Kings relieve Paul Westphal of coaching duties

Just listening to Smart in his interviews, i can tell he will gain respect form the players. He's got a strong demeanor.
 
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Just before the tip sunk in...
 
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.

We have no semblance of a team. We have a lot of mediocre scorers subbing as role players and we have incomplete young players trying to be the man. What's it say about Tyreke when a 2nd round castoff can come in the middle of a season and do better than you, and continue to do better than you? No assistant coach/marginal head coach is going to be able to fix this.

Firing PW had to be done, I agree, but only in a vacuum does all this celebration come into play. It's not like a relationship, where you are better off without them and do not need someone else immediately. In this case, the firing is only as good as the replacement.
 
I didn't call for his firing but it is done and I support it fully. Has anyone yet gathered the names of experienced coaches available to Petrie? I know lots of names have been thrown out but I can't name them - who is there for Petrie to approach?
 
Sam Amick just tweeted:
"Source says Kings vets Chuck Hayes and Francisco Garcia called a players-only meeting for 330 today because, well, there's no head coach."
 
Defense be handy too. We are 29th int eh league right now.

Just getting the offense to the point that not every other shot (or more) is missed and thus giving the other team the opportunity to run will go some ways towards fixing that. However, yes, even the set defense was pretty bad (not near as atrocious as transition though) and there basically has to be nearly a complete overhaul of everything.
 
if this team doesn't come out and play the games of their lives, or frankly give a ****, i will question the the will of our players, they apparently tanked for this to happen, well now you guys have your wish, its now on you guys to prove this was the right decision.
 
Sam Amick just tweeted:
"Source says Kings vets Chuck Hayes and Francisco Garcia called a players-only meeting for 330 today because, well, there's no head coach."

Well Smart is only stated to be the coach for tonight's game. Makes me wonder if they hired someone and that they will announce it after the game, or tomorrow.
 
"Relieved of his duties" is an interesting statement. Is that a hint to other coaches to stay away? This coaching job is a trap!
 
Well Smart is only stated to be the coach for tonight's game. Makes me wonder if they hired someone and that they will announce it after the game, or tomorrow.
No Smart is the interim coach. Amick tweeted after that he was being sarcastic about there being no coach.
 
If they want to look around for another coach now they should call Jerry Sloan, Jeff Van Gundy, and Larry Brown....in that order.
 
If they want to look around for another coach now they should call Jerry Sloan, Jeff Van Gundy, and Larry Brown....in that order.

It will be interesting to see what they are willing to spend on the coach now.

The way I see it, if they let Westfail finish the season, the team sucked and ticket sales dropped then the league could say you should have made a change. Don't blame the ticket sales on the fans.

Now that they have made the change what direction do they go stay with Smart or look for a coach now? My guess is we won't see another change till after the relocation deadline/Arena situation is settled.
 
Excellent. Thanks to Paul for trying his best, it's a shame for everyone that it wasn't good enough. I won't kick a man while he's down, so time to move on.


I don't expect a magical improvement. If Smart is going to implement a different offense then we're still lacking time. Also screwed if he stays with Westphal's offense. So either way it's going to be very difficult. It's up to the players to look like they actually give a s**t now, and make better decisions with the ball. Most of our guys haven't been doing either of those things so far.

DeMarcus better be starting tonight!
 
If Smart is the coach, I hope they don't name him "interim coach", or imply that he is just temporary. At least give the some leverage and say that they fully expect he will be the coach going forward. Period. Otherwise, he's going to be toast with this bunch before he even starts the job.
 


I like this guy. He seems to know what he's talking about and has a good demeanor. He actually talks about plays too!
 
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As a head coach looking in at this franchise you can see it as one of two things. The first being what everybody assumes is a train wreck that no sensible respected coach would attempt to fix. However I think you can look at it in a different way.... our team has a lot of talent and no system. If a coach can can come in and at least get these guys to show a little effort and implement some sort of offensive system other than 1 on 1 streetball, he'll be hailed as god. As long as the players don't revolt again this should be an incredibly easy task.... were talking highschool basics here. If you fail to improve the team then it becomes apparent that the team is the problem and not the coach, and you can walk away with a clean slate.
 
As a head coach looking in at this franchise you can see it as one of two things. The first being what everybody assumes is a train wreck that no sensible respected coach would attempt to fix. However I think you can look at it in a different way.... our team has a lot of talent and no system. If a coach can can come in and at least get these guys to show a little effort and implement some sort of offensive system other than 1 on 1 streetball, he'll be hailed as god. As long as the players don't revolt again this should be an incredibly easy task.... were talking highschool basics here. If you fail to improve the team then it becomes apparent that the team is the problem and not the coach, and you can walk away with a clean slate.

It's not going to take a lot to improve this team. Even an average coach who can install a functional offense, and get along with his players will suffice. yes even some basic HIGH SCHOOL offense will help this team.
 
I've had tickets to tonights game for a week now and almost didn't want to go after watching last night, now I cant wait to get there! Awesome move that should put some life back into us.
 
The timing of this is only going to feed Cousins' ego even more. I don't like this, this is really bad for Cousins' development.
 
If Smart is the coach, I hope they don't name him "interim coach", or imply that he is just temporary. At least give the some leverage and say that they fully expect he will be the coach going forward. Period. Otherwise, he's going to be toast with this bunch before he even starts the job.

Agreed. They just reported that he will in fact coach the team the remainder of the year.
 
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