Interesting rumor I heard about via my Louisville source today. Apparently the talk among the alumni insiders centers around whether Francisco Garcia was the kingmaker who was responsible for the Sacramento Kings' hiring of Reggie Theus as head coach last month.
Francisco Garcia played at Louisville, and was a key player in their Final Four appearance in 2005. According to the theory going around (and we should add that it's just a rumor), while Rick Pitino was the head coach, it was assistant coach Reggie Theus whom the players were raving about. Garcia supposedly let management know that it was Reggie Theus who was breaking down game tapes, and preparing the game notes for every match, and was basically the real coach of that Louisville team.
After the Kings' first choice as coach, Stan Van Gundy, declined their job offer, it becomes unclear how Reggie Theus got the offer:
As for how Theus eventually wound up being the Kings' selection, even he isn't sure.
When Petrie and team co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof arranged second interviews in the process, Theus was not among the selected. Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis and now Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy were called back to meet with the team's brass in Las Vegas. Kings assistant Scott Brooks was also called back for a second interview in Las Vegas. But after Van Gundy was offered the job, he bolted when the Magic called with a better offer and the Kings were left to continue on.
Not until then were Theus and Lakers assistant Brian Shaw asked to return, and both candidates met without Petrie and with the entire Maloof family in Las Vegas before Theus was hired.
So who the heck is Francisco Garcia, and why does his word carry so much weight? Well, for starters, Garcia is well liked by the most important Kings teammates - he is best friends with Kevin Martin, the franchise player at the moment. The Kings are big on Kevin Martin, who had a big breakout year last season. They are also high on Francisco himself, and see him as a big part of their future. Keeping Garcia happy also makes Kevin Martin happy.
Oh, and it makes one other key King player happy, too: Ron Artest. In a recent article by the NY Post's Marc Berman, he quotes Artest:
He said he doesn’t want to leave the friends he has made, such as Kevin Martin and two young fellow New Yorkers, Francisco Garcia and Quincy Douby.
So making Francisco Garcia happy not only helps the Kings with one of their young prospects, but it also makes the young stud (Kevin Martin) and the tempermental, but key, veteran (Ron Artest) happy, too.
As for Francisco Garcia, what does his future entail? Well, there are lots of people that believe he'll have a breakout season this year, like Kevin Martin did last year. Perhaps that's why he switched agents. According to the Sacramento Bee:
Francisco Garcia recently switched agents, leaving Jerome Lewis of Octagon to sign with power agent Aaron Goodwin.
Aaron Goodwin is no regular agent, mind you... his cliental is mostly filled with big names: Chris Webber, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Al Horford, and, of course, Nate Robinson. N8 the GR8 aside, Goodwin generally deals with big dawgs; he must feel Garcia has a big payday in his immediate future for him to add him to his staple of clients. Either that, or he feels he can lure in a big contract (like his buddy, Kevin Martin) by signing Garcia. Goodwin also represents another King - Shareef Abdul-Rahim, and a former Kings franchise player - Chris Webber. To say that Aaron Goodwin has some weight with Kings' owners the Maloof brothers is unquestionable. So did Goodwin help get Theus the coaching gig so to get Garcia onboard?
The Kings will be an interesting team to keep an eye on this year. They recently signed Mikki Moore (not related to anyone mentioned in this post), and have some fascinating team dynamics at play.
Very very big tip of the hat to The Marathon Man for pretty much bringing this post together.
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I also wanted to add that I am, indeed, a a fan of my home slice Francisco Garcia.
NYers know about the drama with his mama and young bro and all that. I hope its true that he's got some clout in the King's organization. They couldn't have chosen a better leader.
And I'm a fan of Reggie, too. I'm old enough to remember when HE was the toast of Chicago, before anyone had even heard of a guy named Mike. Shid, Reggie Theus was That Dude way back when light-skinned brothas was in style! Thank God that era is over, and now the Black-ass Poet can get a lil play from the ladies!
TLP is like audi
Audi like who?
Muhfuckin Kurt Gowdy.
I've always figured the Maloofs fell victim to pressure of the press, which told them repeatedly that the Kings' choking in the playoffs can be attributed to Rick Adelman. So they took it out on him.
If anyone was to blame for the Kings' failure to advance past the Lakers all those years, besides the Lakers themselves, it would have to be Chris Webber. But the Maloofs I'm guessing also issued blame with Adelman.
We'll see what Adelman does in Houston, which now has Yao, T-Mac, a young point who is drawing compliments in Aaron Brooks (not to mention Mike James will do better in a non-Van Gundy offense), a glue guy in Shane Battier, and another down low option in Luis Scola (don't sleep on this guy - he dropped 10-11 FG, 25 points in the 2004 Olympic Finals. He averaged 17.6 ppg that Olympics, and can score, though his defense is... very Euro-like...
Point being, I think the Rockets are for real this year.
I don't buy in the video tapes theory, the Theus's work in New Mexico was enough background. But, it's said that Pitino pushed Garcia to sign with Goodwin, who was No. 1 in the race to be agent for Garcia when he was drafted, but he owed favors to his latin coaches that helped and teached him to play at NY, and were linked to Jerome.
Say man. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. Jerome was working for Aaron at the time he signed Francisco. He left Aaron's company a couple of months later. Pitino did not push Francisco to Goodwin. He was pushing him to Andy Miller, whom he pushes all of his clients to. Get your facts straight before you write something you know nothing about.
Theus got the gig because the Maloofs are some fuck ups who think they know something about basketball (they do not).
Not that I'm mad at Reggie - he's certainly a guy who's paid dues and proven he can coach. Yeah, the sit-com coaching counts! If Lawrence Frank "paid dues" as a muhfuckin ballboy at Indiana, then Reggie, who is at least 15 years Frank's senior, has earned his spot - fuck all yall haters.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that the Maloofs should never have let Rick Adelman go. Keeping Adelman meant keeping Bonzi, as well as keeping Brad Miller and Mike Bibby motivated. If you've got those guys on board with "hot head needs cool water" Ron Artest and breakout Kevin Martin, then you've got a playoof team.
But the Maloofs thought they knew better, which only proves that they know Vegas and gambling, but not basketball. Now it will take some real magic from an NBA first-time coach in Theus to get the Kings on and crackin again.