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NBA teams are often known by the star players they possess and the wins they register during the regular season, and subsequently their success in the post-season.
What often goes unnoticed is the effort of the coaches to keep the ball rolling at times when things aren't going their way.
To draw the right play at the right time, make the right substitution and call timeout when it's needed the most. These are just some of the ways in which an NBA coach influences the game from the sidelines.
When the season is capped off with an NBA title, the coach comes last in the line of credit, as the players overstay their spotlight at more than one occasion. To impact the game in a positive way and win championships at the same time, is a flair owned by a select few.
Let's take a look at a group of men who redefined coaching a basketball team, and left behind a legacy to remember with their distinctive execution strategies. Here are the ones who have the most registered wins as an NBA coach.
#5 Gregg Popovich - 1,204 Wins (and counting)
Pop was the one who was able to bring out the very best in the "Twin Towers" that featured David Robinson and Tim Duncan, who led San Antonio to a couple of NBA championships during the 1998-99 as well as the 2002-03 season.
After Robinson retired, he took the new look Spurs headed by the trio of Ginobili, Parker and Duncan to even newer heights. This "old-school, fundamentally sound" San Antonio side won three championships in 2005, 2007 & 2014, before Duncan departed, closely followed by Ginobili.
A former assistant coach at the Air Force Academy, Pop knew how to manage people and how to push the right buttons. His intense coaching strategies on the court often led to frustrated encounters with the referees as well as players.
In 2013, he became the only coach after the Jazz's Jerry Sloan, to win 900 regular-season games with one team. And when he won Coach of the Year for the third time in 2014, he had cemented his legacy as one of the greatest ever to coach in NBA's history.
He has won five championships(1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 & 2014) with the San Antonio Spurs so far and has recently become one of the five coaches in the history of the NBA to cross the 1200-win mark. He is the only coach in this list who is still actively coaching in the NBA.
#4 Pat Riley - 1,210 Wins
Pat Riley's confidence and charismatic nature set him apart from most of the other successful coaches.
He coached the Lakers, Knicks and Heat, the most memorable term being in LA(1981-90) where he won four NBA titles(1982, 1985, 1987 & 1988) along with one of his three Coach of the Year awards in 1990. He would win additional Coach of the Year honours in 1993 and 1997.
His tenacity in leading the Showtime Lakers built around Magic Johnson and venerable centre Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, catapulted him into superstardom.
Returning to the sidelines during the 2005-06 season as his second stint as Heat coach, he guided the play of Wade, Shaq and the Miami Heat to an unforgettable NBA title campaign.
Although he stopped coaching after the 2007-08 season, he kept contributing to the Miami franchise through the front-office and was instrumental in convincing LeBron James to come to Miami(which led to two more titles in 2012 & 2013).
Riley was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2008.
#3 Jerry Sloan - 1,221 Wins
After a knee injury ended Sloan’s playing career, he became the Bulls’ coach in 1979 but was fired after two and a half seasons for trying to rebuild the team.
The great Jerry Sloan was the first coach in NBA history to register 1,000 wins with a single team, Utah Jazz. His stretch as head coach of the Jazz was preceded by a three-year stint as assistant coach.
Sloan built the team into a dominant force in the Western Conference. He took them to the NBA Finals twice(losing in 1997 and 1998), along with six division championships and 10 seasons with greater than 50 wins.
Blessed with the gifted duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton, Sloan earned one of the best career winning percentages in league history.
Sloan was as fiery as a coach as he was as a player, infamous for serving suspensions for pushing referees multiple times. Despite his impressive winning success, he never won the NBA Coach of the Year award. With a career record of 1,221 wins and 803 losses, he resigned as coach of the Jazz abruptly.
#2 Lenny Wilkens - 1,332 Wins
Lenny was a nine-time NBA All-star during his playing days and is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-time team as well.
If that was not enough, he guided the Supersonics (1977–78 to 1984–85) into winning a championship in 1978–79, as a full-time coach.
He coached the Sonics, Cavaliers, Trailblazers, Hawks, Raptors and Knicks throughout his time as an NBA coach. He was awarded the Coach of the Year in 1994 during his stint with the Atlanta Hawks.
He also coached the 1996 USA Men's Olympics team during the Atlanta Olympics and ended the campaign with a gold medal around his neck. Moreover, Wilkens served as president of the NBA Coaches Association and from 1961 to 1969, acted as the vice president of the National Basketball Players Association also.
His famous autobiography, Unguarded: My Forty Years Surviving in the NBA (2001), is one cherished by a majority of players & coaches alike. Wilkens is one of the select few to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame both as a player & as a coach.
#1 Don Nelson - 1,335 Wins
Donald Arvid Nelson's unconventional style of plays drew the attention of almost everybody across the league.
His sides were known to be loose, high-scoring and run by the tactic of “small ball” (which would use a 'point forward' to handle the ball and run the offense) using speed as an advantage.
Nellie is one of the select few to win the coveted Coach of the Year award thrice during his coaching career. A five-time NBA champion as a player, Don Nelson coached the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks & Mavericks during his time as an NBA coach.
His teams were often characterised by short runs of exceptional fast-paced basketball display but none so promising in the long haul.
The idea of being remembered as a mere gimmick with no real success haunted his coaching career.
He would let the team run free and wild on the court, often leading to an amalgamation of unforgettable plays, a glimpse of which was showcased when he oversaw the development of superstars Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas.
His name was included in the NBA's Top 10 Coaches of all-time list, and rightfully so.
Guess the Lakers players!
