NBA: 15 Harshest Coach Firings Of All Time

13. Buffalo Braves Fire Jack Ramsay (May 3, 1976)

All Jack Ramsay had done as coach of the Buffalo Braves was turn them from floundering expansion club into fringe contender, taking the Braves to the playoffs three straight seasons after a 21-61 debut campaign in 1972-73.

The Braves had just won their first-ever postseason series, taking down the Philadelphia 76ers in three games in the first round before losing to the Boston Celtics in six games in the conference semifinals.

It marked the third consecutive season Buffalo had been bounced by the team that ended up getting the big shiny trophy later in the spring—losses to the Celtics in 1974 and 1976 bookmarked a seven-game war with the Washington Bullets in 1975.

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But despite turning Bob McAdoo into an MVP and going 158-170 in four seasons (9-13 in the playoffs), the Braves fired Ramsay, with owner Paul Snyder saying the decision was “mutual” and “cordial.”

Few things described as mutual or cordial are ever either.

The Aftermath For Ramsay: He was unemployed less than a month, being tapped by the Portland Trail Blazers to replace Lenny Wilkens. Ramsay led the Blazers to their lone NBA title in his first season and spent 10 years on the bench in Portland. He later spent parts of three seasons with the Indiana Pacers before resigning seven games into the 1988-89 campaign. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a coach in 1992 with a career mark of 864-783 and died at the age of 89 in April 2014.

The Aftermath For The Braves: Well, they only existed for two more seasons before moving to San Diego, so it wasn’t very rosy. Buffalo ran through four coaches in those final two campaigns while going 57-107. And the franchise which became known as the Clippers was a running joke until making four straight playoff appearances in the last four seasons.

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