Former D’Tigers coach, Mike Brown, has been voted the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year after the amazing year he’s had with the Sacramento Kings leading them to their first playoffs since the 2005-06 season.
The former Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors coach in his first season at the franchise orchestrated one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the league in years and ended a 16-year playoff drought.
The Kings had finished 12th in the 2021/22 season winning just 30 games while losing 52 times, however, under the tutelage of Brown, the 1951 NBA champions turned their fortunes around winning 48 games while recording 34 losses all season to finish third in the Western Conference, qualifying automatically for the play-offs.
The award, named in honour of late NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg, is based on a vote of the league’s 30 head coaches. Brown’s victory ends a two-year run for Phoenix Suns Monty Williams.
Reacting to the award, Brown said, “We have an incredible group of head coaches in the NBA, all of whom deserve to be recognised for their leadership as they execute their craft at the highest level every day,” Brown said
“This award is incredibly special in my first year with the Kings. It is a reflection of the caliber of men that Monte McNair and Wes Wilcox have assembled and who I have absolutely loved coaching.
Brown led Nigeria’s senior mEN’S national basketball Team to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, although the tournament proper failed to live up to expectation, the team recorded memorable friendly wins especially against the United States.
