Theus Stands by Job with Kings

Löwenherz

Löwenherz

Starter
#1
#1
Sam Amick caught up with T-Wolves assistant coach Reggie Theus and talked to him about Theus' short stint as the Kings' head coach.

I had been fine with Theus as coach and thought we could have at least let him run out the season last year before letting him go.

But after reading this, I can see him for the ego-centric, narcissist he is and think his firing didn't come soon enough:

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/2390044.html
 
Arco Thunder

Arco Thunder

Bench
#2
#2
Löwenherz said:
Sam Amick caught up with T-Wolves assistant coach Reggie Theus and talked to him about Theus' short stint as the Kings' head coach.

I had been fine with Theus as coach and thought we could have at least let him run out the season last year before letting him go.

But after reading this, I can see him for the ego-centric, narcissist he is and think his firing didn't come soon enough:

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/2390044.html
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Lowenherz, I totally agree.
 
TaxMan

TaxMan

Starter
#3
#3
Löwenherz said:
Sam Amick caught up with T-Wolves assistant coach Reggie Theus and talked to him about Theus' short stint as the Kings' head coach.

I had been fine with Theus as coach and thought we could have at least let him run out the season last year before letting him go.

But after reading this, I can see him for the ego-centric, narcissist he is and think his firing didn't come soon enough:

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/2390044.html
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Well....I agree in one sense. Theus is clearly ego-centric. However, hard to argue with some of his points -- many of which were discussed routinely on this site at the time (need to get tougher, more talent, how can the maloofs still be pushing playoffs, etc.) At this point, I take it more that he's fighting for his reputation in the game and future coaching positions.

With that said.....I wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole if I was a GM considering a new coach.
 
Löwenherz

Löwenherz

Starter
#4
#4
TaxMan said:
Well....I agree in one sense. Theus is clearly ego-centric. However, hard to argue with some of his points -- many of which were discussed routinely on this site at the time (need to get tougher, more talent, how can the maloofs still be pushing playoffs, etc.) At this point, I take it more that he's fighting for his reputation in the game and future coaching positions.
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Oh, I completely agree: already thin team was struggling through an unreasonable rash of injuries, front office had unrealistic expectations, etc. Those points are valid.

What I take exception to however is

A: He seemingly can't possibly see how he could have done anything better, even as a rookie head NBA coach. Rational people walk away from tough situations with an understanding of areas they can personally improve. Narcissists blame everything on everyone else.

B: How quickly and eagerly he jumps on the 6 percent drop in wins after he left under his own assistant coach and former teammate, simply to vindicate the job he did and keep his own ego intact. To me, that's classless.
 
N0M0R3

N0M0R3

Prospect
#5
#5
Löwenherz said:
Oh, I completely agree: already thin team was struggling through an unreasonable rash of injuries, front office had unrealistic expectations, etc. Those points are valid.

What I take exception to however is

A: He seemingly can't possibly see how he could have done anything better, even as a rookie head NBA coach. Rational people walk away from tough situations with an understanding of areas they can personally improve. Narcissists blame everything on everyone else.

B: How quickly and eagerly he jumps on the 6 percent drop in wins after he left under his own assistant coach and former teammate, simply to vindicate the job he did and keep his own ego intact. To me, that's classless.
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agreed 100%
 
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LWP777

Guest
#6
#6
I personally think there was some sort of power struggle between Theus and the Maloofs/Petrie because I thought he did a pretty good job of getting the most out of his players the year before and the limited time he had with the group last year. I think once the franchise decided to rebuild they wanted somebody who would "tank" it the rest of the year and play the young guys. Theus was too obsessed with wins and wanted to play aging veterans who had zero future with us.

All in all, I can't really argue with much he had to say in that interview. Does he have a huge ego? Yes he does, but that doesn't change the truth in what he has to say there.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#7
#7
In addition to the obvious, I believe there were other factors that led to his dismissal that aren't touched upon in this article.

I wish him all the luck in the world but am NOT at all disappointed with his firing. If we hadn't gotten rid of him and suffered through Kenny Natt, we wouldn't have Paul Westphal right now and Westphal is IMHO the REAL deal.
 
6th

6th

Homer Fan Since 1985
#8
#8
LWP777 said:
I personally think there was some sort of power struggle between Theus and the Maloofs/Petrie because I thought he did a pretty good job of getting the most out of his players the year before and the limited time he had with the group last year. I think once the franchise decided to rebuild they wanted somebody who would "tank" it the rest of the year and play the young guys. Theus was too obsessed with wins and wanted to play aging veterans who had zero future with us.

All in all, I can't really argue with much he had to say in that interview. Does he have a huge ego? Yes he does, but that doesn't change the truth in what he has to say there.
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It may even be more than that. Maybe they didn't want to ruin the guy in his 1st NBA head coach stint by asking him to tank and further spoiling his future chances as an NBA head coach. So, fire the guy; let someone who will never have a future as a head coach do the tanking, thereby taking all the heat; and, in the long run, do Theus a favor.
 
N0M0R3

N0M0R3

Prospect
#9
#9
6th said:
It may even be more than that. Maybe they didn't want to ruin the guy in his 1st NBA head coach stint by asking him to tank and further spoiling his future chances as an NBA head coach. So, fire the guy; let someone who will never have a future as a head coach do the tanking, thereby taking all the heat; and, in the long run, do Theus a favor.
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woah thats heavy lol
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#10
#10
I mean no offense whatsoever to my dear friend, 6th, but I cannot even begin to entertain the possibility of those kinds of altruistic motives. :)

And we didn't tank on order of the front office. We "tanked" because we really and truly sucked.
 
E

ESP47

All-Star
#11
#11
I don't see anything wrong with his statements. He didn't say the team got 6% worse. He said they got 100% worse (exaggerating) and the writer said it was 6% to be precise. He said he had the guys playing to the best of their abilities, which still wasn't good enough to be a playoff team. What do you want him to say? That he couldn't get any talent out of the guys and he just wasn't fit for the job? The guy has to save face so he can get future opportunities in the league. When you go and interview for a new job, do you tell the boss that you just couldn't cut it at your last gig but you'll do better this time? No, you try and make yourself look as much in the right as possible.
 
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LWP777

Guest
#12
#12
VF21 said:
I mean no offense whatsoever to my dear friend, 6th, but I cannot even begin to entertain the possibility of those kinds of altruistic motives. :)

And we didn't tank on order of the front office. We "tanked" because we really and truly sucked.
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I'm sorry, but trading half our team for junk, replacing Reggie with Natt, etc. were all part of "tanking." If the organization would have let Reggie stay and do whatever he wanted, without trading Salmons and Miller, we probably would have won somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-34 wins, not 17.

I'm not saying I didn't agree with the team tanking, but you can't tell me that wasn't the plan.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#13
#13
ESP47 said:
I don't see anything wrong with his statements. He didn't say the team got 6% worse. He said they got 100% worse (exaggerating) and the writer said it was 6% to be precise. He said he had the guys playing to the best of their abilities, which still wasn't good enough to be a playoff team. What do you want him to say? That he couldn't get any talent out of the guys and he just wasn't fit for the job? The guy has to save face so he can get future opportunities in the league. When you go and interview for a new job, do you tell the boss that you just couldn't cut it at your last gig but you'll do better this time? No, you try and make yourself look as much in the right as possible.
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No! What you tell the boss is that it was your first gig at being a head coach and that you made mistakes. But you learned from those mistakes and it will make you a better head coach in the future. What you don't do is leave a mess behind and then try and sell it as something else. Reggie wasn't fired solely because of how the team was playing at the time. He was fired because he sometimes didn't show up on time for his own practices. And because he sometimes sat talking on his cellphone during practice. And because he was delegating too much of his responsiblity to Chuck Person, his lead assistant.

He was fired because players like Brad Miller, a player with quite a bit of experience in the league made statements like, " I don't know what my role on the team is ". If he didn't know, how could young guys like Hawes and Thompson know. Reggie is all about Reggie, and personally I wouldn't have hired him to be my assistant coach.. He has too big an ego, and doesn't know how to survive out of the limelight. But then thats just me..
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
#14
#14
LWP777 said:
I'm sorry, but trading half our team for junk, replacing Reggie with Natt, etc. were all part of "tanking." If the organization would have let Reggie stay and do whatever he wanted, without trading Salmons and Miller, we probably would have won somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-34 wins, not 17.

I'm not saying I didn't agree with the team tanking, but you can't tell me that wasn't the plan.
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Exactly, we had the talent to be a much better team, but between the trade which was stupid and the injuries we didntstand a chance. We won 5 games after the trade.... Then people get upset when nocioni has a bad game, maybe he just sucks.
 
Löwenherz

Löwenherz

Starter
#15
#15
bajaden said:
No! What you tell the boss is that it was your first gig at being a head coach and that you made mistakes. But you learned from those mistakes and it will make you a better head coach in the future. What you don't do is leave a mess behind and then try and sell it as something else. Reggie wasn't fired solely because of how the team was playing at the time. He was fired because he sometimes didn't show up on time for his own practices. And because he sometimes sat talking on his cellphone during practice. And because he was delegating too much of his responsiblity to Chuck Person, his lead assistant.

He was fired because players like Brad Miller, a player with quite a bit of experience in the league made statements like, " I don't know what my role on the team is ". If he didn't know, how could young guys like Hawes and Thompson know. Reggie is all about Reggie, and personally I wouldn't have hired him to be my assistant coach.. He has too big an ego, and doesn't know how to survive out of the limelight. But then thats just me..
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Exactly.
 
kingsnation

kingsnation

All-Star
#16
#16
Theus said he loves the talent on the current Kings team. He praises rookies Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi as top-notch talents, while noting how the team is tougher from those two on down to Ime Udoka and Jon Brockman.
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And thank you Reggie Theus for helping us suck so bad that we were able to draft Reke and Omri, and probably 10 years down the road you will probably take credit for any success Reke gives us due to your incredible tenure here.
 
L

LWP777

Guest
#17
#17
kingsnation said:
And thank you Reggie Theus for helping us suck so bad that we were able to draft Reke and Omri, and probably 10 years down the road you will probably take credit for any success Reke gives us due to your incredible tenure here.
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Oh come on. I don't really get all the Reggie hate. I think he meant what he said in that quote and he's just being nice and diplomatic. I'm not sure what your problem is with him.
 
kingsnation

kingsnation

All-Star
#18
#18
LWP777 said:
Oh come on. I don't really get all the Reggie hate. I think he meant what he said in that quote and he's just being nice and diplomatic. I'm not sure what your problem is with him.
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Even though I was being a tad sarcastic in the last post, I do have issues after reading the article mainly because of statements like this...

"...these guys were playing as good as they could play …
...And that had a lot to do with my staff and their ability to get those guys to play at that level."
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Are you kidding me? What level is he talking about, 6 wins? 17 wins? A team that showed no heart, hustle or desire to even be on the court?

He acts like him and his staff are dream team worthy.
 
L

LWP777

Guest
#19
#19
kingsnation said:
Even though I was being a tad sarcastic in the last post, I do have issues after reading the article mainly because of statements like this...



Are you kidding me? What level is he talking about, 6 wins? 17 wins? A team that showed no heart, hustle or desire to even be on the court?

He acts like him and his staff are dream team worthy.
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I agree that some of the things he says show what an enormous ego he has. However, I don't really disagree that he got the most out of his players. He went 38-44 in 2007-08 with a team that had it's share of injuries and suspensions and he had to deal with Ron Artest and he had no point guard. That was a 5 game improvement over Muss the previous year. In 2008-09 I believe he had to deal with Brad Miller getting suspended and more injuries and of course was fired only 24 games in.

I still stand by what I said. I think he was fired because he wasn't on board with what the organization wanted. I know a previous poster mentioned that Brad Miller was quoted as saying he didn't know his role. I'm sorry, but I can care less what Brad Miller says. He has no credibility.

He also had 2 successful years of coaching at the collegiate level at New Mexico State. He went 16-14 his first year and then 25-9 his second and got New Mexico State to the NCAA tournament. Despite his bad start in 08-09, he has shown success as a coach at all levels.
 
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gunks

gunks

Hall of Famer
#20
#20
Theus was giving time to the kids, and there was a decent amount of hussle from the players under him. That team was never very good BEFORE it was crippled by injuries. We did beat the Lakers.

I think the Maloofs did Theus wrong in canning him.

OTOH, Westphal >>>>>> Everybody since Rick, let alone just Reggie. So its not like I would still want him coaching. But Natt was a huuuuuuge downgrade. However, through Natt's gross incompetance we were able to get our hands on Reke.

So all in all, everything turned out well for us (not so much for Reggie, but at least he's working).
 
L

LWP777

Guest
#22
#22
gunks said:
Theus was giving time to the kids, and there was a decent amount of hussle from the players under him. That team was never very good BEFORE it was crippled by injuries. We did beat the Lakers.

I think the Maloofs did Theus wrong in canning him.

OTOH, Westphal >>>>>> Everybody since Rick, let alone just Reggie. So its not like I would still want him coaching. But Natt was a huuuuuuge downgrade. However, through Natt's gross incompetance we were able to get our hands on Reke.

So all in all, everything turned out well for us (not so much for Reggie, but at least he's working).
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Yep, I guess it was a blessing in disguise. Also, I wonder if we would have gotten the #2 pick instead of #4 if the Kings still would have drafted Evans? I'm thinking yes.
 
PurpleHaze

PurpleHaze

All-Star
#23
#23
...and no one mentions Chuck Person, said to be another reason Reggie Theus was fired. The Rifleman is now an assistant coach with the Lakers. When hired by Phil Jackson it was specifically to deal with Ron Artest, something he was suppose to be doing with the Kings.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#25
#25
Now anybody who has heard me speak on the subject knows that I consider Reggie Theus a narcissistic egomaniac who I wouldn't hire to mow my lawn. He fired himself. Or rather his ego fired him. He was tone deaf and blatantly challenged his bosses, all with a tissue paper thin resume, and depended on looks and charm to play divisive politics and try to charm dimwit media types. BUT, for all that, there were a couple of points I agreed with him on, and they were touched on by a couple of quotes in that article:

#1 -- he will get little argument from me here, besides noting that his playing time choices rarely reflected his alleged focus here -- Geoff had put together a pathetic group of softies:
"I'm very happy about the direction they're going in," Theus said. "They've switched the philosophy a little bit. It's not all pretty players. It's not all skilled guys who can dribble and shoot.

"We needed some guys who could do some of this (pounds his fist), and I talked about it the whole time I was there. Now they have a good mixture."
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#2 -- and this of course was the syndrome that really killed this francise for years. The 17 win season was the best thing to ever happen to us ironically:
"They (Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof and basketball president Geoff Petrie) had a vision of something about the team that wasn't there," he said. "They were thinking this team was almost a playoff team at one point. And the good thing is, for my reputation and my coaching (career), it was pretty obvious that the talent was not."
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SacKings7

SacKings7

Starter
#26
#26
I agree 100% with what Lowenherz said

PS, you guys use the work "tank" too freely around here. Tanking is purposely losing. Sucking is trying to win and still losing. There's a difference. We were the latter.
 
R

reid1boys

G-League
#28
#28
The team sucked because of the players that were on the team. Doesnt matter who the coach is. I think Westphal is doing a good job, but does the fact the Kings drafted a player that is the leading candidate for ROY have something to do with the Kings level of play?

Teams change coaches every year, and until they get better players, the team will continue to suck. Look at the Cleveland Browns.

And by the way, just today at ESPN.com there is an article on Mangini, the Browns coach, and he is talking about how confident that what they are doing in Clevelan is working and he is doing a good job. But guess what, the Browns SUCK. He is doing a sell job to keep his job after his great win against the Steelers. ALL coaches do this.

Put the great Zen master or ANY other NBA coach, hell, get John Wooden and let him coach the Kings last year and they still suck.

All you have to do is look at all of these so called GREAT college coaches that make the jump to the NFL to see it is about players. Or loook at that masterful Charlie Weis, you know that great offensive guru that was respo0nsible for the Pats winning a few super bowls... uhhh how well did that naotre Dame gig work out for him??

Real simple draft a player like Magic Johnson and all of the sudden you are an elite coach.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#29
#29
bajaden said:
No! What you tell the boss is that it was your first gig at being a head coach and that you made mistakes. But you learned from those mistakes and it will make you a better head coach in the future. What you don't do is leave a mess behind and then try and sell it as something else. Reggie wasn't fired solely because of how the team was playing at the time. He was fired because he sometimes didn't show up on time for his own practices. And because he sometimes sat talking on his cellphone during practice. And because he was delegating too much of his responsiblity to Chuck Person, his lead assistant.

He was fired because players like Brad Miller, a player with quite a bit of experience in the league made statements like, " I don't know what my role on the team is ". If he didn't know, how could young guys like Hawes and Thompson know. Reggie is all about Reggie, and personally I wouldn't have hired him to be my assistant coach.. He has too big an ego, and doesn't know how to survive out of the limelight. But then thats just me..
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I'm even happier not having Miller on this team than Theus. Miller was a joke. I remember he made the same kind of statement prior to Theus, saying he didn't know when to shoot or not. Unfreakingbelievable. I am so glad he's gone. No Miller, No Artest, no Theus. Yes, there is addition by subtraction.
 
Sptsjunkie

Sptsjunkie

Starter
#30
#30
Kingster said:
I'm even happier not having Miller on this team than Theus. Miller was a joke. I remember he made the same kind of statement prior to Theus, saying he didn't know when to shoot or not. Unfreakingbelievable. I am so glad he's gone. No Miller, No Artest, no Theus. Yes, there is addition by subtraction.
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Well, Miller did give us some really good seasons when we were contenders. But by last year I agree it was time for him to go. He was stealing minutes from the kids and gave 0 effort. He was not a good veteran leader. He sulked and looked like someone just going through the motions to collect a paycheck.
 
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