With Rick Carlisle inking a deal with the Indiana Pacers, that leaves five NBA head coaching jobs open.
There’s both similarity and differences in each organizations targets and reasons why they want Coach A or Coach B but, at the end of the day, each organization is hoping to stay or return to the playoffs sooner rather than later.
We’re here to rank the remaining openings:
- Portland Trail Blazers – Out of the remaining openings, the Blazers probably have the most solid roster. Guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum rank as one of the best back courts in the NBA. The question with the Blazers will be retention over the next couple of seasons. Norman Powell and Derrick Jones Jr. both have player options. I would assume that re-signing Powell would be important while losing Jones wouldn’t cause anyone to lose any sleep. As of now, Jusuf Nurkic’s contract is set to expire in 2022-2023.
- New Orleans Pelicans – The roster and assets are stacked. The big question becomes David Griffin. Is Griffin the right person to leverage the assets? How long will he be around if the Pelicans fail to make the playoffs over the next 2-3 seasons. With that being said, with a roster that has Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, it will be hard to say “no”.
- Dallas Mavericks – Dallas’ front office has it’s own issues and I consider them worse than the Pels. After the departures of Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle, how much of an impediment is Haralabos Voulgaris. It’s obvious that Voulgaris holds some weight with Mark Cuban and that will certainly be a concern for any new coach that comes in. From a roster perspective, Luka Doncic is a great start for any head coach.
- Washington Wizards – Like the Blazers, the Wizards have a stacked back court. Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook carried the Wizards to the Play-In game and later into the playoffs themselves. The concern in Washington is, does Beal re-sign? If he does, what happens with Westbrook and his deal in two seasons? Also Tommy Sheppard looks like he is going to be very hands on in roster building and that could chase away some experienced head coaches who want more say.
- Orlando Magic – The Magic have some interesting young talent. Cole Anthony, Mo Bamba, Jonathan Isaac, and Chuma Okeke is a good start. The Magic have seven free agents none of which are a “must” re-sign. The roster will require a lot of work. The trouble is, if you’re the coach, when things finally get fixed, will you still be there.
