The best NBA coaches get the best of their players. The Suns are a tricky bunch because they went through 3 coaches not 2. D'Antoni 's squad was based on his system and he got the best of his players in terms of production and effort When they switched to Porter, he switched the philosophy to defense, which was not the strong suit of the Suns' players. So when Gentry came in and the points started scoring again, it was because his philosophy fit what his personnel does best. --- A very good example of coaching is Pat Riley, he coached 3 teams to the NBA finals, The Lakers, Knicks, and Heat. Each team was completely different and Riley coached accordingly. The Lakers with Magic and Showtime fast breaking, the Knicks with low post player and defense and the Heat with Dwade driving to the hoop all the time.
A monkey couldda coached Boston to a championship Making the playoffs does not make you a good coach. McGrady was arguably a top 3 player in the NBA at that point and still the best record they ever got was 44-38. he is among the worst head coaches in the NBA at the moment imo
What about Larry Brown? The Piston team he took over had already been to the ECF, and then they added Rasheed Wallace after LB took over. He took over the Spurs and they did terrible. Then added David Robinson and magically won like 30 more games the next year. The Pacers did better after he left with Larry Bird as coach. Unless you mean look at Larry Brown with the Knicks, and a negative difference.
He won COY before McGrady even got there. Not sure what more people want. Were they supposed to repeat last year w/o Garnett?
The doc rivers hate is pretty ridiculous. i used to think it had to do with mcgrady, when rocket fans liked mcgrady after mcgrady admitted quitting on his team and leaving Doc high and dry, but now I just don't get it.
phil jackson or kobe? Who is the dumbest of all? They dont feed Gasol(last nights game). All phil can say is "kobe activate" and kobe just doesnt pass or knows how to. They hate for a non-black player to outshine em like ginobili or gasol. I thought luke walton was a scrub but he is only one that can use gasol. They catch a lead and phil inserts odumb and they get blown out.
Larry Brown led a 90's Clippers(!) team to the playoffs. And almost beat the Rockets in the 1st round. The Rockets that we know would win the next 2 titles. That's a pretty good feat What about the 76ers team he took to the Finals? What about this year's BOBCATS that are about to go to the playoffs for the 1st time? Larry Brown's never had that really dominant regular season team like other great coaches. He's like the NBA Bill Parcells, he'll turn a mediocre product into a solid one. Which is still a mark of a good coach.
The point was not to say that LB wasn't a good coach, but that he's not much different from any other coach in that he needs good players to be good. He's not performing miracles. Anyway, that Clipper team was only .500 and actually had good players. Danny Manning, Ron Harper, Mark Jackson, all when they were young(er) and good. The Rockets lost in the 2nd round that year btw (your wording was confusing on that one). Charlotte actually has good players but their future prospects are questionable IMO. They have sort of a win now roster. Even so, they're only #7 in the East, not really setting the world on fire. I would not call them over-achieving. The Sixers in the finals - I guess that was impressive, although I'd have to go back and look at what the rest of the conference looked like at the time.
