The American Basketball Association's Coach of the Year was an annual National Basketball Association (ABA) award given from 1968 to 1976. It was awarded to nine people in total, with two instances of co-Coach of the Year Awards being given out. Larry Brown was the only coach to win it more than once, winning it three times. [1] Only the first two winners of the award ended up winning the ABA Finals that same season.
Season | Coach | Team | Record | winning% | place in Division | place in the ABA | playoff finish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1967–68 | Vince Cazzetta | Pittsburgh Pipers | 54-24 | .692 | 1st | 1st | ABA Champions (4–3) over the Buccaneers |
1968-69- | Alex Hannum | Oakland Oaks | 60-18 | .769 | 1st | 1st | ABA Champions (4–1) over the Pacers |
1969–70 Tie | Bill Sharman | Los Angeles Stars | 43-41 | .512 | 4th | 6th | Lost (4–2) in the Finals to Pacers |
1969–70 Tie | Joe Belmont | Denver Rockets | 42-14 | .750 | 1st | 2nd | Lost (4–1) in the Western Division Semifinals to the Stars |
1970–71 | Al Bianchi | Virginia Squires | 55-29 | .655 | 1st | 3rd | Lost (4–2) in the Eastern Division Finals to the Colonels |
1971–72 | Tom Nissalke | Dallas Chaparrals | 42-42 | .500 | 3rd | 6th | Lost (4–0) in the Western Division Semifinals to the Stars |
1972–73 | Larry Brown | Carolina Cougars | 57-27 | .679 | 1st | 1st | Lost (4–3) in the Eastern Division Finals to the Colonels |
1973–74 Tie | Babe McCarthy | Kentucky Colonels | 53-31 | .631 | 2nd | 2nd | Lost (4–0) in the Eastern Division Finals to the Nets |
1973–74 Tie | Joe Mullaney | Utah Stars | 51-33 | .607 | 1st | 3rd | Lost (4–1) in the Finals to the Nets |
1974–75 | Larry Brown | Denver Nuggets | 65-19 | .774 | 1st | 1st | Lost (4–3) in the Western Division Finals to Pacers |
1975–76 | Larry Brown | Denver Nuggets | 60-24 | .714 | no divisions | 1st | Lost (4–2) in the Finals to the Nets |
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams. It is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world.
Lawrence Harvey Brown is an American basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers. Brown is the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship and an NBA title. He has a 1,275–965 lifetime professional coaching record in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is the only coach in NBA history to lead eight teams to the playoffs. He also won an ABA championship as a player with the Oakland Oaks in the 1968–69 season, and an Olympic Gold Medal in 1964. He is also the only person ever to coach two NBA franchises in the same season. Before coaching, Brown played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and professionally in the ABA.
The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did not join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1976 ABA–NBA merger. The downtown Louisville Convention Center was the Colonels' venue for their first three seasons before moving to Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.
The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1956 to 1966. The winner is selected at the end of the regular season by a panel of sportswriters from the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
The National Basketball Association's Sixth Man of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the league's best performing player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute. A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters from throughout the United States and Canada votes on the recipient. Since the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the John Havlicek Trophy, named after the eight-time NBA champion.
The Oakland Oaks were a charter member of the original American Basketball Association and the first West Coast basketball team to win a major professional championship. Formed in February 1967, the team played in the ABA during the 1967–68 and 1968–69 seasons at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. The team colors were green and gold.
Alexander Murray Hannum was a professional basketball player and coach. Hannum coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and one American Basketball Association (ABA) team to league championships. He had a combined NBA-ABA record of 649–564 (.535) in the regular season and 61–46 (.570) in the playoffs over 16 seasons. In 1998, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.
Daniel Paul Issel is an American former professional basketball player and coach. An outstanding collegian at the University of Kentucky, Issel was twice named an All-American en route to a school-record 25.7 points per game for his career. The American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1971, he was a six-time ABA All-Star and a one-time NBA All-Star.
Joseph Alexander Mullaney was an American professional basketball player and coach.
The 1976–77 NBA season was the 31st season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Portland Trail Blazers winning their first NBA Championship in franchise history, beating the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the NBA Finals.
The 1975–76 NBA season was the 30th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship, beating the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals.
The Rochester RazorSharks was a professional basketball team based in Rochester, New York. The RazorSharks were founded in 2005 as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). They remained in the ABA until 2007, leaving the league to become founding members of the Premier Basketball League (PBL). The RazorSharks have won eight championships to date – the 2006 ABA championship and PBL titles in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The team joined the new North American Premier Basketball for the 2018 season and planned to play in The Basketball League in 2019 before the team decided to sit out the season.
William Robert "Slick" Leonard was an American professional basketball player, coach and color commentator. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, where he was a two-time All-American and a member of their national championship squad in 1953. After playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Leonard coached the Indiana Pacers to three American Basketball Association (ABA) championships. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2014.
Želimir "Željko" Obradović (Serbian Cyrillic: Желимир "Жељко" Обрадовић, pronounced[ʒɛ̌limiːrʒêːʎkoobrǎːdoʋitɕ]; is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for Partizan of the Basketball League of Serbia, the ABA League and the EuroLeague.
The ABA All-Time Team were chosen in 1997 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the American Basketball Association (ABA). It comprised the 30 best and most influential players of the ABA during its ten years and nine full regular seasons of operation, with respect not only to performance at the professional level but in consideration of sportsmanship, team leadership, and contributions to the growth of the league basketball, and irrespective of positions played. Only players to have played at least a portion of their careers in the ABA were eligible for selection, although performance in other leagues, most notably the National Basketball Association was ostensibly considered. Selected and announced beside the all-time team were a most valuable player and top head coach.
William Curry Keller is an American retired professional basketball player.
The IBM Award was an award given out to National Basketball Association players from 1984 to 2002. The award was sponsored and calculated by technology company IBM and was determined by a computer formula, which measured a player's statistical contribution to his team. The player with the best contribution to his team in the league received the award. The first recipient was Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, and the final recipient was Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.
The ABA League Coach of the Season award, also known as the Adriatic League Coach of the Season award, is an annual award given by the Adriatic League, which is a European regional league, that is the top-tier level professional basketball league for clubs from the Former Yugoslavia. The award is given to the league's best head coach. The inaugural award was given out in the 2013–14 ABA season.