Taking 3 seperate teams to the Finals (Heat in the ECF vs. Jordan counts for me) is a pretty impressive resume. I probably rank Riley as second behind Jackson. Even if you think that Jackson is living off the success of his mega-stars, which has probably got a lot of truth to it, Riley's won without mega-stars.
Oh, and that being said, I'm sure a lot of people are going to rip on Jackson as the top coach, using that "he just coaches stars, I'd win too" mentality. Fine. The Hakeem/Drexler/Barkley/Pippen-less Rudy looks pretty bad on paper.
One of those "great" coaches got ran out of Clipperdom - Brown. What has he won without "great players"? One of Jackson's talents is being able to handle great players and then focus on doing what they do best and mold that into team effort and winning. Without the tools that task is near impossible in the NBA. Give Rudy Phil's players and I think he could have done it too, just like he did with Hakeem and Drexler. Rudy should be in the top 5 at least.
For those interested, the users poll was released today: http://espn.go.com/nba/top25/coaches/results.html Rudy was ranked #22. I will not even get into it, Im not in the mood to rant.
I think this was a result of the way the poll was conducted. They listed the coaches in alphabetical order, and the bottom names were chopped off (you had to scroll down to see them). Most people probably just ranked a few and then submited, thus Rudy T's name was further down. Just to show it, notice all the last names beginning with A's B's and C's are at the top of the list.... and all the S's T's and W's are at the bottom. People just probably rated Jackson or Adelman (who started in the top spot) #1 and just clicked submit.
Here is the poll reordered by first place votes, which i think makes more sense and shows the poll was done in a screwy way. 1. Phil Jackson 476,960 8,963 2. Rick Adelman 490,410 4,100 3. Larry Brown 490,132 929 4. Pat Riley 341,610 662 5. Rick Carlisle 437,695 565 6. Jerry Sloan 245,897 431 7. Jim O'Brien 286,513 406 8. Rudy Tomjanovich 220,350 384 9. Don Nelson 340,924 366 10. Jeff Bzdelik 267,401 338 11. Byron Scott 305,322 334 12. Lenny Wilkens 193,143 222 13. Doc Rivers 271,108 207 14. Gregg Popovich 294,826 201 15. Bill Cartwright 313,702 190 16. Nate McMillan 264,869 165 17. Maurice Cheeks 342,998 142 18. Flip Saunders 221,808 138 19. Doug Collins 351,912 113 20. Don Chaney 289,515 104 21. Eric Musselman 166,307 100 22. George Karl 308,648 89 23. Paul Silas 212,841 70 24. Alvin Gentry 313,864 57 25. John Lucas 218,470 52 26. Isiah Thomas 120,630 42 27. Frank Johnson 249,327 33 28. Lon Kruger 220,224 25 29. Sidney Lowe 204,635 25
Is this the infamous racist list people are talking about where all of the black coaches are down at the bottom? Lenny Wilkins is way too low.
I like the list, mostly, though I think Carlisle and Saunders should be lower. I also think Jackson should be lower, though still above Rudy.
Let me tell you something, Rudy T is the BEST coach in the NBA. Obviously, it is obligatory that any legit publication will start the list with Phil Jackson, but it should be just as obligatory that T should be second. What other coach has been with their organization for over 30 years? He brought this city its first championship ever! He taught us about the heart of a champion! He won a bronze in the World Games with CBA'ers! The NBA players came in SIXTH this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What other NBA coach would have even had the guts to try with that bunch? Don Nelson ahead of Rudy T? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That guy is alternately known as a clown or a genius, depending on the success of his tem that particular year. Believe me, he is the former. Where his rings at? Enough. Remember if u wanna wear the we always believed t-shirts next time, u gotta always believe.
This Java poll is a typical example for stupid use of technology and bad usability. People just got fed up and clicked submit without rearranging. You will notice that the tendency is that coaches with an "a" or "b" or "c" will be ranked higher...
It is really amazing that Rudy has rode this train by fooling so many people. Coaching is substituting, time management and play calling. Rudy is horrendous on these 3. I love your point, the simple math is that Rudy has not delivered the past 3 years. Players run the Rockets. The players are not in shape, do not play smart and throw defensive pressure out the window. That is why Rudy is a players coach! Rudy has never been accused of outcoaching someone in the last minute. What's is wrong with Steve and Moochie picking up full court? Rudy controls who is on the floor at crunch time. Read my quotes on how long Rudy? Let's have a 5 man motion offense this year. Get Yao in the weight room and Griffin at the 3. Richard Jefferson is the starting 3 for NJ!
