The Sacramento Kings plan to keep Doug Christie on as head coach, according to Sam Amick.
“With the Kings (22-59) falling well short of their internal expectations, and league-wide speculation that they might move on from Christie at season’s end, the decision has been made to continue forward with the 55-year-old, first-time head coach.”
Amick goes on to report that the main reasons for the Kings keeping Christie is because there were roster issues beyond his control (recovering from the work that still needs to be done following the De’Aaron Fox trade and all of the injuries this season.) This “made an already-challenging situation worse in the eyes of the team’s decision-makers and led to the conclusion that Christie deserves more time to prove himself in the position. As such, the choice has been made to keep Christie at the coaching helm for the start of next season and continue the evaluation from there.”
Christie signed a three-year deal last offseason. According to Amick, “that contract includes two guaranteed seasons (approximately $2 million annually) and a team option for the 2027-28 campaign that would include a significant raise if it was exercised.”
The Kings end the season 26th in offensive rating, 28th in defensive rating, and 28th in net rating. Sacramento took a league-low 30.3 three-point attempts per game and shot 34% from three, tied for last. The Kings were 28th in points per game (111). On the other side of the ball, the Kings allowed opponents to shoot 49.4% from the field (29th) and 37.9% from three (29th).
The development of some of the team’s young players this season was a positive, specifically Maxime Raynaud, who finished the season averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds on 57% from the field.
It was a disappointing season all around though. It is worth pointing out that Amick reported that Christie will be the coach for the start of next season and that the “evaluation” will continue from there.
We’ll keep you updated as news in the aftermath of this painful season unfolds.
The only coach who can beat the tanking allegations. lol
When you are judged by excuses and not accomplishments, you get what you pay for.
Excuses provided by ownership/FO
Well said.
I’m pretty sure if Vivek thought he could get away with it, he wouldn’t pay for a coach at all. Is $2M/year the lowest paid coach in the NBA? There are at least 45 college coaches who make more than that [And I’d bet 30+ of them would do a better job].
I guess from the FO’s standpoint, they ARE paying Mike Brown to coach the Knicks to the 3 seed in the East, so it’s not like they’re paying for NOTHING.
Considering he’s making peanuts for an NBA coach, I’m not sure how far this idiom will take you.
Doug is coach for three reasons:
Id be more impressed if the FO released this statement:
Because Christie did such a fantastic job toeing the company line we have decided to retain him for the 26-27 season. In addition his below market rate also played a major role in this decision. While we are always looking for ways to improve the organization we feel it is important to keep operating costs low.
Plus Matina demands Doug is given another season before he becomes GM !
They probably realized that no decent head coach would want this job for next season or until major roster and organizational changes are made and kept Christie as the puppet. Is that harsh? Sure. Is it also probably at least partially true? Sadly I think it is.
The Kings will never get a decent head coach until Vivek is willing to accept the role of owner/fan. Sit courtside and cheer. That should be his role and we as fans shouldnt hear anything else from Vivek.
I’ve often wondered, does any other NBA owner sit center court and first row where Vivek likes to sit for almost every home game while also inviting celebrity guests to join him?
I know Ballmer attends, but he sits baseline, right? Cuban sat next to the bench IIRC.
Vivek seems to have the most “look at me” seats of any owner that I can think of.
See, what Kings fans don’t understand is that the smartest guy in the room deserves it. No one else can say that (at least according to Vivek–so dismissive!)
Ive mentioned this before but Vivek suffers from SGITR-itis (Smartest Guy In The Room)
Yes, root of many of the problems.
The Maloofs did sit near center court if I remember correctly. I dont watch enough road broadcasts to speak with any certainty but it does feel like Vivek loves to grab the spotlight at every opportunity. Regardless we know Vivek has a huge ego that is rarely satiated.
From Mayo Clinic, re: Narcissist
Sounds like a world leader that I know of.
if you offer the right amount of money, good coaches will take it.
The team did themselves no favors by trying to “explain” why they decided to keep going with Doug.
It reminds me of when they tried to “explain” that Monk had impressed them with his high energy when they couldn’t find a trade for him in the off-season. Doug is being retained simply because he’s a cheap yes-man. The connection to the glory years helps but in the end I don’t think is a deciding factor.
If the Kings draft 5th or later, I get it. Doug is cheap and is simply a placeholder for another shitty season.
If, however, the Kings land one of the top 3 prospects, Perry needs to think long and hard about getting a proper young and eager coaching staff to develop with said prospect. OKC did it with Daigneault, Spurs have done it with Mitch Johnson, Nets are doing it with Jordi, and Utah is doing it with Hardy.
Not to be an agist, but Doug is one of the oldest, yet least experienced, coaches in the league and so is his bench. If you give him a young prospect to share the court with Sabonis, LaVine, or even DDR, he’s going to prioritize winning and feeding those vets at the expense of development. I stress that by saying the only reason Maxime, Nique, Carter, and Dylan got minutes this year was because of injuries and the total lack of depth on an unbalanced roster. Had Sabonis, Keegan, or even Hunter been healthy, the Kings young bucks would have been floundering in Stockton. The Kings stumbled into their prospect development not by intent, but by necessity.
If you land a franchise cornerstone, clean slate everything from top to bottom and prioritize him and the future.
Too late. As usual, this ‘organization’ has jumped the gun instead of employing any kind of intentionality.
Unfortunately, what I thought from essentially the first month of this idiot owners tenure, is true. This team will never be good with that owner.
Unless somehow he pulls a James Dolan and backs off just enough, but the ego is too huge
Nah, it didn’t work when he tried that before. They only made the playoffs. Not his goal!
Ha, right. The team was successful-had GM and coach of the year- that’s when Vivek figured he should take back control.
Top to bottom = Starting at Perry since we know Vivek will never remove Matina.
Worst organization in sports. Dumbest owner I’ve ever seen. Due to his ego.
This is a joke franchise. I bet they bring back Westbrook and DDR and Levine and continue to be the worst thing you can be in the NBA which is mediocre at best.
we all knew they were gonna keep Doug. Fuck this owner.
it is clear and obvious what they should be doing and what they should’ve done last year. Get rid of all the old guys, get what you can and build. And hire a real coach.
But they wouldn’t do that. It makes too much sense.
Adamsite — you are spot on with the point about Christie essentially developing the young guys almost by accident. I’m trying to look at this roster realistically—assuming we land the 4/5 pick—and then build everything else around that. I see:
• DeAndre Hunter is a true 3
• Keegan Murray is the key swing piece at 3/4
• Plowden and Clifford are 2/3 types (Clifford can facilitate a bit)
If we draft Caleb Wilson:
This is the path that gives us some lineup flexibility and defensive upside.
You can roll:
• PG: low-usage, defend, hit open 3s (must add)
• SG: Zach LaVine
• SF/PF: Wilson + Keegan
• C: Domantas Sabonis
Wilson can absolutely play the 4 and defend the 3 which makes this work.
Now you can mix and match:
• Wilson at the 4 with Keegan at the 3
• Or Keegan at the 4 with Hunter at the 3
• Hunter at 3 and Wilson at 4
That gives us size, length, and switchability, and helps cover for Sabonis and Raynaud defensive issues in certain lineups.
Rotation:
• Hunter (3)
• Malik Monk
• Plowden / Clifford (2/3)
• Raynaud + Cardwell at the 5
• Devin Carter as PG or 2 if we have other ball handlers on the floor
You still likely need a backup 4, but it’s less urgent because Wilson + Keegan can absorb those minutes. Hopefully we can get a better shooting Precious.
If we draft Kingston Fleming:
Now you clean up the guard spot:
• Fleming = low usage, defender, distributor
• Fits perfectly next to LaVine
But now:
• Keegan is your primary 4
• Hunter stays at the 3
• And you don’t have that same frontcourt flexibility
Which means the need for a true 4 becomes much more important (ideally someone like Precious, but with a bit more scoring consistency if possible).
Big picture:
• Wilson path = versatility + defensive upside + lineup flexibility
• Fleming path = structure at PG but more pressure on frontcourt depth
Either way:
• Need a low-usage PG (if it’s not Fleming)
• Need frontcourt depth (especially if you go Fleming)
• And if Christie stays, you HAVE to build a real offense through Sabonis—cuts, movement, not stagnant sets
Otherwise, it’s just the same issues in a different lineup. Most importantly, we need to get an offensive coach that can put a plan in to take advantage of the people we have on the floor.
I want to note that I fear we get the 2nd pick and take Peterson or Somehow draft 4/5 and take ACUFF who I think will be a good player but will be a high usage high scoring PG without playing D
Wilson would be a bit of a risk, but I think it’s worth it since Peterson seems to have character issues that we may not want to touch. Acuff is not the right pick for #4, but still questionable at 5.
Sounds similar to pre draft rating on Lamelo Ball and Jamal Murray . Acuff may be the best star potential behind AJ in this draft . Pass at your peril .
I wouldn’t let the pick be so concerned with current roster construction. Just take the best player available.
BPA for sure, but I think there is some wiggle room in that. Hypothetically lets say the BPA is between a true 5 (there isn’t one in the top 10) and a PG. If the Kings have the two players valued at the same tier, take the PG due to fit as you already have Sabonis, Maxime, and Dylan.
From that, if it’s between Flemings (PG) and Wilson (PF), the Kings see them rated similarly, and Perry is intent on keeping Keegan and Hunter, it may be wise to take Flemings for “fit.”
It all comes down to the Kings big board, where dudes are ranked, and the gaps between them,
I think you made the argument that I would make– we need versatility and lineup flexibility. This would be the wisest move if we are lucky to draft Wilson, the best player after AJ.
Jordi and Hardy are placeholders as well and likely replaced after next season .
Nope, Hardy signed an extension through 2031.
His initial salary back in the 2022-23 season was reportedly in $1 – 2M range. He’s being paid considerably more than that now, though exact terms are undisclosed.
This was the second worst season of Kings basketball for me, behind the All-Domestic Violence team of Cousins, Barnes, Collison and Lawson.
It’s not because the team lost too much. It’s because it was a hopeless team put together by idiots, and they didn’t lose enough.
Everything they did was wrong and this was all over the last year or so.
Fired Mike Brown and blamed De’Aaron Fox.The Fox trade was a catastrophe. Zach LaVine is terrible and has always been terrible.Put DeRozan with LaVine, which failed when the Bulls tried it several years ago and failed even harder this time.Negotiated with another GM, who was not in demand, before they fired the existing one, and conducted no search at all.Signed Schroeder at double his value, and then salary dumped him with the Kings best asset to take back MORE MONEY. It will be two years to get back to where the Kings were salary wise before Perry was hired, and this also pushed the Kings into the verge of the luxury tax.Doug Christie is unqualified and said a bunch of nonsense about defense early in the season that never happened. Got investigated for tanking and found to be too incompetent to tank.Actually went into the season and tried to win with a hopeless joke roster, and EVERYONE outside Vivek’s office knew it and said it. Loudly.After it was obvious that it was a hopeless joke roster, they let Westbrook and DeRozan pursue their individual records in a great draft, in the last season ever where tanking matters, (likely) screwing themselves long-term, unlike every other team in the bottom 10, who aren’t run by morons.And yes, I’m going to include forcing the aspiring pop star nepo baby in as the GM of the Stockton Kings, and then have that person violate every possible rule on conflict of interest, inappropriate behavior, and non-fraternization, and have that all blow up in an incredibly awful way. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.They did ONE thing right, and that’s drafting Raynaud.
Even incompetent people are occasionally right. Vivek is anti-competent. Everything he does is hovering around the worst possible decision at any given moment.
I’m still a fan of this team out of…misguided loyalty, I guess? This community? A need to complain? I can’t even explain it, but that’s the best I have. It definitely isn’t hope. The only way for this team to ever be good with Vivek running it is to luck into a LeBron/Curry/Luka generational talent, even that is no guarantee.
SELL THE TEAM. (Or move it to Las Vegas and give us an expansion team.)
Welp. That was in a list when I posted it. It’s the post equivalent of the Kings season. A disaster I should have seen coming,
Lol. Then it is perfect.
Hammer hit nail !
Supposedly wasn’t there a disconnect between Christie and the veteran players?
Is Perry planning on attempting to trade those players or buying them out etc.? If not it’s going more of the same next season.
Noooo.
Things will be completely differ- yuck, I can’t.
Christie on a cheap 2nd year doesn’t bother me. I feel like in the NBA only about 1/3 of coaches make a difference. Either they’re one of the few elevators (Spo, Pop, Lue etc.) wo can make lemons into lemon pound cake or they’re an active detriment (Rivers, most people employed by the kings in the last two decades). But most NBA coaches just are, IMO.
I hope Perry just spends the off season clearing the deck. Monk, DDR, Sabonis if you can. I can live with Lavine coming off the books next year instead. But this team is boring and bad.
I am glad DC will return for next season. He is in an interim role and can make it permanent by team improvement. Many of the big contracts are over after next year (Zach and DDR) and will coincide with his
I am just not sure how good of a coach he is- team stats terrible but there were significant injuries and an attempt to “play the young guys”. He did, I believe, get improvement from Max, Clifford, Dylan, Plowden and Carter. These are role guys- Kings need a star.
I think he failed to lose enough games. Coin flip will probably get the Kings #5 which is not too bad if nobody jumps up in the lottery which 2 teams will. That’s a #7. If for goodness sake they win the flip, that’s #6. 6 is way better than 7.
AJ
Peterson
Boozer
Wilson
5 Flemings
6 Acuff
7 Wagler
and Brown or Burries
the first 6 might be stars.
IMO- get rid of Dougie, Westbrook, Baldwin, Eubanks and if possible, DDR and LaVine (so difficult)
Consider moving Monk and DS
What’s left though is devoid of a star type and destined for the same fate. Ironically, DDR, Zach and Westbrook were all starts at some point in their careers. But not now.
I can’t go into details but Detroit, Blazers and Utah are models of what to do. Spurs just got lucky and luck is not a plan. OKC moved top players for future assets but that is so difficult to do now.
This I am afraid is a long road to nowhere. Cannot make any mistakes and need luck plus smarts. Kings have no luck and less smarts.
No way in hell should we keep Westbrook– we need younger guys. Trade Monk and DDR (some team, like the Lakers, should take him for some time and waive him at that deadline) as quickly as possible, as we have too many guards and the younger guys should be the priority. Dougie and Eubanks are out and should not be re-signed. Baldwin is worth a small cotract. Lavine is fine if we can trade him at any time this year (likely some competitice takers at the deadline). I would like to trade Hunter to see if we can get a younger 4/5 who does has a decent contract beyond 2027. If he can at least get rid of DDR and Monk for some decent role players, that would be a major accomplishment!
Some bad luck and deliberately narrowing their odds in acquiring talent. Boggles the mind.
First season in NBA history in which eight teams had a win percentage of .333 or worse.
Lol. Yet all we ever hear is how much talent there is in the league and how we need expansion to accomodate all the talent.
The worst NBA season that I can remember.
The NBA is trending in the wrong direction.
We’ll see how having the playoffs on so many different platforms goes.
The good thing about DC returning is it’ll be another unintentional tank. Two top five picks in the next two drafts might change things. Just have patience Kangz fans. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Regardless of how you feel about DC, of which there’s plenty documented already, the bigger question is what else are they supposed to do at the moment?
If you think next season is going to start with some master plan unfolding into the Kings being some off season Cinderella story you’re going to be in for a shocker. The Kings are stuck with ZL for at least one more full season. Why? Because almost no other team in the league was stupid enough to help CHI out of his contract. And he’s awful 3 nights out of 5. When you throw in the facts that Domas’ best year was when he was the focal point of the offense and that ship has sailed, we’re entering the offseason once again without a pg, and the Kings are smack dab in a salary cap / first apron issue as soon as they sign their 1st rounder, next season is off to an inauspicious start at best.
So again; what else are they supposed to do? Fire DC and pay him another guaranteed year (and MB while they’re at it) for the next coach to walk into a roster nightmare in a throw-away season and expect them to succeed somehow? Or hold out hope the owner will be patient for a year or two while the roster shakes out and develops? That may be what competent orgs do. The Kings are not that. In any way.
So Doug it is. Whether you like it or not. Whether you want it or not, that’s what we get from this owner. Shit we don’t really want. But hey! This team is full of talent, even a couple of hall of famers, and who doesn’t love that! And since we’re bringing back most of the same team you know we’re damn sure gonna shove the coach down your throat, too!
Obviously they don’t want to have to pay a household name to babysit this ragtag, low ceiling bunch to underachieve for another season while they wait for their money to free up to figure out where they wanna go next. In the meantime, grab the smelling salts! You’re gonna need them to keep awake.
With all due respect, but that is not one of the bigger questions, and the bigger questions shouldn’t be limited to this particluar point in time.
I don’t care about what they are supposed to do at the moment, I care about them analyzing with ruthless honesty what went wrong since Vivek’s tenure started and what needs to be done to correct these matters.
That won’t happen, and then you get these inconsequential short term questions like “what else are they supposed to do at the moment?“, and decisions to match them.
This franchise lacks long-term strategy, proper processes and the people to implement them, and is completely reactionary in its approach.
Lack is the operative word. Lackramento Kangz.
Doug may be a good dude but would not be a coach for any serious team or any team in the nba.
And his horseshit /calling out the “haters” earlier in the year and ludicrous approach in not tanking = he was in over his head. From day 1
Dougs back when he shouldn’t be. Everyone will be back, though most shouldn’t be…probably. Because Vivek still runs this thing like an absolute asshat.
“analyzing with ruthless honesty what went wrong since Vivek’s tenure”
lol
Good luck with that. With all due respect.
Let me be more clear: “What else are they supposed to do at the moment” is less of a bigger question, more of a Bigger Picture statement. And whether they do all the deep analysis of every decision made during VD’s tenure or not, no sensible organization is paying any household name coach their high price tag to come in for what is certainly going to be a lost season when they have the cheapest coach in the league to babysit another year. And it will be a lost season thanks to the terrible contract management that is largely, at this point, on the accounts of the used car salesman of a GM and the owner who enables him. So let me rephrase my question to better suit your palette: what else do you expect?
As Mike Brown is coaching the Knicks aren’t the Kings off the hook for his salary? Or are all coaches salaries guaranteed?
I do know a coach’s salary is guaranteed (caveats for behavioral clauses, etc. obviously.) I do not know if a new NBA salary agreement negates any salary arrangements with any previous teams or not.
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