January 01, 2025

Previewing Sixers-Kings: Was firing Mike Brown the right call for Sacramento?

From their recent head coaching firing to a disappointing veteran and an even more disappointing young player, everything you need to know about the Sacramento Kings.

By Adam Aaronson
PhillyVoice Staff

Stephen Lew/Imagn Images

How will the Sacramento Kings move forward after firing former head coach Mike Brown?

Winners of four straight, the Sixers will return to action on Wednesday night to ring in the new year. As they hope to notch their first five-game winning streak of the season, they will take on a team embroiled in controversy right now: the struggling Sacramento Kings, who keep finding ways to lose games and recently fired head coach Mike Brown.

Here to get us up to speed on all things Kings is Brenden Nunes, who covers the team for Sactown Sports 1140. Let's talk to Brenden:

Adam Aaronson: The Kings made the first head coaching firing of the 2024-25 NBA season last Friday, when Mike Brown was dismissed after another brutal late-game disaster sunk Sacramento into a five-game losing streak. What did you make of the team's decision to part ways with the 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year?

Brenden Nunes: To be honest, I thought it was a bit crazy. Mike Brown isn’t without his flaws, but I thought that the unbalanced roster construction and their poor three-point shooting luck played a larger part in their struggles up to that point.

The only reliable two-way forwards that Brown had during his two-plus years in Sacramento (and that De’Aaron Fox has ever played with, for that matter) were Keegan Murray and Harrison Barnes. And with Barnes being re-routed to San Antonio in the sign-and-trade that brought in DeMar DeRozan, Murray now stands alone.

To be clear, none of the players were involved in the decision to move on from Brown. Fox’s recent comments, whether from himself or via Rich Paul, were not aimed at the coaching staff but at the roster holes. But, there was an apparent disconnect between the path forward that the front office and Brown had in mind, and they made their choice, no matter Fox’s preference.

In the week leading up to the firing, there were multiple instances where the team simply failed to execute the game plan and keys Brown had laid out coming into the night. The peak of it was Fox fouling Jaden Ivey up three with seconds remaining, conceding a four-point play that lost them the game. That made me question if Brown was starting to lose the locker room, but I didn’t think we were at that point.

I think Brown was a scapegoat for a larger problem that must be addressed before the February deadline.

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AA: When the Kings acquired DeRozan, they added a second elite crunch time scorer in addition to De'Aaron Fox. But a significant aspect of the team's disappointing start to the season has been frequent losses in close games. How much of this trend is noise, and how much of it has been the product of poor play down the stretches of games?

BN: Despite having the clutch talent you mentioned, the Kings are 3-11 in games decided by five points or less. They’ve still got buckets in close games, owning the eight best offensive rating in the clutch.

Their 26th-ranked clutch defense has hurt them, along with some of the hustle plays. In late scenarios, there have been too many instances where they were outhustled to 50/50 balls, giving up costly offensive rebounds, or just committing unforced mistakes.

There’s been a lack of consistency on a possession-to-possession base with the team so far this season; hence Brown’s repeating “possession after possession” twenty-six times in a viral postgame press conference earlier this season.

DeRozan fumbled an easy pass against the Nuggets that, if he had caught, could have given him a good look at a potential game-winner. There’s that Fox four-point foul against the Pistons. They’ve had multiple instances where offensive rebounds off missed free throws cost them opportunities late.

Somehow, all those listed instances occurred over the six-game losing streak they recently snapped.

AA: Murray has seen his three-point percentage plummet in each of the last two seasons after a stellar rookie campaign. Should the third-year forward still be considered a foundational piece of the Kings' future?

BN: It depends on how you define foundational in my mind. I think every good team needs a Keegan Murray, but I don’t think he should be viewed as untouchable if he was what it cost to make a significant upgrade down the line. I don’t expect that to be the route they take, especially this trade deadline, but this is the same front office that moved Tyrese Haliburton when there was zero discussion of that potential prior.

He’s a much better three-point shooter than his abysmal 28.6 percent from three-point range 32 games into 2024-25. Maybe not quite as elite as his record-setting rookie season, where he converted 41.1 percent of his looks from deep, but I think he’ll even out much closer to that near 40 percent mark as the year goes on.

With Barnes gone coming into this season, Murray was expected to guard larger matchups like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, etc. With that in mind, he bulked up this offseason, and I’ve wondered how much that, along with his absurd defensive responsibility, has impacted the jumper. He’s guarded any team's best player that isn’t a center nightly. From James and Kevin Durant to Stephen Curry, Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell and everyone in between.

Sacramento hasn’t had a young, reliable two-way forward for years, and Murray fits the bill. He’s the type of piece they need to continue trending upward as a group. So, unless it’s part of a sizable deal, I think he’s currently part of their long-term plans.

Adding DeRozan and starting Malik Monk has also limited Murray’s touches this season. But, depending on how the roster shapes up post-trade deadline (or next season), more shots could also become available to him.

I’ve never been an optimist about his offensive ceiling, but his production has been notably lower than I expected this season. Shots will fall eventually, but the self-creation hasn’t been encouraging so far.

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