Thibs in Memphis. Holy crap...or just a shoulder shrug?

[IfAt1st]

Don't you, like, have to be in bed by now or something? LOL

I'm sure some other posters will bring up when else you were wrong (I seem to remember last year, you guaranteed something huge was imminent, and nothing happened, but maybe that was just Grant), but for myself I like when you post MORE things about what you know, not less. You sit on so much information that would help the fanbase digest and become more informed (especially about the context of reports), it's frustrating, but I know that's your thing and you're sure as hell not going to risk your neck reporting much.

I'd have to listen more often to your show to give you examples of your superficial lazy-argument habit on the radio, especially when responding to vapid statements from Deuce, which I'd be happy to relate next time I catch some, if you'd like.

BTW - for the record, you're 100 times better than that self-serving blowhard Grant, who embarrasses himself and the franchise every time he acts like Boogie's spurned elementary-school buddy.

 

[CurseOfTheSalmons]

Now I understand. Karl brought Thibs in to turn him off from SAC.

 

[ockingsfan]

Since Vlade is looking for a GM and may be looking for a new coach in about a month, how about offering Thibs the dual role of GM and Coach, to entice him to come to Sactown???

That way, we know that the GM will be looking for defensive minded players to fill out the roster next year.

 

[funkykingston]

Since Vlade is looking for a GM and may be looking for a new coach in about a month, how about offering Thibs the dual role of GM and Coach, to entice him to come to Sactown???

That way, we know that the GM will be looking for defensive minded players to fill out the roster next year.

Vlade is looking for a numbers/cap guy for the front office, not someone who would have decision making power.

Naming Thibs GM/Coach is essentially Vlade hiring someone to put him out of a job.

 

[pshn80]

If Thibs was consulting for us at Memphis he and Vlade must be speaking. Could Vlade have asked him about his interest in coaching the Kings? If the answer was no then culd he have asked him to consult on the hiring of a new coach? Vlade thinking, Karl stay o Karl go, if go who and how fast can I hire. The coach and team clearly profit greatly if the coach is completely involved in player personnel decisions that need to be made early and maybe some ASAP. I trust that Vlade is well along in plans for coaching and well aware of the reality of time constraints. Of course we won't hear until the process has to g public.

 

[funkykingston]

If Thibs was consulting for us at Memphis he and Vlade must be speaking. Could Vlade have asked him about his interest in coaching the Kings? If the answer was no then culd he have asked him to consult on the hiring of a new coach? Vlade thinking, Karl stay o Karl go, if go who and how fast can I hire. The coach and team clearly profit greatly if the coach is completely involved in player personnel decisions that need to be made early and maybe some ASAP. I trust that Vlade is well along in plans for coaching and well aware of the reality of time constraints. Of course we won't hear until the process has to g public.

I don't think Vlade would be as improper as to ask a coach if he wants a job that another coach is still under contract for. And even if he did, I don't think Thibodeau would be ready to commit to any job without seeing what other gigs will be available over the summer.

If Thibs were to recommend a coach to Vlade I'm guessing it would be Adrian Griffin.

 

[pshn80]

I don't think Vlade would be as improper as to ask a coach if he wants a job that another coach is still under contract for. And even if he did, I don't think Thibodeau would be ready to commit to any job without seeing what other gigs will be available over the summer.

If Thibs were to recommend a coach to Vlade I'm guessing it would be Adrian Griffin.

Of course you are right about such conversations when you have a sitting coach. But on the other side of the coin do you believe Vlade would not have any such conversations until the season s over and Karl is fired? Seems like the gone/not gone decision has to be made before season's end and moves have to be made to fnd and hire if Karl is gone. If waiting is the way they go, a new coach may not be on board by July 1 when FA starts let alone for draft and other key personnel decisions. Any thoughts?

 

[funkykingston]

Of course you are right about such conversations when you have a sitting coach. But on the other side of the coin do you believe Vlade would not have any such conversations until the season s over and Karl is fired? Seems like the gone/not gone decision has to be made before season's end and moves have to be made to fnd and hire if Karl is gone. If waiting is the way they go, a new coach may not be on board by July 1 when FA starts let alone for draft and other key personnel decisions. Any thoughts?

My read of the situation (which may be totally off) is that the only reason Karl wasn't fired at the All-Star break is that the minority owners refused a cash call to pony up the money to hire a new coach once Karl was fired. If that's the case, Vlade may not have full confidence that he can fire Karl this offseason either. After all, the difference in money wouldn't be huge, especially since it's almost certain that Corliss or Nancy would have been named interim coach with a slight bump in pay and it would've been 1/3 or so of Karl's yearly salary.

My guess is that Vlade wanted Karl gone then and wants him gone now but doesn't know with 100% certainty that he'll be able to do so.

 

[Ron]

A totally wild guess, that I wonder how no-one has mentioned yet:

I believe the replacement coach may have already been contacted and even sealed a deal with a handshake.
I think the only reason that the Kings' FO backed off on the planned Karl firing two weeks ago was because that future coach was not willing to step-in immediately at mid-season, either because:
1) He felt it was not appropriate or not fair to Karl, or
2) He simply wasn't available yet, until the off-season, or
3) He may have insisted on having a proper fresh start, with a chance to influence roster decisions and with a training camp that allows him to install his system, rathet than inherit a mid-season badly-coached team.

I can think of a few specoptions for coaches who could have been that mystery man...

I woder if Charmichael Dave could tell me if I am getting warm with those guesses...

 

[Bricklayer]

My read of the situation (which may be totally off) is that the only reason Karl wasn't fired at the All-Star break is that the minority owners refused a cash call to pony up the money to hire a new coach once Karl was fired. If that's the case, Vlade may not have full confidence that he can fire Karl this offseason either. After all, the difference in money wouldn't be huge, especially since it's almost certain that Corliss or Nancy would have been named interim coach with a slight bump in pay and it would've been 1/3 or so of Karl's yearly salary.

My guess is that Vlade wanted Karl gone then and wants him gone now but doesn't know with 100% certainty that he'll be able to do so.

Back before he was hired there were some indications the minority owners were strongly in Karl's camp. One of the reasons I have refused to lionize them as some sort of wonderful alternatives to Vivek. Rich amateurs for the most part, and I doubt if they showed up en masse to this board tomorrow if we'd feel like we had gained some incredible basketball enlightenment from the experience.

That said, Karl is gone this offseason no matter what they might think.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Back before he was hired there were some indications the minority owners were strongly in Karl's camp. One of the reasons I have refused to lionize them as some sort of wonderful alternatives to Vivek. Rich amateurs for the most part, and I doubt if they showed up en masse to this board tomorrow if we'd feel like we had gained some incredible basketball enlightenment from the experience.

That said, Karl is gone this offseason no matter what they might think.

No, from what I remember, the minority owners were against Karl:

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/2/8/7999953/george-karl-demarcus-cousins-kings.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba-new...-sacramento-kings-minority-owners-george-karl

Now, it may be different groups of minority owners. Or it could be one consistent factor--$$. But I don't think it has much to do with anyone being a fan of Karl as such.

 

[pshn80]

My read of the situation (which may be totally off) is that the only reason Karl wasn't fired at the All-Star break is that the minority owners refused a cash call to pony up the money to hire a new coach once Karl was fired. If that's the case, Vlade may not have full confidence that he can fire Karl this offseason either. After all, the difference in money wouldn't be huge, especially since it's almost certain that Corliss or Nancy would have been named interim coach with a slight bump in pay and it would've been 1/3 or so of Karl's yearly salary.

My guess is that Vlade wanted Karl gone then and wants him gone now but doesn't know with 100% certainty that he'll be able to do so.

Boy, such indecision can sure put them behind the eight-ball for nex season. I know it's a frequently held view that the ownership and the FO are lame but you'd think they would have learned some more useful ways by now. We don't/they don't have the luxury of indecision now. It seems like the money questions that the owners face are small potatoes compared to the negative financial hit they take if they hold off very long in deciding and le next year move closer to financial disaster.

 

[Glenn]

There can be a lot of groups of minority owners from the Indian contingent, the typical amateur basketball fans, and Shaq and Mitch.

 

[pshn80]

Back before he was hired there were some indications the minority owners were strongly in Karl's camp. One of the reasons I have refused to lionize them as some sort of wonderful alternatives to Vivek. Rich amateurs for the most part, and I doubt if they showed up en masse to this board tomorrow if we'd feel like we had gained some incredible basketball enlightenment from the experience.

That said, Karl is gone this offseason no matter what they might think.

If Karl is gone this off-season shodn't the process of hiring a new coach be well on it's way behind the scenes right now? I know all we can do is speculate now. Have they made the fire decision? It seems as though time (and money) is of the essence. If the new coach isn't hired until July 31 we will be in the same boat again - a coach that had no hand in putting the team together.

 

[funkykingston]

Boy, such indecision can sure put them behind the eight-ball for nex season. I know it's a frequently held view that the ownership and the FO are lame but you'd think they would have learned some more useful ways by now. We don't/they don't have the luxury of indecision now. It seems like the money questions that the owners face are small potatoes compared to the negative financial hit they take if they hold off very long in deciding and le next year move closer to financial disaster.

Firing Karl is the correct move. But it is complicated by the fact that firing Malone was the wrong move.

If Malone were allowed to finish last year and the Kings landed in the lottery once again, nobody would have really raised an eyebrow if they let him go. Then the GM would conduct a coaching search, a hire would be made and the team would get a fresh start in training camp.

But it's the fact that Malone's firing was a weird, knee jerk reaction and Corbin's disastrous stint just highlighted what a poor move it was. Hiring Karl midseason was another knee jerk reaction as was essentially transferring GM power from PDA to Vlade AFTER Karl was signed, making it twice in a row the coach was hired before the GM and the two had differing philosophies about how to build and run a team.

Of course, had last season not been such a tire fire Vlade probably wouldn't be on board and D'Alessandro would still be running things for better or worse. Although I have more faith than most in Divac guiding this franchise, his hire was also a somewhat knee jerk reaction.

So the Kings have been rightfully painted as a dysfunctional joke of an organization and firing Karl is only going to add to that.

But it doesn't matter how many wrong moves were made in the past or how this move will be viewed nationally, it's absolutely the right call.

 

[funkykingston]

If Karl is gone this off-season shodn't the process of hiring a new coach be well on it's way behind the scenes right now? I know all we can do is speculate now. Have they made the fire decision? It seems as though time (and money) is of the essence. If the new coach isn't hired until July 31 we will be in the same boat again - a coach that had no hand in putting the team together.

NBA head coaching is a pretty small fraternity. Most of them know each other. All of them know the trials and tribulations of the job and the kind of grind it is. I doubt many of them would be willing to negotiate while Karl is still under contract. Look at what Alvin Gentry did when D'Alessandro offered him an assistant coach job with the inference that he could take over for Malone in short order - he told Malone about it and took a bench position with the Warriors instead.

The Kings might be having discussions with guys, maybe trying to gauge the availability of someone like Thibs or Van Gundy but I seriously doubt any former head coach is going to make a handshake deal while Karl is still on the bench.