NBA Coach of Year Voting Results: Where Did Mavs' Jason Kidd Finish?

Jason Kidd didn't win the award, but he got some recognition for the job he's done with the Dallas Mavericks this season.

Dalton Trigg | May 9, 2022

When the Dallas Mavericks hired Jason Kidd to replace long-tenured head coach Rick Carlisle last summer, that move was met with a lot of skepticism. Although Kidd showed a lot of growth in his role as a Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach over the previous two years, many couldn't get over his failed attempts of being a head coach with the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks.

There were legitimate reasons for the doubts, but to Kidd and his excellent coaching staff's credit, they were able to put together the best season the Mavs have experienced since the 2011 title run. The Mavs finished the regular season with a 52-30 record, which was good for the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket.

D347D27E-2803-41D0-B4DC-33859A0B2DA6 — Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images

Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks — David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas beat the Utah Jazz in the first round without Luka Doncic playing in the first three games of the series, and now, they've come back from a 2-0 deficit in the second round against the league-leading Phoenix Suns to tie the series at 2-2 with a pivotal Game 5 coming on Tuesday night.

The NBA announced on Monday that Suns coach Monty Williams won the Coach of the Year award. Given that Williams likely should have won the award last season, it was fitting that he got it this year after leading Phoenix to a league-best 64 wins.

Although Kidd didn't win COTY, he got a lot of respect from the voters, as he finished with one second-place vote and six third-place votes. This put him in a tie with Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue for sixth-place on the ballot. Here's what the entire list looked like:

Monty Williams (Phoenix) – 458 points
Taylor Jenkins (Memphis) – 270 points
Erik Spoelstra (Miami) – 72 points
Ime Udoka (Boston) – 46 points
J.B. Bickerstaff (Cleveland) – 28 points
Tyronn Lue (LA Clippers) – 9 points
Jason Kidd (Dallas) – 9 points
Nick Nurse (Toronto) – 4 points
Chris Finch (Minnesota) – 4 points

Winning COTY is a great honor, but it also comes with a lot of added pressure as well, which is why Kidd is on record from earlier this season saying he'd rather not win the award.

“That award is dangerous because that award leads to getting fired the next year,” Kidd said. “I’ll pass on that.”

After out-coaching Williams in the Mavs' wins over the Suns in Games 3 and 4, it'll be interesting to see what Kidd comes up with next with his team currently holding all the momentum. Kidd may not be viewed as the league's best head coach, but he has a legitimate chance of knocking out the the guy who was just voted as being the best.

Published May 9, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.