IF NBA HEAD COACHES appear more on edge these days, you'll have to excuse their anxiety. Forty percent of them didn't hold their current position on New Year's Day 2016, some 15 months ago. Billy Donovan, now in his second season with Oklahoma City, has served longer than half of the head coaches in the league, and Mike Budenholzer has the sixth-longest tenure at four seasons. So much for continuity, which the league trumpets as the mother's milk of team-building.
Paradoxically, there's a broad consensus in NBA circles that the league has never been better served by those roving the sidelines in 2017. Though few coaches receive 100 percent approval ratings, league insiders were hard-pressed to come up with a name when asked off the record if they could identify a lousy head coach. Most criticisms came with caveats for younger coaches who were growing into their roles, which is understandable because the task has never been more daunting.
For the fifth consecutive year, we discussed the state of the profession with numerous head coaches, assistant coaches, team executives, players, scouts, owners and others over the course of the winter. What skills are more necessary than ever to do the job? How is the league doing collectively in identifying coaching talent? Are there any notable trends?