Why You Extend Westphal

And I agree that this team needs stability.

Waiting would be unnecessary, and only bears negative ramifications. It’s not like Westphal’s contract is breaking the bank. He’s a steal. Cheapest coach in the league. And he’s working.

doesn’t sound “lazy” or “rash” to me. I funny agree with extending him. He did a good job this year.

Voison, Hollinger, and Peaches can all suck it.

I feel like them and Peaches form some sadistic, Kings hating triage.

You mentioned how inexpensive his contract is relative to the league – additionally, it’s not like a coach’s salary affects your cap space. If PW turns out to be a clunker, you can still let him go before his contract expires.

This is much ado about nothing, IMO.

Personally, I don’t think the job Westphal has done this year is anything to rave about, except when compared the the guys that came before him.

A one year extension so he’s not a lame duck, I guess I can live with; its not my money at risk. But Paul Westphal hasn’t shown me any reason to believe he’s an above average coach in the NBA so far. Of course he’s not paid like he is either at this point.

My biggest points that Ailene ignores beyond what G expertly laid out in the post (with the no-risk, potential reward being the biggest issue).

If you don’t extend him and the team wins 35 games next season but you want to move a different direction, you have to fire (and still pay) a coach who just led a 10-game improvement.

That will go over well.

If anything was premature, it was the Petrie extension. This is timed pretty well, in my estimation. You have to extend him or risk 2008-09 The Sequel. (I do now retroactively question a fairly graspable incentive triggering the third year option though … it’s clever, but a real minefield.)

I see a lot of Ailene bashing coming from the Sacto Bee website / comments section, and I had to wonder this morning if maybe this wasn’t written in the similar vein as the piece here on Carl Landry and not picking up his option. The business side is a little bit foreign to alot of folks who are just plain passionate about basketball, and in that light what she wrote potentially makes some sense.(?) For me, the bottom line is that the Maloofs have made a “commitment” to getting better, and that is at least partially achieved through consistency. I like it, and hope that PW can prove he’s worth it by getting us in position to flirt with the playoffs next year. One last note – Hooray for ping pong balls and here’s to hoping we get the kind of treatment the Clippers got last year (4th worst finish getting the 1st pick…)

Adelman had his worse season as a lame duck coach. Thues was mildly succesful in his first season but never got the 3rd year guarenteed and things went down hill in season two for him.

Ailene – Wrecked

…being accurate 100% of the time it’s tried.

She’s a hack!

Well said, G.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend?

I read the article and it reminded me of the piece written here @ STR about not picking up Landry’s option. Another STR inspired Bee article, perhaps!?

Because PW is not this guy –

And don’t get her started on these guys –

This is not a story, it is a headline to a controversy. If the Kings had not extended Westphal’s contract the story would have been damning the guy after he brought so much to the Kings and why can’t the Kings keep a coach, especially one that was mentioned in the Coach of the Year talks three months ago.

I don’t know the structure of Paul Westphal’s contract, that is between him and ownership and front office. My best guess, since that is all I can work with, is that he did everything he said he was going to do. He improved the team: they have won more (he collected an incentive bonus at 25 wins), he highlighted the new talent (expected RoY Tyreke Evans was given the keys to the car early and often – thank goodness) and kept this team interesting and exciting (boy, I miss November).

Not extending Paul Westphal is a vote of no confidence. That is not the same as waiting until next year. He has been a calming influence to the team and their fans. Want to talk to Philly, Minny, NJ, Chicago and Washington about coaching? Last summer’s search wasn’t damning enough? The Kings signed the best guy out there currently and for a song. I can’t see anything other than good here. And Hollinger is a horse’s ass for throwing his two cents in – does he work for Dan Fegan too?

At least it’s not my money. If they want to spend $1.5 million extra to fire Westphal when the honeymoon is over more power to them.

I really, really don’t understand the mass love for Westphal around here. The talent is much better than last season, the end result is not.

he might try to win too many games next season. Really, that’s a concern?

As I said in the other thread, I have no problem with the vote of confidence. I don’t even have a problem with picking up his option early. My only question is why right now?

IMO, it would have been smarter to wait until after the season was over at the minimum. Allow GP and PW to have their exit interviews with the players where they identify targets for the players to improve on in the off season. GP could’ve met individually, as well, to get a different read on how the players related to PW. Waiting 2 weeks would’ve provided more insight. Waiting until the end of October would have provided even more.

Again, I don’t have a problem with the team picking up his option, but it seems very similar to other moves we’ve made. We extended Kevin early which I thought was a good move, but in retrospect, maybe we could’ve signed him cheaper if we’d waited. Same goes for Cisco. We also jumped really quickly at Beno, when waiting a couple of weeks might have been better for us. Hindsight is 20/20, of course. But there is a pattern forming.

The only potential problem, is if PW doesn’t work out and we can him early. Will his salary on the books force the team to shop in the bargain bin for the next coach, again?

It seems to me that waiting a few weeks or a few months would have been the smarter move and we could still have avoided that dangerous situation of having the coach trying to win too many games. There would be no disrespect waiting until training camp to pick up the option, and no upside to doing it right now.