Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel finished fifth in the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year award voting, it was announced on Saturday. The Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse won the award.
Vogel came behind Nurse, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Billy Donovan and the Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra. Vogel received zero first-place votes, six second-place votes, and 18 third-place votes from the 100 media members who voted on the award.
In his first season coaching the Lakers, Vogel took them to a 52-19 record, 15 more wins than last season despite fewer games played as a result of the stoppage due to Coronavirus. All awards were voted on before the eight seeding games in Orlando; at that point, the Lakers boasted a 49-14 record (just three games back of the Bucks at the top of the league), the fourth-best offensive rating, and the third-best defensive rating in the league. In fact, they joined the Clippers and Celtics as the only team to be in the top five in the NBA in both categories.
Vogel was famously not the Lakers’ top choice to coach the team after Luke Walton was fired but he was a fortunate and ideal hire that has led the team towards the status of being one of the favorites to win the championship this year.
