The Sacramento Kings thought that replacing Michael Malone with George Karl, a coach known for getting into pissing contests with his superstar players–*cough* Carmelo Anthony *cough*–would solve their post-Malone problems, and they were terribly mistaken. As expected, Karl got into a season-and-a-half long pissing contest with a new superstar player, DeMarcus Cousins, and quickly fell out of favor with major Kings pieces like Rajon Rondo and Seth Curry, who, according to Karl, wouldn’t enjoy more than a “couple of years” in the league.
Today, ESPN is reporting that the Kings, who were already reported to be considering letting Karl go back in February, will officially fire their latest head coaching experiment tomorrow, putting an end to a tumultuous period in Sacramento. To be quite honest, the Kings, especially considering the Western Conference is as weak as it’s been in years, should have been in position to qualify for a 7th or 8th seed in this year’s playoffs. Both Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins enjoyed career years, and with supporting cast members like Ben McLemore, Willie Cauley-Stein and Seth Curry…let’s just say they should have won more than 33 games. There will be a plethora of head coaching candidates available this off-season, so if the Kings want to avoid yet another short-term solution, they’d better get cracking as soon as the off-season gets started tomorrow.
