That's because you have to be some new up-and-comer with a mediocre team record, or a coach with a crappy team making more of them than people think they should. He will never win it, though he is just as deserving as any other candidate in any given year, including this year. The other part I find laughable is those who vote for the award always decrying the fact that he has never won it, but then their voting record doesn't match their outrage or feigned indignation.
Um, well, the Spurs did win three fewer games than the Jazz last year--50-32, not exactly "mediocre." And neither Popp nor Carlisle is exactly an "up and comer" coach.
With Popovich's (and the aging Spurs’) performance so far, Sloan's name (and every other coach's name) is irrelevant.
That being said, Tom Thibodeau and Rick Carlisle were coaches who were plenty available for the Jazz to pick up, if the Millers weren't blindly loyal to Sloan. Thibodeau was exactly what the Jazz needed, and a coach that I lobbied for, because he doesn't just preach defense; he enforces it. The ultimate claim to COY for him would be to get Boozer to defend in a non-contract year.
https://probasketballtalk.nbcsports...hat-tom-thibodeau-guy-can-coach-some-defense/
https://nbaplaybook.com/2010/06/28/how-tom-thibodeau-will-make-the-bulls-pnr-defense-even-better/
https://chicagobullsinsights.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/ideal-thinking-tom-thibodeau-defense/
And Carlisle has shown against the Jazz that his team isn't having the ridiculous 1st quarter slumps, despite aging stars; Dallas caused arguably the worst Jazz game start all year.
Cuban's wallet helps, but as the Knicks have shown, it's not a guarantee for success. Carlisle started the season out with defensive drilling, which the Jazz clearly didn't.
https://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/defense-first-for-carlisle-mavericks-1.html
Carlisle evidently is insisting on defense and accountability also. Carlisle was so willing to enforce performance that he benched multiple regulars during the playoffs. As a result, Jason Kidd didn't even show up for postseason interviews, and Marion's minutes were cut to a point that he accused Carlisle of him being treated like a rag doll. Didn’t pay off last season, but it looks like it is working now.
https://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/columns/story?columnist=caplan_jeff&id=5912142
Can you imagine Sloan doing that to any playe not named Kirilenko (when AK's curbed PT seemed arbitrary, and his biggest gripe was not getting touches)--and especially a continental American (think Giricek, Arroyo, maybe Amaechi, whom Sloan had other nicknames for)? And are you aware of a situation when Sloan got off his John Deere long enough in the off-season to go visit a player who felt maltreated--which is what Carlisle did, visiting Caron Butler in person--except when the Jazz FO or the player's agent pressed the issue?
Until Sloan can be a more astute on-court and off-court leader rather than a figurehead of a good system with occasional fits of intelligence, any mention in the COY discussion is irrelevant, because he ain't gonna win it. The COY decisionmakers (coaching peers, etc.) justifiably have not granted Sloan the award for mere above-average longevity.
