Petrie on Westphal
June 10, 2009 by Andrew Nicholson
A day after the Sacramento Kings announced they had reached an agreement in principle with Paul Westphal on becoming the team’s head coach, President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie discussed the qualifications and attributes of the former NBA star and experienced head coach.
On how nice it is to have an agreement in principle with Paul Westphal prior to the Draft:
“It’s very good because, obviously, we want our coach to be involved in the Draft, a chance to get up to speed, not just with our potential in the Draft but our roster for summer league, hiring his own staff and, at this point, the sooner we can start to implement all that, it’s a very positive thing.”
On the amount of influence the new head coach will have on the Draft decisions:
“He’ll certainly (have an influence), to the extent he can get up to speed. His opinions will be appreciated and we’ll be able to flood him with a lot of information about players in the Draft and where we are in our evaluations. I’m sure he has some of his own already just from following the game but that then has to blend in with where you are with your roster, and we’ve had some short discussions about that to a certain extent, but it’s still something you need to get in-depth with and have him be part of that process.”
On feeling like he has agreed in principle with the right candidate:
“Paul and I talked last night, and I’m just really looking forward to working with him. He’s a very, very bright coach. Like I say, his enthusiasm for the job and knowing that we’re still in the midst of rebuilding and trying to incorporate some more young players into an already fairly young team, it’s going to be great to get some of his ideas and work with him on what you’re going to need, to not only mold the team but whatever adjustments you might need to make on the roster as we go forward.”
On the team’s lone offer for the head coaching position:
“The way we approached this hiring was that we had a compensation structure that was basically a pre-qualifying type of commitment that was going to be needed. So all the people we talked to were either told ahead of time or immediately after their interview what this structure was. In order to have a chance to be offered the job, there needed to be some acknowledgement that structure would be acceptable, which is not unlike a lot of jobs that just put it out there. So the job could not have been offered to somebody who had not said that structure was acceptable. So the only person who was offered this job was Paul Westphal. That’s the bottom line.”
On comparison of Westphal and former Kings head coach Rick Adelman:
“I obviously know Rick a lot better. I’ve known him pretty closely for the better part of 40 years. I think they both have very creative basketball minds about how to use players and get the most out of a combination of players they have. I think the working relationship will be very similar and we’re going to do everything we can to make him feel comfortable and work with him to do the best job we all can do.”
On what stood out about Westphal during his interview:
“That he is still very current with the game. He really had control of the room, I thought, in the interview with Joe, Gavin and I, and did a great job. I thought he was very candid and very forthcoming about his experiences going back to Phoenix, Seattle and why he went to Pepperdine. And the great thing about that to me is, as you talk to other people that were involved in those situations, they have the same information coming back. That always speaks well of somebody.”
On Westphal’s coaching style:
“I think it’s a little early to get that definitive. I think his style of play, traditionally, has been a fairly up-tempo style of play. But, how he goes about implementing that and what that structure looks like on the court, that’s something that will evolve over the course of the summer, I would think, with some experimentation in summer league, because we should have five or six of our young players playing and on into fall camp.”
On Westphal’s ability to teach the game:
“I think he’s committed to teaching. I think he’ll hire a staff that will also embrace that. I think our job right now, I’ve said this before, it’s not just a coaching job, it’s (also) a teaching job. It’s going to be a year of getting up off the mat, some organization, some structure and some development that helps us win more games and gives us a better chance to win more games going forward.”
On characteristics of coaches who are successful developing NBA players:
“I think breaking down fundamental things. It’s not necessarily what you want somebody to do, it’s the how and the why and all the little things that allow it to happen, whether that’s an individual skill or whether that’s part of your team concept in a five-man play. It’s something that’s beyond, ‘You go here, you go here and you do this and you do that.’ It’s the how, the why and what tools you need to make that happen.”
On if he knows who the assistant coaches will be:
“I really don’t. There hasn’t been any real discussion about that.”
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