Talk about your lack of job security. There are bowling alley pin-setters, carbon-papermakers, celebrities’ boyfriends and NBA coaches.
Not to be outdone by the NFL, which seemed to fire most of its coaches Monday, the NBA offered the first sacrifice on its coaching pyre Tuesday when the Seattle SuperSonics burned coach Bob Weiss 30 games into his first season.
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This actually is the second coaching change this season after Stan Van Gundy resigned in Miami and was replaced by Shaquille O’Neal, er, Pat Riley.
This could be only the beginning for a league that prides itself on talented stars and coaches being paid not to work.
Most organizations have a few such coaches on the books. The Bulls, for instance, are working their way through paying Tim Floyd and Bill Cartwright.
There were 10 new coaches in the NBA this season, including Weiss, and three others, George Karl, Avery Johnson and Mike Fratello, starting their first full seasons after replacing fired coaches during last season.
Bulls coach Scott Skiles is third in seniority in the Eastern Conference in his second full season. He was hired only months after veterans Eddie Jordan and Rick Carlisle, now in their third full seasons.
Only seven NBA coaches have been with their teams longer than Skiles and, in perhaps the ultimate sign of instability, only three teams have coaches who have been with their teams longer than the Los Angeles Clippers’ Mike Dunleavy.
Yes, in this NBA, the Clippers and owner Donald Sterling represent stability.
More change could be coming. Sacramento’s Rick Adelman, in his eighth and seemingly last season as a lame duck, has been mentioned as the next coach to go. Just who replaces all these coaches remains uncertain, but anxious owners with underachieving teams and bloodied balance sheets are ready to serve up coaches without a well done.
Insiders indicate Sonics owner Howard Schultz ordered the firing of Weiss and the equally restless Maloof brothers, who run the Kings, figure to be running out of patience as well with their last-place team. Having traded Chris Webber, Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson, lost Vlade Divac to free agency and sustained injuries to new recruits, it seems only natural to fire the coach.
With almost half the league’s coaches being replaced within the last year, it seems unlikely there will be another massive pileup on the coaching highway this season. Among those who could fall under the wheels of change are:
– Houston’s Jeff Van Gundy. As one wag said, perhaps he would like to spend more time with his brother’s family. Although the Rockets have been riddled with major injuries, they play a gruesome, slowdown game even when they are whole that has alienated fans and left Van Gundy a quivering wreck constantly berating his team.
– Boston’s Doc Rivers. Amid changing lineups and players speaking out, it is a casual-playing team among the poorest in defense and seemingly with little identity or motivation.
– Charlotte’s Bernie Bickerstaff. He is general manager, too, and he always has said he’s going to kick himself upstairs someday. It soon may be time to punt.
– Golden State’s Mike Montgomery. Any big losing streak could doom him. The Warriors have had high expectations and are two games above .500, but they don’t defend much and have an untamed offense of offensive three-point shooters seemingly out of control.
– Toronto’s Sam Mitchell. Always a possibility with a last-place team. He has calmed down from his rages of last season, but having little talent doesn’t save a coach’s job.
– Atlanta’s Mike Woodson. Another nice guy, like Weiss, who seems like a Peter Principle victim, promoted above his competency level.
– New York’s Larry Brown. Nah, not quite yet. But it may not be long the way things are going with the Knicks. Now is that the 20th or 21st new rotation?
Weiss, a pleasant man and former Bull who was so agreeable even Dick Motta liked him, was replaced–for the time being–by Bob Hill, who previously coached the Knicks, Pacers and Spurs and, most recently, Fordham. Hill takes over a Seattle team that is here Wednesday night to play the Bulls.
The SuperSonics are the NBA’s poorest defensive team, allowing a league-worst 105.2 points per game and allowing opponents to shoot 49.8 percent. They could make John Salley look like Reggie Miller. The Sonics have held a team below 100 points just once in the last 12 games. Even Tyson Chandler may want to get back from a sprained ankle to face them.
“[Schultz] and I agreed a change needed to be made to serve as a catalyst for elevating the performance of our team, and the timing is right for us today,” general manager Rick Sund said in a statement.
Actually, Weiss was probably considered little more than a caretaker in transition when Nate McMillan left to coach Portland after Seattle’s division-winning run last season. A longtime assistant who had head-coaching stints with the Hawks, Spurs and Clippers but hadn’t run a team in almost 12 years, Weiss was the popular choice of players who said McMillan had been too tough on them. Weiss wasn’t tough at all, and the Sonics’ players responded in kind.
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Hey, no big deal. They didn’t lose their jobs.
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