From 1987 to 2014, a span covering 28 NBA seasons, only eight different head coaches have won world championships.
Let that sink in. In a league that goes through coaches like the Duggars go through diapers, eight coaches have rings to show for almost three decades of competition. Pat Riley won his handful with both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. Chuck Daly and his Bad Boys went back-to-back for his two titles. Phil Jackson nabbed his 11 with the Chicago Bulls and the Lakers. Rudy Tomjanovich stole a couple while Michael Jordan was playing baseball. Gregg Popovich just sized up his fifth ring, while Erik Spoelstra is left with just two. Sprinkle in single rings from Larry Brown (Detroit) and Rick Carlisle (Dallas) and the list is complete.
That is it. 28 years worth of basketball and the scene had been dominated by eight men, six if you throw out Brown and Carlisle. No wonder team owners have been recycling coaches faster than they can say monopoly. Everyone wants a piece of the action.
All of that brings us to the end of the 2012-2013 NBA season. While Popovich and Spoelstra were duking it out in the Finals, a record 12 head coaches were let go by NBA teams. Half of those led their respective teams to the Playoffs, including George Karl, whose Denver Nuggets won a team record 57 games, and Lionel Hollins, who won 56 games with the Memphis Grizzlies and led them to the Western Conference Finals. However, neither could get his team to the Finals, which is the equivalent to failure in today's NBA.
The 2013-2014 season saw Mike D'Antoni and Mike Brown (both fired) and Rick Adelman (retired) all leave their spots on the bench. Maurice Cheeks was axed by Detroit mid-season. Mike Woodson (not a good coaching year for guys named Mike) was also canned, by Phil Jackson no less. And Mark Jackson (close to Mike) was also let go by the Golden State Warriors. At least he had a broadcasting career to fall back on.
Consider this. After the two-year shake-up (18 coaches were shown the door), the longest tenured head men in the league right now are Popovich (18 years), Spoelstra (6), Carlisle (6), and Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks (6). To replace Adelman, Flip Saunders left his front office post with the Timberwolves and brought his 16 years of coaching experience with him. Stan Van Gundy and his nine years of bench time take over in Detroit. And Doc Rivers just finished his tenth year with both the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Clippers. Beyond the members of that group, no other NBA head coach has more than four years of longevity.
What's more, NBA head coaches are not being allowed a whole lot of time to turn things around. Frankly, front office brass want championships like Miami and San Antonio, and they are over zealous in that desire. Historically, the odds are against most teams outside of a select few to hoist the trophy.
But there is a sliver of hope for the "other" teams. The 2014 Playoffs brought fans a form of early-round parity unbeknownst to them before. There were a record five seven-game series in the first round of the playoffs, including three game 7s played on the same day. Even the champion Spurs were stretched to the limit by the Dallas Mavericks before waking themselves up to run the table. Such parity provides hope for teams who have not made any serious noise in recent years.
All of this condenses down to four recent coaching hires: Jason Kidd at Brooklyn; Steve Kerr with Golden State; Derek Fisher at New York; and David Blatt in Cleveland. (There might possibly be a fifth, depending on who the Lakers choose to run their team.)
Never before has so much been expected of such a green crew of coaches. While Blatt brings international experience and success with him from Europe, there is no guarantee that his style will translate to success in the NBA. His European teams resembled much of what the Spurs put on display in the Playoffs, and such a philosophy appears to be the wave of the future. But will his ownership in Cleveland be willing to see the transition through?
Kidd, who struggled with chemistry and injuries to his aging team, and with his own immaturity, was able to salvage some success with the Nets, although the team was built specifically to beat the Heat, and failed. Looking ahead to next season, will Kidd be able to Band-Aid together his aged core to make another playoff push?
Kerr makes the jump from the announcing booth (where he definitely talked a great game) to the bench to take over a Warriors squad that has either under or over achieved, depending on which source you talk to. Steph Curry is a true star in the NBA, and his supporting cast is stellar. But without a defensive mentality, Golden State will amount to nothing more than the D'Antoni coached Phoenix Suns: fun to look but never a threat to harm anyone. Kerr is charged with turning up the D while keeping his foot on the O gas pedal.
As for Fisher, he was the hand-picked selection of Knicks' president Phil Jackson. Fresh out of a player's uniform, Fisher will be charged with implementing the vaunted Triangle in New York while trying to lead the Knicks to places not seen since Patrick Ewing was holding court in the Garden. Oh, and it looks as though Fisher will do so without Carmelo Anthony. No big deal, right?
Such bold moves and risk taking beg an intriguing question: Is the allure of championships a reality for these new coaches and their impatient owners, or is it just fool's gold?
Please read parts one, two, and three of this five part series, The State Of The NBA.