Walton fired
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
I'm no fan of Alvin Gentry's, but whether this team was ever destined to make the playoffs this season or not, they should be a lot more fun than they are. De'Aaron Fox used to be the very definition of exuberance on the court. Tyrese Haliburton is a perpetual big-grinned emoji. Richaun Holmes is a rim-running scream machine. Buddy Hield is a loose and goofy missile launcher. I have no idea what it was in Luke Walton's coaching, but he consistently managed to absolutely vampire the life from this team. I don't mind rooting for a loser if they're enjoyable to watch. They haven't been since Walton took the reigns.
Alvin Gentry is hardly a long-term solution to the Kings' coaching woes, but I'm a vote in favor of his appointment to the interim position if only to restore a bit of small-ball levity to the proceedings. This roster has a ton of problems, but in its present state, it's built around dynamic guard play. It should be wielded as such. No more of the Metu-Holmes front court, please. The playoffs are a long-shot, so I say bring on the by-way-of-D'Antoni schemes that Gentry might be inclined to construct, then conduct a proper search for a full-time head coach in the offseason while balancing the roster accordingly.
Alvin Gentry is hardly a long-term solution to the Kings' coaching woes, but I'm a vote in favor of his appointment to the interim position if only to restore a bit of small-ball levity to the proceedings. This roster has a ton of problems, but in its present state, it's built around dynamic guard play. It should be wielded as such. No more of the Metu-Holmes front court, please. The playoffs are a long-shot, so I say bring on the by-way-of-D'Antoni schemes that Gentry might be inclined to construct, then conduct a proper search for a full-time head coach in the offseason while balancing the roster accordingly.
I know everyone was wanting it to happen after the Toronto game, but it makes sense to do it after this one instead. You don't want to fire a coach after the first night of a back to back and then have the team try to get ready for the next game that evening with a new coach. Make sure there is at least one day off to process and prepare.
You would think they would come right out and say who the replacement is immediately. I bet they already know who it will be. If not, that wasn't well thought out. But maybe they know who they want but didn't want to say anything to that person until Walton was actually canned? Hard to say how that process works. I know I've heard at least once or twice that some folks didn't want to be put in that position (to know that someone was getting fired) and they didn't want to agree to take over while the other person was still coach of the team. Thought it was disrespectful to the current coach.
Edit - and while I was typing apparently a choice was made. Seems to be the most obvious and likely for the short term. Bobby is doing his thing in Stockton as a first year head coach and Doug is just 17 games into his coaching career. Too soon for either to be thrown into this ****show like that.
You would think they would come right out and say who the replacement is immediately. I bet they already know who it will be. If not, that wasn't well thought out. But maybe they know who they want but didn't want to say anything to that person until Walton was actually canned? Hard to say how that process works. I know I've heard at least once or twice that some folks didn't want to be put in that position (to know that someone was getting fired) and they didn't want to agree to take over while the other person was still coach of the team. Thought it was disrespectful to the current coach.
Edit - and while I was typing apparently a choice was made. Seems to be the most obvious and likely for the short term. Bobby is doing his thing in Stockton as a first year head coach and Doug is just 17 games into his coaching career. Too soon for either to be thrown into this ****show like that.
If the new coach can get Fox to make more than 1.1 point for every shot taken, I'm all for it. Or if we can see him up Fox's 3 pt percentage to the 30s, then hallelujah! (It's currently at 24.3%). If we see Fox speeding past defenders to make layups like the olden days, yippee! (Stats aren't available for that, but I doubt that's happened more than five times over these 17 games). If not, nothing will change, imo. Who knows? Stranger things have happened. Maybe the depression of having Walton as his coach will lift this huge weight off his shoulders and he'll defy gravity and have the old bounce in step. We'll see.
Walton was the epitome of mediocre, but is the new interim head coach going to be better than mediocre? Oh, he'll be different. But will he be better? Call me skeptical. I'm marking the calendar for December 11 when the Kings will have played 10 games from now. Will we be rejoicing? Or will we be wallowing in the mire? My guess is that nothing will have changed and we'll all be talking about roster changes and who the next head coach should be.
P.S. I won't miss the uhm, uhm, uhms of Walton's pressers. Hopefully, the new guy can talk in complete sentences without reverting to teenage "uhms," "you knows," or "errs" and can actually say "have gone" rather than "have went." These losses are painful enough without having to endure teenage filler words or broken grammar in the aftermath.
Walton was the epitome of mediocre, but is the new interim head coach going to be better than mediocre? Oh, he'll be different. But will he be better? Call me skeptical. I'm marking the calendar for December 11 when the Kings will have played 10 games from now. Will we be rejoicing? Or will we be wallowing in the mire? My guess is that nothing will have changed and we'll all be talking about roster changes and who the next head coach should be.
P.S. I won't miss the uhm, uhm, uhms of Walton's pressers. Hopefully, the new guy can talk in complete sentences without reverting to teenage "uhms," "you knows," or "errs" and can actually say "have gone" rather than "have went." These losses are painful enough without having to endure teenage filler words or broken grammar in the aftermath.
I’m not giving up on Fox or this season just yet. It would be nice if we could claw our way back to say 2-3 games below .500 at the break, make a couple smaller trades and then go on a bit of a run in the second half. If a bigger trade presents itself or we just aren’t gelling then maybe pull the trigger on something more franchise altering. Let’s not forget we were 5-4 not long ago with a tough schedule.
a lot of things have gone wrong this year:
-Fox shooting near career low percentages/ no all star leap
-haliburton hasn’t taken a leap offensively and doesn’t take enough threes.
-not enough product from the 3.
-off night, TD and even Holmes to a lesser extent have been inconsistent.
Hopefully Gentry is better at in game adjustments.
a lot of things have gone wrong this year:
-Fox shooting near career low percentages/ no all star leap
-haliburton hasn’t taken a leap offensively and doesn’t take enough threes.
-not enough product from the 3.
-off night, TD and even Holmes to a lesser extent have been inconsistent.
Hopefully Gentry is better at in game adjustments.
Joerger wasn't cutting it either, he needed to go when he went.
Walton was popular when he first came on board, but the last few days have proved that he just wasn't getting it done.
For once, the Kings made the right move (the ONLY move). The roster may not be ideal, but it can do more than what's been seen. Any major blowup (i.e. moving Fox or Haliburton) should be done in the off-season depending on what happens between now and then. Otherwise, I endorse this firing, and I think this is the first time I've ever done so. I don't think Karl was fired more than he wasn't re-engaged.
Walton was popular when he first came on board, but the last few days have proved that he just wasn't getting it done.
For once, the Kings made the right move (the ONLY move). The roster may not be ideal, but it can do more than what's been seen. Any major blowup (i.e. moving Fox or Haliburton) should be done in the off-season depending on what happens between now and then. Otherwise, I endorse this firing, and I think this is the first time I've ever done so. I don't think Karl was fired more than he wasn't re-engaged.
