Is Alex Hannum a top 10 coach?

Question

Sure he didn't coach for very long.But he was the only one that dared oppose Chamberlain.Chamberlain couldn't win a ring,until he came,that is.

Answer 1

No, here's the top 10 coaches in NBA History:

Red Auerbach 938 wins 479 losses (.662)

Third-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 20 seasons as NBA head coach ... Coach of the Year for 1964-65 ... NBA 25th Anniversary All-Time team coach ... Selected as the "Greatest Coach in the History of the NBA" by the PBWAA in 1980 ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.



Chuck Daly 605 wins 420 losses (.590)

Fifteenth-winningest coach in NBA history ... 1998-99 is his second season as Orlando Magic coach; 14th season as NBA head coach ... Guided Detroit Pistons to victories in 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals ... His teams posted winning records in 11 of 13 campaigns ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.



Bill Fitch 944 wins 1,106 losses (.460)

Second-winningest coach in NBA history ... 22 seasons as NBA head coach with Cleveland, Boston, Houston, New Jersey, LA Clippers... Guided Boston Celtics to victory in 1981 NBA Finals ... Coach of the Year for 1975-76 and 1979-80.



Red Holzman 696 wins 604 losses (.535)

Eleventh-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 18 seasons as NBA head coach ... Led Knicks to victory in 1970 and 1973 NBA Finals ... Coach of the Year for 1969-70 ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985.



Phil Jackson 545 wins 193 losses (.738)

Best winning percentage in NBA history ... Enjoyed nine successful seasons as Chicago head coach (1989-98) ... Reached 400 wins in only 557 games, second-fastest to milestone in league history ... Guided the Chicago Bulls to NBA championships in 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 ... 1995-96 Coach of the Year.



John Kundla 423 wins 302 losses (.583)

Coached Minneapolis to five NBA championships in six seasons from 1948-49 through 1953-54 ... Served 11 years as NBA head coach ... His 1949-50 Minneapolis team recorded fourth-best home winning percentage in NBA history (.868/30-1) ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.



Don Nelson 867 wins 679 losses (.575)

Sixth-winningest coach in NBA history ... Has served 20 years as NBA head coach with Milwaukee, Golden State, New York and Dallas ... Joins Pat Riley as the only coaches ever to be named Coach of the Year three times (1982-83, 1984-85 and 1991-92) ... His clubs have recorded nine 50-plus-win seasons and seven divisional championships.



Jack Ramsay 864 wins 783 losses (.525)

Seventh-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 20 years as NBA head coach ... Coached 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers to victory in NBA Finals ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.



Pat Riley 914 wins 387 losses (.703)

Fifth-winningest coach in NBA history ... Achieved 800th career win on Nov. 2, 1996, reaching the mark faster than any coach in league history... 1998-99 will be his fourth season as Miami head coach; 17th season as a head coach in NBA ... Led four L.A. Lakers teams to victory in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988 NBA Finals ... 1989-90, 1992-93 and 1996-97 Coach of the Year.



Lenny Wilkens 1,120 wins 908 losses (.526)

Winningest coach in NBA history ... 1998-99 will be his sixth season as Atlanta head coach; 26th season as a head coach in NBA ... 1993-94 Coach of the Year ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 ... Recently selected one of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

Answer 2

Chamberlain and Hannum had tremendous respect for each other...at least until after the 1968 playoffs.

That year, Chamberlain's 76ers, coached by Hannum, took a 3-1 lead over the Celtics in the Eastern Division Finals... and lost 3 straight.

A couple of things happened in that series that upset Chamberlain.

First off, Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4th.  Game one of the East Finals was scheduled for April 5th.  As one might imagine, the black players on both teams had mixed feeling about whether or not to play game one as scheduled.

Bill Russell (in his 2nd season as Celtic Head Coach) called a team meeting to discuss whether or not the game should be played.  The Celtics decided to play.

The Sixers, coached by Hannum, did not meet beforehand, and all the players came to the arena not knowing if they should play, or even if they could play, given what was happening in the news.

Chamberlain blamed the game 1 loss on Hannum not calling the players together beforehand to discuss whether the game should be played. That was the first time he got upset with Hannum.

The 76ers won the next 3 games to take a 3-1 series lead.  You've probably heard that, in game 7, Wilt took only 1 or 2 shots in the 2nd half, and the Celtics won game 7, 100-96.

Normally, the 76ers would throw the ball into Wilt in the pivot anywhere from 10-15 times per quarter.  As it happened in that game, he only got the ball TWICE in the 4th quarter, and took only a couple of shots in the 2nd half... and they weren't really shots, they were tip-in attempts on offensive rebounds.

Wilt blamed that loss in game 7 on Hannum, for not telling his players to get the ball into Wilt.   Some people think Chamberlain should have been more vocal himself, and insisted that his teammates get him the ball... but this was 1967, and that wasn't the way things were done. Wilt felt it was the coach's job to point out that he had an advantage on Russell and that the 76ers should get the ball inside to Wilt.  

When asked, after game seven, why Wilt didn't shoot more, Hannum said "I never had to tell him (Wilt) to shoot before".  Wilt felt that comment was unfair.  He later told Hannum that he lost a lot of respect for him as a coach for not pointing out to reporters that Wilt's teammates didn't get the ball into him at all...

As Wilt himself said, "...  how would I have looked if I said 'hey, we lost because my teammates didn't get me that ball"  He believed that Hannum should have shouldered some of the blame for that game 7 loss.

That year, the 76ers finished the season 8 games in front of the Celtics in the Eastern Division.

Hannum could very well have been a top 10 coach... he was the only coach to ever defeat Bill Russell in a playoff series... the St. Louis Hawks beat Boston in Russell's 2nd season (1958) in six games, although this was due in part to Russell's having to play on  a broken ankle (and people think Jordan playing with the flu was tough!).

Hannum also beat the Celtics in the 1967 Eastern Finals before beating the San Fransisco Warriors in the NBA finals.  That was Boston's ONLY playoff loss during the 1960s, a decade which saw then win 9 out of the 10 titles.

Hannum also coached Chamberlain's Warriors to the 1964 finals, but they were dismantled by the Celtics in the finals that year.

Hannum was a tough, hard nosed player of average skill during his playing days...but he was a great coach.  A lot of current coaches have coached a lot longer than Hannum did and have not nearly as much to show for their efforts.

Although basketball-reference.com does not list a date of death for Hannum, he passed away in 2002 at the age of 78.

Hannum knew basketball, and he knew how to work with people. Although they did have a slight falling out after the '68 playoffs, Wilt, deep down, always had very deep respect for what Hannum meant to his career.

When Hannum agreed to become Wilt's coach, he asked the Warriors two questions:

1) Did the Warriors make  Wilt's salary dependent on his personal stats?  

2) Does Chamberlain insist on playing the full 48 minutes of every game (as Wilt usually did)?

When the Warriors answered "no" to both questions, Hannum said, "ok, you've got yourself a coach".

Hannum, who was 6'7 and all muscle, did physically challenge Chamberlain early on...this too, led to Wilt having a lot of respect for him as a coach, and as a man.

Hannum was elected to the HOF in 1998 as a coach.  But even though he's a HOFer, he's certainly one of the most underrated coaches ever... basically because there was no ESPN when he was coaching, and ESPN thinks that Sports history started when ESPN started.  This is also why 95% of basketball fans today have no idea who he was.

It's tough to be a top 10 coach of all time, but I would rank Hannum ahead of Don Nelson, who's never won anything. Some people will say that Nelson's never had a championship caliber team to coach, but I frankly think he wants it that way.   if he had championship caliber teams, he'd be expected to win a title...but as it is, he looks good if he just makes the playoffs more often than not.  I'd also put him ahead of Bill Fitch.