10 Worst Head Coaches in the NBA Today

When it comes to basketball, the coach has very little power over the outcome of the game. He can draw up the fanciest of plays all night long, but unless the team can execute them, then it's all a waste.

That being said, a coach can be responsible for things like how long players are on the court, rotations and combinations, and finding plays that work with his players' strengths.

Gregg Popovich is a perfect example of this. He's found a way to rest his star players with the playoffs approaching. Last night, they played their game against the Lakers, but the players weren't executing quite as well as the Kobe-less Lakers and it resulted in a loss. Now, does this mean Popovich is a bad coach? Not at all.

On the other side, there's Mike Brown, who has learned under Pop. Brown has been criticized by the media and his own players for his inconsistent substitutions and game plan. But he's the coach of a team with elite athletes, so they manage to pull off wins in spite of the rotation.

It's also tough to rank bad head coaches in the NBA because at this point in the season, they've been fired (i.e. Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks). With all this in mind, there certainly are some coaches who stand apart from the rest, and not in a good way.

Avery Johnson

Avery Johnson is one of the most well-known and respected coaches in the NBA. While with the Mavericks, he led them into the post season every year, and to the Finals once, but never won it all. The year he left, the Mavericks won the championship. Johnson holds the NBA record of having the highest winning percentage. Fast forward to this season.

Johnson was named the head coach of the New Jersey Nets on June 15, 2010. Their record last year was less than stellar, but their roster was nothing to scoff at. The same can be said of this year. Elite point guard Deron Williams leads the team and has an athletic crew behind him. Johnson though has not yet been able to figure out how to make this team win.

They'll soon be entering their new stadium in Brooklyn. If Johnson cannot inspire this team to win, he'll never make it to the promised land (that, of course, being Brooklyn). There's no question he can coach, it's just a matter of matching his style to a team, which is not happening this season.

Keith Smart

As of Jan. 5 of this season, Keith Smart became the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Unlike many interim coaches in the NBA, this gave him plenty of time to coach the team into a winning record, but he hasn't been able to do that.

He's got experienced veterans and bright young rookies to work with, but Smart has still only won his way into a 13-28 record.

Last year, he coached the Golden State Warriors to 36-46, and began this season as an assistant coach. When head coach Paul Westphal was let go, Smart took the reins. The Kings are next to last in the Western Conference, which is way lower than they should be with this roster.

Paul Silas

All that you need to know to see that Paul Silas is an bad head coach is to look at the Bobcats' record of, wait for it, 7-49. The Bobcats don't have the most excellent team in the NBA, but they certainly don't have a seven-win team.

Looking at their stats, the Bobcats average about 88 points a game, which shows that they have a decent offense. What's not good is their defense, which allows about 101 points per game.

Offense is much harder to coach than defense. If a man isn't good at shooting, he's not good, but if he can't play defense, that can be remedied in practice. Clearly, Silas is doing something wrong if a team that can manage to score can't manage to win.

Monty Williams

Monty Williams is one of those guys who got dealt a bad hand, but he didn't even manage to make sour lemonade with it.

This is his first year as a head coach, but he's had many years of experience, winning a ring with the San Antonio Spurs and being an assistant on the Portland Trail Blazers for five seasons. Then he got to New Orleans.

The NBA okayed a trade that sent elite point guard Chris Paul away from the team, which was no doubt hard to deal with, but after coaching on the Trail Blazers, he should be used to major roster changes.

New Orleans is in last place in the Western Conference with a 16–42 record. Even with the loss of CP3, the Hornets should not be in last place.

You can probably chalk this one up to him being a new head coach, a shortened off-season, losing a key player and getting to know a new team, but that still doesn't make him a good coach, yet.

Mark Jackson

After a pretty awful season last year, the Golden State Warriors made some big changes. They fired their head coach and brought in The Logo, Jerry West, as a consultant. It wasn't long after that Mark Jackson, an ABC broadcaster, was brought in to coach.

It's Jackson's first head coaching job, but unfortunately in the NBA, there's no room for a learning curve. That's what being an assistant coach is for. He's led the Warriors to a 22-34 record, and they will not make the playoffs.

While he's lackluster this year, the Jackson hiring was extremely inspired and creative. At the time, it caught many people off-guard and they eagerly awaited to see the result...which was not so great.

However, out of all the bad coaches, Jackson has had one of the toughest teams to work with. The Warriors have five rookies on the roster and lost Monta Ellis in a trade, but that's still no reason to be off the mark by so much from a man who knows the game so well.

Dwane Casey

Dwane Casey, the 54-year-old Toronto Raptors coach, has not figured out how to harness his team's talent to make them better.

After coaching in the NBA for 16 years, you'd think he'd be excited to get a team with players like Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, and DeMar DeRozan, but his coaching says otherwise. Before their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Casey said,

"You've got to look at whole a body of work as far as [Ed Davis'] year is concerned. I look at the whole, big picture. He has a lot of work to do. He's not arrived yet."

The Raptors have been an inconsistent team, but that's where the coach comes in. Casey has an obligation to find where these athletic pieces fit and let them be their best. The Raptors are currently 20-39.

Byron Scott

Byron Scott has a losing record as a head coach, and that's not going to change this season. At the time of his hire, Scott was 371-418 (.470) in the regular season.

He helped strengthen the Hornets in the 2007-08 season and won the Coach of the Year. So it seemed like he'd help the Cleveland Cavaliers find their way back to the playoffs after the exit of LeBron James.

He has a very young malleable team to work with and should be able to instill in them what it takes to win. This team is not talent-less, they are just not being utilized to their full potential.

On average, the Cavaliers lose games by only six points, which is remarkable for such a young squad.

Scott can certainly improve, and he's got the coaching skills, but he needs to teach this team what it means to win, and obviously some defense.

Alvin Gentry

Alvin Gentry has been coaching in the NBA longer than I've been alive, which is why what he's done with the Phoenix Suns is unexplainable.

He's gotten accolades for his great coaching over the years, but after being named interim coach in 2009, the Suns have seemingly gotten worse, especially this year.

2009, the year that he took over, was the last year that the Suns made it to the playoffs. The last time the Suns didn't make the playoffs two years in a row was 1987-88.

They are only a few games behind, so there's a chance they could make it this year, but that chance is getting smaller by the day. Somehow, the longer Gentry is with this team, the less he learns how to win with them.

Vinny Del Negro

The Clippers are one of the most electrifying teams in the NBA between Blake Griffin's dunks and Chris Paul's clutch shots, but one thing seems to be holding them back: Vinny Del Negro.

There is a ton of raw talent on the Clippers, but Del Negro's offensive and defensive plays are basic at best. Chris Broussard of ESPN reported,

"

Beyond that, players have complained that Del Negro's offensive and defensive schemes are too basic and predictable and they say he plays favorites when handing out criticism, according to the sources. They say while he refuses to harshly criticize stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, he does not hold back in jumping on the team's lesser players.

"

The Clippers are going to make the playoffs, but going all the way is going to take creativity and leadership, both of which it seems Del Negro is lacking.

Stan Van Gundy

There is one thing that can kill a coach's job and a team's season, no matter who the coach is: when the franchise's star player openly calls for the firing of the coach. This is what Stan Van Gundy is going through.

He's coached All-Star teams, Finals teams and set Magic franchise winning records. All of this means nothing though if a coach has lost the locker room.

A team can still perform, as the Magic are, but it disrupts the chemistry in the locker room and severely hurts the chances of them keeping it together to make a championship run.

Van Gundy is a bad coach for the simple reason that he lost the loyalty of his players for reasons between them.