Mike Brown, who has led Cleveland to the postseason in each of his four seasons, was honored Monday as the NBA Coach of the Year. The 38 year old coach lead the Cavaliers to 66 wins, a Central Division title and the No. 1 overall playoff seed following the greatest regular season in club history.
Brown accepted the Red Auerbach trophy today as he was flanked by star player LeBron James, other Cavaliers and his coaching staff.
“If they did not want me to coach them, I wouldn’t be able to coach them,” he said. “I look at this as a partnership. Yes, my name is on this, but this is the ultimate team award from a coaching standpoint. I haven’t put on a uniform or done anything out on the floor. The players have done it all. The coaching staff has done a lot and when you win an award like this, you can’t do it by yourself.” Brown joins Bill Fitch as the only Cleveland coaches to win the award.
Brown won the award in a landslide. He received 55 first-place votes and earned 355 total points from a panel of 122 sports writers and broadcasters. He was followed by Houston’s Rick Adelman who had a total of 151 points.