Thus far in the 2014-2015 NBA season three head coaches have lost their jobs. Mike Malone, formerly the Kings head coach, led the way followed by Orlando’s release of Jacque Vaughn, and most recently Brian Shaw in Denver. George Karl quickly filled the Kings’ coaching hole, but Orlando and Denver stay committed to their interim head coaches for the rest of the season. Along with the two obvious head coaching vacancies that need to be filled this offseason, which other teams could move on and look for a new head coach?
4. Orlando Magic
Starting with the most obvious, the Orlando Magic. Orlando fired head coach Jacque Vaughn early in February after not showing enough improvement in his two years with the team. The Magic couldn’t land George Karl because he wouldn’t want to come to Orlando, and thus decided to end their short-lived coaching search. Now under interim head coach James Borrego, the Magic still look the same as they did in February… bad.
So which available coaches would want to come in to a losing franchise that’s lacking identity? Mike Malone wouldn’t be a bad start. He’s the son of former Orlando Magic assistant coach Brendan Malone. Mike Malone was let go by the Sacramento Kings after a “promising” 11-13 start, especially considering DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings’ best player, was sidelined for most of those games.
Malone’s best attribute is his ability to adapt to his personnel. During this year’s short stint with the Kings, Malone’s philosophy was to play at a deliberate pace through DeMarcus Cousins, attack the boards and get to the free throw line.
The Kings weren’t blowing away teams with their defensive statistics (ranked 26th in defensive efficiency) or on offense (ranked 20th in offensive efficiency), but Mike Malone was able to bring out career-best performances from Cousins and Rudy Gay.
Malone, very similar to Jacque Vaughn in that they struggle with their rotations, could serve as another short-term coach useful for developing young talent and squeezing every last drop of effort out of players.
3. Denver Nuggets
Any chance George Karl walks away from the Kings for a mile-high city reunion? If you’re a Nuggets fan don’t get your hopes up. Brian Shaw was not a bad coach, but his semi-triangle offense never meshed with the personnel on the team. Combine that with three injury plagued seasons, and it’s no surprise Shaw couldn’t produce at a high level. Shaw lost control of his team and it showed with the “1-2-3 six weeks!” chant following a game against the Utah Jazz. So who is the best candidate to take over this Nuggets squad? How about Mike D’Antoni?
You might be thinking, Mike D’Antoni? That Pringles logo looking guy? Yes, that is exactly who I’m talking about. The same Mike D’Antoni that was last seen being booted out the door of the Staples Center in L.A. after being mistakenly hired instead of Phil Jackson. It wasn’t D’Antoni’s fault his last stint with the Lakers didn’t work out. He was brought in right after the Lakers fired their previous coach because he didn’t live up to expectations after four games… FOUR GAMES! The players, fans, and just about everyone else in the world thought the Lakers were then going to hire Phil Jackson as the new coach, but then owner Jim Buss pulled a fast one and hired Mike D’Antoni. D’Antoni was a hated man from the second he touched foot on the soil of Los Angeles.
Many forget that before D’Antoni had to manage the space bound egos of Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony on the Knicks, D’Antoni was the 2004-2005 Coach of the Year with the Phoenix Suns. In his five years with the Suns, D’Antoni had only one year under 50 wins (his first year in 2003-2004).
D’Antoni is a great coach when he has the right players on the team. With D’Antoni’s rapid run-and-gun offense he needs a team loaded with 3-point shooters, an athletic frontline, and savvy, high basketball IQ point guard. Phoenix had Leandro Barbosa, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion and Amar’e Stoudemire led by the recently retired Steve Nash. The Nuggets have a fitting roster with 3-point shooters Gary Harris, Danilo Gallinari, and Wilson Chandler. They have athletic big men in Kenneth Faried and Jusuf Nurkic, and a savvy, high basketball IQ point guard in Ty Lawson.
Visiting teams already have trouble playing in the high altitude of Denver, but combine that with D’Antoni’s fast pace offense teams will struggle to keep up.
2. Chicago Bulls
It’s more than just a rumor now that executives in Chicago and some players think current Bulls head coach, Tom Thibodeau, is overworking the players. Jimmy Butler has been in the top-2 in minutes per game for the past two years. A Bulls player has been in the top-4 in minutes per game since the 2010-2011 season. It’s no surprise that the Bulls have had their fair share of injuries over Thibodeau’s tenure, and some believe his overworking nature may lead to his firing this offseason.
The difference between hiring a coach for the Bulls and hiring a coach for the Orlando Magic or the Denver Nuggets is that the Chicago Bulls are a winning team and they aren’t going to want to start over. The Bulls would have to bring in a veteran coach with playoff experience, and that list is not very long. The best choice for the Bulls would be Nate McMillan.
Nate McMillan has 11-and-a-half years of coaching experience with the Sonics and the Trail Blazers under his belt. McMillan won 41 or more games in seven of those years. McMillan is currently the associate head coach for the Indiana Pacers, and also serves as an assistant coach for Team USA.
Like Thibs, Nate McMillan is a defense-oriented coach. From 2008-2011 the Blazers were a Top 10 scoring defense in the NBA. In the 2009 and 2010 seasons the Blazers were a Top 5 defense in the NBA.
On offense, McMillan is huge on the pick and roll. LaMarcus Aldridge was molded into the superstar he is today through the pick and roll offense. Aldridge was paired with the savvy Andre Miller on the pick and roll at the time, and elite playmaker on the outside, Brandon Roy.
The Bulls have two exceptional pick and roll players in Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol. If Derrick Rose can come back and serve as a facilitator on the offense, rising star Jimmy Butler can be the playmaker from the wing.
Nate McMillan already has experience working with Derrick Rose from his work with Team USA. Already having a connection with one of the Bulls’ locker room leaders would make his transition as head coach even easier.
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder haven’t improved since their NBA Finals appearance in 2011-2012. Scott Brooks’ record has steadily decreased since the 2012-2013 season. Sure, you can blame it on untimely injuries or the loss of James Harden, but Scott Brooks isn’t developing his young players and relies heavily on production from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. That’s fine to rely on your superstars, everyone does, but as a coach you need to develop the talent around them so they can contribute and alleviate some of the stresses of your superstars.
Shutting down Kevin Durant for the rest of the season may be a ploy by the coaching staff for the Thunder to miss the playoffs and head into the lottery. If the Thunder don’t make the playoffs then Scott Brooks should be fired. Firing Scott Brooks may not initially sit well with the players, but much like the Bulls, if you bring in the right coach everything will be forgiven.
A good option to replace Scott Brooks that hasn’t been mentioned is Mike Brown. Brown had an incredible run as coach of the Cavs the first time around winning 272 out of 410 games in five seasons. Brown is an exceptional defensive-minded coach, and if the right assistants surround him his Princeton style offense could work with the Thunder. Brown is also a great motivator; a coach that can get a lot of effort out of a roster that might be lacking in many areas. In his first stint with Cleveland, outside of LeBron James those teams didn’t have any other great players, but night after night everyone competed at an incredibly high level.
Outside of Mike Brown, Mike Malone would also be an extremely great fit with the Oklahoma City Thunder for all of the reasons mentioned above. Maybe there is a possibility of a Mike Brown, Mike Malone combo in OKC. That Mike and Mike would be much easier to watch than the other Mike and Mike that air early mornings on a certain four-letter network.
