De’Aaron Fox Credits Coach Mike Brown With Kings Recent Success

The Sacramento Kings undoubtedly turned a new stone during the 2022-23 NBA season, breaking a 16-year playoff drought in dominant fashion as they recorded the most efficient offense in NBA history. While the Kings had significantly more talent than in previous years, the progression ultimately came down to how Kings head coach Mike Brown was able to change the culture of the team on their way to the third seed in the West.

As a six-year NBA veteran solely with Sacramento, Kings G De'Aaron Fox knows better than anyone how much of an impact Brown has had on the team - and he got into the importance of a great head coach in a recent episode of the Deuce & Mo podcast.

Fox had the following to say about how important coaches are when asked if he easily bought into Mike Brown's style:

"My whole life I played for coaches that would get on you [for almost] every little thing. Like playing for [John Calipari], Cal will break you if you can't take it... When he would yell at you, he wants to see the fire. Like he don't want you to put your head down. He's to a point testing you.... and we loved that about Cal.... So whenever we got Mike and that's the way he was from the first day of training camp, I'm like 'okay this is going to be different.' And obviously, the talent was a lot better in the arena, but I don't know if we do that without Mike... Even with the same team."

And it was indisputably different. Brown shifted the Kings' culture from lifeless to starry-eyed and found ways to connect the players on a deeper level than previous head coaches failed to do. The Kings celebrated all 48 of their wins with a lit beam shooting through Golden 1 Center, and Brown made every member of the organization - from owner Vivek Ranadivé to players fighting for minutes - sign an "All-In" contract to be committed to the team and asking them to embrace adversity.

Brown instilled confidence and an entirely new mindset into every player. In one year, it resulted in a Pacific Division championship and a nail-biting seven-game series against the then-current NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Brown set the groundwork last season; from here on out, the only way is up.

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