Can Tyrone Corbin Survive As Sacramento Kings Head Coach?

Most of us have heard the popular Utah Jazz twitterism from Tyrone Corbin‘s last season as head coach of the Jazz “Corbins gotta Corb”.

Now down to business. Ty Corbin is now

an assistant

the head coach for the Sacramento Kings so let’s review the why the Jazz decided to move on from “Coach Ty” and hired “Coach Sny,” Quin Snyder.

Recently, former Utah Jazz head coach and long time Jerry Sloan assistant Ty Corbin got his first win as head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

As several sources reported, Corbin was a shocked as anyone that Mike Malone was fired.  He, like Sloan is always supportive of people he works with.  Head coaches just don’t supplant jobs from other coaches.  Unless those coaches are Jason Kidd.  And who knows, maybe the Milwaukee Bucks reached out to him and were already going to fire (blank).

So what does Ty being a head coach elsewhere mean to current Jazz fans? In part, it means we get to see if part of Corbin’s issue was him surrounding himself with the wrong people. The personnel in Sacramento might not be known as the best in the NBA but they’re not Sidney Lowe and Co.

This stint as coach could tell us what Corbin learned in his time as a head coach in Utah. I can’t help but be excited by the renaissance that was going on in Sacramento before the DeMarcus Cousins “Boogie” illness.

As many of us witnessed the pitfalls of the Jazz offense under Corbin one has to wonder how he will be able to push the pace in Sacramento. Many well respected writers in the league (Such as Matt Moore with CBS) don’t think Sacramento has the personnel to play a faster style of ball.

Sacramento shares a few characteristics with Corbin’s former  Jazz team:

The Kings do not boast a loaded bench. While Nick Stakaus may develop into a nice shooter so far he’s not hitting three’s at an NBA level yet (anything below 30 percent is terrible).

Sacramento could also benefit from having at least one more outside shooter hitting at or above league average. Thus far we have Ben McLemore, Rudy Gay, and for argument’s sake Derrick Williams hitting three’s at an acceptable level.

Isn’t BasketballReference.com the best?

So, with the possibility of Stakaus emerging as a three point threat, what other kind of bench depth do the Kings need to compete in a loaded Western Conference?

Ramon Sessions is a veteran player doing veteran things.  He helped the Kings beat their hated foe from down south just this week: those infamous Los Angeles Lakers who cost them a shot at the Finals those many years ago.  Wait, it wasn’t these Lakers (Shaq Kobe Fisher pic) it was these Lakers (boozer kobe nick young)

So apparently Zach Harper, Matt Moore and Woj thought Ty couldn’t pick up the pace (Oregon Trailblazers! wait what?). But since Mike Malone’s departure the Kings have actually moved up a couple spots on the pace rankings.  As our own Managing Editor, Clint Peterson, noted recently:

"“Corbin is charged with a task he was unable to perform in Utah: playing with pace. The Kings are playing the 18th-fastest paced offense in the NBA this season, 92.9 possessions per 100 possessions, slightly below the league average 93.5.Last season the Jazz, under Corbin, averaged 91.4 possessions. In 2014-15, under new head coach Quin Snyder, Utah is averaging 90.5 possessions per 100.”"

But wait Sacramento is now 16th instead of 18th? What the Woj just happened?!?

Ed note: The Sacramento Kings have moved up to above the league average pace since Ty Corbin took over as head coach

So it’s a given Jazz that teams under Corbin played slow. Very slow. To the tune of  90.9 possessions per 100 possessions in 2012-13 and 91.4 in 2013-14 as Clint mentioned.

To give that some perspective the Spurs who are known for playing on the slower side are around league average which is around 93.4 per 100.  It seems this increase in pace from three games can be attributed to the Golden State Warriors to a certain extent, but one game doesn’t account for a 0.5 increase.  It would appear Ty is attempting to push the pace a bit.

It helps when he has confidence his guys will play defense, which the Kings are decent at. A 107.4 defensive rating for the Kings is way better than the 112.5 of the Jazz thus far.  Sadly only the Lakers have a worse defensive rating than the Jazz, according to BasketballReference.com.

The Jazz have won three of their last five, whereas the Kings have only won one of their last five.  Memories of the Kings’ hot start are fading fast and the Jazz appear to have figured a few things out.

I don’t particularly support the notion that the respective records of the Kings and Jazz at the end of the year should define Quinn Snyder or Tyrone Corbin, but the comparisons will be made no matter how erroneous them may appear.

I was among many who was not a fan of Ty’s coaching his final year.  I had to come to realization on my own that the team wasn’t as good as I thought it was.

All in all just remember… Jack talks Ty very well Mr. Focker!