It's a simple philosophy with its roots stemming in survival of the fittest.
We are a quarter of the way through the NBA season and 10 percent of the league's coaches have already been shown the door, with more certain to follow.
In any walk of life, when things aren't going well, the higher-ups on the food chain always need a scapegoat. In this sour economy, you can pick up a newspaper every day and read about some company downsizing to make its bottom line look a little more enticing to its stockholders. In essence, it's the people in power saying to their underlings -- better you than me.
In the NBA, that means general managers sacrificing coaches to placate restless owners.
When Oklahoma City and Washington made changes, it was understandable. As I wrote last week, professional sports is a bottom-line business, and the bottom line was pretty ugly for both the Thunder and the Wizards early this season.
P.J. Carlesimo's Thunder were off to a dismal 1-12 start when Sam Presti went looking for his fall guy, while Eddie Jordan's Wizards were a miserable 1-10 when Ernie Grunfeld made him an example.
But, how about Toronto?
The Raptors were supposed to be much improved this season but were off to a sluggish start, so general manager Bryan Colangelo fired coach Sam Mitchell Wednesday, a day after one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history, a 132-93 drubbing at the hands of Denver in the Rocky Mountains.
"Obviously, (the Denver) game was just an absolute kick to the gut," Colangelo said. "When you look back, it's a culmination of things. Expectations are high. We want to win."
The addition of six-time All-Star Jermaine O'Neal and the continued development of one of the NBA's most underrated point guards, Jose Calderon, had many thinking the Raptors should be a 50-win team that would make things tougher on the Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto won its first three games but has gone just 5-9 since so Mitchell, who led the Raptors to the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and was the NBA's coach of the year for 2006-07, was sent to the unemployment line. and replaced with assistant Jay Triano.
Triano, the first Canadian head coach in NBA history, will attempt to turn around a team that has underachieved but is nowhere near ready to compete with the Celtics.
"This is a difficult but necessary step the franchise must take," Colangelo said.
Difficult? Yes.
Necessary? Not really. The change won't mean much. If the Raptors can stay healthy and continue to develop better chemistry they will improve, but Colangelo over-evaluated his team.
You simply can't expect him to admit it, however. After all, better you than me.
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Stick in the Atlantic and look at another underachieving team overvalued by its head honcho, the Philadelphia 76ers.
If you are the pilot of a struggling team you definitely don't want the general manager sniffing around, but that's exactly where Maurice Cheeks found himself this week after the Sixers' pedestrian 8-11 start.
Ed Stefanski followed his team to Chicago on Tuesday and had a little get together with the media before the team's game with the mighty LA Lakers on Wednesday.
Stefanski is clearly not happy with the team he has cobbled together, and spoke about a number of things in a clandestine way.
"Mo is coaching, the players are the players and they all have to figure it out with me," Stefanski said before Wednesday's game. "We talk and communicate daily to try and straighten this out. All of us, including everybody in that locker room, are not happy."
The GM acknowledged that Andre Iguodala has had a difficult time with the two spot, and might need more minutes at the three. Asked if that meant a possible trade for a legitimate shooting guard, Stefanski said not necessarily, intimating that Willie Green, who he called one of the team's most consistent players early in the season, or Kareem Rush, who Cheeks has virtually ignored, could be answers.
Stefanski also said the team is trying too hard to fit in around Elton Brand and needs to revert back to a team that fuels the break with pressure defense. Stefanski feels Brand, who injured his hamstring against the Lakers, is a good enough player that he can flourish in any system.
"You'll never hear 'patience' come out of my mouth," Stefanski said. "I'm not going to say I'm shocked that we're taking a little time to try to get this all figured out."
So, what if it never gets figured out?
Better Cheeks than Stefanski.
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