Kings relieve Paul Westphal of coaching duties

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.

Exactly. The thing that makes our situation better this time around is that I believe Keith Smart is a legitimate NBA coach. Natt was not.
 
Smart will probably hang on for the rest of the season since he is on payroll. He's just an interim guy unless he can work some magic with these guys. Historically after the coach is fired and the players had been tuning him out, there is a dramatic bump in quality of play - short term. If the players had quit on Westphal, than that will hold true.
 
I have no other option, but I don't know that he can turn this around. I think the players we have are too selfish.
 
Smart will probably hang on for the rest of the season since he is on payroll. He's just an interim guy unless he can work some magic with these guys. Historically after the coach is fired and the players had been tuning him out, there is a dramatic bump in quality of play - short term. If the players had quit on Westphal, than that will hold true.

I have a feeling Smart will be our coach for years to come. I really liked him last year at GS. He has a good demeanor about him and the players respect him. If he can get the team playing well again I can see him getting a contract after this year.
 
I don't think Westphal deserves all the blame. I think Thornton, Evans and Cousins are very selfish. I think they are the problem.
 
PW wasn't the start nor the end of the problems with the team. And Keith Smart isn't the solution.

Unless they can replace him with a quality, reputable coach with a strong presence, it doesn't really matter.
 
Great news, but we still need a pure pass first point guard.
I miss Beno.
And no more excuses for Cousins. We should probably thank him for being immature this time. Shows this is a players league, and no matter how much of a baby he is, the dude pretty much got Westphal fired.
 
PW wasn't the start nor the end of the problems with the team. And Keith Smart isn't the solution.

Unless they can replace him with a quality, reputable coach with a strong presence, it doesn't really matter.

Disagree. Getting rid of Westphal does matter. Is Smart the answer? Remains to be seen, and probability is low, but I expect improvement in terms of effort and attitude. This team has a lot to learn, and clearly they were done being educated by PW.
 
The Bucks should be pretty worried right about now. First game under a new coach when the old one was so universally loathed by the team = strong performance, at least when said team actually has any talent.
 
Great news, but we still need a pure pass first point guard.
I miss Beno.
And no more excuses for Cousins. We should probably thank him for being immature this time. Shows this is a players league, and no matter how much of a baby he is, the dude pretty much got Westphal fired.

Not as much about Cousins as when the others jumped on board...
 
excuse-me-youre-fired.jpg
 
Great news, but we still need a pure pass first point guard.
I miss Beno.
And no more excuses for Cousins. We should probably thank him for being immature this time. Shows this is a players league, and no matter how much of a baby he is, the dude pretty much got Westphal fired.


That man got himself fired. He had 2 years to properly develop an offensive system and still hadn't. He obviously had no clue what he was doing. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
 
@sam_amick
Sam Amick
Per this tired routine, Kings GM Geoff Petrie spent recent days distancing himself from the coach in discussions with Maloofs and others.
 
Whether Smart will be here long-term or not, we know he had a couple years under Nellie so he probably knows a thing or two about designing a fluid passing offense, which is the biggest thing that this team needs and is lacking.
 
Interestingly the team's structure looks a bit like Golden State's last year under Smart: Ellis/Curry = Reke/Thornton, Cousins = Lee etc. The general parameters are there.
 
Whether Smart will be here long-term or not, we know he had a couple years under Nellie so he probably knows a thing or two about designing a fluid passing offense, which is the biggest thing that this team needs and is lacking.

Defense be handy too. We are 29th int eh league right now.
 
Whether Smart will be here long-term or not, we know he had a couple years under Nellie so he probably knows a thing or two about designing a fluid passing offense, which is the biggest thing that this team needs and is lacking.

Defense be handy too. We are 29th int eh league right now.
 
The team will still finish with under 30 wins... Some of the players have no veterans to tutor them.. overall basketball IQ on court is yet to be seen develop for some players over the past 3 years
 
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?

From his time with the Warriors, Smart tends to rely on veterans and distrusts young players. He went thru every big men scrubs on his roster from Rodmanovic to Jeff Adrien before it dawns on him that high lottery pick Epeke Udoh is on the team and ready. W fans think he kept Curry on a short leash while letting Monta get away with murder. They were also livid that he played ultra scrub Charlie Bell at the expense of Reggie Williams and his strange infatuation with playing Rodney Carney and Rodmanovic. Smart's rotation is a constant topic of complaints from the fans.

Most likely it was just a lame duck coach trying to accumulate as many wins as possible by leaning on the vets although it doesn't explain why Reggie Williams didn't see more floor time while Charlie Bell does. It wouldn't surprise me to see Smart do the similar with the Kings - a little bit of strange rotation and some players that you don't expect to play suddenly getting a lot of mins.

Warrior fans mostly attribute the win increase to the addition of David Lee and by and large were glad that Smart is gone. But, to be fair, Dorrell Wright strived under Smart and the coach seems to be cognizant of the balance a team full of shooters/scorers with rugged role players.

Is it official that Smart is taking over?
 
Last edited:
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?

I doubt if we will see anything different as far as as sytem goes. There is no practice time to insert anything new. I wonder if Boogie knew this somehow anf that's why the happy face tweet of yesterday. I wonder if he actually thought his input to GP was listened to and hence the firing.
 
Back
Top