Around the NBA (non-Wolves talk)

[AbeVigodaLive]

Great game tonight between the Celtics and Sixers. Two young very talented teams with terrific head coaches. They will be battling in the East for years to come and both are poised to eventually compete for a championship. Both organizations have done what you need to do to be successful in the NBA -- drafting well and then sticking with and developing the players they draft to form their core. Neither organization tried taking any short cuts or complained about being too young. Neither team sold any first round picks for cash or traded future first round picks for someone like Adrienne Payne. They each had similar plans and executed those plans extremely well, showing excellent judgment and patience.

Regarding the Celtics, no doubt that Brad Stevens has done a tremendous job with the Celtics this season (and last) has been tremendous. Note the success they have running plays after timeouts. Note the positive energy exuded by their head coach. But we shouldn't overlook the job Danny Ainge has done in the front office -- drafting Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart, acquiring Horford in his prime without giving up anyone to get him, and signing Marcus Morris to a relatively cheap $5 million per year contract. Oh, forgot to mention that they signed Hayward as a FA and traded an extra 1st round pick and a damaged PG for Kyrie Irving. Whoops, forgot to mention Danny's decision to hire Brad Stevens. You don't become a championship contender by accident. Excellence on the court almost always reflects excellence in the front office -- the two go hand in hand.

A fun series that ended too soon... since the Celtics are my 2nd favorite team (pre-Wolves decision)... I'm not complaining too much. But a couple of notes:

- Nearly everybody has praised Robert Covington. And the 76ers for building him up and paying him a solid contract. He might be reason #1 the 76ers are going home. He shot 26.8% this series and was benched. And he's probably the guy the team will be looking to improve on this summer or next.
- Danny Ainge was ripped for "reaching" for Terry Rozier in the draft. And then when Rozier shot 27% as a rookie!!!... things looked even worse.

Good/bad moves one day can look a lot different the next day.

Covington had a bad series shooting. But the Sixers could easily be up 3-2 but for Simmons' terrible pass near the end of game 3 as well as Redick's missed 3 or Embiid's missed layup near the end of last night's game. Covington was obviously a huge reason the Sixers won 50 games in the regular season. Yes, players can look better or worse one day than they did the previous day, week or month. That's quite a revelation, Abe. :). But of course the best approach is to look at a player's performance season to season. In that light Covington looks good. He had a terrific season on both ends of the court, including 3-point shooting. So I'd still praise Covington and say he's worth his contract. But I wouldn't say, nor have I ever said, he's a great player.

I remember the criticism of Ainge for drafting Rozier and I remember his rookie season shooting woes. He was also criticized for taking Brown at #3. But we now know they were terrific picks - Brown after 2 seasons and Rozier after 3 seasons. The fact that Rozier is still with the Celtics further reason to credit the Celtics organization. They not only made excellent picks; they also showed patience in sticking with them and giving them the playing and coaching they needed to develop.

Don't get me wrong. I dig Covington, too. The guy leads the league in deflections and his length is incredible defensively. His shooting is "meh"... but he's done enough overall to be a legit plus player.

My point is that things are fickle. Perceptions are fickle. Heck, we have posts on this forum where several of us were ripping the 76ers fans for booing Covington mercilessly at the beginning of last season or the season before that.

Sure enough... he hit the game winner that game vs. the Wolves.

[Monster]

Great game tonight between the Celtics and Sixers. Two young very talented teams with terrific head coaches. They will be battling in the East for years to come and both are poised to eventually compete for a championship. Both organizations have done what you need to do to be successful in the NBA -- drafting well and then sticking with and developing the players they draft to form their core. Neither organization tried taking any short cuts or complained about being too young. Neither team sold any first round picks for cash or traded future first round picks for someone like Adrienne Payne. They each had similar plans and executed those plans extremely well, showing excellent judgment and patience.

Regarding the Celtics, no doubt that Brad Stevens has done a tremendous job with the Celtics this season (and last) has been tremendous. Note the success they have running plays after timeouts. Note the positive energy exuded by their head coach. But we shouldn't overlook the job Danny Ainge has done in the front office -- drafting Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart, acquiring Horford in his prime without giving up anyone to get him, and signing Marcus Morris to a relatively cheap $5 million per year contract. Oh, forgot to mention that they signed Hayward as a FA and traded an extra 1st round pick and a damaged PG for Kyrie Irving. Whoops, forgot to mention Danny's decision to hire Brad Stevens. You don't become a championship contender by accident. Excellence on the court almost always reflects excellence in the front office -- the two go hand in hand.

Boston didn't sign Morris to a deal they traded for him in a deal that now looks even better with Avery Bradly not staying healthy this season. Signing Bynes to a relatively cheap deal looks good also. It would be hilarious if people spent time ripping them for the multiple draft picks the last few years they missed on. It helps when you have so many of them.

Absolutely right that quantity of picks helps. That's why it's so idiotic to sell first round picks for cash or trade them for a player like Payne who couldn't get off the bench for a pretty bad team. The Celtics had a total of 9 first round picks from 2013 through 2017. They clearly hit on 4 of those 9 with Smart, Rozier, Brown and Tatum. To be fair, at least three of the remaining 5 are Euro-stash guys who could eventually pan out. So it can only get better. And credit the Celtics for amassing so many picks, including a pick I didn't mention that they used to get Kyrie Irving and the pick they received (a likely high lottery pick) as part of the deal that landed them Jason Tatum.

In contrast, the Wolves have had 7 first round picks in that same time frame. Here's what we got with those those picks: (1) Bazz, (2) Gorgui, (3) cash, (4) Zach LaVine, (5) KAT, (6) Dunn, and (7) Patton. I'd say we clearly hit on 1 of those 7 so far. But the jury's still out on LaVine, Dunn and Patton. Two of the three who might pan out are no longer here because Thibodeau chose a different path than the Celtics and Sixers -- choosing to accelerate things rather than develop organically or, in Embiid's words, "trust the process." It will take a couple more years to know whether Thibodeau's decision can be judged a success or failure.

So far I'd say the Celtics made better use of their 9 picks than the Wolves made of their 7 picks - even after you factor in using 2 of those picks to get Butler. But that picture could change over the next couple seasons, depending on what we see from LaVine, Dunn, Patton and the Celtcs' multiple Euro-stash picks.

You missed Tyus as a first round pick. It feels like Boston probably had more picks than that during that time. If feels like they had like 33 picks but some of those were 2nd round guys...did they hit on any of those 2nd round picks yet? I can't think of any right now. Man they suck. :)

One advantage Boston and Miami and the Sixers has for a few years was opportunity. They basically either had or set up the roster to have a bunch of spots where guys could have a chance to do something. This season Boston had some roles for young players but also injuries allowed for guys to step into large roles. Credit to Boston and the players for being ready to take it on. Notice the Sixers young guys Embiid and Simmons had some struggles in the playoffs this last series.

Now the Wolves has some stretches in a season here and there where they could have found some guys they plugged in. Payne was a trade that made sense for that reason in theory acquiring him made sense. They had an opportunity and his skill set made a lot of sense based on what the team needed. Ultimately it was a poor move but the basic idea made some sense. I would have gone with a D-league type guy instead and so would many of the other posters here. There have been reports that was a move encouraged more by Milt than Flip but who knows for sure. I like Milt but you can make a case he made some errors. I'm still a bit salty that he stretched Martin instead of just taking the hit the next year. To be fair it was probably close to a 50/50 decision of what to do there. I hate that we are still paying him over a million next season. If Glen brought in Thibs and started ripping him for different moves he made or didn't make Thibs and Layden could be nasty (None of this will happen) and tell Glen about how dumb Milt was for a couple things he did or what responsible for and Glen was going to give than guy a chance to run the franchise?!?!?! I'm being intentionally hyperbolic here but are is anyone here dying to have Milt Newton running this franchise now? Not me and I was certainly somewhat supportive of him staying on.

To me the thing the Wolves need to do is find some sort of balance at adding the right vets and also allowing and creating opportunities for younger players to make an impact. MICHAEL Russo mentioned on a recent podcast that the Wild have had multiple situations where they didn't really create the opportunity for young players to make an impact as well. I hold out hope that Thibs having both young players and vets in his system for at least a year now plus adding just the right vet in FA that he will be able and willingness to do more mixing and matching including young players. Only time will tell.

[Lipoli390]

Great game tonight between the Celtics and Sixers. Two young very talented teams with terrific head coaches. They will be battling in the East for years to come and both are poised to eventually compete for a championship. Both organizations have done what you need to do to be successful in the NBA -- drafting well and then sticking with and developing the players they draft to form their core. Neither organization tried taking any short cuts or complained about being too young. Neither team sold any first round picks for cash or traded future first round picks for someone like Adrienne Payne. They each had similar plans and executed those plans extremely well, showing excellent judgment and patience.

Regarding the Celtics, no doubt that Brad Stevens has done a tremendous job with the Celtics this season (and last) has been tremendous. Note the success they have running plays after timeouts. Note the positive energy exuded by their head coach. But we shouldn't overlook the job Danny Ainge has done in the front office -- drafting Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart, acquiring Horford in his prime without giving up anyone to get him, and signing Marcus Morris to a relatively cheap $5 million per year contract. Oh, forgot to mention that they signed Hayward as a FA and traded an extra 1st round pick and a damaged PG for Kyrie Irving. Whoops, forgot to mention Danny's decision to hire Brad Stevens. You don't become a championship contender by accident. Excellence on the court almost always reflects excellence in the front office -- the two go hand in hand.

Boston didn't sign Morris to a deal they traded for him in a deal that now looks even better with Avery Bradly not staying healthy this season. Signing Bynes to a relatively cheap deal looks good also. It would be hilarious if people spent time ripping them for the multiple draft picks the last few years they missed on. It helps when you have so many of them.

Absolutely right that quantity of picks helps. That's why it's so idiotic to sell first round picks for cash or trade them for a player like Payne who couldn't get off the bench for a pretty bad team. The Celtics had a total of 9 first round picks from 2013 through 2017. They clearly hit on 4 of those 9 with Smart, Rozier, Brown and Tatum. To be fair, at least three of the remaining 5 are Euro-stash guys who could eventually pan out. So it can only get better. And credit the Celtics for amassing so many picks, including a pick I didn't mention that they used to get Kyrie Irving and the pick they received (a likely high lottery pick) as part of the deal that landed them Jason Tatum.

In contrast, the Wolves have had 7 first round picks in that same time frame. Here's what we got with those those picks: (1) Bazz, (2) Gorgui, (3) cash, (4) Zach LaVine, (5) KAT, (6) Dunn, and (7) Patton. I'd say we clearly hit on 1 of those 7 so far. But the jury's still out on LaVine, Dunn and Patton. Two of the three who might pan out are no longer here because Thibodeau chose a different path than the Celtics and Sixers -- choosing to accelerate things rather than develop organically or, in Embiid's words, "trust the process." It will take a couple more years to know whether Thibodeau's decision can be judged a success or failure.

So far I'd say the Celtics made better use of their 9 picks than the Wolves made of their 7 picks - even after you factor in using 2 of those picks to get Butler. But that picture could change over the next couple seasons, depending on what we see from LaVine, Dunn, Patton and the Celtcs' multiple Euro-stash picks.

You missed Tyus as a first round pick. It feels like Boston probably had more picks than that during that time. If feels like they had like 33 picks but some of those were 2nd round guys...did they hit on any of those 2nd round picks yet? I can't think of any right now. Man they suck. :)

One advantage Boston and Miami and the Sixers has for a few years was opportunity. They basically either had or set up the roster to have a bunch of spots where guys could have a chance to do something. This season Boston had some roles for young players but also injuries allowed for guys to step into large roles. Credit to Boston and the players for being ready to take it on. Notice the Sixers young guys Embiid and Simmons had some struggles in the playoffs this last series.

Now the Wolves has some stretches in a season here and there where they could have found some guys they plugged in. Payne was a trade that made sense for that reason in theory acquiring him made sense. They had an opportunity and his skill set made a lot of sense based on what the team needed. Ultimately it was a poor move but the basic idea made some sense. I would have gone with a D-league type guy instead and so would many of the other posters here. There have been reports that was a move encouraged more by Milt than Flip but who knows for sure. I like Milt but you can make a case he made some errors. I'm still a bit salty that he stretched Martin instead of just taking the hit the next year. To be fair it was probably close to a 50/50 decision of what to do there. I hate that we are still paying him over a million next season. If Glen brought in Thibs and started ripping him for different moves he made or didn't make Thibs and Layden could be nasty (None of this will happen) and tell Glen about how dumb Milt was for a couple things he did or what responsible for and Glen was going to give than guy a chance to run the franchise?!?!?! I'm being intentionally hyperbolic here but are is anyone here dying to have Milt Newton running this franchise now? Not me and I was certainly somewhat supportive of him staying on.

To me the thing the Wolves need to do is find some sort of balance at adding the right vets and also allowing and creating opportunities for younger players to make an impact. MICHAEL Russo mentioned on a recent podcast that the Wild have had multiple situations where they didn't really create the opportunity for young players to make an impact as well. I hold out hope that Thibs having both young players and vets in his system for at least a year now plus adding just the right vet in FA that he will be able and willingness to do more mixing and matching including young players. Only time will tell.

OK, I stand corrected. :) We had 8 first round picks during that time frame while the Celtics had 10 (I didn't count the pick they used to get Kyrie). Actually, the Wolves had 9 if you count the first round pick we got as part of the Wiggins deal, but traded away for Thaddeus Young. But just counting the first round picks we've kept, I'd say we hit on 2 of 8 - KAT and Tyus. Yes, the Celtics had a slew of 2nd round picks. But I don't expect much success in the second round, although it would be nice to finally hit on one of those sometime.

As you can see, my criticism of the Wolves front office definitely predates Tom Thibodeau. As. Much as I liked Flip, he's the one who sold a first round pick for cash rather than using it to take Gobert. He traded the other first round pick from Cleveland for Thaddeus Young, rather than amassing more young talent for a team that was obviously in rebuild mode. And he was ultimately responsible for trading a first round pick for Payne, even if Milt Newton was the mastermind of that deal. I'm still holding out hope that Thibodeau outperforms his predecessor in his role as PBO. I have more hope for Thibs as PBO than head coach. But I don't see him as anything close to elite in either role -- at least not yet. We'll see what this next year brings.

My bottom line is this. It's not about balancing old and young. It's about the level of talent and a head coach who gets the most out of that talent. To the extent balance is the issue, it's not age or experience balance, but rather a balance of skill sets. That's what we're seeing with the Celtics and Sixers. Yes, the Celtics have Horford while the Sixers have Redick. But I'd say it's the talent of Horford and Redick that have made the difference, not so much their age or experience. And while I'll acknowledge experience can help, it's way down the list. Jordan's Bulls got better as the young guys got more and more experience. Same with the Jazz back then with Stockton and Malone. You get talent, and then that talent gets more experience. That's the best model for success. And the draft is where the best organizations, especially those not in destination cities, amass most of their top talent.

[Monster]

Lip I think it's safe to say Flip hit on Lavine even if he isn't on the roster anymore. He was clearly a significant asset in getting Butler and clearly a talent that has plenty of value around the league.

To me getting Thad Young instead of taking the draft pick wasn't the mistake Flip may have made. I think he could have easily flipped Thad for a 1st or at the very least a couple good 2nds. He could have just kept him also. Instead he traded for KG and to be honest...I think if Flip would have lived to fill out his vision having KG around probably would have been beneficial. Unfortunately it all went wrong. Thad seems like another one of these guys the Wolves dealt away that may not have been a huge difference maker but I think would have been helpful in making the organization go forward. I mean wouldn't Thad young look kinda good as the PF next to Towns? I mean not amazing but he would offer a guy that can give you a lot of what's Taj does as a guy that just does stuff you don't have to run anything for him and but he would be able to stretch the floor and push the ball. It's great that Thad has ended up in god situation at least this last year. He isn't a perfect player but he is a guy that's easy to cheer for.

In any sport talent wins out but...but fit does matter. It's not like the NFL where teams draft based on certain criteria and really some guys you pretty much don't bring to the team if they don't fit. The NBA isn't quite like that obviously you have to work with some talented guys and make it fit. The coaches system isn't and big of a deal. Now I do think as you go down the roster you should look more at fit both in terms of culture and what type of guys you want. You might also have some guys you just don't need that type of player on your team if most of your guys are healthy. I've said it a few times Thibs and or Layden have had a weird (in SOME extent in a good way) dichotomy in a few different ways. They don't give you a ton of what the vision is besides basic stuff they have said from the beginning. Some of their moves make it difficult to really get what they are trying to do. I've always thought I sort of understood what they are trying to do but I get why people don't. Because nobody understands the vision it leads to even more angst which is absolutely reasonable. If people (both fans and media) were given more direction of what exactly the vision and or process was behind some decisions I think more people would be like "ah ok I'm not sure that's the way I might do it but I get where they are going. It does make some sense" and they could get behind it to some extent saying ok this is what they want to do then we should target this player in FA etc. I actually think I'm a number of ways Thibs style of play is good for this roster. The part that doesn't fit is that Wiggins and Towns haven't gotten to be the tough dudes you kinda expect to be Thibs players. We saw some signs of Wiggins getting somewhere in the same country at times later in the season and a couple games in the playoffs. I think it will be interesting to see if those guys make a jump after playing some real tough playoff basketball.

As you have said and I agree with it all doesn't matter in the end we just want the right decisions made at a high enough rate to make this a good basketball team. Flip was like a freaking genius compared to Kahn who will always be a joke not just of this franchise but around the league. Flip didn't get everything right either but it felt like he had done enough to move us in the right direction and the vision seemed pretty clear things were coming together in some way. It's still sad we didn't get to see Flip have a chance to do more to fulfill it even though I think a lot of people had concerns about whether he was the guy to do both roles of coach and POBO.

Anyway, I think this is a summer we could see something a bit more clear about what Thibs and Layden want to do to build this team going forward. And if it's not as clear this summer hopefully some of what they do comes together around 20 games in and because of a couple players contributing we can say..."Hey I get what they were trying to do I see where this is going..." and it's a positive direction. Thibs and Layden weren't hired to come in and be sales people they were hired to do basketball things. I think as time goes on and of things go well the success will come and I think Thibs will show a little more personality. We forget sometimes that he is learning as he goes. He is getting paid a ton of money to do this but that doesn't eliminate the reality that not many people come in ready to knock the ball out of the park on all fronts with such a demanding job even if it was just POBO. I think there is still some potential of Thibs as a basketball executive and as a basketball coach for this team. Only time will tell. I tend to have some hope. It would be nice to have a bit of good fortune come our way also.

[thedoper]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

Very interesting. Yes, I think he would be an excellent addition to the Wolves...I always liked him.

Hmm...Casey improves his team by 8 wins and they finish with 59...second only to the Rockets...and loses in the playoffs to the best player in the NBA. Plus he was just named coach if the year and still had one year on his contract for $6.5 million. And he gets fired?

I have to believe Glen is mulling over some options today. Should he rehire as head coach the COY who just led his team to 59 wins?

[Monster]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

Very interesting. Yes, I think he would be an excellent addition to the Wolves...I always liked him.

Hmm...Casey improves his team by 8 wins and they finish with 59...second only to the Rockets...and loses in the playoffs to the best player in the NBA. Plus he was just named coach if the year and still had one year on his contract for $6.5 million. And he gets fired?

I have to believe Glen is mulling over some options today. Should he rehire as head coach the COY who just led his team to 59 wins?

In one capacity or another Casey will not be unemployed very long unless he actually wants to take a year off. I was just looking at the past winners of COY of the year and... some names are less exciting than others. There is a Tom Thibodeau guy that won it a few years ago so...(Mitch was a COY also) so take it for what you will. My favorite stat was Hubie Brown won the award twice. Once in 1978 and the 2nd time 26 yeas later in 2004.

[kekgeek]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

Very interesting. Yes, I think he would be an excellent addition to the Wolves...I always liked him.

Hmm...Casey improves his team by 8 wins and they finish with 59...second only to the Rockets...and loses in the playoffs to the best player in the NBA. Plus he was just named coach if the year and still had one year on his contract for $6.5 million. And he gets fired?

I have to believe Glen is mulling over some options today. Should he rehire as head coach the COY who just led his team to 59 wins?

In one capacity or another Casey will not be unemployed very long unless he actually wants to take a year off. I was just looking at the past winners of COY of the year and... some names are less exciting than others. There is a Tom Thibodeau guy that won it a few years ago so...(Mitch was a COY also) so take it for what you will. My favorite stat was Hubie Brown won the award twice. Once in 1978 and the 2nd time 26 yeas later in 2004.

Ya Casey was the fall guy because it is going to be hard to move their better players because of their contracts.

But in general coach of the year is a weird award. Here are the last 12 winners.

Sam Mitchell (out of the league)
Byron Scott (out of the league)
Mike brown (assistant coach)
Scott Brooks (Fired from that team, on hot seat currently)
Pop x2 (one of the bests)
Thibs (fired from that team, got seat now)
George Karl (out of the league)
Mike B. (Unemployment)
Dantoni (fired 3 times, with 2 complete failures, currently coaching a contender)
Kerr (didn't even coach half the games that year Walton did)
Casey (unemployment)

So 50% of the coaches no longer head coaches

I would say a lot of people think Pop, carslie, Spo, Stevens are the best coaches in the game and only one of them has recieved the reward

[Monster]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

Very interesting. Yes, I think he would be an excellent addition to the Wolves...I always liked him.

Hmm...Casey improves his team by 8 wins and they finish with 59...second only to the Rockets...and loses in the playoffs to the best player in the NBA. Plus he was just named coach if the year and still had one year on his contract for $6.5 million. And he gets fired?

I have to believe Glen is mulling over some options today. Should he rehire as head coach the COY who just led his team to 59 wins?

In one capacity or another Casey will not be unemployed very long unless he actually wants to take a year off. I was just looking at the past winners of COY of the year and... some names are less exciting than others. There is a Tom Thibodeau guy that won it a few years ago so...(Mitch was a COY also) so take it for what you will. My favorite stat was Hubie Brown won the award twice. Once in 1978 and the 2nd time 26 yeas later in 2004.

Ya Casey was the fall guy because it is going to be hard to move their better players because of their contracts.

But in general coach of the year is a weird award. Here are the last 12 winners.

Sam Mitchell (out of the league)
Byron Scott (out of the league)
Mike brown (assistant coach)
Scott Brooks (Fired from that team, on hot seat currently)
Pop x2 (one of the bests)
Thibs (fired from that team, got seat now)
George Karl (out of the league)
Mike B. (Unemployment)
Dantoni (fired 3 times, with 2 complete failures, currently coaching a contender)
Kerr (didn't even coach half the games that year Walton did)
Casey (unemployment)

So 50% of the coaches no longer head coaches

I would say a lot of people think Pop, carslie, Spo, Stevens are the best coaches in the game and only one of them has recieved the reward

Good stuff. Phil Jackson only won the award once. I mean this year there were at least 3 guys that could have won it and would have been completely deserving. I'd says it's often much less clear cut that even the MVP.

I don't get why Casey was fired but I also don't get how a guy that was the most successful coach of the franchise gets fired. I don't think he is a fall guy I think they genuinely think that someone else is the guy they need to get them to play a different way. It's not that Casey sucks but they may need someone different. It's a gamble though. If there is someone worth trusting making that decision it's their GM.

[thedoper]

Casey fired. Replacement for Brunson? Good timing I'd say.

Very interesting. Yes, I think he would be an excellent addition to the Wolves...I always liked him.

Hmm...Casey improves his team by 8 wins and they finish with 59...second only to the Rockets...and loses in the playoffs to the best player in the NBA. Plus he was just named coach if the year and still had one year on his contract for $6.5 million. And he gets fired?

I have to believe Glen is mulling over some options today. Should he rehire as head coach the COY who just led his team to 59 wins?

In one capacity or another Casey will not be unemployed very long unless he actually wants to take a year off. I was just looking at the past winners of COY of the year and... some names are less exciting than others. There is a Tom Thibodeau guy that won it a few years ago so...(Mitch was a COY also) so take it for what you will. My favorite stat was Hubie Brown won the award twice. Once in 1978 and the 2nd time 26 yeas later in 2004.

Ya Casey was the fall guy because it is going to be hard to move their better players because of their contracts.

But in general coach of the year is a weird award. Here are the last 12 winners.

Sam Mitchell (out of the league)
Byron Scott (out of the league)
Mike brown (assistant coach)
Scott Brooks (Fired from that team, on hot seat currently)
Pop x2 (one of the bests)
Thibs (fired from that team, got seat now)
George Karl (out of the league)
Mike B. (Unemployment)
Dantoni (fired 3 times, with 2 complete failures, currently coaching a contender)
Kerr (didn't even coach half the games that year Walton did)
Casey (unemployment)

So 50% of the coaches no longer head coaches

I would say a lot of people think Pop, carslie, Spo, Stevens are the best coaches in the game and only one of them has recieved the reward

Good stuff. Phil Jackson only won the award once. I mean this year there were at least 3 guys that could have won it and would have been completely deserving. I'd says it's often much less clear cut that even the MVP.

I don't get why Casey was fired but I also don't get how a guy that was the most successful coach of the franchise gets fired. I don't think he is a fall guy I think they genuinely think that someone else is the guy they need to get them to play a different way. It's not that Casey sucks but they may need someone different. It's a gamble though. If there is someone worth trusting making that decision it's their GM.

No coach is getting Toronto out of that hole. They're almost as cursed a franchise as us. If they do show interest in Wiggins I hope the Wolves wait a few years until they're totally rebuilding and can offer some decent draft picks.