Which coach will be next to fall?
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Send an Email to Chad Ford Tuesday, November 25
Updated: November 25
9:41 AM ET
The NBA may be reaching another watershed moment in its history. Players have turned to the dark side. They have taken the game hostage. Only a small handful of rebel coaches are offering any sort of resistance.
As players bolt to the NBA younger and younger, the quality of basketball being played has suffered. The only place you find good fundamentals these days is on the side of a milk carton. Any attempts by coaches to teach or discipline are usually met with a pink slip.
An unprecedented 11 teams opened the 2003-04 season with a new head coach.
The inmates are running the asylum, and the fans are chafing at the inferior product they're seeing on the floor.
Three weeks into the regular season two more head coaches -- Doc Rivers and Bill Cartwright -- have lost their jobs. Three others -- the Suns' Frank Johnson, the Knicks' Don Chaney and the Nets' Byron Scott -- appear to be on the hot seat.
Do the math: There's a great possibility that more than half of the coaches in the NBA will have been fired in a 12-month period.
That's insane.
Players Playing Machiavelli
What's going on? It really doesn't have much to do with winning or losing. Teams statistically get a small bump in wins when they fire a coach mid-season, but it's rarely enough to justify the move itself.
Long term, things can get better if a team can find a coach who can change the culture of a team. Last season, Grizzlies president Jerry West did just that when he fired Sidney Lowe after the Grizzlies got off to an 0-8 start. West brought in Hubie Brown, a disciplinarian who changed the way the Grizzlies did things. The move wasn't enough to put the Grizzlies in the playoffs, but it did change the atmosphere in Memphis.
"It's not so much that you always want to replace the coach," Grizzlies president Jerry West told Insider in training camp. "Sometimes you want to replace the players. It's not easy to do that overnight. So sometimes, you're best shot at winning is finding a coach who is more conducive to giving players the success they can have."
In fact several GMs blame the new collective bargaining agreement for having an unintended consequence.
"They've made it so damn hard to trade players," one GM told Insider. "The only way to shake up the organization during the season is really to fire the head coach. They're scapegoats. They really are. It's rarely their fault that things have gone awry. It's not easy to motivate guys making $10 million a season. For the most part, they do what they want."
And what they seem to do, lately at least, is get their coaches fired.
As Doc Rivers found out, Tracy McGrady has the power to influence change in Orlando.
Even high-profile coaches like Rivers, Doug Collins, George Karl and and Rudy Tomjanovich have lost battles with players.
Tracy McGrady can deny it all he wants, but sources inside Orlando insist that while McGrady didn't come out and ask for Rivers to be fired, he was doing plenty behind the scenes to make sure Rivers hit the bricks.
Karl's high-profile feuds with Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell forced Bucks management to trade away the Big Three. However, after the team was blown apart, new GM Larry Harris didn't see the point in keeping a coach like Karl to coach a bunch of young, unproven players.
Collins was squashed after young players like Kwame Brown complained that they were being mistreated.
Cartwright tried to dish out plenty of tough love to players like Jalen Rose and Jamal Crawford. But when GM John Paxson wasn't able to trade them away, Cartwright got the ax instead.
Former Pistons head coach Rick Carlisle led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals only to get kicked to the curb after several reported dust-ups with management about his use of some of the Pistons' young players.
While there are still a few untouchables out there like Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan, most coaches have had to re-evaluate their approach to the game.
"I don't ever remember my dad taking players to dinner and lunch and to a football game to try to build relationships, but now it's very crucial for coaches to build a rapport with players off the floor," Warriors head coach Eric Musselman said during training camp.
"Its a necessity if you want to keep your job."
The Coaches Strike Back
What's been so interesting is that in the wake of the massive coaching upheaval, several coaches are taking a different approach. They're starting to fight back.
Cavs coach Paul Silas announced Monday he told leading scorer Ricky Davis to stay home from a road trip to New Orleans for conduct (presumably on the court) detrimental to the team.
That's a new approach. One that was apparently embraced by Cavs GM Jim Paxson.
"Basically anyone who has any kind of negative impact on what we're trying to do (was asked to leave)," Paxson told the Morning Journal. "This gives us the best chance to get better and have a chance to win. At different times, you have to take different actions to get things to where we want them to be. I'm confident they'll be dealt with the right way and ultimately it was the right thing to help this team win."
Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks got Bonzi Wells suspended for two games and stripped him of his captain's role after a dust-up on the bench. When Wells returned, Cheeks refused to put him back into the starting lineup.
Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan got Glen Rice waived after he felt that Rice's attitude wouldn't mesh with the young, impressionable team he was trying to mold.
New Bucks head coach Terry Porter talked management into waiving forwards Anthony Mason and Jason Caffey after he felt they would be a bad influence on his young team.
Are coaches regaining their power?
"Not really," one GM told Insider. "Silas can get away with benching Ricky Davis, but he couldn't do that to LeBron James. Mo Cheeks can sit Bonzi Wells, but he'd have a hard time doing that to Zach Randolph. If a coach loses an irreplaceable player on the team -- he's lost. Period. If Phil Jackson loses Shaq, Phil's gone. If Gregg Popovich loses Tim Duncan, Gregg's gone. If Jim O'Brien loses Paul Pierce he's gone. Franchise players are so hard to find, if a guy like T-Mac doesn't like you anymore ... pack your bags."
The Battles Rage On
If that's true, then there are some pretty interesting coach-player battles on the horizon. Who will be victorious? Insider takes a look:
Bryon Scott would be wise to try his best to please Jason Kidd.
Byron Scott vs. Jason Kidd: This is no contest. Scott has taken the Nets to the Finals two straight years, but with the Nets struggling out of the gate and Kidd growing unhappy with a stagnant offense, Scott will be gone in a heartbeat.
Jim O'Brien vs. Paul Pierce: Again, no contest. Pierce is already complaining about O'Brien's offense. He misses Antoine Walker and believes O'Brien was partly responsible for his departure. If the Celtics' offense continues to stall and Pierce has to shoot 30 times a game to keep the Celtics in it, O'Brien could be the next casualty of Star Wars.
Frank Johnson vs. Stephon Marbury: This is a bit closer, but if Johnson can no longer motivate Marbury, he's gone. The Suns have two top-notch assistants -- Mike D'Antoni and Marc Iavorni -- waiting in the wings. After taking three steps forward under Johnson last season, Suns GM Bryan Colangelo won't hesitate to pull the trigger if he thinks the Suns are taking a step back this season.
Don Chaney vs. Dikembe Mutombo: Mutombo doesn't have enough juice left to get anyone fired, but his second-guessing of Chaney's decision to keep him out of games probably strikes a chord with Knick GM Scott Layden. Layden spent too much cash on Mutombo not to use him. Layden claims he's Chaney's biggest fan, but as the losses pile up for the Knicks, Layden is really just waiting for the right new coach to come along.
Jeff Van Gundy vs. Steve Francis: This is a tough one. The tension between Van Gundy and Francis has dissipated because of the Rockets' hot start. But if the team hits a swoon, Van Gundy will seize the moment to coerce Francis to give up the ball more to Yao Ming. If Francis resists? My money's with Van Gundy on that one.
Mo Cheeks vs. the Blazers' whole roster: Cheeks got a reprieve a few weeks ago when he received an extension from the team. As long as he stays friends with Zach Randolph, he should be in good shape. No one else on the roster is really in the team's long-term plans.
Paul Silas vs. Ricky Davis: Pack your bags Ricky.
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Send an Email to Chad Ford Tuesday, November 25
Updated: November 25
9:41 AM ET
The NBA may be reaching another watershed moment in its history. Players have turned to the dark side. They have taken the game hostage. Only a small handful of rebel coaches are offering any sort of resistance.
As players bolt to the NBA younger and younger, the quality of basketball being played has suffered. The only place you find good fundamentals these days is on the side of a milk carton. Any attempts by coaches to teach or discipline are usually met with a pink slip.
An unprecedented 11 teams opened the 2003-04 season with a new head coach.
The inmates are running the asylum, and the fans are chafing at the inferior product they're seeing on the floor.
Three weeks into the regular season two more head coaches -- Doc Rivers and Bill Cartwright -- have lost their jobs. Three others -- the Suns' Frank Johnson, the Knicks' Don Chaney and the Nets' Byron Scott -- appear to be on the hot seat.
Do the math: There's a great possibility that more than half of the coaches in the NBA will have been fired in a 12-month period.
That's insane.
Players Playing Machiavelli
What's going on? It really doesn't have much to do with winning or losing. Teams statistically get a small bump in wins when they fire a coach mid-season, but it's rarely enough to justify the move itself.
Long term, things can get better if a team can find a coach who can change the culture of a team. Last season, Grizzlies president Jerry West did just that when he fired Sidney Lowe after the Grizzlies got off to an 0-8 start. West brought in Hubie Brown, a disciplinarian who changed the way the Grizzlies did things. The move wasn't enough to put the Grizzlies in the playoffs, but it did change the atmosphere in Memphis.
"It's not so much that you always want to replace the coach," Grizzlies president Jerry West told Insider in training camp. "Sometimes you want to replace the players. It's not easy to do that overnight. So sometimes, you're best shot at winning is finding a coach who is more conducive to giving players the success they can have."
In fact several GMs blame the new collective bargaining agreement for having an unintended consequence.
"They've made it so damn hard to trade players," one GM told Insider. "The only way to shake up the organization during the season is really to fire the head coach. They're scapegoats. They really are. It's rarely their fault that things have gone awry. It's not easy to motivate guys making $10 million a season. For the most part, they do what they want."
And what they seem to do, lately at least, is get their coaches fired.
As Doc Rivers found out, Tracy McGrady has the power to influence change in Orlando.
Even high-profile coaches like Rivers, Doug Collins, George Karl and and Rudy Tomjanovich have lost battles with players.
Tracy McGrady can deny it all he wants, but sources inside Orlando insist that while McGrady didn't come out and ask for Rivers to be fired, he was doing plenty behind the scenes to make sure Rivers hit the bricks.
Karl's high-profile feuds with Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen and Sam Cassell forced Bucks management to trade away the Big Three. However, after the team was blown apart, new GM Larry Harris didn't see the point in keeping a coach like Karl to coach a bunch of young, unproven players.
Collins was squashed after young players like Kwame Brown complained that they were being mistreated.
Cartwright tried to dish out plenty of tough love to players like Jalen Rose and Jamal Crawford. But when GM John Paxson wasn't able to trade them away, Cartwright got the ax instead.
Former Pistons head coach Rick Carlisle led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals only to get kicked to the curb after several reported dust-ups with management about his use of some of the Pistons' young players.
While there are still a few untouchables out there like Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan, most coaches have had to re-evaluate their approach to the game.
"I don't ever remember my dad taking players to dinner and lunch and to a football game to try to build relationships, but now it's very crucial for coaches to build a rapport with players off the floor," Warriors head coach Eric Musselman said during training camp.
"Its a necessity if you want to keep your job."
The Coaches Strike Back
What's been so interesting is that in the wake of the massive coaching upheaval, several coaches are taking a different approach. They're starting to fight back.
Cavs coach Paul Silas announced Monday he told leading scorer Ricky Davis to stay home from a road trip to New Orleans for conduct (presumably on the court) detrimental to the team.
That's a new approach. One that was apparently embraced by Cavs GM Jim Paxson.
"Basically anyone who has any kind of negative impact on what we're trying to do (was asked to leave)," Paxson told the Morning Journal. "This gives us the best chance to get better and have a chance to win. At different times, you have to take different actions to get things to where we want them to be. I'm confident they'll be dealt with the right way and ultimately it was the right thing to help this team win."
Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks got Bonzi Wells suspended for two games and stripped him of his captain's role after a dust-up on the bench. When Wells returned, Cheeks refused to put him back into the starting lineup.
Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan got Glen Rice waived after he felt that Rice's attitude wouldn't mesh with the young, impressionable team he was trying to mold.
New Bucks head coach Terry Porter talked management into waiving forwards Anthony Mason and Jason Caffey after he felt they would be a bad influence on his young team.
Are coaches regaining their power?
"Not really," one GM told Insider. "Silas can get away with benching Ricky Davis, but he couldn't do that to LeBron James. Mo Cheeks can sit Bonzi Wells, but he'd have a hard time doing that to Zach Randolph. If a coach loses an irreplaceable player on the team -- he's lost. Period. If Phil Jackson loses Shaq, Phil's gone. If Gregg Popovich loses Tim Duncan, Gregg's gone. If Jim O'Brien loses Paul Pierce he's gone. Franchise players are so hard to find, if a guy like T-Mac doesn't like you anymore ... pack your bags."
The Battles Rage On
If that's true, then there are some pretty interesting coach-player battles on the horizon. Who will be victorious? Insider takes a look:
Bryon Scott would be wise to try his best to please Jason Kidd.
Byron Scott vs. Jason Kidd: This is no contest. Scott has taken the Nets to the Finals two straight years, but with the Nets struggling out of the gate and Kidd growing unhappy with a stagnant offense, Scott will be gone in a heartbeat.
Jim O'Brien vs. Paul Pierce: Again, no contest. Pierce is already complaining about O'Brien's offense. He misses Antoine Walker and believes O'Brien was partly responsible for his departure. If the Celtics' offense continues to stall and Pierce has to shoot 30 times a game to keep the Celtics in it, O'Brien could be the next casualty of Star Wars.
Frank Johnson vs. Stephon Marbury: This is a bit closer, but if Johnson can no longer motivate Marbury, he's gone. The Suns have two top-notch assistants -- Mike D'Antoni and Marc Iavorni -- waiting in the wings. After taking three steps forward under Johnson last season, Suns GM Bryan Colangelo won't hesitate to pull the trigger if he thinks the Suns are taking a step back this season.
Don Chaney vs. Dikembe Mutombo: Mutombo doesn't have enough juice left to get anyone fired, but his second-guessing of Chaney's decision to keep him out of games probably strikes a chord with Knick GM Scott Layden. Layden spent too much cash on Mutombo not to use him. Layden claims he's Chaney's biggest fan, but as the losses pile up for the Knicks, Layden is really just waiting for the right new coach to come along.
Jeff Van Gundy vs. Steve Francis: This is a tough one. The tension between Van Gundy and Francis has dissipated because of the Rockets' hot start. But if the team hits a swoon, Van Gundy will seize the moment to coerce Francis to give up the ball more to Yao Ming. If Francis resists? My money's with Van Gundy on that one.
Mo Cheeks vs. the Blazers' whole roster: Cheeks got a reprieve a few weeks ago when he received an extension from the team. As long as he stays friends with Zach Randolph, he should be in good shape. No one else on the roster is really in the team's long-term plans.
Paul Silas vs. Ricky Davis: Pack your bags Ricky.
