Adrian VojnarowskiSenior NBA insider3 minutes to read
Mike Brown is grateful for the NBCA Coach of the Year award
Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown has responded to being named the NBCA Coach of the Year and shares his gratitude for his players.
After orchestrating one of the league’s most dramatic turnarounds in years and ending a 16-year absence, The organization announced Thursday that Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown has won the National Basketball Association Coach of the Year award.
The award, named in honor of the late NBCA executive Michael H. Goldberg, is based on a vote of 30 coaches in the league. Brown’s victory ends a two-year career for Phoenix’s Monte Williams.
“We have an incredible group of coaches in the NBA, all of whom deserve recognition for their leadership as they carry out their profession at the highest level every day,” Brown said in a statement Thursday. “This award is incredibly special in my first year with the Kings. It’s a reflection of the standards of the guys that Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox have put together and who I absolutely loved coaching.
The NBA will announce the winner of the Coach of the Year award, an award based on a media vote, later in the playoffs.
Other coaches who received votes include Milwaukee’s Mike Bodenholzer, Oklahoma City’s Mark DiNault, Boston’s Joe Mazzola, and New York’s Tom Thibodeau. Each coach votes for one winner and cannot vote for themselves.
“Congratulations to Mike Brown on one of the greatest coaching jobs we’ve seen in this league,” Indiana Pacers coach and NBCA president Rick Carlisle said in a statement. “It completely changed the attitude and vibe of the Kings franchise and its fanbase, launching them into an amazing new era of success.”
In his first season as Kings coach, Brown led the franchise to the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season – ending the longest active drought in North American professional sports. The Kings stormed into the postseason with a 48-34 record and were the #3 seed in the Western Conference.
Under Brown, the Kings engineered a historic offense. Sacramento averaged 118.6 points per 100 possessions, the best offensive efficiency of any team since play-by-play was first tracked in the 1996-97 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information Research. The Kings averaged 120.7 points, the most since the 1983-84 Denver Nuggets.
Kings general manager Monty McNair hired the Browns to replace interim head coach Alvin Gentry in May, and the franchise’s renaissance quickly began.
Brown has spent the past six years with Golden State and has won three assistant coach titles under Steve Kerr. Brown was the NBA’s winningest coach in the 2008-09 season, when he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to 66 regular season victories.