Kenny Natt, Assistant Coaches Let Go

by Ziller on Apr 23, 2009 2:56 PM PDT in News Comment 25 comments

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

As expected, the Kings declined the option on Kenny Natt's contract. The assistant coaches have been canned, too. (Shareef Abdur-Rahim was on a one-year deal; no word on his status. Pete Carril is a consultant, not a coach.)

Geoff Petrie had limited press availability this afternoon (right now, actually), and the Kings media folks are putting out quotes from the event via Twitter. Here's the key point to date:

Petrie on coaching search- 'Looking for experienced coach. Experience as head coach in NBA. Achieved a certain level of success in NBA.'

That would seem to eliminate John Whisenant, Jeff Ruland, Mike Budenholzer, Elston Turner, Brian Shaw, Tom Thibodeau, Ettore Messina, Kurt Rambis (most likely -- Rambo did have a cup of coffee). The "certain level of success" line might eliminate Dwane Casey, and will assuredly eliminate Marc Iavaroni.

Sam Amick has a solid reminder of how things went the last two times, and correctly suggests this is going to take awhile ... given that Petrie is going on an overseas scouting trip for at least two weeks beginning Friday.

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Thank you!

Petrie on coaching search- ‘Looking for experienced coach. Experience as head coach in NBA. Achieved a certain level of success in NBA.’

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Apr 23, 2009 2:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hmm

I thought Petrie was going to Europe to talk to Ettore Messina.

Wonder what else he might be looking into there…

by furious.d on Apr 23, 2009 3:00 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I've heard that there is a place in France....

Hot dogs, get your hot dogs.

by jjham15 on Apr 23, 2009 4:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Randy Brown, too?

Natt! We just lost our best defender.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Apr 23, 2009 3:04 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

Yah

But he forced his turnover.

Kings rule! (They are royalty - right?)

by dalt99 on Apr 23, 2009 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

WOW!!!!

I didn’t see this coming…

by B-RAD on Apr 23, 2009 3:04 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Bye guys!

Thanks for all your hard work trying to land us Ricky or Blake

www.mancancook.net

by vfettke on Apr 23, 2009 3:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Mission accomplished

Now, on to Phoenix

Kings rule! (They are royalty - right?)

by dalt99 on Apr 23, 2009 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Halleujah!

My only point of contention was:

Why did it need to take up to today to decide that Natt wasn’t coming back? That should’ve been announced Wednesday night after the Minnesota game. Kick Natt off the plane or give him a commercial airline ticket to his home or something. It didn’t need to take this long.

Anyways,

Gotta love the Petrie quote of experienced head coach. Many people aren’t fans of this but Avery Johnson tops my list right now but wouldn’t mind Eddie Jordan. I think this eliminates John Whisenant, assistant coaches with no experience.

But “gasp” may include Mike Fratello.

BOOK IT!

by kingme18 on Apr 23, 2009 4:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

Avery’s my top pick (unless a Karl or Scott becomes suddenly free) but I’d be ok with EJ as long as SOMEONE teaches defense and Petrie commits to adding some defenders to the roster.

by LPKingsFan on Apr 23, 2009 4:14 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

What

would you guys think of Jeff Van Gundy as coach? Just curious ….

They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.

by what_the_crap on Apr 23, 2009 4:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'd like him here

but hardly anyone else does. What do you think about him?

"Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer." - Julian Casablancas

by submison on Apr 23, 2009 7:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I

think he won’t be considered, but if he was hired, I wouldn’t mind it at all.

They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.

by what_the_crap on Apr 23, 2009 10:01 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

JVG is highly regarded as a color commentator

and signed a 5 yr contract in 2008. I not sure what his salary is but I imagine his cost would be prohibitive.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Apr 24, 2009 1:35 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

yup

that’s why I don’t imagine him even coming here. I was just curious what the reaction would be. I actually think it’s Jordan’s job to lose.

They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.

by what_the_crap on Apr 24, 2009 8:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

By the way

there is little chance that Petrie would even consider JVG, so I gave up on him a while ago.

"Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer." - Julian Casablancas

by submison on Apr 23, 2009 7:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

ESPN 1320 Video

Hey guys-
Before Petrie’s statement about experience, Brian and I as part of our How We See it feature on ESPN 1320 commented on all of the possibilities.

Check out the video.

Thanks!
Derek

by derekespn on Apr 23, 2009 4:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Bubba Burrage

hasn’t he been around the organziation for a while, since before the Theus/Natt days? Are they going to reassign him somewhere else or is he gone? From the Twitter feed, it sounds like they’re going to find SAR another place in the organization: