Why Penny Hardaway may not be the answer for the Orlando Magic: Former players who have gone to coach their former team have not had a good track record
Similar to the list of great players who go on to coach and fail, we’ve seen a few more examples of players who have gone to coach the team that they played for earlier in their career.
The first name that comes to mind is Byron Scott for the Lakers. Scott was part of the showtime Lakers, an athletic player for his size and a good player in his day, but more so a beloved Laker. In his two seasons in LA, Scott had a win-loss record of 21-61 in his first season, and 17-65 in his second before he was replaced by another former Laker, Luke Walton.
Walton didn’t have a great run in Los Angeles either. I would argue he had a worse tenure than Scott, even though Walton won more, he had a lot more talent than those Byron Scott teams. Including LeBron James in his first season with the Lakers. Walton’s tenure with his former team went on for three seasons and had a 98-148 record before he was dismissed.
Third, Bill Cartwright. The former Bulls center that played alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen during their historic run was hired as the Chicago Bulls head coach after being an assistant for five seasons. Cartwright’s tenure didn’t last long as he was let go at the start of this third year after a 4-10 start which gave him a 51-100 win-loss record overall.
The last coach who comes to mind, ML Carr, The former Celtic coached the Celts for two seasons and won a total of 48 games during his tenure. Ouch.
Is Penny such a great coach that he can be the exception, and not the rule? Maybe but my gut says no.