Former players becoming NBA coaches

jackwindham · Post #1 » by **jackwindham** » Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:58 pm

After looking around the NBA, I don't think it's really possible for us to completely predict which players are going to become coaches some day. Sure, some are easy guesses (Mark Jackson, Derek Fisher, Doc Rivers and maybe Jason Kidd). However, there's a lot of guys out there who I never would have guessed (Steve Kerr, James Posey, Monty Williams, Vitaly Potapenko and Patrick Ewing).

Infinite Llamas · Post #2 » by **Infinite Llamas** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:24 am

I stopped trying to guess when Sheed became a coach

Thabo Sefolosha · Post #3 » by **Thabo Sefolosha** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:24 am

um okay

jackwindham · Post #4 » by **jackwindham** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:25 am

I never would have pegged Rasheed Wallace to ever become a head coach. I know that he understands the game, but I never thought he had the patience to teach what he knows.

NashtyNas · Post #5 » by **NashtyNas** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:29 am

jackwindham wrote:I never would have pegged Rasheed Wallace to ever become a head coach. I know that he understands the game, but I never thought he had the patience to teach what he knows.

He was never a head coach, and I don't think he will ever be. Unless I'm missing something...

jackwindham · Post #6 » by **jackwindham** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:41 am

I'm not talking about just head coaches. I'm talking about just coaches in general. I'm under the impression that it takes a certain type of personality and mentality to be able to coach.

shangrila · Post #7 » by **shangrila** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:29 am

Being an assistant isn't as hard or demanding as being a head coach. So someone like Ewing being an assistant shouldn't surprise anyone; he obviously knew a lot about how to be successful at his position.

I'm much more surprised by people like Fisher getting hired as head coaches just because they were former players (admittedly Fisher is a puppet, but still). Playing the game doesn't qualify you to direct an entire team.

blind prophet · Post #8 » by **blind prophet** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:23 am

I could see Chris Paul giving it a whirl.

Kabookalu · Post #9 » by **Kabookalu** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:31 am

It's also even harder to guess who exactly will be great. Who thought Jeff Hornacek would be this good? Who thought Jason Kidd would be this bad?

SactoKingsFan · Post #10 » by **SactoKingsFan** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 9:47 am

I'm not really surprised that Sheed became an assistant coach. He has high BB IQ and players like him. It was clear Kidd and Fisher would eventually become coaches, but I didn't expect them to get high profile head coaching jobs right after retiring. Not sure if Kidd will ever be a decent coach. Fisher should be fine and become a good coach.

ElectricMayhem · Post #11 » by **ElectricMayhem** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:25 pm

Did anybody predict Laimbeer to coach women's teams to championships during the Bad Boys era?

....anyone?

Left Side Drive · Post #12 » by **Left Side Drive** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 3:54 pm

That's because we don't know what goes on in the locker room. Some of the role players can be leaders too as in vocal and on the drawing board. They have coaching tendencies but they don't appear to the general audience when they are only watching the broadcasted game.

Higga · Post #13 » by **Higga** » Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:38 pm

I never thought Rod Strickland would coach. He was such an immature knucklehead in Washington, but apparently he's now John Calipari's top assistant in Kentucky and has been instrumental in the development of his PGs.

jackwindham · Post #14 » by **jackwindham** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:55 am

I'm not too shocked about Hornacek. Always knew that he had a good mind for the game. He was basically a shooting guard with the intellect of a point guard.

BieberLUV · Post #15 » by **BieberLUV** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:45 am

great point guards like kidd, mark jackson and magic johnson are horrible coaches

it's like when people expect great pgs to be excellent head coaches, they fail

meanwhile coaches who were scrubs in their playing days like phil jackson, pop, riley turned out excellent as coaches

Winsome Gerbil · Post #16 » by **Winsome Gerbil** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:56 am

Rule has always been that smart limited skill roleplayers become the best coaches. And normally littler guys, maybe because they were up top having to see/run more of the offense, don't know. For the stars, the game came too easy for them, and they get easily frustrated trying to teach lesser talented guys things that they (the former great) just knew.

Obviously just freak athletes, selfish shot chasers etc. don't make for good coaching material. Nor dim guys.

Mike Miller might be a future coach. Udonis Haslem might be. Luke Ridnour. Nick Collison. I would say Andre Miller, but he seems like too big of an ass. Jameer Nelson maybe. Steve Blake. Maybe Mike Bibby. That type of guy.

ElectricMayhem · Post #17 » by **ElectricMayhem** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 4:17 am

Eagerly awaiting Coach Draymond...

The Laker Kid · Post #18 » by **The Laker Kid** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 5:07 am

Would love to see Panda Friend coaching a team like the Spurs

Hijinks · Post #19 » by **Hijinks** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:38 am

Choker wrote:It's also even harder to guess who exactly will be great. Who thought Jeff Hornacek would be this good? Who thought Jason Kidd would be this bad?

yeah and we are judging this on their WHOLE coaching career. All these months and days...

John Long · Post #20 » by **John Long** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:57 am

shangrila wrote:Being an assistant isn't as hard or demanding as being a head coach. So someone like Ewing being an assistant shouldn't surprise anyone; he obviously knew a lot about how to be successful at his position.

I'm much more surprised by people like Fisher getting hired as head coaches just because they were former players (admittedly Fisher is a puppet, but still). Playing the game doesn't qualify you to direct an entire team.

I'm surprised someone is surprised that Fisher became a head coach, I thought it was a forgone conclusion that he would be a head coach when he retires from playing basketball professionally.