So far, there have been 3 coaches fired in the early going. First PJ Carlesimo, then Eddie Jordan, and more recently Sam Mitchell. These coaches were fired as scapegoats.
The Thunder fired PJ Carlesimo because of a terrible start, but what the GM of that team needs to know is that it is because they have a terrible team. The only notable players they have are Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Nick Collison. The rest should not be starting and most of them shouldn't even be in a normal NBA rotation. PJ wasn't fired because he was a bad coach, he was fired because he couldn't be a superhero and make this team better than it really is. He is a decent coach, and will probably find another job eventually.
The Wizards fired Eddie Jordan because of their terrible start as well. His team has been injury bitten most of the time and he was without his superstar Gilbert Arenas. His firing is a little bit easier to swallow than PJ's though because he could not get his team to play defense. But he is also a decent coach and his players loved him so he really shouldn't have been fired. He does a good job of running an offense and his players are comfortable playing under him because he lets them do what they want most of the time and players like Caron Butler have really blossomed under him because of that freedom. Gilbert Arenas even liked him so much that he said when he was a free agent that would not re-sign until Jordon got a new contract. He shouldn't have been fired, and I hope he gets a chance elsewhere in the near future.
The Raptors recently fired Sam Mitchell because his team was under achieving. They wanted a championship run after acquiring Jermaine O'Neal and since they were not looking like contenders, the coach was the one to go. A championship run is not realistic for this team though and I don't think any coach would get them to contender status. The team is good, yes, and has a great combo at Power Forwards and Center (Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal) but they have a big hole at the swingmen positions (Shooting Guard and Small Forward) they do not have adequate starters at either (They start Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani who is a Center at those positions). Until they get that hole fixed they will not get to the finals.
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