Los Angeles Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers received votes for NBCA Coach of the Year for his effort during the 2017-18 NBA season.
Los Angeles Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers received votes for the NBCA Coach of the Year. This award is voted on by all 30 coaches in the league.
Dwayne Casey of the Toronto Raptors won the award, after leading his team to the first seed in the Eastern Conference with 59 wins. Ironically, he may be on his way out if the team does decide to make changes. You can read the official NBA announcement here.
Other coaches who received votes outside of Rivers and Casey were Brett Brown of Philadelphia, Mike D’Antoni of Houston, Gregg Popovich of San Antonio, Quin Snyder of Utah and Terry Stotts of Portland.
The big surprise here is not who did get votes, but rather who didn’t. Everyone in the NBA world cannot believe that Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics did not receive a single vote, despite coaching his team to a 55-27 record even with losing Gordon Hayward in the first game of the year and Kyrie Irving towards the end of it.
Doc Rivers receiving votes shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The Clippers traded Chris Paul in the offseason, lost both J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford in free agency, suffered from innumerable injuries and then traded Blake Griffin in January and still managed to finish the year with a winning record while staying in playoff contention until near the end of the season. His job was done so well that reports of an extension for Doc have surfaced.
Depending on how the team shakes out this summer, Doc could have a shot at winning the award next season if he can work similar magic.