Post by eric on May 16, 2019 21:44:25 GMT
Title winning assistant coaches frequently get head coaching gigs - from Luke Walton and Alvin Gentry to Mike Brown and Kurt Rambis. To find out if this was a good strategy I decided to look back at the pedigrees of all title winning head coaches.
Of the thirty coaches to win an NBA title only eleven had been NBA assistants at all, although nine of the last twelve have been as assistants have grown more prevalent recently.
Of those eleven only three had championship assistant experience, and both were promoted by the team they won them on:
Pat Riley was an assistant on Paul Westhead's 1980 title winning Laker staff and took over the big chair in 1982,
K.C. Jones assisted Bill Fitch to the 1981 Celtic title before taking over in Beantown, and
Erik Spoelstra was an assistant toStan Van Gundy's Pat Riley's 2006 championship HEAT before being promoted in 2008.
Not once has a championship assistant gone on to head coaching glory for another team.
Of the thirty coaches to win an NBA title only eleven had been NBA assistants at all, although nine of the last twelve have been as assistants have grown more prevalent recently.
Of those eleven only three had championship assistant experience, and both were promoted by the team they won them on:
Pat Riley was an assistant on Paul Westhead's 1980 title winning Laker staff and took over the big chair in 1982,
K.C. Jones assisted Bill Fitch to the 1981 Celtic title before taking over in Beantown, and
Erik Spoelstra was an assistant to
Not once has a championship assistant gone on to head coaching glory for another team.