There's no question that Doug Christie made a virtually ludicrous number of mistakes as a rookie head coach with the Sacramento Kings last season. The worst of them was leaning on the same group of guys even when it wasn't working. Well, he's at it again, and the Kings look worse than ever.
After the illogical and irrational firing of Mike Brown in late 2024, the Kings made the choice to go with Christie as their new head coach. While he had been a player for Sacramento and spent a couple of seasons as an assistant coach, this was his first time as any NBA team's bench boss.
If we're being kind to Christie, the reviews of his work were not favorable. Many, if not most, rated him as one of the worst head coaches in the league. While he has a great defensive mind and is actually quite good at player development, his weaknesses in this role are impossible to ignore.
The many problems with Christie as head coach
For the most part, Christie seems largely incapable of drawing up anything beyond a rudimentary offensive scheme. Making adjustments to his strategies, such as they are, is a non-starter. And he appears to be incapable of balancing minutes and rotations between veterans and rookies.
What consistently happened last season was Christie leaning on the same players, regardless of what was happening on the court. The same thing is already happening this season as he plays the same veterans for 30 to 40 minutes a game while promising young stars sit on the bench.
This would be forgivable if his strategy was winning games, but it's not, and it's never going to. It's great seeing Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine put up big numbers. That doesn't mean anything if they can't stop the other team from scoring and the Kings just keep losing.
Christie needs to make a 180 or be replaced
The worst part is that Christie is unlikely to change because he seems unwilling to change. While this may not be true, he comes across as pleased with himself and dedicated to whatever his long-term machinations are. He seems like he fully believes in his plan, and that the issue is the players.
That's fair, to an extent. Until the Kings move on from Sabonis and LaVine, Sacramento's outlook won't improve. At the same time, that doesn't mean they need to be on the court up to 40 minutes. That will be especially true for Sabonis when Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell return from injury.
As it stands, Christie is chasing a defensive vision that is not even close to becoming a reality while offering a pedestrian offense. It's time to be honest. Christie was nothing more than a nostalgia hire by Vivek Ranadive. That's it. As long as he remains the bench boss, this rebuild is dead in the water.
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