NBA Rumors: Should Kings fire George Karl, hire Tom Thibodeau?

The Sacramento Kings and George Karl are all of a sudden in a standoff that could end in the Tom Thibodeau coming to town as a replacement. 

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Being an NBA head coach is one of the worst jobs in the world if you’re looking for security and tenure. You have to be Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan or Chuck Daley to get security — and even then the rug can still get pulled out from under you. All three of those head coaches were legends and all three were cast away at one point to another.

That’s the reality of being an NBA head coach, as the front office is where the buck stops. George Karl learned that a few times in his career, most recently with the Denver Nuggets. After winning Coach of the Year, Karl was fired and sat as a TV analyst until the Sacramento Kings hired him this season.

It’s a marriage that might end up being short lived though. According to Chris Mannix from SI.com, the Kings are at odds with Karl for basically ostrisixing their franchise player and lying to their faces about it. As th story goes, Karl apparently made the Kings believe he wanted DeMarcus Cousins as the long term face of the franchise, but has since changed his tune.

Karl has so quickly changed his tune that the Kings are now suspecting he never wanted Cousins from the get-go and lied to them about his intentions.

There has been a lot written in the past few days about what the Kings could and should do — the worst of the options being trading DeMarcus Cousins.

Firing George Karl now seems like an option that would salvage the future of the Kings, as it always seems to be one lynchpin that gets ripped out right before they start to get good. Whether it’s the drafting of guards all these years or the poor ownership the Maloof’s presented, the Kings need a change.

Another coach fired too soon could be his replacement.

Lest we forget that ex-CHicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau remains without a job and could be a fit for the Kings. He has a relationship with DeMarcus Cousins from USA Basketball tryouts and while the relationship wasn’t taken further, the foundation is there.

Think of the ways the Kings would instantly be better with Thibs in town:

• Defensive efficiency would go through the roof
• Thibs drafts smart and would have a front office that would listen to him
• DeMarcus Cousins might finally have a head coach he’s happy with
• Free Agents might see Thibs and Sac-Town as a place they want to win

That’s a lot of assumption, but it’s not hard to fathom that the Kings would be infinitely better with Thibodeau over Karl. They didn’t know the Bulls would so violently cut ties with Thibs this summer and had they known, would they still have hired Karl?

The Kings aren’t mad at Karl because they can’t control him, like the Bulls were at Thibs. Instead, it seems dishonesty has played a role here and that’s far more fatal a flaw to have in a relationship than simply not getting along.

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