Celtics Notes: Stevens, Offseason, Mazzulla, More
Speaking to the media on Wednesday at his end-of-season press conference, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens didn’t delve too deeply into specific details about his vision for the upcoming offseason. However, as Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press writes, Stevens did identify one area that he’d like to upgrade.
“I think that one of the things that we’ve got to figure out is how to have more of an impact at the rim,” Stevens said. “And I think we need to add to our team to do that.”
No team attempted fewer shots from within five feet of the basket this season than the Celtics, per NBA.com — Boston averaged just 21.9 shots per game from that range, comfortably behind the 29th-ranked Suns (23.7) and far back of the No. 1 Pelicans (38.7).
The Celtics leaned heavily on three-point shooting throughout the year, ranking fourth in the NBA in attempts per game during the regular season (42.1). They increased that average to 46.1 during their first-round loss to Philadelphia, putting them first among playoff teams by a significant margin. Asked whether changes will be made to Boston’s offensive approach going forward, Stevens suggested that it “should be dependent on who’s on your team.”
“I just want to win,” Stevens said, per Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “I don’t think play style comes before roster. You got to figure out who you have and then play to the strengths of your team. But that’s on both ends of the court. And listen, I thought our coaching staff did an amazing job this year. This series, I think we all could have done better, there’s no question about it, and I think we’re all looking forward to improving all of that.”
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Although Stevens didn’t exclude head coach Joe Mazzulla and his staff from that group who “could have done better” during the first round of the playoffs, he indicated that he still has full confidence in Mazzulla and his assistants, as Hightower relays. “I think our coaching staff, like all of us, can continue to improve and get better,” Stevens said. “That said, I think they’re very good, and we need to continue to provide them the resources to grow and to get better and to continue to be the best that we can be.”
- Stevens didn’t really make any major headlines with his remarks on Wednesday, but he dropped “just enough breadcrumbs” to allow for speculation about whether major roster changes could be coming in Boston this offseason, observes Steve Buckley of The Athletic.
- Speaking of major changes, while there have been no real indications to this point that the Celtics will be among the suitors for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report considers what it might look like if Boston were to put together a trade package for the two-time MVP.
- A pair of Celtics minority owners, Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck, are preparing a bid for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, according to a report from Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico. Mittal bought into the Celtics when Bill Chisholm took control of the team and is reportedly the second-largest stakeholder in the franchise, while Grousbeck is the former governor and majority owner of the club. They both hold alternate governor titles.
Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Nurse, Ingram, Quickley, Celtics
Sixers center Joel Embiid, who underwent an emergency appendectomy less than a month ago, grimaced after taking a shot to his midsection from Knicks forward Mikal Bridges during Monday’s Game 1 loss (Twitter video link). Asked about it after the game, Embiid stopped short of calling the contact “dirty,” but questioned whether it was necessary within the flow of the play.
“I don’t know if it was dirty or not,” Embiid said, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). “I guess I’ve got to do a better job of protecting, especially that part (of my body). … I just felt like it wasn’t necessary, but we move on. It is whatever. It’s playoff basketball. If that’s the reality of it, I guess we got to go out and be physical, too, and do it too.”
We have more from around the Atlantic:
- Sixers head coach Nick Nurse is currently away from the team in order to mourn his older brother, who unexpectedly passed away last week, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. Nurse attending the funeral service in his hometown of Carroll, Iowa and is expected to rejoin the 76ers in time for Wednesday’s Game 2 in New York, Jones adds.
- After battling heel inflammation near the end of the regular season and in the playoffs, Raptors forward Brandon Ingram is visiting a specialist this week to discuss the treatment plan for the injury, head coach Darko Rajakovic said on Tuesday (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). Both Ingram and guard Immanuel Quickley, who missed the entire first round due to a hamstring strain, expect to be back on the court within three or four weeks and shouldn’t have their offseason routines significantly impacted by their health issues.
- Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscription required) takes stock of where the Celtics‘ roster stands entering the offseason, writing that all indications point to head coach Joe Mazzulla being back on the sidelines next season. As for center Nikola Vucevic, the only player on the 15-man roster without a guaranteed contract or option for next season, Himmelsbach says Vucevic will have to take a sizable pay cut no matter where he ends up, adding that he won’t be surprised if the big man doesn’t return to Boston.
Celtics Notes: Offseason, Tatum, Stevens, Mazzulla
The Celtics‘ unexpected first-round loss to the Sixers, which featured the franchise’s first-ever blown 3-1 lead, made clear that even with a healthy Jayson Tatum back next season, there’s work to be done to turn the roster into a true championship favorite, Brian Robb writes for MassLive.
Boston holds a $27.7MM trade exception from the Anfernee Simons deal that expires at next year’s trade deadline, along with several other smaller trade exceptions, and will also have access to the $15MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception and $5.4MM bi-annual exception. Using some of those tools, the team will need to shore up its frontcourt and make some decisions regarding its plethora of young wings.
They will also have to decide what to do with Neemias Queta, who broke out as the team’s year-long starting center. They could pick up his 2.7MM team option and then extend his contract off that up to four years for $92MM, which would give some level of financial flexibility. They could also decline the option and give him a new contract, which would eat into their salary flexibility, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says in his offseason guide (video link).
We have more from the Celtics:
- After a nearly seamless return from his torn right Achilles, Tatum was sidelined for Game 7 due to left knee stiffness, which left a sour note on what was the feel-good story of the year. “My recovery and comeback were going so well that how it ended, I didn’t think it was going to end that way. It was just unfortunate,” Tatum said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I worked really, really, really, really hard to come back in the fashion that I did and play at the level I was playing at. So for it to end the way it did was a tough pill to swallow.” Despite the negative outcome, he hopes his recovery and the level he was able to reach with his play this season can serve as an inspiration for other players who suffer similar injuries.
- Brad Stevens had a clear goal at this year’s trade deadline: getting under the tax and avoiding repeater penalties while still improving the roster in the immediate future. One of the moves the Celtics made in service of that goal was trading Simons for Nikola Vucevic. While the financial part worked, the on-court part didn’t, as evidenced by Vucevic being benched in favor of Luka Garza in the pivotal Game 7, Robb writes. Given the foul trouble Queta dealt with throughout the series, Robb calls the lack of a viable backup big man a rare mistake for the Celtics’ president, and one that had a huge impact on the team’s inability to get out of the first round.
- Another mistake came from the Celtics’ coach, Joe Mazzulla, according to Robb. With Tatum out, Mazzulla turned not to rotation regulars Payton Pritchard or Sam Hauser, but rather to Baylor Scheierman, Ron Harper Jr., and Garza as his three starters alongside Jaylen Brown and Derrick White — the five-man group had not played a single minute together in the regular season. The trio of new starters finished the must-win game with a combined zero points on seven shots. “I thought it was a couple things we saw tactically we wanted to test out,” Mazzulla said. “Obviously, give the series a little bit of a different feel and take advantage of the roster that we had, and take advantage of the guys that can impact plays and whatnot. So that was great by the guys, and we came up short.”
Eastern Notes: Bulls, Lloyd, Mazzulla, Tatum, More
Among the known candidates for the Bulls‘ open head of basketball operations job, Timberwolves general manager Matt Lloyd is the “obvious frontrunner,” reports Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required).
Lloyd has been a “top target” for the Bulls since they began their front office search, according to Poe, who writes that the veteran executive “cares deeply about the process of evaluating, acquiring and developing talent.” That should make him an obvious fit for a Chicago team that seems to be embarking on a rebuild, Poe adds.
Outside of his strengths as a front office executive, Lloyd – who grew up in the Chicago suburbs – is a match for the Bulls due to his existing connection to the franchise and the city. He worked for the organization beginning in 1994 as a game-day and special projects employee in the team’s video room and was later hired to work in the media relations department. Eventually, he made the move to the Bulls’ front office, where he was eventually promoted to the role of director of college scouting before leaving for a job in Orlando in 2012.
While the Reinsdorfs have vowed to cast a wider net in their search for a top basketball executive this time around, they have a history of not straying too far from what they know, Poe observes.
We have more from around the Eastern Conference:
- A Coach of the Year finalist, Joe Mazzulla has made it clear he believes it’s a “stupid award,” but the Celtics‘ head coach wouldn’t oppose an alternative that honors more than one person on a team’s staff. “I would like to see that changed to staff or organization, for sure. I think those things are important,” Mazzulla said, per Jay King of The Athletic. “If it was Staff of the Year, it’s different, (or) if it’s Organization of the Year. But at the end of the day, I haven’t made one basket all year. Our staff hasn’t made a basket. We haven’t got a block. We haven’t ran back on defense. We didn’t play a back-to-back. We didn’t have to play hurt. We haven’t really done s–t. So if you don’t have the guys you know to be able to put you in position, it doesn’t really matter.”
- Celtics forward Jayson Tatum scored 25 points in the team’s Game 1 blowout of Philadelphia on Sunday, but he admitted after that win that he’s “still rehabbing” from the Achilles tear that sidelined him until March 6. Tuesday’s Game 2 loss provided a reminder of that, writes Steve Buckley of The Athletic. Although Tatum nearly had a triple-double (19 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists), he made just 8-of-19 shots from the field and has now hit only 3-of-15 three-pointers in the series.
- Signing head coach Jordi Fernandez to a contract extension increasing the pressure on general manager Sean Marks in Brooklyn, according to C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required). As Holmes outlines, the extension suggests that Marks believes the Nets have the right coaching staff in place, which means he now needs to get Fernandez the right players to lead the team back to the playoffs.
- With Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes squaring off in the first round of the playoffs, Eric Koreen of The Athletic takes a look at how both players have progressed since being drafted back-to-back in 2021, noting that Mobley and Barnes have shown they’re capable of being foundational players on good teams, though it remains to be seen whether either one is headed for superstardom.
NBA Announces Finalists For 2025/26 Awards
The NBA has announced the finalists for this season’s major awards, including Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, and Clutch Player of the Year.
The MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year finalists were announced at halftime of the NBC broadcast of Game 1 between the Pistons and Magic, while the league’s official account tweeted the rest.
Most Valuable Player
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets)
- Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
The leaders of the three top teams in the Western Conference all have strong arguments for MVP. Jokic became the first player to lead the league in rebounds and assists per game while also averaging 27.7 points. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31.1 PPG and led the Thunder to the league’s best record despite the fact that multiple starters missed substantial time this season. Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game while emerging as a lock for Defensive Player of the Year.
Rookie of the Year
- Cooper Flagg (Mavericks)
- Kon Knueppel (Hornets)
- VJ Edgecombe (Sixers)
This race is expected to come down to the former Duke teammates. Knueppel played a key role for a resurgent Hornets squad, becoming the first rookie to lead the league in made three-pointers while averaging 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game in 81 appearances. Flagg’s Mavs finished well out of the postseason picture, but he showed massive star upside, averaging 21.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG while scoring at least 42 points in four separate games. Edgecombe averaged 35.0 minutes per game over 75 contests, posting a well-rounded 16.0 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 4.2 APG.
Coach of the Year
- Joe Mazzulla (Celtics)
- J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
- Mitch Johnson (Spurs)
Mazzulla and Bickerstaff each led massively overperforming teams that managed to dominate the Eastern Conference despite having players in and out of the lineup all year. Johnson helped navigate a tricky guard rotation and spacing issues as the Spurs posted the second-best record in the league.
Defensive Player of the Year
- Chet Holmgren (Thunder)
- Ausar Thompson (Pistons)
- Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
Wembanyama is the overwhelming favorite to win this award, ranking first in total blocks, blocks per game, defensive rating, and defensive rebounding percentage this season. Holmgren was second in blocks per game for the league’s top defense, while Thompson proved himself to be arguably the best perimeter defender in the league with his combination of off-ball defensive play-making and point-of-attack dominance.
Most Improved Player
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Hawks)
- Deni Avdija (Trail Blazers)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
Both Avdija and Duren were first-time All-Stars this season, while Alexander-Walker earned a starting spot on his new team and raised his scoring from 9.4 points per game last season to 20.8 PPG this season on .459/.399/.902 shooting splits, all career high percentages.
Sixth Man of the Year
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (Nuggets)
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Heat)
- Keldon Johnson (Spurs)
Hardaway cracked 40% from three this season for the first time in his career while shooting 6.9 attempts in his 26.6 minutes per game. Most importantly for the injury-plagued Nuggets, he played 80 games, including six starts, and was the team’s fifth-highest scorer. Jaquez had an impressively well-rounded contribution off the bench, posting career-highs of 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. Johnson was a crucial scoring hub for the Spurs bench units while adding offensive pop when the starters struggled to score.
Clutch Player of the Year
- Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets)
Gilgeous-Alexander and Edwards ranked first and second, respectively, in clutch scoring per game, while Murray was second in total clutch points behind the Thunder star and shot the most efficiently from three of the guards.
Brett Siegel of Clutch Points notes (via Twitter) that the awards will be announced in the coming days and weeks, starting with Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, April 20.
J.B. Bickerstaff Wins Coaches Association Award
Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has won the Michael H. Goldberg award for the 2025/26 season, earning Coach of the Year honors from the National Basketball Coaches Association, according to a press release.
This award, introduced in 2017 and named after longtime NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg, is voted on by the NBA’s 30 head coaches, none of whom can vote for himself.
It isn’t the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award, which is voted on by media members and is represented by the Red Auerbach Trophy. The winner of that award will be announced later this spring.
Bickerstaff has guided the Pistons to a remarkable turnaround since taking over as their head coach during the 2024 offseason. Coming off the worst season in franchise history, Detroit improved from 14-68 to 44-38 in Bickerstaff’s first year at the helm, then took another huge step forward in 2025/26, finishing the season with a 60-22 record. It was just the third 60-win season in team history and the first in two decades.
The Pistons had the NBA’s second-best defensive rating (108.9) and tied with the Spurs for the league’s No. 2 overall net rating (+8.4) in 2025/26, despite missing leading scorer Cade Cunningham for 18 games.
The NBCA Coach of the Year award has frequently been a bellwether for the NBA’s Coach of the Year honor, which bodes well for Bickerstaff. In seven of the nine years since the award’s inception, the winner has gone on to be named the NBA’s Coach of the Year, including in 2025 when Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers won both awards.
Still, there’s a crowded field of candidates for Coach of the Year. The NBCA noted within its release that seven different coaches earned votes for its award, “reflecting the depth of coaching excellence in the NBA this season.”
Besides Bickerstaff, Mark Daigneault (Thunder), Mitch Johnson (Spurs), Charles Lee (Hornets), Joe Mazzulla (Celtics), Quin Snyder (Hawks), and Tiago Splitter (Trail Blazers) each received at least one vote from their fellow coaches for this year’s NBCA award.
Celtics’ Chisholm On Mazzulla, Stevens, TD Garden, More
Celtics owner Bill Chisholm recently gave an interview to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). The conversation covers a number of topics, including Chisholm’s first year as the team’s governor and majority stakeholder, his thoughts on Jaylen Brown‘s excellent season, Jayson Tatum‘s return from a torn Achilles tendon, and more.
Here are a few highlights from Himmelsbach’s interview with Chisholm.
On whether Chisholm has built a connection with the Celtics:
“I feel extremely welcome. I try to find the right balance of being supportive and visible to them without making them feel like I’m looking over their shoulder. I try to be super available, super positive, and I’ve tried to develop a relationship with all the players, and certainly with [head coach Joe Mazzulla]. We’re on the same page, and I’m a huge fan. And [president of basketball operations Brad Stevens] and his team are tremendous.”
On how having Mazzulla and Stevens, whom Chisholm called the “best basketball executive there is,” in place has brought stability to the team:
“I do not take that for granted. I look around at the owners’ meetings and talking to other folks and hear of the challenges they have and the wholesale changes they have to make, not just to their rosters but their management. It is extraordinary here. It’s all I know, but I know enough to know this is not normal to have this. I am going to fight and claw and do everything in my power to make sure we keep it going with those guys.”
On the perception that Chisholm was concerned about cutting costs after the Celtics made a series of offseason and in-season transactions to move below the salary tax line, easing several roster-building restrictions in the process:
“I think it’s out there, but ultimately I have to prove every day in the near term, medium term, and long term that I want to win, I want to win desperately, and I’m a huge fan. I can understand where some short-term decisions might feel like they’re not necessarily headed in that direction, but I put hand on heart and know I’m doing and we’re doing the right things to win, and that’s what we care about. So, you have to trust in that.
“I compare us to other teams coming into the season that looked a lot like us. We were completely aligned that we’re about winning. We’re going to compete, play hard, develop our talent, find additional talent, and this is not a gap year. We’re just not doing that. I can put my hand on heart saying that. I’ll prove it and I’ll continue to prove it every day, that I just want to win.”
On the status of TD Garden and the possibility of building a new arena in the future:
“It’s pretty much the same as it was at the beginning of the season. The philosophy there is the same. The Garden is a great place to play. It’s consistently ranked one of the best places in the league for player and fan experience. It’s loud, a lot of energy, and it’s got a storied history.
“My starting point is if we can make it work, we’d love to stay where we are. And making it work means improving the fan experience and the player experience. If we can do those things and remain where we are now, that’s great. And if that doesn’t work there, we’ll think about other places. But my goal here is to see if we ideally make it work where we are, and I think there’s a commitment with us, with the Bruins and Delaware North, with all of that. That’s where we want to end up and we’re working on it as we speak.“
And-Ones: NBA Awards Picks, G League Awards
Reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander claims two awards on the unofficial ballot of Dan Devine of Yahoo Sports: MVP and Clutch Player of the Year.
To be clear, Devine does have an official vote for year-end awards, but those ballots aren’t sent out until the regular season concludes on April 12. Devine also notes that he may be forced to change some of his picks, depending on which players are eligible.
Victor Wembanyama, for example, needs to play at least 20 minutes in one of San Antonio’s remaining two games to be eligible for awards consideration. The French big man is Devine’s choice for Defensive Player of the Year and is his runner-up for MVP, ahead of Nikola Jokic.
Kon Knueppel (Rookie of the Year) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Most Improved Player) are a couple of Devine’s other awards picks.
Here are a few more awards-related stories and announcements:
- There’s quite a bit of overlap between Devine’s awards picks and the tentative selections of Zach Harper of The Athletic. Both writers have Joe Mazzulla, J.B. Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson as the three finalists, in order of how they finish, for Coach of the Year, and Keldon Johnson, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tim Hardaway Jr. as their top three picks for Sixth Man of the Year.
- Michael Pina of The Ringer lists his three All-NBA, two All-Defensive, and two All-Rookie teams. Pina’s first-team All-NBA picks are Kawhi Leonard, Jaylen Brown, Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama and Jokic; his All-Defensive First Team selections are Wembanyama, Derrick White, Scottie Barnes, Ausar Thompson and Chet Holmgren; and his top-five rookies are Knueppel, Cooper Flagg, VJ Edgecombe, Dylan Harper and Derik Queen.
- The NBA G League has announced its All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams, which are each comprised of five players (Twitter links via the NBA). The All-Defensive selections are Jamarion Sharp (Texas Legends), Chris Manon (South Bay Lakers), Alijah Martin (Raptors 905), Andersson Garcia (Mexico City Capitanes) and Jalen Slawson (Noblesville Boom), while the All-Rookie team consists of Raptors 905 standout Martin, Norchad Omier and Sean Pedulla of the San Diego Clippers, Keshon Gilbert (College Park Skyhawks) and RJ Davis (South Bay Lakers). Martin, Manon, Slawson (Pacers), Omier and Pedulla are on two-way contracts with their respective NBA teams.
Celtics Notes: Queta, Mazzulla, Pritchard, Vucevic
Center was viewed as a potential Celtics weakness heading into the season, but Neemias Queta has turned aside any doubts about whether he can handle the position, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes in a subscriber-only story. Queta continued his career-best season on Friday with 19 points, 10 rebounds and a plus-33 rating in a win over Milwaukee.
“It’s unbelievable,” Jayson Tatum said. “I couldn’t be more proud and happy for Neemy. The way he’s seeing the game, the leap he’s made as a screener, as a passer, someone we can trust when we throw him the ball in the seams, finishing, protecting the rim. He is an NBA starting big man, that’s who he is now. He’s only going to continue to get better.”
Queta had only made six total starts in four seasons before being asked to take over when Al Horford and Luke Kornet left in free agency and Kristaps Porzingis was traded in a cost-cutting move. Through 72 games, he’s averaging 10.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 25.4 minutes per night, and his emergence is one of the reasons Boston has been able to post the second-best record in the East.
“I think maybe at the beginning of the year we didn’t trust him as much as we do now, and now every time we throw it to him, we expect him to make the right read and right play,” Derrick White said. “He’s developed a lot of confidence, and we all have confidence in him.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Joe Mazzulla recently dismissed Coach of the Year as a “stupid award,” but Payton Pritchard thinks he deserves to win it, Himmelsbach adds. Mazzulla is considered one of the leading candidates, along with Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff. “He’s a competitor, and he focuses on how this team is going to get better and better,” Pritchard said. “He changed some things up this year as far as film sessions. He went to more, instead of a dictatorship, like a classroom setting where we’re just going to learn through all the ups and downs in that setting.”
- Nikola Vucevic, who has been sidelined with a fractured finger since March 6, could make his return Sunday afternoon against Toronto, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Vucevic was acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, but was only available for 12 games before the injury forced him to undergo surgery. He was originally projected to be reevaluated in three to four weeks, and a Sunday return would have him back on the court in a little less than a month. Terada expects him to replace Luka Garza as the primary backup center.
- Vucevic will be playing for his next contract when he returns, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. The 35-year-old big man has a $21.4MM expiring deal, and Robb suggests that his salary for next season might be less than half of that. The Celtics could be interested if he plays well in the postseason, but only at a low-cost, one-year deal because they still might be focused on avoiding the luxury tax. Robb adds that the Celtics may also be considering a younger option on the offseason trade market.
Thunder’s Daigneault, Hawks’ Snyder Named Coaches Of The Month
Mark Daigneault of the Thunder has been named March’s Coach of the Month for the Western Conference, while Quin Snyder of the Hawks has earned the honor in the Eastern Conference, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
There were no shortage of strong candidates for Coach of the Month recognition in the Western Conference. Daigneault’s OKC squad maintained its spot atop the NBA’s standings by posting a 14-1 record in March, but JJ Redick of the Lakers (15-2) and Mitch Johnson of the Spurs (14-2) also had excellent months. They were nominated for the award too, along with Tyronn Lue of the Clippers (12-6), according to the league (Twitter link).
Snyder, meanwhile, guided the Hawks to a 13-2 record in March, which moved them from play-in territory into the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. That made him the top choice among a group of nominees that also included Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers, J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, Mike Brown of the Knicks, Charles Lee of the Hornets, and Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics.
Daigneault and Johnson are the only coaches to win multiple Coach of the Month awards this season, claiming two apiece, while Suns coach Jordan Ott also earned the Western Conference honor in January. In the East, five separate coaches were named Coach of the Month, with Snyder joining Bickerstaff (October/November), Mazzulla (December), Lee (January), and Atkinson (February).