Mike Brown wins NBA Coach of the Year

We all knew it was coming, but now it’s official: Mike Brown has been named the NBA’s Coach of the Year.  This comes just one week after his peers in the Coaches Association gave him the same accolade.  Brown is the first Kings coach in the Sacramento-era to win the award, and the first in franchise history since Cotton Fitzimmons won in 1978-79 with the Kansas City Kings.

According to the TNT broadcast, Mike Brown won the award with a unanimous decision, the first time that has ever happened since the award began in the 1962-63 season.

Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown has won the 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year award.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 19, 2023

This is the second time Brown himself has won the award, having last won in 2008-09 when he coached LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA best 66-16 record.  This year, he led the Kings to a 48-34 record in his first season as coach and broke a 17 year long Playoff drought in the process.

The Sacramento Kings coaching carousel over the last 17 years has been infamous, featuring 11 different coaches.  After the Kings fired Luke Walton last season and Alvin Gentry became the interim coach, finding the right head coach became the most important job for Monte McNair and company in the offseason.  Mike Brown was likely not many fans first or even second choice for the job, but looking back he has certainly proved to be the right choice.

His sense of humor and infectious smile quickly won fans and media over, but his work ethic and desire for accountability and a strong team culture got everyone to truly buy in.  He had the whole team, from front office members to players sign a contract to be “All In” before the season, and the team hasn’t wavered in their commitment.

At a team dinner before the season, Mike Brown gave a presentation and a speech.

Then he offered everyone – from business execs to players – a chance to sign "a contract."

“I laid it out how we could change the soul of the organization."

✍️ @jwquick https://t.co/3XwLvRpClw pic.twitter.com/8mH1H6lSX9

— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) March 30, 2023

Throughout the season, we’ve seen Coach Brown be quick to call a timeout after a defensive lapse, always teaching and imploring his team to do better, striving for perfection on every possession. One of the more famous instances came earlier in the season when he laid into Kings guard Terence Davis on a bad defensive rotation, physically showing him where he needed to be.  But when Davis later executed the rotation perfectly and drew a charge, Brown was the first up off the bench to congratulate and applaud him.

Even when the Kings would win big games, like Sacramento’s nationally televised win against the Knicks, he still called out his team in the postgame for failing to play physical and secure the boards.  The Kings responded by holding the Phoenix Suns well below their season average in offensive rebounds in the next game and winning a big game against a division rival on the road.

“What Mike’s come here and (done), and what he said even before the season started, he’s instilled confidence in us,” Kings star De’Aaron Fox said after the New York game. “Hell, he might make you believe that you’re better than you are. That is what it is, so every night we go out there we expect to win.”

Brown hasn’t just been a disciplinarian though.  He’s also kept the team loose and fun and playing some of the most entertaining basketball in the entire NBA.  Mostly known for his defensive acumen coming into the season, Brown built an offensive system around Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox that set the NBA Record for offensive rating in a season.

For Coach Mike Brown and his staff (all of whom deserve credit as well: Jordi Fernandez, Doug Christie, Jay Triano, Luke Louks, Leandro Barbosa, Lindsey Harding, Dutch Gaitley and Deividas Dulkys) this award is a nice recognition of a job well done, but don’t believe for a second that Brown or the Kings believe the job is finished.  Speaking to the media shortly before round 1 of the playoffs Brown had this to say:

“We weren’t playing just to make the playoffs.  We’re trying to win a championship, like everybody else.”

Whether or not the Kings are successful in that lofty pursuit or not, pursue they will, and it’s in large part due to the belief instilled in them by Brown.

Congrats Coach!