The Sacramento Kings Add Three New Coaches to Doug Christie’s Staff | Locked On Kings

The Sacramento Kings Add Three New Coaches to Doug Christie’s Staff | Locked On Kings

Three more names have been added to Doug Christiey’s coaching staff here in Sacramento. And Jake Loravia comments on his future with the Kings that I think will make fans pretty happy. It’s all right here for you on Locked on Kings. You are Locked on Kings, your daily Sacramento Kings podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time. Time for another episode of Locked On Kings. Hello and welcome into Locked on Kings, your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all offseason long. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. My name is Matt George. I have the privilege of being your host here. I’m a Sacramento sports anchor and reporter for ABC 10 News. And Doug Christy’s coaching staff continues to come together. We have reports of three new names being added to that staff. Three names that I have gotten confirmed. They are real. they are legitimate. Uh, and I’m here to tell you about these three names, give you a little bit of information about these three uh, gentlemen, their background, and what we believe their responsibilities will be to some extent here in Sacramento, plus some very interesting, very, I think, positive comments from Jake Loravia. If you are a fan of Loravia, if you want to see Loravia return to Sacramento, I think you’re going to be pretty happy with some of the comments that he shared that’s coming up in the next uh segment of the podcast. But let’s look at these three names. Chris Darnell, Mike Miller, and Paul Jaspersonson, all being added to Doug Christiey’s coaching staff. We’ll start with the first one, Chris Darnell, which this was reported this morning by the one and only Chris Haynes. Chris Darnell leaving his position as the head coach of the G-League Canton Charge and which I believe they are the G-League affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers. So what the Stockton Kings are to the Sacramento Kings, that’s what the Canton Charge are to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s got a pretty extensive background. He was the associate head coach of the Canton Charge, which is like second in command. Uh from 2021 to 2024. So had some significant responsibilities. Then took over as the head coach uh last September, I believe. This was his first full year as a head coach or as the head coach of the Canton Charge. And the Charge went 16 and 18. So, a losing record, but it’s not the biggest deal in the world before now coming to Sacramento to be a part of of Doug’s staff. This is very common, right? We saw this two years in a row with the Stockton Kings, right? Uh Bobby Jackson. Stockton Kings. Uh a lot of success with the Stockton Kings. They’re the number one seed. Bobby Jackson becomes the uh one of the top assistants for Nick Nurse and his staff with the Philadelphia 76ers. Of course, since then, Bobby has now returned to Sacramento as one of the main assistants, lead assistants for Doug Christiey’s staff. Uh the very next year, Lindseay Harding, right, wins G-League coach of the year again, coaches the Kings uh to the number one seed in the G-League in Stockton. She then joins and and becomes a part of uh JJ Reick’s coaching staff with the Los Angeles Lakers. So, it’s very common for new coaches to build their coaching staffs with top uh head coaches in the G-League. Guys who or or ladies who kind of got their feet underneath them, right? Got experience as a head coach or as a primary lead assistant in the G-League regardless of their results. So, this is a very common practice uh with with Chris Darnell joining the Sacramento Kings. Before he was in the GLeague in his uh position with the Canton Charge, he’s worked with the Phoenix Suns, the Utah Jazz, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, specifically with Cleveland. He spent two years as a player development coach and also helped to work uh in the film room from 2019 to 2021. So, he has, as you can see here, a pretty significant resume when it comes to his experience around the league, his experience as a top coach, his experience in the film room, his experience working to develop players, which I imagine he won’t be the head of player development. I’ll actually tell you about the new head of player development later on in this segment, but he’s going to be someone that is going to be on Doug’s bench, probably a coach that’s going to be working directly with one or two players, very similar to how Doug was always working with with uh Damont Sabonis, right? Uh that’s what I expect Chris Darnell to be. This is the next step in the coaching career of Darnell. And he was one of the top, I guess, candidates in in the G-League to make a jump to an NBA bench. Uh and Doug went out and got him. Second, Mike Miller. Now, this is not the former NBA player. I know a lot of people saw this report from James Ham, by the way, of the the Kings beat in ESPN 1320. Everybody thought Mike Miller like, “Oh my god, like the former rookie of the year, the the the the sharpshooter that had a very successful NBA career.” Not that Mike Miller. It’s a significantly older Mike Miller. He has three decades of college coaching experience, right, as both an assistant and even as a a head coach. Now, he that doesn’t mean that he’s new to the NBA game, right? He has experience in the NBA as well. Uh he joined the uh Spurs G-League team and was there from 2013 to 2015. Again, this is after the 30 plus years of experience that he’s had in in the college game. He became the head coach of the G-League Westchester Knicks from 2015 to 2019. So, four years of head coaching experience at that G-League level. Then he became an assistant with the New York Knicks uh in 2019. He was there from 2019 to 2020. He actually became the interim head coach of the Knicks that season when they hired or rather fired their head coach. He’s also worked as an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Washington Wizards. So, this is a another veteran coach for Doug Christie to lean on. Not to the same level as Mike Woodson, who’s coming in to be the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Basically, the second in command to Doug. What Jordy Fernandez was to Mike Brown. That’s what Mike Woodson is going to be here in Sacramento for Doug Christie. But Mike Miller comes in and gives another like veteran presence, right? very well established in both the pro and the college game, a basketball lifer, a wealth of experience. So, another guy um to really provide his wisdom and help with Doug, who of course has a tremendous amount of basketball experience and basketball knowledge himself, but having multiple guys on this bench that are seasoned vets to bounce ideas off of and get their feeling. like uh Scott Perry, New Kings GM, has talked both in his introductory press conference and in Doug Christiey’s press conference about the importance of having different voices. So many different voices who are different in opinion, but unified on there’s a specific word he used, but unified on vision, I think is what he talks about, right? So guys that might not agree with everything Doug does, but they’ll provide their input ultimately for everybody to come together to to to reach that goal. That’s why you’re seeing Doug go out and get young upand cominging G-League coaches and adding them to vets like Woodson, Mike Miller, Bobby Jackson, right? It’s a good balance that he’s striking. And then speaking of youth, the new head of player development as reported by James Ham and later confirmed, Paul Jaspersonson. Now, this is the guy that we have the least amount of information about out of the three. He’s 32 years old, which is pretty incredible. I mean, I’m 31. So, I’m very intrigued about a 32- year old, and we’ve seen young coaches before, right? A 32-year-old stepping into a incredibly important position for the Sacramento Kings. As of right now, there’s not a lot of talent to develop on the Sacramento Kings, but I think we all know the Kings are heading in a direction where more than likely they’re going to start to get younger. Maybe it takes a couple of years for these contracts to run out, the Zack Lavine contract or for Dematus Sabonis’ contract to become a little more tradable than it is right now. But being the head of player development, especially in a place like Sacramento when the Kings have an abundance of draft picks available. Now, they might use those picks and trades, but your head of player development, that is a very, very significant job. Looking at Paul Jaspersonson’s resume, uh, he worked he’s, uh, in the past worked for the Atlanta Hawks. He worked at the University of Oklahoma, uh, and also with the G-League Valley Suns, the G-League affiliate, of course, of the Phoenix Suns. He has player experience both in the G-League and as an international player. So, he brings kind of the player experience to the table. again, 32 years old, somebody who I mean, again, to be in charge of player development, you have to at 32 years old, he has to probably he’s probably done something incredibly impressive, right? Or he has just a a love and a passion for teaching the game, and he’s going to probably lean on his experience as a G-League player, an international player. And some of you might go, Matt, but he never made it to the NBA. He never had success on the NBA level. So, should he be a player development coach? That doesn’t necessarily matter because as we’ve seen in the past, sometimes the greats who have things come to them naturally because they’re god-gifted with talent, that doesn’t mean they didn’t work hard. But like some players who are just god-gifted talent-wise aren’t necessarily the best coaches because it to them it’s just natural, right? Like why can’t you do what I was like I was just able to do this. What are you not getting? I’m not saying all of them are like that, but some of them are like that versus guys who have had to scratch and claw and grind to have professional careers like uh Paul Jaspersonson has. He’ll be able to teach and I’m sure he’s learned a lot that he now can pour into players. So, for him to get this position, this very important position at 32 years old, he had to be incredibly impressive to Doug Christie. So, I’m very intrigued. He’s the guy I know the least amount about, but I want to know more about. So, I hope I get the opportunity to to meet and speak with Paul Jaspersonson in the in the near future and and very closely monitor what he’s going to do now as the new head of player development. But those are the three new names that have been added to Doug Christiey’s staff. When we come back, comments from Jake Loravia about Doug Christy and his potential future here in Sacramento. Comments that I think are going to make you pretty happy. That’s all coming here on Locked on Kings. Before that though, today’s episode of the Lockdown Kings podcast. Like I said at the top of the show is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, although they’re starting to wind down. The NBA Finals right around the corner. Every night delivers highlightworthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. 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So, Jake Loravia, who if you remember, the Kings acquired at the trade deadline. He was one of the three main pieces that the the Kings acquired. It was of course the Zack Lavine De’arren Fox deal uh the Jonas Valenunis deal with the Washington Wizards and then the Kings got Jay Clarabia from the Memphis Grizzlies. He impressed a lot of people right away, right? The way he played, the hustle that he played with. I remember his debut in Sacramento, how in the first couple minutes of him playing, like he got a a steal on the defensive end, like he had a couple like transition buckets, like a shot at the rim. Like he is a guy that you could easily see becoming a fan favorite in Sacramento because of how he plays, the hustle, the energy. He appeared on the Basketball Insiders show and had some things to say about Doug Christie. Here are the most notable quotes. He said, “Me and Doug clicked pretty early just because he liked the way I play. I thought I had a really good relationship with him.” Makes perfect sense, right? If we’re talking Doug Christy guys, Jake Lorravia fits that mold, right? The way that Jake plays, how he leaves it all out there on the floor, how he hustles and plays hard every single time he was out there. Didn’t mean he was always perfect. It didn’t mean he was averaging 15 points a game or anything like that, but when he was on the floor, he played hard, knew his role, and fought to make an impact. That is a Doug Christie type player. Very similar to like a Keon Ellis, right? I think Jake Laravia absolutely fits the Doug Christie mold, which makes a lot of sense for why the Kings would want to retain him. And speaking of that, he said, Lorravia said, quote, “I told the Kings in exit interviews that if they gave Doug the head coaching job, I’d look forward to going back there even more.” Jake also goes on to talk about like how much he enjoyed Sacramento. He complimented how great the fans were. Um, so Jake definitely has an interest in returning to Sacramento and it sounds like a major factor in that decision is Doug Christie. So now we look at the situation, the financial situation because things did not work out or were not working out for Lorravia in Memphis. As we kind of got an idea, Lorravia has a little bit of some hard feelings with Memphis and how he was treated in Memphis and just how things played out for him. The Grizzlies elected not to exercise his fourthyear option or his final year option on his rookie scale contract which muddies the waters a little bit. What that means is that because they traded him to Sacramento, the Kings then take on that Memphis Grizzlies contract and that Memphis Grizzlies decision. So Jake Loravia is now a free agent. The Kings and the Memphis Grizzlies are limited in how much money they can give Jake. Every other team, the other 28 teams can give him whatever they want in typical in a typical free agency standpoint. And he’s not a restricted free agent. He’s unrestricted because the Grizzlies and then therefore by proxy the Kings did not pick up his option and and essentially wave their right to him as a restricted free agent. the Kings and the Grizzlies can only offer Jake like an annual salary that’s equal to the final year of that deal, which is $5.16 million. Now, the Grizzlies, they don’t care. They got rid of him, so that that doesn’t mean anything to them. So, take them out of the conversation. But the Kings, who I think will very will be very interested in having him back, even if he was acquired in the past front office regime, not Scott Perry’s regime, I think they’ll be very interested in having him back, especially if he has the endorsement of Doug Christie. two things that I think work in the King’s favor here. Number one is yes, the C with the new TV deal, the salary cap is going up, but so are the salaries of of all these other players, guys ressigning free agents, the the free agents that are available in this class. Like, I don’t think there are going to be too many teams out there that are willing to offer more than $5.16 million. And even if they do, it’s not going to be like, “Oh, we’re offering Jake Laravia $10 million a year, doubling what the Kings can offer him.” I just don’t think that’s realistic. But let’s say they offer one or two million more. Well, it sounds like the relationship that Jake has with Doug and the understanding that’s already between the two, Jake knows that if he returns to the Sacramento Kings in whatever capacity, assuming the Kings want him back, and offer that $5.16 million or offer him a deal. Jake knows, okay, I’m returning. I’m going to have a role. I’m familiar with this coach. This coach likes me. I like this coach. We can hit the ground running and pick up where we left off. So that security and that knowledge and that understanding and relationship could be worth more to Jake than an extra1 or$2 million a year. So I think the Sacramento Kings are in a fantastic fantastic position to retain Jake if they want to. And I don’t see any downside whatsoever in bringing Jake Lorravia back. I’m realistic in what he is. He’s a at best rotational player, but he’s someone that the Kings need more of. He He’s a Doug Christie type guy. A young player that you can see fitting into this this rotation for the Kings, having a role, and playing that role and embracing that role going forward. I don’t think Jake Lavia is the type of guy that once he gets paid, you have to be concerned about him not playing with the same level of hustle and intensity as he did when he was trying to say FU to the Memphis Grizzlies and earn his next contract. I don’t think that’s going to go away because he got a contract for the Kings or or whatever team offers him a deal. I don’t see any downside at all to Jake Laravia, especially if the max that they’ll pay for him is $5.16 million a year at least over his next deal. So, I think if I’m the Kings, if I’m Scott Perry, granted, I’m sure a conversation needs to be had between the two, but if I’m Scott Perry, I’m like, “Yes, here’s that 5.16 million. Come back, play for Doug Christie. Doug wants you here. We want you here. You want to be here. You like it here. Sign the dotted line. Let’s get this going. Let’s get into training camp and picked up where we left off. I think that’s what the Kings should do with Jake Laavia. I feel very, very good about that. I think we’re going to see Jake Laavia in a Kings uniform next season. So, I put out a poll yesterday on XLT Twitter and I essentially said like these names are going to cost you three first round picks to acquire, maybe some of them minimum three first round picks to acquire. Which one are you most interested in being the new kind of young cornerstone of your franchise? I I shouldn’t say young, younger or prime cornerstone of the franchise. LaMelo Ball, Trey Young, John Morant, or Zion Williamson. Now, the last one’s a little tricky today because of the allegations. If you aren’t familiar, there’s some pretty serious uh allegations out about Zion and a abusive former relationship that he had. Um, this is not the platform to talk about it. If any of these allegations are true, then I’m zero interest. If it comes out that these allegations are true, which he and his camp are are are very publicly and adamantly denying, then like take him out of the conversation. And what’s fine is like over uh three 3,600 people, nearly 3,700 people voted on this poll. Zion was last, only receiving 15% of the vote. So maybe we can just kick Zion out anyway. The other three, all point guards, all young slash in their prime. that would become the new center pieces of your franchise. All three of them come with risk. All three of them come with question marks whether it’s on the floor, off the floor. Are they even worth a package of minimum three first round picks? John Morant barely beat out LaMelo Ball and Trey Young receiving 31% of the vote. LaMelo Ball 28% of the vote. Trey Young 26% of the vote. John Morant on the floor I think is the best out of the three. Off the floor, we know Jaw has his issues. Whether it’s punching an underage kid in a uh like pickup game in his at his house or brandishing a gun multiple times on social media, regardless of if that is handled or not, that’s offc court stuff plus some injury issues that he’s had that the Kings and anybody and everybody needs to be aware of. And we don’t even know how eager or willing the Memphis Grizzlies are to move on from John Morant. In fact, next week, early next week, I’m going to have one of our hosts of the Locked On Grizzlies podcast join me here on Locked on Kings, and we’ll talk about a potential John Morant deal, what that would look like, what the very similar to my my conversation with Doug Branson of Locked on Hornets earlier this week about LaMelo Ball. What would it take for the conversation to to actually be legitimate? Like, not just, hey, we’re interested in John Morant. Oh, that’s cool. Bye. like go beyond that or go beyond like hypothetical fantasy conversation. Most of these probably won’t get across the finish line. Maybe none of them get across the finish line. Maybe the Sacramento Kings aren’t even willing to put on the table in terms of draft compensation what it would take to have the conversation get to that point of legitimate consideration. But it’s fun offseason content to talk about. So next week I will have a conversation with locked on Grizzlies about John Morant. I will have a conversation with Locked on Raptors about RJ Barrett, who is not going to cost nearly what these names that I just read off will cost, but RJ Barrett is a name that has been floated around that the Kings could potentially have interest in. Uh, so I’ll have a conversation with Locked on Raptors about him. And Kyle Madson from ESPN 1320, he’s back from his vacation. I look forward to chatting to him about two things with the Golden State Warriors. one, a possibility of a Jonathan Kaminga trade, and two, how interested he thinks the Golden State Warriors would potentially be in acquiring Yonas Valenunis and what the Sacramento Kings could try and get in that type of deal because the Grizzlies desperately need, excuse me, the Warriors desperately need a center. So, that’s all coming next week here on the Lockdown Kings podcast. I have not forgotten about the fans only week or fans only shows that I want to do. It’s been I’ve been trying to figure out how to get everybody’s schedules together to to make these fans only episodes happen. And maybe it’s not realistic to have five straight days over a week of just fans only episodes. Maybe they’ll be a little bit more spaced out, but I do still want to do it. So, if you were one of the people that I reached out to about being on fans only, they’re still happening. I’m logistically trying to find a way to make it happen and get it done. I’ve not forgotten them. I’ve not dropped them. That is going to happen. So keep an eye out for that as well. Appreciate your support as always. Can’t wait to have you join me on the next episode of the Locked On podcast. Until then, my name is Matt George. You’ve been listening to Locked on Kings, part of the Lock On podcast network.

Matt George shares what he knows about the three new members of Doug Christie’s coaching staff in Sacramento.

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The Sacramento Kings Add Three New Coaches to Doug Christie’s Staff
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