Interesting speculation, including Rudy later in article. But, Carlisle in trouble? Thomas out in Indy? I hope so. Several coaches on the hot seat By Chad Ford NBA Insider Send an Email to Chad Ford Two more teams were pushed to the brink of elimination Monday. The Hornets and Jazz barely have a pulse left after Monday night's drubbings. The Hornets have zero shot at winning with Jamal Mashburn out again. And the Jazz never had a real shot in the first place of dethroning the Kings. But that won't stop of us from circling the scene of the accident for a moment. . . Teams always contemplate changes after an early playoff exit, but in this case, two coaches, Paul Silas and Jerry Sloan, both may do part of the work for them. League sources have been saying for months that short of a berth in the Finals, this was Silas' last year with the Hornets. Silas will quickly leap to the head of the pack, right behind Jeff Van Gundy, on everyone's coaching list. He's well respected by players and other coaches alike. That leads to the inevitable question: Why are the Hornets dumping him? Silas has been openly critical of Hornets ownership and they've been contemplating a change all year. But will they find a better coach for the Hornets? That's very questionable. Sloan, on the other hand, has all of the job security a coach can ask for. However, with John Stockton contemplating retirement, Karl Malone 's eyes wandering again and the future of the Jazz never in more doubt, Sloan has dropped serious hints that he may retire while he's still, relatively, on top. If he does retire, expect him to stay that way. He's tired of the attitudes of the younger players in the league and is incredulous with the diminished work ethics among the new generation of players. Without grizzled veterans like Stockton or Malone in the locker room, Sloan would have to do more than his fair share of baby sitting. Can't imagine Sloan holding someone like Kwame Brown's hand? Now you know why he's thinking of throwing in the towel. Of course, if Sloan and Stockton are gone, Malone might be out of there as well. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor will try to bring in another workhorse like Sloan. Unbeknownst to them, they may have missed their best shot at Sloan's obvious successor last season with Jeff Bzdelik. Add those two potential coaching openings to a slew of others and you could be looking at the biggest coaching migration since, well, the end of the NCAA season perhaps. The coaching carousel doesn't spin as fast as it does in college, but the NBA is looking at an unprecedented number of openings this summer. I'm counting as many as 10 potential openings. That's one third of the entire league. Somewhere, Roy Williams is smiling. * The Raptors fired Lenny Wilkens after the season, creating the first official opening. GM Glen Grunwald doesn't have a wide margin of error here. If he doesn't get the right coach to light a fire under the Raptors this year, he may be the next guy kicked to the curb in Toronto. Despite all the rhetoric about making a surprise selection, the Raptors want a respected, veteran coach to run the team. Yes Wilkens, the Methuselah of NBA coaches, was a veteran and had respect, but his laid-back style didn't play well in Toronto. Jeff Van Gundy is at the top of the list. If he doesn't want to the job, Nets assistant Eddie Jordan could be the guy. * The Cavs, Hawks and Clippers fired their coaches mid-season and replaced them with temps. All three teams claim that while the interim head coaches, Keith Smart, Terry Stotts and Dennis Johnson, are in the running for the permanent gig, they will pursue other candidates as well. The question is who really wants these job? Mike Dunleavy 's name has popped up in both Cleveland and Atlanta, but neither seems like a good fit. The Cavs need a motivator (like Eric Musselman) and the Hawks need someone who relates well with players (they'd love Doc Rivers). It's pretty unclear where they'd find either. What do the Clippers need? A therapist. * Isiah Thomas is under major fire in Indiana right now. Team president Donnie Walsh gave Thomas an infamous show of support on Monday claiming that he's, "not going to fire him if we lose the playoff series." Of course, Walsh made no mention about firing him for numerous other things, including losing control of the team, making egregious coaching errors in the fourth quarter, or the general malaise that seems to have enveloped the franchise. While a team source in Indiana claims that Walsh is sincere, they have no plans to fire Thomas, that doesn't mean he'll be coaching the Pacers next season. Tensions are running so high in Indiana I'm told that Thomas may resign. I don't think anyone in Indiana would try to stop him. * Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks is another likely victim if his team falls, as expected, to the Mavs. While Cheeks has garnered enormous respect around the league for juggling the ego and personality disorders of the Blazers the last two years, rumors continue to circulate that there's a serious rift between Cheeks and GM Bob Whitsitt right now. As Insider reported on Monday, with Whitsitt already feeling the heat (word is he's already shown assistant GM Mark Warkentien the door) the pressure's on for him to make big changes this summer. Van Gundy would be target No. 1 for the Blazers. They're also fond of Silas. * And amazingly folks, that's not all. Rumors have been swirling in Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee and Washington about potential coaching moves. Mavs coach Don Nelson is in the last year of his contract and the word around the league is that, short of an NBA title, owner Mark Cuban may relieve Nelson of his coaching duties (he still has a long-term contract with the front office) and bring in a more defensive-minded coach. Again, Van Gundy is at the top of the list. In Houston, there's been talk that it may be time for Rudy Tomjanovich to go. Owner Les Alexander hinted that the coach, along with everyone else, will be under review this summer. He's been deeply disappointed with the play of the Rockets the last few years and before long, no matter how much people love the guy, the coach always seems to take the hit. In Milwaukee, coach George Karl's Bucks are putting up a fight against the Nets. But barring a surprising Bucks run, Karl might be done. Like Sloan, he's gotten tired of all of the nonsense he has to put up with and seems drained. Ditto for Doug Collins, who's just finished a nightmare two-year stint in Washington. He'll probably stay (as a favor to MJ) if Michael Jordan resolves his differences with owner Abe Pollin. If Jordan doesn't? It's hard to imagine Collins sticking around. If he thinks last season was tough, wait until he has to listen to a month of bickering between Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner without Jordan mediating. * And from the totally bizarre files comes a column in the Detroit Free Press calling for Rick Carlisle's head. Yes, that Rick Carlisle, the guy who won the Coach of the Year last year as a rookie head coach. Yes, the same guy who led the Pistons to a shocking No. 1 seed in the East. Yes, the same guy who's watched his team crumble under the stress of Tracy McGrady and the Magic. According to columnist Drew Sharp, a Pistons loss to tonight should put Carlisle in the hot seat. "Rick Carlisle's future in this organization will be on the line," Sharp wrote. "What good are two straight 50-victory seasons and back-to-back Central Division championships if the team is ill-prepared for the changing currents of playoff basketball? What good is intensity if that's the only bullet you have in the chamber, drastically reducing any margin for error? "Carlisle apparently doesn't understand that there's a difference between coaching in the regular season and the playoffs. Coaching is a constant evolution. Change is mandatory. If Carlisle doesn't grasp that concept soon, he and his boss could find themselves at polar opposites." Let's not let things get out of hand here. Just because everyone else is contemplating firing their head coach doesn't mean Joe Dumars is. The Pistons love Carlisle. They know he's helped two teams overachieve. They know they need more talent -- a go-to guy. And they know that Carlisle is the guy to get them there.
News to this BBS: Making the playoffs with a young team may still get you fired. That just tells you how irrational people become when it comes to changing coaches. Scary thought: What if Sloan retires, Rudy gets fired and goes to Utah, while the Rockets acquire Malone in the offseason?
