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SLAB

Hall of Famer
Id love to see Doug Christie as our head coach. Similar to when the warriors went from Jackson to Kerr who had no previous coaching experience
I wish Christie would get on the sidelines. He seems to have such great knowledge and he strikes me as a guy who would immediately relate to the players.

He’d probably need a hardass assistant to keep everyone in check though.
 
We can not afford to build our future on circumspect foundations. We need a coach that is going to take us to the playoffs and beyond. If Dave is let go we absolutely need to get this right and end of the day he has instilled a strong style which is perfect for us so it will be an unfortunate parting
 
Yep. In my opinion Walton will the front runner to be hired if Dave is let go.

Buss will no doubt call Vlade and sell the transition as a win for both teams not that we need to do the Lakers any favours.
Walton is a dead man walking in LA. If we want him it’s just a matter of time.

A couple thoughts I had:

1. Did Vlade play with Luke at the end of his career when he left the kings?
2. I could be remembering wrong, but didn’t the Lakers hire Luke the same offseason we hired Dave? I seem to remember some early chatter that offseason that we were going to make a play for him, but at the time he was super hot from his interim duties in helping to lead the warriors to the best record of all time and we were still being mocked for the DMC trade.

Perhaps Vlade (from his LA days) and Vivek (from his GS days) have always been in love with the idea of Luke. Dave has a few political issues internally, some quirks in his personality (aka Mark Jackson) and they see Luke (aka Steve Kerr) as the guy to take this team to the next level. I’m not sure what I think about that but doesn’t seem a crazy way this plays out.
 
I’m not advocating Walton but there’s a chance he could succeed here based on his style and our team. He can’t run n gun with old lebron and a bunch of non 3 point shooters in la and unfortunately he hasn’t adjusted there. But that way this team is constructed, might resemble the warriors team he had success with more than his current team.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
I’ve noticed that too with Grant. He would quickly cut off or blow up at anybody who questioned Joergers future with the org
Just a couple of months ago. Now he’ll spend some time discussing it and I’ve also noticed he’s become more openly critical of some of Joergers moves. Which is something very rare of Grant who is usually never critical of sitting coaches. Granted he always prefaces it by noting his respect for Dave but it used to be that he would write off concerns with certain decisions as “Dave Joerger knows his players better than anybody”
And that the end of it.

It still makes fans seasoned with how Grants show can give indirect insight into the state of the organization or the status of members of management, coaching, or roster suspect there is something to rumors.

Problem with all of this, I can’t think of any coach available right now that I like better than Joerger. It would be a risky move
Napear has treated the subject of Joerger in a similar manner to how he's treated the subject of WCS. In the first quarter or half of the year, he absolutely cut off any notion that WCS wasn't playing well, just wouldn't hear of it. Now, Grant is voicing the opinion that the Kings will have a new starting center next year.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Why are you guys thinking Walton would be the front runner? Is there a connection or rumor I'm missing or something?
I haven't brought it up, but it makes some sense because 1) it looks like he's going to be available, 2) he's coached a young, fast break team, 3) his young players seemed to improve under his tutelage, and 4) they played good defense. Bringing in LBJ really screwed up the chemistry of the Lakers, and it undercut Walton's authority. I could see how it could work with the Kings. I'm just not clear on why it couldn't work with Joerger as well. What are the issues, if any, with Joerger?
 
I haven't brought it up, but it makes some sense because 1) it looks like he's going to be available, 2) he's coached a young, fast break team, 3) his young players seemed to improve under his tutelage, and 4) they played good defense. Bringing in LBJ really screwed up the chemistry of the Lakers, and it undercut Walton's authority. I could see how it could work with the Kings. I'm just not clear on why it couldn't work with Joerger as well. What are the issues, if any, with Joerger?
Are we talking about just his Lakers stint alone? I don't really count his Warriors stint since that team kind of runs itself. I thought he did a solid job last year with the Lakers but I don't know how much of that I could attribute to Walton. Seemed like Kuzma was a good player from the moment he stepped on the court. Ball was basically what many of us sort of expected although his defense is much better than I thought it would be. Ingram's counting stats look like they're improving a lot but he's still way in the back as far as advanced metrics go. He's a well below average player. Josh Hart has come along pretty nicely himself.

I just think it would be a roll of the dice. Walton hasn't been a bad coach at all but there's really no book out on what exactly he's good at either. With Joerger you know he knows how to coach defense. He seems to be open minded on offense but he's a little late to the score in the paint or shoot 3s party and that was evident by the shot chart that someone posted in the Jazz game where the Kings shot from all over the place and the Jazz basically either shot 3s or right at the rim. If Joerger cleaned that up I don't think anyone would really have much of a gripe about him. He's going to play Bagley a lot of minutes next year and Giles more than likely as well if he continues to develop. I don't see a problem myself unless they take a step back next year.
 
Walton is a dead man walking in LA. If we want him it’s just a matter of time.

A couple thoughts I had:

1. Did Vlade play with Luke at the end of his career when he left the kings?
2. I could be remembering wrong, but didn’t the Lakers hire Luke the same offseason we hired Dave? I seem to remember some early chatter that offseason that we were going to make a play for him, but at the time he was super hot from his interim duties in helping to lead the warriors to the best record of all time and we were still being mocked for the DMC trade.

Perhaps Vlade (from his LA days) and Vivek (from his GS days) have always been in love with the idea of Luke. Dave has a few political issues internally, some quirks in his personality (aka Mark Jackson) and they see Luke (aka Steve Kerr) as the guy to take this team to the next level. I’m not sure what I think about that but doesn’t seem a crazy way this plays out.
Yes, he did play with Vlade during Vlade’s second stint in LA. Luke/Dave were hired in the summer prior to DMC being traded. There was a 0% chance a candidate like Luke was taking the job with DMC here.
 
I think Walton would be a clear step back, and if we get a Mark Jackson or Jason Kidd type then god help us.

But we might as well start talking about this because the writing is clearly on the wall. I think the only thing to do would be to hire a coveted assistant or college coach.

It seems to be working out well (Stevens, Synder, Nurse, Atkinson, Budenholzer), though there are a few stinkers so it's a risk (Donovan, Hoiberg). The list of proven coaches there right now is so unappealing.

My personal choices are Larranaga from BOS and Udoka from SA.
 
I think Walton would be a clear step back, and if we get a Mark Jackson or Jason Kidd type then god help us.

But we might as well start talking about this because the writing is clearly on the wall. I think the only thing to do would be to hire a coveted assistant or college coach.

It seems to be working out well (Stevens, Synder, Nurse, Atkinson, Budenholzer), though there are a few stinkers so it's a risk (Donovan, Hoiberg). The list of proven coaches there right now is so unappealing.

My personal choices are Larranaga from BOS and Udoka from SA.
I don’t think Udoka had a positive experience during his short stint in Sacramento as a player, but was that pre-Vivek?
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Are we talking about just his Lakers stint alone? I don't really count his Warriors stint since that team kind of runs itself. I thought he did a solid job last year with the Lakers but I don't know how much of that I could attribute to Walton. Seemed like Kuzma was a good player from the moment he stepped on the court. Ball was basically what many of us sort of expected although his defense is much better than I thought it would be. Ingram's counting stats look like they're improving a lot but he's still way in the back as far as advanced metrics go. He's a well below average player. Josh Hart has come along pretty nicely himself.

I just think it would be a roll of the dice. Walton hasn't been a bad coach at all but there's really no book out on what exactly he's good at either. With Joerger you know he knows how to coach defense. He seems to be open minded on offense but he's a little late to the score in the paint or shoot 3s party and that was evident by the shot chart that someone posted in the Jazz game where the Kings shot from all over the place and the Jazz basically either shot 3s or right at the rim. If Joerger cleaned that up I don't think anyone would really have much of a gripe about him. He's going to play Bagley a lot of minutes next year and Giles more than likely as well if he continues to develop. I don't see a problem myself unless they take a step back next year.
I'm just looking at what he did with the Lakers, pre-LBJ. But "not screwing it up" with the Warriors is an added plus. I think he did a good job pre-LBJ.
 
I think it would be idiotic to fire Joerger if there wasn't a clear upgrade out there. I also don't think the writing is on the wall. Since everyone is talking potential HC candidates, here are some interesting names:

Jay Wright (college coach for Villanova)
Bill Self (college coach for Kansas)
Mark Few (college coach for Gonzaga, there for 20 years now)
Sean Miller (college coach for Arizona)
----------------------------------------------------
Erik Spoelstra (Miami HC)
Jay Larranaga (assistant for the Celtics)
Ime Udoka (assistant for the Spurs)
Jamie Young (assistant for Celtics)
David Blatt
 
I think Joerger wants to leave. He won’t be fired. It will be an amicable split.
He will be Minny’s coach next year.
If it does come about that Dave leaves - I hope they sell it mutually as a "best for all involved, no hard feelings" kind of deal. It will break my heart - I might actually cry.

Life is not fair and it is not a meritocracy. Dave Joerger did, in my opinion, a better than perfect job during his stint here. He had a set of core principles (i.e. rookies earn their minutes while they learn... play with grit) and I think he executes to his values very very well.

I am ok that some people don't agree with his rotations or play calling. But to me... I just love the guy. Love him to death and feel grateful we ever had him.

Tonight will have a little melancholy under-current for me knowing that this might happen... that Dave might head to greener pastures and we get Luke Walton. I will get on board, hope that Luke can be sufficiently chippy toward LA and GSW to make it all worth while.

But I will fight Joerger haters for the rest of my days. He did something very special here.
 
Napear has treated the subject of Joerger in a similar manner to how he's treated the subject of WCS. In the first quarter or half of the year, he absolutely cut off any notion that WCS wasn't playing well, just wouldn't hear of it. Now, Grant is voicing the opinion that the Kings will have a new starting center next year.
Grant is a mouthpiece for the organization. On the one hand, it's completely obnoxious, but on the other hand it gives a way to prep ourselves for what's to come. If the narrative seems to change overnight, then we know what's up.

So far, from what Grant's been talking about for the last week or so.
-Willie is gone.
-Joerger is gone.
-Vlade is probably going to be extended.