Editor's note: If anyone should know how to excel as a head coach in the NBA, it's Dr. Jack Ramsay, who won a world championship with Portland in 1977. Below are Dr. Jack's five factors for success in today's NBA.

1. Know the NBA game.
This characteristic sounds as if it should be a given, but the NBA game is different from that played anywhere else. Its rules, number of games (and travel involved), limited practice time, officiating and the ability level of its players all combine to offer a unique perspective to coaching. The successful NBA coach understands those differences thoroughly and uses them to his advantage.

Let's start with the basic NBA rules. The court dimensions (94 by 50 feet with 16-foot-wide lane), the length of the game (48 minutes), the game's division into four 12-minute periods, the 24-second shot clock (and the conditions for resetting it), personal-foul penalty situations, number of personal and technical fouls necessary for ejection from the game, the 3-second lane restrictions on offense and defense, double-teaming tactics permitted on players with and without the ball and rules governing timeouts -- regular, 20-second and mandatory -- are all different rules and require keen awareness by the coach. They also make for a difficult adjustment for those coming from outside the NBA. College coaches and former players who jump immediately into head coaching positions are often dazed by the demands of the job.

	College coaches and former players who jump immediately into head coaching positions are often dazed by the demands of the job.

Last season, the NBA did away with its confusing illegal defense restrictions and gave teams increased latitude to play any kind of defense. For the first time since 1947, teams could play zone defenses. The only restriction on that tactic was to limit the time in the lane to less than three seconds for players not actively guarding an opponent.

It will be interesting to see what coaches do to adapt to those rules this season. They've had a year to get acclimated to the new freedoms, determine how they can benefit defensively and discover how they can maximize their own offensive opportunities.

The NBA game is tough and physical, and the travel, even in these days of charter flights, can be exhausting. The coach must work out an effective rotation of players into and out of the game. He must get meaningful practices in short segments of time, while being aware of the fatigue factor with players who are playing big minutes every game. He must adjust to officiating that is generally consistent but renders bad decisions on occasion.

The coaches who know the NBA game thoroughly and have their teams playing their best possible game within the rules will have the best team results. It comes from knowing the game.

	Kobe and Shaq have worked together in the triangle offense to shape L.A.'s dynasty.

2. Develop an effective game plan.
A successful coach must have a game plan that gives his team its best chance to win. A sound game on both offense and defense is mandatory. This requires careful analysis of team personnel to ascertain the best ways for that team to score enough points to win while limiting opponents to low-percentage scoring opportunities and denying them second-chance points.

Although defense is the strongest factor in team success, most coaches think of their offensive capabilities first. If you ask NBA coaches what they want to do on offense, they invariably say that the fast break is their first priority. That's understandable because fast-break opportunities are high percentage, and it's generally conceded that a team needs those kinds of "easy scores" to win consistently. But the fact is that most team offense is played in half court.

I coached two excellent running teams in the NBA -- one at Buffalo and the other at Portland. I found that those teams seldom got more than 30 to 35 fast-break chances per game, but if we got that many opportunities we usually won easily. In those days, running teams got about 100 possessions a game. So, even when we ran at optimum level and got 35 fast breaks, we were in the half-court game for about twice as many possessions.

So, while fast-break basketball is fun to play, exciting to watch and helpful in the overall game plan, effective half-court offense is more essential to winning. Every coach has his own style of half-court basketball.

The Lakers use the same triangle offense with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant that was successful at Chicago with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Phil Jackson has won six championships with it, but no one else can make it work. Utah makes maximum use of high-post and sideline screens to get the best from John Stockton and Karl Malone. It is simple and fundamental ... and very efficient. Boston's Jim O'Brien focused on his only viable scorers at Boston, Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, and managed to win a lot of games.

The kind of offense a coach uses may vary, but every scheme will work if the concept is sound and executed with a high level of efficiency.

Strong team defense must be of the highest priority with the successful coach. It is the difference between success and failure. Because of the high level of offensive skills of NBA players, effective defense must be organized on a team, man-to-man basis. There must be an interdependence among the players. Pat Riley calls it "helping the helper." The implication here is that there is always an off-the-ball defender ready to help the player defending the ball and another helper ready to help the first helper. When that kind of teamwork is in place, the basis of a sound team defense is there.

The winning coach must also have his team prepared to employ trapping defenses and double-team schemes for special situations, but the basis of his defensive game must be a sound, integrated man-to-man with excellent principles for providing weak-side help.

In essence, the winning coach needs to have a sound game plan at both ends of the floor.

	Bill Walton knew the '77 Blazers needed to be drilled in fundamentals.

3. Teach your game.
Another vital area for coaching success is one's ability to teach his game plan to his staff and players. Assistants must be as well-versed and confident in the plan as the head coach. It's also extremely important for the coach to have his best player(s) buy into that game plan. When I first took over the Trail Blazers, I met with Bill Walton to explain the game I wanted to play and his role in it. He seemed pleased with the theory and yet I remember his comment as we finished our meeting. "Coach, one last thing ... don't assume we know anything." What he was telling me was that the Blazers -- including himself -- needed a lot of fundamental teaching. I knew we were going to have a great team after I heard him say that.

I found the best teaching was done on a whole-part-whole method -- that is, give the players an overall view of what the end product looks like, break it down into its essential parts, then put all the parts together. This requires the use of visual perceptions, verbal descriptions and physically experiencing the whole game; then breaking that game into its most fundamental segments and drilling them repeatedly on the practice floor. Gradually, the parts are united into the whole game, and then the rough edges are smoothed off.

Yes, pro players -- even the best of them -- need teaching and are receptive to it. I found that if players feel that you can help them improve their skills and help the team win, they'll do whatever work you ask of them. Coordinated team play doesn't just happen. It is the result of endless hours of teaching the individual aspects of the game, then combining those into smooth-functioning team play.

There's an old coaching adage that says, "Don't expect something to happen in the game if it hasn't taken place already on the practice floor." Good coaches use all the tools at their disposal to teach their game -- hands on, one-on-one teaching on the court; chalk and magnetic boards, video tapes, computer printouts, team meetings, written tests, one-on-one sessions with players, motivational techniques in the meeting rooms; practice walk-throughs, half-court and full-court scrimmages, simulated end-of-game situations ... whatever it takes to teach the game.

Good teaching requires open communication between the coach and his players. Players must know what the coach wants from them and the roles each plays in the team game. The smart coach knows how his players are responding to the game plan and invites responses from them.

A successful coach also learns from his players.

4. Coach the game.
Some coaches are described as good "bench" coaches. That kind of coach has gone over the game plan with his players and has simulated at practice the game he expects them to play. The coach has also anticipated and practiced his players on adjustments they may need to make in the game plan. So, if the actual game takes a different turn from what was anticipated, his players are ready. The good bench coach appears confident in himself and in his team. He instills the feeling among his players that, if they follow his lead, they will win.

Then, at the opening toss, these coaches focus on all the important aspects of the game being played. They're aware of the game clock, shot clock, foul situations, timeouts available and the flow of the game. They make player substitutions, alter strategy, note how officials are calling the game, notice how the game plan is working and check out opponents' strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. They seem poised and in control of the game regardless of the score and time remaining.

Game coaching is the defining moment for a coach. He must make appropriate preparations for the game. He may know the game inside out, have a great game plan, and teach it well, but if he can't coach the game effectively, he'll never have great success. And in the NBA, there are a lot of games ... as many as eight preseason, 82 regular season and a possible 26 more in the playoffs!

Before beginning a new season with a good team, I remember thinking that we'd probably win about 15 games somewhat easily, that we might end up losing 10 badly, and the rest -- all 57 of them -- would go down to the wire. Those were the ones I felt we had to win. Setting 50 wins as something of a regular-season standard meant that we'd have to win about 35 of the close games to have the kind of team record that I wanted. That put a premium on getting my players to be mentally tough, so that they'd respond with poise and efficiency in the closing minutes of games. Once the team game was in place, I spent a lot of practice time working on end-of-the-game situations. I had to discover who my best clutch players were on both offense and defense and to make necessary plans to have them involved in the critical plays that win games.

When things are going well, success feeds upon itself and engenders more of the same. Players who make big plays grow more confident in themselves with each success. Winning a close game is a moment of exaltation for players and coach. It has a great bonding effect on the team with its coach.

Repeated failure in close games requires changes in plans, adjustments of personnel or strategy and the practice of the revised plan until success is achieved. Successful coaches get that part of the job done, too.

5. Obtain quality personnel.
The saying that "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" applies well to coaching in the NBA. A good coach makes maximum use of the talent that he has, but if he has less than standard quality players, he can't win in the NBA. In today's era of the salary cap and luxury tax, it's becoming increasingly difficult for a coach to acquire the kind of personnel he needs to become a winner. Many teams in the league will simply not spend money for players if it puts them over the salary cap. And, in some cases, the coach may not have the authority to make changes that he feels necessary. In those situations, the coach is destined to have only mediocre-level teams.

Three of the four teams that I coached in the NBA -- Buffalo, Portland and Indiana -- had records well below .500 the year before I joined them. Buffalo was an expansion team beginning its third year of existence. The team's general manager, Eddie Donovan, thought some of the young players might develop into quality NBA talent and wanted to stay with the previous year's roster. I agreed to try it, but our record didn't improve. Before my second season began, we kept only three players -- Bob McAdoo, Randy Smith and Bob Kauffman -- brought in nine new players, and the team record improved from 21 wins to 42 and a playoff berth.

	Talent is the coach's life blood. Sometimes a team needs a transfusion of new blood so that it can live a productive life.

At Portland, the Blazers were entering their seventh season without ever reaching .500. We acquired seven new players, went from 37 wins the previous year to 49 and, with a team built around Walton and Maurice Lucas and an excellent group of team-first players, won the NBA championship. We added four new players to the team at Indiana and went from 26 to 41 wins and a spot in the playoffs.

I was the same coach at each location. I simply had better players to work with when those teams improved like they did. Talent is the coach's lifeblood. Sometimes a team needs a transfusion of new blood so that it can live a productive life. It's incumbent upon the coach to have as strong an influence as possible in the acquisition of talent. If he can't have that kind of authority, it's better not to take a job where the future is bleak or uncertain.

Not that good talent is all that is needed. Good talent has to be well-coached, too. And there is such a thing as having too much talent -- wherein every player thinks the game should be played through him and the result is chaos. But that's all part of the job of coaching. It's better to have quality talent that can be molded into a contending team than mediocre talent that can't be developed into winners.

In summary, it takes all five of those characteristics to be a successful coach in the NBA. Even having four out of the five won't get you there.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, a Hall of Fame coach who won an NBA title with Portland in 1977, is an NBA analyst for ESPN.