Kings fire Mike Malone, and why that might matter for the Celtics
Sunday night, the Sacramento Kings shocked the NBA community - well, the ones who weren't listening to the new D'Angelo record - by dismissing their head coach, Mike Malone.
via ESPN
The Sacramento Kings have fired coach Mike Malone, sources told ESPN.com Sunday night.
The Kings got off to a surprising 5-1 start to the season but have lost eight of their past 10 -- a swoon that has coincided with star DeMarcus Cousins' bout with viral meningitis -- and have fallen to 11-13.
The Sacramento Kings' front office "expected more" than an 11-13 start and there was "no incident" that led to Mike Malone's ouster, a source said Sunday.
The Kings have gone 2-7 since DeMarcus Cousins has been sidelined. Surely the product of horrific head coaching, and not the product of a team missing their most valuable player.
Outside of giving us a reason to laugh, this is relevant to the Celtics. This isn't just a firing of a head coach, it's a declaration of desperation. The Sacramento Kings ownership very clearly have extremely unrealistic expectations on where they should be at, and are getting very impatient. Remember, by almost every account, Mike Malone had an extremely good relationship with Demarcus Cousins.
As Rich Levine of Comcast Sports Net New England points out, this might be a very good thing for Danny Ainge. Because if the Kings are honestly trying to gear up for some kind of run, there's no position more in need of an upgrade than point guard.
via his twitter account
The Kings have long been believed to be very interested in the services of Rajon Rondo, and if they're willing to go 'all in', they probably have the assets and contracts to make a trade possible. Ben McLemore and Nick Stauskas are both intriguing assets, and Darren Collison has shown himself to be a capable point guard. The Sacramento Kings do owe a first round pick to the Chicago Bulls (it's top 10 protected over the next three years) though, so at the moment the earliest they could trade a pick is 2018 (unless they waive the protections on the Bulls pick.)
And if the Kings are as heavy on 'name players' as they've led themselves to be, I might just have to find a way to share this mix with them:
UPDATE: Woj chimes in with more details on Malone's firing.
The biggest tidbit - Rumored trade that would have sent Josh Smith to Sacramento caused a large divide in Sacramento's front office, with coaches questioning how Smith would fit next to Rudy Gay and Demarcus Cousins, and management not really caring about fit.
