OT - Coach Draft Big Board

[ElectricMayhem]

What would your coaching big board look like? If you had the opportunity to get any coach currently in the league, who would you go for? Rank all 30!

1. Gregg Popovich - I can understand the desire to stay away from him at #1 because he probably only has a few years left (and would probably retire immediately if this type of hypothetical coaching draft actually happened). Still, he's the type person you'd want to create a system and a culture....things that would last beyond his reign.
2. Rick Carlisle - I would've been happy giving Carlisle a lifetime contract. Would we have ended up with multiple championships? Zero? Who knows? What he's done in Detroit, Indiana, and Dallas is incredible.
3. Tom Thibodeau - What he's done both with and without Rose is incredible. Thibodeau's teams always come to battle and they are always great defensive teams.
4. Stan Van Gundy - The most prepared coach in the NBA. He and his brother just have a passion for this stuff and he will tirelessly work on studying tape, creating strategy, etc. He puts teams in the position to succeed.
5. Doc Rivers - One of the most respected NBA coaches. He thrives at building a winning culture and has achieved levels of success in Orlando, Boston, and with the Clippers.
6. Jeff Hornacek - This may be a bit high for a 1st year coach who has never even guided a team into the playoffs, but he got Phoenix playing so far above their talent level, you've got to be excited for his future in the league.
7. Lionel Hollins - The knock on him is that he is anti-analytics. It is also said that Memphis' success is Joerger's doing. That may be partially true, but I have Hollins ahead of Joerger because he handles his business and knows when and how to delegate. Memphis saw continued improvement under his watch, from doormat to contender. I loved his handling of Iverson. He may be old school, but there is still a place for him in the league.
8. Erik Spoelstra - One of the hardest guys to peg...When you have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, you're expected to win championships. He fulfilled that expectation, winning 2. Still, there are questions about his utilization of Bosh and his failings against better coaches. This year should give us a better indication of his mettle.
9. David Joerger - Success has followed him wherever he's gone. With one year as an NBA coach, it's hard to tell if that will continue. The rumors of Memphis not wanting him/sending him to Minnesota this offseason were strange, to say the least.
10. Steve Clifford - Another 1 year wonder. He went to a place that has been eating up and spitting out coaches for who knows how many years. He was able to take the talent they had and turn it into a winner. I don't know much about him, but he deserves respect for that.
11. Frank Vogel - Seemed like a rising star with Indiana's sudden dominance under his watch, but it's hard to look at him the same way after the team mentally crumbled over the 2nd half of the season. Still, he has reached a certain level of success and for a while it seemed like they were ready to supplant Miami even without any of the star power.
12. David Blatt - He could end up at the bottom of this list by the end of the year, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. He seems to have the ability to adapt, he's intelligent, and he's player-friendly. I think he'll rise to the top of the coaching profession - I'm just not sure enough to put him any higher than this.
13. Brad Stevens - Another potential pick. I love what Boston did with him - signing him to a long contract and allowing him to soak up the nuances of NBA coaching without putting any pressure on him. He built a great college program in the most surprising of places, but has nothing implying his skills will transfer to the NBA. Still, I think he'll end up a fine coach.
14. Dwane Casey - I didn't think he should've been fired in Minnesota. He over-achieved with them and he's helped build a strong Raptors team. I don't think he'll ever be an upper-echelon coach, but he's good.
15. Mike Budenholzer - I like what he did with Atlanta last year. He seemed to open up their offense and use their shooters well. They didn't fold when Horford went down. A Popovich protoge, I think he has a chance to be a strong coach in his own right.
16. Terry Stotts - Milwaukee was lousy under Stotts but worse after he left. He actually over-achieved with them. Then, he took a Portland team that most assumed wouldn't make the playoffs and turned them into one of the top teams for most of the season. I could almost talk myself into putting him a few slots higher.
17. Scott Brooks - He's gotten a lot of wins and traveled deep into the playoffs on numerous occasions. Still, that's not enough with the Thunder team he has. He seems to lack creativity and adaptability. His offense often resembles Mike Brown's old "give the ball to LeBron and get out of the way" offense. The sheer number of wins, playoff experience, and mulligans due to injuries beg for him to be higher on this list, but I'm also tempted to put him even lower.
18. Brian Shaw - He actually had a decent first year in a very difficult conference. They had a losing record, but with the addition of Afflalo and Harris, I could see his star start to shine a bit brighter in the future.
19. Flip Saunders - We know what he is. His teams play to their level....No higher, no lower. He was never able to win the big one with Garnett or the Pistons teams. Not a bad coach, but he has a low ceiling.
20. Brett Brown - We don't know what he is....at all. Just being a respected Popovich protoge, maybe I should have put him higher, but his team was terrible last year. Again, that's not his fault, the front office all but assured it. He's just a big question mark.
21. Monty Williams - I think he's a decent coach, but we need to see what he can do with rising talent and the emerging star he now has in the fold.
22. Michael Malone - The Kings had enough talent to be better than they were last year, but that's a tough team to coach. He did well fitting Gay into their scheme, but I'm not sold on him yet.
23. Derek Fisher - A dime a dozen pick. He's well respected among the players in the league, but I have no idea how his coaching chops will be.
24. Steve Kerr - Similar to Fisher, but he has already had a failed stint as a GM in Phoenix. One of the crossover requirements for GMs and coaches is talent evaluation. I'm not high on Kerr. His salary is absurd.
25. Byron Scott - Making the finals in NJ seems like a long time ago. That was far and away the most talented team in the East and his PG eventually turned on him. He hasn't had any success in his future jobs, either. Cleveland was a train wreck.
26. Quin Snyder - Well, he's probably in the state that has the least amount of cocaine in it, so that's a positive. He could very well turn into a good coach, and he's done well to rebrand himself, but I just don't see him being successful.
27. Kevin McHale - They had big expectations but couldn't deliver. McHale hasn't had terrible results, but he also hasn't shown the ability to successfully run a team.
28. Randy Wittman - He put together a nice year last year, but he has a long track record of losing. I'm not so sure he's figured it out as much as he has a team that fits well with his style - I wouldn't trust him in a new situation.
29. Jason Kidd - Up and down first season. The fact that he got things turned around in Brooklyn bode well for him. Then again, with the veterans on that team, they should've been able to run themselves. He's had too many negatives - wife beating, drunk driving, Lawrence Frank, backstabbing the organization - to put up with a guy who narrowly averted underachieving in his first year.
30. Jacque Vaughn - Nice enough guy, but Orlando has put together enough talent that they should have been more competitive than they were under him.

[FluffySockNinja]

Pretty good list.

When it's broken down like that it seems to me that there are a lot of very promising young coaches out there at the moment.




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[ElectricMayhem]

Pretty good list.

When it's broken down like that it seems to me that there are a lot of very promising young coaches out there at the moment.

Thank you. And I agree - I think we're starting to get a new crop of coaches. 5-10 years ago it seemed like it was an endless cycle of retreads. There really isn't as much of a dreadful bottom class as there used to be.

[ThirdMan]

I added mine on the GB. Although, I only ranked the top 5 and missed the "draft" portion of your post. I really should pay more attention. Anyways:

Pretty much this. However, I would include Van Gundy on the list. I think their is two tiers in that top 5 as well

1. Pop: The most influential coach in the league. Super successful (career winning percentage of 68.6%) and a great legacy.
2. Carlise: Career winning percentage of 58.8%. He's been successful for three different NBA teams. Only missed the playoffs twice in his career. Lastly, I'm sure no one's forgotten him completely outcoaching the Heat in the Finals.

3. Thibs: Career winning percentage of 65.7% althought it's been a short career thus far. He's had to deal with a lot of injuries but always keeps his guys motivated and playing elite defense.
4. Van Gundy: Career winning percentage of 64.1% with two different (soon to be three) different teams. Has a knack for getting non-defensive players to play team defense at an elite level. Not to mention getting Howard and the rest of that Orlando team to the Finals was impressive.
5. Rivers: I'm sure some people would be aghast at me ranking him this low but I think the others did more with less. He's only missed the playoffs a few times but only has one Championship to show for his Celtics teams. Career winning percentage of 56.4%.

Honestly, no one else in the league right now has proven that they need to be heavily discussed. Those five guys are the difference makers when in comes to coaches.

[A_dub06]

Decent list!

I would change the top 4 around though...

Pop
Rivers
Thibs
Carlisle-SVG

I feel that that SVG and Carlisle are exchangeable at #4. I guess the season will tell!


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[The Penguin]

In my opinion there's a pretty clear top 5 and after that it gets into personal preference.

Outside of the top 5, I like Stevens a lot, Spo deserves a mention for having 2 titles, Blatt seems interesting but I wonder how well his style will really play out and how long will it last, Hornacek did a heck of a job last year, Clifford & Budenholzer also did well last year but could be one year wonders.

I think Hollins is a bit overrated, it doesn't exactly take a genius to figure out "Let's dump it in to Gasol & Randolph and have them bully people while being surrounded by shooters".

It's basically:

Group 1 - Coaches we know are good and capable of winning titles
Group 2 - Coaches we don't know enough about and seem interesting
Group 3 - Coaches destined to move every 3-4 years and coach a few teams before wearing out their welcome

[Lionlifer]

I have never been all that impressed with Rivers, so I'm in the minority who would move him lower onto the list. Outside of Orlando (which wasn't really all that bad), dude has had some really impressive teams, and I don't get the vibe that he took the team to new heights like I do with Pop, Carlisle, and Thibs.

After some bad years in Boston, he had the original big 3, then CP3/Blake, dude has had some serious talent.

Maybe my hate of the Celtics is showing

[DBC10]

Pop is HoF and easily top 3 GOAT so he's an simple decision.

Then the list and chasm becomes a bit more wider after Carlisle and even then, Carlisle is 2 to 3 steps down in caliber while the others are easily more than that. But pretty much a good list.

[Entourage27]

Popovic is the greateat coach of all time. He had it the hardest and didn't have rings basically given to him. Red Aurbach coached Bill Russell when he was the only 6'10 black guy around in a 6'5 White guy at Center type league. Phil had Jordan and Pippen, then he had Shaq and Kobe, and lastly Kobe, Pau, and Bynum. All pop had was one team and one player in what might be the greatest dynasty of all time winning at 99, 03, 05, 07 AND 14. Thats like 3 diff eras yet one exact same team. Pop had it the hardest and yet still always seemed to have it down and get the job done. If he isn't the GOAT idk who would be because no other coach strikes me like Pop does. Pop right now is in his own tier of coaches. Anyways here is my top 6 (with tiers)

Tier 1
1. Pop
Look above. Oh and he beat the F'ing Heat!! He deserves his own tier.

Tier 2
2. Doc
With a ring on his finger and consistently building contenders with different teams he has cemented himself in everybody's top 5. He just happens to be number 2 on my own list. I like the toughness, competitiveness, and passion he brings with a killer defense always on the court at all times.
3. Carlisle
He's always been in contention since 03. Built great teams every where he coached and has a ring on his finger as well. The man went 7 games with the Spurs which also speaks to how disciplined he has his teams.

Tier 3
4. Thibs
I would have SVG above him here but he hasn't coached in a while. Thibs being a seed from the plant of Doc Rivers, brings toughness, hustle and defense to a whole new level as his team has been in the top 5 of those categories year in and year out with or without Rose and always translates to W's. After Rose went out this year the Bulls FO F'd him by trading his 3rd best player in Deng yet he still found a rotation and made things work.
5. SVG
If this man wins a ring he will catapult to number 2 on my list. He doesn't even analyze game film, strategy, etc. He disects them. Always looking to build and get better and always looking for the upper hand when it comes to schemes that he puts together. In Orlando he gets noticed for his wonderful inside out offense but it was in actuality his defense that was the reason of success he had over there. That just speaks to how balanced and great his team played on both ends of the floor. Also, When was the last time Dwight was even in consideration of being a DPOY?
6. Spoelstra
He doesn't strike me to be a great coach and I guess we will really find out this upcoming season but my bet is that he flops. Him being here is only for the sole reason he has 2 rings. He's one of the 4 current coaches with a ring. But hey how hard could it be when you have Lebron, Wade, Bosh all in there prime together on one team? I think I could've coached this team to 2 rings just as easily as Spoelstra did and I am not exaggerating one bit right now.

P.S. I don't agree with the OP having Kidd at 29. I would have him in my top 15 for sure. With all the antics that happened to Kidd I don't think he should be that low. He won a playoff series against the Raptors which is tough to do especially in his first year coaching. He lost arguably his best player in Brook Lopez. He also had the best record in the NBA from Jan. 1st till the end of the regular season. The dude is impressive and him getting out of Brooklyn and the New York media to go to Milwaukee and have a whole bunch of young kids listening to him he will have an impressive year. Watch out for the future as this bucks team will soon be a power house in the East. I'll give it about 4 years for them.

[Ghost]

Think you're really hating on Kidd. I'd probably put Rivers a little higher as well.

Cool idea for a thread though, I might make a list if I got some time later.

[ThirdMan]

P.S. I don't agree with the OP having Kidd at 29. I would have him in my top 15 for sure. With all the antics that happened to Kidd I don't think he should be that low. He won a playoff series against the Raptors which is tough to do especially in his first year coaching. He lost arguably his best player in Brook Lopez. He also had the best record in the NBA from Jan. 1st till the end of the regular season. The dude is impressive and him getting out of Brooklyn and the New York media to go to Milwaukee and have a whole bunch of young kids listening to him he will have an impressive year. Watch out for the future as this bucks team will soon be a power house in the East. I'll give it about 4 years for them.

I completely agree. I'm not a fan of his as a person (from what little I know about his life) but I thought he did a solid job as a coach. He's still young for a coach and made some mistakes in his first year. However, when you look at the year as a whole I think you could judge it as succesful. I also think he turns it around in Milwaukee.

[ComboGuardCity]

Lots of unique snowflakes on the GB thread who like to criticize without any thought behind it. The masters of intellect.


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[epheisey]

The top 3 are pretty much locks. After that it's a toss up.

On JKidd though...I would have a hard time putting him any higher than 20. Just overall, he seemed to do a very poor job of managing the team as a whole. The Lawrence Frank incident was sketchy, how terrible the team played at the start of the season, basically cheating an extra TO in the cup spilling incident, he just seemed to drag the team down.

A good coach utilizes the talent he has, and Kidd, like it or not, had quite a bit of talent on that roster, even with the injuries. Granted a few of the guys were older, but there wasn't a shortage of guys who could contribute solid minutes off the bench. His whole time in Brooklyn just seems awful all around, from the way it started to the way it finished.

[tmorgan]

Regarding JKidd...

D-Bag and Good Coach are not mutually exclusive. Case in point, Larry Brown.

(Kidd hasn't shown enough to labeled "Good Coach", either, but he could be)

[tmorgan]

Oh, and ElectricMayhem...

Props for being the only person I can think of on this board that consistently posts things worth reading. There are other quality posts, of course, but you always bring it.

To anyone else -- if you think I'm insulting you, then I probably am.

[TurboTitan]

great list but Hornacek is soo overrated

[ElectricMayhem]

I got some good responses here and a couple on the GB as well. If I were to redo this, I would probably rearrange 13-16 to Stotts, Budenholzer, Casey, Stevens. I would also jump Vogel over Clifford and move Kidd up to somewhere around 26 (he still hasn't shown enough talent to make up for all of his red flags).

[ElectricMayhem]

great list

Thanks.

but Hornacek is soo overrated

It could be. It's entirely possible that the pieces just all come together in the right way and at the right time for Phoenix to come out of nowhere. Still, I wouldn't think twice about drafting Hornacek 6th in a coaching draft. The top 5 are certifiable proven talents. Beyond that, you have a various array of proven talent with warts, potential, and system guys. My next pick would definitely be the guy that got Dragic, Plumlee, Green, and the Morris twins to play like they've never played before.

[ElectricMayhem]

Oh, and ElectricMayhem...

Props for being the only person I can think of on this board that consistently posts things worth reading. There are other quality posts, of course, but you always bring it.

To anyone else -- if you think I'm insulting you, then I probably am.

Thanks for the kind words.

[Pharaoh]

I think most know I'm a SVG fan so it will come as no surprise that I'd put him 3rd behind Pop and Carlisle.

Thibs is 4th because I believe he doesn't use his bench enough during the regular season and runs his starters into the ground.

Yes he puts his best players on the floor and that produces results but it's a delicate balance between playing your starters "too much" and developing your bench that Pop has mastered

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