CNNSI.com's look at the COY candidates
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I've always been a fan of Marty Burns' work at CNNSI.com and he has a great column about the NBA's coach of the year award. Everyone knows Avery Johnson won it last year and Johnson would seem to be the favorite for this year's COY award. But here's the rub:
* The Mavs were supposed 
* No coach has ever won the award in back-to-back seasons (not even the almighty Phil Jackson).
* And, of course, there's this coach in Utah named Jerry Sloan who's done a fantastic job of revitalizing the Jazz.
I've watched the Jazz since I was 14 years old and the way how Sloan has adjusted his coaching style from the Stockton-to-Malone era Jazz to the Raja Bell/AK-47/Carlos Arroyo Jazz to the current incarnation has been impressive. There was a point, probably about two seasons ago, when it seemed that Sloan couldn't relate to today's player. But he's stuck with the young guys on this team, helped them grow and (thanks to the health of Carlos Boozer) has gotten the Jazz back on track.
Sure, Toronto's Sam Mitchell has done a fantastic job getting the Raptors to play an East coast version of the Suns style. You can't discount the work Jeff Van Gundy has done in Houston (mostly getting T-Mac and the Rockets to keep playing hard despite the injury to Yao Ming).
But at the end of the day, Sloan has helped his team go from a playoff hopeful to one that could make it to the West Finals if things go right.
