BDL Ranks The top 10 NBA coaches of the last decade

#10: Larry Brown #9: Pat Riley #8: Jerry Sloan #7: Scott Skiles #6: Mike D'Antoni #5: Flip Saunders #4: Stan Van Gundy #3: Hubie Brown #2: Phil Jackson #1: Gregg Popovich

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6 of them haven't won a title. 7 Haven't won the COTY award this decade. 4 of them have been run off rather dramatically from a team they had previous success on. Not one is named Doc Rivers. Shenanigans!

EDIT: You can have your say with Mr. Dwyer in this live chat (going on now)

over 2 years ago Tom Bellinger 15 comments 0 recs |

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Scott Skiles?

above Jerry Sloan even……..good lord no

Is it Soup Yet?

by Master Po on Oct 5, 2009 12:05 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t care what time period you’re talking about – any list that has Flip, Ron Jeremy, and Scott Skiles ahead of Jerry Sloan is just utterly, completely wrong.

by theBird on Oct 5, 2009 12:05 PM EDT reply actions

Wow...

I never thought SVG was even a halfway decent coach, never mind top ten.

Hard to argue with Riley, Sloan, Phil and Pops. But other than that, the list is suspect.

by funkstarrdeluxe on Oct 5, 2009 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

Couple are missing

most notably
1. Neslon
2. Adelman

by aboubata on Oct 5, 2009 12:17 PM EDT reply actions

Rediculous

Terrible ratings. The rater must be a tennis or golf guru subbing for his Editor. (Or even worse, one of those funny men who wear a pink tutu and pirouette on one toe).

by Dipper on Oct 5, 2009 12:19 PM EDT reply actions

Ridiculous.

What the heck is rediculous?

by bob3698 on Oct 5, 2009 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Say what you will about the ratings,

but the ad hominem attack against one of the more insightful hoops writers of the current era (Kelly Dwyer) seems uncalled for.

I don’t always find myself in agreement with Dwyer either, but the guy puts in a lot of work, knows his stuff and often makes a compelling case for even his more unpopular viewpoints.

-sw

Growing up in the Weinman household, you learn two rules very quickly if you aspire to reach double-digits in the years-of-age category: Hate thy Knick, hate thy Yankee.

Go Celtics, Go Dodgers. -sw

by Steve Weinman on Oct 6, 2009 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

That doesn't mean this list makes any sense

Joking that the rater ‘must be a tennis or golf guru’ is hardly the worst of ad hominem attacks but is simple hyperbole to provide a point of comparison of how much NBA acumen is um, … demonstrated by this list.

Dwyer may be brilliant in all other things. But this list is a stinker for several reasons others have listed here as well as in comments on BDL.

I’m personally having a hard time with guys being on the list who haven’t won a championship. The fact that Popovich & Jackson are 1-2 on there implies that Championships are important. So why is SVG and the others who haven’t won on there? And if you are disqualifying winning one championship in deference for consistent quality, there are guys more deserving that some of the names on the list. Heck, I hate to be a homer, but how is Doc Rivers not ahead of some of those guys? Not only has he won an NBA championship, won 60+ games twice, but also been elected Coach of the Year with Orlando. And I don’t know what the final numbers were last year, but at one point he was one of the top in terms of time-out efficiency (points scored on a play after a time-out), which was also mentioned by Dwyer in his assessments.

Oh well, these kinds of ratings ultimately are just BS opinion rant-fests.

by mmmmm on Oct 6, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions

The Master of Panic #4?

This is why lists are silly.

by Steal by Bird on Oct 5, 2009 12:24 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t have a problem with Doc not being on the list, but I wouldn’t have Skiles nor Saunders on there either.

by amenhotep04 on Oct 5, 2009 12:30 PM EDT reply actions

Flip and Stan WAAAY too high. Stan may be good, but hte juries out. Adelman should be there. Don Nelson. Why Hubie Brown? wheat did he do this decade?

by Fan from VT on Oct 5, 2009 12:56 PM EDT reply actions

What does it even mean?

Does this mean you had to have a few very good seasons in the last 10 years, or consistently good performance for most or all of the decade? In the case of the first Doc qualifies, in the second, not so much. IN 2015 I expect that he will be one of the best coaches of the last ten years no matter how you slice it.

by Silverlock on Oct 5, 2009 12:58 PM EDT reply actions

from the second one

I would then pick
Nate McMillan he did a good job in seattle and has been good in portland
Byron Scott did well in NJ and continue do well in NO
Mike Brown has been a good job in Cleveland since he got there.

I would like to see what flip does in DC before I name him top 10.

by aboubata on Oct 5, 2009 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions

I am hard pressed to rationalize how SVG can be fourth on this list, and Doc isn’t even in.

In the last 10 years, Doc has: coached two 60+ win teams, won an NBA title, played in the ECF (twice), won the Atlantic (3 times), won a COY award. He’s also been in the league for 9 1/2 of the past 10 seasons.

SVG, on the other hand, has been in the league for 4 1/2 years. I don’t quite understand the criteria here. If you pick Doc’s best 4 seasons, they’re better than SVG’s, who has performed admirably with Miami and Orlando, but still…

by kozlodoev on Oct 5, 2009 3:42 PM EDT reply actions