Coach Dave Joerger

Its hard to know... Joerger being a defensive guy might of got real tired of Boogie not getting back on defense because he was too busy complaining about a call. I think Joerger has done an excellent job and Kings fans are extremely lucky to have him.

Results? Folks verwhelmngly good to excellent.

Too often fans focus on an area that really in the overall scope of things, is such a small thing in the BIG picture. Is it important to get back on D every time? Yes. Is it important to have a guy who can break down defenses at will on offense, play solid defense and be the best guy on the court most games? Yes. Kings are now looking for that guy when they had that guy. Joerger said it....talent wins in the NBA. Every head coach in the NBA knows this. Character and Culture and Pace and Computer driven data are always trumped by elite talent. The fortunate thing is that Joerger and his staff are up to the challenge. If Vlade and or Vivek get rid of him, I would guess that the NBA might step in after all and call the running of this organization incompetent.

In short he's really the only one keeping it together when we are one tread pull away from completely unravelling

He could walk away and get hired again. No one would blame him given who we are.

C+

Wasn't a fan of the KK Cousins combo. Seemed pretty stubborn about it too.

Did a good job developing the rookies.

The guys play hard and as far as I know the locker room is in good shape.

I could not disagree more on your above statement I highlighted in red. Joerger and Crew are great a developing young talent and bring players along just right. In this they get an A+.

Look at Buddy Hield's development since arriving in Sacramento. Willie, Skal and Bam Bam are coming along great.

Best coach the Kings have had in a long time. Better than Malone even. He is especially good at instilling confidence in young players which makes him the perfect fit for this team. I give him an A-.

So this debate on the "right way" to develop players is so interesting to me. I have coached a lot of youth sports, from Rec to fairly competitive, and the one thing I can say without question: There is not one way to coach that encompasses all.

I am a huge proponent of putting people in a position of success vs. failure. Throwing a player to the proverbial wolves can do way more damage than putting them in positions to succeed. I think Joerger has done a great job with this. Playing Skal 35 minutes a game right off the bat could have been detrimental to his success, but finding good spots to get him extended minutes has been great. Even with Malachi earlier in the year before we were in rebuild mode, it made sense to make sure these kids were able to succeed and not just let them go out there and get their asses handed to them every night.

B.

First time in many years we wont have to talk about a coach replacement during the off season.

Sigh.
You had to say it.

I gave him an A- for most of the same reasons. The minus for me was the terrible 3-point defense.

Bad defensive habits can take a long time to break. The Kings were a horrible defensive team Mike Malone's fist year with the team then level up to very good defense the next season before, well, you know...

It would really help if the team had a head coach in place for at least 3 seasons so he can establish his defensive philosophies.

The developing of the kids the "right way" was a matter of circumstances, in a lot of ways.

With DMC still on the Kings and the Kings trying to make the playoffs, the youngsters were not going to get much playing time, if any, so they were sent down to Reno for some seasoning. Heck, even WCS (a 2nd year player) had a hard time getting on the floor with the win now approach.

Once the kids got some good playing time and experience in Reno, the DMC trade went down and the Kings went from play the vets and win now to rebuild mode, literally overnight.

The Kids benefited from the DMC trade more than anyone else. If that trade never went down, and the Kings were still fighting for the playoffs, none of them would have seen the NBA court this year, except maybe some minutes for WCS and even less for Richardson.

Was it that the Kids showed enough in Reno for Vlade to think that it was time to trade DMC to give the kids a chance to shine or was their new playing time just a side effect of trading DMC and the Kings getting lucky with the timing? We will probably never know.

I would venture to say that the Kids development was a much a by product of getting PT in the D-League and the coaching they got there, as it was coach Joeger developing the youngsters, once they reached the big leagues.

Either way, everything has fallen into place quite nicely, if you ask me. The Kids are playing well and learning to win in the league. And hopefully, the Kings get two more top 10 picks to add to the youth movement and build towards the future.

On WCS, that is rewriting history a bit.

He struggled in the summer league and first two months of the season because he wasn't doing specifically what the coaching staff wanted from him. His rebounding was atrocious and he was disinterested every time he was given some minutes out there which then resulted in a few DNP-CDs

However, for 3-4 weeks prior to the trade, Willie has been a key reserve for us. He was getting minutes and actually having impact out there and staying on the floor to finish games because of his defense and he was generally doing what the coaches were asking him to do. Hell he even played in the closing minutes of that win against the Cavs and was instrumental to that win with his defense and rebounding late.

Other kids would have gotten some minutes here and there. Malachi was starting to get minutes before injurying his hamstring and Skal played in the game leading up to the All-Star break. If you look at the pattern, for a couple of weeks before the all-star break, Skal spent more time with the Kings that he did in Reno especially compared to early in the season.

Sure trading your franchise player changes the direction and priorities of the team but you are making it sound like there is no way in hell these guys were every going to get minutes if DMC was not traded and that is simply not true. Hell coach Joerger on his podcast with Lowe during the training camp started talking about Skal and how the kid can just play but he is going to keep him out of games and developing in practices and in the D-League and will start exposing him more to NBA minutes later on in the season.

Coach had a clear plan with all the young players and he clearly know what he is doing and how he is developing these kids. It's not something that has been brought upon him. Circumstances changed on him and he is not playing Skal 20mpg instead of 10mpg that he would have played him. He is playing WCS 30mpg instead of 20-25mpg that he was playing him prior to the all-star break.

You simply can not guarantee that the Kids would have gotten the minutes once we were getting into a crunch time playoff push.

That is something that you can not assume.

And if you look at coach Joeger's history with Memphis, he was not playing the rookies very much, especially when the playoff push came. That is what got him in hot water with the GM, who picked the rookies that he wouldn't play, like Jordan Adams.

He played the vets like Matt Barnes and Vince Carter, and not the rookies when he was in Memphis, why would you assume he would have given the rookies PT if he wasn't doing it in Memphis, when it came down to pushing for the playoffs? Just look at coach's Memphis history, he simply did not play the rookies much at all, especially down the stretch.

If you look at Coach Joeger's history, there is nothing to suggest that he was waiting to "unleash" the rookies (Skal and Papa) in the midst of a neck-to-neck playoff push against Denver and Portland.

As far as WCS, he was still not rebounding for a month, post DMC trade. It wasn't until the last 2 weeks that he started rebounding, yet he was still getting a lot of playing time.

You can not assume that if his rebounding had continued to be horrid, like it was before the last 2 weeks, that he would have gotten the PT he is getting now, if we were still in a playoff push.

Once the DMC trade happened, WCS had to play and he had to play big minutes, regardless if he wasn't rebounding like he should.

But no one can say with certainty what may have happened if WCS continued to not rebound and DMC was not traded.

If WCS didn't rebound better, Coach could have easily had decided to play KK and DMC together more the last few weeks of the season due to WCS lack of rebounding.

And one of the things I believe that helped WCS start rebounding better recently, was because he was getting more touches on the offensive side, that he wasn't getting pre-trade. So, things could have been a lot different than it has played out now.

Luckily, coach seems to have gotten through to WCS the last two weeks and his rebounding has improved a lot.