Sacramento Kings to name Mike Brown as new head coach / News - Basketnews.com

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The Sacramento Kings decided to name Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown as their next head coach, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported.

Points this season

46%110,3Points made:110,3Accuracy:46,0%Place in standings:16Record max:142Record min:75Best scorer:De'Aaron FoxTeamNBAStatisticsSchedule

Brown’s deal is for four years, per the report. A formal announcement is expected Monday.

Brown was rumored to be Kings general manager Monte McNair’s favorite of the coaching prospects. He has been an NBA coach since 2000 and has been on the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Golden State Warriors. He is also the head coach of the Nigerian National Basketball team.

Though he has not been a head coach for some time, Brown is a former NBA Coach of the Year and helped the LeBron James-led Cavaliers reach the NBA finals in 2009. He most notably helped the Cavs finish with the best record in the league and over 60 wins in both the '09 and '10 seasons.

In six of his eight seasons as a head coach, Brown coached his teams to the playoffs. In two of those seasons he reached the conference finals.

Brown, now in his sixth season as Steve Kerr's lead assistant with the Golden State Warriors, will remain with the Warriors through the end of their playoff run before making the move to Sacramento, sources told the Sacramento Bee.

NBA agent Warren LeGarie, Brown's representative at WGL Management, shared some insight into the coach’s thinking a short time before Brown arrived in Sacramento for his formal interview Thursday, saying Brown was prepared to accept the position if the Kings offered it to him.

"Mike is willing to take the job based on the fact that he knows he’ll be supported and have a chance to win," LeGarie told The Bee. "He sees this as a good job and looks forward to being asked to be the head coach."

"First and foremost, he likes the people who are working there," the agent said. "He loves the arena. He thinks that's a natural resource that will help attract players because you've always got to have a place where the fans are involved and the facilities are terrific. And he believes the team has enough talent to give them a real solid chance of becoming a playoff contender."

The Kings set out to find a coach who can help them escape the clutches of an NBA-record 16-year playoff drought. Brown, 52, checked some important boxes as a defensive-minded coach with head coaching experience and a record of success in the NBA, having a 347-216 (61.6%) record with six playoff appearances in eight seasons as a head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.

He went to the NBA Finals as a head coach with the Cavaliers and served as an assistant for NBA championship teams with the San Antonio Spurs (2003) and Warriors (2017, 2018).

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