Another One Bites the Dust...

[xfactor]

Struggling Kings fire Theus; Natt named interim coach

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Reggie Theus was fired as coach of the Sacramento Kings after a 6-18 start to his second season with the club.



Assistant coach Kenny Natt will take over the Kings, spokesman Troy Hanson said. Natt is Sacramento's fourth coach in less than three years.

The Kings have lost 10 of 11 to fall into last place in the Pacific Division, with only a win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the last 31/2 weeks. Sacramento's 24-point home loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday night -- the ninth loss in 10 games at Arco Arena -- was Theus' final game.

Theus' firing was first reported by Yahoo.com. He is the sixth coach fired in the NBA already this season, following P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma City), Eddie Jordan (Washington), Sam Mitchell (Toronto), Randy Wittman (Minnesota) and Maurice Cheeks (Philadelphia), who was dismissed Saturday.

Theus' coaching record
Season Record
2007-08 38-44
2008-09 6-18

Theus played 13 seasons in the NBA, memorably scoring the first basket for the first Kings team in Sacramento after the club's move to Northern California in 1985. He went 38-44 in his debut season as head coach after the Kings hired him away from New Mexico State, where he built a solid program that marked him as an up-and-coming coaching prospect.

But with star guard Kevin Martin sidelined by injuries for all but nine games this season, Sacramento has been among the NBA's worst teams. Martin's injury and Sacramento's unimpressive roster weren't excuses for owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who have publicly voiced their displeasure with their franchise's direction in recent weeks.

Natt is in his second season with the Kings after three years as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who reached the NBA Finals in 2007. He played three NBA seasons, including a stint with the Kansas City Kings, before moving up the coaching ranks in a path that included nine seasons as an assistant to Utah coach Jerry Sloan.

In May 2006, the Maloofs fired veteran coach Rick Adelman, who won 395 games and led the Kings to eight consecutive playoff appearances and winning seasons, but no titles. After making that move over the objections of top basketball executive Geoff Petrie, the Maloofs then hired Eric Musselman, who lasted just one tumultuous season before getting fired amid multiple personality conflicts.

Theus, the former player who dabbled in acting and broadcasting before becoming a coach, seemed an ideal coach for the showbiz-loving Maloofs, and he did better than many expected in his rookie year. But a slow start convinced the impatient Maloofs to change direction again -- and it will cost them financially.

Theus' departure means the Kings will be paying three head coaching salaries this season to Natt, Theus and Musselman, who still has a year left on his contract.

 

[xfactor]

The Kings get the victory at home in Coach Natt's debut but it was against one of the worst teams in the league.

There've been 6 coaches get fired so far this year but you could argue that only Toronto and Philadelphia were playoff teams.

What's with the "change of voice" or "sense of urgency" that teams are starting to display with the firing of coaches a month and a half into the season?

 

[cranrab]

The Kings get the victory at home in Coach Natt's debut but it was against one of the worst teams in the league.

teams usually time the firings to coincide with the next opponent being a tomato can.

same things happened with the 76ers after coach cheeks was fired.

it gives the public the appearance of things starting off on the right foot, and it gives the media a chance to say "see? the change was good"

 

[cranrab]

class act all the way:

Recently fired Cheeks takes blame for Sixers' slow start

Posted Dec 16 2008 11:42AM​

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Three days the Philadelphia 76ers fired him, Maurice Cheeks thanked the fans and took the blame for the team's disappointing start. Cheeks was fired as coach on Saturday after the team dropped eight of 10 games. He was replaced by assistant general manager Tony DiLeo.
Cheeks said he is open to another position with the team because he has deep affection for the franchise and the city of Philadelphia. Cheeks played 11 seasons for the 76ers and was a member of their last NBA title team in 1983.
Cheeks led Philadelphia to the playoffs last year and the team had high expectations after acquiring power forward Elton Brand in the offseason.
The 76ers are 10-14 after beating Washington 104-89 Saturday in their first game under DiLeo.​

 

[cranrab]

kings position:


By David Aldridge, TNT Analyst
Posted Dec 16 2008 11:05AM
Reggie Theus kept the trend going Monday -- the sixth NBA head coach to be fired in six weeks. The Sacramento Kings, mired in last place in the Pacific Division with a woeful 6-18 record and dwindling support from one of the league's top fan bases, dismissed Theus and assistant coach Chuck Person on Monday morning. Assistant coach Kenny Natt was named interim coach for the rest of the season. <!-- START 'inlineAds : default' FILE: /.element/ssi/story/1.0/news/features/.branding/default/inlineAds.html -->
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<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->"We didn't really have a choice, is how I see it," Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said by telephone Monday. "We love Reggie and we were really pulling for him. I had a nice conversation with him and wished him luck."
Saturday's 114-90 home loss to the Knicks marked the ninth time this season the Kings lost by 15 points or more. Four of those defeats had come at Arco Arena, which was once a pit for opposing teams to visit but now is filled with docile fans -- at least those that come. Sacramento is next to last in the league in attendance, drawing just 12,307 per game to its building, 4,000 less than capacity.
Team president Geoff Petrie recommended Theus' firing to Maloof and his brother, co-owner Gavin Maloof, in a meeting Sunday evening.
<!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude-->
<!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- /REAP -->Theus was Sacramento's fall-back choice as head coach less than two years ago, after the team fired its winningest coach, Rick Adelman. Sacramento believed it had reached an agreement with Stan Van Gundy to replace Adelman, only to see Van Gundy back out and instead take the head job in Orlando. The Kings interviewed Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis and now-Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks before choosing Theus, who'd played for Sacramento during his playing days and was coming off a strong showing as head coach at New Mexico State.
Theus went 38-44 in his rookie season, getting the Kings close to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. But the Maloofs let him know that the heat was on when they declined to pick up the third-year option on his contract for the 2009-10 season, essentially making him a lame duck. Sacramento started the season with 18- and 34-point losses, and the Kings never really recovered.
Injuries have been a factor. The team's best player, guard Kevin Martin, has missed more than half of the season. But the lack of development of some of Sacramento's other players, like guard Francisco Garcia, played a part as well, Joe Maloof said. The Kings have young talent like center Spencer Hawes, power forward Jason Thompson, Martin and small forward Donte Greene (acquired in the Ron Artest trade this summer), but that talent has yet to coalesce.
"We weren't progressing," Maloof said. "We were regressing instead of progressing. We didn't get the sense we were going anywhere. We were spinning on wheels. You can't have those kinds of home losses. We were losing games by 20 points."
Natt has spent the last 13-plus years as an assistant for the Kings, Jazz and Cavaliers after a brief NBA playing career in the 1980s, and held management and coaching positions in basketball's minor leagues before joining Utah as a scout. Maloof said Natt would get an opportunity to show he deserves the job on a permanent basis.
"We need somebody with that kind of experience," Joe Maloof said. "If anybody has paid his dues, it's Kenny."
It's been a precipitous drop for Sacramento, which rose from NBA obscurity under Petrie in the late 1990s. Petrie acquired Chris Webber from Washington, Doug Christie from Toronto, signed free agents Vlade Divac and Bobby Jackson and drafted up-and-coming talents like Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu and Gerald Wallace to create a powerhouse in the west. The Kings got as far as the Western Conference finals in 2003, when they waged an epic seven-game battle with the Lakers before losing the decisive game on their home court.
But since then, the Kings have fallen back to the middle of the pack and, now, back to the bottom.
In joining P.J. Carlesimo (Oklahoma City), Eddie Jordan (Washington), Sam Mitchell (Toronto), Randy Wittman (Minnesota) and Maurice Cheeks (Philadelphia), Theus is the latest coach to fall in a seeming firing frenzy. Never has "what have you done for me lately?" been such an appropriate phrase for a head coach to hear.
"Every owner wants to win immediately," Maloof said. "The owners wouldn't be where they are if they didn't have that kind of competitive drive. They're just as competitive as the players and coaches. You're right there on the court. You can feel it. You can see it when they're not performing the way you think they should. You've got to have something that the fans can grasp and hold onto."

 

[xfactor]

teams usually time the firings to coincide with the next opponent being a tomato can.

same things happened with the 76ers after coach cheeks was fired.

it gives the public the appearance of things starting off on the right foot, and it gives the media a chance to say "see? the change was good"

I agree... Sadly, it seems to work sometimes. The media made mention of similar comments to yours back when Scott Brooks was hired to take over as IHC and he started during a tough stretch of games for OKC.

Funny you mention that though, because Sacramento was destroyed by Portland last night.

 

[xfactor]

class act all the way:

Recently fired Cheeks takes blame for Sixers' slow start

Posted Dec 16 2008 11:42AM​

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Three days the Philadelphia 76ers fired him, Maurice Cheeks thanked the fans and took the blame for the team's disappointing start. Cheeks was fired as coach on Saturday after the team dropped eight of 10 games. He was replaced by assistant general manager Tony DiLeo.
Cheeks said he is open to another position with the team because he has deep affection for the franchise and the city of Philadelphia. Cheeks played 11 seasons for the 76ers and was a member of their last NBA title team in 1983.
Cheeks led Philadelphia to the playoffs last year and the team had high expectations after acquiring power forward Elton Brand in the offseason.
The 76ers are 10-14 after beating Washington 104-89 Saturday in their first game under DiLeo.​

I wouldn't expect anything less from Coach Cheeks. It's unfortunate he wasn't given more time and I hope he finds his way back into the league as a HC one day.

How much do you think Elton Brand being added to the roster had to do with the team's slow start?

Not to mention Igoudala, Dalembert, and Lou Williams production has dropped off this season.

 

[keysersoze]

On a serious note, do these teams think firing coaches will result in winning more games?

The teams still suck - Twolves, Kings, Wiz, and Thunder are possible the worst teams in the league.

Only 76ers and Raptors were going to make the playoffs.