Sacramento Kings Coaching Search

According to Tom Ziller and Sactown Royalty, the Sacramento Kings coaching search falls into two categories: Plan A - Eddie Jordan and Plan B - an affordable alternative.

In February, I suggested Jordan or Houston Rockets' assistant coach Elston Turner, as General Manager Geoff Petrie assembles players who fit a certain style of play, and Turner and Jordan fit the system. In fact, the Kings have been a "system team" for years and part of the struggles over the past several years has been the struggle between the old system and the new coach's system (along with a lack of talent and injuries, among other things).

The next coach either needs to be a coach like Jordan or Turner who embraces the Petrie-system or a coach willing to make a clean break and run his own system, hopefully working with Petrie to acquire the players that fit his own system. However, the half and half style does not work. Coaches who do not coach their own system and style are never going to be as successful as those who do (see Terry Porter's struggles in PHX).

Therefore, the two camps should be: Princeton-style coaches and other candidates. Along with Jordan and Turner, other "Princeton-style" candidates could include Los Angeles Lakers' assistants Kurt Rambis or Brian Shaw, as Adelman's "Princeton-style" system is similar to the Triangle and would use the current Kings' personnel in a similar way. The outside the box candidates in this group would be Dynamo Moscow and Russian National Team Head Coach David Blatt, a former Princeton player or Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson, another former Princeton Tiger.

The other candidates vary greatly. The most prominent name mentioned is current Dallas Mavericks executive Paul Westphal. Other Kings' fans throw out former Toronto Head Coach Sam Mitchell, CSKA Moscow Head Coach Ettore Messina and ESPN's Avery Johnson. I would add other names like San Antonio assistant coach Mike Budenholzer, Boston assistant coach Tom Thibideau, Cleveland assistant coach John Kuester, Dallas assistant coach Dwayne Casey, University of Oregon assistant coach Mike Dunlap, Portland assistant coach Dean Demopoulos, Miami assistant coach Keith Askins, Oklahoma University Head Coach Jeff Capel, Boston College Head Coach Al Skinner and Bradley University Head Coach Jim Les. Heck, what about former Sacramento State Head Coach and current San Antonio assistant Don Newman?

Honestly, the names are unimportant to me. Instead, I am more concerned with the decision-making process. Many Kings' fans seem to want a safe coach after the turmoil of the past several years. They do not want to take a risk. They seem content with any former head coach with a record hovering around .500 willing to coach for a below market rate salary.

To me, that is terrible thinking and I hope Petrie does not fall victim to this sentiment. I am not worried about experience. I want coaching talent. Petrie identified coaching talent several years ago: Oklahoma City Head Coach Scott Brooks. However, he was too inexperienced or too young or too something else to promote to Head Coach. Instead, he went to Oklahoma City and did very well as an interim Head Coach after P.J. Carlesimo was fired.

When athletic directors and general managers hire coaches, they tend to hire from within their professional circle and base their decisions on things like experience, won-loss record and an interview. However, I am unsure these are the best qualifications. After all, a coach's won-loss record is not always within his control: Phil Jackson has a much greater opportunity to win games with the Los Angeles Lakers' roster than did Reggie Theus with the Kings' talent - especially considering the injury problems with this year's Kings.

In November, I wrote about the NFL hiring process, as a columnist criticized the lack of experienced candidates:

Easterbrook never really makes an argument, since he points out that most college coaches flop as NFL coaches even though they have head coaching experience (Spurrier, Saban, etc). So, in a sense, he argues against NFL coordinators because they do not have head coaching eperience and college coaches because they do not have NFL experience. So, the answer is always a recently fired NFL Head Coach.

However, what makes a recently fired HC a better candidate than an assistant coach or a college coach? The experience that led him to be fired?

In one of my favorite books, First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham argues that the best managers [Athletic Directors, Head Coaches] hire based on talent, not experience or connections. Unfortunately, how can a Head Coach or Athletic Director measure coaching talent? One interview? A practice session?

If the Kings hire for talent, not experience, who are the most talented candidates? Miami president Pat Riley saw coaching talent in Erik Spoelstra and gave him on the job training to nurture and develop his talents. Then he hired him. Few organizations are as progressive in hiring, nurturing and developing their own coaches, as Head Coaches do not want to hire and develop their replacement - few coaches are so secure. However, in great business organizations, leaders ensure that they develop their replacements.

When I directed UCLA Special Olympics, I made every possible effort to assist the directors who would replace me when I graduated. We created a system to develop new directors. During the years that followed, the program remained strong. Now that the program has moved away from or lost these principles, it struggles to recruit and retain leadership. When I left a job as a manager for Special Olympics Northern California, my replacement was a college senior who had worked with me to start a new program at U.C. Santa Cruz. In these cases, I/we identified candidates, put them in positions to learn and gain experience and then turned over the program when they were ready, much like Riley did with Spoelstra. How come few other basketball organizations are so proactive?

Without that close interaction where management can identify talent, how does an organization hire for coaching talent? How do you identify coaching talent?

Hiring based on connections, experience or won-loss record is hoping to make the right choice. None of these things ensure that a coach will succeed. We see these as predictors of success, but just as many people with the same background fail as succeed. For every former San Antonio assistant who succeeds (Mike Brown) another fails (Carlisimo). For every former college coach who succeeds (Larry Brown, Greg Popovich) another fails (MikeMontgomery, John Calipari).

The key is not finding a coach who has coached with Popovich, Brown or Phil Jackson and hiring him because of their affiliation with a great, championship coach. Instead, the answer is identifying a coach with the same personal traits and characteristics as a Popovich or Riley or Jackson. It's not the experience being in their presence that makes a coach great. The experience develops or enhances the talent, but the experience is not enough. This is why so many "no-brainer" hires do not work out as expected.

So, what are the commonalities between Popovich, Larry Brown, Riley, Sloan, Jackson, Adelman, Rivers, Mike Brown, Mike D'Antoni and some of the other top coaches?

I want Petrie to use his best judgment to hire talent. If he decides that Craig Robinson, after three years at Brown and one year at Oregon State, has the talent to be an outstanding coach, I want him to hire Robinson. If he decides that Vlade Divac would make an outstanding coach, I want him to hire Divac. If he decides that Jordan is an outstanding coach, I want Jordan.

However, I do not want a safe hire. I do not want a coach hired simply by his resume, connections or experience. I want a coach that the fans and players believe is a great coach. Sure, he might have to learn some things and gain experience, but Spoelstra exceeded expectations despite his youth and inexperience. Tampa Bay hired Raheem Morris because they see talent, not because of experience or connections.

I want a great coach. I would rather Petrie gamble on hiring someone who he believes to be a great coach and have the coach fail than hire a safe coach who sustains mediocrity.

In Jon Spoelstra's Marketing Outrageously, he writes:

There are 29 teams in the NBA. Of these 29, only three or four, at the most, are thinking during the off-season about winning the championship. These three or four teams ask themselves, "What's it going to take to win it all this year?"

Pat Riley...thinks championship...It's win the championship or nothing. Other coaches don't look at it this way. They think about improving their record or advancing one round in the play-offs

Hooray for those who think, plot and dream to win it all this year.

The Kings are not going to win it all next year. However, I hope Petrie hires a coach that he believes can take the Kings to a championship,not one who might be able to get the Kings the 8th seed in the play-offs. I want Petrie and his next coach to "think, plot and dream to win it all this year."