[KINGS] Comments that don't warrant their own thread (Redux)

You could research it quite quickly, but here’s the gist.

Pop fired Hill for no reason, really, to put himself in place as HC. Players were shocked at the time. They’d won 62 and 59 games in 2 seasons under Hill, advancing to the Conference Finals and Semifinals respectively.

Robinson goes down with injury and only plays 6 games during 1996-1997 season and consequently the Spurs started off poorly at 3-15 so Pop took advantage of that and fired him. Fwiw, Pop didn’t fare much better the rest of that season going 17-47. So clearly it wasn’t a “coaching issue”. Pop wasn’t dumb. He knew that. It was a power play for a gig he wanted. There was other drama involved, but there’s the short version.

I remember it well when it all went down and never liked Pop since.
I know the gist, which is why I said they tanked to get Duncan. I don't want to waste my time to go into 2 decades old history, which will not throw much more light on the issue. Coaches getting fired soon after major successes is not new. Just this off season, we have have had people like Nurse, Budenholzer, and Rivers, all championship winning coaches, to get fired. I don't want to search old articles where some ESPN "analyst" is speculating on the reasons behind the firing.

Was it a power play from Pop? Perhaps. Or maybe he thought he could do a better job. I don't know, and honestly don't care. That wasn't the discussion anyway.
 
Well they deserve a very long rope for the continued success they have had, and how they were able to build a dynasty around TD with low draft picks, particularly Manu, TP, and Kawahii, or using players others couldn't fit into their system (e.g. Diaw). In fact, they probably missed out on a couple of championships they could have won; losing to Miami once when they had almost won an away game, once to the Lakers (though Pistons ended up winning it all). I might even be missing one.

In any case, their success gives Pop a lot of leeway. That said, their recent moves have been a bit of a doozy. They lost Kawahii, which I thought was uncharacteristic. They also let Parker go to Hornets. Perhaps it's part of business, but IIRC, Parker didn't go for a huge package. Him finishing his career in San Antonio would have been poetic, and he could have been a leader in the locker room. They passed on Hali, and I thought didn't get a good haul for Murray either. Sure they got multiple picks for him, but several years out, and not even one rotation player in return (Gallinari was waived by them).

Tough to compare the two situations, but during our run, Petrie had a series of masterstrokes, picking gems with low draft picks (Hedo, GW, Martin), trades, and FAs. We were unlucky, but he built a contender. Then suddenly, most of his moves got weird. His coaching hires were uninspiring, his draft picks quite bad, particularly in hindsight, and also some of his trades.
BTW, I forgot to include the slim pickings they got for DeRozan. Honestly, I can't recall a great move they've made since moving up to get Kawhi, which was in 2011.
 
This is really the bottom line. It's frustrating to Kings fans to watch this happen.

As a small market franchise (KC and Sac), the Kings have been in the lottery 28 times, and have won the #1 pick once in a dud draft.

As a small market franchise, the Spurs have been in the lottery 7 times, and have won the #1 overall pick three of those lotteries, each time with a consensus #1 overall big man in the draft.

It's really amazing how good the Spurs luck has been when they were in the lottery. If we had won the lottery at the pace the Spurs have, we'd have picked #1 overall TWELVE times in drafts with consensus #1 overall players. Meaning, not Pervis. The Spurs luck is effectively the equivalent of an alternate universe in which the Kings drafted ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
Patrick Ewing
David Robinson
Shaquille O'Neal
Chris Webber
Tim Duncan
Elton Brand
Yao Ming
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Greg Oden (whoops!)
Anthony Davis
and now Wembanyama

It's kinda comical. OK, not "kinda". It's absolutely mind-blowingly comical.
Does that make Orlando the upside-down Spurs?
 
Suns get permission to interview Jordy for their head coaching position. I hope for his sake he doesn’t get it with the new owner Ishbe making new owner mistakes. Rumor has it that Ishbe has been overriding James Jones GM role. This all sounds very familiar.
 
Orlando got Shaq, Webber, Dwight and Paolo with their #1 picks. How many championships did they win? Their best result is being swept in NBA finals. Are they lucky or not?
Exactly.

Yes, Spurs were lucky to land some of the generational talents. in the TD draft, they were also smart to tank, and then got lucky.

As you pointed out though, teams that draft don't always win. Would TD have stayed with small market Spurs if they were unable to upgrade their roster around him, or if he didn't believe in his coach? They were humiliated by the Lakers in the 2001 WCF, getting swept by an average of 22.25 points, and then lost in 2002 semi finals, this time, managing to win a home game.

Next year, they won it all after they added Manu. Despite failing to get Kidd, they were setup for long term success, as TP also developed into a top PG.

No one knows if TD would have bolted, but a very large number of stars, particularly with small market teams, manage to get traded/leave as FA to a desired destination. After 2001/02, who knows if TD might have demanded a trade (to Sac?), if he didn't believe in his organization.
 
Suns get permission to interview Jordy for their head coaching position. I hope for his sake he doesn’t get it with the new owner Ishbe making new owner mistakes. Rumor has it that Ishbe has been overriding James Jones GM role. This all sounds very familiar.
IMHO, No way Ishbe would approve a hire of an unknown assistant coach as his first coaching hire.

He seems likes someone that will try to make headlines by bringing in a "big name" coach as the Suns coach.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member

I never really noticed the script on that logo but man is it ugly. That one never really stuck with me and that's prob a part of it even if I didn't recognize it. New one is clean. Seeing how progressively better the branding gets is annoying when I have to see the old stuff in my closet...
it's weird because I like the script but when you look at them side by side the one we were using looks like a cheap free knockoff of a licensed premium font.

Although I do prefer the crown on the old logo and maybe the full connecting g to the s, but everything else barely matches letter to letter, like randomly going skinny to fat, etc. New one much cleaner/consistent.
 
IMHO, No way Ishbe would approve a hire of an unknown assistant coach as his first coaching hire.

He seems likes someone that will try to make headlines by bringing in a "big name" coach as the Suns coach.
Wanting a star player isn't necessarily the same as a big name coach. I suspect he'll for whoever he vibes most with / strokes his basketball ego the most

He's clearly trying to makeover the franchise to imprint it as "his," which is his right, but you gotta assume he's gonna want his own GM at some point as well.

I'm sure it's totally fine to get a new coach first, though. Surely nothing will go wrong there.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
Which was stupid for the Suns to fire. He would be my top candidate.
Seriously.

They traded away all their depth for Durant, who came over while still injured and missed his first 6 games with the Suns (and 20 total) before playing in 3 games and then getting hurt again. After missing another 10 games he only played in 5 more before being shut down for the last two games of the regular season.

Then in the playoffs you lose Chris Paul for games 3-6 of the Nuggets series along with Ayton being out for a pivotal game 6.

There's definitely a huge risk in relying on a 38 year old CP3 and a nearly 35 year old KD with an accumulating injury history, but I'm not sure how that's Monty Williams fault.

IMO he deserved a full season with Durant and a restocked bench before firing him. But oh well. As long as they don't poach Jordi, I hope Ishbia keeps making questionable decisions.
 
Wanting a star player isn't necessarily the same as a big name coach. I suspect he'll for whoever he vibes most with / strokes his basketball ego the most

He's clearly trying to makeover the franchise to imprint it as "his," which is his right, but you gotta assume he's gonna want his own GM at some point as well.

I'm sure it's totally fine to get a new coach first, though. Surely nothing will go wrong there.
I would be shocked if Ishbe traded away half the team to pair Kevin Durant and Devon Booker together only to turn the team over to a rookie coach.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
To be fair, Keegan probably lives in G1C because he doesn’t feel like paying for his own place.

De’Aaron marrying an ex-player/coach absolutely was the best thing for his career though lol. I’m guessing he took like a week or two off to let his finger heal but whatever drive it is that great players have that make them great, Swipa seems to have it.

and as much as losing Jordi would suck, seeing Luke Loucks and DC working out with the players like this makes me think we’d still be alright.