Robert Horry is all about the NBA Finals, so it’s only appropriate that he’s been making the rounds — giving his input on the Cavs and Warriors.
Horry also has an opinion about the best coach he’s ever played for. The names are tremendous, but the guy he picks might surprise you.
The seven-time NBA champion won two rings with the Houston Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the San Antonio Spurs.
In a new article for The Players’ Tribune, the former big shot maker says that Rudy Tomjanovich was the best coach he’s every played for – not Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich.
The polar opposite of that was my relationship with Rudy T. He understood that even though he was the coach, we could see things that he couldn’t see from the bench. We could hear things and feel things on the court that he couldn’t see. First thing T would say was, “What’s going on out there?” He would ask us the plays we would want to run sometimes and get a feel for what we were comfortable with.
If we ran a play and it worked, T would tell us to run it again. Phil not so much. Same with Pop. They are both great in their own right, but based on personal experience, T was the greatest NBA coach. I know he doesn’t have nearly as many championships, but sometimes we give one person too much credit for titles.
It’s not really about putting down the other two coaches, because you can’t. Horry played for Rudy T when he was younger, more explosive, and when his role was predicated on more than just big shots.