![\"Sacramento_Kings_Tyrone_Corbin_2\"](\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Sacramento_Kings_Tyrone_Corbin_2.jpg\")
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The NBA coaching fraternity is a tight-knit group. \u00a0For the most part, everybody knows everybody. \u00a0And figuring out the real story behind a coaching dismissal isn\u2019t hard.<\/p>\n
In the last five years of covering the Sacramento Kings, I have seen plenty of coaches come and go. \u00a0Be it head coaches or assistants, the Kings’ coaching carousel is always turning.<\/p>\n
Michael Malone isn\u2019t the first coach to be shown the door in Sacramento and he won\u2019t be the last. The Kings are working on their fourth head coach since 2011 and who knows how long Tyrone Corbin will last.<\/p>\n
Malone will land on his feet quickly. \u00a0He\u2019s young and by all outside accounts, the job he did with the Kings was nothing short of miraculous. \u00a0Despite his unceremonious dismissal in December, the word around the league is that Malone is more valuable now than he was before taking the job. \u00a0His work with both DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay did not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Most coaches need a cooling off period, but Malone is such a hot commodity that he has already turned down opportunities. \u00a0According to one source, nearly a dozen head coaches reached out to Malone once he was relieved of his duties in Sacramento, many with offers to join their staff this season. \u00a0He is currently hanging out with Flip Saunders in Minnesota, but he has kept his options open.<\/p>\n
Keep an eye on the situation in Cleveland where coach David Blatt has been on the hot seat for a while. Malone worked as an assistant from 2005-10 with the Cavs, and his relationship with LeBron James is well documented. \u00a0The Cavs lack a defensive identity, something Malone specializes in.<\/p>\n
With multiple coaching situations unsettled around the league, Malone may get a call much sooner than his predecessors.<\/p>\n
On Friday night, former Kings frontman Keith Smart dropped by for a visit. \u00a0After spending a season away from the game, Smart accepted an offer to join Erik Spoelstra\u2019s staff with the Miami Heat this summer.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve said it a million times – Keith Smart is a very good man. \u00a0Despite us not seeing eye to eye in his final few months in Sacramento, all seemed forgotten. \u00a0I was greeted warmly with a handshake and a hug.<\/p>\n
Smart was in an untenable situation with the Kings. \u00a0After taking over for Paul Westphal seven games into the strike-shortened 2011-12 season, Smart was thrust into round two of the relocation saga in his second season with the Kings.<\/p>\n
While ownership hid in Las Vegas like cowards, Smart tried his best to keep his team focused on the game of basketball. \u00a0For months, Smart and his players were the only people around to answer questions about Seattle. \u00a0As a coach embroiled in an ownership change, Smart had no chance of surviving, no matter how well his team played.<\/p>\n
Smart almost had it easy in his 141-game stint as the coach of the Kings. \u00a0Westphal had been out of the NBA for a while when he accepted the Kings post. \u00a0He had the privilege of not only dealing with the first round of relocation attempts, but also with a 19-year-old DeMarcus Cousins fresh out of college. \u00a0Oh yeah, and the lowest payroll in the NBA.<\/p>\n
Remember Pooh Jeter? \u00a0How about Dont\u00e9 Greene, Luther Head, Darnell Jackson, Antoine Wright and Jermaine Taylor? \u00a0Not one of those players were in the league a year later and you could also include Hassan Whiteside in that mix. \u00a0Those were the players that Westphal had to go to war with every night.<\/p>\n
After spending the lockout teaching Basketball 101 to Sacramento Kings season ticket holders at local health clubs, Westphal committed one of the ultimate blunders just days into the 2011-12 season. \u00a0No, he didn\u2019t \u201cget involved in a land war in China\u201d or \u201cgo in against a Sicilian when death is on the line,\u201d but he made an NBA franchise choose between a coach and a great young player.<\/p>\n
Westphal is back in the league this season, second-chairing the Brooklyn Nets alongside longtime friend Lionel Hollins. \u00a0Like Smart, he will swing by this week for a visit after nearly four years away.<\/p>\n
This is how the league works. \u00a0Coaches come and go in a wild, \u201cwhat have you done for me lately\u201d world. \u00a0Stability is reserved for the very few.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how this season ends, Corbin is likely coaching for the other 29 teams around the league. \u00a0He too will get another shot in the NBA, likely as an assistant, where he will have to rebuild his brand.<\/p>\n
As for Sacramento, they will search for continuity through chaos. \u00a0It’s tough to build a program when you hit the reset button on your coaching staff, but that is the Kings way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sacramento Kings working on fourth coach in five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[610259261],"tags":[610259059,5944924,610259460,610259428,76563,610259558],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n