The NBA saw the first firing of a head coach this season as Mike Brown was let go by the Sacramento Kings. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, many within the Kings organization didn’t want to fire Brown and wanted to make things work out. Sources told her they only made the call at the final moment until they felt that they had no choice but to let Brown go.
“For weeks, everyone hoped this was just a stretch of bad luck. That the shooting numbers, in particular Fox’s and Murray’s, would go back up. That Brown’s attention to detail in film sessions and practices would translate to the play on the court, both in late-game situations and in general.”
“But calling out your team publicly — explaining how the team needed to be more methodical and play the right way ‘possession after possession’ 26 times — lands differently when you’re losing. ‘You can’t just throw your team under the bus like that,’ one league source said.”
“Nobody wanted to fire Mike,” one Kings source said. “He’s a good coach. People here really care about him. Until the very last moment, we were trying to make it work.”
Under Brown, the Kings got off to a poor start, and in recent weeks before his firing, the Kings went on a five-game losing streak, including two brutal losses to the Los Angeles Lakers. Things hit their breaking point when Brown publicly called out his entire team for not playing hard.
As a result, the Kings front office decided to make the tough decision to fire Brown. There were many in the NBA who were appalled by the decision, as Brown was the man responsible for the Kings’ massive turnaround two seasons ago when he helped them break their massive playoff drought.
How Players Have Responded To Brown’s Firing
Members of the Kings organization are optimistic that Brown’s dismissal will allow the Kings to change things going forward, and improve. Veteran forward Malik Monk told ESPN that under Brown, opposing teams had figured them out, and they needed to change their style of play if they wanted to find success under a new head coach.
“That team has plenty of talent,” one source with knowledge of the team said. “The roster is fine. They had to make a change.”
“‘Teams just got adjusted to us,’ Kings guard Malik Monk said Saturday, when asked what has changed in the two seasons since the Kings won 48 games and finished third in the Western Conference.”
“They were surprised when we first came out with Mike, didn’t know how we were playing, didn’t know how we were going to play, and now just feel like they had time to adjust to us and get used to it. So, yeah, we just got to change things up.”
The Kings sit 12th in the Western Conference with a 14-19 record. They are going to have to fight hard to improve, and ideally secure a play-in spot at the end of the season, as they have a strong enough roster to do so.
Currently, the Kings have appointed assistant coach Doug Christie as the interim head coach. There is no word yet on who they plan on hiring for the position full-time, but the Kings are set for a big change.
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