National Basketball Association

Greatness doesn't carry over from court to bench

Published Aug. 28, 2009 5:56 p.m. ET

foxsports

Taking a look at the NBA's current coaches, plus undergoing a cursory investigation of the most prominent names on the league's all-time coaching roster, leads to an interesting conclusion: Very few great players turn into great coaches.

Before investigating the reasons why this is so, here's a completely subjective rating of some notable All-Star caliber NBA players and their subsequent coaching careers.

Great players who became great coaches

Bill Sharman: He led the 1971-72 Lakers to a record 33 consecutive wins and an NBA title. He also coached the Golden State Warriors into the Finals. Best of all, he managed to convince Wilt Chamberlain to play a team-oriented game. He's perhaps the most underrated NBA coach ever.

The 10 best coaches

Phil or Red? Red or Phil? Which one is No. 1? And who are the other eight guys on our Top 10 coaches in NBA history?

Lenny Wilkens: He was never comfortable with rookies but always got the best out of his veteran players — except in New York.

Great players who became good coaches

Larry Bird: He had excellent success on the Pacers' bench even though he didn't like several of his players and wasn't all that crazy about coaching to begin with.

Billy Cunningham: He was a totally inept coach at first but eventually figured things out.

Tommy Heinsohn: He bled Celtic green and briefly resurrected Boston's lapsed Russellian dynasty.

Gene Shue: He specialized in improving the fortunes of bad ball clubs, which is the only reason why he lost so many games.

Great players who became fair-to-middling coaches

Doug Collins: He had no imagination, little interest in defense and his teams never quite reached their potential.

Dolph Schayes: He was too nice a guy to be a good coach.

Rudy Tomjanovich: With the Rockets, he let his best players operate with little or no supervision — fortunately they were mostly good citizens. With the Lakers, his laissez-faire attitude was ruinous.

Jerry West: His manic perfectionism made his players too nervous to play at their best.

Paul Westphal: He couldn't deal with "problem" players.

Great players who became bad coaches

Elgin Baylor: Since he never played defense, he was incapable of teaching his players how to defend.