{"id":47253,"date":"2022-05-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=47253"},"modified":"2022-05-11T16:24:17","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T20:24:17","slug":"what-kings-fans-should-expect-from-new-head-coach-mike-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/05\/12\/what-kings-fans-should-expect-from-new-head-coach-mike-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"What Kings Fans Should Expect From New Head Coach Mike Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sacramento Kings made it official and crowned Mike Brown<\/a> as the team\u2019s head coach on Sunday. Sacramento team owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Monte McNair selected Brown as the Kings\u2019 head coach over announcer Mark Jackson<\/a>, the other rumored finalist for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brown became the Kings\u2019 new coach after a <\/span>well-publicized search<\/span><\/a>. Brown last oversaw a middling Cavaliers team as head coach in 2013-14, but boasts a track record of sustained success prior to that season. He coached the Cavs from 2005-10, partnering with <\/span><\/b>LeBron James<\/a><\/b> on a Finals run in 2007. Brown spent the 2011-12 season coaching the Lakers, then was dismissed after five games for Mike D\u2019Antoni (with a cameo by lifer Bernie Bickerstaff) the following year. Overall, he missed the playoffs once as head coach over seven seasons, which you\u2019d wager came up in his interviews. The Kings last made the postseason in 2005-2006, the longest playoff drought in the NBA. What can fans expect from the Kings\u2019 new coach, the first hire in <\/span>a significant offseason<\/span><\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

What Kings Fans Should Expect From New Head Coach Mike Brown<\/h2>\n

Brown leans defense<\/b><\/h3>\n

Mike Brown has always emphasized defense as a head coach. Per <\/span>Cleaning the Glass<\/span><\/a>, teams with Brown coaching have had the 11th-best offensive rating in the league on average. Five of those seasons were coaching James, however, and his singular brilliance drove much of that success. The Cavaliers were 2nd in offense in both James\u2019 MVP years, 2009 and 2010. We can <\/span>assign more credit<\/span><\/a> for his teams averaging the 10-best defensive rating to Brown. His Cavaliers teams had solid if unspectacular defensive personnel. James made two All-Defensive teams in his time with the Cavaliers, and Anderson Varejao<\/a> (surprise!) made one. Kobe Bryant<\/a><\/strong> was a legacy selection while Brown coached Bryant in L.A. in 2012.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect the defensive focus to change when Brown takes over as Kings\u2019 new coach. He spent this season as the defensive coordinator on the Warriors\u2019 bench. With fellow Gregg Popovich alum Steve Kerr<\/a>, Brown led an extremely experimental Warriors unit. The Warriors experimented with a box-and-one and a one-two-two zone at times this season. They toggled between switching and a drop coverage against the pick and roll. Notably, their triangle-and-two helped lead to a big road win against the <\/span><\/b>Kevin Durant<\/a><\/b> and <\/span><\/b>James Harden<\/a><\/b>-era Nets on Nov. 16th. Brown will deploy <\/span><\/b>Davion Mitchell<\/a><\/b>, <\/span><\/b>Harrison Barnes<\/a><\/b>, and (hopefully) <\/span><\/b>Donte DiVincenzo<\/a><\/b> in creative ways as the Kings\u2019 head coach. Perhaps he can help <\/span>De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/b><\/a> rediscover the defensive potential he showed <\/span>leading up to the draft<\/span><\/a>, as well. Undoubtedly Brown\u2019s pedigree will help the Kings, who last finished higher than 18th in defense in that royal <\/span>2005-06 season<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>