In practice, it's a yearly argument about expectations and whether we're rewarding actual coaching or just the greatest surprise. But this year's race is a little different. The pool of candidates is unusually deep. It's been the season of turnarounds. The league has been messy, with recent division winners falling away and recent also-rans all rising together. In an ordinary year, Sean Payton guiding the Broncos to the top
In the past 12 months, Collier helped the Lynx win the Commissioner's Cup final, earned her second Olympic gold medal, was WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, played in her first WNBA Finals and co-founded a 3-on-3 pro league.