New Sacramento Kings GM Scott Perry told the basketball world that this was a possibility in his introductory press conference about a week ago, and here we are. Sacramento went 27-24 under Christie this season.
Not that the Kings should concern themselves with the narrative, necessarily, but this decision will do nothing to dispel the belief that ownership, namely Vivek Ranadive, is still calling the shots here. Vivek has been a longtime supporter of Christie, and for any rational mind, it’s hard to believe that Perry would select Christie among other candidates, and even harder to believe that he would do it one week into the job and without a thorough search process.
In all likelihood, this was always Christie’s job, and retaining him was always part of Vivek’s vision for the organization when Monte McNair made his exit and Scott Perry stepped in.
In fairness to Christie, he did a solid job picking up the pieces after Brown was fired. I was impressed. The players liked him. He has a lot of potential. My commentary really has nothing to do with Doug or his abilities, and everything to do with the illusion that Vivek wasn’t the driving force behind this decision. And much like Pete D’Alessandro, Vlade Divac, and Monte McNair before him, Scott Perry is forced to start his tenure as the top basketball decision maker with a head coach he didn’t hire (my words). I’m sure it will work out this time.
Sadly, I don’t think this matters all that much in the grand scheme of things. The roster is in such disarray that Christie will either prove himself to be a miracle worker, or get fired before the team is ready to seriously compete.
Best of luck, Doug. Prove the doubters wrong. Win basketball games, and nothing else matters.
Great signing! Great extension of a job well done!
Franchise legend and loved by the fan base!
Can’t wait to see what George Kittle does next season!
Time will tell. Who knows with this franchise.
Who knows? We know. This was going to happen. It’s pathetic.
It’s why I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe Vlade/Viveks kid etc will be the GM w Perry kinda.
They are/Vivek is an idiot or a troll or both.
We all get it. You don’t like Vivek. None of us like Vivek.
Time has already told.
6 days ago Perry was asked at his press conference if Christie had been decided on as head coach. Perry flatly said “no.” 6 days ago!
There is a non zero chance that an announcement of Anjali as assistant GM is within the next 48 hours.
All part of the franchise’s master plan…to maximize Vivek’s profits by maintaining mediocrity.
I doubt we’ll get to know the terms of Doug’s contract, but I can say with near 100% confidence it’s one of the lowest paid in the league…if not the lowest. I wonder if he’ll be getting less than what Jordi got in Brooklyn?
Keeping costs down to amplify the earnings from all the cash those Kings fans (read: rubes) are blindly providing him. Business 101.
Yup. It’s gross.
#selltheteam
Vivek’s use of former players to appeal to the fan base and get people to come to games is so transparent.
I mean, the guy’s made a ton of money over his career. He’s clearly figured out strategies that have been successful for him. The Kings just seem to be another avenue for him to carry out his schemes and gain profit for his portfolio.
Bad process, hopefully a tolerable result. But I so much prefer the process to be good. Even if the result isn’t ideal, you at least understand what went wrong a try again for the future. But bad processes can’t be repeated if something actually does work in your favor.
Doug’s probably fine. Would have been nice to hear even a whisper of a proper coaching search. Alas, we are KANGZ again so what do I know.
Maybe there was a coaching search and the organization is now tight lipped with no leaks to the media? Probably not, but maybe!!!
The coaching search consisted of Perry making 45 phone calls. 42 went directly to voice mail after 1 ring. 0 returned his call. The 3 that answered said, “Hell no!”
Coaching search complete!
At least he tried!!! HA!
A lot of teams are still in the playoffs, how could there be a coaching search with so many assistants still working for contenders?
Could’ve waited until after the playoffs to do the search?
Don’t need to. Most organizations will allow their assistants to interview during their season. It was reported Jordi would go to Brooklyn while the Kings were still in the play-in tourney.
Brown was announced as Kings head coach on May 9th 2022. GSW still in playoffs at that time.
Wonder who they hire as the coach next offseason.
What’s the betting line on Christie even lasting a full season?
I’ll take the over. Vivek and Matina like Doug. He is cheap, and they aren’t going to take on another dead contract for a coach.
Yeah, I think as long as Doug is on target to hit at least 32 or 33 wins a year, he’ll stick around for the foreseeable future. Ownership likes him, players like him, and he’s a “Kings great”. Perry will need to simply work around him. Not that I expect great things from Perry either way, based on his woefully underwhelming track record.
Yes, this is it. Coach of the team as marketing for the ticket sales department.
That definitely sounds like Vivek. Unless the shine comes off DC due to an unraveling season. Maybe it’ll all be down to the patience of Kings fans and if they finally start voting with their feet…
Shit, Vivek put Doug on Browns staff cause he didn’t want Brown as coach. He’s wanted Doug or a former King forever.
He and Matina
It’ll be interesting to see how far that plays for those two.
Fair point. We’ll just have to see if it’s as bad a train wreck as some fear this season.
At some point Vivek will just say eff it and appoint himself as GM and coach. That’ll save him money and lift the veil off of his meddling. After that it’s just a matter of time before he appoints himself as the starting PG.
So he can play cherry picker and finally institute his 4v5 master stroke.
Perhaps numbness has set in as I just find myself not caring anymore.
Vivek saved this franchise and in 12 years at the helm has ran it into the ground with no end in sight to the incompetency.
He didn’t save the franchise. We saved the franchise. He just had enough money to buy the team so that he could make a bunch of money.
The idea that he saved anything is horseshit. It was a hostile takeover.
And even for the takeover he rode the coattails of others who stepped up first.
We got Burkle! Until we didn’t.
Like Doug a lot but no coaching search means he was a Vivek/Matina hire ! Good luck Scott .
This. The issues that continually and adversely impact this organization are well above the coaching level. And Doug will be cheaper than anyone of note, which will help keep the lights on while Mike Brown is still on the payroll.
It’s pragmatic for Perry. He is probably aware that it will take a couple of years to change the roster into something he wants, so keep Vivek’s young HC around until you have a roster that is truly yours.
It’d just be nice one of these times for the Kings coach not to be a holdover for the incoming GM. Would be an interesting change of pace for the franchise.
Mike Brown wasn’t a hold over from Vlade.
And that was the one time in the entire Vivek era that we even had a whiff of success.
Yup. And Monte was found by an outside consulting firm that recommended him as GM to Vivek. Both led the Kings back to the playoffs.
We can dream, right?
There you go.
True. Good point.
Cue the next two years of excuses that Perry didn’t get the coach he wants…
Followed by another year or so of Perry just needs time to implement his system… since he wasn’t “really” in charge those other years.
I don’t think it’s an excuse. It’s a reality that the roster is flawed, and has multiple contracts that tough now but more movable in a year or so.
we aren’t close. It will take time to build something new and hopefully more sustainable.
And it’s likely that the one who built that flawed roster is still making all the decisions.
The same person who is constantly turning over scapegoats for their horrible decisions the last 12 years.
So the excuses will continue.
McNair tried to change the roster, and we know how that turned out. It is also doubtful that Perry is going to be the one making the decisions, given how he got the job from Vivek.
@RobHessing: Oh, so you’re saying Vivek is even siphoning off money from the electricity to line his pockets. Makes sense.
Is that what I’m saying?
Wouldn’t put it past him.
Why isn’t there a “Shillers gonna shill” gif?
I mean, congrats Doug. Well deserved!
It is wild to think that Doug started out as a color in-studio pregame guy, to part-time color commentator, to second row coaching staff, to front row assistant, to finally head coach all in about 6-7 years. Maybe Doug knows where Matina buried the bodies?
Legendary King, famous for energy and defense. We saw it translate as a coach early, before the roster disintegrated and no one on the team knew each other. This is the only holdover I was hoping to see. Great decision.
Anyone know what happened to KF.com?
Greg retired from that one too?
Looking at reactions on social media (I know, I know), and it seems as if a big part of the fanbase is happy, and several are saying that from the interview last week, it was clear that Perry was looking for a coach with Doug’s characteristics.
Am I missing something, or are people really that gullible?
Have you seen the attendance for the Kings? The number of people that are on the waitlist for Season Tickets?
I think much of the fanbase is just happy to have a team with “Sac” on the jersey, whether they are good or bad.
Maybe that should the new slogan:
Sacramento! Just happy to have a team…
“We don’t like what we have, but it’s better’n nothing”
Maybe the Giants would license the use of their slogan, the ambiguous “Nothing Like It”?
^^^ This
And it’s also why the A’s attendance is worse than expected. There was an article I read that in the opening homestand, the jersey stores were flooded with people who wanted an A’s jersey that said “Sacramento” on the front.
When they learned that the A’s weren’t acknowledging Sacramento on their jerseys (or much of anywhere else), interest started waning almost immediately.
I like Doug. He seems to deserve another shot. I’ll still like him when he’s fired in two years because Vivek is one of the worst owners in NBA history.
Yep. Just as I still like Monte and Mike Brown.
It is hard to not like Christie. He will give it his best effort, and it isn’t the end of the world if he fails, given how horrible the roster.
Smelling Salts Coach hired by Verruca Salt owner.
Fans still salty.
You know on my bike ride to work this morning I was able to sort of accurately describe what it was like this season, rooting for the clown show and soap opera instead of wins. Sure, call it hate-watching….
When I worked in Spokane it would rain and then freeze overnight. There were several small hills in town where you could park your camera at the bottom and watch cars lose control and slowly roll into parked cars. Small hills, nothing crazy. People on the sidewalk saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, here comes another one.”
Being a fan of the Kings last year was like sitting at the bottom of that hill with my camera, waiting for another driver to lock up their wheels and slide into a parked Ford Ranger. Over and over they came, nothing you could do about it.
I’m gonna do something I don’t normally do, and try to look at the positives here:
#1 – Doug loves this franchise. Not only does he want to be a HC, but he also wants to be a HC *here*. I don’t think that’s been true of all the coaches we’ve hired in the past 15 years. (Musselman, Karl, Joerger, Walton come to mind)
#2 – Doug wasn’t a great NBA player, but he *made* himself into a very good player through relentless hard work and a desire to constantly improve.
#3 – If nothing else, it seems highly likely that Doug is going to carry those same traits into his tenure as head coach. I expect to see a vast improvement next season in his development as a HC, simply because of who he is.
Could we do much better? Absolutely, yes.
Could we do much worse? Absolutely, yes.
Okay, now back to my regular schedule of sarcasm and cynicism towards this pathetic franchise.
I feel most of us here have no issues with Doug. He could very well end up being a solid coach. I prefer him over Mark Jackson. The problem is It’s the process of Vivek once again fucking things up. I mean, it would have been nice to at least of the illusion of a proper coaching search. Perhaps an interview or two? There’s bound to be some solid assistants come end of the post season worth talking to.
History just keeps repeating itself. Vlade was hired with no interviews, Luke was hired with no interviews, Perry was hired with no interviews, and now Doug is hired with no interviews. It just stinks to high heaven that Vivek once again thinks he knows more than anyone else. The one time things were done correctly, in hiring Monte and Brown, things went well until once again Vivek had to meddle things up.
“The roster is in such disarray that Christie will either prove himself to be a miracle worker, or get fired before the team is ready to seriously compete.”
I’m probably going to be in the grave before the Kings are ready to seriously compete. I’m 64.
More seriously, though, I can’t get too emotional about this. My guess is that the only other options instead of Christie were retreads, and not really good ones at that. So, I doubt that a search would have found a better alternative, as the better candidates would have asked for assurances that Perry couldn’t provide.
You had two good choices here. One is a rebuild with a coach like Christie that is new and can develop with team. The other choice if you really want to win now, as they say, then you would hire someone that is a high profile proven winner. Keeping Christie does what the Kings always do, they make moves that cancel each other out and keep this team absolutely frozen.
Christie may do well with a good assistant that can teach him and do most of the work. The bottom line is that it’s a mediocre team that will not change much without major roster changes and some great coaching immediately. Better hope they can hire two really good assistants that can install modern NBA systems on both ends because I guarantee Christie is not ready to do that yet. I like him as a motivator and leader so hopefully that will work for him. Not a bad hire but definitely not what I would do, it’s what Vivek would do.
This is great actually. I can now avoid getting my hopes up that Perry will be doing anything different than the last 12 years. Can anyone in this org be taken seriously at this point? I’m just going into the offseason expecting a farce and LOLing at everything, which will make it much so more enjoyable!
Like, what’s going on here? Is the Vivek publicity stunt m machine working on overdrive?
Shaq now working with Bibby?
I’m seeing reports that Rick Fox will be Doug’s lead assistant.
Badge Legend