SI Poll : Adelman ranked 6th for head coach most players like to play for

This poll is a terrible idea. They probably only let players vote for one coach, and that one guy can't be there own, so of course they are going to base it on results (who wins the most) and reputation (Pat Riley Jerry Sloan have reps for cracking the whip, and Stan van Gundy has the reputation of being Jeff's brother).

 

Wow, I didn't know that players are still intimidated by T-Mac. Based on what posters on this board are saying, I thought that most shooting guards in the league would be ecstatic once they realize that it's only Scrub-Mac playing opposite them.

 

The best way to get a true idea of who players, on average, would like to play for, is to subtract the results from the "Coaches they don't want to play for" poll from the results of the "Coaches they'd like to play for" poll.

If we do it that way, we come up with this.

Pat Riley is actually the least desireable to play for, despite appearing in the list of top coaches. And even though Jerry Sloan comes in at 5th on the "top" list, he's actually one of the most disliked.

 

This shows you why players don't run the league. They can't tell the difference between nice and effective or between the various roles in making a team successful. You can have Phil Jackson; I'll take Kobe. You can have D'Antoni; I'll take Jerry Colangelo. You can have Popovich; I'll take R.C. Buford. And for coach, I'll go puke in the bathroom for 20 minutes and then come back and ask for Jerry Sloan, thank you very much. Because I want the guys who do their part of the job the best -- not the guys who might win a popularity contest or who succeed by standing next to the guy who really makes the team great.

 

When you say not that bad...you make it sound like it is a GOOD thing that players are not intimidated to play in the ToyBox. FYI: That's NOT a good thing.

 

Pat Riley is old school... and he played for Adolph Rupp. Not puking in practice meant you weren't working hard enough for that dude. Those players think Riley hard-arsed... they would never have survived Rupp's.

 

Who would be intimidated by a lower section that's either half empty, or full of a combination of corporate bigwigs who don't even pay attention to the game. Then you've got all these families with little kids...that's not exactly frightening. Don't get me wrong, I know it's great to get the family out to the Rockets game, but I think they market it as TOO family-oriented.

Carnival games at the entrance? Carnival games on the concourse? Carnival games at the Sky Court? Face painting?! Some sort of flex/kiss/dance/smile cam every other timeout? Half the time I expect Tracy McGrady to grab a bucket full of confetti and pretend to "pour" it on Rusty Hardin. In fact, the family night promo they're currently running on Sports Radio 610 has testimonials from fans and not a single one of them says anything about the game being played on the court. It's all about the dancers, the mascot, even the food.

No, I'm not in favor of taking all the fun out of the presentation...there is a place for that kind of stuff. But they do it to such a degree that it makes the game feel secondary. The fans cheer nearly as loudly for a free t-shirt as they do for a game-tieing 3 pointer in the final minute. Hell, I might even have that backwards.

/rant

 

The ranking sounds real to me. Many players just want to pad their stats and play no D --- that's why D' Antoni is ranked so high

 

How does Riley finish in one poll as one of the top coaches players would like to play for then finish in another poll as the least desirable to play for?

Both polls were based on votes from 242 NBA players and posted less than a week apart.

Unless I am misreading something, that fact alone makes the polls seem meaningless. None of the apparent variables should account for that drastic of a difference.