Trivia (sort of tough)

Rick Carlisle became the 11th person to win an NBA Title as a Coach and as a player?

Can you name the other 10? HINT: (4 are former Celtics)

beat

Russell, Heinsohn, K.C., Sharman

The other six don't count.

Sam

Sam

An answer that is better than the correct answer.............therefore you win!

beat

Pat Riley
Phil Jackson
Bill Russell (Player coach)
KC Jones
Larry Brown?
Doc Rivers
Rudy T
Greg Popvich
Lenny Wilkins (player coach)
Chuck Daly (kidding, can't think of another)

Larry Brown NO (only played in the ABA)
Doc Rivers NO
Rudy T NO
Greg Popvich NO
Wilkins NO

Actually there are 2, I never would have known.

Riley and Jackson were pretty easy,

Phil Jackson played for one of the answers.
The other relative easy one was on a rival team for many years then coached that very same team. 4 4 4 is a hint from that team.

beat

Billy C

the kangaroo kid is correct.

Now get the other easy one Bob.

The guy that coached the Knicks

oops was thinking of coaches who won a ring and played, forgot they had to have won a title as a player too.

I bet Red Holzman was one.

Sam

Larry Costello coached the Bucks when they won with Jabbar and Oscar, and I believe he was on the 67 Philly or 70 Knicks team.

Outside,

You're right. Larry was on the 67 Philly championship team. In his prime, he and Sam Jones were neck-and-neck for fastest players in the league.

Sam

Outside

Great find. Forgot all about him. I'm not sure he was even listed on my original source.

Sam...... yep on Hotzman.

beat

Outside

here is the info from the U of Virginia website thet Carlisie attended.

Carlisle, who won an NBA Championship as a player with the Boston Celtics in 1985-86, becomes the 11th person in NBA history to win a title as both a player and a head coach. Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Bill Russell, Tom Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Red Holzman, Billy Cunningham, Bill Sharman, Buddy Jeannette and George Senesky are the others to do so.

Guess I'll send them a correction for it should be 12!

thanks for the info!

beat

Beat,

I double-checked, and Larry Costello was indeed on the 67 Philly team. I don't remember him as a player -- I was only 11 and just remember the stars from that team -- but I do remember some reference to his experience as a player on a championship team during Milwaukee's championship run. I initially had some vague thought that he played for the Celtics, but Sam put that to rest quickly, so that's when I came up with Philly or New York as guesses.

As for Buddy Jeannette and George Senesky, I wasn't familiar with them at all. Looking them up on basketball-reference.com, Jeannette won a title as player-coach for the Baltimore Bullets in 1947-48, and Senesky won as a player for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1947 and a coach for the Warriors in 1956. I'm not very familiar with the Warriors franchise history in Philly, so this was a nice opportunity for me to learn something.

Can you imagine someone attempting to be a player-coach today? It doesn't seem even remotely possible.

Beat, thanks for an illuminating quiz. And congratulations to Rick Carlisle for joining an elite group.

Outside

Outside

I did email the U of Virginia web site as to the oversite. I had to check on Costello myself as a player. Seems he got hurt pretty seriously that season.


With 42 games into the season, Costello ripped his Achilles tendon on January 6, 1967 and was replaced by Wali Jones. He did, however, come back to participlate in the 1967 playoffs. Costello ended his career for the second and final time in 1968..


Not sure if they were in the finals though. But he was on the team no doubt.

Again thanks for picking up a mistake.

beat