The Biggest Challenge Facing Each New NBA Coach
It's a good thing NBA coaches aren't all wired the same way since no two sideline gigs carry the same set of challenges, expectations and pressures.
The broad goals of building a team, developing chemistry and ultimately winning are universal across the sports world. But there are dramatically different systems to implement, messages to send and timelines to work under.
The five coaching posts that were filled this summer featured clubs scattered across the basketball spectrum. Some were ready-made contenders hoping to find the final piece of their championship puzzles. Others wanted to improve their playoff standings or even position themselves to join the race.
No matter where they fell, the teams all handed their new skippers a lengthy list of demands to move their franchises forward. We're here to identify the top item on each of those lists.
By breaking down these clubs' current situations, strengths and weaknesses, we have uncovered the biggest challenge facing each of the five new coaches for the 2015-16 NBA season.
Billy Donovan, Oklahoma City Thunder
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Biggest Challenge: Hitting the Ground Running
The next NBA game Billy Donovan coaches will be his first. But the Oklahoma City Thunder can't afford to have him act like it is.
The checklist for his first campaign is extensive, and the pressure attached to it is immense. This offense needs more creativity, the defense could use some tightening and this rotation must come together quickly. While this is a fairly young roster, time is not on its side.
The Thunder's championship window is open right now. Despite dealing with major injury issues last season, this group has still averaged 55 victories over the past three years. Given how fragile these opportunities to be elite are, that's reason enough for OKC to go all in on the 2015-16 season.
But the pressure grows exponentially when accounting for the uncertainty surrounding this roster's future.
Kevin Durant has a single year left on his current contract. Both Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka are slated to hit the open market in 2016. It's impossible to know what would make any or all of the three stay in the Boomer State, but a successful title run would make for quite the negotiating chip.
The pieces are in place to build a two-way power, but it's going to take some work. Better passing and player movement could help spark an offense that finished 11th in efficiency last season. But Donovan needs to implement those changes without limiting two of the league's best isolation scorers: Durant and Westbrook.
"The last thing I want to do is take away their identity and who they are and what's made them so special," Donovan told Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. “So the first thing is trying to help them and put them in a situation to be who they are."
Only, the two superstars need to be better than ever, as does this supporting cast.
Donovan inherited a roster that's loaded with talent, but the expectations for it are just as high. There is no margin for error during his first big league go-round.
Alvin Gentry, New Orleans Pelicans
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Biggest Challenge: Maximizing Anthony Davis' Impact
There are tougher problems facing New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry than continuing the rapid ascent of 22-year-old phenom Anthony Davis. Balancing the ball-dominant trio of Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon will be critical to this team's success, and Gentry must find a way to fit plodding center Omer Asik into his uptempo offense.
But those items are subplots in the next chapter of Gentry's career. One player lured the coaching veteran to the Big Easy, and that same soaring superstar holds all of the Pelicans' hopes—present and future—in his hands.
"We got the best player in the NBA, not named LeBron James," Gentry said of Davis, per John Reid of The New Orleans Times-Picayune. Gentry later called Davis "a building block for everyone" and said the club "will try to run our offense through him," per Reid.
It's terrifying to think Davis' best days are ahead of him, but it's a reasonable assumption to make.
Despite blitzing the league with 24.4 points (fourth overall), 10.2 rebounds (eighth), 2.9 blocks (first) and a 30.8 player efficiency rating (first) last season, the single-browed baller doesn't even have 200 career games under his belt yet. His offensive range could expand (corner threes might be coming soon), and his defensive instincts are still catching up to his freakish physical tools.
Gentry needs to ensure the Pelicans feel the full effect of a new-and-improved Davis. That means making him more of an offensive focal point (his 27.8 usage percentage was only 13th overall) and building something better than the 22nd-ranked defense around Davis and Asik.
Davis is the Pelicans' key to title contention. But Gentry must construct the ideal machine for Davis to drive.
Fred Hoiberg, Chicago Bulls
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Biggest Challenge: Building an Elite Offense
Injuries once again plagued the Chicago Bulls last season, but the campaign still produced a fair share of pleasant surprises.
Jimmy Butler transformed from a complementary piece into a full-fledged All-Star, simultaneously improving both his raw statistics and efficiency. Pau Gasol made the first All-Star start of his career, scoring (18.5 points per game) and rebounding (11.8) better than he had in years. Derrick Rose had another knee surgery, but he still made more appearances than he had the past three seasons combined.
It wasn't a perfect year by any stretch, but more things went right than wrong. And yet, this offensive attack still graded out as pedestrian: 10th in efficiency, 15th in scoring and 22nd in field-goal shooting.
It's Fred Hoiberg's job to improve those numbers. If this roster stays healthy, the defensive end should take care of itself. Point-production is the priority.
The Bulls need better spacing for dribble penetrations and low-post isolations. Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic must make greater impacts than they did as rookies. There has to be enough touches to keep everyone in this star-studded backcourt and overloaded frontcourt both satisfied and successful. With the athletes they have, the Bulls should pick up the pace.
Hoiberg ran an NBA-friendly, equal-opportunity system at Iowa State. If he carries that over to Chicago, this club could boast a prolific offense built around speed, movement and perimeter shots.
"Hoiberg's offensive track record with the Cyclones suggests an attack similar to this season's Warriors: fast-paced, efficient, with lots of 3s and assists and few free throws," wrote ESPN Insider's Kevin Pelton.
This roster isn't a perfect fit for that scheme, and it's possible this front office isn't finished shuffling pieces around. But regardless which players Hoiberg has at his disposal, he has to make them more consistent and efficient than they were under his predecessor, Tom Thibodeau.
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Mike Malone, Denver Nuggets
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Biggest Challenge: Building an Identity
The Denver Nuggets have a laundry list of needs, but direction is at the top of the list.
Their last two mediocre seasons (36-46 and 30-52) wouldn't be so unsettling if they felt like they were leading somewhere. But this is neither a young roster finding its way, nor a group hoarding assets in a full-scale rebuild.
Two years removed from a 57-win season, the Nuggets seem stuck. New head coach Mike Malone must plot a path that pulls them out of this rut.
"Our goal every day is to try and find a way to get better," Malone said, per Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. "Instilling our identity, what we want the Denver Nuggets to be—a team that defends, a team that gang rebounds and a team that runs. And on top of that, obviously valuing and sharing the basketball."
As solid as those principles sound, it could be a while before that vision comes to fruition.
The Nuggets didn't defend (26th in efficiency), rebound (tied for 16th in rebounding percentage) nor share the basketball (17th in assists percentage) much last season. When Malone was overseeing the Sacramento Kings at the start of the season, his group didn't run very often (16th in pace at the time of his dismissal).
Denver might have a blueprint in mind, but the pieces don't seem to fit.
The Nuggets look ripe for a rebuild. It's hard to imagine a long-term future that includes both Ty Lawson and rookie Emmanuel Mudiay (or Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried for that matter). It might be time for a complete youth movement.
Whether Denver keeps this core together or tears down what it has, it needs Malone to establish an identity the franchise can fully commit to.
Scott Skiles, Orlando Magic
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Biggest Challenge: Working Around Roster Flaws
The Orlando Magic have quietly gathered an impressive collection of young talent. If their prospects can further their collective development, the Magic might make their first playoff appearance of the post-Dwight Howard era.
That's the plan for new head coach Scott Skiles, anyway.
"We want to have a winning record," Skiles said, per Fox Sports Florida's Ken Hornack, "and I know that's a tremendous jump from where we are. But you've got to put that bar up there."
It's a more obtainable goal than last season's 25-57 record would suggest.
Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo are a relentless defensive pairing in the backcourt. Nikola Vucevic is one of the NBA's better offensive centers. Tobias Harris scores well from inside and out, and Aaron Gordon could do the same if his Summer League shooting carries over. Rookie Mario Hezonja arrives with supreme confidence and the game to back it up.
Skiles has plenty to work with, and he's had success helping young clubs find their footing before. But this puzzle presents some unique problems.
Oladipo isn't a consistent three-point threat (career 33.3 percent), and Payton rarely even takes aim from distance. With a pair of non-shooters in the backcourt, the Magic could lack the spacing needed to field a potent offense.
Based on their makeup—plus Skiles' style—they figure to do their best work at the opposite end. But how dominant can a defense be without a rim-protector manning the middle? The Magic yielded the third-highest conversion rate inside the restricted area last season (62.6 percent), and their other defensive marks will be hard to improve if that number doesn't significantly drop.
Orlando's upside is real, but so too are its two-way roadblocks on the path to the 2016 postseason.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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