| It’s Time To Slow Down The Coaching Carousel Authored by Patrick J. Austin - December 21, 2008 - 12:21 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
A Melo Behind The SuperstarsCarmelo Anthony has never been one of the league's most efficient offensive players.
 |
Maynor Using Utah’s Resources
Eric Maynor is an increasingly rare four-year, small college rookie. He sat down with RealGM to discuss how his first few weeks of NBA life has gone and what he has learned from Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan.
|
 |
Why LeBron To The Clippers Makes Sense
LeBron James already plays for a perennial underdog in Cleveland, but moving to the Clippers would allow him to do so in a huge market and with a core that will immediately compete for championships while also having an encouraging long term outlook.
|
 |
‘Home-Heavy Schedule’ Brings Question Marks
The Heat have been plagued by inconsistencies, making it difficult to determine how good they really are this season.
|
|
More from RealGM's Columnists
|
| |
The carousel went into high gear in the NBA recently with a wave of coaches getting the axe, some only a few games into their absurdly-brief tenure. P.J. Carlesimo, Randy Wittman, Maurice Cheeks, Eddie Jordan, Reggie Theus and Sam Mitchell are the current batch of coaches let go with Theus enjoying the dubious honor of shortest stint – 24 games with the Sacramento Kings.
That’s six coaches before Christmas; a new record.
Firing coaches during a rebuilding /re-tooling phase is especially puzzling. Theus certainly fell under this category, as did Carlesimo and Wittman. No one should have expected these coaches to lead their respective teams to the playoffs this season. The Kings are looking for a new identity after dealing away Artest, the Sonics are basically an expansion team, and the Timberwolves are rebuilding an entirely new foundation for the future. All of them deserved more time.
The New York Times reported the average lifespan of an NBA coach is roughly two and a half seasons. That’s only 205 games, not counting the playoffs (though, if you reinforce the average, there’s a good chance you’re not participating in any playoff games).
Clearly, such a truncated life span as a head coach creates an atmosphere of anxiety and pressure. The need to succeed is now replaced by the need to succeed quickly. There’s no honeymoon or transition period.
Is this fair? Shouldn’t coaches be given at least one full season to ingratiate themselves with the players and fully implement their system?
Patience is still a noble virtue. Look at Mike Woodson, head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He’s been with the team for four tumultuous seasons. In those four seasons, the Hawks have not finished above .500. However, they increased their win total steadily each year.
By sheer luck, and the overall poor performance of most Eastern Conference teams, they squeaked into the no.8 seed of the playoffs last season with a record of 37-45.
Then, it clicked. Woodson guided the Hawks through a seven-game battle royal against the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics. It can be argued no other team challenged the champs like the Hawks in the playoffs.
This season, the Hawks are above .500, second in their division and well on their way to making the playoffs (possibly as a top-four team), barring any major injuries. Woodson’s role in this resurrection is not miniscule. He developed as a coach at the same pace the young players developed into a winning team.
Patience paid off.
However, this case study is not the norm. Many extenuating factors played a role in Woodson staying on as coach including current ownership entangled in a legal battle with a former co-owner, the lackadaisical attitude of many Atlanta residents towards the team preventing any major uproar over continual poor performance and the challenge to lure any “big name” coach to take over a struggling team.
In most cases, management is ready and willing to throw coaches under the buss and start a new in the hopes a change at the helm will spawn a new attitude amongst player personnel. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. For example, the Mavericks fired Don Nelson and hired Avery Johnson. This move proved extremely beneficial with the Mavericks making it all the way to the NBA finals in 2006 under Johnson.
In other cases, it can be disastrous. Back in 2005, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired long-time coach Flip Saunders. This move was executed in the hopes of shaking up a stagnant team that consistently floundered in mediocrity. Firing Flip backfired big time. It upset then-franchise player Kevin Garnett and culminated in KG getting traded and the team going into full-blown rebuilding mode.
Ironically, Flip became the Detroit Pistons head coach, amassed a 176-70 record and three consecutive appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals, but was fired because the team needed a “shake up.”
NBA executives need to take their fingers off the “red button” and thoroughly analyze the ramifications of a coaching change. They should take a look at the timeframe of college football head coaches – four years, on average.
This gives the coach enough time to “get their guys” and effectively implement their system. It’s not foolhardy to say Randy Wittman could have helped improve the Timberwolves if he was given four full seasons.
Another important question is what happens to those three or four-year contracts signed by these coaches? Maybe that’s why some owners are so hesitant to spend money on free agents; they’re cash strapped after paying off multiple head coaches.
The aforementioned six coaches fired this season may just be the appetizer. Would anyone honestly be shocked if Mike Dunleavy and Marc Iavaroni were fired before the seasons out?
So goes the coaching carousel. Round and round, where it stops nobody knows.
To contact Patrick, e-mail him at pja123@hotmail.com |
