Woody vs the field

[NineOhTheRino]

The Field = All Easter Conference coaches except Doc Rivers and Larry Brown

Mike Woodson

Doc Rivers

Larry Brown

Vinny Del Negro

Mike Brown

John Kuester

Jim O'Brien

Erik Spoelstra

Scott Skiles

Lawrence Frank

Mike D'Antoni

Stan Van Gundy

Eddie Jordan

Jay Triano

Flip Saunders

Edited July 24, 2009 by NineOhTheRino

[TheTrueSiete]

The Field = All Easter Conference coaches except Doc Rivers and Larry Brown

Mike Woodson

Doc Rivers

Larry Brown

Vinny Del Negro

Mike Brown

Michael Curry

Jim O'Brien

Erik Spoelstra

Scott Skiles

Lawrence Frank

Mike D'Antoni

Stan Van Gundy

Eddie Jordan

Jay Triano

Flip Saunders

Is this a serious question...

7

[NineOhTheRino]

Is this a serious question...

7

I'm not a Woody fan but I swear I'd take him over any coach on this list. Now that's not saying woody is a good coach but man the EC has some crappy coaches.

[HawkItus]

Simply based accomplishments:

Stan Vangundy

Mike Brown

Lawrence Franks

Woodson trumps everyone else.

[EazyRoc]

I'd take Flip Saunders. Mike Brown hasn't done anything special. You give him a team without LeBron and I bet he'll be a scrub like the rest of 'em. I can go for Van Gundy, too.

[hawksfan8]

It's versus the field, right?

Not, could Woody be a better coach than each of these others; but, is he so much better that no one on the list could possibly be a better coach.

Mike Brown, John Kuester, Jim O'Brien, Erik Spoelstra, Scott Skiles, Lawrence Frank, Mike D'Antoni, Stan Van Gundy, Eddie Jordan, and Flip Saunders could all possibly be better coaches, so my money's on the field. Even individually, I think Spoelstra, Frank, and Van Gundy are better coaches - but that wasn't the question.

[NineOhTheRino]

It's versus the field, right?

Not, could Woody be a better coach than each of these others; but, is he so much better that no one on the list could possibly be a better coach.

Mike Brown, John Kuester, Jim O'Brien, Erik Spoelstra, Scott Skiles, Lawrence Frank, Mike D'Antoni, Stan Van Gundy, Eddie Jordan, and Flip Saunders could all possibly be better coaches, so my money's on the field. Even individually, I think Spoelstra, Frank, and Van Gundy are better coaches - but that wasn't the question.

agree. Most of those coaches are just as good as Woody. Would I fire Woody in order to hire one of those guys? No.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I had a feeling on what this question was about, but I thought it was going to be for all the coaches.

If you're only focusing on the East, and you take Brown and Doc off the list, I'm definitely taking Woody vs the field. The only other coach in the "field" that has been with their team longer than Woody, is Lawrence Frank.

I wonder what the average salary of "the field" is?

[AHF]

Simply based accomplishments:

Stan Vangundy

Mike Brown

Lawrence Franks

Woodson trumps everyone else.

How does Woody trump, for example, Flip Saunders on accomplishments. Saunders led both Minny and Detroit to the most wins in franchise history during two of his seasons with those teams. Obviously, the guy doesn't have a championship but there is no way Woody has accomplished as much as Flip.

[thefloydian]

I obviously don't know a lot about most the coaches since I don't follow the teams like I do the Hawks, but I find it hard to believe that any coach could be much worse than Woody.

[KB21]

I had a feeling on what this question was about, but I thought it was going to be for all the coaches.

If you're only focusing on the East, and you take Brown and Doc off the list, I'm definitely taking Woody vs the field. The only other coach in the "field" that has been with their team longer than Woody, is Lawrence Frank.

I wonder what the average salary of "the field" is?

You could expand this to a league wide comparison. I think there is a small group of coaches that is clearly at the top of the league: Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, Don Nelson, Rick Adelman, and George Karl. Then there is a smaller group of coaches who are good coaches but are not championsip caliber coaches like Flip Saunders, Rick Carlisle, and maybe Mike D'Antoni. IMO, everyone else can be grouped up together, and the differences you will find in their coaches careers to this point are player dependent, and this includes Doc Rivers who wouldn't be a great coach without Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.

I think a good topic of discussion, perhaps for the General NBA board, is the need for new blood to emerge in the head coaching ranks. Of the coaching hires that have been made this offseason, only one is a first time head coach. To me, the idea of recycling Paul Westphal is insane, and Eddie Jordan is now getting his third chance to be a head coach. This is why I applaude Detroit for hiring John Keuster, even though it makes little sense to dump Michael Curry only to hire another first time head coach.

[Dsinner]

Jordan is the only coach off that list I don't take over Woody. A few are equal. A very few. The rest are clearly better coaches.

Of course if you put a line through a few more coaches Woody will look even better vs. the field.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Dsinner