Dec 30, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat (13) is congratulated by head coach Randy Wittman after coming out of the game in the first half against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Wizards 94-91. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Washington Wizards: Which Players Should Stay or Go by Ben Mehic

Washington Wizards: Ranking Teams With Coaching Vacancies

The Washington Wizards want Scott Brooks. Even before the team decided to part ways with Randy Wittman, who had $500,000 guaranteed for next season remaining on his contract, we all speculated that Brooks would be atop Ernie Grunfeld‘s list.

Brooks, who coached Kevin Durant for years in Oklahoma City before getting canned last year after failing to make the NBA Playoffs in an injury-riddled season, has the experience and connections that the Wizards seem to covet.

Of course, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Brooks is familiar with Durant, who had nothing but praise for his former coach recently. Let’s face it: if Wanda Pratt had any experience coaching, she would probably rank ahead of Brooks in Washington’s coaching search.

Despite their obvious interest in Brooks, it doesn’t necessarily mean the Washington Wizards will get “their guy.”

There could be as many as 10 coaching vacancies heading into this off-season. Plenty of teams are going to express interest in hiring Brooks, who’s supposedly interested in linking up with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Wizards have created a solid foundation around John Wall, but others teams with coaching vacancies have interesting cores to offer too.

So, before we get too excited/disappointed about the coaches that are reportedly candidates for Washington’s opening, I decided to rank and describe each team that should have a vacancy.

7) Sacramento Kings

The Kings finally decided to fire George Karl, who lasted roughly a few weeks in town before almost losing his job. I don’t think we will ever see him coach in the NBA again. He was hungry for another gig, took one with the Kings and we know how that ended. He never got along with DeMarcus Cousins and continuously threw his players under the bus.

The league has passed Karl by. Now, the Kings have to look for another head coach, making it their 15th one in about three years. It’s never the owner’s fault, though…

Sacramento has some great young talent, starting with Boogie. He’s the best big man in the NBA. Rudy Gay gets plenty of hate online, but he’s more than capable of being a second or third scoring option on a winning team. The team also has interesting pieces in Willie Cauley-Stein, Ben McLemore and potentially Seth Curry.

Based on talent, the Kings would be higher on my list, but I have absolutely no faith in Vlade Divac and Vivek Ranadive.

Divac is learning how to become an executive in a tough situation. Boogie deserves better, really. Ranadive is just kind of a continuation of the Maloofs, even though it hurts most Kings fans to admit it. The new arena should be fun, but I don’t think much winning will take place inside.

6) Phoenix Suns

Earl Watson took over for Jeff Hornacek during the season and the team started to rally around him. Watson knows how to grab his team’s ear – something that Hornacek struggled with before getting fired. Watson is going to be considered for the job, but I don’t think he will stick around.

Devin Booker is all the Suns have.

They also have a lot of picks and cap space.

But, I’m really, really high on Booker, who could be one of the league’s best guards in just a few seasons.

If Karl-Anthony Towns didn’t exist, Booker would be a serious candidate for rookie of the year.

If the Suns continue to successfully draft young talent, they could turn things around pretty quickly.

Unlike the Kings, we all pretty much know the Suns are rebuilding.

They have a goal with building through the draft. The Kings are just floating around in a question-marked cloud.

5) New York Knicks

Kristaps Porzingis is a super interesting young player, but we need to relax with the hype. He had great spurts during his rookie season, but once teams figure out how to defend him, that’s when we’ll find out what kind of player Porzingis actually is. With that said, his presence on the team alone will interest free agent players and coaches.

Carmelo Anthony is apparently still on the team, too.

I’m not certain a top head coach would want to join the Knicks, given how bad they have been over the past few seasons. The jury is still out on Phil Jackson. No one really knows if he’s good at leading basketball operations.

And no, those rings don’t mean much when Kurt Rambis is a legitimate candidate for the gig.

4) Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe Bryant is gone, so the aura around the Lakers has left too. The team has lost every player that made them interesting to the casual fan. I really hope Ron Artest finds a way to remain on the team, but it won’t happen.

The Lakers will be left with very good, albeit young and raw, pieces.

The likes of DeAngelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle could comprise a solid core. Russell, however, kind of tarnished his image by breaking bro-code – even if you think what he did wasn’t that bad.

Clarkson is probably their best young player and Randle has a long way to go before possibly leading a franchise. We’ll see what happens with their pick this summer, too.

The Lakers are an interesting bunch. For the players’ sake, I really hope they don’t end up keeping Byron Scott. I’m fairly certain Luke Walton will end up leading the team.

3) Washington Wizards

Ah, here we go.

We’ve got John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Markieff Morris and Kelly Oubre – also known as Wave Papi! Who wouldn’t want to coach that squad?!

Missing the playoffs hurt Washington. It really did. Top free agents, like Durant and Al Horford, might think long and hard about joining a team that should have made the postseason on paper but just ended up sucking the entire year.

Wall is the only consistent player on the roster, besides an aging Marcin Gortat. Beal is pone to injury, no one knows Porter exists and coaches definitely don’t want towels thrown at their faces.

Having that young core should matter, but the Washington Wizards are kind of in the middle in terms of contention. They aren’t a real championship contender and they just missed the playoffs. How good is that core, actually? We’ve seen four years of Beal and we still don’t know what he is.

Thankfully, Wall has become one of the best players in the NBA and he’s entering his prime.

Washington should have their starting five return next season. They are an attractive group. Let’s just hope they don’t have to rely on a B or C level coach if they miss out on the Brooks and Tom Thibodeau.

2) Houston Rockets

The Rockets made the Western Conference Finals last year before eventually losing to the eventual champions. They suffered a complete meltdown this year.

Houston barely made the NBA Playoffs, and coincidentally they are going to lose to the Golden State Warriors again – this time, in the first round.

They fired Kevin McHale thinking that a new voice was needed, but just like the Wizards, they continued to disappoint.

James Harden is still a top-10 player in the NBA, though.

They are also going to have a couple of key players returning, even if Dwight Howard decides to bounce in the off-season.

The Rockets are going to have plenty of cap space in the summer.

Harden is pretty close to Durant. Just sayin’.

With Harden and a lot of cap-space, the Rockets are going to be an interesting team for coaches. They are either going to get a highly-regarded head coach or they will also miss out and be forced to hire an undesirable coach.

They are almost in the same boat as Washington.

1) Minnesota Timberwolves

KAT, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, a bunch of other solid young players and another high draft pick. The Minnesota Timberwolves are stacked with ridiculous young talent. Towns is arguably the best rookie big man since Tim Duncan. He might sneak onto an All-NBA team as a rookie. He’s just a baby, people, and he’s destroying grown men on the court.

Wiggins looks like a future All-Star, too. He’s already a fantastic two-way player. Once he develops his jump shot, he’s going to be nearly unstoppable. LaVine is pretty much an alien. He’s everything you would want in a young shooting guard. Oh, and add someone like Ben Simmons to that core.

Good luck, NBA. Once Thibs takes control of that team, they’re going to be insanely tough to defend. Again – I just hope Towns doesn’t run out of gas by 25 as a result.

The Washington Wizards aren’t the most desirable spot with a coaching vacancy, but they do have some appeal. It will all come down to what the top coaches prefer, though. The current foundation should at least spark some interest.