UPDATE: Grant Napier Says That John Whisnant is the Leading Candidate

[Purple Reign]

For what it is worth, they just spent the last 15 minutes talking about this on 1140 Sportsline and Napier said that Whisnant is at the top of the list and right now the leading candidate as the next coach of the Kings.

 

[MamaBristow]

Besides the fact that I don't think Whiz would work with the Kings, I don't think that the Monarchs should have to put up with the distraction. The Maloofs shouldn't be so driven to find a Kings coach that they mess with what's working for the Monarchs. This same crap happened last year with the Detroit Shock when Bill Laimbeer was being considered for the New York Knicks opening. It was a major distraction for his team. At every turn the media was asking him if he planned on leaving the Shock for the Knicks instead of focusing on the WNBA season that he was in the middle of.

Besides, Whiz's system requires players to check their egos at the door, focus on defense, and play as a team--last I checked these were the Kings... not the Pistons. The Maloofs can find a good coach out there without insulting the Monarchs by threatening to take their coach and GM in the middle of trying to win back to back championships.

 

[slugking50]

For what it is worth, they just spent the last 15 minutes talking about this on 1140 Sportsline and Napier said that Whisnant is at the top of the list and right now the leading candidate as the next coach of the Kings.

Its been pretty appearent what road this is going down. The Maloofs are going to ask him to take the reigns. I hope he says no. I want another Monarchs Championship .... or2, 3.

 

[RoyalDiva]

Agree with MamBristow. Not only is this is a huge distraction, but I think that there are enough differences between the NBA and the WNBA that Whisenant would not work out as well for the Kings.

 

[VF21]

From what I've been told - and I trust this source implicitly - it's a done deal. I have to wonder if Grant knows it and was actually sending up a test balloon of sorts. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

[DWalkfan22]

I hate this. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I don't want Whiz to leave. Well.. What does this all mean? When does he leave us? will Coach T. Be head coach?

 

[DocHolliday]

Hmm I thought I made a comment in this thread before. Seems that I'm hallucinating or it was removed?

Here is another question I have.

Coach Whis said at the end of the last season that this would be his last season coaching wasn't it. If he wanted to stop coaching, why would he want to coach the Kings??

Since Whis has a coaching staff he is comfortable with, does he take his whole coaching staff with him?? Do we see the first femal assistant in the NBA?

 

[Luv13fan]

If its true...


If this is really the truth...Then I am really disappointed. I disagree with Kara on this one. She says that this is good for the sport.

Well ask the Sparks how it worked out for them when Coop moved on. But in their case they really dropped the ball by not keeping one of the Great Coaching talents in the League Karleen Thompson.

But if he does it... He should leave now. Don't drag this crap on. Don't play the "I am staying for Yo's final season mess". And I have to believe that he knew a lot sooner than now. He should have made the announcement so the team was prepared.

I am a WBB fan, and don't think that the NBA has the right to poach Coachs from their WNBA franchises. But that is my Issue. I imagine it is an honor to be considered. But I see what is happening here as total disrespect for the Monarchs (First Champion in the MS&E Family).
Could this really be the first step in moving the Franchise? I hope not.

Final thought. If it is a done deal

Please... Please... Please...

Invest the time in finding a suitable replacement.
Do not pull a Jerry Buss On the Monarch Faithful. No MeNBA retread, No disinterested unsucessful College Men's game Wash-outs that never even seen the WNBA.

There are so many talented WBB Coaches to chose from. Some right here in Northern California. Give them an opportunity. At least they know the Womens game and Know the talent coming out.

Sorry.... This just bothers me that it is happeing right now.

 

[Carole]

Sheesh, this is as bad as when Whiz announced 2 years ago at the semi fimals that he thought he had cancer - and we lost. What rotten timing on management's part! Some people just have no cooth!!!

 

[MamaBristow]

I really hope that this source is wrong. This would anger me on so many levels. The Maloofs would be screwing the Monarchs over for a chance at fixing the Kings. And while that may not be a big deal for Kings fans, it's a big deal to Monarchs fans. Whiz is a brilliant coach and has been outstanding as our GM. And for them to put the Monarchs in a position to lose both of those positions in one swoop is downright disgusting. It's an insult to the organization. It's an insult to Monarchs fans. Whiz put this team together. These players are his pieces. He put them in the system that won them the championship. This team is his creation. And now that the Kings are unbelievably screwed up they want to remove him from one successful franchise and try him with the other?? And what? Leave the Monarchs--the defending champions--with no leader? No direction? Disgusting.

I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I really hope this source is wrong too. As I was telling 6th last night, it seems so incredibly impulsive to me in a bad way. I can see rolling the dice but c’mon that’s a big roll and based on very shallow thinking. Not that I don’t think very highly of coach/GM Wihz. I love the guy and have since his day one as assistant GM. But you mean to tell me they troddle Petrie out of Vegas with a list of 20 some odd people, wait until San Antonio is eliminated to troddle Carlissimo and then later Golden St.’s Elie or Musselman or whoever else they’ve brought in just to hire the guy they’ve had in the back pocket all along? Are you kidding me? Let’s put aside that they’d be screwing over the Monarchs and their fans mid season of a freakin’ title defense, this process makes NO sense if they hire/hired Whiz. Flirting with Jackson last summer equally made no sense so I’m not sure why I’d be surprised here. At the end of Monarchs Talk the other night, Koz had asked coach T about how much of a distraction all the speculation surrounding Whiz and the Kings was to Whiz and the players – he said Whiz hadn’t been contacted by the Maloofs yet about it and that coach wasn’t thinking about it. If that is their decision then they must have just decided on it yesterday at around the time of Grant’s show. I just find that so hard to believe. The Bee article about last night’s mugging by the Comets speaks to coach being distracted by his mother’s illness and the players all being distracted by something or another.

I’ll reserve any anger until this speculation becomes official. And I will also eat any and all crow served based on my argument that I didn’t see Whiz taking the job at that time as well.

 

[raybrun]

Maloofs must settle this before they screw up the one thing that is working!

Monty says: "I’ll reserve any anger until this speculation becomes official." Well, my anger is here already. The damage is already being done. If the Monarchs play Wednesday like they did last night, the Maloofs owe us fans a refund on both games. My wife and I have been coming to all the games since day one, but for the first time, we walked out disgusted in the third quarter!

These are highly emotionally charged times. In the paper today Becca says " I can't tell you what was on our minds, but we definitely were not there." Sure Whiz is dealing with serious issues with his mom, but that is not why the players played with no heart. They looked like their hearts were already broken. Management needs to put this to rest so our players can get their heads screwed on right.

Hopefully, they won't pull Whiz out of something that is working for them. Chris Mullen gambled and pulled Montgomery of of something that was working fine at Stanford and he now has egg all over his face. I have no reason to believe Whiz is any more prepared to coach in the NBA than Montgomery is the Warriors. Bad move!