After a gritty 45-win campaign, Jordan Ott challenges the West’s coaching hierarchy. Discover how his strategic depth and roster management place him among the conference’s top five.
The Phoenix Suns are in sure hands under the leadership of head coach Jordan Ott.
The second-year leading man is coming off of a season in which he defied all odds to guide the Suns to a 45-win campaign - empowering players such as guard Collin Gillespie to enjoy career years in the process.
Just how far has Ott's influence reached over the last year - especially in the scope of a stacked Western Conference?
It's fair to say that Ott is clearly holding an advantage over a myriad of coaches in the conference at the moment. Among them are Doug Christie (Sacramento Kings), Jamahl Mosley (New Orleans Pelicans), Dusty May (Dallas Mavericks), Micah Nori (Portland Trail Blazers), and Tuomas Iisalo (Memphis Grizzlies).
Ott either has a marked experience advantage over each of the competition, or he has simply proven more, even in a shorter amount of time.
Tyronn Lue (Los Angeles Clippers), JJ Redick (Los Angeles Lakers), David Adelman (Denver Nuggets), Ime Udoka (Houston Rockets), and Chris Finch (Minnesota Timberwolves) are the next tier. It feels fair to group the 41-year-old Ott into this group as the "good, not great" coaches in the West at the moment.
Ott does many things that might give him an advantage over this crop of competition. In Udoka's case, Ott is more malleable with his staff hiring decisions and in game planning. In Finch's case, it seems as if Ott has more of a grip when it comes to building out competent rotations - even with being less experienced. Various arguments extends to everyone else in this tier.
This isn't to say Ott cannot join the top tier that includes Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Mitch Johnson (San Antonio Spurs), and Mark Daigneault (Oklahoma City Thunder). In fact, there are multiple areas that Ott has potential to improve in that would drive him to becoming one of the elite coaches in the league. This includes smoothing out his offensive principles, driving the development of Phoenix's youth movement (including center Khaman Maluach) in the right direction, and finding ways to maximize star player Devin Booker.
At this very moment, it feels reasonable to consider Ott a top five coach in the Western Conference - and around the top 10 in the league ecosystem as a whole. The longtime assistant coach will surely continue to receive chances to prove he's among the elite.
