[Game] [GAME] Kings vs Knicks 12/31/11

If this trend keeps up, Paul is probably gone after this stretch of road games. We already brought in Smart as an assistant and Westphal's on the last year of his contract anyways

If we lose all the away games, it would be a crime if he stayed. That's the perfect time to switch.
 
Why do we not have the time?

The coach will be gone, the players will be gone before we can wait years. The Lakers don't count anyways because they always have so much talent that their down years are 35wins and then they are back in the playoffs next year. But we are about 6 years into a rebuid here, this is the third since we seemed to turn the corner, and if its not working no way the Maloofs have patience with the Arco crowd doing its best Philly imitation. We're clearly getting the very least out of our talent, so there is no way we have the patience to wait for years for it to percolate.
 
Why do we not have the time?

Probably because of expiring contracts in a couple years. And players don't exactly want to stick with a losing product. We were lucky when C-Webb stayed when his contract expired because "he felt at home" due to team chemistry and they'd started making the playoffs. We won't get that lucky if we keep getting hammered.
 
The coach will be gone, the players will be gone before we can wait years. The Lakers don't count anyways because they always have so much talent that their down years are 35wins and then they are back in the playoffs next year. But we are about 6 years into a rebuid here, this is the third since we seemed to turn the corner, and if its not working no way the Maloofs have patience with the Arco crowd doing its best Philly imitation. We're clearly getting the very least out of our talent, so there is no way we have the patience to wait for years for it to percolate.


Also, fair point, but the Maloofs really have no right to "lose patience" with the Arco crowd. They had every right to boo the ****ty performance, and if you are a bunch of cheapskates, you can't really expect much else.
 
As much as i dislike Westphals coaching .. I'm not sure firing him will do us any good right now.

In my opinion, we need a new guy. A new coach players will feel motivated to play for .. where everyone gets a clean slate/ open competition for each spot. Keith Smart (who may be better than Westphal) is still too close to this team IMO. I don't want the players to be 'comfortable' with whoever we bring in ... I hope that makes sense.

Firing Westphal so soon may do more harm then good. I mean, seriously .. firing a coach a week or so into the season? That would just look horrible on this organization. We'd get killed by the idiots at ESPN .. the players hear that stuff, they then think the team is a joke and front office is a mess and stop caring... just too many variables for me.

I don't believe in Westphal, but as bad as the team was last season they played pretty damn hard for him in those last 20 or so games. I'm not ready to pull the plug on this season yet, and I think thats what your doing if you fire him this early.
 
Yep, right where they were last year too.

One difference is at least the pick and roll is guardable now to an extent.

So we were still at the bottom once the team figured out that we should exploit our size with dally and cousins? Don't keep trotting out the same year total stat when it's severly skewed by the rotation nonsense from much of the year.

And are you really arguing that we are now effectively guarding the pick and roll?
 
In my opinion, we need a new guy. A new coach players will feel motivated to play for .. where everyone gets a clean slate/ open competition for each spot. Keith Smart (who may be better than Westphal) is still too close to this team IMO. I don't want the players to be 'comfortable' with whoever we bring in ... I hope that makes sense.

Going to disagree here. Smart has only been with the players 3 weeks (dec 10th). He would be a clean slate/new voice.
 
If the Kings struggle against the NO Hornets tomorrow, I would have to vote for a pre-panic button press. They just got dominated by the Suns, 98-73. If they can't compete against the likes of Okafor and Landry, there needs to be something different done.
 
As much as i dislike Westphals coaching .. I'm not sure firing him will do us any good right now.

In my opinion, we need a new guy. A new coach players will feel motivated to play for .. where everyone gets a clean slate/ open competition for each spot. Keith Smart (who may be better than Westphal) is still too close to this team IMO. I don't want the players to be 'comfortable' with whoever we bring in ... I hope that makes sense.

Firing Westphal so soon may do more harm then good. I mean, seriously .. firing a coach a week or so into the season? That would just look horrible on this organization. We'd get killed by the idiots at ESPN .. the players hear that stuff, they then think the team is a joke and front office is a mess and stop caring... just too many variables for me.

I don't believe in Westphal, but as bad as the team was last season they played pretty damn hard for him in those last 20 or so games. I'm not ready to pull the plug on this season yet, and I think thats what your doing if you fire him this early.

Gotta disagree Massy. If your going to make a change, then make it sooner rather than later when it won't make any difference. Right now, and for a bit longer, the season can be saved. Wait until the halfway mark, and its too late. Westphal should have been fired last season, and probably would have if the Maloofs were still loaded with money. I doubt they wanted to pay him, and another head coach this season. They have to pay Smart one way or the other, and he did a nice job at Golden State last season. Personally I'd fire him right now, but that would look bad. I'd give him tomorrow and the road trip, and see how it shakes out.

As a head coach you have to sell the players on your system. Most players will buy in for a period of time. But there does reach a time when you start to lose the team. Your words just go in one ear and out the other. The players tune you out. That could well be happening on this team.
 
Gotta disagree Massy. If your going to make a change, then make it sooner rather than later when it won't make any difference. Right now, and for a bit longer, the season can be saved. Wait until the halfway mark, and its too late. Westphal should have been fired last season, and probably would have if the Maloofs were still loaded with money. I doubt they wanted to pay him, and another head coach this season. They have to pay Smart one way or the other, and he did a nice job at Golden State last season. Personally I'd fire him right now, but that would look bad. I'd give him tomorrow and the road trip, and see how it shakes out.

As a head coach you have to sell the players on your system. Most players will buy in for a period of time. But there does reach a time when you start to lose the team. Your words just go in one ear and out the other. The players tune you out. That could well be happening on this team.

I understand your point here, and believe me I WANT a new coach... but I just don't know if you do it this soon.

At what point do the players feel like they have 'won' if Westphal is fired? Would that just enable Cousins to keep up his act and if he doesn't like the next guy he can just run him out of town too?

I would have let him go before the year started. Firing him now makes us look really dumb. And we are really dumb! but I don't want everyone knowing it.

If it happens I doubt I will criticize it, because he certainly has done enough to lose his job. But I do have some doubt that it will actually improve the team, and if it doesn't improve the team then there is no point to doing it.
 
What kind of coach would Keith Smart be? Would it be smallball the Kings would go to? (UNLIKE NOW THEY ASK!) I mean constant smallball. Like Evans starting at the 3.
 
What kind of coach would Keith Smart be? Would it be smallball the Kings would go to? (UNLIKE NOW THEY ASK!) I mean constant smallball. Like Evans starting at the 3.

I'm not too big on the Keith Smart idea unless westphal is really that bad. Smart's record as a head coach is 45 and 77. He was 46 and 36 with the Warriors with a similar level of talent to what the Kings have. Not exactly anything to get excited over. Now if they could bring in Jeff van Gundy, that might be something I could get behind.
 
Even two days ago I was not on the fire Westphal bandwagon and did not think that the Maloofs would fire him this season. But these last two outings have been atrocious. The team is obviously frustrated and lost. If things don't turn around quickly, I think we are going to see a coaching change. As bad as things were last season, at least the team was competitive.
 
Actually we weren't competitive but at least we were passing even if it did make turnovers 1/2 the time. We became a competitive team after rotations solidified and Thornton came in late in the season. We were asking the same questions last year what kind of offense are we running. Has the coach lost the players. Do the players trust their team mates do the players trust the system the coach and so on. I think keeping this coach not only this year but last year is hurting our development as a team in every player.
 
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