It sounds like Boogie thought he should be consulted about firing an average coach on a young team, and now he's throwing a b*tchfit about it by being stubborn about Karl. What possible reason could a basketball player who is interested in winning have for not wanting to replace Malone with Karl at least for a couple of years? About a week ago he was calling his own teammates out. If he's going to bolt because of this stuff then he was never going to stay long term anyway. Dude's talented and has really improved his attitude prior to this, and I hope he looks himself in the mirror and realizes that if he handles this in a mature way he will take a step up the superstar ladder.
Firing a coach who's doing well in the middle of the season is definitely not a winning move. I actually enjoy watching Karl's teams, but I'm not sure that he would have a better record at that point in the season.
Boogie going to bolt? Sure sounds like he isn't happy at Sleep Train. Can the Kings ever get out of their own way?
It's not about who's doing well in a 20-30 game stretch. George Karl is simply a superior coach - and where he's weak (interpersonal skills) so is Malone. In other words, even two years of sucking under George Karl MIGHT be better than 2 seasons of being .500 under Malone. It's simply not something to whine about. If you're out of the playoffs, who do you want as your coach right now heading into a pivotal summer?
If I annoint a guy like boogie as the franchise player, it goes farther than a fat paycheck. He now has to right to know what is going on in the organization and at least give his two cents. The FO should also give a damn about his opinion if they want his respect and effort. Otherwise you risk alienating one of the best talents in the world and taint interactions with any future stars.
2 seasons on being .500 under Malone would be a massive improvement for the franchise tho. I mean I agree Karl is better than Malone, I just don't see that this moves the needle for them at all, and it appears to have pissed off some Kings players.
"I wasn't consulted when the decision was made to fire Mike Malone and I'm not being consulted now,” Cousins told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday night. "I just hope they make a decision soon and stick with it. George Karl is an experienced, proven coach and if that is who they chose to coach this team, I will support it. I do not like all these discussions in the media while we have a coach in place. It is a distraction and not fair to Coach Corbin and this team." Actual full quote in his own article.... I thought Woj was better than that.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>George Karl has reached agreement on a four-year, nearly $15M deal to become coach of the Sacramento Kings, league source told Yahoo Sports.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/565832020459540480">February 12, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kings and Karl Reach Agreement in Principle - <a href="http://t.co/BGL3uwF1sD">http://t.co/BGL3uwF1sD</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SacramentoProud?src=hash">#SacramentoProud</a> <a href="http://t.co/xUbStJWmxv">pic.twitter.com/xUbStJWmxv</a></p>— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/565933011473272835">February 12, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Why don't the players want Karl? He's had success (at least in the regular season) throughout his career.
It's all D'Alessandro. Malone was Vivek's hire. Maybe Karl can help turn the Kings around but I don't have the same hope with D'Alessandro & Mullin. So many bad decisions and contracts when they were involved with the Warriors.
Unless I've missed something in the last day, there is no proof that this is true at all. This is all rumors. You won't be able to find one actual quote from a player that says they are against Karl.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>"A good friend of mine got fired in Sacramento. (The Kings) didn't know what they were doing with Mike Malone," - LeBron James said.</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/566291145861636097">February 13, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If he's healthy and recovered, Karl definitely has some run left in him. But based on what we know about the Kings, I doubt he's there all 4 years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Sources: Kings trying to reunite SG Arron Afflalo with new HC George Karl.</p>— Ric Bucher (@RicBucher) <a href="https://twitter.com/RicBucher/status/567788282399170560">February 17, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Who cares what Cousins think. They did the right thing by hiring Carl. Now they need to trade Cousins to the Rockets.
