Sactown Royalty

Damn you!

Is this Donte'd yet?

AkaP - January 5, 2012 reply

No Smart ass comments allowed

at least until the first loss

ElRonToro - January 5, 2012 reply

LMFAO

Nice!

lol

The head coach change isn't enough

It’s time to fire Geoff Petrie as well. This roster is mostly of Petrie’s creation. I also would advocate for no more interim coaches… unless the Kings believe Smart is a good long term head coach.

I prefer lots of interim coaches

5 a year at least

Coach Shareef?!

There's a possibility

Make no mistake

Petrie’s job is on the line as well this year.

markdog333 - January 5, 2012 reply

The Maloofs ownership should be on the line more than anything else

I think Petires problems stem from the cheap ass Maloofs

Petrie would be the man again if Burkle was the owner

The Maloofs give Petrie the resuources to put the roster together

Petrie has done an awful job.

1. The John Salmons trade was an absolute travesty.
2. The Kings have HAD FIVE COACHES. The Kings were not in as bad of a trouble financially when the Kings hired Eric Musselman or tried to hire Stan Van Gundy.
3. The Kings’ trades have yielded very little in return. Kings I believe easily could have picked up a few more assets in the Bibby, Miller and Salmons trades.
4. The Kevin Martin trade had nothing to do with money and more to do with leverage… Kings could have gotten Jordan Hill and future 1sts from NY.
5. The Kings picked up Travis Outlaw for $12M. Really? Did you really need to bid that much for such a marginal player?

The Kings have made many moves where the financial considerations were not high but just made very stupid basketball decisions.

The Kings have become the new Clippers of the NBA. Sorry to break it to you like this but Burkle or no Burkle, Petrie should be fired immediately and replaced.

This firing totally misses the point, it covers up for a bigger problem… THE KINGS MANAGEMENT IS A TOTAL JOKE. PERIOD. STARTING FROM THE MALOOFS ON DOWN,

Sorry, you lost me when you said

The Maloofs give Petrie the resuources to put the roster together

This is patently false. The team is run on a low budget, with a minimum payroll and a bare bones front office.

You mean that you can't sign a player to an IOU?

Sactown_Loyalty19 - January 5, 2012 reply

Hey...the Dodgers did it :)

I agree with all points except

“Maloofs give Petrie resources to put roster together.” Maloofs are cheap and many things are their fault, including firing Rick Adelman & drafting Jimmer over Kemba.

I also disagree with you about Outlaw. I think he is a great addition for a role player coming off the bench.

Everything else you said, I’m in agreement with.

Let me clearer...

Many of the moves Petrie messed up have nothing to do with financial resources. Its about making shrewd moves like what Sam Presti has done, RC Buford has done.

Before you put all of the blame on Westphal… THINK OF THE BIGGER PICTURE OF THE ORGANIZATION. THE MALOOFS DO NOT PUT THE TEAM TOGETHER.

These are financially motivated trades but I can’t imagine the Kings can’t do it.

THE ONLY CONSTANT BASKETBALL OPS GUY THROUGHOUT THIS HALF DECADE OF MESS IS GEOFF PETRIE.

LET’S NOT LIVE IN THE PAST PEOPLE.

You mean the past

That Petrie was also around for and was the architect for? We should ignore that? We should ignore that the team’s struggles coincided with the downturn of the economy and the Maloofs’ net worth?

IF I TYPE IN ALL CAPS I MUST BE CORRECT

As an aside

I feel VERY strongly that the Salmons, Miller trade was more than anything about their money woes and that they also played a part in the Bibby trade. Perhaps Martin as well.

how can the salmons trade be about money if he is more expensive and has a longer contract than beno?

the Salmons, Miller trade

Salmons Part I

The First Time

Dribble dribble dribble

You cant call the stupid Salmons trade financially oriented since we took back the more expensive and longer contract...

ugh.

LOL

Maloofs and resources in one sentence. Way to contradict your self my man.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

I agree with everything except

The Maloofs give Petrie the resuources to put the roster together

and

5. The Kings picked up Travis Outlaw for $12M. Really? Did you really need to bid that much for such a marginal player?

Outlaw may be bad now, but he is recovering from an injury and still too soon to pass judgement. If he can get back to his Portland ways, I think he is a good backup SF for only $3 mil a year.

Yes, we are the new Clippers. Shitty owners, shitty coach, rookies aren’t playing to the potential we drafted them for, and shitty all around.

He's coming off an injury and one of the worst seasons a player's had in a looong time

He was GOD AWFUL last year

His PER was half of Garcia and LOWER THAN DONTE GREENE.

Outlaw can only get back to his Portland days

if you have a pre-injury Brandon Roy in your lineup.

Blazerholic - January 5, 2012 reply

un'rec

flag

bignerd - January 5, 2012 reply

IT HAS HAPPENED

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Back to Southern Cali

The Dude abides!

defender96 - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

You're out of your element Paul!

saw this coming

anthonysam - January 5, 2012 reply

Enough was enough.

Watch this team come out and kick ass tonight.

VenomySnicket - January 5, 2012 reply

Helps that the Bucks are missing like 4 key players

Bogut, Mbah a Moute, Dunleavy, and mabye Beno.

The Bucks have such a random roster.

Like

If I look at the Wolves, I can sort of see the team they want. Heat it’s obvious. Knicks it’s obvious. Spurs it’s obvious. Even the Jazz you can see the outlines of the future roster.

But I look at that Bucks team and I think t myself “What the fuck is going on here?”

That's mostly how I am when we play.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

So are the Kings

Dalembert, Hawes, Omri, and maybe Beno

I told everyone they would miss Beno's steady guard play more than they thought

Hard to fathom that we could have Beno on the roster currently instead of Salmons

teams aren't allowed to play their good big men against the kings

it’s like…a rule…man

choderboat - January 5, 2012 reply

I in no way see that happening

If you don't like that, you don't like NBA basketball! (which Westphal apparently did not like, either)

Turn the sprinkler systems on!! Paul Westphal is on fire!!!

Sirstan51 - January 5, 2012 reply

I'm happy they were decisive on this and didn't let it linger

Eager to see the next move

dampania - January 5, 2012 reply

Whoa, damn!

I really, really, really hope this leads to some positive change for the team.

Really no place to go but up.

Good move !

Now we need an experienced PG

Fire Evans!

No Evans ass comments allowed

ElRonToro - January 5, 2012 reply

I'm thinking amnesty

I'm thinkin' Arby's.

Flag'd

/gags

lol

We need people who can make jump shots

Hire Westphal!

Bing back Pooh!

PRAISE JIMMER, OUR PLEAS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!

d-jackfan10 - January 5, 2012 reply

FFFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK YYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Today we celebrate, folks!!

Everyone dance...?

Dance!!!

CaliforniaJag - January 5, 2012 reply

This may be the greatest scene from any movie ever.

TheFNG - January 5, 2012 reply

I've seen this gif many times

But I haven’t the faintest idea what movie it comes from. Care to enlighten me??

Hot Rod

Gif thread?

omikron - January 5, 2012 reply

YYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

My God this makes me happy!!!!!!!

Now amongst the jubilation

We must ask: Can Smart make this team ANY LESS OF A MESS?

No, but getting rid of WP is a first step.

qin - January 5, 2012 reply

FINALLY!

Best news of the year so far.

Bendacorna - January 5, 2012 reply

I'm going to amend that to "of the season"

The Kings staying in Sac was pretty good news as well.

2012

Best news so far! But I see your point!

Haha, forgot it was 2012!

Please consider my amendment amended.

A blind beaver could do a better job.

We might actually see an offense that looks like, ya know, an offense pretty soon!!

You don’t know Kieth (not very) Smart all to well do you?

qin - January 5, 2012 reply

can I get an interview?

Good luck Paul

You seem like a nice enough guy, but that does not mean you are a good coach. Best of luck

Dirkula - January 5, 2012 reply

Yep, well said

Yay!!!!

DaT3rmin8r - January 5, 2012 reply

Coach Smart!

Coach S-Mart

OrangeLazarus - January 5, 2012 reply

Always wanted a "neat" chainsaw!

The Guy on the Couch - January 5, 2012 reply

SHOP SMART! SHOP S-MART!

LOVE that movie

Hail to the chief Baby!!

Now if only we could get some Sugar

AkaP - January 5, 2012 reply

...and that's a rec for AkaP

Anyone want to photoshop westphals face into this?

AkaP - January 5, 2012 reply

That'd be like altering the Mona Lisa

Even the drunk guy is impressed!

Right when I read this.

I jumped out of my seat and ran through my house high fiving my family. :D fired westphal like a bosss!!

Vinson916 - January 5, 2012 reply

Smart move.

Now it's time for the SmartAttack offense, which will surely propel us to the finals

Mo Williams

Hallelujah!!!!

CloudyEyes - January 5, 2012 reply

Oh yeah!

Come on PW you can't even post a pic correctly...

My bad.

It was a good one too.

I will take your word on it :)

YES

Awesomeness.

That is terrifying

That's why I posted it

My roommate said his Doritos bag did that after a bad batch of weed once

athletics68 - January 5, 2012 reply

Woj on Twitter

Kings will keep changing coaches until someone reaches DeMarcus Cousins, or they give up on him. Westphal won’t be last to go down there.

The national media will be all how this was about Cousins

But IMO we all know that was just a small part of it

dampania - January 5, 2012 reply

I think the national media would think it's more than that

if Petrie was sent out the door

Just sayin

I don't mind Petrie being part of the org for drafting purposes

but hiring someone like Pritchard as GM and ‘promoting’ Geoff to something like VP of basketball ops would never happen under the Maloofs.

Fire the Maloofs!

More like the Kings will keep changing coaches until the team gets better and starts winning games.

Rambaldi - January 5, 2012 reply

Disagree

The Kings will keep changing coaches because they hire horrendous coaches.

Fully agree

It was Cousins that made us only win 25 games in the 09-10 season

Woj is

A big dumb bitch.

No he's not

he’s arguably the best NBA reporter around. Just because you disagree with him doesn’t mean he’s dumb.

Woj is a hack

Does he dig up good info and break his share of stories? Sure. But he picks players to hate and then does total hatchet job columns on them. He will spin any development into a huge negative for the players or coaches he doesn’t like.

Columnists should be opinionated, but he is way too biased.

lol

HATER!!!

I couldn't disagree with you more.

To each his own.

I think he's right on

He makes a lot of his stuff seem awfully personal. But he’s clearly hooked in, so he breaks a lot of news. Otherwise, he comes off as a peabrained, dickless shithead (just my opinion of course).

Good, I would hope you didn't verify for yourself that he's dickless.

I can confirm - that man has no dick

Venkman!

When someone asks you if you’re a god, YOU SAY YES

So... uh... how does one... ummm... go about... signing up for these uh... these ummm... verification tests?

Hmm

I’ve never got that vibe from him. He is on my short list of must read journalists too. Actually, most Yahoo sports writers are above average. In my opinion, Yahoo is the only sports journalism site that does true journalism. Fox, ESPN, CBS and all of the other sites have to much vested interest in all of the major sports to truly put sports figures on blast.

Agree with you completely

but it wasn’t apparent to me until he put out those daily LeBron rants last year

Honestly, besides Amick, what reporter at the national level does a good job covering the Kings?

Why would anyone want to cover this team? The only reason Amick does a good job is because he has a lot of sources from his time at the Bee. The simple fact is that unless the Kings become good again, we’re going to continue to see lazy reporting from every national writer. Covering us just isn’t worth their time.

yup

Spot on.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

This

Great connections with players and agents

I agree with this. And this is not sarcasm.

Now, fire Petrie and the rest of the FO

I concur.

Won't make a difference if you don't fire the owners first

Cheap-cheap.

not just cheap cheap

also question their criteria for hiring

Cheep Cheep?

Fire Ziller!

wait ….

ಠ_ಠ

The best thing about this firing has to be Petrie's statement.

No flowery language that details why Westphal was fired. Just, “Hey look this team hasn’t improved since you’ve taken over.”

You can't always win in this life!

But at least look like you're trying.

elfboy_ - January 5, 2012 reply

I actually think that Keith Smart can be a good coach

First time I have said that about any one on the Kings in a long time. Let’s see if this fixes anything

Don't get your hopes up.

omikron - January 5, 2012 reply

if he can run one offensive play, he'll be a step up

mtmoore55 - January 5, 2012 reply

Fire the Maloofs!

Ryan J - January 5, 2012 reply

The Kings need to respond tonight with good play

Yes, this needed to happen, but now the players need to respond or this team is headed for single digit wins for the season.

Also of note, I was listening to the NBA Today podcast from yesterday and Tim Legler committed a verbal homicide of DeMarcus Cousins. Absolutely murdered him. If this were hip hop, this would be a dis record on par with “No Vaseline” or “Ether”. Just killed the guy.

link???

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/

Click on the basketball tab and stream or download the first NBA Today pod

Tim Legler has been very critical of DMC for a very long time

stems from a summer camp when DMC was a teenager.

Jay Bilas, too

wow huge brainfart

sorry I was thinking Bilas. My bad.

Disregard, Disregard

Bilas has been more of the...

“Cousins is his own worse enemy, he can be as good as he wants to be” camp

Interesting...

I did not know that. Grudge a bit?

sorry Tom, I screwed up

I was thinking of Bilas.

Tim Legler is one of those commentators that only pays attention to big market franchises..

…and reads headlines regarding small market franchises. So I would take what he says with a grain of salt

these guys talk behind the scenes quite a bit

I haven’t heard it but sometimes you’ll be surprised

I only hear what he says on TV...and I zone out most of the time wondering whats going on with his rogue right eyebrow.

I mostly hear him talking about the Lakers and Celtics and Heat. Maybe he caters to what ESPN wants him to say…who knows.

I think that's probably the case

You can never go wrong in ESPN’s eyes if you talk about the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, Cowboys, Yankees or Red Sox

Well in the podcast he's talking about Kings and Grizzlies players

so I think he probably pays attention to more. Plus, he was a player in the league for quite some time.

I should start listening to more podcasts then, instead of Sportscenter, hehe

Sorry that a good guy lost his job.

But happy that a terrible coach lost his job.

tomroadrunner - January 5, 2012 reply

This.

SoCal Diplomat - January 5, 2012 reply

Good luck in your future endeavors PW

lol

REC'D

Amick

Per this tired routine, Kings GM Geoff Petrie spent recent days distancing himself from the coach in discussions with Maloofs and others.

politics

they are a bitch

Yeesh

I remember reading somewhere that he and Westphal were really close. Petrie might be feeling the heat too…?

nobodyinparticular - January 5, 2012 reply

And this is why it was Westphal's statement, not Petrie's

Cannot go the dancing gif route

because this team is far from out of the crapper right now.

That being said, it was time.

DEMARCUS IS DOING HIS PIMP WALK RIGHT ABOUT NOW

yaboyrafa - January 5, 2012 reply

Bye bye, Westy!

Opinions on Jeff Van Gundy?

You know how, as the trade deadline nears, every successful fanbase assumes the Kings will take a shit-platter in return for their best players just because we suck?

I imagine JVG has a similar thought every time a moribund, disastrously managed franchise needs a coach. Why would he want to come here, given where he is in his life and career?

Will he coach for pennies on the dollar?

He'll coach for Palms Bucks

They’re like real dollars, only with 2% of the actual value.

Mike Garza - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

I think Bill Lambier might fit the bill more realistically

due to salary expectations and NBA coaching opportunity desperation

Looks like Bill Lambier

Fits the BILL

YEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Ha!

I actually think Lambier could be a good coach

but how does Smart deal with that?

It's spelled Laimbeer

mmmm beer

Be still,

Ailene Voisin’s heart!

Bill Lambier is one of the worst people I've ever met

Just a world class asshole. No thanks.

He was the guy I hoped they would hire the summer we hired Westphal

But at the time I understood the reasoning for hiring a cheap coach even though I didn’t agree with it. We have the talent to compete. Now it’s time to bring in a coach that has won in this league. The Maloofs tried to spend on players. Now we’ll see if they’ll spend on a coach.

Opinions on Jeff Van Gundy?

NONONONONONONONONONONO.

72 – 68 basketball IS NOT FUN TO WATCH. Jeff Van Gundy is not a good defensive coach. He just slows the pace down to slow motion, the other team doesn’t scorBOORRRRRRRING!!!!!!!!

Yep, there's something to be said for that opinion

If you grind the pace down and limit the possessions as much as possible, you’re usually at least going to have a close game. But man, it’s hard basketball to watch.

Winning is beautiful to watch

It's easier basketball to watch than incompetent basketball.

Agreed

double agreed

Quick! Metaphorical high five!

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

Not my favorite style of play at all

IGNORE THIS MY FOLLOWERS, FOR HE IS A BLASPHEMOR

Second best victory of the season!

Needed move. Smart got the Warriors to outperform their talent in his year there, here’s hoping he does the same here.

Muff209 - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

no defense, more running offense

would be fun to watch!

Not sure the no defense was his fault

He kept Nelie’s system and Nelie’s “crap defense” players.

yeah I know

but it would be fun, at least.

This is all Ziller's fault.

Thank you TZ

oh man ... from Woj

One GM floated Larry Brown to me recently to deal with Cousins. “He will love him. He will rip him. He will confuse kid into playing well.”

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Apparently, that GM forgot about what Brown did to Darko

because Darko would've been a superstar without Brown

Darko compared to DMC

come on man

"good luck"

We're not talking about me and Darko in the same sentence

misterbrister - January 5, 2012 reply

I remember an interview where Darko's name came up...

It was a pretty bad comparison then too.

Come on.

Obviously not comparing talents. But Brown is not a good coach for young teams.

But he can go toe to toe with the hardest of heads, and win.

tomroadrunner - January 5, 2012 reply

Uh, Larry Brown coached Allen Iverson successfully

Think of Evans as a big Iverson who can guard 3 positions.

I like Larry Brown in that situation.

Wait a second

As a result of Westphal’s firing, Tyreke can actually guard somebody?

Well, potentially, at least.

My point was that a Larry Brown type defensive identity coach might enjoy a player with that kind of potential.

Tyreke grew up in Eastern PA when Iverson and Brown were Sixers, and I think he modeled his game after Iverson a bit too much. But Brown might like it.

Remember Larry Brown also turned Rasheed into a non-distraction on the Pistons, so I’m sure he could handle Cousins as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29fcM4qdiM

Why don't you ask

Gilbert Arenas

thewaterispoison - January 5, 2012 reply

At least we'd have sets in our offense...

But we’d definitely be slowing down.

We aren't really pushing the ball anyway

I remember reading how Brown doesn't do a good job with younger teams

Brown has always done well coaching the inmates

If you're going to pay the dough to get Brown

I’d just as soon see if Sloan wants to coach a few more seasons.

I'd rather have Sloan as well

Sloan is - wait for it,

LEGENDARY. YEA.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

I'd take either

I’m done with inexperienced but promising AND experienced but crappy… I want experienced and good for the next head coach

One GM floated Larry Brown to me recently to deal with Cousins. "He will love him. He will rip him. He will confuse kid into playing well."

He will sit him at the end of the bench for two years!

daaaamn

I wonder if the past few games were the result of bad coaching or a pseudo player mutiny

I would say a little of both

Mutiny

To Paul

I won’t miss the inconsistency, blow ups with players, under development of our youngins, your arrogance, etc.

I will miss the polls we have at work where we attempt to guess your starting line up. That’s six bucks a week I’m out.

In the words of my man Chris Webber “Good Luck”

That press release was only written by Paul Westphal and was not approved by GP or the Magoofs - he felt the distance and knew this was coming... He wanted everyone to know that it was DeMarcus and not him!

rcervantes5 - January 5, 2012 reply

So any predictions on a new lineup or rotation to put his stamp on it?

PG Jimmer
SG ’Reke
SF Garcia
PF Hickson
C Cousins.

He goes with Jimmer to buy some fan love early.

Now if only they could also go back to the black jerseys!

I think he starts Salmons, until Donte usurps the position

So you're saying Sammy holds the position all season?

ElRonToro - January 5, 2012 reply

Donte does not approve

I still don't like Reke starting over Thornton

The Crown Royal Gentleman - January 5, 2012 reply

With Jimmer at the one...

…we might actually be fast enough to keep Marcus at the two and move Tyreke to the three. Not saying that would be a successful lineup, just that with Jimmer pushing the pace up the court it might not burn us as badly as with ’Reke initiating the offense.

Jaycee - January 5, 2012 reply

Hell yeah

finally this day has come

Bonez5150 - January 5, 2012 reply

God luck, Paul.

You were nothing if not a nice guy. Go take care of that wife of yours down in SoCal.

David Aldridge

Kings co-owner Joe Maloof says while the Cousins/W’phal dynamic was part of the issue, “none of the guys were playing to their potential.”

I agree with a Maloof for once

That was hard to type, wasnt it?

He has not commented back.

I think he broke his keyboard.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

or had an aneurism...

I think someone needs to go check on him just in case.

The Crown Royal Gentleman - January 5, 2012 reply

If a Maloof said it

Then that means that all the guys were playing to thierry potential. Now I’m conflicted.

If the firing of Westphal was caused by Cousins....

That’s just one more thing Cousins does well!!! Got rid of that shitty coach!!!

I just can't get behind this

a player should never be the cause of a coach being fired.. it would be a punk move by both the player and the organization

but I think there is enough evidence suggesting that wasn't the case here

Why do I feel that Grant's tone of Westphal drastically changes today...?

He is the mouthpiece of the Maloofs.

The sphincter, if you will.

Grant will.

I wonder what the first words out his mouth will be on this issue.

pretty sure it had already changed

Yesterday he beat around the bush

He remained neutral but didn’t exactly say his opinion on Westphal. He definitely wasn’t defending him like he normally would do

well, that's a change in tone

I meant drastically

as in he now will bash him.

I'm sure he'll pull

the trying to be diplomatic lines and then a half hour into his show start some incredibly not subtle hints and about 2 hours in just full on critical.

Warriors fan here

Not saying Westphal is good… but you might regret replacing him with Smart

Why?

Lots of things

Inability to set rotations, sticking with bad players, letting Monta Ellis control the offense while not playing Curry enough, lots of other things.
I didn’t hear the players complain about him though, so he might be better than Westphal in that regard.

he ain't no savior

or at least hasn’t shown it yet

So temper our expectations

I’ve gotten good at that

Sounds a lot like PW

minus the players bitching

Exactly what I was thinking

I threw up in my mouth a little when I read “inability to set rotations.”

goofy ass rotations

playing crappy vets a lot

Goofy Rotations....?

It’s ok, we’re use to that… How else will we regret it?

could let Reke just run wild

He decided to play Acie Law insted of Steph Curry

O.o

So... more Outlaw?!

AWWWW YEEEAH

While I don't know if I agree with your post

I do agree that Champloo is better than Macross.

Samurai Champloo

one of the best anime series ever.

BLASPHEMY!!!!

Macross spend wayyyyy more time in my blu ray player than Champloo.

I'm assuming he will be interim until someone else replaces him,

but I could be wrong.

reply fail

Nevermind. It was okay

Good point by called to CarDave - "keith smart is coaching tonight's game." No mention of him being interim.

This is not necessarily a happy day people.

But hopefully we can smart to get things back on track.

This was the best news I've heard in 2 years regarding the Kings.

besides staying in Sac of course.

It's great news, but we still suck.

pretty much this.

So

who do we want to coach now?

Smart?
Lawrence Frank?
Byron Scott?
CowboyRon?

Frank and Scott have jobs, methinks

CowboyRon sounds good

yup

Rise the hot hand!

Cowboyron for coach!

What will CowboyRon do now

That he “Fire Westfall” has happened?

Fire Petry!

Golf Angry!

Too bad I can't rec this.

DTG13 - January 5, 2012 via Android app reply

Rec’d for you

Widowwolf - January 5, 2012 reply

Maybe Cowboyron can get

Reke to drive the lane angry

they're assistants, right?

No

Frank is coaching the Pistons.
Scott is coachingt he Cavs.

wow

i feel dumb.

To be fair

It’s unlikely you would have had any reason to watch either of those teams recently.

Jerry Reynolds

I wonder if Smart's been chomping at the bit to change a few things

Certainly hope so.

Farewell, Coach W. Thanks for trying.

Not happy but relieved

polotown - January 5, 2012 reply

Hey Smart... WASSSAP?!

maloof-fool-am - January 5, 2012 reply

That will haunt my dreams forever.

Didn't someone do an ice cream version of this?

....

booyah!

I can't look away

Westphal’d

elSAVinator - January 5, 2012 reply

no they didn't

the version above is the one where they removed the ice cream cone

lol

(sigh)

I hope this helps but have my doubts.

Gotta look at it in the long term.

This year will be pretty shitty, but there is maybe, maybe hope. All we have is “maybe”.

This year was going to be shitty with the same coach.

bignerd - January 5, 2012 reply

Allen Iverson might be a good candidate as HC...

to teach the players to be less selfish. Also high character guy.
[snark]

margabelle - January 5, 2012 reply

I hear he runs one helluva a practice too.

hozr - January 5, 2012 reply

Just curious if Zombie Petrie wrote this press release?

YYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

adios , paul westphal.

How about Salmons next?

Amnesty or release him. We tried to make him the vet SF, defender, role player we needed and it has failed miserably. Cut ties, realize the mistake and move on.

He cant guard 3’s at all, big 3s have ate him alive, Artest, Wallace, Carmelo, Rudy Gay. He can not consistently make jump shots and his attitude is just awful and contagious. Nothing that should be around young players.

Hey John Salmons- It is not a sentence to play NBA basketball, its a priveledge, and a billion people would take your place and not mope around.

OKO - January 5, 2012 reply

Can't amnesty him, and I can't imagine they would have anyway

why not cut him?

is there anything positive he brings to this team or his influence on his teammates?

OKO - January 5, 2012 reply

;)

Maybe this.

Crazy King Man from OZ - January 5, 2012 reply

Don't cut him

He has been my excuse for growing chin pubes and giving people the ‘Dead Salmon Stare’ – that is one of the few positives I have been able to take out of the season so far.

They could cut him now

and amnesty his contract in the off-season

Has that been confirmed?

I’ve seen you state that a few times…

I don't think that they can "cut" him,

but they could go the Kenny Thomas route and choose not to dress him. I have a hard time believing that the franchise would do that – it would re-rack the summer trade as “Here, take Beno Udrih and we’ll even move down three slots in the draft if you give us back your worst contract in return.”

Buyout?

Still be a full cap hit, but they could save potentially save some $.

I think that a buyout negates the opportunity for offseason amnesty,

which means that you have to keep his contract against the cap until it expires.

crap

Sorry – I forgot that he was on the roster in time to be amnesty’d. Just thinking of Mr. 5 Bounce then drive into 3 defenders hurts my brain.

Stop saying this, it's false.

You can’t amnesty cap holds, which is what John would be if we cut him. We can amnesty him after this season and before next season though.

So when does Petrie get fired?

Never, he's bulletproof.

Snake juice

Has a dope aftertaste

Ron Swanson always gets a rec.

ResetSmith - January 5, 2012 reply

Ron F'n Swanson

It was the right move, but it still sucks

Another year, another new coach. Will we ever find a decent coach? The law of averages says we should hit on one of these coaches, but come on….

I mean I was one of those that was weary of Adelman back when he got fired, but we haven’t had a single coach as good as him since. Sometimes the grass isn’t greener.

I just wish we had gone for Thibodeau one of the times we interviewed him. Great defensive mind and I think he would have been perfect for this team. He has done great things for the Bulls, though obviously having Rose certainly helps. Oh well….

TheRaven - January 5, 2012 reply

Is there a deadline to when a team can bring new head coach?

Meet the new boss -

Same as the old boss.

lmao.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

sigh

Iknowright

BMiller looks so young there.

BYAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

"I think I left the iron on..."

"DeMarcus punched me in the ribs! He's over there!"

"If I don't see we're getting blown out again, then it isn't happening!"

We won't get fooled again

Doltry and Rowndshend

Three Stooges - Curly, Larry, and Moe

A little song, a little dance...

A little 2% down your pants.

SierraSpartan - January 5, 2012 reply

RIP, Chuckles

You are missed.

JERRY SLOAN!

That would be an excellent choice

but considering Darrrent WIlliams ran him out of town, I bet he is no longer interested in ever coaching an NBA team again.

margabelle - January 5, 2012 reply

yes! jerry sloan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor Jerry would end up having a heart attack dealing with DeMarcus.

He'd punch DeMarcus in the face

Poor DeMarcus would get destroyed

DeMarcus just put his first coaching pelt up on the wall

lol

And probably not his last.

Carl on a tear writing out implications.

"See this hat?

Pure Paul pelt. Bagged it in ought-12."

Nice

JediLeroy - January 5, 2012 reply

Like my loafers?

Made of gophers!

I'm so glad I was the one to turn this green.

My favorite Simpsons song EVER

The Stonecutters anthem is my 2nd

What do you guys think Smart will do with the offense tonight?

Stick with what they’ve been doing?

Crocoduck - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

What offense have they been doing?

No he's handing them all textbooks on the plane.

They have an offensive pop quiz in 2 hours.

I would want Thornton coming off the bench,

if we had a good pass 1st PG

Start Jimmer anyway

Can’t hurt at this point can it?

He let Monta chuck the ball whenever he wanted

I think you might see the same thing with Tyreke and Marcus

fk it, why not.

Hey Marcus, Tyreke and Jimmer: if your path to the lane is clear, go for it. If you’re wide open, shoot it. Otherwise pass the ball to someone else.

It's not about passing, it's about passing at the correct moment

not 2 seconds After you should have.

So what you're saying is my dipshit offense wouldn't be very effective?

Management should spend 5 mil on a good coach

instead of using it on players for a MLE or whatever. Good coaching is worth its weight in gold. Paging Larry Brown….

PW lost in his own fog until the bitter end...

"I would like to thank the Maloof family for the incredible opportunity they gave me to participate in the attempt to bring the Sacramento Kings back to prominence," Westphal said in a statement. "While the job is far from finished, I am proud of the strides we were able to make."

Baby strides?

What strides?

He never said whether the strides were forwards or backwards

This

Oh we made strides. Back toward the worst record in the NBA

Making strides? He meant "being strident".

fryingpan136 - January 5, 2012 reply

I really like that gum...

Technically you can stride backwards right?

Slamson is nominated for Mascot of The year.

gregory l - January 5, 2012 reply

larry brown no good with young players

He never had young players at any of those stops?

Lucky guy, I suppose.

And he must have had really old college players when he won that championship with Kansas.

I thought player development was his thing too

I confused him with another coach. but yeah your right.

Didn't he have young players in Charlotte?

But he did do a good job with Rasheed Wallace in Detroit

yes he did , wrong coach i was thinking about , my brain is numb from last night.

Am I allowed to gloat about my preseason post about Westphal losing players by going to the media that everyone jumped on me for?

No?

nbrans - January 5, 2012 reply

No

Yes.

bench_blob - January 5, 2012 reply

You're better than that.

Apparently I'm not.

nbrans - January 5, 2012 reply

Rec'd for self awareness

We love you nbrans, but not that much ;)

You should take it personally

by the way, still don’t have a problem with it. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.

It doesn't.

Nothing can get me down now.

nbrans - January 5, 2012 reply

we can all agree it was time :)

Yes you are.

Ultrakingsfan - January 5, 2012 reply

My gut tells me

Westy is the most relieved.

KingsFan - January 5, 2012 reply

How long until we all hate Smart?

We may get lucky and he is for sure an upgrade, but I’m not convinced he is the answer.

Could be as soon as the 3rd quarter of tonight's game

3rd quarter? Too late. The first 5 minutes.

Honestly,

for 1/2 of us, it’ll be when he announces the starting lineup.

if he wants to win us over right away ...

get him back from Reno and start Hassan Whiteside.

Not all of us

I’d call for his firing! :)

He's holding it down in Reno

Whiteside at Center, Cousins at PF. Two tower defense.

How long until Smart suspends DeMarcus?

My guess is that he’s suspended until gametime tonight.

If a player was suspended by a coach, wouldn't the suspension go with the coach?

As soon as Travis Outlaw enters the game.

Additional release by Petrie

" Paul and I had a discussion in my office I asked him to explain the 51-120 record, and he said ‘None of it was MY fault’, so I told him to go home until June"

lol

“It’s not my job to make you happy. It’s your job to make me happy”

if you have a problem then fire me

woops

So we've moved on from Natting to Smarting?

Need a ruling from Aykis.

Today is a beautiful day.

As far as Smart goes, I think he keeps the seat warm until we hire a new coach in the next few weeks.

bench_blob - January 5, 2012 reply

I knew it!

from some dude named Tom

If Petrie keeps his job and Smart isn’t hired as the full-time head coach, big money on Brian Shaw getting the gig this summer.

Shaw

Totally forgot about him. Would the triangle work with the Kings? Would Shaw try to implement it wherever he goes?

No to the tirangle

Only 1 coach was successful with that system in the modern era

And

The triangle was only successful with two of the top players to every play the game. And those players tended to break the offense in key moments.

I was readying Klosterman's piece today on the Triangle

I wondered to myself if the Kings should run that offense?

Likewise.

I think they could hire Shaw and the guy from the Philippines as an assistant. Our players might fit well into a triangle system, if they could remember the little details.

Pacquiao?

Tom Ziller - January 5, 2012 reply

lol, no, though that would help with fitness maybe...

But this is what I was thinking about.

I hab da skilz to do da coching.

PACQUIO FOR ASSISTANT COACH/BEHAVIORAL ENFORCER!!!!

Considering the personnel I think the Triangle is a good fit.

bignerd - January 5, 2012 reply

JUST GOT NEWS

VICTORY !!!!!

Problem with Larry Brown is

Well, one problem anyway – is that Geoff Petrie seemed to have no interest in him when he had interest in the Kings vacancy.

But seeing as how we have a GM mailing it in these days, maybe Brown’s meddlesome reputation won’t be such an issue here. Someone needs to steer this ship, amirite?

I agree

While I’m not the biggest Larry Brown fan, I would take him in a millisecond. At least he would provide some kind of leadership and demand some kind of respect. Direction, any direction at all, would be such a welcome sight.

Goal for next game

At least 20 assists, better effort, more hustle…

I bet

they come out with a lot more hustle this game.

the worst is always possible

Long contested jumpers by Outlaw / Cousins / Evans / Hickson / Salmons
One on three by Salmons / Evans / Thornton

More of a plan than they seem to have had.

GIVE ME

JEFF VAN GUNDY

It's a Smart move.

And we could always bring in Harry Hoo if it doesn’t work out.

Dude is that a white guy trying to look asian? or wtf is that?

Makdeeznut - January 5, 2012 reply

It's called the 60's.

Not much more explanation is possible.

tomroadrunner - January 7, 2012 reply

Marc Stein

Kings’ FO on sort of empty run that, for all warranted criticism of Cousins so far, they’re in no position to question DMC’s professionalism

I don't even understand what that means.

ditto

I read it three times and still don't get it

I dunno, seems pretty straightforward

He’s saying the front office is as unprofessional as DMC.

i get it now

"empty run" thing kind of throws it...

Don't run on a full stomach.

It’s stunning how the view from the outside of this franchise has changed the last five years.

Will stay that way till we win. Good thing is we have the talent to turn around quickish.

Kings earned it

Smart got 36 wins outta the Warriors last year, only to be replaced by....

the guy I wanted the Kings to replace Westphal with, Mark Jackson. I thought his personality and knowledge would have been perfect for this team. I hope Smart can get this thing moving in the right direction. This is the 1st “Smart” thing the Kings have done in terms of coaching since hiring Rick Adelman. And if it doesn’t work out, I hope we get Jeff Van Gundy.

Hand down, man down

(what does this phrase mean and how did it come into existence?)

It means keep your hands up and run at your defenders

or something like that.

I always took it to mean give your old clothes to the homeless

I never figured out how it translated to basketball though…

Mama, there goes that man!

He never met a cliché he wouldn't fully embrace

Hope he’s got more than just that in his coaching arsenal.

Who else would be available??

Other than Larry Brown?? Phil Jackson?? Don Nelson?? Everyone else seems to be taken at this time. Got any ideas??

You kidding?

Is Mark Jackson available for the Kings job and I didn’t know?

If you pull the string in Mark Jackson's back, that is one of the phrases that comes out.

Am I the only one

that (at a glance) sees Westphal flipping us off in the picture?

public_enemy - January 5, 2012 reply

Disappointed by some of what seems to be unbridled glee here

I myself thought it was time for Coach Westphal to go. But this organization still has some serious issues from the top down. We have no idea if we just traded one bad coach for another. We don’t know if our players will respond at all.

Best of luck to Paul with the rest of his life. I may not have liked his coaching, but I do admire him as a person.

ಠ_ಠ

Lord of the Flies action going on this site. Aykis I agree with your sentiments

I also wish for Coach Westphal who seems to be a delightful individual in a bad situation a happy and healthy future.

The fans here won’t be cheering until the team begins to win or shows significant strides in that direction. I will say it again and again – this is a talent and money oriented league particularly for the small market who need luck as well. The Kings are in a deep hole and they need golden stairs to show improvement this year. Until ownership provides talent and spends the money to make the team competitive, no Head Coach and No GM will be able to perform as hoped.
Personally, I am in for the lottery one more time, and it looks like, just 7 games into a 66 game season, that many consider this a fait d’accompli. This is the time to call in the Patience Preacher because on today’s low note, patience is the best medicine for the fans.

betweentheeyes - January 5, 2012 reply

Agree

The problems are far from fixed

No ill will here myself but,

we were about one Michelin away from a full blown tire fire.

agreed

I dont like seeing anyone lose their job. But I can say Im a little excited to see what changes are coming.

I'll be excited when I actually see changes

Spit it, brother!

and 1!

You're speaking my language here.

Yeah, this is indicative of a pretty severe systematic failure on our favorite team

disappointed?

don’t get me wrong, I agree we certaintly don’t know if our players will respond and I personally got no interest in dancing gifs but can certaintly understand people being happy. Granted, it might bite them all in the ass but not something to be disappointed in.

Agreed

Blasphemy

The Kings will head to the playoffs now that the only problem is gone. Don’t you know any better?

This is something that needed to happen

You should know. You’ve been writing the recaps.

I know it needed to happen

I just can’t say I’m thrilled that our team sucks so much our coach has gotten fired and replaced with someone else who may or may not be any good. I’m also not thrilled that we have ownership who doesn’t seem like they want to spend any money, and a GM that seems to have one foot in the retirement door and doesn’t care all that much. This team is still a mess, with or without Westphal.

I don’t think others are thrilled that the team sucks so much our coach has gotten fired and replaced with someone else who may or may not be any good.

I don’t think others are thrilled that we have ownership who doesn’t seem like they want to spend any money

I don’t think others are thrilled that we ahve a GM that seems to have one foot in the retirement door and doesn’t care all that much.

I hear these same compaints over and over again

and I hate to rehash them over and over again, but I don’t see the situation the same way. People mad at the owners because they didn’t spend enough money in a shitty free agent class. Again, it’s not the Maloofs fault AK-47 turned down $20-something million from them.

A GM who is apparently checked out, but has made several savvy moves in the past year. The Hickson trade, the Hayes signing, the Thornton trade and resigning, very good drafts, etc. What else do we want Geoff to do?

I suppose that the owners and GM could be doing more, but to say that they haven’t done anything is weird to me.

Small steps

but, yes, this team is still a mess. The good thing is we should be able to tell where that blame lies – with the former coach or the current players. And that is a pretty big small step. I think.

I'm thrilled

That a necessary step was actually taken. We talk about all the things that need to happen or be implemented to fix our issues and so many of them come from the coach, and they finally did something about it.

The players play, but if they’re given bad plays to run, then who can blame them. Sure the players run the pick and rolls and screens, the coach is the person who creates the atmosphere to make those screens and picks successful. In a good system, even bad players can thrive.

ibon - January 5, 2012 reply

You for the "After 7 games' part

7 f-ing games!

Wheres the trade thread at

I’m guessing it would get 500+ comments

elSAVinator - January 5, 2012 reply

.

What are the other options?

Even if you fire GP, you can’t undo the last 3 years of personnel decisions. The team is now built around 3 very young high scoring guards and very immature DMC – that’s your team. With 3 solid big men in Hayes, JJ and JT … and other miscellaneous odds & ends. Find a style that fits and play it. But what we’ve seen under PW was garbage.

You can’t fire the team.

Watty4ever - January 5, 2012 reply

More relief than glee for me.

I feel some satisfaction there is some vindication for Cousins, who was thrown under the bus. I would preferred to have heard that the Kings organization are actively looking for a replacement to the head coach position, rather than handing it over to Smart. I was hoping he would be a place card holder in the interim.

Westphal seems like a good guy. I was very supportive of him his first season, but the trade of Beno, for me, was his first major undoing. Unfortunately for him, his problems in working in a head coaching capacity began to catch up with him, until it all unraveled unceremoniously.

The Kings are a young team still looking to find themselves in terms of where they stand in the league. Bringing in an experienced head coach with a defensive focus like Van Gundy under General Manager Geoff Petrie would be interesting to see what would happen.

I wish we could do the same with Del Negro

LOL

Yeah. Just when you think the franchise is turning a corner, a Donald Sterling decision bites you in the ass.

Oh well.

Ehh... We'll be fine with or without Sterling

We finally got a superstar who wanted to play for us… Times are changing my friend.

Hopefully you can get him to re-sign

that would be my worry

working on it..

Thanks for the concern… I hope everything works out for the best for you guys.

Sigh...Scott Brooks

NeverForget2002 - January 5, 2012 reply

huh?

We interviewed him in 2008

And chose to hire Reggie Theus instead. At the time Brooks said it was a “dream job” of his to coach the Kings.

NeverForget2002 - January 5, 2012 reply

If you've followed OKC at all

You’d know that a lot of people are questioning just how good a coach Brooks is and how much of it is the talent he has to work with.

Nobody will be questioning that if they hit the Finals

Haters will be haters

Even if he gets a ring.

PJ wouldn't be anything without MJ.

PJ wouldn’t be anything without Kobe and Shaq.

PJ wouldn’t be anything without Kobe, Pau and a whole bunch of other really good players.

True

Everyone thought Doc Rivers was a shitty coach, until 2 more first ballot hall of famers fell into his lap and won a championship. Then, he could do no wrong.

this

I read

that his coaching in the playoffs last year was aome of the worst people have seen in a while

The offense had a tendency to stall badly

In big moments it appeared the offense lacked plays or direction. Difficult to tell if the blame is on coach, players, or both, but it was ugly. It appeared Brooks got significantly outcoached in that series.

I wonder if Brooks would still be here had he gotten the job

I mean, had he been faced with the same roster and payroll constraints, would he still be the head coach here. Honestly, how much better could this team be?

Not being a smart arse here, and I would love if Brooks were our coach. And he took a team P.J. Carelsimo had completely effed up. But things are a lot easier for a coach when he has elite talent. Credit to him for helping to develop it, but I just don’t know that he would have survived in this environment.

I mentioned this in the game threads

(And I am NOT saying we are going to do what the Thunder did in any way shape or form. This comment has nothing to do with the Scotty Brooks era)

I haven’t seen a basketball team as rutterless as the Kings right now than that P.J. Carelsimo team when they started in 08-09.

Honestly, have the Kings had an elite rutter since Ike Diogu left?

’Reke seems shy, DeMarcus immature, and Jimmer signed an honor code.

Sorry but I dont get why some people are calling for Petrie to go.

He has put this team together that is absolutely loaded with talent and potential.

We have explosive scorers in the backcourt in Evans and Thornton. We have a immensely talented big man in Cousins. We have two solid veterans to round out the starting lineup in Salmons and Hayes.
Off the bench, Thompson and Hickson are very good options as a 3rd big. Travis Outlaw is a serviceable backup forward.
And then Petrie just had what looks to be a solid draft with Fredette, Thomas, and Honeycutt.

The struggles of this team should not be put on Geoff Petrie.

What we need is a coach that can allow this team to fulfill their potential. We have a team that should be giving every team we play a tough game every night.

I concur

The past few drafts have been very good. I loved the Omri for Hickson trade too. I think this roster is loaded and just need some guidance.

I still miss Adelman.

Adelman is doing exactly the coaching that we need on our team

He has Minnesota playing hard every night.

He's not the coach we deserve

he’s the coach we need right now

lol

still lol-ing

Superb

Rec’d

awesome

our 2 best players play the same position (2 gaurd)

but Petrie is a good GM i’m not calling for him at all. The Salmons deal was terrible IMO. And we shouldve drafted Brandon Knight because he can shoot the 3 and defend and pass. Really not sure why we didnt pick Knight right there.

To be fair, Knight has been terrible this season

i'd say he's had a good of 5 games as Jimmer

and a 23 point 6 assist performance…. the main thing is the defense thats the difference for me

And, who would those players be?

When you look at the players actual skill sets in both their Offensive and Defensive game, I think it’s a 3 way battle at who’s best at the 2.

Tyreke is horrible shooting from away from the basket, and he gambles too much on D.

Thornton is very inconsistent on offense and shot 33% against Portland, 38% against NY, and 29% against Memphis. He’s a high volume shooter, who can really hurt the team when he’s off. According to 82games.com he’s a slight defensive liability, being out scored when he’s on the court.

Salmons is having a terrible shooting season, which may have more to do with him being defended by SF. But, his defense of Kobe shows that he can defend top 2’s, while he’s been having trouble defending the top 3’s that we have faced. Salmons has shot 45.3% over the last 8 years, so I don’t believe that he just turned into a horrible shooter since he came to Sac. I think it’s more about the system and how his was being used.

Im puzzled by this too...

Seems strange that people want the coach gone because this roster is “loaded” and we need a vet coach to go win now yet they want the guy who puts the roster together gone. Im lost on the logic on some fans.

To me its an OK roster of young talent. I dont think ANY coach would make it a contender. Until DMC develops into a consistent 18-10 guy, ’Reke and Thronton become 20-4-4 guys and the role players find consistency this team will go nowhere. They arent nearly as talented as home fans often think in my opinion. I think Petrie has done OK with what he has (its not an FA destination) but he hasnt blown me away in either direction good or bad really.

He doesn't seem to be engaged IMO

Now it appears they supported Westphal in the Cousins saga, and alternately it was one of the reasons they released him.

I'm not upset with every move he's made

I don’t even mind moving Beno, since I believe that Jimmer could be as good by the end of the season. But, picking up Salmon and his contract to solve our problem at the 3 is simply confusing. If the initial reason was for Salmons to play at the 2, then the signing of Thornton, Jimmer and IT is confusing. Since Tyreke needs to moved to the 2 to make room for Jimmer and IT at the 1.

My biggest disappointment with Chuck is his offense, which isn’t a serious problem if the Kings were scoring better. But, the Kings aren’t rebounding as well as they did with Sammy. The other problem with JJ and Chuck is that neither has shot better than 30% away from the rim FOR THEIR CAREER.

With $20M+ in cap space and Chuck Hayes is your major acquisition, has to make everyone concerned about the FO and owners.

who wanted to come here though?

this isnt baseball where you can just outbid everyone to make up for low interest.

i would have loved for them to have just offered all that cap space to someone, but they have to want to come here.

i love the hayes signing...

if he isnt starting and he is a rotation/defensive specialist (like malik rose used to be for the spurs).
the fact that he was getting so many minutes over hickson and thompson was what i didnt like.

Good Point

Unfortunately, JJ gets most of his points inside where he would be competing with DMC for the offensive rebounds. Which would make JT the obvious best choice to start with Cuz.

Then we’d have to run JJ or Chuck as the backup Center (6-7 or 6-6 as your backup center is not a choice I’d like to see) Really, unless they plan to use Whiteside in the near future, the lose of Dalembert was a critical blow to this team.

6'6" backup big is better than a 6'6" starting big...

I agree

I don’t understand the need to sign Outlaw yet let Dalembert go. Sure he cost would have cost more money, but he would have brought more to the team than Outlaw. Plus, he played well with DMC toward the end of the season.

boredwiththeUSA - January 5, 2012 reply

Can't fire the owners (unfortunately)

How’s everybody feeling about GP? Time for him to go too, or should he be retained?

outrider - January 5, 2012 reply

I'd rather still see what he can do with competent owners

But his bulletproof vest definitely is becoming thinner

He deserves scrutiny, but should stay for now

I think this team has talent. I don’t think we can really judge how much until we see it with a real coach.

Honestly, the team we had on the floor last night had more talent than the Nuggets sans Nene. Coaching matters. And we consistently saw players under perform (compared to past & future here).

Petrie doesn’t deserve a free pass, but do not think we need to have wholesale changes. We had a bad coach and a toxic locker room. We are a better team than how we have been playing though.

Jean Claude is stoked

Olde Greg - January 5, 2012 reply

I'm gonna throw a coaching name out there that I dont think anyone has thought of.

Brad Stevens.

Tony Dungy

Emilio Estevez

Norman Dale

Yeah, Coach Dale and Cousins will get along juuuuust fine

Bill Cowher

Coach Boone

I'd rather have Coach Yost

“I don’t want them to gain another yard. You BLITZ ALL NIGHT. And if they cross the line of scrimmage I’m gonna’ take every last one of you out. You make sure they remember forever the night they played the Titans.”

I'll go with Coach Taylor.

Also his wife.

This guy.

EddieVegas_NRAF - January 5, 2012 reply

I'd take Eli anyday

I dont see why Brad Stevens is a joke.

I honestly dont know who he is

but I was looking for an excuse for a Mighty Ducks plug

Flying V!

He's the coach of Butler (the college)

It is not.

He would be an interesting hire. Would he even consider it? The pay has got to be worse here.

I honestly don't think he would leave Butler

But I think he would at least consider it.

Damn. This caught me off guard.

I think it’s actually interesting though.

SHAKA SMART!

SHAKA THE WORLD

To elaborate,

Stevens is a college coach at Butler and honestly I don’t think he would leave Butler. But this guy can flat out coach. He has led teams with noticeably less talent deep into the NCAA tourney year after year. He just knows how to get his team to play hard. If we put inserted him as the coach of a NBA team with alot of talent, I just think he would be very effective.

Hard to tell

That rarely translates to the pros, but who knows?

Maybe Jim Harbaugh just has me under his spell.

That guy is a great coach.

Well, we are talking about Larry Brown a bit

That’s one guy who has succeeded at a high level both in college and the pros. So it can be done.

I really like Brad Stevens.

But he is only 35. I think that would make him one of the youngest coaches in NBA history. If not the youngest.

Broke the camel's back

now I officially hope the 49ers lose 49-0.

Not a Niners fan eh?

no I am not but don't dislike them either

but all the Harbaugh talk in a basketball website is more than I can take (and I LOVED him back when he was QB of the Colts)

Budenholzer

I’m probably fine with seeing how Smart does with the rest of this season, but once the Kings and Spurs’ seasons end, I want Mike Budenholzer brought in immediately for an interview.

sroufe - January 5, 2012 reply

we think alike

Agree 100%

Would like that hire if a proven coach cant be hired.

Good luck

I’ve been beating that drum since 2005. No seriously!

Tom Ziller - January 5, 2012 reply

So what's the deal with him? Why can't he get a gig?

Maybe he likes his job.

Could be

I wasn’t aware if he had been interviewing or not.

Know who the dude is

But don’t know much about him. Does he have a fiery streak like Pop?

outrider - January 5, 2012 reply

LOL

In that article you say Iavaroni and Musselman are upcoming coaches likely to be very good.

That doesn’t bode well TZ.

There was a lot of love for Iavaroni back in the day

Yeah and then he went to Memphis

Woops.

It needed to be done

I’m just looking forward to another coaching carousel. I don’t have faith this organization is smart enough to hire a good coach. They passes on Thibs because he was “awkward”?? They need to stop hiring guys who give great interviews. This is the NBA not a job at the f*cking mall.

Musselman, great interview.

Theus, major swagger = great interview

Wesphal, stand up guy, great guy, very likable = great interview

Give me “brilliant but awkward” any day of the freakin week

Allbenji - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

Oops! Just not*

Allbenji - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

Akward genius-type

I like it.

Someone get Pruiti on the phone!

Amick

Source says Kings vets Chuck Hayes and Francisco Garcia called a players-only meeting for 330 today because, well, there’s no head coach.

A few days late but better now than never.

.

I like it.

bench_blob - January 5, 2012 reply

Samba session before shootaround.

Wasn't John Salmons supposed to be one of our vets too?

3:30's probably in the middle of his nap time

Or he's out trying to depress people that are having fun

Maybe at the zoo, or an amusement park.

Salmons goes to the childrens hospital

And tries to cheer them up. He says they dont have it so bad, he has to play in the NBA and make millions, waaaa waaaa

OKO - January 5, 2012 reply

Zing!

Anton - January 5, 2012 reply

lolz

actually...

I think 3:30 is is home game appointment at his Barber Shop to get his Goatee Shaped…

recklessmonkey - January 5, 2012 reply

Honestly do you want Salmons to try to lead this team?

I assumed the lack of emotion this season was because that was the case.

Didn't PW want him because hes a vet?

yup.

Well experience and leadership aren't exactly the same thing.

"OK guys, we can start playing for realz again. All in favor?"

lolz

Good job Hayes and Cisco

Tell the players to do the respectful thing, don’t clown the coach in public interviews, say respectful things as he walks out the door.

FINALLY

Now—-

BUY A GOOD COACH!!!!!! And get rid of Slick Petrie. This is really his mess.

seeanew - January 5, 2012 reply

The lack of funds for a good coach is his fault?

My question

How long does it take to find a new

I believe that was premature

that's what she said?

Careful

“She” may come into this thread and give you a verbal whooping!

lol

So I should have waited until

after the first half of tonight’s game?

Where is your proofreader?

She on vacation?

Are you seeing a typo I'm missing?

Editor is actually leaning on my shoulder at the moment.

LOL

Messing with you, but your first post seems to be missing a final word and the proper punctuation.

How long does it take to find a new

I had to guess what that last word is. But if she’s looking over your shoulder, I’m thinking the last word was supposed to be “wife”, and you got scared. ;)

Ha!

The picture was the final word. It’s an old author trick from an old author.

Well used to be a picture of a whipping boy there

Are they going to get another assistant coach?

How about Hubie’s son, the one that was with him in Memphis, Brendan Brown?

getPGwithbounce - January 5, 2012 reply

PJ Calesimo

just for a day so Cousins can work out his frustrations before the next head coach

lol

The line about Smart coaching tonights game makes me think they are probably talking to other coaches

Which would be somewhat unexpected.

Agreed, I somewhat felt the same.

While its not common to hire a new full time coach mid-season (usually you go the interim route) I wouldnt be surprised if maybe they do try to make a big splash or at least feel out some folks. They cannot afford to lose the fanbase again. They didnt get the FA splash they wanted so they have to be feeling the heat.

Or they just want to feel out Smart's coaching style

Speaking of coaches,

Who remembers when Florida’s coach Billy Donovan almost became Orlando’s coach?

Kinko's remembers

betweentheeyes - January 5, 2012 reply

I wish PW the best. He seems to be a good man, just not the right coach now.

Like others, I’m also disappointed in the unbridled and immature glee people are showing. This team has so many problems, not the least of which are some serious head cases on the team that may not be fixable by any coach, including one (DMC) that seems to need very serious professional help. Shortened season, hrmph. It’s already been a loooong season, and I predict it will seem anguishingly long before it’s over.

kinglet - January 5, 2012 reply

Unfortunately

I think Cousins and Tyreke are both head cases, just opposite ends of the spectrum

My thought exactly

Along with one or two more. I think the happiest person right now is PW himself. This group seemed to be really wearing on him, as they will do with the next coach. PW now gets to enjoy his $2 million dollar salary for the rest of the year while relaxing with sane people. He deserves it, and I’m happy for him.

kinglet - January 5, 2012 reply

Brown’s the most difficult coach on this list to rank. He’s similar to Skiles and Johnson, except he has an NBA title under his belt. Whereas Skiles and Johnson take teams to a certain level, Brown can often bring them over the top. It’s impossible to argue with all his success in all those stops, so we have to put him in the top 12. That said, he’s never been able to build a good offense, and it’s a huge red flag that he cannot commit to one team. He’s made the Bobcats better, but he’s also completely remodeled the team and made a bad salary cap situation even worse. Is it all worth it? Probably, but it’s still distressing.

Who else is in the top 12?

SB Nation

Nba coach power rankings: which head coaches are the best of an elite group?

1. phil jackson
2. greg popovich
3.sran gundy
4. jery sloan
5. rick adewlman so on…………

When I read this list

I immediately looked up one post to see who’s spelling you were mocking.

yeah i was in a hurry. had to take care of farming stuff.

1damutt - January 5, 2012 reply

Back up the Brinks Truck!

what about Phil Jackson?

Fairfield1466 - January 5, 2012 reply

Go back in the truck, I'm going to light it on fire.

Start Whiteside

He’s averaging 13.5 Blocks per 48 minutes!! We need defense. We allow the highest field goal percentage inside the 3-point line.

D-League. Don't get your hopes up.

He's bigger and more athletic than everybody. Woop de doo he has a bunch of blocks.

Dude has incredible potential

It’s a shame the front office isn’t allowing him to test his potential in the NBA. There is no other King big man that could even average half that (6.75 blocks per 48).

Along with Bismack Biyombo, they are the best combination of size, length and athleticism in the NBA. Unlimited potential being wasted.

Did you see Whiteside play in the preseason?

I don't think you watched the preseason game vs. the Dubs a few weeks ago.

From the outside looking in, I'm guessing that he has not shown the head for the game

Kind of like Justin Williams back in the day. Gobs of athleticism, but not a clue about defensive rotations and such.

Justin Williams wasn't that athletic

He was 6’7" without shoes. For someone 6’7", he only had a 31" vertical. Josh Smith measured 6’7" but had a 39.5" vertical

He wasn't tall

He was very athletic. Williams didn’t wind up on the bench because his height – he couldn’t pass Kenny Thomas on the depth charts, and he was taller and longer than K9(woof!). He wound up on the bench because he could not grasp the defense.

Yep, he would have the occasional showtime block

But couldn’t grasp rotational defense at all. Great kid, though.

Tyson Chandler also took quite a few years to figure out the NBA game

Yep

I’m not saying cut him, but he still seems to be light years away from being NBA ready.

I would like him to see some time as well.

But maybe there are some things he needs to work on that are better to do in Reno.

There's two sides to the court, you're aware of that right?

Ben Wallace = 6.0 points per game (career)

Former perennial all-star and made all-nba first team.

True enough

He was also 24 years old before he figured out NBA defense to the point that he could make a solid contribution.

True

But GM’s & coaches let him develop on the NBA floor.

You got any worst case scenarios?

Like…I dunno…Hasheem Thabeet?

Especially considering Whiteside is basically nothing like Wallace

He doesn’t have the build that Wallace had at all. Wallace was shorter, but a goddamned brick. He was a much better on ball defender as well as being an elite help defender. And he was surrounded by a prime Rasheed, Tayshaun, and Chauncey. All elite defenders.

Wallace had a serious fire in his belly as well

Something that hasn’t been noted in Mr. Whiteside to this point.

also had the Charles Oakley seal of approval

lol, this

even before Detriot though, Wallace showed some awesomeness.

I wasn't direct comparing

My point was that you can contribute at an elite level even when you don’t score points & when it’s done on the defensive end.

Wallace is an anomaly though

There’s plenty of guys like Whiteside who’ve never had an impact on the NBA.

I’d love for you to be right, but the kid’s shown very little to make me think he’ll be a player.

Thabeet wasn't that good

He was just in a weak draft class. He is less athletic AND has less length than Whiteside

Well, you must be right then

Whiteside is the next Ben Wallace.

don't question his imagination!

That draft class was pretty good actually

Two rookies of the years. One in Steph Curry who could have been if the coin flipped the other way. Rubio looks sick. Jennings dropped a double nickel in his rookie season. Casspi, Teague. Demar is getting better. James Harden is destroying right now.

The Grizz just fucked up and drafted height.

No scouts

seriously, pretty sure they fired them all leading up to that draft

No strong big men

Besides maybe Blake Griffin, who is doing things on the offensive glass ONLY.

Yeah

Blake Griffin sucks. What a bust.

And Hansbrough sucks too. And Dejuan Blair.

oh, maybe Blake Griffin

lol

I'm all for giving him a few minutes here and there

that being said, has he even shown he is good at even one side of the court

Why not?

He’ll foul out in 5 minutes, so what’s the harm?

He's also averaging 275 fouls and 13 injuries per 48 minutes

Look on the bright side

We still have Whiteside!

Fairfield1466 - January 5, 2012 reply

Here comes the playoffs!

Now that the problem is solved.

13uppercut - January 5, 2012 reply

I vote for Craig T Nelson

1damutt - January 5, 2012 reply

I prefer Coach Carter

But not the real guy, the Samuel L. Jackson version.

I'd prefer just straight Samuel L. Jackson.

He'll have Cousins quoting Shakespeare in no time!

Only one coach can handle these young kids:

SactoRyan - January 5, 2012 reply

Been there,

done that.

Nice!

SactoRyan - January 5, 2012 reply

I changed my mind I want COACH HINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1damutt - January 5, 2012 reply

I vote this man...

I hear Craig T Nelson is great at teaching transition defense

And getting the most out of talented but problematic big men

Fairfield1466 - January 5, 2012 reply

There is only one real coach

My Early Top 5 Candidates

Mike Budenholzer
Brian Shaw
Terry Porter
Elston Turner
Sam Mitchell

sroufe - January 5, 2012 reply

I have a strong distaste for the majority of your list.

I like them all except Porter.

I like them all but I'm really not sure about Mitchell.

Elston Turner - I forgot about him

Maybe now we can see why we want DeMarcus. Put him in the post, make it known what he should be doing down there.

and watch him blossom.

Letsgokings13 - January 5, 2012 reply

Bring me Elston...

I’ll take anyone that has ties to Adelman..
1. Elston Turner
2. John Wetzel
3. Sign man
4. Bubba Burrage
5. His wife, Mary Kay

DeuceMason - January 5, 2012 reply

Well didn't Kenny Natt have ties to Sloan

Ties mean nothing if you don’t know how to coach

Sarcasm...

After Elston, my list was a joke…

DeuceMason - January 5, 2012 reply

ah, I get it now

true that

I’m only one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon, but my acting sucks.

It will always be on Demarcus' reputation that he ran Westphal out of Sacramento

And obviously he hasn’t been a saint. He got in a fight with Donte, he’s been a handful in the lockerroom in his short stint in his league. Clearly he has problems.

But Westphal got fired because he’s been a terrible coach. He gets consistently outcoached in close games. Can’t hold a line up. He’s terrible at drawing up plays out of a timeout. In game he is horrendous. And out of games he’s been just as bad. He feuded with Martin and ran him out of town, then somehow used the media to shift blame on Tyreke Evans. He quarrelled with Hawes, was in my opinion a main reason why Dalembert had no interest in resigning. Not to mention, this year when his seat was hot, he lead a team that has been completely blown out of four games in a seven game season. Then, when his seat was the hottest he tried to shift the blame on DMC.

It was time for him to go.

People forget

A young sophomore star in a Lakers uni once ACTUALLY demanded a trade and got his coach fired.

If Magic freaking Johnson can do it and heal his reputation, it can be done.

DeMagic Johnsins

Sounds like another Aykis mashup idea.

Magic won a ring as a rookie

If Cousins won a ring last year, I’d let him run out anyone he wants

yup

Magic could do a lot of things

just saying, that might be the worst example of “If X player can do it and his his rep, it can be done” I have seen in some time

Yup, he was a terrible coach

Regardless of the many bonehead moves that GP’s made over the last 5 years, the fact is that the team has lots of young talent and depth, but they’re not even competitive against mid-level teams … A good coach can fix that given the player pieces in place.

Westphal was god-awful in all respects.

Watty4ever - January 5, 2012 reply

Best case scenario...

Ooops, best case scenario...

…Dwight Howard ousts Stan Van Gundy this season, then Kings swoop Stan in the offseason.

Can I elect to have Stan oust and Howard

and we swoop Dwight in the offseason?

I wish.

Let's just trade Salmons and a PTBNL for Howard and Stan

Since we’re making trades in Fantasyland

And we get Patrick Ewing

we saw what he did with Yao(when healthy) and Dwight

6thgradefreethrowchamp - January 5, 2012 reply

Not Westphal's fault...

That our players forgot all the stuff they learned in Pee Wee basketball. In the words of Mike Ditka, “The Coaches coach and the Players Play.” I highly doubt that Westphal mandated Tyreke never pass the ball on a 3-on-1 break, or for Cousins not to dunk the ball in traffic, or for us to get outrebounded and outran. That’s not bad coaching, that’s bad playing.

I think it's bad coaching

If there’s no ramifications for performing that way, whose fault is it?

Our Coach wasn't Coaching

Therefore our Players didn’t play

Playa's don't play

Whoomp. Whoomp.

That's also not the only reason why we suck

The Kings have such bad luck at drafting and signing free agents that

they can’t find one single player who remembered basic basketball fundamentals. Is that what you’re implying?

6thgradefreethrowchamp - January 5, 2012 reply

Not bad luck...

Just saying that at the NBA level, coaches aren’t supposed to teach fundamentals like… how to set and properly use a screen, for example. You can’t coach “Get back on D.” The players either get back on D or not. That’s all I’m saying.

Did you ever see the Kings progress under PW?

That’s the question you need to ask yourself.

regressed actually.

played well the first half of his first season… then right down the crapper.

Anyone know how much Westphal is getting paid this year?

AkaP - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

*was

AkaP - January 5, 2012 via mobile reply

*is

He’ll still get his $2 mil

kinglet - January 5, 2012 reply

$2 and a Casio

Did Westphal have a "system" ...

team doesn’t play D or rebound, but they’re also not allowed to run … WTF were they doing? Up tempo, isolation, slow-ball ala Mike Fratello … sometimes all on the same possession

Watty4ever - January 5, 2012 reply

I felt same way about PW's "system"

even going back to his Phoenix years. I was watching old Suns games from 93-95 and could not grasp what the Suns were running. It helps to have good personnel like Barkley, KJ, Majerle, Ainge, Chambers, etc when running a free flowing “system”.

PW wasn't good at coaching O or D, but our Special Teams was amazing

lol

Did PW WANT TO BE FIRED?

Just thinking… his public display of handling DMC (good way to be put in a bad light) and his knowledge of this being his last year… maybe he was just tired and wanted a paid vacation rather than play it out through the season.

Losing is one thing,

but you cant get blown out every other game.

This is not shocking.

ExPFCWintergreen - January 5, 2012 reply

Kings FO reached out to Chuck Norris to be coach

but changed their mind when he said he would have sent Cousins home…

…in a body bag.

Blazerholic - January 5, 2012 reply

Actually he changed his mind...

because he is afraid of Jimmer.

SactoRyan - January 5, 2012 reply

Haha!

Blazerholic - January 5, 2012 reply

The Fall of Westphal changes nothing.

Paul Westphal and his fall from grace is a symptom of a franchise is disarray and reflects deep seated problems. Letting him go does not change those problems. It just removes another symptom.

Just like letting go of Musselman, Theus, and Natt did no more than leave a disfunctional franchise in the same amount of disarray as it was in when they took on and left the coaching job.

The Kings are still screwed because what is going on reflects just how bad things are in the franchise. To put this in perspective, this franchise just disassembled itself preparing for move to Orange County. They stopped putting the emphasis on winning. It was OK to lose because the goal was to move the team. Winning could come later and losing actually helped them justify moving.

Can’t you hear the story line from the Maloofs? Can’t you hear them telling Stern that the fanbase was lost and that the corporate sponsors just didn’t exist in Sacramento. They needed that narrative to make the move a reality, but it just didn’t work. Cause it was all a lie.

The best damn NBA fans are in Sacramento. Rooting for a dysfunctional franchise despite a staggering amount of seemingly intentional inept management.

Sadly, the team does not just have to rebuild its talent-base. They have to rebuild their management as well. Petrie was probably going to retire if they moved. Many of their senior staff took positions elsewhere. And to make it even worse they developed a team culture of losing.

The rebuild has to happen across the whole franchise. Every damn brick in the foundation and structure has to be re-done.

CowbellKings - January 5, 2012 reply

I agree with much of what you say, but I so not think it is a lie that the corporate sponsors do not exist in Sacramento. It is very much the case, and it is an impediment to getting an arena financing package put together.

Sacramento's business is politics

And it doesn’t sponsor anything but itself.

I agree with a lot of what you say except for your basic premise.

The Fall of Westphal is drawing a line in the sand and saying this is unacceptable. He was given a fair amount of rein to coach and have input on draft selections, and trades, which resulted in total dysfunction of the team, a distraction from the game, and an embarrassment to the front office.

It cleans the slate, at least for the time being, to allow the team to focus on something else, like winning a game.

Let's hope...

Because when this has happened in the past it did not cure the disease. It just replaced one symptom with a very similar one.

We have had many coaching changes in recent times. Has it helped? Has it made the team improve that much? Can you cure a disease by addressing symptoms? Not usually….

Let’s hope they can get the choice of a coach right. They have improved the talent-base on the roster and now have to improve the quality of the coach. This is the next test of the franchise.

After that there are other tasks. They need to improve the front office and management. I just don’t know if they are up to it yet. Time will tell.

Changing ownership would go a long ways toward a general house cleaning…

CowbellKings - January 5, 2012 reply

I agree that the change may not cure the disease, but the team was going nowhere with Westphal. I think that much is fairly certain, at this point.

I agree with you that Westphal was just a symptom of problems within the organization. We are both in agreement there needs to be an improvement in the quality of the coach. I’m not so sure Smart is going to be the answer based on a lot of comments, which have been made about him.

The owners may need to spend more money to get the quality of coach which is needed to turn things around.

One thing I have really learned from all of this, watching the parade of mediocre coaches come and go following Adelman is this: A franchise really doesn’t save any money when they decide to go cheap on the acquisition of a coach. Millions of dollars are on the line with player salaries, quality of player acquisitions, and income from ticket sales. A bad coach, no matter how cheap, can cost a franchise millions of dollars (far more than his own salary) through poor coaching and poor roster decisions. I would love to have Kevin Martin and Beno back.

Absolutely agree. Well said.

Though if your plan is to lose enough games so that Sacramento fans and the city won’t fight to keep the team then hiring a crappy coach and losing games makes perfect sense…

Let’s hope the Maloofs have changed their plan and goals to selling tickets to games and getting fans interested in coming to a game. Let’s hope they realize they need to spend money to make money.

CowbellKings - January 5, 2012 reply

Kings horses...Kings men

Unfortunately, Westfall took the fall for an underperforming set of players. You CANT win if you CANT:

-play anything but journeyman small forwards
-Make a consistent outside jump shot
-have at least one ‘go-to’ player (last year it was Thornton. Who is it this year?)
-get back to stop the fast break
-defend from the weak side under the basket
-consistently find the open man
-have the talent of a superstar and act like an entitled 6 year-old

I blame the Kings veteran players for this more than Westfall. More than a new owner, a new GM, or a new coach, the Kings need a true player/leader to help implement whatever gameplan the coach offers and to enforce some semblance of discipline on the team.

Until the Maloofs choose to spend the money to get at least one upper-eschelon player having a combination of talent and leadership skills- the Kings are going nowhere.

jensenvo - January 5, 2012 reply

journeyman small fwds who account for, what, $18 million a year?

Hallelujah!!!!

PurpleLoco - January 5, 2012 reply

Eureka!!!

Too long in coming, but I actually want to watch games now.

C’mon Keith. Having played for Bobby Knight, I’d be shocked if he didn’t know how to run a more disciplined offense.

Hoops Mike - January 5, 2012 reply

Larry Brown!

A great coach with a ton of experience in dealing with difficult personalities and young players. His reputation has been questioned with his age and recent success, yet with over 30 years of coaching he has been around long enough to see the highs and lows of multiple organizations. Brown has also expressed interest in coaching the KIngs young and talented group, and probably has a chip on his shoulder following his firing in Charlotte (which I am always a fan of).

Why wouldn’t Brown want his coaching career capped with turning around a troubled organization with a TEAM (not ownership, management, and etc) that has some of the best young talent in the league.

I hope they have already given him a call.

SugaB - January 5, 2012 reply

Maloofs would never pay for Brown.

rmgordon4 - January 5, 2012 reply

It´s kinda sad that it got to a point where we celebrate a man losing his job.

At least he won´t starve to death. All the best Mr. Westphal.

rubenho - January 5, 2012 reply

He's an NBA headcoach

This isn’t a depression era farmer being ran off his land.

Wow, just got off the golf course.

and good news prevails. Makes my lousy putting storke seem minor. It will be interesting to see what happens tonight. I bet Cousins is smiling but I hope he behaves and plays like we expect him to.

Bill2 - January 5, 2012 reply

Without any attempt at gloating or anything

I do hope this meme can live on:

Purple Daze