Bee: Maloofs gush over Brooks (merge)

[PurpleHaze]

Last night on KCRA-TV news they had an interesting report that seemed to tie in the current Kings coach search and arena debate. It was based on a new report that said local politicians conspired if not outright lied to get last November's sales tax increase initiative on the ballot to build a new arena. They made it sound like the Maloof 's were now in a holding pattern in Sacramento because there's now no local political will to move the process forward on getting a new arena - at least with public funds. That meant the Maloof's saw any new coach as perhaps little more than a stand-in until things became more clear for their franchise. One city councilman interviewed said, it was useless to go after taxpayer money to build "them" an arena when "they" get all the income from it. The story also talked about Charlotte recently tearing down their old arena built 20 years ago, but not before losing the Hornets - then building a new one and getting the Bobcats.

 

[Kingzrool]

Clarification: This isn't a done deal...yet. There hasn't been a formal announcement. While I'm guessing it will be soon, we could all still be surprised.

I know there is a joke in there somewhere, but it probably wouldn't be funny.

 

[VF21]

Last night on KCRA-TV news they had an interesting report that seemed to tie in the current Kings coach search and arena debate. It was based on a new report that said local politicians conspired if not outright lied to get last November's sales tax increase initiative on the ballot to build a new arena. They made it sound like the Maloof 's were now in a holding pattern in Sacramento because there's now no local political will to move the process forward on getting a new arena - at least with public funds. That meant the Maloof's saw any new coach as perhaps little more than a stand-in until things became more clear for their franchise. One city councilman interviewed said, it was useless to go after taxpayer money to build "them" an arena when "they" get all the income from it. The story also talked about Charlotte recently tearing down their old arena built 20 years ago, but not before losing the Hornets - then building a new one and getting the Bobcats.

The report was about the preliminary grand jury finding that accused the city and county of several bad deeds they (the grand jury) could not substantiate. In fact, the report itself is now under a lot of protest with allegations it was being used as a political tool.

I honestly don't think the Maloofs are thinking about the arena deal in choosing a coach. They have to go on with their business in the NOW, not in the future.

KCRA was trying to find more of a story than currently exists, IMHO.

 

[PurpleHaze]

The report was about the preliminary grand jury finding that accused the city and county of several bad deeds they (the grand jury) could not substantiate. In fact, the report itself is now under a lot of protest with allegations it was being used as a political tool.

I honestly don't think the Maloofs are thinking about the arena deal in choosing a coach. They have to go on with their business in the NOW, not in the future.

KCRA was trying to find more of a story than currently exists, IMHO.

Yep, here it is but the actual broadcast portion was a bit more juicy.

http://www.kcra.com/news/11320350/detail.html

 

[VF21]

I watched the broadcast. I still think KCRA was trying to link two separate items together. The search for the coach really has nothing to do with the protests of the grand jury preliminary findings that are actually being debated in the Board of Supervisors today. The Supervisors are, I believe, in the process of drafting a response to the allegations in the grand jury report. Since one portion of the report did deal with the Kings, I think someone at KCRA thought there might be a connection. I honestly don't think it bears any fruit, however.

 

[kupman]

Could we all just take a deep breath? Seriously, people are bored and ideas are starting to run amuck. A link between the coaching hire and the arena?....gimme a break. We are all doomed as doomed can be if Brooks is the next head coach? The Maloofs are behind all things evil in land of Kings?

I know things are slow around here, but for the love of God, grab a hold of a reins and get control. Find a new hobby or something.

How does that saying go? - something about danger and idle hands.

 

[VF21]

Idle hands are the devil's tools?

 

[kupman]

Idle hands are the devil's tools?

Ah, yes. Stands to reason that one with your avatar would have the devilish answer.

 

[Bricklayer]

Brooks, and Petrie/Maloofs, have no rope on this one. None.

Brooks is either going to succeed or fail (and those words might have shifting definitions in the current environment), but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke. There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done. Which is not to say that there is enough evidence to definitively predict doom either. But when the first losing streak hits, the first locker room discord, whatever, there is simply no rope, no "oh he can handle it" assurance whatsoever.

So a leftover coach for a leftover team, and maybe this is the time when the potato salad bleeding over into the key lime pie overnight makes it taste better, not worse. But this is the sort of move that if it goes wrong, there are no excuses. You hire an obviously qualified guy, a guy in demand, you can say "well, how could we know?" You just give up after being spurned by your #1 choice and hire the local boy made good because he's been buttering up your GM...well, that's old Kings. Bad ole days Kings. All that's left is to hire Jerry Reynolds as the interim coach after Brooks gets canned and the circuit will be complete.

 

[KevinSalvadori]

Brooks, and Petrie/Maloofs, have no rope on this one. None.

Brooks is either going to succeed or fail (and those words might have shifting definitions in the current environment), but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke. There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done. Which is not to say that there is enough evidence to definitively predict doom either. But when the first losing streak hits, the first locker room discord, whatever, there is simply no rope, no "oh he can handle it" assurance whatsoever.

So a leftover coach for a leftover team, and maybe this is the time when the potato salad bleeding over into the key lime pie makes it taste better, not worse. But this is the sort of move that if it goes wrong, there are no excuses. You hire an obviously qualified guy, a guy in demand, you can say "well, how could we know?" You just give up after being spurned by your #1 choice and hire the local boy made good because he's been buttering up your GM...well, that's old Kings. Bad ole days Kings. All that's left is to hire Jerry Reynolds as the interim coach after Brooks gets canned and the circuit will be complete.

This old chestnut again, eh? No, you're wrong. The old Kings days would have been to get a coach on the downward slide of his career (Motta), invest too much in him, forgetting his reputation, and then helplessly turning to his assistant for rescue against a poor hire (Hughes replacing Motta, Jordan replacing St. Jean), or hiring a sexy name that fails miserably (Russell).

This would actually, possibly be one of the wisest coaching hires in the Kings Sacramento-era pantheon, to be honest...

 

[Kingster]

Brooks, and Petrie/Maloofs, have no rope on this one. None.

Brooks is either going to succeed or fail (and those words might have shifting definitions in the current environment), but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke. There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done. Which is not to say that there is enough evidence to definitively predict doom either. But when the first losing streak hits, the first locker room discord, whatever, there is simply no rope, no "oh he can handle it" assurance whatsoever.

So a leftover coach for a leftover team, and maybe this is the time when the potato salad bleeding over into the key lime pie makes it taste better, not worse. But this is the sort of move that if it goes wrong, there are no excuses. You hire an obviously qualified guy, a guy in demand, you can say "well, how could we know?" You just give up after being spurned by your #1 choice and hire the local boy made good because he's been buttering up your GM...well, that's old Kings. Bad ole days Kings. All that's left is to hire Jerry Reynolds as the interim coach after Brooks gets canned and the circuit will be complete.

Well, if there is one thing we can bank on for next year, it's got to be that there will be a losing streak. And, unless Petrie takes a scythe to this team and weeds out everybody who doesn't have great character, there's going to be at least some team discord. So how long should the rope be? 5'9"?

I think it's very important that the Maloofs get real and use their PR skills to dial down the near-term expectations for this team. Instead of Petrie saying that he's hopeful of a playoff berth, he needs to come out and say this process is going to take a while. What do you do when the short term looks bad? You paint a beautiful picture of the longer term - the beautiful green valley at the end of a bare desert trail. Otherwise, like I said before, the new coach is Dead Man Walking...

 

[BudWright]

I agree with Kumman.

"There is simply no rope."
"Potato salad bleeding."
"Bad ole day Kings."
"Its got to be there will be a losing streak."
"Like I said before, the new coach is Dead Man Walking."

Talk about drama--sounds just like a soap opera. Sure would be nice to see a few positive posts--and don't say there isn't anything positive about next year because we don't know who will even be on our team. Annie.

 

[VF21]

Brooks, and Petrie/Maloofs, have no rope on this one. None.

Brooks is either going to succeed or fail (and those words might have shifting definitions in the current environment), but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke. There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done. Which is not to say that there is enough evidence to definitively predict doom either. But when the first losing streak hits, the first locker room discord, whatever, there is simply no rope, no "oh he can handle it" assurance whatsoever.

Isn't that pretty much the case with any new coach, especially with a team as abysmal as the current Kings?

You may see this as bleak and depressing but IF our new coach is Scott Brooks I still don't have a problem for the simple reason there weren't a lot of better realistic alternatives out there.

So a leftover coach for a leftover team, and maybe this is the time when the potato salad bleeding over into the key lime pie overnight makes it taste better, not worse. But this is the sort of move that if it goes wrong, there are no excuses. You hire an obviously qualified guy, a guy in demand, you can say "well, how could we know?" You just give up after being spurned by your #1 choice and hire the local boy made good because he's been buttering up your GM...well, that's old Kings. Bad ole days Kings. All that's left is to hire Jerry Reynolds as the interim coach after Brooks gets canned and the circuit will be complete.

The guys in demand weren't that interested in the Kings. You think it's settling. I think it's being realistic that we were not in the running for the top candidates.

And this is NOTHING like the "bad ole days Kings." I was there for those days and this isn't anything like them.

Your disappointment is more than obvious. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm going to see the glass as at least still intact and capable of holding water.

 

[ParniValjak]

The maloofs might be so excited this time because petrie is running the show and they wont take the heat on this one. unless you bring up the fact that they still fired Rick A. with out a back up plan.

look petrie didnt waste anytime bringing brooks back asap. after SVG. SVG was his top choice and we were using Rambis to try and keep SVG honest(obviously before the Billy D. thing.) at that point Rambis and him had about the same background minus Rambis was a losing coach. Petrie was obviously shooting for SVG but Brooks might have been his sec choice all along.

Rambis wasn't exactly a losing coach. He has a winning percentage and even he is a better candidate than Brooks. Out of the bunch we interviewed, Brokks would have to be one of the least qualified there. It just smacks of nepotism to me.

 

[VF21]

Nepotism is showing favoritism (usually in government positions) by hiring relatives. Brooks isn't related to anyone in the Kings. Promoting from within is actually a pretty common technique in most businesses.

 

[nbrans]

Brooks, and Petrie/Maloofs, have no rope on this one. None.

Brooks is either going to succeed or fail (and those words might have shifting definitions in the current environment), but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke. There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done. Which is not to say that there is enough evidence to definitively predict doom either. But when the first losing streak hits, the first locker room discord, whatever, there is simply no rope, no "oh he can handle it" assurance whatsoever.

So a leftover coach for a leftover team, and maybe this is the time when the potato salad bleeding over into the key lime pie overnight makes it taste better, not worse. But this is the sort of move that if it goes wrong, there are no excuses. You hire an obviously qualified guy, a guy in demand, you can say "well, how could we know?" You just give up after being spurned by your #1 choice and hire the local boy made good because he's been buttering up your GM...well, that's old Kings. Bad ole days Kings. All that's left is to hire Jerry Reynolds as the interim coach after Brooks gets canned and the circuit will be complete.

Goodness me, this is a a little more dramatic than the situation warrants. I'm not sure how you can consider this an aimless search, much less a "joke." We had our #1 choice, he chose Orlando, Brooks looks like #2. This isn't casting about in the wilderness.

Brooks is indeed going to succeed or fail, but it's not as if we're competing for a championship here. Some forward progress would be nice, but it's going to be a long slog back to the top. Whether Brooks is the guy who gets us there or not will be apparent down the line, but it's not like the franchise hinges on his every move.

You still haven't named a guy who you would have hired in Brooks' place, and I'm guessing that's because you haven't more of a clue than they do.

 

[JoMama]

Just listened to Grant Napear's show opening segment. He said he'd be surprised if anything was announced before next week, then backtracked a bit and said, maybe Friday.
His radio show partner said the Kings should wait until after the NBA Finals to talk with PJ. He added that if they did that and then hired Brooks, they'd be seen as an organization that really scoured the NBA and decided Brooks was their guy.
That's the report from here...back to you KingsFans...

 

[Rockmeister]

Why is everyone thinking that PJ should be the next coach?

 

[Entity]

I am fine with Brooks, Porter, Carlisimo, Jeff van Gundy, Rick Carisle. what we really need is a some frontcourt help. I am alot more worried about that. If we don't get that Phil could be head coach and Pop his assistant and we still wouldn't make the playoffs.

 

[JoMama]

Why is everyone thinking that PJ should be the next coach?

Just guessing here, but because PJ has NBA head coaching experience, he was tough enough to survive Sprewell's choke hold and he's a key part of the San Antonio Spurs' ring machine.

 

[kupman]

but he's a nothing and a nobody and his hiring process was a joke.

.....and we thank you for your support. bartles and james

There is not a shred of reason to have any particular confidence in his ability to get this most elite job done.

Well, the guy doing the hiring has spent that last 12 months with him. Maybe he knows something that we do not.

How much time have you spent with Scottie?

 

[Spike]

You mean that same old mystery of what could be with Muss?

No, there were some pretty vocal people here when Muss was hired. He didn't have a good reputation, and other high profile coaches were passed over, including one who was extremely vocal in his desire to coach in Sacramento. Brooks isn't a bookworm - I'm getting a down n' dirty vibe, which is fine by me.

 

[Bricklayer]

And this is NOTHING like the "bad ole days Kings." I was there for those days and this isn't anything like them.

Your disappointment is more than obvious. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm going to see the glass as at least still intact and capable of holding water.

When have you ever not?

But I was there for the bad ole days too, and I have seen this act before.

Let me tell you a little story about a forgotten little team in Sacramento, CA. And in Yr 1 they struggle mightily but manage to make it all the way as the #8 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. And once there, they put a scare into the #1 seed, but still lose in the end. Then they come back the next year, and its a real struggle. Things are clearly falling apart, and then end up stumbing to a 34-48 record and of course miss the playoffs. But not badly enought to get a top pick, just enough to pick #11 (which in typiocal fashion they use to select a swingman). They fire the coach. Then Geoff Petrie, their "genius" GM, takes a shine to one of the assistant coaches. He has a "comfort level" with him. He thinks he could be "a young upcoming coach". Yr 3 rolls around. The young coach falls on his face, the wheels fall completely off, the franchise player revolts, the stands clear out, and by the end of the disaster of that season the owner decides he's had enough and leaves town. I should also mention the scoring leader is an OG, the #2 scorer a widebody SF and the frontline is choking on undersized tweeners and one scrawny little scrubby shotblocker.

This of course would be a description of what happened during the three year period between 1996-1998, with this same GM.

So please don't tell me this looks nothing like the bad ole days. I was there too. It looks alarmingly similar to the bad ole days. The only question is whether the result will be any different this time.

P.S. as for the Petrie apologists, let me just toss out this little factoid: Geoff Petrie has yet to produce a single winning team with any coach not named Rick Adelman. The two non-Rick Adelman coaches he has hired (I believe he inherited Gary St. Jean, although cannot be sure) were Eddie Jordan, who went 27-55 and got fired after one year, and Eric Musselman who went 34-48 and was fired after one year. An infallible record it is not.

 

[Elektrik]

Curious to hear why the people out there think that Brooks couldn't turn out to be the next Avery Johnson. I am not saying he will, and he could easily turn out to be the next Doc Rivers or Isiah Thomas instead..

.
...or Eric Mussleman.

 

[Venom]

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/217558.html


"I look at (Brooks), and I see a lot of Gavin and I. People have always underestimated our abilities throughout our lives, and we've overachieved. I see that in this guy."

Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people have underestimated their dad's money and George's business sense. Is this guy even serious? He thinks he's overachieved in life??? Hey Joe, go back to your stripper party and let us know when your little brother, George, gives you thumbs up on the Brooks hiring!

 

[Entity]

Just guessing here, but because PJ has NBA head coaching experience, he was tough enough to survive Sprewell's choke hold and he's a key part of the San Antonio Spurs' ring machine.

You may want to check out PJ's record as a head coach. I beleive he had more than twice as many losses as he did wins.

 

[JoMama]

One thing that amuses me are those pro-Brooks people who reason that he got along with the players. Hopefully the majority of those same players won't be on the roster next season - or we can toss in the towel right now.

 

[Entity]

Agreed on that.

 

[chelle]

Why is everyone thinking that PJ should be the next coach?

He is on my "Do Not Want" list.


As far as Brooks goes, I have no problem with him. If we are in a rebuilding mode, why not hire a newbie? I think that at this stage it is important that the new coach is a man that the players can respect, who knows what he is doing, and will experiment a little with the players on the bench.

The players, not just the Kings but the guys on his former teams as well, appear to respect him.

He has coached under at least one good coach for 3 seasons, has played in the NBA, and from all accounts has a pretty good handle on the game.

Last season when he filled in for Muss, he utililized the players differently than Muss in a way that made sense.

Given the candidates still available, he is no worse than the others. Why not give him a shot. If our only complaint is that he was here last year then we have a lot more positions to fill than just a coach.

 

[nbrans]

Amick: Is Brooks Kings Choice Or Not (also Yi Jianlian tidbit)

Is Brooks the Kings' choice or not?

And the search goes on.…
Just when I thought this thing was finally wrapping up, there is reason to believe the Maloofs aren’t as high on Scott Brooks as they led me to believe Monday in Las Vegas. Now based on our conversation, I find it hard to believe that something didn’t happen between then and now to sway their opinions. Heck, maybe they read some of the reader feedback to the story or the Internet chatter this morning, much of which was negative about the prospect of Brooks as the next Kings coach. Or maybe they still think there’s a candidate out there who can not only win games, but sell tickets with some style (Reggie Theus hopes that’s the case). All of a sudden, it’s all quiet again and the idea of other candidates being considered and/or re-interviewed seems likely. Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie is scheduled to be in Los Angeles on Wednesday to watch Chinese phenom Yi Jianlian in a draft workout.
-- Sam Amick

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/007317.html