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How much does NBA head coaching matter compared to other sports?

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by celebrevida, Mar 8, 2017.

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Head coaching matters the most in which pro sport?

  1. American Football

    9 vote(s)
    90.0%
  2. Baseball

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. Basketball

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. Ice Hockey

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. Soccer

    1 vote(s)
    10.0%
  1. celebrevida

    celebrevida Member

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    There are many professional team sports played at the highest levels. The ones that come to mind are:
    1. American Football
    2. Baseball
    3. Basketball
    4. Ice Hockey
    5. Soccer

    In the various Kawhi threads, a lot of people are giving Popovich a lot of credit for being one of the best NBA head coaches of all time. But I wonder if the real credit should be the GM for their awesome drafting instead.

    That led me to wonder, the extent to which the head coach/manager matters.

    Let's take a "median talented team" in a given sport. So not a team full of scrubs or superstars. Let's imagine, if we can, a "median quality coach", if that's possible. How much difference can the supposedly "best" head coach really make in a given team sport over a "median" coach (with a median-level talented team)?

    (Note that I am speaking only of coaching, both on and off the floor, including practices and such. Do not consider coaching contributions via influence in off the floor personnel decisions such as drafts and trades, although on the floor personnel decisions obviously counts.)

    If you have a scrub team, like the Brooklyn Nets, even Pops isn't going to make them better. On the other hand, any mediocre or even bottom level coach can coach the LBJ-led Miami heat to championships. (And let's face it Spoelstra is basically your median-level coach, not crap but not great, right in the middle IMHO.)

    If I had to rank it, I would say I would rank (from matters most to least):
    1. American Football
    2. Soccer
    3. Hockey
    4. Basketball
    5. Baseball

    Due to the complexity of the game, I think American Football Head Coach matters the most. I think that MLB head manager matters the least and is vastly overrated. The difference between the best, median and worst MLB manager is probably negligible. I think basketball is somewhere in the middle compared to the other team sports.

    What do others think? (Obviously few of us are fans of all five sports so just rank the ones you are familiar with. Or just talk basketball if that's all you know.)
     
    #1 celebrevida, Mar 8, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2017
  2. FTW Rockets FTW

    FTW Rockets FTW Contributing Member

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    I don't know man

    According to Maury an NBA coach only makes a difference of about 3-4 wins in the regular season....

    Coaching doesn't matter all that much according to Derryl
     
  3. HayesIsBack

    HayesIsBack Member

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    Spolestra is above average.
     
  4. BackdoorHarden

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    Football
    Baseball
    Basketball

    A great Football coach can turn a franchise around. 53 man roster

    A great Basketball player can make a horrible coach = a winning coach.

    Look at Mike Brown with Lebron and without Lebron.

    Baseball, you still need a good manager to manage the day to day clubhouse and making the right bullpen and positioning change.

    I bet anyone of us could coach the Jordan's Bull team and the current Warriors team into a 50 win teams. All we have to do is, "I'll let the assistant coach do everything and sit back and quote some Aryn Rand book"
     
  5. BackdoorHarden

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    It doesn't matter when you have Lebron or Jordon, but for most team, you need a coach that can get the best out of their best players by putting them in the right system. Curry and Klay got held back by Jackson with his Iso style play call. And Harden didn't have any coaching till this year. Everything was ISO Harden. Kerr and Mike D made a huge difference for the Warriors and Rockets.

    That said, Football coaches make the biggest difference.
     

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