Golden State Warriors

Winless Luke Walton should win NBA Coach of the Year

Published Apr. 4, 2016 8:44 p.m. ET

foxsports

Like in all major leagues, determining the NBA's Coach of the Year award is the practice of weighing expectations against reality.

Those who determine the best coach in the league are the same people who predicted where each team would finish before the season started, so typically, the coach of the team that most "overachieved" wins Coach of the Year.

Don't worry about player, league, or system year-to-year progression, it's all about which coach's team outperformed those predictions.

Under that criterion, Blazers coach Terry Stotts, Memphis' Dave Joerger, Charlotte's Steve Clifford, and Utah's Quin Snyder are this season's top candidates.

But the Golden State Warriors could well win 73 games this season. Shouldn't their coach be the Coach of the Year?

Well, there's a problem with that.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr missed the first half of the 2015-16 season due to complications from a summer back surgery, putting Luke Walton in charge for the first 43 games.

Many were wondering how the NBA would treat the coaching tandem when the league released its awards ballots Monday, and sure enough, they botched it.

The NBA listed all the league's coaches in a single list, separating Kerr and Walton.

Now the two Warriors coaches are sure to split the votes of those who wish to commemorate the Warriors' historic season, which is a shame.

So here's my suggestion to those who think that a leader of what might be the greatest NBA team of all time should win the Coach of the Year award (ridiculous concept, right?): Vote for Walton

Under his watch, the Warriors ran off the best start to a season in North American sports history, winning their first 24 games. In all, the Warriors were a ridiculous 39-4 under Walton.

Yeah, he might have been the substitute teacher, but the Warriors aren't going for 73 wins without that start, and Walton will finish the regular season with a better record than Kerr, regardless of the outcome of the Warriors' final five games.

Walton has a strong case even if we go back to the lame, lazy criterion for selection we use every year: Isn't that some tremendous overachieving for a guy whose head coaching experience was limited to Summer League?

But more than any other reason, wouldn't it be hilarious if Walton won? Technically speaking, he has a record of 0-0. That has Coach of the Year written all over it.