SACRAMENTO - The Sacramento Kings are searching high and low. They are leaving no stone unturned in their search for a new head coach, although they may not have to look far to find a prime coaching candidate.
Former Warriors frontman Mark Jackson is on the Kings’ long list of potential suitors for the job, as is current Golden State assistant coach Luke Walton.
There’s no telling if either are truly interested in the job, but like so many others, they are expected to at least have a listen.
[RELATED: Report: Rockets receive permission to interview Walton]
As part of our continuing series on the Kings’ coaching search, we take a look at both Jackson and Walton with the aid of one of the reporters that know them best. CSN Bay Area's Monte Poole has spent plenty of years covering the Warriors, giving him a unique perspective on the duo.
Jackson spent three seasons running the Warriors from 2011-2014. He finished his time in Golden State with a 121-109 record with the club, including a 51-win campaign in his final year with the club. Jackson led his team to the playoffs twice in three seasons, finishing with a 9-10 record in the postseason.
“I’d say he was a good coach,” Poole said of Jackson. “He was what the Warriors needed at the time that they hired him.”
Jackson brought a huge brand name from both his time as a player and as a analyst for ESPN. Joe Lacob, the Warriors new owner at the time of Jackson’s hiring was looking to make a splash and the opinionated former point guard fit the bill.
“He did a great job of sort of circling the wagons,” Poole said. “It was him and his players and everybody else was over there. ‘Me and my players over here and you’re over there.’ It created kind of an us against them mentality.”
Jackson’s inability to fit within the hierarchical society of the NBA proved to be his undoing. If you can’t play nice with ownership and management, they eventually look for someone who will.
“I think he’s learned something from what happened there,” Poole added. “If he wants to coach again, and I’m pretty sure he does, I think he’ll be a better for it.”
It’s hard to question the decision. Steve Kerr took over the team and rattled off a 67-15 record in year one and capped off the season with an NBA Championship. Despite missing the first half of the season this year, Kerr is credited with the Warriors NBA record-setting 73-9 record and Golden State is the odds on favorite to win their second straight ring.
Hidden within that 73-9 record is a 43-game stretch where Walton coached the team while Kerr rested his ailing back. The son of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton, Luke led the Warriors to an incredible 39-4 record, including a 24 game win streak to begin the 2015-16 season.
Walton’s stock couldn’t be higher. In just his second season as an assistant coach in the league, the 36-year-old could easily have the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks job if he wanted to pick up the phone. He still might.
[RELATED: Kerr: Lakers 'perfectly welcome' to talk to Walton about job]
“He’s willing to learn from other people,” Poole said of Walton. “He played for Phil Jackson, he learned from Steve Kerr, he learns from Ron Adams, he learns from Jarron Collins - he learns from all of the guys around him.”
Walton might be a great coaching hire for the Kings, but whether he has any interest in the job is a completely different question. During his 10-year playing career, Walton played for just two teams - the Lakers and the Cavs. And according to Poole, he is a west coast, warm weather guy.
“I guess that gives Sacramento a little bit of a chance, but the other thing that Luke has learned with the Warriors is that it’s so important what you have above the coach - the general manager, the ownership structure, the front office.”
Vlade Divac was a teammate of Walton’s in L.A., but whether he would bank on his friend as a top tier front office exec is unknown.
With Kerr’s history of back ailments, it might behoove Walton to wait one more year before entering the free agency market. The best job in the NBA is the one that he auditioned for to start the season. He’s the next man in line if Kerr decides the rigors of an 82 game schedule are no longer conducive to his lifestyle.
The list of candidates continues to grow in Sacramento. Both Jackson and Walton will have a conversation with Divac, but it might end there.
