Dave Joerger, former head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, has now officially signed a deal to become the newest head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Some were surprised by the firing originally in Memphis until Adrain Wojnarowski revealed that Joerger wanted permission to interview with other teams.
Sources: For second time in three years, Joerger was seeking Memphis permission to talk with other teams on vacancies. Grizzlies let him go.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 7, 2016
Many fans and basketball junkies questioned this decision because Memphis had some good pieces in Marc Gasol and possibly Mike Conley again. Also, there were questions of who would even want to coach the Kings like our own DJ Allen asked just a little while back.
However, after coaching a sort of “goon squad” in Memphis, this Kings job might be an easy switch. Joerger had to deal with the personalities of Lance Stephenson, Matt Barnes, Z-Bo, and Chris Anderson. If he can get a rag tag bunch of guys that had to deal with huge injuries to impact players to the playoffs, then a team like Sacramento doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. The biggest “road block,” at least player wise, is getting through to DeMarcus Cousins as Malone once did last season. Although, that’s really the easier part, because Joerger has proved that he can deal with some strong personalities.
Here’s the kicker, this job will be much more frustrating for Joerger because the ownership in Sacramento is a circus compared to Memphis. For all we know, the ownership could fire him after five games because they didn’t like the way that he became friends with Cousins. Then we might get some quotes from them like, “How dare he be a good coach!”
Anyway, all jokes aside, Joerger should be a great fit for this Kings job, and if the Kings make some smart roster moves, then we could see a very improved Sacramento squad that may even make the playoffs. Shocking, I know!
