sure.

[Martti.]

I'd have given it to Vogel, because they actually won more games then last year despite the shortened season, but Pop deserved it too.

[Mavs4Life]

Pop,Vogel, and Thibbs all should of been considered for this, for Pop to keep these aging guys at the top and get the new guys into the system is great.

[jettdaking!]

Pop,Vogel, and Thibbs all should of been considered for this, for Pop to keep these aging guys at the top and get the new guys into the system is great.

Totally. That's what I would've said. Nice work by Lionel to place fourth, he helped continue the Grizz's winning image

[Spree#8]

I say he deserved it. He's had an older and generally a slightly worse roster than Thibodeau, played in the harder conference and got an identical record. Besides, on the offensive end Thibs is rather average.

[Andrew]

Well-deserved. I was all for Thibbs winning it but Popovich is a great coach, the Spurs have had a fine season despite advancing age and some injuries to key players of their own, so it's more than fair and congratulations to him. I was completely off base in my predictions though, I felt sure they'd give it to someone like Frank Vogel or Lionel Hollins this year. Good to see them get some votes nevertheless, I think that's a good top four.

[NovU]

Do you guys think he'd still have won it if he didn't end up winning Western Conference? I get the feeling Thihbs was a few wins away from winning it again.

Anyways Grats to Greg Pop.

[Andrew]

I think he'd have still been in the discussion, but their strong run following the All-Star break and overtaking the Thunder for the top seed out West certainly helped. However, I'd say the fact that Thibs won it last year was ultimately the deciding factor. Seems there were a decent amount of sportswriters willing to against the trend of no back-to-back Coach of the Year winners but the majority preferred the approach of recognising someone new. At the end of the day Popovich is a worthy winner.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

No love for Mike Brown?>????

[Lamrock]

Had I a vote, I would have picked 1. Thibs, 2. Popovich, but I'm glad Pop won as the press conference for Thibs would have been the most awkward since Dirk got his MVP after losing to Golden State,

If the Spurs hadn't gone on that run towards the end of the year and OKC kept the 1 seed, I think it swings MVP to Durant and CotY to Thibodeau.

[SkyLine03LT]

Pop deserved it, definitely. I think Thibodeau and Frank Vogel deserved it as much as Pop did, one winning the conference without Rose for quite a few games, other winning 3rd place with no superstars on the team. Well done by all three!