Opinion: Why Keeping George Karl Is The Right Move
The Sacramento Kings have decided to keep George Karl amidst rumors that he was to be fired during the All-Star break, and I for one am very happy with the decision.
The Kings brought in George Karl to bring “stability” to the head coaching position, they were tired of having a new coach every season. When you bring in a coach to bring stability, you have to give him some time, giving him one year is not enough time to deal with all the issues that are going to arise when you are trying to resurrect a franchise.
It is very counterproductive when you say you want stability but then after a rocky patch, with a team that no one was expecting to be in sight of a playoff berth, you believe that it is time to fire him and begin anew.
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Let us all be honest with ourselves for a second, did we really expect the Kings to compete as well as they have? Yes, they brought in Rajon Rondo, who has been a great addition, but there are still glaring problems with this team.
The Kings do not have a shooting guard that can knock down shots consistently, night in and night out, which is a little bit of a concern seeing is how the position is called shooting guard. The Kings also don’t have a bench. They have players who play their heart out, but there is no one in this league who is circling the Kings bench when the time comes to make a game plan against them.
The player they are circling, though, is DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins has had a great season, but we cannot sit here and deny the fact that some of the reason he is having such a great season are because of Coach Karl’s offensive game plan.
His game plan allows Cousins to get into one on one matchups which he excels at. And if someone else comes over to try and double-team Cousins, he is able to pass the ball out to an open man for what is supposed to be easy pickings. The problem is, the offensive game plan works when shots are falling. When shots do not fall then the game plan looks atrocious.
The defensive game plan, however, is where Coach Karl’s problems begin. This season has not been a good season for the Kings defensively. They are among last in the league in pretty much every defensive category. The Kings general manager, Vlade Divac, sat down with George Karl early this morning to address the defensive situation.
Reports are that Divac and Karl sat down and discussed where the defense lacked and what they could do to fix it. This was a smart time to have this meeting because of the very winnable game tomorrow night in Philadelphia, which would be a perfect time to try and make defensive adjustments.
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In the end, the Kings will have made the right decision. Disconnect that was being reported between the players and the coaching staff will happen to a majority of teams that lose 7 of their past 8. The NBA season is long, and skids are going to happen.
A win in Philadelphia will be a good way to finish out the first half of the season. Everyone will get a well-deserved rest and tensions will cool.
This team has the chance to still make the playoffs with strong play during the second half of the season, but it will never happen if the team does not buy into the whole reason George Karl was brought in. Stability.