+3
The Kings have fired head coach Paul Westphal after he engaged in a dispute with young big man DeMarcus Cousins. Keith Smart takes over.
After firing Paul Westphal earlier Thursday and naming assistant coach Keith Smart the interim head coach, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday night that the Sacramento Kings and Smart have agreed to a contract that would keep him in Sacramento, or wherever the Kings end up, until the end of the 2012-13 season as head coach. The Kings have confirmed the signing
SB Nation's NBA Editor and founder of Kings blog Sactown Royalty Tom Ziller had a nice little rant on the signing. I'd rather not step on his toes, so here it is, in its entirety:
@teamziller
Tom Ziller I see the point, but ... uh ...
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller "Want to take it out for a test-drive?" "Nah, lemme sign that contract."
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller Pro: no lame duck situation. Con: broke team buying when it can lease.
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller Supercon: means the ownership isn't putting the GM under a microscope.
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller The team hires a replacement (Smart) w/o firing the coach (Westphal), loses a decent player in FA (Dalembert) because of the coach and ...
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller This team, man. I just don't know.
FavoriteRetweet
@teamziller
Tom Ziller If you wanted to replace Westphal all along, why on Earth did you let him kill one of your two best assets so publicly? It makes no sense.
FavoriteRetweet
Smart takes over a team that's 2-5 and embroiled in controversy surrounding Westphal and troubled center DeMarcus Cousins, who seems to have taken a step backwards this year both mentally and in his play. Whether he responds to the regime change or takes it as an organizational endorsement of his behavior may be the difference in the Kings' season.
For more on the Kings and their new coach, visit Sactown Royalty.
The Sacramento Kings on Thursday fired Paul Westphal as head coach after a 2-5 start that had gotten ugly. On Sunday, Westphal sent DeMarcus Cousins home and released a statement accusing the second-year center of hurting the team; after a win that night, Sacramento went on the road for a pair and got obliterated in Memphis and Denver.
Keith Smart, Westphal's top assistant, takes over for the Kings' Thursday game against the Milwaukee Bucks. In a release announcing the dismissal of Westphal, the Kings did not bestow the title "interim head coach" on Smart, which could mean that the team is willing to kick the tires on other candidates before giving Smart the reins for the season.
Smart has one full season as a head coach in the NBA, having run the Golden State Warriors in 2010-11. The Warriors won 36 games that season, a 10-win improvement over Don Nelson's final season in 2009-10. Under Smart, the Warriors were a up-tempo team (No. 5 in pace) who had an above-average offense (No. 12) but porous defense (No. 26). He rode star Monta Ellis hard; Ellis averaged 40 minutes per game, and lead the league in minutes played.
The Warriors excused Smart to hire Mark Jackson. Golden State is 2-4 this season.
UPDATE: NBA.com reports that Smart will lead the Kings for the remainder of the season.
The Sacramento Kings, mired in a 2-5 start and tons of turmoil surrounding big man DeMarcus Cousins, have fired coach Paul Westphal, the team announced in a press release. Westphal departs after posting a 51-120 record in two years and seven games on the job.
"I want to thank Paul for all of his effort on behalf of the Kings," general manager Geoff Petrie said in the release. "Unfortunately, the overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect. I wish him the best in his future endeavors."
Assistant coach Keith Smart will take over for Westphal in the interim. Smart was fired as the Golden State Warriors' head coach after just one full season on the job, and he hooked on with Sacramento as an assistant prior to this season,
Westphal's firing comes a few days after he issued a statement suspending Cousins, his mercurial big man, for issuing a trade demand. Cousins has denied doing so and was back in the lineup after one game. The timing of the move may suggest that the organization sided with its young big man over the head coach.
For more on the Kings, visit Sactown Royalty.
Fired Paul Westphal Just Tip Of The Iceberg For Kings
by Tom Ziller
On Thursday, the Sacramento Kings fired Paul Westphal. While it was a necessary move, the canning shouldn't distract from the fact that the team's failings go much, much deeper than the coach.Continue reading »
Jan 06 10:01a