Hoops

Coach of the Year: Shawn Dennis

So if Bevo takes the Hawks all the way to a championship, that means he's a SHIT coach because he had a team of champions?

No, and nobody's saying that.

ON that basis we should give coach of the year to Connelly because his players were shit!

Sydney were almost unanimously tipped to make the playoffs this year, some tipping them as high as top spot. They won six games.

At the start of this season, Ogilvy was a bum who spent more time on his back than a hooker, and people were saying Lisch wasn't worth an import spot.

Are you...are you serious? Ogilvy was the consensus MVP at the start of the season. I don't recall a single negative thing being said about either of those players. If there was any criticism at all it was of Kirk Penney, and that stopped after the second or third game.

Would it really hurt you to operate in the real world for a change?

Dennis started the season with the league's MVP

And absolutely nothing else. All up, a roster tipped to win two or three games. They won eleven. They beat every team bar Illawarra, and had an overtime loss to the Hawks. They beat Perth and Melbourne on the road and came within millimetres of doing the same thing to Illawarra and New Zealand.

They won more games against the top two teams than most people thought they would win against the entire league.

They were given a lifeline after the Martin hit, but instead of getting Conklin to pull his head in, Dennis let him continue.

You have NFI what Dennis did.

Don't get me wrong, had Dennis taken the Crocs to the finals with the same squad, I would have applauded. But you can't say that because they were shit, that means the players were shit, and therefore the coach must be wonderful.

But they, as a team, weren't shit. They won 11 games. Last season that was good enough for sixth spot.

They did this despite losing Todd Blanchfield and Steven Markovic, who were pretty big pieces for them.

I had Bevo as COTY (due to Ellis, White and Weeks, in that order, and not due to the team's record), but I can't argue with the Dennis pick. Those are the two candidates. Nobody's saying Bevo is a bad coach, except maybe in this alternate universe you live in where Townsville won five games and AJ Ogilvy had a bad start to the season.

So if Bevo takes the Hawks all the way to a championship, that means he's a SHIT coach because he had a team of champions?
ON that basis we should give coach of the year to Connelly because his players were shit!

At the start of this season, Ogilvy was a bum who spent more time on his back than a hooker, and people were saying Lisch wasn't worth an import spot. Yet by the halfway mark both ere in contention for MVP and DPoTY.
Dennis started the season with the league's MVP, and by the same time he was nothing but an elbow throwing crab. They were given a lifeline after the Martin hit, but instead of getting Conklin to pull his head in, Dennis let him continue.

Don't get me wrong, had Dennis taken the Crocs to the finals with the same squad, I would have applauded. But you can't say that because they were shit, that means the players were shit, and therefore the coach must be wonderful.

Gotta be honest, whilst I think he did an ok job with what he had, I don't think the award goes to the coach of the team that finished 2nd last.

If I had to pick, I would give it to Bevo. Considering where the Hawks have come from, he's done a marvellous job. People discount his achievement because of the achievements of his players, but it goes both ways, he has definitely brought out the best in those players.

That was over 15 years ago.

The way Joey carried on against NZ in relation to Larkin, a DP player who hasn't seen any previous minutes, was pretty pathetic in my book.

I think that was a small but important detail to acknowledge when being critical of the season.

Interesting that everyone seems to love playing for Joey given the way he seems to carry on sometimes.

Considering the ups and downs and how close the season was, also how many upsets we had this season it isn't an easy choice.

I am happy with it, however a couple of standouts could count themselves unlucky this season.

Close call for coach of the year, one I wouldn't have liked to make, but as I have said I don't mind this choice...

I am reminded of this saying:

'Are your players afraid to lose or are they inspired to win?'

Coaching at any level one can ask him or herself this question and if the answer affords you the compliment that your players are out there playing to win and you as a coach can inspire them rather than always berate them, then you are more than half way to being a decent coach...

Good choice IMO,great job with a low budget team. Making playoffs shouldn't be the reason you get coach of the year.


Personally think all the award winners this year was pretty spot on.

Given the Crocs player budget, SD did a remarkable job putting a team that was consistently so competitive on the court.

bowtie, I think PC is still here in Adelaide. A few months ago I saw him walking out of a car park in the city and people have said he's been helping out with coaching the Lightning this season. Not sure if he's still here though.

I was actually hoping Shawn Dennis would win COTY but thought they would give it to Bevo instead. For what he had to work with and how hard they played Dennis deserved it. That roster should've been lucky to win 3-5 games and they won 11 games. I just hope this wasn't their last season but if so a good way to go out really.

I'm not unhappy with the pick. Unusual to see the coach of a bad team get it, but SD did pretty well with the "talent" at his disposal.
There was no obvious pick for COTY in my mind.

What is the method of voting for this award? If this applied to the MVP, then Randle would have won it (no disrespect to Lisch).

I'm not suggesting SD hasn't done a great job with the roster but team success has to play a fairly big role in the award, and that's why I think it should go to Demos.

Imagine the outrage in the NBA if the Milwaukee coach got COTY because they cracked the Warriors unbeaten start to the season.