Brad Stevens Comes In 4th in Coach of the Year Voting

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4719054/stevens-fourth-in-coach-of-year-vote



Stevens fourth in Coach of Year vote






Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images





Chris Forsberg, Celtics reporter, ESPNBoston.com





CLEVELAND -- Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens finished fourth in the the Coach of the Year balloting.

Stevens received two first-place votes (five points), four second-place votes (three points), and 28 third-place votes (one point) to finish with a total of 50 points. Atlanta's Mike Budenholzer (513 points) won the award with Golden State's Steve Kerr (471) and Milwaukee's Jason Kidd (57) rounding out the top 3.

Stevens landed on 26.2 percent of the 130 ballots cast by sportswriters and broadcasters. His two first-place votes were submitted by ESPN's Mike Tirico and Los Angeles Clippers broadcaster Ralph Lawler.

It's a respectable finish for Stevens, who had downplayed his candidacy, joking, "I wouldn't vote for me." Stevens believed the award should go to coaches of teams with the best records and, in Budenholzer and Kerr, the two top teams in each conference were well represented.

Stevens finished one spot ahead of San Antonio's Gregg Popovich (38 points), a coach he has often expressed an admiration for. Popovich was the only coach besides Budenholzer and Kerr to receive more first-place votes (three) than Stevens.

The Celtics finished 40-42 and earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. That was a 15-win improvement after Boston posted a 25-57 record in Stevens' first season.

The last Celtics coach to land the Coach of the Year honor was Bill Fitch during the 1979-80 season. Tommy Heinsohn (1972-73) and Red Auerbach (1964-65) also won the award as Celtics coaches.



bob
MY NOTE:  To be honest, this sounds about right.  He deserved some credit, some recognition, but not COY.

He looks like a choir boy in that pic...



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