In 2006, the Sacramento Kings made the fateful decision to not bring back head coach Rick Adelman after 8 seasons with the team. The Maloofs wanted a change, and Rick wasn’t so appreciative of the fact that they were courting guys like Phil Jackson while he was still on the job. Adelman was the most successful coach in franchise history after all, and still is to this day, having taken the Kings to the playoffs in all 8 of his seasons and finishing his career here with a .633 win percentage. No other coach in Sacramento Kings history has finished with a win percentage over .500.

Since Adelman’s firing, the Kings have had nine head coaches in 12 years. Until Tuesday, Paul Westhpal held the record as being the longest tenured, making it 171 games. Now that mark belongs to current coach Dave Joerger, who just started his 3rd season at the helm.

Joerger himself has seen some turmoil in his short time here, thinking he was coming on to coach DeMarcus Cousins and other veterans and then having to transition quickly to a rebuild when the team shipped out Cousins midway through the year. Joerger has adapted his style this season to fit his roster and has helped guide the team to one of their best starts in recent memory.

Of course, we all know what happened to the last Kings coach who got off to a good start, but hopefully ownership has learned its lesson by now on the value of stability. The team is playing well, the chemistry seems good, and Joerger deserves credit for being the steady hand at the helm. Hopefully the team will continue on the right path and these types of statistics won’t seem so remarkable.