DOUG EFFING CHRISTIE

#14
Mike Brown's offensive system, which required every player to act as a primary playmaker, initially hindered our offensive performance. While his defensive strategies have consistently improved our team year after year, the complex offensive scheme proved ineffective. After simplifying the offense and allowing players to return to their natural positions and roles, our offensive output significantly improved, leading to our current winning streak. However, given the recent struggles of our opponents, the upcoming game against the Warriors will be a true test of our progress.
 
#15
Doug's word choices seem to reveal some of why Mike was getting tuned out behind the scenes... phrases like, "It's not about me, it's about them" and "I know what I'm asking is really really hard, because I've done it." Street cred and spotlight finesse by Coach Christie seem to be having an impact.

More specifically, it's looking to me like Doug has the guys playing for Themselves and each other, and fostering a locker room environment where the focus is on the players voices instead of the coach's. To me it appears Doug is providing the guts, the grit, and the backbone, but the ownership is theirs, and we see the results on the court... they're "playing their f'ing a**es off."
 
#18
Mike Brown's offensive system, which required every player to act as a primary playmaker, initially hindered our offensive performance. While his defensive strategies have consistently improved our team year after year, the complex offensive scheme proved ineffective. After simplifying the offense and allowing players to return to their natural positions and roles, our offensive output significantly improved, leading to our current winning streak. However, given the recent struggles of our opponents, the upcoming game against the Warriors will be a true test of our progress.
I like Mike Brown and I think he’s a decent coach but his two weaknesses are that he relies too much on Warriors system and that he tends to stick to Vets that he’s familiar with. Warriors offense work because you have shooters of Klay and Curry’s caliber. It’s also the reason why he relies on guys like McGee when he was obviously cooked. I think Monte McNair catered to Mike a bit with those signing which didn’t really help.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#21
I like Mike Brown and I think he’s a decent coach but his two weaknesses are that he relies too much on Warriors system and that he tends to stick to Vets that he’s familiar with. Warriors offense work because you have shooters of Klay and Curry’s caliber. It’s also the reason why he relies on guys like McGee when he was obviously cooked. I think Monte McNair catered to Mike a bit with those signing which didn’t really help.
Knowing that we can probably blame Mike directly for relying on a cooked McGee and Sasha and Keon's lack of playing time I think it's totally fair to question what other personnel moves were directly related to Mike Brown. I don't think Neemi was good enough but we probably should have kept him over McGee. Why trade 2 picks for Duarte instead of try to develop Edwards (I have to assume this WAS a Brown call). We could have kept guys from 2022-23 for cheaper and maybe had more success with "running it back" than we did downgrading most of our back bench.

obligatory "I like Mike Brown" because I'd have rather seen him adjust his rotations then get fired but it really makes you wonder what else happened that we don't see.

I also feel like if he hadn't held the team up for a raise and early extension he might still have his job. On the other hand, he played us perfectly since he's still getting paid for 2.5 years to do nothing. I almost feel like we deserve a refund in this case.
 
#22
Doug's word choices seem to reveal some of why Mike was getting tuned out behind the scenes... phrases like, "It's not about me, it's about them" and "I know what I'm asking is really really hard, because I've done it." Street cred and spotlight finesse by Coach Christie seem to be having an impact.

More specifically, it's looking to me like Doug has the guys playing for Themselves and each other, and fostering a locker room environment where the focus is on the players voices instead of the coach's. To me it appears Doug is providing the guts, the grit, and the backbone, but the ownership is theirs, and we see the results on the court... they're "playing their f'ing a**es off."
MB’s final presser where he went in on Fox closing out on and fouling Ivey seemed really telling to me. “Don’t foul a 3 point shooter” seems relatively basic and it’s sort of insulting to act like he didn’t understand that vs accepting that it was just a mistake that anyone could make in the moment. And that Fox isn’t a guy prone to mistakes, so really nothing more than “hey man remember not to do that” should have sufficed versus rubbing it in after a tough loss

I haven’t played competitive ball at any serious level but in any competitive line of work you have to let people make mistakes and still encourage them to buy in and trust them to use their skills and talent. Seems like Doug is much more encouraging and less condescending. Punsining young guys by taking away playing time seems like a similar counterproductive move

DDV had that gripe with the franchise, but sorta less legit since he seems baseline a bit malcontent. But I think there’s prob something there esp where we’ve seen it with Keon
 
#23
MB’s final presser where he went in on Fox closing out on and fouling Ivey seemed really telling to me. “Don’t foul a 3 point shooter” seems relatively basic and it’s sort of insulting
You know what else is relatively basic and insulting? Not coaching up your team to wrap up the opposition if/when they decided to put the ball on the floor rather than jack up an immediate 3 point shot with under :10 remaining.

IIRC, Ivey didn’t even get the ball in the corner until ”around” :05 remaining after the ball was put on the floor and driven then kicked to the corner. And I also believe the Pistons had no timeouts left. Yet no KINGS player made an effort to foul once the ball was put on the floor.

Decisions such as that are why Brown no longer has a job, IMO.

If Brown makes the proper coaching decision, Fox most likely wouldn’t have been in a position to even foul a 3-pt shooter. But I doubt that he was pressed to talk about that in his final presser.
 
#24
MB’s final presser where he went in on Fox closing out on and fouling Ivey seemed really telling to me. “Don’t foul a 3 point shooter” seems relatively basic and it’s sort of insulting to act like he didn’t understand that vs accepting that it was just a mistake that anyone could make in the moment. And that Fox isn’t a guy prone to mistakes, so really nothing more than “hey man remember not to do that” should have sufficed versus rubbing it in after a tough loss

He is doing a press conference and being asked questions about the game, what is he supposed to say? I think people are overreacting to that, my guess is Fox didn’t care one bit about that answer.
 
#25
You know what else is relatively basic and insulting? Not coaching up your team to wrap up the opposition if/when they decided to put the ball on the floor rather than jack up an immediate 3 point shot with under :10 remaining.

IIRC, Ivey didn’t even get the ball in the corner until ”around” :05 remaining after the ball was put on the floor and driven then kicked to the corner. And I also believe the Pistons had no timeouts left. Yet no KINGS player made an effort to foul once the ball was put on the floor.

Decisions such as that are why Brown no longer has a job, IMO.

If Brown makes the proper coaching decision, Fox most likely wouldn’t have been in a position to even foul a 3-pt shooter. But I doubt that he was pressed to talk about that in his final presser.
I’m pretty sure they did have a timeout. Plus, it’s easier said than done to foul someone, as Brown said they were instructed to foul if a player had their back to the basket and that didn’t happen. You have to be careful fouling someone on the perimeter because they can “shoot it” like Derozan did last night and get a trip to the line for 3.


Fox messed up because his head was not in the game. Now if you want to say he checked out because of Mike fine, but that game lays at the feet of Fox.
 
#26
I’m pretty sure they did have a timeout. Plus, it’s easier said than done to foul someone, as Brown said they were instructed to foul if a player had their back to the basket and that didn’t happen. You have to be careful fouling someone on the perimeter because they can “shoot it” like Derozan did last night and get a trip to the line for 3.


Fox messed up because his head was not in the game. Now if you want to say he checked out because of Mike fine, but that game lays at the feet of Fox.
Nope. They had no timeouts remaining. I just re-watched to be sure I was right and I was.

The Pistons took their last TO with :10.8 remaining in order to advance the ball after Kevin Huerter hit two free throws to extend the lead to 113-110.

Hardaway Jr. took the ensuing inbound pass and could have been wrapped up by Keon as he pivoted to protect the ball
near half court. Then a couple seconds later Hardaway passed off to Beasley who immediately put the ball on the floor not even facing or even looking at the basket then proceeded to drive it 10-15 feet before passing off to Ivey in the corner. There was ample opportunity for Trey Lyles to wrap him up too.

While I concur with your point about being careful, once a player puts the ball on the floor versus a potential quick catch and shoot, the odds of successfully fouling prior to a valid shot attempt goes up immensely.

In this particular situation, the Pistons had zero timeouts. Playing the foul game was the way to go given that they’d have to take the ball full court with little to no time left on the next possession. Wrapping up the offensive player if/when they put the ball on the floor would have provided the best odds. Worst case is they get 3 free throws and no chance at a 4 point play. Best case is they are fouled well before the act of shooting, especially being so far away from the basket.

I saw that opportunity in real time and watching the replay solidifies it.
 
#27
He is doing a press conference and being asked questions about the game, what is he supposed to say? I think people are overreacting to that, my guess is Fox didn’t care one bit about that answer.
Just give a non-answer. “It’s a team game we’re moving on.” Anything but what he said. We’ll likely never know how that sat with any of the players, or if they even knew about it, but publicly ripping players is never a smart move as a coach
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#29
The thing is it wasn’t just Fox making mistakes though he made the final mistake on the penultimate play of Brown’s Sacramento coaching career. But in the pressers he was always saying how guys weren’t following or executing his instructions. This was year three with the same core. There’s no other explanation for that beyond the one that he had lost the team. It’s painful to say because I really was hoping Brown turned a corner and wouldn’t suffer the same fate as he had with previous stops. But it wasn’t to be.
 
#30
While I will always appreciate Mike Brown for his stint here and for getting us into the playoffs, a job is a job and like any other occupation, it is all about the results. We have been declining since our magical and surprise year, and when you generally have the same group of guys, that’s not acceptable. Does our roster fit seamlessly together? No it doesn’t, but it certainly isn’t void of talent. A lack of results got him canned and the same would hold true for anyone with a job that underperforms.