The day after the Golden State Warriors Championship parade in San Francisco, Mike Brown appeared 90 miles off Interstate 80 on Tuesday as the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings.
“I hope I’m not in trouble with that,” Brown said as he sat next to Monte McNair, CEO of Kings and president of basketball operations, during an introductory press conference. “I really couldn’t attend today because I wanted to, because of this annoying press conference.”
Although his six-year Golden State Assistant title was modest, Brown said he was thrilled to discuss his fourth head coaching opportunity after two spells from Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.
“The potential here, I really believe the potential is out of the rankings,” he said. “With that in mind, I’m excited … Players here, I’m excited.
“There’s just a lot of room to explode in this place, and I want to be a part of it.”
Kings have nowhere to go but up.
Sacramento has not qualified for the offseason since 2006 and finished last in the Pacific Division in seven of those 16 years. Kings reached 30:52 last season, firing Luke Walton in the middle of the campaign and then firing Alvin Gentry from a temporary position after finishing 25th in attack efficiency and 27th in defense.
Brown dealt with a play-off drought on Tuesday.
“There’s no elephant in the room,” he said. “You can talk about it. We’re embracing it. I’m not coming here to have fun, to be excited, to join the area. I’m coming here to win. So we’re embracing everything in front of us that says winning. So we’re waiting for it.” with excitement. “
Brown, who accepted the job while the Warriors were against Grizzlies in his second-round play-off series in Memphis, said he was “heavily involved” in taking over the Kings, while finishing the Warriors championship. On Tuesday, he released most of his coaches, hiring Jordi Fernandez of the Denver Nuggets, Jay Triano of Charlotte Hornets, Luke Loucks of the Phoenix Suns, and Doug Christie, the former Kings prominent player he played in college.
“I’ve talked to every player over and over again,” Brown said. “I talked to some of them in person. I talked to some of them through Zoom. I talked to the staff who were still nearby, talked to them in Zoom, talked to them on the phone several times. Obviously, Monty’s wife is a great lady, but at times she can get a little upset because I think he answers my calls more than his calls. “
He said he used a day off between the conference final and the NBA final to fly to San Diego and see defender De’Aaron Fox training. He calls him “Foxy,” the nickname he gave him in high school when he instructed him at a basketball camp.
“I probably walked away, impressed by his speed, but I thought he was a defensive dog,” Brown said of Fox. “So he’s under a lot of pressure, not anyone else, to get back to what I know he can do at night and night.”
Brown said Warriors’ success in defending last season, despite a list of players with limited defensive reputation, shows what Kings can do about it.
“People are watching Steph Curry, [Nemanja Bjelica]Otto Porter, Jordan Poole, [Andrew] Wiggins Minnesota, I think I could drop the line of workers we had with the Warriors, and people didn’t think they could defend, “Brown said.” And somehow we made it to the No. 2 defensive line. Will we have it next year? I do not know. Probably not. It will be a process. But I’m excited about all the boys. ”
Brown also mentioned Davion Mitchell, Harrison Barnes, Domantas Sabonis and Richaun Holmes at the press conference, as well as Kings’ choice for Thursday’s NBA draft on Thursday, as reasons to encourage the team’s future.
“I’m excited to be here in Sacramento,” Brown said. “I have a lot of friends who live like this. No one has told me anything about the area or said anything bad. It’s always been positive. And even before I got a job. So I’m excited about the area … which “Sactown. Sacto. Sac. The Big Tomato, something like that. There are a lot of nicknames for that.”
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