It was somewhat surprising to learn on Thursday that the Indiana Pacers were not going to retain head coach Frank Vogel.
The team’s decision comes after Vogel led Indiana to the playoffs, his fourth such excursion into the postseason in four-plus years as the team’s head coach.
In announcing the decision, Pacers president Larry Bird had this to say:
“I want to thank Frank for his time in Indiana,” the executive said, via the team’s official website. “We know he’ll be successful down the road and end up getting a job, but for us, I just feel it’s time to move in a different direction.”
That’s definitely a bitter pill for Vogel, a largely successful NBA head coach, to swallow.
Upon hearing the news that one of his colleagues was let go, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra did not mince words.
When told that he was now the second-longest tenured head coach in the Eastern Conference, Spoelstra called that fact “disturbing.”
He then went on to talk about the broader issue of coaching security in the Association:
“I’ve only been the head coach for eight years,” Spoelstra said, via CBS Sports. “What am I, the second-longest tenured? That’s a sad state of where the coaching profession is right now, and instability of organizations.”
Finishing up his eighth season as Miami’s head coach, Spoelstra is only behind Toronto’s Dwane Casey as the longest-tenured coach in the conference.
In fact, Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks is the third-longest tenured coach back east. He was hired back in May of 2013.
We fully understand that professional sports is a win-now business, but that’s utterly absurd.
If you take into account the two vacant openings in Houston and Sacramento, 17 NBA teams have coaches that were hired less than two years ago.
For Spoelstra, the commitment Miami has shown to him hasn’t gone unnoticed:
“That’s why it’s fairly easy for me to feel grateful,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve been a part of this organization for 21 years. Same group. When we say it’s a family, we are. We’ve been through everything. We’ve been through 15-win seasons together. We’ve put together teams, rebuilt teams. We know how each other will respond in the trenches when it’s tough.”
More so than any of the other four major professional sports leagues in North America, the NBA’s coaching turnover has shaped the landscape of the league.
Of the eight teams currently playing in the playoffs, five of them are led by head coaches that were hired less than four years ago.
This has given teams the false sense that they can improve simply by changing up who is manning the sideline, not who is actually playing on the court.
Just ask the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams replaced their previously successful head coaches after earning a playoff spot last spring. They both missed the playoffs altogether this season.