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The 20 Greatest NBA Coaches Poll
1. Red Auerbach
2. Phil Jackson
3. Pat Riley
4. Greg Popovich
5. Larry Brown
6. Chuck Daly
7. Red Holzman

My personal favorite -- Doug Moe?

Lenny WIlkens 32 years (8 with Seattle) / 1x Coach of the Year / 1 championship (Seattle)
Career NBA 2487 1332 1155 .536

Don Nelson 29 years (11 with Milwaukee) / 3x Coach of the Year / no championships
Career NBA 2316 1309 1007 .565

Jerry Sloan 23 years (20 with Utah) / no championships
Career NBA 1888 1137 751 .602

Jack Ramsay 21 Years (10 with Portland) / 1 championship (Portland)
Career NBA 1647 864 783 .525

Rick Adelman 18 years (8 with Sacramento) / no championships
Career NBA 1397 860 537 .616

Alex Hannum 16 years (never more than 3 with a team) / 2x Coach of Year (one ABA) / 3 championships (St. Louis Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, ABA Oakland Oaks)
Career TOT 1213 649 564 .535

Slick Leonard 14 years (12 with Indiana)/ 3 championships (Indiana ABA)
Career TOT 1107 573 534 .518

Rudy Tomjanovich 13 years (12 with Houston)/ 2 championships (Houston)
Career NBA 943 527 416 .559

John Kundla 11 years (11 with Minnesota)/ 5 championships (1 BAA)
Career TOT 725 423 302 .583

K.C. Jones 11 years (5 with Boston) / 2 championships (Boston)
Career TOT 858 552 306 .643

Bill Sharman 10 years (5 with LA Lakers) / 2x Coach of the Year (1 ABA) / 2 championships (1 Utah ABA, 1 LA Lakers)
Career TOT 819 466 353 .569


Anyone else that people feel strongly enough about to vote for as their choice for 6th greatest coach of all time?

I will tentatively vote for John Kundla . . . 5 titles in 11 years is MJ level winning. And unlike players, coaching really can only be compared to one's peers. Also considered -- Hannum, Sharman

Don Nelson.

Frank Layden. He took a team in financial crisis and in danger of moving out of Utah, and turned that team into a solid playoff team for years to come. Unheralded players like Mark Eaton and Ricky Green became all-star players. During his tenure, Karl Malone and John Stockton were drafted and received national recognition when they took the Lakers to the brink of elimination.

short tenure with no titles though

penbeast0 wrote:short tenure with no titles though

Sloan and Nelson are in consideration, but they don't have titles either. Layden took a team that was in financial crisis and built a solid playoff team. He was head coach for 7.5 years. Sloan failed to take the next step, which is to take a solid playoff team and win the championship. In fact the Jazz regressed under Sloan's leadership his first two years as head coach as the Jazz were eliminated in the first round his first two years of head coach, even though the Jazz were the higher seed both times.

I don't know how much of a hand Layden had in acquiring the players that he did. Between Dantley, Stockton, and Malone, he had pretty good talent to work with. also i can't in good conscience vote for a guy with a career .485 win percentage for the #8 coach of all time.

for my over-ranked yet somehow deserving coach i nominated Rick Adelman. Every team he touches is a 50 win team - and if wasn't for some iffy officiating, he'd have a ring.

AS I see it, there are 3 basic criteria for coaching greatness:

(a) titles . . . Kundla was coach of the 3rd greatest dynasty in NBA history with 5 rings
(b) consistent excellence . . . Sloan and Nelson have over 20 years of coaching each with winning percentages over .550 . . . over that long, it isn't just the players you started with . . . and, you notice neither has made it yet
(c) the ability to win with many different personnel and challenges (a problem I have with Jack Ramsey who is the epitome of system coaches; lots of great players couldn't fit in to his system)

Layden was great fun, super quotable, did a very good job in his short tenure, but doesn't meet any of the three criteria for greatness

Adelman is a nice addition to the list. Anyone who can coach a winning team built around Chris Webber has my respect.

John Kundla

I'm going to vote for Don Nelson too. One of the most innovative coaches to ever step foot on the hardwood. I hope people don't start overrating Rudy T, because he won two titles. He couldn't hold a candle to some of the other coaches here.

And we don't know anything about John Kundla.

True . . . but 5 titles in 11 years means he has to go somewhere and this seems about right

I'm not exactly a Coach expert, but agree with Penbeast, 5 titles in 11 years must surely get some recognition. #8 is probably fair.

Kundla 3
Nelson 2
others 1 each (not sure whether that is a vote for Adelman or just a request to add him to the list)

I'll take Hannum at this spot. The move he did with Wilt was just great.

it was more of a motion to add him to consideration. getting his name in there early so he'll be recognized later.

i don't have any problem voting for kundla by giving him the benefit of the doubt in winnint 4/10 against cousy and dolph schayes.