Sacramento Kings hire Dave Joerger as head coach

The Sacramento Kings patiently waited to get the right person to be their next head coach in former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger to a contract.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical of Yahoo! Sports, the Sacramento Kings have found their next head coach by hiring former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger to a four-year deal worth $16 million.

Since being let go by Memphis on Saturday, it wasn’t going to take long for a coach of Joerger’s caliber to find work in 2016-17. While the Sacramento job maybe unappealing to some head coaches, Joerger is arguably the best person for the position, as the Kings try to usher in an era of competitiveness after missing the Western Conference Playoffs 10 straight years.

Joerger had been the head coach of the Grit N’ Grind Grizzlies the last three seasons, as Memphis made the Western Conference Playoffs all three years in an ultra-competitive Southwest Division. Memphis played with a throwback style, that relied on great defense, strong low-post play, and a tenacity towards making every possession count in their sluggish pace.

Joerger fits in well to what the Kings are trying to do: find a successful coach that can get the absolute best out of their enigmatic All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. Front court dominance brought Memphis to relevancy during the Grit N’ Grind era under Joerger, so perhaps the Kings are willing to give Cousins one last coach to work with before having to cut ties with their disgruntled superstar.

The contract Joerger agreed to has three years guaranteed with a team option for a fourth year. For a team as highly dysfunctional as the Kings have been the last decade, Joerger seems to have found better job security in Sacramento than he had with Memphis. Good job by the Kings to nab the best available coach for their needs in Joerger.

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