Alvin Gentry......

That's a little strange, no?

EDIT: I'd forgotten that Brendan Malone left the staff prior to last season.
 
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Not all that surprising. Malone said recently he wished he had had a "lead" assistant on board this last season, but because his father pulled out/didn't end up on board (did we ever hear what that was all about?) so late in the game, they didn't want to hire someone else so late in the game.

Overall, I think Malone did a good job in a difficult situation, but another proven voice on the coaching staff isn't a bad thing.
 
LPKingsFan said:
Not all that surprising. Malone said recently he wished he had had a "lead" assistant on board this last season, but because his father pulled out/didn't end up on board (did we ever hear what that was all about?) so late in the game, they didn't want to hire someone else so late in the game.

Overall, I think Malone did a good job in a difficult situation, but another proven voice on the coaching staff isn't a bad thing.
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Malone answered it in a post season interview. He basically said his dad just didn't have it in him anymore and his dad made the decision for himself. He said as a son he understood, as a head coach he was pissed.
 
Not all the really experienced guys get a Head Coaching gig. So Alvin Gentry might be available. Who could blame him wanting to leave the circus in LA.
 
Sorry, but adding a Mike D'Antoni acolyte as an assistant hardly encourages me that we are trying to start play more seriously.
 
Does Gentry even have a good reputation as a coach? I just remember him during his Phoenix days . They were pretty meh. Obviously the Clips are a good team but I don't know what specific role he had with them.

He seems pretty mediocre
 
What would we want with Gentry?

Hornacek is currently showing how poor a coach Gentry was. I'm getting sick of sloppy seconds around here.
 
miltonap said:
Does Gentry even have a good reputation as a coach? I just remember him during his Phoenix days . They were pretty meh. Obviously the Clips are a good team but I don't know what specific role he had with them.

He seems pretty mediocre
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I think he did a pretty good job in the later day/fading talent days in Phoenix. But it was a pretty good job of continuing D'Antoni junk ball centered around inflating a declining Nash's stats. I have no idea what he could contribute to a team trying to play serious smashmouth basketball.
 
He was a grind it out guy back in the day though, no? Interesting, balanced look here from a Jazz blog, since he's apparently a candidate for their gig.
 
Bricklayer said:
Sorry, but adding a Mike D'Antoni acolyte as an assistant hardly encourages me that we are trying to start play more seriously.
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:rolleyes: You might want to do some research on Alvin Gentry before making such asinine statements.

Had you done your research you would know that Alvin Gentry actually came up under the tutelage of Larry Brown as an assistant at Kansas and also in San Antonio as an assistant for Larry Brown and working alongside Greg Popovich.

Had you done your research you would also know that Mike D'Antoni hired Alvin Gentry as his lead assistant because of Alvin Gentry's defensive mind and the fact that he was a former head coach. Had you read the book ':07 Seconds or Less' you would also know that Alvin Gentry talked/preached defense and physical play more than anybody on the Phoenix staff. A guy like Raja Bell was really close with Gentry and blossomed as one of the league's premier perimeter defenders under Gentry.

But hey I guess none of that matters because he coached in Phoenix and it's easier to just make blanket statements about Phoenix being a joke of a team that doesn't play seriously. Never mind the fact that before their cheap owner (Sarver) blew up the team they were a perennial contender and that for some of those seasons they were statistically a solid defensive team. By the way since when is making the conference finals and pushing San Antonio to the brink, not playing seriously? The average Kings fan right now would give anything to play such "non serious" basketball.

Bricklayer,

You write on this board all the time like you are some sort of basketball expert and specifically a "defensive expert". Based upon the above assertions in that you really didn't have a clue about Gentry's background it makes me wonder if you talk about all of this defense and "smashmouth basketball" just to sound cool/tough rather than really knowing what you are talking about.

You've already made it abundantly clear that you think you know more than the Kings GM (the guy that you disrespectfully call a "Gerbil") but I'm sure if one was to ask Pete D'Alessandro for a report on Alvin Gentry they'd get a hell of a lot better response than "he coached for Phoenix so he must not know anything about defense"
 
Swaze said:
:rolleyes: You might want to do some research on Alvin Gentry before making such asinine statements.

Had you done your research you would know that Alvin Gentry actually came up under the tutelage of Larry Brown as an assistant at Kansas and also in San Antonio as an assistant for Larry Brown and working alongside Greg Popovich.

Had you done your research you would also know that Mike D'Antoni hired Alvin Gentry as his lead assistant because of Alvin Gentry's defensive mind and the fact that he was a former head coach. Had you read the book ':07 Seconds or Less' you would also know that Alvin Gentry talked/preached defense and physical play more than anybody on the Phoenix staff. A guy like Raja Bell was really close with Gentry and blossomed as one of the league's premier perimeter defenders under Gentry.

But hey I guess none of that matters because he coached in Phoenix and it's easier to just make blanket statements about Phoenix being a joke of a team that doesn't play seriously. Never mind the fact that before their cheap owner (Sarver) blew up the team they were a perennial contender and that for some of those seasons they were statistically a solid defensive team. By the way since when is making the conference finals and pushing San Antonio to the brink, not playing seriously? The average Kings fan right now would give anything to play such "non serious" basketball.

Bricklayer,

You write on this board all the time like you are some sort of basketball expert and specifically a "defensive expert". Based upon the above assertions in that you really didn't have a clue about Gentry's background it makes me wonder if you talk about all of this defense and "smashmouth basketball" just to sound cool/tough rather than really knowing what you are talking about.

You've already made it abundantly clear that you think you know more than the Kings GM (the guy that you disrespectfully call a "Gerbil") but I'm sure if one was to ask Pete D'Alessandro for a report on Alvin Gentry they'd get a hell of a lot better response than "he coached for Phoenix so he must not know anything about defense"
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I am well aware of who and what Alvin Gentry was. You may or may not have been aware he has bounced around the NBA for decades. He was a Brown assistant for one single season BTW back in 1990. A Pop assistant for one single season again a decade later. Then he spent a dozen years being Phoenixized. Yes, he was the defensive mastermind behind those Mike D'Antoni teams. I am also aware of how he coached once given the big chair in Phoenix. I can't sort his partial years, but these are the Offensive/Defensive ranks for his teams there:

2008-09: Off 2nd; Def 26th
2009-10: Off: 1st; Def 23rd
2010-11: Off: 9th; Def 25th
2011-12: Off: 9th; Def 24th
2012-13: Off: 29th; Def 23rd

which is straight chip off the old block stuff for a Sacramento Kings coach. Our own Defensive Rankings those years were: 30th (Theus/Natt), 20th (Westphal), 20th (Westphal), 29th (Smart), 29th (Smart). Which suggests to me that Paul Westphal might be a better defensive corrdinator.

before that he was in Clipperland where it was:
2000-01: Off: 18th; Def: 19th
2001-02: Off: 11th; Def: 19th
2002-03: Off: 22nd; Def: 25th

That was just after the one year with Pop in 1999-2000.

Now I had forgotten that his first Pistons team he coached in the late 90s actually had a Top 10 (9th) Def Rating in his first year there, before falling off to 21st. But you are suggesting hiring a defensive coordinator who's teams haven't been any good at defense for 15 years at least. What you are actually suggesting is that we hire a major assistant handholder for Malone, who could even threaten to take over his job if he stumbles, and who's own teams have always excelled more on offense than defense. This would be closer to an offensive assistant hire than a defensive one. A PDA hire.
 
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Maybe Gentry is being considered to coach offense. Malone is supposed to be the Defensive Guru.

IMO Gentry is the well seasoned guy who can add perspective in the coaches meetings.
 
King Baller said:
Maybe Gentry is being considered to coach offense. Malone is supposed to be the Defensive Guru.

IMO Gentry is the well seasoned guy who can add perspective in the coaches meetings.
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entirely possible. A number of people around here noted how unoriginal our offense was, and we finished last in the league in assists.

BUT:

1) that is obviously not an endorsement of Malone. And typically when you make such moves to "help" the head coach its not entirely his idea, and he can feel threatened.

2) Malone is Vivek's boy, or was, but it would put into place a mechanism after only 1yr to remove him if we struggled again and replace him with the convenient experienced head coach just already on the team. Which by the way could well be disaster because Malone is also Cousins' boy.

3) the style of offense Gentry has run in the last decade centers around personnel (i.e. Steve Nash) that we do not have, even remotely. And he has no experience that I can recall ever working with a dominant big man. Unless you count Amare and want Boogie turned into a faceup and pick and roll player.


There is still a fight for this team's soul going on. As a franchise we are pathetic. Were I not here as a Kings fan we might be my #1 laughingstock in the entire league. Defenseless wusses for a decade straight. I'd tell my guys to flat kick sand in our faces and take our lunch money. Hiring an offensive minded run n gun experienced coach to "assist" your young defense minded coach, after a year in which you traded away every bit of defensive personnel on the roster is a step away from the culture we need to instill.
 
Bricklayer said:
2) Malone is Vivek's boy, or was, but it would put into place a mechanism after only 1yr to remove him if we struggled again and replace him with the convenient experienced head coach just already on the team. Which by the way could well be disaster because Malone is also Cousins' boy.
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Shades of Coach Smart replacing Westphal, egads!
 
I think there may be a bit of over reacting here to a job interview. We don't know who else management may either be talking to or plan to talk to. I really want to see us embrace Malone's defense mantra, but I do fear that there is a huge disconnect between Malone's coaching philosophy and PDA's recruiting.
 
macadocious said:
Malone answered it in a post season interview. He basically said his dad just didn't have it in him anymore and his dad made the decision for himself. He said as a son he understood, as a head coach he was pissed.
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Interesting, now that the elder Malone may be joining SVG as an assistant in Detroit?

Link here
 
LPKingsFan said:
Interesting, now that the elder Malone may be joining SVG as an assistant in Detroit?

Link here
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Holy cow! Perhaps he's just another one of those old bears who thinks he's ready to retire and then is ready to come back to the job the second he walked away. Still, pretty slap in the face to the Kings and his son, if true
 
Looks like the Warriors have hired Gentry. Maybe not a huge loss for the Kings to miss out on him, but it somewhat stings to see another figure spurn Sacramento for what used to be the "little brother" team down the road...
 
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