After announcing its 75th anniversary all-time team, the NBA released the names of the top 15 coaches in history on Tuesday night.
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After announcing its 75th anniversary all-time team this past October, the NBA released the names of the top 15 coaches in history on Tuesday night.
A couple quick nuggets: Lenny Wilkins is the only one who made the cut as both a player and coach. Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, Erik Spoelstra and Doc Rivers were the four active coaches named.
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The 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History! #NBA75
Red Auerbach
Chuck Daly
Phil Jackson
Pat Riley
Lenny Wilkens
Larry Brown
Red Holzman
K.C. Jones
Don Nelson
Jack Ramsay
Steve Kerr
Gregg Popovich
Doc Rivers
Jerry Sloan
Erik Spoelstra— NBA (@NBA) February 9, 2022
Total championships among 15 coaches: 44
Organizations with multiple representatives:
Celtics (Auerbach, Jones and Rivers), Lakers (Jackson and Riley), Heat (Riley and Spoelstra), Bulls (Jackson and Sloan), Warriors (Kerr and Nelson), Knicks (Holzman and Jackson), Pistons (Daly and Brown)
Multiple championships:
Jackson (11), Auerbach (9), Popovich (5), Riley (5), Kerr (3), Jones, Spoelstra, Daly, Holzman (2)
Championships with multiple organizations:
Jackson (Bulls, Lakers), Riley (Lakers, Heat)
No championships as a coach:
Sloan, Nelson
Only one name on this list has been a coach for fewer than 10 seasons, and that’s Kerr, who won a title in three of his first four years patrolling Golden State’s sideline and has only been a coach for seven full seasons. That’s quite an honor to be named to a list like this after such a short tenure with still, presumably, so much of his coaching career in front of him.
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But Kerr deserves it. With largely the same roster in place, he took a Warriors team that had won 51 games and lost in the first round the previous season to 67-win season and a championship in 2015. Both Kerr and Spoelstra have a legit chance to add another title to their ledger this season, and Rivers might have an outside shot depending on what the Sixers pull off at the trade deadline.
