No longer King

Why did the Kings let Rick Adelman go? Often, players get tired of coaches. However, Adelman has led the franchise through a change from Jason Williams, Chris Webber and Vlade Divac to Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells, and Ron Artest. The Kings played the defending champions tough in the first round, losing to the Spurs in six games. They have a solid, if not spectacular, rotation headed by Bibby, Wells, Artest, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Brad Miller. All five of those players have been all-stars or almost all-stars during their careers. The team was among the best after acquiring Artest midway through the season.

I understand that change is the status quo when it comes to NBA coaching jobs. Larry Brown left Detroit to coach the New York Knicks. Flip Saunders was let go by Minnesota and ended up in Detroit. Good move for Flip, bad move for Larry. George Karl has bounced from Seattle to Milwaukee to Denver. Phil Jackson was in LA, was gone, and is now back. Nate McMillan left a playoff team in Seattle to take the Portland job. That didn't really work out for either team. Coaches aren't exempt from criticism or blame, but if things are going well, why rock the boat? Give Adelman an entire season with the group he led up against the Spurs. Geoff Petrie should be working on improving the roster, not looking for a new coach. If the Kings don't move up into the top echelon of teams in the west next year, then you can make a move. I hope the new coach makes the Kings as fun to watch as Adelman did.