Slack for Christie?

How much slack do you give Christie as a coach for his W-L performance?

  • The whole season and next if needed - he was dealt a bad hand by circumstances out of his control

    Votes: 18 54.5%

  • This whole season to experiment with many combination of players available

    Votes: 2 6.1%

  • The whole season to experiment only if significant trades are made

    Votes: 2 6.1%

  • The half-way mark of the season if he hasn't found competitive culture regardless of losses

    Votes: 1 3.0%

  • At the quarter mark or beyond the if W-L % goes under .250

    Votes: 1 3.0%

  • He should be fired within several games if he doesn't institute a marked shift in rotation mins

    Votes: 2 6.1%

  • The organization should fire him asap following the Pelicans example

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • He should be kept the whole season for tanking, but released punitively if Kings lose lottery.

    Votes: 1 3.0%

  • He has deep organization roots as former player who deserves at least a year's immunity from losses

    Votes: 3 9.1%

  • He is clearly a poor coach, and should be fired at first chance.

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • Total voters
    33
This is a tough question. As I wrote in the latest game thread, the November schedule is insanely difficult. I wager that any coach would flounder with the current roster under these conditions. On the other hand, the Kings do not look like a well-coached team--yet. I vote to give him the whole season, so long as a couple of players can be traded to bring the roster into balance, or to bring in a future first-round draft pick, and see what he can do then. Just do not trade anyone 25 or younger.
 
Doug has reasonable skills for a new coach, an unbridled passion for this team that will drive his professional growth, an incredible work ethic that is not common, a clear set of relationships and understandings of the human pieces that drive the Kings, a history of success as a player that happens to be rooted in THE hallmark era that defines the Kings identity, and the Love for the Sacramento community that gets built over decades.

You can't place him in a misaligned car with three bad tires at high speed and then fire him for careening into the ditch. You cannot replace any of that with a new hire. This is an inflection point in the story of the Sacramento Kings, and Doug is the absolute best person to support in this position at this time.
 
From what I’ve seen so far, he’s underwhelming. He gets this year but I would let him go or move him into a front office role or whatever, but I would go find an already successful coach or do an actual search.
 
What Doug is saying and what he is doing is polar opposite. I think at this point, he seems to be carrying out what the FO wants. The FO wants their high priced vets to play and vie for the play-in or possibly to showcase vets for trades down the road.

IMHO, I don't think Doug really believes in the rotation he's putting out there. I think he is following the FO orders. I would give him some time and see what the FO does at the trade deadline and next summer. If the FO can turn a few of the vets into draft assets or younger players with upside, then the Kings will be headed in the right direction.

But, IF by the beginning of next season we are still seeing the same putrid vet and iso heavy lineups, I think its time to move on.
 
One of the difficulties supervising established vets is that they have an abundance of experience, know their game, and are generally satisfied with their playing style. After all, their play has gained them longevity and wealth so there is no reason to change in their opinion.

Christie has basketball cred due to his several years of play in the league. However, he has little coaching cred. Veteran players are not going to be impressed with what he brings. It is going to be a constant battle to convince the vets to do things other than what they have done in the past.

OTOH, rookies and younger players will respond to the player cred Christie has earned. They would be more inclined to respect his view of professional basketball and what it takes to succeed at that level. They would be more responsive to his coaching overall.

Thus, if management decides to shed the older vets and bring in even more youth, Christie will have a better chance to succeed.

As others have noted, it is going to be awhile before the roster is solidified for this season. If it continues as is, Christie is set up for failure. If the vets are gone and a youth movement is seen, he has a chance to make meaningful progress in developing a team responsive to his vision.
 
I chose the top option.

I don’t know if he should be long term and can’t say if he’s a good or bad coach.

But this is a busted hand. It makes my head hurt trying to think of a balanced playable rotation out of this roster. Just looking at the roster makes me go dizzy and cross eyed with how unbalanced it is. How any GM, fired or current, thought this was acceptable to enter a season with.

So I can only imagine how hard it is for Doug.
 
Like 3/10 confidence in Doug right now.

What I'm most concerned with is what he's saying vs his actions. He's talking a big game about defense/physicality/playing with pride.... while making no changes to the rotation.

And Perry didn't make his job any easier. We already didn't have a ton of size and lost LaRavia, JV, Trey Lyles, IJ and brought in 2 guards and a smaller Saric/Eubanks to replace them.

But theres still the option to say.. hey. I can prioritize the defensive talent I do have on this team *Keon/Nique/Carter* and make sure they're getting real PT to mix in with everyone else. That's straight on Doug for just heavily relying on the vets and mostly going with no defense lineups.
 
Some excerpt statements from the Pelicans situation (VP Executive Pelicans BB Operations; Joe Dumars) for comparison with Green/Christie:

""It really wasn't the win-loss record as the ultimate determining factor. That was not it," Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said. "I was very clear from the very beginning, there was no mandate that you have to win a certain amount of games. There wasn't even a mandate that, 'Oh, you have to make the play-in or the playoffs.' We have to establish who we're going to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just did not see that happening. And that was more than anything else what's the determining factor here."

Regarding interim coach James Borrego:
"Dumars said all playing time and rotation decisions belong to Borrego and that he isn't putting any requirements on the coach to play or start Fears and Queen."

"I said to him, 'I am going to support whatever you want to do,'" Dumars said. "'It's your call. I'm not the coach. I am never going to be the coach. I never want to be the coach. It's your call, James. However you want to go with this, I am going to support you 100 percent.' I made that very clear to him this morning. ... He doesn't have a mandate from me that you have to play this guy or minutes, none of that."
 
I think the jury is still out on Christie.

He was given a poorly matched roster, and has likely either been given a directive to play the vets or lacks the cachet to sit them.
I know we want the kids to play. It ain't happening until some bodies are moved. That said, the kids don't look bad when they're in, and coaching has something to do with that.

The fault lies with Perry.

Whether it's by design or incompetence, he's created an imbalanced roster of big names that won't really win you any games. I don't think it's incompetence - I believed, and still believe, he set this roster up to fail. If/when the vets get cleared out, I think we'll see more of what Christie can do. If he's been given the long-term vision which involves eventually moving some players, allowing him to put his actual imprint on things, then I'll judge more critically.

I guess I honestly don't know what we have with Doug.
 
I think Christie is an inexperienced young coach with some potential but he’s saddled with one of the worst constructed rosters in the league, wasn’t helped a single iota by his GM, and the owner is potentially (probably?) calling shots from the side.

It sucks, but Christie’s coaching career is going to be defined by this disaster. I don’t think they’ll fire him, but there’s not much room for growth with what he’s given to work with.
 
Don’t know who would take the job right now. It’s the kiss of death being the head coach of The Kings under Vivek but at least The price is right. Vivek like that.

Doug did a good job overall last year coaching after Brow was terminated under very difficult circumstances with all the changes and drama that took place.

When it ultimately does come to Doug being removed from the head coaching position
I see him going up to the front office. Take a look at Jerry Reynolds. Never made the playoffs despite having some pretty good players on the team. Now, he is beloved here in Sac and a true icon.

Let’s ride it out with Doug. He has some pretty good assistants on his staff that know a thing or two about basketball. At this point, it’s on the players. There are a few that just are there for stats or are too old, too young, too hurt, or too something. Flawed players that have yet to find a groove.
 
The Kings need to swoop in now for a Jenkins or even Thibs before it's to late, probably Jenkins since you should trade the vets, I'd like to see what Jenkins can do with Murray and the rest of the 26 and under players and whatever the Kings get in return, Doug talks to much for my taste he puts more effort into his lame speeches than he does coaching, all that motivational crap is super cringe and shows a man lacking in any ideas.

If he played the young guys or mixed the rotation even once in the first 10-15 I might feel different and I acknowledge the trash roster and maybe the hardest schedule known to man in the first two months but the way he's gone about things is pathetic.
 
For me, the poll question is wrongly-framed. Why should Doug Christie be judged on his win-loss record, when anybody who looked at this roster with a bit of critical thought before the season began recognized that it was likely headed for heavy losses?

Instead, Christie should be judged on how he deploys his roster, and what his deployment communicates about his values as a head coach. He says he wants defense. He says he wants toughness. But his lineup configurations, as well as the frequently conspicuous absence of his best individual defenders from the rotation, signals to me that he's unwilling to put his money where his mouth is.

We'll see if that shifts as the season wears on, but for now, I don't have a particularly high opinion of Doug Christie because he's all talk. Losses are perfectly okay with me this season. I want the Kings to lose enough games to position themselves well for the 2026 NBA draft. But it's how they're losing that grinds my gears. Lose with the younger Kings (who are also the team's best defenders) getting adequate developmental opportunities in what is sure to be a lost season, and I'll be quite happy.

Lose with aging vets (who are also the team's worst defenders), and it's not just a lost season, but a wasted season. I'll be quite unhappy if that continues to be the case.
 
dude12 said:
Handling the young players and defensive oriented players this way is buffoonery. You’re not building trade value with our vets this way. Everyone knows what you get with our vets. But we don’t know what we get with our youngest most experienced guys which is what we need to prioritize this year
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Agreed. I dont think theres really anything in a 15-30 game stretch that would vastly change opposing gms valuation of the vets. Obviously, want them playing well, but i dont think that really changes much in their trade value. Maybe it does, who knows.
 
Christie must immediately start giving valuable instructional minutes to Clifford, Max and Carter to get my vote for retaining him as head coach. He may or may not be getting instructions from Perry to play the vets, but even with such general instructions Christie has it within his power to lessen or increase minutes on his roster. It's not an all or nothing choice. The notion that he must play the vets in order to win is ridiculous on its face, as there has been little winning even with the vets. The time these young players get on the floor is invaluable. Why waste it on vets who won't be here in a year? He needs to start developing the youth immediately. Every game that goes by without their development is something that can never be regained.

Not only must the minutes be increased for these youngins, they must actually be put into positions on the floor to maximize their growth and to build on their strengths. For example, Clifford must not be used as a 4th or 5th option, but instead must have the ball in his hands as a pg to make decisions on the floor. By being in the deep end of the pool he can maximize his growth for the duration of the schedule.
 
dude12 said:
Handling the young players and defensive oriented players this way is buffoonery. You’re not building trade value with our vets this way. Everyone knows what you get with our vets. But we don’t know what we get with our youngest most experienced guys which is what we need to prioritize this year
Click to expand...

Exactly. Some of these vets have been around for more than a decade. If an NBA GM can't figure out their value without seeing them every game this year then they are beyond incompetent.
 
kingdivac said:
Some excerpt statements from the Pelicans situation (VP Executive Pelicans BB Operations; Joe Dumars) for comparison with Green/Christie:

""It really wasn't the win-loss record as the ultimate determining factor. That was not it," Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said. "I was very clear from the very beginning, there was no mandate that you have to win a certain amount of games. There wasn't even a mandate that, 'Oh, you have to make the play-in or the playoffs.' We have to establish who we're going to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just did not see that happening. And that was more than anything else what's the determining factor here."

Regarding interim coach James Borrego:
"Dumars said all playing time and rotation decisions belong to Borrego and that he isn't putting any requirements on the coach to play or start Fears and Queen."

"I said to him, 'I am going to support whatever you want to do,'" Dumars said. "'It's your call. I'm not the coach. I am never going to be the coach. I never want to be the coach. It's your call, James. However you want to go with this, I am going to support you 100 percent.' I made that very clear to him this morning. ... He doesn't have a mandate from me that you have to play this guy or minutes, none of that."
Click to expand...

The problem is the Kings and Pels can't be compared in almost any way because they only have 1 player even older than 30 and that's Jordan. Everyone else is under and all of their core pieces are 27 or younger. The Kings are trotting out an ancient team by comparison. Green had like 4+ years as well. Changing a coach after not even a full season stretched across two seasons would be just plain Kangz at this point.
 
SacTownKid said:
The problem is the Kings and Pels can't be compared in almost any way because they only have 1 player even older than 30 and that's Jordan. Everyone else is under and all of their core pieces are 27 or younger. The Kings are trotting out an ancient team by comparison. Green had like 4+ years as well. Changing a coach after not even a full season stretched across two seasons would be just plain Kangz at this point.
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They're comparable in their records which is certainly a criteria of a hotseat....
 
He needs to be fired. He does not have the players respect, and you can tell by how bad they are playing. He preaches about defense and we have the worst defense in the league so obviously they can't play D or they wont play D.. Remove Christie and the assistants. Bring in a new staff, or have an assistant until they end of the year and hire an entire new staff.
 
kingdivac said:
They're comparable in their records which is certainly a criteria of a hotseat....
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Yeah but they gave it some number of years, have injury excuses, and even if they rebuilt they have way more in terms of time on their side. The Kings have pretty much literally turned their team over to a 37 year old former MVP. Just plain crazy even if he's playing well.
 
SacTownKid said:
Yeah but they gave it some number of years, have injury excuses, and even if they rebuilt they have way more in terms of time on their side. The Kings have pretty much literally turned their team over to a 37 year old former MVP. Just plain crazy even if he's playing well.
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That's part of what's under discussion - many fans have noted the odd and unimaginative minutes distribution.....my guess is they're looking for consistency to win night in and night out right now - floundering - but it hasn't been there.....Russell is one of the few players who have given consistently high effort the large majority of his minutes, so its reasonable to have him leading in that way.
 
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