The NBA announced yesterday that Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown has been named the 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year. Brown is the third head coach in franchise history to win the annual award, joining Cotton Fitzsimmons (1978-79) and Phil Johnson (1974-75) and is the first to receive the honor in the Sacramento era.
Brown received 500 points (100 first-place votes) from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. The honor marks the second time Brown has won the Coach of the Year award during his coaching career, including his first since the 2008-2009 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since the award’s inception in 1962-63, Brown is the 11th coach in NBA history to receive the Coach of the Year award at least twice in his coaching career.
In his first season as head coach of the Sacramento Kings, Brown led the club to one of the best seasons in franchise history. The Browns led Sacramento to the seventh-best record in the NBA this season and helped the Kings secure the third seed in the Western Conference, marking the Kings’ best finish in the West since the 2002-2003 season. Behind the Browns, Sacramento finished with the third most wins in the Western Conference (48-34) and set a franchise record for most road wins (25-16), which also ranked first in the Western Conference. He is the second coach in the Sac era to finish above . 500 in a season, joining Rick Adelman.
The Browns coached the Kings to the highest offensive rating in NBA history (118.6) with the most points per game scored by an NBA team in 40 years, bested by the Denver Nuggets (1983-84). For his efforts, Brown was named Michael Goldberg’s NBCA Coach of the Year after the Kings captured their first Pacific Division title since 2003.
Among league leaders, the Kings lead the NBA in offensive efficiency and points per game while finishing second in field goal percentage (49.4%), third in assists (27.3), fifth in three-pointers (1,128) and ninth in three-pointers. Percentage (37.3%). Sacramento also ranked first in true shooting percentage (60.8%), second in effective field goal percentage (57.2), second in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.02), eighth in net rating (2.6) and seventh in shooting percentage (62.6%). ).
In February, Brown was named NBA Western Conference Coach of the Month, as the Kings led the NBA with seven games in which they scored over 120 points, including a 176–175 double-overtime win against the Los Angeles Clippers on February 24, marking their second Highest scoring game in NBA history. During the stretch, the Kings ranked first in the NBA in points per game (125.8) and offensive rating (121.2) and went a perfect 7-0 in February in games where they scored 120 or more points.