With the NBA season tipping off this month, the prop market for season-long awards is in full swing at all of the top-rated sportsbooks. Coach of the Year is a fun market to get involved with because you are betting on a team’s results compared to market expectations.
Unlike an individual player’s award where the player can excel without the team having success, Coach of the Year is directly correlated to the team’s success. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why Willie Green is your NBA pick for Coach of the Year.
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1. NBA Coach of the Year Rewards Improvement
Let’s take a look at some of the past winners:
- Last season, Monty Williams won the award. The Phoenix Suns had the best record in the league. This was essentially a makeup call however as Monty Williams should have won the year before and with no candidates completely standing out in 2021-2022 they gave it to Williams one year too late.
- Tom Thibodeau won in 2020-2021. Monty Williams should have won this year but by resurrecting a moribund Knick’s franchise to the fourth seed in the East, Thibodeau had improved the team to the point where he won over Monty Williams.
- In 2019-2020, Nick Nurse won. He took his Raptors team to new heights behind Kawhi Leonard. After being a marginal East playoff team, Nurse’s ability to integrate Leonard and put Toronto over the top with the reason he won.
- Mike Budenholzer won in 2018-2019. Budenholzer took over the Milwaukee Bucks team that was floundering under Jason Kidd and captained them to a 60-win season. Once again, marked improvement was the number one metric that voters looked for.
With the return of Zion Williamson and the way the team improved with the addition of CJ McCollum last year, the New Orleans Pelicans are the most ready team to make a big leap in the standings.
This has been traditionally rewarded by NBA coach of the year voters.
2. Willie Green Has a Style Similar to Last Year’s Winner Monty Williams
Monty Williams made headlines and earned praise for his ability to plainly communicate to the team.
Around the league, it was noted how well Monty connected with players while still maintaining an aura of leadership and creating an environment of accountability.
No longer is a coach expected to be a drill sergeant or a complete lap dog to the players.
Being able to connect with the players while still enforcing the tenets of an environment conducive to success will make Willie Green popular among the voters.
3. The Zion Effect
If Zion Williams steps up and matures into the superstar that many expected when he was drafted number one out of Duke, he will command media attention.
- Zion’s explosive game and friendly personality have already captured the media’s attention even though he has not been consistently able to play on the floor.
- Zion looks in the best shape of his life and if his newfound commitment to physical fitness and conditioning is any indication, he looks poised to make the leap into superstardom.
- Zion already had historic numbers and with an increasing dedication to the game, he looks ready to become one of the top players in the league.
The media and League Executives have been waiting for Zion’s emergence as a superstar for a while and will be jumping on this story. Willie Green will get some of the praise and be given credit for the marked improvement if it happens.
4. The Pelicans Have All the Tools to Be a Top-4 Team in the West
Both of the Los Angeles teams could be prone to injury that has knocked them down in the standings the last couple of years. If Zion is healthy, the Pelicans will have more depth than other Western Conference rivals such as Dallas and Denver.
Phoenix star point guard Chris Paul is another year older, while most of the Pelicans players should improve this year. The Pelicans are not fighting against age the way the engine to the Phoenix Suns is.
All this paves the way for the Pelicans’ rise. While Zion Williams will get most of the media attention, Willie Green will get his due credit as well.
At +1200 NBA odds, Willie Green is the best bet on the board for NBA Coach of the Year. Take advantage of this great price now!
NBA Pick: Willie Green to Win NBA Coach of the Year (+1200) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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