Phoenix’s Monty Williams ultimately won the award.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t ultimately win the award — that honor went to Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams — but did finish fifth in the final voting for Coach of the Year.
Bickerstaff finished fifth with 28 points via four second-place votes and 16 third-place votes; he received no first place votes. Rounding out the top-five are Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins in second, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra in third and Boston’s Ime Udoka in fourth.
Here’s the full voting tally via the NBA:
Under Bickerstaff’s guidance, the Cavs finished 44-38, good for eighth in the Eastern Conference prior to the play-in tournament and a 22-win improvement over the previous season. Cleveland had the league’s 13th-best net rating with the league’s seventh-best defense and 20th-ranked offense, per basketball-reference.
The last Cavaliers head coach to win Coach of the Year was Mike Brown back in the 2008-09 season.