5-time coaching champ left off NBA's Greatest 15 Coaches Ever list
Coaches are like referees. If they're good, woopie - they're supposed to be. But if they're bad, or even if the team is just not up to par for what can be a gazillion reasons, it's part of the job to expect the heat. So a panel of 43 current and past head coaches, along with contributions from the National Basketball Coaches Association, have chosen to honor the great coaches of the last 75 years with an assembled and definitive list. Again, they made it, so don't get mad at us.
15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History
COACHMAIN,TEAM, RECORD, WIN %, TITLES, COACH OF THE YEAR (* still active)
- Red Auerbach: Celtics, 823-426, 65.9%, 9, 1-time
- Larry Brown: 76ers, 1098-904, 54.8%, 1, 1-time
- Chuck Daly: Pistons, 638-437, 59.3%, 2, None
- Red Holzman: Knicks, 696-603, 53.6%, 2, 1-time
- Phil Jackson: Lakers/Bulls, 1155-485, 70.4%, 11, 1-time
- K.C. Jones: Celtics, 522-252, 67.4%, 2, None
- Steve Kerr*: Warriors, 417-184, 69.4%, 3, 1-time
- Don Nelson: Warriors/Bucks, 1335-1063, 55.7%, 0, 3-time
- Gregg Popovich*: Spurs, 1330-687, 65.9%, 5, 3-time
- Jack Ramsay: Blazers, 864-783, 52.5%, 1, None
- Pat Riley Heat: 1210-694, 63.6%, 5, 3-time
- Doc Rivers*: Celtics, 1024-725, 58.5%, 1, 1-time
- Jerry Sloan: Jazz, 1221-803, 60.3%, 0, None
- Erik Spoelstra*: Heat, 642-444, 59.1%, 2, None
- Lenny Wilkens: Sonics, 1332-1155, 53.6%, 1, 1-time
Snubs...
John Kundla: Lakers, 423-302, 63.2%, 5, None.
You clicked this to remind yourself/ learn of the legendary John Kundla. The 5-time champion who took over the Minneapolis Lakers at only 31 while living to grow as old as 101. He won 5 titles in a six-year stretch with George Mikan as his number one guy. Kundla was elected into the Hall Of Fame as a coach while mentoring another six Hall Of Fame players in his short 11 seasons. What has Doc Rivers done to surpass that?
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Rudy Tomjanovich: Rockets, 527-416, 55.9%, 2, None.
When you coach so hard you get hospitalized for exhaustion on numerous occasions, you'd think they would throw your name on a list like this. Rudy was such a 'players coach' that Pippen, Barkley, and Drexler all sent requests to play under him - and that’s in the ‘90s.
He won back-to-back championships in ‘94 and ‘95 on top of engineering a lousy squad to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. Rudy single-handedly altered the role of the ‘coach in the sports movie’ with his iconic, ‘Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion!’, it led to some of the best sports films ever like Friday Night Lights and Glory Road. Yes, I am giving credit to Rudy for this!
Mike D’Antoni: Suns, 672-527, 56%, 0, 2.
Was Jerry Sloan really a greater coach than Mike D’Antoni? You’d need a lot of evidence to knock the guy off with the fourth-most wins ever. Sloan had only one sub .500 season in his 23 seasons with Utah. We're talking about a guy who had the best 15-year stretch in basketball at one time.
He might not have a ring to show for it, but next to Stephen Curry, Mike D'Antoni completely changed the game. The abandonment of centers and five court shooters was Mike. If it wasn’t for the dreadful luck of Steve Nash, going up against the most stacked team in history and a Chris Paul injury, Mike would go down as a top five-er. Easy.
