Hoops Rumors Originals

David Fizdale became the first head coach of the 2019/20 NBA season to be fired when he was let go by the Knicks last Friday. The move didn’t come as a huge surprise, having been telegraphed last month when executives Steve Mills and Scott Perry held an impromptu press conference to express disappointment with the club’s slow start.

However, Fizdale is unlikely to be the only head coach replaced prior to the spring. As we detailed last fall, nearly every NBA season over the last decade or so has featured multiple in-season coaching changes. In 2018/19, three coaches – Tyronn Lue (Cavaliers), Fred Hoiberg (Bulls), and Tom Thibodeau (Timberwolves) – had been dismissed by the time the All-Star break rolled around.

While Fizdale had been on the hot seat for much of the season, there aren’t a lot of other head coaches in similar situations. Many of the teams off to disappointing starts either have accomplished coaches whom they believe in, such as Gregg Popovich in San Antonio or Terry Stotts in Portland, or have new-ish coaches that they’re willing to be patient with, like John Beilein in Cleveland and Lloyd Pierce in Atlanta.

Still, there are a handful of head coaches whose seats might be heating up. Here are a few:

• Alvin Gentry (Pelicans): Multiple recent reports have suggested that the Pelicans like Gentry and are willing to be patient with him, but the team was hoping for much better than a 6-18 start, even without Zion Williamson.
• Jim Boylen (Bulls): John Hollinger and Sam Amick of The Athletic suggested this week that Boylen is still well-liked by Bulls management, but not so much by Bulls players. Chicago entered the season with playoff aspirations but has struggled in the early going, with an 8-17 record.
• Scott Brooks (Wizards): The Wizards brought in Brooks in 2016 to coach a potential contender. With a new general manager taking over during the offseason and Washington embarking on a rebuild, it was unclear whether the franchise still envisioned Brooks as its coach of the future. He has done well so far though developing some of the Wizards’ young players.
• Mike D’Antoni (Rockets): The 15-8 Rockets have been solid, but D’Antoni’s failed extension negotiations with team ownership in the offseason cast a cloud over his future with the team. A source told Hollinger and Amick that D’Antoni probably won’t remain in Houston beyond 2019/20. If the Rockets have a prolonged slump at all this season, it’s possible the team will consider making a change even before next spring.

What do you think? Will all of the coaches listed above – and the rest of the NBA’s head coaches – make it through the 2019/20 season? Or will at least one more team follow the Knicks’ lead and make an in-season change?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!

After praising some of the NBA’s most pleasant surprises of the 2019/20 season so far on Thursday, we’re headed to the other end of the spectrum today. For every team that has exceeded its expectations early on in ’19/20, there’s one that has failed to meet expectations — in some cases, in dramatic fashion.

In the Western Conference, for instance, the Trail Blazers and Spurs entered the season viewed as good bets to make the playoffs. That could certainly still happen, but each team has dug itself an early hole over the last several weeks — Portland is 7-12, while San Antonio is just 6-13. The Blazers can at least blame injuries to some extent, as they’re missing two key big men, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins, but neither team can be pleased with its results so far.

Elsewhere in the West, it’s been a disappointing 20 games in Golden State, though that can blamed more on bad luck than poor play. Already missing Klay Thompson, the Warriors have been without Stephen Curry and Kevon Looney for virtually all of the season, with D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green also missing time due to injuries. The Dubs didn’t look great even when the roster was mostly healthy, but their injury woes have made them the NBA’s worst team, at 4-16.

In the East, the Sixers and Nets have had their ups and downs, but are still 13-6 and 10-9, respectively, so it’s hard to view their seasons as disappointments. The same can’t be said for the 6-13 Bulls and Pistons. Neither team is all that far off the playoff pace in the East, considering the 8-12 Hornets hold the No. 8 seed, but Chicago and Detroit hoped to push for records of .500 or better this season. That seems like a long shot now.

Things have been even uglier for the Knicks, who made win-now moves in the offseason in the hopes of getting into the playoff mix. It hasn’t worked out that way so far, as New York sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-15 mark and has shown few reasons to believe a postseason push is around the corner.

Outside of this season’s underachievers, there have been plenty of injury-related disappointments. We still haven’t seen much-hyped No. 1 pick Zion Williamson make his NBA regular-season debut, and stars like Curry, Gordon Hayward, and De’Aaron Fox have joined the likes of Thompson and Kevin Durant on the long-term injury list. A shoulder injury also prevented Kyrie Irving from making his return to Boston this week, which was undoubtedly a disappointment for the Celtics fans who bought tickets hoping to… uh, welcome Kyrie back.

We want to hear your thoughts. Which teams, players, or injuries have you been most disappointed by so far this season? Do you expect some of those underachieving clubs to turn things around, or should most of them prepare for more of the same?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

Over the first five-plus weeks of the 2019/20 season, a handful of teams from each conference have been among the NBA’s most pleasant surprises, outperforming preseason expectations. Since it’s Thanksgiving Day in the United States, it only seems right for tonight’s Community Shootaround discussion to focus on those teams – and players – that fans should be most thankful for so far this season.

In the East, the Celtics and Raptors were expected to be among the conference’s strongest playoff contenders, but few expected them to be quite this good. With matching 13-4 records, Boston and Toronto are nearly on a 63-win pace in the early going. It seems unlikely that either team will maintain that pace, but they look like legit contenders. The Raptors, who have been missing Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka due to injuries, have been especially impressive, relying on youngsters Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet en route to their fast start.

The Heat and Pacers are among the East’s other pleasant surprises so far. Led by Jimmy Butler and rookies Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn, Miami is 12-5 and has yet to lose at home. Meanwhile, things could have gone south for an Indiana team already missing Victor Oladipo after it dropped its first three games and Myles Turner went down with an injury, but the Pacers have won 11 of their last 14 since then, with Turner returning earlier this month.

Further down the standings, the Wizards (6-10) and Hornets (7-12) are outside the Eastern playoff picture, but not by much. They were expected to be among the league’s bottom-dwellers, but have been surprisingly competitive.

Out West, the Lakers were viewed as a probable contender, but their league-best 16-2 start has still raised some eyebrows. The LeBron James/Anthony Davis duo hasn’t exactly been suffering through any growing pains so far, and the supporting cast has done its part.

Thanks to a leap to superstardom by Luka Doncic (30.1 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 9.5 APG through 17 games), the 11-6 Mavericks are currently a top-five team in the West and look like a legit playoff team. The Timberwolves (10-8) and Suns (8-9) haven’t been quite as convincing as Dallas, but both Minnesota and Phoenix are currently in the top eight in the conference despite being viewed as near-locks for the lottery.

We want to know what you think. Which teams (and players) have you been most pleasantly surprised by so far in 2019/20? Which strong starts do you believe are sustainable? Are there any in particular that you’d like to see continue?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!