Power Ranking the NBA's Most Ineffective Head Coaches

Rob Carr/Getty Images

NBA head coaches may have one of the toughest jobs in sports.

They need to coach some of the world's most highly paid, well known and egotistical sportsmen to a championship-winning standard.

When their team wins a championship, the players take the majority of the credit. When their team loses or plays badly, the coach takes a lot of the blame for poor strategies and decision-making.

That said, there are some coaches who go far beyond just being "bad." Some coaches struggle to even have an impact on their team's performances and some, it could be argued, hold their teams back.

#5: Mike Woodson

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

When the New York Knicks fired Mike D'Antoni, few Knicks fans thought Mike Woodson was the answer at head coach.

And they're right.

His overall regular season record is just 206-286, well short of even a .500 career mark. He managed the Atlanta Hawks for a long period, slowly improving the team year after year. However, it did take Woodson four long seasons before the Hawks were even a plus-.500 team.

Woodson's shortcomings are on the defensive end. His offense in New York so far appears to be giving the ball to Carmelo Anthony and letting him do something with it. This has resulted in so many insipid offensive displays, as Anthony is either shut down or misses a shot.

With players like Amar'e Stoudamire on the floor watching, the Knicks all of a sudden become the NBA's most overpaid group of spectators.

4. Vinny Del Negro

Harry How/Getty Images

The Los Angeles Clippers signed Vinny Del Negro to another season, a season at the end of which both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul can leave the Clippers via free agency.

Smart move? Yeah, right.

Del Negro is a poor tactician and his offensive scheme consists of constant pick-and-roll plays; though they sometimes result in Griffin rolling to the rim, more often than not teams are able to defend what is the simplest of offensive strategies.

Del Negro's reputation in his previous job with the Chicago Bulls still lingers, as back then he used to have Luol Deng stand in the corners and shoot threes. Now, he's an NBA All-Star known for his slashing and cutting.

What this shows us is that Del Negro is keeping players on the Clippers from reaching their true potential.

3. Avery Johnson

Chris Chambers/Getty Images

Avery Johnson had a tough season with the New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets). The team suffered injury set-backs all season with big man Brook Lopez going down early and staying down.

Johnson has a history as a good coach, but this season's Nets team seemed lost for ideas. Only Deron Williams can come out of the season with a sense of self-respect.

Now, the team has just six players on the roster as Johnson faces another season of new faces and unanswerable questions surrounding the future of players on his team, like Lopez and Williams.

2. Randy Wittman

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Randy Wittman's Washington Wizards finished with the NBA's second-worst record this season.

It's not just the record that's bad. The Wizards have had a poor locker-room atmosphere for many seasons, and change has been shown in only minute amounts.

Sensational point guard John Wall has been stuck with this team since he was drafted and is at risk of picking up a bad work ethic from his time surrounded by a group of players with nowhere else left to go and not enough motivation to play well.

1. Paul Silas

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Although Paul Silas was replaced four days ago, I feel his Charlotte Bobcats' incredibly bad season makes him more than deserving of the No. 1 spot on this list.

Silas not only failed to motivate his team to win some games, he simply let them drift their way to the NBA's all-time worst record of 7-59.

Silas cut a forlorn and frustrated figure early in the season, and by the closing stages during the Bobcats' 23-game losing streak he appeared resigned to the fate that awaited Charlotte as the league's worst-ever team.

As a final kick in the teeth, the Bobcats then lost out on the No. 1 draft pick in the NBA lottery, losing the chance to select Kentucky star Anthony Davis, a sure-fire franchise player.