35. Nate McMillan, Portland Trail Blazers, Coach of the Year
There are three factors that Coach of the Year voters seem to favor over anything else when it comes to selecting a winner:
1. Coaching a team that wins more games than anyone predicted them to win the preseason.
2. Coaching a young team to the playoffs.
3. Coaching a team that drastically increases its win total from the previous season.
In my opinion, the Blazers seem poised to accomplish all three of those things this season. McMillan has the challenge of successfully inserting a potentially game-changing big man in Greg Oden into the lineup of a team that won 41 games last season. He needs to figure out a way to get this offense flowing, and figure out a way fast. The Blazers first five games are against the Lakers, Spurs, Suns, Jazz, and Rockets.
If Portland can weather the early scheduling storm and stay confident and healthy, McMillan has the coaching and leadership ability to lead this team to a 50-win season and their first trip to the playoffs since 2003.
