But Sacramento's problems go beyond the coaching, and it's hard to believe that firing Westphal would result in a miraculous turnaround. Trading an underachieving player likely wouldn't generage a worthwhile overahaul and not serve as more than just a temporary stopgap. While Westphal's lineups could be a factor, the Kings rank last in the NBA in three-point accuracy (31%); second to last in offensive rating, third to last in team field goal percentage (43%), 27th in free throw percentage (70,8%), and 23rd in defensive rating. There's no magic anecdote or overnight cure-all for this team.
At this point, it's time to reevaluate our expectations, hope Sacramento's building blocks find a way to gel, and highlight the sporadic bright spots—Cousins has averaged 15.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in the four games since getting kicked out of practice, and Casspi recorded season highs in points (21), rebounds (10) on Monday—while looking toward next season.
Perhaps Evans will regain his first-year form after resting his injured foot, Cousins won't finish the year as the league leader in personal fouls as he gets more accustomed to the NBA game, or underutilized rookie Pooh Jeter will be the kind of spark plug the team needs.
Maybe unlike years past, the 2010-11 Kings will come together in the second half of the season and rally to finish with a respectable record while gaining some much-needed confidence and momentum.
Maybe.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images and SacBee.com.
Article comments
1 - cavanial
gimme a break!!!!
2 - cavanial
I find it funny that for whatever reason people still like writing articles on how bad Mikki and others were with the Kings. Moore ripped it in New Jersey (where he lead the NBA in FG%)...but all of a sudden he is suppose to KG with the Kings who were a crappy organization, crappy fans, crappy location, crappy Reggie Theus, and no PG. Did you forget Artest and Bibby were willing to anywhere but Sactown. Writing anything on the Kings and there organization is a total waste of time!!!
3 - Alex Kramers
The article was less about how bad Moore was in Sac than about the fact that the Kings have young players with future potential instead of over-the-hill veterans and are still struggling to find a rhythm (the Washington game was great though).
No one expected Moore to be KG, but more than six rebounds per game, especially from a guy making $6 million a year, would've been nice. It's not like he did anything after getting released by Sac, or outside of his lone, fluky career year with Jason Kidd.
Not sure what the organization or the fans, who are among the most passionate in the league, have go do with Moore's atrocious rebounding.