Jun
20
While Stan Van Gundy Would Have Been Obviously Much Better, At Least The Kings Did Not Get Larry Brown!
The Sacramento Kings have filled their head coaching position and tabbed former Saturday morning television personality Reggie Theus to be the man. While known during his career for his flashy offense and dunking ability, Theus has had quite a career after hanging it up in the early nineties.
In addition to serving as a basketball expert on the “Best Damn Sports Show Period” and a commentator for TNT and other networks, Theus was the head coach on NBC’s Saturday morning kid’s program “Hang Time.” Anyone my age should remember this terrible show in which Theus played Head Coach Bill Fuller, who manned the sidelines for an unimpressive high school team that played simulated full court games on a half-court on an NBC lot.
The show featured “winners” like Anthony Anderson, some girl “Julie” who could shoot the three-ball, and the driver in that current Hertz commercial featuring one of Chris Farley’s untalented brothers. Anyways, my friends and I found the show to be funnier for its terrible game action and theme song than its corny comedy.
Apparently, Theus caught the coaching bug after his stimulating acting on the show. After leaving the almighty fictional Deering High and being replaced by Dick Butkus on the show, Theus spent a short time coaching in the ABA and at a smaller college before moving to Louisville, where he served as an Assistant Coach under Rick Pitino during the 2005 season in which the Cardinals reached the Final Four. Theus then moved on to New Mexico State, where he coached the last two years and guided the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament this year (a first-round loss to Texas and Kevin Durant).
I don’t remember much about Theus and his career in the NBA. He was always a high-scorer on crappy Bulls’ and Kings’ team. When I think of Theus, I think of a great story from Sam Smith’s The Jordan Rules.
Apparently, the Bulls were interested in acquiring Theus during a mid-season trade prior to their first championship in 1991. However, Michael Jordan would not let that happen. Smith described how much Jordan disliked Theus as a player. Theus had been the Bulls’ best player prior to the Jordan era and apparently once went out with Jordan’s ex-wife Juanita prior to Jordan meeting her.
Jordan was described in the story as saying that he would ask for a trade if the Bulls ever reacquired Theus. With that said, Theus recently interviewed with the Charlotte Bobcats, where Jordan serves as a part-owner and is now in power of making the team’s basketball decisions (maybe Jordan’s alleged dislike of the smooth-talking Theus has dissipated over the years). Jordan eventually hired former teammate and fellow hot coaching prospect Sam Vincent to take over the task of coaching the Bobcats.
So what do I think about this hiring. Sacramento should have made a great offer to Stan Van Gundy before he went to the Magic. Theus is young and raw and will be cutting his teeth on a team that is in a weird position (its players are old, and the franchise may eventually move to Las Vegas). If that’s the case, Theus will be a marketing splash as he once starred for UNLV.
On the sidelines, I’m not so sure what difference Theus will make. The Kings will not make the playoffs with a first-year NBA coach learning the ropes in the league, despite how popular Theus may be. At least, the Maloof brothers and Geoff Petrie did not hire coaching vagabond and ego-maniac Larry Brown. That’s one positive in this hiring.
With that said, I would like to see the Kings get back to their winning ways. The fans in Sacramento deserve it, whether it’s Theus at the helm or someone else.
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