Steve Kerr Earns NBA Coach Of The Year; Brad Stevens Finishes Sixth
BOSTON (CBS) -- Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been named the NBA's Coach of the Year, with Celtics head coach Brad Stevens finishing sixth.
Kerr received 64 first-place votes for the Red Auberbach Trophy despite missing the team's first 43 games this season due to complications from offseason back surgery. Assistant Luke Walton guided the defending champs to a 39-4 record in Kerr's absence, with the Warriors finishing the regular season with an NBA-record 73 wins.
Celtics fans may feel a little slighted that Stevens, who guided Boston to a 48-34 record, finished sixth behind the likes of Charlotte's Steve Clifford (seven first-place votes, 98 total points) and Toronto's Dwane Casey (six first-place votes, 83 total points). But they shouldn't feel too bad that he finished behind Portland's Terry Stotts (37 first-place votes, 335 total points), who took a new-look Blazers team to the playoffs in the tough Western Conference, and three-time Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich (10 first-place vote, 116 total points), who rounded out the top three for the award.
Stevens finished with five first-place votes from the following basketball writers/analysts: Bill Wennington (ESPN AM 1000), Eddie Johnson (Fox Sports Arizona), Ian Eagle (YES Network), Ted Davis (WTMJ Radio) and Tom Heinsohn (Comcast SportsNet New England).
The award, named after the legendary Celtics coach, is voted on by a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.