New monthly ranking, the second of the season, this time with the emphasis placed on the coaches of the Great League. Who pushes his troops to be even better? Who really taught them how to be? How are the new kids doing? We are trying to answer these few questions and others, and for complaints you know the address, there must be my email somewhere. Come on, let’s take out the brochures, and see you soon in my spam emails.
Stats as of December 28, 2021
#Mention honorable : Monsieur Gregg Popovich
Twelve more victories and the venerable Gregg Popovich will become the most victorious coach in the history of the NBA, and it will be deserved in view of the legitimacy and the greatness of the grandfather. This season ? He was promised a thousand miseries, some even chuckled, wondering if he would reach the 25 wins missing from his CV, but despite a weak and very young roster, Father Pop did the job. Dejounte Murray plays like an All-Star, Bryn Forbes sometimes comes off as a real basketball player, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell progress to death, Derrick White is everywhere and Keita Bates-Diop needs a Chamberlain against the Lakers? Don’t waste any more, the cup is full, and see you soon to celebrate the record by bursting a big bottle of red.
# 10 Wes Unseld Jr.
17 wins and 16 losses, made Kyle Kuzma a real basketball player but for Davis Bertans you should not push, is doing it despite some odds and ends
The start of the season is now very retro, but if the Wizards are back in the rankings, everything is not to throw for Wes Unseld Jr. and his troops. First line of congratulations? The development of Deni Advija, who has become an ultra-important element of the roster this season and one of the best defenders in the League. A propensity also to get the best of players not necessarily stamped elite, we think in particular of Kyle Kuzma, at random, and every evening in any case the promise of risk-taking on the Wizards side and that, we validate to death. Coach rookie we remind you, who also has to deal with the vagaries of a weird season, so everything is fine for Wes, really.
# 9 Quin Snyder
24 wins and 9 losses, but sorry, it’s mostly because his players are good
Far from us the idea that Quin Snyder is useless on the bench of the Jazz, but unlike some of his colleagues the Grinch of Utah does not have particularly to complain about the scenario of the season, for the moment. The leaders are doing the job, more than well even, and it is especially the continuity that prevails this season in Salt Lake City. To Quiny’s credit all the same, the integration of Hassan Whiteside in the roster (“you come back and you do exactly like Rudy”), or that of Rudy Gay (“you come back and you do what you’ve been doing for three years “). Impossible to take away from him part of the success of Jazz but difficult this season to put him in front of coaches who offer new things, guys we expected less. The worst part is that Jazz is absolutely not boring to watch, but their maddening level on a regular basis has almost become… boring?
#8 Mike Budenholzer et Erik Spoelstra
Real records by having different players every night, even that sometimes they are G League players
22-13 for the first, 21-13 for the second, a warm place in the Top 4 in the East, yeah we didn’t want to decide between them. Why ? Because the two are based this year on what they know how to do best: transposing their playing philosophy whatever the players, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday OR Jordan Nwora and DeMarcus Cousins, with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro OR Omar Yurtseven, Max Strus, Udonis Haslem and Gabe Vincent. It wins matches without trembling, it leaves those that must be left, in short, we finished worrying for a long time about these two. We remind you here that Coach Spo has never been Coach Of the Year, one of the current aberrations in the League, but that it will probably take a little more for it to be finally this year.
#7 Taylor Jenkins
21 wins and 14 losses, and still the status of best early childhood educator in the League
The seasons go by and look the same for the NBA coach who most resembles Cauet. A nod to Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, not far from being the first two players in the MIP standings of the season, big-up to a ten-game period without Ja during which Jenkins took the opportunity to make his team elite defense thanks in particular to the quartet Dillon Brooks / Kyle Anderson / Brandon Clarke / Steven Adams. Quiet strength, in the prime of his life to such an extent that the guy could still put on the shorts, Taylor advances like his young players, he advances quickly, and good luck to those who will struggle with this bunch of morons in the Playoffs.
#6 Chris Finch
16 wins and 17 losses, and he too wins matches with plumbers
One of the great stories of the start of the season. Very often solid when the workforce is complete, Chris Finch’s team even manages to do the job when one or more of its executives must watch the game on TV. Clever addition and rapid adaptation of role players, alchemy between the stars, development of Naz Reid, Jaden McDaniels and, above all, Jarred Vanderbilt, satisfactory results and a very honorable place for the moment among the qualifiers for the play-in tournament , thinking that these Wolves can even do better with a nice alignment of planets. We like to watch Wolves play and that, Chris Finch is clearly not for nothing.
#5 J.B. Bickerstaff
20 wins and 13 losses, the second best defense in the League, and he currently plays with Kevin Love and Lauri Markkanen in his 5
Miracles happen, even in the NBA. Unanimously recognized as a good guy on the NBA planet, Jean-Bapt ‘had however until then the label of the coach a little limited. This year ? Development of kids, incredible defensive identity, well helped it is true by the arrival of Evan Mobley and the presence of Jarrett Allen, Isaac Okoro and others, but without a coach who raises the tone any good defender can become lazy then hat JB. We feel in this Cleveland team a real flame, a real human alchemy – its trademark – and the good results of the Cavs have also pushed the board of the franchise a few days ago to extend its coach. Miracles happen, even in the NBA.
#4 Steve Nash
23 wins and 9 losses, first in the East, still hasn’t seen his Big Three hanging out together since arriving in Brooklyn
Should still not forget that the guy is first in the East, with certainly a good band of confirmed players or even future Hall Of Famers but still having to deal with a lot of absences, using who from Bruce Brown to the inside, that of Patty Mills as a franchise player, that of rookies out of nowhere. Stevie leads the boat quietly in his tight little sweaters, ignoring Kyrie Irving’s situation and winning the games without worrying about the next day. We remind you that a hair’s breadth of a shoe the guy might already be NBA champion with only one year of coaching, so if it’s still easy to coach Kevin Durant rather than Darius Bazley we sit down for two minutes anyway to applaud the work. accomplished.
#3 Monty Williams
26 wins and 7 losses, second best record in the League, and at the head of the best record in the NBA since the 2020 bubble
We arrive quietly at these places where deciding between gas carriers is not easy. Grilled last season by a reborn Tom Thibodeau, Monty would have clearly deserved, he deserves perhaps even more today, but he is not alone. Monty? We can hardly fault him. A total basketball, using both the individual talent of the leaders and the collective strength of a group that has known each other for two years, young people who progress, an attack that regales, a defense that suffocates, and a record that is still as clean. , say that it has been going on for 18 months now. Gentleman among the coaches, adored by his players wherever he has gone, in short the portrait of the perfect candidate for the DPOY trophy, this season or another.
#2 Steve Kerr
27 wins and 6 losses, best record in the League, second best defense in the League, and for a week he has been missing five of his ten best players
Years go by and, with one or two exceptions, the Warriors continue to break their backs wherever they go. Some would say that when Stevie was away a few seasons ago to treat his back… even Luke Walton seemed invincible in his post, but Steve Kerr is more than a coach. He is the one who gives free rein to the genius of his duo Stephen Curry / Draymond Green, Steve Kerr is the one who manages to make Andrew Wiggins a real defensive monster, he is the one who passes Kevon Looney for a basketball player , he’s the one who gives us 25 minutes of Gary Payton II every night, and he’s the guy who has won the most NBA games for six or seven years, that counts.
#1 Billy Donovan
21 wins and 10 losses, East’s second record, one of the most exciting games in all of the NBA and even… some interesting spins, wow
But this month again, for us eh, all these little people bow to the King of this beginning of the season on the benches of the NBA: Billy Donovan! We were talking about miracles a little earlier, this one is a pretty one. Tackled during his Thunder years, unable to win a roster yet well cut, he was the less secure wheel of the Chicago coach out of the summer but for now… it’s clear for Mr. Billy. The defense is often incredible, in attack BD gets the best of its players, it still helps to have three All-Stars and a GOAT, and in the end the record never ceases to surprise in the sense that the Bulls aren’t just a surprise team but downright one of the best teams in the league. And it lasts eh, well, it lasts for two months it’s not Peru either, but on December 28, me, anonymous editor (no) of this ranking, therefore places Billy Donovan at the head of the race for the COY trophy 2022.
