Paul Westphal: Twitter Reacts to Sudden Dismissal of Kings' Head Coach

Less than a week after Paul Westphal wrote a press release criticizing big man DeMarcus Cousins, he has been fired as head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

His firing, which also comes after a 2-5 start to the season, was announced by President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie on Thursday. Petrie reportedly said that "the overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect."

Naturally, a firestorm engulfed Twitter, crushing everything in its path...

Update: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 4:50 p.m. ET

Paul Flannery of WEEI.com thinks every team in the NBA would take a chance on Cousins. He forgets, of course, teams that have issues with character concerns.

Update: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 4:46 p.m. ET

Tweets Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports:

Update: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 4:43 p.m. ET

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports predicts Westphal won't be the last Kings coach to go down trying to convince Cousins to be a drama-free human being. Good luck, assistant coach Keith Smart.

Update: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 4:39 p.m. ET

Columnist and radio personality Marcos Breton acknowledges that, yes, the Kings don't have a lot of talent regardless.

Update: Thursday, Jan. 5 at 4:35 p.m. ET

New York Knicks beat writer for the New York Daily News Frank Isola gives us this little nugget. Yes, that Larry.

In Westphal's press release on Saturday, he wrote concerning Cousins, via NBA.com:

"

"As coaches, we can only ask that our players do everything they can to improve themselves as individuals and teammates. If they do this with all their hearts, we live with the results...

"However, when a player continually, aggressively, lets it be known that he is unwilling/unable to embrace traveling in the same direction as his team, it cannot be ignored indefinitely."

"

Not only did it mark a rift between player and coach, Westphal's actions highlighted Cousins' history of character issues, which only further decreased his trade value.

According to David Aldridge, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said Westphal and Cousins' spat was part of the reason he was fired, but "none of the guys were playing to their potential."

Tweeted HoopsHype:

Or as Aaron Glaser put it:

Westphal's time appeared numbered in Sacramento even before the debacle with Cousins. In the last two seasons, he had coached the Kings to a combined 49 wins. The 2-5 start certainly couldn't have helped, especially after getting blown out the last two games.

Assistant coach Keith Smart, former head coach of the Golden State Warriors, will coach against the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.