20 Greatest Coaches in NBA History #1

[penbeast0]

Who was the greatest coach of all time?

I am going with Phil Jackson. It's all about making the most of the talent given to you (it's not greatest GM of all time -- yet) and Phil won multiple titles with two of the most different teams ever to win.

First, he took that Bulls team with no center and good but not great PFs (Ho Grant and Dennis Rodman were terrific role players but not dominant bigs) that had never been able to get over the hump and won 6 titles with it. Yes, MJ and Pippen were terrific players but in the history of the league, no one has ever won with centers as weak as Cartwright/Longley . . . the only teams that are close are the Barry led Warriors team (Cliff Ray and George Johnson), possibly the Sikma led Sonics (very good player but probably won't ever make HOF), last year's Celtics (though Garnett was the dominant big in the league then) and the Pistons (either Bill Laimbeer or Ben Wallace -- both great defenders/rebounders but not stars). SA used Duncan as a center once DRob retired or they would count too.

Second, he took a great center led team, the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, and juggled the egos of two of the bigger prima donnas around to multiple titles (not that Jordan and Pippen weren't tough egos to build a team around too in their own prima donna ways).

Auerbach had Russell, and Russell actually was the coach on the most amazing run of the great Celtic dynasty. The next closest dynastic coach might just be Pop.

[randomhero423]

jeff van gundy

[rrravenred]

I'm more convinced by Red, but then again, he was also a de facto GM for a lot of the time and as described, he had one of the most influential players in history on the floor as his proxy. However, his Celtics teams were sublimely built, with role=players for every position (including scoring players, who today are not considered role players). And the fact that his teams were championship teams year-in and year-out for over a decade speaks in itself of the consistency of his message and the stability of his reign.

Phil's greatest strength in his first stint as Chicago coach was taking a very non-traditional team and melding it into an elite offensive (and more importantly) defensive unit. No shotblocking big and for that matter no really talented post defenders. Pip and Jordan were kings of help-D however, which is partially due to Phil's coaching. In his second stint, he had a team with more traditional strengths, but in hindsight his ability to juggle egos and bring in role-players who filled the gaps his superstars left was magnificent.

I'm still plumping for Red, I think, although it's certainly no lay-down misere.

[BrookLopez11]

Pop

[Harison]

I'm going with Red, he won 9 rings with several different cores and 7 more as GM. He helped to develop not only players, but coaches as well, who won multiple championships later (Russell, Heinsoh, K.C. Jones, Bill Sharman, etc). Red developed highly successful strategies as well, wasnt racist (it was important factor back in the days).

As for Phil, as much as respect his accomplishments, he isnt the best coach today, I would even argue he never was the best, although being in Top5 (some years in Top3) is more than good enough too. Currently better than him Pop, Larry, even Doc outcoached him last year, and Adelman/Mike Brown looks better in this years playoffs.

[penbeast0]

so, right now we stand at

Red Auerbach 2
Phil Jackson 1
Greg Popovich 1
RandomHero trying to be funny 1

[jeff1624]

jeff van gundy

+1

[manoyski]

Chuck Daly

[SuigintouEV]

Pat Riley

he doesn't have as many rings but you really have to see his great teams in action to be really impressed by what he's done.

we're talking about the greatest motivator ever, the guy who invented the attention to defensive detail we see in today's teams, a great x's and o's guy, and a guy who made weak teams look like title contenders. The 06 heat, the 94s knicks, i don't think these teams' talent were even close to thier level of actual success. If John Starks shoots any better than like 5% in game 7 he'd have won a ring with that team too.

Further, look at some of the good coaches in the league and a lot of them are riley proteges... Stan Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy, Eric Spoelstra, Iavaroni.

When I think of Phil Jackson, I think of an after-thought to great talent. Did Riley have that too, in the 80s? Sure. But he became the face of the knicks and heat IMO in the 90s.

[Roger Murdock]

Im going with Red.

[JordansBulls]

Phil Jackson has the success, however he has only won when he had the best player in the league on his team.

I would like to see what he could do with a team like the Blazers or Hornets.

[Baller 24]

Red, easily.

Are we allowed to mention Bill Russell? Who won two NBA championships as a player-coach.

[Warspite]

IMHO the greatest measure of a coach is how many coaches he produces. When you look at Red and see that 3 of his players won titles as a coach you see a long and fruitful coaching tree. My greatest question mark for Phil is how many head coaches he has made and I believe the answer is 0.

[Silver Bullet]

I'm going to vote for Larry Brown.

Has taken some insanely untalented teams to the playoffs. The only guy to win at both the College and NBA levels. His Detroit teams would not/could not have won a title with any other coach.

One of only two coaches (I think) to take the Clippers to the playoffs. Took a horrible Nets team to the 2nd round.

Greg Popovich will be the first guy to tell you that Larry Brown is his guru.

His teams average an improvement of 9 wins per seasons after he takes over.

I don't expect the rest of the cast here to vote for him because he did not lead his teams to "titles". But if you look at the rosters he has coached, you'll struggle to find even a single team that underachieved. You cannot say that about any other coach in history.

* 1973 Carolina Cougars: ABA Eastern Division regular season champions
* 1975 Denver Rockets: ABA Western Division regular season champions
* 1976 Denver Rockets: ABA regular season champions (single-division)
* 1977 Denver Nuggets: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1978 Denver Nuggets: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1980 UCLA: NCAA Championship Game
* 1986 Kansas: NCAA Final Four & Big Eight Conference Champions
* 1988 Kansas: NCAA National Champions
* 1990 San Antonio Spurs: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1991 San Antonio Spurs: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1995 Indiana Pacers: NBA Central Division Champions
* 2001 Philadelphia 76ers: NBA Eastern Conference Champions
* 2004 Detroit Pistons: NBA Champions
* 2005 Detroit Pistons: NBA Eastern Conference Champions

* College: 1 National Championship, 3 Final Fours in 7 seasons
* Pro: 1 Championship, 3 Conference Championships, 10 Division Championships, 25 Playoff appearances in 26 seasons
* 1,200 career NBA wins

[TheSheriff]

I'll take Red Here.

[Doctor MJ]

I go back & forth on this. I consider Red the best basketball mind in history, but how much credit do you give him as a coach when it's Red the GM who was arguably more valuable?

Today, I will pick Red though. When he picked Russell, it wasn't simply a matter of recognizing talent, it was recognizing what system he could build around that talent. I think you've got to credit Red the coach for the latter part, and building that system I think was less obvious that what Jackson has done.

I also like the point about Red's coaching tree. Such things aren't enough to close a major gap, but I think they're a great tiebreaker. It's why I think you can make a great case for Dean Smith as the best college coach not named John Wooden.

[Doctor MJ]

Actually I was assuming we were talking about pro coaches here, if not, I might have Wooden at #1.

[penbeast0]

I'm going to vote for Larry Brown.

Has taken some insanely untalented teams to the playoffs. The only guy to win at both the College and NBA levels. His Detroit teams would not/could not have won a title with any other coach.

One of only two coaches (I think) to take the Clippers to the playoffs. Took a horrible Nets team to the 2nd round.

Greg Popovich will be the first guy to tell you that Larry Brown is his guru.

His teams average an improvement of 9 wins per seasons after he takes over.

I don't expect the rest of the cast here to vote for him because he did not lead his teams to "titles". But if you look at the rosters he has coached, you'll struggle to find even a single team that underachieved. You cannot say that about any other coach in history.

* 1973 Carolina Cougars: ABA Eastern Division regular season champions
* 1975 Denver Rockets: ABA Western Division regular season champions
* 1976 Denver Rockets: ABA regular season champions (single-division)
* 1977 Denver Nuggets: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1978 Denver Nuggets: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1980 UCLA: NCAA Championship Game
* 1986 Kansas: NCAA Final Four & Big Eight Conference Champions
* 1988 Kansas: NCAA National Champions
* 1990 San Antonio Spurs: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1991 San Antonio Spurs: NBA Midwest Division Champions
* 1995 Indiana Pacers: NBA Central Division Champions
* 2001 Philadelphia 76ers: NBA Eastern Conference Champions
* 2004 Detroit Pistons: NBA Champions
* 2005 Detroit Pistons: NBA Eastern Conference Champions

* College: 1 National Championship, 3 Final Fours in 7 seasons
* Pro: 1 Championship, 3 Conference Championships, 10 Division Championships, 25 Playoff appearances in 26 seasons
* 1,200 career NBA wins

You left off his disastrous experience with Starbury and the Knicks . . . . that said, Brown has to be one of the top all-time, though it looks like Red Auerbach takes this one.

[KF10]

Red, easily.

Are we allowed to mention Bill Russell? Who won two NBA championships as a player-coach.

He also coached the Kings back in the 80s but he wasn't too successful.

[SuigintouEV]

You left off his disastrous experience with Starbury and the Knicks . . . .

What people tend to forget about that year is taht starbury started playing like larry brown wanted, but then got injured