Thirteen of the 30 member clubs in the NBA have made head coaching changes for the 2013-14 season. These are: Atlanta Hawks – Mike Budenholzer (replacing Larry Drew); Boston Celtics – Brad Stevens (Glenn “Doc” Rivers); Brooklyn Nets – Jason Kidd (P. J. Carlesimo – interim); Charlotte Bobcats – Steve Clifford (Mike Dunlap); Cleveland Cavaliers – Mike Brown (Byron Scott); Denver Nuggets – Brian Shaw (George Karl); Detroit Pistons – Maurice Cheeks (Lawrence Frank); LA Clippers – Glenn “Doc” Rivers (Vinny Del Negro); Memphis Grizzlies – David Joerger (Lionel Hollins); Milwaukee Bucks – Larry Drew (Jim Boylan – interim); Philadelphia 76ers – Brett Brown (Doug Collins); Phoenix Suns – Jeff Hornacek (Lindsey Hunter – interim); and Sacramento Kings – Michael Malone (Keith Smart).
Significantly, six clubs – Denver (57-25), LA Clippers (56-26), Memphis (56-26), Brooklyn (49-33), Atlanta (44-38) and Boston (41-40) – decided to make a coaching change even though they registered winning records last season, including three with 56 victories or more.
Drew moved to Milwaukee from Atlanta and Rivers defected to the West with the LA Clippers after nine previous seasons in Boston.
Mike Brown spent his first five seasons as an NBA head coach with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-10. Subsequently, he lost his job and LeBron departed for South Florida with Miami.
Brown rejoined the NBA head coaching cast during the lockout-marred 2011-12 campaign, hooking up with the Los Angeles Lakers. However, but just five games into the 2012-13 wars, the Lakers gave him the pink slip.
In a controversial move, the Lakers replaced Brown with Mike D’Antoni, who had previous stints in Phoenix and New York, in lieu of the legendary Phil Jackson. Now, Brown’s back in his second tour of duty in Wine City (Cleveland).
Of the 13 first-year head coaches, nine have had no previous NBA head coaching experience and six are former league players.
Making their NBA head coaching debuts are Budenholzer, Stevens, Kidd, Clifford, Shaw, Joerger, Brett Brown, Hornacek and Malone.
Former NBA athletes are Kidd, Shaw, Cheeks, Rivers, Drew and Hornacek. Stevens came straight out of college – Butler University. Budenholzer (San Antonio), Clifford (LA Lakers), Shaw (Indiana), Cheeks (Oklahoma City), Joerger (Memphis), Brett Brown (San Antonio), Hornacek (Utah) and Malone (Golden State) spent the 2012-13 season as assistant coaches with different clubs.
Of the group, only Rivers owns an NBA title as a head coach. Rivers accomplished the feat with the Boston Celtics in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2008 Finals.
Rivers is the NBA’s highest-paid coach this season with a new three-year, $21-million pact with the LA Clippers. He has the final say in all proposed trades to be made by the Clippers.
Cheeks (1983 Philadelphia 76ers) and Shaw (2000-2001-2002 LA Lakers) won NBA rings as a player. Hornacek reached the Finals in 1997 and 1998 with the Utah Jazz, but was beaten both times by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls via 4-2 decisions.
Another two-time loser was Kidd, who helped lead the New Jersey Nets to the Finals in 2002 and 2003 but came up short against the LA Lakers (4-0) and San Antonio Spurs (4-2), respectively.
Kidd, a cerebral playmaker during his heyday, had his old No. 5 jersey retired by the Brooklyn Nets prior to a preseason contest against Miami at the Barclays Center last October 17.
A minor stockholder of the Brooklyn franchise (following his purchase of 50 percent of rap mogul-turned-player agent Jay Z’s Nets shares for $500,000), the 40-year-old Kidd was ineligible to coach in the Nets’ first two games this season after he was slapped with a two-game suspension by the NBA for pleading guilty to a driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) case that dated back to July 2012.
Lead assistant coach Lawrence Frank (the bench maestro at Detroit the previous two seasons) mentored the Nets for those two games (Oct. 31 at Cleveland and Nov. 2 vs. Miami).
Kidd will make his NBA coaching debut in Orlando on November 4 (Manila time). A majority – or 16 – of the 30-member NBA head coaching fraternity once played in the NBA.
In addition to Kidd, Shaw, Cheeks, Rivers, Drew and Hornacek, Rick Adelman (Minnesota), Scott Brooks (Oklahoma City), Rick Carlisle (Dallas), Tyrone Corbin (Utah), Mark Jackson (Golden State), Kevin McHale (Houston), Jacque Vaughn (Orlando), Monty Williams (New Orleans), Randy Wittman (Washington) and Mike Woodson (New York) also are former NBA players.