FIRE MIKE BROWN

#91
My thoughts on that video?

What I watched (I can only take the whiny screaming for so long) looked to be a pointing out a lot more player mistakes and deficiencies than coaching mistakes.

Basketball is a game of matchups and the Pelicans are a terrible matchup for the Kings. Ranting about that one game is a waste of time IMO.

But if we want to really pinpoint a major issue from last night, it's that the Kings got 12 points from their bench (10 of them from Davison) and the Pels got 34 from theirs.

This was a big issue down the stretch, especially missing Monk & Huerter. The Kings had an uphill battle to even make the playoffs and the real problem was losing winnable games to end up in that situation in the first place.

Brown needs to make some adjustments with his rotations (I'm still bothered by McGee playing so much early and never going with Lyles as a small ball center alongside Sasha, especially early in the season before he was hurt) but realistically how much better do you think this current roster could be with a different coach?

Despite some really disappointing losses to bad teams, they won 46 games which typically would put them in the 6th or 7th seed in the west. They were the 3rd sead last year and only won two more games with much better health and Fox playing unbelievable in the clutch.

This Kings team needs to upgrade from Barnes, ideally with a 3&D forward that provides some rim protection and to improve their bench while hopefully retaining Malik.

But they don't need to fire their coach after the first two winning seasons after 16 years of being below .500.

I get that people had raised expectations going into this season, but we have a competent GM and a competent coach who seem to very much be on the same page for the first time since Vivek has owned the team.

Firing Brown (especially without a clear upgrade available IMO) is just a knee jerk reaction to a disappointing end to the season.
Would your feelings change if a clear upgrade did become available?
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#92
Would your feelings change if a clear upgrade did become available?
Who would these clear upgrades be though? They’re all wrapped up. I’m fine with Brown for now. Might he “only” be he bridge coach to the guy who brings us to the next level? Maybe, but it’s better to stick with this than go through … the previous 12 coaches in 16 years again!
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
#95
Honestly, I don't see any reason to fire Mike Brown period, so I'll leave it to others that do to come up with possible replacements.

But IMO there are only a few that are *clear* upgrades and to my knowledge none are available or likely to be available. A guy like Popovich is also close to retirement. And even in the case of Spoelstra (who I think is a fantastic coach) he has greatly benefited from Miami being a destination for players.
 
#96
Clearly Mike Brown is not perfect, there are a lot of things he can improve on.

However, this roster was not built to beat big, long and athletic teams like New Orleans and Houston. The Kings have had huge problems with these type of teams. This whole roster is just not very big, long or overly athletic. Until that issue is fixed by Monte, this team will continue to have problems beating these teams, no matter who the coach is.
 
#97
The only guy I would have let coach brown go for was jordie, and now he’s gone, so brown is the guy for the forseeable future.
Personally I wouldn’t fire him but it wouldn’t surprise me if Vivek just out of the blue let him go.
 
#98
Brown isn't going anywhere. I'm only disappointed in a few things.

Giving Barnes such a long leash

Not playing Sasha at all (when available)

Implementation of this 3 or nothing offense. In what good scheme does fox shoot 16 3pts?

Other than that, he cut huerters min when they needed, he cut davion min when needed, he started Ellis, (after the duerter experience) and made everyone play defense (gambling defense) but non the less.

Overall he Gets a B

Now Monte- He gets a C- for doing nothing but relying on the success he had the previous season. I mean nothing! His biggest splash was Sasha who got No important min until for some reason got important min last game of the season.

I expect Barnes, huerter and davion to be gone before next season. Problem is so does every other team. Values will be low
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#99
There was 1 team that dominated us. And we couldn’t overcome them. Kings were good against better teams. Monte needs to go to work to tweak the roster so that we eliminate the shortcomings against the long wings teams……and no, as much as I like Kessler, he was not the answer. Need to give Brown some options for those teams.

Also, losing Monk hurt. Quite a bit. Losing Huerter also hurt but not as much because of the emergence of Keon.

Monte isn’t dumb. I suspect he will get things done.
 
Clearly Mike Brown is not perfect, there are a lot of things he can improve on.

However, this roster was not built to beat big, long and athletic teams like New Orleans and Houston. The Kings have had huge problems with these type of teams. This whole roster is just not very big, long or overly athletic. Until that issue is fixed by Monte, this team will continue to have problems beating these teams, no matter who the coach is.
Who was this team built to beat? The NBA for the most part is a very long and athletic league
 
Who was this team built to beat? The NBA for the most part is a very long and athletic league
This team is built like the Warriors, we are more skill oriented instead of being bigger and stronger than everyone else. Monte has assembled skills guys who can pass and shoot, but when you go up against bigger and stronger teams, we have difficulties. The players that Monte targets are skill guys (Sabonis, Hali, Keegan, Colby).

The problem with building like the Warriors is that we don't have a world class shooter like Curry and Klay to bail us out and get us points. Once our shots are not dropping, we are not going to out jump and out muscle other teams. I think this is the issue with this team, the Warriors work because they had Curry and Thompson, we don't.

When our shots are falling then the team is humming (we are hard to beat), but when it doesn't, we are screwed.
 
Without going into exaggerations, many had the bar set at making the playoffs, even just as an 8th seed. Others had it set at advancing past game 7 of the 1st round
For me, my expectation was a first round playoff win.

We failed those expectations, sure. But I don't think it's on any one entity/player/coach as to why that happened. Lot of different factors go into evaluating a season and us trying to be like "LOLZ BROWN BAD BAD COACH" or "MONTE DUM DUM GM", isn't helpful to a productive discussion on the season.

-Huerter regressed/hurt this season
-HB regressed/athleticism severely declined
-Monk injury at the worst point of the season
-Sasha was expected to be a key rotation player and just a lost season because of nagging injuries anytime he'd get some momentum.
-Fox developed a reliable 3 ball, but I think hurt us quite a bit on offense. Him attacking the paint relentlessly is the staple of our offense. We just didn't have that same pressure on the rim because he didn't drive to the rim very much (like 13% of his FGA, I believe)
-Duarte was fine as bench depth, but certainly not a guy who's a reliable rotation player.
 
Who was this team built to beat? The NBA for the most part is a very long and athletic league
Well we won 47 games this year, so clearly we're built to beat some teams. And we had an absurdly good record vs the West this year, sans the Rockets and Pelicans.

Little bit of bad luck that we run into the one team that's totally dominated us all season in a win or go home game.
 
For me, my expectation was a first round playoff win.

We failed those expectations, sure. But I don't think it's on any one entity/player/coach as to why that happened. Lot of different factors go into evaluating a season and us trying to be like "LOLZ BROWN BAD BAD COACH" or "MONTE DUM DUM GM", isn't helpful to a productive discussion on the season.

-Huerter regressed/hurt this season
-HB regressed/athleticism severely declined
-Monk injury at the worst point of the season
-Sasha was expected to be a key rotation player and just a lost season because of nagging injuries anytime he'd get some momentum.
-Fox developed a reliable 3 ball, but I think hurt us quite a bit on offense. Him attacking the paint relentlessly is the staple of our offense. We just didn't have that same pressure on the rim because he didn't drive to the rim very much (like 13% of his FGA, I believe)
-Duarte was fine as bench depth, but certainly not a guy who's a reliable rotation player.
You think Barnes severely declined as an individual player? We had the same complaints about him last season, but he was used more in the offense, so his stats were better.

I don't see Vezenkov as an effective NBA player. He's a good shooter, if and only if, he can get open for catch and shoot. Just a single NBA level skill.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Who was this team built to beat? The NBA for the most part is a very long and athletic league
I may be wrong but I believe we had winning records against the top 3 seeds in the West? We were 2-0 up on Dallas before the 2 games against them where they had a hefty FT advantage and then injured one of our top scorers effectively ending our season.

We sucked against NOP but they were in the play in too.

NBA is definitely a game of match ups and we have some really horrid ones that had we beaten the clunker games we had and earned a higher seed we'd still probably get destroyed by NOP. But we also held our own against many of the best teams.
 
You think Barnes severely declined as an individual player? We had the same complaints about him last season, but he was used more in the offense, so his stats were better.

I don't see Vezenkov as an effective NBA player. He's a good shooter, if and only if, he can get open for catch and shoot. Just a single NBA level skill.
He's got size toughness and hustle to be a good rebounder defender and energy guy. We barely saw him play in his first NBA season and he was injured thru most of it.

I can see him having bust potential too but everyone does coming into the league. It's way too early to write him off though.
 
Exactly. We have less time than people think. Fox has 3-4 years of top form left, his game has a shorter shelf life than others due to his quickness advantage. The time to strike is now. The question in my mind is simply this: is MB capable of bringing us over the hump? From what I saw this season, I do not believe so. Feel free to threaten the lives of my family for saying so. lol
I think Brown makes a better assistant than head coach, but he’s certainly not a bad head coach at all. But I’m not sure who out there wins with this roster. Our 1st option isn’t a great 3 point shooter. Out 2nd option doesn’t shoot outside the paint. And our 3rd option disappears for games at a time. We just aren’t very good no matter who coaches us
 
He's got size toughness and hustle to be a good rebounder defender and energy guy. We barely saw him play in his first NBA season and he was injured thru most of it.

I can see him having bust potential too but everyone does coming into the league. It's way too early to write him off though.
What I did see, wasn't very convincing.....and I don't think it was for the coaching staff either
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I think Brown makes a better assistant than head coach, but he’s certainly not a bad head coach at all. But I’m not sure who out there wins with this roster. Our 1st option isn’t a great 3 point shooter. Out 2nd option doesn’t shoot outside the paint. And our 3rd option disappears for games at a time. We just aren’t very good no matter who coaches us
37% at volume probably qualifies as at least very good three point shooting. That’s legitimately what Dame was doing in some of his prime seasons
 
You think Barnes severely declined as an individual player? We had the same complaints about him last season, but he was used more in the offense, so his stats were better.

I don't see Vezenkov as an effective NBA player. He's a good shooter, if and only if, he can get open for catch and shoot. Just a single NBA level skill.
Stats don't bear that out to be true for Sasha. He was a quality rebounder, played better than expected team defense and was a good overall offensive player. And team ratings with him on the floor were excellent across the board. I think he had several times throughout this year where he was ready to break into the rotation, started to get comfortable... and then got hurt. Bad luxk

And yes, HB declined. Noticeable in his numbers and play. The USG decline in part is to better players taking more shots and him just not being able to sustain his usual usg anymore
 
Stats don't bear that out to be true for Sasha. He was a quality rebounder, played better than expected team defense and was a good overall offensive player. And team ratings with him on the floor were excellent across the board. I think he had several times throughout this year where he was ready to break into the rotation, started to get comfortable... and then got hurt. Bad luxk
You're a big stats guy, but they don't tell the whole picture. He didn't pass the eye test so far,... for many who were paying close attention
 
Stats don't bear that out to be true for Sasha. He was a quality rebounder, played better than expected team defense and was a good overall offensive player. And team ratings with him on the floor were excellent across the board. I think he had several times throughout this year where he was ready to break into the rotation, started to get comfortable... and then got hurt. Bad luxk

And yes, HB declined. Noticeable in his numbers and play. The USG decline in part is to better players taking more shots and him just not being able to sustain his usual usg anymore
That USG decline also directly mirrored this teams lessened effectiveness at getting to the line. When the Kings put Barnes back in a role closer to his usual one in a clear attempt to showcase his play jumped dramatically. Not getting to the line as much definitely hurt the team. It had to be done though, both Huerter and Barnes are on the wish to trade list and have been for almost a year now.
 
You're a big stats guy, but they don't tell the whole picture. He didn't pass the eye test so far,... for many who were paying close attention
Of course. I imagine there's some behind the scenes stuff in practice where Sasha was lagging behind a bit that didn't get him on the floor more consistently, even when healthy.

Can't underestimate having a coaches trust either. Brown is absolutely old school in that sense where you have to go out and earn it. Sasha was good in his minutes, but very rarely did he have games or performances that made you go "wow, this dude HAS to be on the floor 20+ MPG"

That's how Keon turned into a 30 MPG player this year. Every opportunity he got, he forced his way onto the floor and made Brown readjust to get him in there. That's how you break into a rotation on a good team
 
Of course. I imagine there's some behind the scenes stuff in practice where Sasha was lagging behind a bit that didn't get him on the floor more consistently, even when healthy.

Can't underestimate having a coaches trust either. Brown is absolutely old school in that sense where you have to go out and earn it. Sasha was good in his minutes, but very rarely did he have games or performances that made you go "wow, this dude HAS to be on the floor 20+ MPG"
Having to go out and earn your playing time, is considered old school these days?
 
Given the alternatives, Mike Brown was likely the best pick for head coach at the time. He found himself with a talented team with several able new faces thanks to Monte. The result was Monte was EOY and Brown was COY. We can't be sure that a different coach couldn't have been able to match the record that first year. (Mark Jackson...maybe, Luke Walton...not likely).

But being EOY and unanimous COY would tend to make the recipient(s) convinced of the validity of their behaviors and stay the course. And that is just what occurred this season. Individual players grew but the support staff did not. The team's potential was not realized.

Monte and Coach Brown don't need to be replaced quite yet. However, there needs to be a change in philosophy and approach to players on the team. After languishing on the Warriors bench for 6 years and championships, Brown was/is convinced that a Warriors-style approach with Kings players that have different skill sets will grow the team. (A square peg/round hole dilemma)

I have stated Brown needs to modify several of his philosophies and techniques to maximize the team's performance. It is also disappointing that the coaching staff has not actively advanced a call for alterations. (Depending on the HC/staff relationships that we are not privy to.)

I have confidence that reviewing this year and ruminating during this off season will convince Brown that serious coaching resets will utilize what he has available in his players to the point of significant improvement next season. If he can't or doesn't realize the needs then the team will be held back. At that point his tenure in no longer an asset.