Coach of the Year: Doc Rivers, Mike Budenholzer, Michael Malone
This award for me is all about what you could accomplish with what you have, which places the race between Doc Rivers and Mike Budenholzer. Coaching two teams, the Clippers, and the Bucks respectively, that lacked any significant star power, both teams found their way into the playoffs, and arguably, exceeded expectations.
For me though, the winner is Doc Rivers. The Clippers are a team that lacks any real star. They have some promising young talent such as Landry Shamet and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but there’s no big box office name on that team, aside from maybe Patrick Beverley.
Yet, with that lack of star power, the Clippers still managed to make the playoffs in an incredibly tough Western Conference. Not only that, but there was a huge margin in between them, and the ninth-place Kings, with Sacramento being nine games behind the Clippers.