With the Kings now 0-5 after losing last night to the New Orleans Pelicans, questions about Doug Christie’s future as the head coach have started to bubble up. However, according to the Athletic’s and Sacramento’s own Sam Amick, a firing doesn’t seem to be on the table for now as the Kings wait to see how they look with a more full and healthy roster.
Per the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because these matters aren’t typically discussed publicly, there is an internal belief that Christie deserves a fair chance to be evaluated with a team that is much healthier than this current Kings lot. From Ben Simmons (torn right Achilles tendon, out for the season) to Keegan Murray (left ankle), Maxime Raynaud (right knee) and Dylan Cardwell (left calf), the Kings have been without several players who were expected to play pivotal parts in Christie’s rotation.
Through these first five games, the Kings hold the NBA’s 4th worst offense, 2nd worst defense and worst net rating. To make matters worse, the Kings haven’t even gotten to the hard part of their schedule yet; After this road trip concludes after visits to Memphis and Dallas, they’ll have only faced two teams that made the playoffs last year, the Western Conference Champion Spurs and the Trail Blazers, who were the 10th seed last season. Their schedule for November, while far more home heavy, is also against a much tougher slate of opponents.
Would having had a fully healthy roster have helped this team off to a better start? Perhaps, but even still, it seems clear that Christie is not an NBA level coach. There is no other team in the entire NBA that would have considered Christie as a legitimate head coaching candidate aside from these very Sacramento Kings. He is reportedly the lowest-salaried NBA coach in the league, and Vivek Ranadivé is still paying Mike Brown out from the last time he fired a head coach. But firing him now while he’s a convenient lightning rod would put the spotlight on other Kings deficiencies, like the overall roster construction, and make the decision to keep him this summer instead of doing a comprehensive coaching search look even more laughable.
Has Christie been dealt a shit hand? Sure. But he’s also not really doing much with what he’s been dealt. The only real adjustment that I’ve seen him make has been running a bit more of a DHO game with Sabonis after that disastrous first game. Zach LaVine and Darius Acuff in the same backcourt is absolute poison defensively, and it’s no wonder the Kings look better when Acuff shares the floor with the defensive minded Sharp instead. Per NBA.com, Acuff and Sharp have a +11.1 Net Rating when on the court together, which they’ve done for 54 minutes. On the other hand, LaVine and Acuff together have a -18.1 Net Rating in 146 minutes. Last night against New Orleans, Darius Acuff played nearly 41 minutes and was a +3 in a 12 point loss. Zach LaVine played 39 minutes and was a game worst -25.
A stronger coach might consider moving LaVine to the bench, even if just to see how it would work with him as a super sixth man. Who cares that he’s making more money than anybody on this team? Right now he’s not helping this team win and he sure isn’t a part of this team’s future. The Kings have a glaring problem on defense, and with their injuries they also have had a huge bench scoring problem. Swapping LaVine for Sharp even just for a few games to see how it might work while some of these guys come back from injury would at least be some kind of adjustment. Instead we’re seeing more of the same. I’m not optimistic that adding in Maxime Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell and Keegan Murray will magically change this but I guess there’s nothing to lose at this point (aside from every basketball game).
It seems inevitable that this will be the last year that Doug Christie coaches the Kings, and probably anywhere in the NBA. The media seems to know it, fans seem to know it, the team probably knows it too. But for now he will remain, as the Kings continue to try to tarnish the reputations of all our favorite players from the golden age of Kings basketball by putting them in positions they’re hardly qualified to be in.
Translations: Vivek doesn’t want to give Mike Woodson a raise…just yet.
Luckily for Vivek the Kings aren’t even paying Mike Brown his full $8M salary that he’s owed. Per some NBA clause, Brown’s $10M Knicks deal is split between the Kings and Knicks. That manes Vivek only pays part of his guaranteed salary, but the Knicks are getting Brown on a bit discount.
I’m sure Knicks fans are incredibly grateful to Vivek.
yeah, I would not have Christie on the hot seat right now. Acuff’s continued development should be the first priority this season and that seems to be happening. Second, they seem to be prioritizing the showcasing of Lavine over winning, which is reasonable because they might get something at the deadline for him and the team is not going to win much this year anyway. Third, Hunter has been playing well, and I think he’s likely a more valuable trade piece at the deadline. Fourth, the locker room is not going off the rails with players-only meetings and panicky side-stories. Fifth, if the Kings end up with the worst record this year, wouldn’t they still be guaranteed a top-5 pick?
New lottery rules this year mean we are no longer guaranteed a top 5 pick. We could have the worst record and could fall all the way to 12th. In fact there’s a 25% chance the worst record falls to 12th, which is the highest probability of all the slots. The only benefit of being bottom three is that we can’t fall to 13-16.
To your last point…NOPE. The new lottery odds make it so the 3 teams with the worst record have the greatest shot of landing 12th in the lottery.
NEW LOTTERY ODDS
then I’d start Sharp now. Lavine has only been on one winning team his entire career. They can still showcase Lavine off the bench (which is what his nba role on a good nba team would be anyway).
So start treating nba games like actual games and not practices, basically. and continue to develop Acuff in the process.
Wouldn’t shock me if Lavine starting is more of a Vivek edict than a nod to him being the highest-paid player on the roster.
It would be, after all, the most Kangziest of Kangz things to do.
Yes, I would also speculate that it’s a Vivek decision. He seems to love shooting guards that don’t play winning basketball.
One downsides of starting Sharp is the rate at which he is collecting PFs (20 in just 84 minutes played so far). He’s had a hard time staying on the court with his aggressive defensive style. Opponents would be getting into the bonus even quicker than they are now.
Development? What defensive scheme is he learning to play? What offenses is he learning to run other than Domas 2-man game and ISO scoring?
He had 12 dimes last night
Breaking!
Coach Christie hires Tanya Harding as new rehab assistant specializing in leg injuries.
In other news Keegan Murray out an additional 4-6 weeks.
The second part of that is obviously fiction. But is the first part actually true?
It’s possible that I might have that reversed. Possibly.
All a joke. Tanya Harding was involved in a 90’s conspiracy where Nancy Kerrigan, a fellow figure skater, was attacked and injured before a skating championship.
My bad attempt at a joke.
Sadly, I was in my 20’s when the whole Tonya Harding thing went down, so it’s pretty etched in my brain.
I just wasn’t sure about Keegan being on the shelf for even longer.
Oh, sorry. No truth to the Keegan part of the joke. Knock on wood
Typical Vivek – who cares if this team sets historical records for ineptitude if you can save a few bucks?
“It doesn’t matter, it won’t make anyone feel any better.”
Never forget
Yeah, but do we have basic NBA level defensive rotations? Offensive game plans? Maximization of roster talents?
Kings ownership:
He’s an awful coach. No argument there. But I don’t know what the point would be. Do we really believe that we’re bringing in a coach that will be competent? With this ownership’s track record? Firing Doug Christie to bring in Mike Bibby or Vlade Divac to coach this team doesn’t seem like an upward move.
What we actually need is to get rid of Perry, hire a new GM, let that person hire a coach, then actually try to be a normal organization for three seconds.
Bringing in a competent coach hasn’t even been the main problem. (See e.g., Mike Malone/Dave Joerger/Mike Brown.)
The problem is keeping them when they don’t entertain Uncle V’s delusions.
He really should be. He hasn’t played Keon once this season.
/s
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