The Sacramento Kings' season has not gotten off to the best of starts, and that is well-documented as they are 2-7. There has been a lot of chaos surrounding the Kings in the past week as head coach George Karl is reportedly on the hot seat as he has been feuding with players and not leading the team to many victories. With the Kings' win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, it seems like Karl will live to fight another day, but he should have at least the rest of this season to try and figure things out.
The reports earlier this week were that owner Vivek Ranadive was not happy with the way things were going and that nothing was off the table in terms of making a change. Things seem to have quieted down on that front, as vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac said that Karl will get the rest of this season to coach the team, according to Lisa Gonzales of NBC 3, and that is the right decision.
Divac's words don't exactly make it a guarantee that Karl will stay on, as Ranadive still has the final say but it is a good sign. Karl has been a very good coach in the NBA, and the Kings have been struggling for stability, so that is reason one to keep Karl on board. The 63-year-old coach won the coach of the year award in his final season with the Denver Nuggets in 2012-13 and has a career winning percentage of .594.
Karl has also only been the coach of the Kings for 39 games, which includes a 30-game stint at the end of last season when the team was already eliminated from contention and he was missing his starting point guard, Darren Collison. Thirty-nine games is not nearly enough time to judge whether Karl is the coach you want moving forward regardless of how bad things have started.
Yes, this Kings team has more talent than it has had in the past which comes with high expectations, but there are plenty of factors that go into the rough start, the least of which is Karl's coaching. The Kings' schedule so far has been brutal, as six of their seven losses have come to teams that were in the playoffs last season. Add in the fact that DeMarcus Cousins missed four of those losses and there are a lot of new pieces they are trying to integrate, and it shouldn't be a huge surprise that they have started this poorly.
Karl's relationship with Cousins is a bit worrisome as he is the team's star player and one of the very best in the league, but he apologized to him through the media after Wednesday's game and things seem like they could be mended as long as they win. Karl's relationship with Rajon Rondo has also come into question, but Rondo is having a terrific season and there doesn't appear to be much there with that rumor.
The reality is that there aren't many coaches you can find that are better than Karl to potentially replace him. Some people would argue that the Kings need a coach to make Cousins happy, but maybe Cousins needs a kick in the rear end to get him motivated to carry this team. Cousins had his best game of the season against the Pistons, and the Kings looked great in their victory after all the reports came out about their altercation.
It may end up that Karl just isn't a good fit for the Kings and they will end up parting ways anyway, but he at least deserves a chance to make it work. The Kings handed Karl an extremely combustible roster, so it was almost inevitable that there would be bumps along the way. These bumps have been a little bigger than should have been expected, but as mentioned before, Karl has only coached the Kings for 39 games. and his track record indicates he should be afforded the opportunity to figure things out.
