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The Very Happy Short Life of an NBA Coach: I am the Scapegoat By John Nguyen
12.9.2008 - Updated on 12.9.2008
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Sam Mitchell and Randy Wittman can finally add to the skyrocketing number of unemployment for Christmas. Who is next? Probably Maurice Cheeks of the Philadelphia 76ers despite being the coach of the year in my predictions and Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni. The ever changing musical coaching chairs of the NBA leave most coaches not able to gain a solid foothold on any NBA hardwood. They end up falling down maybe after 2 mediocre seasons. Back in the day, head coaches usually had an average lifespan of 3-4 seasons. Today, they’ll be lucky to finish 2 seasons. Sometimes it looks like coaches have an average lifespan of game by game.
- Vinny Del Negro signed a 2 year deal.
- PJ Carlesimo was gone after 1.25 seasons.
- Larry Brown lasted only one season in New York.
- Dwane Casey lasted 1.5 seasons in Minnesota.
- Eric Musselman’s tenure in Golden State was 2 seasons and one season in Sacramento.
- Stan Van Gundy lasted 2 seasons in Miami after Riley gave him the boot despite having a winning percentage of .605 with the Heat (112-73).
- Larry Krystkowiak lasted only 1.5 seasons in Milwaukee.
- Currently, Reggie Theus is in danger of losing his job with Sacramento after only just a season.
What is it about coaches not even lasting 3 seasons on average? The job is as stable as being a 7-11 clerk, a claims adjuster, or some unknown retail/sales job. This is discouraging because if you were given a shot to coach an NBA squad, one has to think, “Oh snap I only have one season or so to turn this around.” Yezzir, it’s true; signing that 5 year deal doesn’t guarantee job security.
What’s with the impatience the past 5 years? Let’s examine the most three successful coaches: Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, and Jerry Sloan. These men not only enjoyed success, but longevity as well. The longevity is what irks me especially with Jerry Sloan as the longest tenured coach in history. What makes them stick around so long besides winning? These men also endured their share of bad seasons and didn’t get fired. What’s up with that? I can only deduce that it’s because of these factors:
- Players. These men are blessed with having great players. As a coach, if they have a lack of talent, they’re not going to win any game.
- System. Each has their own unique system to control their players from the Triangle to out executing you to do death a la Utah Jazz.
- Timing. Great coaches know when to yell and when to turn it down. Players start to tune coaches out around the 4th year of constant yelling and drilling.
- Psychology. They know how to present new challenges to certain players. They also try to make things work with a difficult disgruntled player.
- Full Support of Owner and General Manager. Spurs, Lakers, and Jazz fully back their guys no matter what. If their coach has a problem with a player or two, management will get rid of them. These factors are what all 3 men have. It’s no wonder why they’re still there.
On the flipside, I see why other coaches are not so fortunate. Here are their reasons:
- Players. They’ll lose a lot of games with barely any talent and injuries to your best players.
- The Internet. It’s filled with knee jerk reactions from hardcore fans in all message boards. Don’t ever think that general managers don’t look at this stuff. They do!
- Mid-season coaching change. This is the worst position any coach has to inherit. When this happens, the team usually gets a slight boost to win a few games with a good attitude because everyone starts with a clean slate. After this honeymoon period, they resort back to their old ways that got them losing in the first place. Thus begins a game called “Sink the Sub” which we know how to play because we did this in school when our real teacher got sick and the sub took over.
- Too much preaching. This usually doesn’t work.
- Free Agency. They better make it work quickly or the franchise player will leave eventually.
This is why coaches become the scapegoats. Usually within a fan base, they have already chosen a player who is the one to blame for all losses. When they run out of excuses, the next guy in the totem pole is the coach; last being the general manager. They can’t fire the players so that’s out of the question. They can only trade them. What happens if a coach has problems that just cannot be fixed with the franchise player and company? I believe the coach should get the hell out of Dodge. He’s outnumbered therefore he’s the problem.
To fix this problem, the Minnesota Timberwolves has the perfect solution. Fire the coach then bring down the general manager to coach the rest of the way. He’s the one who brought in the players. It only makes sense that he should man up to everything. If I was the owner, I would run the proposition with the general manager first just to see if he can coach the guys. If he can’t, I wouldn’t fire the coach. The general manager would be the one to go.
Voice your opinion.
[image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegratz/128662290/] |
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Posted by
O.Sandor
on 12.11.2008 | Hi John. Another interesting piece. Great stuff. Just wanted to chime-in on the source issue. No Name, thanks for your comments. However, I would argue a blog is really one person’s personal opinion or an editorial and not constrained by news. That said, it should be factual, but there is greater leeway for an author to express a viewpoint. Flagrant Foul is clearly marked as John’s blog and is an expression of his personal view. If you are looking for straight news, HoopsVibe has those pieces. That said, I believe John does a good job forming his opinion and personal view on fact. Just my take. As for Mitchell, he was never the same since winning Coach of The year and signing an extension. Thanks for listening to my rant folks ... . | Posted by
Jack
on 12.11.2008 | You mean ’enrol’. You don’t enroll in things. You enrol. And yeah maybe you both could use an English course or two. . | Posted by
No Name
on 12.11.2008 | I’m done. I only come here to look at the headlines. Its obvious to me that your maturity and education is far below that needed to grow from criticism. However, in all honesty if you plan to continue writing in some form or another, enroll in some some introductory English courses at the university level. I can’t begin to cover the all the areas that you need improvement. . | Posted by
J.Nguyen
on 12.11.2008 | Excuse me, I meant "Kobe leaving FOR the Bulls" in my previous post. . | Posted by
J.Nguyen
on 12.11.2008 | On a last note, I greatly appreciate "Atl 4 Life" and "No Name" for taking the timeout to read and respond. Really, I’m not lying. I greatly appreciate it. Keep ’em coming. I hope you guys keep reading and I hope you guys STILL have disagreements; makes for a more interesting conversation.
You’re welcomed to write anything you want. Just be careful of the negativity you want to write..there’s a fine water print somewhere here about "no profanity or inappropriate remarks. All I.P. addresses will be saved and abuse/hate posts will be reported..."
To No Name, credibility is a fine line you’re treading. As a sports fan, I KNOW you watch ESPN correct? I have to bring up ESPN because even with their credible sources, they still get some of their stuff wrong, too. Remember Kobe leaving the Bulls? They messed up on that. Remember the coaching carousel for the Bulls before this season started? First they officially tabbed Mike D’Antoni as the coach and they were wrong. Then they officially tabbed Doug Collins AND THEY WERE WRONG WITH THAT, too. Credibility? Credible sources? You’re treading a fine line there. . | Posted by
J.Nguyen
on 12.11.2008 | You know whats funny, I did do research. What are the examples I listed? READ IT AGAIN. I DID list examples. I’m not your monkey. If you want to find it, look it up yourself. I’ll say it again. DO IT YOURSELF. It’s not like this stat average for coaching lifespan is readily available anywhere. If you can find it, post it here. I’ll gladly give you props. I actually did think about the averages, but it realized it’s too time consuming for anyone to find. Go ahead. Google it. I don’t see it on first 2 pages of returns. That’s enough for me to look at. You guys act like I didn’t do the research. Perhaps I did, but didn’t find anything to my liking. Have you guyst thought about that?
I’ve said this before and for all the writers everywhere, "WE CAN’T SATISFY EVERYONE." Everyone of you, including me, will find a way to nitpick someone’s work. That’s life. Face it. If you can call me out then I have reserve the right to call some people out, too DEPENDING on how they post. CY Ellis and Oly Sandor are not your monkeys either. . | Posted by
ATL 4 Life
on 12.11.2008 | Hey Nguyen. I can’t believe you just told a poster to do some research you should have done. No Name is right. You put no effort in your articles and the fact is you are not a good writer. Its okay that I don’t agree with you on any basketball points, that happens, but you could at least write them like a professional. And you say we can post things positive or negative, but they always get removed if they are negative. We would post more negative things if they wouldn’t get removed. . | Posted by
No Name
on 12.11.2008 | C.Y. Ellis... You’re in charge of this thing right. I’m assuming you have a level of education beyond high school. Could you please post here and confirm what I’m saying. Nguyen if you ever had to write a paper in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, years of university and approached it like these articles you would not even have it graded. You have to create some credibility. Unless someone from the Kings organization says that Theus job is on the line right now and you provide a reference then you can only speculate. You said he is in danger, that means its certain. Don’t tell me to get the information that your article should have been built upon. Maybe someone here should check for grammatical errors before posting these articles as well. . | Posted by
The Real J.Nguyen
on 12.11.2008 | To the poster beneath me, I don’t miss Sam Mitchell at all. I don’t care where any of these coaches go. You miss him and probably have a shrine in your house, but I don’t.
And to No Name, you can say anything you want, positive or negative. Anyone can say that a coach is in danger of losing his job. You don’t need a source. You just know by watching the games and keeping track of wins-losses. Also, I don’t need to put up averages from 1985-2003. YOU DO IT. If you don’t see how coaches are getting short leashes on this new trend within the past 5 seasons, I pray for you. I already listed some examples as proof. A coach can be surrounded with good talent and still be a bad coach. Maurice Cheeks is one and Mike Dunleavy is the other. Why isn’t his obvious to you? . | Posted by
J. Nguyen
on 12.10.2008 | i miss sam mitchell already, great coach, wasnt his fault. . | Posted by
on 12.10.2008 | no name, ever hear of common sense? lol Philly is disappointing, not hard to see. . | Posted by
No Name
on 12.10.2008 | I’m not going to say anything negative this time. Here are my criticisms though. You can’t say that someone is in danger of losing their job without a source. Do you have the stats of average coaching tenures from 2003-2008, and 1985-2003. How are you able to say that short-term coaches are a new trend? Your reasons why a coach is able to keep is position is basically they are good coaches with good players. That’s quite obvious. . |
No profanity or inaproppriate remarks. All i.p. addresses will be saved and abuse/hate posts will be reported to providers and authorities as part of the anti-spam act of 2003, thank you for posting comments on the articles only. | | | |
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