Updated NBA Head Coach Hot-Seat Meter, Playoff Edition

Since the NBA doesn't have an equivalent to the NFL's "Black Monday," the axe could fall on a number of the league's underwhelming head coaches at any time. With a full two months between now and the draft, teams who are thinking about making a change on the bench can literally wait until late June before being forced to make a decision.

All 30 front offices have already started evaluating the results of the 2012-13 regular season, and a number of high-profile names have already been shown the door. Expect more to firings to come, especially because accomplished coaches such as Phil Jackson have already expressed a desire to return to the sidelines.

1. Larry Drew, Atlanta Hawks

Temperature: Hot

Larry Drew is currently in the last year of his deal, and if he fails to lead the Atlanta Hawks to the conference semifinals for the second season in a row, it's unlikely the team will offer him an extension this offseason.

Atlanta has been mediocre during Drew's three-year tenure, but it did make the second round of the playoffs in 2010-11. With a new general manager in charge (Danny Ferry) and an inevitable shakeup of the roster due to Josh Smith's impending departure, the smart money says that Drew will be looking for work sooner rather than later.

2. Lindsey Hunter, Phoenix Suns

Temperature: Hot

After going 12-29 in relief of Alvin Gentry this season, Lindsey Hunter's status for the 2013-14 campaign remains up in the air.

According to a league source, a number of Phoenix Suns players don't want him back, and a few on the roster believed that the team regressed under Hunter's watch. To his credit, the 42-year-old Hunter hasn't let the uncertainty bother him and is willing to let the chips fall where they may.

"I'll just do what I have to do now, and when those things happen I'll deal with it," said Hunter in an interview on the "Burns and Gambo" show on Arizona Sports 620. "You can't put yourself in a situation where you're thinking about something that you have no control over."

3. Jim Boylan, Milwaukee Bucks

Temperature: Hot

Expect Milwaukee to give Jim Boylan his walking papers as soon as the Miami Heat dispose of the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs this season.

Boylan went a disappointing 22-28 after Scott Skiles stepped down in early January, and he doesn't figure to be the team's choice going forward even though he led Milwaukee to the postseason for the first time in three years. For what it's worth, this is Boylan's second stint as an interim coach: As an assistant with the Chicago Bulls, he finished out the 2007-08 season in relief of...Scott Skiles.

4. Keith Smart, Sacramento Kings

Temperature: Warm

The new owners of the Sacramento Kings/Seattle Sonics will likely want to install their own coach after acquiring the team, so the odds of Keith Smart staying for a third season are relatively slim. It only makes sense for the new group to put its stamp on the franchise, especially one that hasn't make the playoffs since the 2005-06 season.

It's hard to argue against making a change: Smart's 48-93 record as the Kings' coach doesn't exactly engender much confidence in his future prospects. Sacramento shouldn't be that bad given the caliber of talent on the roster—perhaps a new bench boss will help to straighten things out.

5. Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors

Temperature: Cool

Toronto was actually a .500 team (18-18) following the Rudy Gay trade, and that success may have bought Dwane Casey one more year on the Raptors' bench.

Casey is entering the last year of his deal, however, so an extension at this point is unlikely. But the team did win at least 34 games for only the second time in the past four seasons, and between Gay, Jonas Valanciunas, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors have a solid core than could battle for an Eastern Conference playoff spot as early as next season.

6) Lionel Hollins, Memphis

Temperature: Warm

If Memphis loses their first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers, the final defeat may mark the end of Lionel Hollins' run with the Grizzlies.

Hollins guided Memphis to a franchise-record 56 wins this season, but he remains one of a handful of coaches around the NBA who doesn't have a contract in place for next year. Grizzlies' CEO Jason Levien (formerly of the Sacramento Kings and the Philadelphia 76ers) is the face of the ownership group that purchased the team last fall, and he has made it clear that no decision on Hollins will be made until after the postseason.

Hollins is the best head coach in Grizzlies' history, but two consecutive opening round playoff losses don't look good on any resume. Another defeat at the hands of the Clippers may be enough for the Memphis' front office to decide that it needs to go in a new direction—a direction that doesn't include Hollins.

7) Vinny Del Negro, Los Angeles Clippers

Temperature: Cool

Vinny Del Negro's employment status has been tenuous ever since he joined the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2010, so the fact that he's still looking for job security three years later isn't all that surprising.

Del Negro is first coach to lead the Clippers to a 50-plus win season, and that accomplishment earned him something of a vote of confidence from the Clippers' front office recently. That—combined with the very real possibility of two straight trips to the Western Conference semifinals—should be reason enough for the team to commit to Del Negro long term.

"Our head coach and his staff have done a terrific job here," said Clippers' VP of basketball operations Gerry Sacks in an interview with Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. "They deserve a huge amount of credit for the way the team has played and the way our roster has developed."