The National Basketball Coaches Association announced on Wednesday that Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors had been voted the 2017-18 Coach of the Year by his peers. Casey led the Raptors to 59 wins and the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season, and he was widely praised for Toronto taking another forward step this season as a team until their playoff run ended as it has three straight years in a loss to the Cavs.
Seven other coaches received votes, but curiously, the favorite to win the media’s Coach of the Year honors at the NBA Awards later in June, Celtics coach Brad Stevens, didn’t receive a single vote. This caused plenty of confusion on social media, as many wondered how that could be.
Some posited that other coaches voted out of frustration for how the media has lavished praise on Stevens, which some find incongruous with the way the media has treated other coaches in the past. Marc Stein of the New York Times pointed out that coaches are asked for only one name, not three like the media, so that explains some of what happened, but it was still a curious footnote to the voting. Stevens talked about the vote ahead of Game 5 against the Sixers, and as one would expect, he wasn’t too worried about it and said Casey deserved to win the award.
Brad Stevens on NBCA Coach of the Year voting: "I looked at the sheet and there's no way I would have voted for me over any of the 29 other people. The guy that should have won got it."
— Nicole Yang (@nicolecyang) May 9, 2018
Adds: "I think it's a lot more important to focus on competing with your team rather than compare yourself to others. Because I'm telling you, if it gets to be a comparison contest, I'm screwed."
— Nicole Yang (@nicolecyang) May 9, 2018
It’s a little “aw, shucks”-y, but then again, so is Stevens, so this makes sense. Stevens is a highly-regarded coach around the league, and there may have been a little jealousy at play, but given this is a regular-season award it’s understandable how others were more impressed by the success of the Raptors or one of the other coaches who received votes.
Stevens will almost assuredly get redemption at the NBA Awards when the official Coach of the Year award, voted on by the media, is handed out. Even if that doesn’t happen, Stevens can take solace in the fact that his Celtics team appears headed for a second straight Eastern Conference Finals and will be getting a pair of All-Stars back next year.
