It’s happening again. Avery Johnson was the first to go. Now there are rumors that Mike D’Antoni may be ousted in Phoenix. And don’t forget about the impending one-year anniversary of Jeff Van Gundy’s departure.

“It” is the NBA’s annual late-spring coaching carousel, when a handful of coaches whose teams have been ousted from the playoffs part ways with their teams and head into the broadcast booth, replacing other former coaches who return to the sidelines. Without fail, it happens every year. Look at some of the prominent NBA broadcasters the past few years: Van Gundy, Mike Fratello, Doc Rivers, George Karl, Byron Scott. What do they all have in common? All exceeded expectations and led their teams to the playoffs multiple times. And all were fired immediately following a season that ended in a playoff appearance.

Is it fair? Not one bit. Maybe the reason so many teams fall short of their championship goals is because of their perpetual revolving door of coaches. It’s time for NBA teams to stop channeling Michael Dukakis and start following the model that has helped so many recent dynasties succeed: consistency.

The New York Yankees of the ’80s and early ’90s changed managers more frequently than Joan Rivers changed faces. How many times did they make the playoffs from 1982 through 1995? Once—a wild-card season in 1995. How many times have they made the playoffs since? Every year, all of which were under the tutelage of Joe Torre. Instead of again using nine different managers in 12 seasons, the Yankees’ Boss gutted out 12 years with the consummate Joe Baseball, and it seems safe to say that it paid dividends.

My beloved Baltimore Orioles have gone through eight different managers since King Peter Angelos bought the team in 1993. Other than that wire-to-wire AL East championship in ’97 and the wild-card year of ’96—both of which bring up rather bitter memories—it’s been a rough decade and a half. Back when the Os were the model franchise for the major leagues in the ’70s and early ’80s, who was there through it all? Good ol’ Earl Weaver.

In fact, you don’t have to look any further than our neighbors to the north for proof that consistency wins. David Hixon has been the head men’s basketball coach at Amherst for 31 seasons, and it’s pretty hard to argue with the results: an active streak of nine straight NCAA tournament appearances, back-to-back appearances in the national title game the last two years, the 2006-07 national championship, and a 577-225 overall record (including 111-12 the past four seasons). That’s pretty impressive.

And yet, the pro teams don’t seem to learn. Is it Avery’s fault that owner Mark Cuban insisted on trading away the team’s young stars so an aging Jason Kidd could finally make good on his vow to turn the team around 360 degrees? Nope. Is it his fault that Dirk Nowitzki missed a free throw that could have sent Game 3 of the ’06 Finals into overtime and potentially given the Mavs a commanding 3-0 lead? Not one bit. And yet, he ends up being the one who takes the fall for circumstances beyond his control.

Cuban might want to look at the other two vertices of the Texas Triangle. On the one hand, there are the San Antonio Spurs, who have won four championships since 1998-99 and have finished first or second in their division every year since 1997-98, coach Gregg Popovich’s first full season at the helm. At the other end are the Houston Rockets, who are on the verge of once again bowing out in the first round. It’s not their fault that hometown hero Rudy Tomjanovich was forced to retire because of bladder cancer. But they did see fit to can Jeff Van Gundy last May after he lost in the first round in all three of his playoff appearances. How are they doing this year, you ask? The same team that won 22 straight regular-season games is on the verge of bowing out to the Utah Jazz in the first round for the second consecutive year.

Let’s face it. It’s pretty difficult to be a powerhouse year in and year out, especially in the NBA’s Western Conference, the most competitive group of teams in professional sports. Teams need to realize upsets happen, and winning the championship every single year is not a realistic goal. Shaking up the benches every time they fall short of that goal just makes everything worse.