Kings owner on Malone firing: 'What we need is a jazz director'
The Sacramento Kings want their next head coach to have a little Thelonious Monk to his game.
That was the message from owner Vivek Ranadive on Tuesday, when he spoke to the media for the first time since firing head coach Mike Malone early Monday. Ranadive outlined five points that he wanted to make in response to Malone's removal and some of the criticism sent the organizations' way in response, but it's the fifth that stands out.
In explaining the need for the team to play a more aesthetically pleasing style of play, Ranadive likened the change in philosophy to a change in style of music:
Defense is great, but we need defense and offense. We need to go from a rules-based organization, which was important when you had chaos, to a values-based organization. From kind of a programmatic offense, to a read-and-respond, free-flowing offense. I like to use a music metaphor. We had a Sousa marching band, which was needed when there was chaos, but now we need to shift to a jazz band, where people can be individually showcased and improvised. What we need is a jazz director. I think that’s the kind of leadership moving forward.
While a number of names have been linked to the Kings coaching position - George Karl, Mark Jackson and Kings executive Chris Mullin chief among them - assistant coach Tyrone Corbin has been made interim head coach, likely for the rest of the season. He'll need to pop in some Fred Astaire quickly if he has designs on keeping the job long-term.
As for the other points Ranadive made, they are as follows:
- The strong reaction shows the team has the best fans in sports
- Mike Malone is a good, honorable man, and Ranadive and the franchise have high respect for him.
- The team needs to restore structure after a chaotic 18 months since the ownership change.
- You can't be satisfied with the status quo, and the team needs to pivot from their strong foundation.
Not to nitpick, but firing a coach you just hired a season ago, before you hired a general manager, seems to run contrary to point No. 3. That's none of our business, though.