The Kings will interview Patrick Ewing for their head coaching vacancy this week

Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical is reporting that the Sacramento Kings will meet with Patrick Ewing this week for their head coaching vacancy.

Patrick Ewing has spent the last three seasons on Steve Clifford’s coaching staff in Charlotte. Prior to his stint with the Hornets, Ewing served on Jeff Van Gundy’s staff in Houston, and Stan Van Gundy’s staff in Orlando. That is quite the crop of mentors.

Ewing has been a fringe head coaching candidate over the last three or four years, and it’s just a matter of time before some team actually gives this guy an opportunity to command his own ship. As someone with opinions on who the Kings should and should not hire, Ewing’s inexperience as a head coach is concerning, and if the Kings are going to hire someone without NBA head coaching experience, I’d prefer Ettore Messina or Jay Larranaga, but that is just personal preference. Every assistant-turned-head-coach is an unknown to some degree, and I’d be more comfortable with Larranaga because I’m more familiar with his pedigree based on what I’ve heard out of Boston, and I’d be more comfortable with Messina because he has had success as a head coach outside of the NBA.

Patrick Ewing is a good, worthy candidate, though. He’s one worth interviewing, and he’d certainly get the nod over Sam Mitchell or Mark Jackson if I had my druthers.

In the same Wojnarowski report, Adrian states that Vlade Divac wants to have a list of three finalists he can present to ownership before one final round of interviews. That seems like a perfectly logical way to conduct business. Huzzah!

Woj also reports that Vivek Ranadive has ‘been most intrigued’ by Kevin McHale. Before everyone tries to play the meddling card, it’s perfectly normal for Vivek to have a preference, as long as it stays a preference.

According to Woj, McHale ‘has been cautious in his approach to the job’ which I can live with for now, but it could become an issue. McHale is one of the candidates on the top of my wish list, but my interest in him drops considerably if he doesn’t actually want the job. I can handle apprehension on McHale’s part, and to be perfectly honest, I might be more scared of candidates who aren’t a little uneasy about this position, but if McHale is on board, he needs to be all in. This is not the first time we've heard that McHale may or may not be interested in coming to Sacramento, and I just hope Vlade Divac can read the tea leaves a bit here before making that call. It's tough. I don't envy having to determine something like that.