A losing record and not getting along with some of your players is going to get you fired. Still, firing the guy when you could have done it in the off-season 6 weeks from now makes you scratch your head.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Don't understand how you can't play for B Shaw!</p>— Paul George (@Yg_Trece) <a href="https://twitter.com/Yg_Trece/status/573163546776743936">March 4, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Report: Brian Shaw interested in coaching Magic <a href="http://t.co/odxTNFt8Jc">http://t.co/odxTNFt8Jc</a></p>— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketballtalk/status/573887564639133696">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Brian Shaw Interested In Magic Head Coaching Job -- <a href="http://t.co/iXvfiqlUDz">http://t.co/iXvfiqlUDz</a></p>— RealGM (@RealGM) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealGM/status/573874500065890306">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Remember when Brian Shaw rapped a scouting report? Ty Lawson posted video of it. <a href="http://t.co/OT12JzqCir">http://t.co/OT12JzqCir</a> <a href="http://t.co/VaVnO80oHb">pic.twitter.com/VaVnO80oHb</a></p>— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SBNationNBA/status/589581761773985792">April 19, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tex was the triangle guy and mostly the offensive system in general, Phil was a person manager, which is most of the coaching job (as Phil said, you can hire an assistant to do x's and o's).
Phil played mindgames with everyone on his team as well as the media, and somehow made it a winning formula which only he could replicate. Not a surprise that his pupils have crashed and burned.