Speaking on Friday to NBC Sports California’s Mark Jones, Kings general manager Monte McNair briefly addressed the team’s decision to fire Mike Brown, stressing that he appreciates the veteran coach and has the “utmost respect” for him.
However, as Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports California writes, McNair was more focused on discussing the job that Doug Christie has done since taking the reins from Brown, praising the interim head coach for the love he has for the organization and the “passion” he has brought to the role.
“What I think he brings to the table is his optimism, his playing experience and what he feels he needs to give to those players because that’s what he needed when he played,” McNair said. “And right now, I think the guys have really responded to that.”
The Kings won their sixth straight game on Friday and are now back to .500 at 19-19, putting them firmly in the thick of the postseason race in the Western Conference. In his conversation with Jones, McNair made it clear that getting back to the playoffs after missing out last season is a priority for the team.
“I would say our goals haven’t changed,” McNair said, per Rodriguez. “We want to get to the playoffs. We want to continue to make noise there. I think what we’ve done is we’ve put ourselves in a bit of a hole. We’ve started to climb out of it but there’s more work to be done. We’re really right now on the fringes of the play-in, that’s certainly one way into the playoffs, we’ve seen teams take that path away and make some noise in the playoffs, so if that’s the pathway we have to go through, we’ll do that.
“But ideally, we’ll find a way to get into the top six and get a little rest going into the playoffs. But that’s what our goal continues to be, both this year and going forward.”
Here are a few more highlights from the Kings’ GM:
On the front office’s thought process with the February 6 trade deadline nearing:
“I think the first thing we’re looking at is we made a big change, so what does the team look like? We’ve seen a little bit of that, but we want to see a little bit more about how this team responds and exactly what we have. We’re always looking, that’s our job in the front office, we always got to find ways to improve this team especially in the Western Conference where it feels like every year there’s 10, 11, 12 teams that you got to compete with.
“Early returns have been good, we want to continue to see that. And then we’re about three or four weeks out from that decision point, and we’ll see if there’s a way to improve the team and keep climbing the standings.”
On whether the new CBA will make it difficult for the Kings to find a deal they like:
“I think teams are looking to improve, and there’s a lot of creative folks out there. We have quite a few in our front office. So it certainly puts some constraints on how you can maneuver, but I think we are well positioned with our current position and I think other teams continue to be creative to find ways that they can do it. You can’t stand still in this league for too long and you got to continue to find ways to make your team better.”
On the desire to add more talented defenders without sacrificing offense:
“I think we’ve seen Keon (Ellis) take some tougher assignments, so when he’s out there he can do it. At the same time, we’re continuing to look for two-way guys because what we don’t want to do is just solve one issue and open up another. So we want guys like Keegan (Murray), like Keon, like a lot of the other guys on our roster that can produce on the offensive end and then go and guard these tough guys on the defensive end. So we’ll continue to look for those guys. We’ll continue to challenge the guys that we have here to take on those responsibilities.
“And I think, certainly of late, we’re top five in defense over the last 10 days or so, and 15th or 16th on the season. Our goal is to be top half of the league and we’re right there.”
He was saying the exact same thing after Mike Brown’s first year.
At the end of the day, it all depends on the personnel that he brings in, in order to make use of the coaches skillset and, somehow, it’s always the coaches that don’t seem to know what they’re doing.
In either case, whether the coaches can’t coach, or the players can’t perform, he picked ’em. So he should go.
Actually McNair’s tenure in Sacramento has been pretty good… I think he has had some questionable moves or picks that didn’t pan out but you really can’t argue with the results. Especially after watching Vlade do his best to take a sinking ship ever further into the depths of the laughing stock sea.
More questionable lately, though. That being said, I really liked the Carter pick and if he hits that might give him some extra rope.
Same team for the past three years except for adding an all star this year. Smart guy
Drafting Halliburton, acquiring Domas, drafting Murray (looked good at one point), finding a gem in Keon Ellis, ended the playoff drought, extending Monk on a team friendly deal, biggest FA signing in Sacs history, drafting Carter (looks good so far), revamped the culture entirely, having the stones to let Brown go….
You think dismantling the roster that was a 3 seed would have made him a better GM?
Imagine that, fire a crappy coach and replace him with a competent one that the players respect and you get results.
Yup Brown has always been overrated
Crazy how the popular opinion on Brown getting fired has shifted since the win streak
Teams are hardly looking to improve. If teams were serious we would be seeing more moves.
“Why did they fire Mike Brown”
“Mike Brown was such a good coach they made a stupid move”
*Wins 6 games in a row without Brown*
People just can’t help themselves with having strong opinions on topics they would know virtually nothing about. I’ll never understand it. Non-biased fans and those following the team knew what was up. He was only one problem, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was A problem.
Trade Fox
For what? The Spurs scraps? The pieces the Rockets don’t want? If Mikal Bridges can get 5 1st rounders then Fox is worth 9. Neither side is desperate enough for that to be a reality.
Fox’s camp made enough noise to get Brown out of the captains chair. That was clearly the goal after a month of Brown saying that Fox was lazy and the reason the Kings lost close games.
The guy named his daughter Reign… clearly he likes being a King. He wasn’t satisfied with the direction. It’s really not that deep.