Sactown Royalty, a Sacramento Kings community

There was a frequent complaint from the front office and players that Theus was habitually late to team buses or slow arriving to games; there was the way in which his candid nature with the media would irk the players and the team's training staff; there were stories of the coach answering his cell phone during practice. In many ways, Theus had only re-emphasized his me-first reputation of old.

In the locker room a sign put up by Theus read "It's not about you." The sarcastic retort among his critics, however, was that it was about him.

Speaking to ESPN.com's Andy Katz after his dismissal, Theus said: "I had no idea [in advance]. We were just coming off our best win [over the Lakers] the past two years. We've had a lot of injuries. ... Everyone knew we were rebuilding and the projection was for 20-25 wins."

Theus added that Kings president Geoff Petrie -- not either of the Maloof brothers who own the team -- was the person who informed him of the decision Monday. As of Sunday night, Theus said he had no inkling that he was about to be fired.

"This talk about (Theus) being gone whenever just needs to go out the window, because we're all excited about playing for him. I want him here, Brad (Miller), the vets, they want him here. He's our coach."

"(But) the few times I've talked to Joe (Maloof) the last two to three weeks … I said it's just way too early to make a fair assessment of what we have here. It's going to get better. I'm sure of that, if we can get reasonably healthy for a reasonable period of time."