Image via Complex Original
Gregg Popovich is the G.O.A.T. He may not have 11 rings like Phil Jackson, but having been at the helm of the San Antonio Spurs for 20 seasons, led them to five championships, and unofficially assumed the title of the most woke coach in the NBA, Popovich kind of stands out. Especially among many of the mediocre-to-awful head coaches who have come and gone over the years.
So we took a look at the league every year since Pop assumed control in San Antonio in 1996 to identify the coaches who have been every bit his opposite. These are the coaches who have lost a ton of games, been ridiculed by their fans and the media, or, even worse, have been forgotten. A lot has changed since 1996—find out exactly how much below.
1996-97: Brian Winters
Team: Grizzlies
Record with team: 23-102
Replaced by: Stu Jackson
Popovich record: 17-47
The Grizzlies lost an NBA record 23 games under Winters' tenure, which started in the franchise's inaugural 1995-96 season. No other franchise reached 100 losses faster in NBA history and Winters didn't last longer than 43 games in the 1996-97 season, winning just eight games. Winters has a career winning percentage of .196, which is the lowest ever by any NBA coach with at least 100 games coached.
1997-98: Bill Hanzlik
Team: Nuggets
Record with team: 11-71
Replaced by: Mike D'Antoni
Popovich record: 56-26
Hanzlik was brought in by a Nuggets organization hoping for stability after signing their sixth coach in the decade. Unfortunately for Nuggets fans, Hanzlik would take the team from bad to worse. His first and only season as coach of the Nuggets was one of the worst in NBA History. The Nuggets were a threat to surpass the league’s worst record ever, the infamous 9-73 mark set by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1972-73. The team's longest winning streak was a measly two games while their longest losing streak was 23 as they limped to the finish line with a 11-71 record.
1998-99: Tim Floyd
Team: Bulls
Record with team: 49-190
Replaced by: Bill Cartwright (2002)
Popovich record: 37-13
It was the Bulls' first post-Jordan year and Phil Jackson wasn't sticking around to deal with a rebuild. So Chicago tapped a college coach who was tasked with leading a stripped-down roster that featured Toni Kukoc as the team's leading scorer. The team struggled and finished with a putrid 13-37 record in the lockout-shortened season.
1999-2000: Garry St. Jean
Team: Warriors
Record with team: 13-42
Replaced by: Dave Cowens
Popovich record: 53-29
For some reason after having a horrible tenure with the Sacramento Kings, the Golden State Warriors decided to give St. Jean another chance, which they would later regret as his brief term with the Warriors was a catastrophe. Taking over for P.J. Carlesimo after he was dismissed in the middle of the season, the Warriors would finish with the second worst record in the club’s 41-year history.
2000-01: Leonard Hamilton
Team: Wizards
Record with team: 19-63
Replaced by: Doug Collins
Popovich record: 58-24
The Wizards hired Hamilton hoping that he would be able to teach the Wizards some magic after he was able to turn around the basketball program at the University of Miami. It didn't take long for the Wizards front office to realize Hamilton was no magician, as the Wizards would start the season 7-34 and finish with only 19 wins. Hamilton returned to coach college basketball after this, his only NBA season.
2001-02: Tim Floyd
Team: Bulls
Record with team: 49-190
Replaced by: Bill Berry
Popovich record: 58-24
After going 4-21 with a team featuring Ron Artest, Jalen Rose, Ron Mercer, Brad Miller, Eddy Curry, and Tyson Chandler, the Bulls called it quits and fired Floyd mid-season and eventually promoted assistant coach Bill Cartwright to interim head coach. But Cartwright didn't produce much better results, going 17-38.
2002-03: Sidney Lowe
Team: Grizzlies
Record with team: 46-126
Replaced by: Hubie Brown
Popovich record: 60-22
Lowe had been the head coach of the Grizzlies for two full seasons, but after losing eight straight games to start the 2002-03 season, he was both fired by and replaced by the legendary Hubie Brown. After leading Memphis to back-to-back 23-59 seasons, the Grizzlies front office grew tired of being the laughingstock of the Western Conference.
2003-04: Mike Dunleavy
Team: Clippers
Record with team: 215-326
Replaced by: Nobody. He stayed on for another six seasons.
Popovich record: 57-25
The Clippers hired Dunleavy as their new head coach, taking over for Alvin Gentry and Dennis Johnson. And while the Clippers improved by nine wins from the previous campaign, they only managed 28 wins. After they peaked at 22-25 before the All-Star break, the team only managed six more wins, including just three from March until the end of the season.
2004-05: Mike Montgomery
Team: Warriors
Record with team: 68-96
Replaced by: Don Nelson
Popovich record: 59-23
The Warriors were waiting for years to go to the playoffs and it wouldn't come until they fired Mike Montgomery. He was reportedly asked to be let go by their GM, Chris Mullin, in 2004—after his first season with the club—but Montgomery was given one more chance. After finishing 34-48 for a second straight season, he was gone and the Warriors went to the playoffs just one year later.
2005-06: Bob Weiss
Team: Sonics
Record with team: 13-17
Replaced by: Bob Hill
Popovich record: 63-19
Bob Weiss had two failed stints as a head coach. His second came in the Seattle where he hoped to turn his team (and career) around. But 30 games in he was let go and didn't return to an NBA sidelines as an assistant for a full seven years.
2006-07: Eric Musselman
Team: Kings
Record with team: 33-49
Replaced by: Reggie Theus
Popovich record: 58-24
Musselman took over the coaching duties for a franchise that had been to the playoffs eight straight seasons, but with a new look roster he oversaw the Kings' first losing season in seven years. Sacramento won only 33 games as their offensive and defensive numbers plummeted from seasons past.
2007-08: Isiah Thomas
Team: Knicks
Record with team: 56-108
Replaced by: Mike D'Antoni
Popovich record: 56-26
Coming down from the front office where he oversaw one bad transaction after another, the Knicks won 10 fewer games in 2008-09 than the season before and Thomas was relieved of his coaching duties after a two year stint every Knicks fan would like to forget.
2008-09: Marc Iavaroni
Team: Grizzlies
Record with team: 33-90
Replaced by: Johnny Davis
Popovich record: 54-28
When Ivaroni was in charge of the Grizzlies, he had Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry, O.J. Mayo, and Rydt Gay at his disposal. But the team had a winning percentage of just .268 over his season and a half at the helm. Iavaroni was fired in the middle of the 2008-09 campaign after the Grizzlies managed just 11 wins in their first 43 games.
2009-10: Lawrence Frank
Team: Nets
Record with team: 225-241
Replaced by: Tom Barrise
Popovich record: 50-32
Lawrence Frank's team was bad enough to prevent him from keeping his job past the New Year. The New Jersey Nets only won 17 games that season and were the laughing stock of the league. After starting off with 16 straight losses, one off from an NBA record, the Nets decided to let Frank go and replaced him with the combination of Tom Barrise (0-2) and Kiki Vandeweghe (12-52).
2010-11: Kurt Rambis
Team: Timberwolves
Record with team: 32-132
Replaced by: Rick Adelman
Popovich record: 61-21
Despite having Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, Kurt Rambis coached the Timberwolves to a whopping 17 wins in the 2010-11 season, his second at the helm in Minnesota. Rambis didn't get another head coaching gig until he was named interim head coach of the Knicks last season following Derek Fisher's firing.
2011-12: Mike D'Antoni
Team: Knicks
Record with team: 121-167
Replaced by: Mike Woodson
Popovich record: 50-16
D'Antoni will always be known as one of the greatest offensive minds in NBA history, but that doesn't mean every stop was successful. He started his New York Knicks career on fire with Amar'e Stoudemire, but fell short of expectations after the franchise acquired Carmelo Anthony. D'Antoni actually resigned midway in the 2011-2012 NBA—reportedly fed up with the direction of the team and Anthony's ball-stopping ways—with a paltry record of 18-24 and just one playoff appearance in New York in three and a half seasons.
2012-13: Byron Scott
Team: Cavaliers
Record with team: 64-166
Replaced by: Mike Brown
Popovich record: 58-24
After LeBron James left the Cavaliers, Scott was responsible for a forgettable three-season stretch as the head coach in Cleveland. While he started off his coaching career with success with the Nets and Pelicans, Scott's time as the Cavs leader did not produce any real results. While the Cavs progressively won more games each season under Scott, the franchise had enough of him after he went 24-58 in 2012-13.
2013-14: Larry Drew
Team: Bucks
Record with team: 15-67
Replaced by: Jason Kidd
Popovich record: 62-20
It's not often an organization is forced to trade for a new head coach, but that's exactly what happened after Larry Drew led the Bucks to only 15 wins in his first season in Milwaukee. "Blindsided" by the trade, Drew sat with No. 2 pick Jabari Parker at a press conference after the draft completely unaware that owners had already started talks with Kidd. Business is business, and when you finish with a worse record than the super-tanking Philadelphia 76ers, sometimes Jason Kidd snakes his way into your job.
2014-15: Jacque Vaughn
Team: Magic
Record with team: 58-158
Replaced by: James Borrego
Popovich record: 55-27
The Magic were in rebuilding mode, but Vaughn failed to lift them much at all, winning just 15 times in 52 games before getting a pink slip during the middle of his third season in Orlando. The Magic would suffer through a 10-game losing streak and multiple 5-game losing streaks that season, and Vaughn exited the franchise as the owner of their all-time worst coaching winning percentage.
2015-16: Derek Fisher
Team: Knicks
Record with team: 40-96
Replaced by: Kurt Rambis
Popovich record: 67-15
Hired by Phil Jackson to run his beloved Triangle and given a five-year contract, Fisher was generally lauded as a good hire given his relationship with Jackson. New York Knick fans were predictably optimistic before things took their traditional turn for the worse. Fisher's Knicks looked lost in all facets of the game, and Fisher struggled mightily with his rotations. In the middle of his second season at the helm, Jackson cut his losses, firing Fisher after going 23-31 to start the season.
He also might've been sleeping with a players' (estranged) wife.