Kings expected to sign Mike Brown to long-term 10 million dollar per year extension
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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You don't go out there and do something stupid like risk letting Mike Brown walk after his contract is up because "there could be a better coach available after next season". You go out there and do "something stupid" like risk letting Mike Brown walk after his contract is up because there IS a better coach available after next season. So, the question to you becomes...Who, in your mind, IS available after next season that would result in an immediate, and immense, upgrade over Mike Brown?
You just don't risk losing your best coach since Rick Adelman because "there could be a better coach available after next season"...
You just don't risk losing your best coach since Rick Adelman because "there could be a better coach available after next season"...
Not sure, but I'd bet the Kings could lure Luke Walton back. Just look at his winning record with the Warriors as interim head coach (39-4) in 2015-16. Now that is the measure of a good coach. Wins trump all other considerations.
Luke could hire his father, Mark Jackson, both Van Gundys, and Doris Burke as assistant coaches. What a conglomeration of brilliant basketball minds. Looking at 82-0 next year with that crew.
Point being: Mike Brown is fine for now. The real talent is on the basketball floor during the game. Sure, decisions by a coach can influence a close game but if the player talent is not there then even a genius coach is relegated to a dismal record. (Popovitch coached missed playoffs in the last five seasons, lost in first round the previous two seasons, 2023-24 record 22-60, same in 2022-23 as an example.)
On the other hand, even an inept coach, given sufficient player talent, can have a positive and winning season. Luke Walton with the Warriors vs. Luke Walton with the Kings and Lakers illustrates that point.
Now Mike Brown has a chance to prove where he stands in the inept/genius continuum of coaching talent. This third year will be determinative if variables remain the same. Player trades, injuries, or other unforeseen circumstances can influence the evaluation, of course. For the sake of the Kings and their fans, I hope the scale tips toward the genius end.
Luke could hire his father, Mark Jackson, both Van Gundys, and Doris Burke as assistant coaches. What a conglomeration of brilliant basketball minds. Looking at 82-0 next year with that crew.
Point being: Mike Brown is fine for now. The real talent is on the basketball floor during the game. Sure, decisions by a coach can influence a close game but if the player talent is not there then even a genius coach is relegated to a dismal record. (Popovitch coached missed playoffs in the last five seasons, lost in first round the previous two seasons, 2023-24 record 22-60, same in 2022-23 as an example.)
On the other hand, even an inept coach, given sufficient player talent, can have a positive and winning season. Luke Walton with the Warriors vs. Luke Walton with the Kings and Lakers illustrates that point.
Now Mike Brown has a chance to prove where he stands in the inept/genius continuum of coaching talent. This third year will be determinative if variables remain the same. Player trades, injuries, or other unforeseen circumstances can influence the evaluation, of course. For the sake of the Kings and their fans, I hope the scale tips toward the genius end.
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I am definitely not on the fire Mike Brown bandwagon, but I certainly think there are better coaches out there. The comparison with adelman I think really shows a key difference between good coaching and great coaching. Good coaches find out what their players are good at and encourage them to do it. They design a system in place to take advantage of that talent. Great coaches constantly look at what's going on in the fluid situation adjust and adapt lineups in order to maximize potential on the court moment to moment throughout the game, season and especially series.
I guess there is another question to ask - on Stiles & Watkins (Sacramento AM 1140) they were discussing how not extending Brown before FA may impact the possibility of Monk returning. Coaching stability, a coach who believes in him and promoted his 6th man run, etc., could tip the scales one way or another if he's seriously debating whether to re-sign with the Kings.
Not that you're implying this but I haven't really noticed Brown trying to shoe horn players into doing things they aren't good at because it fits his system. Most of the players don't really take bad shots other than Fox's pull up 3s. Most of the players on the team have gotten better under Brown that they were before Brown. HB is aging and has kind of taken a backburner role on the offense due to Keegan. Huerter had his best year and then a down year. Mitchell hasn't really improved. Pretty much everyone else is either as good as they were or better under Brown. Especially Sabonis and Monk.
At some point in the Brown tenure, basically every rotation player has had their best/or near best career season. I can't think of a guy we've actively played the last 2 years that's gotten worse from somewhere else.
Maybe the only "failure" thus far is Sasha? But we have him for next season so there's time to possibly fix that situation too
Maybe the only "failure" thus far is Sasha? But we have him for next season so there's time to possibly fix that situation too
The Kings would do well to note what's happened in Dallas and New York this season. Both franchises have defense-first head coaches who have earned their fair share of ridicule (justly, at times). Both franchises have a recent history of impatient, swing-and-miss GMing. But then they got patient. They started thinking not about the homerun swing but how to build effectively around their star players. They made shrewd and timely moves to bolster their rosters in productive ways that highlight and complement their stars' skillsets. I never thought Dallas would get it together around Luka and Kyrie. I assumed the wheels would fall off in New York. And while Kidd may still find some way to alienate his players out of their buy-in, and while Thibs may still coach his players' legs into submission, both teams look like strong contenders for at least the next few years.
Are the Mavs or Knicks prepped to win a finals? Maybe not. We'll see what Dallas is made of in the week to come. But regardless, those GMs are setting their teams up for success. And those coaches are squeezing every ounce out of their players. Monte has to go find his Anunoby or Hart or Gafford or PJ Washington. He's gotta give Mike Brown the tools he needs to maximize the Kings' roster on both ends of the floor. Patience, in other words. I really don't want to see a Kuzma or LaVine trade in the off-season, not when this year's playoff teams are mostly absent those kinds of talents.
Are the Mavs or Knicks prepped to win a finals? Maybe not. We'll see what Dallas is made of in the week to come. But regardless, those GMs are setting their teams up for success. And those coaches are squeezing every ounce out of their players. Monte has to go find his Anunoby or Hart or Gafford or PJ Washington. He's gotta give Mike Brown the tools he needs to maximize the Kings' roster on both ends of the floor. Patience, in other words. I really don't want to see a Kuzma or LaVine trade in the off-season, not when this year's playoff teams are mostly absent those kinds of talents.
Exactly! I don't care what anyone says, 50% of playoff success is luck and good breaks. Monte needs to continue to make solid/smart moves, and strike when you want to take a calculated risk on a big time team changing deal. The Mavs are the perfect example. They took a big swing on Kyrie (generally panned at the time, but a calculated risk). Then they make a couple relatively boring moves at the trade deadline that takes them up a level. I truly believe often these GMs just get lucky and strike lighting in a bottle (I would include Petrie in that group for his original team building... there are a few ways that team doesn't work out but he took the chance). There are certainly dumb GMs out there, but I think often the ones that fail had a fine plan, but for whatever reason just didn't pan out.
I've been thinking a lot about how this iteration of the Kings can fix the long-term health of this franchise too. Hopefully we never have to replace Brown until he retires, but if we do? Let's be able to show other quality coaches that we treat our guys right here. Brown has been instrumental in getting this franchise out of the gutter and back to respectable; that deserves an extension. Domas is one of the best players in franchise history; pay him like it. Same will happen with Fox in 2 seasons when he's up.
We'll never be a FA destination, but I think last season with guys like HB/Lyles/Len IMMEDIATELY showed me a lot about our organization is being run.
We'll never be a FA destination, but I think last season with guys like HB/Lyles/Len IMMEDIATELY showed me a lot about our organization is being run.
I want that Mike Brown back. We need more of “Turn on the mf’in jets” and less of “spray more threes”. We killed our transition game and went for a more deliberate style that took away an important part of what makes our offense dynamic. We traded standstill threes for movement threes and our shooting efficiency went down. When we go back to more running and more cutting, the spray threes would work better.
We have the first unanimous Coach of the Year winner in NBA history and we're not sure we want to re-sign him beyond next season? Because we "only" won 46 games this past season? Because he wants as much money as the head coach of the 14 win Detroit Pistons? Because having an above-average defense for just the 7th time in the 39 year history of the Kings in Sacramento is somehow not enough for this organization? Just give him a new contract for whatever he wants and get this over with so we can continue building for next season.
Yes, I really don't get the apparent obsession over "spray threes" all year. It's clear the team was shooting itself out of games having veered away from what made them successful on offense in year one.
Now - taken as a multi year project and accepting that the Kings were not winning it all this year (though weirdly this year DOES have a feeling like anyone could win because it's all about match ups more than ever - last week's dominant team is today's paper tiger) - perhaps you look at last year's offense, this year's defense, the weaknesses on the opposite side each year and focus on a compromise that allows both to be played at near the same level without sacrificing the other and boom, you're a top team on both sides. Maybe that's the end game, but even so missing the playoffs was not part of the plan and I think folks have to keep in mind there aren't 10 teams 10 games over .500 in normal years.
But seriously, let's get 2022-23 offense back please. It was way more fun to watch than a three pointer festival.
Now - taken as a multi year project and accepting that the Kings were not winning it all this year (though weirdly this year DOES have a feeling like anyone could win because it's all about match ups more than ever - last week's dominant team is today's paper tiger) - perhaps you look at last year's offense, this year's defense, the weaknesses on the opposite side each year and focus on a compromise that allows both to be played at near the same level without sacrificing the other and boom, you're a top team on both sides. Maybe that's the end game, but even so missing the playoffs was not part of the plan and I think folks have to keep in mind there aren't 10 teams 10 games over .500 in normal years.
But seriously, let's get 2022-23 offense back please. It was way more fun to watch than a three pointer festival.
The key thing is less about the dollar value, and more that players and coaches can demand a proportional amount of the NBA's total revenue. And that has been growing dramatically every year
A lot of people who became fans of the NBA when they were kids have this narrative that the NBA has declined from the high water marks of their youth. But, excluding the dead-ball era of the late 90s, the NBA has been terrifically successful as a business growing revenue. The last TV deal the NBA negotiated was before the Warriors dynasty era. The new one is reported to be in the realm of $75 billion over 11 years, (roughly triple the annual revenue of the previous deal)
Everybody in the association is going to have a lot more in their pockets soon
A lot of people who became fans of the NBA when they were kids have this narrative that the NBA has declined from the high water marks of their youth. But, excluding the dead-ball era of the late 90s, the NBA has been terrifically successful as a business growing revenue. The last TV deal the NBA negotiated was before the Warriors dynasty era. The new one is reported to be in the realm of $75 billion over 11 years, (roughly triple the annual revenue of the previous deal)
Everybody in the association is going to have a lot more in their pockets soon
