{"id":114645,"date":"2024-12-28T19:05:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T00:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114645"},"modified":"2024-12-28T19:15:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T00:15:13","slug":"kings-interim-head-coach-doug-christie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/28\/kings-interim-head-coach-doug-christie\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Give Doug Christie an Open Window"},"content":{"rendered":"

The shocking development out of Sacramento has left many confused and disappointed. The Kings’ firing of Mike Brown was unexpected, to say the least. That said, the only course of action for the franchise at the present time is to move forward.\u00a0<\/span>Doug Christie<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was named the team’s interim head coach, and it appears that he will be awarded the rest of the season to turn the Kings’ season around.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kings Give Doug Christie an Open Window<\/h2>\n

A Chance to Win Head Coaching Gig Is Doug Christie’s To Take<\/h3>\n

The NBA world has heard from\u00a0<\/span>Steve Kerr<\/span><\/a>, Michael Malone, and Rick Carlisle, among many from the coaching ranks, on the matter of their compatriot’s dismissal from Sacramento.\u00a0<\/span>Each expressed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0shock, remorse, and disbelief of varying levels over the firing of a coach who had instilled success in a team that had not experienced anything good since Christie played for the Kings in the early 2000s. Now, Christie, who was Brown’s assistant coach, has an opportunity in front of him to install a motion of change that the Kings desperately need right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kings organization has stated that Christie will lead the team for the remainder of the season.\u00a0<\/span>Sam Amick of The Athletic reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that his sources shared the news with him and that GM Monte McNair was the decision-maker regarding the changing of the guard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christie has no prior head coaching experience in the NBA. He now has 51 games ahead of him to convince the Kings front office that he should become the future head coach following this season. His journey begins Saturday night when the Kings visit the\u00a0<\/span>Los Angeles Lakers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in a pivotal matchup. The Lakers have gotten the better of the Kings this season, winning all three matchups thus far. It’s a stark reversal from last season when the Kings had the upper hand in their season series. Here’s a fun fact: Christie began his NBA career as a rookie for the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where To Go From Here<\/h3>\n

It’s <\/span>somewhat<\/span> surprising that the Kings are where they are right now.<\/span> The All-Star trio of\u00a0<\/span>De’Aaron Fox<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>DeMar DeRozan<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Domantas Sabonis<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are scoring enough points to win games. However, the overall team defense is drastically underperforming. A prime example is the recent one-point loss to the Detroit Pistons two nights ago. It was a game the Kings should have won but could not procure stops and close it out. It’s been a common theme since the season’s start\u2014Sacramento can score, but they can’t stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Christie now at the head, figuring out a game plan to stiffen up on the defensive end is a priority, numero uno. Fox, DeRozan, and Sabonis will get their buckets, as will\u00a0<\/span>Malik Monk<\/span><\/a>, averaging 15.7 PPG. However, what takes place on the opposite end of the floor is where Christie must install adjustments. Otherwise, the Kings will only carry on as they have.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trade rumors are already surfacing<\/span>, mostly about Fox<\/span><\/a>. Monk,\u00a0<\/span>Kevin Huerter<\/span><\/a>, and possibly even\u00a0<\/span>Keegan Murray<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are names that other teams would love to have on their rosters. The Kings roster appears more uncertain now than ever. If Christie can turn the ship, perhaps the trade rumors will die down. If not, we could see a lot of activity coming out of Sacramento beyond a head coaching change.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shocking development out of Sacramento has left many confused and disappointed. The Kings’ firing of Mike Brown was unexpected, to say the least. That said, the only course of action for the franchise at the present time is to move forward.\u00a0Doug Christie\u00a0was named the team’s interim head coach, and it appears that he will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":114666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1608,62],"tags":[664,350,1102,49916,4606,1600,700,1230,3717,528],"class_list":["post-114645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kings","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-demar-derozan","tag-domantas-sabonis","tag-doug-christie","tag-keegan-murray","tag-kevin-huerter","tag-malik-monk","tag-michael-malone","tag-mike-brown","tag-steve-kerr"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114645"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114675,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114645\/revisions\/114675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}