Where does Gregg Popovich rank among the best coaches in NBA history?

[LeBron 06]

Title

[ZenMaster]

Somewhere between 1-4 depending on what type of person you are and what team you're a fan of.

[Uncle Drew]

He's #1 in my book. Although there's basically no wrong answer in Jackson, Auerbach, Pop or Riley.

[sd3035]

top 5 for sure, possibly the best

[Milbuck]

I honestly think he's the best. He's not the greatest, considering how much guys like Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Red Auerbach, etc. have accomplished, but I think Pop is the most complete, skilled, and effective coach ever. I shudder to think what he would've done with MJ/Pippen/Rodman, Shaq/Kobe, or Magic/Worthy/Kareem/Scott.

[Clyde]

Somewhere between 1-4 depending on what type of person you are and what team you're a fan of.

[WallIn]

Top 3

Jackson, Popovich, Auerbach

[salwan]

He's on the mount rushmore of coaches for sure.

[20Four]

Somewhere between 1-4 depending on what type of person you are and what team you're a fan of.

Agreed son!

[rmt]

I think he's the best with regard to developing unknown/little known players. He gets the best out of a player's potential, has great people skills and has the no-nonsense military way about him. Not sure that would work with STARS like MJ, Shaq and Kobe. DRob and Duncan are very low maintenance players so it's hard to say how Popovich would have fared with alpha types. But his blue print of how to build a model franchise (in a small market) is evident in how many San Antonio coaches/GMs there are around the league.

[DukeDelonte13]

best now and best ever IMO.

[Harison]

Top5, arguably Top3.

[HOoopCityJones]

Top 5.

Possibly number two after Phil, but I think Red still has the edge.

[kshutts1]

He's the best coach/game manager I've seen. But I only started watching in '94, so I have no knowledge of Red, Riley, Dean Smith...

[CasterL]

I honestly think he's the best. He's not the greatest, considering how much guys like Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Red Auerbach, etc. have accomplished, but I think Pop is the most complete, skilled, and effective coach ever. I shudder to think what he would've done with MJ/Pippen/Rodman, Shaq/Kobe, or Magic/Worthy/Kareem/Scott.

Yeah this is how I see it too. Popovich is great at building teams and getting them to play together in an extremley effective manner, often the results are greater than the sum of the parts imo. Also the way the early 00's spurs play vs now indicate to me just how complete his understanding of the game is.

Jackson is a master manipulator as we know, Pops probably wouldnt have been able to handle bullshit from egos like shaq or kobe well, but he would have done a great job with plenty of less demanding stars not necessarily as tame as Duncan.