Tag: mike brown

Kings fire head coach Mike Brown

Sacramento Kings General Manager Monte McNair announced that Mike Brown has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the team and Doug Christie has been named interim head coach.

“This was a difficult decision, and I want to thank Mike for his many contributions to the organization,” said Kings General Manager Monte McNair.

Doug Christie is in his third season as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings. Selected 17th overall in the 1992 NBA Draft by the Seattle Super Sonics, Christie played 15 seasons in the NBA, averaging 11.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game in 827 career games (708 starts) with seven teams. During his time with the Kings from 2000-2005, he helped the team reach the postseason in each of his five seasons. He was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in 2002-03 and All-Defensive Second Team in 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2003-04. Before joining the Kings as an assistant coach, Christie spent four seasons as the team’s full-time color analyst from 2017-21.

Brown was named head coach of the Kings in May 2022 after spending six seasons as assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors. During his time with the Kings, he coached the team to a 107-88 record.

Kings coach Mike Brown wins 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year award

The NBA announced yesterday that Sacramento Kings Head Coach Mike Brown has been named the unanimous 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year. Brown is the third head coach in franchise history to win the yearly award, joining Cotton Fitzsimmons (1978-79) and Phil Johnson (1974-75) and is the first to receive the honor in the Sacramento era.

Brown received (500) points (100 first-place votes) from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. The honor marks the second time Brown has been named Coach of the Year during his coaching career, including his first since the 2008-09 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since the award’s inception in 1962-63, Brown is the 11th coach in NBA history to receive the Coach of the Year award at least twice in his coaching career.

In his first season as head coach of the Sacramento Kings, Brown led the club to one of the best seasons in franchise history. Brown guided Sacramento to the seventh-best record in the NBA this season and helped the Kings secure the third seed in the Western Conference, marking the Kings best finish in the West since the 2002-03 season. Behind Brown, Sacramento finished with the third-most wins in the Western Conference (48-34) and matched a franchise record for most wins on the road (25-16), which also ranked first in the Western Conference. He is the second coach in the Sac era to finish above .500 in a single season, joining Rick Adelman.

Brown coached the Kings to the highest offensive rating in NBA history (118.6) with the team scoring the most points per game by an NBA team in 40 years, which was last done by the Denver Nuggets (1983-84). For his efforts, Brown was selected as the Michael Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year after the Kings earned its first Pacific Division title since 2003.

Among league leaders, the Kings led the NBA in offensive efficiency and points per game while finishing second in field goal percentage (49.4%), third in assists (27.3), fifth in three-pointers made (1,128) and ninth in three-point percentage (37.3%). Sacramento also ranked first in true shooting percentage (60.8%), second in effective field goal percentage (57.2), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.02), eighth in net rating (2.6) and seventh in assists percentage (62.6%).

In February, Brown was named the NBA Western Conference Coach of the month as the Kings led the NBA with seven games where they scored 120+ points, which included a 176-175 win in double overtime against the LA Clippers on Feb. 24, marking the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. During the stretch, the Kings ranked first in the NBA in points per game (125.8) and offensive rating (121.2) and went a perfect 7-0 in February in games where they scored 120 points or more.

Mike Brown introduced as new Sacramento Kings head coach

Via ESPN.com:

A day removed from the Golden State Warriors’ championship parade in San Francisco, Mike Brown appeared 90 miles up Interstate 80 on Tuesday, reporting for duty as the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

“I hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this,” Brown said as he sat next to Kings general manager and president of basketball operations Monte McNair during his introductory news conference. “I really couldn’t turn up like I wanted to because of this doggone press conference today.”

Although his celebration was subdued after his third title in his six years as a Golden State assistant, Brown said he was ecstatic to discuss his fourth head-coaching opportunity after two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers and a spell with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“The potential here, I truly believe the potential is off the charts,” he said. “It gets me excited thinking about it. … The players here, I’m excited about.

“There’s just a lot of opportunity here for this place to explode, and I want to be a part of it.”

Via the Sacramento Bee:

Eleven different head coaches have walked through the doors in Sacramento since the team’s last playoff appearance. On Tuesday afternoon at Golden 1 Center, the Kings formally introduced their next coach in Mike Brown.

The Kings hope Brown will break the spell of bad coaching hires and help return the team to the playoffs.

Brown, 52, was hired in May but wasn’t introduced until nearly a month and a half later. The reason is Brown was finishing his role as Steve Kerr’s lead assistant on a Golden State Warriors team that beat the Boston Celtics in six games to win the NBA Finals.

Prior to Brown spending six seasons in Golden State, he had stops as a head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. In eight seasons as a head coach, Brown compiled a 347-216 (.616) record with six playoff appearances.

Sacramento Kings hire Mike Brown as new head coach

The Sacramento Kings today named Mike Brown as the team’s new head coach.

“Mike has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead winning teams throughout his long and successful coaching career,” said Sacramento Kings General Manager Monte McNair. “He has worked with some of the best players in the NBA and is one of the league’s premier defensive minds. I am excited to bring his extensive experience to Sacramento.”

Per the Sacramento Bee, the “Kings made the formal announcement after reaching an agreement on a four-year deal with Brown on Sunday. Brown is in his sixth season as associate head coach of the Warriors, where he serves as Steve Kerr’s top assistant. Brown will remain with the Warriors through the end of their playoff run, sources told The Sacramento Bee. The Kings will schedule an introductory news conference for Brown after the Warriors conclude their season.”

Brown joins the Kings from the Golden State Warriors, where he is currently in his sixth season as an assistant coach. He helped guide the team to back-to-back titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Prior to the Warriors, Brown held head coaching duties with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2005-10, 2013-14) and Los Angeles Lakers (2011-12). Brown’s teams qualified for the playoffs in six of his seven full seasons as a head coach, advancing past the first round in each appearance.

More from The Bee: “The Kings hired Brown from a candidate pool that included Brooklyn Nets coaching consultant Steve Clifford; New Orleans Pelicans coaching advisor Mike D’Antoni; Milwaukee Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee; ESPN analyst Mark Jackson; and Boston Celtics assistant Will Hardy. Brown, Jackson and Clifford came to Sacrament to interview for the job last week after being selected as finalists.”

In 2007, Brown led the Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA Finals appearance and was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 2008-09 after guiding the Cavaliers to a franchise-record 66 wins. Cleveland won at least 50 games in four of Brown’s first five seasons with the club, including back-to-back 60-win campaigns in 2008-09 (66) and 2009-10 (61). During the 2011-2012 lockout-shortened season, Brown led the Lakers to a Pacific Division title and a 41-25 (.621) record. He owns a career head coaching record of 347-216 (.616) over eight seasons, which ranks as the ninth-best winning percentage in NBA history among coaches who have registered at least 500 games at the helm.

Prior to joining the Cavaliers in 2005, Brown was associate head coach of the Indiana Pacers for two seasons (2003-05) after spending three years as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs (2001-03), where he also captured an NBA title. Brown began his career with the Denver Nuggets in 1992, spending five seasons as a video coordinator and scout before serving as an assistant under Bernie Bickerstaff in Washington beginning in 1997.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Brown is a graduate of the University of San Diego, where he played collegiately for two seasons after spending two years at Mesa Community College.

Brown was the head coach of the Nigeria men’s national basketball team during the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, held in August 2021.