Sacramento’s search for their newest head coach has reportedly begun in earnest, with the Kings set to start interviewing a group of candidates next week.
From ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and the Athletic’s Shams Charania:
ESPN Sources: The Sacramento Kings have secured permission to interview several assistants for their head coaching job, including Golden State’s Mike Brown, Brooklyn consultant Steve Clifford, Milwaukee’s Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, and Boston’s Will Hardy.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 22, 2022
The Kings initial list will be more expansive for the first-round of interviews, but these are among the candidates who are expected to discuss the opening with Sacramento officials. https://t.co/tOcvmmNFSZ
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 22, 2022
The Sacramento Kings will interview Mike D‘Antoni and Mark Jackson for their head coaching job, among over a handful of total candidates, sources tell me and @sam_amick. Kings have done background on vast majority of available coaches and narrowed to small group.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 22, 2022
James Ham has also confirmed these reports:
Kings will begin virtual interviews with coaching candidates next week. Confirmed that the initial list includes Mark Jackson, Steve Clifford, Mike D'Antoni, Mike Brown, Charles Lee, Darvin Ham and Will Hardy. In person meetings expected after first round of Zoom interviews.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) April 22, 2022
Noticeably absent from this list is current Golden State assistant and former Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. Atkinson was mentioned as someone expected to be considered by Sacramento in Wojnarowski’s follow-up to the news that the Kings had relieve Alvin Gentry. It remains to be seen if he is still under consideration or if he possibly declined.
It’s also possible that the Kings may be waiting on other candidates to become available as the playoffs continue. Some coaches, like Utah’s Quin Snyder, could be on the hot seat should they disappoint in the playoffs.
However, the Kings won’t be the only ones looking for a new head coach this offseason and could be looking to strike while there’s a little bit more scarcity. The Lakers fired coach Frank Vogel shortly after their season ended, and the Charlotte Hornets today relieved head coach James Borrego.
We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as further reports come in.
As for my opinion on these candidates:
https://twitter.com/Aykis16/status/1517594297851269122
One can only hope!
maybe like when Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for Governor and they put up Gary Coleman and a porn star to run against him
I voted for Coleman, but I have always been one for small government.
diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks!
I Lol’d. You monster.
I already need fan Viagra to root for this team. The mere mention of Mark Jackson, well…
Viagra falls.
The Canadian side effects are more appealing, I’ve heard.
I really don’t understand these takes.
If everyone is so sure that the Kings are cursed and don’t have a prayer of a chance to break the playoff drought you have to bring in the Exorcist!
A quick tier ranking of the names listed
Tier 1: Ham, Clifford
Tier 2: MDA, Lee, Hardy
Tier 3: Brown
Tier 400: Mark Jackson
Same, but I’m not all that high on Clifford. Ham and Lee would be my tier 1.
Anyone know what Clifford has been doing for the past year?
Mrs. Clifford?
Took me a few seconds to get the joke lol
Apparently Clifford has been propping up Steve Nash with the Nets…
”Brooklyn consultant Steve Clifford”
I was hoping to see Kenny or David Adelman on here but good names with credibility.
OMG, they killed Kenny?!
Hopefully they would eventually include Sam Cassell on the list. If not, I’d be comfortable with Darvin Ham or Will Hardy as first time coaches.
If they’re looking for experience, I guess Terry Stotts should be on the list but looks like he isn’t. I’d probably go with Clifford, MDA, Brown in that order. But man, that list doesn’t scream long term coach here in Sac.
Mike D’Antoni would be fun with his Offense. All we can do is hold our breath and pray they land a good one.
The problem with D’Antoni is he needs shooters, which is something the Kings currently lack.
Also, he turns 71 next month. If Pops retires, D’Antoni would be the oldest coach in the NBA. Pass.
Ageist
Well, how about this. His winning % is very Kangz when he’s not coaching a team with multiple all-stars and an MVP on the roster. Remember his Knicks tenure before he quit mid-season?
I have him above Mark Jackson. Then again, I have you above Mark Jackson.
Sweet!
Agreed. He should really be enjoying a job as an advisor or retirement, not starting all over again as a coach.
Vivek can never have too many advisers!
Management V101: Make sure every important role has an equal but slightly different role looming in the background, so everyone is distracted from organizational success by the spectre of being undermined and/or fired.
Mulin, D’Allesandro -> Abdur-Rahim
Divac -> D’Allessandro
Dumars -> Divac
Dumars -> McNair
Gentry -> Walton
Aykis -> Greg ??
All we need is Harden on our team 😂😂😂
He needs a good roster like any coach something the Kings don’t have.
Fun for opponents? lol
Just a random thought. Would most of us a coaching hire before or after the draft? I’m just wondering if the coach hire could determine a bit of who Monte might want to draft. I also wonder if the hired coach would be on on the draft analysis.
I also wonder if it might be wise to wait until after the lottery. Should the Kings land a top 3 pick that might change some coaches minds about interviewing with Sac.
If they’re interviewing possibles in the near-term, I’d guess that there’s a zero chance that one isn’t hired before the draft.
In general, I don’t think the coach’s opinion should change a GM’s mind, because the coach needs to win, but the GM needs to actually build something. They’re parallel goals with similar stops along the way, but they are very different.
And regardless, McNair has shown a deft aptitude at evaluating talent.
So then maybe hiring the coach after the draft may be wise, especially if the Kings jump in the lottery. They may want someone tailored to their new prospect over the likes of Fox and Sabonis.
I can’t say for certain because I haven’t committed the dates to memory, but I think the fun starts next month with the draft a month after that. With a number of potential candidates still at work in their current jobs, that could hold things up if any of them have expressed interest. People in these jobs are generally rather professional, and I don’t see anyone wasting a team’s time if they aren’t actually interested.
There doesn’t seem to be any great sense of urgency, which feels about right. Perhaps if one of their top two or three candidates is willing to commit, a hiring might take place before the lottery draw, but I’m not fretting the possibility that it doesn’t. I’d guess it’ll fall between the two, but the timing doesn’t concern me as long as it’s still spring or summer.
I’m gonna have to call you out on the very few receipts you have on that front, Andy. And the quality of the receipts.
I have doubts about Monte’s feel for talent, apart from the small sample size. People keep saying how good of a talent evaluator Monte is, mainly based on just two lottery picks, so I will repeatedly push back on that.
Tyrese fell in his lap. He obviously deserves some credit here, he capitalized on the fact that other GM’s passed up on Tyrese. That requires a sizable amount of luck. It’s not that he picked a guy who no-one expected to be picked at that high a spot and then turned out to be a stud. It was player who already was acknowledged as a high lottery talent, where Monte just decided that the red flags which made him drop were acceptable at pick 12.
Davion is a nice pick, but there were several guys available around that spot who could have been just as fine or may be even better, and not many clear busts so far. So it would have been difficult for Monte to go wrong here.
His track record for second round picks is not good so far (I don’t have high expectations for Queta). Use of G-league talent has been almost non-existent.
His trades/ FA agent signings? Not very impressed so far. I liked the Delon Wright trade, but then he f’d it up with trading him for TT. Gtting rid of Bagley was good, but has little to do with talent evaluation.
I wasn’t fond of the Whiteside and Len signings. I like Sabonis, but given the price we paid, it is still to determined if he made the right evaluation there.
Sure, any Kings GM would go with the obvious pick, right? How hard is it to take the best player available?
In Sacramento, inexplicably hard. And what’s more, common. I’m going to say going two-for-two in first rounders is the meat of the argument, but sure, he hasn’t managed to pull a rotation guy or starter out of the second round so far. As everyone knows, that happens multiple times a season, GM’s grabbing bench guys from WAC schools who become really good NBA players.
And forgive me for noticing you trying to have it both ways when you insist it was nothing for anyone to have drafted Haliburton, while at least one team was willing to hand over an all-star for him less than two years later.
And let’s not even start on how incredibly well McNair’s more recent lottery pick played after Ty was moved, particularly in a game against his predecessor. Just more dumb luck. But shit, we could have grabbed Josh Primo instead!
Reasonable people can have differing opinions on free agents, even if we ignore that some of them were packaged into better pieces received in trades. And it’s okay to be unimpressed, nothing earth-shattering has happened.
But do me one favor: Tell me about a Sacramento free agent signing that you’ve been impressed with in the past decade or so. No one could blame you for crying out, “Oh, don’t make me choose!”
So we’re comparing Monte against former Kings GMs? I’d sure hope that he wouldn’t look too bad in that company.
It’s hard to forgive you when you are apparently purposefully confusing my comment about his talent evaluation with his ability to take that asset that fell into his lap and flip it for a good player with a bigger contract but only two seasons left of team control. Time will tell if that trade toolk us to the next level or was a complete miss. Both are still possible.
I can also forgive hyperbole over a small sample size during silly season, when we have seen that stuff before. I can’t understand it, but knock yourself out.
Maybe you can do me a favor first? Stop grading Monte against previous Kings GMs. He has to contend against the other GMs around the league, not against Pete D.
Once his team, which according to Mr Talent Evaluation Supreme was a playoff team this past season (!), will actually make strides and reach the play-offs I will celebrate his tremendous abilities. But he still has a steep hill to climb.
“Tyrese fell in his lap. He obviously deserves some credit here, he capitalized on the fact that other GM’s passed up on Tyrese.”
Just to make sure I got this … we’ve had GM’s who don’t take BPA and take the wrong person, and they get no credit. Now, we have a GM who does take the BPA and seems to be hitting …. and they only get “some” credit?
No to D’antoni, we already suck at defense. No to Jackson because, he’s a commentator these days, not a coach. I was hoping they would interview Cassell. I believe he would be a good fit in Sacramento. If there is such a thing.
Doing their best to lend credence to “basketball hell,” the Kings are seriously considering Mark Jackson.
Fack. Kangz.
Newbies with Reps to establish: Darvin Ham, Charles Lee and Will Hardy. All Spurs prodigies either directly (Hardy) or indirectly (Budenholzer for Lee and Ham both of whom followed over from Atlanta).
Past successes: Mike D’Antoni, Terry Stotts, Mike Brown, Frank Vogel have all brought teams to multiple playoffs.
Mixed: James Borrego (let go from Charlotte today), Kenny Atkinson, Mark Jackson
Possible: Quin Snyder
Who knows, it’s the Kings after all?: Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson, Henry Bibby, Mike Bibby
If a newbie comes in – a former Head Coach likely joins as first assistant.
Again – IMHO, it’s not just getting a heady Head Coach, it’s getting a partner for GM Monte McNair that the two can work together synergistically. Kings followers have seen good coaches come and go without a solid GM to work in conjunction – and that just doesn’t produce results. If they work together and formulate a strategy together AND have time to gel – we are talking 3 seasons minimum, then something could work.
All bets are off if King Vivek/Queen Matina/Prince Aneel are involved in any meaningful decision making way. If they start bucking as soon as next season this just won’t work. Fan patience is at an end just upping the ante.
When was the last time a Kings coach and GM lasted 3 seasons together?
Petrie/Adelman.
Vlade and Joerger. 2016-2019
yes – and then Joeger, as you are aware, was dismissed after his 39-43 season.
Of these supposedly vetted 7 – again, there are unknowns for possible addition which may include Quin Snyder or any other soon to be dismissed HC. All are “defensive minded” prospects except one (D’Antoni).
Notable list exclusions besides Atkinson are Vogel, Fizdale and Stotts (not defense oriented).
Of the 7 listed – only D’Antoni is connected to McNair and I suspect is listed for prominence not sensibility – he’s also not a 4 year guy. It’s really a 6 pack list.
The most unsexy name has to be Steve Clifford. The 60 year old however, might be the best match given his history of lifting cellar teams to the ground floor.
https://www.indycornrows.com/platform/amp/2021/6/23/22544435/how-steve-clifford-could-remake-the-pacers-on-defense
This SBNation Indy CornRows listing from last year has some worthwhile insights.
The next most unsexy name would be GSW’s Mike Brown – who directed the Dubs to the League’s best defensive rating this last season. Add an Offense minded first assistant (D’Antoni, Gentry, Stotts).
Will GM McNair go with an established name or gamble on a new face?
The most “unsexy” name in the list starts and ends with Mark Jackson. I won’t have much patience left for this franchise if that move is made and will have serious doubts about McNair’s autonomy of decision making should that be the direction.
I don’t recall seeing Jackson sitting next to Vivek at any of the last few games. I guess that’s a good thing.
As a fan that’s been on the brink of completely losing my fandom (didn’t watch a game this season) the hiring of Mark Jackson would officially kill my fandom.
The mind reels at how you spout so many strong opinions about something you freely admit that you actually know nothing about. Remember: This is sport, not politics.
I’m told that fans can fan however they want, but if you aren’t watching the games, you are stretching the word “casual” beyond all meaning.
Still, Mark Jackson is a scumbag, and I and anyone on the Kings roster without Judeo-Christian beliefs is in for an awful time.
I’m a fan of Nirvana. Never saw them live, though, on account of the whole Kurt Cobain dying when I was one. Guess I’m not a fan!
Jackson is a horrible coach and a worse person. Everyone would have an awful time, including any Christian players (lest we forget the time he apparently thought Harrison Barnes was regressing due to demonic possession).
But I’ve bet you’ve heard them, which is what is needed when someone produces audible music.
Sims’ comment was about someone having an opinion on something that needed to be seen but the opinion-haver admitting they didn’t see it.
Now…had you said you’re fan of Nirvana because you saw them on Unplugged but have never heard their music, then you would’ve nailed the comparison.
Had I not watched a minute of game this year, I could draw a reasonable conclusion that this team sucked ass based solely on the W-L record, meaning that I could draw a reasonable conclusion that the team has sucked ass for the past 16 years. The why matters more to some than others, but the result remains the same.
At best, you could draw a reasonable but potentially flawed conclusion by just looking at the W-L record…but I wouldn’t waste a single second of my time listening to what you think is causing the team to struggle.
The team sucks and has sucked for 16 years?
Reasonable conclusion, yes?
The world must be about to end, I agree entirely with you on something.
It is ordained:
I know this guy! I think he used to work at the Carpeteria on Florin, no? Back in the day?
Or maybe it was at the Federated.
LaBrie’s Sleep Center. His knowledge on waterbeds was top-notch.
Should the Kings Herald do a 30 for 30 on all the Kings head coaches throughout the years?
Some of y’all will remember when they brought in Motta and talked about his high number of wins!
(which also came along with a high number of losses!)
Hire Hardy. Trade for Markkanen. And then you can have a Laurie and Hardy handshake before every game.
Hopefully he does well in interviews!
I’m just happy they’re interviewing multiple candidates after Luke was pretty much handed the job before he was officially fired by the Lakers.
My money’s on Jackson.
the darkest timeline
I would think that officially naming a person like Atkinson, still actively involved in the playoffs would constitute tampering.
Are you actually allowed to eff with the staff of active teams?
Then how are Ham, Lee and Hardy mentioned?
Haven’t assistants interviewed, and even accepted jobs, while still in the playoffs?
Per Woj’s tweet, the Kings “secured permission” to speak with those assistants—pretty standard procedure. Mike Brown being on that list suggests Atkinson likely declined to interview since the Dubs would have little reason to grant permission for one, but not the other.
Oh, good looking out there, J.
I’m guessing Atkinson isn’t that interested. Which is interesting.
Yeah, it means he has other options. Sorry to say, but no one with a choice should want to coach here.
He probably knows a shit show when he sees one and has no interest in being associated with it.
So many leaks, so little wins.
If they hire Mark Jackson I’m fucking done with this team.
You’ve made it this far.
So who will have the longer tenure – the new coach or our 1st round draft pick?
I think hiring/promoting an assistant coach seems more realistic ……….
Just like how the Kings hired McNair (a former assistant GM)….and now McNair may have similar feeling about those “assistant rank”
My money is on Hardy or Ham as the next HC assuming Quin Synder won’t be fired.
I don’t follow NBA coaches other than our own, so I seriously don’t know why Mark Jackson is generally disliked. I noticed even fans of other teams don’t want Jackson as the next Head Coach.
All I know about him is that he coached up Curry, Thompson, and Green to what they are today. Before Kerr (and KD) took them to the next level. Anybody want to share what he did?
A thread so long that it makes Tolstoi blush.
And I thought George Karl was bad. If Mark Jackson is hired we are in for a whole lot of Kangs type shit. And in that sense he is the most qualified for the job.
mark Jackson would signal regression which couldn’t be more disappointing at this stage of team building that has a very dim light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
I was thinking of asking the same thing. I missed all the bad stuff. Thanks for asking and those answering.
I truly hope this front office does something very un-Kangzlike with this coaching hire.
I expect that it will be a decent to good hire where far too much credit will be given because it wasn’t a complete clusterduck. I don’t think any hire is going to add all that much to the win column without some significant talent upgrades.
15 losing seasons ago I wanted Ettore Messina.
But instead you got Meddlesome Matina.
My vote under those options is Will Hardy. He has been one of the most touted up and coming coaches for a few years now. The Pop tree is one of the most assuring in contemporary basketball and the special attention he has gotten is worth noting. As an Assistant I feel he has gotten similar if not more praise than maybe Ime or Borrego did also on Pop’s bench. Add this stint under Udoka, that deserves exceptional praise as well. A year ago he was being connected to HC vacancies on a similar tier to Udoka.
I remember having this discussion almost 10 years ago pushing to hire Bud and Ettore under similar pretenses. Then Hammond and Udoka after that. And when many have noted Hardy with specific distinction and possibly filling Popovich’s chair if he leaves, that is more than enough to give me confidence. If it doesn’t work it’s failing with all the correct prerequisites or prior rationale.
I also just believe in hiring a young assistant simply for recent precedent and possible longevity and commitment to the franchise. I look at Nurse, Finch, Jenkins, Daigneault, Udoka and there seems a more cohesive and collective atmosphere of there specific franchises. And out of the available assistants I think Hardy stands out.
Excellent points. That is why Lee, Ham, and Hardy are on the top of my lists.
Hardy is at the top of my list. It makes too much sense. That’s why the Kings will sign Marc Jackson to a 5 yr deal.
When one starts placing their hopes in a new coach to turn around this franchise, keep in mind we’ve tried a new coach about 10 different times with no appreciable change in performance. Also keep in mind, George Karl coached for 21 seasons without a losing record and went to the Kings and won 33 games. I’m more concerned about a roster of players than a new coach.
True That. I don’t think a Fox/OX combo is making much noise in Healthy Western Conference. Still, no better than a play in team, at best.
I think the right coach that knows how to maximize the games of Fox and Sabonis could make some noise.
Sabonis is an old school big. Can’t shoot beyond 10-12 feet consistently, not very athletic, slow on rotation and fast breaks. Since the team has no real perimeter shooters or a true stretch 4. Sabonis will still put up great numbers in the regular season. Hence. his All Star appearances in the East. He is completely eliminated in the playoffs due to his limited game. Take a look at playoff stats with Indy. The reason Indy was ok with letting him jet. His game is very similar to Turner’s. Sabonis key strengths are offensive rebounding and hitting anything with 10ft of the rim. They are really kind of empty when you look at the big picture, Winning. He doesn’t do a lot of things great.
Fox could hypothetically improve his game. But, I don’t see any coach coming in and changing his BB DNA. Unless, Eric Spoelstra becomes available and even then.
Fox is not a Killer and that’s clear. No coach is going to change Fox’s mental approach to the game.
That’s what clearly separates Fox from great or already ascending players: Edwards, Tatum, Doncic, Young, Jah, Mitchell, Murray, Curry, etc etc,
Fox has all the tools to be special. But, it’s his approach to the game. That will always keep him from being great. Too me, he a cross between: Monta Ellis and Bradley Beal. A nice offensive player that hasn’t really elevated his game season over season, doesn’t really make the players around him better, and I don’t see a killer mentality that will sustain itself over an entire season.
Um… what?
Their games couldn’t be more different. They’re closer to polar opposites. Honestly, this along with not including Sabonis’s defensive rebounding and facilitating in his “key strengths” make me wonder how much you’ve watched either of them.
no superstars = no hope
He also never coached again. That may say a bit more about Karl than it does the makeup of the Kings. Both were a bad fit.
Remember Hiring Coach Karl is almost a “Fans choice”…(those chant and signbroad from the fans inside the Arena)
For sure. I remember him being on some talking head show on ESPN saying he would like to coach the Kings and that is what started it all. He was also brought in right when that the tomfoolery between D’Alessandro and Vlade was happening.
He also got off to bad bad start with DMC. I remember a summer league game in Vegas when the both Karl and DMC met courtside and it was all kinds of awkward.
To be fair, all indications are that it was almost impossible to be on good terms with Cousins.
If Cousins, the team leader had gotten on board with Karl, Karl could have taken that team to the playoffs or at least a winning record.
Not very easy to get on board with your new coach when you actively got the previous coach who he liked fired and then tried to (like literally made phone calls and had discussions) trade you when he’s not the fucking GM.
Karl never had a chance and it was completely his fault that he didn’t.
I just loved the fact that we gave Karl a Joerger roster, then gave Joerger a Karl roster.
That’s perfect irony if such a thing exists.
Now we just have to trade Barnes for Marcus Smart, make no other changes and then hire D’Antoni.
I don’t see Boston giving up the defensive player of the year to be the back up SF behind Tatum.
Yep. By the time Karl got here he could barely finish a sentence much less coach a team. I’m hoping for a fresh non-former head coach to be hired. Along the lines of a Monty Williams (We coulda had him?) or Willie Green.
I’m concerned about both. But I agree that talent and roster construction are the bigger limiting factors in general.
Sac Bee poll on who your favorite candidate for coach is. It’s scary to see how many votes Mark Jackson has.
https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1517897184439545857
Probably several votes from the Vivekbot.
You can imagine how this will play out if Vivek has set his sights on Jackson. And Dumars is apparently also a Jackson fan…
Monte: “It was a collaborative coaching search by the FO and ownership, and ultimately it was my call.
Mark Jackson is absolutely my guy, and is the coach to take us to the playoffs, God willing. Can you now all please rise and join me in prayer? I willl take no further questions.“
I 100% think that Mark Jackson is on the list because of Vivek. He was apart of the new ownership group that hired Jackson in G.S. back in 2011.
Lmao, so if that’s the case Vivek continues his never-ending role as GM.
Until proven otherwise, I will always feel he meddles in basketball affairs.
What happened to his infatuation with Doug Christie?
The recent Bee article basically said that, and also “This time is different!” Sure it is.
The average fan probably does not recognize many of the other names. Mark Jackson has been on TV for many years, so his presence is known among fans. I really hope he is not the guy.
Fuck this! You have to be fuckin kidding me!! The fans overwhelmingly wanted George Karl, look how that went. This is stupid. I wish instead of a poll of just names the bee would do a poll that includes some background on these guys or even better had a pros con list for each guy
pros: assistant coach under Greg popovch, defense is his calling card
cons: no head coaching experience
pros: is on tv, coached the warriors right before they got really good. Helped develop that roster before Kerr took over and turned them into a champions.
cons: inexplicably locked out Jerry west from practices, incorporates his religious beliefs into practices and on to the team, convinced his roster that one of their teammates was rooting for them to loose which resulted in that player breaking down in tears and fracturing the locker room. Made several homophobic slurs. Cheated on his wife with a hooker while simultaneously preaching at his church.
Vote on the next sacramento kings coach. Who do you think is the best choice?
Coaching wish list: Ham on mine. Hold the Mayo, er, Mark Jackson.
I am hoping for the best in this but Kangz, so I did my part and sent Mark Jackson a message on social media to withdraw from the Kings coaching consideration. Is it bad form if we all flood his PM with polite requests to withdraw?
Comes down to a choice of 3 types- older with experience and success- MDA, Clifford, Mike Brown, Vogel and Jackson
Middle experience- Kenny Atkinson (if he is indeed on a deep list) Borrego
and younger– Hardy, Ham and Lee
I see the older guys as like George Karl
and I like a choice in the younger guys- lots of other teams have had success in mining this type of pool.
Ham or Hardy.
with an experienced top assistant.
There will be competition but LAL will want an old guy, Hornets tried the young guy ( Borrego) and will go old as well.
I would go Snyder perhaps and I did like Kenny but they killed Kenny it appears.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight. Pick a person that Monte thinks is smart and can do the job, and get him / her some players to work with.
Badge Legend