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The race to win the title has blown open this year. Many former-subpar teams have broken out of their shells and are making it harder for the teams that were considered strong contenders(before the 2018-19 season kicked off).
The flurry of tectonic shifts that jolted the NBA in the off-season due to league-changing trades has been followed by some unexpected standings in both the Western the Eastern conference.
In the midst of such an upheaval, something that often goes overlooked is the ability of a coach to take a partly-shuffled roster, get them to play coordinated high-speed basketball from scratch and polish the cogwheels for the grueling 82-game long regular season.
The front-office pulls all strings during the summer to get together the best side on paper, but what really matters, is how well the coach can coalesce all that talent and make it work as one whole unit.
For this very piece, we are going to select the five best predictions for the 'Coach of the Year' award considering how things have played out for all the teams so far this season.
#1 J. B. Bickerstaff (Memphis Grizzlies)
Bickerstaff is one of the best amongst the recent surge of young coaches in the NBA.
In November of 2017, he was made the Interim Head Coach of the Memphis Grizzlies after David Fizdale was shockingly fired. He got promoted to the Permanent Head Coach position in May of 2018 and has shown promising efforts with the team ever since.
The Grizzlies are 15-9 (fifth in the cut-throat competitive Western Conference) at this point in the season, a team that won just 20 games throughout the whole season last year and finished 14th in the West.
Just 19 games into the 2017-18 season, Fizdale was sent off, giving way for JB who then recorded 15-48 for the rest of the season with Memphis.
He has already won that many games this season and we are barely touching the first quarter mark of the 82-game long season.
With the recent signing of Joakim Noah, he looks pumped at the prospect of having two DPOYs on the Court in Gasol (2013) and Noah (2014) at the same time.
“When was the last time you were able to put two defensive player of the years on the floor together?” Bickerstaff asked. “We have the opportunity to do that. Two guys that are versatile defensively that are extremely intelligent, do a great job of protecting the paint, do a great job of communicating."
#2 Doc Rivers(Los Angeles Clippers)
Doc's first season as the Clippers head coach in 2013 saw him take the team to a franchise-record 56 wins. Ever since then, he has never managed to cross that bar.
This year seems different. The new-look Clippers (without Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan) are playing quality basketball without having any star player on their roster whatsoever.
The way Tobias Harris, Danilo Gallinari, Pat Beverley, and the others have taken the initiative to play their hearts out against legit opponents in the West is commendable.
Doc had been waiting for things to click for a long time. It sure looks like his patience is paying off.
The Clippers led the West for a brief moment in time this season but are currently seated at a strong third spot hosting a 16-8 win-loss record.
They have won seven of their last 10 games and are scoring more than 116 points on an average every game this season.
The team that finished 10th in the West last season has already beaten genuinely strong rosters in the Warriors, Rockets, Timberwolves & Trailblazers at least once this year so far.
Doc knows what it takes to win a Championship, and whether you like it or not, he has conjured a dark horse in LA that just might edge past everyone else when the moment calls.
#3 Michael Malone(Denver Nuggets)
Mike has taken the Nuggets from a .402 win percentage team(back when he started coaching Denver in 2015) to a highly impressive .680 West-leading powerhouse currently.
The Nuggets could barely make the playoffs last year, just inching in to take the 8th spot. But a lot has changed now.
They are currently sporting a defensive rating of 105.5(4th in the league) and an offensive rating of 110.8(6th in the league), which goes to show how complete they are as a package.
They've been an issue for every team they've played against, holding to the opposition to a league's 3rd best 103.4 points per game.
Despite the absence of Will Barton, Gary Harris, Michael Porter, and Isaiah Thomas due to injuries, Malone has done an awesome job at running an understaffed office at full efficiency and maximum output.
He had this to say following an emphatic 106-103 win against Toronto,
"....To gut this win out tonight, undermanned... to have enough poise down the stretch speaks volumes to a young team that is growing up and really maturing in big moments, and it's great to see," Malone said. "I am so proud of our guys for that."
#4 Mike Budenholzer(Milwaukee Bucks)
The Bucks caught hold of Budenholzer in May of 2018 when the Atlanta Hawks agreed to part ways with him, coinciding with the shock firing of Jason Kidd by the Bucks front-office.
A former recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2014-15 NBA Coach of the Year, Mike holds the true caliber to put in place a 'Rags to riches' story for any team that he coaches, let alone the already streamline Milwaukee Bucks side.
They had the 9th best offensive rating in the league last year, but owing to Mike's efforts of comprehensively including Bledsoe with Giannis and Middleton in the rotation has catapulted them into the second spot on the same list this year.
They are tied for the second spot in the East with the Sixers, both carrying a .667 win percentage, and have a future MVP and a former Coach of the Year to see them through.
Mike's Bucks are clear favourites in the East after the Raptors, and look like they can make the final leap this year with all the equipment in place.
#5 Nick Nurse(Toronto Raptors)
Dwane Casey's firing after the Raptors were beaten by LeBon's Cavaliers last year in the playoffs was one of the most baffling coach ejections we had seen in a while.
Nick Nurse was promoted to the head coach position in June of 2018, and boy, did he have some humongous shoes to fill.
The blockbuster trade of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green coupled with the departure of DeRozan was too big a tectonic shift to handle for any coach.
But as of late, Nurse has proven to be fairly proficient at his job of holding the Raptors roster together and not just making it work but instead, excel.
Many might strip him of the credit of Toronto's recent success because of how superhuman Kawhi looks, but in reality, Nurse has been at the forefront of the recent Raptors transition.
He has recorded 21 wins in this season for Toronto so far, comfortably seated at the No. 1 spot in the league right now.
With the Raptors coasting through the regular season currently, what remains to be seen is how well Nurse can command the troops and keep his nerves in check when the playoffs would just be around the corner.
