Salt Lake City Stars head coach Martin Schiller has won the 2019-20 NBA G League Dennis Johnson Coach of the Year award, the G League announced today.
Schiller earned the honor in a vote by the league’s 28 head coaches and general managers.
In his third season as head coach of the Utah Jazz’s NBA G League affiliate, Schiller guided the Stars to the best record in the Western Conference (30-12, .714). Salt Lake City improved on last season’s winning percentage of .540 (27-23).
The Stars excelled on defense under Schiller, ranking second in the NBA G League in points allowed (106.1) and fourth in defensive rating (105.0). They held opponents to the third-lowest field goal percentage (44.5) and the lowest three-point field goal percentage (31.4). On offense, Salt Lake City ranked third in the NBA G League in both field goal percentage (48.0) and three-point field goal percentage (36.8).
Schiller was selected as the NBA G League Coach of the Month for December after guiding Salt Lake City to a league-best 9-1 record, including a 4-0 mark on the road. The Stars won 14 consecutive games from Nov. 15 to Dec. 27, tying the second-longest single-season winning streak in NBA G League history. They also won their final six games of the season.
With Schiller at the helm, Salt Lake City won the 2019 G League Winter Showcase in December in Las Vegas. Schiller coached two players who earned Call-Ups this season, William Howard (Houston Rockets) and Juwan Morgan (Jazz).
Before joining the Stars, the Austrian-born Schiller served as an assistant coach in the German Bundesliga with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (2015-17) and Artland Dragons (2010-15). He has been an assistant coach for the German National Team since 2015.
The NBA G League Coach of the Year Award is named for the late Hall of Famer Dennis Johnson, a star NBA guard and NBA G League coach. During his playing career with the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson won three NBA championships, earned five NBA All-Star selections and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team six times. He was in his third season coaching in the NBA G League when he passed away in 2007.
Chase Buford of the Wisconsin Herd and Nate Reinking of the Canton Charge finished second and third, respectively, in voting for the 2019-20 NBA G League Coach of the Year Award.
The NBA G League canceled the remainder of its 2019-20 season on June 4. The regular season was suspended on March 12 and had been scheduled to conclude on March 28.
