Top five Western Conference coaches

In the NBA, the Western Conference has seven eight teams which can legitimately claim a chance at raising the Larry O’Brien trophy come June. While some are more likely than others, the field is stacked and yet more wide open than ever before.

Case and point: the Oklahoma City Thunder are the current No. 8 seed with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbook.

So how to determine who might have the leg up in a close series? You could go by the point differential and cumulative PER, but the postseason is a different animal. Teams don’t have the opportunity to beat up on a bad squad or get a night of rest while allowing for a loss against a good one. It’s all-out action, all the time.

Perhaps the best x-factor of them all is figuring who has the biggest advantage on the bench. With that in mind, here are the top five coaches in the West on contending teams.

5. Scott Brooks

Brooks has been at the helm in Oklahoma City for seven seasons and only missed the playoffs once. In that span, Brooks has 324-195 record and three appearances in the conference finals, along with one trip to the NBA Finals. Brooks comes under fire at times for not having won a title with his talented team, but he is consistent and the players know what to expect.

4. Terry Stotts

Stotts is the most inexperienced of this group. Under Stotts, the Portland Trail Blazers had a 19-game improvement from their first to second year, reaching the conference semifinals in 2014. This year, the Blazers are a contender behind the duo of Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge. After suffering through five losing seasons in as many years as a head coach in three cities, Stotts appears to have learned his lessons in an emphatic way.

3. Rick Carlisle

Carlisle is one of the most underrated coaches in North American sports. Carlisle has a championship already with the Dallas Mavericks, beating LeBron James and the Miami Heat in six games back in 2011. Few coaches understand how to utilize their bench and extract the most from their players better. Carlisle is one of the few coaches who make a visible impact on the game. In 12 years as a head coach, Carlisle has missed the postseason twice.

2. Doc Rivers

Rivers is beloved by his players, despite showing the ability to get in their faces. A former point guard, Rivers sees the entire floor. With the Boston Celtics, Rivers coached nine seasons and went to the NBA Finals twice, winning once. Now in his second season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers is hoping to advance past the conference semifinals.

1. Gregg Popovich

In his 19th season with the San Antonio Spurs, Popovich has become one of the greatest coaches of all-time. Already a five-time NBA champion, Popovich recently won his 1,000th game, joining eight other coaches in that exclusive club. Outside of his first season in San Antonio, Popovich’s teams have made the postseason each year and won at least 50 games except in the strike-shortened 1999 campaign, in which they won the title.