LA 23

Name the only head coach to have the pleasure of coaching Julius Erving, Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins?

If you said Kevin Loughery, good for you.

Last night while going over a list of some of the best coaches in NBA history, I thought about Loughery (no, he isn’t considered one of the best) but as a youngster growing up in Brooklyn, New York he was clearly my favorite.  (Red Holzman is a very close second).

I recall watching Loughery coach the New York Nets of the ABA.  This is where he had the Doctor.

As the Nets head coach, they were able to win two titles.

Who can forget the the Nets number one play, ‘LA 23′ where Super John Williamson would get the ball, while his teammates went to the baseline (1-4 set) and ‘Supa J’ would take his man to the goal and usually get a bucket.

Years later Loughery assigned the same play to Michael Jordan while he was on the sidelines in Chicago.  Here is a small piece of info from wikipedia.com on Loughery.

In his second season with rookie Michael Jordan, the Bulls made the playoffs.  In the book The Jordan Rules Michael was quoted as saying that Loughery was the most fun coach he ever played for and that Loughery allowed him to free-lance and play the style he wanted.

Many people fail to realize who gave Phil Jackson his start in coaching.  If you read any of his books, or know the history of Jackson, he had a difficult time breaking into coaching in the NBA.  But Loughery gave him a chance.  Here are a few words from Jackson on Loghery via hoop hall.com

Jackson also learned from Kevin Loughery, a coach with a different style than Holzman. Loughery gave Jackson a lot of responsibility when Jackson worked under him as a New Jersey Nets player/assistant in the ‘78-’79 and ‘79-’80 seasons. “Kevin was a really good game coach who did unusual things,” says Jackson. “He really took advantage of the rules, putting three guys in isolation and playing two-on-two or even one-on-one. Or he’d double-team the ball as it was thrown in-bounds. I liked his ingenuity and considered him a really good upset coach.”

Loughery, the Cardinal Hayes graduate coached 22 years.  He made stops in Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington and Miami.  With a record of 642-726, it wasn’t exactly a great record but Loughery was enjoyable to watch, very active and in my early days, he made a lasting impression on me.