Kings head coach George Karl will reportedly be fired in coming days
The inevitable is about to happen for the Kings and George Karl.
By
Zach Harper
•
3 min read
It looks like the latest fallout between George Karl and the Sacramento Kings is finally going to bring a conclusion to his coaching job with the team. What started out as a rocky relationship between DeMarcus Cousins and Karl when he was reportedly being hired by the Kings a year ago around the All-Star break has permeated through the rest of the organization and roster. Karl has had several moments over the last year in which it looked like either he was going to go or he was going to have Cousins traded.
The Kings weren't crazy enough to deal their star player for the 64-year-old coach, so instead they made the two sides work it out and see if they could build some stability. That would only have fleeting moments of success that would then give way to the turmoil bubbling up once again. Now after the latest turn by the players against Karl, it seems like the Kings are ready to bring another disappointing chapter to a wrap.
Marc Stein of ESPN is reporting the Kings will remove Karl from the sidelines in the coming days.
ESPN sources say that the Sacramento Kings are going ahead with a coaching change and plan to fire George Karl in coming days
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) February 9, 2016
This means the Kings will have their ninth coach in 10 years when the interim takes over, and we may even see a 10th coach pop up by the end of the season if the Kings decide not to wait until the offseason to find their next "long-term" solution on the sidelines. On Monday night, the Kings lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-100, which was their eighth loss in the past nine games. The Kings also gave up 31 points in the first quarter, which was their eighth straight game of giving up at least 30 points in the first quarter to their opponents.
The Kings were 20-23 only two and a half weeks ago and briefly held the No. 8 seed. They haven't made the playoffs since 2006, which is the second-longest drought in the NBA behind Minnesota. Then the collapse really hit them, and they could no longer blame their below .500 record on the early games this season that Cousins missed with a back injury. Soon, the players were telling the media that the lack of effort and energy Karl kept pegging losses on couldn't be the reason they keep losing every night.
A sign of things really going south lately with the Kings is the report that optional shoot arounds for the Kings were only drawing three or four members of the team. Rajon Rondo told the media only three or four guys showed up to the morning shoot around, and Jake Fischer reported the three who did show up were Rondo, Omri Casspi, and Seth Curry.
Rondo: "With optional shootarounds it’s tough. ... When 3 or 4 guys show up for shootaround this morning, how can you expect to win.?"
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) February 9, 2016
Rajon Rondo, Omri Casspi and Seth Curry were the only three players to attend Kings shoot around this morning, according to a team source.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) February 9, 2016
There have been signs throughout the season that Karl was losing the team or had lost them. He was expected to be fired early in the season, until it sounded like Cousins and executive Vlade Divac were opting against it so they could try to build some continuity and not have so much turnover in the organization. But all that "valiant effort" did was keep the inevitable from happening.
It looks like Karl will have made it from All-Star break to All-Star break with the Kings, and they're once again searching for a coach like Rick Adelman, who can bring them stability.
