It's funny how I find myself in love with you If I could buy my reasoning I'd pay to lose One half won't do I've asked myself How much do you commit yourself?

It's my life Don't you forget It's my life It never ends

It's a funny thing when a coach gets fired. There's generally a bunch of fingers pointed, and usually, the fingers pointing tend to have a lot of points. But for all the talk about Reggie's lack of a cohesive system, and that was pretty obvious, there is also a seemingly lack of culpability towards the Maloof family, and Geoff Petrie. That I find unacceptable. You put a losing product on the court, and you fire the coach because it's the only thing you can do, and you know what? That means you fucked up royally. Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs have failed up to this point. Is it as bleak as Minnesota? No, but I don't care about comparisons. Geoff Petrie has never built a winner that didn't play for Rick Adelman, and if he insists on Eddie Jordan, he might never have built a team to win a championship either. Unacceptable in my view. Very, very unacceptable. To say I'm very displeased with Geoff is an understatement somewhere in the realm of saying George W Bush's public speaking skills need work. Still.

I thought this quote was very telling of Reggie after he had been outed by Joe in the media on Nov 9th:

I'm coming to work with my hard hat on, lights blinking," he said. "That's what I do. Whatever they decide to do, it's up to them. I think if you were putting a checklist together in terms of what we said in the beginning of the season and what's going on right now, I think we've done that. I will be here with my hard hat on, doing my job.

If you read the interview by Amick with Joe Maloof on Nov 15th, Joe had this to say:

Yet despite Maloof's lengthy list of frustrations, he said Theus was "doing a better job this year than he did last year." And outside of a desire to see more playing time for rookie forward Donté Greene, he is pleased with Theus' integration of the team's young players.

"He's getting the young players an opportunity to develop," Maloof said. "He needs to make sure he doesn't bury any of them on the bench. I don't want them buried on the bench. That's our future.

"We've got to get fans back in the building, and the only way you get fans back into the building is we've got to keep the excitement, and I think it's youth-driven.

Well, gee Joe, what happens if Donte Greene isn't ready to play? What happens if just giving him mins means he feels entitled and becomes a self righteous 20 year old asshole? That's usually a problem with young players. They don't always get it. (I'm not saying that's a problem with Extra E folks. I'm just pointing out that is a problem with many young players in the NBA.) If Donte is a liability defensively like Brad Miller is, how can the Kings get better defensively? In otherwords, and this is no surprise to anyone, Joe contradicts himself. Young players don't usually come into the league ready to set the league on fire defensively. It's not generally what they do best. They see what gets them on SportsCenter (gee I feel like a national nitwit now) and they see highlights. Many players take some time to adjust, and it takes some time to figure out that they might have to do something other than just "score". But that's what Allen Iverson does some think. But that's not all Allen Iverson does, and it's not like Allen Iverson has been uber-successful. Teams have been built around him, and none of them have won rings. Teams with him have won games, but have rarely been in championship contention. And that's just one point I can bring up. I'm not saying, again, that any of the Kings players that are young have that problem (except Quincy Douby, and he isn't part of the future I dare say--I know I really went out on a limb didn't I?). I think I'm done ranting on intentions of 20 somethings in the NBA (or younger) when I'm not one. But I know something about being a 21 year old dipshit. It takes time to grow out of it.

This isn't to say I think Reggie is blameless. Read today's paper, and you'll find Reggie's retort simple and easy. Yet, it didn't matter. It annoyed everyone else, and they couldn't handle it. I'm not going to say Sam Amick wrote a hack piece, like David Aldridge did yesterday. But, it was not pro-Reggie. Which is fine. Reggie brought his negatives.

(I just can't get over how profoundly stupid that article really was--and I realize I'm not Shakespeare, or Faulkner, or even Hunter Thompson, but shit that was utterly awful--DA should be very embarrassed when he reads it over--I know he remembers 2002--he talked about it a ton--in the aftermath comparing the 02 Kings to the 90 Bulls, you do the math--he probably could have guessed Cisco was 25 or older, and that usually isn't reserved for a young player--and of course I was puzzled how Cisco popped out that he missed most of the season at this point. Sometimes dumb is just dumb. This is one of those times. Ugh.)

One of the things you're reading about players (like Cisco, whom I assuming didn't get Reggie fired--after all Reggie played Cisco a ton more than Musselman had) after last night's game was they appreciated the simplicity of last night's playbook. Which I totally get. At some point, it's just about execution, and if you aren't sure of the spots you need to be on the floor, then it's going to be rather difficult to get the type of shots you need to win games. That's essentially where Reggie went wrong. But, do you simplify the offense because veterans can't adapt, and young players are too new to get it, or do you simply modify it and pare it down until you get everybody on the same page? That's what Reggie didn't do. That's why Reggie never was able to get this team cohesive. Had he done so, he probably would have coached the team to a victory. Cuz Minnesota sucks.

At some point defining a pecking order for blame has to start with the top, and work it's way down to the players. In this order I leave the level of blame:

1. Maloof's for pushing Reggie
2.  Petrie for not fighting them hard enough to get his way and his idea's to remain supreme for the franchise, even though it might have cost him his job, but truthfully, this team is so dysfunctional I don't really care, and it's not like Petrie was without resources either
   
3. Veterans like Miller and Jackson who couldn't get past Reggie's personality
4. Reggie's system and failure to adapt/integrate it properly
   
5. Bad luck and circumstances that only excerbated all of the above issue's

I've spent a lot of time defending Reggie, if only because it's so easy to throw him under the bus, and I wanted to judge him fairly (and I think StR has in many respects). I'm sick of Brad Miller's baby tendencies, and B-Jax working as a mouthpiece to point out everything that's wrong, when he isn't exactly aces himself. What I would prefer at this point, is to simply say that the Maloof's view of what constitutes a good coach isn't there. Petrie knows what a good coach is, and if you believe TZ (and I do), then Petrie didn't exactly agree with the Adelman hire in the first place. If Jim Thomas is the sole reason the Kings made all those moves, this team is in trouble. Obviously Petrie is not chopped liver in all of this, but at some point, he can't play it safe all the time. He doesn't with draft picks, so why not with coaches? If coaching searches are a crapshoot, then why spend so much time arguing over Reggie? Because that's what fans do. The problem is that the organization does the same thing, and when you're running a multi-million dollar high visibility business, being dysfunctional tends to be somewhere in the realm of really dumb and bad business. Congratulations.

In 2006, Joe spoke openly about the decision to not offer Adelman a future contract. It was an interesting listen, and unfortunately, I don't think much has changed. The audio was so revealing then, and what's revealing is how much bullshit Joe is full of. One quote:

He did a great job for us. I commend him for the job he did, and we're proud of him, and never had any problems with him, I think, we wanted to try something different, I don't know what it is. There's not one, one certain thing. That's our right as owners, we have the right to try something different. We're trying to make the decision that going be best for the city as well. We're not going to make the decision of what's best for the Maloof's, we're trying to make a decision on what's best for the city and the franchise. Remember one thing: No one person or player is bigger than this franchise. That includes Joe, Gavin, Maloof, Colleen Maloof, Ron Artest or Mike Bibby or anybody.

I paraphrased some because quoting Joe takes more time than I got. Not much, but more than I got. I really don't understand the point about how a coaching search really effects the city. I don't understand how a coaches personality affects the fan more than it affects the players. To me it spoke how little they understand how the coaches effect the fans.

I've listened to that whole audio, and I could have quoted a ton of that 15 min clip, but if you haven't listened, and do so without snark (impossible for me), you might learn something. Historical perspective says that what Joe said later in the audio that non defensive players need to give more effort. He said a lot of coaches told him that to boot. Uhm, right. Again, it's like anything: How you interpret information is up to you. And Joe interprets things he wants to hear. It's human nature; but it's badly detrimental to this franchise. Part of the process of becoming a better owner (and I would say the Maloof's could get there) is allowing the things you don't know to affect the things you do know. The Kings aren't a super successful product. They aren't a top half of the NBA quality, and that happens. When, though, you expect that on a year in year out basis, clearly your abilities of seeing the lens clearly, and what's there, is not so. Joe doesn't have a realistic view of this team. Neither do others who watch this team (alot of fans). Donte Greene might improve by the end of the year, but if he can't grasp a complicated offensive concept that will enhance his ability to score, then it's going to be difficult for him to adapt to the high level it takes to be successful in the NBA at it's highest stages. Reggie knows that. So does Kenny Natt. Ditto for Petrie, Wayne Cooper, and Jason Levien. But if Joe doesn't get that, and he doesn't allow his basketball folks to make those decisions with those types of things in mind, then it's hard to see a franchise operate at a level higher than dysfunctional.

In a way the Kings are catching a break. When this stuff happens, you gotta make a change, and personally, I really like the idea of Kenny Natt going forward for the rest of the season. As I've said in other comments on other threads, I really hope he gets an open & honest chance like Joe said in yesterday's Aldridge article. If nothing else, what I hope is that the team respect that Natt is in an impossible spot, and not having the team be an embarrasing trainwreck, like the Thunder or Wolves, is probably the best Natt can strive for. But can he make enough of a difference to get the job permanently, as opposed to the Eddie Jordan type of love affair that has been promoted because of the type of style and players Geoff Petrie has generally brought in the organization. Who knows? But I know I want to see Kenny Natt get a full chance, not from the fans perse, because I think most fans wouldn't get it if their ass was pulled up to their face and they had the sniffing ability of a dog, but with Petrie and the basketball staff doing the assessing, and the input from various other parts of the organization. That is the solution to the coaching issue's that have plagued (and may plague) this team in the past few years. Adelman ignored the family, and frankly, so should we. What they say doesn't really matter, but when you've got a billion dollars of capital, it tends to change your ability to get what you want said. That's the way these things work. But Joe didn't really seem to understand that in 2006, and I'm skeptical that he understands this heading into 2009.

There is an end in sight. By any real account, Reggie was fired because the team wasn't working together with his game plans. Fine. That's a reasonable reason. Reggie, too, is not without resources, and is seemingly drawing enough support that somebody (at the college level) will offer him a job. I maintain, that Reggie would be great for Sac State. But, that's probably too much of a small fry for Reggie to make himself known long term. Either way, we can all wish Reggie well in his next endeavor. If he still wants to coach, and nothing said by anybody seemed to indicate he doesn't, then more power to him. Good luck Reggie.

On the topic of Geoff Petrie, here goes. I realize quoting Marcos Breton is dicey for many here, but I think he nailed it, in far less words than I ever could. Lot's of good stuff in that article, but these are what stood out:

The firing of Theus is a story for a day. The larger narrative of miscalculation at Arco Arena is the story of the Kings.

It's popular to lay all the blame here on the Maloofs, but that's not fair. They own the team and deserve a strong say. Besides, that lets Petrie off the hook too much. Right now, the Kings are dysfunctional. Getting there was a team effort.

I absolutely agree with the last 2 lines, which is why I laid the blame above with the Maloof's and Petrie. Otis has spent much time around here (he deserves dap for this) that Petrie hasn't shown enough sway with his bosses (be it Jim Thomas or the Family) to get his way when he needed to have it. Maybe he wasn't just fighting the good fight in the sense that he didn't want to spend the energy telling them, and putting his ass on the line, what only time and patience could bring about naturally. Except, that hasn't worked either, to a degree. Joe still pops off badly in the media, and Gavin still sounds like the stick of the month, except that Vanilla isn't a description for how bland and boring his quotes are. Basically, their working relationship doesn't suck. It splinters the franchise, and the players took advantage of it. Rick Adelman ignored them, and there's nothing less the 2 high profile brothers like more than that, and it certainly didn't do him any favors the team started poorly in the 05-06 season. Yet, Reggie Theus, who was thought to have a strong relationship with the media as a selling point, had some of the strangest, and totally out there quotes I can ever remember from a head coach. I won't even mention the level of suck that is Eric Musselman, other than to say he sucks as a NBA head coach, or more accurately, did for the Kings. (I contradicted myself, and blow me.)

The fact is in TZ's post regarding Theus yesterday, he pointed out that Theus did an admirable job of making the Kings an easier trac, in that the team was following an understandable path and that it made a semblance of sense most of the time. But even then, nobody was fully happy with the job Reggie performed, most notably Joe Maloof. That's a problem. Joe turns on every coach immediately they don't do what he expects, and right out of the gate. That comes with impatient, and petulant, ownership. That isn't a winning formula no matter how much the Family wants to bring rings to the EC.

Geoff Petrie, knows all this. As Breton points out, he's never done well with confrontation with either ownership group. After all, he didn't agree with the firing of Eddie Jordan, and I think Jim Thomas made the right decision. Of course, I could be wrong. The problem I have here is Geoff isn't deserving of a pass. He wasn't deserving of it for the Ron Artest trade (which basically recouped everything he could have gotten from Denver, minus Linas Kleiza which is what he "wanted"), and he isn't deserving it for this. The only reason I'm not bellowing worse is because of the following:

• Reggie got fired for the right reasons
  
• He has time to remove Bitch Boy brothers Brad Miller and Bobby Jackson off the roster (Bobby has ruined all the good will he created with me btw--Brad ditto)
• There are deals out there to be made, and Geoff has the time to figure out which deals will help the Kings
  
•  Geoff put the right person in charge of the team in the interim, and barring an entry of Whisenant onto the coaching staff, I will stand by that.

I want to say I like what Geoff has done, but for the most part, I don't. I gave him a pass on the fighting bosses thing, because I think in part it was understandable for the Eric Musselman hire. But for Reggie Theus too? Can't give him the pass. Geoff has done a lot of tremendous things for this franchise, and he may still, but from where I stand, he isn't the prize some have purported him to be. His flaws hurt this franchise just as much as the Maloof's do, and to be honest, if they weren't so stupidly honest and public, he'd rank #1 on the list instead of the family. He's spared because he can't control them, but that doesn't mean I don't excuse him. I'm going to continue to lob shots at him, and the Family, until their frenetic dysfunctional reign and a reasonable working relationship emerges. Hopefully yesterday was a start of that. Or whenever the exact timeline emerges from this crappile of a franchise.

After the jump I'm going to propose solutions.

Try talking to you While you do, what you do I swap places with you Just to see things through Just sing me the tune And you'll see I'll keep it here for you I'll wait for your cue

You wrote down all the words Black and white In a row Just keepin' it slow Yeah you know how it goes No plans for a change, nothing strange No not today no way Now sing me the tune

Cash it in and throw it all away Never needed any of it anyway

So you twist and you turn Comfortable fool, you'll never learn But you can take a stand Forget all about the plans California rose

I've stated Brad Miller and Bobby Jackson to be the largest problem with regards to the players. As veterans they're "supposed" to provide an example. What they've done is prove that dissent does nothing but lose games. People around here worry about the effect that Marion might have in a trade if he comes to the EC, but I'm worried that Miller and Jackson are effectively poisoning some of this young talent in the wrong way. Or just have a negative lingering effect that if not relieved immediately, could fester into a real problem long after Jackson and Miller are gone. No Mas! So I have some pointers.

Bobby your pointer is simple: Shut Up! I don't give a shit what your stupid ass thinks, and I'm tired of hearing it. Shut the fuck up, and forever.

Brad, take your smart-ass/stupid/asshole/redneck arse away and take that crappy RV with you. Drive it to Miami for all I care. Just don't come back. Ever. For any reason. Unless Miami is bringing you. Then don't come out, and stay away. Leave immediately upon arrival. OK?

Obviously I'm not the only person who thinks the Kings would be well off dealing with Miami, but I also think Cleveland has a great chance of pulling something off if they want Marion. Or, maybe, the Kings can get lucky and pull off a part of this 3 way that rc360 proposed before I finished writing this. (That was essentially what I was going to say, but why duplicate?) I think it's a win win if the Kings can pull off cap room, and keep Mikki Moore around to create even more. The only big (And I mean over 5 million btw) salaries players on this team are Miller, Martin, Thomas, Salmons, Moore, and Udrih. You lose 3 of those, and you get cap room. The 6 of them combined make nearly 35 million, and Miller and Thomas make up 20 million of that. When you factor Garcia's extension, rookie salaries (and the higher pick could be really expensive starting at the 3.5 million range if it's top 5), you could be looking at a team with around 8-10 million dollars of cap room (I say the cap might be lowered to around 57 million, and depending on what Garcia's salary starts at, anywhere from probably 5 mil to 5.5 mil, then you could realistically project hte team's salary in the 46-49 million range before being able to sign a Free Agent. That's a lot of room, and this early, gives you a greater overall benefit than trying, not to mention being futile, to play the 2010 odds.

I've already mentioned my Kenny Natt thoughts, but simply put, it's probably not a bad idea that the Kings give him a full available look, and ignoring last night, judge him based on the success of the whole tenure. If they dump him without looking at him first, then that would be a mistake. Either way, from here on out, how the trades, and the decisions made on the coaching staff, will determine how good of a job Geoff Petrie has done as Prez of Basketball Ops, and how successful the Maloof's have been as owners. Because if you base it on previous success, it's hard to not give the lion share of credit towards Jim Thomas, when he had a large part in every decision, even if he knew he wasn't going to pay for it. And if that's the case, every pundit out there (me included) who gave such a huge clap of the back towards Geoff Petrie for all his wonderful acquisitions over the years, are going to have re-adjust some of the statement made against him. Namely, he was too focused on keeping things quiet, and being patient, to let anything rock him. That isn't always the way to go in Pro Sports. There isn't one grand tell all solution to fix anything in the NBA. But being Minnesota South isn't one way to do so. That's the problem, and the fact few are even saying so, is an even bigger problem. It'd be nice for that to change. What would be nice is that the future, that seemingly started with the hire of Jason Levien, would continue with the player acquisitions (that remained of general high quality through the draft), and that coaching searches are done without so much strife in the future. This method has proven to not work. Getting along works, and while I've heard that's only for the hippies, I believe the 2k9 Kings will make that mantra work. It's what's left for this team.