With all the talk of the free agent players, (yes I will have thoughts when the dust settles) I think there needs to be more discussion on who will be returning to the bench or will be the head coach for the first time.  Seven teams will have new head coaches next year and most of them have impressive resumes.  Here is a breakdown of who the new or returning head coaches are.

Atlanta Hawks – Larry Drew replaces Mike Woodson

Larry was part of the coaching staff for Mike Woodson during his six year reign in Atlanta.  Woodson deserves most of the credit for turning around a franchise that was going no where when he arrived.  His last three years there resulted in playoff appearances and two straight in the semifinals.  However, with the team falling straight on their faces against Orlando, a change seemed imminent.  Drew is getting his first head coaching job in the NBA.  He is a former player which is probably a good thing.  The Hawks will stay relatively intact as far as their stars go (Johnson, Smith, Horford, Bibby and Crawford).  They will be expected to make it to the playoffs for the fourth straight year, but can’t be expected to be any higher than the five seed.  A good place to get your first head coaching gig, but Drew was apart of the meltdown last year.  He is on a short leash for a first time head coach.


Chicago Bulls – Tom Thibodeau replaces Vinny Del Negro

Tom was hailed as the defensive genius in Boston.  Which Boston was considered one of the best defensive teams in the league.  He stresses team defense and that’s the only way you can win is with team defense.  Something Chicago needs a little of Thibodeau’s defensive remedy to get out of the cellar in the Eastern Conference.  Del Negro didn’t do a bad job by any means.  His first year was a great success.  Taking the defending champion Celtics to seven games in the first round of the 2009 playoffs.  This past year the Bulls clinched the last spot to get in, but had the daunting task of playing the Cleveland Cavaliers.  They didn’t get blown out any of the five games, but Chicago management was tired of Del Negro disobeying orders with the handling of the players playing time down the stretch.  It won’t matter with Thibodeau if Chicago can get some players to go with the good core of Rose, Deng, Noah and Gibson.  This is Thibodeau’s first crack at the top and he doesn’t want to give it up that easily.

Cleveland Cavaliers – Byron Scott replaces Mike Brown

Mike Brown wasn’t a terrible coach by any stretch, just a bad motivator.  It showed during the semifinals against the Boston Celtics.  Not making any adjustments when they clearly needed to be made.  It had a ripple effect on the team.  LeBron was put in a no win situation that lead to Brown’s ouster and the possibility of LeBron leaving as well.  Byron Scott is a proven winner not just as a coach, but a player as well.  The New Jersey Nets glory days can be attributed to Scott getting them to back-to-back Finals appearances.  Yes, Scott had a falling out with Jason Kidd at the time of his firing, but his next job in New Orleans was almost another success.  The Hornets were the leading candidate to leave for Oklahoma City with the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, but Scott stepped in and turned New Orleans into a winner and nearly got them to a Western Conference Final.  Apparently he doesn’t get along with elite point guards as Chris Paul wasn’t happy this past season and led to Scott’s dismissal.  Cleveland doesn’t have an elite point guard and LeBron has been quoted saying he would love to play for a coach who was a former player.  Scott is in the perfect scenario so long as LeBron is there.

Los Angeles Clippers – Vinny Del Negro replaces Kim Hughes

This sad franchise could be turning around quicker than most in the 2010-11 season.  Mike Dunleavy stepped down as the head coach to focus on being the GM this past season.  Apparently owner Donald Sterling saw that as a chance to just fire Dunleavy from the GM position too.  Hughes did an admirable job as the interim coach when Dunleavy stepped away, but the Clippers haven’t had stability on the bench since Bill Fitch.  Yes, mid 1990s.  Del Negro is a proven winner in this league.  In two years at Chicago with a decent roster, he took them to the playoffs and nearly upset the defending champion Celtics in 2009.  Imagine what he can do with a roster that has Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman and a healthy Blake Griffin.  Yes, the Clippers do need to add a few more pieces, but this is the smartest move the Clippers have made since, well, I’ll get back to you on that.  Hopefully Del Negro won’t butt heads with management like in Chicago, but I don’t see that happening here because Sterling doesn’t really care what happens on the court of play.  If the Clippers make the playoffs and Chicago doesn’t, you will be able to hear the grunts from Chicago to LA.


New Jersey Nets – Avery Johnson replaces Kiki Vandeweghe

Normally when the head coach is let go during the franchises worst season, the team starts to play better with new energy coming from the bench.  That wasn’t the case as New Jersey seemed to play worse under Vandeweghe after Lawrence Frank was let go.  Vandeweghe wasn’t even considered to be the full-time head coach with new owner Mikhail Prokhorov taking over the franchise.  Prokhorov wanted to make a splash with a big time head coaching hire.  He looked at Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, but that wasn’t going to happen.  They wouldn’t be caught in Newark with the worst team in the NBA.  He did land a big name in Avery Johnson who is well respected throughout the league.  His record with the Dallas Mavericks was phenomenal, but early playoff exits doomed him there with the talented roster put together.  He does have a Finals appearance to his resume.  Johnson will demand every player to work hard everyday and it has already shown in the teams top two players, Devin Harris and Brook Lopez.  More work is to be done if New Jersey wants to make it to the playoffs, but getting to more than 30 wins would be a tremendous success.

New Orleans Hornets – Monty Williams replaces Jeff Bower

Williams gets his first head coaching job after getting a start with San Antonio under Gregg Popovich during their 2005 championship season.  After that year, he has been an assistant under Nate McMillan in Portland.  He certainly got the attention of New Orleans as Williams was third in line behind Avery Johnson and Tom Thibodeau who both took jobs elsewhere.  Williams is now the youngest head coach in the NBA, one year younger than Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra (39).  Hornets GM Jeff Bower finished just 5 games under .500 as the interim to Byron Scott whom Bower fired.  Bower is determined to keep New Orleans in contention, but it will be tough with a new ownership group about to take shape and trying to keep the salary from exceeding the luxury tax line.  That’s why rumors persisted of a Chris Paul trade, but they were quickly denied.  Monty Williams has his work cut out for him.  He has to keep New Orleans in contention for the sake of his and Bower’s job.  The new owner, whomever it is will not like taking control of a losing franchise.

Philadelphia 76ers – Doug Collins replaces Eddie Jordan

We wondered if Michael Jordan was going to come out of retirement and play with Doug Collins now that he is back coaching in the NBA.  Sadly, it didn’t happen.  Collins is not a terrible coach, but it is surprising that he would come back to coach one of the worst teams in the NBA last season.  Eddie Jordan it seemed right from the start wasn’t getting to the players.  They had no idea how to run his Princeton offense and the defense suffered as well.  Jordan will get another chance, but this experience will leave a lasting effect on his next job interview.  Collins has a proven star in Andre Iguodala, a solid draft pick in Evan Turner, and an aging veteran in Elton Brand.  That will be the key.  Getting the fire back in Elton Brand.  If Collins can do that the 76ers will be a contender for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  A few more pieces will need to be put in place and glued together, but this isn’t as bad a team as their record showed.  It will be nice to see Collins turn the team he played his entire 8 season career for into a contender after spending so many as a TV analyst.