The Sacramento Kings Are Picking the Wrong Hill to Die On | Locked On Kings

The Sacramento Kings Are Picking the Wrong Hill to Die On | Locked On Kings

we have an update on the Mike Brown contract extension negotiations and let’s just say it’s not making the Sacramento Kings look too good we’ll break it all down right here on locked on Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of Love locked on Kings hello and welcome into locked on Kings your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all off seon long my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here on a Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter for ABC 10 News you know how big of a supporter I am of Mike Brown I believe that Mike Brown absolutely is the coach of the future for the Sacramento Kings I think the stability of having a assistant head coach for hopefully a long period of time is exactly what the doctor ordered for this organization but apparently maybe they don’t want to take their medicine that’s being given to them blessed upon them in so many ways look this Mike Brown contract situation is it’s it’s made a little more dramatic by yours truly and by the reports including the latest report today that I’ll I’ll read for you in just a second because in reality these are ongoing negotiations right and I’ve been consistent and I’ll stay consistent with my belief that a deal is going to get done it just makes too much sense for a long-term partnership to be signed between the Sacramento Kings and Mike Brown but the fact that there’s a little bit of doubt and the kings are allowing a little bit of Doubt to creep in by their hesitancy to extend Mike Brown now based off of last season which had a lot to do with things Mike can’t control things that Monte McNair and the front office are supposed to control and based off of the history of the Sacramento Kings not only of being an inept organization that had the longest playoff drought in NBA history but the fact that they have been horrendous when it comes to the hiring and handling of head coaches over that 16 season playoff drought yeah that plants a little bit of a seed of doubt in the head of myself in many Sacramento Kings fans heads to maybe we’re giving it too much thought maybe we’re allowing our PTSD of the past to affect what is essentially a separate ongoing negotiation this Mike Brown contract extension does not have anything to do with the king’s history but the Kings cannot remove their history from their reputation in conversations like this and they had in my opinion an easy opportunity to commit to Mike and to let it be known not just in Sacramento but to the entire NBA world that yes the Kings missed the playoffs this past season yes they won two fewer games than the season before but they believe in their Direction they like where they’re going and more importantly they commit to Mike Brown and recognize and honor Mike Brown as a central pivotal figure in the revitalization of this organization they didn’t do that they didn’t take that route and now we get this report today from Mark Stein extension talks for Sacramento’s Mike Brown have broken down as brown enters the final guaranteed season of his original 4-year deal the sides hold what has been described as a mutual option for 2025 26 yet it appears that the combination of Brown’s desire for a significant salary bump and the King’s postseason disappointments of the past two Springs have has given his bosses pause so a couple things from this to to break down it mentions the fourth year option which we talked about before the mutual option so Mike only has one guaranteed year left on his deal however there are two years left if you include this option but it’s not guaranteed because even if Mike says yes I want to exercise that option and yes I want to come back he still is not guaranteed that the Kings can still any time go you know what no we’re not interested that year is void this is your last season and we’re moving on from you right and we talked about lame duck years for head coaches going into a a season where you only have one guaranteed year left and you’re lacking that commitment from the organization it makes your job a lot harder whether it’s managing your locker room with guys that might have doubt in their heads that they’re going to outlast you and if they don’t follow your direction or if it doesn’t work out you’re gone and not them right there’re it just is not a good position for any head coach to be in especially a head coach who’s been as success as Mike Brown has been over his first two years here in Sacramento that’s the first part second part is essentially the root of this issue Mike Brown looking for a significant salary bump and that salary bump is being dictated by the market value of coaches right now and it’s less to do with the Monty Williams contract that absurd amount of money that the Detroit Pistons gave him to convince him to to take that horrendous job in the first place it’s less to do with that and I think more to do with the the contract that Mike hoer just got with the Phoenix Suns of 5 years 50 plus million essentially $10 million a little bit more than $10 million a year that’s the kind of money that Mike Brown is looking for because that is the market value for coaches and obviously as the rest of this says there’s a hesitancy to give Mike that because of what happened last season and I also want to point out that he mentions uh Stein mentions in this report has given his bosses pause now I guess technically Monty McNair is Mike Brown’s boss Monty McNair hired Mike but to me this this this screams of ownership now I’m not accusing VC of anything I do know that VC has ownership of the majority the slight majority of the playoff drought and the slight majority of head coaches that were here in Sacramento over that playoff drought so VC and King’s ownership’s track history this current ownership group’s track track history of handling head coaches is not great either but if anyone’s going to have hesitancy to pay Mike Brown what he’s asking for what the new market value is for coaches I think it’s ownership now we could go into a whole conversation about how the value of the organization has gone up since mik Brown has been here and how he’s helped uh increase tickets sales by the success of the team plus playoffs and the money that generated for the and the revenue that generated for the organization we can go down that rabbit hole it’s really not necessary for this conversation let’s talk about this first and foremost where is this information coming from and why is this information coming out I mean I think it’s pretty clearly a negotiation tactic that’s more than likely coming from Mike Brown’s Camp because let’s let’s apply logic to this right why would the Sacramento Kings want this information to be out there now that doesn’t mean that they don’t have someone in the organization that’s leaking it which I hope that wouldn’t be the case because leaks have been an issue for the kings in the past look at the early days of Vlad Devo’s regime are really the the end of the Pete delandro regime very early on in VX ownership tender tenure there was a lot of leak issues in this organization so that still is a possibility but I highly doubt the Sacramento Kings are letting this out why because it serves no benefit and no purpose for them because the Optics are knock going to be in their favor based off of their reputation and based off of their history I think this is a total leverage play from Mike Brown’s camp now it’s important to mention that that doesn’t mean this is coming from Mike Brown directly Mike he could be but I highly doubt Mike is the one calling Mark Stein and calling these reporters and talking to these reporters directly and going yeah they don’t want to pay me the money that I think I’m worth yeah they they they have pause to to give me what I think I deserve I don’t think that’s I think it’s Mike’s agent it’s Mike’s group it’s a negotiation tactic they know that by putting this information out there people like myself people like you the general NBA population as well as media members who discuss these type of things are going to instantly think back and revert back to Sacramento’s history Mike Brown and his Camp are leveraging the king’s reputation against them in this circumstance and it is an a brilliant move and it is a move that I don’t think is is not fair game look if I’m Mike Brown I’m going to the negotiation table going you really think you could do better than me who’s the guy that you’re going out and getting I’m the only one I’m the only one in 16 years that’s been able to completely change this organization and I’m the one that came in day one and told the entire organization what we need to be better I have been at the center of the change you were a problem before me you’ve I’ve been the solution you had zero winning seasons zero playoff appearances for almost two decades I come in and give you back to back winning seasons even though this past winning season we missed the playoffs if I I think it’s an absolute correct negotiation tactic by Mike Brown and again if I’m the Sacramento Kings I’m not even letting it get this far I’m I have enough self-awareness to know how much I’ve struggled to know where I’ve come from and where I’m at now and recognize that even if it’s like if it’s like on the surface being hesitant to give your employee a raise after regression slight regression although regression is debatable in the grand scheme of things the Kings did regress but they progressed in many other ways as well including on the defensive end but if you want to call it a regression because the Kings lost more games and missed the playoffs 100% so if you as an employer are hesitant to give your employee a significant rate pH after regression on the surface level that makes sense I understand that however in this circumstance again the king’s history is working against them number one and number two the circumstances behind that regression do not fall on the shoulders of Mike Brown I know he’s your head coach I know he’s your leader and typically head coaches are The Fall Guys in the NBA when things are going wrong because it’s easier to replace one guy than it is to replace a locker room but Mike Brown is not responsible for his general manager not making moves at the trade deadline Mike Brown is not responsible for Malik monk going down at the end of the season Mike Brown is not responsible for the majority of the offseason editions for the Sacramento Kings to not pan out Duarte didn’t work out Sasha venkov sure he’s a Euro League MVP he did not fit with what the Sacramento Kings were trying to do meanwhile Mike turned this roster from a bottom of the league defense to a middle of the league defense which is a massive feat in itself considering he didn’t add any defensive pieces this offseason that really played and really worked out he got the entire group to buy in and that’s a big part of this as well the players support him the players have bought in to what he’s doing dearen fox has straight up told you Mike Brown is coaching me the way I’ve been wanting to be coached my entire career Mike is doing everything correctly he is not the one to blame is he blameless no but is he the primary reason for the regression of the Sacramento Kings this past season absolutely not so my reaction to reading all this is [Music] definitely there is definitely an element of overreaction to that and I wear it and I’ve seen some of you guys reacting to the things I said on social media reacting to the things that I’ve been saying on the podcast and going Matt chill out and I understand that you might feel that way my frustration is this the Sacramento Kings are just picking a stupid Hill to die on it does not make sense to take this route to be hesitant to give Mike Brown the money that he’s asking for now if it comes out that Mike Brown is asking for more than Mike buen holer or he’s asking for a significant pay raise that’s absurd out of the Realms of possibility okay if that information were to come out maybe I understand their side a little bit more but from what I understand that’s not the circumstance Mike just wants to be paid the market value of head coaches today based off of the job that he’s doing for an organization that could not find anybody else to do it correctly like he has it’s a dumb Hill for the Kings to die on and it invites unnecessary criticism it invites unnecessary uncertainty and I think that’s the biggest thing here it’s not just the outside noise from people like myself or from the national media looking at the circumstance and going Jesus here come the Kings again are they really not going to pay the guy that finally made them relevant it’s not just that although that’s a big part of it it’s you’re you’re you’re sewing uncertainty that that black cloud is starting to hover back over your organization a little bit because players are watching this play out Malik monk is watching this play out people within the organization are watching this play out going a year ago we had the unanimous coach of the year and we were finally on the rise now we’ve had one quote unquote Bad season where it was still a winning season and we don’t know if our our our organization is going to commit to our head coach now again I’ll reiterate this how I believe this is going to pay out or play out maybe Mike doesn’t get exactly what he’s looking for maybe he gets slightly less I expect the deal to get done it makes too much sense for both sides to get a deal done I believe wholeheartedly that that’s going to happen my reaction comes from how unnecessary this whole shurod is it’s unnecessary this is the only cont text that you need to know three seasons ago the Kings fired Luke Walton who was their 11th excuse me their 10th coach their 10th head coach during the NBA playoff or during the the Kings playoff drought right their 10th coach they fired him Alvin Gentry takes over on an interim basis soon thereafter the Kings get their butts kicked so bad that Alvin Gentry steps to the podium and Sacramento and apologizes to King’s fans saying we played like crap I’m sorry you had to watch that that’s not who we are that’s not who we want to be you have your interim head coach apologizing after you just fired your double digit 10th head coach in a playoff drought that wasn’t even two decades long right you are the epitome of continued ineptitude you go from that to backto back win seasons and what changed you hired Mike Brown when the Kings initially hired Mike Brown I promise you they would have loved the idea they would have loved the concept of being disappointed after winning 46 games because before that winning 46 games sounded like a fantastic season we were celebrating Mike um Dave jger damn near getting to 40 right the idea of being over 500 was worth throwing a parade in Sacramento because we hadn’t seen it since 2006 Mike Brown comes in and he made that concept a reality to where two years later two years after hiring Mike Brown you are disappointed because you only won 46 games and you missed the playoffs or you didn’t make the playoffs in consecutive Seasons think about how the expectations in Sacramento has CH have changed since you hired Mike Brown tells you everything you need to know about why you would want to keep him and pay him immediately and give him if not exactly what he wants close to what he wants to continue to commit to each other to be on the same page to continue on the right path that I do believe the Sacramento Kings are on even if they took a slight step backwards this season it’s simple Kings just Mike Brown don’t let this process drag out because Mike Brown’s side or whoever’s leaking this information is going to get that out there and it’s going to only look bad for the Kings whether people are overreacting or not it’s only going to look back for the bad for the Kings because of their history you can avoid that altogether by making a clear statement we commit to Mike we believe he is worth the money that the market value for coaches is because of how he’s turned this organization around we believe in him and we’re going forward together let’s go win a championship let’s go build a champion sends a much better message than oh we don’t know if we want to pay Mike Brown after checks notes missing the Playoffs barely after making the playoffs only one season in the last 17 get the deal done today’s episode of the lockon Kings podcast is brought to you by sacyard Community Tap House I love sacyard so much an excellent place for you to go and spend your summer evenings whether it’s after work or during the weekend sacyard is the perfect place to wind down have a good time bring your family bring your friends go and have a afterwork powow 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Opportunities like live shows and watch parties that I’ve never been able to do before I’m so grateful to them if you’re going to sacyard if you want to check it out get yourself a drink and enjoy whatever is going on make sure you mention lockon Kings you’ll get 10% off your tab because sacyard is your official home of the lockon Kings listener today’s episode of lockon Kings is also brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit it’s guaranteed to fit your ride every time or you get your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not burning cash with all the parts you need at the price you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home some huge wins keep your Rider live at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions do apply eBay Motors guaranteed fit only available to us customers some sad news today as the NBA World lost Bill Walton NBA legend two-time Champion former number one overall pick multi-time NBA champion like I said and just one of the most unbelievable personalities that you will ever find we were blessed here in Sacramento to have Bill Walton as part of the Kings broadcast team for a number of seasons and I tell you some of my I mean I have great memories growing up of of listening to Gary Gerald on the radio listening to Jerry Reynolds on the TV broadcast right but Bill Walton brought such a such a uniqueness to what he did that truly bill made some of the hardest games to watch enjoyable the kings were bad bad when Bill Walton was broadcasting especially during his second stint right very bad I think he started in like 2010 kings were not good at all and Bill Walton was consistently there and and did his job as an NBA analyst and of course brought his excellent NBA perspective with all his years of service NBA Hall of Famer right but he also brought that goofiness and that sense of humor and that wackiness and never exactly knew what Luke Walt or excuse me Bill Walton not Luke his son Luke who of course is former Kings head coach you never knew what bill was going to say and I imagine from a producer standpoint or even from whoever was his partner calling games that was probably terrifying but also if you embraced it you never knew where you could go I just I have very very fond memories of watching Kings games and just laughing listening to Bill but also there would be times when Bill would let you into his brain and he would let you into the behind the scenes of the NBA from a perspective that you just don’t see and you just don’t hear right because we get the surface level of what the NBA world is like and we hear some players try and tell us and explain to us what it is but it’s a completely different world a fantasy world in so many ways to those of us who are not involved in it but Bill would try and take you in and in his in his own Silly way just show you and tell you exactly what that world is like and try to make you as someone he’s never talked to before as someone he has no idea exists but he’s broadcasting to you he tried to let you in like you were sitting with him and you were one of his peers and I felt that way as a kid I felt that way as a teenager watching Bill Walton as a broadcaster for the Sacramento Kings so and of course he was not just a Kings broadcaster he broadcasted with ESPN he was fantastic doing college games and interacting with college crowds man you can see videos of him with face paint on or taking his shirt off in the middle of a broadcast he’s not necessarily the the the standard for professionalism in the field of broadcasting but someone who was so unapologetically himself and was filled with so much joy and so much brightness that you couldn’t help but be attracted to it or you couldn’t help but enjoy it and just want to know what he was going to do or what he was going to say next right so I never got the opportunity to actually meet Bill and get to know Bill at all I wish I did and I also am too young to have ever watched Bill really play I’ve watched videos and documentaries and stuff on YouTube and stuff like that of the way he played but I did not know Bill Walton as the player Bill Walton to me was always the broadcaster so those of you who watched bill as the player you can you can jump into the comment section or you can reach out to me and let me know what he was like as a player and your perspective on it but I just felt the need I felt compelled to speak about it in my own way because I mean you’re hearing great stories all over the NBA today of people that knew Bill and worked with Bill and had a relationship with him and all those stories have generally the same thing bill is full of life bill was such a joy to work with Bill was so enjoyable always had a smile on his face whatever the case may be but for me as someone who never got to know Bill personally but just had a relationship with Bill to through my television screen I felt that same way and in so many ways even though I could not pull off the things that bill does or sound the way that bill does Bill inspired me to do the things that I do to be myself on the podcast to to react to King’s news like the Mike Brown news from today and and wear my honest feelings and concerns and frustrations as a king’s fan who’s been through all the crap with you on my sleeve right bill was unapologetically himself and I think we all should strive to be as unapologetically ourselves and embrace who we are the good and the bad as much as Bill Walton did so 71 years old unfortunately lost his battle to cancer um rest in peace Bill uh just thank you I guess thank you for for all you did for the game of basketball and thank you for ultimately reminding everybody but that this is just a kids game and it’s supposed to be fun and you can have fun as a broadcaster on the sidelines just as much as playing and picking up the ball and and shooting Hoops with your friends so really appreciate Bill Walton and um love to hear these stories and hopefully his his legacy will be honored forever he’s already in the Basketball Hall of Fame and he’s in the NBA top 50 and and alltime and top 75 alltime teams which he absolutely deserves to be there too so rest in peace uh Bill Walton last thing I wanted to talk about congratulations to the Indiana Pacers wait Matt they just lost to the Boston Celtics they just got swept the Celtics are going to the NBA finals you’re right but congratulations to the Indiana Pacers and this is not said sarcastically fantastic season right from making it all the way to the final of the inaugural inseason tournament to the great run that they went on here in the playoffs I know the circumstances I know they went through a wounded Milwaukee I know they went through a slightly less wounded uh New York and then they faced the basically fully healthy Boston Celtics with the exception of kristo porzingis and they got rolled they got swept granted they also lost Tyrese halberton for the last two games I don’t know how it would have been different Indiana put up great fights in games three and games four at home even without Tyrese put up a hell of a fight in game one as well but when they fumbled that game away I felt like yeah that was their best shot and they missed it so Indiana has an incredibly bright future they should be very excited about their team of course we have the Tyrese halberton ties I love that guy and I’m excited to see where he goes next and I expect Pascal SE yakum to be back so Indiana I think is a real deal team with a bright future I don’t know if they’re going to be a championship Contender next season it’ll be interesting it’ll be probably stressful from the I have to ask Tony east of locked on Pacers the perspective of watching the Pacers next year is going to be really really weird because you have this team that made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals and it felt like they overachieved but it wasn’t like completely out of the realm of possibility so what are the expectations next year to make it back to be better what is better look like does that mean making the NBA Finals judging and watching the Indiana Pacers next season is going to be really weird but that team is really good they had a fantastic exciting year and uh I I I I just say congratulations to them because they were they were fun team to watch in in many ways they were kind of the exception to Mike Brown’s rule right Mike made it very well known this season that in order to it’s not this isn’t it does it doesn’t always happen this way it’s not every single time but typically teams that are really really good offensively but struggle on the defensive end don’t make it far in the playoffs and certainly don’t win a title and the the the low scoring games that we’ve seen throughout these playoffs have kind of supported Mike except for the Pacers Pacers have been there coming in one of the best if not actually the best offense in the league right putting up a boatload of points defensively not really known for that side of the floor they had some good games and some good moments defensively during these playoffs and I give them credit for that but really the Pacers goal is to outscore their opponent and I know that’s no dub Matt you have to score more points than your opponent to win but truly the Pacers were a team very similar to the Kings last year where they just relied on if we had to score a bunch of points to beat you we will try and do that right so in a in a way sorry Pacers fans in a way it’s good that they lost because had they kept going and somehow won an NBA title regardless of the circumstances and done it on the back so they’re really really good defense I think we all would have looked at Mike and con yeah why did you go away from your phenomenal offense last season either way that’s the way we can tie it and make it about the Kings but it was a great year for the IND Pacers and I I look forward to seeing what they look like next season now for me I’m taking a break I’m going on a break my first vacation since July since the California classic last year now it’s not going to be as long of a vacation I’m just taking my my my my family to to Disneyland for a couple of days so I’m checking out from Tuesday although you might be listening to this on Tuesday I’m checking out from Tuesday to probably Friday I’m going to be gone if other if something happens I’ll address either on Friday evening or Saturday when I do my next podcast but I’m just taking a handful of days going to spend some time with family I’ll obviously it’s I’m not going camping I’m going to Disneyland so I’ll still have sales service to be able to respond and react to things on my Twitter at M George sack if you want to if anything else goes down but taking a break from the podcast a little bit I need the reset I need the recharge uh so don’t expect any podcast over the next handful of days but I will be back we’ll talk about the latest in this Mike Brown situation dive back into draft coverage I still want to share with you why I am more more confident in dearon Fox right now than I’ve ever been in his career I’ll dive into all that in a future episode of lockon Kings so I hope you’ll tune in for that until then have yourself a good pretty much rest of the week would love to hear your perspective on this Mike Brown situation if you think I’m overreacting if you’re right there with me if you’re even more concerned than I am lay it all out there let’s talk about it do it on the YouTube comment section if you’re watching there you can hit me up on Twitter or XM George Sack or you can email me Matt George Sports atgmailcom have a good one I’ll talk to you next time my name is Matt George you’ve been listening to the lockon Kings podcast part of the lockon podcast Network [Music]

Matt George reacts to the latest reports about the negotiations between the Sacramento Kings and head coach Mike Brown. Negotiation tactic or not, the Kings hesitancy to pay Mike after last season is a bad look.

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The Sacramento Kings Are Picking the Wrong Hill to Die On
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