Is It Time To Turn Over The Reins To Doug Christie?

#31
The funny thing about the Vlade hire is that the role it sounded like he was originally going to be hired for (peacemaker between warring front office/coaching factions and general team ambassador) actually made a lot of sense for him. Then all of the sudden he was in charge of basketball operations. So odd.
I never believed that story. I think most of us understood that Pete was on his way out and Vlade would take over the job
 
#32
When was the last time the Kings did a proper search for a HC? They have generally taken a guy who was a retread or just suddenly became available.
Right now, Bobby Jackson & Kenny Atkinson would be at the top of my list ( DC needs to pay his dues IMO). I know there are some other top young assistant coaches that should be looked at as well. Theyneed todo their due diligence.
The question is who is out there? Coaching hires are basically a bunch of names that have either floated around because of connections or because they once had success somewhere. To me, with there the Kings are at now, hiring an high upside guy with connections to the players you have and apparently want to build around, right or wrong, is an easy process. Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie are the only ones currently in the ball park.
 
#33
You don't hire a Doug Christie and allow an interim tag to cripple him unless you are stupid, which, yeah Kangz. The common sense thing was to give Bobby the chair and let DC be his assistant. That said, Doug is already a better fit for a young teams needs right now. Giving him the last part of the season to get some chemistry and experience was probably his only shot. Now, he'll have to compete with the expectations of getting a "name" this summer. DC being where he's at could have been given the big chair with the idea that if they did hire someone else he goes back to being an assistant. He wouldn't mind it and he can fit on ANY coaching staff. Glue guys are glue guys in life period and can blend into any situation.

The Gentry move was a year too late. You make that move when you have shot to get into the play in last year, see how he does and then work in the summer to build. Monte has managed to literally waste 2 offseasons now.
A likely scenario, if they do go out and find a new head coach in the offseason, is that they will insist that Christie is the lead assistant. Once again, the guy in charge won't have the chance to choose his staff in full.
 
#34
No. Stop the amateur hour. This is the thinking that got overwhelming support for the Vlade hire, and look where that got us.
And he we are. Looking at Vlade like he might not have been so bad as Monte McNair sits and waits to oblivion. Gravitas means something when time is ticking.
 
#35
A likely scenario, if they do go out and find a new head coach in the offseason, is that they will insist that Christie is the lead assistant. Once again, the guy in charge won't have the chance to choose his staff in full.
Which is another ugly situation. The Kings continuously try to close gaps on other people against their will. I wouldn't be surprised if they go after a name coach they give them full autonomy. And they should if it's a "name" coach. And that might mean all your assistants go this time. If they would have given Karl full automony even though it would have meant Cuz goes out even earlier, they very well could have made the playoffs at some point earlier as well. Without a Cuz level talent they weren't going much higher than that but in the end, they sucked anyway. It's riding the middle of the road that makes perpetually bad franchises bad.
 
#36
Which is another ugly situation. The Kings continuously try to close gaps on other people against their will. I wouldn't be surprised if they go after a name coach they give them full autonomy. And they should if it's a "name" coach. And that might mean all your assistants go this time. If they would have given Karl full automony even though it would have meant Cuz goes out even earlier, they very well could have made the playoffs at some point earlier as well. Without a Cuz level talent they weren't going much higher than that but in the end, they sucked anyway. It's riding the middle of the road that makes perpetually bad franchises bad.
The more I think of this, the more Christie is in an odd spot, whichever way it goes
 
#37
The more I think of this, the more Christie is in an odd spot, whichever way it goes
It is odd. The Kings and Vivek specifically are odd. That said, DC is a glue guy, even a name coach would have to look at him and be like, "Heck yeah, he's a soldier." And he is. Most guys I'd have bigger doubts about but even if this does get odd, Doug has a history being that too, hehe.
 
#40
Eh, this is ALMKST an equally bad mentality to “JUST HIRE GOLDEN AGE DUDES!”

You cant deny he’s shown something as a coaching prospect. I think it’s too early to hand the reigns over, but to just shoehorn him as nothing more than 02 nostalgia (SUP VLADE!) is silly.
Yes I'm sure everyone would be clamouring for him to take over if he had no attachment to the team and he showed what he showed in the 2 or 3 games he had. (not a lot)
 
#41
Yes I'm sure everyone would be clamouring for him to take over if he had no attachment to the team and he showed what he showed in the 2 or 3 games he had. (not a lot)
It wasn't just that though, in his short time as an announcer he was a voice of reason. He clearly saw what was going down and at various points gave no F's about pointing it out. He's already got the hard part figured out that apparently no other highly paid coach has figured out considering they've still not addressed any of it. That said, Bobby has paid his dues and this summer was the only coach that seemed to make sense of a roster. He tried Waltons scheme, ditched it, won games, went back to it in the title game, got blown out in the first quarter, then went back to what he was doing, won the summer league. The bigger travesty would be not giving them a shot because of a reason like that. Not the other way around. But if they didn't, well, Kangz gonna Kangz. Right area but always missing the mark somehow, someway.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#45
And he we are. Looking at Vlade like he might not have been so bad as Monte McNair sits and waits to oblivion. Gravitas means something when time is ticking.
Lol.

I will NEVER look at Vlade as "not so bad".

Not making a move will always be better than making the worst move possible every friggin time like Vlade did. Between the Philly trade, drafting a bust at 2 with Luka on the table, and crushing any youth development with the Luke Walton hiring, Vlade set this team back 5-10 years with his awesome GM activity, which was all very much "win now", I might add.

Yes we should have traded vets last season to tank. Yes we should have fired Luke. But I don't think McNair had the green light for any of that. So are we gonna really just going to blame the puppet and ignore the goofball pulling all the strings since he bought the team?

I'm indifferent to McNair, just like I'll be indifferent to the next guy. The team will never be good while Vivek "Fight for 10th" Ranadive is the owner.
 
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#47
If we hire Doug as head coach, I’d probably stop watching the NBA all together.

Someone might compare Kerr, but Kerr worked for the Suns’ FO for 6 years, serving 3 years as GM before he went back into broadcasting.
 
#48
Oh, so you want Vlade back?! LOL
I want the aggressiveness for sure. The not willing to sit and fester. When Vlade goofed and signed guys like Dedmon he got out of it ASAP. He didn't wait until another Jason Thompson happened. That's what this team needs more than ever if they aren't willing to rebuild.
 
#49
Lol.

I will NEVER look at Vlade as "not so bad".

Not making a move will always be better than making the worst move possible every friggin time like Vlade did. Between the Philly trade, drafting a bust at 2 with Luka on the table, and crushing any youth development with the Luke Walton hiring, Vlade set this team back 5-10 years with his awesome GM activity, which was all very much "win now", I might add.

Yes we should have traded vets last season to tank. Yes we should have fired Luke. But I don't think McNair had the green light for any of that. So are we gonna really just going to blame the puppet and ignore the goofball pulling all the strings since he bought the team?

I'm indifferent to McNair, just like I'll be indifferent to the next guy. The team will never be good while Vivek "Fight for 10th" Ranadive is the owner.
Drafting aside, and we'll re-visit Mitchell at a later date, Vlade was always quick to damage control. Monte decided to run back the team under the same fail of a coach Vlade picked. We know how bad that mentality can be. And if McNair had no "green light" then he is a face, nothing more. He's a shield for Dumars. Nothing more. He's a messenger and he'll soon realize the meaning of that classic quote.
 
#50
Drafting aside, and we'll re-visit Mitchell at a later date, Vlade was always quick to damage control. Monte decided to run back the team under the same fail of a coach Vlade picked. We know how bad that mentality can be. And if McNair had no "green light" then he is a face, nothing more. He's a shield for Dumars. Nothing more. He's a messenger and he'll soon realize the meaning of that classic quote.
Let me help you with what really is going on here in the hope that you make fewer mistakes in the future.
1. Monte would not let go of Luke until Vivek decided to let Luke go during this season. (The decision was made by Vivek and not by Monte).
2. Gentry's new contract, upon taking over-post Luke- provides Gentry with the option to remain as Kings coach for the next year(s)-should the Kings make it into the playoffs. Thus, Gentry can't readily be replaced by Doug Christie during the remainder of this season.
3. Therefore this is kind of a wasted thread.
 
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#51
Let me help you with what really is going on here in the hope that you make fewer mistakes in the future.
1. Monte would not let go of Luke until Vivek decided to let Luke go during this season. (The decision was made by Vivek and not by Monte).
2. Gentry's new contract, upon taking over-post Luke- provides Gentry with the option to remain as Kings coach for the next year(s)-should the Kings make it into the playoffs. Thus, Gentry can't readily be replaced by Doug Christie during the remainder of this year.
3. Therefore this is kind of a wasted thread.
And on the surface these are all things previously discussed so we shall see, but otherwise he's a face. Nothing more. He takes the blame until these things become a fact. And the sucky thing for him is even if they are proven, he still takes the blame haha.
 
#52
And on the surface these are all things previously discussed so we shall see, but otherwise he's a face. Nothing more. He takes the blame until these things become a fact. And the sucky thing for him is even if they are proven, he still takes the blame haha.
Yes, he is a face. With only 30 GM jobs in the NBA, the positions are coveted-especially for guys that have never been the GM before. So if you get the GM job, certain non-published job descriptors are put in place. Like if the owner wants the Coach fired then you say things like "I made the decision."

However, we all should know that we need to read between the lines, realizing of course, the owner makes the call. If the owners says, we must get to the play-in this year, then you try to implement such a plan-even though you know that the team will be mired forever more in mediocrity...or in the Kings case, even less.

And if you don't get to the play in, you shuffle the blame at the easiest target-The Coach.
What's hard for me to understand here, with so many different head coaches the Kings have had, we are still losers and fans regularly blame the coach.

Secret, it's not the Coach.

Could John Wooden have done it without Jabbar, Walton, Goodrich, Wilkes. The Spurs-without the all-stars Robinson, Duncan, or the Jazz without Stockton and Malone. Kerr and even Luke without Green, Steph, Klay.

I suspect that Christie will be the next coach of the Kings. He will be looking for a shot, so he will be cheap. However, the results will be the same. He will do for a young re-building tanking team as a motivator and good guy. However, Doug too will go the way of Vlade.
 
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#53
Yes, he is a face. With only 30 GM jobs in the NBA, the positions are coveted-especially for guys that have never been the GM before. So if you get the GM job, certain non-published job descriptors are put in place. Like if the owner wants the Coach fired then you say things like "I made the decision."

However, we all should know that we need to read between the lines, realizing of course, the owner makes the call. If the owners says, we must get to the play-in this year, then you try to implement such a plan-even though you know that the team will be mired forever more in mediocrity...or in the Kings case, even less.

And if you don't get to the play in, you shuffle the blame at the easiest target-The Coach.
What's hard for me to understand here, with so many different head coaches the Kings have had, we are still losers and fans regularly blame the coach.

Secret, it's not the Coach.

Could John Wooden have done it without Jabbar, Walton, Goodrich, Wilkes. The Spurs-without the all-stars Robinson, Duncan, or the Jazz without Stockton and Malone. Kerr and even Luke without Green, Steph, Klay.

I suspect that Christie will be the next coach of the Kings. He will be looking for a shot, so he will be cheap. However, the results will be the same. He will do for a young re-building tanking team as a motivator and good guy. However, Doug too will go the way of Vlade.
But according to Vivek he's been giving the GM the call. If not, then this is a sticky situation that if Monte had long term goals as a GM he should have ran away from. This is a toxic situation.

As for DC, to me, DC was a better call than Gentry for the very reason that Gentry at this point didn't represent change to these players and as soon as it was revealed that he was a LUKE hire, and not a potential out last year if and when Walton failed, and he did then too, you knew this was a bad sign. You can trick a situation sometimes if someone is seen as an outsider. The biggest issue with Vivek is he never clean sweeps. He always sweeps a little bit of the leftover garbage to the clean side. Vlade did that with Karl, Monte did it with Walton. It carries over. We've seen it twice already under the 2 GM replacements. History will guide you. Just follow that. Holdover coaches don't last, when players are mired in a toxic situation, do your best to at the very least create the illusion of a fresh start. Gentry wasn't that. Last year while heading to a play in was the time to make that call. It probably wouldn't have been a long term fix, I mean, look at the Hawks, but they showed the short term boost it can give you. Vivek came in talking about jazz, but my goodness, this dudes timing is his downfall. Ironic.
 
#54
I want the aggressiveness for sure. The not willing to sit and fester. When Vlade goofed and signed guys like Dedmon he got out of it ASAP. He didn't wait until another Jason Thompson happened. That's what this team needs more than ever if Vlade goofed a lot.

I better be careful as I do not want this to become another "I'm upset, so lets pick on Valde some more" thread.