Winning The NBA Championship Has Weirdly Become A Kiss Of Death For Head Coaches

You would think that if you're a Head Coach in the NBA and you navigate your team to the top of the mountain and win the NBA Championship, that would come with a decent amount of job security. Given that there are only 10 active coaches who have ever won a title, it's not as if there are a ton of championship coaches out there. And while a lot goes into being the last team standing such as the roster, health, luck etc, I feel like when you find a Head Coach that can navigate all that, it probably makes sense to keep them around.

Which is why it's interesting that when you look at recent NBA history, winning the NBA title is actually weirdly a kiss of death

Now to be fair, I don't think anyone is screaming that teams like the Raptors, Lakers, Bucks and now Nuggets have any idea what they're doing. I'm sure all had their reasons for making the decision to move on from their championship winning coach, but how have things gone since?

The Raptors have been stuck in NBA purgatory ever since the Bubble, the Lakers finally look to have figured things out with JJ Redick, but they're a weird case because I don't think anyone expected Nico Harrison to save their franchise. The Bucks have been a disaster in terms of their coaching situation since their title in 2021 while mostly underachieving/having bad injury luck, and now we have the Nuggets, who seem to be following a similar trend.

Do any of those seem like stable organizations to you? 

It's notable that the two coaches who are not on this list are Steve Kerr and Joe Mazzulla, which isn't surprising considering how both organizations are run. Shit, the only reason the Celtics even had to hire Joe Mazzulla in the first place is because Ime Udoka forced their hand by being a weirdo. They've only had 4 Head Coaches in the last 20 years, and it's not like they were winning the title every season. Far from it. But there's something to be said about building a foundation and having a solid stable culture. The Warriors are the same way. They've had their ups and downs during the Steve Kerr Era, but you don't see them making rash culture shifts like this, even in their down years. It's not like this is an accident, either. When you look back in NBA history and the most successful franchises/dynasties, what do they all have in common?

Consistency.

The Spurs, the Heat, the Celtics, and the Warriors, are living proof of it. We'll probably eventually add teams like OKC to this list as well with the Presti/Mark Daigneault pairing. There's a reason the best organizations in the league operate this way, and then you have the rest who seem to not realize that consistency matters, especially when that coach just won a title!

That doesn't mean you can't ever change a roster or improve your talent, but there usually tends to be stability in the front office and with the Head Coach. In the NBA, culture is everything. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't have the right culture, then nothing else really matters. There are countless examples of teams who had tons of talent but never got over the hump who can't seem to figure this out.

Look at the current Phoenix Suns. They can't seem to get out of their own way right now, despite having plenty of high end talent. They've changed coaches every season it feels like, and will probably do the same thing again this summer. How's that going for them? 

Add to it the reasoning we're starting to get behind the recent Malone firing

and that makes even less sense to me. Unless the players absolutely despised playing under Malone which I can't imagine is the case, how does something like this, which clearly shows instability in the organization, provide a "jolt" that is going to result in a deep playoff run?

You know who might have an idea as to what it takes to make a deep playoff run? Michael Malone! 

Who knows, maybe this is just stupid organizations doing stupid things, but you have to admit it is a little odd that 4 of the last 6 Head Coaches to win the NBA title are no longer with their team. It all just seems very backwards. You fire a championship coach immediately after he won a title, to bring in a different coach who most likely has not won a title before? And that gets you….closer to a title? 

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I'm not sure how that makes any sense, but apparently there are NBA franchises out there that believe a lack of direction and consistency are the way to go. Good luck!