It might not be fair, or it might be fair. It could be smart and lead to a brighter tomorrow, or it could be another step toward foreseeable mediocredom.
But it's going to happen. There is no escaping the maelstrom to come - Eric Musselman will not be Sacramento's head coach next year.
Evidence, from Sam Amick's rather eyepopping Sunday story:
"He's got a book he wants to show us, I guess," Gavin Maloof said. "He's analytical, so I'm sure we'll see a lot of stats." [...]
"We knew we had a good team," Gavin Maloof said. "Could we repeat what we did last year? Well, we thought so. We at least thought we could make it in the playoffs. And then when we didn't, that was disappointing.
"I think maybe a new coach, a new system, you have to take it all into account. To (Musselman's) credit, he's worked hard. But for whatever reason, it just didn't jell this year." [...]
"There were a lot of distractions this year. ... He's still our coach. We haven't said he's not our coach." [...]
"I've always tried to be real confident in my coach, always (had) an understanding of, What do you want? What do we need as a team?" [Brad Miller] said. "But sometimes there was more emphasis on, Do we want me to shoot it more? Do you want me to pass? And that goes in terms of everybody." [...]
"There's going to be change," Gavin Maloof said. "It's impossible to say that there isn't going to be change. We're always looking to improve our team, and there will be change.
"We just don't know if it'll be big change, little change, but there will be change. That's just the way business happens."
There is no way in hell Musselman survives this, and that's sort of sad considering how hard the team's played all year.
Obviously, we'll be discussing heavily the candidates to come. One thing that is apparent: the Maloofs are still making calls when it comes to the head coach position. Otherwise, Musselman wouldn't be begging to meet with them at season's end, to try an encore Powerpoint performance. He'd be talking with Geoff Petrie, who's around him every day. Maybe he has, and he realizes his only shot to stay employed is to appeal to Petrie's bosses? Whatever. It's not going to work. Muss is toast.