- The Kings‘ best strategy is to rebuild around center DeMarcus Cousins, ABC analyst Jalen Rose told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. People within the Kings organization reportedly sense that GM Vlade Divac is willing to gauge the trade market for Cousins after another nonplayoff season and repeated discipline problems. “You can’t deal him,” Rose said. “He’s been an All-Star player, one of the top bigs in the game. You have to build around him.” Rose went through the Kings’ recent draft and personnel missteps before turning his attention to the team’s coaching vacancy. “The situation definitely needs an overhaul,” he said, “and it’s hard to say who would be a really good coach because I think they’ve gone through 10 in the last nine years, or something like that.” Sacramento has had eight coaches since the start of the 2006/07 season.
- Kings small forward Omri Casspi lamented the firing of coach George Karl and blamed the players for the team’s woes this season, international journalist David Pick relays (via Twitter). Casspi, who is under contract for $2,963,814 next season, believes he will be a part of the team’s plans moving forward, Pick adds. “The Kings want me back next season, I’m not sure who the coach will be, but I’m adaptable, I’m comfortable in most systems,” Casspi told Pick. “I’m confident I’ll be back in Sacramento next season.”
The Knicks have had a glaring hole at point guard the past few seasons and the team may look to correct the deficiency by acquiring a player like Darren Collison from the Kings if it’s unable to land a bigger name in free agency, Ian Begley of ESPN.com relays. The New York front office began discussing the possibility of working the trade market late in the season, Begley notes, and members of the Knicks organization are said to be fond of Collison. New York had also reportedly had trade talks with the Hawks regarding Jeff Teague prior to the trade deadline and there have been recent discussions within the organization about revisiting that pursuit this offseason, Begley notes.
It’s unclear if the Knicks have the assets required to land Collison or Teague, Begley notes, but New York will certainly have enough cap flexibility this summer to absorb either contract. The Knicks will have at least $18MM in available space to use and that number could surge to approximately $30MM if Arron Afflalo ($8MM) and Derrick Williams ($4,598,000) decline their respective player options, the scribe adds. Collison is set to earn $5,229,454 next season, the final year of his current deal. The Knicks could conceivably add Collison and still have room to ink a max salary free agent, Begley notes.
Collison appeared in 74 games for the Kings this season, including 15 as a starter, though he did see increased time as a shooting guard as the season wore on due to the presence of Rajon Rondo. His averages on the year were 14.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists to accompany a shooting line of .486/.401/.858. The 28-year-old would certainly be a clear upgrade over the team’s current crop of playmakers: Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant and Langston Galloway. The wild card in New York’s future backcourt plans is Tony Wroten, who has declared his intent to be the team’s starter in 2016/17 as he makes his way back from a torn right ACL.
Seth Curry intends to decline his player option worth $1,015,696 for 2016/17 and will become a restricted free agent this summer, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical. Curry has until this Saturday to finalize his decision, Charania adds. The player inked a two-year pact with Sacramento last July.
Curry, 25, averaged 6.8 points, 1.5 assists and 1.4 rebounds in 44 games for Sacramento this season, finally establishing himself as a rotation player in the league, Charania notes. He shot a stellar 45.1% from three-point range for the season and connected on 45.5% of his shots overall. Prior to this season, Curry had spent most of his time in the NBA D-League, and he inked 10-day contracts with the Cavs, Grizzlies and Suns over the previous two campaigns.
The combo guard, who is the younger brother of Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, is in line for a higher salary than his player option would have seen him earn, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee opined recently. Curry averaged more than 11 points per game after the All-Star break and he notched 16.4 points and 5.3 assists in his last seven games of the season. “I think I’ve played pretty well and showed some different things in my game that will set me up for the future to show I can be a good player in this league for a long time,” Curry told Jones.
- The Kings have been clear to candidates for their head coaching post that the front office will support them in disciplining players, including center DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays in a series of tweets. The franchise is fighting the notion that George Karl was fired to appease Cousins, and higher-ups have been clear that the big man isn’t a consideration when hiring or firing personnel, Jones adds.
THURSDAY, 5:34pm: McMillan intends to wait until the Pacers’ playoff run is over before interviewing for the Kings’ post, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.
6:50pm: There has been no official contact yet, but the Kings are also interested in former Nuggets coach Brian Shaw, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter links). The interest is mutual, Amick says.
WEDNESDAY, 10:19am: Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton and Kings GM Vlade Divac are expected to meet to discuss Sacramento’s head coaching vacancy, likely after Golden State’s first-round playoff series with Houston, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. Walton is “extremely fond” of Divac, who was briefly his Lakers teammate, and the location of Sacramento is increasingly appealing to Walton, who is fond of life in Northern California and has several close relatives in the Sacramento area, Voisin writes. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Monday that no team had asked permission to interview his top assistant, but Voisin reported Tuesday that Walton was among the coaches to whom the Kings had reached out.
Divac is especially interested in Walton, Spurs assistant Ettore Messina and NBA coaching veterans Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks, but he’s planned to speak with several others. Divac is inquiring about the interest of Monty Williams, Jeff Van Gundy, Spurs assistant Ime Udoka and at least two college coaches, among other names previously reported as Kings coaching targets, Voisin relays. The Kings are poised to interview Sam Mitchell, Vinny Del Negro and Mike Woodson, according to reports. Mitchell’s interview is to take place today, a source told The Bee’s Jason Jones.
Sacramento has natural appeal to Brooks, who’s from the nearby city of French Camp, California, but Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported last week that he’s not interested in coaching the Kings, with the Wizards apparently the front-runner for the former Thunder head coach. Thibodeau and Van Gundy, apparent co-favorites for the Timberwolves job, don’t want to coach Sacramento either, according to Wojnarowski.
The Kings have reached out to Messina, as Voisin reported previously, though Messina and fellow Spurs assistant Udoka are busy with the playoffs. Both were reportedly candidates for the Nets vacancy, with Udoka the apparent front-runner at one point before the job instead went to Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson, who also reportedly drew interest from the Kings.
Williams is a Thunder assistant but has been away from the team since his wife died in February. He won’t rejoin the team for the playoffs and, as The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater hears, he’s not expected to return to Oklahoma City for next season, either. Top free agent Kevin Durant has a close bond with Williams, the former Pelicans head coach.
Kevin McHale, Mark Jackson, David Blatt, Jeff Hornacek, Patrick Ewing, Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga are the other candidates in whom the Kings are reportedly interested. Sources who spoke with Marc Stein of ESPN.com have speculated that Heat assistant David Fizdale and former Cavs and Lakers coach Mike Brown could become Kings candidates as well.
Which of the many names mentioned here do you like best for the Kings? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
The Kings intend to meet with Jeff Hornacek, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes amid an update on the team’s expansive coaching search. Sacramento was reportedly scheduled to interview Sam Mitchell on Wednesday and is set to do the same with Vinny Del Negro and Mike Woodson. Luke Walton is also apparently expected to meet with GM Vlade Divac about the vacancy.
Hornacek was one of the first names to be connected to the job. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski heard even before the Kings officially fired George Karl that the former Suns coach was among a group Sacramento would consider. Wojnarowski also identified Hornacek as a strong candidate to coach the Wizards when Washington fired Randy Wittman, but the Wizards have since offered the job to Scott Brooks, as The Vertical scribe reported Wednesday.
The Suns fired Hornacek on February 1st amid a season gone wrong, but he’s just two years removed from finishing a close second to Gregg Popovich in voting for the Coach of the Year award for his first season as an NBA head coach. Hornacek’s Suns went 48-34 that year in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season, though they failed to maintain that success, falling to 39-43 in 2014/15, and Phoenix was 14-35 when it made its coaching change this year.
Hornacek, who turns 53 next month, went 101-112 overall with the Suns. Before going to Phoenix, he served as an assistant coach for the Jazz while former Kings coach Tyrone Corbin was the head coach in Utah.
Sacramento is also interested in Brooks and fellow former NBA head coaches Brian Shaw, Monty Williams, Jeff Van Gundy, Kevin McHale, Mark Jackson, David Blatt and Nate McMillan, along with Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka, Hornets assistant Patrick Ewing and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, plus at least two unidentified college coaches, according to previous reports. The team also reportedly had interest in Tom Thibodeau and Kenny Atkinson, who’ve since taken the Timberwolves and Nets head coaching jobs, respectively.
Quincy Acy has decided to turn down his minimum-salary player option for next season and hit free agency this summer, as USA Today’s Sam Amick hears (Twitter link). The Kings want to keep him around for on-court reasons as well as his locker room presence, according to James Ham of CSN California, who wrote earlier that the power forward would love to stay in Sacramento, so it appears the grounds for a new deal are in place. Still, the Mike Silverman client seems headed for the open market.
Acy, who’ll turn 26 in October, averaged 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game this past season, his second tenure with the Kings, who had him for most of the 2013/14 season. He spent a year with the Knicks in between his stints with Sacramento, and he put up the best numbers of his career in 2014/15 with New York, averaging 5.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 18.9 minutes. The Kings moved him in and out of the starting lineup this season, but he still wound up making 29 starts, his most ever.
Sacramento signed Acy this past summer to a two-year minimum-salary deal. The contract doesn’t require a formal decision on the player option until June 1st, so Acy still has time to change his mind and pick up the $1,050,961 option. That leeway doesn’t exist for teammates James Anderson and Seth Curry, who have to decide on their player options by today and Saturday, respectively. Caron Butler can wait until June 22nd.
The Kings have about $61.3MM in guaranteed salary for next season, not counting any of the player options. They’ll have enough flexibility under the projected $92MM cap to chase some max-level free agents, but they seem unlikely to land one, given their lack of appeal.
8:05pm: The Kings’ first three interviews for their vacant coaching position will be with Jackson, Del Negro and former Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter).
TUESDAY, 2:50pm: The Kings are scheduled to interview Vinny Del Negro next week, The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports, confirming a tweet from Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee that indicated as much. They’d like to interview Kevin McHale, but he hasn’t decided whether he’ll meet with the team, league sources told Wojnarowski, who earlier reported the team plans to interview Mike Woodson. The team is expected to meet with a handful of candidates for initial interviews before moving on to the next stage of its search, Wojnarowski hears.
Del Negro’s name emerged among several in the mix for the Kings job when Wojnarowski reported his candidacy last week. Sacramento reportedly contacted Del Negro for its vacancy in December 2014, shortly after firing Michael Malone, but since then, the Kings have had two head coaches, and Vlade Divac succeeded Pete D’Alessandro as the front office chief.
Sacramento has reached out to Tom Thibodeau, Scott Brooks, Ettore Messina, Luke Walton and David Blatt in addition to Del Negro and Woodson, according to Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), though Thibodeau and Brooks appear to be long shots, at best. Jeff Hornacek, Mark Jackson, Patrick Ewing, Nate McMillan and Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga are others in whom the team reportedly has interest as it seeks a replacement for the fired George Karl.
Experience appears to be a key for Divac as he looks at candidates, and Del Negro fits that bill. The 49-year-old is 210-184 in five seasons as an NBA head coach, split between the Bulls and the Clippers.
The Kings plan to interview Clippers assistant Mike Woodson for their head coaching job, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The Clippers have granted permission for the interview to take place, Wojnarowski hears.
Sacramento reportedly has interest in several candidates, and the team is seeking an experienced replacement for the fired George Karl, as GM Vlade Divac indicated. The sense within the organization is that the team is willing to test the market for DeMarcus Cousins, as Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee wrote, but regardless of whether Cousins is around, whomever the Kings hire will face a daunting task. The franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006.
Woodson ended an eight-year playoff drought for the Hawks in 2008, his win total improving in each of his six seasons as coach of Atlanta. He later coached the Knicks, guiding them to 54 wins in 2012/13, the team’s last playoff season. Still, the 58-year-old is just 315-365 in the regular season and 18-28 in the playoffs as an NBA head coach. The Magic interviewed Woodson last year before hiring Scott Skiles, and while another report suggested Woodson also interviewed with the Nuggets for the job that ultimately went to Michael Malone, that’s not entirely clear.
David Blatt, Vinny Del Negro, Jeff Hornacek, Celtics assistant Jay Larranaga, Kevin McHale, Mark Jackson, Patrick Ewing and Nate McMillan are others in whom the Kings reportedly have interest. They’re also apparently fond of Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks but understand they’re not likely to end up in Sacramento.