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I want someone who has been in coaching their entire career. Not someone who got to where they were because of their athletic ability. Look around the league at the good coaches. Not many of them were players or at least notable players. It’s rare. Doc is an outlier. Kerr is still kind of unknown as a coach.
Phil Jackson and Pat Riley were players. So was Larry Brown.
This reminds me of Stephen A. Smith's comment a few years ago that "black players don't listen to black coaches." Since the first four African American coaches were Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkens, Al Attles and KC Jones - ALL players and two of them HoF players - ALL won NBA titles as coaches within 15 years of the first of them becoming a head coach - that was a pretty silly argument.
However, I do think it's risky in 2019 to hire an ex-player as head coach who has no coaching experience. Russell and Wilkens were actually player-coaches but the NBA has changed and that wouldn't work today.