Malone's firing - the poll

[ParniValjak]

You never do know about a person's character until you see them in moments like these. I would say that PDA can stick it where the sun don't shine, but alas, I'm afraid that space is already occupied by his little bald head.

Whether its doom or not depends on multiple factors yet to be determined, mostly whether the grand "plan" as articulated is brought to full fruition or not. And of course by Cuz's reaction -- you surely wouldn't be able to fire MY coach if I were your franchise player without major consequences. The slow rolling doom of this thing could play out in three years when we get to see how Minny fans felt during Lovegate, Orlando fans felt during Howardgate etc.

Now if the Thick Three were to board a fateful cruise for a three hour tour, and the tiny ship were to get tossed, of course its salvageable. Of course. Cuz is still here, the team is still here. You could snap, go hire George Karl, quit meddling, and things would probably work out fine. The problem is this was just the beginning. The opening salvo in the damage the nimwits want to inflict. The "doom" isn't Malone getting fired. The potential "doom" is the same it was during the Maloof years -- having idiots helming the ship going forward. This was just a brutal and damaging opening display.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I am majorly pissed but whether we are doomed or not will depend on what we do from here on in.

 

[Glenn]

Agreed. The poll options are not neutral enough for me to participate.

Says the guy whose ass I see every time a note of his flashes by.

 

[Chubbs]

You never do know about a person's character until you see them in moments like these. I would say that PDA can stick it where the sun don't shine, but alas, I'm afraid that space is already occupied by his little bald head.

Whether its doom or not depends on multiple factors yet to be determined, mostly whether the grand "plan" as articulated is brought to full fruition or not. And of course by Cuz's reaction -- you surely wouldn't be able to fire MY coach if I were your franchise player without major consequences. The slow rolling doom of this thing could play out in three years when we get to see how Minny fans felt duringLovegate, Orlando fans felt during Howardgate etc.

Now if the Thick Three were to board a fateful cruise for a three hour tour, and the tiny ship were to get tossed, of course its salvageable. Of course. Cuz is still here, the team is still here. You could snap, go hire George Karl, quit meddling, and things would probably work out fine. The problem is this was just the beginning. The opening salvo in the damage the nimwits want to inflict. The "doom" isn't Malone getting fired. The potential "doom" is the same it was during the Maloof years -- having idiots helming the ship going forward. This was just a brutal and damaging opening display.

I found a picture of Petey.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Voted not happy but not the end of the world because it sums it up to me.

More specifically, I'm very unhappy that this was done right now and I think it could harm the franchise. But it's not the end of the world. Words have meanings.

 

[John Galt]

About three people are saying they "like" the wording of option #1. About three people voted "ok with it". Go figure.

I picked #1 in spite of the sarcastic wording. I don't think we're doomed. But it was as horrible as horrible can be, and remains so.

 

[randymoss1881]

We threw this season away no matter how you put it. So in my world I call that we are doomed unless the next coach isn't anyone we've heard so far (VDN,Jackson, or Mullin)

 

[dude12]

The wording of some options is sarcastic and therefore not worth it for me

 

[Chubbs]

I voted forthe we are doomed option, but I agree, the options aren't very good.

Doomed is a bit much. This is a player's league. We have boogie. Coaches comes and go. It's about as bad as possible, especially from a public perception standpoint, but doomed is too much.

 

[The Hammer]

I hope Jazz Hands soon realizes he's made a mistake.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

We threw this season away no matter how you put it.

See, I don't buy that. I think it was a crappy thing on a personal level to do to a coach who was having a reasonable measure of success and more than anyone could expect pre-Boogie illness.

But it's 50-50 on killing the season or even harming the franchise. People pick apart everything they don't want to hear in the explanations because we are mad. But until we actually just abandon defense and do all this junk people are reading into the change, which will result in tons of losses, I will remain open with my fingers crossed.

I just think this was a crap move from PR and being decent human standpoints. I understand that sometimes success requires you ignore both of those.

 

[mac]

I'm not so much upset about the Malone firing as I am about the rationale behind it and the direction the team seems to be wanting to take. So I can't really answer the poll in and of itself. If they fired Malone and hired JVG I'd be perfectly happy. I neither think Malone was the best coach nor that he was the absolute worst, but he was definitely an upgrade over Keith Smart. More important is that he represented a direction and style that I believed in, which is now no longer present.

 

[Chupacabra]

See, I don't buy that. I think it was a crappy thing on a personal level to do to a coach who was having a reasonable measure of success and more than anyone could expect pre-Boogie illness.

But it's 50-50 on killing the season or even harming the franchise. People pick apart everything they don't want to hear in the explanations because we are mad. But until we actually just abandon defense and do all this junk people are reading into the change, which will result in tons of losses, I will remain open with my fingers crossed.

I just think this was a crap move from PR and being decent human standpoints. I understand that sometimes success requires you ignore both of those.

We were 9-6 (actually 10-5) against the toughest strength of schedule in the league THIS year. We won 28 games LAST year. THE COACH GOT FIRED! I now think that the sooner we get rid of PDA the better.

 

[Chubbs]

See, I don't buy that. I think it was a crappy thing on a personal level to do to a coach who was having a reasonable measure of success and more than anyone could expect pre-Boogie illness.

But it's 50-50 on killing the season or even harming the franchise. People pick apart everything they don't want to hear in the explanations because we are mad. But until we actually just abandon defense and do all this junk people are reading into the change, which will result in tons of losses, I will remain open with my fingers crossed.

I just think this was a crap move from PR and being decent human standpoints. I understand that sometimes success requires you ignore both of those.

50/50 is really bad odds when keeping him at least this season would not have hurt.

 

[King Baller]

Vivek let Petey fire the talented coach. Malone is gone and everything he had worked towards is leaving with him. The defense, team chemistry and lunch pail style. It is all leaving because it had not had a chance to become ingrained. There was not a "system" yet. Pete and Mullin had to kill it before Cousins recovered and the Kings had too much success playing a defense oriented game. Malone said bad things about analytics and Pete the Geek can't have that.

Pete has not brought in ONE single A+ defensive player. There was the African prince but he was traded in short order. IMO Pete did everything in his power to undermine Coach Malone. From not hanging onto Tyreke, who was the best defensive player the Kings had at that time to signing average to weak defenders in every player addition.

The only solution I see is for Vivek to fire Pete and Mullin. Then bring in an experienced veteran GM and hire a George Karl, Nate McMillan of JVG as coach. Or let one of those guys just run the whole thing.

Tonight I watched the Bucks shoot a ton of open shots. I hope Petey and the boys can use analytics to figure out how to stop that.

That's how I THINK after Malones firing has had some time to sink in

 

[Warhawk]

I'd rather have a multiple option poll, rather than being forced to pick one. I'd say the following:

1- Malone did not deserve to be fired. The starting 5 played great, Ben has come a HUGE way since last year, Gay is playing efficient, and Thompson is gelling.

2- Malone has showed a lot of weakness. Where he deserves credit for the starting 5 playing well, we deserves blame for mismanaging the bench, both in blowing winnable games with a healthy roster as well as going on an extended losing streak against the worst teams in the league. Where he deserves credit for great team defense, he deserves blame being unable to find a way to limit Boogie's fouls. How great can we call his defense if he's been unable to keep Demarcus out of foul trouble??

3- the FO should be rightfully criticized for making this move without a new coach in the wings ready to take over. Vivek should personally take heat for not assembling a team that was on the same page from day one.

4- the FO deserves a ton of credit for rebuilding this team. Keys to our resurgence are: 1- trading for Gay, 2- signing DC, 3- keeping JT. Omri was a good addition. They've added big bodies to throw out and absorb fouls (Hollins, Acy, DWill). It's on Malone for not mixing them in well enough to help out Cuz. Giving up a few more baskets with subpar defenders is, in my mind, a better option than letting Cuz take fouls and losing him for 10/15 minutes per game.

5- the collective board aneurism about Vivek needs to stop. Calling him a GOlden state fan boy is one of the dumber things I've seen around here, if for nothing other than the fact that Vivek sided with the guy who wasn't from Oakland. Also, the stuff Bout run n gun or 4 on 5 is sheer stupidity. There is nothing coming out of the FO to indicate any of that. Saying they fired Malone over style is diplomatic. If they actually wanted to throw him under the bus they'd just say he sucked with the bench, had poor rotations, and lost a bunch of winnable games, enough so far that pretty much eliminated us from the playoffs. PR, people.

Finally, we weren't gonna make the playoffs after that losing streak. Keeping a 9-6 pace or whatever against the best teams wasn't gonna cut it. I don't think Malone should have been fired, but it is reasonable to cut him now if you know he's not the guy for the future. We have 3 more years locked in with this core. Better to change now and have time to build up the right way.

Nobody is stopping you - go start a poll!

 

[sdballer]

I'm glad we've had time to calm down, digest this and still realize that PDA/mully/Vivek still made a stupid decision. Good poll.

 

[King Baller]

About three people are saying they "like" the wording of option #1. About three people voted "ok with it". Go figure.

I picked #1 in spite of the sarcastic wording. I don't think we're doomed. But it was as horrible as horrible can be, and remains so.

I also voted doomed but obviously I meant it in a sarcastic manner. Hell Vivek, if you are going to hit reboot and cold start this baby get rid of Pete and Mully and hire a real GM.

 

[King Baller]

I hear there is a good one in the Sacto area not doing anything

 

[pdizo916]

I really wanted to see what this team could had done with Malone at the helm and with a deeper bench. That year 3 jump is the benchmark with most teams.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Nobody is stopping you - go start a poll!

... Because, if there's one thing we need around here, it's more threads about this topic.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

50/50 is really bad odds when keeping him at least this season would not have hurt.

I agree, keeping him through the season was the right thing to do, then you can have a real discussion about moving forward with coach/management at odds. This probably hurts us short term but it's not like Malone is Jackson or Auerbach. I'm willing to see what happens before I go completely off the deep end.

But on a personal level, it was a terrible, terrible thing to do. And the FO better learn from that.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Okay, now that the dust has settled, how do you feel?

I still object to the verbiage of your poll options, but I'll try to answer your question, anyhow:

Short of the Kings making the playoffs this season (and we won't), there is absolutely nothing that can happen or will happen with this team after April 15, 2015, that will validate how Michael Malone's dismissal was handled. If we sign George Karl (or whatever miracle coach is supposed to take us to the promised land) after the end of the season, and we make the playoffs next year, that still would not validate how they handled Malone's dismissal, because they could have cut bait on Malone at the end of the year, and still got their man. I'm obviously not breaking any news here, but let's not kid ourselves: Tyrone Corbin isn't going to do anything, developmental-wise, with this team as the head coach that he wasn't already doing as the assistant coach. Whatever it was that Malone was doing, that they didn't like, Corbin is not going to undo enough of that before April 15th that it will validate how they dismissed Malone, if he even undoes any of it at all.

Let's suppose, for the sake of argument that, over TDOS, D'Alessandro is able to turn Williams, Evans, Landry and Sessions into Brandan Wright, Robin Lopez, Gerald Henderson and Danny Green (or, alternatively, insert whoever your four favorite offseason acquisitions would be). And then, he brings Karl into the mix, or else Mullin is able to assemble his Miracle Coaching Staff, and he takes over. All that could be/could have been done without firing Malone after twenty-four games, which means, even if it ends up working exactly how they want it to work, the way they handled Malone's dismissal is still indefensible. Pardon my language, but it was a ***** move. The only way they validate the handling of this is if it pays dividends this season. Anything else, and it should have been done another way.

So... yeah. When you include a poll option that reads like that, I'll be happy to vote in it.

 

[Iced Espresso]

"Not willing to make a judgment. Have to wait and see what happens"

I still put it on Vivek for hiring the coach before the GM.

IMO one of them had to go, not on the same page.

 

[randymoss1881]

"Not willing to make a judgment. Have to wait and see what happens"

I still put it on Vivek for hiring the coach before the GM.

IMO one of them had to go, not on the same page.

I still put it on PDA if the coaches way is working how bout you ****ing adept. He must have known the second he was hired that Malone was toast other wise he would have saw that Malone style was working and he should bring in players to support him not sharpen knives to be used on his back. What gm would change something that's working just because he didn't like the style.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I still put it on PDA if the coaches way is working how bout you ****ing adept. He must have known the second he was hired that Malone was toast other wise he would have saw that Malone style was working and he should bring in players to support him not sharpen knives to be used on his back. What gm would change something that's working just because he didn't like the style.

That would be on Vivek.

I doubt anyone here would say they didn't clash. I don't think it was ever going to change either.

With what you just mentioned I think the owner needed to stick by one of them, and let one go.

 

[IfAt1st]

From the Yahoo expose:

Management didn't believe in Chris Jent as his top assistant, and went out on its own and interviewed two ex-head coaches, Alvin Gentry and Kurt Rambis, for the staff.
Malone suspected they were trying to hire his eventual successor, and pushed to get ex-Utah Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin hired in the job. Corbin's the interim coach now, and had been loyal to the end for Malone.

If Corbin wasn't Vivek/PDA's guy, then from a logic standpoint, he HAS to be replaced soon.

If they fired Malone because he wasn't their guy, and didn't match their "style", then Corbin doesn't either and has no chance of staying as a head coach.

But my biggest problem is this:
Why was firing the only way to tweak Malone's deficiencies?
I was vocal about criticizing Malone's obvious mistakes which were repeatedly failing and losing games, but I asked to get someone else in the coaching staff to help him with the offensive playcalling.
Why couldn't they just bring an assistant in (or use one of their assistants more) to aid the offensive playcall side?
Why is "the head coach" seemingly the only dude making decisions on the sideline during games?
It's idiotic to have four other assistant coaches that don't actively help during games and during practice to come up with plays.

I don't know if it's impossible to incorporate the assistant coaches more in the NBA (or if it's an authoritarian one-guy position), but I just don't see why Malone couldn;t have gotten more aid and backed down from a my-way-or-nothing coaching style (if he did, which we know nothing about AFAIK).

All I know is - I am sick to frigging death of seeing every other team in the NBA run reliable plays (screens, pick-and-rolls, etc) while the Kings still seem to be jr high kids out there, unaware of the concept of running plays.
Until the Kings get a competent coach, able to teach these players how to execute a reliable offensive play in crunchtime, they will find it incredibly unlikely to win competitive games.