In addition to the bleak outlook for this team, article also makes the case well for Joerger. The ability to completely change his philosophy and implement a successful system based on the roster handed to him is the sign of a great coach. Hope he finds a good home the way Malone did.
Yes, Joeger ran the hell out of the team in his 3rd year, which did have some good success early in the season. But people seem to forget the second half of the year, when the Kings fell apart in the 2nd half. A quick nosedive to the finish line.
Also, not to mention that Joeger took his first two years trying to "teach" this team to play in a slow down, half court offense and we all saw the team sputter. During the first 2 years, he played "slow down bball" and ZBo was the MVP of his 2nd season as coach. People seem to give Joeger a pass now for his "slow down" play and the team looked bad doing it too.
IMHO, running the heck and pace is great fun to watch and I would say it's the easiest way to make a coach look good. You push the tempo and score a lot of points. But, over time of a full season, those legs start to get heavy and that frantic pace is not sustainable through the playoffs. You need to be able to slow it down and have a good half court offense to reach the playoffs and make an impact.
BTW, Walton won more games than both Malone and Joeger in their first season, and they both had an All-NBA Center star in DMC in his prime. Walton also eclipsed Joeger's win total in year 2. And Walton did it in 10 less games than both Malone and Joeger.
I'm not saying that Walton will all of the sudden become Pat Riley or Poppovich, but I'm open to giving him one more year to implement his game plan. He may be trying to teach this team a new offense now, because the playoffs become a half court game.
I'm open to giving Walton one more season to implement his game plan and see if we see improvement. Before the lock down, the Kings went 13-7 and were looking pretty darn good. If there were no lockdown, the Kings would had been the mix for the 8th seed and he would had gotten close to the 39 wins Joeger got last year. You can't always judge a coach on the first year taking over a team. Giving him one more year gives the players some stability and familiarity. If he falters next year, then by all means, find a new coach. But, some patience may pay off in the end.