It looks like basketball lifer George Karl is coming back to the NBA to coach the Kings.
For all intents and purposes, George Karl will be the next coach of the Sacramento Kings.
According to ESPN, the Kings organization is operating under the premise that Karl will take the helm after the All-Star break.
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The 18-32 Kings have gone through a whirlwind of change this season as Karl will mark their third leader this season. Mike Malone was hired following the 2013 season, but failed to meet ownership expectations with a season plus record of 39-67. He was surprisingly fired only 24 games into the season after an average 11-13 start.
Former Utah Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin took the reigns for Malone on an interim basis and has since gone 7-19.
According to reports, Corbin has been informed that the Kings last two games prior to the All-Star break, Tuesday against the Bulls and Wednesday against the Bucks, before Karl officially takes over after DeMarcus Cousins returns from Brooklyn to participate in the 2015 All-Star game.
As far as the contract is still concerned, the deal isn’t official as both sides continue to work out the details. However, the deal is reportedly one that’ll keep Karl in Sacramento the next four-seasons at a $4 or $5 million payout each season. It also includes a team option during the final year of 2017-18.
Karl is arguably a coaching legend. He’s netted a career .599 winning percentage in his 25 seasons coaching in the association and is only one of seven coaches in history to reach the prestigious 1,000 win mark (1,131 in total). The closest he’s come to an NBA Championship was in 1996 when he led Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton and the Seattle Supersonics to a six-game series loss in the finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
All accolades aside, the real issue in Sacramento surrounds the name of “Boogie,” or DeMarcus Cousins as most of the basketball world knows him.
The man can do it all. He can post up with the best of them; face up like nobody’s business; beat a big with his quickness on either side; shoot 15-footers in his sleep; hell, he can even dribble like a poor-man’s point guard.
Because NBA franchises are so dependent on that one superstar, Cousins is the sole reason for their bright future, or disastrous ending. Kings ownership must be banking on the fact that Karl can get the best out of their franchise player.
Let’s face it, Cousins is an absolute head case. When you watch the guy play you marvel at his talents. You also scratch you head and drop you jaw at his unbelievable clueless attitude. If he’s not getting the ball at the end of the game, he loses his mind. If something doesn’t go his way, his world crashes down around him.
Cousins has the equivalent maturity of a seven-year old in the 80s losing while playing Double Dragon. With 65 career technical fouls and nine ejections, how could anybody think differently?
This is where Karl comes into play. His future successes or failures with Sacramento will rest in the hands of his ability to drastically change that immature mindset we see way too often from the Kings All-Star big man.
He could be the right guy for the job as he’s had to deal with difficult situations in the past. Remember Kemp and Payton in Seattle? While great players, Kemp was a bad week of donuts away from playing himself out of shape. How about managing Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson in Denver, which could go down as one of the worst mixes of two players in NBA history. If Karl hadn’t been there, that team couldn’t imploded on day-five.
Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé’, while his tenure has owner has been shaky up to this point, must have been told that this is George Karl’s specialty: making the impossible possible. For Cousins, it’s turning a seven-year old’s mindset into a semi-mature adult.
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