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John Stockton for Coach

If they handed out usernames in Alphabetical order according to how good you were at evaluating future coaches, your username would be zman1527.

Brilliant retort, just brilliant. I asked for some evaluation of Stockton as a coach beyond "he was my favorite Jazz player", and all you can come up with is a cutsey personaly attack? Nice work.
 
There you go again, confusing playing with coaching. Hey, I hear that Bill Russel is available too.

You couldn't have picked a worse example. Bill Russell coached over 600 games, including some when he was still in the league, won more than half of them and won two NBA Championships.

I understand that being a good player does not guarantee that you'll be a good coach, and I wouldn't be shocked if the correlation was somewhat negative at high levels, but you picked a very very poor example.
 
Players and coaches see the game from different perspectives. Some players just happen to see the game from multiple perspectives and they become good coaches. If I could compare it in my terms, it's like comparing a first-person shooter to an advanced strategy game. You have to see the whole playing field and be able to read and react very quickly if you're going to be a good coach in this league. Some people naturally have that sort of instinct for the game, others learn with experience, and some never really fit the mold.
 
What odds would you have put on him writing and then going on a promotional tour for a book?

Significantly higher than coaching. Writing a book requires you to be extroverted for a very small amount of time, compared to the time you spend writing. Coaching being interacting with the players, as a group, constantly.
 
You couldn't have picked a worse example. Bill Russell coached over 600 games, including some when he was still in the league, won more than half of them and won two NBA Championships.

I understand that being a good player does not guarantee that you'll be a good coach, and I wouldn't be shocked if the correlation was somewhat negative at high levels, but you picked a very very poor example.

Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
BOS 1966–67 81 60 21 .671 2nd in Eastern 9 4 5 .444 Lost in Div. Finals
BOS 1967–68 82 54 28 .659 2nd in Eastern 19 12 7 .632 Won NBA Championship
BOS 1968–69 82 48 34 .585 4th in Eastern 18 12 6 .667 Won NBA Championship
SEA 1973–74 82 36 46 .439 3rd in Pacific — — — — Missed Playoffs
SEA 1974–75 82 43 39 .524 2nd in Pacific 9 4 5 .444 Lost in Conf. Semifinals
SEA 1975–76 82 43 39 .524 2nd in Pacific 6 2 4 .333 Lost in First Round
SEA 1976–77 82 40 42 .488 4th in Pacific — — — — Missed Playoffs
SAC 1987–88 58 17 41 .293 (released) — — — — —

He took over an established team and was able to carry it forward on that basis. Working on his own he was not very good. Same happened with my 49ers: Siefert inherited a great team from Walsh and was able to win a SB with that team. On his own he was not very good.

Stockton has no record as a coach and therefore there is no basis to know what kind of a coach he would be. People who are getting hot and bothered over him being the Jazz HC are confusing playing ability with coaching ability.
 
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