NBA Betting Report: Coaches on the Hot Seat

The 2015-16 NBA season isn’t even a month old, but there are already some coaches who find their seat getting uncomfortably warm, while others like the Rockets’ Kevin McHale have seen their tenures be done with in their teams. There have been some slow starts in places like Memphis and Sacramento, as well as some other cities. There are some coaches with accomplished resumes, such as Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau, who aren’t coaching anywhere right now. So, NBA betting fans, let’s take a look at some coaches who need to improve…and quickly.

NBA Betting Report: Coaches on the Hot Seat

 

The marriage between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins continues to be a shaky one. https://t.co/zTo8qO43ms

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 12, 2015

George Karl (Sacramento Kings)

George Karl was already clashing with DeMarcus Cousins before the off-season, and things have not been improving. After the Kings fell to the San Antonio Spurs by 18 on November 9, Cousins cursed out Karl in front of the whole team, according to Jason McIntyre with the Big Lead. Rumor has it that Cousins did not want the Kings to hire Karl as their coach in the first place. There are conflicting reports as to whether Cousins has the clout to get Karl sent out the door. Sacramento has won three straight, now that Cousins is playing up to his usual potential. The superstar center went down early in the season to an Achilles tendon strain, leading to the team’s early struggle. Also, the Kings still owe Karl $11 million on his contract. The owner might be a billionaire, but he doesn’t waste money like that. General manager Vlade Divac has told the Sacramento Bee that he is firmly behind Karl. But we’ll see.

Dave Joerger (Memphis Grizzlies)

The Griz have won 50+ games for three seasons in a row and have five consecutive postseason appearances in their back pocket. However, the team has started off poorly this season, ranking in the bottom five in the Association for both defensive and offensive efficiency. This has people questioning whether Joerger and team owner Robert Pera. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reports that “the biggest source of vulnerability for Joerger…is the fact that Pera has internally questioned Joerger’s leadership in the past and nearly fired him once before.” Pera is reportedly a big fan of old-school coach Tom Thibodeau, which might be what gets the Grizzlies to the next level. Or it might not.

Lionel Hollins (Brooklyn Nets)

The Nets have started 1-9, and so people in the Big Apple are already calling Hollins’ tenure into question. However, Nets general manager Billy King has come out publicly to say, “This is not on one person. We’ve got to figure it out amongst ourselves…and dig ourselves out of this hole.” It was the decisions that King made, of course, that contributed substantially to this hole. He traded for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Gerald Wallace, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams. However, Johnson is the only one left, while the Nets have no draft picks until 2019. So King may not want to fire the coach, because that’s the only person around to give himself cover from his own poor decisions. But if the Nets don’t turn things around soon, King and Hollins could both be on the way out.