For the second time in his career, and a decade apart, Tom Thibodeau was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year on Monday.
The New York Knicks coach, who led the team he grew up watching to a 20-win improvement this season, edged out Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams by a total of 11 points, while Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder finished third. It was the second time Thibodeau won the award in his first year with a new team, after doing so with the Chicago Bulls in 2011.
“Any time you get an award like this, I’m obviously honored, but it’s more a reflection of our group and our organization,” Thibodeau said on “Inside The NBA” in accepting the award.
A couple of the players he had as part of that Bulls team, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson, were veteran mentors on this year’s Knicks squad, which went from being expected to compete for one of the top spots in the NBA’s draft lottery to earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
