With the exception of the 2016/17 season, which took place during a period of unprecedented stability for head coaches, at least three NBA teams have made in-season coaching changes in each of the last five years. In 2018/19, Tyronn Lue got the axe after just six games, with Fred Hoiberg and Tom Thibodeau later joining him in the unemployment ranks.
While it’s possible that 2019/20 will be a repeat of ’16/17, recent history tells us that the safer bet is to expect multiple teams to make coaching changes before the season ends.
With that in mind, Ben Golliver of The Washington Post singled out five head coaches around the NBA who might end up on the hot seat in the coming months. Golliver’s picks are Frank Vogel (Lakers), Mike D’Antoni (Rockets), Brett Brown (Sixers), Billy Donovan (Thunder), and Scott Brooks (Wizards).
The Lakers, Rockets, and Sixers will enter the 2019/20 season with championship aspirations, so if they get off to slow starts, it’s not hard to imagine their respective head coaches feeling some pressure.
Vogel was just hired this spring, but he didn’t appear to be L.A.’s first choice and received a shorter-term contract than most other recent hires. D’Antoni is entering a contract year, which is rare for a head coach, and anything short of an NBA Finals appearance will be a letdown for Houston. Brown, meanwhile, appeared to be on the hot seat after losing in the second round of last year’s postseason before Toronto’s championship run made the Sixers’ series against the Raptors look more impressive in retrospect.
As for Donovan and Brooks, they’re suddenly at the helm of rebuilding clubs rather than the contenders they originally signed on to join. The Wizards also have a new head of basketball operations in place, so it’s possible that Tommy Sheppard will want to bring in his own head coach at some point.
What do you think? Will any of those five head coaches be dismissed during the 2019/20 season? Do you expect other coaches to find themselves on the hot seat in the near future?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!
Some of those guys are obvious especially Frank Vogel.
The one guy who’s really on the hot seat will be Doc Rivers. A first round exit as per usual for him, and he is out of there.
LOL. Doc is going to retire from the Clippers. He’s like Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich, Rick Carlisle – he’ll be there as long as he’d like to stay.
Sterling didn’t care. He was making money and profits so it didn’t matter that Doc Rivers couldn’t get out of the second round even with that All-Star team.
Ballmer is a different story. He’s all about the bottom line. Translated, that’s championships. So is Jerry West, an adviser here. If Doc has to go.. he will go.
You saw what Doc was able to do with a very-much-overachieving squad last season, even after they traded away Harris. What makes you think he’s suddenly going to lay an egg with PG3 and Kawhi?
Doc is no longer head coach of the Celtics. Move on.
Now that they have both Kawhi and Paul George a first round exit would be a disaster, which would justify Doc’s job being in jeopardy. If they can at least get to the WCF then he will be just fine.
The next time the Clippers get to the Western Conference Finals with Doc Rivers will be the FIRST time the Clippers get to the Western Conference Finals.
This take is comical. Doc is not going anywhere and teams dont fire a coach before year 1 even ends. The Lakers don’t even have that nonsense in their history. Luke Walton got 3 years of nothing before he was let go for crying out loud. Just nonsense from LeBron haters claiming Vogel will is on the hot seat before the dust even settles
I agree it will not make sense. But with Jason backstabber Kidd in ownerships ear, I would not be surprised one bit if Frank doesn’t make it to the all-star break.
This is also a franchise that fired mike brown after 5 games. They know they only have limited prime lebron time and they will do whatever to maximize it
Chicago is always a safe bet to fire the head coach. GarPax know how to scapegoat.
Knicks are always a possibility too.
But Brooks in Washington seems like the most likely candidate.
I think Doc Rivers is a better choice to go than any mentioned in the article. Don’t see the Clips doing very well in the RS with PG13 out indefinitely & Kawhi probably playing 60 or less games, the Clips will really struggle to make the bottom half of the playoffs in the WC.
So suddenly, the All-NBA coaches first team becomes the hot seat team. This is some sobering idea. Donovan & Brooks are the farthest away from hot-seat but D’Antoni, Vogel, Brown, they’ll get their All-NBA honors. The Washington Post has it wrong about this. Huge discredit to WP’s Ben Golliver for the untimely and not-credible article. The All-NBA hot-seat team is Walton, Williams, Brown, Beilein, and Boylen. I especially dislike the part where he just talks crap about Vogel.
*Brad Stevens for the all-hot seat team, not Brown