Just a short time ago, the Memphis Grizzlies surprisingly decided to begin searching for their third head coach in four years. David Joerger, who did an outstanding job clinging to the fifth seed in the Western Conference for dear life with an injury-riddled roster, was let go by the team after an early exit from the playoffs.
While Joerger's Grizzlies were ousted in the first round for the second time in three years, the fault was not his. Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, two of the team's centerpieces, were hobbled by injuries. Both played under 60 games and missed the postseason. Mario Chalmers, who was acquired via trade during the regular season, also went down prior to the playoffs and played under 60 games.
Meanwhile, the team dealt away Courtney Lee and Jeff Green at the trade deadline, leaving Tony Allen and Zach Randolph as the lone starters available from the 2014-2015 season. And it was not until the end of the regular season that the Griz surrendered the five seed and slipped to seventh in the conference. Through it all, they clinched a playoff berth for the sixth consecutive year.
While Joerger's dismissal was difficult to justify, it became an opportunity for another team to fill a void at head coach. That team is the Sacramento Kings. It is not surprising that Joerger was unemployed for such a short period of time. He is 147-99 in his career as a head coach.
The word "upgrade" must be used cautiously, here. Joerger succeeds George Karl, the coach who has won the fifth most games out of any head coach in NBA history and coached in an NBA Finals back in the 1990s. His experience far outweighs that of David Joerger, but what Karl could not do was tame DeMarcus Cousins.
The Kings have been a mess for a solid decade and have just hired their eighth coach in as many years. Cousins is the outlying scapegoat and VP of Basketball Operations, Vlade Divac, struggled to address the cohesion, or lack thereof, with his star player and head coach this year. If a coach who could very likely find himself in the Hall of Fame down the road could not succeed in that facet, what makes Divac confident that someone with three years of head coaching experience can do it?
It should have been Tom Thibodeau who the Kings were after. But, after he was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves as Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations, the idea arose that maybe Divac is in a position of excess power. The problem with the Kings lies within the higher management. True, George Karl, was not the man for the job. But how the organization choose to handle that situation was rather baffling.
Once Thibodeau was off the market, it came down to several coaches who were thrown to the curb after their teams were eliminated from the playoffs. Joerger and Frank Vogel. There were, of course, other options on Divac's wishlist. Names such as Kevin McHale, Luke Walton, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy circulated through the airwaves, but the answer became clear relatively quickly after Joerger was let go by the Grizzlies.
The Kings inked Joerger to what is reportedly a four-year deal, which begs the question: Did they make the right choice?
The answer, reluctantly, is yes. Joerger's success with one of the best combinations of two big men in the league is a perfect match for the Kings. The Kings had the third-highest scoring offense in the NBA in 2015-2016. Couple that with the fact that the Grizzlies remained one of the better defenses in the Western Conference last season gives you an idea of how the Kings will improve under Joerger. In terms of taming Boogie Cousins, just equate the head cases Joerger managed simultaneously in Matt Barnes, Lance Stephenson, and Chris Anderson.
New stadium, new logos, new look for the Kings. Next year, we may all remember David Joerger as the tamer of the Wild Boogie.