The NBA regular season which began back in November of last year is over; the playoffs are set; frankly there are only two real surprises to me in the final standings:
- The Phoenix Suns will not be part of the playoffs at all.
- The Detroit Pistons are not only in the playoffs but are above the “play-in zone”.
So, let the playoffs begin … but before we focus on those events, allow me to present you with some data from a completely meaningless game last Friday between the Oklahoma City Thunder (best record in the league) and the Utah Jazz (worst record in the league). Per the box score in the Washington Post:
- The Thunder attempted 53 three-point shots. (They made 24 of them.)
- The Jazz attempted 63 three-point shots. (They made only 17 of them.)
- In 48 minutes of game time, the teams combined for 116 three-point shots which is 2.4 attempts per minute, or one three-point shot every 25 seconds of game time.
- Attendance at the game was listed as 18,175; I sure hope those fans enjoyed that action.
This was an NBA regular season with several head-scratching events. In fact, about the only NBA news that I shrugged off as “business as usual” was the fact that Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard were injured, and both missed a lot of games. Here are four of the “abnormalities” of the regular season in no particular order:
- The Mavs traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis. Since the Mavs braintrust thought trading Doncic was a good idea in the first place, it makes a modicum of sense that they would also think Anthony Davis was sufficient return on investment as a trade. No one else did. [Aside: Unsurprisingly, Davis suffered an injury in his first game with the Mavs that kept him out for a couple of weeks.]
- The Kings fired their coach, Mike Brown. It was only two seasons ago that Brown was the NBA Coach of the Year, and it is not as if the Kings have a long history of dominance in the league that Brown’s team failed to uphold. At least the Kings made the playoffs this year limping into the “play-in round” as the ninth seed in the West.
- The Grizzlies fired their coach late in the regular season. Why is that strange? Well, at the time of the firing, the Grizzlies’ record was 44-29 (winning percentage = .603) and the team was solidly in position to make the playoffs. In the wake of that coaching change, the Grizzlies are still in the playoffs, but their record is 4-5.
- Not to be outdone, the Nuggets fired their coach even later in the regular season – – with only 3 games left on the regular season schedule. The Nuggets are seeded fourth in the West for the playoffs and finished the season with 50 wins. And yet, they fired their coach who only two seasons ago won the NBA Finals with the Nuggets.
Given that it seems like winning games is not a good enough reason to retain coaches in the NBA anymore, might there be a coaching bloodbath in the near future?
- I mentioned above that the Suns somehow missed the playoffs surprisingly. Their coach is Mike Budenholzer, who incidentally coached the Bucks to the NBA Championship a few years ago, and you have to wonder if he can/will survive the Suns’ 36-46 record this year. How did he forget his winning ways so quickly?
- The Sixers obviously thought that getting Paul George to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey would make them contenders. Embiid and George each missed a lot of games; Maxey missed fewer games; the Sixers not only failed to make the playoffs, they finished the season with a dismal record of 24-58. Their coach is Nick Nurse, who incidentally coached the Raptors to the NBA Championship a few years ago. How did he forget his winning ways so quickly?
There is at least one island of coaching stability in the NBA at the end of this regular season. The Trailblazers have extended the contract of coach, Chauncey Billups despite the fact that the Blazers missed the playoffs and had a 36-46 regular season record – – same as the Suns by the way.
Finally, since today has been mostly about coaching, I’ll close with this from Tom Landry – – the longtime coach of the Dallas Cowboys:
“Really, coaching is simplicity. It’s getting players to play better than they think that they can.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………