Rookie Keegan Murray has breakout game in Kings win over OKC

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You coach them all the same. You coach them all differently.

These seem like contradictory statements, but in the coaching world, they really aren’t. You have a standard set of rules that everyone must live under. Those rules include basic principles of offense and defense, standards of conduct, rules regarding culture and some general expectations for the group.

On top of this, there are individual expectations and those range from one player to the next. How a coach chooses to address each of these players varies as well, which may be the toughest job for the Kings’ head coach Mike Brown as he attempts to build a winning culture, while actually winning games.

Brown has been a bundle of positive energy since taking the job in Sacramento over the summer. His disposition on most days lightens the room and he’s become a walking meme during his media scrums.

Maybe that was why it was so jarring when Brown fed rookie Keegan Murray through a wood chipper back on Jan. 7 following a narrow loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Keegan Murray plays 30 minutes and has zero rebounds,” Brown said after the 136-134 defeat. “Harrison Barnes, he’s got a load of a guy that he’s guarding, LeBron, and LeBron is out on the perimeter, so it’s a little tougher for him to get defensive rebounds, but we've got to get something from Keegan and we can’t have him on the floor for 30 minutes and get zero rebounds, especially down the stretch of a tough ball game.”

Murray took it in stride at the time. He takes everything in stride, or at least that is what he makes you believe with his emotionless responses.

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