Today is another day. And like another day, there is more speculation about who the coach should be. Such is life eh? Plus, can Keith Smart repair the Paul Westphal damage with DeMarcus Cousins? Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports wishes to tell us...(I think I linked to this already but if not here you go.)

Today it's Dwight Howard and the ever revolving "where will Dwight end up tomorrow" chatter. And, well, lately Golden State is the latest and brightest star wishing to orbit on the Howard planet. Groovy eh?

As far as ORtg & DRtg goes, Orlando has an ORtg of 106.0 (9th of 30) and a DRtg of 100.8 (11th of 30). The current pace is 88.8 (25th of 30). Our beloved dipshits (and hey have they ever been more dipshitty than recently?), aka the Kings (for those unaware of the moniker), have an ORtg of 99.4 (21st of 30) and DRtg of 108.7 (27th of 30). The current pace is 94.0 (5th of 30).

Here's a haughty prediction for you: Whoever scores more wins the game. Yes, that's why you're reading EC. To get wonderful insightful analysis such as that. On a real tip, however, whoever wins the battle of the boards will most likely win the game. The Kings are currently last in the NBA with 67.3 DRB% despite Cousins heroics (or mainly because he isn't always as good boarding defensively as he is offensively) and Orlando is 12th at 74.4%. Win this matchup? You got a shot at beating Orlando.

Orlando has the 8th highest eFG% at 50.6% where the Kings have a 43% eFG% for 28th in the NBA. Keys to beating Orlando at home? Hitting the boards, and getting quality shots. Funny, we've heard that somewhere before. I just don't know where. Oh, every NBA coach says that. My bad.

The Paul Westphal firing has revealed a great truth to me: Geoff Petrie is the devil. Since the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing you he didn't exist (or is Geoff Petrie but I digress), I suppose you'll have to continue reading on. Geoff Petrie is a snake. He snaked Paul Westphal, and the sad part is that Westphal probably doesn't even find it surprising. After all, a snake is what's required of a GM, or Prez of Bball Ops, in this world we live in. A snake, or a bumbling anger filled on the inside calm on the outside old man masquerading as Geoff Petrie. But I digress.

The truth is that Paul Westphal is convenient for Geoff Petrie here. It's Paul Westphal's fault that he couldn't get along with Spencer Hawes. It's Paul Westphal's fault that Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin couldn't co-exist. It's Paul Westphal's fault that Carl Landry didn't play better in Sacramento. It's Paul Westphal's fault that Omri Casspi didn't turn into an all-world pro. It's Paul Westphal's fault that Donte Greene couldn't make the jump as a professional basketball player. It's Paul Westphal's fault that Tyreke Evans jogs back in transition defense and makes repeatedly lazy plays. It's Paul Westphal's fault that DeMarcus Cousins' is lazy on the court at times and is petulant beyond belief. If that doesn't pass the smell test, that's because it doesn't pass the smell test. For a lot of people firing Paul Westphal is convenient.

The hard things, like trading Kevin Martin, wouldn't have come with a convenient fall guy in place like Westphal. After all, you bring in Keith Smart as the head coach in 2009 and that anger is directed at him. Westphal? He gives fans a new choice as a head coach to root for whether it's Keith Smart or a new head coach this summer. Who knows? Maybe the chemistry is too wrecked to compete for a playoff spot and the Kings get lucky and get a top 3 pick. (I'm stumping for Michael Gilchrist.) Guess what? It's all horseshit. Don't believe for a minute that Petrie wouldn't trade away Kevin Martin for his own reasons, like, for instance, that Martin wasn't never an ideal pairing with Tyreke Evans without a player to play off of (i.e. Brad Miller or Spencer Hawes). But you say wait a moment!?! What about DeMarcus Cousins? What about him? Was it a guarantee in February 2010 where you were going to settle in the draft? Was getting Cousins a guarantee? And since when was Cousins seen as a facilitating big man at the high post kind of offensive player from his time at Kentucky? That's the problem here: Revisionist history will take over.

Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from which one extracts what one needs.

Rosie Perez's character, Gloria, from White Men Can't Jump. I realize it seems vague, but what I wrote earlier today about a dilapidated franchise in tatters still stands. A win tonight where Tyreke Evans plays hard for a game means nothing. Where Cousins plays hard for a game means nothing. Both had tremendous games tonight in many ways, but, at some point, these guys have to do it more than just an occasional moment. That's not how the NBA works. Am I impressed with what Tyreke did tonight? Nope. Seen it before. Gotta do it game in game out for the remaining 58 games to impress me. I'm not easily impressed. DeMarcus Cousins did some good things as well, but the Moses Malone act has gotten old. Make your layups the first time kid. As far as the game goes, there is plenty to note that was good. Here is the boxscore.

The simple answer is yes he can. I have no issue with Smart. I don't think Smart is a real improvement over Paul Westphal which says nothing either man's basketball acumen. Each have plenty of both.

Keith Smart has now taken over a team for the 3rd time after a fairly unique coaching change. The first time was in Cleveland right before the season that ended up netting the Cavaliers the first overall draft choice that became LeBron James. Bad teams are bad teams. That Cavs team stunk. (I actually hadn't realized that Smart was the interim guy in Cleveland. But the focus of this will be on his Golden State days.)

Most people know that Smart was the head coach for the Warriors last season. The Warriors posted a 36-46 record. The Warriors improved slightly in DRtg (29th to 27th) and ORtg (14th to 12th). In otherwords, Smart is not Rick Adelman. But who is?

Dorell Wright had a career year under Smart. Reggie Williams seemed to be fairly successful last season as well. Monta Ellis was slightly more efficient under Smart than Ellis was on the post Baron Davis Don Nelson coached Warrior teams. Ellis also set a career high in total minutes last season while logging the most per game average minute of any player. You can read Zach Lowe's take on Monta Ellis' defense, and judge whether that is on Keith Smart or not.

A Hickory High post regarding Coaching Optimization. (You've probably read this in the past, but read it again if you've forgotten it.) Smart's score is -0.226. Westphal's for the last 2 seasons was: -0.049 (2011) & -0.295 (2010). Take this for what it's worth. (I think it means little either way other than it's some food for thought.)

Is Keith Smart the answer or not? Well, he can't be worse than Paul Westphal. And no complaints can be made about Smart given the circumstances he's been given. The reality is that it still comes back to 2 petulant brats that Smart will be given a chance to coach.

Current Kings’ assistant coach Keith Smart will serve as head coach in tonight’s game versus the Milwaukee Bucks.

This line, as TZ noted at Sactown Royalty, is interesting. Does it mean a new head coach is on the way instead of Smart? Well, all we know is that tonight Smart is the head coach. After tonight? We could get a bigger name, or, more likely, we'll get Smart named as the interim head coach.

Or, just a few minutes ago (H/T Akis), Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Smart now has a contract through the 2012-13 season.

I guess that's all there is to say. Good luck Keith; you're going to need it.

UPDATE:

Geoff Petrie talks about the hiring of Keith Smart (and a few other things). Via the Sac Bee Blog.

Here is Keith Smart's presser as well.

In case you have any comments about the game during gametime, and before my recap, put them here. I'm not writing a game thread tonight.

Do I think Paul Westphal shouldn't be fired? Nope, not even a little bit. At some point, you gotta illustrate you can make a difference with the players you are given. But, really, firing Westphal probably won't make a real difference, and history in the NBA has illustrated that to us quite eloquently.

You will hear nonsense comparisons like Scott Brooks in OKC. What you won't hear is that the biggest gripe that OKC had with PJ Carleismo was that he played Kevin Durant at SG. (For, you'll love this, defensive reasons.) If you find this puzzling, well, so did Kevin Durant. Carleismo clearly was trying to do the wrong thing in an untenable situation. Brooks moved Durant to the right position (SF), and benefitted when James Harden and Serge Ibaka became young cheap reliable contributors in the 2009-10 seasons. Even then, Brooks had a 22-47 record.

Paul Westphal wasn't fired because Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins are unmanageable. Westphal was fired because the Maloofs and Geoff Petrie were in self preservation mode. They are well aware that their franchise is a joke, behaves like a joke, has a toxic culture, and at some point approved all of that. When heads roll, it starts with the head coach. But to give Geoff Petrie no blame for this is an absolute abomination. The only reason Paul Westphal got fired was to save Petrie's job and the Maloofs ability to sell overpriced tickets to a beaten down market.

They are all desperate to show that Paul Westphal is the problem, and perhaps he was a minor problem. But Paul Westphal is not the actual problem. The actual problem is you have 2 unmanageable unquenchable lazy pathetic 20 something year olds who think their high draft selection merits their primmadonna acts. It does not.

Will Keith Smart make a difference? Maybe. Maybe these guys will actually do the effort things they always should be doing. There is no excuse for being repeatedly being beaten in transition. There is no excuse for the way Tyreke Evans or DeMarcus Cousins have acted. None at all. But that's not the story you will hear. Not even close to it. You'll hear that Westphal was asking Tyreke to play defense (what a terrible coach Westphal is), and to play a more heads up game when and where it counted. Guess what? When Keith Smart tells Tyreke things he doesn't like, do you believe Tyreke won't act like a spoiled brat petulant dickhead who doesn't say anything to the media? And do you think DeMarcus Cousins won't act like a spoiled brat petulant dickhead who is a loudmouth blowhard that says very little?

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, Insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Who were the people? Well the people, were, to put it bluntly, were white men with land. No really. The ForeFathers were Racist Sexist assholes.

Oh about the game? I told you last night I wasn't going to watch unless it was a close game. I ain't watching bad basketball after the fact. What's in it for me?

Tyreke Evans only played 23 minutes tonight. Want an indication of how this season is going? Between Memphis and Denver, Tyreke Evans has played a total of 49 minutes the last 2 nights. In his career, Tyreke Evans high in minutes was 47 in the "last game at the Ole Gaspump" in April 2011. In one game, he nearly averaged what he played the last 2 nights.

You can't win in the NBA without your star players playing like star players. The problem, first and foremost, is on the players. Even though most will call for Westphal's head for this, the reality is firing Paul Westphal is a minor and at best a minor boost in interest in playing for someone else (presumably Keith Smart).

This is ridiculous. Tyreke Evans has to play well, and hard, every game he is out there. Otherwise, what does going through the motion serve? And, not only that, if Tyreke fancies himself as a star and gives this kind of effort, what kind of message does it send to everyone else?

Whatever happens elsewhere with the roster, it won't happen this year unless Tyreke Evans grabs that reign. Right now, it's looking like Tyreke is either unwilling or incapable of grabbing those reigns. I'm interested to see, other than the Big Twat himself, whom, and why, is interested in those reigns.

The reality with leadership is that it is not always easy, or successful every night. Leadership is hard which is why not everyone can be a leader. At this point, I'd be happy if this team can win 3 games in the month of January. It does not get any easier from here on out.

Until tomorrow where more sarcasm about poor play comes into effect.

Well, let's see. Another game, another chance at running the offense well, and a very high chance that this team will do it poorly. Like I've said in my comment on the last thread about Paul Westphal, this is how I see the situation:

I think Smart is likely to have the job by the end of the week if the team continues to be listless.

Either A), Westphal won’t want the job any longer or B), the Maloofs will overrule Petrie and fire Westphal anyway in the hopes that a small change will produce a different attitude.

My feelings on a coaching change will be that a guy like Cousins may improve in the shortterm, but in the long run the same problems apply. And if the same problems keep cropping up, Keith Smart won’t be any different for Cousins than Westphal is now.

At some point, players need to be accountable regardless of the head coach. I look at it this way: Unless Westphal is doing a ridiculous foundational move by playing a player out of position (like PJ Carleismo with Kevin Durant), it’s very difficult for a head coach to have a real impact in the NBA. It’s still up to the players to execute and give effort. I don’t see this group, right or wrong, doing that right now.

On the other hand, nothing Westphal is doing is telling me that he is a long term hire and that is probably the best reason for letting him go IMO. If Westphal isn’t the answer, perhaps Keith Smart is. Westphal knows that unless he produces a miracle with this team and quickly, he isn’t getting another head coaching job anyway. He’s also probably too old to want to go through with what he is going through anyway. As far as I’m concerned, Westphal at worst is a stopgap coach and at best is the coach who set things in motion so that the team could have paramount improvement. Take that for what’s it worth.

Nobody is convincing me that firing Paul Westphal because DeMarcus Cousins acts like an unmanageable twat is the right thing to do. Firing Westphal because the other guys aren’t buying into his system and it’s clear that the only real move is to make a change? Okay, I’ll buy that. But change for changes sake isn’t really the way to go, and is only a desperation move. The problem is that this team could very well be at the point where a desperation move is the only way to proceed at this juncture.

As far as the Kings and the ORtg/DRtg watch, the ORtg is at 101.5 (20th of 30) and the DRtg is at 109.8 (27th of 30). Pace is 92.1 possessions per game which is good for 14th in the NBA.

The Denver Nuggets have an ORtg of 103.4 (15th of 30) and a DRtg of 96.5 (5th of 30). The Pace is 98.8 (1st of 30).

Other than that, I hope the Kings can play effectively on 2 ends of the court tonight. I would like to see this team improve on the court (although I'm not expecting much honestly) by running an offense and getting back in transition defense so that a team like the Nuggets (that will kill you in transition unlike Memphis) can't get as many easy baskets. Sometimes the game is simple: Get more easy baskets for yourself and lessen the other team's and you increase your chance at winning. Yes, here at ECInc you will get nuggets such as that. (Pun intended.)

Required Reading

Nate Timmons has a game preview of the Kings-Nuggets game at Denver Stiffs.

Just because I love Jeff's writing more than anything, please read his recap of the Nuggets victory over the Bucks at Stiffs.

Kalen at Roundball Mining Company discusses why the Nuggets sent Jordan Hamilton and Julyan Stone to the D-League. You'll find the reasons are similar to why the Kings sent Honeycutt and Whiteside to Reno. I especially recommend reading the comments as there is a lot of good discussion there about the impact it has on the players and team respectively in these kinds of situations. (Officially, I endorse both Honeycutt and Whiteside in Reno for what it's worth.)

Nene is listed as day to day and his availability may not be known until game time (6pm Pacific) tonight.

Practices effect every team; Via Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post.

Jason Jones has his recap up. Paul Westphal had an interesting quote:

"It's tough when neither one of them (Evans or Thornton) can get it going, but we just had a hard time shooting the ball tonight," Westphal said. "Some nights are going to be like that. I thought we played hard, we didn't play real sharp at times."

But this quote from JJ Hickson is even more revealing:

"I think in the second quarter we did a good job of pressuring them and keeping them out the paint," Hickson said. "I just think in the second half it was tough. They ran the floor a lot harder, they got into their sets quicker and that kind of caught us off guard and you see the end result."

Translation: Gotta play hard every possession if you expect to win consistently in the NBA. And, even then, you won't always win the game. On the other hand, if you don't give it your all every time out, you won't give yourself a chance to win very often. How have I missed you hokey wisdom no matter how true you are.

In case you don't read the Bee Blog for the Kings, Matt Kawahara has some links (including a few I included) around the Web that I haven't linked to.

Final Stathead thoughts of the Day

Regarding Chuck Hayes TS%, before the Memphis game the TS% for Hayes was at 42.2%. After the Memphis game, where Hayes went 3-4 from the field and was 2-2 at the line for 8 points, Hayes TS% now stands at 45.7%. While the TS% was never going to hover around in the low 40's, this type of performance would have Hayes in the mid 60's TS% range for the season if he was able to repeat it consistently.

I thought the reason Hayes was so effective in that way was because all he had to do was go up and make a play by scoring the ball as opposed to dribbling or putting a layup with 3 guys around him. A big part of that was the Guard play that gave him the ball in a scoring position.

Now if the Kings could do that with JJ Hickson and Jason Thompson as often, I'll be thrilled.

Game is at 6pm PST. The game may or may not be received at an outlet that you are capable of receiving from your current location. Even though Mt Mutombo is no longer part of the Denver sporting schematic, Mt Mozgov is and stands, just as Mutombo did, at 5,287 feet. Fortunately everywhere else, Timofey Mozgov is only a 7 footer. Like I said up top, let's hope for a quality outing eh?

Really, if you've seen this team play this season, or last season, or the year prior, or ever really seen a bad team, you saw the game tonight.

Where to start. I'm not even sure where to start. It felt like the Kings were playing hard and with purpose. But when the Grizzlies went on a major run in the 3rd quarter (Grizz outscored the Kings by 17 in the 3rd quarter), it was game over.

Transition defense was awful. Kings got ourebounded by 8. Couldn't make shots consistently (talk about holy missed layups Batman!) and the Grizz were merciless (as they should be) in transition. Really, if you didn't watch the game, you're better off. Trust me. I wish I hadn't, but I'm stuck in this mode of being a Kings fan. Of course with my luck, because I have class tomorrow during the entire Denver game (starts at 6, ends likely around 830 LOL), this will be my basketball fix unless I stay up really late tomorrow to watch the game after I get home from class. (I might depending on the final score.) And by my luck, I mean a fun flowing game that makes all the bad nights worth it.

The bottom line here is that a player on this team needs to take ownership of this teams problems and find a way to get the game going in the right direction. Accountability needs to be had. Leadership needs to be exhibited. While I never thought it would be simple or smooth, to say the least, the difficulties of this season has been a lot more than this fanbase was hoping for. And in more than a few ways the type of plays this team is making is simply unacceptable.

Here's to hoping that Denver provides us a smoother and less bumpier ride than the game against Memphis tonight.

Well, another game another dollar (for the NBA anyway). Who knows how the Cuz drama plays out because there is going to be drama one way or the other with this asshole kid for the rest of days. That's what the Kings signed up for. If you don't like that interpretation, oh well. That's your problem.

There are other things going on, but since the only things that matter are the dramatic renditions of a tall drama queen, I'm not sure anyone cares. I surely don't, well, except for being fairly intrigued to see how the rest of the roster performs tonight regardless of how many minutes Cousins' receives. But hey, Cousin's drama is the only thing that's important because it holds the fate of Sacramento in the balance if Cousins' dramatic loopy ass doesn't get minutes.

Zach Randolph (a one time major problem child with major talent) might not play Tuesday which is good news.

As far as the Kings ORtg & DRtg watch, the ORtg is now 101.9 (18th of 30) and the Def Rtg is 108.3 (26th of 30). The pace of the Kings through 5 games is 91.3 (16th of 30). Memphis is at 94.3 ORtg (29th of 30) and the Def Rtg is 103.9 (16th of 30) . Their pace is at 93.8 (9th of 30).

Required Reading

3 Shades of Blue has a game preview of the game tonight already up.

Straight Outta Vancouver talks a bit about what type of players they would like the Grizzlies to acquire. Jason Thompson is one of them.

Apparently Hamed Haddadi is back with the Grizzlies. (The holdup is a work permit.) Haddadi is the fellow who took a picture with Omri Casspi that caused an uproar because Haddadi is Iranian and Casspi is Israeli.

Final Stathead Thoughts of the day

Last season, the Kings were 26th in the NBA in TOV% with 14.4%. The Kings were also 26th in eFG% at 48%. This season, the Kings are 6th in the NBA at 13.1% in TOV%. In eFG%, the Kings are 25th at 44.5%. (It's still early remember.) Just something to chew on when thinking about who is valuable and who isn't. At the end of the day, it's not the style of play that really matters but whether the ball goes in the basket more often for you than the other guy.

Yes, you've come to read life philosophy in two and half minutes. Game is at 5pm PST if you're unemployed, retired, or don't give a shit about your job. It's on some outlet that may or may not be available in the Sahara desert depending on how many sunspots are flashing at the moment. Peace in the Middle East?

Since I was a bit busy earlier talking about the Big Twat, how about a game recap and some thoughts. I don't think there are some things that should be overlooked. But, this will be short. Here is the boxscore from B-Ref. From Hoopdata.