Erik Spoelstra and Mike D'Antoni are co-recipients of National Basketball Coaches Association's Coach of the Year award. This is the first NBCA award for the best coach, and it was awarded to these two great coaches who had fantastic seasons with their teams. It is important to note that this is not NBA's official Coach of the Year award, but both Spoelstra and D'Antoni are candidates for that award as well.

Spoelstra turned the Miami Heat into one of the best teams in the NBA in the second half of the season, while D'Antoni led his Houston Rockets to the third-best record in the league.

Thanks to D'Antoni's incredible coaching, the Rockets were also one of the best offensive teams in the NBA, and James Harden turned into an MVP candidate.

Erik Spoelstra was incredible with Miami

Miami Heat lost Dwyane Wade last summer and Chris Bosh failed a physical before the season started. Their season got off to a horrible start and they were 11-30 after the first 41 games. The Heat struggled with injuries and they quickly became the second-worst team in the entire NBA. It became clear that the Heat simply cannot fight against the injuries and everyone expected them to lose games on purpose in order to get a high pick in the draft.

However, the second half of the season was completely different and Miami turned into one of the best teams.

They defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, and Golden State Warriors, among other teams, and they finished the season with a 41-41 record. Unfortunately, they did not qualify to the playoffs as they lost a tiebreaker to the Chicago Bulls, who finished with the same record. Despite that, Erik Spoelstra showed how amazing he is, and he kept pushing his players and believing in them until the very last game of the season.

Mike D'Antoni turned the Rockets into an offensive juggernaut

Houston Rockets ranked second in points per game during the regular season, averaging nearly 8.8 more points per game than in the season before. They also became one of the best three-point shooting teams and their offense relied heavily on outside shooting. Coach D'Antoni simply transformed them into an offensive juggernaut and thanks to their high-octane offense, the Rockets were unstoppable.

Before the season started, Mike D'Antoni said that James Harden's assists average will increase, and he was right about it. Harden led the NBA in assists per game with 11.2 and he established himself as one of the top MVP candidates. D'Antoni put Harden at point guard position, and his plan worked flawlessly as the Rockets finished the season with 55 wins and only 27 losses.
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