I was reading the Sam Mitchell Coach of the Year thread and I was thinking, I'm not sure exactly what makes a great coach, just because there are so many different variables and different players, etc. Mike D'Antoni won Coach of the Year last year, Phil Jackson has 9 rings, Jerry Sloan has no rings, Rick Carlisle has had a messed up roster for the past few years, Popovich has his solid defense and good half court offense. Avery Johnson reached the NBA finals, Pat Riley won with Magic & Kareem, and Shaq & Wade. Anyway, how would you describe a great coach?
Actually, Avery Johnson was selected as Coach of the Year last time. D'Antoni won it 2004/05. Popivich has problably the best inbound plays, especially in crunch time.
The best coaches adapt their game to the players they have in order to get the best out of them. Auerbach, Jackson, Riley, and D'Antoni have all made their mark by building a game plan around their players instead of forcing players to do things a certain way. And you could argue that Phil Jackson has forced the Lakers into the triangle offense, but it does work.
The ability to be proactive, instead of reactive. Casual already mentioned how great coaches get the best out of the players they have, but they also make adjustments in anticipation of a pattern. Weaker/inexperienced coaches, on the other hand, will tend to make changes after the fact and tend to be more defensive, in terms of strategy.
Here are some traits that I believe a great coach has to have: -Good tactical ability -Trust -Motivating skills -Anticipation
Great coach qualities.... -Adapt to your players -Have control over your players/team -Have good offensive scheme -Gives player qualities he has -Win year in & year out (Unless you have abolutely no talent)
great players make great coaches.......I do believe there are good coaches like Phil Jackson (although I hate his guts, he rarely makes stupid decisions), Jerry Sloan, Riley, etc., but ultimately the players you have determine whether you're "great" or not....at least in my book.
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">great players make great coaches.</div> I somewhat agree and disagree with this. AMAZING players don't need good coaching so much - Kobe, Jordan, Garnett, etc. But great coaches will raise the game of the players surrounding these superstar players and get them to buy into the team concept. This is huge and you cannot underrate it. This makes Phil Jackson and Pat Riley the best coaches out there. The other great coaches - Larry Brown, Jerry Sloan and Gregg Popovich don't place an emphasis on any one player and they succeed in making their teams a place where everyone is equal. The skill of Jackson/Riley is to turn the Derek Fishers, Rick Foxes, Damon Jones and Jason Williams of this world into BEst supporting oscar winners. In a sense Larry had it a bit easy in Detroit because there was no star, so he taught the same concept to all the players equally...
Great coaches are lucky cuz they're on Great teams. How far did New York go with Larry Brown? Now Isiah is the coach and they're doing much better.
Also you have to look at the players attitudes as well as abilities. It would be useless trying to coach a superstar with a poor "I can do it all myself" attitude.
I hate to take this opportunity to issue criticism, but there is a reason why Phil Jackson won so many titles. While coaches like JVG can't quite get over the hump. Phil's able to criticize his players in still get the most outta them. Look at how he handled the Brian Cook incident, it happened but both were able to get over it and move on. If that situation happened on a JVG team, Brian Cook wouldn't play for the next 20 games I think coaches like Phil, Avery, Popovich etc.. are able to push their players in a motivating way. Their able to bring out the best in players like Brian Cook, Diop, or Jason Williams.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">hate to take this opportunity to issue criticism, but there is a reason why Phil Jackson won so many titles. While coaches like JVG can't quite get over the hump.</div> yeah it's called Jordan, Shaq, Pippen and Kobe....like I said I think Phil is a good coach, but I'm positive that if Doug Collins would've remained the Bulls coach that they would have just as much success......
<div class="quote_poster">THE DREAM Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">yeah it's called Jordan, Shaq, Pippen and Kobe....like I said I think Phil is a good coach, but I'm positive that if Doug Collins would've remained the Bulls coach that they would have just as much success......</div> Pat Riley had Magic & Kareem, does that mean he's not a great coach? The fact is Phil did it with 2 DIFFERENT SQUADS with 2 DIFFERENT STYLES OF PLAY. Ur excuse hold absolultley no weight.....
