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A healthy player-coach relationship is essential for success in any sport. While some players flourish under a great coach to become the best player they can be, a lot of great players constantly under-perform under not so great coaches. There are plenty of examples for the latter and very few for the former.
Good coaches are hard to come by. What's harder to come by are players who are students of the game. Only when these two rarities happen and the basketball gods make the two meet, a duo is born. Players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Tim Duncan are the best of the best and some part of it is owed to the incredible coaches they got.
Today's article is about 5 current Player-Coach duos in the NBA that make the sport of basketball worth it.
#5 Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jason Kidd
This is truly a match made in the basketball heaven. As an extremely oversized point guard, Giannis couldn't have gotten a better coach than Jason Kidd, who himself was a tall point guard. Giannis has spent three of his four seasons with Kidd. To get the kind of exposure Giannis has got, and still getting, so early in his career is invaluable.
Certain facets of Giannis' game have 'The Jason Kidd book of Basketball' written all over them. Whether it's constantly pushing the ball up the court or always looking for the breakout man, Giannis is doing it and doing it well.
The reigning Most Improved Player owes it to Kidd and the vice versa holds true as well. Their work and time spent together is finally bearing fruit this season when Giannis is playing at his absolute best. He's averaging career highs in points and rebounds in 14 games so far. All of this is a mere brewing of the storm that's about to take over the league.
#4 Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr
Teaming up coaches and players with similar playing styles seems to be a successful working phenomena in the NBA. When the Golden State Warriors finished sixth in the Western Conference in 2014 and were ousted in the first round of the playoffs, Steve Kerr was brought in as the head coach replacing Mark Jackson. The rest, as they say, is history.
The very next year, Warriors won the NBA championship and Curry was named Most Valuable Player. After that, it was just mayhem once the Warriors took the court. Another MVP for Curry, another championship, you name it.
All of this wasn't just a matter of luck or chance. Before Kerr, Curry was the best shooter in the league. After Kerr, Curry was the best player in the league. He has diversified his game in innumerable ways. Kerr was that last piece of the puzzle.
#3 James Harden and Mike D'Antoni
What's happening in Houston might very well be the start of something big. The Rockets jumped from the bottom of the playoff bracket to the third-best team in the Western Conference last season. They went from winning just 41 games a season ago to 55 wins last season. Mike D' Antoni signing with Houston was a win-win situation for everyone.
D'Antoni had been coaching sub-par teams for the better part of a decade. The Rockets were a mid-tier team stuck in limbo despite having on the roster and an MVP caliber player like James Harden.
In just one season, D'Antoni turned the tables upside down and won the Coach of the Year award coming out of nowhere. Harden came within a whisker of becoming the MVP. The two have blended very well in such a short period of time. This season might see some records being broken and Harden finally winning a much-deserved MVP award.
#2 Kawhi Leonard and Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich is arguably the greatest coach of all time. Pop has this unique ability to turn normal players into great players. Unlike other great coaches, he didn't have the luxury of coaching a Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. Still he'll feature on every Player-Coach duo list there is in the world. The best player he ever coached was Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard is all game to change that.
Kawhi Leonard's trajectory as a player and as a leader was never in question, it was just a matter of time. He has been on the up ever since he entered the league.
Kawhi's first six seasons in the league have been as productive as anyone else's first few seasons in the league. He's a defensive phenom, NBA champion, and a Finals MVP. All these accolades, all these accomplishments have huge inputs from Pop. It's safe to say that Kawhi won't be as great as he is without Pop and that goes for many other Spurs players too.
#1 Kyrie Irving and Brad Stevens
When news broke about Kyrie Irving wanting out of Cleveland, everyone was shocked in the NBA. Why would one possibly leave LeBron James and potentially miss another sure shot trip to the NBA Finals?
We are only 15 games into the season for the Boston Celtics and that question is no longer a question. The Boston Celtics are currently the top team in the eastern conference, currently riding a 13 game winning streak and Irving definitely has a lot to do with it.
Irving might have made the boldest move ever, even bolder than KD joining the 73-win Warriors. Apart from the reason that Kyrie wanted his own team, he might have also wanted to play under a great coach. He's got both now. Brad Stevens will definitely be in the running for Coach of the Year this season. His contributions are already visible in Kyrie's game. He's being more unselfish and team-oriented. His turnovers per game have dropped from 2.5 last season to 1.9 this season.
If an off-season and a few regular season games were enough to bring this big of a change, big things are coming for Kyrie. The next chapter has begun.
