Phoenix Suns legend Alvan Adams vividly remembers this one moment that fully describes who John MacLeod was as a person.
“Somebody grumbled when they came out of the game and kind of made a big deal of it on the bench,” Adams said. “The crowd saw it. You could tell this player was unhappy. I remember John saying something in the locker room. He goes, “Guys, I will never embarrass you on the court and I don’t want you embarrassing me or our staff or our team.’”
Only one word seems appropriate for someone to address a situation like that.
“Gentleman,” said Adams, who played 12 of his 13 NBA seasons under MacLeod in Phoenix. “I knew John in other settings, too. He was a gentleman coach. He was a gentleman to the referees. He was a gentleman to the players.”
He was a pretty darn good coach, too.
MacLeod is the franchise’s all-time leader in wins in the regular season (579-543), playoffs (37-44 in nine playoff appearances) and the longest tenured coach (14 seasons).
An avid runner, MacLeod coached Phoenix to its first trip to the NBA Finals in 1976.
Those numbers alone justify MacLeod receiving the most votes for the greatest Suns coach of all time in The Arizona Republic’s reader poll.
- John MacLeod – 49.7%.
- Cotton Fitzsimmons – 21.4%.
- Mike D’Antoni – 13.5%.
- Paul Westphal – 13.3%.
- Monty Williams – 2.4%.
“There’s a story behind each hire,” said former Suns team owner Jerry Colangelo. “There’s a uniqueness about each guy. At that time and place in the history of the NBA and the history of the Suns franchise and each of them brought unique qualities to the table. Each hired for different reasons at different times, but they all fall into the bucket of being terrific candidates, but outstanding choices for our franchise at the time.”
Colangelo lured MacLeod from the University of Oklahoma at a time when Colangelo was working as the Suns’ head coach in the 1972-73 season after replacing Butch van Breda Kolff.
Thinking outside the box, Colangelo recalls having MacLeod address the team before a game to see how he’d handle an NBA locker room.
“Without any warning,” Colangelo said. “I gave him a little bit of information, and I said, ‘John, this is your baby. Talk to the players, get them ready.’ I mean, just cold turkey. He did a terrific job, and then at halftime, it was even better because of adjustments we wanted to make, etc. Under fire, he showed he was more than capable. I mean, I don't think that's ever happened in the interview process.”
Colangelo offered MacLeod the job that night.
He didn’t accept the offer at first. The Sooners weren’t trying to let him walk so easily.
MacLeod coached them to an 18-8 record in 1972-73 with Adams, a skinny 6-9 forward and Parade All-American who led OU in scoring (22.1 ppg.), rebounding (13.2 rpg.) and field goal percentage (54.8%).
“He called and told me that he was going to stay,” Colangelo said. “And I said, ‘Well, I'm disappointed because I think it's a great opportunity for you and I was looking forward to working with you.’”
Forty-eight hours later, MacLeod changed his mind.
“I'm out for dinner with my wife and I get tracked down,” Colangelo said. “This is before cell phones. He called and he said, ‘I've changed my mind, and if you still want me, I'll take the job’ and I said, ‘You got it.’ It was as simple as that, and he was in Phoenix two days later.”
Other top Suns' coaches
MacLeod won the poll by a sizeable margin, but a case can be made for Fitzsimmons, Westphal, D’Antoni and Williams to be considered the franchise’s best coach ever.
Fitzsimmons has the second-most wins in Suns’ history (341-208 record in eight seasons).
A Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee in 2021 as a contributor, Fitzsimmons won NBA Coach of the Year in Phoenix in 1988-89. He only posted one losing season in three different stints with the Suns when starting the 1996-97 season 0-8 before Danny Ainge replaced him.
A two-time NBA Coach of Year, Fitzsimmons posted four straight 50-plus wins seasons in Phoenix from 1988-92.
The Suns reached the Western Conference finals twice (1989, 1990) in that run.
“Cotton was an all-around coach,” said Suns color commentator Eddie Johnson, who played three seasons for Fitzsimmons from 1988-91. “He was a teacher, disciplinarian and a friend that knew our families.”
D’Antoni posted two 60-plus win seasons (62-20 in 2004-05 and 61-21 in 2006-07) and reached the 2005 and 2006 conference finals.
With his "Seven Seconds of Less” philosophy of fast pace, 3s, and small ball, D’Antoni won NBA Coach of the Year in 2004-05 in Phoenix and has the third-most wins in franchise history with a 253-136 record in just four seasons.
D’Antoni was recently inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fameas a contributor.
“Mike was ahead of his time,” said Hall of Famer Steve Nash in a Naismith Hall of Fame video. Nash won back-to-back NBA MVPs (2005, 2006) playing for D’Antoni in Phoenix.
“The pace-and-space era was in large part him implementing that type of style.”
Westphal coached the Suns to the 1993 finals after posting the NBA’s best record in 1992-93 at 62-20 with NBA MVP Charles Barkley leading the way.
“He was the right coach for that team,” said Dan Majerle, who played three seasons under Westphal (1992-95) and four before that under Fitzsimmons (1988-92).
Westphal was part of MacLeod's "Sunderella Suns' that reached the 1976 finals.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 2019, but also made his mark as a head coach in Phoenix.
An assistant under Fitzsimmons before replacing him, Westphal has the highest winning percentage in franchise history in the regular season (1992-96) at 68.5% (191-88 record). He also has the highest playoff winning percentage (59%, 23-16).
Williams has the distinction of leading the team to a franchise record for most wins in a single season at 64 in 2021-22.
He won NBA Coach of the Year that season with Devin Booker earning All-NBA first team.
“The maturation of Devin under Monty’s tutelage was pretty impressive, helping Devin solidify himself as one of the game’s elite two guards,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young, who served as an assistant three seasons (2020-23) under Williams in Phoenix.
Williams coached the Suns to the 2021 NBA Finals two years after Phoenix won just 19 games in 2018-19.
“Just his level of character,” Young said. “How he carried himself. The class, the dignity, all those things allowed him to create a culture where, I mean, honestly, you didn't really have to say a whole lot. Everybody kind of knew what the expectations were, mainly just by the way Monty conducted his business. And so that was the most impressive thing to me.”
Williams has the second-most playoff wins in franchise history with a 27-19 record and the second-highest playoff winning percentage at 58.7%.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Poll results: Phoenix Suns' greatest coach ever was a true 'gentleman'
