rivers had same winning % as Pitino before he got the big 3

[Bossco]

I know that many people believe that doc rivers is a great or at least a good coach. People seem to forget that he coached 8 years before the big 3 came together. He was 273-312 = .466 winning %. Rick Pitino coached 6 years in the NBA and was 192-220 = .466 winning%

Was doc a great or good coach when he had a winning % of .466 for 8 years as a head coach in the NBA?

Winning % of other Celtic coaches:

Red Auerbach .667

Bill Russell .661

Tommy Heinsohn .619

Bill Fitch .738 (got fired after winning 56 reg. season games)

KC Jones .751

Jimmy Rogers .573

Chris Ford .541

Jim Obrien .538

doc rivers .586 (with Celtics not counting 2012-13 season)

[D.o.s.]

I would suspect that you'll find a lot of the criticism for Pitino comes from his roster decisions and related management difficulties.

[LarBrd33]

I would suspect that you'll find a lot of the criticism for Pitino comes from his roster decisions and related management difficulties.

I always thought Pitino was a fine coach... just terrible GM.  His methods were a little heavy-handed for NBA players, but I think if he had the right players he would have been successful.

[saltlover]

I would suspect that you'll find a lot of the criticism for Pitino comes from his roster decisions and related management difficulties.

Exactly.  Pitino was responsible for the players on the team.  Doc wasn't.

Also, the year before the big 3, when we tanked, was Danny's call.  He was pretty much told not to coach to win games, but to get players experience.  While there might have been some long-term benefit, no coach wants to sit players who are better in favor of those who aren't, because they want to win today.  When you hear that Doc doesn't want to "rebuild", this is what he doesn't want to do -- bench a vet in favor of a rookie just because one is a vet and the other is a rookie.

Point being that year killed his winning percentage.  Take away that year and he's pretty much at .500

[Celtics4ever]

To be fair Doc tanked one year, Pitino was trying to win.

Pitino was a horrible pro coach and worse GM.

[Chief]

I think he is an average coach at best. But he has such a good relationship with the media that eveyone makes him out to be Phil Jackson.

[BballTim]

I would suspect that you'll find a lot of the criticism for Pitino comes from his roster decisions and related management difficulties.

I always thought Pitino was a fine coach... just terrible GM.  His methods were a little heavy-handed for NBA players, but I think if he had the right players he would have been successful.

 The thing about Pitino (and he's far from alone in this) is that he always told everyone he'd do fine as soon as he brought in enough players to run his system. In the mean time we were basically going to suffer through crap. I've always felt (silly me) that a good coach should be able to find and implement the scheme that works best for his players and not have to overhaul the entire roster to be effective.

  Whenever I hear discussions about possible coaching candidates that include things like "but he runs the triangle system and that won't work well for our personnel I think "possibly a good motivator but crappy Xs and Os man".

[Boris Badenov]

I think you can argue that Pitino did a pretty good job in his first year, taking a very limited roster to 36-46:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1998.html

But, by 2001 he looks really bad. He was 12-22 when he got canned, and Obie took essentially the same roster to 49-33 and the conference finals the next year.
 

[pearljammer10]

They both had some godddd awful teams as well.

[Celtics4ever]

But, by 2001 he looks really bad. He was 12-22 when he got canned, and Obie took essentially the same roster to 49-33 and the conference finals the next year.
 

That was probably one of the weakest ECF teams I can remember.   They really had no business being there with their talent level.

[mmmmm]

I wonder what Phil Jackson's record is for teams that don't include either Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant?

What is Greg Popovich's record on teams that don't include Tim Duncan?

[celtics2]

Doc was/is a genius of mediocrity. Just good enough to stay out of the sub League. A real nice guy but a Snake Oil Salesman.

[The Rondo Show]

I think he is an average coach at best. But he has such a good relationship with the media that eveyone makes him out to be Phil Jackson.

I agree

[celtics2]

I wonder what Phil Jackson's record is for teams that don't include either Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant?

What is Greg Popovich's record on teams that don't include Tim Duncan?

We can play the what if's all day long. The facts speak for themselves. Can't rewrite History.

[BballTim]

I wonder what Phil Jackson's record is for teams that don't include either Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant?

What is Greg Popovich's record on teams that don't include Tim Duncan?

We can play the what if's all day long. The facts speak for themselves. Can't rewrite History.

  The facts are that with Pippen and not Jordan or with Kobe but not Shaq he did ok but nothing to write home about.