I am thrilled that Byron Scott won the NBA coach of the year award. He has quietly been a great coach for some time, and richly deserved the award. I find it ironic that in the same week Scott wins the award, the winner of two years ago, Avery Johnson gets fired. Rumor says Mike D’Antoni, who won three years ago, might soon be on the road out of Phoenix as well – I don’t think either coach would be without work for long, despite their very different styles they certainly have brought success to their organizations. Byron Scott impressed me by understanding all of this full well as he received the award… he said as much in his interview. Coach of the year is a short term reward for one season of exceeding expectations. The NBA (and Wall Street) has no reward for those who meet expectations, only those who surpass them. Most NBA coaches, even some of the great ones like Scott, Riley, and Don Nelson (notice that Larry Brown fails to make this list, come on Jordan, you don’t really want to hire that guy he is more arrogant than Narcissus) are on a merry-go-round that might land them with a different team any day. I love the brand of basketball that D’Antoni and Nelson sell. D’Antoni in particular seems to understand that people come to basketball games to be entertained – he is selling good basketball. The Suns and Warriors have become brands of exciting and attractive basketball: three pointers, transition dunks, and a fast even frantic pace for 48 minutes. They are filling up seats and selling merchandise, but notwithstanding, they are still getting fired. Parenthetically it is no surprise to me that the Suns had a poor showing in the playoffs this year, their personnel excluding Nash, Stoudamire, and Barbossa are poorly suited to play D’Antoni’s style. I like Steve Kerr, but I can’t think of a stranger GM coach pairing than that one, and it seems to have produced contradictions like Shaq, Hill, Skinner and Giricek.
Anyways, in contemplating the other active greats in NBA coaching, the top three are: Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich, and Phil Jackson. None of the three have the sleek, smooth appeal of a Riley or a D’Antoni. If they were salespeople knocking on my door, I’d be tempted to call the cops on any of the three. Nonetheless, all three have had long tenures with their teams. Their teams play tough, defensive, technical and physical basketball. Nobody gets excited to watch the Spurs slug it out with the Jazz, but winning fills up seats regardless. The Spurs and to a lesser extent the Jazz have become brands of boring, albeit winning basketball. That is what these coaches sell – wins. It seems that this brand is keeping owners, front offices, and fans happy.
Anyways, in contemplating the other active greats in NBA coaching, the top three are: Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich, and Phil Jackson. None of the three have the sleek, smooth appeal of a Riley or a D’Antoni. If they were salespeople knocking on my door, I’d be tempted to call the cops on any of the three. Nonetheless, all three have had long tenures with their teams. Their teams play tough, defensive, technical and physical basketball. Nobody gets excited to watch the Spurs slug it out with the Jazz, but winning fills up seats regardless. The Spurs and to a lesser extent the Jazz have become brands of boring, albeit winning basketball. That is what these coaches sell – wins. It seems that this brand is keeping owners, front offices, and fans happy.
While Phil Jackson's Bulls and Lakers haven't been my favorite teams, he seems to have found an excellent balance between Nelson and Popovich's stlye. His teams play technical, careful basketball, but at the same time, the triangle offense is flowing, and produces plenty of big threes and dunks. It is hard to say how much of the praise is due to Phil, and how much should belong to Kobe, Shaq, and MJ. Certainly much maybe even most of Phil's success is owed to those players, but many coaches have had great players and haven't been able to achieve what he has.
