Strangely, both Steve Kerr and Luke Walton of the Golden State Warriors are listed, separately, as “interim” coaches on the Coach of the Year ballots.
Turner Network sports host Matt Winer shared this quirky mishap Tuesday on Twitter:
Received @nba awards ballot today: both Steve Kerr & Luke Walton (designated "interim") listed for Coach of Year consideration. Hmm.
— Matt Winer (@MattWinerTV) April 4, 2016
This isn’t the first weird thing the NBA has done to Kerr and Walton this year, either.
Remember, Walton coached the Warriors to 39 wins while Kerr recovered from offseason surgery, so he is technically responsible for over half of the team’s 69 wins total wins. Yet all the wins are headed Kerr’s way in the official record books. The NBA had been considering a rule change but decided against it.
At the time, Kerr stumped for his worthy assistant to receive the credit, but Walton remained humble about the entire thing.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Walton said of the possibility of having wins on his record as the league reviewed the Warriors’ extenuating circumstances (h/t Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group). “It really doesn’t…I’m good either way.”
But now it gets weird.
Because Walton doesn’t technically get any credit for the wins, how then could he possibly be given credit for the award? And how in the heck is Kerr an interim?
Then there’s the whole potential watering down the vote angle. Writers might potentially become split on who they vote for, leading the way for Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs to sneak in and take the win.
And wouldn’t that be just wrong? Especially if the Warriors do end up breaking the record and winning more games in the regular season than any other team in history?
It’s hard to understand what the thinking was behind the whole thing. As it stands now, it stinks.