The Sacramento Kings are hiring Mike Brown as their new head coach, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Sacramento Kings have agreed with Golden State assistant Mike Brown on a four-year contract to become the franchise’s next coach, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 8, 2022
Sam Amick has confirmed the news.
Can confirm Mike Brown is the Kings’ pick to be their next coach. ESPN first.https://t.co/2c5tSL0UzU
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 8, 2022
The news comes after days of speculation that Brown was a favorite of Kings GM Monte McNair, but that Kings Chairman Vivek Randivé may have wanted Mark Jackson. If those reports were accurate, this hiring means McNair was allowed to hire his choice to move this team forward.
Brown comes to the Kings with a career 61.6% winning percentage, and decades of NBA coaching experience alongside some of the game's best coaches. You can read our full profile of Brown here, but the Kings are getting a coach who comes from the Gregg Popovich coaching tree, and has spent the last six years as a lead assistant for Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors.
Brown is known for his teams playing strong defense. Blake Ellington recently broke down the defensive philosophies of Brown and the other finalists. Of note, in his 6 years with the Warriors, Golden State has had a top 5 defense three times, and a top two other years where they were a top 15 defense. The Kings have not been a top 15 defense in the last 16 years.
Of the three finalists for the position, Brown was far and away my favorite. I'm very excited about this outcome. As always, time will tell how this hiring works out, but the Kings hired a qualified, experienced candidate who is well-regarded throughout the league.
Welcome to Sacramento, Mike Brown!
Monte wins one….
let’s see if it lasts or if Vivek wants a new GM to go with his new coach.
Okay, now.
Just win the draft lottery and win the 1st pick next !!!!!!!!!!
And when that happens, please don’t draft the Anthony Bennett of the class!
Anthony BennettMarvin BagleyIt’s a bit late for that unfortunately.
He got the coach that could win with LeBron James.
Wow. I’m impressed.
I feel sad that my first emotion is a sigh of relief that is wasn’t Mark Jackson. Does Mike Brown actually bring something to the table other than being not Mark Jackson? Genuine question for those that follow coaches, philosophies and systems.
He’s a defensive minded coach with a career .616 winning percentage. He’s also a big part of why Golden State is where it is today as he’s apparently been scheming the defenses there for 6 years.
Also he comes from the Popovich tree of coaching in addition to time served under Carlisle. He’s been in all the right places and well respected in the league.
He started his career working for Bernie Bickerstaff as well, not Pop. Says something that even though Brown started for Bickerstaff, most consider him part of the Pop coaching tree.
Yeah, I think it’s because he was lead assistant under Pops, but was just 3rd or 4th chair for the Wizards. Weird to think he was an assistant in D.C. for the Webber trade. He got to coach Webber and Richmond.
And he started in Denver as well, if I’m not mistaken. When Bickerstaff went to DC he took Brown with him.
And you’re right, I’m sure it had something to do with being a lead assistant. Mike Brown is a really good coach, I’m glad the Kings were able to get him. And am glad he’s Monte McNair’s guy to boot.
Just doing some quick research, he was lead under Pops and Mike Budenholzer was under him.
But, you see, all MIke Brown has done was ever coach a young LeBron James……
Ham does a good job summing it all up:
He coached LeBron James as superstar in his prime and managed to win
Color me unimpressed.
You know how many wins the Cavs had in Lebron’s first 2 years? 35 wins his rookie year and 42 wins his second year. The win totals jumped to 50, 50 (the year they made the Finals), 45, 66 and 61 wins under Brown in the first stint. Look at those rosters. Mike Brown has coached one team that missed the playoffs: The 2013-14 Cavs.
I don’t care how you feel about Mike Brown, but it’s not like he inherited a team with 3 All Star level (and 2 All Timers) players like Phil Jackson did when he went to Chicago.
Mike Brown is not Dick Motta or George Karl either. His best days aren’t behind him.
Is Mike Brown perfect? Nope. He’ll tell you that. But he’s a better coach than he gets credit for. Why doesn’t Erik Spoelstra get downgraded for that? He’s only made 4 Finals appearances as a head coach, all with Lebron. (And Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen and others.) He must not be very good either.
I don’t know how Mike Brown’s tenure will go, but in the end, if there’s one thing that should not be in dispute, it’s that Mike Brown can coach.
Phil Jackson is pretty unimpressive, just coached stars.
Pop too. I mean, he had the Admiral and Duncan. Boring.
Heck, Adelman is overrated too. I mean, what did he do in Sacramento without Webber/Vlade/Peja/Bibby etc?
Stupid coaches doing well with talent.
i think Brown also brings an overall system/idea of where this team is going, for the long term.
He’ll bring/build a culture, whereas Jackson woulda brought divisiveness and be gone in a few.
Yes he does.
It’s telling that the prevailing emotion of many is relief instead of happiness.
After having zero young, exciting assistants in the final group, we talked ourselves off the ledge regarding Brown and Clifford. With Jackson as a candidate, we talked ourselves even further off the ledge.
Now we can sigh a breath of relief and we’ll get excited about draft picks and FA’s and perhaps a trade. Because the off-season and pre- season are our seasons!
And then the real season starts…
It’s a cycle as old as 16 seasons.
But this time it will be different, of course.
Hopefully the Kings will hire a young, exiting assistant coach to handle the offence. That’s still an option.
yes
he is an experienced coach, not a 3 year guy.
he coached lots of players and teams- varied experience. Coach god coached only one team.
I am actually pretty excited with Mike Brown as the head coach.
As confident in a Kings head coach hire as I have been since … probably Mike Malone.
I’m with you on that. I’ve been of the Mike Brown bandwagon for a while now.
A win for Monte actually making basketball decisions. Now let’s get this man more of a roster.
Right after the L****s fire him.
Or this conversation…We keep Brown and in 2 years sign Labron and draft Bronny 🤮
Why the puke emoji?
I would absolutely love this!! 🤷♂️
Finally! Now we can focus on past draft failures again!
Where’s the banner?!
Go Monty, Go Brown and GO KINGS. I truly believe this is a start of something new and something big. Allright Monty tomorrow get started you have a lot to do.
How about starting with enlarging your scouting staff.
Enlarging our what?
I expected to see a big red banner at the top of the post. These guys may be suffering from burn out as apperantly, we all are
Thank God.
I sympathize with any and all who feel “meh” about Mike, who were hoping to come away with a shiny new coach like Hardy, Lee, or Ham; it’s absolutely thrilling to start anew with someone new. But Mike was and is as good a candidate as any of them; his flaws have more of a paper trail, but the chance to succeed with him remains the same. I‘m looking forward to a new chapter for Sacramento and for Mike; here’s to the redemption arcs starting now.
And I am absolutely clinging to the story that Monte let Jackson get this far simply to let the winning candidate look that much better and give that person— Mike Brown as it turns out— the enthusiasm he deserved. Yes, I know that it was probably meddling and incompetence, but I’m ignoring that possibility. LET ME HAVE MY HAPPY DREAM DAMN IT. Monte, you’re sly like a Fox and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
I am more relieved than excited and I’m not sure 4 years was necessary. But I’m okay with it.
I’m guessing it’s 3 years with a club option for year 4, which I think is pretty standard.
I wish it was a 10 year fully guaranteed deal.
Is Brown the best candidate? I don’t know but I do know he is absolutely a very good one. He has proven himself and has a great reputation. Players like and respect him and NBA likes and respects him. He is exactly the type of coach this team needs. He is by far the best coach we have had since Adelman. This organization DESPERATELY NEEDS CONSISTENCY. Win or lose I want Mike Brown here for at minimum the entirety of his contract.
We didn’t hire Mark Jackson?
This makes me happy.
I did not sleep well these few nights, and finally….the FO decided the coach…
Good for the fans (finally feel relieved from scaring hiring of Mark Jackson),
Also, good for the players and the team.
You shouldn’t lose sleep over sports.
Especially over the kings.
Not worth it, my man.
They live in Hong Kong, There’s been plenty going on over there much bigger than sports.
Thank goodness…Mike Brown wouldn’t have been my first choice but he is a good coach and I am so glad we didn’t hire Jackson and maybe McNair will be allowed to do his job.
Congratulations Coach Brown! Welcome to basketball hell.
LFG! 🔥
Rejoice Sacramento Rejoice.
-Koz
My son just texted me…..”It’s official, Kings hired Mike Brown, I can finally relax. I know the feeling. So effing glad they didn’t hire Jackson. Big time good news.
I thought he was the 5th best candidate among the 7 initial candidates, but I thought he was the best finalist.
I’m just extremely relieved. Listen I think the Kings would have been wise to hire Darvin Ham or Will Hardy over Mike Brown, but that isn’t to knock his own candidacy compared to many. This is a respectable hire by league standards something that hasn’t always been the case in past choices. He has always been perceived as far better than perception or his stints suggests. Pop’s cosign is no small matter and his work on the Warriors staff is more than worthy of praise. I expect to see an improved and different coach from the one that used to be at the helm.
If the internal dispute existed as reported I’m glad to see Monte winning out. And I would be in favor of extending him to align with Brown’s deal. Stop stagnating appointments creating different incentives from coach to GM. Not to mention individuals trying to fill power vacuums in case a fire happens in either role. This should coincide some continuity.
And lastly pay for quality assistants. Best of luck Coach Brown.
James Ham has mentioned this a bunch the last couple weeks as well, and I would point out the Kings did do this with Vlade Divac and Luke Walton. It just did not work out, which hardly surprised anyone.
Give Monte the long term job finally, Vivek. Hiring Mike Brown was only the first step, the reality is you really need a FO and HC on the same page. And extending Monte is just a part of that.
But at least Mark Jackson won’t be the next head coach, which is good.
Yep. I’ve not been a fan of McNair’s passivity, but I’ve never doubted his competence. I think McNair is smart enough to know he has to act now or risk losing Sabonis. I’m in favor of extending him to match Brown. Neither of these guys might be flashy or spectacular, but they’re competent, and with the Kings, that’s enough.
I think the fact that he hasn’t just made deals to make deals is a point in his favor. He wasn’t exactly dealt a roster chock full of assets. He doesn’t have the ability to rebuild (which I’m not even sure he would prefer to do all things being equal) the way, say, Sam Presti does.
It’s a step in the right direction, at the very least.
I’m not sure that is entirely true.
With the way Fox was sitting home with an ankle “situation” and Tyrese being completely blindsided by the trade, I think Monte didn’t do the deal he set out to make, but one that he felt he had to do because he knew he had to do something, anything.
He likely painted himself into a corner with his “patience”, and now every step will be with a view to short term success, (play-in/play-offs) instead of long-term success (building a true contender). The clock is ticking.
Perhaps that urgency is a good thing, because Monte seemed a bit too deliberate and cautious to me. And perhaps we need that play-off drought monkey off our back before this team will actually start implementing a long-term plan, but I am not sure our owner will allow for that.
If James Ham does not agree then you are wrong.
However I do agree. He failed to move Bogi for something because he couldn’t get a deal done. He tried a few times to dump Buddy. He is not a deal maker.
He is a deal maker. If you remember it wasn’t Monty who nixed the Heild trade to the Lakers it was the Laakers. He also got rid of Bagley and got Divincenso. He also traded for Sabonis which in my mind was a good deal. And there are more deals coming.
Show your work on this please.
Who did he get in return for Bogi?
Enlighten us.
I would suspect Monte does that deal anytime. But the Pacers wanted as much time to get the best deal possible. If Monte McNair had a list of 5 guys he is willing to trade Haliburton for (according to Sam Amick on The Kings pulse podcast), and Sabonis was on that list (although Sam said he didn’t know the entire list), it would stand to reason that Monte makes that deal when Indy is comfortable. Usually teams wait until they have a deal they are willing to accept unless there are unique circumstances. The Rudy Gay trade to Sac comes to mind.
It’s worth noting the Kings didn’t give up picks AND gave up Buddy Hield in the process. That’s a win from an asset standpoint even though it’s been held up under the lens as a Sabonis for Haliburton swap. That’s not really true.
There’s an idea. Intending to be good! Who knew such things existed in the 916? I thought all these idiots aspire to around here was the play-in game and hoping to appear to be successful.
Wait. So you can’t be trying to win and have a long term plan?
I get not believing in that Monte McNair can pull off improvement. I get not believing in Fox or Sabonis or them as a tandem.
What I don’t get is how extending the playoff drought is a good thing. And what I don’t get is how you bring your fanbase back after so much ineptitude if you don’t show signs of winning sooner than later.
Where did I write that?
Did I claim you write that? No. But that’s what you are suggesting when you are talking rebuild.
So, yeah. The same back and forth.
LOL. I am not.
It is what you chjoose to read into it.
His narrative and James Ham are all that is Holy.
“I’m honored Mr. Ranadive picked me. But honestly, I don’t know a thing about basketball.”
As the house Kings/Bengals fan I often privately chuckle at the ceaseless pearl clutching that paints a picture of kings ownership as being the worst in all of sport. Mike Brown is the God King of small market, parasitic, re-location extortion, no scouting budget, huge ego, just lucky to be there, walking ball bag of humanity in an ill-fitting cap ownership in the world! Of when they had the chance they drafted Luka.
Monty didn’t do that.
Jesus, there’s another Kings/Bengals fan in here? I’m from Ohio, what’s your excuse?
There’s no real excuse for you regardless, Sims. You’re a lost cause. :p
/ducks
I never take a swing at someone for saying truth.
No excuse. Just always loved them. Probably the Kenny Anderson coffee commercial. I was just a child and didn’t know any better…kinda like the Kings.
This one is more of a fighter 😉
Hopefully he’s not fired by all star break. This was the right choice but kind of wanted Jackson so I could put this dumpster fire of a franchise behind me. But what about the Herald you say ah yes the Herald….a multi playoff run to a championship….f¥<k it we deserve a wining team!!!
Good for mike (can only go up…), good for monte (you are a gm for real), good for vivek (good business to let the guy you are paying for his expertise to use that expertise), and the fans for all of the above. But the preference of owner and gm should not have been leaked and shows there is no trust somewhere.
Maybe Dumars leaked it?
I bet McNair or Wilcox leaked it. It’s part of how they have dealt with Vivek Ranadive in these challenging decision moments before. How a guy like Vivek is so tone deaf but so sensitive to optics I’ll never understand. It’s part of what makes him so difficult from an ownership standpoint.
Still, and I agree with those who have said it (Ham and Cunningham to name two), Ranadive’s greatest sin is trusting the wrong people.
When vivek bought the team, Didnt vivek say something to the effect of he hires good people and that was why he was successful, implying he trusts them?
Vivek says a lot of dumb shit publicly. But yes, he mentioned that.
But the 4 on 5 was a grest idea… ugh.
Wasn’t Boogie on the team then? By the time he quit arguing with the refs the Kings were already playing 4 on 5 anyway
Agree with your point that he trusts the wrong people
I was thinking the same, or vivek leaked it knowing he would let monte pick his guy to show he wasnt an egotistical self-absorbed narcissist. Nah not the latter, and Sorry for the redundancy. i guess i have been listening to mark jones too much.
That’s a bad thing to do.
Monte has his coach, now it’s his own pick. If Jackson would have been hired it would have been Vivek and Jackson against Monte. Monte and Brown can now run this team the way they want and if Vivek interferes, they can out vote him.
You can’t really “outvote” and owner. Businesses aren’t democracies.
And I know about democracies, because I used to live in one.
Perhaps it’s a byproduct of him standing next to the worst possible choice, but I’ve come to feel more excited about this hire recently. A proven, experienced, competent, and defensive minded head coach is certainly not the worst outcome for this off-season. Now
Monte just needs to sort out this personnel.
Thank you, Jeebus. Before we jump all over this guy next season, realize the talent on this team as of today is below average. Coaching is very much not the problem with this team right now, and that’s a very good thing, and real progress from the Luke Walton era.
in my opinion we should throw our absolute support behind Brown and we shouldn’t worry about wins and losses when it comes to his job. He is 100% qualified and he deserves the full opportunity of his contract without a bunch of bullshit complaints from the fans.
let me use this example. The fans didn’t really complain about Joeger. Why? Because he knew what he was doing and the fans supported the competence. The only criticism he started to really get as I recall was his relationship with some of the players. Buddy didn’t like him so apparently that meant he needed to get fired. That was idiotic in hindsight. Let’s not be idiotic again. Brown is a gift, we should embrace him and support his knowledge and experience as a coach in the NBA.
yeah, I’m all in if you can’t tell. Dude needs to be and feel free to do his job without stupid criticism of a team that he’s taking over that has had no continuity and has a lack of collective talent. Brown is a very good coach and we should all recognize that and support the man in the very hard job he has in front of him.
just my opinion man.
And a good opinion. I have an idea for all you negative fans. All of you get together and hire your GM and HC. then run the organization for one year. I bet your team record would be 0 and 82. NO WAIT. It would be 1 and 81. The league office would feel sorry for you and give you ONE complimentary win. Good luck.
I think the average engaged fan would do at least as well as Vivek has just by making reasonable, competent hires and not wreaking chaos in the organization.
I think Vivek was at the game last night to observe Brown in action vs the guy w the headeset on the sideline. I’m sure this was at the behest of Monte. So glad we ended up in the right place despite the alleged attempt by Vivek to once again interfere with the people he pays to supposedly make basketball decisions.
Also thank god to whoever leaked that report earlier this week; D
Imagine thinking another head coach will erase all that stink.
I didn’t read a single comment that said that, just everyone happy we hired brown over Jackson
Another good head coach and it has to start somewhere to make it netter. Why not now?