Sacramento Kings Should Wait on Splashy Coach Hiring
Chris Mullin? Mark Jackson? George Karl?
How about Tyrone Corbin?
Even though the Sacramento Kings have the least appealing of the four aforementioned coaching candidates calling the shots right now—promoting the retread Corbin to run the show for the time being—that's the route they should continue traveling down throughout the rest of the 2014-15 campaign. It might not satisfy fans in search of a glamorous name during what was once a surprisingly successful season, but it's the best choice for the franchise's long-term future.
The firing of Mike Malone is still a bit strange, as the Kings had experienced a decent amount of success while the former head coach's best player was in the lineup. The team went 9-6 when DeMarcus Cousins was healthy and in the lineup. It was only when the big man went through his bout with viral meningitis that Sacramento struggled.
But now, the Kings—even after Cousins' successful two-game stint once he returned—have sunk far outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference. They may only be a few wins back of the eight postseason berths, but without continuity on the bench and with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook bolstering the Oklahoma City Thunder's hopes, the Kings may as well start planning ahead.
Is it painful for the Kings to accept mere mediocrity after finally experiencing the allure of relevance? Sure, but that doesn't make the decision to do so any less correct.
Let the Owner Figure Things Out
Some owners prefer to take a hands-on approach to their NBA teams. Mark Cuban comes to mind for the Dallas Mavericks, and his strategies usually tend to work out, though he does let the basketball people do their basketball-related jobs. Others are more hands off, like Peter Holt has been for the San Antonio Spurs.
Both have been rather successful, I might add.
Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive is too new to the business to have a definitive identity, but it sure seems as though he's going to end up having more of a say about what happens with his Kings. That was one of the primary reasons behind the decision to let Malone go, after all.
As Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported, there were multiple rifts between the former coach and the higher-ups in the Sacramento organization, including this one that focused on former Iowa State standout and NBA draft bust Royce White:
"Michael Malone had been pining for a backup point guard, but Sacramento Kings management had a different idea for their coach a year ago: Royce White. Here was the beginning of the end for this doomed partnership, a disagreement that widened the gulf between them.
White was out of shape, had no interest in playing basketball – which had been clear when the Houston Rockets released him. He had been awful in the Development League, a malingerer, and done nothing to deserve a call-up to the Kings.
"Pretty soon, they're telling [Malone]: Why aren't you putting him in the games?" one organizational source told Yahoo Sports. "That's when it really started to get bad between him and the guys upstairs."
General manager Pete D'Alessandro had to be the messenger to Malone on several unpopular directives, but there was long a sense he was often carrying out the will of his owner, Vivek Ranadive.
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If that seems problematic, it should. Directives from on high basically have to be carried out, even if they're doomed to fail. And when they do, it's on the coach, even if he wasn't the one who made the decision in the first place.
And if playing an undeserving player in a minor role sounds iffy, how about this strategy, per Wojnarowski?
"The owner played the part of a fantasy league owner, treating the Kings like a science experiment. He shared tactical experiences with Malone about coaching his child's youth team, and pressed him to consider playing four-on-five defense, leaking out a defender for cherry-picking baskets. Some semblance of that strategy is expected to be employed with Corbin now, a source told Yahoo Sports.
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Ranadive has done a fantastic job pushing the Kings to the forefront of the NBA's technological revolution, but these basketball strategies just aren't going to work. Coaching a youth team is in no way the equivalent of leading a team at the sport's highest level, but the Sacramento owner doesn't seem to view his experience in that light.
The idea of playing four-on-five defense simply isn't going to work.
NBA teams score against the Kings enough already, and it would be borderline nonsensical to take a defender entirely out of the picture. Plus, it wouldn't be hard for the other team to be prepared for the cherry-picking strategy, designating one speedy player to run back as soon as a shot is lofted up, abandoning any pretense of going for an offensive rebound and putting the kibosh on the Kings' unorthodox methods.
Corbin is amenable to these whims and whimsies, but that's likely only because he has to be. It's his best shot at another head-coaching gig, so he's going to be the man (kind of) in charge while Ranadive figures out that he can't meddle with the on-court action and expect any significant amount of success.
"Michael Malone isn't a perfect coach, but he never stood a chance in this climate," Wojnarowski wrote. "That's on the owner, and how he operates this franchise. Eventually, he'll learn. Most do. For now, the biggest changes Vivek Ranadive needs to make aren't with the coach's style, but his own."
Don't put Mullin in the mix of that. Don't try to see how Jackson or Karl, two more established coaches, would react to the pressure from the organization's superiors (superior in terms of rank, not basketball knowledge).
Use Corbin as a sacrificial lamb.
Though the interim head coach clearly shouldn't have that placeholder tag removed, he's the best man for the current job simply because he doesn't have to be a major part of the franchise's future. While Corbin is a strong-enough coach that he's received multiple opportunities in the NBA, he's never exactly experienced much success.
While coaching Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, he did steer the Utah Jazz to back-to-back winning seasons, but the team was swept in its only playoff appearance. Then everything went downhill in 2013-14, as Corbin was fired after a 25-win season and watched as players got much better when they weren't under his supervision. DeMarre Carroll and Millsap thrived with the Atlanta Hawks, and Jefferson got even better (and played defense!) under the supervision of Steve Clifford and the Charlotte Bobcats.
Corbin's resume just isn't very strong, and that's why he's the perfect coach for this Kings team right now.
If he's going to be amenable to Ranadive's instructions, everything will work out nicely. The team will end up earning a slightly better set of lottery odds, and, ideally, the relatively new owner will learn that maybe, just maybe, coaching youth sports doesn't make him prepared to handle the sport when it's being played at the NBA level.
So far, it seems as though Corbin will cater to the owner's wishes.
"Sources told ESPN.com on Monday that the Kings are determined to give interim coach Ty Corbin 'a shot' for the rest of the season to see if he can manufacture a more up-tempo style to suit the wishes of Ranadive and the Kings front office," reported ESPN.com's Chris Broussard and Marc Stein, revealing a desire that Corbin himself would soon confirm.
"It's going to take some time to marry my style with what the organization is looking to see," the interim coach told Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, tacitly admitting that he's going to be receptive to any of those directives. "We want a team that's going to compete every night on the floor and give everything you have on both ends of the floor."
Starting Fresh is Better
As Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley noted in an email, if Mullin took over for the Kings, he'd have Corbin, Corliss Williamson and Micah Nori on his staff, which doesn't exactly give him the most stellar group of people to rely on as he learns the ropes of this whole coaching thing. It's a far cry from what Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is working with, as he gets to lean heavily on experienced coaches like Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams.
"Secure in his basketball intellect, Kerr thirsted for more knowledge and surrounded himself with assistant coaches—Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams—who could provide advice culled from the decades of NBA coaching experience he lacked," Diamond Leung explained for the San Jose Mercury News. "Kerr proceeded to go to Las Vegas to lead the Warriors' summer league team, a task often left to an assistant."
Mullin—or whoever else emerges as a top candidate—knows this. He also understands that he wouldn't have the benefit of training camp and preseason to determine how he wants to coach and implement that system with his players.
As Broussard and Stein report, these are the exact reasons Mullin isn't budging right now:
"Sources told ESPN.com that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has spent much of the past 24 hours lobbying Mullin to replace the fired Mike Malone despite his lack of NBA coaching experience. But sources say Mullin has reservations about making such a leap in the middle of the season, without the benefit of training camp or the time to assemble a veteran-laden coaching staff like Steve Kerr has as a rookie head coach at Golden State.
Sources say that Mullin, in recent months, has expressed some interest to associates about trying his hand at coaching down the road. But if he can ultimately be persuaded to take the Kings job, sources say, chances are far greater that it would happen going into next season.
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This job isn't going anywhere.
If Ranadive was already going after Mullin this strongly, he's not going to let up his pursuit when he actually has a better chance at hiring his primary candidate. All that changes is the timing, and it's beneficial for all involved.
The owner gets to figure out his ownership style. Corbin is unfortunately kept in limbo, but having him in charge should lead to a better draft pick, if for no reason other than his catering to the higher-ups in the organization. Mullin (or another candidate) would get to come in during an offseason and start fresh, assuming he remains the best choice for the job.
And there's no reason he shouldn't. While Jackson and Karl are the more experienced options, the NBA has been trending toward fresh faces. In the wake of Kerr's success with the Golden State Warriors and Jason Kidd helping to turn around the Milwaukee Bucks, it's almost inconceivable that Ranadive, who likes staying new and trendy, would hire an older coach who has been around the block.
We don't know anything about Mullin's coaching style, just that he fits the profile the Kings are likely looking for and he's already been pursued by the organization.
Hiring him next offseason works better for everyone. Well, everyone but the players, who now have to fight through the remaining portion of the season without the coach they trusted and were winning under. But based on the timing of the Malone firing, which came while Cousins was still fighting off an illness, that's simply not the top priority for this organization right now.
The Kings tasted relevancy for the first time since Brad Miller led them into the 2006 playoffs, where they promptly exited in the opening round. But perhaps some patience from all parties will lead them to more prolonged success down the road, and that's far more important than putting up a futile fight for the right to be a sacrificial victim at the end of the current season.
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