Not only did I fall for the Kobe trap on Sunday, but I also might have over-valued Phil Jackson's coaching experience. As a die-hard fan of the Chicago Bulls, I saw them come away with road splits time and time again en route to their six NBA championships and consider myself spoiled. These Los Angeles Lakers are not those Chicago Bulls, and Kobe is not MJ. What I have always considered to be the ultimate test for head coaches in the NBA is their ability to win championships with different teams. Only Jackson has accomplished this feat of the remaining teams in the playoffs while Pat Riley had also done this a couple years ago with the Miami Heat.
I almost think you can throw San Antonio's Gregg Popovich into the mix because he has won four NBA titles, with the first and last coming eight years apart. Popovich has long been considered a master of adjustments, and I think you have seen this strength come to the forefront the last couple games against the Hornets as the Spurs have tied up that series. But who else is respectable enough to make a difference?
Some have argued that Boston's Doc Rivers is not good at making adjustments in a series, and he should take the blame for the Celtics failing to win a road game so far after going an NBA-best 31-10 away from home during the regular season. I tend to agree and believe both he and Detroit's Flip Saunders would face a serious disadvantage against any of the coaches from the Western Conference.
Utah's Jerry Sloan and New Orleans' Byron Scott have both taken teams to the NBA Finals on multiple occasions, and the Pistons' lack of motivation during certain points since they won the NBA title under Larry Brown in 2004 can be traced to Saunders' inability to get the most out of his team every night.
Still, even the great ones like Jackson - who is going for a record 10th NBA title - struggle to get through to their players at times. I read something following Sunday's game where Jackson was upset that his players other than Kobe were just sitting around and watching Kobe in OT. Isn't that the job of the coach to notice that and do something before it's too late? Kobe was jacking up all kinds of bad shots when he was clearly hurting, and Jackson's job is to find other options. Of course he was a bit limited since Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher both had five fouls heading into the extra session, but that's what a coach does.
Anyway, here are my coach rankings going into Game 4 of the Cavs/Celtics series tonight:
1. Phil Jackson, Lakers - his record speaks for itself
2. Gregg Popovich, Spurs - master of adjustments within a series
3. Byron Scott, Hornets - reigning NBA Coach of the Year could be the best motivator and player's coach
4. Jerry Sloan, Jazz - he has guided two very different teams to the Western Conference Finals over a 10-year period
5. Mike Brown, Cavs - very underrated coach in my opinion because he seems to get the most out of his players
6. Flip Saunders, Pistons - when he lights a fire under Pistons, they respond, but is it him or the players?
7. Doc Rivers, Celtics - coaching during the playoffs is much different than during the regular season
8. Stan Van Gundy, Magic - he was booted in favor of Riley a couple years ago and still can't maximize Howard's potential