The Definition of Insanity: Why It's Time to Move Away From Retread NBA Head Coaches - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
Popular consensus holds that when looking to fill a head coaching vacancy, hiring a coach with prior NBA head coaching experience is the smart, safe move. Congratulations, NBA team! Youve chosen an experienced, veteran coach who knows the league and has seen everything! Youre ready to take on the world. Funny story: Thats basically a bunch of bullshyt.
(1) Does hiring a coach with prior NBA head coaching experience result in an appreciable improvement from the prior regime? And, (2) Does it make an appreciable difference when compared with the hiring of a first-time head coach?
The answer to the first question is a pretty resounding no. The 90 retread coaches hired since 1996 took over teams with a collective winning percentage of .495 under the previous coaching regime. How much did those coaches who know how to succeed in the NBA improve those teams? Well they didnt. The winning percentage stayed at .495. If we teased the decimal points all the way out, wed see that the cumulative winning percentage of teams that have hired retread head coaches since 1996 is actually worse than the cumulative winning percentage of those same teams under the previous regime.
Popular consensus holds that when looking to fill a head coaching vacancy, hiring a coach with prior NBA head coaching experience is the smart, safe move. Congratulations, NBA team! Youve chosen an experienced, veteran coach who knows the league and has seen everything! Youre ready to take on the world. Funny story: Thats basically a bunch of bullshyt.
(1) Does hiring a coach with prior NBA head coaching experience result in an appreciable improvement from the prior regime? And, (2) Does it make an appreciable difference when compared with the hiring of a first-time head coach?
The answer to the first question is a pretty resounding no. The 90 retread coaches hired since 1996 took over teams with a collective winning percentage of .495 under the previous coaching regime. How much did those coaches who know how to succeed in the NBA improve those teams? Well they didnt. The winning percentage stayed at .495. If we teased the decimal points all the way out, wed see that the cumulative winning percentage of teams that have hired retread head coaches since 1996 is actually worse than the cumulative winning percentage of those same teams under the previous regime.
