It’s rare for an NBA team to make a head coaching change this early in the season, but it’s not unheard of. Just last fall, for instance, the Nets parted ways with Steve Nash only seven games into the regular season. The league’s reigning Coach of the Year, Mike Brown, was once let go by the Lakers a mere five games into a season.
That doesn’t mean that we should expect a head coaching change in the coming days or weeks, but it’s extremely rare to get through an entire NBA season without at least some overhaul in the coaching ranks. So it’s likely just a matter of time until at least one team decides to pull the trigger and make a change.
The NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches – such as Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr – won’t be fired, and it’s probably safe to assume that all the coaches who have been hired within the last year are safe as well, barring some unexpected non-basketball development. Eliminating those two groups significantly reduces our list of coaches who might be on the hot seat.
From there, we can cross off several more coaches whose teams are off to strong starts this season. That group includes guys like Chris Finch, Mark Daigneault, Jason Kidd, and Jamahl Mosley, among several others. And we can eliminate at least a couple more coaches whose clubs have given them strong votes of confidence as of late — for instance, the Clippers refused to let interested teams talk to Tyronn Lue this past offseason.
Who does that leave? Well, let’s start with Billy Donovan. He was named by at least one sportsbook in the preseason as the head coach most likely to be fired first, and the Bulls‘ performance so far this season hasn’t done much to quiet those rumors. Zach LaVine and other Chicago players have been the subject of trade rumors, but when a team is underachieving, it’s often the coach who is replaced before the players are.
J.B. Bickerstaff‘s Cavaliers and Willie Green‘s Pelicans have been up and down to start the season, but both teams have been hit hard by injuries and have still held their own in the playoff race. Their seats might start getting hotter if they don’t make any sort of postseason run this spring, but for now, they should be fine. Nets coach Jacque Vaughn falls into this category too, with expectations in Brooklyn a little lower than they are in Cleveland or New Orleans.
Chauncey Billups, Will Hardy, and Wes Unseld Jr. are among the coaches whose teams already look like strong bets to end up in the lottery, but those clubs weren’t expected to make the playoffs this season anyway, so their management groups likely won’t be in any hurry to make changes. Unseld is the lone potential exception since he was hired by a previous front office regime, but a recent report suggested his job isn’t in any immediate danger.
Taylor Jenkins and Steve Clifford are perhaps worth keeping a closer eye on, since the Grizzlies and Hornets have won a combined seven games so far this season despite entering the season with playoff aspirations. But those are two more teams who have been significantly impacted by player absences and who probably can’t be realistically judged until their groups are more whole.
Jenkins, in particular, has several strong seasons under his belt and was expected to ultimately be judged on his team’s playoff success. If Memphis’ roster is too depleted to even make the postseason, it’ll probably be hard to put that on Jenkins.
For now, then, Donovan may be the only head coach whose seat looks truly hot, though there are certainly other coaches who could join him if their teams experienced prolonged slumps.
What do you think? Is Donovan the coach whose job is in the most jeopardy in the short term? Are there others you think could be replaced before season’s end?
Head to the comment section below to share your two cents!
Billy D signed an extension recently and the front office has mostly put pressure on the players so far, so I’d say his seat is not as hot as you may think.
I think his job will come down more to how much the front office is willing to accept blame for how they constructed the roster. The roster last season was not good and barely had a play-in appearance to show for their under .500 record…and Chicago decided to basically run it back. If the front office acknowledges that they were the ones who screwed up, I think Donovan’s job is safe. If they think “well this roster is good, it’s someone else’s fault” or ownership just wants to scrap it all then I can see Donovan being a scapegoat or caught in the crossfire.
Chicago is cheap… they don’t want to pay one coach, let alone two.
They’ll change players and roll with that the rest of the season.
Depending on how that goes, this time next season is where it could be iffy for Donovan.
Donovan just signed an extension this summer. He’s fine. I would say Thibs gets fired during the off-season.
Maybe the point is the same but Donovan signed his extension over a year ago.
You’re right. It was the previous summer. Apologies.
GarPax weren’t to blame and they got replaced… Every coach and player on this roster, except for Caruso, is inadequate on a contending franchise. It’s time for Jerry to move on and allow for a proper rebuild. This franchise died the day it said “organizations win championship, not players” while having MJ… and proceeded to rebuild while their players retired on different clubs.
If Jenkins can get the Grizz back to .500 this year, forget firing him and just give him COY honors…
Monty Williams
Wait till trade deadline.This tournament idea has all teams playing hard not bowing to so called better teams.Chi town needs a leader as well as a roster makeup.
Oh how I hope Clifford is the first coach fired.
I think Jenkins still is on the hot seat because a lot of Memphis’ issues are cultural, so some responsibility still falls on Jenkins for that.