NBA Teams That Should Consider a Coaching Change by Season's End
The NBA's coaching carousel has turned into a carnival of carnage over the last four years. Only five current head coaches (Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Rick Carlisle, Dwane Casey and Terry Stotts) were hired prior to the 2013 offseason.
Since then, the 25 remaining jobs have turned over at least once—and, in the case of a third of the league (i.e. the Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings) more often than that, not counting interim stints.
The silver lining to all those firings and hirings? It's harder than ever to find a team where the current coach is a poor fit, bad at his job or both. And most of those in charge of the league's worst squads are led by head men in their first or second seasons.
That doesn't mean, though, that the carousel won't spin this coming offseason. Most teams aren't as committed to process over results as, say, the Philadelphia 76ers. Failure usually isn't an option.
For these five teams, the end of the 2016-17 season could bring with it plenty of cause for pause in consideration of their coaching situations.
Charlotte Hornets
1 of 5
During his four years as head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, Steve Clifford has established a clear style and identity for Michael Jordan's once-wayward squad.
Under Clifford, the Hornets typically play stout, conservative defense (No. 8 in efficiency this season), clean the glass (No. 2 in defensive rebound percentage) and value the ball (No. 1 in turnover percentage). Offensively, you can practically set your watch to Charlotte's pick-and-rolls (No. 3 in frequency), now equipped with something resembling a spread floor (No. 8 in three-point attempt frequency and percentage of points from beyond the arc).
But that style, while steady, can grow stale, especially in crunch time. According to NBA.com, only the Los Angeles Lakers' defense has been more porous in the clutch than Charlotte's. For a coach who hangs his hat on his team's defense, Clifford could have a tough time retaining his job if his Hornets can't stop anybody when it counts the most and can't sneak into the playoffs as a result.
“The way the new NBA is, it’s hurt us this year," Clifford said of his defense following a 108-101 loss to the Miami Heat, per the Charlotte Observer's David Scott. "Everybody has got to try and guard all the time. You don’t have to be great at it, but you’ve got to be organized and you have to try.”
Execution and effort were never questions for Clifford's Hornets. Midseason injuries and the middling addition of talent around the likes of Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams haven't helped.
Clifford, though, has long been lauded for making the most of an uninspiring hand. That hasn't quite been the case in the Queen City, though His Airness could be hard-pressed to justify not only firing a quality coach, but eating the two years left on Clifford's extension while searching for someone else to pay.
New Orleans Pelicans
2 of 5
The New Orleans Pelicans hired Alvin Gentry away from the Golden State Warriors in 2015 to work his offensive wizardry around Anthony Davis. So far, he's been more Music Man than magician on that end.
Gentry has juiced the tempo in the Crescent City since replacing Monty Williams, but his team's offensive efficiency has slid straight into the gulf:
| Season | Coach | Off Eff | Rank | Pace | Rank |
| 2014-15 | Williams | 105.4 | 9th | 93.70 | 27th |
| 2015-16 | Gentry | 103.2 | 16th | 98.91 | 11th |
| 2016-17 | Gentry | 101.8 | 28th | 99.91 | 9th |
Some of those issues were and are beyond Gentry's control. Last season, the Pelicans struggled to take flight amid persistent injuries to their core group of Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson. Coming into this campaign, Holiday and Evans were both on the shelf, while Gordon and Anderson—New Orleans' best shooters—had taken their talents to Houston.
The pre-deadline deal for DeMarcus Cousins didn't make things any easier for Gentry. The Pelicans would need even more shooting to maximize their frontcourt tandem. But with Evans, Langston Galloway and Buddy Hield headed back to the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans would be bone-dry of reliable marksmen.
Still, as one Western Conference executive told Bleacher Report, "Alvin’s such a good offensive mind that he’ll figure something out that works."
If the early returns are any indication, Gentry's search is far from over. Since the All-Star break, the Pelicans have been the NBA's worst offensive outfit by an uncomfortable margin. That's with Cousins' scoring stats (20.8 points on 42 percent shooting, 4.3 turnovers) plummeting since he left California's capital.
On Saturday, Cousins spent the overtime period of New Orleans' 125-122 win in Charlotte on the bench. Gentry's decision worked out well in the moment for the Pelicans, who earned just their third win of the Boogie-Brow era, and for Davis, who finished with 46 points and 21 rebounds on his 24th birthday.
But if Gentry can't find a way to win with the NBA's best scoring bigs both getting serious run, he won't likely get much leeway from the front office that put that pair together.
Chicago Bulls
3 of 5
In a vacuum, Fred Hoiberg looks like the best bet of any NBA coach to get the ax.
His team is teetering on a second straight trip to the lottery, after stringing together seven straight playoff berths and 10 in 11 years. His star player doesn't take him seriously—nor does seemingly anyone else in the locker room, for that matter. The youngsters on his roster have stagnated under his stewardship. The whole team seems to quit in second halves, suggesting less-than-stirring speeches from the coach during breaks.
But Hoiberg works for the Chicago Bulls, and things in the Windy City are always more complicated than they would (or should) be elsewhere.
The first factor, as always, is money. Hoiberg has three years at about $5 million apiece after this one.
Then, there are the optics of the situation. Remember, the Bulls hired Hoiberg two years ago without conducting an honest-to-goodness coaching search after firing Tom Thibodeau. Since then, the front office has all but dismantled the roster that had so much success under Thibs and replaced it with an incoherent collection of big-name veterans (Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo) and underperforming prospects (Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis, Jerian Grant, Denzel Valentine, etc.).
Finally, and most importantly, there's the strong bond between Hoiberg and his boss, Bulls general manager Gar Forman. As an assistant, the latter coached the former at Iowa State.
Chances are, then, it won't be Forman who pulls the trigger on Hoiberg should the situation come to that. Instead, Chicago would have to clean house, from management on down.
That might not be the worst idea, the Chicago Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom argued while bemoaning the Bulls' Jekyll and Hyde act: "You can watch just the first halves if you believe the hogwash that they can get younger and still contend, or you can watch just the second half if you want GarPax fired."
But if GarPax (i.e. Forman and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson) stick around, don't be surprised if Jimmy Butler, long on the trading block, gets the boot before Hoiberg does.
New York Knicks
4 of 5
Jeff Hornacek probably is no more of a "Triangle guy" today than he was when the New York Knicks hired him last June.
"Guys don't like to run it," Hornacek acknowledged back in October, per the New York Daily News' Frank Isola.
Yet, after something of a hiatus, Phil Jackson's pet offense has come roaring back. And it's not Hornacek who's been teaching it.
According to the Daily News' Stefan Bondy, Kurt Rambis, long a coaching confidant of the Zen Master, was "getting more involved" in practice after the All-Star break. Per ESPN.com's Ian Begley, Jackson came down from the front office to give his two cents (and then some) in early March.
“It was just something he wanted to make sure they saw for moving forward," Hornacek said, per Begley. "... Phil always says, there’s nothing really you do wrong as long as you stay in that basic [triangle] concept of three guys on one side, and two on the other."
Hornacek still has two years at an average of $5 million left on his deal. But can money—even big numbers like those—keep a coach happy when he has so little control over how his team plays? And will the Knicks be content to stick with Hornacek when his team is slated for another early start to the offseason?
The pitfalls of the situation at Madison Square Garden are hardly all (or even mostly) Hornacek's fault. But team owner James Dolan isn't about to sell, Jackson seems keen to ride out the rest of his contract, and Carmelo Anthony isn't inclined to waive his no-trade clause.
All of which leaves Hornacek on an island before he's finished even one season as the Knicks' head coach.
Portland Trail Blazers
5 of 5
The Portland Trail Blazers have struggled to build on the surprising success of their 44-win, second-round campaign under Terry Stotts in 2015-16. That stagnation, which has the Blazers scrapping for the West's No. 8 seed, can be traced largely to a defense that, despite sticking to last season's conservative principles and losing just one player of significance (Gerald Henderson), has slipped from 20th in efficiency to 26th.
But worry not, Blazers fans: According to sources, Stotts' job is safe, as well it should be. Aside from guiding Portland to three straight playoff appearances, Stotts signed a contract extension last year that has yet to kick in.
By the time it does, Stotts could be coming off a fourth consecutive postseason in Rip City. With Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum firing on all cylinders, the Blazers have the goods to catch the Denver Nuggets in the race for eighth place.
General manager Neil Olshey's deadline deal for Jusuf Nurkic has only strengthened Stotts' hand. As ESPN.com's Zach Lowe noted, the beastly Bosnian has been a boon to the Blazers' front court:
"Nurkic has kept Portland on Denver's tail in the race for No. 8 spot. He gives the Blazers a post-up dimension they haven't had since LaMarcus Aldridge bolted, and he has his head on a swivel patrolling the paint. Opponents have shot just 47 percent around the basket with Nurkic lurking since the trade, a solid number -- and a massive improvement over what the Bosnian Beast managed in Denver.
"
There's no easy rest for coaches in the NBA, but for Stotts, having a young, hungry talent like Nurkic up front should help to calm any nerves that may have been frayed by a trying campaign in the Pacific Northwest. Still, as is the case when an up-and-coming team hits a snag during its ascent, the entire Blazers organization figures to be under review in some capacity this coming summer.
All stats and salary information via NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and listen to his Hollywood Hoops podcast with B/R Lakers lead writer Eric Pincus.
