Dave Feschuk's fine column this morning was missing one piece, so he's sent it along here: This table, from the Elias Sports Bureau, on the worst coaching debuts in NBA history.
It turns out that, while Toronto's Sam Mitchell has the worst start going since Tim (Pink) Floyd, he's not even top-10 material (or should that read, bottom 10) in terms of history. With the beleaguered Raptors coach heading to game No. 175 tonight, he can take heart that some of these names began even worse (Longtimer Bill Fitch and the late Bill Musselman are Mitchell influences, the former having cut him in Houston and the latter giving him his first NBA playing gig; Eddie Jordan is hanging in as the Wizards head coach; Paul Silas may well be back one day soon; Brian Winters is coaching in the WNBA; and the merry-go-round continues):
Worst NBA coaches' W-L records through 175 games
Brian Winters 33-142 (.189 percentage)
Tim Floyd 36-139 (.206)
Ron Rothstein 37-138 (.211)
Bill Fitch 41-134 (.234)
Kevin Loughery 42-133 (.240)
Sidney Lowe 44-131 (.251)
Bill Musselman 49-126 (.280)
Don Chaney 53-122 (.303)
George Irvine 53-122 (.303)
Eddie Donovan 55-120 (.314)
Johnny Davis 55-120 (.314)
Paul Silas 55-120 (.314)
Scotty Robertson 56-119 (.320)
Eddie Jordan 57-118 (.326)
Don Casey 58-117 (.331)
Garry St. Jean 59-116 (.337)
Sam Mitchell 62-112 (.356)
(Thanks to Dave and ESB for this one).
yehey. sam was not the worst. he can put that in his resume for the next job application !
Posted by: nike | November 22, 2006 at 12:10 PM
Just get this over with already and fire Mitchell. Heck, they should fire him just for the amount of ink that it will save as the losses pile up.
Posted by: Wade Tomlin | November 22, 2006 at 03:01 PM
mitchell is just overwhelmed by the gigantic tasks . consider :
1. a new team and
2. a multinational at that
3. 'worst coach ' tag last season.
i don't know why b.c. allowed sam to coach this team in the 1st place unless he knows the team will stink at first and he likes a scapegoat for it.
it will eventually get better but not immediately. those who know their ball know this. nevertheless , mlse w/ colangelo have to 'hype' the team to sell tickets.
Posted by: coach | November 22, 2006 at 06:46 PM
Where is Mike Woodson? I'm a Hawks fan. I found this by accident looking for our coach. Beleive me, Sam was a good player. You have no talent up there. We have talent, and the worst coach in NBA history. He coached the 4th worst team in history. He was also the leading scorer for the 3rd worst team in history. This is an argument I would like to lose, but I can't.
Posted by: terry | December 29, 2006 at 11:55 PM