Paul Westphal fired by Kings

The Sacramento Kings fired coach Paul Westphal Thursday, hours after the team suffered a 27-point loss to the Denver Nuggets and just four days after the coach openly feuded with center DeMarcus Cousins.

"The overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect," Petrie said.

Players will always rule the NBA

5 months ago kingj41 27 comments 0 recs |

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Umm.....

The overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect,

Hey Petrie, your roster fucking sucks. Phil Jackson couldn’t get your team an eighth seed.

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 2:21 PM CST reply actions

My point with that quote was that

is such a lame ass cop-out statement. Sadly he shouldn’t expect them to be successful, so why is that the coaches fault?

by kingj41 on Jan 5, 2012 2:24 PM CST up reply actions

Exactly.

He could have had Red Aurbach, Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich, Chuck Daly and Pat Riley coaching that team and it wouldn’t even be a fly on the ass of a contender.

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 2:38 PM CST up reply actions

It's the coaches fault

because he costs the least amount to replace under the conditions set forth by the CBA.

I can predict the future using Norm Van Lier's crystal balls.

"Sam has a tendency to denigrate reports coming from any reporter who didn’t also cover the day Naismith first put up the peach baskets." - snley

by NBA Observer on Jan 5, 2012 4:31 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

It's the coaches fault

because Phil Westphal is stupid and bad at coaching.

Rose decides not to go 1-on-2 and I was thinking, "what are you doing?! You've got the numbers!" -Zach Harper, Daily Dime Live

by Prevenge on Jan 6, 2012 1:45 PM CST up reply actions

I disagree

I think there’s a decent amount of talent there. Tyreke Evans had an extremely promising rookie year and has done nothing but dramatically regress. There are also a bunch of other young players that simply haven’t gotten better with the Kings (Donte Greene, Jason Thompson, Hawes). Hawes left Sacramento a year ago and has a 25.0 PER so far this year. Carl Landry’s production plummeted when he got traded to the Kings, and now that he’s on New Orleans, he’s back to being a 20 PER player. All signs point to Westphal being incompetent if you ask me.

Pat Riley is the devil.

by Poloplaya14 on Jan 5, 2012 2:46 PM CST up reply actions 4 recs

And by the way, I'm not saying the Kings would be any good with a different coach

But I think they’ve had the talent to at least be closer to mediocre (say 30 wins instead of 25 the past couple years).

Pat Riley is the devil.

by Poloplaya14 on Jan 5, 2012 2:49 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs

They've got a

backcourt of Tyreke and Thornton, two guys that don’t pass well and love to shoot. Frankly, Tyreke’s not really that good. He’s got no shot and isn’t that great of a finisher. He’s a nice player, but when he’s the best player on your team, you’re in trouble. At the forward spots, they have Salmons, Hickson, Hayes and Outlaw; none of them are very good players. Each brings a little to the table but they’re better off as role players off of the bench, and thats on a good team.

To sum it up, they have nice players who have some value around the league, but on that team each of their players is miscast in a role that’s too much for them. Their players are all asked to do more than they’re capable of.

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 3:12 PM CST up reply actions

My response is that I think Tyreke might be a much better passer today with a better coach.

And I think you can make similar statements about the other young players who haven’t developed under Westphal

Pat Riley is the devil.

by Poloplaya14 on Jan 5, 2012 3:16 PM CST up reply actions

I agree

as much as I hate that Kings roster that team should be playing better. I watched 2 Kings game this year and each time I was taken aback by how selfish and undisicplined they were on the court. Some of that has to fall on the coach. Paul Westpahl is VDN before there was a VDN.

by Basketball Smurf on Jan 5, 2012 3:21 PM CST up reply actions

Westphal's Phoenix Suns played smart basketball.

Probably would have won a ring if it weren’t for 23 :)

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 3:49 PM CST up reply actions

yeah, but they were all experienced vets

and it was the young players on that team – Dumas, Ceballos, Oliver Miller – who ultimately didn’t develop and cost Westphal his job. I think VDN would do good with a group of experienced offensive first vets. Its when he has to actually teach something where things get fucked up.

by Basketball Smurf on Jan 5, 2012 4:43 PM CST up reply actions

Good points.

But in terms of firings, I almost always think the GM is more culpable than the coach. The same goes for baseball, too.

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 8:15 PM CST up reply actions

I can agree with that.

by dakoose on Jan 5, 2012 3:48 PM CST up reply actions

I think there's a lot of talent there

They don’t have a true #1 star but have a lot of high upside talent and even before this latest issue they weren’t getting anything from their pieces…I’d have fired him last yr.

And it’s not just this Cousins spat-which he did kind of dupe his employers by going public first, but Evans is a talent and has just regressed thompsons been forgotten, and they look more like a d league team

The kid's out of this world. He's got Allen Iverson speed, Jason Kidd's vision, Chauncey Billups' shooting ability and Michael Jordan's athleticism. How do you guard that? - Pacers coach Frank Vogel.

by majoyenrac on Jan 5, 2012 7:09 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

good call, polo.

"We would look at each other with a glint of recognition and one of us would say, 'So you worry about ASIK, too,' as if admitting a secret vice. Then we would share our crazy ideas-- because all ideas about ASIK that are not immediately wrong turn out to be crazy."

by TheMoon on Jan 5, 2012 7:13 PM CST up reply actions

Damn

But yeah I agree with dakoose…having what 7 guards that dont pass?

"Violence is not always the answer."
"Violence is the question, and the answers always YES!"

by T.Moore on Jan 5, 2012 2:22 PM CST reply actions

Perhaps the owner

read this article by SB Nation’s Tom Ziller.

by Tim S. on Jan 5, 2012 2:34 PM CST reply actions

the emphasis on "coaching identity" stuff is kind of weird from "let science into your heart" tom ziller.

by TheMoon on Jan 5, 2012 7:19 PM CST up reply actions

that roster isn't great

But Westphal sucks, the Kings blog had a gif party when they figured out he was fired haha.

By the way Tyreke is a stud, he was doing 20-5-5 as a rookie if I’m not mistaken. Imagine him next to Rose aghhhhhh!

by MartyMondays on Jan 5, 2012 7:26 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Was a stud

Has his shot improved? He still doesn’t appear very athletic finishing at the rim.

I can predict the future using Norm Van Lier's crystal balls.

"Sam has a tendency to denigrate reports coming from any reporter who didn’t also cover the day Naismith first put up the peach baskets." - snley

by NBA Observer on Jan 6, 2012 8:28 AM CST up reply actions

he's dying on a team full of chaos

Throw derrick rose in sac town and see how he does

by MartyMondays on Jan 6, 2012 9:15 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Derrick Rose was playing for a garbage coach and did alright for himself.

Remember, the VDN days were kind of crazy.

by dakoose on Jan 6, 2012 12:02 PM CST up reply actions

garbage coach

but derrick was not surrounded by garbage

Should've traded for Melo.

by sin on Jan 6, 2012 12:49 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs

Tyreke is a SG miscast as a PG just because he’s a good ballhandler. He can’t/doesn’t want to pass, can’t shoot at all. What he can do is get in the lane and finish. He’s a good player but he’s not the stud people think he is. It’s not hard to put up numbers on a bad team.

by C Smoove on Jan 6, 2012 3:37 PM CST reply actions