NBA Coach of the Year Update

Lionel Hollins (Nets) is now officially out of the running for Coach of the Year. He wasn't high on my list anyway but this firing is just an example of how awful the Nets organization is from top to bottom. They get to all tell themselves that Hollins was the problem, while paying him to not coach their team. GM Billy King has been according to differing reports either 'fired' or 're-assigned'. Yeah, King deserves to go, he's the real architect of this travesty. I'd prefer to think of Hollins as a mercy killing, now he's freed up to pursue a better job.

Other coaches that feel like they'll be gone by summer: Jeff Hornacek (Suns), Dave Joerger (Grizzlies), Randy Wittman (Wizards), Byron Scott (Lakers). Hornacek seems to be a goner amidst the turmoil in Phoenix but none of the turmoil is his fault and after Markieff gets moved, perhaps he'll have a chance to quietly get the team moving in the right direction again. It feels to me like Joerger is actually having a pretty good year in Memphis but the team is naturally eroding and the coach is probably the easiest deck chair to re-arrange, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him go even if they make the playoffs. I've long thought Wittman has been overly maligned but this year it feels he's being quite properly maligned; maybe the Wizards just aren't as good as we think they should be or maybe they are and Wittman is holding them back. If they don't make the playoffs, I'd be real surprised to see Wittman back next year. Scott is only in LA to collect hefty paychecks to tally L's on his resume. When the team is ready to be good again, Scott won't be invited along for the ride and since I think they'll be ready to move this summer, Scott will absolutely positively not be back next season.

Others that seems perpetually on the hot seat: Casey (Raptors), Clifford (Hornets), Karl (Kings), Fisher (Knicks). The Raptors are playing pretty good right now but if/when they turn sour, I expect Casey to get run without hesitation...or they make a deep run and he wins Coach of the Year....you know, one or the other. I don't care for the Hornets roster as much as some pundits so I'm not sure if Clifford gets blamed for their mediocrity or if he's juiced in enough to carry on; I don't have a real sense of the job he's doing but I feel like he be canned at any moment. George Karl seems like a man who keeps a suitcase packed at all times and whether the team gets tired of him or vice versa, he could be out of town with a quickness. But he is well paid and I'm not feeling a lot of guys beating down the door to get into the Sacramento sanitarium, so I reckon as long as he's feeling those paychecks, he'll hang around. Fisher, like Clifford, is another guy that I don't have any particular feel for but I feel like he can be replaced quickly and bloodlessly. Maybe he stays, maybe he goes, but I can't help thinking he's just biding his time til someone more intriguing comes available.

And of course the Rockets and Wolves are under interim care at the moment, seems like they'll be looking to hire in the off-season. And for Minnesota I'll make a suggestion: Jeff Hornacek. The Suns front office has mangled most everything over the last 3 years and though the Suns have (arguably) underwhelmed on the court, I can't help thinking that none of that is Hornacek's fault. I still think back to his marvelous rookie season as opposed to the troubling follow-up years. Sam Mitchell has a great rapport with the youngsters but we've seen enough to know that he's not much a of a game manager and they will surely be looking to replace him. I really love the vibe the Wolves have at the moment and I think with the right coach they can be good sooner rather than later. I think they'd be better off getting the right coach rather than some big name coach. With Hornacek the Wolves could keep Mitchell as an assistant, preserve the parts of the Mitchell regime that work and replace the parts that don't work rather than overhauling everything with some big name (re: Thibodeau or Mark Jackson) that'll turn everything upside down. Mitchell isn't the perfect guy but he's not a total disaster either, keep him on board in the place where he can be effective and get an X's and O's guy to run the team on a daily basis. (And how about Kevin McHale as GM to go with him?)

The Rockets, on the other hand, they need an overhaul, they need a big name guy (re:Thibodeau or Jackson), as opposed to a youngster getting his feet wet (like young Mr. Bickerstaff). This year is all about Harden, Howard and whoever else getting on the same page, not really who the coach is. Next year, though, will be a time for a culture change. Bickerstaff should have a nice run with this team but I doubt he'll be back next year. (Might he be the right guy for the Wizards next year?)

As for the actual Coach of the Year candidates...well, I mean, its Popovich right? The best coach in basketball has remolded his shifting roster into yet another efficient machine of basketball destruction. Who else is even worth mentioning? Steve Kerr hasn't actually coached a game yet and he's got the exact team he just won a championship with--if anything, they've shown they don't even need a coach. So unless some team really blows up in the next 6-10 weeks (Raptors? Pacers? Rockets?), how can they even be a discussion about Coach of the Year? I mean, I just use it as a framework for the coaches on the the hot seat.