In a little over a month, the Sacramento Kings begin the season with their sixth head coach in the last six years. That part isn’t great, but at least for the moment, there’s hope in Dave Joerger.
Even though Joerger is young, (42 years old), he’s coming off three straight playoff appearances in Memphis and a combined record of 147-99. The man seems to be liked by his players, while also earning their respect. He convinced both Matt Barnes and Jordan Farmar to sign with Sacramento after coaching them last season.
Still, a lot of questions remain. Will the team improve under him? Will he and DeMarcus Cousins get along? What will the team’s identity be? All of those are fair questions and were addressed in a press conference in May.
Here are three things to remember when it comes to Joerger and his coaching style to put fans’ minds at ease.
1: His core four of support
As mentioned above, the Kings signed Barnes and Farmar this offseason in order to give the team depth and a veteran presence. Both have been in the league for at least a decade and have respect around the league.
Add in the fact that Joerger coached Kosta Koufos for two years and Rudy Gay for five years and you have four players who have at least a basic understanding of what to expect from the coach. That’s not a bad start.
In June we saw Cousins and Joerger hitting golf balls together and looking relatively happy around each other. After all of the snake in the grass emojis, backhanded comments and awkward handshakes last year with George Karl, the team is miles ahead of where they were, at least from a chemistry perspective.
Yes, the Koufos and Gay trade rumors have emerged this offseason, but who really knows if any of that is actually true. Kevin Love has been floated around in trade rumors for most of his time in Cleveland and now he has a ring. Nobody really knows what to believe with trade rumors.
2: He can coach through turmoil and pressure
If you look at Joerger’s start in Memphis he was seen as the guy replacing the guy. Joerger took over for Lionel Hollins after Hollins took the Grizzlies to the Western Conference Finals in 2013. Joerger went from assistant to head coach and that comes with a lot of pressure. However, once Joerger took over he won an average of 49 games per season and kept the defensive mentality alive.
Remember that in 2011, Joerger became the lead assistant of the team. In the five years that he was either the lead assistant or head coach of the team, the Grizzlies finished in the top seven in both points allowed and defensive rating.
The only year where the numbers dipped was last year (2015-16 season) when both Marc Gasol and Mike Conley went down with injuries midway through the year.
Speaking of those injuries, last season Memphis started 10 different players at least 10 games. The most starts from one player came from Tony Allen, with only 57.
Gasol fractured his foot and Conley injured his Achilles and the team still made it to the playoffs in the Western Conference. Yes, the Spurs swept them, but at this point Kings fans would welcome that kind of season.
3: Defense is Key
As mentioned above, Joerger likes defense. That’s what the Grizzlies teams were predicated on and it worked well for them for years. Gasol was Defensive Player of the Year, and Allen was a defensive specialist in his prime.
The Kings don’t necessarily have that on the roster but they do have a defensive minded player in Willie Cauley-Stein who averaged one block per game in his rookie year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9OKphWQVdc
This gives Joerger someone he can utilize next to DeMarcus Cousins going forward. Remember that Cousins was a fan of playing under a defensive head coach in Michael Malone.
In an article from the Sacramento Bee, when asked if that will remain the same in Sacramento, both Joerger and assistant coach Elston Turner assured the fans that the defensive mentality won’t change.
“We’re going to bring that here,” said lead assistant coach Turner, who served under Joerger in Memphis. “We’re going to pick up the physicality; we’re going to put our hands on you. Teams are going to know that we’re on the floor. So the (Kings’) scoring may come down a bit, but believe me, the defensive part is going to raise up.”
“That’s what we want to do as an organization,” Joerger said. “If we’re going to play winning basketball, we feel like we’ve got to do a better job defensively, and we want to set that tone with this crew and especially the guys that are going to be on the roster. They’re going to have three steps forward in advantage when training camp comes.”
Now, while the emotional harmony of the team may be something that makes fans happy, if the team goes out and loses 60 games then nobody cares about how hunky dory the chemistry is.
The determining factor comes down to winning. The Kings start off the season with six of their first eight games on the road. If they can get through that and have any whiff of a defensive mentality, it will go a long way. Will it happen? We’ll see…
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