In Formula One racing, the year’s champions are chosen in two separate categories. The first awards the first-place driver who racks up the most points with podium wins. The second award goes to the constructors who develop and manufacture the best-performing cars, like Mercedes or Ferrari. Here, there’s an award granted to the individual who champions the vehicle and those who toil behind the scenes to create an unbeatable motor car.
But this is unique to Formula One. In the vast majority of professional sports, NBA included, sports teams and star players earn most of the glory. For their work leading a team to victory, the NBA hands out its annual NBA Coach of the Year Award alongside others, like the Regular Season MVP Award.
Since sports betting was legalized in the US in 2018, sports fans have started to wager on these types of odds along with basketball-focused bets like moneylines and point spreads. Now, some fans crunch stats to determine which coach has a solid win percentage and new approach to the game. And with free bet offers available from OddsChecker, there are more opportunities to wager on outcomes like Coach of the Year than ever before—but the NBA’s official selections don’t necessarily reflect the coaches who have made the greatest impact to the game.
From 2010 to 2020, here are the NBA’s most influential coaches in terms of stats and playmaking.
Last Championship for Phil Jackson
Regardless of which ranking you’re referencing, the list of all-time great coaches in the NBA is bound to see Phil Jackson nab the top spot. His overall win percentage sits at .704, which helped him take home 11 NBA Championships. Though he was only named the Coach of the Year once, Jackson has been immortalized as the genius behind the Chicago Bulls’ unstoppable run in the 1990s. However, even in his last year coaching (2010), he led the LA Lakers to a second consecutive NBA Finals title.
Steve Kerr & the Dubs
Early in his career, Steve Kerr has a .691 win percentage—and some of his outlook may be thanks to the time he spent on Jackson’s Chicago Bulls squad from the 90s. However, Kerr is now remembered for his creation of the ‘Dubs’, a championship-winning Golden State Warriors squad. During their reign in the mid-2010s, Kerr steered the league’s top players like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson to multiple championship wins.
Greg Popovich No. 3 in All-Time Coaches
Greg Popovich may only have a .659 win percentage, relatively low on the list of all-time great coaches, but he has five championship titles under his belt, along with three Coach of the Year Awards (2003, 2012, 2014). He’s also ranked third in the all-time greats list from Fadeaway World. With the San Antonio Spurrs, Popovich led the team to 22 executive playoff runs, and he’s also helped groom some of the league’s incoming coaches. Today, eleven NBA coaches have spent time as an assistant to Popovich.
A Special Case for Daryl Morey
As highlighted by Popovich, some of the greatest coaches in the NBA aren’t remembered for their total championship count. Instead, they’re also remembered for their outlook on the game. Few NBA fans would argue that one of the greatest movers in the league over the past decade hasn’t been a coach—but someone toiling behind the scenes, much like an Formula One constructor team.
Enter Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets from 2007 to 2020. During that time, he adapted the MLB’s obsession with sabermetrics for basketball. Morey found that teams that scored more three-pointers had a statistical edge on opponents. He then spearheaded a major trade to get James Harden onto the Rockets, then got to work proving that three-pointers could change a team’s future.
Today, much of the NBA revolves around statistical decision-making, as introduced by Morey. However, not all NBA fans are happy with this change. Rather than creative drives to the net, many players are happy to cherry-pick at the arch, leading more predictable play.
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