San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Brown’s Kings on verge of playoffs
Palpable excitement in Sacramento as drought nears end
SACRAMENTO — For most of the final minute, even with their team threatening to squander a 10point lead and head coach Mike Brown looking concerned, Sacramento Kings fans loudly voiced their newfound optimism.
“Light the beam!” they chanted with vigor. “Light the beam!”
Soon thereafter, once the Kings had secured a 118-113 victory over Oklahoma City last month, center Domantas Sabonis complied. He planted one of his giant hands on the siren-like device on the scorer’s table, sending four purple streams of light soaring into the sky outside Golden 1 Center — the bright, unmistakable sign of another Kings win.
Maybe these really aren’t the same old Kings. This edition features a turbocharged offense led by Sabonis and dynamic De’Aaron Fox, a savvy veteran in Harrison Barnes and potent 3-point shooting from Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray and Malik Monk.
But the main reason longtime Kings observers suspect the team’s playoff drought will end at 16 seasons, the NBA’s longest active dry spell, is the uber-detailed, 52-year-old coach with abundant credibility. Brown brings headcoaching experience from his stints with the Cavaliers and Lakers, plus fresh cachet after six years (and three championships) as Steve Kerr’s top assistant with the Golden State Warriors.
Brown’s diligent leadership helps explain how the Kings (2922) lead the Pacific Division and occupy third place in the Western Conference standings in early February. Remember, this team cycled through 11 head coaches between Rick Adelman’s departure in 2006 — he guided the Kings to eight consecutive playoff berths, a staggering feat with this franchise — and Brown’s arrival last spring.
So it makes sense to hear Gary Gerould, the team’s radio broadcaster since it moved from Kansas City, Mo., in 1985, extol Brown’s impact. How he challenged players on defense, demanded accountability, preached unity … and how the players actually listened.
That’s why Gerould insisted
this season feels different than any other since the Kings last tasted the playoffs.
“You get your hopes up, think you’re building a foundation and yet you’re still wandering in the desert, looking for the oasis,” he said. “Now I think I see some palm trees and sparkly water. Maybe it’s actually happening.”
The Kings’ mostly dubious history in Northern California falls neatly into three segments.
They labored through 13 consecutive losing seasons from 198586 through 1997-98 (even if they twice sneaked into the playoffs). Then, under Adelman, they posted those eight straight winning seasons, including one in which they pushed the Kobe-Shaq Lakers to overtime in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. And now the 16 playoff-less seasons in a row.
Brown might stop this skid, but general manager Monte McNair deserves to share the credit. He acquired Sabonis from Indiana in February 2022 — a risky trade because he relinquished promising Tyrese Haliburton and sharpshooting Buddy Hield — then drafted Murray, signed Monk and obtained Huerter from Atlanta.
Even so, as any Kings fan knows, talent does not always translate to wins. Brown is making the equation work, encouraging his team to play fast on offense and spread the court with shooters, the modern-day recipe for hoops success.
It’s easy to forget, given the long gap in his head-coaching resume, but Brown’s record is extraordinary. He has had only one losing season in seven full years (or close to full) as a head coach, and his winning seasons include 66 and 61 victories with the Cavs, plus a trip to the NBA Finals.
LeBron James’ presence helped, but the numbers speak loudly: Among head coaches with 500 or more games, Brown ranks ninth on the all-time list with a .612 winning percentage (376-238).
That doesn’t count his stint with the Warriors. Kerr credited Brown’s defensive wisdom and organizational skills — see his colorcoded charts for substitution patterns — as key factors in Golden State’s three most recent titles.
Kerr’s people skills, in turn, gave Brown a new twist for his return to head coaching.
“Having a chance to be around Steve gave me an ability to feel the room better,” Brown said in a Chronicle interview. “What got me a head job at an early age was my work ethic. I was extremely detailed and felt like I knew what I wanted from our team and got the most out of them.
“But there are times you put a practice plan together and it wasn’t necessarily for them. It was more for me to not skip any steps along the way.”
This doesn’t exactly mean Kings players are lounging between games. Monk joked that they practice 40 hours a week.
“We’re definitely not resting much,” Monk said, chuckling. “Mike wants everything almost perfect in a world that’s not perfect. He knows that, too.”
The Kings might not be perfect, but their offense has at times been otherworldly. They scored 130 or more points six times last month, including a 133-100 beatdown of Memphis (without Ja Morant) on Jan. 23.
Sacramento’s offensive rating of 116.9 (measuring points per 100 possessions) ranked second in the NBA, behind Denver, through Friday’s games. The Kings were 24th in offensive rating last season, before Sabonis, Huerter, Murray and Monk showed up.
But they’re 20st this season in defensive rating at 114.1. That counts as a barometer of success: The Celtics and Warriors were 1-2 last season and met in the Finals.
“We’re one of the best offenses in the league and we never talk about offense,” Huerter said. “All we do is talk about defense, and then we talk about defense more.”
Brown vowed the Kings will climb in the defensive rankings by season’s end. He understands that’s the only way they will make noise in the playoffs.
“If we can improve on that end,” he said, “we’ve got a chance to be really, really good.”
If the Kings become really good for more than a half-season, they will absolutely own Sacramento. The Warriors compete with the Giants, 49ers, A’s and Sharks for attention and fans in the Bay Area sports market, but the Kings are the only big-league show in town.
That led to rampant frustration in the 1980s and ’90s, a burst of rollicking civic pride when Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac led the Kings on the early 2000s playoff runs … and now 16 years of futility.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg knows the history all too well, so he senses a refreshing connection between this team and its eager fans.
“This year you feel the spirit of community — it’s just a little bit lighter, a little bit happier,” Steinberg said. “When you’ve gone this long, it makes the breakthrough even sweeter. This city deserves a winner and we have one.”
The Kings touted Fox and Sabonis as All-Star candidates in scoreboard promotions during recent games. Sabonis was named a Western Conference reserve Thursday, making him the first Kings player to earn an All-Star selection since DeMarcus Cousins in 2017, the last of his three straight appearances.
Huerter acknowledged he can feel the fans’ hunger to win when he eats at a restaurant or visits the barber shop. If he wandered out on a football Sunday, he would see more people in Kings gear than wearing 49ers garb.
And they’re clearly becoming accustomed to their team playing well. An uneasy buzz spread through the arena when the Kings failed to score on their first six possessions of the OKC game, falling behind 9-0.
Then, when Murray scored on a layup and the public-address announcer bellowed, “Kee-gan!” the crowd of nearly 18,000 shouted in unison, “Mur-ray!” It has become a ritual at home games anytime the rookie from Iowa makes a bucket.
Brown still jumped on Murray, chastising him for his poor rebounding. He responded with 37 rebounds in a four-game stretch.
Now the Kings need similar ruggedness on defense. They occasionally show signs of progress — holding the Thunder to 47 second-half points, limiting the Grizzlies to 100 — but Brown needs to see it more frequently.
Gerould told a revealing story about Brown’s first news conference after he landed the job. He was talking about his commitment to defense, noticed Fox standing in the back of the room and essentially announced he expected Fox to become a good defensive player. That’s one way to hold him accountable.
Brown’s work with the Warriors, especially last year’s championship, gives him leverage.
“If you don’t look at that and accept it, you’re a fool,” Gerould said.
Kings players seem on board. They organized summer sessions in Napa and Las Vegas before training camp started, quietly went to the Bay Area for a few controlled scrimmages against the Warriors and convened for neardaily workouts in Sacramento by the end of August.
Their coach, meantime, is exploring new ways to approach his job. He talked to St. Mary’s coach Randy Bennett at one point, and asked him the hardest part of the transition from what the Gaels once were (mediocre) to what they are now (annually superb).
Bennett’s reply: convincing the players to truly believe they were supposed to win.
That wasn’t an issue when Brown worked with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, but it now counts as one of his chief tasks with the Kings. Brown leans on the lessons from Kerr, the many times Brown lingered off to the side taking notes while Kerr delivered just the right message, in just the right tone, to players.
Brown also was an assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff with the Spurs two decades ago.
“I’ll never be Steve and Pop, but messaging is just as important as preparation and practice,” Brown said. “If you have a good team and guys who want to compete and improve, they’re going to hang on every word. That’s enough to motivate competitors to do their job the right way.”
So far, the Kings are on track.