When we talk about the NBA, many of us start thinking about the league’s star players. However, those superstars won’t be able to become who they are without the tactical geniuses who shaped them and provided them with proper guidance—the head coaches.
These great minds helped NBA teams win championships, create star players, invent new styles of play, and build memorable dynasties.
In order to have better insight into how coaches are a crucial element of all basketball teams, I’ve made a list of the 10 best NBA coaches of all time.
Some of the factors included to determine the best ones are the number of championships, their coaching longevity, and how they revolutionized their teams.
Continue reading, and discover which ten coaches are NBA royalty!
#10 – Jerry Sloan
- Championships: 0
- Playoffs wins: 98
- Playoffs win/loss %: .485
- Regular season wins: 1221
- Regular season win/loss %: .603
Jerry Sloan is the best NBA coach in history, never to win an NBA championship. Before joining Utah, he was the assistant coach of the Chicago Bulls for four years.
After that, he joined the Utah Jazz in 1985, where he was assistant coach for four seasons. In 1988, the Utah Jazz appointed him as the head coach of the team, and the rest is history. He led the Jazz for 23 seasons and amassed 1,221 wins.
Under his leadership, the Utah Jazz appeared 15 times in a row in the playoffs from 1989 to 2003. Sloan used the pick and roll often while coaching the Jazz thanks to one of the most dominant duos of all time, John Stockton and Karl Malone.
Jerry Sloan could’ve easily won the championships in 1997 and 1998 if it weren’t for the unstoppable Jordan-led Bulls.
#9 – Lenny Wilkens
- Championships: 1
- Playoffs wins: 80
- Playoffs win/loss %: .449
- Regular season wins: 1332
- Regular season win/loss %: .536
The next legendary NBA coach on this list is Lenny Wilkens. He is one of the longest-tenured NBA coaches by being in the NBA for 35 seasons and leading 2,500 games in total. Wilkens was quite consistent by going into the playoffs for 20 seasons during his career.
Lenny’s biggest success was winning the NBA Championship back in the 78/79 with the Seattle Supersonics, whose biggest players were Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson, and Jack Sikma.
He took pride in the fact that you don’t have to win an NBA title with superstars. Wilkens never even coached an NBA Hall of Famer during his entire career. Besides the Supersonics, he coached numerous NBA teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trailblazers, and Toronto Raptors.
Coach Lenny holds third place among the best coaches in NBA history with an incredible 1332 wins in his career.
#8 – Chuck Daly
- Championships: 2
- Playoffs wins: 75
- Playoffs win/loss %: .595
- Regular season wins: 638
- Regular season win/loss %: .593
Chuck Daly began as a coach for high-school teams and eventually got the chance to lead college teams. His first gig in the NBA started as an assistant coach for the 76ers. After four seasons at the Sixers, he got the job of head coach at the Cleveland Cavaliers, which was disastrous as he only managed to get nine wins out of 41 games in the 1981-1982 season.
Everything changed when he got the job at Detroit Pistons in 1983 as their head coach. In the 80s, the Lakers and Celtics dominated the league until 1988, when Daly and the Pistons shook up the rivalry by first going to the NBA finals, then winning the NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.
Daly revolutionized how the Pistons played by focusing on hard defense and physical play. He was one of the first coaches with the mindset that “defense wins titles.” His main defensive players were Rodman, Laimbeer, and Mahorn.
Daly coached the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic before retiring in 1999. He also coached the NBA Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, when they won the golden medal.
#7 – Red Holzman
- Championships: 2
- Playoffs wins: 58
- Playoffs win/loss %: .552
- Regular season wins: 696
- Regular season win/loss %: .536
One of the best NBA coaches was Red Holzman. In the 14 years he spent as a coach for the New York Knicks, they won two NBA titles, in 1970 and 1973. Before joining the New York Knicks, he was also in the Milwaukee and St. Louis Hawks.
One year before winning the title, in 1969, Holzman helped the New York Knicks go on an impressive 18-win streak, breaking the record for most consecutive wins.
Coaches sometimes get a bad reputation for being aggressive and too loud, but Red was the complete opposite. He was calm and collected as a coach, which translated into how the Knicks played when they won the titles. His biggest individual reward was winning the award for NBA Coach of the Year in 1970.
#6 – K.C. Jones
- Championships: 2
- Playoffs wins: 81
- Playoffs win/loss %: .587
- Regular season wins: 522
- Regular season win/loss %: .674
Even though K.C. Jones had a relatively short tenure as a coach compared to the others on this list, he still used that time efficiently. Before going to the Celtics, he was an assistant and head coach for teams like the LA Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Bullets, etc. In 1978, he joined the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach.
In 1983, he was introduced as the new head coach of the Celtics and led the team until 1988. During his time at Boston, K.C. Jones won two NBA championships in 1984 and 1986.
In his coaching career K.C. Jones led notable players like Larry Bird, Robert Parish, and Kevin McHale to NBA titles. Jones also coached 5 NBA All-Star games. He was always a players’ coach, meaning he truly listened to his players’ advice.
#5 – Steve Kerr
- Championships: 4
- Playoffs wins: 99
- Playoffs win/loss %: .707
- Regular season wins: 482
- Regular season win/loss %: .660
Steve Kerr earned his place on the list of the best NBA coaches of all time by being one of the best in the modern league. In 9 seasons with the Golden State Warriors and the tenth currently being played, he appeared in 6 NBA finals and won 4 championships. His philosophy is to keep the ball moving fast and focus on three-point shooting.
Many NBA teams today have implemented that into their game strategy. He has a lot of great players who helped him implement that philosophy, like the “Splash Brothers” (Curry and Thompson) and Draymond Green as the defense expert.
In the 2015/16 season, Kerr earned the Coach of the Year award. He led the Warriors to a record-breaking 73 wins in that regular season. With a .660 win/loss % he’s the third-best coach in history who amassed more than 700 games.
Kerr is still young as a coach, so we’ll undoubtedly see more accolades in the future.
#4 – Pat Riley
- Championships: 5
- Playoffs wins: 171
- Playoffs win/loss %: .606
- Regular season wins: 1210
- Regular season win/loss %: 636
Pat Riley, one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, made it to this list. He started his career in 1979 as the assistant coach of the LA Lakers. In 1981, he became the head coach of the Lakers and won his first NBA championship in the same season. Riley left a significant mark on NBA basketball with the “Showtime” Lakers and won 4 NBA Championships in total with them.
His coaching philosophy was to form strategies that best fit the players of his teams and quickly adapt to any situation on the court. For instance, the Magic and Kareem-led Lakers loved the fast ball movement and flashy plays.
In 1991, he took the New York Knicks under his wing and led them to one NBA Finals during the four seasons with them. In the 1995-96 season, he took over the Miami Heat.
Pat Riley won the championship with the Miami Heat in 2006 thanks to the incredible duo of Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal. He retired in 2008 as a Miami Heat head coach.
All the coaches that I’ve included in this list, as well as Pat Riley, are among the 15 best NBA coaches of all time, according to the NBA’s 75th anniversary celebration selection.
#3- Red Auerbach
- Championships: 9
- Playoffs wins: 99
- Playoffs win/loss %: .589
- Regular season wins: 823
- Regular season win/loss %: .658
Number 3 on the list deservingly goes to one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time in the NBA—Red Auerbach. Arguably, the best coach in Boston Celtics history, Auerbach, spent 16 seasons at that club and won 9 NBA titles. Red coached legendary players like Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Bob Cousy, and many others.
He won his first NBA championship in the 1956/57 season. Then, from 1959 until 1966, he was the mastermind behind the Celtics’ record-breaking streak of 8 NBA titles. Red emphasized teamwork and suggested that his players don’t focus on individual scoring.
What’s also interesting about Red is that he only made the decisions since he had no assistant head coaches on his staff. Auerbach also had a talent for being a great motivator to his players, and nine titles are proof he was successful at it.
#2 – Gregg Popovich
- Championships: 5
- Playoffs wins: 170
- Playoffs win/loss %: .599
- Regular season wins: 1369
- Regular season win/loss %: .638
Consistency and Gregg Popovich have to go in the same sentence. With the San Antonio Spurs, he made one of the greatest dynasties the NBA has ever seen. Under his leadership, he got into playoffs for 22 consecutive seasons and won 5 NBA titles.
He started to lead the Spurs in 1996 and also holds the record for the most wins in the history of the NBA as a head coach. Currently, he has over 1370, but that number will increase since Popovich is still an active Spurs coach.
Pop primarily focused on having a rock-solid defense and creating a culture where every player could contribute. He also put emphasis on the fundamentals of the game, which can help win championships.
Gregg Popovich coached many legendary basketball players like Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard, etc. He was also a mentor to Steve Kerr, who was part of the Spurs coaching staff and certainly benefited greatly from the knowledge passed to him from one of the best NBA coaches of all time.
#1- Phil Jackson
- Championships: 11
- Playoffs wins: 229
- Playoffs win/loss %: .688
- Regular season wins: 1155
- Regular season win/loss %: .704
I’ve completed this list with undoubtedly the best NBA basketball coach of all time—Phil Jackson. He holds the record for being an NBA coach with most rings—11. He joined the Chicago Bulls in 1989 and won two three-peats with that team. His best regular season with the Bulls was the 1995/96 season when they amassed 72 wins.
After his successful Bulls stint, he joined the Lakers in 1999 and won three consecutive NBA championships. Jackson won two more titles with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010.
Phil promoted a culture of trust and collaboration. His leadership philosophy was heavily influenced by meditation and the ideas of the Buddhists. Henceforth, his nickname was “The Zen Master.”
He coached some of the best basketball players in history, including two of the arguably best NBA duos in Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen at Chicago, and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in Los Angeles.
Featured image taken from YouTube.
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