The Truth about NBA Coaches

Only one team remains without a head coach (Denver Nuggets). The coaching carousel is more important than ever. With 30 NBA teams only four teams have a coach who has previously won a championship. In fact, since 1995 only 7 coaches in total have won an NBA title. Two of those coaches are now team Presidents (Pat Riley and Phil Jackson) and another is coaching college - (Larry Brown - Pistons 2004).

That leaves only four active head coaches with championship pedigree - Greg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Doc Rivers, and Rick Carlisle. Let's look at the resume's of each of these coaches:

• Popovich - 5 championships in 6 appearances
• Rivers - 1 championship in 2 appearances
• Erik Spoelstra - 2 championships in 4 appearances
• Rick Carlisle - 1 championship in 2 appearances 

Other than those four previous champions, only two other active NBA coaches have even led their teams to the NBA finals - Stan Van Gundy (Magic 2009) and Byron Scott (Nets 2002 and 2003).

Two other coaches can be added to the NBA finals list - David Blatt and Steve Kerr, one of whom will become the 5th active coach to win an NBA title. Both men were hired with zero NBA head coaching experience and are in their first year.

Hiring a head coach is a very delicate art. You may decide to hire a retread on his 4th try (Scott Skiles to the Magic) or you may try to lure a successful college coach (Billy Donovan to Thunder, Fred Hoiberg to Bulls). You could also hire a very successful, long-tenured assistant looking for his first opportunity (Mike Budenholzer to Hawks). Or you can do what the Warriors and Cavs did - Golden State went the route of announcer with zero coaching experience of any kind. Cleveland went the route of European coach with zero experience in America.

Greg Popovich, like Kerr and Blatt, had zero head coaching experience when he was hired. Same with Erik Spoelstra. "Spo" got his big break in Miami as a video intern for Pat Riley before being promoted when Riley retired. Carlisle and Rivers were both on their second chances as head coaches when they won the title. Stan Van Gundy was on second chance, now with his third team and Bryon Scott is on his fourth team currently, but was only on his first chance.

The moral of the story is the NBA is truly a "player's league". Coaches look good in suits and draw up plays occasionally, but you also need players to win.