Kings lose patience, fire Theus

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Barely two months ago, as he was about to return to the city he called home during his college days, Reggie Theus talked about the task at hand.

"We've got a ways to go, but the future is very bright," Theus told the Las Vegas Review-Journal as he prepared his young Sacramento Kings for an NBA exhibition against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Thomas & Mack Center.

That future won't include Theus, the former UNLV star guard who helped the Rebels to their first Final Four berth. The Kings fired Theus on Monday, 106 games into his tenure as coach.

Sacramento began the season 6-18 and had lost 10 of its last 11 games to fall into the Pacific Division cellar, with only a win over the Lakers in the last 31/2 weeks. Theus' final game was a 24-point home loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday, the Kings' ninth in 10 games at Arco Arena.

Theus, hired in June 2007, leaves with a 44-62 record. He was 38-44 in his first season.

"It was a great experience, and I just wish I could have seen it through," Theus told KHTK-AM, the Kings' flagship radio station, on Monday. "For it to have been better, a lot of things would have had to have been different. ... I think we were entertaining. Good and bad, when people came to games, it was fun."

Sacramento promoted assistant Kenny Natt to interim coach, the fourth coach in less than three years for the Kings. Assistant coach Chuck Person also was fired.

"When you look at the overall level of performance that we've experienced this year, it's just not where we want to be," said Geoff Petrie, the Kings' top basketball executive. "Sometimes you just need to try a different voice if you want to try and change things. It's not about just any one game."

Theus said he was grateful for the opportunity to coach in the NBA for the first time and confident he did what he was hired to do: develop young players, implement a system and promote team harmony.

He avoided looking back in disappointment or anger, noting that injuries were part of the team's struggles. Kevin Martin, the team's star guard, has missed all but nine games because of an ankle injury.

"It's like arguing with the referee after he calls the foul," Theus told the Sacramento Bee as he avoided second-guessing his fate. "There's no point in going through everything. It doesn't matter. I can see it one way, but they obviously are seeing it differently. Given the injuries to Kevin and Cisco (Garcia), I thought we did a pretty good job.

"Taking over a team that was struggling in the first place, we knew it was a daunting challenge. But when I look in the mirror, I think we did the best we could. I'm just sad I won't be here to see it through. They've got good young players. They've got money (salary-cap relief) coming."

Martin's left ankle injury and Sacramento's unimpressive roster weren't excuses for owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, who have publicly voiced their displeasure with their franchise's direction in recent weeks.

Theus, the sharp-dressed former athlete who dabbled in acting and broadcasting before becoming a coach, seemed an ideal coach for the showbiz-loving Maloofs, and he did better than many expected in his rookie year. But this year's slow start convinced the impatient Maloofs to change direction again.

Theus played at UNLV from 1975 to 1978, helping the Rebels to the 1977 Final Four, and was taken with the ninth pick of the 1978 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. He played 13 years in the league.

He said he expects to coach again, either in the NBA or in college, where his coaching career began. Sacramento hired him away from New Mexico State, where he went 41-23 in two seasons.