(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
A year ago, the Sacramento Kings were one of the hottest and most promising young teams in the NBA after they had finished third in the Western Conference and come within one game of winning their first playoff series since 2004.
But this season, they had a bit of a correction, as they fell to ninth place and lost in the play-in tournament to a short-handed New Orleans Pelicans team.
There has been talk that Kings management is unhappy with head coach Mike Brown, and according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the team has “tabled talks” with him on a possible contract extension.
ESPN Sources: After engaging in contract extension discussions, the Sacramento Kings and coach Mike Brown have tabled talks. There remains a gulf on a potential deal for Brown, who has one guaranteed season left on his contract. pic.twitter.com/AvYy4gaDGR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 25, 2024
Brown became Sacramento’s head coach two years ago, and at the time, they were a floundering franchise despite possessing some promising young talent.
But Brown instituted a fast-paced, fast-moving offense that resulted in them leading the league in scoring last season, and they seemed to be a team that would only get better this year.
However, they fell from 120.7 points a game last season to 116.6 points a game this season, and while their defense improved somewhat, it wasn’t enough for an overall net gain.
In All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, the Kings have two absolute cornerstones, but in order to compete with the NBA’s heavyweights, they need a little more firepower and defensive muscle up front.
Brown has certainly evolved and improved as a head coach, especially offensively, where he has gone from favoring a ground-and-pound system that is outdated by today’s standards to something more akin to what Steve Kerr’s four-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors run.
Brown spent six years as an assistant under Kerr in Golden State and was a member of three of those championship teams, which allowed him to get up to speed on modern-day up-tempo, pace-and-space basketball.
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