*FAN SUBMISSION by Kevin Rosenthal. Follow him on Twitter @mrquickslant.*
The NBA season hasn’t been over for too long now, but the landscape of the league has been soundly shaken. Great coaches are definitely hot commodities in any league, but there has been an amazing number of changes made already in the NBA with the off-season being less than a month old. Some changes were to be expected, while others have been a little more surprising. Let’s take a look at what has changed.
Quite possibly the NBA’s worst team, the Charlotte Bobcats, hired Steve Clifford to replace Mike Dunlap. The reality is that the Bobcats have bigger issues than just coaching. Clifford is a guy from the Van Gundy coaching tree, as he has been an assistant under both Jeff and Stan. The concern with Clifford is that he has no NBA head coaching experience. However, he has been around the league as an assistant for a while.
Courtesy: NY Daily News
But Charlotte doesn’t stop there; they have also hired Patrick Ewing as an assistant, which I think is an outstanding move. It won’t be long before Ewing gets a shot as a head coach. There are definitely other good choices for candidates, like Brian Shaw, but Jordan chose to gamble on Clifford. A positive sign for Bobcats’ fans is that the team seems to really be trying to start fresh and re-brand itself. They will be the Hornets soon enough, hoping that they have their coach for the future to help develop their young talent. They have a decent young core, and maybe with some good coaching they can move up in the standings. If not, look for the reset button to be pressed again in a year or two.
The Nets also made much bigger waves by hiring Jason Kidd almost immediately after he announced his retirement. I get the history between Kidd and the Nets, but I’m not sure he would have been my first choice. Kidd has no coaching experience, although he has been around the league for a long time. The GM has certainly put together a fairly talented roster and there is no reason the Nets can’t be a playoff team next season. One major factor here will be the relationship between the star player Deron Williams and Kidd, as Williams has gotten somewhat of a reputation for having rocky player-coach relationships. Kidd certainly has the basketball IQ, but he can’t get by on that alone. If he can quickly master the art of coaching, then the Nets’ gamble could pay off in a big way. Time will tell if Jason Kidd has what it takes to be a successful NBA head coach, but for now, nobody knows how this will play out. The Nets may ultimately regret passing on more proven names, such as George Karl. Then again, they may have struck gold.
Speaking of gold, the Nuggets made what looks to be a great hire. There was little surprise when they fired George Karl, but one could argue that the Nuggets were underachievers at times during his tenure. But Karl did have a reasonable amount of success in Denver. However, the Nuggets are a fairly young team and Shaw may relate better to the guys on the court. He has paid his dues as an assistant and certainly deserves this opportunity. Like Kidd, we don’t know how Shaw will do, but there is no reason to expect any major drop-off in wins for this team. It’s likely that they will stay in the playoff hunt consistently if they can keep their core talent together and stay healthy. Denver is one of the most talented young teams in the league and has potential to really be a force in the Western Conference as power is beginning to slightly shift.
Staying out West, the Clippers have easily made the biggest splash of a coaching hire this off-season. The team fired Vinny Del Negro upon the team’s early exit from the playoffs. After a lot of speculation and negotiation, the Clippers worked a deal with Boston to bring Doc Rivers to L.A. The Clippers sent Boston an unprotected 2015 first round pick for the accomplished coach. It is clear that this franchise no longer wants to take a backseat to the Lakers. The talent has been assembled, but can Doc Rivers get them over the hump and break what seems to be a never ending streak of Clippers’ failures and bad luck? It seems, for many, like a foregone conclusion that this acquisition makes the Clippers an instant title contender. They should most certainly be in the conversation. However, I’m just not sure if Doc alone is enough to take them to the next level. This team, as the roster sits right now, is capable of great things, but I won’t be at all surprised if they disappoint again next season.
In less notable news, the Pistons have brought in Maurice Cheeks as their new head coach. Cheeks has bounced around the league and spent time as both an assistant and a head coach. However, he hasn’t accomplished much in the way of playoff success. Looking at Detroit’s roster, he has his work cut out for him; it’s going to take more than a coach to turn this team around. Cheeks has to be hopeful that Joe Dumars can work some magic and bring in some more talent. Like the Bobcats, a lot of work needs to be done on the roster if the coach is to have a decent chance at succeeding.
Courtesy: Yahoo Sports
Another team taking a ride on the carousel is the Cavs; they fired Byron Scott and replaced him with Mike Brown. Brown has seen mixed results as a coach and didn’t get a fair shot with the Lakers. With the young talent in Cleveland, he should be able to turn them into a playoff team. Brown also has the luxury of the top pick in this year’s NBA Draft (they can pick who they choose or try to swap the pick for more picks/pieces). This is an up-and-coming team in the East and a good situation for any decent coach.
Several other teams have left their now former coaches in search of work and others still have vacancies to fill. Larry Drew was not retained by Atlanta and has taken over as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. This is yet another team and coach that isn’t going to be making a push for the Finals anytime soon, however, Drew should have moderate success and has enough talent to grab a lower playoff seed.
Drew was replaced in Atlanta by long-time Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer. It’s hard to bet against a coach who has been on the bench beside Popovich for over 15-years; the Hawks must see something in Budenholzer to choose him over some of the other candidates available. This seems like a potentially promising hire on paper.
The Celtics are currently looking for a replacement for Rivers, which will probably take some time, so that they are sure to get a good fit.
The Grizzlies parted ways with Lionel Hollins and their head coaching job remains vacant, but Karl may be a good fit since this is a veteran team.
Memphis had a great season and even made a pretty good playoff run, even after trading away Rudy Gay. However, a better coach could probably get more results from that roster.
In Philadelphia, Doug Collins chose to resign and that job remains open as well. The 76er’s aren’t a bad team, but they aren’t great either; with the right coach and a few more pieces on the court they should be able to build something good.
Only two other teams have made moves so far: The Suns and Kings. The Suns hired Jeff Hornacek to replace Lindsey Hunter. Hornacek is a relatively unknown as a coach, but does have a few years of experience as an assistant. He certainly has his work cut out for him in Phoenix. The Kings dumped Keith Smart and hired Michael Malone. Though he shares a famous last name with some all-time NBA greats, Malone entered coaching right out of college and never played in the NBA. So he certainly has plenty of experience as a coach, but what can he do as a head coach in the NBA? No idea. He does have playoff experience from time as an assistant in Cleveland, and also served as an assistant with Mark Jackson. Those things bode well for his chances, so we’ll see what he can do with that team.
Coaching changes are typical in the off-season, but there has been a significant amount of changes thus far in the NBA. Some of these guys will do great, while others won’t keep their position for long. A lot can happen in the off-season, and some of these teams may make some great transactions to provide new pieces to their new coaches. However, in most cases, a coaching change by itself won’t transform a team into an overnight contender. Some of these teams may struggle to gel early, yet come on strong as the season winds down. For the most part, these are new guys getting new opportunities, and their success may determine the path their coaching career takes from here forward. There just aren’t that many big name candidates out there, so teams are gambling on unproven guys in hopes of finding the next great coach. Many of these teams have so much room for improvement that they can afford to roll the dice. Some of these gambles will reap great payouts, while others will leave team executives searching for answers.
