I'd rather have a multiple option poll, rather than being forced to pick one. I'd say the following:
1- Malone did not deserve to be fired. The starting 5 played great, Ben has come a HUGE way since last year, Gay is playing efficient, and Thompson is gelling.
2- Malone has showed a lot of weakness. Where he deserves credit for the starting 5 playing well, we deserves blame for mismanaging the bench, both in blowing winnable games with a healthy roster as well as going on an extended losing streak against the worst teams in the league. Where he deserves credit for great team defense, he deserves blame being unable to find a way to limit Boogie's fouls. How great can we call his defense if he's been unable to keep Demarcus out of foul trouble??
3- the FO should be rightfully criticized for making this move without a new coach in the wings ready to take over. Vivek should personally take heat for not assembling a team that was on the same page from day one.
4- the FO deserves a ton of credit for rebuilding this team. Keys to our resurgence are: 1- trading for Gay, 2- signing DC, 3- keeping JT. Omri was a good addition. They've added big bodies to throw out and absorb fouls (Hollins, Acy, DWill). It's on Malone for not mixing them in well enough to help out Cuz. Giving up a few more baskets with subpar defenders is, in my mind, a better option than letting Cuz take fouls and losing him for 10/15 minutes per game.
5- the collective board aneurism about Vivek needs to stop. Calling him a GOlden state fan boy is one of the dumber things I've seen around here, if for nothing other than the fact that Vivek sided with the guy who wasn't from Oakland. Also, the stuff Bout run n gun or 4 on 5 is sheer stupidity. There is nothing coming out of the FO to indicate any of that. Saying they fired Malone over style is diplomatic. If they actually wanted to throw him under the bus they'd just say he sucked with the bench, had poor rotations, and lost a bunch of winnable games, enough so far that pretty much eliminated us from the playoffs. PR, people.
Finally, we weren't gonna make the playoffs after that losing streak. Keeping a 9-6 pace or whatever against the best teams wasn't gonna cut it. I don't think Malone should have been fired, but it is reasonable to cut him now if you know he's not the guy for the future. We have 3 more years locked in with this core. Better to change now and have time to build up the right way.