Simple Question: Is Doc a great coach?

[Boris Badenov]

I think the only coaches today I'd trade him for are Pop and Thibs.

He has his flaws, but he also has a ton of positives - one being that he has helped to create a definable culture about what it is to be a Celtic. This is a very valuable thing.

[Redz]

Is it fair to say he is a "very good" coach who will end up having a great coaching career?

[MBunge]

Doc is clearly a good coach.  We need to see what he does without KG and Pierce before you can call him a great coach.  Before KG and Ray came to town, Doc's coaching career was closer to Sam Mitchell's than Popovich's, Jackson's or even Thib's.

Mike

[Lightskinsmurf]

I think very good is fair.  His people skills are fantastic and he seems like a genuinely very good guy.

And this is why he's widely accepted as "the best coach in the game"...he's friendly, and the media loves him....in reality kg could be a player/coach and we'd lose nothing

He's widely accepted as the "best coach in the NBA" because he's probably the greatest personnel manager among active coaches in the NBA right now. Or in other words, his teams play hard and he seems to always be able to get the best out of his players. This has nothing to do with the media.

And he's, well, stable (remeber Obie resigning over trading, ahem, Tony Battie and Eric Williams?)

Oh man, I disagree with this whole heartedly. I felt disgusted just reading that sentence.

[Lightskinsmurf]

Is it fair to say he is a "very good" coach who will end up having a great coaching career?

No

[SparzWizard]

Nope. Doesn't know how to control his team to keep a 27-point lead nor leads in general. Calls timeout when he realizes it's too late. Rather keeps an oddly horrible player of the night over a streaky player on the court.

If this was a scale from 1 to 30 (1 being the best, 30 the worst), I'd say he's 15th. Definitely not a top 5 today. Out-coached by Eric Spoelstra in that Miami series last season.

[BballTim]

Doc is clearly a good coach.  We need to see what he does without KG and Pierce before you can call him a great coach.  Before KG and Ray came to town, Doc's coaching career was closer to Sam Mitchell's than Popovich's, Jackson's or even Thib's.

Mike

  If that's the standard you need to see Popovich coach a few years without Duncan to see if he's a great coach or not.

[soap07]

The only way to truly measure this is set up a control group where a bunch of different coaches coached the same exact team over a year (or a series of years) and see how the team. I wonder how Doc or Pop would do the with 90's Bulls - or Phil Jackson with the Nash-led Phoenix Suns.

It's totally subjective. You need great players to win. Vinny Del Negro went from one of the most reviled head coaches in the league to now a decent one. Did he magically improve his coaching or does he have one of the deepest rosters in the league?

[celtics2]

Doc in his 1st 7 years didn't average 500, in fact got fired once. He had a couple good years riding the backs of KG Pierce and Allen. One could argue he lost us a ring with them also. Personally I like Doc a lot. Very nice man but has no clue how to organize a team handed to him. Putting him in with the Great Ones only minimize's their successes. Everybody's just Great now!

[Boris Badenov]

Doc in his 1st 7 years didn't average 500, in fact got fired once.

Um, you left out the part about him winning Coach of the Year.

[Eja117]

I don't think he's done anything that other coaches couldn't have done, and he's made a lot of mistakes and has leaned heavily on great assistants like Thibs and Ray and to a lesser extent Frank. But I think he's above average and at times has been very good. He totally dismantled Phil Jackson in the finals.  However he just allows way too many shenanigans and doesn't lay down the law enough. The entire regular season of Sheed was a mail in -collect my check -type travesty and I think the players saw that

[LooseCannon]

I don't think Ainge has always given Doc the right personnel.  Ainge seems to keep trying to add "instant offense" players to the bench.  I think Doc's coaching style would be better served by adding defense-oriented players and letting Doc figure out the offense.  You're not going to earn Doc's trust by scoring enough to outweigh your defensive liabilities.

[Snakehead]

Doc is clearly a good coach.  We need to see what he does without KG and Pierce before you can call him a great coach.  Before KG and Ray came to town, Doc's coaching career was closer to Sam Mitchell's than Popovich's, Jackson's or even Thib's.

Mike

This is a ridiculous statement.

You don't even consider personnel in any of your logic.  Because of course Pop had no talent and Doc had plenty before the big three arrived right?   

I don't think Ainge has always given Doc the right personnel.  Ainge seems to keep trying to add "instant offense" players to the bench.  I think Doc's coaching style would be better served by adding defense-oriented players and letting Doc figure out the offense.  You're not going to earn Doc's trust by scoring enough to outweigh your defensive liabilities.

This is actually a very interesting point.  Something worth considering for sure.

Danny doesn't want to pay for height but I wonder what a big, defensive minded team would look like being coached by Doc.

I don't think he's done anything that other coaches couldn't have done, and he's made a lot of mistakes and has leaned heavily on great assistants like Thibs and Ray and to a lesser extent Frank. But I think he's above average and at times has been very good. He totally dismantled Phil Jackson in the finals.  However he just allows way too many shenanigans and doesn't lay down the law enough. The entire regular season of Sheed was a mail in -collect my check -type travesty and I think the players saw that

Rasheed Wallace did exactly what he's always done: but very talented but just about the most unprofessional player in the league.  How he acts doesn't apply to other players or let them know they can "get something over".  And Doc didn't manage to corral him like NO ONE has ever managed to corral him. 

Sheed was a grown man.  He is who he is, this isn't college and he isn't in his early 20's.

[ScottHow]

I can't name many teams I'd switch coaches with. Always been a fan of Doc and I think he gets too much blame for some things.

[manl_lui]

yes and no, I think Doc is a great coach when it comes to people management. He knows how to manage his players pretty well.

However, some of his strategies and tactics I kind of question. As Scotthow said, there's not many coach I would switch for Doc. The only name that pops up numerous times is Pop and that's probably it.