New Kings GM Scott Perry has easy first task: make Doug Christie head coach | Opinion
Some disgruntled Kings fans view the hiring of new General Manager Scott Perry, who was introduced on Wednesday, as the right moment to give the organization a restart, essentially scrapping the current culture and roster for a new and hopefully successful one.
I still hold out hope that a Kings restart includes the one man that made the Kings’ latest season enjoyable: Coach Doug Christie. He is the only person left in the Kings organization who knows what playoff success in the NBA feels like. In each game of his time as interim head coach, Christie led the team with accountability, passion and hard work.
Next year should be the first of many for Christie as the head coach, if the organization knows what’s best for them.
New GM Scott Perry has an easy decision
Christie is in a small group of former NBA stars who’ve taken their love for the game and furthered it into a coaching career. He, however, has a special opportunity to be head coach of his former team.
For this to become a reality, Perry has to sign off on Christie. During his first press conference, Perry said nice things about Christie but didn’t seem sold on him.
“I’ve watched (Christie) this year from afar in terms of his ability to have a presence on the court,” Perry said when asked about the potential of hiring Christie as full-time head coach. “I think he’s made a connection with players. We’ve had a few conversations up to this point.”
And unfortunately, it seems that Perry may be looking elsewhere to fill the position.
“My phone has incessantly rang for interest in this job,” Perry said about the head coaching job vacancy. “Hopefully, I can come to some sort of resolution within the next week or so in terms of having a decision.”
Perry hiring Christie would maintain some stability for a squad that was worn down by change and upheaval that included the firing of former coach Mike Brown and trading star guard DeAaron Fox, and bringing in new players at midseason. Christie got a lot of out of a roster of disparate pieces and skill sets that really fit. That wasn’t his fault.
I get it, the Kings did not reach the playoffs for the second straight season and lost more games than they won for the first time in three seasons. Fans expected more. But after Brown was fired in late December, Christie ignited a fire under the team that led them through an 8-game winning streak that included a thrashing of the defending champion Boston Celtics in Boston.
The Kings need that fire from the very beginning of the season.
Let Christie take over
Christie is a player’s coach, a self-described leader of men. He wants this position badly and wants us to know it.
“This is where I want to be,” Christie said after the Play-In tournament loss to the Mavericks. I need to finish what I started and that’s the only reason that I ever stepped onto the sideline from where I was initially because I had to exercise some demons for myself.”
C’mon, if you don’t get fired up feeling Christie’s passion, you ain’t a Kings fan. He is all in and you need that to be successful. Losing his first postseason game might’ve been the best thing that could’ve happened because he hates losing and now he has a taste of it as a coach and he will do everything he can to ensure he doesn’t get familiar with it.
Perry might want to have control in the head coaching search, which is why he hasn’t fully landed on Christie yet, but it’s not like the grass is greener on the other side. If this NBA season, filled with surprise head coach firings after another, tells us anything is that Xs and Os aren’t the only factor in the job. It’s about a culture and no one can offer that to the Kings quite like Christie.
The Kings’ trouble begins with players who want to have “tough conversations” with ownership but not show up in pivotal games that could give the team a playoff birth.
Perry is going through the process, which isn’t inherently a bad thing considering his role as GM, but Christie gives you everything you need to be successful: a winning mentality, a will to succeed and a sense of accountability.
Hiring Christie as head coach is Perry’s first test as GM. Let’s hope he passes.
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 3:26 PM.
