Monday, November 8, 2010

Fire Westphal? Hold your water!

People are absolutely nuts. Maybe that should read fans are nuts.

I’m reading now how the Sacramento Kings should fire Paul Westphal.

This is after they go 3-3 to begin the season. Hold your water, people.

Granted, I’ve got many questions regarding what the Kings are doing and/or trying to do.

Those things I’m trying to figure out and from the looks of, so are they, coach Westphal included.

One thing I’d ask of those who believe Westphal should be fired. Did you think he should be fired when the Kings were 3-1.

If so, then OK.

If not, then shut up and quit being reactionary to a couple of losses.

One of those came against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The other defeat was by a Memphis Grizzlies team one year ahead of the Kings in the growth process and definitely more athletic and talented at this point.

It doesn’t make a difference if the Grizzlies played two overtimes the night before. If it was six or seven overtimes, then OK, I’d see the point.

These are basically 22 to 30 year-old cats, who played 10 minutes longer than regulation. What? They can’t hoop two nights in a row. People, please?

Often times, I wonder if people who write some of the bizarre stuff they post ever really, truly laced up sneakers and competed. Most of the time, the answer I came up with is hell no.

Did you ever consider how pissed off, motivated and determine that team might be after just throwing away a game they'd dominated the night before? Isn’t that a factor?

You want to fire Westphal? Didn’t the Kings just hire homeboy? Can the man get more than one season and six games before kicking him to the curb?

Can he work with the same group of players for a minimum of two seasons so it’s clear to all what he’s trying to do? Or maybe it won't be clear and that'll also be a revelation.

An organization has to have stability and firing a coach every year or even every other year does not inspire stability.

There is no way a team can become a team without learning its rules and regulations and disciplines. Just because you have 12 players or 14 for that matter, doesn’t mean you have a team.

Teams go through adversity and become stronger as a result of lessons learned. What the Kings have is a nucleus that consists, in part, of Tyreke Evans (21 years old), DeMarcus Cousins (20), and Omri Casspi (22). Include Donte Greene (22, and his status is another discussion point), Hassan Whiteside (21) and there are five players, who still are shy of their 23rd birthdays. Add Darnell Jackson, who is 25 and has six games under his Sacramento belt and there is a collection of characters who don’t really know what they are doing.

They can’t because knowing what you are doing requires know-how. You know, doing it over and over again, like most of us have done in our given jobs/professions. And not when we were 20 or 21 or 22.

Just because these guys are tall and highly-paid doesn’t make them any different mentally or maturity-wise than others their age.

They have differing levels of maturity, intelligence and willingness to accept teaching or even acknowledge the need to be taught.

Westphal surely still is attempting to learn how to teach and reach these guys. The Kings have improved talent and size, but its collection by no means is so commanding that it is dominating.

OK, I could spend another four hours with the questions that surface with Westphal’s actions and decisions.

So, I’ll chill with those for the moment. Some of those might be answered, say, in the second or third weeks of the season. That was a joke for those of you taking this Kings thing a bit too seriously.

However, here’s a couple I hope to get the coach to answer by next week.

How many plays do you call a game? How many of those are pick and roll plays?

The Kings half-court offense often appears to have no direction. Is that because players fail to execute their roles? Or is it because it lacks direction.

How much time during practice does your team spend on defense? Is there a way to improve how stay in between your man and the basket? You know the basic concept of keeping one’s man in front of you?

So far, the Kings should be renamed the excavators since all they do is dig holes for themselves. That’s the most difficult way to win games.

Ahh, we'll get to Greene another day.

19 comments:

  1. Agreed. Finishing the year at .500 would be an incredible accomplishment for this group and represent some good coaching.



    Looking forward to the Greene piece.

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  2. That Wenig is just causing trouble with his fire Westphal stuff. Then again, he is brilliant

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  3. this is stupid, why would there even be a discussion that he should be fired?? we're only 3-3 the season is still young!

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  4. Not the point that the team is 3-3. The point is whether you think he's the guy to take him to the next level. I don't. Maybe Petrie does.

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  5. how on earth did marty went from writing for the Bee to being unemployed and writing these blog piees? After reading his stuff here, I now know why.

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  6. Watching the video, and reading about the Phoenix game the day before Memphis was to play the Kings, I thought, damn, it was already going to be tough enough against this young Memphis squad, but now, forget it.
    After Memphis botched that heart breaker, the next team they faced would have hell to pay. And they did. Unfortunately, it was the Kings. Chock that loss up to bad luck as much as anything else.

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  7. The real question is why in the world would the Maloofs and Petrie hire someone with a track record like Westfail's? The guy had Barkely, Ainge, Johnson, etc and couldn't win a championship. If people only did more research they would know this. They guy sucks as a coach. The only reason he was hired: he was cheaper than other more qualified coaches.

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  8. Too funny. thanks all for the comments... anonymous, Jerry Sloan had Stockton and Malone. Do you think he also sucks? Westphal definitely came cheaper? And who would you have signed? Moreover, how did Marty went? That's what you wrote above. Have someone read your stuff over before you post if you are going to come like that, please... Wenig, I know you so I'll never be surprised by you wild directions. I'd say pretty smart. Brilliant is quite the stretch. ... and ron, what is the next level to which your talking about the coach taking the Kings?

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  9. Sonny, thanks for the comments... It was more than bad luck... It was poor execution as well, but consider circumstances of not getting a full training camp together, having a young squad and then Memphis being focused, it made for a tough night. It's no big thing to lose a game. It's about how you deal and recover from the loss.

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  10. Tonight, will be a small barometer of the early season. We beat Minny on the road in a squeaker and now we have them at home. Love the idea of the zone. I wonder why more coaches don't go to the old Hubie Brown 1-3-1 as a change-up. Best effort boys. Good luck

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  11. BTW any comment on Westphal's status is early and if that kind of talk continues, you might want to check the newspaper ads, for a Doctor, that can remedy your ED/PME status.

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  12. Keep Westphal. He's really a genius.

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  13. Westfail sucks! Too bad the Maloofs wanted a cheapo coach instead of a true NBA coach. Westfail will lead the Kings to the top pick in the draft every year. Is it any wonder the Suns and Sonics fired this loser?

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  14. Once again, Mr. McNeal hits the nail on the head.

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  15. I'm not necessarily in favor of firing Westphal, but in just over a season now we see the young Kings making the same mistakes over and over. Offense still stagnanting at crucial times. Is he teaching them well enough? Seems like something should have improved, but they look the same game to game. We know there's talent, but can he harness it? Not even talking about "getting to the next level" but improvement?

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  16. Marty, from stuff I've read at certain sites (see Sam Amick's article @ Fanhouse regarding DMC's fine, for e.g.), and the way that Greene & Thomson are getting benched, it almost seems as if something's getting ready to boil over. Some players, I get the feeling, are getting frustrated with the coaching. It's only a matter of time before a player (or players) blows up and causes a stir. Maybe DMC's already done it. If it comes down to a decision by the Kings' brass over keeping the coach or keeping the unhappy players, how do you think it'll play out? Hopefully it'll never come to that, but I'm not sure the coach(es) and the all the players can get along. Would the Kings' brass side with the players that they've spent the past few years assembling or the coach that they've spent the last 1+ years assembling?

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  17. Hi Marty, Gang,

    The problem with the Kings and their situation is, they didn't have a good training camp, like Marty already said. That is huge. It totally screws with timing, flow, offensive and defensive strategies and everything. Chemistry is a big part of it too.

    If you fire Westphal, you get to choose a number of other coaches to lead your team. They fall on two different sides of the coin. One is the Hubie Brown/Larry Brown/Avery Johnson type coach. (Yes, I know two of them have current teams!) They are the hard nosed, no nonsense type coach who will cram discipline down the throat of the players, and force them to play a certain way, and yes, maybe get a bunch of wins in some situations. Maybe they teach the kids something about the NBA, maybe they lose the ear of the players.

    The other side of the coin gives us the Reggie Theus/Rick Adelman types, who are more of a player's coach, who let the players have fun and play in a system that preaches offense more than defense. Those types of coaches are best for a veteran team of players who have been around the block a while, who are now ready to buckle down and get down to business, and make some noise in the NBA. Which isn't this Kings Team, as you may have noticed.

    So before we start screaming Fire the Coach, I would ask, "Who are you suggesting would be better?" And wouldn't you agree that giving the coach a little time to figure things out with the gang is a good idea?

    Yes, the losing streak sucks and isn't good for marketing and we are all scared they are going to leave for Vegas, but the bottom line is, this team is going to take time. I think the whole Cousins addition and the passion of the players who aren't playing is good for the team, ultimately, and they will find a way to start channeling that passion on the court and it will be good.

    Yes, these aren't the good old days of 2003, but let me tell you, I wouldn't want the days of Musselman, Theus and Natt here either. That was King's Hell, in my honest opinion!

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  18. I wanted him to be fired two weeks ago as well as I want it today. Time for change, this team plays like the Washington Generals and it doesn't deserve it. The Sacramento Kings need a new coach who is able to honor its tradition and history.

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