The NBA has just announced the finalists for this season's Coach of the Year award; Milwaukee Bucks' Mike Budenholzer, Denver Nuggets' Michael Malone, and Los Angeles Clippers' Doc Rivers.

Budenholzer, the winner of the 2014 Coach of the Year award, has led the Bucks to the best record in the league this season. With him calling the shots, Milwaukee has made quick work of the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It is also unlikely that his team will suffer the same fate as the Atlanta Hawks squad he coached back in 2014 (They got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference semi-finals despite winning 60 games that season) as the Bucks look like a legitimate championship contender. They are three wins away from advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1971.

Malone helped the Nuggets secure the second best record in the Western Conference this season. Unfortunately, their championship aspirations were ended by the Portland Trail Blazers in a grueling seven-game conference finals series. Still, they have one of the youngest teams in the league and with Malone leading the way, the sky's the limit for the future of these Nuggets.

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Like Budenholzer, Rivers has already won a Coach of the Year award before, and that was back in 2001 when he was manning the sidelines for the Orlando Magic. This season, he helped the Clippers make the playoffs despite not having an All-Star in the squad. They also had impressive wins against the Golden State Warriors in the first round, including Game 2 when they came back from a 31-point deficit. Although they have failed to win the series, Clippers and the Rivers have shown the rest of the league that they were once again the better team in LA.

Among the three, only Budenholzer has the chance to join Red Auerbach, Red Holzman, Bill Sharman, Phil Jackson, and Gregg Popovich as the only Coach of the Year winners who has led their teams to an NBA championship in the same season.