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2019 NBA Coach of the Year Odds Tighten Up: Budenholzer Still The Odds-On Favorite, But Doc Rivers Given 3-1 Odds

Jake Brown

by Jake Brown in NBA Basketball

Updated Mar 30, 2020 · 10:14 AM PDT

Mike Budenholzer
Mike Budenholzer is a heavy favorite to win NBA Coach of the Year honors. Photo by @MajorLeaguePets (Twitter)
  • Mike Budenholzer is still the overwhelming favorite to win NBA Coach of the Year honors
  • Doc Rivers’ odds are now down to just 3-to-1
  • Does it make any sense to bet on anyone other than Coach Bud?

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer is the odds-on favorite to win 2019 NBA Coach of the Year honors and deservingly so. His odds were at -2000 on April 9th  just before the end of the regular season. They are now set at -400.

2019 NBA Coach of the Year Odds

Coach Odds
Mike Budenholzer -400
Doc Rivers +300
Michael Malone +800

*Odds taken 05/21/19

Doc Rivers comes in second with 3-to-1 odds after leading the Clippers to a wildly surprising 48-34 season, good for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. After trading away Tobias Harris, Rivers’ squad didn’t lose a step. In fact, they started playing even better after the trade deadline.

While Rivers did a fantastic job with his team this season, stunning many people around the NBA, everyone below them from the ninth to the 15th seed in the West were all under .500. They didn’t exactly have a ton of competition with some bad teams below them that didn’t make the playoffs.

Clippers Only Won Six More Games this Year

The Clippers were a 42-40 team last season and the 10th seed in the West. While their improvement is a bit surprising because of the guys they traded away, they finished six games and two seeds better than last year. They had young players like Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet step up, while Lou Williams showed the world that he can be an elite scorer.

I just don’t think Rivers and the Clippers made enough of a leap to warrant him having much value at +300. You can’t look at the Clippers improvement and put it in the same stratosphere as what Budenholzer and the Bucks did.

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Bucks Improvement Was Drastic

The Bucks’ leap is far more impressive, considering they went from the seventh seed with a 44-38 record last year to the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 record this year. Everyone wants to talk about the Warriors without looking at the fact that the Bucks were three games better than the defending champions and the best team in the NBA.

A 16-game leap is quite remarkable. The Bucks did it with one big superstar and some lesser role players and guys that aren’t big names.

Bet Coach Bud

While you aren’t going to make a boatload with Budenholzer at -400, he’s undoubtedly the safe bet. The fact we are talking about the Bucks in the NBA Finals is quite the achievement for a team that hasn’t been on this stage of the playoffs since Ray Allen was donning the Milwaukee green and white.

It would be pretty shocking to see Budenholzer not win this award over Rivers and Michael Malone. The Nuggets were a 46-win team last year and many expected their young squad to get better this year, which they did by eight games. It wasn’t enough to put any stock into them, even at +800.

Pick: Mike Budenholzer (-400)

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