Coach of the Year: Nick Nurse, Toronto Raptors.
Runner Up: Frank Vogel, Los Angeles Lakers.
Any coach who loses a top 5 player in Kawhi Leonard, and an important role player in Danny Green and remains 2nd in the Eastern conference and looks a threat to the Milwaukee Bucks deserves the coach of the year honors.
An easy answer could have been Frank Vogel or Mike Budenholzer but Nick Nurse has transformed the Toronto Raptors in record time and turned them into an Eastern Conference powerhouse.
The NBA community as a whole was shocked when Dwayne Casey, the longstanding Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors, coming off winning Coach of the Year was let go by the Raptors and replaced with the relatively inexperienced Nick Nurse, who was considered to be a G League coaching superstar.
The Raptors took the plunge in hiring Nick Nurse and they have never looked back.
Nurse came into the Raptors organization like a breath of fresh air and made minor adjustments to the team, adding Kawhi Leonard to the mix and trading franchise Icon DeMar DeRozan ruffled a few feathers but with these moves, Nurse was able to bring Toronto its 1st ever NBA championship.
While it is uncertain whether the Raptors will be able to repeat their heroics once more, it would not be wise to bet against Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors.
The runner up for the Coach of the year is none other than Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.
One could argue that Vogel has changed the state of the Lakers franchise from a lottery team to a team that is top of the Western Conference and playing some of the best basketball seen by fans of the purple in gold in a decade.
You could also argue that that is bound to happen when you replace inexperienced young players with tried and tested veterans as well as having a fully healthy MVP candidate in LeBron James and a future MVP in Anthony Davis.
If the season were to continue and the Raptors began to fall off then Vogel has a real chance at claiming the title but for now. Nick Nurse and Toronto Raptors have done just enough to take home the Coach of the year trophy.
Hopefully Frank Vogel and co. can bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy to console themselves with.