The 2026-27 NBA Coaching Hot Seat Rankings: Who Survives, Who Gets Fired?

The 2026-27 NBA Coaching Hot Seat Rankings: Who Survives, Who Gets Fired? === Jose: ​[00:00:00] It's time to talk basketball. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thePeachBasket.net. He is Steve Purciello, host of Celtic Chalk Talk, a longtime educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach and athletic director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod. The Shot Clock Pod was born out of content in Steve's 13 Rules random NBA thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today, we'll discuss his latest 13 Rules random NBA thoughts article, where he discusses the NBA coaches that are in the hot seat. It's not even the, the NBA's started the season. We're not even close to the NBA starting the season, and Steve's already putting these guys in the hot seat, but I think it's warranted. We'll talk about it. Now before we dive into it, if you're listening to this, we're grateful. Thank you. This is one of many independent fan-driven shows on the Peach Basket Podcast Network of shows. We're not owned by a big media company, which means what you hear comes straight from real fans who have a passion for the [00:01:00] game just like Steve and I do. If you believe voices like this should be heard, the best way to support us is simple. Keep listening, tell a friend, like, comment, subscribe. It all means the world to us. And of course, when this episode ends, head over to the PeachBasketPodcastNetwork.com, head over to thePeachBasket.net, check out more fan-run podcasts, read those articles, and help this independent network grow the way it started, organically, one hoops fan at a time. Now, I'm excited before we get into it, and I'm sorry for the long intro, but I've been working on this for a little bit. I'm excited to announce a new podcast of sorts. We're calling it Basketball Before Breakfast. It'll launch soon. And it's meant to be a very quick overview of what you may have missed in yesterday in the world of basketball, not just NBA, but WNBA, Big 3, international, college, all things basketball. It's quick, runs about five, 10 minutes, and Steve had a big hand in, in, in getting that created for us. Make sure to stay connected to thePeachBasket.net for that launch, and that will be a daily [00:02:00] show. Again, all things basketball. I think you'll enjoy it. All right. This week, Steve takes a look at every coach I mentioned that's on the hot seat for the 26, 27 NBA season. We're gonna talk about the ones that he mentioned. We're gonna talk about some that he didn't mention. Steve, are you ready? Steve: Ready Jose: Let's go. Clock is on. Of course, hot seat means expectation, right? That's the only way that you would probably end up on that hot seat. Your team is expected to do something and you may not do it, and it's generally the coach who gets the blame. We're gonna start with the team with undeniably the highest expectations going into the 26, 27 NBA season. That's the Philadelphia 76ers. There's one basketball, there's five great players. How's Nick Nurse gonna make it all work? Is... How hot is the hot seat for Nick Nurse? Steve: Well, the first thing he's gotta do is get buy-in from Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. LeBron James has been around a little bit, and I think he knows [00:03:00] competence and people he doesn't believe in. And he's-- If I remember back in his past, I believe David Blatt was the head coach of Cleveland, and LeBron wasn't real happy, and David Blatt was looking for a job. So I think that's the first thing he needs to do, and he should've been spending a lot of this time to know him and Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown's a very bright person, and he probably can figure out good, bad, and so on. So he needs that buy-in first. And then he's also gotta get the players that have played for him, he's gotta talk to them about their roles and asking them to stay with it. And that's not an easy thing, because is Joel Embiid going to like not always getting the ball? And is he Jose: Yeah Steve: being the anchor on defense or trying to be the anchor? Those are things... And he's gonna have to talk somebody into defending, because when you think about it, Edgecombe's young. He can defend a little bit, but he's young and he's not filled out [00:04:00] yet. Brown is a decent defender. LeBron, eh, he's old and he doesn't defend as well. Embiid doesn't jump real well anymore and he's not a great rim protector. Maxey, not a great defender, so they don't appear to have a good defensive team. are you gonna convince-- Who's gonna guard the best player on another team? What do you do? So those are things that Nurse has gotta get through to them. Now as a basketball fan, I've watched Nick Nurse coach for many years. I really lost my thought about how good a coach he was a couple years ago against the Knicks and I spoke about it then. But in the playoffs, the Knicks were down a point or two. They s- down by three or four. They score, and it's still a one-point or two-point game. And I remember this moment very clearly, Philly's taking the ball out, and then he, and he, Nick Nurse had a timeout. With only a few seconds left, the obvious thing is an immediate timeout, take the ball up the [00:05:00] other end of the court, so if they steal it, they've gotta go length of court or do something. Nick Nurse didn't call the timeout. Philadelphia turned it over, and the Knicks stole the game. And I just sat there and said, "This is an NBA coach in a major moment. Is he that good?" Now, the other part about this is, let's just pretend Philadelphia wins a title. He will become probably a Hall of Fame coach. it's a very interesting situation for Nurse. And that is what I see Jose: Yeah. I wonder how bad it has to be though for the Sixers ownership group. And I don't know who that is, I'll be honest. But how bad does it have to be? Are we talking three and five start? Remember, Miami Heat's LeBron team started three and five, if I'm re- remembering correctly. Is it 28 and, 50, right? That's pretty bad. What... at what point... What's the line of demarcation, right? When does that heat turn up? What do [00:06:00] you think? Steve: U- unless it's 20 and 40 or something ridiculous, he gets the year. gets the Jose: Yeah. Right Steve: And if they bow out quick, he bows out quick. So I think he gets the year to figure it out, unless it's a nightmare start and problems exist. The other piece too that m- makes it Joel Embiid's injury occurrences make this a situation for him where let's just pretend Embiid plays 30 games, is entirely possible. Jose: Yeah Steve: That might give N- Nurse a little bit more time because, you lost your be- one of your best players. So there, there's a lot of factors, but when I say on the hot seat, I'm not only saying during the year. This could, at the end of the season, title Jose: Right Steve: could be. And by the way, one of the people involved in this whole thing is Bob Myers. And if people don't know who Bob Myers is he is the really [00:07:00] the, the engineer of the Warrior Golden State and their titles. So he's involved. He's a consultant, but I know he had his fingers in the Jaylen Brown trade, and he also had the LeBron James situation. They've got some good management people working with the situation Jose: Yeah. Yeah, I think clearly health is gonna-- Well, health is, the ride-- overriding factor for every NBA team. But this, the Sev- 76ers have got a lot riding on healthy Joel Embiid. Last three seasons, 38 games, 19 games, 39 games. So when you said 30, you nailed it. That's pretty much his average over the last over the last three seasons, and that might end up costing Nick Nurse his job Steve: Just one last thing I wanna say. I don't think this could ever happen Did Bob Myers hire Steve Kerr? Jose: I don't remember. Did he? I don't know Steve: Was he close with Steve Kerr? Jose: Yes Steve: I'll just leave that[00:08:00] Jose: Oh, I see what you... it took me a while to put the pieces together. Okay. Okay Steve: think, just something to think about. I don't see it happening, but it's something to think about. Kerr signed a two-year contract with Golden State Jose: Yeah, but I think he signed that contract thinking LeBron was coming or something. I, I, that one still baffles me Steve: and if and I would think if and I don't see it, I don't see it, but I would think after a year Jose: Yeah Steve: go to Philly, I'm, I would think Golden State would say go because they have to start over and Jose: Oh, of course. Of course. Steve: But, Jose: course. Wow, that's an interesting one. All right. You heard it here first. We'll bookmark. Steve: head. Go Jose: We'll bookmark that one for sure Steve: again, I don't think it could happen, but you don't know Jose: Yeah. Man, anything can happen. This is the NBA. And speaking of anything can happen, Ime Udoka had a great run with the Boston Celtics. Unceremonious end, but a great run while respected. Went to Houston, young [00:09:00] team. We really all expected this to go super well, and it hasn't. It's been bumpy. You've got Udoka on the hot seat. Why? Steve: I, I think the sparkle of the, this new coach who did a great job in Boston for one year, got them to the finals and put it together and got them to work together and do all those good things, him to get fired after he sat out a year after his personal problems. everybody was high on it because Steve Silas, who was the coach before, they won 25, 30 games. He came in with talent. There's talent there, and he all of a sudden immediately... They didn't make the playoffs the first year, I believe, but they were close. I think they were like 41 and 41. then the next year they did, they had a much better record, but this year they plateaued. And this year the luster wore off because there were a lot of signs, Durant not getting along with people and so on, that led the situation to be maybe there's a s- problem here. Naturally they [00:10:00] did have VanVleet hurt and Steven Adams, but they began to, to people question it, and then Alperen Sengun did not get his... Everybody thought he was gonna take the next step. He didn't. He more or less stayed the same. So there's so many things that haven't gotten In other words, they, it almost became an even with the year before, and you got Durant. and he's getting older, Durant, too. So there's a lot of little factors, and if Houston continues not to play well, not to even mention-- Well, I will mention it. They lost to the Lakers. They lost to the Lakers without Luka and without Austin Reaves. That, that is unacceptable. So there's a lot of look, if th- if this ain't working this year, we gotta do something, because there's a lot of people's jobs on the line. The GM, Stone, and everybody else. He's in a, he's in a produced time, I don't think his opinions are as highly [00:11:00] sought after by management as they Jose: Yeah. Some coaches get to ride and not that Udoka won the championship, but he, you know, like you mentioned, he got his team there and then some, some coaches tend to ride that for a career, right? We've talked about it before. I'm thinking of Doc Rivers. But Udoka's he hasn't, it doesn't seem like he got the shine on that really great run. He didn't get it to to last as long as he did. That shine only lasted a couple, maybe a season. Because you're right, all of a sudden he was the golden boy, now he's not anymore. It seemed to be an overnight thing Steve: But y- that's what, there, there's so many things. I know Van Vliet was hurt. He thought he was okay with the point guard, whatever he had. To- he wanted Thompson to handle the ball. He went with Reed Shepherd, who di- it didn't work out, and he was one of the top picks in the draft. So there's so many things that went on that it's hard to even tell, did he have a say in not going out and trying to get a point guard, or [00:12:00] did management above him have that sa- thought? There, there's a lot of little things that we have to clear up but the thing you d- and even with Shepherd, you took him early in the draft, third I think, fourth, whatever, but did he get better? No, he didn't. Did Sengun get better? No, he didn't. Jabari Smith was chosen third in the draft. Did he get better? No. He's going, he's becoming a, a solid NBA player, but not an all-star like you would hope with the third pick in the draft. So all these things, if they don't develop, you start wondering what's going on Jose: Yep. Yep, yep. And that always points to the coach. Let's talk about a coach that is analytically the best coach in the NBA. You he would t- be the first one to tell you this. Kenny Atkinson of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, I joke. Listen, his Cavs have been good in the regular season. He's led the team for two seasons, won the division once, came in second the other time, lost in the E- Eastern Conference finals both times. That's not [00:13:00] bad, but a lot more of it is expected from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Kenny Atkinson is in the hot seat Steve: The best thing I can say about this is Donovan Mitchell likes him, so that, that carries weight in the organization. But I, they're a team that looks like they're gonna settle into a three and four seed for the next year or so. And that's saying that James Harden doesn't begin to show age. He's not showing a lot of it yet, that's where they're gonna be. they did make that trade for Garland, or Garland for Harden. I don't know, future-wise, as I don't know if that's a great deal, but they've gotta get better. And Atkinson really put his foot in his mouth when he said analytically we, we should be beating the Knicks in the playoffs when they're getting beaten every game. you could take the analytics and sometimes the eye test is more important. And when Jose: Yeah. Steve: that's the eye test. And Jose: Yeah Steve: You just keep quiet. When you say that, you're bringing [00:14:00] attention on yourself and I'm sure ownership, management, they're real, real happy about those comments. So he's almost hanging himself in this whole thing. Jose: Yeah. Steve: And by the Jose: Yeah, it was... Steve: let me just... One more thing I wanna Jose: Please, Steve: With Kenny Atkinson, when he coached the Nets, Nets, they were developing a team, and he overreached with them. Sometimes coaches are very good with teams that are developing, meaning they can get them mature and better. With when they get to be better, coaches don't handle it well and don't do a good Jose: Yeah Steve: My question is Kenny Atkinson one of those type coaches Jose: Right Steve: understood, got him better, but now he, has trouble bringing it home? Jose: Yep. Yeah. No, great call out and, based on, again, not the analytics, but just scoreboard, [00:15:00] he's having trouble bringing them home. He just can't get past the Eastern Conference finals, semis or finals last two seasons. Let's see how things play out for Kenny. Let's talk about a Western Conference coach that I kinda he doesn't get a whole lot of publicity I don't think. He's not a well-known guy like some of the others we've talked about. That's Chris Finch. But Minnesota rolled the dice. They've got a lot. Again, expectations are high in Minnesota, and so the spotlight is on Chris Finch. But again, I'm a fan of this guy. Do you really think they're gonna blame him if this doesn't work out in Minny? Steve: Biggest thing is how is Mr. Edwards dealing with it? He's a Finch guy now. Jose: Yeah Steve: If it's another frustrating year, I don't know where that goes. Now, they gambled with LaMelo Ball. Tim Connelly, the general manager and the president of operations, whatever title you wanna give him, he's the one who made the deal. If things don't work out, it's five years, gotten to the conference [00:16:00] finals, but they haven't gotten further. It's five years and change, a little bit more than five years he's been there. You've got some players. You've had Karl-Anthony. You've got some superstars, Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert now. Y- you got stars around him. Now they brought in LaMelo. I kinda look at it as, you know what? This could be interesting because if they struggle it's gonna be interesting. And I'm just curious how an Anthony Edwards is gonna react when LaMelo throws one of his 30-footers up. It just-- I'm just curious how that's gonna work out. Supposedly, they're getting along and they've done things together in the summer. We'll see. But there's a lot of interesting things. You have new ownership. A Rod is one of the owners. They naturally wanna keep Minnesota winning because also there's talk about a new arena. You gotta win because then people don't mind shelling out the money for it. The [00:17:00] politicians don't mind. So there, there's a lot of factors here and it gets interesting. And again, if Anthony W- Edwards made a, a, a sound that he was thinking about maybe it's time to get out, then you're done. Then you're finished 'cause then they'll do Jose: No, of course. Yeah and this is where it just feels so unfair to somebody like me, right? In the 2000s, the Minnesota Timberwolves before Finch, in the 2000s, the entirety of the 2000s up till Finch started 2021-22 season, the Minnesota Timberwolves made the playoffs five times in the entirety of the 2000s. Since Chris Finch started, they've made it all five years he's been there. So he has-- he's equaled... Steve: different ownership. Jose: That's the part that just seems so unfair to me. Th-this guy did his job, man. But y-y-y- the NBA, it's not the it, the job isn't done until you lift the LOB, bottom line, right? Steve: Star- stars like Anthony like Edwards, Jose: Yeah Steve: along that often. [00:18:00] And when you have them, you need to produce a title. Jose: Suppose that Steve: you don't, if you don't, you got a problem. Jose: Say it wasn't Steve: how... And we could talk about, yeah, but they're not as good as other teams. You're probably right. you have this player, and at some point, and Edwards is still young, at some point looks at it and says, "We're never gonna win here. Jose: Yeah. Steve: time for me to move on." Jose: Yeah Steve: That's the makeup of the NBA of today Jose: Yep. Sad but true. That's the world we live in. Listen, I've had no issue with any- anybody on your list, Nick Nurse, Adoka, Atkinson, Finch. The next guy baffles me. I get your point, but I want you to explain this one to everybody. You've got Chauncey Billups on the list. A lot of people are saying, "Who?" This is the first year, first time head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Why would you put somebody who's never coached a team on the hot seat? Steve: First of all, before we even start, you need to [00:19:00] understand Tiago Splitter did a tremendous job last year stepping in for Billups at the last minute, and the team did as well as they possibly could. And this guy, Tom Dundon, the owner of the team, began interviewing candidates. He had interviewed 40 or 50 different people for the head coaching job. This was at the end of the season. Now, if I'm Tiago Splitter I know, and fortunately he's working for Chicago now, he's the head coach. But with that said, he interviewed everybody, Dundon. He ultimately signed Nori. did he do? He signed him basically a one-year contract with the team options for the second and third year. Let us-- The Western Conference is difficult. Let us look at it. What happens if they win the same amount of games as they won last year? They don't get better. What do you think is gonna happen to Nori? You think they're gonna keep him? And it is [00:20:00] so unfair because anybody who's had a job and moved into a, a better job or higher up job, they know it takes a while to adjust to that job. Nori's going to be expected to step in right away. And by adjusting, first of all you're handling media. You didn't have to do that as an assistant. Second of all, you're the final say. As an assistant, all you did was suggest to the head coach. Now you are making the decisions. So he's under a, an unfair position. It's not even a comment about if he's good or not. It's really a comment about the situation with this owner. Really a shame. And I wanna finish with one thing, and it's a little off the subject. is the guy who bought the team from Paul Allen's sister. But he bought it s- eight months ago, six months ago. When he bought it, what he did, he is now [00:21:00] holding the city out. They have a lease till 2030. He's looking for a, a couple I don't even know how many million, 600, 500 million from the city to fix the arena. Now, with the thought that in 2030 their lease is up, he's holding over their head that, "I'll just take them to another city." So it's not a pretty situation in Portland 'cause this guy is very impetuous, and God only knows what he can pull Jose: Yeah, I think we've talked about the, the weirdness and kind of his weird decisions. I think he stopped paying for certain things. He stopped paying for certain amounts of travel. He gave a- he stopped giving away free T-shirts. Just a bunch of really weird Steve: Well, Jose: decisions Steve: NBA teams oftentimes they play the night game and then they're gonna fly to the next city after the game. They usually keep the motel room and probably pay, but they might keep it till 4:00 or 5:00 in the after- whatever, until [00:22:00] the team bus leaves. What Dundon was doing was trying no. We check out at checkout time if it's 12:00." What do the players do, sit in the lobby? I don't know what they do, but it's absolutely crazy to pinch, Terms, a couple thousand dollars W- when you're talking about millions, but he did that. And how would you feel? Do you wanna play for an owner like that when there's so many Jose: Yeah Steve: that do it right? It's just absolutely crazy Jose: Yeah. Mike Nor has paid his dues. Nori has has paid his dues, so I'm hoping for success for him. Tommy Lasorda famously signed a bunch of one-year deals here as a manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I know it's not the same thing, but I'm hoping it works out well for Micah Nor in Portland. All right that was it. Those are the, the, the players, no, pardon me, the coaches that you talked about in your article, which we'll of course link below 'cause Steve had more to say about each. But I wanna throw out a couple of other ones that I think deserve to be on the list, and I wanna get your quick thoughts [00:23:00] 'cause again, the clock is winding down. We talked last week about Denver and some weird decisions and how they might be, wasting Jokic's prime. David Adelman has gotta be on the hot seat, yes or no? Steve: Yeah, he is. I thought about that, but I can't get a read about what Denver wants to do, meaning they were disgusted with Malone and Calvin Booth, the general manager, fighting all the time. Are they happy that Adelman's kind of settled the ship? And then the most important thing is where's Jokic in this? If he's happy, they're happy. If he's not happy, then he's got a problem. So it's a hard read to make on this. And I don't think Jokic is a complainer, so I... it's just hard. It's just very difficult. Yeah, they would... They probably expect more. However, I think being realistic, if they're fourth or fifth, that'd be a good year. So I don't know. I don't know. It's a very difficult read Jose: [00:24:00] Okay. We'll put the, the, the heat setting for David Adelman at, at, at mid, not hot. So it's a mild heat. This next team is used to winning championships. It's a championship or bust. They've got new ownership. Is JJ Redick on the hot seat, yes or no? Steve: You know, if he got fired, there would be probably 10 teams standing in line to hire Jose: Facts Steve: And incorporates everything good. He incorporates analytics, but he goes by the eye test. He's good with players like playing for him. I, I, if the La- if the Lakers were silly enough to do that, it would just reinforce my thoughts on the Lakers. But I just I can't see that. I Jose: Yeah Steve: I, you're out there. Is he in trouble? Jose: No. No. I don't think he is. I, I think he, he did really well with a very, with an underperforming team that didn't really mix [00:25:00] last season. I do think, though, now they're, the expectations are higher this season than they were last season, right? Because you're building this team around Luka. It's the first go around. So I do think expectations are high, and we started this show by saying, "Listen, these are coaches with high expectations." But JJ Redick proved himself, undeniably proved himself last season. So I do think if they stumble out of the gate, let's say at, 10 and 13 start or something th- then you're notching up the heat to, to mid for sure. But I don't think he, he's-- it's gotta be a total collapse for JJ Redick to be fired Steve: I looked at Redick as a guy that can be in one place for 10 years. Jose: Yeah Steve: I think he's one of the better coaches in the league Jose: Okay. Here, let's finish. Now the, you heard the buzz, so our, we've already got a shot clock violation, but I cannot skip this last one. All right? This is another team that's championship or bust, and they won recently, and they've got [00:26:00] a young coach, is Joe Mazzulla. And keep in mind, man, the Boston Celtics have changed. This is a different team. Is he on the hot seat? Steve: One of the things you failed to mention is they've won the most championships. But Jose: did fail to mention that, yeah Steve: saying that I have thought about that, my thought being, and Brad Stevens wasn't going out of his way like he did a year before to say how good he was. My thought is he's got this year, and next year if it's not getting better, he'll be out. But I don't see them doing it this quickly, and I think Missoula's eccentric. He's different, but he's a good coach and he does a good job. And I think I've mentioned this, maybe I haven't, I don't know if you're aware, the summer Missoula usually stops in the city, different places players live in, and just to spend three or four days with them. This year he's been out in Portugal where, [00:27:00] and Nemaja Queta lives, and he's been with him working out and doing all the different things that Queta does. He's also been in Nebraska where Shireman lives, and he spent a couple days with him. So he's done this stuff over the years quite often, and it builds a bond with the players because he's getting to see them. And I know that the players know he's eccentric, like playing for him. And one other thing he does well, and keeps players on the side, he'll use guys. A guy sits out three, four games, all of a sudden you see him coming in the second quarter. But so guys are playing and they're always on their toes, and they like it because you're not buried if you're the 10th guy. All of a sudden you're getting time. So I just don't see it immediately, but I, I, I-- you, you could be right on that, but I just, I think, if things don't pan out, it doesn't do well. And he's getting, being known, even though he won a playoff [00:28:00] series, as a great coach in the regular season. In the playoffs, after this year with Philly, people, and last year with the Knicks, losing both of them, people are starting to think, so you might be right, but I don't think you are Jose: Let's see how it plays out. All right that's it. You heard the shot clock go off. Our time is up. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Make sure to read Steve's entire 13 rules, write in maybe a thoughts article. We will link it wherever you're watching or listening to this show today. And we do gotta tell you, we we have to end with this. Steve and I are on a two-week hiatus. Everyone, please enjoy your summer. Steve, enjoy your time. We will likely, possibly, maybe pop in if something huge happens, but otherwise we'll see you back in late August for another episode of the Shot Clock Pod. We'll talk then. Thanks, Steve Steve: Enjoy the wedding Jose: Yes, sir. Not mine, to be clear. That's, that already happened, but thank you. Steve: Yeah