There’s been talk over the last few weeks about pending contract extension negotiations for Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown. Brown had a mutual option year in the final year of his contract, and according to James Ham that option was not exercised. Earlier reports from Sam Amick and Anthony Slater indicated Brown would be seeking $10 million plus per year:
Success has a price tag. Steve Kerr ($17.5 million annually), Gregg Popovich ($16 million) and Monty Williams ($13 million) have reset the coaching market since Brown signed his deal. He wouldn’t command Kerr or Popovich money, but it’s fair to assume, considering reputation and résumé, the offer would need to reach double-digit million annually.
Yahoo’s Jake Fischer confirmed the target price tag.
But then a report dropped Friday evening in a very well-timed Friday News Dump. During a playoff game, on a Friday night going into a long holiday weekend, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the talks have been put on hold.
ESPN Sources: After engaging in contract extension discussions, the Sacramento Kings and coach Mike Brown have tabled talks. There remains a gulf on a potential deal for Brown, who has one guaranteed season left on his contract. pic.twitter.com/AvYy4gaDGR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 25, 2024
The timing of this, as well as the source, indicates to me that the Kings want this story out now, when it will fly a little under the radar, because they know they’re going to look bad here. Mike Brown is one of just two coaches in the Sacramento-era of Kings basketball to have won more than 40 games in a season, the other being Rick Adelman.
The Kings cannot be cheap here. Mike Brown has earned a raise, and he has earned it regardless of what happens next. According to James Ham’s report linked above, the Kings have already had Brown on a really cheap deal:
According to league sources, Brown’s contract with the team was for three seasons with a mutual option for a fourth year. He is set to make less than $5 million this season and with rising coaching salaries around the league, the fourth year option wasn’t exercised. It should also be noted that Brown’s current salary is less per year than the Kings paid their previous head coach, Luke Walton.
The Kings got great value on the first two years of Brown’s deal. Now it’s time to pay up. The fact the Kings are currently paying Mike Brown – a GOOD head coach – less than they paid Luke Walton – an ATROCIOUS head coach – is embarassing. I’m sure Vivek is gun shy about extending Brown and then being forced to eat the contract, but that’s only because Vivek has had to do it so many times with poorly chosen GMs and head coaches. When you get a hire right, you stick with it.
The aura of the KANGZ always lurks just around the corner. If the Kings want to maintain the culture of respectability that Mike Brown has helped establish in Sacramento, then they need to do the respectable thing and get a deal done.
If the Kings let MB walk…. Expect Fox and or Sabonis to ask for trades out of Sac.
This would end up being a disaster.
Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Maybe then they finally do a proper rebuild, rather than the half-assed job they’ve been doing.
what exactly would this proper rebuild look like? get rid of all value, hire interim coaches who do not want to be here, pray for good picks?
while Kings did not sink totally to the bottom they have had over 20 first round picks and nothing worked. This is hoping that current 8th graders will be the saviors.
I’m really disapointed in your take. Having a proper rebuild is on Monty and staff not on Brown and having a 2 year record better than any other coach in the last 16 years should tell you something. Give me a break.
Monte did a bad job because he did nothing to improve a team that needed improvement. Brown did a bad job for the same reason. No O adjustment. Same bullshit form playoffs. Just kept saying sane shit.
No one did anything. And this season was a failure in my opinion.
Last year a window of opportunity opened up in the kings did absolutely nothing. Shut the window and ignored everything. Brown is to blame and Monte is to blame. Which makes me wonder how much of this is Vivek
Sure, but I also don’t think Brown is an amazong coach. At least from an Xs and Os standpoint. Great personality though.
But we deserve a full-assed job before they start a rebuild.
Vivek about to screw up one of the only things that went right in his tenure
Making the playoffs, then following it up by not making them?
Great conference, not great talent?
The players and coaching regressed this season, and missed the playoffs as a result. Last year’s win total makes the playoffs again.
A lot of fans keep making excuses for this past season and not placing the blame on the coach/players. At the of the day, not making the playoffs after making it the year before is regression.
Should Vivek be rewarding that?
I have this season’s failure at 90% front office and 10% everything else. The most generous interpretation for me is that “internal growth” was always extremely likely to fail as a strategy, but the front office and coaches legitimately believed in it. The least generous interpretation is that “internal improvement” was marketing spin to paper over the lack of offseason movement/improvement.
In my mind, this season’s failure was inevitable when they brought back the same team while the rest of the conference got better. I think this set of players actually did pretty well winning the number of games they did.
Yes, some players regressed and others didn’t grow, but in my mind, if you’re a playoff team, you have to move off of players like Huerter and Barnes that can’t get it done in the postseason. The team didn’t do that and paid the price for it, this time in the regular season. I also think they underestimated the desire for fans to improve over the previous season.
That being said, coaching and the front office have proved themselves competent enough to get at least another year and probably two. As far as the players go, no one should be off the table. I think this core has topped out. If (when?) they lose Monk, they’re going to be two quality rotation players short of improving on the 2022-2023 team, and they couldn’t even add one in the offseason and at the trade deadline.
I don’t think Kyle Kuzma counts as a quality rotation player. To me, Kuzma is good for putting up counting numbers on a bad team. Maybe he can be a plus if they can change his mindset (Monk came into his own here), but Kuzma is pretty far into his career at this point without that happening. I’m also not a Zach LaVine fan in general and particularly on a team that can’t defend to begin with.
It’s a tall task with looks like a very conservative front office. The pressure is on, and I don’t see a massive Keegan Murray leap saving them. I don’t envy their job this offseason.
What’s annoying is that I saw a lot of speculation that they might go after P.J. Washington last offseason. He easily would’ve been an upgrade over Barnes.
Barnes is a good player. I understand that he isn’t what he was the previous year. The team as whole was different and I think that limited what a armies could do for this team.
That was a good read. Appreciate your realistic view of things and your thoughts on the situation this organization is currently in.
It is ok to want to win and nothing is sacred.
With injuries and players . Ah forget it.
We had a healthy team when we lost to Portland, Charlotte & Detroit. Those three games put us in the playoffs, and then we’re not talking about this.
All I know is it’s pissing me off watching Luca dominate and Hali go further in playoffs than fox ever has.
Vivek has fucked this team up adhering to Fox, and in a Miriam of ways. And inviting the POS GM who didn’t draft Luca back to games-front row. Horrible. Worst mistake a franchise has ever made probably. (Not drafting Luca).
The Kings would be an entirely different franchise is those players weren’t passed over or given away.
So, I have zero patience or tolerance for this team-the owner-etc. They’d better get good and immediately.
His name is Luka.
And yes, I will forever despise Vlade over that miss. That they still invite that worthless excuse for a GM to sit courtside pisses me off.
I have no issue with Vlade being around. He is a great ambassador for the game and I believe he is good man.
He was useless as a GM. Move on.
He was useless as a GM. Move on.
Agreed, the passing on Luka debacle is on Vivek who employed an unqualified GM. If we had any other GM, the pick would have been Luka.
To be fair, not any other GM. The one that actually drafted him was dumb enough to trade him away for the low low price of Trae Young and Cam Reddish. That’s almost as bad as passing on him outright.
Nobody ever mentions that. Ruins the narrative…
And if its about money Vivek shouldn’t own a team if he is too poor to operate it.
Him buying the team didn’t help anything. He’s been a terrible owner and there were other groups who were vying to buy and keep the team in Sacto.
If he can’t pay a good coach normal salary just imagine luxury tax payments for a good team..
Vivek is so
cheap. He will
never lay the luxury tax. Only
perrenial
winners with good
owners do that.
He’ll have no real choice if he gives Fox a max, or if Fox can improve his game to get to all-star or all-nba level and qualify for asupermax
We deserve better
Not all Brown’s fault. Not all Monty’s fault. If you want a campionship you can’t get it playing cheap.
Speaking of which, Naz Reid would pair awfully good with Domas. Don’t know if MM even had a shot to sign him last offseason, but that move alone would have completely changed the complexion of this team.
Thanks for remembering I wanted hi/m 2 years ago.
Is there a person who has touched a basketball that you have not wanted?
i’m sure you have touched one. When I make a hypothetical trade idea I just don’t pull a player out of the hat but spend a lot of time going over things that would eventually help the Kings.
I enjoy your fantasies and truly appreciate your desire to improve this team.
No team had a shot to sign Reid, he signed a below-market deal to stay in Minnesota before free agency started.
Yep. Naz loves Minny & Minny looooooves Naz. He was never available to the Kings.
RikSmits did a good job of pointing out the issues with MB on the recent Domas All NBA thread. I’m in agreement with Smits, MB was unimpressive last year.
Let him play this season out and get the team back in the playoffs.
I think they’d be able to tell by the team’s position at the break if he’s worth keeping around.
On a tangent, people also went insane with the Warriors let Jackson go, too.
Yet, Domas got 2 of his All-NBA playing for Brown.
It’s ultimately mostly about talent. Brown is a good coach when he has LBJ and Kobe, and a decent coach with Domas. He’s entitled to some credit for Domas’ success but most of that is on Domas.
I think most coaches will do okay with okay talent and will do good with good talent.
The better coaches will do good with okay talent and will do great with better talent.
I think Brown is not one of the better coaches or at least has not shown enough yet to already go all in on him.
Give him a complete roster and see what he does with it. Not hard.
I credit Domas for Domas’ success.
I am a fan of Brown but also want a good team to support. This team has gone from horrific to decent then declined quickly to underperforming. Give Brown a good roster and see where he can take it.
Paying him based on the idea that he is the best coach in almost two decades isn’t truly logical. Being the best coach in the last sixteen years is like saying water is wet. It is a basic fact that doesn’t mean anything because the other coaches and teams were so shitty.
This organization needs stability. This organization also needs to set standards above mediocrity.
I get this sentiment in regards to the idea that Brown may just be good. But this isn’t a comparison in a vacuum, its based on the perception and cache we’ve built in regards to the league.
Full stop the Kings are not far enough from the dumpster fire past to suggests they have the reputation to seek marginal improvements removed from Brown. Brown took on all that baggage with this job and came out the other side with 40 plus win seasons. Frankly im not sure that many could have done the same, even good or better coaches. His specific credentials, experience and personality made him unique to tackle being the face of a complete culture shift.
I hope Vivek while being cutesy is watching the current playoffs. One with two lead players he could have had (Luka) and another he possibly could have built around in Tyrese barring other necessities for being competitive that was in direct response to his past mistakes. He should eat a slice of humble pie and understand he isnt in the place to be fickle or frankly comparable to league counterparts. This is still the phase of respectability and until thats been seen out he isn’t afforded the same leeway in changes as others because leaguewide removed of Brown he is not credible.
Also just to note there isnt a plethora of alternatives id say thar are attractive. Most of the touted assistants have been hired in the last year or two. And lest we forget he almost hired Steve Clifford or Mark Jackson? We are a DUMPSTER FIRE
Kangz
If it’s any consolation, I hear that Alvin Gentry, Luke Walton, and George Karl are available.
If they all decide that spending time with family is more important to them, I’ve sure Vivek still has Tyrone Corbin, Keith Smart, and Eric Musselman on speed dial.
Is Rex Hughes still alive? Checking…that would be a no. I’m sure Reggie Theus is looking for work.
I’m available, too. And surely by their posts, several other KingsHerald faithful could do a better job that Brown as well.
Or hire all of us. We could text our in-game strategies back and forth and go 82 and 0.
Weren’t we just rehashing old, not particularly good coaches? 10 mil a year seems fair for Brown.
I feel Monty’s deal set the market, sort of like the Rudy Gobert trade fucked up all expectations on returns in trade. Brown’s camp only needs to point out Monty’s deal and say that’s a starting point. he’s currently getting paid less then half than Monty, and is likely worth 80-90% of his deal at minimum.
It sucks that we may have to pay the dollar price for Detroit’s historically terrible decision-making. At least they took Bagley off our hands.
There are several coaches making half what Monty is and not convinced Brown is any better than Dave Jaeger . Brown opted out which means he is betting on himself . He wants to become a free agent and can benefit from it or not . Kings should do what is in their best interest just as Brown is . Signing him to a 5 year 50 million deal could work but odds are it wouldn’t !
Brown in my opinion is a very good coach who has changed the culture of a perennial loser. Many of his faults seem accurate, but his positives far outweigh his negatives. He deserves a raise and a long-term contract.
IMO, winning talent changes the culture of a perennial loser.
Without Monte bringing the influx of talent with Domas, Keegan, Monk, Lyles etc., what culture would Brown create?
As you say, his faults are many. What are his actual strengths?
He seems to have the respect of his players. Important, can’t ignore this.
I think he build a good offense to the strength of his main players. But then he failed to build on it when teams game-planned around it.
He helped the development of some players. But how much is that on him and how much on the players self is debatable. And then you also have to put the regression of some players also (partly) on him.
What did I miss?
I really like the guy, but it feels as if we are rating him against previous regimes of the Kings, instead of against the rest of the league.
Well, some of your criticisms I take to be strengths. I agree with some of your points–sticking with players too long, issues with in-game adjustments–but I also think that as a defense-first coach, to come in to Sacramento and adapt enough to make it, at the time, the best offense in NBA history, I felt that he had developed a strategy, on the offensive side of the ball at least, that truly worked.
I remember seeing the first games under Brown and thinking, This is a winner. This team is simply a winner.
And then to take that same offense-first team and turn it into one that looked and acted like a top-five defense–yes, you’re right, Huerter going down pushed him to play Keon–well, to me, I didn’t think that kind of defensive leap would ever happen.
And again, just watching the games, the defensive intensity seemed clear to me. Not for 48 minutes, but I loved seeing the change in tone.
Any coach who can take a team with little depth and take them near the top of the league in offense and then in defense is, in my view, an excellent coach.
He also uses a strategy that I absolutely love and that many Kings fans hate. The threes. I love that the Kings are three-dominant, so much so that I want them to shoot more of them. It annoys me how few they shoot.
The next thing that I wish Fox would develop was the determination to drive with the purpose of kicking for a corner three. A guy with that kind of speed should either be driving for a layup or passing to the corner. If Fox had 50% of Monk’s desire to pass, we’d see many more threes and, in my opinion, more wins.
I don’t think we will ever agree on this. In it’s essence, that’s a strategy that every high school coach can use. Tagging on the “spray” term as Brown loves to do doesn’t make it any more impressive, efficient or sustainable, in my view. More than that, unless you have consistent, light-out shooters like the recent Warriors, i don’t think it will easily translate to postseason succes. Too big of a variable to count on.
But I have been wrong before.
Being wrong is fun, and I never mind disagreement.
I have a minority view, by which I mean I’ve never found anyone who agrees with it.
I think that the Kings are ahead of the curve on the threes, and year by year we’re going to see more and more teams becoming three-dominant. I think spot-up and corner threes are highly efficient, at the risk of higher variance. Midrange shots always feel like a waste of time. If Monte’s offseason moves show him going all in on a three-and-D team, it would make me a very happy Kings fan.
Shooting 50 threes a game is poor offense . Less FT’s and foul trouble , long rebound runouts and forced 3’s due to opponents scouting limited attack .
I agree. Shooting 60-70 threes is far better.
It looks like you’re taking last year’s 48 wins as a reference. You know what, that wasn’t the norm. They really overperformed big time. Easiest schedule + most healthy team by a wide margin + a lot of major injuries to other teams.
This year looks more like the norm.
And Monte did not improve the team this year. I’m guessing he knew last year was a fluke and he needed more data so he stood pat. He needs to make major changes next year.
Yeah, somebody pointed out recently that the Kings schedule two years ago was one of the easiest in the NBA and this last year’s schedule was one of the toughest.
Props to you if that was you. That appears to have been an overlooked, important point.
Overall, I felt that this year’s Kings was better than last year’s, but not substantially.
Like everyone else, I’m also looking forward to changes.
I’m taking the Western Conference as a reference, because that is where we are.
And we weren’t one of the 8 teams to make the play-offs.
So if last year was a fluke, and this year the norm, what are we extending Brown for, exactly? For one year, in which we were not making the play-offs? That’s a small sample size.
We can make excuses all we want. It’s a result-orinted league.
The WC is tough? Sure, but 14 other teams deal with that too, and 8 dealt with it better than us.
We had a tough schedule? So do others.
Injuries? Other teams had it much harder.
Inexperience? the Wolves and OKC managed.
I agree that much of the onus is on Monte. But that does not take away from judging Brown on what he did with what he has, especially since we are talking about his extension. Last year was great and/or a fluke. This year was so-so.
And again; Brown talked a great bunch about championship aspirations and accountability. What has he done this season to warrant a sizable extension?
That is mostly on Monte. Monte, deliver a better team. Vivek, spend your money.
This is a team trying to punch above their weight. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it work ok., and sometimes it does not.
J. Reynolds mentioned Huerter getting minutes he didn’t earn, the constant switching, the insistence on chucking threes the players aren’t even comfortable taking. I don’t ever remember that happening before! I could cite numerous examples of Kings fans who like M. Brown, think Brown is a good coach, and don’t want to criticize Brown, doing it anyway. There’s no getting around it. As good as M. Brown was in his first season here, and that wasn’t perfect, the coaching was very mediocre in his second. He earned COTY being vastly superior to what we had become so used to in Sac., not for being better than typical NBA level competition. If the coaching performance doesn’t improve in his third season, he shouldn’t be around for a fourth.
I vote no.
You’ve already been hired. Where do we send the signing bonus?
I vote no….
Where did you get lost in those three words?
Musselman and Corbin can coach. Musselman has gone on to succeed in many ways. Corbin was the only coach to call out the KanGZ players for being the garbage they were. I will always respect him for that.
How much time does Monte have left on his contract?
Just 2 more seasons. However, he might be working for the team for less time than that.
Poverty franchise that has yet to spend into the tax. Would it surprise anyone if this trend repeats with Monk?
Mike Brown is a legit NBA head coach. He’s worth far more than half of his counterparts. Pay the man to prove you are serious about competing in the league.
Look at the bright side, once they give Fox his max deal (or supermax), they’ll most likely hit the tax. Not that it will bring a 2nd round appearance without a major roster overhaul, but still.
Adam, I’ll repost my earlier post in teh Sabonis thread (with slight amendments) and am really interested in your view.
I was quite disappointed in Brown this season.
Despite having back the core players of last year’s team, I saw very little evolution in the offensive game, and especially very little counters to the increased emphasis of opponents on disrupting the DHO.
I hate his insistence on shooting an absurd amnount of 3’s, and when it’s not working, he just wants more spray 3’s. Look at the play-offs Mike. The midrange game is very much alive.
On that matter, Fox going away from his strengths and hoisting up that many 3’s really hurt his efficiency.
I feel he stuck way too long with his favorites (Huerter, Barnes, Duarte and McGee) when things were clearly not working. And I think he never gave Sasha enough of a leash and spurts to adjust and find any rythm. (That’s a small gripe, but it all adds up.)
On defense, I have to give him some credit. Especially regarding the improvement of Keegan. However, defensive improvement only really came when Huerter (and Monk) got injured and Brown was forced to finally call on Keon. And it happened in the last third of the season, also known as silly season. So I don’t know how much credit he should get here.
The team had some annoying tendencies like digging holes early, not being prepared for games against bottom feeders and losing big leads. Tendencies are a coaching issue.
I think overall, he wasn’t impressive at all with his game planning in general, ingame adjustments, with ATO’s and with foul challenges. I think he was very inflexible and sort of rode on the waves of last year’s success.
And as others pointed out, he had a bit of a reputation as someone who does not adjust or adapt, and who’s inflexibility may lead to players tuning him out.
And despite the fact that we had more injuries this season, we were again one of the healthiest teams in the league. On the one hand, that is a plus. On the other hand, we failed to capitalize on it and you have to wonder how long the injury luck will hold.
Another thing to consider is that he now lost his main assistant coach Jordi Fernandez who was highly touted. It will be interesting to see how he manages without him.
So when I look at all that, I think this year was underwhelming for Brown. Of course there are other factors, but even then I look at a guy who had one very good year and one so-so (or if you being generous okay) year.
Is that 2 year track record worth giving a premature extension at apparently a hefty price for? See how he does past the midway point of this season and tell him that if he has a good year this year, he’ll get his bag.
Am I too harsh? What did Brown do this season that impressed you?
The results would have been about the same regardless of who coached the team. The roster needs to get better and that’s really the only thing that matters. Brown is good enough and the marginal difference between NBA coaches is quite small. No midseason moves so no improvement.
Would any other coach in the league have taken this Kings squad further? Possibly. Maybe Spolstra or Pops get this team to 50 wins and past the first round, but folks like Malone or Carlisle may have had similar results to Brown.
The roster as constructed is what it is. Sabonis, Fox, and Monk had career years and yet here we are. You can’t get much blood from a middling roster.
So if it’s predominantly about the roster, how much sleep should we lose over not getting an extension done with an okay coach? If he’s that good, let’s see what he does with next year’s roster.
And maybe a Kenny Atkinson or whomever can do a better job?
Some of us on this site saw, last offseason, that Huerter despite being a good player, and having a career season, was not the right fit for this team. His weaknesses are well known. Everyone clamoring for defense, but the deep-shooting is so enticing. I wanted him shopped. My opinion was dismissed almost unanimously. I was called negative, unrealistic. Now the crowd is calling for his head. It doesn’t take Spo, or Pop to take corrective action and address issues everyone sees.
As much as I would have liked to see Huerter moved last year, I don’t know that MM had a reasonable deal for him, but Ellis proved the coaching staff had other options. Good options! And Ellis was ignored until injuries made the decision for the coach. Was Brown encouraged to start Huerter and try to build his trade value? Maybe. Only the people in the front office know how decisions are made.
I think the whole organization was hubristic thinking and me too, that the playoffs were their floor. Too much focus on “playing the right way” instead of simply allowing players to play to their strengths, resulted in bad losses to bad teams. Then the injury bug bit and they had already squandered any cushion in the standings. Yes, maybe this team over-performed Brown’s first season. They under-performed in his second. The coaching staff has to account for that, regardless of past achievements..
I think these criticisms and concerns are reasonable. At the same time, I like what Coach Brown has done in Sacramento, overall. No coach is perfect and there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism.
I also think it’s reasonable to not give an early extension and wait to see how year three goes before committing. It does not mean the team is firing him or “letting him walk”.
that being said, I’d add that it would also be reasonable if they do give Brown an early extension.
misinterpretation of comments seems to be more and more common these days.
wait a second, no. The team has to give Brown an early extension. The highest offer Monk gets from another team might be only slightly more than the Kings can pay. In that case, resiging Brown would probably convince Monk to stay for less. It’s a cool thing this team has going with Monk. get a deal done.
How many wins would be the result of paying Brown more ? If one more win per million in salary equates then pay him 20 million more for 66 . I am more concerned that more could result in fewer wins . I like Brown but he opted out of a 2nd year the team didn’t .
I would wait until the all star break and then make a decision. Simply no reason to make a deal now.
Dear Lord that’s Vivek’s music!! There is zero indication Vivek is anything other than cheap so this isn’t all that shocking. Kangz gonna Kangz as always.
To be fair, he’s paying Sabonis almost 50M and will probably pay Fox more, and they only put out full effort on one half of the court.
Dude, I like you but that is some asinine bs.
Sabonis works hard every defensive possesion. I think he is also quite underrated as a defender, because he is not a rim protector in the true sense. But the way he plays team D, shows smartly on P&R, is capable to switch out on the perimeter and ends many possesions with rebounds.
About Fox, i would have agreed with you until this season, but he really took strides there after the first 3rd of the season.
But saying this about Domas is flat out wrong.
Lol maybe he meant they only put in effort on the defensive end. How else do you explain the 14th in DRTG with this skinny and undersized roster. All out effort on defense of course.
My opinion is probably a byproduct of the fact that the shine of both Fox and Sabonis have worn off for me. Short of bringing in an actual star to the roster, I think we’re basically watching the ceiling of what the team is. Shuffling around role players isn’t going to do much in way of improvement.
That may qualify as the most ridiculous comment I have ever read . Sorry I did .
Spending money they already have to spend doesn’t move me a whole lot. Simply being at the salary cap seems like the absolute bare minimum a team should be doing.
Mike Brown had an average coaching season. (Monte McNair had a below average GM season (will anyone argue against this?)). Mike Brown is substantially underpaid relative to the market, Who is the coach better than Mike Brown that would come into this situation? If that person doesn’t exist, what the hell are we doing here? Vivek remains the largest albatross on this franchise.
Mike brown did nothing but sit there with his hands in his pocket looking like fish lost in the sea lol.
No in game adjustments and no lineup adjustments. I don’t care if he was the best coach in the past 16 years. Another coach might be able to get more out of this team, at least on the offensive side .Same time happy they didn’t fire him since I believe every coach deserves at least 3 years.Let him earn the fourth one.
Who’s to say fox doesn’t demand a trade anyway, especially since he’s a Texas boy and wife is pregnant again. Both the spurs and the rockets have crazy assets. He didn’t make the Allstar game or the all NBA teams. The super max contract that keeps star players like him won’t be available. He’s signed with rich Paul and klutched sports, right? Just a thought lol
Vivek is cheap and shortsighted. Reupping Brown will cost less than a role player. How did the decision to fire Michael Malone go? Was thinking of spending money on some tickets next year now I’m not so sure. Very upset with Vivek.
Brown is a good enough coach with the right roster for the team to succeed. It is however a players league and the roster and almost entirely the roster will determine the teams success.
We all should have seen this coming three years ago with the moves the Kings were making. A sugar high and then nothing left to go beyond that. What to do now is the big question. Given the front office chose this sugar high path they should have just gone all in and made some significant midseason moves like getting Siakam and/or PJ Washington etc.
Ok resign Brown to a reasonable contract 10 million a year for 3 years but that won’t have a significant impact on the teams future. About the best I can see them doing is to move Huerter, Barnes, and Mitchell for some draft capital and hope you get very lucky in the draft. I love Monk but I think he will command too much money and rightfully so to sign him. I’m much more interested in the next roster moves then the next coaching move.
We’re comparing MB’s salary to some high-dollar, high-profile coaching contracts that were signed recently. What about other existing coach salaries? Here’s some information (from November of 2023) I found about the coaches of three of the four remaining playoff teams:
+1 And here’s what I found (from about the same time frame) on Jason Kidd’s salary:
OK. After reading most comments above in order to achieve success we need to fire Brown, Monty and his staff and try and persuade Vivek to sell the team. That will solve all the problems.
Or all of you should apply for the coaching job and the general managers job and collectively buy the team. That will solve it.
Basically.
I do think new ownership would benefit the team greatly. Vivek isn’t a good owner and never has been. I just don’t think it’s ever happening.
I heard Vivek is a dismissive little chap.
I see the same thing you do.
Brown probably has earned more than his current salary, but he isn’t a top 10 coach and shouldn’t be paid as such. I could see around 7 million annually, but 10 is too high.
He agreed to the contract he signed and no other team was after his services. He was fired his two previous stints so not out of the question to hope he would opt in and give franchise the opportunity to better decide if he was their long term big money head coach .
I think the power dynamics is an interesting angle to think about with the MB contract situation. Bill Simmons always points this out, the GM is much closer to the owner than the HC. So coming off a disappointing failure of a season, who do you think MM is placing the blame on internally with Vivek? Himself or the HC?
MM failed to improve the roster last offseason and at the trade deadline.
MB didn’t do a good job as HC this past season.
Blame to go around, but internally, it could be that the blame is all falling on MB given the typical dynamics of an NBA FO.
I think you are missing it. The extension talk is about price point, not whether Mike Brown deserves it.
Vivek might use the excuse of not making playoff to haggle the price. That looks bad on him but not very surprising.
It’s my understanding from all the fluff around it, that it’s both price and deserving. Especially if you believe the tidbit that Vivek would have gone ballistic if we lost to GS in the play-in. I get the idea that ownership isn’t keen on the idea of keeping Brown around if he’s not producing consistent playoff results. (awful roster construction aside)
It is possible. But Monte is pretty much risk-averse. He won’t make change unless it is absolutely necessary.
The wording in Woj’s article suggests price. Though it could be both price and deserving.
First of all I am quite sure Brown, Monty and the players read these comments. After reading all the negative comments as a player I sure would’t want to play for this team, Monty wouldn,t want to be it’s GM and Vivek sure won’t spend the money to improve this team. Second of all Vivek needs to spend the money if we want to compete with the rest of the league.
Mike, Monte, if you read these comments and it influences you in any shape or form, you are probably not suited for your respective jobs.
Keegan, smile!
You told them not to start Keon?
Why?
I don’t understand this thing about Keon. I really like the gut and IMO should be a starter.
Me too.
Why didn’t they start him?
No they don’t .
Exactly. I have no doubt that Monte McNair and ownership know that Mike Brown deserves a raise. He took a perennial loser and turned it into a winner. His performance is unquestioned.
He opted out of his last year because his success was obvious. Ownership will renegotiate and give him a better contract based on that performance.
Brown opted out of the last year of his contract?
Do you stop reading after fifteen letters?
I have to admit, the negative Mike Brown talk is surprising to me.
Sacramento, perennial door mat franchise: They have attached adjectives of: laughingstock, hapless, moribund, lowly, cellar dwellers
which has all been mostly erased with Coach Brown and GM McNair on board.
And that isn’t good enough?
The team is 94-68 since arrival of Brown (.580). And still, no Championship?
Vivek Ranadive, one of the worst owners in Major Professional Sports remans at the helm. And you trust him to hire a new GM and Head Coach and do better.
I am shocked and forlorn. Understanding this feeling is beyond my grasp.
I guess that is why Mike Budenholzer, Darvin Ham, Frank Vogel, Adrian Griffin, and in some respects, Ime Udoka were without jobs. Good hires until they’re fired.
To be clear – Mike Brown (and Monte McNair/Wes Welker), IMHO, is/are the best thing to happen to the Sacramento Kings franchise in the last two decades.
I agree with you. Instead of being forlorn, try laughing at the silliest comments. Or predicting how nutty they’ll get.
Expectations soared. So many regular fans wanted the arc to continue pointing upward. I get that.
Too, we’ve got a lot of doomers. Doomers with high expectations can be a combustible mix, because doomers aren’t used to feelings like hope, satisfaction, or joy.
For them, a winning team is a sure sign that the Kings should blow it all up, do a complete rebuild, send Brown on his way, and grouse about not drafting Luka or trading Halliburton or seeing Vlade in the front row of Kings games until the end of time.
And after the Kings decide to rebuild, they’d complain about losing the stars that they begged to trade away.
How can you not love it?
Good. Now I bet they are going to work even harder if that’s possible. Thanks for the positive comment. GO KINGS!
You’re a good one, Jack, but these comments are just fluff. If anyone on the team, staff, or front office reads them, I’m sure they just do it for laughs.
If you were a player, would you read this crap? lol
Some of the criticism is sound. But much of it sounds like some forumers are dealing with issues on a personal level, something I can surely understand.
A few select others sound like they watched a Ted Talk on sarcasm, feel asleep thirty seconds in, dreamed about Emily Ratajkowski, and woke up convinced they’d absorbed a master talk in how to relate any positive comment about any player into a comparison to Kobe Bryant and Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan and the Hall of Fame.
And then they pretend that their observation that not even they understand anymore went over everyone’s head.
“People practicing online psychoanalysis are projecting their own insecurities” ~ Sigmund Freud
Boy, I thought I’d met the last person who thought that Freud was worth quoting. Always happy to be surprised.
“online psychoanalysis” – Freud was ahead of his time, I guess
Hopefully Ayn Rand won’t be next.
Fox shoots random threes for misses because he reads your posts about 300 three point shots in a game.
You are the all mighty fanboy that everyone must endure.
You have a real problem reading the room.
That’s your most endearing quality.
Fan the way you fan or be damned.
Opinions other than yours are scary?
You really matter.
If Mike Brown, Monte McNair and any of their staff read my words or anyone else’s chatter in this community and take them to heart
I regret and retract any positive comments I have made regarding my delight and admiration of them – the Sacramento Kings are beyond repair, hopeless, hapless and ready to rip our hearts out at the next turn.
The only person I would want to understand and act on my comments is that crap for cranial matter owner Vivek. Brilliant in software, accomplished in monetary wealth but still untrustworthy (IMO) as a professional sports franchise owner. And his ego has him hear a lot but listen to no one. For proof: We fans are finally climbing away from his 11 year long, slow learning stranglehold on this team. Yeah- I’m bitter when it comes to that DLC (dismissive little chap).
If he wants to win, like he claims publicly, take out that check book and buy more roster talent.
Commit to the coach of the best record by a country mile in Vivek’s 13 year span. Unless there is negative overall review from your core players (Domas, Fox, Keegan, Monk in particular) Pay Mike Brown.
And they’d better do it soon.
It’s why I almost never go into the comments anymore. There’s a cadre of folks with the most buck wild takes that make it really hard for me to enjoy the Kings being not a diaper fire for the first time in two decades, and I don’t really have the energy to delve into why they are the way they are.
The bright side is that the articles are always good and the podcast with Jerry, Tony, and Will has chemistry and humor.
And nobody’s nuts.
by the way – is anyone as shocked as I am by the two sweeps (I know they are not officially over, but still) in the Conference Finals?
East: Hali wears a choke hoodie for Game 7 v. NYK, and then the Pacers (once with him, once without) skitter and fumble the end of Games 1 and 3.
West: AntMan is playing like he is injured. Not the same player and thus Minn is not the same team. But not one game against Mavs?
More surprised by the egg the Wolves are laying.
Shows what I know. Score now tied at 100.
Not any more. Wolves lose again.
Seems like the team with the best player will win
The Mavs are a terrible matchup for the Wolves which is why this series is going the way it is. They’ve got no one to matchup with Luka who’s strong enough to keep him out of the paint. I’m surprised it’s 3-0 but not surprised Dallas is the better team.
In the East, it’s absurd the Pacers are even here. The Celtics are a vastly superior team.
Brown’s salary does not count against the cap.
Brown is far from perfect, but is probably better than any reasonable and available alternative.
Brown’s salary does not count against the cap.
The Kings are playing their most entertaining and compelling basketball in almost (over?) two decades.
Brown’s salary does not count against the cap.
A good percentage of Brown’s “questionable” coaching decisions are a direct result of an unbalanced roster that egregiously lacks length, athleticism and depth on the wings.
Have I mentioned that Brown’s salary does not count against the cap?
Vivek, stop hand jobbing John Fisher & MLB and open your wallet (please wash your hands first) and pay Mike Brown. This is what real NBA teams do. Kings fans deserve a real NBA team.
All true. Roughly $10M for a coach is chump change in terms of running an NBA franchise.
That is, unless you are a poverty franchise that refuses to spend to win, which has been an unnerving trend since Vivek purchased the team.
Or, to put it another way:
Momma, there goes that man!
Well then…
https://x.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1795094118902669373
Kangz.
Crap.
RIP Bill Walton.
Holy dumpster fire of over reactions batman!
I’m as disappointed as anyone that the Kings aren’t playing right now. I see the WCF and think, “The Kings are as good as these teams.” And maybe this is where I lose credibilty for you. That’s ok. Anyone who thought the kings were making the finals this year and set that as the bar was in for a lot of disappointment to begin with. Anyone who thought the Kings would make the WCF were going to be let down. That just wasn’t likely, and if you forced MM and MB to answer, I think they’d have told you the same thing.
What I think is that the Kings didn’t see the paths forward as viable to keeping their window open. I personally would have taken a huge swing for OG or Siakam. I think Siakam in particular would have us playing right now. But beyond that, who was going to move the needle enough while letting Fox, Ox and Keegan continue to develop into a championship caliber core? If not them, who are you trading them for? Keegan is intruging to half the league becuase (and, again, I may lose you) I think he’s on the Jayson Tatum trajectory. Elite 3P% his rookie year. Sophmore drop off to become more well rounded. Third year blossom into a legit 23+ppg scorer. Lot of people bemoan having Fox instead of Hali and say Fox isn’t going to net a good return. So what is out there that’s better? Sabonis is a legit All-NBA, top 20 player in back to back years and was better and more aggressive this year than last year. I think it continues.
And this all extends to MB. I think Mike Brown desrves a 4/44 extension. Mike Brown has been fired twice. Both times, the teams went on a downward spiral for years. Mike Brown has no seasons as a coach that are worse than his predecessor and he has won about 60% of his career games. Pay the man.
I agree with you. The Kings split with the Mavs and the Wolves this season. The Kings could beat either of these teams in a seven-game series.
While I agree that MB deserves a new contract, I don’t think any coach should have more than a three year deal. Would like to know the average length of tenure of an NBA Glock over the past 20 years. Bet it’s under 3 years. Pop and Spo skew it out longer. And at nearly $122,000 per game on a $10M annual deal I’m not going to feel sorry for the guy. He was a bit fortunate to get a third chance to be a HC and receive his career, let’s not forget.
While I agree with you, the market does not agree with us.
The whole “lame duck” thing is silly to me, but that’s the market. Billionaires getting funded by cities with more pressing needs is ridiculous, but that’s the market.
The same supply and demand capitalism that benefited Vivek at new arena time is now costing him if he wants to retain a fair NBA coach at what is now market wages.
A bit flabbergasted by some of the comments suggesting Mike Brown isn’t a good coach. If we’re going to hammer on him for the handling of Sasha, Huerter,.. players that played poorly this year, then let’s give him credit for making DeArron a two way player who received All NBA honors, Clutch Player of the Year and made his All Star appearance. Doma is playing the best basketball if his career with two All NBA honors and listed as a top 10 MVP candidate. Keegan Murray went from an average to below average defender to a ++ defender, won all rookie honors and set a record for most 3’s in a season by a rookie. Malik Monk is also playing the best basketball of his career and was robbed of the 5th man of the year award.
Brown was able get the Kings to the playoffs when the previous 9 couldn’t. Brown was awarded Coach of the Year unanimously by his peers.
All the core players love.
The media loves him
The fans love him.
And yes, he did make a couple stupid Coach Challenges.
My vote, Kick this Dud down the road.
Badge Legend