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.