1. The Record
The biggest knock on Jeff Hornacek is that he’s coming to the New York Knicks with a losing record of 101-112 as a head coach. That’s all fine and well, but context is key—even when the statistics appear strong enough to tell the whole story.
The context of Hornacek’s career record as a head coach is that he led the Phoenix Suns to severe overachievement in two of his three seasons at the helm.
During his first season at the helm, 2013-14, Hornacek led the Suns to a record of 48-34. He was No. 2 in Coach of the Year voting, ranked No. 2 in first-place votes behind Gregg Popovich, and received the most second-place votes.
For perspective, the Suns accumulated a record of 25-57 in 2012-13 and Eric Bledsoe missed 39 games in 2013-14.
Even still, Hornacek led an almost identical Suns roster to a 23-win improvement during his first season in Phoenix.
During his second season with the Suns, Hornacek led Phoenix to a 29-25 record at the All-Star Break. The Suns proceeded to trade both Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas, thus leading to Phoenix finishing the season at 39-43.
Thus, while his below-.500 career record isn’t exactly encouraging, the context implies that it’s not the full story.
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Hornacek may or may not save the New York Knicks from mediocrity, but he’s a much better coach than he’s being given credit for.