Tyronn Lue receives votes for NBCA Coach of the Year

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was among the coaches that received votes for National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA) Coach of the Year, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Tuesday. Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams was the top vote-getter for the second consecutive season.

The NBCA Coach of the Year is different from the NBA Coach of the Year, the latter of which is voted on by select members of the media. The NBCA Coach of the Year is voted on by all 30 head coaches in the association. The first NBCA Coach of the Year award was shared by Erik Spoelstra and Mike D’Antoni in 2017.

Lue has never been a recipient of the award, but he deserved as much consideration as anyone this year. Despite not having his superstar duo available in the regular season, and only half of that superstar duo for 32 games, Lue coached the Clippers to a 42-40 record, which was good enough for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.

There were greater success stories from the sidelines in the 2021-22 campaign, like Taylor Jenkins coaching the young Memphis Grizzlies to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference and Gregg Popovich breaking the all-time record for regular season wins as a head coach, but what Lue did was no small feat and it’s nice to see that he got at least some recognition for it.