Being an NBA coach does not fall under the category of careers with a ton of job security. Already this season, we’ve seen a coach get booted after leading the team to a 30-13 record, and most recently, another coach — Jacque Vaughn — lose his job just a year after signing a contract extension with the team. It’s always about the here and now when it comes to NBA coaching jobs, and if the team isn’t performing the way management wants, or if something like, in Vaughn’s case, a 50-point loss right before the All-Star break happens, they are quick to pull the rug from under you and move on to the next thing.
There’s only a finite number of coaches in the league who have true job security, guys like Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr, but everyone else has to keep proving their worth regardless of what major or minor success they’ve had with their respective teams.
As the league returns from the All-Star break, and as the third coaching change of the season happened with the Nets parting ways with Vaughn, now’s a good time to look at what coaches could be next on the chopping block as we enter the home stretch of the season.
The Pistons weren’t expected to be playoff contenders this season, but gosh, you’d think they’d be better than 8-46 at the All-Star break given all the young, lottery draft talent they have on the roster. Williams is partially responsible for that, with questionable rotation decisions from the onset of when he took the job. He was insistent on starting Killian Hayes over Jaden Ivey, the latter of whom had a standout rookie season a year ago, and next to Cade Cunningham, he is the most capable guard on the roster. Ivey adapted to the bench role, but it was clear he deserved a starting backcourt spot. Hayes, meanwhile, had shown little to deserve the kind of faith Williams had in him, and it finally came to a head at the trade deadline when the Pistons waived the former seventh pick overall so that there would be no option for Williams to play him going forward.
While the Pistons hired Williams on the…
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