LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was honored by the Professional Basketball Writers Association with the Rudy Tomjanovich Award for his “cooperation with the media and fans, as well as his excellence on the court.”
This is the third Rudy Tomjanovich Award for Rivers as he won one back in the 2011-12 season when he was with the Boston Celtics and last year in the 2018-19 season. Per the PBWA website, the finalists for this year are Kenny Atkinson of the Brooklyn Nets, Mike D’Antoni of the Houston Rockets, Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets and Nate McMillan of the Indiana Pacers.
Doc Rivers won the ‘Rudy Tomjanovich Award’ for the 2018-19 season. The award honors an NBA coach for his cooperation with the media and fans, as well as his excellence on the court. pic.twitter.com/HSmejghfHt
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 20, 2019
In the award ceremony, Rivers slipped in a joke or two.
Here’s Doc Rivers accepting the Rudy Tomjanovich Award pregame. #Clippers pic.twitter.com/cOngJfUGJ5
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 20, 2019
The award was named after legendary head coach Rudy Tomjanovich. He is most known for his stint with the Houston Rockets which he guided to back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. In his 13 seasons in the NBA as head coach, Tomjanovich tallied a 527-416 regular-season record and a 51-39 postseason record. During his NBA tenure, he was always respectful to the media and the fans.
Previous winners of the award include Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz, George Karl of the Denver Nuggets, Frank Vogel of Indiana Pacers, Steve Kerr (twice), Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors, and Stan Van Gundy of the Detroit Pistons.
The PBWA is composed of more than 200 writers and editors who cover the NBA on a regular basis for newspapers, online news outlets, and magazines.
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