Gregg Popovich is the most accomplished head coach in the
NBA. He is a two-time Coach of the Year and has coached the San Antonio Spurs
to four championships during his time with the organization but there is one
thing missing from his resume.
Now I don’t want to give the impression that this missing
item is something major that will determine his legacy because it won’t or at
least it shouldn’t. Winning four championships is an impressive feat made even
more impressive by the fact that no other head coach in the league has more
than one.
The most memorable coaches in history have made their mark
by winning back-to-back championships though.
Chuck Daly only won two championships in his coaching career
but they are more memorable because they were back-to-back. The same goes for
Rudy Tomjanovich who won back-to-back titles as coach of the Houston Rockets.
Pat Riley won four championships in the 80’s as head coach of
the Los Angeles Lakers and even led them to four straight Finals appearances
from 1982-1985. What really cemented his legacy as a coaching great though was
winning back-to-back championships in 1987 and 1988.
Phil Jackson will go down as one of the greatest coaches in
the history of the game because he won so many back-to-back championships
during his time. Jackson actually went a step further and mastered the art of
the three-peat which only two other coaches have achieved since the NBA came
into being.
Popovich has truly been great as a coach but when people
look back in history at his coaching career will his greatness truly be
appreciated or will he be overshadowed by Jackson who has been dominant for the
past two decades?
Since 1999 when the Spurs won their first championship, only
three teams have advanced out of the West to play in the NBA Finals. The Lakers
have been to the Finals seven times and the Spurs have gone four times.
The only other Western Conference team to go to play in the
Finals since 1999 is the Dallas Mavericks and they have done it twice. Only one
of those trips produced a title though.
If Popvich wins the championship this year it will be hard
to argue against him as one of the greatest coaches ever to coach in the
league. It’s still interesting though that he can be looked over in this regard
after having won four championships already when most coaches have such a hard
time winning just one.
That’s the world we live in though.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
No comments:
Post a Comment