NBA coaches with the worst playoff records of all time

The NBA playoffs are where legacies are made. This holds true for players and coaches alike. When thinking about NBA coaches, we immediately think of some of the greatest to ever do it.

Phil Jackson's success with building the Chicago Bulls of the 90s is closely paired with his success with the LA Lakers of early and late 2000s.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has led the franchise to five NBA titles. In the process of doing so, he has also become the winningest coach in NBA history.

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Modern-day coaches, such as Steve Kerr and Erik Spoelstra, also find themselves immortalized among some of the greatest to ever do it in the NBA.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, we take a look at coaches who couldn't succeed in the playoffs. There have been several coaches in the NBA who haven't been to the playoffs, much less won a game. For this list, we have taken a look at coaches who have, at least, 50 games under their belts.

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Here are some of the coaches with the worst playoff records of all time.

1 - Quin Snyder

Quin Snyder with the Atlanta Hawks' guard duo

Quin Snyder is the current head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Snyder made a name for himself as the head coach of the Utah Jazz. Although he started his job as the Jazz's head coach in the 2014-15 season, Snyder didn't go to the playoffs until 2017.

Following the 2016-17 season, Snyder and the Jazz became a fairly regular group in the playoffs. Featuring a superstar duo in Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, the Jazz looked like a playoff team as well. Unfortunately, the team was consistently bounced out of the playoffs early on.

The 2022-23 season marked the end of Snyder's coaching career with the Jazz. He joined the Hawks late into the season. Although he helped Atlanta secure a playoff spot, the team eventually crashed out of the playoffs in the first round.

He has a career playoff record of 23-34.

2 - Doug Moe

Doug Moe looks on at a Denver Nuggets game

Doug Moe started out as an assistant coach in the ABA. But it wasn't long before he got the head coaching job with the San Antonio Spurs in the 1976-77 season. In his three seasons with the Spurs, Moe led the team to three playoff appearances. The Spurs went as far as the ECF in the 1978-79 season.

Moe followed up his time with the Spurs with another stint in Denver. During his time with the Nuggets, the team made nine consecutive playoff appearances. Unfortunately, the furthest they went was the Western Conference finals in 1985.

He was a head coach with the Philadelphia 76ers for a year. This was followed by a few years as an assistant coach with the Nuggets again. He ended his NBA career with a playoff record of 33-50.

3 - Gene Shue

Gene Shue was influential as a basketball player during the fledgling days of the NBA. He also made some impact as a head coach.

Having spent a lot of time with the Baltimore Bullets early in his coaching career, Shue led the team an Eastern Conference title in 1971. His time in Baltimore was followed by a head coaching stint with the Philadelphia 76ers, where he led the team to a conference championship in 1976.

Unfortunately, 1976 was also his last year at Philadelphia. Following this, he moved on to coach the San Diego Clippers. He eventually returned to the Washington Bullets after a failed two-year stint in San Diego and led Washington to three more playoff appearances.

He ended his coaching career as head coach of the Clippers in 1989. He had a playoff record of 30-47.

4 - Dwane Casey

Dwane Casey has been in the coaching line since the early 90s. Although he spent a long time as an assistant coach, he eventually caught his first crack at a head coaching job with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2005-06 season.

Casey continued to bounce between assistant coaching and head coaching roles. However, he earned his first playoff appearance as a head coach with the Toronto Raptors in the 2013-14 season.

From 2014-2018, Casey led the Raptors to the playoffs in every season. Unfortunately, the team consistently came up short in the East. In 2019, he led the Detroit Pistons to the playoffs as well. However, the Blake Griffin and Andre Drumomnd-led side were swept in the first-round.

Casey remains the head coach of the Pistons. He has a career playoff record of 21-34.

5 - Nate McMillan

Nate McMillan has an impressive resume as a head coach. He spent the early part of his coaching career as the head coach of the Seattle Supersonics and the Portland Trail Blazers. In this span of time, he had two playoff appearances with Seattle and three with Portland.

In the 2016-17 season, he finally became head coach of the Indiana Pacers after spending three seasons as the associate head coach. During his four-year stint with Indiana, he took the side to the playoffs in each season. However, they were also swept three times in those runs.

McMillan eventually landed a head coaching job with the Atlanta Hawks in 2020-21. In his three seasons with the team, he led them to the playoffs twice. Atlanta even went to the ECF in his first season as head coach.

McMilllan was most recently fired midway through the 2022-23 season. He has a playoff record of 30-52.

6 - Terry Stotts

Terry Stotts has spent a lot of time as a coach in the NBA. Although he was an assistant coach for a large part of his career, Stotts finally got his first break as a head coach with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2002-03 season. Unfortunately, the two year stint failed to yield much success.

A similar situation presented itself in Milwaukee where he coached for two seasons and led the team to the playoffs once. He was promptly sacked after failing to the lead the team to a playoff showing in his second season.

Stotts received a fairly steady opportunity as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2012-13 season. Although it didn't yield success right away, Stotts and the Trail Blazers became a regular playoff team by his second season with the team.

With a talented superstar in Damian Lillard, Stotts led Portland to several consecutive playoff appearances, including a WCF run in 2019. Unfortunately, that was as far as the road went for Portland.

Stotts was relieved of his duties as head coach after the 2020-21 season. He had a playoff record of 23-44.

7 - Mike Fratello

Mike Fratello coached several teams over his 28-year NBA coaching career. He had his first playoff appearance as head coach with the Atlanta Hawks in 1983-84 season.

Although he missed the playoffs the following year, the Hawks became a fairly consistent playoff team from 1986-1989. Unfortunately, they only made it as far as the Eastern Conference semis.

Fratello then took on a job as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1993-94 season. He led the Cavs to a playoff appearance right away and led them to the playoffs for four out of his six seasons as head coach. Unfortunately, Cleveland didn't make it out of the first round under Fratello.

The final stretch of his NBA coaching career saw him take over the reigns in Memphis. The Grizzlies made the playoffs for two of the three seasons Fratello was head coach.

However, just like the situation in Cleveland, the team lost in the first round. To make matters worse, they were swept each time.

Fratello moved on to coach the Ukrainian national basketball team in 2011. He had an NBA playoff record of 20-42.

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