There have been many superstars on the stage of NBA history, such as Russell, Chamberlain, Jordan, Bird, Johnson, O’Neal,
Duncan, Kobe, James, etc., they can dominate the game and turn the tide.
However, the head coach, as the commander of the team, is also crucial to determine the tactics of a team. They strategize and integrate the team as a team, which plays a decisive role in the victory or defeat of the team.
Below, let’s take stock of the top ten head coaches in NBA history:
1. Cardinal Auerbach
Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach (Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach, September 20, 1917-October 29, 2006), a legendary American basketball coach, known as the “Cardinal”, has always been considered the leader of the NBA.
The most successful head coach, the image of commanding with a cigar in his mouth is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and he is also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Alias: “The Cardinal”
In 1947 and 1949, Auerbach led the new Washington Congress team to win the NBA division championship twice, and its 81.7% winning rate was unmatched in the next two decades.
From 1950 to 1951 season, Auerbach began to coach the Boston Celtics, achieved 938 regular season victories and 9 championships in 20 years.
These two records were overtaken by Lenny Wilkens and Phil Jackson decades later.
Auerbach was the first NBA head coach to select a black player in the draft (1950), and in 1963 he sent an all-black starting lineup for the first time in NBA history.
Later, he appointed Bill Russell as his head coach, making him the first black head coach in American sports history.
After retiring from the position of head coach, Auerbach served as the general manager of the Celtics for a long time, and successfully selected and trained superstars such as Larry Bird. In 1980, he won the title of NBA’s best manager.
In 1997, the 80-year-old Auerbach participated in the 50th anniversary of the NBA. Among the 50 great players in the 50th anniversary of the NBA, 8 of them belonged to the Celtics—of course they were his disciples.
In the 1961 Finals, Sharman faced West of the Lakers.
Ten years later, Sharman became the head coach of the Lakers, and led the defeat of the Celtics such as Chamberlain and West to a record of 69 wins, enabling the Lakers to win their first championship after moving to Los Angeles.
——It sounds a little ironic that the person who led the Lakers to the championship was actually a person who repeatedly beat them.
In Game 7 of the 1969 Finals, the Celtics relied on guard Don Nelson’s mid-range shot to defeat the Lakers and win their 11th championship in 13 years.
And Don Nelson is now one of the greatest coaches in NBA history.
Like Auerbach, the old man was aggressive, high-spirited, competitive, and never stopped.
Suns head coach Westphal, who fought the Bulls in the finals in 1993, was from the Celtics; as the fifth general manager of the Wolves in 1995, McHale, the general manager who selected Garnett to make the Wolves take off, is a
The Celtics forward in the 1980s; Dave Cowens, who led the Hornets to the best performance in team history in the 1996-97 season and almost became the coach of the year, was handpicked by Auerbach to replace Russell’s Celtics in the 70s.
Walter is a pillar; coach KC Jones, who has won the championship for four times, is the first-generation disciple of Auerbach; Larry Bird won the title of the best coach of the year when he became the head coach for the first time in the 1997-98 season…
Auerbach’s shadow looms over the league.
More than a decade after he left the NBA scene, you can still feel his presence.
From coast to coast, his disciples emulated him, imitating some Celtic spirit.
Some stubborn things that have not been changed by the years are spreading silently.
On October 29, 2006, Auerbach died of a heart attack.
The National Basketball Association’s Coach of the Year is an award given annually to the head coach with the best coaching performance in the regular season of the American Professional Basketball League (NBA) since the 1962-1963 season.
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The winner will receive the “Reid Auerbach Trophy”, which is based on the Celtics head coach “Cardinal” who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1956 to 1966
Named after Red Auerbach.
2. Popovich
Gregg Popovich, born January 28, 1949 in East Chicago, Indiana, is a Serbian and Croatian-American basketball player and coach.
Graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy, now the head coach of the NBA San Antonio Spurs.
Gregg Popovich has coached the Spurs since 1996 and is the longest-serving coach in the four major professional sports leagues in the United States.
He led the Spurs to win the NBA championship five times (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014); won the NBA Coach of the Year Award three times (2003, 2012, 2014);