In the last month or so, it seems like the NBA executives are playing musical chairs with the coaches. We see established coaches on hot seats and fired after failing to bring home the chip. Now the coaches are just waiting for the music to stop and see which team they will end up on. It is a scary sight to see, dating back to beginning of this season, we now see three Championship coach in the last 5 years fired. Only a limited amount of organizations have stood by their coaches through the contending and rebuilding years. With Coach Pop, Spo, Kerr being the longest tenured coaches in the league. The above mentioned coaches went through contending years and missing playoffs, yet the brass of the organization stuck with them mainly because of the culture they have embedded within the organization.
Coach Pop had the Spurs transition seamlessly from the Big Three era to Kawhi and Murray- no matter what other role players are on the roster they seem to always find a way to the playoffs.
Coach Spo went through Heatles era, and had the Heat competing with players coming and going post-Heatles. This culture is engrained within the organization and it’s evident that it’s working with 3 Eastern Conference Appearances in the last 4 years- with many undrafted players in the rotation.
Coach Kerr begin his coaching career along the start of the Warriors dynasty(more on that next article), withstood a couple years of injuries to its core players - yet the system is in place to make it work with young players developing during the down years and it paid off with a championship last year.
There are many established coaches in the league and have accomplished great feats. Has the organizations been too quick to pull the plug after one disappointing season? What are your thoughts?