Category: Sacramento Kings Blog

Sacramento Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac announced today that the team has hired Dave Joerger as their new head coach.

“I am thrilled to welcome Dave to the Sacramento Kings,” said Divac. “He is a strong and passionate leader with a proven track record of producing results. Dave shares our focus on creating a long-term culture of winning and I look forward to a bright future ahead for the Kings with his leadership on the court.”

Joerger joins the Kings after spending the previous three years as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, where he accrued a 147-99 regular season mark (.598) and guided the franchise to postseason berths in each of his seasons at the helm. Following three straight 50-win campaigns for the first time in club history (2012-13 thru 2014-15), two under Joerger, Memphis again qualified for the playoffs even after injuries forced the team to dress a league-record 28 players last season. Until then, no NBA team had reached the playoffs utilizing 24 or more athletes on its roster in a single season.

Prior to entering the NBA ranks, Joerger won accolades as one of the most successful minor league coaches in history, piloting five teams to championships in three different basketball leagues from 2000-07. Demonstrating strong player development skills, Joerger sent 18 of his players to the NBA during his time in the minor leagues. By the time he was hired by the Grizzlies as an assistant coach in 2007, Joerger had collected titles in the NBA Development League, CBA (Continental Basketball Association) and IBL (International Basketball League).

The Sacramento Kings today hired Ken Catanella as Assistant General Manager.

Catanella has more than ten years of experience in player negotiation, contracts, statistical scouting systems and a comprehensive understanding of the salary cap. He joins the Kings front office after serving the Detroit Pistons for nearly five years as Director of Basketball Operations and Assistant General Manager. Prior to the Pistons, Catanella worked for the NBA and the New Jersey Nets.

“We are focused on building a winning team and part of that process is ensuring we have a sound front office structure,” said Divac. “We are thrilled that Ken Catanella is joining the Kings to help us build on our progress and drive success on the court. Ken’s unique statistical and player expertise will provide a significant boost to our basketball operations team.”

In his role with the Kings, Catanella will function as the organization’s salary cap specialist, support Divac with personnel decisions and day-to-day management of the basketball operations department and assist with the team’s statistical and analytical systems.

A graduate of Amherst College where he played and coached, Catanella’s professional experience includes a stint on Wall Street where he provided analytics to sports franchises examining arena financing. While earning his MBA at Duke University, he served as a graduate assistant to the Blue Devils Men’s Basketball team from 2004-06. Catanella also played professional basketball for the Bundesliga’s Cologne 99ers of the German League and later served as the assistant general manager for the 99ers.

The Sacramento Kings announced today that George Karl will not be retained as head coach for the 2016-17 season, according to Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac.

“After evaluating the team’s performance this season, I determined it was necessary to move forward with a new voice from the head coaching position,” said Divac. “I have a great deal of respect and admiration for George and his accomplishments throughout his nearly 30 years in the NBA. On behalf of everyone in the Kings organization, I thank him for the contributions made during his time in Sacramento and wish him good fortune in the future.”

Hired on February 17, 2015, Karl compiled a 44-68 record in one and a half seasons in Sacramento. Overall, he ranks fifth all-time in NBA annals with 1,175 head coaching victories through 27 seasons in Cleveland (1984-86), Golden State (1986-88), Seattle (1991-98), Milwaukee (1998-2003), Denver (2004-2013) and Sacramento (2015-16).

As the years go by, issues between the Sacramento Kings and star center DeMarcus Cousins continue to pop up.

The Kings have suspended Cousins for one game for conduct detrimental to the team, according to Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac.

Cousins will serve the suspension in Sacramento’s next contest against the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right ring fingertip during the contest last night at New Orleans, an X-ray taken at Kaiser Permanente confirmed this afternoon.

McLemore will be listed as questionable for tomorrow’s home game against Cleveland and day-to-day moving forward.

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on the 21-31 Kings, who are on a four-game losing streak:

In what might be the most instinctive and impressive move of his short reign as the Kings’ general manager, Vlade Divac hit the brakes and prevented his franchise from spinning out of control. To the surprise of many, he spoke with his coach in Philadelphia, discussed the issues about defense, energy and erratic performances, and reacted with an abundance of common sense.

He didn’t fire George Karl.

He fixated on personnel flaws.

He took the car keys from DeMarcus Cousins.

That latter topic of discussion? That was huge. The 6-foot-11 Cousins, who devours Kings coaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner, isn’t bigger than the building and certainly not bigger than the team. Yet for the first time in a very long time, the Kings’ ownership/front office demonstrated a modicum of maturity, an approach that is thoughtful and measured, not the familiar knee-jerk reaction.