The Sacramento Kings are reportedly going to interview both Patrick Ewing and David Blatt for their now-vacant head coaching position.
Sources on @TheVertical. Charlotte's Patrick Ewing will interview for Sacramento Kings head coaching job. https://t.co/8jsdiHFo2s
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) May 1, 2016
Link to the @espn latest on David Blatt's looming interview for the Kings' coaching vacancy early this week: https://t.co/tR2HdiWpvS
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) May 2, 2016
George Karl, who was fired last month, knows the Kings have an uphill battle as they look to become a respectable organization.
Karl says Sacramento must find the right players to put around All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.
Per the Sac Bee:
“Eighty percent of the time I think the Kings did what had to be done,” Karl said of his firing after his 44-68 record. “But I’m old school enough to think that a coach has to feel powerful, has to feel supported, and I never felt that level of support.” […] Karl was doomed by the organization’s chronic dysfunction from the start. Karl was a popular hire among Kings fans when he replaced Tyrone Corbin, who was treated like a doormat by Cousins after Michael Malone’s brutally ill-conceived firing. But Karl stepped into a situation that doubled as a septic tank long before his plane touched down.
“I never felt I got into a good place with Cuz,” Karl said, “and some of that was my stupidity when I said that no player is untradeable. I still believe that. But I should have been smart enough not to say it, and I in no way, at any time, thought DeMarcus was going to get traded.”
“Do you want my opinion?” Kim Van Deraa, his longtime companion, suddenly interjected from across the room. “I think DeMarcus needs to be loved. I kept telling George, ‘Go over and put your arms around him! He needs love.’ ” […] I don’t disagree,” he said, “but he needs players around him that are better fits. You could tell at the end of last year that Rudy (Gay) and Cuz didn’t work. We added some pieces last summer, but we had too many guards. I kept telling Mike (Bratz), ‘Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Marco Belinelli are too similar. Trade one of them because you can’t keep three (shooting) guards happy.’ And I wanted to play Seth (Curry), but you can’t give a player seven minutes here, seven minutes there, and think they can gain any confidence.”
