New NBA Coaches Should Patch These Holes For Next Season

The NBA had several coaching changes over the last couple of months as teams look to improve from last season. I will be covering the major coaching changes and pinpoint what holes should be patched for the 2020-2021 season.

Steve Nash – Brooklyn Nets

Steve Nash taking over as the Brooklyn Nets head coach has been the most shocking signing for coaches so far. Nash will be replacing Kenny Atkinson, who served as the head coach for the past four seasons. This will be Nash’s first stint as a coach but has a talented roster with proven NBA champions in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Aside from the stars, Spencer Dinwiddie (20.6 pts) and Caris Levert (18.6 pts) had their best scoring average last season and they continue to improve. Joe Harris is an exceptional shooter with a career average of 42.6% from deep and Jarret Allen is a defensive force inside the paint. With all of this talent, it’ll be on Steve Nash’s shoulders to manage it all.

Chemistry is the biggest area that Nash should focus on entering the 2020-2021 season. Kyrie Irving didn’t mesh well with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Terry Rozier in his final season with Boston. In addition, last season, Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie’s play styles clashed while they were on the court together. Now throw Durant into the mix and the elevated play of Levert, roles will need to be established.

Nash will have to figure out the best rotation factoring in who starts and how many minutes each player will play. Nash is going to experiment various lineups and there will be some ups and downs. These ups and downs will be necessary in the long run as the Nets strive to make a finals appearance within the next few years.

Joining Nash on the coaching staff will be his former Suns’ teammate Amar’e Stoudemire and his former Suns’ coach Mike D’antoni . The tandem of Nash and Stoudemire ran arguably the greatest pick n’ roll game under Mike D’antoni. Expect some great offensive sets from the Nets this year as they look to piece everything together.

Tyronn Lue – Los Angeles Clippers

Tyronn Lue steps up as the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers after the firing of Doc Rivers. Rivers spent the last seven years as the Clippers head coach and had a lot of regular season success but could never reach an NBA Finals with some talented rosters.

Los Angeles had a disappointing end to their season surrendering a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The Clippers co-stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George combined for 10-38 shooting in Game 7. The Clippers were the favorite in this series but they had their eyes locked on the Los Angeles Lakers since the beginning of the season. LA coasted in the regular season and it showed after losing three straight games to Denver.

Coach Lue will look to revamp the team’s game plan. One area to improve or to provide an emphasis on is rebounding. The Clippers are an undersized team with Montrezl Harrell at center and Kawhi Leonard has played a lot of minutes at power forward. If the Clippers keep the roster that they have, rebounding has to be better.

On the first night of the Orlando restart, LeBron James missed a mid-range jumper but got his own rebound with four Clippers in the paint at a crucial point in the game..

Another thing that Los Angeles needs to work on is staying focused throughout the season. The Clippers’ attitude towards the regular season made it seem that they were just scrimmages. The regular season is an important period to iron out any wrinkles within the team so that you’re ready for the playoffs. The Clippers were looking beyond the regular season without thinking about the present.

Stan Van Gundy – New Orleans Pelicans

Stan Van Gundy’s best coaching days were with the Orlando Magic. A team that made a finals appearance in 2010 with a prime Dwight Howard and company. The Pelicans is a completely different team as they are young and filled with a lot of potential.

A big issue that New Orleans had last season was defense especially on the interior. Part of this problem had to do with personnel. Derrick Favors isn’t the greatest defender and he’s never had the athleticism to be a shot blocker. Entering his second season, Jaxson Hayes showed some promise but still needs to develop his game. Zion Williamson logged some minutes at center which was a strange move by former coach Alvin Gentry. Williamson is only 6’7″, and sure he played center at Duke, but the size and length is much greater in the NBA. Interior defense needs to be the primary focus for the Pelicans because teams were getting easy buckets inside.

We’ll see what else Van Gundy will implement to the team offensively but interior defense should be the main focus for this upcoming season.

Stephen Silas – Houston Rockets

The Rockets’ iso-ball has had some success in the regular season and even in the playoffs when they tested the Golden State Warriors in 2019. Despite that success, the Rockets were never able to get over the hump and reach the NBA Finals. Mike D’Antoni never wanted to switch up the gameplan when his team wasn’t performing well and as a coach, you have to make adjustments. That’s where newly hired, Stephen Silas comes in.

Stephen Silas has been an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and more recently the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks finished 10th in the league in three-point percentage and Silas will look to bring the high efficiency to Houston while they ranked 24th.

For the Rockets, Silas needs to create plays that contain ball movement and motion. Defending the Rockets in recent years, isn’t a hard task for teams. The Rockets have all five players out on the perimeter and James Harden breaks down his defender and eventually takes a stepback or drives to the basket where he takes a layup or kicks out to a shooter. It’s predictable to defend, teams just have to execute. Silas needs to create his offensive sets unpredictable to expose the defense in a more efficient way.

Last season, the Rockets traded away Clint Capela and went small with PJ Tucker at center. In the Orlando bubble, the Rockets were one of the best teams in opponent points per game. The stats sounded nice but in a seven-game series, a big is exploiting Houston’s lack of size. Anthony Davis averaged 25.4 points per game in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Rockets. Los Angeles outrebounded Houston 45.4 to 32.6 for the series.

It’s unclear if the Rockets will continue in that direction of small ball with former GM Daryl Morey stepping down and Rafael Stone as the replacement. Stone should acknowledge the flaws and acquire some bigs so his team and coaches aren’t in a tough position defensively.

Glenn “Doc” Rivers – Philadelphia 76ers

Coach Rivers hasn’t made a finals appearance since his time in Boston back in 2009. Rivers had teams with great players in Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and then Paul George and Kawhi Leonard for a year. Both the Lob-City era and last season’s team had the potential win it all but couldn’t get it done.

In Philly, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid haven’t clicked as a duo. Simmons has yet to develop his shooting and for plays like a pick n’ roll, defenders go under every time. Both players are at their best scoring the ball in the paint, and it’s important for Coach Rivers to find a way to have Embiid and Simmons mesh together well

If Coach Rivers can build up more chemistry between his cornerstone players, it opens up the offense for everyone else. The 76ers are already a great team defensively, and this improvement on the offensive side would make Philadelphia a contender in the eastern conference.