NBA coaches, players and GMs on the hot seat

Now that Tom Thibodeau and Dell Demps have been fired, Luke Walton sits on the hottest chair in the NBA. He's not the head coach whom Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka hired. He's reportedly not LeBron James' camp's guy either. Making things worse, the Lakers are in danger of missing the playoffs and have shown signs of quitting on Walton, especially in recent losses against the Pacers and Hawks. Walton is getting a bit of a raw deal here because of the injuries to James and Lonzo Ball, but he hasn't exactly inspired confidence with his coaching performance either. He'll almost certainly be fired if the Lakers miss the playoffs or quickly bow out in the first round.

Speaking of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka, their respective seats are also getting a little warm. After promising to bring the Lakers back to prominence, Johnson and Pelinka have drafted Lonzo Ball over Jayson Tatum and De'Aaron Fox, traded D'Angelo Russell, let Julius Randle and Brook Lopez walk in free agency, signed a bunch of misfits and royally botched the Anthony Davis ordeal. In other words, besides having LeBron James land in their laps, Johnson and Pelinka have done a pretty poor job of running the Lakers. If they miss the playoffs and, even worse, fail to land a superstar free agent in the summer, it's unlikely that they'll remain in charge of the team for much longer.

LeBron James' status as the best player in the world is on the hot seat. Yes, this sounds a little hot-take-y. However, when your status as the best player on the planet is based upon your peak being higher than any other player's peak, you can't miss the playoffs (because then you don't get to show off your peak). Had James approached this season a little more seriously — instead of playing himself into shape during the first month of the season and didn't act like the distracted boyfriend meme with Anthony Davis — I could give him a pass. However, there are far too many elite players in the NBA who are bringing it on a night-to-night basis during the regular season for LeBron to continue to assume the mantle if he doesn't even make the playoffs. 

Lonzo Ball's future as potential star point guard in the NBA might be tied to how he performs once he returns from his ankle injury after the All-Star break. Why? Well, Ball has a couple of things working against him. First, he might be traded for Anthony Davis (or another superstar) this offseason. Getting traded to an unstable organization like New Orleans could be detrimental to his development. When you add in the LaVar Ball element, he might fall out of favor pretty quickly with that new organization (which could lead to another trade or a reduced role). On the other hand, if Lonzo shows some growth as a two-way player and helps the Lakers make a push to the playoffs, he might elevate himself to where he's worth the fuss that surrounds him.

Another Laker on the hot seat? Are you starting to notice a bit of a trend here? Even though he's still only 21 years old, Brandon Ingram has seemingly left people always wanting a little more out of him. He'll flash potential and do things like hit 39 percent of his three-pointers, like he did last season, but follow that up by shooting under 29 percent this season. He'll lock up Kyrie Irving one night but then mail it in against a tanking team like the Hawks a couple of games later. Maybe it's the Wiz Khalifa look he has going, but Ingram, despite his vast abilities, doesn't seem like a guy who works hard enough on his game to make the leaps and bounds people expect from a second-overall draft pick. If he doesn't play at a high level more consistently over the last 25 games, Ingram can expect a lot of negative publicity heading into the offseason. 

According to some people, like Charles Barkley, Anthony Davis has already ruined his reputation as being one of the most well-liked players in the league with his trade demand. While I think most people see that there are multiple layers to his demand (many outside his control), the past month certainly hasn't been a good look for the 25-year-old superstar. If Davis keeps his head down, plays hard when the Pelicans use him and has Rich Paul do everything behind the scenes instead of in public, he'll have a chance to redeem himself. However, if things in New Orleans go from bad to worse, Davis will lose a lot of fans no matter where he ends up this summer. 

Is Jimmy Butler worth all of the drama that seems to follow him? Within the past two years, he forced his way out of Chicago in a somewhat public manner and ruined Minnesota's season before it even started by forcing his way out in a very  public manner. A few weeks after arriving in Philadelphia, he took issue with how Brett Brown was using him on offense. If he hasn't already surpassed it, he's certainly at the tipping point where the nonsense outweighs the talent. It's time for Butler, who says all he cares about is winning, to put his money where his mouth is and prove that he's willing to do whatever it takes to help the uber-talented Sixers win the Eastern Conference. If he causes any more locker room problems or doesn't play up to his capabilities the rest of this season, don't expect him to get anything close to a max contract this summer. 

The Process is over in Philadelphia. By trading for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris this season, general manager Elton Brand has made it abundantly clear that the Sixers are in "win-now" mode moving forward. Brett Brown was a great coach and babysitter during the formative years of the Process, but it remains unclear whether he's the coach who will take this team to the next level. Brown isn't known for being a brilliant play-drawer or master strategist — but that could be a product of having two young franchise players (Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons). Or it could be a sign that Brown is more of a Scott Brooks-type coach who is best suited for a developmental role as a head coach. We'll learn a lot more about Brown's ceiling as a head coach over the next few months.

Speaking of Scott Brooks and hot seats...

In all reality, Scott Brooks should love the fact that he might be on the hot seat. I mean, would you want to be the coach of the train wreck known as the Washington Wizards moving forward? Their "franchise" player, John Wall, was being referred to as the one of the worst contracts in the NBA before he tore his Achilles tendon. Now he'll be in the running for the worst contract in NBA history for the remaining four years and $170M of his deal. Outside of All-Star Bradley Beal, the team really doesn't have any players that a coach should be excited about developing either. Brooks hasn't done a good job in Washington, but it'd probably be a little unfair for the team to fire him. At least, it'd be unfair to fire Brooks without firing longtime GM Ernie Grunfeld first. 

What's on the line for Markelle Fultz when he finally comes back from this shoulder/mental injury? Only his NBA life and status as being the biggest bust in NBA history. Fultz, if you remember, was considered a surefire top overall pick two years ago. While he wasn't on the level of Anthony Davis as a prospect, he was considered by many to be on the same plane as the likes of Kyrie Irving and John Wall entering the league. He was big, athletic, could play on- or off-ball and could shoot from deep. He basically had every skill you'd want in a guard in today's NBA. Fast-forward two seasons, and a weird shoulder/mental injury might prevent him from even getting to his second contract. If he can't figure out his problems while he's out of the spotlight in Orlando, he probably won't ever figure them out.

After breaking out in Kyrie Irving's absence last spring and averaging about 17 points, six rebounds and five assists per game in the playoffs, Terry Rozier has taken a step backward in his reduced role this season. Some of that was to be expected with less minutes, but he hasn't exactly looked like the "Scary" Terry we saw last year. With his restricted free agency approaching, he'll need to improve his play for another team to make him its point guard of the future and hand him a big contract (a contract that won't likely be matched by the Celtics). 

Kyrie Irving, the player, is by no means on the hot seat as he is having the best season of his career this year. Kyrie Irving, the leader, on the other hand, is starting to feel like a seat heater in the springtime: not hot enough to make you sweat but warm enough to make you a little uncomfortable. At various points this season, Irving has expressed his frustration about the young players on his team not knowing what it takes to win a championship. He's also talked endlessly on the topic of leadership and even told the world that he apologized to LeBron James for not understanding why James led Irving and the Cavaliers during their time in Cleveland. All of this leadership talk has rubbed a lot of people in Boston the wrong way and has often been met with the retorts like "real leaders don't talk about leadership." With his pending free agency in the back of Celtics fans' minds, Irving will need to show out or shut up in the playoffs, otherwise methinks he'll be facing a lot of criticism heading into the offseason.

Come July, Steve Mills' seat is either going to be piping hot or remade into a throne. By trading Kristaps Porzingis to help clear cap space, Mills essentially put all of the Knicks' eggs into the free-agency basket. If things go perfectly, the Knicks will have Kevin Durant, Kryie Irving (or another A-list free agent) and Zion Williamson. If things do not go as planned, the Knicks will have a couple of B-list free-agent signings and a non-Zion pick. The latter of those two scenarios will represent an utter failure and a waste of the franchise's most popular young star since Patrick Ewing.

Despite being in the first season of his first NBA coaching stint, Igor Kokoskov could be on the hot seat for one simple reason: The general manager who hired him, Ryan McDonough, was fired in October and replaced by James Jones. GMs often like to hire their own head coaches instead of dealing with the ones they inherit. In addition to not necessarily being Jones' "guy," Kokoskov hasn't exactly set the world on fire in Phoenix as the Suns have the worst record in the league. While it's true that they're supposed to be tanking, you'd like to see a little more progress out of a team with plenty of young talent. 

Despite having the Trail Blazers in fourth place in the Western Conference after a third-place finish the season before, coach Terry Stotts could be on the hot seat if Portland fails to win a playoff series this spring. To be clear, anyone calling for Stotts' head to roll should redirect their frustration toward general manager Neil Olshey. Olshey's horrendous use of the team's cap space in the summer of 2016 is still hamstringing the franchise three years later. Stotts is doing the best he can with the roster in front of him. He has Damian Lillard and Jusuf Nurkic playing as well as they have ever played, and he's developed players like CJ McCollum, Al-Farouq Aminu, Zach Collins and Jake Layman. Not much else he can do if you ask me.

A little outside of the box here, but Chris Paul's status as the "point god" is on the line. Even before his most recent hamstring injury, Paul had begun to show signs of slippage in his 14th season. If he can't get back to close to the level he was on during last year's run to the conference finals, Houston is in trouble — and not just this season but for the next three years of Paul's max contract. CP3 is in trouble too, because once a player is no longer a "star," he stops getting star calls from refs and stops getting away with tricks and flopping and selling of calls the way he once did. Paul is the master of those subtle tricks, so things could get ugly fast for him. Moreover, don't think for a second that Rockets' GM Daryl Morey would hesitate to trade Paul if he isn't producing at a high enough level to keep up with James Harden and Clint Capela. I know two knuckleheads running a team in Los Angeles who would be desperate enough to deal for him this offseason too.

It feels so wrong to even write this, but Isaiah Thomas' NBA career is probably on the line this spring. If he gets injured again, or proves to be ineffective as a spark plug off the Nuggets' bench, he'll probably be playing in China next year. It's insane that two seasons ago he was in the MVP discussion and averaging 29 points and six assists per game, and now he's fighting for his NBA life. But that's what happens when you're under 6 feet and have some of the athleticism and quickness that made you so unstoppable taken away from you by a hip injury. Hopefully, IT can be a star in his limited role and maybe have a couple of big moments in playoff games for Denver so he can secure his bag moving forward. 

Who? Scott Layden is the Minnesota Timberwolves GM in case you were wondering. Layden is on the hot seat because he was brought in to be Tom Thibodeau's GM. In other words, Thibodeau was the ultimate decision maker, while Layden was the guy in charge of all of the behind-the-scenes general managing work. Notice a potential problem here? With Thibodeau out of the picture, it is unclear whether Layden will be given an opportunity past this season to run the team, or if owner Glen Taylor will find a replacement to start anew this offseason. If interim coach Ryan Saunders (son of the late Flip Saunders) shows promise, look for the T-Wolves to give Layden and Saunders another year. However, if the team quits on Saunders during the second half, expect the team to clean house this summer.

Remember last year when people were lobbying for the Cavaliers to trade the Brooklyn pick for DeAndre Jordan at the trade deadline? Well, let's just say Cavs GM Koby Altman would be on this list (or already fired) if he'd made that deal. Jordan pretty much stinks now. Sure, his rebounding numbers are still good, and he can actually hit his free throws, but his athleticism and effort have fallen off a cliff in his 11th season. Perhaps he's on cruise-control because the Clippers, Mavericks and Knicks all were non-playoff teams? Or more realistically, he's just past his prime. Either way, Jordan has two ways to score his next contract. He can either be a good veteran for the Knicks' young bigs like Mitchell Robinson, or he can help recruit his good friend Kevin Durant to New York. If he does neither, Jordan can expect a lot of one-year, $5M contract offers this summer instead of a $10-plus million dollar deal he thinks he's worth.

Despite his years of incompetent, directionless mismanagement of the Chicago Bulls, Gar Forman still has a job. Maybe the Bulls' notoriously cheap owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, is waiting until Chris Wallace in Memphis or Ernie Grunfeld in Washington get fired so that Forman will own the title of being the most inexplicable person with a front office job in the NBA? Forman's seat should be as hot as the dog's seat in the "this is fine" meme, but who knows if it actually is or not. I'm just praying that Zion Williamson doesn't end up in Chicago under this regime.