Entering his 3rd year as the Warriors head coach, Mark Jackson has silenced skeptics by proving he is capable of being an NBA coach despite having no experience. He finished 7th in NBA Coach of the Year voting in 2012-13, a place many pegged as too low. The question begs to be asked, where exactly does Mark Jackson rank among NBA coaches?
This season there will 9 first time coaches the NBA (Jason Kidd, Brad Stevens, Mike Budenholzer, Steve Clifford, Brian Shaw, Brett Brown, Jeff Hornacek, Dave Joerger, Mike Malone) and until proven otherwise, Jackson is ranked above them.
Then there’s a group of coaches who are clearly better than Mark Jackson. Greg Popovich is a future hall of famer, a four time champion head coach and has won over 50 games every year since Tim Duncan was drafted. Popovich’s teams are regularly among the best on offense and defense. Since Phil Jackson stepped down, Pop is clearly the gold standard for coaching in the NBA. Next up is Erik Sploelstra, two time defending champion, mastermind behind the Heat’s up-tempo small-ball attack which is the most efficient offense in the NBA, and the league’s stingiest crunch time defense. Spoelstra has also managed to keep all three of his stars happy along with their myriad of role players, no small feat. These two are undisputable.
Beyond that, it’s reasonable to consider Jackson versus any other coach. After Pop and Spoelstra, I’d argue Tom Thiboneau, Doc Rivers and Rick Carlilse are the next best coaches. Tibs is the creator of one of the league’s best defenses, and a defensive system most teams copy the principals of in today’s NBA. He was able to guide the Chicago Bulls to the 5th seed in the East, despite missing their former MVP and star player, Derrick Rose. Like Popovich’s teams, Tibs’ teams are among the most discipline in NBA.
Carlilse has been the Mavericks head coach for 5 seasons now and he led them to their first ever title in 2011. He’s proven to be one of the most versatile coaches, using many different lineups, big and small. He is also the first coach to employ an advanced stats assistant coach, showing how open minded he is to all data at his disposal. Dallas may have lacked talent to go far last year but Carlisle maximized it and did much better than expected.
Finally Doc Rivers, who led the 2008 Boston Celtics to an NBA championship, is one of the league’s best coaches. Like all the coaches above, Rivers’ teams are well discipline on both sides of the ball. Rivers is also one of the best coaches at getting star players to buy in and trust his system, one of the most difficult and important attributes a coach can have.
After those 5, I’d argue Mark Jackson is just as good or even better than any coach in the league. Jackson was a key component in turning around the Warriors and getting players to play to best of their abilities. He trusted Stephen Curry, unlike Keith Smart, and got him to believe he was the best player on the court and it paid off with a career season. He got the entire team to play together, after years of watching too much isolation selfish basketball. He got the team to buy in and play the best team defense the Warriors have played in nearly 20 years.
Jackson has empowered his assistants and trusts them to draw up plays at times, or listens to their thoughts. He isn’t afraid to delegate, and in a league where so many coaches are control-freaks or authoritarian, Jackson, like many of the best coaches throughout history, prefers to utilize every tool at his disposal, listen to every opinion, so to come to best conclusion. In his first interview, one thing Jackson said was “I know what I know, and I know what I don’t” and this sums up how Jackson is able to utilize his assistants so well. He will give them liberties other coaches don’t, and he reaps the benefits. In leadership role, this can’t be overlooked, the best leaders give direction but also freedom and trust their employees (or in this case players and assistants) to get the best out of them.
Finally not to be forgotten, Jackson’s coaching didn’t go unnoticed around the league, to the point of being a key reason why a marquee free agent like Andre Iguodala, signed for the Warriors; one that the Warriors had no chance to sign with previous head coaches. Iguodala said “The way they’ve got those guys playing with such confidence that comes from the coach. The way those young guys were playing against us, that’s confidence. I saw Klay Thompson running full speed down the court, caught the ball, took two steps and shot the 3. His feet weren’t even set. That comes from coaching. I want to play with that kind of confidence.” That quote summarizes why Mark Jackson is one of the top coaches in the NBA. He empowers his players and gets them playing with confidence.. He doesn’t play mind-games, he tries to coach them with positivity and it pays off. He’s able to gain his players respect by showing them mutual respect, and thus has made the Warriors a team players want to play for. It’s hard to believe he only finished 7th in Coach of the year voting but as the years go on, it would not be surprising to see Jackson climbing up this list and eventually claim one himself.
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