On Saturday, results of the voting for the 2019-20 NBA Coach of the Year Award were released with Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors earning the honor.
Without perspective, it would seem curious for the coach of the defending NBA Champions to win the award, but Toronto was able to turn in a 53-19 record after losing NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to the Los Angeles Clippers last summer — it was quite an accomplishment.
The Thunder’s Billy Donovan, though, had quite the accomplishment, himself.
Behind Donovan’s leadership, the Oklahoma City Thunder — a team that an ESPN model predicted to have a 0.2% chance of qualifying for the playoffs — defied all expectations. After trading away both Paul George and Russell Westbrook last summer, it was widely assumed that Oklahoma City would be embarking on a long rebuilding project and that the team wouldn’t be fighting for a playoff spot.
Guess again.
With Chris Paul leading the effort on the court and the appreciable growth of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort among others, the Thunder qualified for the postseason as the fifth seed, finishing with the same regular season as the fourth-seeded Rockets.
Along the way, Donovan drew praise from Sam Presti and was named co-recipient of the NBA Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year Award along with Mike Budenholzer of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Usually a good indicator of how the media members who vote on the NBA’s own Coach of the Year Award perceive the job done by head coaches, Donovan was believed to at least have a puncher’s chance at winning the honor. Although he finished behind two others, Donovan’s placing in the top three should still be considered quite the accomplishment, especially as the coach’s contract is set to expire at the conclusion of the season.
The NBA assembled a panel of 100 sportswriters to cast votes for its Coach of the Year Award. Nurse received 90 first-place votes and a total of 470 points. Budenholzer, who finished second, received five first-place votes and a total of 147 points, while Donovan received four first-place votes and a total of 134 points.
Donovan will certainly be asked what being acknowledged means to him before the Thunder square off against the Rockets in Game 3 on Saturday, but desperately wanting to avoid an insurmountable 0-3 series deficit, the coach probably won’t have much too much to offer.
Nonetheless, relative to the expectations of them coming into the season, Donovan has a lot to be proud of.
