Sacramento Kings

thingfish

thingfish

Bench
#61
#61
Since moving to San Diego 8+ years ago, I have never bought a TV package to watch the games. I would get the occasional national games,watch a few online and check out this forum for my Kings updates. After watching the first week of ball this year my wife could tell how excited I was about the team and suggested that I just purchase the TV package and watch the rest of the games this year...on 1 condition:

Please don't yell at the tv in anger. I could be excited, just not in anger.

It's been going pretty well with that request this season. That is until last night in the 3rd quarter. There was something about this game that just brought out all the frustrations withy the changes, watching the players lose their defensive edge, I don't know. But it happened in the 3rd period when I felt the unstoppable urge to scream "WHY THE F ARE WE NOT GETTING THE BALL DOWN LOW EVERY F'ING TIME!!!!"

I knew I did it. I looked over and saw my wife giving me that look she so subtly gives that denotes that I am failing at our agreement once again with my passion for this team.

With that, I picked up the remote. Turned the tv off and went to the garage to work on my boat motor. I'm done with this team's bs once again.
 
KingsFanGER

KingsFanGER

Starter
#63
#63
swisshh said:
It feels like there are certain players on the team that don't take pride in their defense and firing Malone gave them a pass to not worry about their defensive game.
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Maybe but our defense against the thunder was decent, while we messed up against the Nuggets. So if this a mental thing, why are the players actually trying in one game and do not care in the following one?
 
P

pshn80

Starter
#70
#70
John Galt said:
I really think Vivek has got to throw Pete under the bus and hire Karl or Jackson, like tomorrow. Pete's courtside seat tonight can be his going away present.
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I think a party of our very best basketball minds should go on a weekend retreat with Ranadive and convince him of the error of his ways. And that may not be firing PDA. Maybe Mullin. But more importantly getting ownership to change its ways. As time passes it sounds more and more like Ranadive is at the bottom of our problems and it's harder to fire him. I think the Kings problems are very fixable. Change Ranadive's direction and get Cuz healthy so he can go a good game at his highest defensive capability. The rest will follow.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#73
#73
KingsFanGER said:
Maybe but our defense against the thunder was decent, while we messed up against the Nuggets. So if this a mental thing, why are the players actually trying in one game and do not care in the following one?
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You've got to remember, a good defensive game plan and execution of that game plan starts long before the opening tip. The concentration on defense and scouting the opponent starts with the coaches reviewing film and putting the game plan together, then going over how they're going to guard the opponent during shoot around. The coaching staff sets the tone early that day and it's common around the league to have teams which concentrate mostly on the defensive end while others concentrate more on the offensive end. D'Antoni was notorious for concentrating on the offensive end, which is a big part of why his teams always sucked at defense. Never a priority.

Generally, when a team isn't good defensively it's for two reasons. 1) the FO hasn't made acquiring defensive players a priority and 2) the coaching staff doesn't make it a priority. It's not about the players just showing up and playing defense, there has to be a clear vision and purpose they're following, a plan they're executing. And our team generally looks unprepared and have made comments to that effect, in that they're confused and don't really know what they're supposed to do. That Corbin, I don't think once has called a timeout to correct defensive issues which Malone regularly did is yet more evidence it's not a priority.

Then add lame-duck status on top of it and anger that Vivek/PDA took their shot at success out from under them for no reason and you've got the mess we're seeing. Why even play consistent defense if your last coach got fired for concentrating on that end?
 
2

206Fan

All-Star
#74
#74
Effort is starting to be the problem IMO. Players have to play at a high level. These guys are paid millions to play a sport they love. Yes Malone was fired, but it shouldn't give ANYONE an excuse nOT to play defense or play at a higher level. Lack of effort is starting to show and something has to be done.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#75
#75
One very poor decision made all of this happen. One great decision can make all of it go away. If the right decision is made, we'll all look hopefully to the future rather than the past. The wins will be glorious, and the losses will be tolerable because there will be a plan for the future. It's up to Vivek to make it right.
 
Chubbs

Chubbs

Starter
#76
#76
206Fan said:
Effort is starting to be the problem IMO. Players have to play at a high level. These guys are paid millions to play a sport they love. Yes Malone was fired, but it shouldn't give ANYONE an excuse nOT to play defense or play at a higher level. Lack of effort is starting to show and something has to be done.
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"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower
 
R

randymoss1881

Starter
#77
#77
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
I'll beg to differ. He's not a great coach, but I wouldn't call him terrible. There are at least ten worse coaches working in the NBA right now; hell, there are two worse NBA coaches working in the state of California.
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Alright not terrible but he wouldn't be in my top 10 of available coaches. It pisses me off how the hell do you fire Malone for Jackson that's what clowns do. He couldn't lead GS offense to top 8 in offense how is that possible with the offensive horses they got but somehow he would do something with our offensively stacked roster. Dude runs an offense worse than Malone no ball movement.
 
captain bill

captain bill

Starter
#80
#80
Why do people on this site want to use the kid gloves with Vivek?

VF21 said:
It feels like a giant cosmic joke. Vivek Ranadive came in and saved our Kings so Pete D'Allesandro could destroy them.
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This is so fundamentally wrong. Kevin Johnson saved the Kings, along with the the Sacramento fans and voters with help from David Stern. Ron Burkle was the man who brought money and legitimacy to the bid, as well as Mark Mastrov.

In case you forgot already, Vivek got subbed in at the last minute because Burkle didn't want to give up on other investment interests to buy the Kings, based on conflict of interest rules.

There is a reason that the NBA and other sports leagues prefer owners who have been 'in the club' for several years before they get ownership - Vivek was at the end of the owners bench and was a relative rookie, but was allowed to jump ahead because our TRUE whale (Burkle) got DQ'ed on a technicality, and we got an eat-pray-love mush mouth owner instead.

PDA built a great roster. EVEN IF he wanted Malone out, the buck stops at Vivek. Ultimate blame for FO ownership ALWAYS lies with the owner. Eddie Debartolo has been praised for managing FO people and coaches that didn't see eye to eye, and acting as a peacekeeper.

But no, we can't talk about that. It would interrupt the ongoing pogrom against PDA on this site (who is a gerbil who needs to be executed - seriously why is this okay dialogue on a site that has been for years prided on being civil and family friendly??) and threads that talk about rumors of Vivek's meddling get locked.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#82
#82
captain bill said:
PDA built a great roster. EVEN IF he wanted Malone out, the buck stops at Vivek. .
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I agree with what you said for the most part aside from this. PDA did not build a great roster. A good starting 5, yes. But there's some serious weaknesses that have been there since July. Our bench is just awful. We still don't have a backup center. Absence of 3&D guys. Backup PG play has been non-existent. Backup SG play has been poor too. One of the absolute worst 3pt shooting teams in the league. PDA has done a crap job building a team which fits his vision. He's built an iso heavy, half court team who's strengths are in direct conflict with his up-tempo blueprint. He built a team which excels as the game gets uglier and the pace slows down. What the hell does he think Rudy and Cuz excel at? They're halfcourt players. He actually built a successful slow it down, grind it out, halfcourt team by accident!

Both are a problem, PDA and Vivek. Upper management and ownership at this point is just a cluster**** of stupidity and incompetence.
 
Uncia03

Uncia03

Starter
#83
#83
captain bill said:
Why do people on this site want to use the kid gloves with Vivek?
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I'm going to point out why most of my ire is directed at PDA more than Vivek.
This isn't to change your opinion or anything, but just so you see my reasoning.

After Malone was fired Vivek did an interview with News 10. After I heard the interview I was so upset I almost wanted to see the Kings lose every game for the rest of the season.
What upset me was the fact that Vivek seemed to believe that firing Malone and having Corbin as coach was going to get us more wins this season.
And the thing is, I believe that HE believed that to be true.

Now anyone who has watched a ton of basketball could tell you that firing Malone would crush this team and that the only way that maybe the team could be better is if you brought in a veteran winning coach, such as Karl.

But Vivek seemed to believe that the team would be better with-out Malone and with Corbin.

So to me it comes down to a simple question: Why would he believe that?

The only answer I can come to is that PDA and Mullin convinced him that this was the case and that if Malone was fired quickly enough and Corbin installed as soon as possible the Kings would have the best chance to make the play-offs.
We all know that Malone and PDA had philosophical differences, so I understand why PDA would want Malone fired. (Because if Malone went to the playoffs with his style Malone might have been able to win in a power struggle against PDA later down the line)

So...Vivek is a new owner and new to basketball. The guys he trusts sold him on the fact that Malone had to go...and he went with them. And PDA mostly wanted Malone gone because he figured that eventually it would come down between Malone and him and he had to take advantage of the Cousins illness situation as quickly as possible.

So Vivek green-lighted the firing, but I think he had to really be talked into it...and that falls squarely on the shoulders of PDA.

So I look at Vivek as un-informed and PDA as the person who did the hard work to convince him to torpedo the season.

If we find out later down the line that the firing of Malone was mostly a decision by Vivek I will have no problem shifting the blame to him...it's just that right now I believe it is mostly PDA.
 
captain bill

captain bill

Starter
#85
#85
rainmaker said:
I agree with what you said for the most part aside from this. PDA did not build a great roster. A good starting 5, yes. But there's some serious weaknesses that have been there since July.
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Agreed. I more meant the job he's done on overhauling the roster has been great. He had limited assets and maximized them to great effect.

As to the rest of your post, your are jumping to conclusions that we just don't have enough information to make. Go back to November, and we see that PDA built a roster that fit Malone's coaching style and maximized the skills of out players.

Now we want to crucify PDA for the Malone firing, but there have been no real reports if how it went down, short of threadbare and poorly sourced speculation.

What if PDA talking about style and pace was just him carrying water for a meddlesome owner? What if the praise that PDA heaped on Malone in the CD interview was genuine?

If you recognize that PDA built a roster that was perfect for the system that MM was running, doesn't Occam's Razor support the conclusion that the two were on the same page, but someone higher up in the organization pushed this decision on PDA??
 
B.O.B.

B.O.B.

Prospect
#87
#87
At this point, it's (respectfully) no longer about Michael Malone, it's about "What's next?"

Well, what's next is the February trade deadline. To make things worse? PDA is dealing from a very weak position in terms of making deals.

This ain't gonna be pretty between now and February deadline and it could get downright ugly in March and April.

The Kings are gonna have a hard time selling Sacramento when all there seems to be is chaos and dysfunction. Sacramento is tough enough to sell, can you imagine how things are gonna go in July? Good Lord, agents will talk to PDA, then just ignore the conversation and not even bother to tell their clients.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#88
#88
206Fan said:
I meant Demarcus. He's our team leader.
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Except he's not. It is not true for every team in the NBA that your best player is the team leader. For some teams, the team leader is the head coach, and we just happen to be one of those teams. And we fired him.

We are experiencing such turmoil, in part, because Ranadive and D'Alessandro made the same miscalculation that you're making: you all assumed that Cousins was the team leader, which would at least explain why you might think that he could 'rally the troops' in the wake of Malone's dismissal. Only Cousins was never really the team's leader; he's just the team's best player, and that's not the same thing. Michael Malone was the real team leader, and now he's gone, and we don't have one.

When the best player on your team is not a natural leader (such as ours), then leadership has to come from the head coach. And when the team knows that the incumbent coach is not a long term guy, that compromises his leadership, too. At some point, fans are going to have to acknowledge that sports are not like real life, and that trying to hold athletes to the same standards as a fully formed adult doesn't work. Expecting a professional athlete who has had, maybe, sixteen months of strong leadership in his entire career/life to hold himself accountable when that leadership is suddenly removed sounds great, but is not something that is particularly practicable in the realm of professional sports.
 
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