Coach of the Year Race: Atkinson Leads, Others Impress

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00:00which is the coach of the year race.

00:01Atkinson has been the favorite, I mean, since, like, game number 10.

00:05Yeah, 10-1 or 15-1 when we're starting off.

00:08Tell me what you think about the coach of the year race, Tom.

00:11Again, this is kind of the situation where it's like the narrative's been put forth.

00:14They're breaking off multiple 15-game win streaks, right,

00:18which is obviously insane.

00:19There's only, you know, X amount of teams to do this.

00:21So there's a reason for him to win the award.

00:24Now, we're going to bring up Aimei Doku for Houston.

00:28The jump that they made, right, going from a non-playoff team

00:32nearing the top of the West, and as we have alluded to,

00:36they don't have a superstar.

00:37They have some, like, really good players, but they don't have a superstar.

00:41So doing that with the pieces relative, which is worse compared to some of the other teams,

00:47that's impressive in its own right.

00:49But to see that Atkinson were to win because they're top of the East,

00:53they're better than the Celtics, they're breaking off all these win streaks,

00:55I can understand that argument, and I will understand if that award eventually goes to him.

01:00Right, Coach?

01:00Right.

01:01I mean, I understand it, obviously, but I think people need to realize

01:05when you really look at, you know, this team in Cleveland,

01:09obviously, you know, 64 wins, fantastic.

01:11You know, 48 wins, 34 losses last year.

01:14Like, when you looked at Cleveland and why J.B. Bickerstaff was like,

01:18oh, it wasn't because of the regular season.

01:20It was because of the postseason.

01:21Right.

01:22And how they get beat up.

01:24When you looked at Houston, and I said before the season,

01:28I'd like them to go over a win total.

01:29I think a win total was like 31 and a half.

01:31They have 52 wins.

01:33And a loaded Western Conference with Alfaren Shungun,

01:37a.k.a. Baby Joker, is maybe in your top 25 in the world of basketball players,

01:46maybe even top 30.

01:47So, a team that does it in some of their parts, and E.M.A. taking his team to the next step.

01:53And remember, they were awful the first half of last year.

01:57And they had that nice run, and then Shungun got hurt.

01:59Got hurt, yeah.

02:00Right?

02:00And then they missed the play, I think, by one or two games.

02:03Came down to the last few days.

02:03Right, right.

02:04So, their ascension to me is, as a coach, and looking at what is expected,

02:10and what they did.

02:12I know what Cleveland did is fantastic, and it's going to go to Kenny.

02:16I just think there should be a lot more respect put on E.M.A.

02:19Adoka as a legitimate candidate for coach of the year.

02:21Yeah.

02:23Now, Cleveland has had a bigger uptick in wins year over year than Houston.

02:29I think, for me, one of the reasons I think it's E.M.A.

02:32is because of how wrong I was.

02:36Cleveland, we've expected to be able to get to this level.

02:39So, maybe I'm not giving Atkinson enough credit for being the one to unlock it.

02:42I bet, so I was on the other, coach, I bet the Rockets didn't miss the playoffs.

02:46I thought the best case scenario for them was to be in the play-in,

02:48and I probably would fade them in the play-in.

02:50They're the two seed.

02:51Right?

02:52So, that, again, is where it comes from me.

02:54But I do not think that it is egregious in any capacity that Kenny Atkinson

02:59is going to win this award.

03:01I will say, I bet J.J. Reddick preseason, if you would have told me they won 50 games,

03:04I would have thought I would have been in the race.

03:06And I am not in the race.

03:07No.

03:08Because, again, this looks to be Atkinson's award.

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