Top 5 Coaches in the NBA

[Budadiiii]

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Rick Carlisle
3. Erik Spoelstra
4. Tom Thibodeau
5. Doc Rivers

HM: Frank Vogel, Derek Fisher, Stan Van Gundy

[Jlamb47]

1.Gregg Popp
2.Rick Carlsie
3.Tom Thibodeau
4.Doc Rivers
5.Stan van gundy

[lilteapot]

Pretty much my list.

[j3lademaster]

1. Pop


2. Carlisle

3. Thibs
4. Doc
5. Hornacek

[riseagainst]

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Rick Carlisle
3. Erik Spoelstra
4. Tom Thibodeau
5. Doc Rivers

HM: Frank Vogel, Derek Fisher, Stan Van Gundy


:lol

[Fudge]

You forgot David Blatt, dude. I think he's right behind Pop.

[AirTupac]

You forgot David Blatt, dude. I think he's right behind Pop.

Tell us all about him please.

[ralph_i_el]

This thread is already a fail due to lack of Mike Budenholzer

Pop
Carlisle
Thibs
Budenholzer
and VAAAN GUNDY (http://youtu.be/bcHI-IrCu5s?t=20s)

I can't think of either of the Van Gundys without thinking about this commercial

[SOD 21]

It is easily:

1. Scott Brooks
2. Scott Brooks
3. Scott Brooks
4. Scott Brooks
5. Scott Brooks

[Fudge]

Tell us all about him please.
GOAT Euro coach. Nuff said.

[Taller than CP3]

How can you mention Derek Fisher when he hasn't even coached a game yet

[Budadiiii]

GOAT Euro coach. Nuff said.
He's got that Russian discipline. Should have added him to my HM list.

I added Fisher because in 5 years, he will be a top 3 head coach.

Fisher will go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time in my estimation.

[Budadiiii]

How can you mention Derek Fisher when he hasn't even coached a game yet
Because threads like this should have some thought into the future...

He's gonna be an all-time great coach. Just wanted to get his name out there and make it known that I'm an advocate for D Fish.

[ArbitraryWater]

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Rick Carlisle
3. Doc Rivers
4. Tom Thibodeau
5. Stan Van Gundy



Carlisle is a ****in' boss :pimp:

[IncarceratedBob]

Dude said SPO..

Let's get this straight, dude was nothing before LBJ and will be nothing after. He's an idiot.

[lilteapot]

Dude said SPO..

Let's get this straight, dude was nothing before LBJ and will be nothing after. He's an idiot.
He's a good coach. Stubborn at times, but he's a very very good coach.

[wally_world]

DFish :facepalm

Hasnt even coached a real game

[r0drig0lac]

1- Pop
2- Carlisle
3- Rivers
4- Thibodeau
5- Spoelstra

[JT123]

It is easily:

1. Scott Brooks
2. Scott Brooks
3. Scott Brooks
4. Scott Brooks
5. Scott Brooks
This.

[Genaro]

Pop
Carlisle
Thibs
Van Gundy
Doc

[T_L_P]

Pop
Carlisle

Stan Van
Bud
Hornacek

[kurple]

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Rick Carlisle
3. Erik Spoelstra
4. Tom Thibodeau
5. Doc Rivers

HM: Frank Vogel, Derek Fisher, Stan Van Gundy
Fisher?

Pop
Carlisle
Thibs
Vogel
Doc/Van Gundy

[tamaraw08]

Dude said SPO..

Let's get this straight, dude was nothing before LBJ and will be nothing after. He's an idiot.

wow, really.
He took Miami led by Wade and a bunch of role players to the playoffs 2 straight years before LBJ.
Nothing eh?
11th best in defensive rating before Bosh and LBJ in 2008.
The following year still without LBJ and Bosh, Miami in 2nd best in fewest pts allowed and 6th best in defensive rating, so umm nothing?:facepalm :facepalm

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Pop
Carlisle
Thibs
Spo
Stan Van or Hornacek

[Lebronxrings]

pop
thibs
brooks
doc
carlisle
Vogel
SVG
dfish
kerr
hollins

[RoundMoundOfReb]

Scott Brooks and Henry Abbott are the greatest basketball minds of our generation.

[atljonesbro]

1. Pop
2. Budenholzer
3. Carlisle
4. Van Gundy
5. Rivers

[IncarceratedBob]

Scott Brooks and Henry Abbott are the greatest basketball minds of our generation.
I'm not sure what year it was but the last time the Wizards had a coach opening they wanted to bring in Hank Abbott as a head coach. Mind you that this dude has ZERO coaching experience. Abbott declined, saying that he loved journalism too much.

[ArbitraryWater]

All the Doc mentions though.. perception changed.

[Naero]

For my own list, I'll disconsider any coaches that were recently relieved but remain unemployed in the NBA-coaching role; that exludes Tom Thibodeau, who's otherwise a shoo-in for my list.

1. Gregg Popovich.

No coach's fingerprints are more prominent on a successful team than coach Pop.'s, who manages to maximize his role-players' productions with his team's traditionalistic ball-movement flair and effective team-defense schemes. Additionally, he's managed to engender longevity to his team through judicious minutes management, keeping Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili contributing effectually at ages whereat most would have retired by now.

In what's rumoredly among his last seasons contingent on his 16-year-long player's retirement in Tim Duncan, we'll need to continue appreciating his workmanship while time is numbered for how long we can behold it.

2. Steve Kerr.

This is more bold, as we are only working with a sample size with this sophomoric coach. However, improving his predecessor's (Mark Jackson's) team on both ends of the floor and consequently a 16-win improvement with virtually the same roster has me convinced that it's no fluke--with a championship run, wherein he's made his fair share of adjustments to persevere when adversity hit his team.

I had confidence in his coaching ability from the outset of his hire, after having listened to much of his insightful commentary for many years prior, and the carryover was immediately evinced. Now that he's sidelined, his efficacy on the team will be sorely missed as the Warriors expectantly get off to a rocky start this season.

3. Jason Kidd.

For a team that was expected to rebuild in tanking mode for years, he led his Bucks to stun the NBA world by making the playoffs and even sitting comfortably in the HCA-seeding territory before injuries and a mid-season roster turnover ensued.

While I had misgivings about him after underachieving with the Nets for much of last season, he has dispelled them and convinced me that he's traversed the learning curve of NBA-coaching well, as he exemplified overachievement with what many thought was a lost-cause roster last season--by plunging it to one of the league-best defensive teams, I might add.

Looking forward to seeing his new center long of overachievement this season with signee Greg Monroe and hopefully a healthy Jabari Parker.

4. Doc Rivers.

One of the best motivators in the league, which is more revealable as his sound bites are played from timeouts and locker-room speeches.

While he has too often let his players become complacent and give up commanding leads, which is the biggest change that must happen for this team to get over the hump IMO, it still can't completely detract away from the fact that he overachieved with his overrated roster to even land in a position to succeed to begin with.

5. Mike Budenholzer.

While I thought he didn't deserve his Coach of the Year award--Steve Kerr did, but it wasn't that disgraceful of a snub nonetheless--I still am able to see why he vaulted himself in contention for it--deservedly so.

He has overachieved in the regular season with a generous stretch against injury-plagued teams and/or ones on the latter unit of back-to-back ones, and I won't hasten myself to forget his remiss impact in the playoffs. But you can't let recency bias cloud the fact that he had a wealth of success in capitalizing on his team's schedule and leading Atlanta to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Plus, he's accomplished it without a clear-cut superstar--a commodity that even some GOAT-candidate coaches couldn't get over the hump
without.

We'll see if the bumpy playoff run was just a growing pain for this team or illustrative of their overachievement; but at the very least, it feels safe to conclude that Buldenholzer's job is deservedly safe.

[T_L_P]

Pop needs a bounceback this season.

He got outcoached by Glenn and basically said he couldn't wait to get away from basketball...mid-Playoffs.

Wasted a great Kawhi/Duncan season with his arrogance (not benching Tony Parker for an on-fire Mills just because Patty was in his 'dog house' during the Regular Season) and boredom for the game.

[T_L_P]

For my own list, I'll disconsider any coaches that were recently relieved but remain unemployed in the NBA-coaching role; that exludes Tom Thibodeau, who's otherwise a shoo-in for my list.

1. Gregg Popovich.

No coach's fingerprints are more prominent on a successful team than coach Pop.'s, who manages to maximize his role-players' productions with his team's traditionalistic ball-movement flair and effective team-defense schemes. Additionally, he's managed to engender longevity to his team through judicious minutes management, keeping Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili contributing effectually at ages whereat most would have retired by now.

In what's rumoredly among his last seasons contingent on his 16-year-long player's retirement in Tim Duncan, we'll need to continue appreciating his workmanship while time is numbered for how long we can behold it.

2. Steve Kerr.

This is more bold, as we are only working with a sample size with this sophomoric coach. However, improving his predecessor's (Mark Jackson's) team on both ends of the floor and consequently a 16-win improvement with virtually the same roster has me convinced that it's no fluke--with a championship run, wherein he's made his fair share of adjustments to persevere when adversity hit his team.

I had confidence in his coaching ability from the outset of his hire, after having listened to much of his insightful commentary for many years prior, and the carryover was immediately evinced. Now that he's sidelined, his efficacy on the team will be sorely missed as the Warriors expectantly get off to a rocky start this season.

3. Jason Kidd.

For a team that was expected to rebuild in tanking mode for years, he led his Bucks to stun the NBA world by making the playoffs and even sitting comfortably in the HCA-seeding territory before injuries and a mid-season roster turnover ensued.

While I had misgivings about him after underachieving with the Nets for much of last season, he has dispelled them and convinced me that he's traversed the learning curve of NBA-coaching well, as he exemplified overachievement with what many thought was a lost-cause roster last season--by plunging it to one of the league-best defensive teams, I might add.

Looking forward to seeing his new center long of overachievement this season with signee Greg Monroe and hopefully a healthy Jabari Parker.

4. Doc Rivers.

One of the best motivators in the league, which is more revealable as his sound bites are played from timeouts and locker-room speeches.

While he has too often let his players become complacent and give up commanding leads, which is the biggest change that must happen for this team to get over the hump IMO, it still can't completely detract away from the fact that he overachieved with his overrated roster to even land in a position to succeed to begin with.

5. Mike Budenholzer.

While I thought he didn't deserve his Coach of the Year award--Steve Kerr did, but it wasn't that disgraceful of a snub nonetheless--I still am able to see why he vaulted himself in contention for it--deservedly so.

He has overachieved in the regular season with a generous stretch against injury-plagued teams and/or ones on the latter unit of back-to-back ones, and I won't hasten myself to forget his remiss impact in the playoffs. But you can't let recency bias cloud the fact that he had a wealth of success in capitalizing on his team's schedule and leading Atlanta to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Plus, he's accomplished it without a clear-cut superstar--a commodity that even some GOAT-candidate coaches couldn't get over the hump
without.

We'll see if the bumpy playoff run was just a growing pain for this team or illustrative of their overachievement; but at the very least, it feels safe to conclude that Buldenholzer's job is deservedly safe.

Nice write up, but I think SVG deserves a place up there (though he's debatable).

My real issue is: no Carlisle?

[Naero]

Dude said SPO..

Let's get this straight, dude was nothing before LBJ and will be nothing after. He's an idiot.

I don't understand the flak that's funneled Spoelstra's way, apart from first-impression bias and those LeBron stans who try to emasculate his role in the championship-contention squads. Evidently, I don't consider him a top-five coach in the league, but I don't see why he's that disreputed that he's be scoffed at for such an opinion; for those who strongly think t is, I'd like to see them enunciate why.

He inherited a team and train-wreck culture that even a GOAT-candidate coach in Pat Riley, and he put up competitive Series in the immediate string of playoff series; the only one wherein he commandingly lost was to the eventual Eastern Conference finalist in the Celtics, who won in 5 games.

When he got off to a rocky start in the immediacy of Miami's Big Three formation, that's when his seat started to warm up--when his team employed a haphazard offense that was party causative to their shaky start, culminating in the "shoulder bump" by a frustrated LeBron. However, rather than forcing his team to conform to a preset offensive system, he used naturalistic observation to see his team gravitate to their comfort zones before hitting the drawing board to systematize an offense for them to operate in cohesively.

To summarize his quandary: he had to gel together a team by finding defined directions for a ball-dominant LeBron--who forces any offensive system to change drastically--in his new team, convincing the previous leader in Wade to cede up much of his usage rating, and for Chria Bosh--who was accustomed to leadership in Toronto for years--to embrace the third-wheel peg in the pecking not order.

He's excelled both at ego-massaging and Xs-and-Os, which not just any coach can do, and it's unlikely that we see Miami string together four finals appearances--sandwiching in two championships--without that well-coached leadership.

Under Mike Brown, LeBron only managed to carry his team up until the point where his team encountered a respectable coach, wherein they lost every time; that wasn't the case with Spoelstra, who managed to get the best of Tom Thinodeau's, Frank Vogel's and--more narrowly--Gregg Popovich's teams at times.

Spoelstra has been questionable on the long haul of last season, but you have to remember that his team has overachieved until the injury bug hit, and that it also takes time for teams to solidify a new identity whenever a player as ball-dominant as LeBron leaves. Now that he's uad enough time to do so and has a hopefully healthy core to work with, ai'd wage a hefty amount that a reasonably healthy team under his coaching is vaulted right back into the playoffs--and perhaps life than just also-rans at that.

[dhsilv]

I've never really gotten all the doc love. He was a running joke in his early years on the Celtrics. He won a title once he had a group of vets who very well might have just been coaching themselves. KG was amazing as a leader for those teams. Was doc even the architect behind that team's defense or was it one of his assistants? Since going to the Clippers, we've had a lot of mixed results. Chris Paul IS among the best point guards to ever play the game, Blake is a physical freak, and Jordan is well beyond an average big in today's game. The clippers had a hell of a first round, only to completely choke against the rockets.

Doc seems like a nice guy and players seem to like him, but when it comes to X's and O's I'm missing something I guess?

And I'll join in on the love for our 3 new 90's guards now doing work as coaches in the nba. I'm expecting big things for the suns, bucks and warriors this coming year.

[Naero]

Nice write up, but I think SVG deserves a place up there (though he's debatable).

My real issue is: no Carlisle?

Carlisle would likely crack my honorable-mentions list if I did footnote one, but last year wasn't one of his best coaching-wise.

His team left much to be desired defensively, and his ego-massaging was questionable considering his public clashes with Rajon Rondo. Most coaches are bound to have run-ins here and there with the mercurial Point Guard; but in Carlisle's case, it seems he was closer to exacerbating it than he was to mediating it, as it culminated into suspending Robdo from on-court participation for the first time in his career during the playoffs.

Overall, I still think he's a great Xs-and-Os coach and the right man at the helm of the Mavericks team moving into the future, but his exclusion of ye list is more so a testament to new league-beat coaches on the rise much more than it is an indictment to Carlise's coaching.

[Fudge]

FREE THE OP!

[ShawkFactory]

For my own list, I'll disconsider any coaches that were recently relieved but remain unemployed in the NBA-coaching role; that exludes Tom Thibodeau, who's otherwise a shoo-in for my list.

1. Gregg Popovich.

No coach's fingerprints are more prominent on a successful team than coach Pop.'s, who manages to maximize his role-players' productions with his team's traditionalistic ball-movement flair and effective team-defense schemes. Additionally, he's managed to engender longevity to his team through judicious minutes management, keeping Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili contributing effectually at ages whereat most would have retired by now.

In what's rumoredly among his last seasons contingent on his 16-year-long player's retirement in Tim Duncan, we'll need to continue appreciating his workmanship while time is numbered for how long we can behold it.

2. Steve Kerr.

This is more bold, as we are only working with a sample size with this sophomoric coach. However, improving his predecessor's (Mark Jackson's) team on both ends of the floor and consequently a 16-win improvement with virtually the same roster has me convinced that it's no fluke--with a championship run, wherein he's made his fair share of adjustments to persevere when adversity hit his team.

I had confidence in his coaching ability from the outset of his hire, after having listened to much of his insightful commentary for many years prior, and the carryover was immediately evinced. Now that he's sidelined, his efficacy on the team will be sorely missed as the Warriors expectantly get off to a rocky start this season.

3. Jason Kidd.

For a team that was expected to rebuild in tanking mode for years, he led his Bucks to stun the NBA world by making the playoffs and even sitting comfortably in the HCA-seeding territory before injuries and a mid-season roster turnover ensued.

While I had misgivings about him after underachieving with the Nets for much of last season, he has dispelled them and convinced me that he's traversed the learning curve of NBA-coaching well, as he exemplified overachievement with what many thought was a lost-cause roster last season--by plunging it to one of the league-best defensive teams, I might add.

Looking forward to seeing his new center long of overachievement this season with signee Greg Monroe and hopefully a healthy Jabari Parker.

4. Doc Rivers.

One of the best motivators in the league, which is more revealable as his sound bites are played from timeouts and locker-room speeches.

While he has too often let his players become complacent and give up commanding leads, which is the biggest change that must happen for this team to get over the hump IMO, it still can't completely detract away from the fact that he overachieved with his overrated roster to even land in a position to succeed to begin with.

5. Mike Budenholzer.

While I thought he didn't deserve his Coach of the Year award--Steve Kerr did, but it wasn't that disgraceful of a snub nonetheless--I still am able to see why he vaulted himself in contention for it--deservedly so.

He has overachieved in the regular season with a generous stretch against injury-plagued teams and/or ones on the latter unit of back-to-back ones, and I won't hasten myself to forget his remiss impact in the playoffs. But you can't let recency bias cloud the fact that he had a wealth of success in capitalizing on his team's schedule and leading Atlanta to their first Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

Plus, he's accomplished it without a clear-cut superstar--a commodity that even some GOAT-candidate coaches couldn't get over the hump
without.

We'll see if the bumpy playoff run was just a growing pain for this team or illustrative of their overachievement; but at the very least, it feels safe to conclude that Buldenholzer's job is deservedly safe.
:applause:

Bud over Doc though. EASILY IMO

[NZStreetBaller]

its REALLY hard to have success as a coach without great talent.

thats why pop is the man. his big three is washed up but he still finds way to get solid production out of them.

[WayOfWade]

Quin Snyder is gonna make the top 5 after this season

[Richesly]

Can't believe no one is putting Bud in their list.

And Quinn Snyder, a coach under Bud at one point, is in the top 10 as well.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Blatt is top 2 with pop. Basically a hoferbefore entering the nba

[IllegalD]

1) Gregg Popovich

2) Rick Carlisle

3) Mike Budenholzer

4) Steve Kerr

5) Tom Thibodeau

[ArbitraryWater]

its REALLY hard to have success as a coach without great talent.

thats why pop is the man. his big three is washed up but he still finds way to get solid production out of them.

What a moronic view on basketball you have :lol

[lil jahlil]

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Rick Carlisle
3. Erik Spoelstra
4. Tom Thibodeau
5. Doc Rivers

HM: Frank Vogel, Derek Fisher, Stan Van Gundy

:roll:

[riseagainst]

:roll:

[ciaguy23]

Brad Stevens will be in there in 2 years.