Kings GM Scott Perry says he met with Doug Christie, hopes to make coaching decision in ‘a week or so’

New Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry has talked to Doug Christie about their head coaching position, but plans to speak with other candidates, too. 

“I first met Doug Christie when he was a player in Toronto, so I admire him as a player, his career,” Perry told reporters during his introductory press conference on Wednesday. “I’ve watched him this year from afar. In terms of his ability to have a presence on the court, I think he’s made a connection with players. We’ve had a few conversations up to this point. He was one of the first people I met with yesterday when I got into town. I’ve only been here a little longer than 24 hours. But that said, my phone has incessantly rang for interest in this job. So I’m going to have a few more conversations in and around about this job, and hopefully I can come to some sort of resolution within the next week or so as far as having a decision or announcement to inform everybody of.”

Christie served as Sacramento’s interim coach after Mike Brown was fired in December. The Kings finished the regular season 40-42 and went 27-24 under their new coach, who played in Sacramento from 2000 to 2005 and joined the team’s coaching staff in 2021. After a Play-In loss against the Dallas Mavericks last week, Christie told reporters that he’d been given no assurance that the organization would remove his interim tag, but he would like to return. 

“This is where I want to be,” Christie said. “I think you guys know that. I need — I need to finish what I started, and that’s the only reason that I ever even stepped onto the sideline from where I was at initially.”

Perry said he’s looking for a coach “who is going to be committed to having a tough-minded, defensive-oriented team that shares the basketball, a team that’s disciplined, professional, accountable.” He offered no update on what the rest of the front office would look like, but said he will spend “almost a couple weeks” meeting with “every single person in the basketball operations department” to determine “who really fits us moving forward.”

The Kings have made the playoffs once since coach Rick Adelman’s departure in 2006. That was in 2023, under Brown, and they fired him less than two years later. Christie is the team’s 13th coach since Adelman. Perry, who spent three months with the organization in 2017, is just the latest lead executive to pledge to build something sustainable in Sacramento, which he did repeatedly on Wednesday.

Perry told reporters that he and team owner Vivek Ranadivé “have a shared vision” and have maintained a relationship since his brief stint with the front office eight years ago. The Kings fired general manager Monte McNair almost immediately after the loss against Dallas, and the Perry hiring broke the next morning. Asked when exactly this came together, Perry said: “Once the decision was made by the Kings organization to move forward and make a change with that position, things can come together quickly then because both sides know one another.”

Sacramento finished the regular season with a defense that ranked 22nd in the league. Its four highest-paid players — Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk — are all offense-first, and, in their end-of-season media availabilities, Sabonis and DeRozan both expressed uncertainty about where the team was going. Perry did not say whether the front office is more likely to make tweaks to the roster or overhaul it entirely.

“I’m going to be opportunistic and prudent in doing this,” Perry said Wednesday. “I’m learning all the players, just like they’re getting to learn me, and I’m going to spend a lot of time with a number of them this summer to make sure that we’re equally aligned about where we’re headed because I’m going to be steadfast in our resolve in getting to where we need to get.”

Perry said that Ranadivé had not given him a mandate to make the playoffs next season, only to create an environment that will lead to sustained success. He added, though, that he is “wired to win,” implying that a total teardown is unlikely.

“We’ll see what unfolds over the next coming months,” Perry said, “but I’m going to do my very best to enhance what’s here right now and see where it takes us.”

Perry said he’d talked to every player currently on the roster. There is “an obvious need” for a “true point guard,” he said, adding that “we need to add more length and athleticism to this group to enhance some of the talent that’s here.” He also repeatedly stressed the need for accountability.

“I want to buy each player a mirror because, at first, we’re going to look at ourselves,” Perry said. “And that starts with me each and every day. And so there’s going to be an accountability first and foremost: ‘Am I doing everything as an individual to make this team successful?’ And then, whoever we have in here to coach, it’s going to be their job — and I’m going to be behind the scenes helping — to make sure that they can maximize what they can do on the court.”

That mirror will reflect a history with one of those players. In 2023, Perry said that LaVine “has not impacted winning” as much as his contract suggests he should. Asked about this on Wednesday, he said, “Anything I say, I’m not worried about it haunting me.” Perry said he’s known LaVine since scouting him as a draft prospect and had a “good conversation” with him recently.

“My job now [is] to help put pieces around him and others to enhance his ability to start winning,” Perry said. “And that is what you’re getting with the comment I made because it was a reflection on him not having won as much. It’s nothing personal with me.”