Kings' Mike Brown firing has Pacers HC Rick Carlisle 'shocked'
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After Thursday night’s disastrous loss to the Detroit Pistons, things seemed like they were going south for the Sacramento Kings. However, their dire situation escalated quickly on Friday when they fired head coach Mike Brown.
The move took fans and pundits everywhere by surprise, and it shook up the NBA world as well. Shortly after Brown was fired, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle expressed his shock before the Pacers take on the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
"The firing of Mike Brown today was just shocking to me… I view him as one of the standard bearers for integrity for our profession, and I'm just just absolutely shocked."
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle on the Kings firing Mike Brown
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“The firing of Mike Brown today was just shocking to me… I view him as one of the standard bearers for integrity for our profession, and I’m just just absolutely shocked that that decision was made,” Carlisle said. “He’ll certainly land on his feet, but when you look at the job that he did and the turnaround that he had, it’s just really hard to believe that this decision was made.”
Shortly after the firing was announced, the Kings appointed assistant coach Doug Christie to be the new interim head coach for the rest of the season. They won’t have much time to dwell on the news, as they will head out to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers on Saturday night.
Kings need another big move to get back in playoff picture
The Kings have lost five games in a row after Thursday night’s collapse at home against the Pistons and they are quickly falling behind in the Western Conference playoff picture. They are now 13-18 on the season and are comfortably in 12th place in the conference standings.
As it stands, the Kings are three games behind the Golden State Warriors in 10th place, another team that has struggled in crunch time this year. However, the warriors have shown that they have a formula to win games consistently, while the it feels like the Kings are still searching for answers.
In order to get the boost that they need to get back up toward the top of the standings, the Kings will likely need to make another big move after trading for DeMar DeRozan this offseason. Right now, the Kings are in need of more size on the interior and some more reliable shooters on the perimeter. Domantas Sabonis is one of the best centers in the NBA, but he is still on the smaller side, which makes him a below average rim protector. Sabonis, DeRozan and Fox are all better at scoring inside the arc, which leaves the Kings without a ton of reliable 3-point options.
Someone like Kyle Kuzma of the Wizards would immediately give the Kings more size on the wing and would add another shooter and a very good rebounder to the mix. If Utah ends up trading big man Walker Kessler, he would give the Kings someone who can protect the rim and potentially play both next to Sabonis and spell him while the All-Star is on the bench. If the Kings can swing either of these deals, it has the chance to turn their season around.
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