Former Kings coach offers blueprint for building a winner
The most optimistic Kings observer can look around the NBA and see examples of mid-market teams having success — perhaps providing a blueprint of what it takes to be competitive, year after year, in a league so often dominated by star power.
One example was in town Thursday night: the Denver Nuggets, who have gone to the playoffs the last three seasons without the allure of having a legacy like the Lakers, the scenery in Miami or proximity to Silicon Valley’s tech space like the Golden State Warriors.
The Nuggets have done it largely by landing Nikola Jokic, the doeverything center who was drafted in the second round in 2014. Jokic, of course, won the NBA’s MVP award last season, and has a chance to become a generational big man. Denver came into Wednesday’s game as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and could become a factor in the playoffs if guard Jamal Murray and sharp shooter Michael Porter Jr. return from season-long injuries.
The chase for stars is hardly a novel thought for small market teams looking to compete with traditional powers. But having stars isn’t the only recipe to success. The Nuggets have developed a winning culture centered around stars like Jokic and Murray, which the Kings have been searching for during the entirety of Vivek Ranadive’s ownership tenure.
Oddly enough, a steward of Denver’s culture is coach Mike Malone, who was unceremoniously fired by Ranadive from the same position following an 11-13 start to the 2014-15 season.
So I asked Malone before Thursday’s game about the key to sustainability as a mid-market team. His answer, coming in the bowels of Golden 1 Center, was less than subtle given the way his time as Kings coach ended paired with the organizational turmoil that’s spanned as long as any team in North American sports.
“Continuity,” Malone said.
Malone would expound, pointing out he’s been with Denver for seven seasons (he lasted less than two with Sacramento), giving credit to Nuggets ownership and the personnel department.
The Kings, meanwhile, have had just about everything but continuity. They’ve had 11 coaches since the 2006-07 season. Denver has had four over the same span.
“I think the culture we’ve tried to create since Day 1, when I got the job, (is a credit to) the patience and support of an ownership group,” Malone said. “After my third season, losing game 82 in Minnesota with a chance to go to the playoffs, most of ownership groups would have panicked and felt that we had to make a change. And sometimes the best course is to let something take hold and see where it takes you.”
Ranadive in November fired coach Luke Walton, who became the fourth coach since 2008-09 to lose his job with the Kings midseason. As Malone pointed out, his third year in Denver could have ended in the unemployment line. The Nuggets finished the season 46-36, one game out of the playoffs after losing a do-or-die game in Minnesota. Of course, they would have made the play-in tournament under the current format that was adopted last year.
But Denver decided to keep Malone, which led to three straight playoff berths, and likely a fourth this spring. Malone on Thursday won his 300th game as the Nuggets coach.
“It speaks to working with great people, working for an ownership group,” Malone said. “After my time here (in Sacramento), ‘Hey am I going to get another chance?’ You always wonder that.”
“Obviously, (Denver president) Tim Connelly, (owners) Josh Kroenke, Stan Kroenke, they felt I was the right guy to take over in Denver, and here I am seven years later. It’s amazing,” Malone said. “I grew up in this business ... and so I’m thrilled with that and proud of that.”
I asked Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry before Thursday’s game the same question about Denver and what they do as a mid-market team the Kings are trying to replicate. His answer was also not subtle and perhaps a little more straightforward.
“Win,” Gentry said. “I think winning solves everything.
“San Antonio’s a small-market team, I think they’ve been very successful. I think you can look at Milwaukee, they’re pretty much a small market team too. I think winning takes you out of that small market (conversation) . ... What we need to do here is find a way to put together some wins.”
Indeed, winning would mask just about all of the Kings’ problems, and perhaps lead to more continuity the organization has lacked for years.
There’s been no word about Gentry’s future with the organization and if the team is willing to remove the interim label and make the permanent head coach in 2021-22. Either way, the decision about the head coaching future should be made with continuity in mind, giving the Domantas Sabonis-De’Aaron Fox pairing a chance to build chemistry within a system that won’t get turned over.
The Kings are years away from Denver’s level, evident by the result of Thursday’s blowout loss. Sabonis had an impressive showing recording a Jokic-like line of 33 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, but he received little help. Jokic, meanwhile, went for 25 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and four steals while the Nuggets’ ancillary players did enough without Murray and Porter to blow out Sacramento on its home floor in the first game after the All-Star break, 128-110.
Perhaps after continuing to build out the roster, finding a head coach and system the organization can stick with, the Kings will be able to follow the Nuggets blueprint centered around continuity, as Malone not-so-subtly put it.