Warren Legarie is a name you might not recognize. He is the agent representing Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl, who was recently backed by general manager Vlade Divac after the team reportedly pondered letting him go.
After a telephone call between the two basketball men resulted in Karl’s continued stay as the team’s leading man, Divac had this to say, per Marc Stein of ESPN: “George is our coach and we’re collectively working through our issues.”
Nobody would argue with Divac about the Kings having issues.
The recent downward spiral is alarming. Sacramento is 2-8 in its last 10 games and is on a four-game losing skid heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Karl’s agent, Mr. Legarie, has some strong feelings about what would fix the problems. He shared them with Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:
Quote from Kings head coach George Karl's agent: pic.twitter.com/v2kBNQcjmy
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) February 9, 2016
Karl may not be a legend like Phil Jackson, but the guy has put together some really good teams in the past. Dating back to his days with the Seattle Sonics in the 1990s and through to his tenure with the Denver Nuggetts, he’s won a lot of games and has taken a lot of his teams to the playoffs.
His career winning clip is 59.1 percent, yet with the Kings it’s been much lower, at just 39 percent.
Chris Mannix of The Vertical recently outlined some serious issues happening in the locker room which might have everything to do with why things aren’t working on Sacramento:
“Players have tuned out Karl, privately seething over inefficient practices and shootarounds, and ineffective in-game adjustments from the bench, league sources told The Vertical. The dysfunction may have originated with Karl and DeMarcus Cousins, but it has spread through the locker room like an infection.”
Something has to change. Hopefully Karl and his players can find some accord.
History suggests the Kings will have a shot to make the playoffs this year, even after this latest slump, if Karl is in charge. But if the players continue to dig their heels instead of buying into his system, things are just going to continue crumbling.