The other final four

As the NBA enters its final two weeks of play, four coaches are making strong cases for coach of the year honors.

Those four would be Doc Rivers in Boston, Byron Scott in New Orleans, Eddie Jordan of the Washington Wizards and Mo Cheeks of the Philadelphia 76ers.

A year ago this time, none of the four was close to being mentioned in the argument.

Rivers’ Celtics owned the worst record in the league, and the team was in the Greg Oden sweepstakes.

Scott’s Hornets showed promise but appeared two or three years away from legitimate contention with a 39-43 record.

Jordan’s Wizards, who had the best record in the Eastern Conference until just before the All-Star break, suffered injuries to their top two players and went into a second-half spiral, finishing 41-41.

And Cheeks’ 76ers missed the playoffs with a 35-47 record.

A lot can change in a year.

The Celtics brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen over the summer and have gone from worst to first, owning a league-best record of 58-15.

Scott’s Hornets stand in a tie for first place in the West with a 50-22 record.

Jordan has the Wizards in the thick of the playoff race despite playing the last 65 games without three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas and enduring a 19-game stretch without two-time All-Star Caron Butler.

And Cheeks’ 76ers have pulled off one of the most dramatic midseason turnarounds. Well on pace for a lottery pick in the first half of the season with a 16-28 record, Philadelphia has caught fire, winning 21 of 30 games to force its way into the East’s playoff race.

Rivers’ has done a great job, but Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce would make life much easier for any coach.

Cheeks is working with nothing but second-tier players at best, however, and while the 76ers would make the playoffs if the season ended today, they’re still only a .500 team at 37-37.

Then there’s Scott and Jordan, who have been linked for years. The Lakers traded Jordan to the 76ers in 1983 for Scott, and Jordan served as Scott’s assistant in New Jersey from 1999 to 2003.

Not only has Scott helped Paul develop into the top point guard in the game, forward David West and center Tyson Chandler also have blossomed under his tutelage. Bonzi Wells also has improved since joining New Orleans in a trade from Houston, turning in strong numbers as the team’s sixth man.

Jordan’s season has been the seemingly improbable quest. What team can lose the face of its franchise and still beat Boston twice, Dallas twice and New Orleans twice and remain in playoff contention? And both of Jordan’s wins over Scott came while Butler was out.

But despite his impressive work, Jordan still could lose to Scott. Record isn’t the sole determining factor, but it likely would tip the scales in Scott’s favor, considering the Wizards are on pace to finish a few games over .500 and fifth in the East while the Hornets are a 50-plus-win team and could finish first in the much tougher West.

Others worth a look: Los Angeles’ Phil Jackson (50-24 record, second in West with basically the same team that went 42-40 last year), Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy (47-27, third in East) and Atlanta’s Mike Woodson (34-40 but still on pace to lead the Hawks into the playoffs for the first time since 1999).