Let's Rank NBA Coaches

DoDiGaG0

DoDiGaG0

Bench
your opinions...

Top Tier
1. Doc Rivers
2. Phil Jackson
3. Greg Popovich
4. Jerry Sloan
5. Larry Brown
6. Rick Adelman
7. Nate McMillan
8. Rick Carlisle
9. Mike Brown
10. Stan Van Gundy
11. George Karl
12. Scott Skiles
13. Mike D'Antoni
14. Scotty Brooks
15. Mike Woodsen
16. Alvin Gentry
17. Flip Saunders
18. Don Nelson
19. Lionel Hollins
20. Erik Spoelstra
21. Paul Westpahl
22. Jeff Bower [interm]
23. Jim O'Brien
24. Jay Triano
25. Kurt Rambis
26. Vinny Del Negro
27. John Kuester
28. Kiki Vandeweghe [interm]
29. Eddie Jordan
30. Kim Hughes[interm]


9999. Kenny Natt

I know im going to get flamed for Nelson at 18 but you know exactly what your going to get when you hire Don Nelson... + look at what the guys done with the players he's had this year..thats gotta be worth something..he's starting 3 NBDL players..
 
Phil
Papavich
Adelman

To me are the top 3 with credible history on drawing up the rite plays @ the rite time and getting wins for the team
 
I certainly would not rank Rivers #1 or probably in top 10. He did nothing of note until GM Ainge got him first Ray Allen and then Kevin Garnett. Now, as those super stars age he may soon be back where he was before, rather mediocre.

My top 5 would probably be in this order: Greg Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Phil Jackson, Rick Adelman, Stan Van Gundy (always thought he was far superior to his bro)

My bottom 5 would be (no particular order and not including interim coaches): Mike Brown (LeBron as player-coach if they don't win it all - now), Eddie Jordan, Don Nelson, Jim O'Brien, John Kuester

Some others of note, stuck in middle of pack: Larry Brown (too mercurial, self-centered for my taste - great teacher though), Scott Brooks (may get COY - but I'd vote Sloan), Paul Westphal (great teacher, cool head - COY on the horizon?), Nate McMillan (loaded with unlucky talent - we'll know by next season if he's one of the top tier coaches), Mike D'Antoni (he's good but if he gets LeBron he's great - right!?)
 
DoDiGaG0 said:
your opinions...

Top Tier
1. Doc Rivers
2. Phil Jackson
3. Greg Popovich
4. Jerry Sloan
5. Larry Brown
6. Rick Adelman
7. Nate McMillan
8. Rick Carlisle
9. LeBron James
10. Stan Van Gundy
11. George Karl
12. Scott Skiles
13. Mike D'Antoni
14. Scotty Brooks
15. Mike Woodsen
16. Alvin Gentry
17. Flip Saunders
18. Don Nelson
19. Lionel Hollins
20. Erik Spoelstra
21. Paul Westpahl
22. Jeff Bower [interm]
23. Jim O'Brien
24. Jay Triano
25. Kurt Rambis
26. Vinny Del Negro
27. John Kuester
28. Kiki Vandeweghe [interm]
29. Eddie Jordan
30. Kim Hughes[interm]
Click to expand...

Fixed number 9 for you. Also, top 2 needs to be Phil and Pop no doubt. Sloan and Brown should be 3 and 4, with Adelman rounding out the top 5. Karl should also be higher IMO.
 
kingsnation said:
Fixed number 9 for you. Also, top 2 needs to be Phil and Pop no doubt. Sloan and Brown should be 3 and 4, with Adelman rounding out the top 5. Karl should also be higher IMO.
Click to expand...


noted and agreed on most parts..

Mike Brown gets the benefit of the doubt because of his defensive coordination of how well his team plays...

Doc Rivers imo is far and away THE BEST coach when it comes to drawing up plays for a final shot(see last year v. bulls, and all of the 08 playoff run)

The huge knack of Brown is that he doesn't even run up his own final shot plays..its done by Micheal Malone..son of Brendan Malone..
 
Doc Rivers also benefits a lot from working with Tom Thibodeau, who's basically responsible for everything the Celts do on the defensive end. My top 5 would be Jackson, Poppovich, SvG (most definitely top 3, possibly top 2), Carlisle and Adelman. The bottom 5 I'm not quite sure about. The only thing I can say there with confidence is that Kurt Rambis is the absolutely worst coach that this league has to offer. So glad the Kings got Westphal, so glad.
 
1. Popovich

2. Sloan

3. Jackson

4 thru 29 the rest

30. Don Nelson. He just sits there and waits for the record to come.
With possible new owners at GS he might never get that chance.:o
 
DoDiGaG0 said:
Doc Rivers imo is far and away THE BEST coach when it comes to drawing up plays for a final shot(see last year v. bulls, and all of the 08 playoff run)
Click to expand...

I can draw up a play for the best pure shooter in the NBA. Doc Rivers is an average coach, at best. He'd be an ESPN analyst if not for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
 
Never been a fan of Rivers, and I don't think he is anywhere near a top 10 guy, but I think a great deal of this list shows just how much coaches benefit from getting the right players. Phil gets top 5 credit for managing some pretty nasty egos but I'd like to see him with an awful team to see how he does. Pop is tied to Duncan. I'd like to see him without Duncan, particularly if he his star player was more how shall we say, boisterous. I'd let him be top 5, but #5. Sloan definitely deserves his high ranking, as does Adelman who I'd put just below him and above Pop, for now. I might move Karl into the top 10, McMillan down a few notches and frankly Nellie into the top 15. Everyone below him pretty much would fall into the revolving door territory. At which point you evaluate how good a coach does at fulfilling a team's present need. Since I don't have the time to follow every team in the league, I can't really comment on that.
 
Not trying to be a homer, but part of me thinks that Westphal should be a little higher. Higher than Spoelstra, Hollins, and Mike Woodsen. He has coached a team to the finals, albeit nearly 20 years ago. And Doc Rivers is not the best coach in the NBA. Popovich is.
 
uolj said:
Is Sloan better than Adelman?
Click to expand...

They're both have similar records. I personally think Adelman is better because he's able to get teams to compete competitively despite the injuries.

They both lost two NBA finals.
Sloan did get two HOFs (Malone and Stockton).
I'm not sure if Rick ever gotten any on his team.
 
Jackson owns Pop in the playoffs. The one year that the Spurs beat the Jackson-coached Lakers, it was pretty close to a choke in game 5.
Game 5 Recap

For that, and the 10 rings, he's number one now and all time. I'll give Pop #2 for active coaches. There's plenty to fight for #3 and so on.
 
1 class: Popovich, Jackson, Sloan

2 class: Adelman, Carlisle, Brown, Van Gundy, Karl

3 class: McMillan, D'Antoni, Skiles, Westpahl, Saunders

The rest: Either too-young-to-be-chosen or dont-like-them-for-some-reasons coaches.
 
Rookie said:
They're both have similar records. I personally think Adelman is better because he's able to get teams to compete competitively despite the injuries.

They both lost two NBA finals.
Sloan did get two HOFs (Malone and Stockton).
I'm not sure if Rick ever gotten any on his team.
Click to expand...

Clyde drexler?
 
supamari0 said:
Clyde drexler?
Click to expand...
Yup, and ran into the Lakers and the Bulls, two of the best teams of all time, plus the Bad Boy Pistons. Yeah, he never won one, and he had a really good player on his team, but he lost to better teams with better players (Magic, MJ, Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars).

And then, ten years later, he had to contend with the Shaq/Kobe Lakers that only went on to three-peat, beating the Kings in the playoffs each of those three years. Kinda hard to knock Rick Adelman for not winning a championship once you consider the teams, players and coaches that he was losing to.
 
http://www.databasebasketball.com/leaders/leadershof.htm

All Time HOF Monitor Scores (Likely HOFer > 135)

Sloan
7. Karl Malone 501
37. John Stockton 194*
58. Artis Gilmore 140
--
100+. Reggie Theus 117
100+. Jeff Hornacek 115
100+. Tom Chambers 102
100+. Greg Ostertag 38

Adelman
46. Clyde Drexler 164*
59. Chris Webber 139
61. Tracy McGrady 136
--
67. Tim Hardaway 130
88. Buck Williams 121
90. Chris Mullin 120
100+. Latrell Sprewell 116
100+. Terry Porter 113
100+. Vlade Divac 105
100+. Mike Bibby 100
100+. Yao Ming 86
100+. Alaa Abdelnaby 0


*Already in HOF.
Note: Not necessarily a comprehensive list.
 
1. Larry Brown
2. Greg Popovich
3. Jerry Sloan
4. Rick Adelman
5. Stan Van Gundy
6. Rick Adelman
7. Nate McMillan
8. Doc Rivers
9. Rick Carlisle
10. Don Nelson
11. George Karl
12. Alvin Gentry
13. Scotty Brooks

After this, it gets sort of messy. Everyone will notice the lack of Phil, and that's because I consider him more a PR success than a coaching success. He's never learned how to defend a pick n roll and has been exposed by being thoroughly outcoached this past decade by better coaches.

I might have Adelman a little high. He's a great regular season coach, but he's been outcoached in the playoffs just as badly as Phil has. Oddly, he outcoached Phil last year with the Rockets and ended up losing just due to injuries. On the other hand, he let Don Nelson bait him into a run-n-gun series with the Mavs and lost because of it.

Nelson is a hard one to grade as well. He has outcoached others in the playoffs, but he has the dirt of being a 'gimmick' coach.

Larry Brown and Pop as the top two are easy picks. You could maybe switch them, but I give Larry credit for succeeding with multiple organizations and teams, being able to pull bad teams out of the scrum(Clippers and Bobcats) and take unheralded teams to win it all(Pistons). Pop is consistent and really knows how to pace a team for the playoffs, but I am curious to see how he handles the Spurs now that they are reaching rebuild time.
 
swisshh said:
1. Larry Brown
2. Greg Popovich
3. Jerry Sloan
4. Rick Adelman
5. Stan Van Gundy
6. Rick Adelman
7. Nate McMillan
8. Doc Rivers
9. Rick Carlisle
10. Don Nelson
11. George Karl
12. Alvin Gentry
13. Scotty Brooks

I might have Adelman a little high. He's a great regular season coach, but he's been outcoached in the playoffs just as badly as Phil has.
Click to expand...
Not only high on the list, but twice. ;)
 
Sloan
Jason Kidd
Kobe
Lebron
KG
Zen master
POP
Sloan's left fist
KARL
Westphal's honeymoon with the kings
Pat Riley
Mike Chezefski - he coached NBA players
DON NELSON
Larry Brown
Isiah Thomas
Nate Mcmillan
Adelman
Jay Z
in order
 
dbfish said:
1. Popovich

2. Sloan

3. Jackson
Click to expand...

Agreed. Popovich deserves special mention. He is incredible, not just with his coaching, but his personnel decisions. He runs the show in SA, and has done an outstanding job.

It's ridiculous that Sloan hasn't gotten coach of the year. Everybody talks about this or that player deserving to be on a championship team. Forget that. If you want to talk about justice, talk about Sloan not getting a Coach of the Year. It's absurd.
 
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