2010-11 NBA Season: 5 Coaches Currently on the Hot Seat
About 3 weeks into the new NBA season, we've had some teams that surprised and disappointed from the beginning. The coaches on the disappointing teams are failing to meet expectations or are doing bad yet again as previous seasons.
Here are five coaches, in my opinion (no order), that are currently on the hot seat and going to see pink. Feel free to comment on which coaches you think should be on the hot seat.
Vinny Del Negro
1 of 6
Last year, Vinny Del Negro led the Bulls to a "late-season surge" past the Toronto Raptors into the playoffs with a 41-41 record and faced off against the Cavs, where the Bulls lost to LeBron and Co. (back when he was still "loved" by Cleveland fans).
During the offseason, he got fired and replaced by Tom Thibodeau in Chicago and made his way to Los Angeles. Before the season started, the Clippers had high expectations of being a playoff-caliber team with the return of Blake Griffin, a new coach in Del Negro and a healthy Clipper squad.
Nine games into their season, and the Clippers have disappointed yet again with a 1-8 record, the worst in the NBA. The Clippers had double-digit leads in their games, only for the opposing team to rally and defeat them. Look for the Clippers to dump Baron Davis and/or fire Del Negro soon.
Rick Adelman
2 of 6
Houston, we have a problem.
The situation in Houston is almost the exact same thing as the one in Clipper Nation. With the return of Yao Ming, the Rockets came into the season with expectations of being a championship-caliber team, a formidable starting five with Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks, Luis Scola and Yao.
Their first game, against the Lakers, was a good sign to start the season (even though they lost by two), because the Rockets actually were on the verge of ruining the Lakers' ring night until Steve Blake hit the game-winning three.
After that game, however, the Rockets went 1-5;however, those losses were against playoff-caliber teams. Still, if the Rockets don't start lifting off, Rick Adelman will see pink some time soon.
Kurt Rambis
3 of 6
Oh, how I feel sorry for the city of Minnesota.
After David Kahn took over, this team has gotten even worse with no future at all, trading away Al Jefferson and passing up excellent young players (Stephen Curry, Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Brandon Roy, etc) in the past drafts.
When Rambis took over before the start of the 2009-10 NBA season, there was a bleak light of hope, as Rambis had come from L.A. with the lessons of the Zen Master still fresh in his mind, and hoped to improve the young T-Wolf squad.
It hasn't been so easy.
He went 15-67 in his first year with the Timberwolves, and 2-7 this season. The Timberwolves have lost by an average of over 20 points per game (32 by the Heat and 42 from the Magic), with the exception of a hard-fought game against the Lakers. However, if this keeps up, Kurt Rambis will soon be begging to return to L.A.
Erik Spoelstra
4 of 6
Here's my reasoning for this gutsy decision. The Miami Heat (with the "almighty" Big Three) came into the season with many people expecting them to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins and possibly to dethrone and stop the Lakers' chance of another championship and a threepeat.
However, things haven't gone the way Spoelstra wanted. The Heat are currently 5-3, with their losses against the Jazz, Hornets, and Celtics. The reason why they lost? Interior toughness and elite point guards.
Chris Bosh has been the odd man out in Miami with LeBron and Wade, averaging only 15 and 6, down from his 24 and 11 season last year. Bosh hasn't able to contain the big guys and with Anthony, is undersized to take them on.
As for the point guard situation, Arroyo and Chalmers are good point guards, but not on the level as Rondo, Paul, and D-Will. Against the Jazz, the Heat blew a 22-point lead with Millsap's tip at the end of regulation and later lost by two in overtime. They just couldn't stop Millsap in the paint and D-Will.
I have a weird feeling that Pat Riley will soon take over the helm and do the dirty work himself, just as he did with Stan van Gundy during the Heat's 2006 run.
Jay Triano
5 of 6
Jay Triano has the duty of leading the Raptors with no All-Star (possibly the exception of Bargnani) and so far, it looks like he just can't handle the pressure. The Raptors are 1-7, and..this is all I could write for the Raptors. Jay will probably see the pink this month or sometime soon.
Honorable Mentions
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Larry Brown- Charlotte Bobcats
John Kuester- Detroit Pistons
Doug Collins- Philadelphia 76ers
