J.B. Bickerstaff joins small group of NBA coaches

Alvin Gentry

Currently the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, Alvin Gentry got his first shot as a head coach in an interim capacity, taking over for Kevin Loughery for the final 36 games of the 1994-95 season with the Miami Heat.

Gentry went 15-21 and was not retained, as the club decided to hire some no-name in Pat Riley to run the operation.

Gentry went on to take an assistant job with the Pistons, being elevated to the top spot on a permanent basis after Doug Collins was fired in February 1998. Gentry went 16-21 the rest of the 1997-98 season and got the team into the playoffs in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season before he was fired after 58 games in 1999-2000.

In 2009, Gentry replaced Terry Porter as head coach of the Phoenix Suns at the All-Star break, taking the team to an 18-13 record, but missing the playoffs despite a 46-36 mark. He would remain in Phoenix for three full seasons and half of the 2012-13 season before he was fired. He’s been with the Pelicans since 2015.

Lionel Hollins

Lionel Hollins is the winningest coach in the history of the Grizzlies with 214 victories, but it took him three tries to land the job permanently.

The team was still in Vancouver when Brian Hill was fired 22 games into the 1999-2000 season, with assistant coach Hollins named interim coach of the floundering 4-18 unit. They improved slightly the rest of the way, going 18-42, but Hollins was not retained.

He came back to the Grizzlies, now in Memphis, in 2002. In 2004, Hollins was 0-4 after Hubie Brown resigned due to health reasons before ceding the role to Mike Fratello.

In 2008-09, Hollins was hired by the Grizzlies after Marc Iavaroni was fired, taking over an 11-32 team from interim coach Johnny Davis and going 13-26 the rest of the way. By 2011, Hollins had the Grizzles in the playoffs and took them to the Western Conference Finals in 2013 before Memphis opted not to offer the coach a new contract following that season.