Would John Wooden have been successful in the NBA?

[blah blah blah]

He's widely known as the best coach of all time despite never coaching at the highest level. How good do you think he could've been?

[TrainOfThought5]

define successful.

[JamStone]

Is this the over 50 years old thread? It's been almost 40 years since Wooden last coached and I'm guessing most people on these boards were either too young or not born yet to really dissect his coaching style. Even if you watch old clips or read his books, I don't think you can really accurately evaluate the type of coach he was. Even if his pyramid of success could be applicable these days as a model for coaching and player success, how applicable could it be to today's players, how successful? Not just today's players, but today's professional players. I think most college age students want to listen, want to be coached and taught at least to a certain degree, especially by a revered and successful coach. But I question how that applies to professional players who get paid to play with egos that are not always as agreeable. The Shane Battiers wouldn't be the types of players Wooden would have to worry about. It's how he would be able to coach the JR Smiths or JaVale McGees, or how he would handle star players like Kobe or Iverson. I'm not saying he wouldn't be able to handle and coach them successfully. I just don't know if he could either.

I think coaching in general requires a certain degree of brainwashing, or at least salesmanship to get your players to buy in. Could Wooden do that with today's professional players? Maybe. Can any of us say with any degree of certainty that he could? I don't think so.

[lrrr]

I think it would come down to ownership. If he had the full backing of the owners, then the players would fall in line. Guys like Pop and Sloan basically had tenure and the players had to play for the coaches, and they could implement their agendas.

It would also help if he had a superstar who set the tone for the rest of the team a la Tim Duncan.

[Expert]

Sure, if he had 3 HOFers starting for him.