Latrinsorm
10-12-2014, 02:17 PM
With so many injuries flying around the East and its general suckitude, the path looks pretty clear for the Cavs to make the Finals, which barring an incredibly unlikely midseason firing and hiring would mean LeBron had been to the Finals under three different head coaches (Brown, Spoelstra, Blatt). I wondered: when it comes to FMVPs, is three a record for Finals appearances? So I looked up all the FMVPs and saw how that shook out for championships, Finals, and Conference Finals. Please note: the FMVP was first awarded in 1969 but I took the entire careers of players who had at least one.
Chp Fin Conf Name
2 4 7 Chamberlain
1 4 4 West
3 3 3 Abdul-Jabbar
3 3 3 Havlicek
2 3 3 Magic
2 3 5 Shaq
1 3 3 Unseld
1 2 2 Barry
2 2 2 Bird
2 2 2 Johnson D.
1 2 2 LeBron
1 2 3 Malone
2 2 2 Maxwell
1 2 3 Nowitzki
1 2 2 Olajuwon
2 2 3 Wade
2 2 2 Walton
1 2 2 Worthy
1 1 4 Billups
1 1 1 Dumars
1 1 1 Duncan
1 1 2 Jordan
1 1 2 Kobe
1 1 1 Leonard
1 1 1 Parker
1 1 2 Pierce
1 1 1 Reed
1 1 1 Thomas
1 1 1 White
Chp Fin Conf Name
3 3 3 Abdul-Jabbar
1 2 2 Barry
1 1 4 Billups
2 2 2 Bird
2 4 7 Chamberlain
1 1 1 Dumars
1 1 1 Duncan
3 3 3 Havlicek
2 2 2 Johnson D.
1 1 2 Jordan
1 1 2 Kobe
1 2 2 LeBron
1 1 1 Leonard
2 3 3 Magic
1 2 3 Malone
2 2 2 Maxwell
1 2 3 Nowitzki
1 2 2 Olajuwon
1 1 1 Parker
1 1 2 Pierce
1 1 1 Reed
2 3 5 Shaq
1 1 1 Thomas
1 3 3 Unseld
2 2 3 Wade
2 2 2 Walton
1 4 4 West
1 1 1 White
1 2 2 Worthy
As it turns out, no! The record is 4, shared by Wilt and West. Wilt isn't a surprise because he was on three different teams. The oddity in Wilt's history is that he took the same coach to the Finals for two different franchises. Alex Hannum's coaching career looks like this:
58: coaches the Pettit Hawks of St. Louis to the championship in his second year and then vanishes from coaching for two years.
61-63: coaches the 76ers (then the Syracuse Nationals) to nothing, team moves to Philly without him (possibly because no one told him they were moving).
64: coaches the Wilt Warriors of St. Francisco to the Finals, watches Wilt get traded the next season and team goes to crap.
67: Wilt's relationship with coach Dolph Schayes is so bad that he doesn't even keep a home in Philadelphia, but commutes to games from NYC. This amazingly turns out to be kind of bad for team morale, so Hannum is brought in and the team wins it all.
Thus Hannum is the only coach to beat the Bill Russell Celtics in the playoffs, and the only coach to go to the Finals with the same #1 player on two different teams.
.
Also worth noting is that of course not all of these cases were where the player was the #1 on the team. The only players to win FMVP under more than one coach are Kareem (Costello and Riley) and Magic (Westhead and Riley). LeBron would be able to join that group with another FMVP.
Riley's name came up a lot (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Shaq, Wade), but tied with him for the most appearances was K.C. Jones (Maxwell, Bird, Walton, Johnson, Unseld), although Riley's names went 4 of 5 for FMVPs while K.C. only had 1 (Bird).
Chp Fin Conf Name
2 4 7 Chamberlain
1 4 4 West
3 3 3 Abdul-Jabbar
3 3 3 Havlicek
2 3 3 Magic
2 3 5 Shaq
1 3 3 Unseld
1 2 2 Barry
2 2 2 Bird
2 2 2 Johnson D.
1 2 2 LeBron
1 2 3 Malone
2 2 2 Maxwell
1 2 3 Nowitzki
1 2 2 Olajuwon
2 2 3 Wade
2 2 2 Walton
1 2 2 Worthy
1 1 4 Billups
1 1 1 Dumars
1 1 1 Duncan
1 1 2 Jordan
1 1 2 Kobe
1 1 1 Leonard
1 1 1 Parker
1 1 2 Pierce
1 1 1 Reed
1 1 1 Thomas
1 1 1 White
Chp Fin Conf Name
3 3 3 Abdul-Jabbar
1 2 2 Barry
1 1 4 Billups
2 2 2 Bird
2 4 7 Chamberlain
1 1 1 Dumars
1 1 1 Duncan
3 3 3 Havlicek
2 2 2 Johnson D.
1 1 2 Jordan
1 1 2 Kobe
1 2 2 LeBron
1 1 1 Leonard
2 3 3 Magic
1 2 3 Malone
2 2 2 Maxwell
1 2 3 Nowitzki
1 2 2 Olajuwon
1 1 1 Parker
1 1 2 Pierce
1 1 1 Reed
2 3 5 Shaq
1 1 1 Thomas
1 3 3 Unseld
2 2 3 Wade
2 2 2 Walton
1 4 4 West
1 1 1 White
1 2 2 Worthy
As it turns out, no! The record is 4, shared by Wilt and West. Wilt isn't a surprise because he was on three different teams. The oddity in Wilt's history is that he took the same coach to the Finals for two different franchises. Alex Hannum's coaching career looks like this:
58: coaches the Pettit Hawks of St. Louis to the championship in his second year and then vanishes from coaching for two years.
61-63: coaches the 76ers (then the Syracuse Nationals) to nothing, team moves to Philly without him (possibly because no one told him they were moving).
64: coaches the Wilt Warriors of St. Francisco to the Finals, watches Wilt get traded the next season and team goes to crap.
67: Wilt's relationship with coach Dolph Schayes is so bad that he doesn't even keep a home in Philadelphia, but commutes to games from NYC. This amazingly turns out to be kind of bad for team morale, so Hannum is brought in and the team wins it all.
Thus Hannum is the only coach to beat the Bill Russell Celtics in the playoffs, and the only coach to go to the Finals with the same #1 player on two different teams.
.
Also worth noting is that of course not all of these cases were where the player was the #1 on the team. The only players to win FMVP under more than one coach are Kareem (Costello and Riley) and Magic (Westhead and Riley). LeBron would be able to join that group with another FMVP.
Riley's name came up a lot (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Shaq, Wade), but tied with him for the most appearances was K.C. Jones (Maxwell, Bird, Walton, Johnson, Unseld), although Riley's names went 4 of 5 for FMVPs while K.C. only had 1 (Bird).