Ranking the NBA's best coaches

[BRNC]

any coach that had to "coach" those teams might be in the lottery...heck...we could be in the lottery again with the "wrong" coach and no trades...

...teej given your criteria I'm not sure I'd call Pop anything more than a great coach of talent...what's he done without it?

I had to think about mine...here it is...

Phil Jackson
Gregg Popovich
Larry Brown
Jerry Sloan
Rick Adelman
Don Nelson
George Karl
Mike Woodson
Doc Rivers
Scott Skiles
Mike D'Antoni

[SWedd523]

Top 6 are definitely Phil, Pop, LB, Sloan, Nellie and Karl, they've clearly separated themselves from the rest of the league. Phil distinguishes himself for obvious reasons. How about changing the gameplan to put Kobe on Russell Westbrook tonight? Went from losing two in a row to a 30 point blowout. He had that team playing very nicely tonight.



Managing all of the egos and prima donnas is half the work with an NBA team where "coaching" isn't necessarily as important because grown men will play however they want (within a system).

[teej]

any coach that had to "coach" those teams might be in the lottery...heck...we could be in the lottery again with the "wrong" coach and no trades...

...teej given your criteria I'm not sure I'd call Pop anything more than a great coach of talent...what's he done without it?

Maybe I'm just a hater. I don't know. But when I think of Pop, I look at what he's done with guys the rest of the NBA has rejected. He has three lottery picks on his team, one of which was a pick before Pop became a coach IIRC (Dice). Dickhead (RJ) was traded for expiring contracts. Duncan is the only one who was anywhere close to the top when he became a Spur. Dice is on the downside, Jefferson was considered worn out and overpaid, and everyone else was either a mid-to-low first rounder, a second rounder, or an undrafted D-League call-up.

Phil, on the other hand, has 5 lottery picks, and the only undrafted players he has were 4+ year vets by the time the Lakers got them. Only 3 players on his entire team weren't selected in the first round. And do I need to go into how many highly rated players he had in Chicago? MJ, Pippen, Rodman, Horace Grant, John Paxson, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, John Salley, etc. Rarely did he have guys overperform...

[BRNC]

I forgot to put one coach in that has proven a lot to me this year so I've added him to my list...

Phil Jackson
Gregg Popovich
Larry Brown
Jerry Sloan
Rick Adelman
Don Nelson
George Karl
Mike Woodson
Nate McMillan
Doc Rivers
Scott Skiles
Mike D'Antoni

I think it would be hard for any team to go "wrong" with any of these guys as their coach...of course much depends on what kind of FO they have to work with...

[teej]

152. Phil Jackson
Took until Game 5 for him to say, "Maybe I should put Kobe (my best perimeter defender) on Russell Westbrook (the guy who's killing us) and shift Derek Fisher (who can't defend anyone) to Thabo Sefolosha (who can't score and seems mildly terrified)." Actually, he didn't say it -- Kobe told him, "I'm guarding Westbrook tonight." Here's where the Lakers fans say, "Come on, Phil was saving Kobe's legs!" Hooey. Had the Lakers pounded OKC inside (where they have an overwhelming advantage) and controlled Westbrook, they would have swept the series. Pretty sure that would have saved Kobe's legs. At the very least, they could have thrown Kobe on Westbrook in the Games 2 and 3 crunch times.
(Here's a good rule of thumb: If Jeff Green is defending Pau Gasol, you might want to get Pau Gasol the ball. In Game 2, Kobe took 28 shots, Gasol took 14. The next game, Kobe took 29 shots -- Gasol took nine. On what planet does this make sense? Not a good month for everyone in the "Kobe's finally getting it!" camp.)

Interesting...

[ND22]

Glad you added Skiles to that list, he is a great coach. I would personally put Nate McMillan and Doc Rivers ahead of Mike Woodson, IMO they've accomplished more than Woodson has. Also, Stan Van Gundy needs to be on there as well, he may not have coached as long, but he's done some good work in both Miami and Orlando.

[BRNC]

ND...the reason I put Mike above Doc and Nate;It may be true that the Hawks have a team with great athletic ability but if you compare the BBIQ of the Hawks against Nate or Docs' teams the Hawks flat out suck...I think Mike has done a better job with what he has to work with and from where he brought the franchise...just my opinion but that's why I did it...

[ND22]

ND...the reason I put Mike above Doc and Nate;It may be true that the Hawks have a team with great athletic ability but if you compare the BBIQ of the Hawks against Nate or Docs' teams the Hawks flat out suck...I think Mike has done a better job with what he has to work with and from where he brought the franchise...just my opinion but that's why I did it...

I see your point especially in comparison with Doc, because now that I think about it his stint with Orlando wasn't the best. However, I look at what Nate did with the Blazers this year with all the injuries they suffered, that's a tough situation and they still managed not to fold.

Now that I look at it more closely all 3 could be essentially be tied together, because all 3 have had their share of failure and success, the one thing you could give Woodson in all of this however is that the Hawks have gotten better every year under him.

[BRNC]

The fact that "Woody" had to work the franchise up is the only reason I ranked him there...I have a good deal of respect for him...but I'm a big Nate fan also...like them both better than Doc as coaches...but I'm not a Doc hater by any means...he has some tough egos to deal with in Boston...

[ND22]

The fact that "Woody" had to work the franchise up is the only reason I ranked him there...I have a good deal of respect for him...but I'm a big Nate fan also...like them both better than Doc as coaches...but I'm not a Doc hater by any means...he has some tough egos to deal with in Boston...

You gotta give some credit to the Hawks FO for sticking with him, I'm sure after those first couple of years Atlanta fans were calling for Woody's head. The key for him now however is to not let his current team get steamrolled by Orlando in this series. Getting the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals would be a big accomplishment.