Speaker 1: Welcome to this league. I'm cut in the world of
Speaker 1: twenty four NBA news. Christ This liguln cut is underway. Fire.
Speaker 1: This should be a good one. Everybody. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: another episode of this League of Cut with my partner
Speaker 1: in Mark Stein. This is Chris Hayes. Here. Let's we
Speaker 1: have a special guest and this guest, this this guest.
Speaker 1: The time inc is is just perfect because there's a
Speaker 1: lot going on in this particular market, that particular city,
Speaker 1: and this guy right here, he pretty much is very
Speaker 1: influential and recreating the culture, the foundation of this team
Speaker 1: and this team I'm talking about the Sacramento Kings just
Speaker 1: clints of birth to the playoffs for the first time
Speaker 1: in sixteen years. And this individual right here that we're
Speaker 1: going to have on today again, very special guests, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just you know, Mark sty go ahead
Speaker 1: and introduce the man. Go ahead, jump in here. Coach
Speaker 1: Mike Brown, who Chris Haynes says should and will be.
Speaker 1: Now he didn't say will, he said should should be
Speaker 1: the unanimous Coach of the Year winner. Coach, Congratulations, you
Speaker 1: guys freshly clinched a spot in the playoffs. Just I
Speaker 1: guess what was it like waking up this morning knowing
Speaker 1: that Sacramento Kings will be in the playoffs for the
Speaker 1: first time since you were in Cleveland many many, many
Speaker 1: years ago. You know what I tell you, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a special feeling, mainly because you know what it
Speaker 1: means to the city, just as much to the organization
Speaker 1: as well. And you know, I've been sacramental for a
Speaker 1: short period of time and allow a lot of good people.
Speaker 1: They're very knowledgeable about the game, very passionate about the game,
Speaker 1: and that passion hasn't subsided even though they hadn't been
Speaker 1: in the playoffs uh in sixteen years. They're still trying
Speaker 1: to rep sack wherever they can, whenever they can, and
Speaker 1: so to be able to be a part of this
Speaker 1: experience h clinch at this point in the season and
Speaker 1: continue to help uplift that that that town as well
Speaker 1: as the organization. There's no better feeling. What did you do?
Speaker 1: What did you do? After Clinton? Is there anything anything
Speaker 1: specially you did? What? You know? What? So a lot
Speaker 1: of our wives came up, a girlfriend, significant others came
Speaker 1: up to to Portland because we knew we were going
Speaker 1: to be here for a few days. It's a short trip.
Speaker 1: And uh so when we got back to the hotel.
Speaker 1: Uh we had a little room down right off the
Speaker 1: bar in the hotel and we popped a few bottles
Speaker 1: of champagne, had a couple of time and listen to
Speaker 1: some good music while chatting it up. Is this the
Speaker 1: Nines Hotel? Yes it is. I said, that's my favorite
Speaker 1: spot right there, favorite spot right there. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: wanted to clinch at home, but is there kind of
Speaker 1: to do it on the road. And you guys are
Speaker 1: all there kind of on foe and turf, but you're
Speaker 1: all there together. I mean, what is that like? You
Speaker 1: know it? Yes, you want to clinch at home because
Speaker 1: again you want to do it in front of your fans.
Speaker 1: And there was a lot of anticipation a couple of
Speaker 1: nights to go against the timber Wolves. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, you know, for us, it's just
Speaker 1: about getting it done. And I told our guys this
Speaker 1: um not too long ago. I said, hey, you guys
Speaker 1: put yourselves in the position to be able to control
Speaker 1: your own destiny. And when you're able to do that,
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter really for us. Whether it's here or there, might
Speaker 1: except for the fact, like I said, you know, you
Speaker 1: you like your fans to have that opportunity to see
Speaker 1: it in person. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: because the guys put themselves in this position, they had
Speaker 1: plenty an opportunity to do it, whether it's at home,
Speaker 1: on the road, and just so happy to be up
Speaker 1: here in Portland, and it feels it feels good either way. Coach,
Speaker 1: did you ever this is your first year as the
Speaker 1: head coach of the Kings, and you spent your time
Speaker 1: and Lakers, you spend your time with the Cavaliers, and
Speaker 1: then you spent time as his assistant with the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors. Did you ever think or was there any
Speaker 1: doubt at all during the time that you would Golden
Speaker 1: State that you would get another opportunity to be a
Speaker 1: head coach in this league. I didn't know. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm the type that looks at things, that looks at
Speaker 1: a glass or a jars as half full as opposed
Speaker 1: to have empty. So I'll pretty optimistic optimistic person as
Speaker 1: is I felt. If I if I kept you know,
Speaker 1: grinding and doing my thing and kept trying to be
Speaker 1: part of uh situations, that will not only help me
Speaker 1: grow and evolve, but also where you win is usually
Speaker 1: if you're in a situation where you win, more eyes
Speaker 1: are on you, and everybody usually has success that comes
Speaker 1: from a winning situation. So I didn't know I felt
Speaker 1: being in Golden State, working for Steve and being around
Speaker 1: the great players that I was around and winning at
Speaker 1: that At that level, I get opportunities to interview, but
Speaker 1: you just never know what's going to unfold in those interviews.
Speaker 1: Most of the times when you go on an interview,
Speaker 1: the club has somebody already in mind. But for me,
Speaker 1: it didn't matter because every interview that I went on UH,
Speaker 1: I felt like I learned, I got better, you know,
Speaker 1: because I spoke in front of a different UH staff
Speaker 1: and had explained my plan and had to dive deep
Speaker 1: into what the what the team was and where I
Speaker 1: take them, and and so for me to get an
Speaker 1: interview at this point was something I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: turn down. So at the end of the day, I'm
Speaker 1: glad it worked out the way it did. But UH,
Speaker 1: you know, you never know in these situations. You just
Speaker 1: keep your fingers cross and keep trying to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, and maybe that happened, coach, Can you name
Speaker 1: the teams the other teams that you interview with you
Speaker 1: during your time to go to state. Yeah, I interviewed
Speaker 1: with Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers. Obviously the
Speaker 1: Sacrament of Kings. I think that might think that might
Speaker 1: be it. I think it might be it. The New
Speaker 1: York Knicks. I also interviewed from the New York Knicks.
Speaker 1: How did you come away from the ones that you
Speaker 1: didn't get? The only one that, uh really the only
Speaker 1: one that I thought that I had a decent shot
Speaker 1: at because I truly felt that they didn't have a
Speaker 1: candidate in place was the Clippers. Uh. You know, I
Speaker 1: knew ty Loose, He's a fantastic championship coach. I knew
Speaker 1: he had a leg up on me. Um you know
Speaker 1: uh in that interview process because of his track record.
Speaker 1: Uh and how you know again how successful he is,
Speaker 1: but the type of person is, and then he already
Speaker 1: knew the players and so on and so forth, and
Speaker 1: they had a lot of trust and confidence in them.
Speaker 1: But I, you know, when I was going through the process,
Speaker 1: I really felt like the staff hadn't made up their
Speaker 1: mind yet or didn't have a have ty loose as
Speaker 1: you know peg as, No, he's the guy, but maybe
Speaker 1: we'll see what Mike bring to the table. And and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, obviously the
Speaker 1: job went to him and for me, uh, and that
Speaker 1: he got that job for me, I felt good because
Speaker 1: he's a fantastic human being and obviously a great coach.
Speaker 1: So I didn't feel like, uh, that was tough to
Speaker 1: handle not getting that one at all. But I was
Speaker 1: I thought I was. I thought I had a chance
Speaker 1: at that one. Other ones, Uh, they're fantastic to the
Speaker 1: interview for but going in, I knew that for the
Speaker 1: most part, they had their guy in mind and it
Speaker 1: and it wasn't me. I think you ended up in
Speaker 1: the right spot. I'm gonna go out on a limb. Hey,
Speaker 1: you're one hundred percent correct. This is the spot I
Speaker 1: was supposed to being. Well, we talked to you know,
Speaker 1: thank you for giving the time for the story I
Speaker 1: wrote on the Keys and just a transformation of the
Speaker 1: culture that everybody please go check that out. Brought that
Speaker 1: about two weeks ago on the Keys and Mike Brown's
Speaker 1: involvement in that process, because what what is what has
Speaker 1: it been? Like, you know, I want you to for
Speaker 1: people to hear it because you know there's a lot
Speaker 1: of bandwagon Kings fans now and so uh you got
Speaker 1: so okay? Can you explain exactly what what it took
Speaker 1: for you guys to get from being an organization that
Speaker 1: was thought of as an afterthought, you know, just quite
Speaker 1: being honest, there was a lot of players, a lot
Speaker 1: of players that didn't you know, to workn't too fond
Speaker 1: of the sacramental Kings or free agents and you know
Speaker 1: problems with that. Can you tell me just about your
Speaker 1: process and revamping um the culture and the foundation of
Speaker 1: the Kings, just your part. I know other people had
Speaker 1: a role as well, but I just want to tell
Speaker 1: you how you went into the situation. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: the well, there was a three part I guess process
Speaker 1: for me when I looked at trying to uh change
Speaker 1: the culture. You know, everybody says that they want to
Speaker 1: win and as a as a young head coach, when
Speaker 1: when I got the earlier jobs, I felt like I
Speaker 1: cannot work anybody I had control over that. I felt
Speaker 1: like I was organized, and I felt like, uh, I
Speaker 1: had a good feel for my exs and oos, but
Speaker 1: being around you know Steve Curry's last six years being
Speaker 1: with the players in Golden State, with Bob Myers at GM,
Speaker 1: you know, you learn a lot about you know, how
Speaker 1: they go about their business and the exs and oos
Speaker 1: are great, but they don't start and in with that.
Speaker 1: But the culture there is is second second to none.
Speaker 1: You know it rivals that uh you know Greg Popovich
Speaker 1: in a different way, but the rivals out of Greg
Speaker 1: Popovich on many many levels. And and uh, those true guys,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, are the two best messengers, are two
Speaker 1: of the best messengers out there, and you realize being
Speaker 1: on around them. You know, being around Pop you learned
Speaker 1: a lot. But I was really young around Pop, so
Speaker 1: I didn't really Uh you couldn't really appreciate everything that
Speaker 1: was being done at the time, nor could you really
Speaker 1: know how know the true meaning or how deep the
Speaker 1: things are, how deep things are that he was doing
Speaker 1: in or saying to the team. Being older, going through
Speaker 1: a lot of life experiences being with Steve. Now you're
Speaker 1: listening and you're watching the action. I used to take
Speaker 1: a notepad. I used to carry a notepad with me
Speaker 1: a lot of times, and it was just because whenever
Speaker 1: Steve addressed the team, I wanted to jot down a
Speaker 1: note or two, you know, because I learned a lot
Speaker 1: from him, even though I've coached many more years than
Speaker 1: than he has. And and so for me coming into
Speaker 1: this situation, I felt that my biggest thing that I
Speaker 1: was going to attack right away was the culture and
Speaker 1: the way that I put a plan together. And one
Speaker 1: that was the first thing I knew that there had
Speaker 1: to be a vertical and horizontal alignment between all of
Speaker 1: the units within the organization. You know, whether it's ticket sales,
Speaker 1: it's the medical staff, medical staff, the performance staff, the
Speaker 1: coaching staff, community relations. We all had all had they
Speaker 1: had their alignment of trust that was vertical and horizontal
Speaker 1: across the board. And I was going to go about
Speaker 1: doing that by being present, uh, letting everybody feel my confidence,
Speaker 1: by engaging with them as much as I could, trying
Speaker 1: to bring all these group to groups together as much
Speaker 1: as I could. For instance, when we went on our
Speaker 1: coaches retreat, you know most most staffs they just go
Speaker 1: with their coaching staff. Well, we invited our front office
Speaker 1: Monae McNair, West Wilcox. We also extended the invitation to
Speaker 1: Matina and Jr. And all of hierarchy in the front
Speaker 1: office so that they felt like they were part two
Speaker 1: of it. And and then you know, you also want
Speaker 1: to give ownership to your group, not just to the players,
Speaker 1: but to the people that are working for you and
Speaker 1: that are working in other departments. And I did that Basically.
Speaker 1: I didn't go on the floor at all. Well, I
Speaker 1: tell you back, I went on the floor twice prior
Speaker 1: to training camp, and I was in the gym a lot.
Speaker 1: But I told myself, I'm gonna let my coaches handle it.
Speaker 1: They know exactly what they're doing. I want players to
Speaker 1: see that I have belief and trusting them, and I
Speaker 1: don't need to step out there every five minutes to
Speaker 1: make a correction or try to coach or show that
Speaker 1: I could coach. And I'm just gonna watch it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be a fan, and I'm gonna talk and get
Speaker 1: to know these guys personally, and you know more, talk
Speaker 1: to them about their families, how our days going, and
Speaker 1: all that other stuff. So that was the first step,
Speaker 1: and trying to get the group connected, trying to establish
Speaker 1: that sustained winning culture. The second step that I wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure I did was establish a set of
Speaker 1: rules or principles and values that not only were upheld
Speaker 1: by me, but we're upheld by it. Then all of
Speaker 1: the leadership within the organization, including you know, the leadership
Speaker 1: in terms of players on the team. And once you
Speaker 1: established that you know and your leaders believe in it,
Speaker 1: then everybody's going to follow that path. And then the
Speaker 1: last one was, you know, I'm a I'm a big
Speaker 1: role guy, and so trying to identify and establish you know,
Speaker 1: everybody's role while giving them ownership and defining their role
Speaker 1: so that at the end of the day, everybody would
Speaker 1: embrace it. And you know, you can do three or
Speaker 1: three three things. You can reject it, which is not good.
Speaker 1: You can accept it if you just accept your role.
Speaker 1: What you're telling me is okay, I accept it. It
Speaker 1: means when things are going good, you get their foot in,
Speaker 1: but when things ain't going good, which we all know
Speaker 1: happen to this business, and other foot is out. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to get it to get to a point
Speaker 1: for everybody that they can embrace their role and giving
Speaker 1: them ownership in um and defining their role was was
Speaker 1: a huge part of that. It was that in itself
Speaker 1: was a three step process. That we went through meant
Speaker 1: with the last step being, um, you know, we got
Speaker 1: everybody together and I just went down the line asking
Speaker 1: each guy I had up on the BIXS frame, these
Speaker 1: are the three to four things that we defined this
Speaker 1: person's role. For instance, HB. These are in front of
Speaker 1: the whole team. These are Hb's points for defining this role.
Speaker 1: Read them out everybody saw. I said, HB, do you
Speaker 1: agree to this? Because once you agree in front of
Speaker 1: the team, then that means there's no going back. And
Speaker 1: each guy had to read it and say yes they
Speaker 1: did because they were a part of the process. And
Speaker 1: to me that that everybody embraced their role and once
Speaker 1: everybody was on the same page and and they valued
Speaker 1: this as much as I did. I had everybody signed
Speaker 1: a contract and we have three copies that contract. One
Speaker 1: we carry with us, others are locked room downstairs at
Speaker 1: Golden One Center, and the third one is in our
Speaker 1: training area upstairs in the practice facility. Mike, I'm guessing
Speaker 1: that this whole approach is radically different from the three
Speaker 1: other times that you were a head coach. And obviously,
Speaker 1: like you said, you've accumulated a lot of wisdom through
Speaker 1: through all these years. But you clearly had this plan
Speaker 1: and it's a three step plan. But how confident were
Speaker 1: you that you could actually implement it and make it work?
Speaker 1: Because just what was the confidence level? Could not have
Speaker 1: been high when you arrived there after sixteen years of
Speaker 1: nothing but lottery for this granchise. That's a that's a
Speaker 1: great question. From the standpoint, my confidence was high, and
Speaker 1: I felt I would have an opportunity to take a
Speaker 1: swing at exactly what I said, the way that I
Speaker 1: wanted because they hadn't had success and they were looking
Speaker 1: for direction. And usually when people are you know, you know,
Speaker 1: looking for direction at a pretty high level, they're gonna
Speaker 1: give you a second to faith, you know. And the
Speaker 1: more small successes that you have along the way, that's
Speaker 1: the more leeway that you're gonna be able to have
Speaker 1: to implement your plan fully. And you know Luke Laux,
Speaker 1: you know, we worked together in Golden State, so I
Speaker 1: I you know, I known Luke for years. We were
Speaker 1: close and Golden State, and you know, every job that
Speaker 1: I interviewed for basically Luke helped me out. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm an old head. I do know computers a little bit.
Speaker 1: I do know analytics a little bit. But you know,
Speaker 1: Luke's a young guy and he's gonna be a head
Speaker 1: coach in this league someday soon. He's that good. But
Speaker 1: he helped me gather my information and prepare for every
Speaker 1: interview that I went on. So he, he and I
Speaker 1: when we knew that the Sacramento job was open the
Speaker 1: same majority. Luke was more involved in. Jordy was during
Speaker 1: each one of the processes. But uh when when when
Speaker 1: we knew Sacramento was open, we both looked at it.
Speaker 1: We were like, whoa, this this is a sleeping giant.
Speaker 1: You know that. You know, you have two potential All
Speaker 1: Stars and Deer and Fox and domus a bonus, you
Speaker 1: have a championship veteran Inharrison Bars. Uh, they're going to
Speaker 1: get a high pick. And it looks like the draft
Speaker 1: was was pretty deep, and you know there were some
Speaker 1: other guys that you know you might be able to
Speaker 1: do some things with. You know, we going there and
Speaker 1: and have a chance to really put our footprint on
Speaker 1: the direction that the organization wants to go. So I
Speaker 1: was excited about it from day one just because of
Speaker 1: the potential, uh not only potential for the organization going
Speaker 1: forward with the city and the facilities and in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the ownership and everything else, but also for the potential
Speaker 1: of us being able to do it we felt was
Speaker 1: right and growing this program the way that we wanted
Speaker 1: it to grow. When you're trying to implement a new culture,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not always easy and a lot of
Speaker 1: times there are some tough conversations that need to be
Speaker 1: had because the team or the players have been doing
Speaker 1: something for so long that hasn't been the right way.
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you, is there a conversation
Speaker 1: that you can reveal where you had to have a
Speaker 1: tough conversation with someone and but you took it, you know,
Speaker 1: you took your head on and it ended up working out.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that comes to mind where when you
Speaker 1: took the job there was a tough conversation that you
Speaker 1: need to have and how did it? How did it
Speaker 1: fare from there? You know, again, I go back to
Speaker 1: that's part of the reason why this was so attractive,
Speaker 1: because everybody was itching, you know, itching to just find
Speaker 1: a way to get out of the hole that they've
Speaker 1: been in. And so literally when we came in, especially
Speaker 1: coming in from coming in off of a an NBA
Speaker 1: Championship run. You know, you got a lot of you
Speaker 1: got a lot of clout with what you're saying, and
Speaker 1: not just because of that one time, but you know
Speaker 1: I had done a part of six finals runs even
Speaker 1: once as a head coach and been able to say
Speaker 1: I've been part of four of winning it four different times,
Speaker 1: you know, which is hard. There's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that hadn't even gotten there one time in their career,
Speaker 1: and so you know, the team that we had that
Speaker 1: we had inherited, um, you know, there was one guy
Speaker 1: that didn't want a championship on the roster, and that's
Speaker 1: Harrison Barnes, and nobody else even really experienced. I don't
Speaker 1: even think going to the finals, let along the conference
Speaker 1: finals was conference semifinals. So again, um, there wasn't There
Speaker 1: weren't many tough conversations to be had, like maybe some
Speaker 1: other situations that I might have taken taken over. You know,
Speaker 1: I remever forget when I took the Lakers job. You know,
Speaker 1: one of the things I was explained was explaining something
Speaker 1: to COVID and you know, the God rest his soul.
Speaker 1: But and Kobe said, well, you know, when Phil was here,
Speaker 1: you know, this is how we did it. I was like,
Speaker 1: oh shit, you you're good. You're good, coach. Oh, I said,
Speaker 1: oh shit, you know Kobe got a point, He'll got
Speaker 1: like fifteen of them. As a head coach, I was
Speaker 1: only there once to the head coach and I got
Speaker 1: a couple or you know, riding back to some player.
Speaker 1: So you know, so you know that that's a dynamic
Speaker 1: that I didn't have to deal with. Uh, in this situation.
Speaker 1: It was almost reversed for me to be acus of
Speaker 1: where I came from and what my issue was compared
Speaker 1: to not only the players, but everybody else too. That
Speaker 1: was in the organization, for people in the front office,
Speaker 1: to people on the basketball side too. So uh, that's
Speaker 1: why that's part of the reason why you know, you
Speaker 1: really uh, even before the job for me was one
Speaker 1: that's why it was an extremely attractive job, you know,
Speaker 1: to be had for us. So how do you strike
Speaker 1: the balance now of convincing your guys, yes, we clinch,
Speaker 1: but we also haven't achieved anything yet Because of all
Speaker 1: these playoff runs you've made, I'm guessing that you're not
Speaker 1: really satisfied with just getting to the playoffs, you know how,
Speaker 1: I'm saying and part of it is, you know, the
Speaker 1: messaging that we that we did from day one. You know,
Speaker 1: every conversation that I had wasn't about making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It was when we make the play house, this is
Speaker 1: what needs to happen when when Yes and our guys
Speaker 1: brought into it. I had you know, I talked to
Speaker 1: a lot of people when I took this job, just
Speaker 1: to pick their brain. And and you know, one of
Speaker 1: my best conversations I had was with Randy Bennett, head
Speaker 1: coach at Saint Mary's College. He basically took over a
Speaker 1: prential losing programs at Saint Mary's back in the day.
Speaker 1: They were the dorm out of I think they were
Speaker 1: the WCAC at first and then the WCC after that.
Speaker 1: But he took that over and I asked him, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, what are some of the
Speaker 1: things that you did when you took it over? And
Speaker 1: then I said, what's the biggest regret that you had
Speaker 1: looking back that you wish you could have changed? And
Speaker 1: he said, uh, he said, Mike, if I could have
Speaker 1: worked on getting those guys to believe right away, we
Speaker 1: would have taken off a lot sooner than what it
Speaker 1: took us and I said, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: He said, you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to recruit good guys. I
Speaker 1: knew I was going to recruit hard working guys. I
Speaker 1: knew I had a plan to help us X and
Speaker 1: O wise to be in games and all that. But
Speaker 1: he said, we'd look up with three minutes to go
Speaker 1: in the game, and it's a one or two possession game,
Speaker 1: whether we're up or we're down, and there was just
Speaker 1: something that naturally kicked in for our guys, and then
Speaker 1: for our opponent. And for our guys it was like, oh, crap,
Speaker 1: are we supposed to win this game? So there was
Speaker 1: that doubt, and then for the other team, they were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the same area. Let's let's turn it on
Speaker 1: right now. Let's let's just kick their behind. And so
Speaker 1: when you faced that dynamic in a in a tight
Speaker 1: ball game, you know, the team that's supposed to lose
Speaker 1: is gonna lose ninety percent of the time. And that's
Speaker 1: how it was a Sacramento I mean, we obviously we
Speaker 1: played against sacrament that the years, you know, you go
Speaker 1: through the game, it's a close ball game and then
Speaker 1: you know, three to five minutes ago, even guys, you know,
Speaker 1: but the players on the team, and you take the
Speaker 1: time out and they say, okay, hey, let's turn it on. Now,
Speaker 1: let's turn it, let's let's let's check, let's kick it
Speaker 1: in gear, and let's take it to these guys and
Speaker 1: in this game and ro next thing, you know, they
Speaker 1: do it then going eight to two runs and you
Speaker 1: could feel and see the doubt and in the King's
Speaker 1: eyes and it's old. So for me hearing that, I
Speaker 1: thought that was that was big. I thought that was
Speaker 1: really really big. And so everything I did U and
Speaker 1: the way I talked to these guys, uh and for
Speaker 1: for for me, I had to make sure that it
Speaker 1: added value to the belief that we can get it done,
Speaker 1: not two years from now, not three years from now,
Speaker 1: but right now. And part of where I did that
Speaker 1: was every little success that we had along the way,
Speaker 1: even in the preseason, you know, you celebrated at the
Speaker 1: right way, like, Okay, see, I told y'all, if we
Speaker 1: do this or we do that, we're gonna go out
Speaker 1: there and kick ass, just like everybody else think they
Speaker 1: should go out there and kick ass. And this ain't
Speaker 1: no fluit because you guys have been working your tail
Speaker 1: off since the summertime, individually and collectively, and it's starting
Speaker 1: to show. So every little thing, every opportunity, we worked
Speaker 1: on the belief, and I truly think our guys have
Speaker 1: a true belief, not just from what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: think they truly believe that they should be competing for
Speaker 1: a championship like everybody else. Now will it happen, We'll see,
Speaker 1: But I do think that belief is there right now.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm exactly gonna surprise you here, but
Speaker 1: I mean, you've been around the block. You know how
Speaker 1: this works. If you guys are going to see the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the first round or the Warriors, it's not
Speaker 1: just gonna be Vegas. It will be no at alls
Speaker 1: like me who will say the Kings have never been here,
Speaker 1: the Warriors are favored, the Lakers are favored, whoever it is.
Speaker 1: How do you think your players will handle that noise it?
Speaker 1: They'll handle that, okay. But the reality of it is
Speaker 1: when we get in the mix, that's what I'm waiting.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm waiting to see, because you know, and
Speaker 1: I asked our guys that they watched Golden State play
Speaker 1: New Orleans last at a couple of nights ago. You know,
Speaker 1: a couple of guys raise their hands, and so I
Speaker 1: said what stood out, and one of the youngest guys
Speaker 1: on the team, Davion Mitchell, did not hesitate. He said
Speaker 1: the physicality of the game. And I said, you are
Speaker 1: one hundred percent correct. I said, for us to get
Speaker 1: from here to here during the regular season, yeah, that
Speaker 1: was pretty easy. Because if you're organized, if you compete,
Speaker 1: if you're healthy, relatively healthy, and you get a little lucky,
Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to be in the mix for a
Speaker 1: playoff spot or even a play in spot. It's hard
Speaker 1: as heck, I mean as hard as heck to go
Speaker 1: even from here to here, you know, especially in the postseason.
Speaker 1: And this is something they have an experience, and I said,
Speaker 1: a lot of it will stem from how physical the
Speaker 1: game's gonna be or on both ends for close to
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes. And if you're not ready for that physicality,
Speaker 1: and I'm not just talking physically, but mentally also, if
Speaker 1: you're not ready for that, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: short hour. And so I'm telling them the truth right now,
Speaker 1: and they will know if we whether we play go
Speaker 1: to State or anybody else, they will know that those
Speaker 1: teams are coming for our neck. And as soon as
Speaker 1: they see an ounce of doubt in our eyes, it's
Speaker 1: a rock. That's the one thing I'm gonna make sure
Speaker 1: our guys know is I don't care what's going on.
Speaker 1: We cannot give them a feeling of doubt from us.
Speaker 1: We got a ticket to a first, second, or third
Speaker 1: and third. Coach, I was hoping that somebody wanted the
Speaker 1: players when you asked them what stood out in that
Speaker 1: Warriors Pelicans game. I was hoping when the players said
Speaker 1: Chris Hayes stood out. I was. I was working to
Speaker 1: sidelines for that game. Coach. I was working to sidelines.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you see me, coach sign I
Speaker 1: signed you up. I saw you, hey, hey, when you
Speaker 1: when you were asking that you had Draymond lick Yeah, Raymond,
Speaker 1: he was looking at you not like this the whole
Speaker 1: time before you even got to question out. So I
Speaker 1: saw you. I coach t t BA, rats job, rats father.
Speaker 1: He texts me and dray bond at the same time.
Speaker 1: Put us in this text Charity. He texts the picture
Speaker 1: of me and him together, her talking and he said,
Speaker 1: these some ugly old twins right here. That's something a
Speaker 1: coach I wanted to pick kind of piggyback off the
Speaker 1: question Mark asked you about the playoffs. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you heard, but there's a shadow or narrative going
Speaker 1: on going on around the league about teams wanting to
Speaker 1: face the Kings, teams seeing teams seeing the vulnerability there.
Speaker 1: You know, I would guess if that is true, I
Speaker 1: would guess it is due to inexperience. What do you
Speaker 1: say to that? And have you addressed your team with
Speaker 1: that narrative or talking points? That are beings that are
Speaker 1: that are circulating about teams wanting to see the Kings
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. So I'm let's see. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I can find it. He got bullets and board
Speaker 1: material already. I know that last answer. I felt like
Speaker 1: I was in the locker room already. So this so
Speaker 1: our video coordinator guy named Charles Allum chuck album and
Speaker 1: this is what I said him. Right here, the Kings
Speaker 1: of the Mark, Kings are stuck in the three seed.
Speaker 1: That's where they're going to finish. The Kings of the Mark.
Speaker 1: All of these teams now weakness on the Kings, not
Speaker 1: only because they haven't been in the playoffs in seventeen years,
Speaker 1: but because they're not a good defensive team. And if
Speaker 1: you're the Warriors who was planning on a long playoff run,
Speaker 1: they love the idea of being able to drive in
Speaker 1: the first round series. That's an advantage. The Warriors want
Speaker 1: the six which is why coming back from twenty down
Speaker 1: last night was one of the biggest wins of the
Speaker 1: season to get in stay in that sixth seed. So
Speaker 1: we know what the dart and they know what the
Speaker 1: Darreti is too, and you know what, that's fine because
Speaker 1: we deserve because we haven't done anything yet and we're
Speaker 1: as good as we think we are. We'll change the name.
Speaker 1: That's how I look at I hope everybody could hear
Speaker 1: them when you held your phote up. It is the
Speaker 1: clip of Chris and my old colleague Brian Winhurst on
Speaker 1: ESPN earlier this week talking about how the Warriors were
Speaker 1: when they beat New Orleans. That was clutched because it
Speaker 1: kept them kept alive that three six matchup. But look,
Speaker 1: you know we're all know it alls on TV, and
Speaker 1: you know that I'm old enough to remember a time
Speaker 1: when Mike Brown worked for ESPN two, so he knows
Speaker 1: how those he knows how those TV shows work. Right.
Speaker 1: But you know, look, I mean speaking of no at alls,
Speaker 1: this happened before you were there, But I was certainly
Speaker 1: one of them. I was at the front of the line.
Speaker 1: I could not believe that the Kings traded Haliburton. I
Speaker 1: was stunned. I just couldn't believe that they would move him.
Speaker 1: But Sabonus and fox have been so good together. They
Speaker 1: have shut all of us up. They look like as
Speaker 1: good a duo is there is in the league. What
Speaker 1: what what were you picturing for them in the summer
Speaker 1: before you actually even had them on the practice? For
Speaker 1: the one thing? You know, it's interesting with Foxy, I
Speaker 1: thought he was a very very good player. The one
Speaker 1: area that I didn't know whether or not he could
Speaker 1: do is exactly what he's about to win, which is
Speaker 1: Clutch Player of the Year. I didn't know he would
Speaker 1: be able to close at the level he's closing now,
Speaker 1: and it's it's been phenomenal to be a part of
Speaker 1: and watching him during crunch times, watching how easy he does,
Speaker 1: it makes you think, Okay, not only is he an
Speaker 1: All Star, but he could be a great player. Someday
Speaker 1: he's on track to be that because again, being a
Speaker 1: great player and and you know, and I'm not just
Speaker 1: saying this because we're where we are and I have
Speaker 1: Foxing and donors, but sometimes I think people use that
Speaker 1: term real loose or loosely. If you want to be
Speaker 1: a great player, your team has to win too, you know.
Speaker 1: And because if you're on a losing team and you're
Speaker 1: putting up numbers, somebody got put up numbers on that team, Okay.
Speaker 1: But if you're putting up numbers and you're putting up
Speaker 1: numbers on a winning team and taking another level, you
Speaker 1: have the most points or buckets or how do you
Speaker 1: want to call it, in situations where it matters the
Speaker 1: most to win that game and your teams are winning
Speaker 1: team in your head and shoulders above above everybody else.
Speaker 1: And so to experience going through those types of moments
Speaker 1: with Foxing is something that you know, has been a
Speaker 1: pleasant surprise for me. Obviously, his speed was something that
Speaker 1: we wanted to bring to the table, and that's what
Speaker 1: we fall can still on a lot, not just trying
Speaker 1: to play fast, but also really trying to get our
Speaker 1: guys to understand, spacing doesn't just have to happen in
Speaker 1: the half court. Spacing can help your pace in the
Speaker 1: full court. And so we value our spacing and transition
Speaker 1: just as much as we value our spacing in our
Speaker 1: half court actions because we want Foxy to utilize that
Speaker 1: speed an attack before the defense is set. So that's
Speaker 1: one way that we decide that you know, that we
Speaker 1: thought about using with what we're trying to do, a
Speaker 1: way that we for domas Is is. You know, it
Speaker 1: was great because a lot of the spacing and stuff
Speaker 1: like that and our initial actions that we use in
Speaker 1: our early offense I implemented with the Nigerian team. Now
Speaker 1: not to this level because we didn't have the time,
Speaker 1: but again with the Nigerian national team, we felt we
Speaker 1: were gonna have a lot of athletes. One of our
Speaker 1: strengths would be able to get out and run and
Speaker 1: so we needed to be spaced and all that other
Speaker 1: stuff correctly in order for that to happen. And so
Speaker 1: with a lot of those actions that we use in
Speaker 1: our early offense, you can either play pick and roll,
Speaker 1: you can play hit and handback action, or you could
Speaker 1: play DHO action. And we introduced a lot of our
Speaker 1: stuff with this team using the DHO game because of
Speaker 1: Domus's ability to make great reads and help guys get
Speaker 1: great shots off of that DHO action, and most teams
Speaker 1: prepare just like the post of game. Pop told me
Speaker 1: that told us back in the day that you know,
Speaker 1: post of game is going to be extinct one of
Speaker 1: these days, because everybody knows how to double team the post,
Speaker 1: and you got the baseline and the sideline to a
Speaker 1: certain degree to be extra defenders. And so your rotations
Speaker 1: and all your schemes out of a post double team
Speaker 1: were a lot these. You know, then trying to double
Speaker 1: somebody on the perimeter, it's almost the same to certain
Speaker 1: degree as a pick and roll. Everybody's scheme a million
Speaker 1: different ways to stop picking the pick and roll, starting
Speaker 1: with the blitz. And so although Foxy and Thomas at
Speaker 1: the end of last year they were one of the
Speaker 1: top three pick and roll combinations in the league. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be reliant on that. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be reliant on the DHO game, to hit a handback game,
Speaker 1: the space game, the pace game, because come playoff time,
Speaker 1: I wanted teams to have to adjust to us and
Speaker 1: not be able to say Okay, if we're able to
Speaker 1: blow the take away their pick and roll action, we're
Speaker 1: going to stop these guys from scoring. And so trying
Speaker 1: to implement that DHO game because of some bonus's ability
Speaker 1: was a big factor for us in implementing what we
Speaker 1: did and started. Let let me add this real quick.
Speaker 1: For those that don't understand or know what DHO is,
Speaker 1: that's dribble handoffs dripple handoff offense. So wait and wait
Speaker 1: a minute on our show, people, everybody who's listening knows
Speaker 1: what that is. You would think, you would think sty
Speaker 1: But I just want I just want to make sure
Speaker 1: there's clarity out there, to make sure. I gotta say
Speaker 1: we are we are getting xs and those we're getting
Speaker 1: coaching philosophy. I think coaches who listen to this are
Speaker 1: really going to enjoy Mike Brown running the gamut here.
Speaker 1: Well that's what that's what did a coach it? You got.
Speaker 1: You gotta try to bring a little bit of everything
Speaker 1: to the table. And granted, I tell you what, I've
Speaker 1: had a lot of great, great, great staffs in the past.
Speaker 1: You know Quinn Snyder's work for me, Darmin ham Boy Pierce,
Speaker 1: Jamal Moses. I can go all and knowing. But the
Speaker 1: staff I have right now, I have a staff of
Speaker 1: future head coaches. They are really really good a lot
Speaker 1: of times, whether it's in practice or in the games.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really appreciative of the gather with right now.
Speaker 1: Again that's not a not to what I who I
Speaker 1: work with in the past, but I just want to
Speaker 1: give these guys a shout out because they're so coach
Speaker 1: you know, we'll let you out pretty soon. If I
Speaker 1: wanted to ask you about Vivette and he is someone
Speaker 1: who over the years, he's let it be known he
Speaker 1: has a little bit of a dis thing for the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. There's a little there's something brewing there.
Speaker 1: You know. He's always, you know, always trying to get
Speaker 1: out the Warriors and trying to see how can he
Speaker 1: take them down? And he definitely wants to be running
Speaker 1: the team who takes them down. So how was those
Speaker 1: conversations like with you? You know, he's plucking, plucking you
Speaker 1: away from that Warrior squad. That's that's doing something, you know,
Speaker 1: and and also the intail that you bring. So when
Speaker 1: when you when you're having those initial conversations with Vette,
Speaker 1: what is that like and and before you even get
Speaker 1: the job, are you telling too much? Like do you
Speaker 1: have to be careful what you say because you might
Speaker 1: be going back to the Warriors? Like how does that
Speaker 1: work for you? And you know, I'm pretty open about
Speaker 1: what I say a lot of times, even it comes
Speaker 1: to our stuff, as you guys can see right now,
Speaker 1: Because at the end of the day, if you want
Speaker 1: to be better than that other team or whatever you're hearing,
Speaker 1: you gotta go do whatever you do better than what
Speaker 1: they do. So sure, there's a huge step that still
Speaker 1: has to be taken to overtake other good teams out there.
Speaker 1: And so our conversations over he just wants to win,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, throughout the course of this year,
Speaker 1: getting to know him for me has been fantastic because
Speaker 1: he's extremely passionate about the team, the city. More importantly,
Speaker 1: he just wants to bring him winning product to the
Speaker 1: fans of Sacramento and the people that live in Sacramento.
Speaker 1: So it's been great. I couldn't ask for a better
Speaker 1: guy to work for. We have a really good relationship
Speaker 1: and you know, you hear a lot of things in
Speaker 1: the past about him, whether it's this or that, and
Speaker 1: I've had often but good times working for him. And
Speaker 1: on top of that, you know you want to owner
Speaker 1: put his money where his mouth is, and he but
Speaker 1: far has done everything that we've asked him to do
Speaker 1: this year, so I couldn't ask for anything more. Well, look, Mike,
Speaker 1: we greatly appreciate the time because we've kept you longer
Speaker 1: than we should have. Greatly appreciate the candor. I'm if
Speaker 1: Pop sees any of this interview, you might be getting
Speaker 1: a lecture about you're being far too open with the media,
Speaker 1: which we love. I don't know if he would approve this,
Speaker 1: but this is something I've always wanted to ask you.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I've never really had the chance to
Speaker 1: do it, or thought to do it when I saw
Speaker 1: you in person. But you went to Wartzburg High School
Speaker 1: in Germany. And for people who don't know, Wurtzburg pronounced
Speaker 1: properly the home of Dirk Davitski, the home of Maxi Kleiba.
Speaker 1: Should we be including you as one of the Wertzburg's
Speaker 1: famous NBA exports? This is the crazy about it. So
Speaker 1: the club out there's the first bird DJK Kickers. I
Speaker 1: actually played for them before Dirk Nabitski did when they
Speaker 1: were in the third division. Back, I know I did.
Speaker 1: I actually so I played Germans semi problems in high school.
Speaker 1: I played. I didn't get paid, but I played Germans
Speaker 1: in my pro ball and then I played American high
Speaker 1: school ball at the same time. And they were in
Speaker 1: the third division, so everybody on the club worked, you know,
Speaker 1: so they it was kind of like a part time
Speaker 1: thing for him. And I never forget the first game
Speaker 1: that I went to at halftime, half the team was
Speaker 1: smoking in the locker room, and I'm just like, what
Speaker 1: did I do? It was because they don't They didn't
Speaker 1: really get payed. It was more for fun and standing
Speaker 1: shape than anything else. And this was their part time job.
Speaker 1: So yes, I could. I can say that Dirt Naviiski
Speaker 1: and I both played professionally for the first But have
Speaker 1: you or Dirk ever talked about this? You know, I
Speaker 1: never not death, I just talked. I told him I
Speaker 1: was from Verse Bird a lot of I played for
Speaker 1: the DJ Kokers. That is impressive. That is you just
Speaker 1: you just scooped us because I did not know that.
Speaker 1: That's good. Uh Like, like I said, he should be
Speaker 1: not just coach of the Year. Get unanimous. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's there's nobody who's done more this year compared
Speaker 1: to what this organization is franchises faced over the last
Speaker 1: almost two decades. This man right here, what he's done
Speaker 1: has been unbelievable. So I know a lot of times
Speaker 1: people in the East Coast tend to sleep on, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the West Coast teams. But you gotta pay
Speaker 1: attention to what the Sacramental kings have done and really
Speaker 1: do your research. I'm gonna challenge my fellow peers to
Speaker 1: do their research when they're submitting those ballots. I know
Speaker 1: he's gonna get Coach of the Year, but I want
Speaker 1: to see you getting unanimous. It should definitely be unanimous
Speaker 1: first place. But can we can I get us shout
Speaker 1: out for Keathan Murray first Team All Rookie? Can I
Speaker 1: get a shout out for Domus and Bonus and and
Speaker 1: and Eric at the Aaron Foster All NBA. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're putting that some monster numbers on a winning team too.
Speaker 1: And now this is one might be a little bit
Speaker 1: of a love of shot that maybe my leak month,
Speaker 1: you know, for six Men of the Year, you know,
Speaker 1: and then I got to give a shout out to
Speaker 1: my man Minnie mcmair give him some love. But executive
Speaker 1: years love to rejectutive years. So let's let's let's get
Speaker 1: it popping now if we want, if we want to
Speaker 1: be real about it for the second Middle Pens, they're
Speaker 1: not the Kings. It's the Kings now that love it.
Speaker 1: Wishing you great success in the playoffs. Mike, Thanks to
Speaker 1: Mail for joining us. This was absolutely fantastic. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys happing. You'll take care, take care. Thank you. Well,
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it for this episod show up this
Speaker 1: League Uncut with my partner Mark Stein. That was Mike Brown,
Speaker 1: the head coach of the Sacramento teams who just clinsed
Speaker 1: a playoff birth for the first time in sixteen years.
Speaker 1: Mike is always good man, he's candidate. That's what we
Speaker 1: love about him. Hopefully that doesn't change. But you know,
Speaker 1: great heck of an interview. But we want to encourage
Speaker 1: everyone to like, subscribe, tell a friend, tell anybody about
Speaker 1: this pod. I think we got some good content in
Speaker 1: store for you, and we're gonna keep going. We're signing off.
Speaker 1: But this League Uncut, this is Chris Haynes, Mark Stein.
Speaker 1: See you next week and that'll do it for us.
Speaker 1: See you next time. This league uncutters and I heard
Speaker 1: radio production Chris Haynes and Mark Stein