George Karl to coach Kings

[Andrew]

George Karl to coach Kings after All-Star break

The Sacramento Kings and George Karl have agreed to the framework of a deal for him to take over as coach, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private. The plan is for Karl to coach the Kings in their first game following the All-Star break Feb. 20 at home against Boston, meaning Tyrone Corbin will be coaching his final game for Sacramento on Wednesday night at Milwaukee.

Karl is attending funeral services for former North Carolina coach Dean Smith this week. The Kings are expected to announce the deal in the coming days after final terms have been agreed upon and the contract has been signed.

Karl will be Sacramento's third coach this season.

Apparently Demarcus Cousins isn't too pleased about being left out of the coaching hunt, but I think Karl's had a respectable enough coaching career to be considered a solid choice. Kind of rare to see a new coach brought in mid-season, these days; usually the interim head coach finishes out the year, and either gets the gig full-time, or is replaced in the offseason.

[shadowgrin]

Good move for the Kings.
Karl was able to develop Faried and even made that knucklehead Javale McGee in Denver look like an all-star, Cousins' skill set won't be underutilized with Karl coaching him.
Would have been better if the Kings still have Isaiah Thomas so Karl can develop and use him like he did with Ty Lawson in Denver.

[NovU]

That's awesome! Welcome back George Karl!

[Murat]

George Karl had lifted Denver Nuggets from 17-25 to 49-33, in 40 games.

I expect +30 wins for Sacramento this season.

[JAWSFreelao]

I think the Kings need to be careful tho. DeMarcus being upset could lead to a very bad road for the team. But this is a great hire for the Kings, another experienced, wise, mature coach who will fill the hole that was unnecessarily created by firing Malone.

[Andrew]

For what it's worth, Charles Barkley doesn't think much of the idea of Cousins being involved in the coaching search.

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[Vespasian92]

Frankly I think the "DMC doesn't want Karl" was overblown. He loved Malone and was pissed when Malone was unfairly dismissed. Then the interim tag is removed from Corbin and is touted as the man for the rest of the season. And finally now, not when Malone was first fired, does the FO decide to make an actual coaching move. Management touted Cousins as the franchise guy and that his skills would be key in building the roster and choosing a gameplan. So the media and external sources assume he is being consulted, while I have doubts about that. Supposedly he only heard about Malone's firing after the fact by sources other than the team.

Demarcus and the players have been scammed by the FO this season and they just want some real answers. Rudy Gay's probably pretty steamed after signing his extension. Supposedly Malone was a big factor in Rudy's improvement and his happiness in Sacramento as well as Boogie.

[Stress Fracture]

Were the people at the front office drunk when they fired Malone? He's been doing a great job before Cousins went out.

[Vespasian92]

Were the people at the front office drunk when they fired Malone? He's been doing a great job before Cousins went out.

Pretty much. Supposedly they wanted to meddle in the gameplan and didn't really acknowledge his defensive focus and half-court FT gameplan with Cousins. Both Vivek and D'Allesandro has backgrounds in up-tempo ball in GS and Denver. Hiring Malone ahead of the GM wasn't a good move by Vivek either. Malone was against a J-Smoove trade too, which was something the FO stupidly seemed to be desperate for.

Nonetheless, I love hiring Karl and think he'll do a great job of balancing more ball movement and transition play with Boogie's halfcourt dominance. McLemore's development has been great this year and could get even better now if Karl gives more touches to the team's best 3PT threat.

[JAWSFreelao]

s best 3PT threat.

In Sacramento, that's not saying much.