Get Used To It: Kings Head Coach John Whisenant

And if true, even I will have trouble defending the Maloofs on this one.

I'm still looking forward to the next season though

First, odds are it ain't gonna work on the court. Why? Uh, well, mainly because John Whisenhant has exactly ZERO experience in the NBA at ANY level... head coach, assistant coach, player, towel boy, anything. ZILCH, NADA. I mean, does anybody around here know if Whisenhant has even ever met a real live NBA player in person? I'm serious.

Successful real estate mogul? So I'm told. And I guess he did a heckuva job coaching his sons AAU team, and boy, you can't complain about that win-loss record at Coffeyville Junior College! Plus he got the Sacramento Monarchs to the WNBA promised land.  Well done, kudos to him, etc;  

But it's totally naive and absurd to think that those trophys on the mantle can be parlayed into success in the high stakes stratosphere of the NBA. This isn't Coffeyville, and we're not playing against Coach Suzie Serio and the Minnesota Lynx. I'm not here to disrespect the WNBA. I applaud the league, and I can see that the competition is serious. But let's not pretend that the NBA isn't a quantum leap beyond. It's a bull-ring full of big egos, big salaries, big talent, and big pressure; and at courtside there are some brilliant strategists who've been around big time hoops for 15, 20, 30 years. Matched in a chess game against the likes of Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Avery Johnson, Mike Dunleavy, Flip Saunders, Byron Scott, etc, etc, the dude is gonna get smoked early and often.

Not to mention that every move Whisenhant makes, (especially every mistake) will be under intense scrutiny from the media, the fans, and the refs. But worse than that, the players will be skeptical from the outset, and rightly so, because the man running them through drills and drawing up X's and O's hasn't been through what they've been through, hasn't paid a single days worth of NBA dues. Veterans like Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells, etc will lose interest in the charade quickly. And if that happens this team could come apart at the seams.

Secondly, and worse than that, a Whisenhant hiring signals a seachange in the way things have been done so successfully around here for a long time. Nobody is gonna sit here and tell me that if any GM in the entire NBA (including Geoff Petrie) drew up a personal wish list of say, 10 or 20 or even 30 potential head coaches for their team, that the name of include John freakin Whisenant would appear anywhere on that list. We all know where the idea of hiring John Whisenhant comes from.

And that's not a good sign because Geoff Petrie has been piloting this jet with unnatural skill and ability, making the Kings one of the most successful franchises in professional sports for almost a decade. Fact: Geoff Petrie has more profound and informed thoughts about basketball and how to run a basketball franchise before breakfast each morning than Joe and Gavin Maloof combined will have all year.

So, if Whisenhant is handed this job it means that Joe and Gavin have decided "hey, we really want Whiz, he's a great guy! and you know what? It's not that hard to fly this thing... we've been watching how Geoff does it, and heck, we're smart too! Let's see, you just pull this lever here and keep the flaps down... No, Gavin! don't hit that button! "

If the President of Basketball Operations of the Sacramento Kings, who you could make a good case for as the best GM in professional sports, doesn't even get to have the final say about who is the head coach, but instead and against his better is pressured into hiring a seriously underqualified family friend of the owners, will anybody blame the guy when he starts thinking about greener pastures. The New York Knicks, just for one example, would no doubt pay Petrie millions of dollars more than he's making right now in a heartbeat. And you better believe they'll be on the phone to Geoff saying "listen, you can run the show for us anytime, just name your price. And oh, by the way, you get to pick the coach."

Without Geoff Petrie this franchise would still be going 24-58 every year, and the Maloofs would be very wise to leave the basketball decisions to the guy on this franchise who actually knows something about basketball.

Remember back in 2000, when George W Bush won the Repub party nomination for President? He asked his trusted advisor and family friend Dick Cheney to compile a list of qualified candidates to run on the ticket as Vice President.

We all know whose name Dick Cheney eventually came up with.    

Geoff Petrie is more than capable of being the head coach and G.M. simutaneously; especially if an extrememly competent assistant is brought in to be groomed a la' the little general in Dallas, why not?

I'm leaning towards Super Mario, but Marc Ivaroni went up in my estimatation in how he shook off getting beaned in game 1 of the Western Conference finals like such a hombre`.What a dude.

Now, my original idea of Bill Walton doesn't seem so loco does it?smile

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things, mainly that I didn't say that the odds are Whisenant will get smoked because he coached in the WNBA, but because he has absolutely no experience of the NBA at any level.

Phil Jackson, just to name one of my examples, knows much, much, much more about NBA basketball, how it's played, how it's coached, how the players react to certain situations, how the refs work the games, etc; etc; etc; than Whisenhant, and that's a fact. Jackson learned the NBA game playing on the New York Knickerbockers for the great Red Holzman back in the late 60's/early '70's with Hall of Fame teammates like Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley and Dave DeBusschere. He played in the NBA for something like 12 years, then worked his way up through minor league hoops to eventually earn a job as and NBA assistant. At that point he apprenticed under a brilliant offensive innovator, Tex Winter, and finally after 20 years in and around the league he earned a promotion to become an NBA head coach. As we all know, he then went on to coach the likes of Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippin, Kobe Bryant, Shaq, etc etc. He has what? four or five NBA championship rings, plus another one as a player.

That hard won resume translates into deep knowledge and understanding of pro basketball. By comparison Whisenant is a total novice. Again I wasn't trying to be funny when I questioned whether or not John Whisenant has even ever met an NBA player. I really want to know, has he?

Anyway, I apologize if my comments came off as sexist. I really do respect what the WNBA has accomplished, it's a good product, and I know that the players in the league are serious athletes who work very hard. And hey, I agree, it'd be great if Brad Miller took some lessons in training from some of the WNBA players!

But I stand by my contention that it's a quantum jump from any brand of basketball to the level of competition that is the NBA. Even though the two are somewhat more comparable, I'd have similar reservations about somebody trying to go directly from coaching men's NCAA basketball directly to the NBA, or somebody going from the old CBA to the NBA. For another comparison, I'd make the same contention if we were talking about a man trying to make the jump from a successful stint coaching say, the Chicago Fire of Major league Soccer to taking charge of Chelsea in the the English Premier League. It's just a huge, huge step. Everyone, players and fans alike would rightly be wondering, "WTF"?

John Whisenant has coached AAU basketball, junior college ball and the WNBA, but none of that will prepare him adequately for what an NBA head coach has to deal with through the course of an 82 game regular season and the playoffs against the best of the best.  

And I'm not just refering to the level of talent and actual game experience, but factors like the huge salaries and the inflated egos that go with those salaries, not to mention the intense media scrutiny, and earning the respect of your players. Whisenant has never had to deal with anything like that. I'd love to see him coach the Monarchs to further success, or of he wants to try his hand at the NBA, pick up a clipboard and pay some dues for a couple of seasons as an assistant behind Elie or Iavaroni or one of the other, more qualified candidates.

Finally, the main thing I don't like about this hire (if it indeed comes to pass) is that it's an idea generated by the owners, not the President of Basketball Operations, Geoff Petrie, who I happen to consider a genius. And IMHO going over Petrie's head on a major decision could prove to be totally disastrous for this franchise.  

I really, really hope we're making much ado about nothing here...

As for Phil Jax, yeah, he's totally full of himself, and I HATE the Lakers, but there's no doubt the guy's a great coach. I mean, this season he even got a team with Kwame Brown at center and something called "Smush Parker" at the point into the second round of the playoffs!

Anyway, I have no idea who Whisenant would (hypothetically) want or get as assistants, but I'm almost certain that Mario Elie would not be one of 'em. He's already got that gig in Oakland, and is first in line to take over as head coach of the Warriors, (which could be any time) if somebody else doesn't grab him first.

Damn! Mario would be so good for this collection of talent, at this time; and it bums me out when I see the Maloof boys looking like they're determined to make their GM take a back seat and thus blow a great opportunity.

I would love to be able to give Whiz the benefit of the doubt, but there's nothing about the situation that allows for it in my book. I've never even heard of a successful team in any pro sport making a move comparable to the one that Joe and Gavin seem to be foisting on the franchise. Really, if you think about it, it's pretty ridiculous. It's like if the Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan and replaced him with a friend of the owner who had had only seen the NFL on TV, but had just coached the Edmonton Eskimos to the Gray Cup.

Hi, Aileen;

I really enjoyed the article you wrote for The Bee on Saturday entitled "Whiz: No Better Choice". You make some excellent points.

I do have a question though... seeing as how you're a journalist, maybe you could do a little snooping around and report on something a few of us Kings fans are curious about. Specifically: can you verify whether or not John Whisenant has actually ever met an NBA player?

I mean, we know all about his incredible accomplishments at Coffeyville Junior College back in the '70's. I also breathlessly read about that hoops dynasty he built at Yuma Western School of Broadcasting, and who could forget the cracker-jack job he did guiding his son's AAU team to amateur glory?  

However, despite the impressive trophys gleaming on the Whisenant family mantle, nothing in his otherwise outstanding resume gives any evidence that the Whiz-meister has actually ever been in the same room with a real live player in the National Basketball Association. If in fact this turns out to be the case, wouldn't you love to be there on the first day of training camp this summer for that emotional moment : "Excuse me, uh, you there, Number Ninety-Three! "Artist"? "Artiste"? Nice to meet ya! Uh, no, I don't want an autograph... I'm the new coach! Just call me Whiz! And you, Number Three. Abdul uh...? Oh, sorry, right, "Abdur-Rahim". Wow, you sure are tall! Heh, heh, how's the weather up there, big fella?!"

Don't get me wrong, Aileen. Despite the fact that the Whizzenator has absolutely zero NBA experience whatsoever, not as a head coach, not as an assistant coach, a scout, a player, a ball-boy, nada; nor has he ever actually coached anybody who's gone on to play in (or even be drafted by) the NBA, I'm not trying to suggest that this in any way diminishes his status as The Best Choice. Basketball is basketball, right? I'm sure Whiz has watched NBA basketball on television, and that plus his unbroken string of success in the real estate business, at good old Coffeyville JC, and with the Monarchs surely has prepared him well for the high-flying stratosphere of big time professional basketball; the world class talent, the multi-million dollar egos, the 17,000 rabid screaming fans, the intense and unforgiving media scrutiny. And no doubt he's ready to play high stakes X's and O's chess on a nightly basis against the likes of Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Avery Johnson, Byron Scott, Flip Saunders, etc etc.

By the way, if you see Joe and Gavin, give them a big thumbs up for me! What a brilliant example of thinking outside the box! That know-it-all Geoff Petrie thinks he's so smart with that stuff about interviewing Mario Elie, Eric Musselman, Marc Iavaroni. I mean, where is it written that to coach in the NBA you have to know anything about the NBA, right?!

And the neat thing is, this makes it so much easier replacing Whisenant in the Monarchs organization. My thought? Joe and Gavin should hire Gene Hackman to take over duties with the WNBA franchise. After all, he played the role of a darn good basketball coach in that movie "Hoosiers". Well, either him or that guy that played the coach on "White Shadow". He would be great too!  

In fact, if this trend catches on, I bet there are many Best Choices out there just waiting to be discovered, all over the world. The coach of the indoor soccer team in Stockton could take over Manchester United of the English Premier League. Soccer is soccer, right? The third base coach of the Yakult Swallows could go directly from battling the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japanese baseball right into turning in a line-up card for the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.

And may I introduce to you Malcolm Blight. Wha...? Ya never heard of him? Why, he coached Geelong to the Grand Finals of Australian Rules Football three times in the '90's! Don't you agree that it might be about time for Mr. Blight to think about making friends with the owner of the New York Jets, because some say there could be an NFL coaching vacancy coming up in the Big Apple soon. After all, football is football.

regards;
JLC

Not to be a total kissass but keep it up guys/gals. Also, ever since TZ posted the education requirements for the royalty, I have noticed bigger and more complex words used on the posts. It is almost as if people read that a 7th grade comprehension was all that was needed, became slightly offended... "Hey, I have a college education"... and subconsciously decided to use fancy words. Just an observation that I thought was amusing.  

I wanted to address the point about Whiz having no NBA player experience; did any of you hear Kara Lawson speak to this point last night on news 10:
" I think it's up to the players to listen to the coach, it's in their best interest..."

Like me, she remembers last year's WNBA playoffs;Former NBA player & ringholder Bill Lameer got his Detroit Shock into the playoffs, but:
The Monarchs under Whiz won it all...If being a player is so all-important why was that?A point to ponder.....

What bugs me is the trend that started in the 80's toward vague, abstract concepts as a nickname, like the Miami Heat. The Magic isn't much better. With a nickname like this you're always gonna sound like an expansion team.

The Jazz? Exactly, pyro, at last it made some sense when they were in New Orleans, but "Utah Jazz" is like a lost punchline searching for a joke. This new wave trend reached it's nadir in Major League Soccer with nicknames like the San Jose Clash, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and arguably the stupidest most ill-conceived nickname in the history of pro sports, the Dallas Burn. What genius thought of that?

As you probably know pyro, the Lakers nickname followed them when they moved from Los Angeles from Minneapolis (Minnesota being "The Land of 1000 Lakes").