James Ham: According to a league source, both Dave Joerger and Brandon Williams are being let go today by the Sacramento Kings.
More on Dave Joerger Hot Seat?
Sam Amick: Can confirm @Adrian Wojnarowski report that Kings GM Vlade Divac will fire coach Dave Joerger today. Lakers coach Luke Walton - if available - is the clear frontrunner here, per sources. Former New Orleans coach Monty Williams is also a strong candidate, as is Spurs asst. Ettore Messina.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Vlade Divac is pushing to consolidate his power as Kings top basketball executive, seriously weighing dismissal of coach Dave Joerger, league sources tell ESPN. Divac/Joerger set for meeting today. Joerger led Kings young core to a 39 win season. He has a year left on deal.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Kings GM Vlade Divac is planning to fire coach Dave Joerger in a face-to-face meeting today, league sources tell ESPN.
According to the sources, the fate of the Kings’ third-year coach rests solely in Divac’s hands. As part of Divac’s agreement, owner Vivek Ranadive made it clear that the team’s top basketball executive will make the final call on the coach who has one season and approximately $5 million remaining on his current contract. And for all the goodwill that was built up early on this season, when the Kings started 30-26 after so many league insiders believed they’d struggle to win even 20 games, the flailing finish has fueled the notion that the 45-year-old Joerger is in peril.
How confident are you that Dave Joerger receives a long-term contract extension to stay in Sacramento this summer? Sam Amick: @Tony X. I'd call it 65-35 right now, but lots of discussions to be had there.
I feel like I ask this all of the time, but do you have a read on if Joeger will be back next year? Sam Amick: @Taylor C. It's still up in the air.
Jason Anderson: Took a while but I've confirmed through a league source that the Kings are working on contract extensions for Joerger's assistants, signaling the organization's intention to keep this coaching staff in place for at least one more season. Story soon at http://sacbee.com/kings .
The Kings are on the verge of making a move that would signal the organization’s intention to keep Dave Joerger and his coaching staff in place for at least one more season. A league source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Bee the team is in the process of picking up options on Joerger’s assistant coaches for the 2019-20 season, which would align their contracts with his. The source was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. An announcement could be made in the coming days. The story was first reported Sunday by the Athletic’s Sam Amick.
Step one of retaining Dave Joerger beyond the 2018-19 season has been triggered by the Sacramento Kings. According multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, Vlade Divac and the management team have decided to extend offers to Joerger's coaching staff for the 2019-20 season.
This move by the Kings indicates the organization is committed to Joerger, his staff and their continuing efforts to develop a young team that has exceeded expectations this season. Player development has long been a source of frustration for the Kings, but Joerger’s staff has been credited with helping a number of young players improve, including De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jackson, Bagley and Giles.
So does the organization need to pick sides and someone has to go? That’s not happening as of now. Williams was scouting college talent in Maui last week, not the action of someone on the way out. Nor is Joerger on his way out. Divac has no plans to fire Joerger and the coach has one more season left on his contract.
But with the latest developments it wouldn’t be a shock if Joerger has his eyes on another gig. He’d certainly be viewed sympathetically if the Kings continue to play well amid what is now perceived as a divided front office. Divac would love for all of this to pass and hope winning can be a cure. One of his greatest strengths as a player was his ability to be a unifier and after not making that happen with Karl, he has a chance to forge some harmony this season.
Jason Jones: Some pregame Dave Joerger: "My job is to make sure we are as prepared as we can be for the task in front of us and to try and limit as much distractions as possible with our group."
Jason Jones: More Joerger: "The sunshine on this team and this group of players in our city is as high as it’s been since I’ve been in the NBA from the outside and three years that I’ve been here. Like I said I’m just trying to keep the distraction to a minimum with our group."
As The Athletic reported on Nov. 19, Joerger has long been of the belief that Kings assistant general manager Brandon Williams would like to replace him as coach and was, in essence, working against him internally. But that story, and the fact that it came at a time when the Kings were off to one of their best starts in more than a decade, have only made matters even worse.
According to sources, Joerger on Thursday asked that Williams not be present for the team’s shoot-around in advance of the Kings’ home game against the Clippers. Williams, who had returned from an extended stretch of travel on Wednesday that had helped avoid these sorts of conflicts, subsequently left the shoot-around with Divac as a result of Joerger’s request. Joerger, the sources say, believes that Williams was the source of the story and is upset with the organization for not levying any discipline against Williams.
In response to the Athletic story, Divac issued a statement on Thursday afternoon. “I have advised my front office and coaching staff to not focus on drama and rumors, but instead to focus on continuing to develop our young and exciting team,” Divac said in the statement. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Kings general manager Vlade Divac quickly expressed “full support and confidence” in Joerger, who has implemented an exciting uptempo offense while engineering a dramatic turnaround a season after the team went 27-55. On Monday night, two of the team’s emerging young stars joined the chorus in support of their coach. “You’ve seen the improvement for our team and he’s definitely been a huge help in the way we’re playing this year,” point guard De’Aaron Fox said. Shooting guard Buddy Hield agreed. “I didn’t see no reason why people should talk like that,” Hield said. “We’re doing great. ... You’ve got to give respect where respect is due, and he’s been doing a great job.”
Dave Joerger is safe. According to an NBA source, the Kings coach's job never was in jeopardy last week, and he is secure, as general manager Vlade Divac said in a public statement issued during Saturday's game against the Rockets. That isn't a guarantee Joerger will coach out the rest of the season or finish the final year of his contract next season. But it's an assurance that the immediate threat is over.
NBC Sports California can confirm another tidbit from Amick’s piece. While Joerger is under contract for next season, the team decided not to extend his assistant coaches' deals this summer. The group that includes Elston Turner, Duane Tichnor, Bob Thornton, Bryan Gates, Jason March, Larry Lewis and Phil Ricci all are in the final year of their contracts.
Jason Anderson: I've been holding back on this, but there is widespread speculation that @SacramentoKings assistant GM Brandon Williams was the primary source for the Yahoo Sports story suggesting Dave Joerger's job could be in jeopardy due to philosophical differences with the front office.
Jason Anderson: I want to stress that we don't have confirmation, but this has been rumored since the story broke Saturday night. Williams and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports were seen having a lengthy conversation during the Kings-Lakers game Nov. 10.
Jason Anderson: Safe to say there is disagreement within the organization over playing time and rotational decisions -- so that part of the story was true -- but I'll repeat what I said Saturday night: Firing Dave Joerger is not a consideration for the @SacramentoKings right now. Not even close.
De’Aaron Fox’s quantum leap and Willie Cauley-Stein’s breakout alone should have earned Joerger and his staff more patience from on high, but sources confirmed Chris Haynes’ report that concerns about insufficient playing time for prized rookie forward Marvin Bagley III and other young prospects have everything to do with this ruckus. There’s this bit of complicated context, too: While Joerger is under contract through next season after having the fourth year of his $15 million deal picked up in Sept. 2017, sources say his assistant coaches are on the final year of their respective deals and, thus, dealing with a second-level sort of lame-duck status.
According to sources, Joerger has believed since last season that Kings assistant general manager Brandon Williams was on the lookout for a new coach to replace him. Yet Joerger, sources say, is not in danger of being fired anytime soon. Divac, the beloved former King whose hiring in March 2015 was supposed to stabilize this wayward ship, offered his support on Saturday in response to the story.
The story, which was posted shortly before tip-off, cited unnamed league sources who said the organization is growing frustrated with Joerger over the allocation of minutes for some of the team’s young players, most notably prized rookie Marvin Bagley III. Members of the Kings’ front office quickly went to work to respond to the story. General manager Vlade Divac issued a brief statement about two hours after the report surfaced. “Dave has our full support and confidence,” Divac said. “We continue to work together to develop our young core and compete.”
Joerger was asked to comment on the story following a 132-112 loss to the Rockets at the Toyota Center. James Harden scored 34 points for Houston. Buddy Hield scored 23 points for Sacramento. The Kings have lost four of their last six games after going 6-3 to start the season. “Our focus is with our team and coaching our team and getting better every single night,” Joerger said. “We’ve got young guys mixed with older guys, so, you know, go in there and rally them up. This is a tough five-game stretch for us, so I want to make sure that we stick together (and) grab onto each other.”
Jason Anderson: Choosing what to report is hard sometimes. There are things you know, things you think you know and things you don't know. I'll classify my answer to all the questions I'm getting as something I think I know: Firing Joerger is not a current consideration for the @Sacramento Kings.
The Kings have been one of the surprises of the NBA this season with an 8-7 record, but league sources told Yahoo Sports there is a fundamental disagreement between the two sides: Joerger wants to win now with lower-upside veteran players while the organization is prioritizing developing Bagley and its promising youth.
There is a call from within the franchise for Bagley to receive more minutes, sources said. Bagley — who sources said was projected internally to be among the starting forwards before the season — is critical to the organization’s future. The restructured Kings front office and their recent strategic approach have been lauded by rival executives, a healthy respect that hasn’t been present for some time.
There has been a lot of misinformation written about Joerger, his status and coaching possibilities. Joerger was no more considered for the Minnesota Timberwolves’ vacancy than he sat on the hot seat during the first month of the season. Both reports were erroneous. The truth of the Minnesota situation is that opportunity essentially passed away with the late Flip Saunders. It’s also rare that franchises pursue coaches under contract so it’s unlikely that Joerger will be considered for current openings. With that said, Joerger will probably seek more of a commitment from the Grizzlies. The last guaranteed year on his deal is for the 2016-17 season. No coach likes to enter a season as a lame-duck coach.
Ronald Tillery: Fair 2 say that Dave Joerger was right when he called "silly" the he's-in-trouble stories. Joerger has asked 4 Ryan Hollins for a long time
Clay Bailey: Coach Dave Joerger was very up front about reports he is fighting for his job. Said he doesn't think that at all. "I think it's silliness. In our society something is written... and all of a sudden it creates a life of its own from some source."
Brian Geltzeiler: League source tells me that Dave Joerger is extremely close to being fired. Depending upon tonight's game, could happen as soon as tomorrow
Geoff Calkins: My sense is Griz will be patient with Dave Joerger. He certainly deserves it. But things can change quickly in NBA.
Ronald Tillery: With more hyperbole around Griz, I've been told that ownership won't overreact to situation. Obviously, no one is happy with blowout losses
Marc Stein: Keep your eye, meantime, on Grizz. Latest run of blowout Ls can only heat up simmering tension between bench & lead decision-maker Joe Abadi
Marc Stein: Abadi is main shot-caller & driving force behind Jeff Green/Vince Carter moves. More thinly veiled shots at roster last nite from D. Joerger
While a Memphis Commercial Appeal story a couple of weeks ago made it sounds as if Joerger’s job was as safe as anybody’s on this list, there were sentiments even before the team’s rough start that ownership wasn’t completely in love with their head coach. Joerger did push for the Mario Chalmers trade, which for some reason was a catalyst in vaulting the Grizzlies back into contention, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s safe long-term.
A recent ESPN.com article even suggested that Griz coach Dave Joerger is on the hot seat, a candidate to be fired early this season because Memphis has trailed by 20-plus points for 62 minutes over the first six games. The Griz operated from a 20-point deficit for a total of 88 minutes during the entire 2014-15 season. Wallace defended his coach. "When things aren't going well, there's always a lot of noise from the outside," Wallace said. "You can't let it permeate the air you're breathing as a team. You just have to keep your head down and do what you've done in the past to be successful. "I don't see Dave on the hot seat. We're six games into the season. We're struggling right now, but Dave's a proven commodity and he's got a talented staff."
The biggest source of vulnerability for Joerger, of course, is the fact that Pera has internally questioned his leadership in the past and so nearly fired him once before, only to patch things up in a stunning about-face in May 2014 when Joerger, deep in talks with the Minnesota Timberwolves, got a new three-year contract. Another potential complication: Pera is known to be a huge fan of Tom Thibodeau, has pursued him before and could be moved to make a run at Thibs before someone else does.
