Tag: Gene Shue

Who are the greatest NBA head coaches of all time?

And how many coached the Celtics?

While he might be a very good head coach of the NBA’s most storied franchise, Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has a very long way to go to make the list of the best coaches to ever tote a clipboard in front of Boston’s bench, never mind across the other 29 teams of the Association.

Even the best head coaches of today’s game — with a single notable exception — would not make the cut of the greatest head coaches in NBA history according to Los Angeles Lakers legend Michael Cooper.

No, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is not the exception Cooper was talking about.

Coop and the founder of the CLNS Media network, Nick Gelso, hashed out who those legendary head coaches are on the NBA G.O.A.T. list.

Two Celtics coaches and a former player who coached elsewhere make the list, but you will have to watch the clip embedded above to hear who else made Coop’s cut.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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The most radical coach was Gene Shue of …

The most radical coach was Gene Shue of the San Diego Clippers. Shue’s team shot a league-high 543 3-pointers in 1979. And while many coaches only attempted 3s at the end of quarters or in blowouts — “That philosophy is in the dark ages,” Shue argued — Shue incorporated them in his offense. He understood then what would become an accepted truth: That even if a team hits a lower percentage of 3-pointers, the true field goal percentage is much better. San Diego, however, won only 35 games, and Shue was fired. In the next three years, no NBA team shot more than 407 3s. The league was so dismissive of 3-pointers that in March 1980, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the Lakers “missed a chance to tie Phoenix because they didn’t even try for a three-pointer while trailing by three in the closing seconds.”