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As the Sacramento Kings continued to struggle, Mike Brown became increasingly stern in his postgame news conferences. Those messages Brown was sending through the media began to wear on some players and played a part in the decision to fire him, sources tell The Athletic.

Brown's final postgame press conference was largely directed at De'Aaron Fox and came a few days after his future with the franchise came into question.

Reporters spotted Brown speaking with Fox for an extended discussion after Friday's practice, which game approximately 90 minutes before he was fired by the Kings.

“When you go through adverse times, you know who was truly there for you,” Brown said in his final media session as Kings head coach. “People will jump off the bandwagon quick. The support, wherever it may come from, it may not always be there. But that’s part of what I have to deal with, not just from myself but holding everyone together. I’m OK with anybody criticizing me. I get paid to handle that. I get paid to get us through this. But whether it’s anyone that’s close — staff, players, friends, family — you’ll be able to tell who jumped off when we had some trying times. You always remember that as you go forward because you know who is truly in the foxhole with you and who is not. But at the end of the day, you best believe I’m going to handle all the smoke no matter where that smoke comes from. That’s what I’m paid to do.”

Via Sam Amick, Anthony Slater/The Athletic

The players today are weak. It was common 20 years ago for coaches to publicly challenge or criticize their players. Phil Jackson and Pat Riley did it all the time. Now these players just want Nannies who take care of babies.

These players are something else.

elmdawgg69 wrote:The players today are weak. It was common 20 years ago for coaches to publicly challenge or criticize their players. Phil Jackson and Pat Riley did it all the time. Now these players just want Nannies who take care of babies.

Brian Hill says hello!

TBF, this reads super cereal (serious).

Perhaps a bit too intense.

Enough to be fired over? Um no?

Kent wrote:TBF, this reads super cereal (serious).

Perhaps a bit too intense.

Enough to be fired over? Um no?

I just watched Mike Brown's final interview as Kings coach when he said those words and I understand the context better.

It's wild how accurate what he said is as it relates the situation.

I wouldn't have fired him, that's for sure.

(Edit: initially misspelled "coach")

elmdawgg69 wrote:The players today are weak. It was common 20 years ago for coaches to publicly challenge or criticize their players. Phil Jackson and Pat Riley did it all the time. Now these players just want Nannies who take care of babies.

I think Riley did it again a couple of days ago. But as the headline states, this was just part of the reason. The other part is that he just isn't a great coach. He's the kind of coach you hire when you want a good coach with a winning track record but no great coaches are interested.

The kings are a joke, there is no possible positive pr from this story.

Example time: I'm very sure there are other coaches out there who are way worse on players but they win & there players who would play for those certain teams with those type of coaches.