Other coaches can’t compare to Mitch Johnson’s indisputable COY case

Mitch Johnson spent your entire season making essentially the most compelling case for the Coach of the Year Award. He led the Spurs to ranges of success that very few envisioned heading into the 2025-26 marketing campaign, getting them to 62 wins (their most since 2014) and elite manufacturing on each side of the ground.

Now, the remainder of the sector is hard. Joe Mazzulla has been superb for the Celtics, a gaggle that was in an analogous predicament, receiving modest preseason expectations from critics. JB Bickerstaff for the Pistons additionally deserves some shine, main the Pistons to the East’s prime seed and their first 60-win season since 2006.

But their physique of labor this season nonetheless would not prime what Johnson has been in a position to do. His impression goes past what the information and standings present. He’s been in a position to navigate a number of robust conditions to get this crew to the place they’re.

Mitch Johnson had to navigate a wierd scenario

Let’s be very clear, Johnson wasn’t anticipated to be thrust into his position fairly like this. Obviously, Greg Popovich suffered a stroke in November 2024, taking him away for some time because the Spurs’ head coach. Ultimately, he stepped right into a entrance workplace place because the crew’s President of Basketball Operations.

This pressured Mitch Johnson to tackle the most important project of his basketball profession. He was tasked with establishing the tradition and system essential to transfer the Spurs out of a rebuild into turning into the NBA’s subsequent dynasty. And thus far, he is achieved an incredible job.

While San Antonio missed the playoffs final yr, they had been considerably respectable earlier than Wemby’s season-ending blood clot scare, posting a 21-25 report. They’ve expanded on that point round, climbing from the thirteenth spot on the finish of the 2025-25 marketing campaign to the second seed out West in 2026.

Johnson navigated these huge developments throughout the Spurs franchise flawlessly. He led this group to astronomical ranges of success this season, making him probably the greatest new faces within the head teaching ranks and the strongest COY candidate.

Mitch Johnson turned a frightening problem into an elite offense

The Spurs had a problem within the offseason. In the 2025 NBA Draft, they went for expertise over match, deciding on Dylan Harper with the second general choose. This created a fancy, guard-heavy roster with Harper paired alongside De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle.

But one way or the other, Johnson’s made this work. He experimented with a mess of lineups, with every guard discovering time on the courtroom collectively, and the offense thrived. Additionally, he is discovered the right stability: making an attempt to make the match make sense whereas additionally permitting every of those gamers to develop.

We’ve seen Castle turn into one of many league’s most improved playmakers with a rising scoring arsenal. Harper spent his rookie season as probably the greatest paint finishers within the NBA whereas rising as a three point shooter by means of the post-All-Star stretch.

Perhaps that is essentially the most spectacular factor about Mitch Johnson’s teaching. He’s pushed so lots of his gamers to develop their particular person video games whereas nonetheless getting them to function as a successful crew. Their growth didn’t come on the expense of regular-season dominance like different rebuilding teams.

Few coaches have been in a position to discover this a lot success with such a younger core through the years, like Johnson. The Coach Of The Year Award needs to be his for the taking, giving him the primary crown since Coach Popovich in 2014. Ironically, this was the final time the Spurs notched 62 wins.