The NBA’s Coach of the Year Award, announced Tuesday night, went to Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, as many expected. What no one anticipated was the complete absence of Denver Nuggets interim-turned-head coach David Adelman from the voting conversation.
In a league where narratives often shape perception as much as results, Adelman’s total exclusion from the top-three votes by a global media panel of 100 voters sends a pointed message about how the basketball world views both him and the Nuggets’ current situation.
Adelman stepped into the head coaching role under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Taking over late in the previous season with just a week remaining before the playoffs, he stabilized a franchise in transition. This year, as the full-time head coach, he inherited a roster in constant flux, featuring new faces across the rotation and dealing with a lengthy injury list that included key contributors Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Peyton Watson, and others. The Nuggets rarely felt like a complete, healthy team all season.
Yet Adelman guided Denver to a strong 54-28 record and the No. 3 seed in a brutally competitive Western Conference. It was, by any objective measure, an impressive first full season at the helm.
Despite that, when the votes were tallied, 12 of the league’s 30 head coaches received at least one top-three vote. David Adelman was not among them.
This snub is particularly striking given the context. While it’s understandable that established names like Mazzulla, JB Bickerstaff, and Mitch Johnson garnered significant support, several coaches who finished with inferior records in the same conference — including Tyronn Lue, JJ Redick, Jordan Ott, and Tiago Splitter — received votes. The disparity raises legitimate questions about whether Adelman is receiving fair recognition for his work or if the league’s coaching fraternity simply isn’t sold on him.
When the Nuggets promoted Adelman from within, many viewed it as a cost-saving measure by the Kroenke ownership group rather than a wide-ranging search for a proven championship-caliber coach. The voting results appear to reinforce that skepticism. Many seem inclined to credit Nikola Jokić and the talent on the roster more than the coaching staff for Denver’s regular-season success.
That perception gained traction in the playoffs. Adelman was widely criticized for being outcoached by Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch — who himself received zero votes for Coach of the Year — in the first round. Puzzling strategic decisions and some head-scratching postgame comments only amplified doubts about his readiness for the highest-pressure moments.
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None of this is to dismiss the inherent challenges of a rookie head coach navigating injuries and roster turnover. However, the Nuggets operate on a different timeline. With Jokić entering the later stages of his prime, Denver cannot afford an extended period of on-the-job learning. The Western Conference is loaded with ascending contenders, and the Nuggets already face a looming roster crunch that will make future contention more difficult.
Adelman’s regular-season performance deserved more acknowledgment than it received. A few third-place votes would have been a reasonable recognition of the difficult hand he was dealt. The fact that he received none suggests the broader basketball world remains unconvinced.
Whether Adelman ultimately proves to be the long-term answer in Denver remains to be seen. What is clear right now is that the league’s coaching voters have delivered a verdict — and for a franchise with championship aspirations and a narrowing window, that verdict should serve as a loud wake-up call. The Nuggets may soon need to decide if they can reach the mountaintop again with Adelman leading the way, or if a more experienced voice is required to maximize what’s left of the Jokić era.