7 NBA Coaches with Jobs at Stake in 2nd Half of 2014-15 Season
Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
It's not me, you say? It's really the second half of the 2014-15 NBA season yielding its customary list of coaches whose jobs may be at stake?
OK, then.
Determining who these coaches are isn't hard. It involves speculating, but it isn't hard.
Rumors sometimes fuel our conjecture, as will be the case here. Mostly, though, we're trying to identify coaches who are guiding underachieving teams. These head honchos have either been unable to meet expectations (winning, not stinking, contending for a title, etc.) or are purely victims of circumstance (forced change, bad rosters, etc.).
Truthfully, none of these coaches may lose his job. But the NBA is a "What have you done for me lately?" league. Think of this list, then, as one that emphasizes prominent sideline-stalkers who must do more to close out the season.
If they don't, those seats they sometimes use as butt-buffers will start feeling more like searing scaffolds.
Tyrone Corbin, Sacramento Kings
1 of 7
Tyrone Corbin is most certainly coaching for his job—perhaps his next job.
The Sacramento Kings are keeping him on for the remainder of this season after canning Mike Malone in December. Beyond that, nothing is guaranteed.
Malone was shown the door because of philosophical differences with the front office, according to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. Ownership and management wanted to adopt a faster style of play, and Malone wasn't having it.
To his credit, Corbin has the Kings off to the races; they rank fifth in possessions per 48 minutes since he took over. The results just aren't good (or even close to good):
| With Malone | 11-13 | 103.6 | 16 | 104.2 | 19 | -0.6 | 16 |
| With Corbin | 5-15 | 102.3 | 18 | 108.3 | 28 | -5.9 | 24 |
Hiring another coach could be an inviolable part of Sacramento's plan. The Kings may view Corbin as nothing more than a half-season placeholder no matter what he accomplishes.
Still, if he hopes to turn their decision into something more than a foreordained formality, he'll need to guide the Kings somewhere special—like out of the Western Conference's basement.
Jacque Vaughn, Orlando Magic
2 of 7
Jacque Vaughn has some 'splainin to do.
According to Brian K. Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, the Orlando Magic are "not happy at all" with Vaughn's performance. "We won't settle for this," is what a source told him. Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is also hearing that it's not a matter of "if" but "when" Vaughn will be fired.
Welp.
It's difficult to fault the Magic in this instance. Vaughn has his team on pace to post the highest winning percentage of his Orlando tenure. Problem is, the Magic are on pace to win no more than 26 games. They rank 23rd in offensive efficiency and 27th in defensive efficiency, and they've lost 13 of their last 15 games, including the last seven.
Although the Magic haven't given Vaughn tons of established talent to work with, this roster has underachieved. The Boston Celtics have stripped their own docket of any and all immediate impact players, yet they're only two games back of a playoff spot.
Housing productive prospects such as Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier, Tobias Harris and All-Star snub Nikola Vucevic, the Magic should at least be in similar territory. Instead, they're 5.5 games off a playoff spot, enduring a weeks-long regression on both ends of the floor.
Someone will be held responsible for this downswing if the Magic don't turn it around. That someone could, and probably will, be Vaughn.
Monty Williams, New Orleans Pelicans
3 of 7
In no uncertain terms is Monty Williams the only one at fault for the New Orleans Pelicans' perpetual flatness. But you can only fail to reach the postseason so many times while building around an all-time talent like Anthony Davis.
Indeed, the Western Conference is brutal. The Pelicans have also done a poor job of assembling supplementary talent. Eric Gordon's contract is the worst, the Tyreke Evans acquisition remains puzzling, draft opportunities have been squandered (Austin Rivers, anyone?) and relinquishing a first-rounder for an expiring contract like Omer Asik wasn't the smartest of gambits.
But the Pelicans remain inexplicably unremarkable. After flirting with offensive dominance, they've since dropped out of the top 10 in points scored per 100 positions. Their defense is awful and, most of all, Williams' late-game play-calling induces violent vomiting.
Too many crunch-time possessions have been eaten up by Evans isolations despite the fact Williams has the galaxy-gobbling Davis at his disposal.
Davis is shooting 61.5 percent during the final three minutes of games in which the Pelicans are ahead or behind by no more than three points—the sixth-best mark in the league among players who have attempted at least 10 shots in such situations. He both needs and deserves the ball.
John Reid of The Times-Picayune further expanded upon some of Williams' sideline shortcomings:
"You are right, there is no excuse to have quarters where they are scoring under 20 points with the firepower they have. But this game is about matchups and opponents work daily to find flaws. In this league, no team can win consistently by not making adjustments. Monty Williams has to find ways to keep defenses off guard with different schemes. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to use unconventional lineups like having Omer Asik, Anthony Davis and Alexis Ajinca or Jeff Withey on the floor at the same time. There always a need to try new things.
"
Uninventive is the theme in New Orleans. The roster—specifically its shallow bench and expensive Davis complements—is on management. The Pelicans' sheer lack of creativity with Davis, and subsequent stay in the middle, will fall on Williams if things don't change.
Brian Shaw, Denver Nuggets
4 of 7
Brian Shaw inherited a 57-win team. Not two years later, the Denver Nuggets are on course to win fewer than 37 games for the second consecutive season. That could be enough to earn him the ax.
These last two seasons have admittedly been less than ideal. Injuries overran the roster last season, and the Nuggets don't exactly have a clean bill of health now.
Yet this Nuggets team is still on the fast track to nowhere. It plays with top-five pace, but its speed has backed a pedestrian offense and dreadful defense. Shaw himself seems to have struggled connecting with his players. Not only is there the Andre Miller beef from 2013-14, but he's made a habit of drilling into his team this season.
"I didn't feel like we came and competed from the very beginning of the game," he said after Denver's 30-point loss to Memphis Thursday, per The Associated Press' Brian Mahoney. "In these kinds of situations, I'd have more respect if guys just told me that they didn't feel like playing from the start."
Gutless performances reflect horribly on the players, but they're hardly ringing endorsements of those charged with infusing purpose and enthusiasm.
Firing Shaw would indeed be a tough move for the Nuggets to stomach. Their decision to part ways with George Karl looked bad to begin with. It would look even worse if Shaw lasts only two seasons.
Hubris cannot run the Nuggets, though. If Shaw isn't the right fit, the team must move on. If this decline is truly on the players, it's time to hold a fire sale.
Whatever the issue, the Nuggets need to solve it—something they can only do once they understand what the primary issue is. And so, that's what the rest of this season will be about: figuring whether what's transpired is on Shaw or beyond his control.
Lionel Hollins, Brooklyn Nets
5 of 7
Well, this certainly didn't take long.
Not even 50 games into his first season along the sidelines, Brooklyn Nets head coach Lionel Hollins is on the hot seat, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk. Said notion is both shocking and predictable at the same time.
Hollins is owed more than $20 million over the life of his contract, so he has that going for him. But the Nets' season has been an unmitigated disaster. They rank 25th in offensive efficiency, are middle of the road in defense and, for the moment, have fallen out of the Eastern Conference's playoff picture.
Injuries to Deron Williams and Mirza Teletovic haven't helped. The fire sale that Stein and Youngmisuk say Brooklyn is still trying to hold doesn't do Hollins any favors, either. The Nets are an expensive mess rife with overlapping, overpaid and undertalented players. That's not on Hollins.
At the same time, Hollins has been quick to criticize his team's hardwood soul and hasn't shied away from benching stars such as Brook Lopez and Williams. Bloomberg's Scott Soshnick also brings word that owner Mikhail Prokhorov remains open to selling the team. Incoming ownership may demand a fresh slate be created first. That means new players, new contracts and actual draft picks.
Oh, and it could mean a new coach as well.
That is, unless Hollins proves too expensive to dispatch or, more preferably, keeps the Nets' sinking ship afloat.
Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls
6 of 7
Tom Thibodeau's seat isn't a stranger to seemingly uninhabitable temperatures. There are times when his chair is portrayed as the Venus of coaching cushions—like now.
Sources told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune they believe Thibodeau's relationship with Chicago Bulls brass has reached defcon toxic and that a "mutual parting of the ways" could prove inevitable after this season. Damage control followed shortly thereafter.
“While as an organization we try to avoid responding to rumors, there is absolutely no basis to this recent speculation,” general manager Gar Forman told Johnson. “We are very proud of what the team and our players have accomplished to this point."
Public support from the front office is always a good thing. But that doesn't mean Thibodeau is off the hook. His Bulls are underachieving. Their offense ranks ninth in efficiency and is worlds better compared with the last two campaigns, but the defense has regressed, and Thibodeau continues to show no regard for judicious minutes management.
Losing to the depleted Los Angeles Lakers on national television, as Chicago did Thursday, is hardly Bulls-ish, either. Thibodeau's teams have always been lauded for their discipline and this year's squad, judging by its tepid record, lacks that same grit; fourth place within an enfeebled East isn't good enough.
Bleacher Report's Sean Highkin sums the situation up thusly:
"Unless the season ends with at least a trip to the Finals, a clean break could be what both sides want.
The Bulls and Thibodeau both know where they disagree. They know where the other side stands, and they know what's at stake. It's up to them to either put aside their differences and commit to each other for the long haul or go their separate ways. Things can turn, but right now all signs point to the end of the Thibodeau era coming sooner than later.
"
Forman's impromptu, sort-of-pro-Thibodeau soliloquy should keep the rumors at bay for now. But nothing puts the kibosh on this type of speculation like winning.
So, that's what Thibodeau's Bulls must do: win more than they have been, playing not like they are now but like the championship contenders they're supposed to be.
Scott Brooks, Oklahoma City Thunder
7 of 7
Heads will roll if the Oklahoma City Thunder miss the playoffs this season. Fair or not, injuries to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook won't suffice as excuses. Change will be mandatory.
Capped out and incapable of making a major, fortunes-improving free-agency splash, the Thunder may turn Scott Brooks into their scapegoat.
A person familiar with the team told Bleacher Report's Jared Zwerling management and players are behind Brooks and he's essentially safe. This is probably true. But tides can turn.
The Thunder are 3.5 games back of the West's final playoff spot. With Durant proving fragile and only 37 games remaining, there's a distinct possibility they wind up in the lottery. And even if they don't, a first-round matchup with the league-lording Golden State Warriors awaits—this is to say, a likely first-round exit awaits.
Faced with the prospect of Durant entering free agency in one year, the Thunder wouldn't be able to stand pat in that situation.
Though the reigning MVP may support Brooks, the coach's playbook is notoriously thin. Oklahoma City's offense is too reliant on Westbrook and Durant creating their own shots, and the team hasn't sniffed a championship under his control—not even when they made the Finals in 2012, not even in the Conference Finals last season.
"I don't think pressure is the right word," Brooks told Zwerling of making the playoffs, "but definitely a sense of urgency. ...There's no question our goal is to win a championship. I know that we have the ability and we have the team to get there."
Channeling that ability, whatever it entails, is imperative at this point. The Thunder cannot miss the playoffs, and they cannot fold if and when they get there. Another underwhelming end to a season supposedly brimming with possibility, injuries and all, only promises Brooks of one thing: an exponentially hotter seat.
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com and are accurate as of games played Jan. 28, 2015, unless otherwise cited.
