24Q: How Will Bobby Jackson And Keith Smart Fit In On The Bench?

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago the Kings made a couple new additions to the coaching staff. Bobby Jackson is back on the bench, this time as an assistant and former Warriors head coach Keith Smart will be joining him, Jim Eyen and Paul Westphal. Truck Robinson, Otis Hughley, Pete Carril and Mario Elie will not be returning (Elie is now on New Jersey's staff). How do these two new coaches fit in?

Bobby Jackson is essentially a rookie again, learning the coaching ropes, and will likely fill a mentor type role. Most of the players already know and respect him as he's been with the organization since retiring. Hell, a few of them even played with and got rookie hazed by him. Bobby was always a leader on the court, and now he'll have to learn how translate that off of it.

Keith Smart, however, is a guy with years of experience in the coaching world, and a hire I really like. Last year was his first and only full year as a head coach (he did spend some time as an interim coach in Cleveland) and I thought he did well in helping take a Golden State team to 36 wins, despite key players like Curry, Lee and Biedrins playing through various injuries at times. I think Smart's greatest asset will be in helping our offense become more fluid and varied, although that will largely depend on the development of guys like Tyreke and DeMarcus.

Smart might play an even more important role in the near future if the team lets Paul Westphal go. Westphal is in the last year of his contract and probably needs this team to improve and not get off to a bad start to keep his job. Having a guy like Smart on the staff with head coaching experience makes Westphal's coaching seat perhaps a tad bit warmer.

It remains to be seen if Coach Carril will be back in an advisory role or if the Kings will add anyone else to their coaching staff, but I think the hires of Jackson and Smart were solid moves by the organization.