Reggie Theus Guillotine Watch

[Indazone]

NBA Coaching Guillotine: Reggie Theus

Posted Nov 5th 2008 1:45PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Kings
The season's a week old, so it's time to dust off the old Guillotine. The NBA Coaching Guillotine considers which coaches have the potential to be executed (figuratively) and why.

For all his big city swagger and wink-wink charm, Reggie Theus is in the most precarious of positions early on in his sop re season at the helm of the Kings. Really, the Theus reality is a checklist of bad coaching mojo.

* He's losing. Disney on Ice sent Sacramento to start on the road. It hasn't gone well, with big-time blowouts in Miami (!) and Philadelphia, a solid loss in Orlando and a close defeat in Minnesota (!). I would argue that when it comes to midseason firings, winning percentage is the biggest cause. Theus is at a 0.00% winning percentage.

* There is disruption, not direction. No one has come out and blast Theus ... yet. Mikki Moore is blaming everyone. Kevin Martin seems flummoxed. Spencer Hawes, yanked with Moore 90 seconds into the third quarter against Philly after giving up an offensive rebound, seems super ticked any time he gets the hook. Bobby Jackson, one of the toughest, most resilient guys of this era, actually looks bored. Young teams are supposed to brim with hope, not suffer under the weight of absent expectations.

* He has no contract. Over the summer, the Kings didn't pick up the team option for 2009-10 on Theus' contract. After a season in which Theus and his team overachieved, that's a pretty darn clear sign the front office isn't enamored.

* He hasn't built strong relationships with the core. Martin had a famous spat with Theus at the end of the last regular season. Theus, in the process of lobbying for Ron Artest's continued presence in Sactown, dumped all over Martin. Of course, the budding star took offense. By anecdote, the Cold War has thawed; the coach has played Martin through the struggles, and Kevin has appeared to give max effort on defense (a Theus bugaboo) and be Reggie's conduit to the Sacramento kids. But slights aren't really forgotten so easily. I can't imagine Martin making some sort of stand against a Theus firing.

Will it happen? Not yet: the Kings will give Theus a real chance to turn things around once Brad Miller (suspended) and Francisco Garcia (achin') come back. If the team hasn't made it ahead of, say, Oklahoma City by December, we'll be on full-bore Guillotine Watch. (Replacement candidates? Geoff Petrie wants more offensive flow -- o, Flip Saunders -- but the Maloofs have stressed the need for defense -- what up, Avery Johnson?.)

[JamStone]

I still say Reggie Theus should team up with Rick Fox and do a "Wayans Brothers" type sitcom.

[DBryant88]

I still say Reggie Theus should team up with Rick Fox and do a "Wayans Brothers" type sitcom.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I still say Reggie Theus should team up with Rick Fox and do a "Wayans Brothers" type sitcom.

I say bench Beno and bring in a veteran player that he's worked with before.