Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry introduced Doug Christie as the team’s new head coach Friday during a press conference.
Perry explained that the decision to elevate Christie from the interim to full-time head coach was based his on-court results last season and the alignment the two share values wise.
“From afar this past season when I was sitting at home in Florida watching a lot of NBA basketball, I got a chance to observe Doug Christie take over as the head coach here in quite frankly, which was a very difficult situation, he did so with class, poise, he had a tremendous presence on the court. I watched him connect with this group of players that led to some success on the court. That connectivity was very obvious to me. Doug, in doing so through this turbulent time, posted a winning record while also improving the team’s offensive efficiency. But above and beyond all of that, Doug Christie embodies the values that we, I so deeply treasure and appreciate and what we’re going to build this organization on,” Perry said. “And I mentioned them to you before: professionalism, toughness, discipline, a defensive mindset and a selfless, team-oriented approach on the offensive end of the floor. I’ve given Doug my full support and will continue to do so and help him set the course and the vision for his long-term success and our long-term success.”
Perry expressed full confidence in Christie’s ability to establish a strong identity and lead the team with integrity through the highs and lows of an NBA season.
That being said, many fans are concerned about the head coach hiring process and how much owner Vivek Ranadive was involved in making sure Christie remained as the head coach. Perry explained the hiring process this way:
“I had some informal conversations with different people that I know. Look, you’re looking at a grizzled veteran here in terms of the hiring process of coaches. And I pretty much know all of the coaches that are out here that may or may not have been available. But in talking with Doug, the more I talked to him and the more that obviously his familiarity with this market in the market with him, and it’s just, again, the core values that he expressed, and it’s important that this relationship be a very strong relationship that we can communicate freely, openly,” Perry said. “And over the weekend, that really felt natural and comfortable to me. Because look, once we start the season, there are going to be highs and lows. I don’t care how good a team you have or how bad a team you have. There’s adversity that hits in the league. He showed me his integrity and character, how he dealt with difficulty this past season.”
He went on to say Christie would be a good candidate even if he were hiring a coach for different team: “Even if I was somewhere else, though, to be quite frank with you, this man exhibits the qualities that I would want represented in my team. And I think that is the strongest endorsement that I can give of him. Yeah, he’s special to this community and that’s not lost on me. But above and beyond everything else is the character of the man. It’s the passion that he displays for the game. I can tell that he’s going to be a coach that is always trying to find answers, learn more about his craft.”
Perry also noted that when speaking with the players they all expressed a deep respect for Christie. The positive feedback from the players reinforced Perry’s decision.
“It’s important that you feel a connectivity from the players,” Perry said.
As far as Christie himself, he shared his thoughts on the vision he has for the culture and identity of the team:
“A lot of people talk about culture and for me, habits build culture. Culture is a byproduct of habits, and we want to establish a very, very high level of those, but also the ability for our team to be a physical manifestation of this community. It’s blue collar, it’s hard working, it’s loyal. It’s so loyal that it kept a team here. And we want players that are going to represent that when they come through the turnstiles and when they leave, they know that they’ve gotten every piece of what they thought: heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears. They get it all. And that’s what this community is about.”
Say what you want about the hiring process and Vivek’s involvement, I think most fans are rooting for Doug because he is a great extension of the community and embodies what he said in the quote above.
Speaking of identity, Perry hinted at establishing one as a main goal next season: “I think this year is really about establishing an identity. I talked a lot about that last week. And a foundation of what it means to be a Sacramento Kings basketball player, and that’s really, for us in year one, is going to be our North Star or true evaluator of where we’re at. What are we going to be? What are we going to reflect on this court? We have to start building that. So, as we move through the season, when we play opponents or when you fans come, the media and the local Sacramento fan base comes to games, they know what they’re going to get and what they’re going to see in this team. So that identity has to start being established right away. And I’m confident Doug’s going to be able to do that.”
Christie said he appreciates Perry’s directness: “You can hear the professionalism, you can hear the drive and desire, but you can also hear cutting through all the bull. And that’s one of the things that I truly appreciate about him, from talking to him is I know that I’m gonna get the honest, honest. And that’s one of the things that in, in our business you don’t always get. And I appreciate that. So, yeah, we got the right guy.”
We have all seen a countless number of press conference like this throughout the Kangz of past and this is no different than any of them.
The hope, the optimism, and saying the right things.
We also all have seen much of what was said during these press conferences never come to fruition. That being said, Christie cares about this city and this fan base beyond talking points, and for that I hope he is able to cut through the bull alongside Perry to turn things around.
Watch the full press conference below.
Nice words. But nice words never won an NBA game. Players win games. So get the players because the current roster isn’t good enough.
Both the Spurs and Grizzlies seem to have followed the Kings’ lead in removing the “interim” tag from Mitch Johnson and Thomas Iisalo respectively without extensive HC searches. Will David Adelman be next?
No knock on Christie, but both of those guys have far more coaching experience than Doug does.
That difference in experience is enough to justify not conducting a search?
No, but there are some significant differences here.
The Grizz bought out Iisalo from his European deal, after a decade of coaching with lots of hardware to prove he’s good. The Grizz did this after they fired Jenkins’ assistant coaches last summer. They gave him a 3 year deal (that’s rare for an assistant) that many, at the time, saw as a trial run for the guy to take over. He was not a Jenkins hire, but a front office hire. He basically had a year’s long evaluation before the Grizz went all in with him.
Johnson has been with the Spurs for a decade and Pop’s assistant for 5 of them. He was picked by Pops (who is still Pres. of BBall Operations) and he basically coached this entire season by taking over after 5 games. He’s a Spurs home grown product from the Pops storied coaching tree.
Doug, on the other hand, was the 3rd ranked assistant (and got promoted to the front row just this season) was the only ownership holdover from Coach Walton, and had never coached anything before 4 years ago.
One of these dudes is not like the others.
Sure, the Grizz and Spurs didn’t due a traditional coaching search, but they lined up and vetted their guys correctly.
You’ve made the Grizzlies’ hiring process sound even worse. They hired Jenkins’ replacement, made him Jenkins’ assistant, and vetted him as an NBA coach while Jenkins was still the HC. Sounds pretty awkward to me.
As to the Spurs situation, the comments on “Pounding the Rock” make Johnson seem like the last twig on Pop’s coaching tree, the one no other team wanted. The preponderance of comments there would have preferred bringing in someone from the outside, like Malone or Jenkins.
Oh for sure, the Grizz hiring process was shady as all hell, but it was out in the open. They fired Jenkins’ entire coaching staff then went out and hired one of Europe’s top coaches, on a three year deal, and paying him top dollar. The writing was on the wall there. It’s almost like they knew Jenkins was under contract so might as well keep him around until they made an all in decision with Iisalo
As to Johnson, I have no reason to doubt Pop’s tree. His finger prints are all over the league. Even Sam Presti comes from that tree.
This is a cool little piece I just found on Pop’s tree.
Happy for Doug but the only vision that will count belongs to the guy that fired their predecessors and hired them . The dismissive little chap in action !
Based on the facts at hand and the apparent consistency with Perry’s previously stated desires for the things he wants in a coach…I think Doug meets all of those requirements and also comes cheap. Which regardless of how you feel about it, is a real concern and true limitation to any GM working under Vivek.
I hope he gets this team locked in on defense like Uduka was able to do with that HOU squad.
Now I’m interested to see who fills out Perry’s front office and Doug’s bench. It would be nice to have all positions filled before the draft and free agency.
I will say this about Doug, it seems the players like him, especially Domas. That could bode well for Sabonis sticking around.
I like Doug, and I hope that he gets the opportunity to be a head coach for a real NBA organization someday.
Oh! Come on. You think the Lakers are a real NBA organization being led by James?
James led them to a 50 win season and a championship . Wish Kings had something close to that success.
Unfortunately, the are what the Kangz are not. A real nba organization.
You don’t think super stars have their say/run organizations?
The Kings are nowhere near the Fakers. And that is sad.
Then give Doug a chance. You guys have already have him dead in the water. I am going to give him support until you guys put him in front of s firing squad.
Christie really embodies the main values of this franchise, shilling and cozying up to the Ranadives & Co (Vlade?).
He knew what was needed to reach his goal and did what he had to do to get there. Now let’s see how he does.
I expect this fanbase to give him plenty of leeway and excuses, and Vivek chose him exactly for that reason (and the bargain salary).
You all can look bach but I tend to look forward. Doug is our head coach so let’s support him the best way possible. And IMO Sacramento is a legit NBA organization with Doug Christie as its head coach. Period.
Are you being sarcastic? Not sure how you could think this organization is legit. It’s the exact opposite.
Sure, support Doug but you really think this organization is any different w Doug at helm than any other of the myriad of coaches and GM?
I will support Doug and the team but at no level is this a legit competent franchise !
Thanks.
I don’t think my last point could be proven better than this.
Exactly. And shared vision? Between Vivek, his ego and a tad of Matina.
#selltheteam
It’s all coming together! Doug’s locked in, Perry will trade Monk… and Doug can be the Pizza Guy again! Vlade and Peja in the front row! 2002 highlights on the video! Oh, and 36-46, 14th in the lottery, and too much dribbling.
Maybe Perry should trade Monk. I have him traded to the Pelicans and a first for Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado. Jose our starting point guard and Jones starting a long side Keegan. Don’t know if this will happen but if it does”Good Trade”.
“Shared values.”
My eyes roll out of my head when I hear people allude to their values. You’re an NBA General Manager and an NBA Head Coach. Here’s the deal:
Do whatever it takes to win.
Spend whatever it takes to win.
If the owner tries to run the show, quit or make him fire you.
Those are your fucking values.
This is the same old shit because the same little shit still owns the Kings.
The only way I see any hope would be if they trade DDR and maybe Monk and get a PG and wing D. And run O through Sabs.
Look at my trade above. And it only trades Monk. We still have DDR to trade.
I think Christie is a great coach and the right hire. If he had a totally different roster this team could be good.
Totally different roster, owner and organization
IMO both Scott and Doug are working on this right now.
This is only the 8th different head coach in Vivek’s 12- year tenure. I’m sure it’ll work out this time.
After just watching Adams and Sengun play together of a ton of minutes in an impressive win against the Dubs, I can’t help but wonder if the Kings could really benefit from more Sabonis and JV minutes together. If Sengun is the younger version of Sabonis, why not try it? Go hella big with JV, Sabonis, Keegan, LaVine, and point guard.
That being said, I don’t think JV has the gas to pull of 30 minutes a night. He’s averaged that just once in his career, but what if the Perry got a third physical big to eat up some minutes? Adams is a UFA, as is Drummond, Lopez, Capela, Jordan, and Wagner. That’s a lot of physical bigs in free agency that may come cheap should Doug and Perry look to play Sabonis more at the 4 next season.
This is all just spitballing, but you never know.
I think it would be an interesting approach. I don’t believe they’ve ever really tried Sabonis at the 4 for any length of time, though the idea has been occasionally discussed around town the past couple years. As folks have said on this site, there are multiple ways to keep the opposing team out of the paint. Fear certainly isn’t a bad one. And you make a good case that getting the necessary additional player to pursue this route could be done while staying within the team’s budget. Also seems in keeping with DC’s comments today of bringing a blue collar mentality into the team to reflect the city a bit more. It seems that type of team playing style would certainly resonate with the fans. That’s also been mentioned as a wish by posters here over the years.
I’d settle for these dopes running an O through Sabonis. Using his talent. Allowing Keegan’s ability to thrive etc.
Gee I don’t believe it you do have a sense of wanting to help with a solution rather than always having your glass half empty all the time. I thought you were a Lakers fan all this time.
I’d be ok with this, I think DeRozan and Monk need to go. I love Monk but I don’t see his value on this team with too many other ball dominate players and I think he deserves something better than this franchise. Or trade Lavine but that’s not happening because Vivek loves him….
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