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Dissecting Theus’ Firing and the Kings’ Future

Dec 16, 2008, 6:25 PM UTC

TSB's NBA gurus Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller (a Kings fan and blogger) discuss yesterday's firing of Reggie Theus.

â†µâ†µBethlehem Shoals: I heard that Theus was at one point trying to run the triangle offense. What exactly was getting in his way?â†µ

â†µâ†µTom Ziller: Beno Udrih is still learning English, and thinks triangles have six sides. Hence all the errant passes early on this season. â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Does Geoff Petrie realize his franchise player has been out most of this season? Isn’t this firing a slap in the face of Kevin Martin?â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: The Kings were almost as bad when Martin did play. And after Theus told anyone who’d listen (and some who would not) last season that Ron Artest remained the team’s best player, Martin is probably thrilled right now. â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Who is responsible for those starting line-ups with four big men in them? Should we expect to see more or fewer of them? â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: Chuck Person should be blamed. For everything. He got canned too, and Kenny Natt comes from the Jerry Sloan school of boringly straight basketball, so I imagine all the line-up trickery is soon departed. Spencer Hawes (7’1) is still playing power forward, though. â†µ

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â†µBS: Are people blaming Artest for this, and if not, how could they? â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: The taint of Ron-Ron touched Theus, which in theory destroyed his ability to lead these players. No one blames Artest -- in fact, the team’s defensive troubles have made Artest seem more sympathetic in retrospect -- but no one cares enough to do the necessary work to pin it on Ron at this point. â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Are people blaming Theus for this, and if so, why shouldn’t they? â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: Theus is taking blame, and he should. The local beat writer reported this morning that Theus had been habitually late for practices and the team bus. Theus admitted to being late for the bus. His reasoning? He didn’t want to catch anyone else showing up late, for fear disciplining them would ruin the team chemistry. I find it hard to absolve Reggie, considering the biggest knock on the team has been a lack of on-court focus and discipline. â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Who did less coaching this year, Theus or Vinnie Del Negro? Or am I mistaken in assuming that Theus’ mixed signals canceled themselves out?â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: Theus remained a stoic presence on the sideline; Del Negro tinkers with his rotations endlessly, it seems. At this point, I feel comfortable in stating that Theus is a better coach (makes better decisions), but Del Negro actually, um, cares. â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Can you tell I have a head cold?â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: You do sound stuffy.â†µ

â†µâ†µBS: Does anyone but you realize that the Kings are in the running for 2010? How does this firing play into that? Who could they hire to make sure LeBron signs there? â†µ

â†µâ†µTZ: Maverick Carter will be interviewing for the head job next week. If that doesn’t work out, the Maloofs have planned to build LeBron his own tower at the site of The Palms.â†µ

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â†µTZ's Best Case Scenario for:
â†µ2008-09 Kings -- 23 wins, Jason Thompson makes first-team All-Rookie.
â†µReggie Theus -- He takes over the UNLV program and wins a national championship by 2012.
â†µHimself as a Kings blogger -- Donté Greene and Spencer Hawes go one-on-one in the rookie/soph challenge.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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