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Poll: Which Fired Coach Lands Next Job First?

May 14th, 2015 at 3:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The pace of coaching changes in the NBA isn’t nearly what it was two years ago, when 13 teams hired new coaches in the 2013 offseason, as I noted last week when I looked at how those 13 coaches had fared since then. Still, five coaches have lost their jobs since the beginning of the 2014/15 season, while a sixth, Tom Thibodeau, hangs in serious limbo.

It’s a reasonable assumption that if Thibodeau were to join the ranks of the coaches let go within the past several months, he would have the best shot among them to quickly land another NBA head coaching job, given his credentials. None of the five who’ve already lost their jobs have found replacement head coaching gigs, despite some impressive bona fides of their own.

Monty Williams just lost his Pelicans gig this week, so of course it would be quite a stretch to have expected him to land a new position so quickly. He’d engineered an 11-game improvement from last year to this season, clinching a playoff berth on the season’s final night. Still, that wasn’t enough to save him from the ax.

Scott Brooks wasn’t let go all that long ago, either, and while his Thunder lost a tiebreaker to the Pelicans for that playoff berth, he compiled an impressive 338-207 record during the regular season in parts of seven years as Oklahoma City’s bench boss. That record had plenty to do with the elite talent surrounding him, and Brooks only made it to one NBA Finals in his time with the Thunder, losing that series to the Heat.

Brian Shaw never sniffed the playoffs in his season and a half with the Nuggets, but he was long a sought-after head coaching candidate before Denver hired him. He has two rings from his time as an assistant under Phil Jackson on the Lakers.

Jacque Vaughn also cut his coaching teeth as an assistant with a team accustomed to long playoff runs, learning under Gregg Popovich with the Spurs. The Popovich head coaching tree has expanded rapidly in the past couple of years, though it lost a member when the Magic fired Vaughn during the season, with Orlando largely stuck in neutral amid the third year of a rebuilding project.

Michael Malone didn’t get a third year in Sacramento, and he barely got a second before the Kings fired him just 24 games into his second season this past December. The Kings were off to a fast start this year before DeMarcus Cousins went down with viral meningitis, and the coach had connected with the sometimes-difficult star.

Vote to let us know which of the five coaches let go since the start of the 2014/15 season you think will be the first to find another head coaching job, and elaborate on your choice in the comments.

Atlantic Notes: Jason Smith, Shaw, Datome

March 10th, 2015 at 9:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Jason Smith said he inked only a one-year deal with the Knicks last summer because that’s all the team offered, and the center made it clear he wants to re-sign with the team in the offseason, as Marc Berman of the New York Post observes.

“I love New York,’’ Smith said. “I like the triangle offense. I wouldn’t have a problem coming back to New York. I think it’s a great market, great basketball organization. [Team president] Phil [Jackson]’s got the team moving in the right direction. It’s tough to say that now because he’s trying to change the culture.’’

The Knicks will have Smith’s Non-Bird rights in the offseason, so they can give him a deal with a salary of no more than $3,933,600 unless they use the non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception or open cap room. Here’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Derek Fisher said he’s spoken with Brian Shaw since the Nuggets fired Shaw last week, as Berman notes in the same piece. Shaw has ties to Jackson and speculation has linked the ex-Denver coach to an assistant’s job with New York.
Gigi Datome was buried on the bench in Detroit, but the Celtics are giving their deadline-day acquisition significant minutes while Avery Bradley heals from a minor injury, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com examines. The C’s can match offers for Datome, who hits free agency this summer, if they tender a nearly $2.188MM qualifying offer.
The Sixers will take a different approach with waiver claim Glenn Robinson III, who won’t see the floor much at first, coach Brett Brown said, according to Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News. That won’t give the team much of a chance to evaluate him before his contract is up at season’s end, but Brown indicated that the team had been keeping an eye on him for a while before acquiring him. Robinson’s qualifying offer will be slightly more than $1.045MM this summer.

Brian Shaw Would Have Interest In Magic Job

March 6th, 2015 at 8:53am CST by Zachary Links

Brian Shaw would “absolutely” be “very interested” in coaching the Magic if that job were to become available, a person close to the former Nuggets coach told Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel. Shaw, 49 in a few weeks, spent three seasons (1994/95-1996/97) with the Magic during his playing career.

Of course, it’s no guarantee that the Magic will be looking at Shaw or any other coaching candidate. Recently, GM Rob Hennigan said that interim head coach James Borrego could be considered a candidate to be hired on a permanent basis, Schmitz writes. The Magic are 4-6 under Borrego, who previously served as Jacque Vaughn‘s top assistant.

Magic CEO Alex Martins, meanwhile, told the Sentinel scribe that the team would not begin any search until after the season. However, he indicated that the Magic have received substantial interest in the position.

Shaw was in his second year of a three-year deal with the Nuggets when he was fired earlier this week. Denver dropped 17 of its last 19 games under Shaw and even though GM Tim Connelly said in February that they had no plans of firing Shaw before season’s end, the organization apparently had a change of heart. Shaw finished his Nuggets tenure at a combined 56-85 between this season and last.

And-Ones: Shaw, Caboclo, Pietrus

March 4th, 2015 at 10:09pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Brian Shaw was Phil Jackson‘s second choice after Steve Kerr to become the Knicks‘ new head coach last summer, but Jackson was leery of the compensation it would take to pry Shaw away from Denver, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. While it’s doubtful that New York’s team president would part ways with Derek Fisher after inking him to a five-year deal this past offseason, adding Shaw as a veteran assistant on the Knicks’ coaching staff next season is entirely possible, Berman adds. A friend of the coach relayed that Shaw would have considered it an ideal opportunity to become the Knicks’ head man under Jackson had the Nuggets fired him after last season, the Post scribe relays.

Here’s more from around the league:

Raptors rookie Bruno Caboclo is now being represented by Relativity Sports, having parted ways with agent Eduardo Resende, Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun reports (Twitter link).
Clippers executive and coach Doc Rivers said that the team would “most likely” sign Jordan Hamilton to a second 10-day contract when his initial 10-day pact ends this Thursday, Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times tweets.
It wasn’t surprising that Ray Allen announced that he wouldn’t play this season, Chris Mannix of SI.com tweets. Allen is reportedly content with living the life of a retiree, Mannix adds.
Former NBA player Mickael Pietrus has inked a deal in Puerto Rico with Mets de Guaynabo, Three Eye Sports reports (Twitter link). The swingman’s last NBA appearance was during the 2012/13 campaign when he appeared in 19 contests for the Raptors. In 557 career NBA games Pietrus has averaged 8.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists. His career slash line is .425/.355/.665.
NBA teams are still trying to evaluate Emmanuel Mudiay, and decide if he is worth selecting with the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NBA draft, Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) writes in his profile of the 18-year-old guard. “The two guys with the biggest upsides in the draft are Mudiay and Karl-Anthony Towns,” one NBA GM told Ford. “Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell are more sure things, but neither of those guys have the ceiling of Mudiay and Towns. And of those four, Mudiay is the best athlete. I can understand a team taking any of those four guys No. 1. But if you’re asking me who has the chance to be a game-changer in the NBA, I think it’s Mudiay. Big risk, big reward.“

Western Notes: Shaw, Thunder, Hunt

March 4th, 2015 at 8:39pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Former Nuggets coach Brian Shaw released a statement through his agent, Jerome Stanley, regarding his recent firing by Denver, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “Having been a part of five NBA Championship teams, I know how difficult it is to make the commitment necessary to achieve that goal,” said Shaw. “It takes sacrifice for the greater good … and time, for a club to get to the championship level. Players, coaches, management and ownership all must share that commitment and build toward that goal. It is not an easy task. I am very proud of the effort that my staff and I put in while coaching the team. I also appreciate the support that I received from the KSE group. Finally, I believe that the Nuggets will grow to be a championship level club and give the fans in Denver a much deserved Championship. In time.“

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

The Thunder are attempting the difficult feat of remaining in contention while undergoing a significant overhaul of their roster, Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman writes. Seven out of the 15 players on OKC’s roster weren’t with the team at the end of last season, and since the beginning of the 2014/15 campaign, five players have been acquired via trade, Slater notes.
Oklahoma City intends to retain both Kyle Singler and Enes Kanter, who become restricted free agents after the season, Slater adds. The Thunder are operating with the idea that a massive luxury tax bill next season will be softened in 2016/17 when the NBA’s new television deal kicks in and the salary cap increases as a result, Slater notes.
Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt inherits the difficult task of piloting a team that has underperformed all season, and had reportedly quit on former coach Shaw, Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post writes. “It’s bittersweet,” Hunt said. “This is not the way you want it to happen, because there are a lot of people involved that are impacted by this. At the same time, in the pit of my stomach, there is a feeling of excitement because I love to compete and I’m ready for the challenges.“

Northwest Notes: Shaw, Neal, Billups

March 4th, 2015 at 4:11pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders continues to assert that Gary Neal is a part of the franchise’s future, Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes. “We traded for him and everybody — all the experts — thought we were going to buy him out,” Saunders said. “And I said we weren’t. We traded for him. We thought he was a good player and we thought he might have a future. We thought we’d bring him in, let him play with our guys and see how he would blend in.” Neal will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Now that the deadline has passed for players to reach buyout arrangements and still be eligible to appear in the playoffs for a new team, Neal is staying positive about his situation in Minnesota, Youngblood adds. “I’m a basketball player and Flip has given me an opportunity to come in here and play,” said Neal. “I don’t have any complaints. The way the team is set up, with K-Mart [Kevin Martin] being out tonight, your role can change from day to day. All you ask for is an opportunity to come in and play, and Flip has been fair with me on that.”
Brian Shaw is better off no longer coaching a petulant group of Nuggets, opines Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post. The problem extends to the front office, as Kiszla argues in a separate column, suggesting it would be difficult for any coach to succeed in Denver.
The Nuggets should consider hiring former NBA player Chauncey Billups as their next coach, Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post opines. Billups, who has expressed some level of interest in a front office position now that his playing career has ended, is not as old school a personality as Shaw was, which would be a more ideal fit with Denver’s current group of players, Hochman adds.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Reaction To Nuggets’ Firing Of Brian Shaw

March 3rd, 2015 at 1:58pm CST by Chuck Myron

Benjamin Hochman of The Denver Post takes Ty Lawson to task in a piece written before the Nuggets fired Brian Shaw today, and Hochman doesn’t completely believe Shaw is to blame for Lawson’s struggles of late. The post scribe passes along a comment from Shaw in response to a question about whether he should have tried a different approach to coaching Lawson this season.

“I believe what I’m doing. I don’t know if I’d say I’d do anything differently,” Shaw said. “There are a lot of circumstances that when [we talk to the media], I can’t talk about. I’ve always tried to be as honest as I possibly can. But there are also a lot of things I can’t say, because these are young men, and I look at them like I do my three kids — they make mistakes because they’re young. Our philosophy has been — make new mistakes, don’t make the same old mistakes. I feel obligated that when a guy makes a mistake — and I’m not talking about on the court, I’m talking about off the court — that I say, ‘I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and dump on him because he made a mistake.’ “

Ultimately, those mistakes cost Shaw his job, and there’s plenty of news surrounding Denver’s decision apart from the latest on likely candidates, which we passed along earlier. Here’s more surrounding the firing:

There were moments of tension between Shaw and Lawson in the locker room this season, several league sources tell Grantland’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
It was just days ago that Nuggets GM Tim Connelly said that Brian Shaw’s job was “absolutely” safe in comments the executive made in an video interview with The Denver Post’s Woody Paige and Les Shapiro, as Christopher Dempsey of the Post notes in his story on Shaw’s dismissal.
Shaw knew the “1, 2, 3 … six weeks!” chant the Nuggets gave as they broke a huddle Friday was a reference to the time left in the season, a league source tells Chris Broussard of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Shaw claimed Monday that the chant was about the six weeks that had passed since the team’s last home victory.
Pacers power forward David West pointed to a lack of “grownups” on the Nuggets roster as he expressed his disdain for the firing, notes Scott Agness of VigilantSports.com (on Twitter). Shaw coached West, who has a $12.6MM player option for next season, when he was a Pacers assistant.

Nuggets Fire Brian Shaw

March 3rd, 2015 at 12:25pm CST by Chuck Myron

12:25pm: The firing is official, the team announced. Hunt will be the interim coach through the end of the season, the Nuggets also confirmed. Denver will conduct an “extensive” search for a head coach after the season, the statement also indicates.

“I want to sincerely thank Brian for his time with our organization,” Connelly said. “You won’t find a better guy than Brian and he is one of the brightest basketball minds I’ve ever been around. Unfortunately things didn’t go as we hoped, but we know with his basketball acumen that he has a very bright future ahead of him.”

11:40am: Hunt will indeed be the interim coach, and he’ll fill that role for the balance of the season, a source tells TNT’s David Aldridge (Twitter link). Hunt, a holdover from George Karl‘s staff, has been an assistant in Denver since 2010/11. He was previously an assistant coach with the Cavs, Lakers, and Rockets, and it was Houston that gave him his start as a video coordinator in the 1990s.

11:36am: Assistant Melvin Hunt is the front-runner to assume the job on an interim basis, but that’s not set in stone, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). Denver plays tonight against the Bucks.

11:23am: The Nuggets are letting go of coach Brian Shaw, a source tells Chris Dempsey of The Denver Post. Dempsey indicates that the move took place this morning, though the team has yet to make an official announcement. Denver has dropped 17 of its last 19 games amid roster turnover at the deadline. Shaw insisted Monday that his team’s “1, 2, 3 … six weeks!” chant during Friday’s game wasn’t a reference to the time left in the season but instead to the number of weeks since the team’s last home win. Either way, it wasn’t a positive omen for the coach. It’s not immediately clear who will replace him.

GM Tim Connelly said nearly a month ago that the team had no plans of firing Shaw before season’s end, but it appears as though the team’s continued losing has changed that stance. The second-year head coach, who turns 49 in a few weeks, has been publicly critical of his players this season, one in which the Nuggets had hoped the return of several who’d missed time last year with injury would boost the club into contention for a playoff berth.

Shaw was reportedly making about $2MM a year in the second year of a three-year deal he signed when the Nuggets hired him in the summer of 2013. The pact includes an option for a fourth year, presumably belonging to the team.

The coach’s job security seemed to take a negative turn earlier this season after the Nuggets had stiff-armed a pursuit from Knicks team president Phil Jackson, who previously employed Shaw as an assistant with the Lakers. Speculation that Shaw was in danger began in November amid a 2-7 start, but a five-game winning streak brought the team back to .500. The Nuggets haven’t seen the break-even point since they were 9-9 in December, and even that wouldn’t have put the Nuggets in line for a playoff spot in the rugged Western Conference.

Shaw tried unconventional methods this season, doing away with shootarounds and even rapping pregame personnel reports, as Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald noted. Still, it wasn’t enough amid a season in which the Nuggets current roster has only Will Barton and Jameer Nelson to show for a series of trades in which the team relinquished Timofey Mozgov, Arron Afflalo, Nate Robinson, JaVale McGee and Alonzo Gee. It appears Shaw will finish his Nuggets tenure at a combined 56-85 for this season and last.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Western Notes: Allen, Grizzlies, McDaniels, Shaw

March 1st, 2015 at 9:58pm CST by Zachary Links

The Mavericks, who currently hold the sixth seed in a tight Western Conference, must improve their level of play and toughness in order to make the playoffs, opines Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. After losing two straight, the Mavericks will face the Pelicans on Monday in a game Sefko called “urgent,” given the level of competition the Mavericks play against afterward. The Mavericks play winning teams in 10 of their next 12 games.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Ray Allen will not be joining the Grizzlies, according to Ronald Tillery of the Commercial Appeal (via Twitter). Late last month, Tillery reported that Memphis was still maintaining interest in the veteran guard. Of course, at this stage, it’s not clear if Allen will sign with anyone at all. If he does come back, he apparently won’t be suiting up for the Cavs, either.
K.J. McDaniels bet on himself last summer by turning down a four-year contract from Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and instead signing for a single season, as Michael Kaskey-Blomain of Philly.com writes. Over the first portion of the season in Philly, the Clemson product was getting tons of playing time and exposure. Now with the Rockets, he’s not seeing nearly as much playing time and isn’t getting a chance to really showcase himself.
It sounds like the Nuggets players are still restless under head coach Brian Shaw. In the fourth-quarter late into Denver’s 104-82 loss to the Jazz, the team broke a huddle with the phrase, “1-2-3…six weeks!,” according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Of course, there are roughly six weeks to go in the regular season.

Will Joseph contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Shaw, Lakers, Early, Marble

February 7th, 2015 at 12:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

There is still a strong belief within the Nuggets front office that Brian Shaw can become an elite NBA coach, Chris Mannix of SI.com writes. Denver’s GM Tim Connolly also reiterated that the franchise has no intention of firing Shaw this season. In his two seasons in Denver, Shaw’s overall record is 55-77, including a fourth place finish in the Northwest Division in 2013/14.

Here’s more from the West:

Shaw admitted that the all of the trade speculation regarding the Nuggets‘ players has become a distraction to the team, Mannix adds. “When you hear your name swirling around in trade rumors, it can’t help but have an effect on most people,” Shaw said. “But I say now and I say to them, it’s something we can’t control. As a player I was traded a few times. I can say to them until I’m blue in the face that they should continue to play and control what you can on the floor, but you are still going to think about it. It’s still going to have an effect on you. But whatever happens is going to happen. It’s part of the business and we have to deal with it.”
The Knicks have recalled Cleanthony Early from their D-League affiliate in Westchester, the team has announced.
The staff over at ESPNLosAngeles.com discussed the Lakers‘ point guard situation, and the consensus was that Jordan Clarkson, whom Los Angles selected with the No. 46 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, has been a pleasant surprise this season and should factor into the Lakers’ future plans. The 22-year-old rookie out of Missouri is averaging 6.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 27 appearances, including six starts.
The latest player rankings for the 2015 NBA draft were released by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, and the updated list sees Ohio State star D’Angelo Russell shooting all the way up to the No. 2 spot. In addition, Kristaps Porzingis has dropped out of the top five for the first time this season.
Flip Saunders, the Wolves‘ president of basketball operations, said that since Minnesota’s roster is finally healthy, the team intends to send Glenn Robinson III to the D-League for seasoning, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune tweets. Minnesota has yet to assign a player to the D-League this season, as our tracker shows.
Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders examined the Lakers roster and ran down where each player stands in regard to the franchise’s future.
The Magic have recalled Devyn Marble from the Erie BayHawks, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel tweets. This concludes Marble’s second sojourn of the season to the D-League.