Let's face it. Being an NBA coach isn't as tough as being a snake handler, prison guard or sewage shoveler, though it has elements of all three. But it is a tough job. All 30 current head coaches face pressure to win, deal with colossal egos and have no job security. Some have especially difficult circumstances, whether it's huge expectations, horrible teams, dysfunctional rosters or a myriad of other issues. John Galinsky lists the 10 facing the toughest challenges this season.

No coach faces higher expectations from his team's fan base. No coach has to deal with more roster upheaval. (Though, admittedly, some of the new parts are pretty good.) No other coach has a Hall of Famer looking over his shoulder, ready to take the reins if anything goes wrong. Make no mistake, dealing with the pressure of directing LeBron, Wade and Bosh will be a tough job for the 39-year-old Spoelstra, but wouldn't any basketball coach like to have it?

Coaching a team with high expectations is tough. Coaching a team with no talent is tougher. The T-Wolves lost 67 games last season, then traded their best player for draft picks and just lost their starting point guard for 3-4 months. Rambis will have to lean heavily on Kevin Love and Michael Beasley, both 21, and rookie Wesley Johnson. Even worse, he'll have to rely on Darko Milicic.

We saw how important Karl was to the Nuggets when they tanked after he took a leave of absence with throat cancer. Back on the bench, does he have the strength to get through a full season with a team of talented knuckleheads?

After nearly coaxing another championship out of the NBA's most geriatric roster, Rivers has to try to keep the Big Three intact for one more playoff run. That means even more of an emphasis on managing minutes rather than winning games, at least in the regular season. As any nursing home caregiver can tell you, it's tough dealing with old people. But sometimes rewarding.

The Sixers have gone through three coaches since signing Elton Brand two years ago. Can Collins win with him? Brand and Andre Iguodala may be the least complementary set of teammates in the league.

The mastermind behind Boston's tenacious defense now has to prove he can handle all of the extra duties of a head coach. Bulls fans expect big things from a team that added Carlos Boozer and a bunch of other parts to its Rose-Noah-Deng nucleus. But it's tough for any coach, let alone a rookie one, to make everything mesh with so much roster overhaul.

With Vince Carter failing so miserably in the playoffs, who is his go-to scorer? Can he light a fire under Dwight Howard? Can he wake up Rashard Lewis? Can he keep his team from becoming the second-best in Florida?

Now that the Knicks are done shedding contracts and finally focused on winning, D'Antoni will be judged by whether he can get New York into the playoffs for the first time in seven years. Those are the minimum expectations that come with the splashy addition of Amar'e Stoudemire, but can coach and player recreate their Suns' success without Steve Nash making them both look good?

The first-year head coach needs to get "Iso Joe" Johnson to buy into his plans for a motion offense instead of the one-on-one style that helped Johnson get a $120 million contract. Good luck with that.

It's never easy coaching the team favored to win the championship. Jackson only makes it look that way. He's won 11 titles, including the last two, and has said that this season will be his last on an NBA bench. He'll need to deal with his own various physical ailments and try to make sure an aging Kobe Bryant is at his peak in the postseason. If Jackson goes out with a fourth three-peat, he may deserve his second Coach of the Year award.