Kings relieve Paul Westphal of coaching duties

Revrag

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, January 5, 2012

KINGS RELIEVE PAUL WESTPHAL OF COACHING DUTIES
SACRAMENTO, CA ---- The Sacramento Kings today relieved Paul Westphal of his head coaching duties, according to President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Current Kings’ assistant coach Keith Smart will serve as head coach in tonight’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I want to thank Paul for all of his effort on behalf of the Kings,” said Petrie. “Unfortunately, the overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

In two-plus seasons as head coach of the Kings, Westphal amassed a record of 51-120.

“I would like to thank the Maloof family for the incredible opportunity they gave me to participate in the attempt to bring the Sacramento Kings back to prominence,” said Westphal. “While the job is far from finished, I am proud of the strides we were able to make.

“Geoff Petrie and his staff have been nothing but honest and supportive throughout my time here. They are first class in every way and I wish them nothing but success. My hope is to see the fans of the Kings and the city of Sacramento rewarded with many years of great basketball.

“Finally, I want to thank my loyal staff and players for their efforts in attempting to climb out of the hole we shared. Nothing comes easy in the NBA and I know they will not rest in their efforts to rebuild this team.”
 
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What can we expect from Smart? I know he coached GS last year with 10 game improvement. Other than that don't know too much about him. Who was he mentored by? What sort of system might we see?
 
Great decisive move by Petrie and (maybe) the Maloofs, shows why he's one of the top in the business. It was definitely time for a change.
 
It almost seems like PW's statement has been prepared for weeks. He sounds like he's happy to be out of this mess!
 
What a coincidence that they just happen to have a head coach serving as an assistant that was recently hired before the season. Think the players picked up on this before many fans did?
 
Apparently, players "forgetting their confidence" and "not remembering their confidence" wasn't a good enough of an excuse for Petrie when the team returned last night.
 
Yeah, this just had to be. It really was just like the Theus situation. You can tell when a team has quit on a coach.

Now a great weight has been lifted, and early enouhg in the season that it can still be salvaged. But its going to be up the players to put up or shutup now.
 
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