Ranking the NBA Playoff Coaches from 1-16

In the playoffs, where every little detail is scrutinized, coaching becomes more crucial than ever. The ability to analyze the game and make strategic decisions such as putting the right lineup on the court, finding favorable matchups, managing player rotations, motivation, and making in-game adjustments can significantly impact a team’s chances of winning. The best coaches can also impact a team’s odds in general. In this year’s playoffs, we see a diverse mix of coaches and styles. They range from seasoned veterans like Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr, who have ample experience, to newcomers like Joe Mazzulla and Darvin Ham, who are making their playoff debuts as head coaches. In these rankings, we will evaluate NBA playoff coaches on their career success, analytics, playoff success, proven ability to maximize team performance, regular season success, and overall impression from the eye test. We’ll rank them from 1 to 16.

Here are our rankings for the NBA playoff coaches:

Although the Warriors have had a somewhat letdown season finishing as the 6th seed in the West, they are currently tied 2-2 in their first round series with the Kings. No one can doubt Steve Kerr’s ability to elevate his team’s performance and win games. Kerr’s motion offensive is revolutionary and has brought him four championships. He has one Coach of the Year award and has a career .721 win percentage in the playoffs.

Spoelstra is one of the NBA’s most underrated coaches. His consistency and ability to win games no matter who is in the lineup is matched by few. Spoelstra’s teams always have a hard defensive minded attitude and will compete no matter the circumstances. He has made the playoffs in 12 of 15 seasons and has a 97-66 record in those games, including two championships.

Mike Brown is a coaching journeyman, having coached the likes of LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant. He wrapped up his second Coach of the Year award this season. He became the first ever unanimous winner, leading the Kings to one of their best seasons in franchise history. Brown’s Kings had the highest offensive rating in NBA history (118.6) and scored the most PPG of any team in 40 years. Brown has the Kings tied 2-2 in round one against a Warriors team that many expected would have a much easier time. The Kings are looking to win their first playoff series since 2003-2004. 

Mike Budenholzer has turned the Bucks into a perennial contender every season. Since his arrival five seasons ago, the Bucks have the most wins in the NBA and have won a ring. Budenholzer has won Coach of the Year twice in his career. He has one of the deepest playoff resumes as well, coaching in 101 playoff games as a head coach.

Jenkins turned a rebuilding Grizzlies squad into a contender in just a year. Many give the credit to Ja Morant, and deservedly so, but he’s missed a ton of games. Jenkins has found a way to win while the Grizzlies superstar has been sidelined. He has developed many players into now major contributors such as Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks. He has brought the Grizzlies to the playoffs in three straight seasons, and was the runner up for Coach of the Year last season.

Thibodeau is one of the more controversial coaches in the NBA, but no one can doubt his ability to win games. He brought the Knicks back to relevance, and helped Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson turn into all star caliber players. He’s a two time Coach of the Year and has made the playoffs in two of three seasons in New York while preaching his tough defensive system. He coached the Knicks to the fourth best offensive rating this season and one of the best road records in the NBA. The Knicks are now one win away from a first round series victory over the Cavs. They haven’t advanced to the second round of the playoffs since 2013.

The Suns have been one of the NBA’s best teams since Williams took over in 2019-2020, tied for the third most wins in the league. Williams led the Suns to a finals appearance and has won the Coach of the Year award once. With Williams’ hard nose defense system, plus his ball-movement centric offense now featuring Kevin Durant, you can see why the Suns have the shortest odds to make it out of the Western Conference at +150.

Lue is known for his smarts and trying to beat the system. His late game tactics are some of the very best and he has shown time and time again that he can coach a team to playoff wins. While his Clippers team is down 3-1, it doesn’t change the fact that he is one of the smartest and best coaches in the league, and who knows, maybe Lue can bring back the magic that helped the Cavaliers comeback down 3-1 in the 2016 Finals.

Bickerstaff has quickly risen up the ranks of head coaches. He led the Cavaliers to back to back impressive seasons, including 51 wins this season. Bickerstaff has shown the ability to make game to game adjustments and create new ways for his team to win games. Now down 3-1, it will be interesting to see if Bickerstaff can motivate his squad and find a way to force this series into a game 7 at home. He’ll need to first figure out how to win at Madison Square Garden.

The NBA world was shocked when the Celtics announced Joe Mazzulla as their head coach in late September, following Ime Udoka’s suspension. The Celtics didn’t look back as Mazzulla led them to the second seed in the East and finished third in Coach of the Year voting. Mazzulla has preached ball movement and team defense and although the Celtics have one of the most talented rosters in the league, Mazzulla’s system has been run to perfection. Mazzulla’s Celtics now possess the shortest odds to win the Finals at +280.

Malone has led the Nuggets to their fifth consecutive playoff appearance and has them up 3-0 against the Timberwolves. The Nuggets have been one of the best teams in the league over Malone’s eight seasons and have had one of the top offenses year after year. He’s also also been the coach while Nikola Jokic developed into the two time MVP we know him as today.

Doc Rivers is a well respected coach around the league. He’s been a head coach since 1999, but he may be overrated at this point in his career. Rivers won a ring in 2008 with the Celtics, but hasn’t been to the conference finals in over a decade. With Philadelphia, he’s failed to make it out of the second round two years in a row, including an embarrassing loss to the Hawks in 2021. With MVP-favorite Joel Embiid leading the way, Rivers has no excuses. He should be able to get over the second round hump this year.

In Ham’s first season as a head coach, he has shown the ability to completely turn a season around. The Lakers were headed to the lottery before a few impactful deadline acquisitions and now lead their first round playoff series 2-1 against the Grizzlies. Ham has been around the game for a while and does give off the impression of a rookie head coach. He’s kept his players in check and done a good job managing a complicated roster. While he’s had some ups and downs, that is part of the learning curve. He should only improve as he gets more experienced.

Jacque Vaughn has had quite the year as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. He took over for Steve Nash early in the season, and has had to deal with the drama of KD and Kyrie all year long. Yet, he has no excuses for the poor performance of his team in the playoffs, as they got swept by the Sixers. He made almost zero rotational adjustments throughout the series, and couldn’t even win game 4 when the Sixers were without Embiid. Vaughn is signed through the 2027 season, but continued playoff performances like this will have him fired before that.

Snyder is coaching in the playoffs for a seventh straight year, though he only took over the Hawks this year midseason. Since Snyder started coaching nine years ago, he has posted one of the highest win percentages in the NBA (.581). However, he has not had much success once he reaches the playoffs, with a career 22-32 playoff record including being down 3-0 to the Celtics this season. With the Hawks on the cusp of elimination, Snyder’s job could be in jeopardy for next season.

Finch has led the Timberwolves to back to back solid seasons, but yet again, they face a first round exit. They are down 3-1 to the first seed Nuggets and are already facing pressing questions heading into next season. Out of the coaches in the playoffs, Finch’s seat is definitely the hottest with many fans calling for his firing. With the breakout of Anthony Edwards, and the twin towers of Karl Anthony-Towns and Rudy Gobert, the T-wolves should be better. Whether it’s because of off the court drama, two teammates fighting midgame, or just poor play and execution, Chris Finch could find himself out of a job this summer.