<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">When you have fewer teams that have kept their coach (12) than teams that have changed the coach (17) since last April, which equates to a span of just nine months, you are left with the two words my editors love to hear. Problem is, changing coaches in the NBA is more than a trend. It's become a sport unto itself. And it's not easily explainable, because no sport anywhere has ever seen turnover like this. Not even in Jason Williams' Sacramento days. We'll try to explain it anyway, after surveying some coaches and executives over the past few days. The five freshest justifications in circulation are: 1. The One Move Away Theory. Fourteen of the 17 coaching changes since last season have occurred in the East, where many teams have operated on the premise that they're One Move Away from a trip to the NBA Finals. One successful trade, according to the theory, is all it takes to win big in a conference lacking dominant big men. It appears that the theory now applies to coaches. Changing coaches is easier than making trades and teams will try anything they can to find a spark. 2. The Eric Musselman Effect. Players (and trades) are more expensive than ever, and the threat of paying luxury tax scares almost every owner. Owners, though, like the idea of a young coach -- who can't command Phil Jackson money -- coming in and shaking things up, like Musselman did in Golden State. That's why, especially in the East, we've seen several coaches hired in the Musselman/Jeff Bzdelik mode: Milwaukee's Terry Porter, Toronto's Kevin O'Neill, Philadelphia's Randy Ayers, now Lawrence Frank in New Jersey and even Tim Floyd, who was resuscitated by New Orleans without much leverage. The risk, of course, is that most of those guys are unproven as NBA coaches, which will require further changes if they don't succeed like Musselman did ... and like Porter is now with the surprising Bucks. 3. The Joe Dumars Effect. Dumars had the guts to fire Rick Carlisle after back-to-back 50-win seasons and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals -- in the face of loud public protest -- because Dumars didn't want to miss out on the availability of Larry Brown. It has been suggested that rival teams, as a result, are more willing to act decisively, no matter what the reaction is.</div> <div align="center">Link </div>
Veeeerry Interesting stuff! Eric Musselman is so awesome. What he's done for the Warriors is just incredible. As to the firing of head coaches... who really cares? We pay to watch the players play... not to see who's on the sidelines. Okay, sure, the coaches have an affect on the players. But, yeah, I really think it's still up to the players. A coach can only do so much, the rest is up to the players to apply themselves and put on a good show.
I like the Starbucks Principal. Its so true in all major sports where its 2 years and out. It's a shame that some of these coaches are not given the time/leverage to develop their teams. The fans have had an affect also. "Off with his head" if they don't get their banner quick fast and in a hurry. Oh well. That's life in the big city. If they can't cut it, go back to NCAA!
