Sacramento’s coaching cabinet starting to fill out
Mike Brown continues to stay busy while coaching in the Western Conference Finals. As reported by Marc Stein’s latest report on The Stein Line, the Sacramento Kings are expected to hire former Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Jay Triano to Brown’s staff.
With the hire of Triano, a recurring theme seems to be taking place in Sacramento.
In 1998, he became the head coach of the Canadian men’s National Basketball team. In 2000, Triano coached NBA legend Steve Nash in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. However, this would be his only Olympic Games as the head coach.
Like Brown and his assistant Jordi Fernandez, Triano has coached for a national team other than the United States. The NBA, though it has been very diverse for decades, has reached a point where many of the league’s best players are foreign-born. Players such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Joel Embiid, and Luka Dončić being the best of the bunch. All four of these players, perennial MVP candidates, are some of the league’s top-10 players.
Ex-Raptors, Suns and Canadian NT coach Jay Triano is expected to join Mike Brown’s new coaching staff in Sacramento, league sources say, after his stint in Charlotte.
Brown has lined up Denver’s Jordi Fernandez and Triano to join Kings holdover Doug Christie on his SAC bench.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 20, 2022
Stein also confirmed that Doug Christie would be back on Sacramento’s coaching staff next season. Stein had previously reported that keeping Christie on the team’s staff was a “priority” in their hiring process.
So far, the current coaching staff for the Kings consists of Brown, Fernandez, Doug Christie and now Triano. Collectively, they will be able to combine knowledge from the Nigerian and Canadian National teams as well as Christie’s experience as a high-level NBA player.
Sacramento is starting to fill out Mike Brown’s staff, and expect to hear a few more names added to this list in the coming days and weeks.