Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair addressed the media Sunday following reports that he fired head coach Luke Walton.
McNair confirmed the firing, that Alvin Gentry is now the interim coach and that Rico Hines, who he said has great energy and a connection with the players, will move to front of the bench. As for his reasoning for the decision to let Walton go, he repeatedly referenced the 5-4 start to the season and how the team was playing well and could have been even better; how the team hasn’t been able to get back to that over the last 8 games; and also discussed wanting to play faster.
The last stretch of games is not where McNair wants to be and said this team has the talent to get back to where it was at the start of the season. And “the question became what’s the best way to move forward, and that’s my job at every point of the season and after last night [loss to the Utah Jazz] that was the conclusion.”
That conclusion was certainly about the recent stretch, but also a little more.
“It’s a results-based business, but I think it’s more of what can we do to get this thing back on track? I think offensively we’ve played fast at times, but I want us to play even faster. I think we could be the fastest team in the league with De’Aaron [Fox], Tyrese [Haliburton], the rest of the guys that we have,” he said. “Defensively, we’ve shown some improvement, but we have to be able to finish possessions. We have to be able to get off the floor on the defensive end and get into our offense and we have to finish games. Like I said, we were 5-4, but felt like we could have even been better and then during this 1-7 stretch we had a couple of games that we let slip through so I think those are things we’ll continue to focus on, and that Alvin will address, along with his staff, to the players.”
McNair acknowledged that everyone has to be better and included himself, the players and other coaches in that. The question many fans have is why do this now and not the end of last season?
“I addressed that at the end of last year, our decision at the time, and then my job is coming into this season to continue to evaluate, and did that after last night’s game and this was the decision to be made,” he said. “The start to the year was a lot of what we were hoping for and really thought it could have been even better and I think we saw a lot of the things that we thought this team could do, but these last 8 games was a change.”
McNair talked about Gentry’s wealth of experience and how he has done a “great job at many different spots,” and that the players, who were briefed on the decision, “remain confident.”
“We all know we have to get out of this 1-7 stint that we’ve had, but I think there’s a belief in that locker room, I have belief in that locker room and talking with Alvin and the rest of the coaches they do too. So, no doubt that we’ll get out of there and I think the guys are excited for tomorrow,” he said.
Prior to the Kings, Gentry most recently served as head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans (2015-20). He also was head coach with the Miami Heat (1995), Detroit Pistons (1997-2000), Los Angeles Clippers (2000-2003) and Phoenix Suns (2008-2013). Over his coaching career he has a record of 510-595 (.462).
Monte and Vivek, two non coaches giving coaching advice ! Reminds of PDA and Vivek !
I don’t understand the fascination with bad teams wanting to play faster. You’re just giving the likely better opposing team more possessions to extend the lead on you. If you limit total possessions, you have a better chance of keeping the game close and stealing it at the end.
Make the other team take the ball out after you make a shot. It helps your defense get set in preparation for the next possession. Playing fast is fine, when warranted (transition, etc.). But trying to play fast just to be fast hasn’t gotten this team anywhere
Are there teams not bringing the ball in from out of bounds after a made basket?
Meaning that if the Kings make more shots then their defense might be set more on the insuing possession.
If it does not have pictures it is too complex.
This team needs to instal a real 1/2 court offense. Fast is ok for transition but that’s not the issue here.
And Monte not talking about need for better 1/2 court and D focus only points to same old shit.
The Kings don’t seem the obvious every fucking step of the way.
It did get us as close to a .500 team as we’ve ever been in the last 15 years, and did so with an abysmal roster.
There’s a lot of truth to what you say, but with Fox, Haliburton, and Mitchell, you legitimately have the ability to outrun almost any team in the league. If you can use that when the opportunity presents itself, and Gentry installs anything resembling a half-court offense for when you can’t, I do think that it makes sense to play faster.
An aside, but why the hell didn’t DJones get any run at all against KAT, and only a minute against Gobert? Both guys are likely stronger, but Jones’ speed and quickness could alleviate some of that. Holmes and Thompson have both been good, but they’re still shorter than legit centers. Jones even spreads the floor a bit, which could drag those guys out of the paint.
Just guessing, but maybe Jones doesn’t have the craftiness/IQ for this level. He kind of reminds me of Bagley a bit in that regard. He has a lot of athleticism and head turning moments, but maybe can’t cut it against more experienced veterans.
That being said, I do wonder how Gnetry is going to tinker with the rotations. Something has to change.
I disagree with your take about Jones ability to process and adapt while on the floor. He seems to have excellent instincts, and puts himself in position to make plays. He is still very inexperienced at the pro level, but when you’re getting your asses absolutely handed to you by opposing bigs, why wouldn’t you give him some run?
After all, what difference does it make if you lose by twenty, or by thirty?
How is he inexperienced? He’s been in the league longer than Fox. Not only does he have more games played than Bagley, he also has more starts. They guy is on his 5 team in 6 seasons. There might be a reason for that. If he can’t beat out TT, Len, Bagley, and Metu for minutes then maybe he just isn’t that good?
I’m fine with kicking the tires on him, and maybe Gentry will, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
Walton seemed awfully content playing veterans over younger guys, which is the main factor, I suspect. I don’t really expect Gentry to be a hell of a lot better on that front, but all I can tell you is that Jones has played well when called upon.
Makes me wonder if Bagley gets a “fresh” start now that Gentry is at the helm. And if he does tab Bagley, does Bagley even want to play? Or does he still refuses to play until he gets traded? I hope Gentry expands the rotation and give other guys playing time (Louis King, Ramsey, etc).
The fact that Bags is still on this roster, when he shoulda been traded years ago is all you need to know.
The Kings consistently do the wrong thing over and over. Keeping Walton…hiring a coach before a GM etc etc.
Yeah keeping Walton was a head scratcher. Almost everyone thought he would be fired before the season. I don’t even know who’s a good candidate to be a HC right now. Would have preferred Wes Unseld Jr last season since he got a ringing endorsement from Michael Malone. Looks to be he is doing quite well in DC.
I expect the Kings to do a thorough research after the season and let Gentry just ride this season out. If the Kings somehow made the play-in or playoffs then Gentry could be the HC (sigh). If they finish 11th or lower, Gentry’s gone.
Kenny Atkinson, Mark Jackson, or even Mike D’antoni could be the rumored head coaches to be interviewed.. Obviously, I’d prefer Atkinson but who knows with this team.
Gentry will be back ! Book lt !
Rico Hines will be the next head coach. He’s been groomed for the position for years. I assumed early on that he was brought on in Stockton to build his resume so that he might one day be a head coach star players would come to Sacramento to play for. I don’t know if that’ll work but it looked like a telegraphed Vivek “light years” play to me.
Should have been traded to who? And for what? Because other teams were clamoring for an oft-injured, underperforming player whose family is cancerous?
Honestly, what do you think the available options were/are? VD wasn’t going to trade the guy he took over Doncic, and McNair has few options other than to throw Bagley in as an expiring contract, or let it ride until he disappears from the cap sheet.
Bagley is problematic because he isn’t Luka Doncic, but his presence alone doesn’t make the top fifty of Important Kings Problems.
Shoulda traded him after year 1 or 2 and certainly 3. They coulda gotten something small or ok attached with others but that doesn’t even matter.
They should have given him away for almost nothing rather then put more time and energy on him and giving him Playing time.
And the fact that VD didn’t do anything is exactly what I was talking about. They never do the right thing.
Isn’t maybe true that Bagley’s still on the roster is because no one wanted him?
No one wanted him after year 2? Or even 3? I doubt that. And as I stated, they shoulda cut the chord for almost nothing. Addition by subtraction.
Succinctly put, and, my two cents, the best question of the day.
That’s all fine and (d)andy, but you need to rebound the ball to get out on the break, something we haven’t been good at the last few years.
In any event, playing fast is a serious issue once you reach the play-offs, where easy transition opportunities are more scarce.
But winning in the play-offs is not the main goal of this team. And that is all you need to know, I guess.
Y’up. Dumb fucks chasing playin. Playoff winning teams play well in 1/2 court and defend.
How the hell do they believe a run at mediocrity is what fans want or what’s good for The Kings?
I hate this owner and his FO
Being a terrible rebounding team means you will not play fast as often as your opponent ! Until this team can play better in both Half Court offense and defense it will not win consistently !
If you can’t defend and rebound, you can’t play fast because it’s hard to run after made baskets. It’s an old basketball adage confirmed numerous times through experience. We are about to find this out yet again Surely Monte knows, so why he is telling us this nonsense?
So the guys did quit on Luke. Luke was bad, but so was the effort by most players. Pathetic. Still need to clean house for the most part.
only a few with good bbiq and ypu want to play fast?
ok let’s see what happens.
He wants to return to level of playing that made the Kings 5-4? So he wants Barnes to play like an MVP caliber player again? He wants Holmes playing like an all-star lock again? He wants Buddy playing like a 6th man of the year player again?
Don’t get me wrong, I liked it when those guys came out hot, but all they have done is return to the mean. This team is what this team is. As this roster is constructed, it is not a playoff team. Coach Pop or coach Thibs aren’t walking through the door to get blood out of a bunch of turnips. Gentry might get the interim coach bounce for a bit (although the next 7 games look brutal) but this is still a 34-37 win roster regardless if it’s Walton coaching or Gentry.
It’s on you now, Monte.
That why I don’t understand why Monte keeps saying we have the talent to do this, we have the talent to do that, etc., etc. I guess he’s covering his own butt.
With Monte at the helm, the construction of the current Kings roster by the front office leaves a lot to be desired, which is a huge red flag when it comes to evaluating talent. Wash, rinse and repeat, season after season with dreams of sliding into a playoff spot
It is all on Monte now.
In his only two opportunities to acquire talent with no outside factors limiting him, McNair has selected Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell. I’d say he’s pretty adept at evaluating talent.
The roster does need work, but you can’t force free agents to accept offers, and you can’t force teams to make trades. Acting as though the inherent issues you take on being the GM of the Kings, as opposed to, for example, Golden State, is a refusal to acknowledge a thing that everyone knows to be true: No NBA player is excited about spending a hunk of their lives in Sacramento, California.
McNair has to hire the right coach, and he has to acquire more talent, neither of which will be easy. Regardless, that’s his job, and I’m hopeful that Ranadive will give him more than the mere fourteen months he’s already had.
You are right in terms of acquiring talent but I feel the jury is still out on Mitchell. I’m not sure I’d rank him as a top 10 rookie right now. I like him, but there is a long ways to go.
Excluding the trades that didn’t materialize there are other issues with his decision making. He chose to re-sign Davis and Harkless, the latter of which has gone for starter to some DNP/CD. Davis might be the worst player on the team so far this season. There is also the opportunity to retain talent that he blew. Losing Bogi for nothing still stings, especially when you are a market like Sacramento.
Right now I’d say the best thing he has done is retain Holmes on what looks like a steal of a deal. Picking Hali #12 is also excellent, but other than that, it’s a bunch of head scratching and blunders.
Davis has been really bad, but I don’t think that it’s a permanent condition, and he’s on a good contract. He still works hard on defense, and I expect he’ll end up being a largely positive contributor while he’s here.
And am I crazy, or have a whole lot of people been screaming because Moe Harkless didn’t play in several games where his length and defensive acumen might have been extremely useful? He’s another guy on a good contract, and concern about DNPs for a player sitting at 11-15 on the depth chart strikes me as misplaced.
Regardless, this only peripherally touches on the historical record of the city to attract starting-level or better talent in free agency. If you want a guy, make him a max offer, and he gets the same from Chicago, LA or Philly, what do you think the realistic chances are for actually signing him?
This has little or nothing to do with trades.
This is an excuse that becomes worse after every deadline of inactivity. No one expected McNair to sign max free agents with cap space that doesn’t exist. But he has done nothing to change the core of this team or to create cap space.
Arturas Karnisovas has two players left from when he took over for the Bulls in April 2020. The Bulls are currently tied for the best record in the East. They hadn’t been over .500 since 2015, so no one was clamoring to go there. They’re not forcing teams to make trades.
The Kings returned the second most players in the NBA behind the Nuggets this offseason. 28 teams managed to do more to reshape their rosters than the Kings did. They’re not all forcing each other to make trades.
This team needed a coaching change and took far too long to do it. But it’s done. Good. They’ve needed roster changes for the exact same amount of time, and “The other kids won’t play with me,” is not an excuse for an experienced NBA front office professional. Monte McNair has had time to at least start to reshape the roster and he did not, while other teams managed to at least put some work in.
The upside is that no one is going to listen to these excuses any more. I figure McNair has less than a year to take a swing or be out of a job. I’m looking forward to the swing, because there’s at least some hope for this team there.
Another gross oversimplification. If the Kings are on the low end of things in regard to talent on the roster, and I believe you’ve been rather clear that they are, do you not see that your ability to make a meaningful deal is limited?
You can’t bundle Bagley, Harkless, or whomever else into some sort of CDO that pretends to be worth more than it is. I don’t think Fox is untouchable, and he is your best trade chip. But he’s not really that good, right?
Right?
The other kids would be happy to trade cards with you, but all you have is a fistful of Joe Shlabotniks. The only GM in the league dumb enough to fall for such a thing is off somewhere chain smoking. The Lakers boned themselves in the Hield/Kuzma/Harrell scenario, which almost makes it not going through a bit easier to take.
So what is your lesser of two evils? Making a substantially lopsided deal (McNair is an idiot!), or making the kind of small moves that the franchise has largely been limited to? There are other conceivable possibilities, but don’t kid yourself that there is some golden scenario out there that McNair has obtusely declined.
The notion that improving the roster is somehow easy or simple, or that doing so is just a matter of wanting it enough? It’s McNair’s job to improve the roster, and maybe he’ll succeed, and maybe he won’t. To not acknowledge that he’s sitting at the table with a worse hand than most just seems petulant.
If I’m not wrong, the Bulls had the same record as the Kings when Karnisovas took over.
I believe your ability to meaningfully add wins via trade in the short term is limited, yes. No question. Karnisovas did it, but he’s probably an outlier.
However, I don’t agree that the ability to make any deals is limited. The Kings were 10th in the West last season, but 29th in roster turnover in the offseason. They did little the prior offseason or at either trade deadline since the current front office took over, and no movement involving core players, outside of losing Bogdanovic. That means a LOT of teams with worse records were presumably in a worse position, but they managed to move players to either improve or tank, while the Kings did not.
You’re not going to hit a grand slam every time you step up to the plate. Sometimes you have to win by hitting a bunch of singles and maybe taking some outs. But you can’t win if you don’t swing the bat.
The Kings may need to take small wins in deals involving core players in an effort to either improve incrementally, or put the right combo of players together for a bigger deal down the line.
And again, this is a really an academic discussion at this point, because as much as Vivek (maybe literally) does everything wrong, they’re just not going to be allowed to stand pat much longer.
My hope is that the folks running the show (if they’re running the show) are actually pretty good, and once they take a swing, we’ll see some positive results.
Why do you think he will be allowed to hire the next coach ? Plus Gentry will coach the Kings next season !
What else is he gonna say. “Yea, but I’m not done. Got some ideas and trade possibilities and some shifting that could happen real soon or maybe later.”
Saying anything other than what he said would have been asinine and totally destructive for the Kings locker room. Same as he’s flowery Luke talk. You throw water. Not gasoline if you’re trying to grow something. Pruning happens when it happens.
We’re all looking forward to tonight’s game, how the Kings respond, the starting lineup, rotations, potential roster moves, etc. The trade deadline is Feb 22, so I’m guessing Monte will get a clearer picture of where the Kings are once we reach that date.
I’m still not sold that this season’s slow start is all on Walton, but I’m willing to give Monte and Gentry at least until the all star break to figure things out.
This season might be salvageable, so let’s see if the new coach can get the Kings on track, and then Monte will have enough information to start to do some pruning, as you say.
Yeah, and I want to go back to 2015 when I graduated college, the future was bright and ahead of me, and the only time anyone talked about a pandemic was referencing Contagion or the computer game.
Good luck, Monte, ownership needs as much luck as they do brains.
Are you sure you want to go back to 2015?
Miss the Cousin’s days?
Marty wants to get back to where the Kings were before Vivek Ranadive bought the team.
That McMair statement and whole presser was bullshit.
He couldn’t answer the ultimate question. If he thought Puke was the guy last year what the fuck happened to make Monte change his mind and fire Luke?
He lost a few? We all knew Walton was shit.
McNair hemmed amd hawed and never answered. He sounds like A-a complete moron or much more likely, B- a man explaining a forced/arranged marriage.
I am very doubtful that McNair now has control.
He’s playing the safe game until his next gig I’m sure.
Probably so and it’s disheartening. If Vivek won’t back off now-this year, probably never will.
It’s disgusting and ridiculous. And not hard to fix.
So, according to you, if Vivek did not get in the way, we would still have Fluke as the coach and you would be happy?
If Vivek facilitated the firing, which I do not believe the case, any Kings fan paying attention should praise him. It is called addition by subtraction!
In the unlikely event he had anything to do with the coach getting canned, Thank you Vivek!
Walton was a beaten defeated man with NO answers NO intuitive grasp on his roster. His last press conference after the Jazz loss was telling. He was barely coherent, he knew the end was nigh.
To think playing Marvin would pay dividends after he betrayed the team by refusing to go into the game is a sign the coach lost grip on reality and relationship management and leadership.
Walton trying to mend fences with Marvin by putting him back into the rotation would be looked down upon by every Kings player too. Oh really, the guy shows up the coach, acts unprofessional, and he’s rewarded for it?!
Whether conscious or subconscious, the players are thinking, “Oh so this coach caves to a player who shows him up, refuses to comply with an instruction commensurate with the terms of his employment and ends up getting what he wants most: playing time?
“Why should I bust my hump and dive after loose balls and stay late after practice if insubordination is rewarded ? ” This is what the other players had to be thinking.
The GM is watching all this unfold. The desperate throw-shit-against-the-wall approach, this lean into this misplaced impulse to be a players coach when a hardline was called for; to keep Marvin on the bench 1-2 months minimum and not consider rewarding him until clear strides in practice made was the prudent course less this insatiable need to be liked rather than respected.
Preceding this latest botch, the coach was given one last chance, with GM trying to create conditions so amenable to winning even a mediocre at best coach could not help but succeed. And if that trade with LAL goes through, maybe we would not be here, because Buddy has been a primary culprit in almost every loss, Kuzma and Harrell have been solid for WAS, validating the GM vision, and TD has been disappointing and unable to make a compelling case to take Buddy’s playing time. But as I have stated countless times, the coach has enabled Buddys transgressions, his frequent excursions to Chuck City have been allowed by a coach unwilling or unable to emphasize quality over quantity.
It is horsehit and hopefully the new interim is not so lenient and culpable.
To further address your question that you propose in an indelicate manner:
Who is the player who most fluorished under Walton and whom can he perhaps take some credit for? It is Richaun Holmes, who the coach made a starter over Dedmon about 10 games into the season three years ago and never looked back. Who was an UFA last summer with about 50/50 chance to resign, given our cap restraints and potential suitors: Richaun Holmes.
It is naive to think that this was not a factor going into the GM presser at the end of last season, which I believe was one day after the final game, where the GM was going to be asked about the future of the coach. The GM had to give a vote of confidence or NO vote, and in the latter case, he becomes a lameduck and you may as well fire him then and there.
The GM had to make a decision ” Do I fire him and add to the challenge of retaining the only quality starting center I have or do I focus on building up the roster so much through free agency and trades and draft that even this bonehead , with an upgraded staff around him, will be able to modestly succeed and take us to the 8th seed?
Obviously he took the latter course. The selling point to Holmes was not throwing a ton of dough at him, since we did not have it to give, it was SAC is home, there is continuity and stability and chance to build on what you did under this coach who believed in you when others did not. As bad as things are, how bad would they would be without Holmes averaging 14 PPG and 10 RPG on 69% FGs?
You can say after we resigned him we should have fired Fluke before the season began. But you cannot do that and retain credibility as the GM with Holmes or other players which would have caught wind of the deception. Holmes resigned under the pretense he would play for the coach he wanted to play for and the GM had to be true to his word.
The other thing the GM factored was his max player looks like a shell of himself, and it is more than the excessive time in the weight room, and it is not just the stats that are eye poppingly bad. it is that Fox is not the happy go-lucky chipper dude who appeared before the press before and after the game. The old Fox had the world in the palm in his hand now the weight of the world seems to be crushing his spirit.
It is simple from this perspective but I will spell it out for you. McGenius had to choose between this dubious coach getting scattered and disillusioned with each loss and the guy he invested 200M dollars in. Thats not a hard choice. There was not a harmonious co-existence that may have seemed more possible at the end of last year. Players are not going to publicly say, “I dont like or respect my coach” but the tone and body language by Fox reveals a truth not uttered with his words.
There you go. There are three reasons McGenius did what he did and when he did it. I could provide more but that is enough for now. Lets review!
(1) Holmes had to be resigned and we had to give ourselves a fighting 50/50 chance to do so by presenting to Holmes appealing basis to continue to call SAC home independent of the payday he wanted. Firing the coach would have reduced the odds to 30% and emboldened the potential suitors.
(2) The mismangement of Marvin, rewarding bad behavior, sending wrong message to the players, earning their disrepect.
(3) The dispirited nature of Fox and regression of his game that reflects on the coach. I have gone into detail elsewhere what the coach could (should) have done to get his game unleashed, not just back on track but to exceed his best moments from last year.
I suspect the naming of the interim was predicated on creating conditons for Fox to get his game right, be the guy who he showed glimpes he could be last year. Gentry is going to make moves in the lineup and rotation to get Fox back to where he needs to be and hope the rest of the guys rally around his redisccovered bravado and lethality. This is the plan, which McGenius alluded to when he talked about being the fastest team in the league. If this plan fails, then the interim coach future is in jeopardy and so is Fox as a SAC King.
That’s not what I said at all. Weird that you’d think that.
I wanted Luke fired. I feel that Vivek (and group) is running the show overall. If anything McNair has a tad of pull by firing him. Maybe.
He never did ! Just PDA ll !
No reason to think he’s going to make any significant roster changes.
Nope. Sounds like a semi puppet. At best, wrestling for control.
Hamm, in podcast, saying people in Kings org pushed for Christie to coach. At least Monte was able to resist this but it all smells like Vivek and Co lording over all decisions.
i need to see Monte trade players and truly rebuild to believe he’s got power.
If he manages to trade any or all of Fox, Buddy, Barnes this season, it would then appear that he’s got the ability to call his shots.
I have said this before that Monte offers nothing to the media. He is from the Morey school so I take whatever he says with a huge grain of salt. but I do believe whoever the is the Kings GM in large part does the bidding of Vivek. And this sentiment very much seems like the logic and reasoning align with his past behavior.
To that extent I will say I am partially sad to see Walton go because I fully expected if he had stayed we likely would have had a bottom 5 record. An outcome far more beneficial if combined with trading players who should wisely be traded with improved value in Hield and Barnes if not Fox considering timelines, than any lowly playoff seeding despite that having a less than 10% chance of happening anyway.
If the Kings are so concerned with the league record drought they would be wise to study their reasons for it which have mostly been taking bad teams, speeding up timelines in overpays or trades for marginal tier starters that leads to at best 30 win seasons and bad lottery odds. Patterns repeated for the last 10 plus years that were justified in trying to reach the playoffs.
Just go ask Carl Landry, Grievas Vasquez Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, George Hill, Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli even Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes how it worked out. This team has never maximized the benefits of being bad and young. And from the sounds of it are not doing so again.
Alvin and the speedy nutcrackers
One does wonder if they will trade someone, just to send a message that while we fired a coach it just wasn’t his doing as players you have not been playing well. Who would they trade?
I hope they don’t remove the interim label from Gentry. He’s made the playoffs three times in his career vs. 14 misses.
Monte is fighting up a stream of bullshit from the ownership and old school org members.
We need to play fast….we’ve heard that before and before monte.
Doug is basically waiting in the wings to take gentry’s spot as soon as things don’t go well. That’s what ownership wants and wanted. Monte had to go rounds to get gentry vs promoting a zero experience ex glory years kings member. Also sounds familiar and like a pattern?
This team has the talent to make it to the playoffs. We also have heard this for years because this team was created in Vivek’s likeness. Big on talk low on followthru.
moves are hard to make or don’t come to fruition…. It’s funny how we framed the “we had a better deal 3 days ago” situation with cousins. Anyone remember how it came out that the reason why that deal never got made wasn’t just because Vlade had no idea what he was doing, it was also because he couldn’t convince ownership to make the damn move. Vivek talks a big game as the jazz band leader but his fear of doing what is needed aka tanking is what is f**king this team.
I have no receipts but can let you know that they are scared shitless on the org level because they aren’t doing well at the arena either. Business for the first time since this ownership group came in isn’t looking good. But in showing their true colors they wanted to use Doug and still do as another band aid to bring the fans back. Vs tangible change with the roster.
I adore Doug Christie, but he currently has no more business being talked about as an NBA head coach than Bobby Jackson, or any other former Kings player, save Ime Udoka.
Being adored isn’t the same thing as being qualified. Google “Vlade Divac General Manager” if you don’t believe me.
Oh I’m not in any universe hoping or implying that Doug should be the head coach of this team or any other.
I was making the point that dismissive little chap and his cronies disagree with us both.
The opportunity to have named DC as interim coach was certainly there had Ranadive chosen to insist upon it. My interpretation is that he clearly didn’t, based on what’s happened.
Doug is Matina’s chosen one now that Vlade and Pega failed ! Vivek must have finally said no !
Sorry, officially out on you Monte. Fast team is your big idea? So, zero postseason success is what we have to look forward to? Because you maxxed Fox? Maybe try smart team or gritty team in your next job. Enjoy the hot seat. Shortsighted candidates only need apply.
So the firing of Luke Walton was the final nail in McNair’s coffin as far as you’re concerned?
Okay, then.
Yeah, that’s what I said. Spare me.
Yeah that’s what he said; the receipt is right there.
“The last stretch of games is not where McNair wants to be and said this team has the talent to get back to where it was at the start of the season.”
We are so screwed. This team is going to be horrible until Vivek and the ownership group sells the team. And, as noted by others here, that’s likely to be in another city.
Play faster = We do not have any defense.
BLOW. THIS. TEAM. UP.
Somehow I don’t feel any better about the future after listening to Monte. Just a bunch of generic blabber about “we didn’t do as well as hoped under the previous coach” and “the interim coach has a wealth of experience” and “we’ve got some good talent on this team”. No admission of “sorry I screwed up keeping that ass clown coach” or “we have positional gaps to address”. Future not looking much different from the past..
McNair’s failure to hold the players accountable as well is troubling. It is just more exaggeration of the talent on the team. There are ways to get the message across reasonably.
That’s the word I was looking for, exaggeration, or maybe overestimating.
Great photo. If you’re looking for a winner, that’s it.
I think that McNair is smarter than us as an overall group of fans. I don’t know if he is smarter than most of the other NBA GMs, which would be the appropriate yardstick to measure him by. By that yardstick, he appears to be a plus drafter. I still don’t get the TT for Wright trade, but that’s deck chair shuffling. Getting nothing for Bogi was not good, and test driving Walton into this season was a disaster that apparently only he did not see coming.
Better than Vlade, which is the lowest of bars. Beyond that, not much to see here, at least not yet.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah.
Blah blah barf!
This year it is the “we fired the coach” distraction.
Next year it will be “look who we traded away and drafted to rebuild the team” distraction.
The following year “we fired the GM to really start over again” distraction.
Rinse and repeat.
If you keep going to Golden One the cycle will never end.
Marcos Breton had it correct in his latest column ! Fire the owner !
Badge Legend