The Kings’ “out with the old, in with the new” mindset started towards the end of the regular season and will continue into the offseason.
After a blockbuster trade that brought Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento, the focus is now on a new head coach after the Kings announced they will not bring interim head coach Alvin Gentry back for the 2022-23 season.
Following a 30-52 season and missing the playoffs for an NBA-record 16 seasons, general manager Monte McNair discussed what the organization will be looking for in their search for a new head coach.
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“We’re going to run a comprehensive and very process-driven coaching search,” McNair told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re going to let that run its course and we’re going to take as long as we need to find the correct person to lead this organization, lead the team on the floor and I’m excited to see the people that we talk to and what their vision is for the team as well.”
After the debut of Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb in Sacramento, the Kings won just 10 of their final 26 games.
It wasn’t the way they wanted to end the final stretch of the season, but the new additions showed promising futures in Sactown, especially what’s to come from “The Fox and The Ox”.
And although McNair acknowledged that the Kings need a coach that’s going to win games, he wants someone who will bring in their own style to help elevate this team from the playoff drought.
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“I’m not putting any particulars in on that,” McNair said. “Like I said we’re going to run this process. We all know what we need to get to. There’s certain things that need to be fixed. But there’s also multiple ways to win in this league. We want the coaching candidates that we do bring in to bring in their own style, tell us how they want to do this. We’ll talk with them and ultimately we’re going to bring in somebody who’s going to win, however they and we want to do that together.
“I think there’s a lot of characteristics that coaches will bring to the table. We’ve seen successful coaches from many different backgrounds. We’re not going to put any specifics or priorities on that. We’re going to interview. Like I said, it’s going to be very comprehensive. We’re going to have a lot of people that we’re going to talk to. We want to let them tell us what they’re excited about the team as well as our own thoughts.”
The last time the Kings made the playoffs was during the 2005-06 season when they were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.
This offseason will consist of lots of rebuilding in the 916. Even though they won’t be playing in this postseason, they have the advantage of an early offseason to start their hunt.
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“Look, we have an offseason, we have time,” McNair said. “The number one thing is that we find the right person to come in here and partner with me and the rest of our staff and get this thing to where it needs to get to. We’re going to take our time and whenever we find that person, we’ll go ahead and do it.”