The offseason is generally a time of hope and optimism for teams. It is the time when rosters are constructed and draftees begin to tantalize their respective teams with what they have to offer on the Summer League court and on the practice floor. It is also a time when every team is still undefeated and dreaming of a championship run. Of course, the moment the regular season tips off, all bets are off and reality quickly sets in for the “also rans” around the NBA. The first person to shoulder the blame when things go poorly is usually the team’s head coach. It’s far easier for teams to replace one man than to overhaul a roster while in the midst of an 82 game campaign. Whether this is fair or not is up for debate, but it is the reality that all professional coaches face.
It’s with this in mind that I segue to the question of the day: Who will be the first head coach to be issued his walking papers during the 2015/16 season?
Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions on who you believe will be the first coach to get some unexpected free time next season, and why. We look forward to what you have to say.
Dwane Casey will be the first to go.
The Raptors front office didn’t hire him. They’ve been middling to good, but shown little improvement. If they have a rough start, especially with the addition of an expensive offseason addition like Demarre Carrol, he’ll be axed.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Terry Stotts and Jeff Hornacek go. The former is now part of a franchise that’s in turnaround, and if the locker room turns against him due to a down year, he’s gone. The latter due to impatience on the part of the front office, and gradually declining returns after a great rookie coaching year.
I think you’re spot on about Casey. They left him dangling there for about a week after the season without affirming that he would be back for 2015/16. Even though the likelihood was that he would retain his job throughout that limbo period, his job security going into next season is tenuous, indeed.
I don’t think Neil Olshey’s trigger finger is itchy enough for Stotts to go. He’s too well-respected, and the expectations aren’t really going to be that high. If Stotts goes, it would be because he would resign, and not because he’d be fired. You’re right about the impatience at the ownership level in Phoenix, though. Robert Sarver is ready to win. Really, I think Hornacek deserves an extension, but that he hasn’t gotten one this summer speaks volumes.
Steve Clifford
A Coach of the Year candidate in 2014, but you’re right. If removing Lance Stephenson from the team doesn’t fix what ails it, Clifford will be in jeopardy, rightly or wrongly.
The first coach fired will be George Karl…. that being said I want to point out that I am very disappointed in the article moderators here on hoopsrumors. I recently watched as news broke all over the internet about Amare Stoudemire first meeting with, then signing with the Heat. Until late last night, the only word of it on here was a blub in a Mavs article. Although this is not a huge deal on the grand scheme of things.. it makes me wonder what other news they pick and choose to report.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the original timestamp on this article: link to hoopsrumors.com …which was at 10:53pm last night. It had all the details of the negotiations up to that point.
Yes that was my point… Hoopsrumors did not mention it until last night.. more than 24 hours after at least 10 highly credible reporters were reporting it on Twitter. I wouldn’t expect to see it on ESPN or SI until last night.. but I come here to check the absolute latest news/rumors going on. When I saw all heat beat reporters, and many national reporters talking about it, when Hoopsrumors was not.. it made me question which other news the ignore.
If you notice.. I also mention on that article my issue with hoopsrumors not reporting it for 24 hours.
I think if the Stoudemire news had broken at any other time of the year, we would have given it more prominence. But when you have dozens of signings becoming official, many more agreements being struck for the first time, multiple trades and a heavy dose of rumored moves, not to mention reaction and fallout from all of the above, you can only give any story so much play. Lots of players have met with teams in the past week. Amar’e Stoudemire hasn’t averaged as many as 24 minutes per game in any of the past three seasons. He used to be a major star, but that’s not the case today. If he were still a major star, we probably would have had more coverage of his meeting. Even so, I can respect and understand the view that we still should have given it more coverage. It’s a subjective business, after all.
Ultimately, we make literally hundreds, if not thousands, of coverage decisions at busy times of the year, and we have to make them within seconds. We’re not going to make the right call 100% of the time, but I feel confident that we connect on a percentage that’s high enough to serve our readership well. If our coverage of this story has disappointed you, I deeply regret it, but I can assure you that we are doing all that we can to cover stories as accurately and as appropriately as possible.
I thank you for your reponses.. maybe its my personal view of a media Miami bias that still gets to me.
Eddie Scarito wrote an article (the one I mentioned) that said the Clippers and Mavericks both “had interest” in signing Amare.. then ended the sentence saying “Stoudemire is also strongly considering the Heat, Zwerling adds”…. in fact, when that was published it was already being reported on other sites that Amare was already “close” to a deal with the Heat. As a miami sports fan I have seen things like that happen for years.. and it just bugs me.
BTW… gotta take a small issue with your critique of Amare’s importance (strictly on a basketball note).. He averaged 23.5 and 8 per 36 minutes last year. He may not be able to play 40 minutes a night because of his knee’s.. but the guy is still just as efficient as he ever was.
I think at his peak efficiency he was better, since at one point, he was playing as well as anyone in the game. But he is effective in the minutes he gets, I’ll certainly grant you that. He significantly improves the team’s depth.
In any case, I can’t speak to what other sites may have had at any specific time, but if we were amiss in any way, I do regret it. What I can tell you definitively is that we don’t in any way intend bias or one-sided portrayal of the news. That would take effort that we’d much rather focus elsewhere.
lionel hollins
Interesting choice. The team is tightening its belt financially, so the degree of difficulty is getting tougher there.