Kings reportedly set to fire George Karl
The Sacramento Kings are one of the most dysfunctional franchises in all of professional sports. Despite either being in the NBA’s Western Conference playoff picture or right on the cusp of it for the first three months of the regular season, Sacramento is apparently set to fire head coach George Karl, per ESPN.
Karl is one of the best coaches in NBA history. He first broke in with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors in the 1980s, after being a player with the San Antonio Spurs for six seasons in the 1970s. However, Karl would become well-known when he took over the Seattle Supersonics in 1992, and led them to the NBA Finals in 1996. Karl would continue his great career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets, until health issues forced him from the game. He returned last year to coach the Kings, something that appears to be coming to a close.
Of course, the real problem is a horrible roster and ownership once again siding with star forward DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins, who is one of the best players in the league but is also a perpetual malcontent, is now looking at getting a sixth coach since coming to the Kings in 2010. He has been credited with running most of the others out of town, and he seems to be pointing the finger once more at Karl for why things have gone south over the past month, per ESPN.
“Energy and effort is a huge part of the game, but I’m not going to keep blaming it on that,” Cousins said. “We’ve got a bigger issue, and we need to figure it out as a team.
“I’d rather keep [problems] in house, but we definitely have a bigger issue than just energy and effort. That can’t be the excuse every night. … We’re going to work it out as a team, and hopefully we can fix this.”
Of course, the players are to be blamed for acting as lazy stooges, something evidenced by Rajon Rondo in his quote to the piece.
“With optional shootarounds, it’s tough … When three or four guys show up for shootaround this morning, how can you expect to win?” Rondo told the Sacramento Bee.
It’s fair to say Karl should make the shootarounds mandatory, but if any of these guys cared for two seconds, wouldn’t they show up? It’s pathetic.
Sacramento has not made the NBA playoffs since the 2005-06 season, and it appears at 21-31 that it will be on the outside looking in this campaign as well. The Kings used to be one of the best franchises in the NBA with Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac and Chris Webber running the show, but things have really deteriorated.
Karl will be the fall guy, and some poor schmuck will be brought in to fall on the sword once more for a lazy roster and a lousy front office.
