Today is December 15th and so far in the NBA season (47 days if my math is correct) there have been 6 of 30 NBA head coaches who have gotten the axe or 20% of all NBA teams.
To me, that seems excessive.
I have never been a big component of using the coach as the scapegoat as there are plenty of factors that are added up in a losing equation. If you look at most of these coaches who lost their job, they were in a no-win situation meaning their roster was less than par.
Let’s take a look at who has been fired:
Randy Wittman–Minnesota Timberwolves–He did not deserved to be fired as his roster sucks. I believe the firing was all about owner Glen Taylor putting the onus on GM Kevin McHale and saying “you created this team now you coach them to winners.” Nobody could make this team a playoff contender. McHale now has his chance and probably to save his own job within the organization.
Eddie Jordan–Washington Wizards–Maybe the 6-year $111 million contract to a player who is notoriously hurt year in and year out wasn’t a good idea. Jordan wasn’t the one who signed Arenas to that contract, but without him in years’ past he has gotten his team to overachieve. However, this year the over-achievement came to an end and isn’t that what we were expecting? Apparently, the chopping block is what you get for being good in the past, but it looks as though Jordan may be back to the sidelines sooner than later with the Sixers.
P.J. Carleismo–OKC Thunder–I actually agree with this firing. This team is awful but did not see any improvement under Carleismo. Part of the reason I agree is that I felt he was not the right man for the job in the first place. I believe PJ is a good coach in the right situation such as college but not at the professional level. His overbearing in your face style does not cut it in the NBA.
Sam Mitchell–Toronto Raptors–He did not deserve to be fired. Personally, I think the roster is not nearly as good as people think. Yes, they made the off-season acquisition of O’Neil but he is not the Jermaine O’Neil of old–he just looks old. The rest of the roster, besides Bosh and Calderon, is filled with mostly role players and there is no toughness to this team. The roster needs tweaking and improvement to be where Colangelo and Raptor fans want to be.
Maurice Cheeks–Philadelphia 76ers–Ok, here is one coach that actually did deserve to be let go. Bottom line, the Sixers made a huge acquisition in the off-season to sign Elton Brand and they were suppose to be one of the top four teams in the East and were not even close. When you have plenty of talent and underachieve than you should be let go. I do not believe Cheeks was using Brand correctly. If you noticed, he would put Brand on the left block as a post-up. If you think back to Brand’s career (Clippers under Dunleavy), he is highly more effective from the elbows. At the elbows, he is a threat to shoot, drive and spin (use that big body of his), or used on a pick and roll with Miller and we didn’t see that with Brand under Cheeks. One thing management needs to do is add a shooter and they can still make a run at the playoffs this year.
Reggie Theus–Sacramento–If it is the beginning of the year and you are Geoff Petrie, do you really think the Kings have a good enough roster to compete for the playoffs? You would have to say no, right? The roster is young and talented but needs plenty of time to mature–just ask the Blazers. The Kings won’t be looking at the playoffs until next year or the year after. Firing Theus today is a mistake. Let him take the losses now and when you go to make that push for the playoffs, fire him then and bring in somebody more experienced. It looked to me that Theus was good with the younger guys as you have seen them progress on a quick timetable.
On a lighter note, it looks as if Stan Van Gundy’s job is safe with the Magic . Well, I would hope so the Magic are 18-6 and 3rd in the East.
But, it goes to show you can never be too sure of job security.
Image Source: Newsday
Comments:
{ 1 trackback }
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Why is it easier for them to let go of a coach and not the players? Two answers.
One: Salary. It is much cheaper to mix up the flow of the team by letting go of someone who is getting paid $1m/year than someone who is getting paid $10m/year.
Two: Quantity. It is much easier to mix up the flow of the team by letting go of one person with a lot of power than several players that can equal that same power.
So, what needs to happen? Either players need to get paid less or coaches need to get paid more. The quantity number cannot change, unless coaches are somehow given less power, which would never happen.
Coaches salaries have been slowly increasing over the last several years, which is good. I think the players salary issue will come to head during this recession. The hope is that it all comes in line in the next several years.
Theus is a bum. His offense was AWFUL. About time the Kings kicked him out….