There’s been a bunch of talk recently about how Kenny Atkinson is out in Brooklyn. Obviously a coach getting fired would (and should) generate a lot of talk since coaches have been relatively stable in the NBA for the past few seasons (other than some major firings and hirings this season).
However, lost in all that talk was any news of who the Nets’ interim coach would be. To be fair, I was only reading headlines (that’s how a busy person like me stays abreast of all the happenings in the NBA), but nowhere did I see the name of who would take over head coaching duties for the Nets. In fact, as of the writing of this sentence, I still don’t know who actually coached the Nets this game. I never looked over at their bench to see who it was. All I know is that this mystery coach, in his (or her) first game as the head enchilada, led the Nets to a victory.
It a good example of the “unpopular coach gets fired” effect and we saw it happen with the Knicks this season. We also saw it when Jason Kidd got fired from the Bucks. Even if the replacement coach is objectively less talented from an X’s and O’s standpoint, the players respond well to the replacement for at least one game. Take, for example, Joe Harris. He scored 23 points. That’s his third-highest game of the season. And he did it for a coach who was probably just acting as a motivator rather than a master in-game strategist.
Since I am proud of my ignorance, I’m going to resolutely refuse to look up who this new coach is. Out of respect for my ignorance, please refrain from posting his (or her) name in the comments of this video. And if you are compelled to comment their name anyway, please put it in spoiler tags of some kind. Thank you.