An NBA coach getting fired a quarter of the way through the season is no surprise. However, an NBA coach being fired a quarter of the way through the best first quarter a team has enjoyed in a decade (albeit with a bar set low) is. And so the Sacramento Kings firing second-year head coach Mike Malone late Sunday night sent shock waves throughout the NBA.
Related: Kings reportedly fire head coach Mike Malone
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive made the mistake of hiring a new coach before hiring a new General Manager, and so Malone was never GM Pete D'Alessandro's choice. We also don't know what goes on behind the scenes. But barring a non-basketball related fireable offense, Malone's termination is beyond puzzling for the Kings.
Malone, like most NBA coaches, is far from perfect. He has his strengths and weaknesses.
His enabling of Rudy Gay hero-ball in clutch time situations was frustrating, and the organization reportedly wants to run a more up-tempo offense. But Malone also had Gay scoring efficiently within his offense and most importantly, got through to DeMarcus Cousins in a way no previous coach had.
Those two accomplishments alone are signs of promise in a young coach, and Malone appeared to be a key part of the stability the Kings franchise had finally settled into after years of ineptitude.
In addition, interim head coach Tyrone Corbin doesn't make much sense as a temporary replacement if playing up tempo is something the Kings want to do, considering he slowed down the Jazz's pace during his years in Utah. And with Cousins as the cornerstone, this Kings team isn't built to run-and-gun, anyway.
None of that even takes into account the fact that the Kings had exceeded expectations so far this season, and showed positive signs under Malone last season.
Following their questionable trade for Gay, the Kings were competitive in games that Cousins, Gay and Isaiah Thomas (since signed with the Phoenix Suns) all suited up for last year, with lineups featuring those three players all on the court actually outscoring opponents.
This season, the Kings got off to a 9-6 start with Cousins playing at an MVP-caliber level before a bout with viral meningitis sidelined Boogie for the last nine games.
Given that none of the Suns, New Orleans Pelicans or Denver Nuggets have done much with the opportunity, and that the healthy Oklahoma Thunder are only now getting things together, Sacramento probably would have been a top-eight team in the West at this point with a healthy Cousins. Even now, they remain only a half-game back.
Still, no one can look at this roster - consider that the Kings have played one of the toughest schedules to date and that Cousins has missed nine of 24 games - and say that 11-13 is disappointing unless they came in with completely unrealistic expectations.
Perhaps that's where Ranadive comes in.
It's too early to judge Sacramento's decision here. Who knows? Maybe they land George Karl and he takes the team beyond the level Malone was capable of, or they find the next great NBA coach while everyone criticizes their decision to let Malone go under curious circumstances.
But right now all we see is that they've shaken up their first bit of stability in years by relieving a promising young coach to fall back on Ty Corbin while reportedly considering Vinny Del Negro and 4-on-5 defense, after pursuing Josh Smith in the summer.
Perhaps Kendrick Perkins said it best, then, when evaluating the Kings' surprising start to the season.
