Fired NBA coach question

Not Just a Ballboy · Post #1 » by **Not Just a Ballboy** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:55 pm

I searched for an answer for this but came up empty. If a head coach is fired with 2 years plus a 3rd year that is partially guaranteed, but then is hired by another club to coach the following season, is the original team off the hook for the salary that is owed?

Thanks!

Bryan Colangelo

Dunkenstein · Post #2 » by **Dunkenstein** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:35 pm

It all depends on what was written into his contract. There is no CBA between NBA owners and coaches.

Not Just a Ballboy · Post #3 » by **Not Just a Ballboy** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 5:09 pm

Thanks Dunkenstein.

Post #4 » by **Tommy Udo 6** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 2:39 am

When Skiles was "fired", Bulls.com reported "Skiles relieved of duties". That implies that he is still an employee, just not assigned any specific work. If another team hires him (like Milwaukee did) the Bulls would not have to pay the old contract for next season because he went to work for someone else.

That's how I read it.

Not Just a Ballboy · Post #5 » by **Not Just a Ballboy** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:15 am

Thanks Tommy.

By the way, you know what I do to squealers? I let 'em have it in the belly, so they can roll around for a long time thinkin' it over.

Not Just a Ballboy · Post #6 » by **Not Just a Ballboy** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:18 am

According to Dave Feschuk in today's Toronto Star:

Dunkenstein · Post #7 » by **Dunkenstein** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:56 am

Tommy Udo 6 wrote:When Skiles was "fired", Bulls.com reported "Skiles relieved of duties". That implies that he is still an employee, just not assigned any specific work. If another team hires him (like Milwaukee did) the Bulls would not have to pay the old contract for next season because he went to work for someone else.

That's how I read it.

Actually, with Skiles still an "employee" of the Bulls, the Bucks would have to reach an agreement on who pays what to whom. If, for example, Skiles' salary with the Bucks was less than his Bulls salary, the three parties involved could agree that the Bulls would continue to pay Skiles the difference between his Bulls salary and the Bucks salary.

When Stan Van Gundy reached an agreement to coach the Magic, he was still an employee of the Heat. In order to let him go to the Magic, Orlando had to give the Heat a draft pick.

Basically, there are no standard rules. Each case is different.

Post #8 » by **Three34** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:09 am

Given that Skiles got a mahoosive deal from the Bucks, I'd like to think that there's an agreement for a huge offset there.

Mr. Sun · Post #9 » by **Mr. Sun** » Sat May 3, 2008 10:42 am

I have a slightly different question: What happens if a head coach resigns before his current contract expired? It used to be a coach had to work out a deal with his team to be released from his contract before he could sign with another team. Has this changed?

Dunkenstein · Post #10 » by **Dunkenstein** » Sat May 3, 2008 5:55 pm

Mr. Sun wrote:I have a slightly different question: What happens if a head coach resigns before his current contract expired? It used to be a coach had to work out a deal with his team to be released from his contract before he could sign with another team. Has this changed?

No.

arenas809 · Post #11 » by **arenas809** » Wed May 7, 2008 8:36 am

Sham wrote:Given that Skiles got a mahoosive deal from the Bucks, I'd like to think that there's an agreement for a huge offset there.

This is unfortunately not true...

Yet it remains to be seen how much Chicago is willing to spend on its next coach, after Reinsdorf agreed to rescind the offset from Scott Skiles' contract and pay him all but $1 million of the remaining $6 million owed Skiles when he was dismissed last Christmas Eve.

As a result, Skiles walked away with a guaranteed $5 million sendoff that was not erased by the estimated $18 million over four years that he just received from the Milwaukee Bucks. That means Chicago would be spending more than $8 million on head coaches next season if D'Antoni were to receive an annual salary in his current wage bracket.

LarryCoon · Post #12 » by **LarryCoon** » Wed May 7, 2008 7:45 pm

Just another factoid on the coaching set-off situation. A few years ago the Clippers went to court with Bill Fitch. They had fired him a couple years prior, and his contract had a set-off clause. They went to court claiming Fitch wasn't trying to find another job. If I remember right, Fitch won that one.

Dunkenstein · Post #13 » by **Dunkenstein** » Wed May 7, 2008 10:07 pm

LarryCoon wrote:Just another factoid on the coaching set-off situation. A few years ago the Clippers went to court with Bill Fitch. They had fired him a couple years prior, and his contract had a set-off clause. They went to court claiming Fitch wasn't trying to find another job. If I remember right, Fitch won that one.

Actually, the Clippers refused to pay him claiming he wasn't trying to find a job. I was told that the Clips had done this to a number of other former coaches who didn't have the balls to fight them. However, Fitch took the Clippers to court and won.