The top coaches are a combination of two things: Shrewd schemers and master motivators. But which coaches are most respected by fans? New research from Betway has outlined who the frontrunners are and how different sets of fans rate their own coach based on social media data.
- Finishing among the top 10 coaches in the NBA, was Dallas Mavericks’ head coach, Jason Kidd, who despite being eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 2009 following a late-season collapse, was among the game’s most positively received coaches. Having inspired the Mavericks’ highest win total since the 2014–15 season in the previous season, Kidd clearly has a lot of credit in the bank despite the late-season disappointment. This is reflected in the Mavericks fan opinion online with 21.8% of the tweets mentioning the coach in the past year being positive!
- Based on fans online, Rick Carlisle is the most respected with over 30% of the online conversations about him being positive, though he did also receive the fewest no. of tweets compared to the other coaches. Following closely behind are Mark Daigneault, Monty Williams, and Erik Spoelstra.
The following table ranks the NBA coaches based on the positive sentiment score (%) of the tweets mentioning them in the past 12 months:
| Coach | Team | Number of Tweets | Yearly Positive online sentiment score % |
| Rick Carlisle | Indiana Pacers | 2,421 | 30.9% |
| Mark Daigneault | Oklahoma City Thunder | 13,467 | 30.3% |
| Monty Williams | Detroit Pistons (former Phoenix Suns) | 92,144 | 23.6% |
| Erik Spoelstra | Miami Heat | 59,804 | 23.4% |
| Will Hardy | Utah Jazz | 67,703 | 22.1% |
| Jason Kidd | Dallas Mavericks | 148,873 | 21.8% |
| Taylor Jenkins | Memphis Grizzlies | 107,283 | 21.5% |
| Jamahl Mosley | Orlando Magic | 6,104 | 21.0% |
| Tyronn Lue | Los Angeles Clippers | 28,259 | 20.5% |
| Mike Brown | Sacramento Kings | 270,377 | 20.3% |
| Jacque Vaughn | Brooklyn Nets | 81,169 | 18.4% |
| Joe Mazzulla | Boston Celtics | 83,376 | 16.7% |
| Gregg Popovich | San Antonio Spurs | 116,396 | 16.7% |
| Tom Thibodeau | New York Knicks | 45,146 | 16.4% |
| Adrian Griffin | Milwaukee Bucks | 457,820 | 16.1% |
| Chris Finch | Minnesota Timberwolves | 14,960 | 16.1% |
| Steve Clifford | Charlotte Hornets | 15,604 | 16.0% |
| Willie Green | New Orleans Pelicans | 57,579 | 15.8% |
| Darvin Ham | Los Angeles Lakers | 445,100 | 15.6% |
| Chauncey Billups | Portland Trail Blazers | 25,209 | 15.1% |
| J. B. Bickerstaff | Cleveland Cavaliers | 15,158 | 13.8% |
| Billy Donovan | Chicago Bulls | 30,167 | 13.7% |
| Michael Malone | Denver Nuggets | 51,654 | 12.7% |
| Quin Snyder | Atlanta Hawks | 42,589 | 12.5% |
| Steve Kerr | Golden State Warriors | 1,008,613 | 12.5% |
| Wes Unseld Jr. | Washington Wizards | 6,276 | 12.3% |
| Doc Rivers | Philadelphia 76ers | 195,644 | 11.2% |
| Ime Udoka | Houston Rockets | 511,23 | 9.8% |
Also, this goes without saying, that there’s no disrespect to the lowest-ranked coaches, as this is a social media power ranking, and particularly to those in their first top jobs; they will be duly rewarded next season once fans had a chance to know them better.
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