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Gregg Popovich will be thrilled with winning Coach of the Year. (USATSI) Gregg Popovich will be thrilled with winning Coach of the Year. (USATSI)


More NBA: Season Awards | Grades: East | Grades: West | Seasons in Review


The NBA announced Tuesday that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has won the 2014 Red Auerbach NBA Coach of the Year award. Popovich joins Don Nelson and Pat Riley as the only three-time winners of the award. The Spurs finished with a franchise-best 62 wins at 62-20, and won at least 50 games for the 15th consecutive season, which, let's be honest, is just insane.


Here are the final vote totals:


Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs: 380

Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix Suns: 339

Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls: 159

Steve Clifford, Charlotte Bobcats: 127

Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors: 70

Terry Stotts, Portland Trail Blazers: 25

Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers: 13

Scott Brooks, Oklahoma City Thunder: 1

Mark Jackson, Golden State Warriors: 1

Jason Kidd, Brooklyn Nets: 1


Sources close to the situation told CBSSports.com that Popovich intends to use the award to prop up a wobbly leg on a table. (That's not actually true.)


Popovich has essentially become the Michael Jordan of Coach of the Year, a worthy winner every season.


Hornacek was a deserving No. 2 vote-getter, guiding the Suns from an expected lottery team to being one game short of a playoff berth. Thibodeau overcame the loss of Derrick Rose and Luol Deng to guide the Bulls to the fourth seed while posting the second-best defense in the league behind Indiana and the worst effective field goal shooting mark of any team in the league. Steve Clifford made the Bobcats over .500, a playoff team, and most importantly, respectable. Dwane Casey pushed a ragtag Raptors team to the third seed.


Everyone loves Doc Rivers, the Thunder were the No. 2 seed, Mark Jackson has devoted followers in Golden State, and Jason Kidd didn't get fired. That's your field.


Via Project Spurs, here's a look at Pop's usual reaction to winning this award:






Basketball Hot News


Cavaliers GM says he’s shifting team into ‘targeted acquisition mode’


It was a disappointing season for the Cleveland Cavaliers.


They were aggressive in free agency last summer, getting Jarrett Jack and Earl Clark, both of whom were coming off of productive, above-average seasons. And, they took a chance on Andrew Bynum, just in case he was able to become healthy enough to contribute to a campaign intent on making the postseason in a very weak Eastern Conference.


None of those moves panned out, obviously, and it cost Cleveland GM Chris Grant his job mid-season. Interim GM David Griffin wants the job more permanently, and said he will continue his aggressive pursuit of players who can immediately improve the franchise’s fortunes.


From Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:



Griffin said he immediately is shifting the Cavaliers from “asset accumulation mode” into “targeted acquisition mode” as the team is expected to have $26 million in salary-cap space this off-season.


Specifically, Griffin said the Cavaliers need to be bigger, have players with a higher basketball IQ, better shooters, and tougher players.


Griffin also offered his support to the often disjointed backcourt pairing of Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters, saying “I’ve seen flashes of them being very, very good together. … They’re two ball-dominant, drive-and-kick players. They require spacing and shooters. It’s too easy to look at them and blame one of them. It’s a collective thing.”



There are problems in Cleveland that go beyond player personnel.


Mike Brown is not a great head coach, but the Cavs are stuck with him because he signed a five-year contract worth $20 million last summer. And not only that, it’s his second tour of duty with the team — a complication that makes firing him this early into such a large financial commitment essentially impossible.


There’s also the media frenzy surrounding Kyrie Irving and his alleged desire to leave town as soon as he is able, along with his reported battles with Dion Waiters over big man on campus status with the franchise.


Plenty of things need to be worked out in Cleveland before talent fixes the issues there — something that was proven once Luol Deng came to town and got a look at the team’s inner workings.




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