The Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach David Blatt on Friday, even though he guided the team to the NBA Finals last season and a 30-11 record so far this year.
The NBA is a tough league. But as far as we can tell, no coach has been fired under similar circumstances before.
Below, you’ll find a table of NBA coaches since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77 who were fired or resigned in the middle of the regular season when their teams had an Elo rating of 1550 or higher. The league-average Elo rating is about 1500, so a rating of 1550 reflects a pretty good team; about as good as the Atlanta Hawks right now.
| COACH | SEASON | TEAM | ELO | COACH RECORD | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Blatt | 2015-16 | Cavaliers | 1669 | 30-11 | Fired |
| Del Harris | 1998-99 | Lakers | 1611 | 6-6 | Fired |
| Larry Brown | 1982-83 | Nets | 1599 | 47-26 | Resigned under pressure |
| Don Nelson | 2004-05 | Mavericks | 1597 | 42-22 | Resigned |
| Larry Brown | 1991-92 | Spurs | 1586 | 21-17 | Fired |
| Frank Layden | 1988-89 | Jazz | 1584 | 11-6 | Resigned |
| Stan Van Gundy | 2005-06 | Heat | 1580 | 11-10 | Resigned under pressure |
| Paul Westhead | 1981-82 | Lakers | 1572 | 7-4 | Fired |
| Danny Ainge | 1999-2000 | Suns | 1563 | 13-7 | Resigned |
| Gene Shue | 1977-78 | 76ers | 1559 | 2-4 | Fired |
| Jack McKinney | 1979-80 | Lakers | 1552 | 10-4 | Injured |
Coaches don’t usually get fired when their teams are playing well. But Blatt’s Cavs haven’t just been good; they’ve been on the verge of great. The team’s current Elo rating is 1669, far higher than that of any other team when it fired a coach mid-season.
When a coach does get fired despite a solid record, it’s usually because his team is underperforming lofty expectations. But that can’t really be said of the Cavs. Their preseason team win total at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook was 56.5 wins; they’re actually a little ahead of that pace, currently projecting to finish the season 61-21 instead.
Yes, the Cavs were embarrassed on Monday by the Warriors, 132-98. But one bad regular-season loss isn’t usually enough to doom a coach. It’s reasonable to ask whether the overt tension between Blatt and superstar LeBron James played a role because there’s not really a good precedent for something like this happening. (James was reportedly not consulted about Blatt’s firing.)
Larry Brown resigned under pressure as head coach of the New Jersey Nets late in the 1982-83 season despite a 47-26 record, but that was because he’d agreed to take a job the next season at the University of Kansas. Del Harris was canned as Lakers’ head coach early in the 1998-99 season when the team had a strong 1611 Elo rating, but its record was just 6-6 at that point, below the perennially high expectations in Lakerland.
