And that is coming from a Rockets fan. His body of work stands above Reds, Riley & Phil.

Phil has 11 rings as a coach. More than double what Pop has.

Pop is great, but you can't really put him ahead of Jackson or Red Auerbach.

Auerbach won 9 titles. Phil Jackson won 11, and 3peated 3 different times. Pop is great, but you're wrong.

I give Jackson the nod. I don't even bother comparing Auerbach. He was in a different era...half the teams, no salary cap, no free agency. Jackson then Pop.

I will say this, Pop has built a team that could contend for one of the greatest TEAMS of all time. Not sure that I've ever seen a group of individuals mesh together, offensively & defensively, like this group.

Phil never won a title with a less talented team. Not once.

Pop is badass.

I'd like to see Phil Jackson coach without an already built team. That cat stepped in to Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq. Anyone on this board would've won as many rings with those players/teams. Actually, those Bull / Laker teams didn't even need a coach back then to win those championships. Jackson is so overrated.

That Jordan/Pippen squad hadn't won jack **** with Doug Collins coaching them.

I love pop, but you had too many beers tonight.

Agreed on Jackson being overrated. Would love to see how Jackson would do trying to coach the Knicks, but of course, he'd never take a risk like that.

Jackson was a great coach and knew how to coach teams with superstars. Without those superstars he could not be won.

Pop created teams that beat superstar teams with really only one special talent before he came to the team. He developed the rest himself. The two stars of the spurs are Duncan and Pops system.

Honestly, I think before the 2011-2012 season, the answer would have easily still been Jackson. The Spurs, up until that point only had successful teams with Duncan being obviously a top 3 talent in the game (if not number 1), however, the last 3 seasons, and especially after tonight, have shown that he can lead a team to success without a top player in the game.

Pop would have won with mj's bulls. I'm not sure Jackson wins with Pop's roster.

If you had to pick a coach for a team with only one obvious star, you pick Pops, not Jackson.

Pop had two titles without having the best player on the series.

Before the Finals, some may have argued that Pop didn't have the two best players in the series.

Phil and Red always won with the most talented team and sometimes lost with the most talented team

I don't know if it's "without question", but I agree that Pop is the greatest. The way he has been able to completely morph his teams based on evolving philosophies, ,changes to the game, and personnel changes are something that Jackson couldn't do.

The Red Years the NBA had three decent teams NY, Bos & LA that was it, no comparison with today. * where with Russel and 7 in a row, that essential was one team. Phil Had Jordan and then Kobey/Shaq those where all start driven teams all of Pops teams where more team in nature and he always did way more with less. Phils Record with good but not great talents was nothing exceptionable.

On one thread Spurs fans are calling Duncan the best PF ever (and I'm sure will argue that Parker is a future HOFer) and on this thread Pop has won 5 titles with a bunch of scrubs.

Do you think Duncan was better than LeBron in 2007 or 2014, Junkhead?

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Do you think Duncan was better than LeBron in 2007 or 2014, Junkhead?

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Are you saying he isn't a HOFer? You're splitting hairs here. Pop is a great coach. There is no question about it. But don't make it sound like he conjured up some magic and created a championship team out of a bunch of spare parts. His Spurs teams were definitely loaded with more talent than either the 2011 Mavs or the 2004 Pistons.

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His Spurs teams were definitely loaded with more talent than either the 2011 Mavs or the 2004 Pistons.

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Are you including this years team in that statement? Because I'd say that this years Spurs team is less talented (individual talent-wise) than either of those teams.

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But don't make it sound like he conjured up some magic and created a championship team out of a bunch of spare parts.

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The Spurs most important players on this team:

Tim Duncan, greatest PF ever, drafted with the #1 pick overall.
Kawhi Leonard, picked 15th, passed over by half the teams in the NBA
Tony Parker, last pick of the first round, passed over by every team
Manu Ginobili, second to last pick in the entire 1999 draft. Passed over by every other team.
Patty Mills, signed from the Xinjiang Flying Tigers after Portland decided to not resign him.
Boris Diaw, signed after he was cut by the worst team in the NBA, the Charlotte Bobcats.
Danny Green, signed after he was cut by the second worst team in the league, the 19-win Cleveland Cavs.

Yes, Pop definitely didn't win this title with a bunch of players cut by other teams, players playing in China or players that were passed over by everyone in the NBA in the draft. He also had a 38-year old Tim Duncan.

Pop did more with less for longer and in a tougher market than Phil ever did.

Pop> > > phil

This is correct.

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Are you saying he isn't a HOFer? You're splitting hairs here.

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I'm not splitting hairs at all. LeBron was the most talented player on the floor in 2007 and in 2014 and Pop beat him both times.

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His Spurs teams were definitely loaded with more talent than either the 2011 Mavs or the 2004 Pistons.

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2004 Pistons had 4 of their starters as All-Stars within a year or two of their title and all were in their prime during their run. They also had strong bench play from guys that made All-Star teams a year or two later. Mike James was the backup PG and two years later, he averaged 20/6 as a starter. That team had a lot of talent.

Let's not pretend the Mavs were devoid of talent, either. Dirk, Terry, Kidd, Chandler, Marion, JJ, Peja, Stevenson, Haywood - there was a lot of talent on that roster.

Wouldn't of thought it would be Junkhead trying to take a **** on the Spurs tonight. Heh.

Phil Jackson is the ring seeking wh-re of a coach, where Shaq was the ring seeking wh-re of a player.

Jackson would only operate in big markets; had loads of talent. Let him go to (insert worst NBA team) and win. Do that, and I'll pick Phil.

Popp has been able to evolve. His early championship teams were known for defense, not offense. He's morphed into running one of the best offensive teams in the NBA. Popp has been able to utilize underutilized talent, or find talent where others did not. Case in point - Danny Green, Boris Diaw.

Lebron was the most talented player, but SA had the most talented team this year. This takes nothing away from Pop. There's no way to argue 11 vs 5. You can make an argument against Red, but one can just as easily be made for Red.

Phil Jackson was better.

I think Pop is just an amazing coach, what he has done over his career is truly remarkable. With that said you can't rank him ahead of Jackson. Those 11 titles speak for themselves and you can't discredit him, just can't.

I put Pop as a close second to Phil. I know its not just about rings but Phil has so many that he gets the nod.

I began watching the spurs in 1998, right after they drafted Duncan. Midway through all of this the Spurs radically changed their gameplan to match the strengths of its players. You have to give Pop credit for this.

After Robinson retired, the Spurs lost on the 0.4 shot the next season. They still played at a snail's pace. After this, Pop was an assistant on the olympic team that failed. He took mental notes from this experience particularly studying the international offenses and taking some knowledge of this from D'Antoni.

In 2005, Pop's Spurs beat the fast-paced Suns by beating them at their own game. It was the first time the spurs were able to control games without slowing the pace. In effect, Pop set especially Manu, but also Tony, free.

The full transformation to a free-moving no star system began in 2011-12 because Pop understood that the team still relied too much Manu, Tim, and Tony to score playing isolation basketball. If any one of them got hurt, the team could not compete for a championship.

I love that gif of Pop.

TP was not even close to 100% in this series, yet the spurs destroyed Heat. TD is 38, manu is 36. Kahwi wasn't close to being an all-star this season. There is no better coach.

Red, Jackson, and Pop are the greatest 3 coaches of all time. Red was alot like Pop, Jackson is a different mold. Both Red and Pop excelled at finding talented players that some people may have cast off and getting them to buy into a team concept to maximize those talents. Players became willing to sacrifice their egos in order to win.
Jackson is totally different. He excelled at managing egos. He almost fed their egos, but used it to his advantage.
I don't agree that Popovich necessarily would have won with Pippen and Jordan, and I outright disagree that he wins with Kobe and Shaq. The egos of those players was what kept them from winning. Popovich never would have been able to tolerate Shaq's and Kobe's egos. The team would have self combusted. Popovich and Red were blessed in that their #1 superstar had almost no ego but only wanted to win. If you want to penalize Jackson for only taking on loaded teams, you have to look at Pop's best player having no ego as a huge advantage for him. Alot easier to get buy in from role players if your superstar is willing to do anything and everything it takes to win including sacrificing their own numbers.
Regardless, those three are at the top, on a completely different level from everyone else. Who you would rather have coaching would depend entirely on the makeup of the team.