In the wake of the Raptors firing Dwane Casey after being swept by LeBron James and the Cavaliers, The Ringer’s Chris Vernon was among several to ask a simple question. (Full disclosure: this also came up in the super-secret SB Nation Slack chat):
Research project for a bored follower: how many coaches have been fired right after losing to LeBron in the playoffs over the years? I wanna know the body count https://t.co/tiOBSVIxZs
— Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) May 11, 2018
The answer depends on how you’d define the question. If you’re talking firings that happen literally after James’ team beat them, it’s actually a shorter list than one might think. But there are plenty of circumstances where James delivered most of the body blows and let another team finish that coach off.
So let’s dig into this.
Start here: how many coaches has James beaten in the playoffs?
James has won a total of 33 playoff series in his career. Here are all the coaches he’s defeated:
- Eddie Jordan (2006, 2007, 2008)
- Tom Thibodeau (2011, 2013, 2015)
- Frank Vogel (2012, 2013, 2014)
- Dwane Casey (2016, 2017, 2018)
- Brad Stevens (2015, 2017, 2018?)
- Doc Rivers (2011, 2012)
- Mike Budenholzer (2015, 2016)
- Nate McMillan (2017, 2018)
- Mike Woodson (2009 with Atlanta, 2012 with New York)
- Lawrence Frank (2007)
- Flip Saunders (2007)
- Michael Curry (2009)
- Vinny Del Negro (2010)
- Doug Collins (2011)
- Scott Brooks (2012)
- Jim Boylan (2013)
- Gregg Popovich (2013)
- Steve Clifford (2014)
- Jason Kidd (2014)
- Stan Van Gundy (2016)
- Steve Kerr (2016)
How many of those coaches were immediately fired?
The technical answer is five.
- Michael Curry (after a 4-0 loss in 2009)
- Vinny Del Negro (after a 4-1 loss in 2010)
- Jim Boylan (after a 4-0 loss in 2013)
- Tom Thibodeau (after a 4-2 loss in 2015)
- Dwane Casey (after a 4-0 loss in 2018)
A sixth, Jason Kidd, left the Nets to coach the Bucks after falling, 4-1, in the second round in 2014. That was Kidd’s decision after losing a power struggle with Billy King, so I don’t count it. But if you want to, you can.
So he’s only gotten five coaches fired?
If you’re being literal, yes. (Here’s where you insert the joke about how we should add Mike Brown and David Blatt — his own coaches — to the list, making seven).
There are mitigating circumstances for even those five. Curry was an awful hire by Joe Dumars in 2008 and wasn’t just fired for losing to James. Del Negro was questioned throughout his Bulls tenure and was probably fired more for fighting the team’s president than his inability to beat James with a young Derrick Rose. Boylan, Scott Skiles’ lead assistant that was given the Bucks’ job in a caretaker role once Skiles was fired in midseason, was on his way out anyway.
In that sense, there have been only two coaches who were fired explicitly after and because their teams couldn’t beat James: Thibodeau and Casey.
But that metric is misleading because of all the coaches James pushed to the edge
Look at some of the other names on that initial list of 21 coaches:
Eddie Jordan: The old Wizards’ head man lost to Young King James in the first round for three straight seasons. The summer after the third of those three losses, the team re-signed Gilbert Arenas to a six-year, $111 million contract, only to find out his knee was still injured. (This is the super CliffNotes version). After a 1-10 start to next season, Jordan was fired. Of course losing to James played a massive role in Jordan’s demise, even if the Wizards’ awful start in 2008 provided the final blow.
Flip Saunders: The legendary coach (RIP) was technically ousted after the 59-win 2007-08 Pistons fell in the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals to the Celtics. But you’re telling me this didn’t play a role in his dismissal?
Doc Rivers: The former Celtics coach jetted to the Clippers once it became clear the Celtics were about to embark on a rebuilding project. That technically commenced after a 2013 first-round defeat to the Knicks, but that was merely the final nail in the coffin after James knocked the Celtics out the two years prior.
Frank Vogel: The former Pacers coach technically saw his end after his 45-37 team lost a competitive seven-game first-round series to the Raptors in 2016. (C’mon, Frank, take Ty Lawson out!). But surely losing three straight times to James helped convince Larry Bird that Vogel needed to play with a more up-tempo style, which ultimately led to his contract not being renewed.
Mike Budenholzer: It took two more years for Coach Bud to finally split with the Hawks, but that was merely a slow, painful death after James ejected his two best teams from the playoffs in back-to-back sweeps.
So how many coaches has James gotten fired? Maybe two, maybe five or six, maybe seven, maybe even 10 or 11. It depends on your point of view. (And, again: add two or even three more of his own with Brown, Blatt, and maybe even Paul Silas).
The best answer is the simplest one: a whole damn lot. That’s all you really need to know to understand how LeBron James has bent the East to his will.