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.
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