By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-06-05 01:45:25
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
本赛季出现了一些令人震惊的教练解雇/退休事件，但谁在取代他们更令人惊讶。
在NBA的赛季周期中，出现一些教练变动并不罕见，但这些变动通常发生在那些战绩垫底或者试图取悦球星以避免迫在眉睫的动荡的球队中。但自12月以来，已经发生了六次教练变动，而且都在某种程度上令人惊讶，因为他们似乎不符合上述标准。这些变动都来得猝不及防，其中一半是赛季中发生的，而且都是名气很大的教练，人们认为他们的工作相当稳固——或者我们曾经这么认为：
- 迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown)，萨克拉门托国王队——2024年12月被解雇
- 泰勒·詹金斯 (Taylor Jenkins)，孟菲斯灰熊队——2025年3月被解雇
- 迈克·马龙 (Mike Malone)，丹佛掘金队——2025年4月被解雇
- 迈克·布登霍尔泽 (Mike Budenholzer)，菲尼克斯太阳队——2025年4月被解雇
- 格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich)，圣安东尼奥马刺队——2025年5月退休
- 汤姆·锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau)，纽约尼克斯队——2025年5月被解雇
当然，我们都知道波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 退休的原因（中风），但上述被解雇的五位教练，没有一位是在本赛季开始前被认为帅位不稳的。国王、太阳、掘金和尼克斯都打进了2023-24赛季的季后赛，而灰熊队可以用贾·莫兰特 (Ja Morant) 的闹剧以及一连串的伤病作为借口，以至于他们有时不得不派出一支发展联盟级别的阵容，甚至在某些情况下都在担心他们是否能满足任何一场比赛至少有7名激活球员的最低要求。
对于2024-25赛季来说，可以说这五支球队中的四支在不同程度上都未能达到预期——当然是太阳队，其次是国王、灰熊和掘金——但有多少是由于场外原因造成的，比如糟糕的阵容管理（这通常可以归咎于管理层）或者与其他球队领袖的冲突或不满的球员？太阳队可能最令人失望，但布登霍尔泽 (Mike Budenholzer) 教练接手的是一套有缺陷的阵容，其中有心怀不满、漠不关心的球星，而且他几乎没有机会来解决这个问题。在他们被解雇后，有传言称布朗 (Mike Brown)、詹金斯 (Taylor Jenkins)、马龙 (Mike Malone) 和布登霍尔泽 (Mike Budenholzer) 也都面临着类似的冲突。
即使你可以为解雇这四位教练找到理由，尽管布朗 (Mike Brown)、詹金斯 (Taylor Jenkins) 和马龙 (Mike Malone) 都带领他们的球队达到了球队近期历史上新的或罕见的高度，但锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau) 被解雇是最令人震惊的。他刚刚带领他的球队在本世纪首次进入东部决赛，所以他们转身就解雇了他？尼克斯队在声明中的理由是他们想要赢得总冠军，所以他们暗示他们觉得他无法带领他们达到目标，但事情真的这么简单吗，或者背后还有我们尚不知道的更多内幕？（与詹姆斯·多兰 (James Dolan)、里克·布伦森 (Rick Brunson) 等人的冲突。）这也可能只是“尼克斯式的操作”，对于这个俱乐部来说，这并不是一句恭维话；他们只知道功能失调。
无论如何，这篇文章的重点不仅仅是谁被解雇了（或者像波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 那样退休了），而是谁在取代他们，并且有一个非常明显的趋势正在显现。以下是已经聘用了新教练的球队的名单，以及他们的年龄和在NBA的执教经验（不包括临时执教）：
- 国王队：道格·克里斯蒂 (Doug Christie) (55岁)——0年
- 灰熊队：图马斯·伊萨洛 (Tuomas Iisalo) (42岁)——0年
- 掘金队：大卫·阿德尔曼 (David Adelman) (44岁)——0年
- 太阳队：乔丹·奥特 (Jordan Ott) (40岁)——0年
- 马刺队：米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) (38岁)——0年
所有这些新教练都有很多共同点。他们都比较年轻（即使是克里斯蒂 (Doug Christie) ），在NBA都没有担任过主教练的经验，而且其中四位是在他们的前任被解雇（或因病休假）后担任临时主教练，然后被提拔为主教练的。今天刚刚宣布担任太阳队主教练的奥特 (Jordan Ott) 来自骑士队，但巧合的是，他的职业生涯始于在亚特兰大为布登霍尔泽 (Mike Budenholzer) 工作。
由于尼克斯队昨天刚刚解雇了锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau)，他们仍在审查新的候选人，而且各种传言满天飞，从经验丰富的教练（比如马龙 (Mike Malone) ），到他们自己的助教约翰尼·布莱恩特 (Johnnie Bryant)，再到大学界的杰伊·赖特 (Jay Wright) 和丹·赫尔利 (Dan Hurley)。这四个选项中有三个也没有NBA主教练的经验，尤其是布莱恩特 (Johnnie Bryant) 将延续聘用内部助教的趋势。
对于那些都有季后赛甚至总冠军愿望的球队来说，采取这种方式可能看起来很奇怪，但这表明了两件事。一是，尤其是在从内部聘用的四支球队的情况下，延续性是有价值的，如果球员对某个特定的助教特别满意，管理层会尽力让他们满意，因为这很大程度上是一个球员的联盟。（这也可能表明解雇背后的问题更多的是教练本身，而不是他的风格或工作人员。）
另一个是，如果老派教练对改变表现出任何抵制，他们可能会被淘汰。锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau) 尤其以固执和不愿做出调整而闻名。与现代快节奏的NBA相反，他让他的首发球员出场时间很长，而且通常坚持使用相同的7-8人轮换。这可能会带来更多的常规赛胜利，但不论准确与否，人们认为这会耗尽他的球员，并使他们更容易受伤，这就是为什么他的球队似乎永远无法进入总决赛的原因。
无论这是正确的举动与否，也许这就是为什么尼克斯队说他们想要一位能够赢得总冠军的教练：锡伯杜 (Tom Thibodeau) 可以建立一支有竞争力的球队，但他老派的方式无法赢得一切。无论他们下一步做出什么举动，他们最终可能会看起来像天才，或者他们最终可能会看起来像傻瓜。对于其他所有选择新面孔而不是知名主教练的人来说，也可以这样说，但话又说回来，即使是最好的教练也必须从某个地方开始，而且很少有人能比现在被认为是GOAT的波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 本人更低了。
改变在NBA是不可避免的。教练的职业生涯可能比球员更长，但像所有工作一样，它们最终都会结束。虽然像波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 这样的教练可能看起来是不可战胜的，但事实是，即使比赛没有剥夺这份工作，时间最终也会这样做。我们很可能正在见证NBA主教练圈子里的新老交替。仍然有一些老牌教练，比如里克·卡莱尔 (Rick Carlisle)、埃里克·斯波尔斯特拉 (Eric Spoelstra) 和史蒂夫·科尔 (Steve Kerr) 来领路，但随着时间的推移，预计会看到越来越多新的面孔站在场边。
点击查看原文：Why the NBA is trending towards hiring young head coaches
Why the NBA is trending towards hiring young head coaches
This season has seen some shocking coaching firings/retirements, but who is replacing them is even more surprising.
It’s not uncommon for there to be several coaching changes during an NBA cycle, but they usually occur for teams that are either in the cellar or are trying please a star player to avoid impending turmoil. So far, there have been six coaching changes since December, and all of them have been surprising to a certain degree because they didn’t seem to meet that criteria. They all came out of nowhere, half of them were in-season, and they were all big-name coaches who had decent job security, or so we thought:
- Mike Brown, Sacramento Kings — fired Dec. 2024
- Taylor Jenkins, Memphis Grizzlies — fired March 2025
- Mike Malone, Denver Nuggets — fired April 2025
- Mike Budenholzer, Phoenix Suns — fired April 2025
- Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs — retired May 2025
- Tom Thibodeau, New York Knicks — fired May 2025
Of course, we all know why Pop retired (stroke), but none of the five fired coaches are ones who were considered on the hot seat heading into this season. The Kings, Suns, Nuggets and Knicks all made the 2023-24 playoffs, and the Grizzlies had the excuse of the Ja Morant saga, plus a rash of injuries that had them trotting out a G League roster at times, in some cases even wondering if they could meet the minimum requirement of 7 active players for any given game.
For the 2024-25 season, it can be argued that four of those five teams underachieved to various degrees — definitely the Suns, to a lesser the extent the Kings, Grizzlies and Nuggets — but how much of that was for reasons off the court, such as poor roster management (which can often be pointed to the front office) or clashes with other team leaders or disgruntled players? The Suns may have disappointed the most, but Coach Bud inherited a flawed roster with disgruntled, indifferent stars and was given little chance to fix it. After their firings, there were rumors of such clashes surrounding Brown, Jenkins, Malone and Budenholzer.
Even if you could make a case for those four coaches to be fired despite Brown, Jenkins and Malone taking their teams to new or rarely seen heights in their teams’ in recent history, the Thibs firing is the most shocking. He just led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time this century, so they turn and fire him? The Knicks’ reasoning in their statement is they want to win championships, so they’re implying they don’t feel he can get them there, but is it really that simple, or is there more behind the scenes that we don’t know about yet? (Clashes with James Dolan, Rick Brunson, etc.) This could also just be a case of “the Knicks gonna Knick,” which for that organization is not a compliment; they only know disfunction.
Regardless, the point of this article is not just who was fired (or retired, in Pop’s case), but who is replacing them, and there is a very obvious trend coming into focus. Below is the list of new coaches for the teams that have hired them, along with their age and years of heading coaching experience in the NBA (not counting on an interim basis):
- Kings: Doug Christie (55) — 0 years
- Grizzlies: Tuomas Iisalo (42) — 0 years
- Nuggets: David Adelman (44) — 0 years
- Suns: Jordan Ott (40) — 0 years
- Spurs: Mitch Johnson (38) — 0 years
All of these new coaches have plenty in common. They’re on the young side (even Christie), have zero prior years of head coaching experience in the NBA, and four of them were the interim head coaches when their predecessors were fired (or on medical leave) before being promoted to head coach. Ott, who was just announced as Suns head coach today, came from the Cavaliers but, coincidently or not, began his career under Bud in Atlanta.
Since the Knicks just fired Thibs yesterday, they are still in the process of vetting new hires, and rumors are all over the place from an experienced coach (like Malone), to their own assistant Johnnie Bryant, and on into the college world such as Jay Wright and Dan Hurley. Three of those four options would also have zero NBA head coaching experience, and Bryant in particular would continue the trend of hiring an assistant from within.
It may seem odd for teams who all have playoff or even championship aspirations moving forward to go this route, but it suggests two things. One is, especially in the cases of the four teams who have hired from within, there is value in continuity, and if players are especially happy with a specific assistant, the front office will try to keep them happy since this is very much a players’ league. (It may also suggest the issue behind the firings were more with the coach himself, not his style or staff.)
The other is old school coaches may be getting phased out if they show any resistance to change. Thibs in particular is known for being stubborn and adverse to making adjustments. Contrary to the modern, fast-paced NBA, he plays his starters heavy minutes and usually sticks to the same 7-8 man rotations. That may lead to more regular season wins, but accurate or not, the perception is it wears out his players and leaves them more injury prone, which is why his teams can never seem to make the finals.
Whether it was the right move or not, perhaps that’s why the Knicks said they want a coach who can win a championship: Thibs can build a contending team, but his old school ways won’t win it all. Whatever move they make next, they could end up looking like geniuses, or they could end up fools. They same could be said for everyone else who is going with fresh faces instead of a known commodity at head coach, but then again, even the best coaches had to start somewhere, and few came from lower on the totem pole Pop himself, who is now considered the GOAT.
Change is inevitable in the NBA. Coaching careers may last longer than players, but like every job, they eventually come to an end. And while coaches like Pop may seem invincible, the fact is even if the game doesn’t take the job away, Father Time eventually will. We very well may be witnessing a changing of the guard in the NBA head coaching circle. There’s still some of the old guard like Rick Carlisle, Eric Spoelstra and Steve Kerr to lead the way, but as time goes by, expect to see more and more new faces standing on the sideline.
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock