Like many Kings fans I am left with a feeling of indifference about the hiring of Westphal. He strikes me as a very similar coach to Adelman (not a bad thing). I hear that Terry Porter and Mario Ellie on his short list of assistants (also not a bad thing). I think the no-defense knock is similar to what we heard about Adelman (this years Houston team more than proved that was a bad argument). His teams are known to be fast paced (again, not a bad thing).
The question is can he teach and instill a culture in the young Kings. Too many bad habits have been developed over the last couple seasons. Arguing calls, taking plays off, ball stopping, poor defensive/rebounding effort, I think Kings fan's know the story. It is going to take a strong message from Westphal that these things need to change. He's played in the league and taken teams to the Finals, so he has cred, now can he translate on the court.
I do think it was imperative to have a coach in place before the draft. Petrie drafts well, but it is never a good idea to be picking players without a coach. Bill Parcells said it best. How can you be expected to cook if you can't shop for the groceries. Westphal and Petrie have two weeks to look at the roster, what Westphal wants to accomplish, and find the best players to do that.
It's going to be a busy month of June in the King-dom.
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