Many injuries and consecutive losses, along with missing the playoffs, have caused four NBA coaches and three general managers (GMs) to be fired this season, disrupting the teams’ rhythms.
According to ESPN, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth were not getting along. The tensions “had become toxic for everyone in the organization”, resulting in the team to start losing soon after.
The Nuggets fired their coach and GM at the same time less than two weeks before the playoffs started.
Junior Mahi Patel believes that the firings would affect the Nuggets’ playoff performance.
“Well, you can definitely see the Nuggets are struggling,” Patel said. “It definitely shows how much a coach can program out.”
Boys basketball assistant coach Tim Brown also believes that the Nuggets will not perform as well because they lost their coach and GM on such short notice.
“How you gain that comfortability two weeks before the NBA playoffs are supposed to start, that’s a tough game play,” Brown said.
In addition to affecting the playoffs, losing a team’s coach and GM can also affect the offseason.
According to freshman Madelyn Benfield, she feels that the offseason will be affected because “[the teams are] going to have to find a coach on top of warming up and practicing.”
Contrarily, junior Will Lockwood senses that the offseason could be affected in a positive way.
“I think the offseason will be good,” Lockwood said, “because they will actually be able to fully develop their team and get in the flow.”
Patel predicts that the offseason will be full of trades throughout the league to adjust to the new coaches.
“The Nuggets [will probably trade more] because of their new coach, with a different change of style for the Nuggets,” Patel said.
Brown feels that so many coaches are getting fired because “the NBA is such a win-now league.”
“If you are not overperforming, you are underperforming,” Brown said. “I think it is also that there are so many good coaches out there that people are ready to take a new chance.”
According to Benfield, losing a coach can also take a toll on the players.
“It is going to affect them because if they don’t have a main coach, then they will not be able to have a main coach to tell them what to do,” Benfield said.
Lockwood believes that the teams would lose their rhythm without their coach.
“I feel like it would make teams kind of get mixed up,” Lockwood said.
According to Brown, the coaches have a big emotional impact on the players.
“Those players and coaches spend more time with each other than they do with their families,” Brown said. “I think that those players are going to be a little sad in the sense that they are losing someone that’s important to them.”
The 76ers also had a lot of injuries and missed the playoffs this season. Patel feels that it is not really the coach’s fault.
“I don’t think the Sixers should fire Nick Nurse, but I do think that they need to have some more players that can take the leadership role,” Patel said.