At some point in every little boy's life, there is the moment where you imagine you are James Bond or Jason Bourne and jetting around the world fighting bad guys and solving the world's problems through cloak and dagger or with the debonaire and brovado of an international man of mystery.
Those dreams usually end pretty quickly when reality sets in and the dream dies.
Michael Malone had that dream. And he was very close to purusing. The Kings might be thankful he did not.
Introducing himself a bit more to the Sacramento community in an interview with The Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voison, Malone said he was at a divergent path of becoming a state trooper in Michigan or becoming a coach. The coaching well was pretty dry until the last moment.
OK, but you come from a New York family of coaches and cops. I heard you were conflicted. Didn't you originally want to be a secret agent?
I always wanted to coach, but after I graduated (from Loyola in Maryland), I couldn't get a coaching job. I was a volunteer assistant, living at home, working at Foot Locker, cleaning office buildings at 1 o'clock in the morning. I was thinking, "What am I doing? This isn't part of the plan." I figured I'd become a state trooper with hopes of becoming a secret agent.
But it's like Yogi Berra says, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." I was just days from going to the academy to become a state trooper in Michigan, pulling people over, maybe getting shot, and all of a sudden, I get a call from Providence coach Pete Gillen. The next thing you know, I'm coaching in the Big East.
It is amazing how things turn that quickly. Maybe Malone actually is a secret agent. We are not supposed to know that, right?
Malone has been an NBA lifer. He has spent the last few seasons as an assistant with the Warriors and has been an assistant all over the NBA throughout his career. Malone has been a favorite to get into the lead chair for some time. He will get his chance to remake the Kings.
Also in the interview, Malone discusses his relationship with Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and what his emotions were from across the bay in Oakland following the Kings arena/ownership saga. He also talked about his plans for rebuilding the Kings and how long it will take for the Kings to get back to a raucous arena.
That is, after he gets his vodka martini shaken and not stirred.
