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Re: Sanity

At 02:09 PM 3/5/00 -0400, you wrote:
>You gave 3 specific items which you base coaching superiority on.  They were
>the number of championships won, the W-L % and the respect from players and
>coaches.  A large majority of people do not judge a coach based on the
>amount of championships won because it is ultimately the players'
>performance which decides the fate of the coach.  By your methods, Jerry
>Sloan is not a superior coach simply because he has not won a title yet but
>Greg Popovich would be since he has won one.  

No, because while the presence of this achievement implies a the existence
of desirable coaching traits, its absence does not imply the obverse
because several things need to be in place to get it. In other words, while
winning a championship suggests that you're at least a smart enough coach
to not hinder the team, if not actually coach them to a championship, *not*
winning one does not mean you're a bad coach - it could be that you just
didn't have enough talent to win no matter how brilliantly you coached. I
have no trouble envisioning Jackson or Riley not winning a championship
with the present Celtic roster. What it comes down to is, *with other
things being equal*, I'd choose the coach who has won NBA championships
over one that hasn't. 

>> Chicago won nothing with Doug Collins,
>
>They had some pretty bad teams in those days don't you think?

Collins had Jordan, Pippen, Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson,
Craig Hodges, Will Perdue - these were the same players that Jackson won a
string of championships with in the early 90s. 
 
>Not all of it.  Surrounding him with complimentary talent was as important
>as you feel Jackson's coaching was.

I addressed your point about surrounding Jordan with complimentary talent
above: there was no such thing under Jackson that wasn't also under
Collins. Check out the rosters. As far as Jackson's coaching goes, since
you have so much trouble accepting my claims about his effect on the
players, perhaps this player account will help: