Heirs to the throne?

Rockmeister

Rockmeister

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Heirs to the throne?
Kings consider their options for a new head coach
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer

http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/158962.html

Last Updated 1:01 am PDT Saturday, April 21, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1

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Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie must hire a new coach for the second time in as many years after firing Eric Musselman on Friday. Sacramento Bee/José Luis Villegas

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At least the firings have been predictable.

Rick Adelman was left to twist all of 2005-06, after it was learned the Kings tried to replace him with Phil Jackson before the season and then refused to consider a midseason contract extension.

Friday's dismissal of Eric Musselman and his chafing personality could be seen from months away.

It's the hiring process that gets tricky.

If last summer was challenging enough -- only three candidates were interviewed, and Musselman was the only one with NBA head-coaching experience -- this offseason brings the additional burden that little has changed in the 49 weeks since the Kings last went through this with few apparent options.

There are no new ideal candidates and no new candidates of any kind without obvious drawbacks. There will be many young candidates who might have the desired motivating energy but lack experience while responsible for steering a roster in a difficult transition.

The options the Kings do have will come from several fronts.

The college crowd

• Tim Floyd, USC. His 90-231 record in the NBA is an obvious red flag, but that was with the Bulls -- immediately after the departure of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen -- and the Hornets. Floyd has always been highly regarded as a teacher and strategist, and his stock has risen after returning to college coaching and helping build an encouraging future at a former basketball stepchild.

• Lon Kruger, UNLV. Speculation continues that the former Hawks coach is looking for a new opportunity -- whether in college or the NBA -- and it doesn't hurt that the Runnin' Rebels just had a very good showing.

• Reggie Theus, New Mexico State. The ex-King might be the popular fan choice, especially after taking the Aggies from 16-14 in his first season to the NCAA Tournament last season.

The assistants

• Scott Brooks, Kings. Held in high regard personally and professionally by many in the league, he has four seasons on NBA benches.

• Marc Iavaroni, Suns. It's a race to get him. This summer's Hot Coaching Prospect also might be the top choice in Memphis and, if the Raptors and incumbent Sam Mitchell don't reach a new agreement, in Toronto.

• Kurt Rambis, Lakers. A good mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm that connects well with players. A Northern California native who briefly played for the Kings, he would be popular with a fan base eager to embrace a coach.

The old guard

• Del Harris. The 69-year-old Mavericks assistant has a track record as a successful teacher and head coach.

• Rudy Tomjanovich. The dark horse. After he quit as the Lakers' coach because of physical problems during the 2004-05 season, the 58-year-old's desire to return to the rigors is more the question than anything.

Meanwhile

• Billy Donovan? The Florida coach wasn't interested in the job when approached a year ago. He's bigger now, and the Kings are worse. If Donovan and his star power are moving to the NBA, it's for a more direct path to success (the Grizzlies if they get Greg Oden to go with Pau Gasól, Mike Miller and Rudy Gay) and for a contract that would surpass most proven peers.

• Larry Brown? Intriguing because Brown is great at pushing a team up a hill, and he loves the teaching that would go with a Kings youth movement. But he is high maintenance to historical proportions, and that won't play in this front office, especially after just living with Musselman and his insistence on magnifying little matters into issues. Besides, hiring Brown would mean another coaching search in a couple of seasons and, again, big money.

• Rick Adelman? Not a real, real strong likelihood.

The risks are compounded in that the Kings can't afford to miss again. Although many teams make hiring mistakes, back-to-back mistakes can cause long-term instability.

Additionally, the 2006-07 club likely would have slid backward anyway amid injuries and the dysfunction beyond the coach. Still, some forward arc into playoff contention will be expected within two or three years.

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About the writer:

 
no rick just played too smart, something that is frowned upon, we needed more random substitutions and less plays. A winning team :) .
 
say all the crap you want about musselman, but he is tied for second best win percentage in the sacramento era. not too shabby :p
 
rhythmless said:
say all the crap you want about musselman, but he is tied for second best win percentage in the sacramento era. not too shabby :p
Click to expand...

I know, what the hell is this damn franchise coming to? :mad:


I mean it used to be that a .402 win% would get you 5 years at least, but look at us now -- just spoiled. :p
 
SkinnerBox said:
I dunno, but half of this board wanted him gone as well. No one ever eats as much crow as I want them to.
Click to expand...

No crow being eaten here...

Why don't we go back and compare the players we had during the Adelman years as opposed to the other years.

Talent + a good coach equals wins

Minimal Talent + a good coach equals bad seasons.

No Talent + Bad coaching equals horrible seasons.
 
You don't have to go that far back - just look at this year's roster vs. last year's roster. Are you telling me that Bonzi Wells was the difference between a 4-2 series vs. the Spurs and a lottery team?

We're not saying that Adelman is a hall-of-famer, but he knew how to handle the pieces he was given.
 
Ryle said:
No crow being eaten here...

Why don't we go back and compare the players we had during the Adelman years as opposed to the other years.

Talent + a good coach equals wins

Minimal Talent + a good coach equals bad seasons.

No Talent + Bad coaching equals horrible seasons.
Click to expand...
Not that simple....sorry.
 
a coach plays the hand that was dealt as good as he can. adelman did that. he looked at his shoot first point guard, his shoot last shooting guard, his shoot only small forward, etc, and he gave them plays and a mindset that worked.

we can sit here and speculate all day long (as we will), but who of the players that adelman coached wanted him gone? who publicly questioned him? these are the people who know the coach most, who are affected by the coach most... and he had them playing to the best of their collective ability the end of last year.

now look at whats been said about musselman by those SAME players. its telling, and its all that has to be said about each respective coach.
 
Heuge said:
Not that simple....sorry.
Click to expand...

Not sure if I get your point. I'm basically saying that the Adelman years were alot more succesful mainly because we had a far superior collection of talent than we have had in any of the other years.
 
Spike said:
We're not saying that Adelman is a hall-of-famer, but he knew how to handle the pieces he was given.
Click to expand...


Oh, don't kid yourself too much -- if Rick were to return to coaching he could easily end up winning over 1000 games in his career, which would put him right there.

There is no need to bend your knees and accomodate the Ryle's of the world on this topic. Rick Adelman was a damn good coach, and one of the most successful of his, or any other era. We hit a FT, backtap the ball in a different direction, Webb doesn't take that fatal step, we win that title, he's knocking on the door of the hall. He comes back and has another successful run with a third franchise, he's knocking on the door again. Not there yet, but in the entire history of the NBA there are less than a dozen coaches who have walked off the floor victorious more often than he has. That's pretty elite stuff.
 
Ryle said:
Not sure if I get your point. I'm basically saying that the Adelman years were alot more succesful mainly because we had a far superior collection of talent than we have had in any of the other years.
Click to expand...

I think what he and a lot of us believe is that our talent, while decent, became much better BECAUSE of Rick Adelman. And that, I know, is something you just don't subscribe to...
 
Ryle said:
Not sure if I get your point. I'm basically saying that the Adelman years were alot more succesful mainly because we had a far superior collection of talent than we have had in any of the other years.
Click to expand...


Its odd how often our great talents have never looked that great or that talented without Rick around.
 
Spike said:
You don't have to go that far back - just look at this year's roster vs. last year's roster. Are you telling me that Bonzi Wells was the difference between a 4-2 series vs. the Spurs and a lottery team?
Click to expand...

Um, yes????

Without Bonzi playing like he did we wouldn't have made it to the playoffs thus being in the Lottery.

On another point altogether.....without Bonzi last year we would have been swept by the Spurs(I know it doesn't make sense with the last comment above but I didn't want to compare the 2).

People just seem to forget what a mess this team was for the first almost half of last season. Bonzi comes back full-time on 03/03/06 against Atlanta and we finish the season 16-8.
 
Ryle said:
Um, yes????

Without Bonzi playing like he did we wouldn't have made it to the playoffs thus being in the Lottery.

On another point altogether.....without Bonzi last year we would have been swept by the Spurs(I know it doesn't make sense with the last comment above but I didn't want to compare the 2).

People just seem to forget what a mess this team was for the first almost half of last season. Bonzi comes back full-time on 03/03/06 against Atlanta and we finish the season 16-8.
Click to expand...

The turning point of the mess being the arrival of Ron Artest, not Bonzi's return. Bonzi obviously was the key to the playoffs, and we were a better team with him. But Rick already had us winning without him.

And which coach, by the way, managed to get both Ron Artest and Bonzi Wells, two of the league's great malcontents, playing well and together to carry a team into the playoffs? Again odd how that works. I'm sure all the other vastly more qualified coaches around the league were calling their GMs to complain about how lucky Rick was to have talent like Ron and Bonzi on his roster.
 
Ryle said:
People just seem to forget what a mess this team was for the first almost half of last season. Bonzi comes back full-time on 03/03/06 against Atlanta and we finish the season 16-8.
Click to expand...

that's a little disingenuous; the first half of the season was a quagmire coming from the peja-mike-brad triumvirate. bonzi was in there up until about mid-december, being his usual productive self, and the kings were already in a 10-15 funk.

the turnaround is typically attributed to artest coming to town, not to bonzi coming back.
 
Bricklayer said:
Oh, don't kid yourself too much -- if Rick were to return to coaching he could easily end up winning over 1000 games in his career, which would put him right there.

There is no need to bend your knees and accomodate the Ryle's of the world on this topic. Rick Adelman was a damn good coach, and one of the most successful of his, or any other era. We hit a FT, backtap the ball in a different direction, Webb doesn't take that fatal step, we win that title, he's knocking on the door of the hall. He comes back and has another successful run with a third franchise, he's knocking on the door again. Not there yet, but in the entire history of the NBA there are less than a dozen coaches who have walked off the floor victorious more often than he has. That's pretty elite stuff.
Click to expand...

I give up.

It's all about the Coach and Coaches win or lose games regardless of the talent they are given.

I've never said Adelman was a bad coach contrary to everyones opinion. I just happen to think that the talent you are given to work with has alot more to do with how teams perform than the coach.
 
Ryle said:
I've never said Adelman was a bad coach contrary to everyones opinion. I just happen to think that the talent you are given to work with has alot more to do with how teams perform than the coach.
Click to expand...

i'm confused, our roster is nearly the same as last year's, except for two things: rick and bonzi. if you're saying that bonzi was such an immense talent that the coach's effect is nil, shouldn't jeff van gundy and the rockets be knocking on the finals' door with bonzi???
 
not fair. while i am with most of you in that i think adelman was very key to our winning, what bonzi did in houston amounted to little more than what potapenko did for us. you cant use bonzis year in houston whatsoever
 
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