FanHouse Reggie Theus

It's June, a.k.a., a terrible time to find a quality basketball coach. But that will be USC's task after Tim Floyd's sudden resignation Tuesday amid a slew of allegations regarding the recruiting of star guard O.J. Mayo. Athletic director Mike Garrett (right) is used to hiring coaches on the fly. He fired Henry Bibby just four games into the 2004-2005 season, tabbed Jim Saia as interim coach for the season and then nabbed Floyd.

Garrett has time before having to go the interim route and there are some qualified coaches who either are unemployed or at mid-majors and would likely leave their schools and incoming recruiting classes for a job at a major school in a major conference. The USC athletic director has a history for going after tough gets and succeeding, but the question is whether the Trojans basketball program will be severely punished for the Mayo situation? Floyd was accused by former Mayo associate Louis Johnson of giving $1,000 to Rodney Guillory, an alleged street agent representing Mayo.

They came into the league just one year apart, both directly from high school as No. 1 picks in the NBA draft, two vastly different, wonderfully-talented players expected to turn very bad teams into very good ones.

The Cleveland Cavaliers picked forward LeBron James in 2003. The Orlando Magic took center Dwight Howard in 2004. Each now is on the cusp of taking his team to the NBA Finals with a chance to win the first championship in franchise history.

Former Sacramento Kings and New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus told the Arizona Republic that he would be interested in the Arizona job.

That makes sense. Theus is an unemployed coach and Arizona is a soon-to-be-available high profile job. And there's no word if the reporter asked any other hard-hitting follow up questions such as, "Do you find Halle Berry attractive?"

So this news isn't surprising. What is surprising is if you read some of the comments on the story, a lot of the Arizona fans would be against the move. Instead of embracing Theus, they are making some Hang Time jokes that were funny about three years ago. (When I was doing them.) Now, I understand that Arizona fans probably don't follow the WAC or New Mexico State closely, but scoffing at Theus does not speak well of your basketball I.Q.

Let's be perfectly blunt here. Arizona would be lucky to get Theus. Mark Few is not walking in that door. John Calipari is not walking in that door. Arizona's athletic director has high hopes for a big-name coach. Theus would end up being the best possible candidate that they could get. If Theus could quickly turn around New Mexico State's program, he would certainly do a great job in Tucson. Arizona fans need a reality check. I know we're looking at a small sample size, but some of those mouth breathers should stay away from the computer.

However, I still figure that Oregon would be a better option for Theus. And Arizona is going to end up being bitterly disappointed with the coach that they end up with.

A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Knicks faced the Suns on December 15th.

There was a piece on TrueHoop yesterday that took a look at each of the final games that led to the firings of six NBA head coaches this season. The New York Knicks ended up killing a coach in two of the six "sendoff games," which is something that Mike D'Antoni found to be a bit insulting.

When asked about the slew of early-season firings (and the one that involved Reggie Theus most recently), D'Antoni pretended to be insulted that coaches were losing their jobs after losing to his Knicks.

"I want to say something, and I hate that for Reggie, there's no doubt about it," D'Antoni said. "But just because the Knicks beat somebody they have to fire the coach the next day? That's the second one! I mean, come on! We're not that bad. You guys are spreading some rumors, 'well if the Knicks beat 'em, then we gotta do something.' "

Obviously D'Antoni was joking around here, but there's at least a little something to it. Even though he and his current roster of players may be giving it all they've got, the fact is that the team traded their best players away for an empty roster spot in the form of Cuttino Mobley, along with some lesser talent. It's perceived by many around the league that the Knicks are mailing it in until 2010, and perception is reality -- especially when we're talking about head coaching jobs in the NBA.

Deposed Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus isn't going to be unemployed for very long. He's just too good of a coach to be thrown by the wayside. And while another run in the NBA isn't out of the question, Theus should seriously consider returning to college basketball where he achieved some success turning around New Mexico State's basketball program.

But where would be the best fit for Reggie?

New Mexico State would certainly welcome him back. The Aggies are 4-4 under Theus' successor Marvin Menzies. But somehow, I don't believe that Theus will be going back to Las Cruces. UNLV has long been Theus' dream job, but Lon Kruger isn't going anywhere.

Reggie's best bet might be in the Pac-10.

This is just getting ridiculous: the Kings fired Reggie Theus this morning, becoming the sixth NBA team this season to replace their head coach. According to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee, assistant coach Chuck Person will join Theus in the unemployment line, while assistant coach Kenny Natt will take over as interim head coach.

Theus' departure is hardly a surprise -- the Kings have dropped 10 of 11 games and have a dismal 6-18 record on the season. And as Tom Ziller pointed out over the weekend, getting blown out by the Knicks erased whatever goodwill Theus earned by upsetting the Lakers last week.

Natt lacks head coaching experience but certainly has an impressive resume. He joined the Kings last season after spending nine years working under Jerry Sloan in Utah and three under Mike Brown in Cleveland. All in all, he's spent 28 years preparing for this opportunity: after his NBA playing career ended after 49 games, he bounced around Europe and the minor leagues before doing everything from scouting, coaching and working in the front office.

That said, Natt might just be keeping the spot warm for Eddie Jordan, who was recently fired by the Wizards but rumored to be a favorite to take over in Philly and Sacramento. Stay tuned.

Apparently Reggie Theus will be getting a chance to reprise his role as a television coach, though sadly it'll be less "teen comedy" and more "reality TV." The Maloof family has partnered with producer Mark Burnett of Survivor and The Apprentice fame to develop a reality show called Rebuilding the Kingdom, which, as the title suggests, will follow the team from their current state (hopefully) back to prominence.

Apparently the show will focus more on the front office and the business side of the team than the coaches and players, which makes me wonder if this is simply an orchestrated attempt by the Maloofs to get more camera time. Besides, the players are the only people that fans care about -- I'd rather see behind-the-scenes footage of Kevin Martin rolling his eyes at Theus in practice than watch Geoff Petrie having lunch at his desk while sitting through a conference call on arena negotiations.

But maybe that's just me.

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A season ago, the Pacific Division was able to send just two of its teams to the playoffs, but one of them went all the way to the Finals. And while that's not likely to change this season -- at least the part about the two playoff teams -- each club definitely has its share of intriguing story lines.

Let's start off in Los Angeles, where the Lakers' playoff run last season took place with one of the team's key components on the sidelines. There are always many stories in Laker-land, but a lot of the team's fans seem to be most interested in this one: With the return of Andrew Bynum, do the Lakers have a shot to win 70 games?

Despite the recent flood of positive Andrew Bynum stories hitting the L.A. papers lately (seriously, his P.R. machine is working overtime), I'm not convinced that his addition to the lineup automatically makes the Lakers unstoppable. There's the whole thing about figuring out how to co-exist with Pau Gasol, and how Lamar Odom will perform (likely) playing further away from the basket. When you add in the fact that even if the team was capable of winning 70 games, there's really no motivation to do so, unless someone else is on the same ridiculous pace and it would mean home court advantage.

It's Friday, so you know what that means? It's time for the "NBA coach hunting big game" video of the week! Here's Reggie Theus and friends hunting elk in New Mexico. (via Sam Amick)



If you want to make any sense of what you just watched you'll have to read Shari Vialpando's story for the La Cruces Sun-News, which, to be perfectly honest, often reads like some kind of grotesque fan fiction:

Reggie blasted an arrow into the top of the animal's shoulder. The bull flipped onto its back kicking all four of his legs after being blasted by 90 foot-pounds of kinetic energy from 30 yards away.

Reggie let out a loud scream that jolted the bull, who quickly flipped himself over and ran in the opposite direction.

"I've never seen an elk flip over like that," Reggie said.

"Hurry Reggie, draw again," Joe whispered firmly.

Somewhere, someplace, Brad Miller is smiling.

A difficult season for the Kings took one step closer to unbearable following the news that Ron Artest, a critical contributor on both sides of the ball, could miss the next month following elbow surgery. He had surgery to remove five bone chips from his right elbow on Wednesday. From the Sacramento Bee:

"I know Ron's a tough guy, but if something was bothering him that bad to want to get it fixed, then it was serious," Theus said. "Ron is someone who is very capable of playing through pain, so it obviously was something significant.

"I just wish he could have waited a couple weeks. Let me at least get one of my guys back. You can go an entire career and not have three starters out at the same time."

Is it me or can you sense the desperation in Reggie Theus' words? For a first-year coach trying to make a good impression, he's been dealt perhaps the worst hand imaginable with Artest, Kevin Martin and Mike Bibby all missing a significant amount of time at the same time. Fortunately for Kings' fans (and Theus' hairline) Martin's return is right around the corner -- next week, in fact, if all goes to plan.

But still, so much for getting David Lee ...