2:26pm: Karl thought Divac was about to fire him when the GM called the coach at lunch today, but instead the two engaged in a conversation that lasted about five minutes and left Karl still in his job as head coach, Spears writes. It appears that brief dialogue constitutes the meeting between Divac and Karl that previous reports alluded to.
12:37pm: The Kings have scrapped plans to fire George Karl before the All-Star break and will keep the coach instead, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The about-face came after Karl met with GM Vlade Divac today, Stein adds (on Twitter).
“George is our coach and we’re collectively working through our issues,” Divac said in a statement to ESPN, according to Stein, who initially reported the team’s plan to fire the coach.
It’s highly unlikely that the team will fire Karl during the All-Star break, at least, as he agreed during his meeting with Divac to make a renewed effort, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Improving the team’s defense was a key topic the two discussed, according to Marc J. Spears of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), with transition defense, guarding 3-pointers and a lack of energy among specific topics, reports Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (on Twitter).
The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski hears that the Kings had never made the decision to fire Karl, and that owner Vivek Ranadive had leaned toward canning him but Divac talked him out of it (Twitter link). That runs counter to Stein’s report that Divac was the one who was behind Karl’s impending dismissal. It’s Divac’s preference that Karl coach through the remainder of the season, Amick tweets. Divac said in November that Karl would remain coach for the rest of 2015/16, though former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the same of interim coach Tyrone Corbin last season before the team replaced in with Karl in February 2015.
Today’s news represents the latest turn of events in a back-and-forth saga involving Karl’s job security, which first came into question in June. The Vertical’s Chris Mannix reported Monday that the front office had lost nearly all confidence in the coach and that multiple players were upset with him. An “obvious disconnect” exists between the players and Karl, with many in the locker room not on board with the coach, Jones tweets.
This is ridiculous. Either keep him or fire him. MAKE UP YOUR MIND!
What a completely dysfunctional franchise! Obviously the power struggle in the front office that goes back to Karl’s hiring last year is still in place.
lmao …honestly i feel bad for karl and the fans of the kings
he will be fired after cousins next episode .. or after another 10 point loss…. divac must be really bad at breaking up with people .. george your fired … no im not .. no your not….
this reminds me of castanza didnt you break up with her ? .. it didnt stick ! it didnt stick ?
Which means he’ll now be fired during the all-star game. Haha
karl is in full castanza mode … sneaking into the building through the air vent to his office .. divac .. i thought he was fired ? me too? george what are you doing here ? you were fired ? no i wasnt ..
well karl must have agreed not to run 25 plays a game for bellinelli and not let collision guard 2 guards.
good sign for McLemore who can actually play some d.
I’d imagine topic #1 was no more bellinelli starting.
karl must agree to use players he has and not try and outscore everyone.
they got to guard 3 pt line.
rondo is marginal d can’t have bellini or collision guarding backcourt with rondo.
McLemore has played good all year and has loads of 3 and d potential plus open floor finishes.
honestly minority owners probably didn’t ok it. minority owners trying to take control.
vivek needs to stay off bball decisions.
get a team out there that can play d George!!!!
Well, if nothing else, I bet this process revealed a leak in the front office. If Divac wasn’t going to fire him, only so many people would know that the owner wanted him gone. Some assistant or associate should get fired within a month or so.
HAHAHAHA. It’s the Sacramento Browns . They don’t know what they’re doing! Hey Divac, do you have a clue what’s going on or are you afraid of Cousins?
Costanza hahaha
Seriously does Ranadive have some sort of head injury? The GM having to convince the owner not to fire the coach is a clear indication of the problem with this franchise. Maybe they should bring in Dolan as an adviser heh heh.