When the Sacramento Kings shocked the basketball world by firing Mike Brown midway through the season, they tapped former fan favorite Doug Christie to fill in as the interim head coach.
Normally, when a coach receives this title, it is, as the word "interim" implies, a temporary position. Very rarely do you see an interim head coach eventually go on to get the full-time gig the following season. However, based on what Christie has accomplished with the Kings so far, he may prove to be an exception to the rule.
The Kings should strongly consider sticking with Doug Christie
As the headline reads, I believe the Kings need to strongly consider removing the interim part of Christie's position and make him their next head coach.
When Brown was dismissed, the Kings held a 13-18 record (21st in win percentage in that time). Since then, the Kings have gone 20-12 (eighth in win percentage). But this turnaround in their record doesn't even begin to explain the adversity Christie has had to overcome.
First off, there was the whole controversy that came with firing a coach who had just won Coach of the Year (COY) two years prior. Then, Christie needed to get a team that came into the season with serious aspirations back on track after they spent the first 31 games digging themselves a deep hole.
Once that storm started to settle, the team's franchise icon requested a trade, and before you could even blink, De'Aaron Fox was out of Sacramento, and the Kings had three new players to integrate into their rotation.
Zach LaVine, the marquee piece of the Fox return package, started off slow, but he eventually found his groove, and the winning started to follow. Christie's player-turned-coach hard-nose style has rubbed his team the right way, and it seems that he speaks to the locker room in a way that Brown never could.
Of course, right when things started to go their way, the team has had to deal with injuries to Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk (two of the team's four best players).
Now, after all that, the Kings are in the middle of a tightly contested playoff race while still battling with their injury issues and facing one of the league's toughest remaining schedules. These next few months will not be easy ones for the Kings franchise. But if there is anyone who can help them navigate this next challenge, it is Christie. And that's why when this season eventually reaches its conclusion, Christie should keep being the man in charge.