The Puppeteers and Their Puppets: Masters of the NBA Finals
Over the course of NBA history, 4 coaches/executives and 4 players have been taken dominance to another level. The coach/executives have been running the NBA since the 1960s with little gap in between. The players dominance is much more recent starting in the 1990s. These coach/executives and players have not altered the course of NBA history, but they are the ones who formed it.
First I want to start off by saying I am not the person who came up with the four Puppeteers, I have seen it in different places on the internet. That being said I have not seen any articles written on them. The Puppeteers have been instrumental in the history of the NBA, and most people don’t even realize it.
Who Are The Puppeteers
Just under 65% of NBA titles have been won by four people, from now on I will refer to these people as the four puppeteers. The four puppeteers are made up of NBA all-time greats, all but one are currently in the basketball hall of fame (Popovich is the only non-hall of famer and he probably will be soon enough). The Puppeteers with their credentials are as follows:
Puppeteer 1: Red Auerbach: 16 NBA titles and 18 Finals appearances
Puppeteer 2: Phil Jackson: 13 NBA titles and 15 Finals appearances
Puppeteer 3: Pat Riley: 9 NBA titles 14 Finals appearances
Puppeteer 4: Gregg Popovich: 5 NBA titles, and 6 Finals appearances
That’s a total of 43 NBA championships and 52 NBA finals appearances. That is over half of all NBA championships belong to one of these 4 people. The reason I point this out is the NBA playoffs are in full swing and if you look around, none of these greats are left. Popovich was the only one of them to even make the playoffs this season. Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks had a season to forget. Pat Riley and his Miami Heat felt the injury bug big time. This season is an anomaly, since 1980 one of the four puppeteers has been in the NBA finals all but 2 seasons. Those 2 seasons being 1990 and 1995. If Michael Jordan doesn’t go play baseball it could easily be 34 of 35 seasons. The Puppeteers have been one to the next. The legacy started with Red Auerbach and his Boston Celtics of the 1960s and into the 70s and early 80s. After Auerbach Pat Riley started with Showtime and his Lakers teams before he moved on to the Knicks and eventually the Miami Heat. After Showtime and Riley, Phil Jackson dominated the 1990s with his Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, before moving on and taking his talents to the west coast and joining the Lakers legacy. The final Puppeteer is Gregg Popovich and his Spurs teams, they were like Auerbach’s Celtics have won NBA championships in 3 different decades. All of the Puppeteers have been dominant coaches and major parts of the front office for championship teams. Of the 4 only 2 of them played in the NBA at some point. Proving that being a former player is not a necessity for success as a coach or in the front office. The dominance of these four coaches is unprecedented in major sports.
Who Are The Puppets
Just like the Puppeteers the puppets is a group of four players who have dominated. This domination has only been for 25 years compared to the 40 plus years of the Puppeteers. The dynasty of these four players started in 1991. The Puppets and their credentials are as follows:
Puppet 1: Michael Jordan 6 NBA titles and 6 NBA Finals Appearances
Puppet 2: Tim Duncan 5 NBA titles and 6 NBA Finals Appearances
Puppet 3: Kobe Bryant 5 NBA titles and 7 NBA Finals Appearances
Puppet 4: Dwyane Wade 3 NBA titles and 5 Finals Appearances
That’s a total of 19 NBA titles and 24 NBA finals appearances. In the 24 seasons of the puppets dynasty at least one of them has been in the NBA finals in 22 seasons and up until this season it was 19 straight. The two seasons that the Puppets missed are 1994 and 1995. The only one of them that had a chance in those seasons was Michael Jordan and he was playing baseball for all of the 1993-1994 season and half of the 1994-1995 season. So it is safe to say that this could also easily be 24 for 24 if Jordan hadn’t gone to baseball. The Dominance of these players coincides with the Puppeteers. All of these players had the tutelage of one of them. The longevity of all of these players is outstanding.
Over the course of the playoffs I will be doing a breakdown of each of the Puppeteers and Puppets showing the dominance of their time in the NBA