5 NBA Teams That Should Strongly Consider a Coaching Change
Too bad they don't make swinging-ax-proof suits. Most NBA coaches would purchase them by the dozen.
Coaching is a fickle profession rife with turnover. Sideline meanderers lose their jobs frequently. Nine teams began 2014-15 with new head honchos.
It's a brutal business.
As we consider those who may fall victim to such brutality next, our goal is not to overreact or savagely speculate. We're not trying to trivialize these situations either. Shoot, we're not even calling for jobs. It's too early for that in most cases. Instead, we're taking a look at teams that should consider moving in another direction at some point.
Justification will vary. Perhaps a team is underperforming relative to expectations. Maybe there's an area of the game in which improvement has been needed but not achieved. The fit between coach and team just might not make sense anymore.
For whatever reason, there's cause for skepticism—doubt that the coach in charge now should remain in power moving forward.
Displays of Good Faith
1 of 6
Since we're not in the business of making super-snap judgments, there will be default exclusions—coaches who are safe from our swinging ax.
With the exception of one truly unique situation, those who only assumed control of their team this season will not be considered.
Yes, it's frustrating to see the Los Angeles Lakers flounder defensively under Byron Scott. Yes, Derek Fisher's New York Knicks are running a painfully outdated offense and incredibly ignorant defense that, by design, doesn't guard against three-pointers. And yes, the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers won't be hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy before Christmas is unforgivable, even for a rookie coach like David Blatt.
Yet we mustn't be too hasty.
Some of these hires may prove to be the wrong ones in due time. But we cannot start asking or demanding for mulligans this soon. For our purposes—again, with one anomaly—there needs to be some kind uninterrupted disappointment.
Minnesota Timberwolves
2 of 6
Welcome to Exception City. Population: One.
Flip Saunders' cameo here isn't an indictment on the coaching job he's done for the Minnesota Timberwolves this season. It can't be. They lost their best player in Kevin Love and a slew of others—Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic—to an injury-bug infestation.
This, more than anything, is borne out of Saunders wearing too many hats. He's head coach, president and part-owner of the Timberwolves. Though he's a symbol of better days—Minnesota made the playoffs eight times during his first 10-year stint at the helm—some semblance of separation between sideline management and front office management is important.
Not everyone can be Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. And heck, even he defers control to general manager R.C. Buford more than Saunders does Minnesota's Milt Newton. That's why the list of coaches with final say is so short. It only includes Popovich (to an extent), Doc Rivers with the Los Angeles Clippers and Stan Van Gundy with the Detroit Pistons, per ESPN.com's Marc Stein (h/t ESPN.com news services).
Let's not forget this wasn't the original plan either. Saunders stepped in at the last minute following a search for what Stein called a coach with "extensive" sideline experience. In the weeks following Rick Adelman's retirement, the Timberwolves were linked to a number of high-profile names including college sages Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan and Fred Hoiberg. They even interviewed Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger.
Snagging that splashy sideline presence may not be possible midseason, but swapping out Saunders with someone else is something the team—so, Saunders himself—should strongly consider moving forward. Let him focus on rebuilding the roster while someone else figures out how to navigate the talent he assembles.
Washington Wizards
3 of 6
Calling for Randy Wittman's job now feels both futile and cruel. Not only did he secure a contract extension over the offseason, but the Washington Wizards own the Eastern Conference's second-best record and have established themselves as a top-five defensive power.
Still, it's the manner in which Wittman secured his extension, along with the way in which the Wizards are winning, that acts as a red flag.
"By not only taking taking Washington to the playoffs—the franchise’s primary goal—but beating the Bulls in the first round, Wittman has probably ensured he’ll get a new deal," Dan Feldman wrote for ProBasketballTalk in May. "But whether or not he should is a different question."
Indeed, it was another question entirely. Last year's Wizards were the first of Wittman's teams to make the playoffs or finish above .500. That 15-win spike they generated between 2012-13 and 2013-14 also had more to do with internal development than Wittman's tactical ingenuity.
Washington doesn't grab 44 victories without John Wall making the superstar leap, or Bradley Beal's sophomore spectacular, or Marcin Gortat's arrival or Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster bombing atomically from long range.
As good as the Wizards have been defensively over the last two years, their offense has been disappointing. They ranked 16th in efficiency last season and are 20th for 2014-15. Injuries (Beal, Webster) and roster turnover (Ariza) are viable excuses, but the Wizards have too much firepower to be a middling or below-average points-totaling team.
Inevitably displacing Wittman for someone who can install a more potent offense without sacrificing too much on the defensive end is a move the Wizards must consider if they plan on becoming championship-chasing fixtures.
Denver Nuggets
4 of 6
Second-year head honchos are typically given the benefit of the doubt. Brian Shaw's tenure with the Denver Nuggets should, in theory, be no different. Injuries derailed his inaugural campaign, and he's now tasked with finding cohesive combinations for a team that's being betrayed by extensive depth.
But there's basically no offensive or defensive structure on the court. While the Nuggets are in the midst of a winning streak, they rank in the bottom half of offensive efficiency and bottom 10 of defensive efficiency. Their floor spacing is a mess, they're running too fast for their own good—fourth in possessions used per 48 minutes—and only one player (Ty Lawson) is averaging more than 14 points per game.
"This isn't just an issue of overlapping skill sets," ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz wrote. "There's no perceptible pecking order here, not one guy whose production and presence stands decidedly above the others. Unless there's a coyote in a spur-adorned jersey running around the building or Larry Brown has caught lightning in a bottle in suburban Detroit, this dynamic tends to create internal conflict, with each player feeling as if he's the guy."
Blame for Denver's swift devolution cannot be placed solely on Shaw. He's been thrust into a situation he really shouldn't be part of. Neither former general manager Masai Ujiri nor veteran head coach George Karl should have been allowed to leave.
Right now, though, the Nuggets are in need of a personnel overhaul from which Shaw shouldn't be entirely exempt. Karl was able to turn frenetic depth into a strength; the Nuggets never won fewer than 57 percent of their games between 2010 and 2013, when the roster was subject to Carmelo Anthony's departure and team-wide logjams.
Shaw has yet to capture that magic or even prove he's on the verge of reinventing it. If things don't change, the temperature of his seat should start rising exponentially.
Charlotte Hornets
5 of 6
There's too much Charlotte Bobcats in the Charlotte Hornets.
Last season brought about change. Then-rookie head coach Steve Clifford was at the center of that change. Charlotte ranked in the top six of defensive efficiency and earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2010. Things were looking even better for the team over the offseason, when it added Lance Stephenson to a core that already included Al Jefferson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kemba Walker.
And then 2014-15 actually started.
Saying Clifford's Hornets have struggled would be kind. Their offense remains broken—26th in efficiency—and their defense has been terrible (23rd), the latter of which is problematic for a team manned by the defensive-minded Clifford.
Worse still, the Hornets are dwelling in the Eastern Conference's basement. Tying for the third-worst record in a conference rife with incompetence is hardly a flattering follow-up to Clifford's first go-round.
Sure, the Hornets are a hotbed for underachieving right now. Stephenson continues to disrupt the offensive flow and miss shots, Walker has been more efficient than usual and injuries to Gary Neal and Kidd-Gilchrist have been untimely if not crippling. But the onus will invariably fall on Clifford if this group doesn't pull together and enter the playoff conversation.
"We’re fortunate to be in the East,” Clifford reminded us, knowing nine of the conference's 15 teams have sub-.500 records, per the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell.
Owner Michael Jordan has gone to great lengths while rebranding this team, social-media takeover and all. Something will have to give eventually. And if that something isn't Charlotte's standing, the lowly yet hope-conducive Eastern Conference may not be enough to protect Clifford's job.
Oklahoma City Thunder
6 of 6
Not having Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook to rely on has exposed Scott Brooks.
Relationships he may or may not have forged with his players notwithstanding, he's no clipboard wizard. The Oklahoma City Thunder offense hasn't changed much in Durant's and Westbrook's absences; it's still a haze of stagnancy mixed with individual exertion.
Oklahoma City ranks 20th in passes per game and 21st in assist rate, is overreliant on Reggie Jackson and lacks secondary playmakers and shot-creators. Jackson himself is putting up franchise point guard numbers, but that's having little impact. He's often left to force the action and is creating nearly 90 percent of his shots for himself.
Quite predictably, the Thunder offense is a disjointed mess that ranks 29th in efficiency. And while Durant and Westbrook are expected to return soon, according to ESPN.com news services, Brooks' simplistic system isn't going anywhere.
The Thunder have long suffered from an overdependence on their stars, and with plenty of ground to make up in the playoff race, they could use a more inventive play-caller on the sidelines to better utilize everyone, including those stars.
That Brooks has perhaps been good enough over the last seven years doesn't mean anything. Good enough isn't good enough anymore. Durant will enter free agency less than two years from now, and there's a stronger than strong chance this season won't end with the Thunder celebrating a championship.
Knowing they're not the type of team to spend frivolously on talent—see: James Harden, Jeff Green and Kevin Martin—the Thunder need to upgrade where they can afford to upgrade.
Hiring a more innovative coaching mind is a good—and probably the only—place to start.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com unless otherwise cited and are accurate as of games played on Nov. 24, 2014.
