I'm totally with you. An owner has every right to stick with his convictions. It's his team after all. However, I also think in this particular case, I don't know if that's where it stops. Ego and arrogance go hand in hand with ambition and conviction.
So, some research In the NBA, Kings are tied with Nets & Pistons for most coaches since 2006 with 7.* *Including interim In the NFL, no one including the Raiders, has 7. In MLB, Marlins & Mariners have 7 and the hometown Astros are going on 8(!). Spoiler NBA Spoiler Since 2006 Sixers: 5 (Cheeks, DiLeo, Jordan, Collins, Brown) Bucks: 6 (Stotts, Krystkowiak, Skiles, Boylan, Drew, Kidd) Bulls: 5 (Skiles, Myers(1 game), Boylan, Del Negro, Thibodeau) Cavs: 3 (Brown, Scott, Blatt) Celtics: 2 (Rivers, Stevens) Clippers: 4 (Dunleavy, Hughes, Del Negro, Rivers) Grizzlies: 6 (Fratello, Barone, Iavaroni, Davis(2 games), Hollins, Joerger) Hawks: 3 (Woodson, Drew, Budenholzer) Heat: 2 (Riley, Spoelstra) Hornets: 6 (Bickerstaff, Vincent, Brown, Silas, Dunlap, Clifford) Jazz: 3 (Sloan, Corbin, Snyder) Kings: 7 (Musselman, Theus, Natt, Westphal, Smart, Malone, Corbin) Knicks: 4 (Thomas, D'Antoni, Woodson, Fisher) Lakers: 5 (Jackson, Brown, Bickerstaff, D'Antoni, Scott) Magic: 3 (Hill, Van Gundy, Vaughn) Mavs: 2 (Johnson, Carlisle) Nets: 7 (Frank, Barrise(2 games), Vandeweghe, Johnson, Carlesimo, Kidd, Hollins) Nuggets: 2 (Karl, Shaw) Pacers: 3 (Carlisle, O'Brien, Vogel) Pelicans: 3 (Scott, Bower, Williams) Pistons: 7 (Saunders, Curry, Kuester, Frank, Cheeks, Loyer, Van Gundy) Raptors: 3 (Mitchell, Triano, Casey) Rockets: 3 (Van Gundy, Adelman, McHale) Spurs: 1 (Popovich) Suns: 5 (D'Antoni, Porter, Gentry, Hunter, Hornacek) Thunder: 3 (Hill, Carlesimo, Brooks) T'Wolves: 6 (Casey, Wittman, McHale, Rambis, Adelman, Saunders) Blazers: 3 (McMillan, Canales, Stotts) Warriors: 4 (Nelson, Smart, Jackson, Kerr) Wizards: 4 (Jordan, Tapscott, Saunders, Wittman) MLB Spoiler Since 2006 Angels: 1 (Scioscia) Astros: 8 (Garner, Cooper, Clark(13 games), Mills, DeFrancesco, Porter, Lawless, Hinch(2015)) A's: 3 (Macha, Geren, Melvin) Blue Jays: 3 (Gibbons, Gaston, Farrell) Braves: 2 (Cox, Gonzalez) Brewers: 4 (Yost, Sveum(12 games), Macha, Roenicke) Cardinals: 2 (La Russa, Matheny) Cubs: 6 (Baker, Piniella, Quade, Sveum, Renteria, Maddon(2015)) DBacks: 5 (Melvin, Hinch, Gibson, Trammell(3 games), Hale(2015)) Dodgers: 3 (Little, Torre, Mattingly) Giants: 2 (Alou, Bochy) Indians: 4 (Wedge, Acta, Alomar(6 games), Francona) Mariners: 7 (Hargrove, McLaren, Riggleman, Wakamatsu, Brown, Wedge, McClendon) Marlins: 7 (Girardi, Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Hyde(1 game), McKeon, Guillen, Redmond) Mets: 3 (Randolph, Manuel, Collins) Nationals: 6 (Robinson, Acta, Riggleman, McLaren(3 games), Johnson, Williams) Orioles: 4 (Perlozzo, Trembley, Samuel, Showalter) Padres: 2 (Bochy, Black) Pirates: 3 (Tracy, Russell, Hurdle) Phillies: 2 (Manuel, Sandberg) Rangers: 4 (Showalter, Washington, Bogar, Banister(2015)) Rays: 2 (Maddon, Cash(2015)) Reds: 4 (Narron, Mackanin, Baker, Price) Red Sox: 3 (Francona, Valentine, Farrell) Rockies: 3 (Hurdle, Tracy, Weiss) Royals: 3 (Bell, Hillman, Yost) Tigers: 2 (Leyland, Ausmus) Twins: 2(Gardenhire, Molitor(2015)) White Sox: 3 (Guillen, Cooper(2 games), Ventura) Yankees: 2 (Torre, Girardi) NFL Spoiler Since 2006 Bears: 2 (Smith, Trestman) Bengals: 1 (Lewis) Bills: 4 (Jauron, Fewell, Gailey, Marrone) Broncos: 4 (Shanahan, McDaniels, Studesville(4 games), Fox) Browns: 5 (Crennel, Mangini, Shurmur, Chudzinski, Pettine) Bucs: 4 (Gruden, Morris, Schiano, Smith) Cardinals: 3 (Green, Whisenhunt, Arians) Chargers: 3 (Schottenheimer, Turner, McCoy) Chiefs: 4 (Edwards, Haley, Crennel, Reid) Colts: 3 (Dungy, Caldwell, Pagano) Cowboys: 3 (Parcells, Phillips, Garrett) Dolphins: 5 (Saban, Cameron, Sparano, Bowles(3 games), Philbin) Eagles: 2 (Reid, Kelly) Falcons: 4 (Mora, Petrino, Thomas(3 games), Smith) 49ers: 4 (Nolan, Singletary, Tomsula(1 game), Harbaugh) Giants: 1 (Coughlin) Jaguars: Del Rio, Tucker(5 games), Mularkey, Bradley) Jets: 2 (Mangini, Ryan) Lions: 3 (Marinelli, Schwartz, Caldwell) Packers: 1 (McCarthy) Panthers: 2 (Fox, Rivera) Patriots: 1 (Belichick) Raiders: 6 (Shell, Kiffin, Cable, Jackson, Allen, Sparano) Rams: 4 (Linehan, Haslett, Spagnuolo, Fisher) Ravens: 2 (Billick, Harbaugh) Redskins: 4 (Gibbs, Zorn, Shanahan, Gruden) Saints: 1 (Payton) Seahawks: 3 (Holmgren, Mora, Carroll) Steelers: 2 (Cowher, Tomlin) Texans: 3 (Kubiak, Phillips(3 games), O'Brien) Titans: 3 (Fisher, Munchak, Whisenhunt) Vikings: 3 (Childress, Frazier, Zimmer)
The big difference though is that we don't have Les Alexander making these decisions for the coaching staff, we have the general manager doing so. Thus, while our front office is also a bit overbearing on the coaching staff, the advice and decisions they are promoting are a lot better than things like forcing the coach to give Royce freaking White playing time.
There is nothing wrong with the general idea of firing a coach whose philosophy does not fit with that of the front office, the problems in this case are: 1) they should have fired him during the offseason if they knew he did not fit with the front office philosophy. The Kings have severely diminished what they can get out of this season (in regards to success and development) by not being more decisive. 2) While there is nothing wrong with firing a coach for philosophy differences per se, if the philosophy you hold that the coach rejected includes giving Royce White playing time, trading for Josh Smith, playing 4 on 5 defense, etc -- then you should fire your philosophy and keep your coach.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kings like the uptempo offense that new interim coach Tyrone Corbin was running with the summer league team that won the title in Las Vegas.</p>— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpearsNBAYahoo/status/544570606461534208">December 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I think it's great actually. if your recall Malcom Gladwell wrote about Vivek's girls basketball coaching strategy a few years ago: This is worth reading even if you're laughing at Ranadive now.
Ranadiva is a billionaire and the Kings is his toy. He can do whatever the F he likes with his toy after paying a lot for it. Kind of like when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea and started throwing money to buy each and every top player available irrespective of team fit or chemistry.
This post is useless without pics of Anjali Ranadive, Vivek's daughter and the designated trapper referenced in the article:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Per one insider, the Kings head coach job is George Karl's to lose/turn down. Alvin Gentry and Mark Jackson also prime targets.</p>— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/544585989818437632">December 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Regarding <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SacKings?src=hash">#SacKings</a>, George Karl telling me on <a href="https://twitter.com/SiriusXMNBA">@SiriusXMNBA</a> "I'm humbled. If they're interested in me, I'm interested in them" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash">#NBA</a></p>— Tom Byrne (@1TomByrne) <a href="https://twitter.com/1TomByrne/status/544582412781780992">December 15, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
May not be anything, but Chris Mullin was in GSW when the team imploded (during the Timmy Hardaway/Chris Webber/Latrell Sprewell/Adelman/Carlisimo era). While folks liked Chris Mullin, he never asserted his leadership throughout the team's collapse. Now he is there in SAC...
It's not anything because 1. Mullin wasn't in power as a front office exec during Sprewell's tenure there. Even if he had a position within the franchise it wasn't one of power/importance. 2. Mullin couldn't have predicted/prevented Sprewell choking his coach because he wasn't around. 3. Mullin oversaw The SJax/Baron/JRich era which rejuvenated the franchise and got the ball rolling from there. 4. Mullin's contract wasn't renewed after the 2009 season, which was the season where Monta Ellis decided it was smart to ride a Moped and miss 30 games that season.