Ranking the Top 10 Active NBA Coaches

Editor’s Note:

This is a guest post from Justin of FantasyBasketballMoneyLeagues.com. For more NBA news and updates, visit Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues today or follow him up at this Google+ page.

The NBA season is just around the corner and there is no better time to rank the top 10 NBA coaches that are active. This is a tough task, because there are so many great coaches in the NBA. When ranking these coaches, I started off by listing all the Coaches that I think are elite, good, and on the brink of becoming great. I came up with 13 coaches to start and after researching each coach, this is how they rank in my mind based on what they have done and what is yet to come and honestly how they are respected amongst the league.

Gregg Popovich – San Antonio Spurs

This is a no-brainer for not only me, but almost all basketball fans and experts. I not only think he is the best in the NBA right now, but also I believe he is the best of All-Time. Popovich has won five NBA championships as the head coach of the Spurs. He also has the most consecutive winning seasons (playoffs included) of any NBA coach, at 17. Popovich is one of only five coaches in NBA history to win five or more NBA championships. Here is what Popovich has done so far.

5× NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014)

3× NBA Coach of the Year (2003, 2012, 2014)

6× Western Conference champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2014)

3× All-Star Game head coach (2005, 2011, 2013)

Rick Carlisle – Dallas Mavericks

Rick is also one of the only 11 people to win an NBA championship both as a player and as a coach. The 2010–11 season was Carlisle’s most successful as a head coach. The Mavericks finished the regular season with a 57–25 win-loss record. They swept the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Mavericks enjoyed a 4–1 series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, the first Conference Finals victory of his coaching career. In the 2011 NBA Finals, he coached the Mavericks to a 4–2 series victory over the Miami Heat for the franchise’s first championship. Not only did Carlisle win a championship with the Mavericks, he also turned around a Detroit Pistons team that he would have won a title with. Here is what Rick has achieved as a coach so far

NBA champion (2011)

NBA Coach of the Year (2002)

Western Conference champion (2011)

NBA All-Star Game head coach (2004)

Doc Rivers – Los Angeles Clippers

Doc is one of the most respected basketball coaches in the NBA by players. Players love to play for him. Rivers won his first NBA Championship as a head coach, although the Celtics needed an NBA record 26 post-season games to win it. Rivers notched his 400th win with the Celtics and brought the Celtics to two NBA championship winning one of them. Doc won NBA coach of the year in 2000 with the Magic and probably should have won another during his time with the Celtics. Now as the Clippers coach, he has the talent to win another title. Here are some of Doc’s highlights as a coach.

NBA champion (2008)

NBA Coach of the Year (2000)

2× NBA All-Star Game head coach (2008, 2011)

Tom Thibodeau – Chicago Bulls

Tom is a defensive mastermind, not only with being the head man in Chicago, but also going back to his Celtic days while running the defense for Doc’s Celtics. His Celtic teams were known for shutting down King James and the Cavs. Now as the Bulls head coach, nothing has changed. His teams remain consistently as a top defensive team and even when banged up and look done, still find a way to compete. In 2012, he became the fastest coach in NBA history to earn 100 victories and finished as the runner-up for Coach of the Year. Below is what Thibodeau has done so far as a coach in the NBA.

NBA Coach of the Year (2011)

NBA All-Star Game head coach (2012)

Stan Van Gundy – Detroit Pistons

Stan is the most underrated coach in the game to me and will have the Pistons in the playoffs this season. Stan coached the Orlando Magic for five seasons from 2007 to 2012, leading them to the 2009 NBA Finals. The Magic won 59 games that season, second most in franchise history, along with a second consecutive division championship. After defeating the team with the league’s best record that season, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Magic won the Eastern Conference Finals in six games, advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1995 to face the Los Angeles Lakers, but lost the series in five games. Stan really has a knack for getting the most out of his players. Here is what Stan has done so far in his coaching career.