Jan 31, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin yells from the sidelines during the first half against the Golden State Warriors at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Coach of the Year : Tyrone Corbin
So I realize that Corbin is the head coach, and the award goes to the head coach, so of course he would win this award. However, I just wanted to get a chance to talk a little about Corbin and give some thoughts on how this season has gone for him.
Corbin has been under a microscope this season by Jazz fans. Every move he has made has been watched very closely. If you are on Twitter and follow Jazz fans, most fans have been raking Corbin over the coals for his performance this season. My question is, why?
Corbin will never be Jerry Sloan. I don’t think he will ever be close. However, this season, I believe he is doing exactly what he should be doing. As the coach of an NBA team, your job is to try and win games. He has made moves trying to do just that, and has been criticized by many.
To start the season, Corbin was missing his rookie point guard, Trey Burke. Without a quality starting point guard, the Jazz went 1-11. Jazz fans that were excited for the Jazz to “tank” this season were happy with the Jazz starting off so poorly, but were upset with Corbin over rotations and other coaching decisions.
Burke came back from injury and inserted him into the starting lineup. However, along with Burke, Corbin decided to make another move and bench Enes Kanter and start Marvin Williams instead. With the current starting lineup, when healthy, the Jazz have a record of 16-10. A winning record. If all players were healthy to start the season, there is a chance the Jazz could have been over .500, or at least close to it.
Kanter has gotten his chances to start, but the Jazz have a 1-23 record when Kanter starts. However, to Kanter’s defense, the Jazz haven’t had a full healthy roster when Kanter has had to start. Still, Corbin recognized that the team needed to make some kind of move, and he did this to help try and get the team to win.
Corbin, like players on the roster, is in the final year of his contract with the Jazz. Management loves Corbin, but he also has to prove that he deserves to come back and coach this team. Corbin is not going to purposely lose games, he is going to go out and try and put this team in position to win. I agree that there have been instances this season where he made bad decisions, but every coach has done that. Tyrone Corbin is the coach this season, and most likely will find a new contract with the Jazz for the next few seasons as well. He is doing what he needs to do, he just needs to have all of us give him a little bit of breathing room.