Paul Westphal Fired By Kings; Keith Smart Takes Over As Head Coach

But something just doesn’t add up.

If Petrie planned to replace Westphal all along, why not do it in April, May or June? If the plan all along was to hire the promising Smart, why not make the switch out in the open with training camp, the shortened preseason and the start of the season still on the calendar? Westphal wasted weeks trying to teach the Kings’ young core a new offense that never looked anything but mutilated on the court. Now Smart’s in the position of imparting his playbook in the middle of a season with few off-days, fewer practices and too much travel. Smart or any new coach would have had a tough task this season. The Kings added a few more traps for good measure.

SB Nation’s NBA Editor and founder of Kings blog Sactown Royalty Tom Ziller had a nice little rant on the signing. I’d rather not step on his toes, so here it is, in its entirety:

For more on the Kings and their new coach, visit Sactown Royalty.

The Warriors excused Smart to hire Mark Jackson. Golden State is 2-4 this season.

UPDATE: NBA.com reports that Smart will lead the Kings for the remainder of the season.

“I want to thank Paul for all of his effort on behalf of the Kings,” general manager Geoff Petrie said in the release. “Unfortunately, the overall performance level of the team has not approached what we felt was reasonable to expect. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

Westphal’s firing comes a few days after he issued a statement suspending Cousins, his mercurial big man, for issuing a trade demand. Cousins has denied doing so and was back in the lineup after one game. The timing of the move may suggest that the organization sided with its young big man over the head coach.