best overall Suns coach (probably), and best coaches by specialty

[somethingshesaid]

I have always found it very difficult to judge a coach, due to the extreme difficulty of distinguishing their role in their team's success from the players' role; and the best anyone can fairly do is make an educated guess. So...I have suspected that based on how long Jerry Colangelo kept him, and the fact that he managed to lead his Suns to a Finals, the best Suns coach overall is...probably John MacLeod.

It's much easier to judge the individual coaches by specialty, because many of them tended to be the best at one thing in particular.

Paul Westphal: Best tactician. He was not clearly a great coach in any other way, but I found him very good at designing clever plays to win games and also manipulating the rules. It's not just the 1976 time-out; it's things like drawing up an offbeat play early in 1992-93 that involved inbounding a ball to someone after bouncing it off the backboard (because the rule stated that the clock didn't start until the ball hit the board).

Cotton Fitzsimmons: Best teacher; also most open-minded and willing to try new strategies.

Mike D'Antoni: Best offensive strategist, obviously.

Alvin Gentry: Best manager of people. Was fired as blatant case of scapegoating.

Worst coaches:
-Earl Watson: Empty suit who didn't clearly know what he was doing.
-Terry Porter: Said to have been inappropriately strict and tactless with players.
-Mike D'Antoni: Good offensive strategist; lousy at all other aspects of coaching. Also known to be stubborn and even insulting in response to requests that he do things differently.

Coaches who are hard to draw a conclusion on: Jeff Hornacek. Except that Hornacek was obviously old-school and had little skill in handling today's man-child players. Hornacek was quiet and didn't say much that could help figure him out.

 

[GatorAZ]

Among coaches who coached at least 200 games:

D’Antoni - nobody expected anything close to what we got from that era

Fitzsimmons - could be #1 but Mike’s Suns peaked slightly higher

Westphal - inherited a great team but choked and flamed in the playoffs

MacLeod - coached so long he gets this spot

Monty - TBD but a good start

Gentry - great player’s coach and we’ll liked but he’s more of a great #2

Ainge - had potential but it just didn’t work out

Hornacek - got kinda screwed

 

[somethingshesaid]

Westphal - inherited a great team but choked and flamed in the playoffs

Did he? I have no problem blaming every Barkley team's failure on injuries, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Suns players' errors.

1993: Danny Ainge (who was an obnoxious idiot) chose to disregard his assignment by leaving John Paxson open. Not Westphal's fault. Also, in that game where Jordan dropped 55 (game 5?), he did that probably because he was angry at Ainge's taunting. Thanks a lot, Ainge. (Yes, you can see it in the photos from game 5. Jordan is yelling at Ainge while Charles Barkley tried to calm Jordan down. Then you see Jordan dunking over Ainge. Put two and two together.)


1994: Hakeem Olajuwon destroyed the Suns in round 2. Am I supposed to blame Westphal for a player whose defense was so devastating that it was feared by Michael Jordan? (Yes, Jordan later admitted it.)

1995: A Suns player, whose identity I am not sure of (but am guessing it was Ainge again), left Mario Elie open for a game-winning shot. This is not Westphal's fault either unless he called for leaving Elie open.

Although I must acknowledge that, like Jeff Hornacek twenty years later, Paul Westphal may have had inadequate skill at managing personalities. He was no Alvin gentry.

 

[capologist]

1993: Danny Ainge (who was an obnoxious idiot) chose to disregard his assignment by leaving John Paxson open. Not Westphal's fault. Also, in that game where Jordan dropped 55 (game 5?), he did that probably because he was angry at Ainge's taunting. Thanks a lot, Ainge. (Yes, you can see it in the photos from game 5. Jordan is yelling at Ainge while Charles Barkley tried to calm Jordan down. Then you see Jordan dunking over Ainge. Put two and two together.)

Not entirely Ainge’s fault. It was either rotate or concede a layup to Grant.

1995: A Suns player, whose identity I am not sure of (but am guessing it was Ainge again), left Mario Elie open for a game-winning shot. This is not Westphal's fault either unless he called for leaving Elie open.

Elie was Ainge’s man. Don’t recall whether it was Ainge’s fault for leaving him open or it was another situation where he was forced to.

 

[GatorAZ]

Did he? I have no problem blaming every Barkley team's failure on injuries, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Suns players' errors.

1993: Danny Ainge (who was an obnoxious idiot) chose to disregard his assignment by leaving John Paxson open. Not Westphal's fault. Also, in that game where Jordan dropped 55 (game 5?), he did that probably because he was angry at Ainge's taunting. Thanks a lot, Ainge. (Yes, you can see it in the photos from game 5. Jordan is yelling at Ainge while Charles Barkley tried to calm Jordan down. Then you see Jordan dunking over Ainge. Put two and two together.)


1994: Hakeem Olajuwon destroyed the Suns in round 2. Am I supposed to blame Westphal for a player whose defense was so devastating that it was feared by Michael Jordan? (Yes, Jordan later admitted it.)

1995: A Suns player, whose identity I am not sure of (but am guessing it was Ainge again), left Mario Elie open for a game-winning shot. This is not Westphal's fault either unless he called for leaving Elie open.

Although I must acknowledge that, like Jeff Hornacek twenty years later, Paul Westphal may have had inadequate skill at managing personalities. He was no Alvin gentry.

The Suns blew a 2-0 and 3-1 leads vs inferior talented Houston teams.