NBA Coach of The Year 2011-2012

The coaches of the NBA often go unseen. A majority of the credit is given to the players, while the coach is forgotten on the sidelines. In reality, coaches are the most important part to the success of any team in any sport. Without true leadership, a team is going to have a hard time amounting to much. Because of this, I am going to present to you my opinion of the top 5 coaches in the NBA this year:

1. Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs)

Gregg Popovich

Popovich has been an incredible coach for the entirety of his career. This season was no different. He found a way to take an old, boring team and make them in to the most potent offensive team in the league, while leading them to the top of the western conference. He has found a way to preserve his veteran players and put their health before anything else. This means that while the older players were getting rest for the playoffs, younger players were given a chance to develop and become meaningful contributors to the team. This rest has allowed Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan to have stellar seasons. Tony Parker is amongst rumors of being the MVP and Duncan is showing that players can have a meaningful impact deep in to their careers.

2. Doc Rivers (Boston Celtics)

Doc Rivers

As you can tell by now, I am a huge Celtics fan. As a result, I love Doc Rivers. Gregg Popovich barely won my honors. I almost gave it to Doc. Similar to Popovich, Rivers has taken an old, injured team and lead them to the fourth place in the eastern conference and winners of the Atlantic division. The Celtics were 15-17 at the all-star break. They had lost Jeff Green for the season and were losing more than winning. After the all-star break, the Celtics have gone 22-10 and are proving to have the best defense in the league. Rivers moved Garnett to the center position and began taking Ray Allen off the bench in exchange for Avery Bradley. In the meantime, the Celtics lost Jermaine O'Neal for the season due to a wrist injury and Chris Wilcox for the season due to another freak aortic aneurism for the Celtics roster. Despite the adversity, the Celtics have been amazing. Greg Stiemsma and Avery Bradley have stepped up as legitimate ball players.

Tom Thibodeau

3. Tom Thibodeau (Chicago Bulls)
Thibodeau is another one of my favorite coaches. He is a defensive guru and has proven that with his time coaching both the Bulls and Celtics. Thibodeau and the Bulls have had another great season atop the eastern conference. They have done all of this with MVP Derrick Rose playing in only 38/64 of the games so far this season. This can be attributed to some amazing coaching. Thibodeau has found a way to replace the MVP and still beat out the likes of Miami, Boston, and Indiana.


4. Frank Vogel (Indiana Pacers)
Indiana was barely on the radar at the beginning of the season. No one really paid any attention to them. They made some great acquisitions this summer in David West, George Hill, and Darren Collison. The team brought back players like Paul George, Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, and Tyler Hansbrough to go along with some great late-season additions in Leandro Barbosa. Vogel has taken a team with no real "superstars"and turned them in to the third place team in the eastern conference. They have proven that they have great offense and defense.

Frank Vogel

5. Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City Thunder)

Scott Brooks

Still my favorites to win the championship this year, The Oklahoma City Thunder and Scott Brooks have been great. The only reason I don't have him a little closer to the top is because this team has undergone very little adversity this season. No serious injuries, no negative media coverage. They are the "princes" of the NBA. They are young, athletic, and surprisingly mature. Scott Brooks has corralled a group of youngsters and created some chemistry that could last a long time.

May The Old Prevail

Once it was decided that the 2011-2012 NBA season would be a highly condensed 66-game one, it seemingly became obvious to a majority of the people that the young and athletic teams would have the upper hand over the older veteran teams.

The season started just as many thought it would. Young teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves were using their athleticism to consistently beat older teams. Older teams like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers struggled heavily at the beginning of the season and many were counting them out of any chance of winning a title this year.


However, an odd phenomenon has occurred over the last month of the season. The younger teams seemed to have burnt themselves out and are gasping for air, trying to grab hold of the final playoff seeds in their respected conferences. In the meantime, the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs have climbed in to the top 5 power rankings, according to NBA. com. How is this happening? It has a great deal to do with coaching decisions that ultimately benefit the team, locker room dynamics, team chemistry, and leadership. Sure, younger teams have leaders too, but not leaders that have been running up and down the hardwood for 15 years. Both the Spurs and Celtics have amazing coaches in Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers and I see no reason why both of these teams can't be considered for a championship this year or next year. The Spurs currently have the best offense in the league and the Celtics have the best defense in the league. I find this fascinating.

Next season, we will see older teams slowly begin to bring their current starters off of the bench. This is already evident in Boston. For the last 3 games, Ray Allen has been coming off of the bench, while Avery Bradley starts. As a result, the teams defense and offense have been off the charts. Bringing veteran star talent off the bench to face the second string of the other team is almost unfair. Ray Allen has proven that he can pick apart the defenses of second strings in these last three games. He has only come off the bench 6 times now in his entire career.