Every once in a while the Sacramento Kings do something that reminds you exactly who they are, firing Mike Brown being the latest example.
On the face of it, the Kings’ 13-18 record this season is disappointing, punctuated by their stunning fourth-quarter collapse against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night. De’Aaron Fox was caught dozing on the deciding possession by leaving Jaden Ivey open for a 3-pointer when it was the only thing that could hurt them – only a foul on Ivey would make the situation even worse.
And that’s exactly what Fox did, creating the improbable four-point play that completed the Pistons’ comeback.
As implausible as that conclusion was, it was even more unthinkable that the Kings would apparently fire Brown while he was on his way to the airport in the afternoon, instead of doing so during normal business hours.
But then again, it’s the Sacramento Kings, the franchise that fired Michael Malone a decade ago, at this time of year. The same Michael Malone who became a championship-winning head coach in Denver and one of the most stable head coaches in this itchy NBA.
“No class. No balls,” Malone said upon hearing the news about Brown, a direct shot at Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé.
It was a few months ago that the Kings gave Brown a three-year extension worth around $25 million, which is generally considered an endorsement from the front office and ownership — and losing 12 matches out of 17 should not be enough to move. a stable franchise in this place.
The squares are sometimes Bermuda triangles in this part of California, apparently. Brown took a franchise that had been rudderless for most of its NBA existence and gave it an identity, winning Coach of the Year honors two seasons ago by taking the Kings to the third seed in the series in the wild Wild West.
The Kings added veteran DeMar DeRozan, one of the league’s highest scoring players, to Fox, who won the award in 2023. That would seem to be a recipe for the Kings to immediately become one of the best teams in end of league match.
But that wasn’t to be, as the Kings played the most tiebreaker games in the league to date – with tiebreaker defined as a game ending within five points – but only got one 6-13 record in these competitions. However, seeing Fox make the mistake of his life last night and making the situation worse with a foul, how could anyone blame Brown for that? Especially when he explicitly explained in his postgame press conference that the plan was to hug every player around the 3-point line and if the opportunity presented itself, foul if anyone one had his back to the basket and was not near the shot. movement.
It’s a solid strategy.
Fox declined to comment after the match, and it appeared he was shirking his responsibilities in the moment – maybe something more complicated was going on, but ultimately he made a mistake and not owning it in the moment is a bad idea for a team. who suffered a few too many bad defeats a third of the way into this season.
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It was going to take some time, adding DeRozan to that mix, especially when space hasn’t been easy to come by with a few primary shooters like Keegan Murray and Malik Monk falling short of their career numbers.
Space is the most valued entity in today’s game, and without it, it’s difficult for teams to operate late – and if you can’t be trusted to shoot, teams will deal with the impact of players to sow confusion.
Time is the most valuable commodity on the margins, with patience not far behind. But it was in a short period of time for a franchise short of success.
And given that the Kings didn’t bother firing Brown until after he had a workout and media session, it gave him the opportunity to discuss leadership as he sees it, throwing almost a call to Fox.
“And showing that you’re human sometimes means you have to show that you’re vulnerable,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, it’s not just Fox. That’s everyone. It’s Fox, it’s (Domantas Sabonis), it’s Malik. You know, to be able to say, “Hey, you know what? I made a mistake here. I made a mistake there. That’s not to say it’s all up to them, but it’s just about recognizing, “I’m human. I made a mistake. I can be better and I will be better. It is something that is learned through experience.
“You learn by watching others and being around other people who are willing to take responsibility, because it’s not easy. You know, you have the pressure of the world on you. And, as I said before, there’s a lot of smoke out there and not many people want to deal with that smoke or know how to deal with that smoke.
The Kings didn’t want the smoke Brown was referring to, so they fired him. This is what is happening in the NBA today with coaches, and make no mistake, they are not coaches without fault. They understand what comes with this job – and they know it’s much easier to fire the coach than to deal with some discomfort with the players.
“As an NBA coach, at the end of the day, you’re going to take the blame,” Malone said before the Nuggets played the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. “When they win, (the credit) will go to Sabonis and Fox and when you lose, it will go to Mike Brown. That’s how it works. And secondly, who he works for (Ranadivé).
Fox has made things a little uncomfortable with the Kings, as he is only under contract for one year after this one and turned down an extension before the start of this season. Obviously, it’s better for him to wait so he can possibly sign a supermax deal this coming summer, but that gives him huge leverage in the meantime – especially since the Kings are desperate to retain their hometown star, the choosing over Tyrese Haliburton. a few years ago when moving from Haliburton to Sabonis.
It was a cog in jump-starting their rebuild, and Brown’s arrival was the catalyst for the culture change. He went viral in his first weeks as coach, not only imploring his players to get back on defense during training camp, but demonstrating it himself, a tall feat for a man over 50 years.
Brown didn’t suddenly lose the ability to coach over the course of a few months, any more than any coach who gets the ax at the start of the season has. Nick Nurse is having a disastrous time in Philadelphia, but so far his key card is still working – and the 76ers are far from an effectively managed team.
The Kings fired Brown because they didn’t like the direction of the team in recent months. GOOD. But does anyone trust them and their vision for the team’s direction moving forward?
