Kings interview Del Negro, Jackson and Mitchell for Head Coach position (Yahoo News)

[Padrino]

some of you are acting as if a gm's experience level can be divorced from the necessary context of his place and time and circumstance. more often than not, a gm is caught between the whims of a franchise's owner and the whims of a team's head coach. this is why tom thibodeau sought full decision-making power in minnesota, and why phil jackson is trying his damndest to justify the potential long-term hire of kurt rambis as the knicks' head coach. it gives each greater control over the direction of their respective teams, and eliminates a bit of uncertainty from the equation...

now, even if we could generate a definitive list of qualities for the "ideal gm" in the nba, what may have worked for such a gm at one stop in his career may not work for that same gm at a later stop in his career. he may be dealing with an owner who has different priorities or a different temperament than the owner at his previous gig, or he may be dealing with a head coach who has different ideas about player personnel or a different philosophy of how the game should be played altogether. mike malone was famously canned by an inexperienced owner because malone was not in philosophical alignment with the kings' gm at the time. context always matters when evaluating the performance of any gm or head coach (or star player, for that matter)...

all of that said, there's simply no yardstick with which to measure where success comes from amongst front office executives around the league. and unless you want to chase down an also-ran from the available gm ranks, it's just as likely that someone like vlade divac could succeed in the role. it's certainly fair to say that vlade is "unproven" as a front office executive, but then we could also say that about tom thibodeau as a front office executive in minnesota. yet everybody is hailing that rather expensive investment as an absolute coup for the timberwolves, because there is great respect across the league for thibodeau's basketball mind...

likewise, there is great respect across the league for vlade's basketball mind, and the only major differences between the wolves and the kings today is a bit of lottery luck, and also that wolves' owner glen taylor has spent the last couple of seasons taking his hands off the day-to-day operations of franchise. and the culture in minnesota is shifting as a result of their owner being less intrusive. if vivek becomes less of an "irritant," then vlade stands a chance of righting this ship, but there are still no guarantees even if the owner, gm, head coach, and star player are all in synergistic alignment. for awhile there, it worked out really well for the maloofs, geoff petrie, rick adelman, and chris webber. the synergy at all levels of the organization was clear and the wins came in droves. but then webber blew his knee out, the maloofs went broke, rick adelman was fired, and geoff petrie was left holding the bag. there's a gm who was lauded across the nba... until he wasn't, because the various contextual elements that helped prop up his success were all stripped away...

i see no reason why vlade can't succeed as a front office executive, as long as he has an owner who trusts him, as long as he has capable people working with him in the front office, and as long as he can build mutual understanding with his head coach of choice...

 

[KingsFanGER]

Who? Name names he past on?

He did try for Ellis, Mathews and were turned down. How do you know he didn't contact them and got turned down.

I'm pretty consistent with my opinion and I have named said players that teams wanted to get rid of or that got traded for almost nothing multiple times. Before the season started i thought, that it would be a mistake to go into the season without a couple of solid perimeter defenders, that could guard multiple positions. And all season long the Kings got burned from the perimeter.
It's not about Matthews. Vlade tried to sign him and failed. Nothing wrong with that. It's about the low profile guys, the guys most teams aren't even interested in, but who can still help you to be successful.
Names? Think of Harkless, Bullock, Solomon Hill, perhaps Lance Stephenson or even guys like PJ Hairston, Justin Holiday.
Caron Butler is not an NBA player anymore. Duje Dukan seems to be on the roster for no particular reason, Eric Moreland was injured for most of the season and with Wcs around there is almost no need for him and Anderson was bad in most games he played.
Other teams mold D-League guys like Jamychal Green into valuable rotation players. We on the other hand went after names and perhaps didn't even try to improve our biggest weak spot after the obvious hire in Wes signed elsewhere and Anderson didn't pan out.
That's not enough to make Vlade a bad GM, but if we want to turn the team around we can't afford to only look at the obvious hires. I hope this offseason and next season Vlade handles things different.

 

[KingsFanGER]

If Vlade had hired Karl, I'd agree with you, but he didn't. He inherited him. So what was he supposed to do? Karl had not yet had the opportunity to have a training camp and implement his system. Was Vlade supposed to fire him after Karl had only coached 30 or so games the season before. Talk about the Kings being the laughing stock of the league. How do you think that would have went over. Vlade had to have good reasons to fire Karl, and those reasons surfaced as the season progressed. Then it was just a matter of when.

Personally, I would have preferred that Vlade fire Karl at the all star break. But then he would have to appoint a temporary coach. What happens if the team suddenly turns around and wins two thirds of the remaining games. Do you fire the temporary coach, or do you decide to make the position permanent? I think that Vlade didn't want to take that risk. He wanted to pick the next head coach. So, painful as it might have been to watch the rest of the season play out, I can understand why Vlade didn't fire Karl sooner. The situation was already a mess, so why make it any worse.

I admit, that there is a lot of sense in what you wrote. I hate how things went down, but still, your point of view makes sense.
I'm a fan and I want the Kings to be successful. I don't think everything is Kalrs fault, but I would have prefered it, if Vlade fired him at the All Star break. Now it just feels like another wasted season.

 

[pshn80]

I'm pretty consistent with my opinion and I have named said players that teams wanted to get rid of or that got traded for almost nothing multiple times. Before the season started i thought, that it would be a mistake to go into the season without a couple of solid perimeter defenders, that could guard multiple positions. And all season long the Kings got burned from the perimeter.
It's not about Matthews. Vlade tried to sign him and failed. Nothing wrong with that. It's about the low profile guys, the guys most teams aren't even interested in, but who can still help you to be successful.
Names? Think of Harkless, Bullock, Solomon Hill, perhaps Lance Stephenson or even guys like PJ Hairston, Justin Holiday.
Caron Butler is not an NBA player anymore. Duje Dukan seems to be on the roster for no particular reason, Eric Moreland was injured for most of the season and with Wcs around there is almost no need for him and Anderson was bad in most games he played.
Other teams mold D-League guys like Jamychal Green into valuable rotation players. We on the other hand went after names and perhaps didn't even try to improve our biggest weak spot after the obvious hire in Wes signed elsewhere and Anderson didn't pan out.
That's not enough to make Vlade a bad GM, but if we want to turn the team around we can't afford to only look at the obvious hires. I hope this offseason and next season Vlade handles things different.

I disagree. If Vlade continues to bring in new faces (caches, players) like he has so far we will be alright and moving in the right direction. Missing Mathews was not a Vlade failure, nor was Karl, nor was Bellinelli, nor keeping Gay or Cuz. Agan, I happily throw my lot with Vlade.

 

[bajaden]

I'm still skeptical of Vlade, but I'll give him this season to prove what he can do. He already did his "roster turnover". All of the guys on the roster are his guys now. He got rid of JT, Stauskas, and Landry. He brought in Belinelli, Kofus, Rondo, WCS, and Curry.

If he fails, there are no excuses. These are HIS guys now with HIS coach.

I honestly don't know how anyone could argue about Vlade's lack of qualifications. He's never been a part of any NBA FO. The most he's ever done, is MAYBE scout for the Lakers overseas. The guy is unproven, why can't we just all admit that?

Even with this being said, I'm a bit excited to see what he will do. Hopefully he picks out a good coaching candidate from this ugly list. Del Negro, Jackson, Mitchell....really? These are coaches the Kings shouldn't even consider at this point. Due diligence is really bs, and the Kings would be wasting their time.

You act as though none of us are aware of Vlade's past history. We all know what his qualifications are! We all know he hasn't had any previous experience. OK, now what? I mean just what exactly is the point your trying to make? Vlade isn't the first guy to come down the pike to be named GM, or president of operations that had little or no experience. Jerry West went from being a player for the Lakers, to being the head coach of the Lakers. He had no previous coaching experience, but got them into the playoffs all three years he was coach, and to the conference finals once. He then worked as a scout for the Lakers, and then became the GM, with no previous experience. He's been a pretty fair GM building the Lakers into a dynasty, and rebuilding the Memphis Grizz as the GM there.

Petrie went from being a player to working in the private sector. He then took a job with the Trailblazers as a radio commentator and then as the vice president of basketball operations with no previous experience. After resigning from his job with Portland over the firing of Rick Adelman, he became the president of basketball operations for the Kings.

Danny Ainge went from being a player to being the head coach of the Phoenix Suns with no previous coaching experience. He then took the job of director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics with no previous experience at being a general manager. He acquired the nick name of Trader Dan. Pat Riley has a similar career path, although he was a lead assistant for the Lakers for a little over a year before being named head coach. My point is, yes, Vlade has no previous experience, but that doesn't mean he can't succeed. It doesn't mean he will either. Michael Jordan didn't fare too well as a GM, and the jury is stilll out on Phil Jackson in that area.

As Cooke said about West as to why he hired him to be the GM. He was a leader on the floor, and he had an eye for talent. That's all you need to be a good GM. You can hire someone to figure out the financial end of things.

You said you were giving his this year to prove himself, and I understand your lack of patience. It's been a while since the team was truly competitive, but Petrie was in a similar situation when he arrived in 1994. The previous year the team had gone 28 and 54. In his first draft he drafted Brian Grant, Michael (the animal) Smith, and Lawrence Funderburke and the team went 39 and 43 and made the playoffs. Wow, success right? Job done! Unfortunately they were capped out due to poor management, and they had to suffer through a few weak drafts, including having no draft picks in a couple. It wasn't until Petrie's sixth year that the team became a viable contender. That was in the shortened lock out season where team went 27 and 23.

My point is, it didn't happen in one year, and there were a couple of years that it didn't appear to be happening at all. But they stuck with Petrie, who did have a plan. Like everyone else at the time, I said, Peja who? And later, Hedo who? We spent all our cap money on who, a washed up chain smokinig center that used to play for the Lakers? Just shoot me! But hey, it all worked didn't it? But if they had pulled the rug out before he got to the end of his plan, it wouldn't have worked. Would it?

 

[VF21]

I'm sorry, but although it has been widely discussed it's very hard to believe and Vlade's own interview the day he finally fired Karl hints otherwise.

No need to apologize. You can believe what you like.

 

[VF21]

I honestly don't know how anyone could argue about Vlade's lack of qualifications.

I've asked this before and you and a couple of others have declined to answer.

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS are you talking about? Is there a list somewhere of what someone is required to have to be in the position Vlade is now?

 

[Glenn]

Vlade has several qualifications that I think are very important. We were and perhaps still are a franchise run in a chaotic manner. We bring in a fan favorite, intelligent, and commanding figure in Vlade. Note that Vivek has shut up. That's one major task accomplished. I doubt if you will find "shut up the majority owner" on any list of GM qualifications.

He wanted to be here because he saw the team struggling. I read that somewhere. In other words, he had good intentions. He wanted to help the team. He didn't just want a job but wanted THIS job. There aren't many people who qualify in this fashion. The one year contract gave him an out in case the job was impossible (I'm guessing).

He is very intelligent and seemed to know the European players very well and perhaps more importantly, they knew him and trusted him. That's a major plus because he was asked to do a lot in a hurry. I think he was eager to fill a 15 man roster and hence we got a few odd choices like Anderson (he played in Europe) and Dujan. He also got some decent players like Koufos and Belinelli. (Koufos may have been born in the US but he identifies himself as Greek.) He knew at least the minimum of the great NBA players but I doubt if he knew everybody so may have passed on those he knew very little about. He DID get Rondo and went after Mattews and I don't remember any else. People turned Vlade down and took teams for less money. The team is not desirable.

In the midst of what must have been a frantic adjustment period, he signed some odd choices but he also put together a team of players better than we have seen in a long time. Considering all the factors including an out of control owner, he did very well.

Vlade had an incredibly difficult task that involved knowing all the basketball players of NBA quality (impossible) and bringing order to a nutso franchise (seemingly impossible).

 

[206Fan]

I've asked this before and you and a couple of others have declined to answer.

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS are you talking about? Is there a list somewhere of what someone is required to have to be in the position Vlade is now?

Someone who actually has experience in an NBA FO or coaching.*. Vlade has 0. Let me ask you a question, would you allow John Salmons to be our GM? Why not? They both have 0 NBA coaching/FO experience. Salmons was a veteran leader when he was here.

Kings fans have a weird nostalgia for former players.

 

[Telemachus]

Someone who actually has experience in an NBA FO or coaching.*. Vlade has 0. Let me ask you a question, would you allow John Salmons to be our GM? Why not? They both have 0 NBA coaching/FO experience. Salmons was a veteran leader when he was here.

Kings fans have a weird nostalgia for former players.

It has more to do with WHO you are talking about. For instance, I wouldn't want CWebb as a GM. I think he would be terrible as a coach or in the front office. Vlade has always been a leader, but not afraid to ask for help (which is big for me.)

 

[origkds]

Someone who actually has experience in an NBA FO or coaching.*. Vlade has 0. Let me ask you a question, would you allow John Salmons to be our GM? Why not? They both have 0 NBA coaching/FO experience. Salmons was a veteran leader when he was here.

Kings fans have a weird nostalgia for former players.

Huh, I think I can safely say that few of us here have weird nostalgia for John Salmons. And, Vlade has a tinsy weensy bit more going for him than than John Salmons as far as GM qualifications go.

 

[206Fan]

You act as though none of us are aware of Vlade's past history. We all know what his qualifications are! We all know he hasn't had any previous experience. OK, now what? I mean just what exactly is the point your trying to make? Vlade isn't the first guy to come down the pike to be named GM, or president of operations that had little or no experience. Jerry West went from being a player for the Lakers, to being the head coach of the Lakers. He had no previous coaching experience, but got them into the playoffs all three years he was coach, and to the conference finals once. He then worked as a scout for the Lakers, and then became the GM, with no previous experience. He's been a pretty fair GM building the Lakers into a dynasty, and rebuilding the Memphis Grizz as the GM there.

Petrie went from being a player to working in the private sector. He then took a job with the Trailblazers as a radio commentator and then as the vice president of basketball operations with no previous experience. After resigning from his job with Portland over the firing of Rick Adelman, he became the president of basketball operations for the Kings.

Danny Ainge went from being a player to being the head coach of the Phoenix Suns with no previous coaching experience. He then took the job of director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics with no previous experience at being a general manager. He acquired the nick name of Trader Dan. Pat Riley has a similar career path, although he was a lead assistant for the Lakers for a little over a year before being named head coach. My point is, yes, Vlade has no previous experience, but that doesn't mean he can't succeed. It doesn't mean he will either. Michael Jordan didn't fare too well as a GM, and the jury is stilll out on Phil Jackson in that area.

As Cooke said about West as to why he hired him to be the GM. He was a leader on the floor, and he had an eye for talent. That's all you need to be a good GM. You can hire someone to figure out the financial end of things.

You said you were giving his this year to prove himself, and I understand your lack of patience. It's been a while since the team was truly competitive, but Petrie was in a similar situation when he arrived in 1994. The previous year the team had gone 28 and 54. In his first draft he drafted Brian Grant, Michael (the animal) Smith, and Lawrence Funderburke and the team went 39 and 43 and made the playoffs. Wow, success right? Job done! Unfortunately they were capped out due to poor management, and they had to suffer through a few weak drafts, including having no draft picks in a couple. It wasn't until Petrie's sixth year that the team became a viable contender. That was in the shortened lock out season where team went 27 and 23.

My point is, it didn't happen in one year, and there were a couple of years that it didn't appear to be happening at all. But they stuck with Petrie, who did have a plan. Like everyone else at the time, I said, Peja who? And later, Hedo who? We spent all our cap money on who, a washed up chain smokinig center that used to play for the Lakers? Just shoot me! But hey, it all worked didn't it? But if they had pulled the rug out before he got to the end of his plan, it wouldn't have worked. Would it?

Vlade is nothing like Petrie though. Vlade went from 10 years out of the NBA, and immediately came back into a high GM position. There aren't too many instances of this happening among GMs. However, I do know that Vlade has spent a bit of time in Serbia for some type of positioning. In the 2000s, he took over KK Partizan for a bit, but he never played a huge role (still on the Kings). In 2006,

Divac was introduced as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club......However, Divac's role in the club's day-to-day operations was largely symbolic, and even he himself admitted as much in a March 2007 interview for Croatian weekly Globus: "I literally do nothing and I only serve as part of the royal club's image

In February 2009, Divac ran for presidency of the Olympic Committee of Serbia

Still doesn't = the NBA. He was more of a figurehead than anything. There's a few reports that he's been a minor scout for the Lakers, so I'll add that to his NBA resume.

From 2005 to 2006, Divac was employed as European scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.

His only experience dealing with players for the NBA is international scouting for 1 year? That's not a heavily qualified person.

Petrie worked in the private sector for several years after leaving the NBA, and in 1985 began working for the Blazers.[8] He worked as a commentator for Blazer radio broadcasts and several other positions before being hired as senior vice president for operation

Petrie worked at other potential spots in an NBA FO, and was the VP before he was hired by the Kings. That's a big difference between Vlade.

I'm really giving Vlade another year to figure things out. I'm really excited to see what he does with this roster with a new coach. I've seen a lot of praises for Vlade, despite the team not accomplishing anything this season. I think sometimes, as fans of a dysfunctional team, we over-look these like this. Vlade was a beloved player, and it would absolutely kill our hearts if he failed as a GM.

At this point, we can only be patient. Vlade has great intentions, but he can't afford to make rookie mistakes in this franchise. This is our first season reaching 30 wins in over 5 years. Everything Vlade does will be magnified under a microscope. That's the reason is why I think this big of a load on Vlade is completely unfair. I think he's too inexperienced for this job because he's never had to deal with this before. This isn't a big knock at Vlade. This is a shot at this inept organization that can't draft, develop, nor attract players. This is the reason why I preferred someone more experienced, like Ferry. This is a big task for Vlade to complete, but if he fails, he'll be under scrutiny. I don't think he deserves that.

However, this is HIS team now. He's started to clean house, and whatever happens next year will be on his shoulders. This year, we had no plan. Next year, it should be a turnaround. This roller coaster ride isn't much fun.

Hopefully before the 2nd round, we can find our new coach.

 

[Section 101]

I'm pretty consistent with my opinion and I have named said players that teams wanted to get rid of or that got traded for almost nothing multiple times. Before the season started i thought, that it would be a mistake to go into the season without a couple of solid perimeter defenders, that could guard multiple positions. And all season long the Kings got burned from the perimeter.
It's not about Matthews. Vlade tried to sign him and failed. Nothing wrong with that. It's about the low profile guys, the guys most teams aren't even interested in, but who can still help you to be successful.
Names? Think of Harkless, Bullock, Solomon Hill, perhaps Lance Stephenson or even guys like PJ Hairston, Justin Holiday.
Caron Butler is not an NBA player anymore. Duje Dukan seems to be on the roster for no particular reason, Eric Moreland was injured for most of the season and with Wcs around there is almost no need for him and Anderson was bad in most games he played.
Other teams mold D-League guys like Jamychal Green into valuable rotation players. We on the other hand went after names and perhaps didn't even try to improve our biggest weak spot after the obvious hire in Wes signed elsewhere and Anderson didn't pan out.
That's not enough to make Vlade a bad GM, but if we want to turn the team around we can't afford to only look at the obvious hires. I hope this offseason and next season Vlade handles things different.

Those trades required sending a player and salary back. We have no idea if the teams wanted our available players.

Yes, I would like to have seen some turnover at the bottom of the roster, but with the team not taking in revenue sharing the cash flow was limited. They get the sharing back next year in the new arena.

You sound like any one of your players would have turned the team around. From everything that has come out lately about the coaching staff/front office/owners trading ofr a player wouldnt have made a difference.

 

[ParniValjak]

I'm pretty consistent with my opinion and I have named said players that teams wanted to get rid of or that got traded for almost nothing multiple times. Before the season started i thought, that it would be a mistake to go into the season without a couple of solid perimeter defenders, that could guard multiple positions. And all season long the Kings got burned from the perimeter.
It's not about Matthews. Vlade tried to sign him and failed. Nothing wrong with that. It's about the low profile guys, the guys most teams aren't even interested in, but who can still help you to be successful.
Names? Think of Harkless, Bullock, Solomon Hill, perhaps Lance Stephenson or even guys like PJ Hairston, Justin Holiday.
Caron Butler is not an NBA player anymore. Duje Dukan seems to be on the roster for no particular reason, Eric Moreland was injured for most of the season and with Wcs around there is almost no need for him and Anderson was bad in most games he played.
Other teams mold D-League guys like Jamychal Green into valuable rotation players. We on the other hand went after names and perhaps didn't even try to improve our biggest weak spot after the obvious hire in Wes signed elsewhere and Anderson didn't pan out.
That's not enough to make Vlade a bad GM, but if we want to turn the team around we can't afford to only look at the obvious hires. I hope this offseason and next season Vlade handles things different.

But you are looking this whole thing at a very high level. Vlade signed a wing Luc Mbah a Moute and then his contract got voided when he failed the physical.

You miss the whole point of Caron Butler signing and to be honest, when he was given minutes he performed better than most of the other wing players on our team who got more consistent minutes. Caron Butler signing was obviously to fill 2 areas of need, perimeter shooting and a locker room glue guy veteran with championship experience. Prior to this season, Kings locker room was known for fractures and tension between the players. Butler is a glue guy veteran who has respect from everyone around the league. He is a calming influence in the locker room and it is no wonder that the playing group has remained united despite the pathetic coaching performance...it is because it has far more veteran presence and guys like Butler have played a key role in that. Butler and Rondo are the types of veterans that Cousins should have had on his team from his rookie year. Why did Timbervolves get back KG in a wheelchair back onto their roster for thsi season? It's about setting the culture.

I see you brining up the names but the analysis is not particularly deep and thorough. I personall would have loved to have seen us trade for Courtney Lee but when I step back and analyze, it was a smart move not to do it at this stage.

When looking at so e of those names these are some of the questions you should be asking:
- what is is going to cost me in terms of trade assets
- how long in the contract of the player
- how does that contract impact our salary cap in the long term
- in case of Lee, will he stick around after 30 games in Sacramento and if he will how much will that set us back? would we be able to go after someone better either via trade or FA? If he is not sticking around is it worth burning assets to get him for 30 games
- will the coach play this player consistently if I trade for him?
- how does the player fit into the culture we are trying to build
- how does the player fit in the long term plans of the franchise and the impact this move has on any future moves
- will the player excell in the "system" that we are playing or are planning to play starting next season?

This is not NBA 2K game. This is about not only here and now but for longer terms and the impacts these moves have on that. Petrie wanted a PF and went after JJ Hickson who was a major flop in Sacramento partly because he didn't want to be here, partly because how we played him and partly because he was just not as good and we thought he was and we are still paying for that mistake years down the track. This is what you get when you are not thorough and detailed i. Your analysis before you pull the trigger on the deal.

Vlade has done as good a job as he realistically could have. He identified that we needed a stud defender next to Cousin so he drafted WCS. We needed a veteran back up C so he went and singed KK. We needed shooting so he went after Belinelli, Butler, Curry, Anderson and Dukan....note 4 are on minimum salary. He needed more passing so he went after Rondo. He wanted veteran leadership and play off experience and he went after Rondo, Butler, Bellinelli and Koufos. He re-signed Casspi to the biggest bargain deal. You look at all of his veteran signing on multi year deals and all these are bargains with the new increased cap.

He transformed the roster significantly in one off season. It is the best roster this franchise has had since Adelman's last year in Sacramento. It certainly has flaws but he addressed frontcourt in one offseason and this offseason there is a fair chance that he will address the backcourt. Rome was not built in a day but he has made very good progress. If only we had a coach that played to his roster's strength, we might just still be playing games in late April.

Bottom line is, there is a LOT more things to consider when getting a new player than just oh he is a perimeter defender and we need one.

 

[ParniValjak]

Someone who actually has experience in an NBA FO or coaching.*. Vlade has 0. Let me ask you a question, would you allow John Salmons to be our GM? Why not? They both have 0 NBA coaching/FO experience. Salmons was a veteran leader when he was here.

Kings fans have a weird nostalgia for former players.

Wow! What a dumb post, obviously trying to make a point, albeit unsuccessfully!

Vlade has always been a people person. From the moment he started playing basketball for Sloga, his first professional contract for Partizan, his time at the Lakers, Hornets, Kings, National Team, GM of Real Madrid and as a president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia, notoriously known for bickerring, self interest of some members and low budgets. The job he has done and continues to do as a president of the Serbian Olympic Committee in trying circumstances is deserving of all respect. For the first time in over a decade he has made it about athletes and not hidden agendas and self interests.

To even put him in the same sentence as John Salmons is rather disrespectful and to be frank, he has more experience in getting results in difficult circumstances than majority of the GMs in the league. I would just ****ing love to see what they would have done with the Serbian Olympic Committee and the conditions in place. I can guarantee you many of them wouldn't have laste 6 months.

 

[funkykingston]

Geoff Petrie went from being out of basketball for years to being the Trailblazers radio guy (and later a shooting coach) to the VP of basketball operations.

I don't see how that's dramatically different than Divac. I don't think experience actually matters at all in terms of being an NBA GM. For understanding the nuances of the salary cap? Sure. But that's why you hire a guy to help with that. Really being a good GM requires an eye for talent (in the draft but also free agency), the ability to gauge the effect a trade will have, an idea of how to build a successful team and a sense for which coach is the right hire. Oh, and some luck.

If experience mattered that much then Billy King would be at the top of the list. Would you rather have David Kahn than Vlade? Kahn's resume is more impressive and he has previous GM experience.

There is no litmus test for a good GM, you just have to judge by the results. In a way it reminds me of Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart's characterization of what qualified something as pornographic: “I know it when I see it”

 

[VF21]

Someone who actually has experience in an NBA FO or coaching.*. Vlade has 0. Let me ask you a question, would you allow John Salmons to be our GM? Why not? They both have 0 NBA coaching/FO experience. Salmons was a veteran leader when he was here.

Kings fans have a weird nostalgia for former players.

Without wanting to sound rude, this comment isn't even worth responding to... Have a nice night.

 

[randymoss1881]

Without wanting to sound rude, this comment isn't even worth responding to... Have a nice night.

This is true.

 

[IfAt1st]

I don't agree with the premise that Karl only cost them a handful of games.

People don;t seem to realize that this team tanked for one main reason (IMO):

These players did not want Karl to be their coach.
They saw how horrendous his systems were for the personnel, and were put into a disastrous position:

*If they win despite crap offensive and defensive systems, Karl will get the credit and stay as the cantankerous ancient coach who throws shade at his players and throws them under the bus repeatedly, not taking blame on himself or his assistant coaches.
* The only way to rid themselves of Karl was to lose.... badly. This is what they tried to do with the horrendous losses against the 76ers, Charlotte, Boston, etc.

They bided their time and threw the season away because they knew Karl was not who they wanted for the team (and I agree with them).
It was a dangerous gambit, and some of their careers may be hurt by it. Cousins has become a HUGE target for scorn and blame.

They thought this reality was better than having to deal with George Karl for the upcoming 2 seasons.
Think about that - Karl was apparently so bad to deal with that these players risked their careers/reputations to get him out.

Don;t tell me Karl only cost a few games.
I'm convinced this team would have won at least 10 more games if a player's coach that was working WITH the players (and was on the player's side trying as hard as he could) had been hired.

Hell, if they'd hired a coke machine as a coach, it would have been better than Karl.

 

[KingsFanGER]

But you are looking this whole thing at a very high level. Vlade signed a wing Luc Mbah a Moute and then his contract got voided when he failed the physical.

You miss the whole point of Caron Butler signing and to be honest, when he was given minutes he performed better than most of the other wing players on our team who got more consistent minutes. Caron Butler signing was obviously to fill 2 areas of need, perimeter shooting and a locker room glue guy veteran with championship experience. Prior to this season, Kings locker room was known for fractures and tension between the players. Butler is a glue guy veteran who has respect from everyone around the league. He is a calming influence in the locker room and it is no wonder that the playing group has remained united despite the pathetic coaching performance...it is because it has far more veteran presence and guys like Butler have played a key role in that. Butler and Rondo are the types of veterans that Cousins should have had on his team from his rookie year. Why did Timbervolves get back KG in a wheelchair back onto their roster for thsi season? It's about setting the culture.

I see you brining up the names but the analysis is not particularly deep and thorough. I personall would have loved to have seen us trade for Courtney Lee but when I step back and analyze, it was a smart move not to do it at this stage.

When looking at so e of those names these are some of the questions you should be asking:
- what is is going to cost me in terms of trade assets
- how long in the contract of the player
- how does that contract impact our salary cap in the long term
- in case of Lee, will he stick around after 30 games in Sacramento and if he will how much will that set us back? would we be able to go after someone better either via trade or FA? If he is not sticking around is it worth burning assets to get him for 30 games
- will the coach play this player consistently if I trade for him?
- how does the player fit into the culture we are trying to build
- how does the player fit in the long term plans of the franchise and the impact this move has on any future moves
- will the player excell in the "system" that we are playing or are planning to play starting next season?

This is not NBA 2K game. This is about not only here and now but for longer terms and the impacts these moves have on that. Petrie wanted a PF and went after JJ Hickson who was a major flop in Sacramento partly because he didn't want to be here, partly because how we played him and partly because he was just not as good and we thought he was and we are still paying for that mistake years down the track. This is what you get when you are not thorough and detailed i. Your analysis before you pull the trigger on the deal.

Vlade has done as good a job as he realistically could have. He identified that we needed a stud defender next to Cousin so he drafted WCS. We needed a veteran back up C so he went and singed KK. We needed shooting so he went after Belinelli, Butler, Curry, Anderson and Dukan....note 4 are on minimum salary. He needed more passing so he went after Rondo. He wanted veteran leadership and play off experience and he went after Rondo, Butler, Bellinelli and Koufos. He re-signed Casspi to the biggest bargain deal. You look at all of his veteran signing on multi year deals and all these are bargains with the new increased cap.

He transformed the roster significantly in one off season. It is the best roster this franchise has had since Adelman's last year in Sacramento. It certainly has flaws but he addressed frontcourt in one offseason and this offseason there is a fair chance that he will address the backcourt. Rome was not built in a day but he has made very good progress. If only we had a coach that played to his roster's strength, we might just still be playing games in late April.

Bottom line is, there is a LOT more things to consider when getting a new player than just oh he is a perimeter defender and we need one.

Right Vlade signed MBah a Moute. The very same Mbah a Moute, who played 75 games for the Clippers this year after he somehow failed his physical in SAC. Vlade's responsibility? I don't know, I doubt it, but this sure as hell looks pretty incompetent.

I miss the whole point of the Bulter signing? No, I just don't agree with this signing and think a so called veteran presence and glue guy in the locker room may be a nice PR stunt, but doesn't make a whole lot of sense, when talking about a veteran team. And that's who we are. We ain't the Wolves - a team build around rookies and second year players still struggling to find their place in the league. We are a team full of veterans, who know how this league goes and have won their share part of games too.
So from a leadership standpoint the Butler signing wasn't a very pressing need. Nice to have one more voice in the lockerroom, but when you look at the team plus defenders were and are a much bigger need.
Now granted - Butler is still able to shoot. But honestly, even Hedo is still able to shoot the ball. And once again shooting was a need, but it was clear as day, that you can't survive in todays league without guys able to defend multiple positions.

All the points you make about signing players are true. I won't debate that. But they are true for the players we signed too. And my point is, that Vlade just didn't adress our biggest weakness.
And keep in mind that guys like Solo, Harkless, Hairston and I believe Holiday are FA's after this season and weren't on terribly expensive contracts also. So basically all of them were low risk potentially medium reward kind of guys.

Vlade transformed this roster. That's right. But the rostet he built didn't win and from my point of view it's an oversimplified analysis to just point at George Karl.

Is this current Kings roster able to compete in this league? I highly doubt it, no matter who the coach is. This is a guards and wings league and our weak spots are our guards and wings. That's not a recipe for success.
Yes Rome wasn't build in a day. But Rome was build due to smart leadership and innovation.
And for the Kings it would be smart to take a look at the left overs of this league to see, if they can pick up something of value, because besides making good draft choices and big FA signings that's what smart teams do. They find guys before they break put and demand a whole lot of money.
Like I already said: The Curry signing hints, that Vlade is able to do just that.
Now let's hope he does it with a defensive focus next time.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Sounds like Vlade has had some discussions with McHale:

Kevin McHale has emerged on the list of known candidates for the Sacramento Kings' vacant coaching job after engaging in exploratory talks about the position, according to league sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that Kings general manager Vlade Divac, while still in the early ‎stages of what is expected to be a broad search, has sounded out McHale about his potential interest after the former Houston Rockets coach was fired just 11 games into the current season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...ento-kings-coaching-vacancy-exploratory-talks

 

[randymoss1881]

I've loved listening to McHale talk when he does games for TNT.

 

[kingsboi]

I've loved listening to McHale talk when he does games for TNT.

McHale knows his basketball, you can hear it when he was doing his analyst job for the TNT games. I wouldn't mind bringing him on board by any means, he wouldn't be my primary option, but I wouldn't be upset with the hire either. There's going to be so many different candidates being interviewed and a number of different opinions on who fans want to bring in.

 

[funkykingston]

McHale knows his basketball, you can hear it when he was doing his analyst job for the TNT games. I wouldn't mind bringing him on board by any means, he wouldn't be my primary option, but I wouldn't be upset with the hire either. There's going to be so many different candidates being interviewed and a number of different opinions on who fans want to bring in.

That's kind of where I'm at. McHale wouldn't be my first choice but among the names thrown out he's near the top and I definitely would mind him being the guy.

 

[bajaden]

Vlade is nothing like Petrie though. Vlade went from 10 years out of the NBA, and immediately came back into a high GM position. There aren't too many instances of this happening among GMs. However, I do know that Vlade has spent a bit of time in Serbia for some type of positioning. In the 2000s, he took over KK Partizan for a bit, but he never played a huge role (still on the Kings). In 2006, Still doesn't = the NBA. He was more of a figurehead than anything. There's a few reports that he's been a minor scout for the Lakers, so I'll add that to his NBA resume. His only experience dealing with players for the NBA is international scouting for 1 year? That's not a heavily qualified person.

Petrie worked at other potential spots in an NBA FO, and was the VP before he was hired by the Kings. That's a big difference between Vlade.

I'm really giving Vlade another year to figure things out. I'm really excited to see what he does with this roster with a new coach. I've seen a lot of praises for Vlade, despite the team not accomplishing anything this season. I think sometimes, as fans of a dysfunctional team, we over-look these like this. Vlade was a beloved player, and it would absolutely kill our hearts if he failed as a GM.

At this point, we can only be patient. Vlade has great intentions, but he can't afford to make rookie mistakes in this franchise. This is our first season reaching 30 wins in over 5 years. Everything Vlade does will be magnified under a microscope. That's the reason is why I think this big of a load on Vlade is completely unfair. I think he's too inexperienced for this job because he's never had to deal with this before. This isn't a big knock at Vlade. This is a shot at this inept organization that can't draft, develop, nor attract players. This is the reason why I preferred someone more experienced, like Ferry. This is a big task for Vlade to complete, but if he fails, he'll be under scrutiny. I don't think he deserves that.

However, this is HIS team now. He's started to clean house, and whatever happens next year will be on his shoulders. This year, we had no plan. Next year, it should be a turnaround. This roller coaster ride isn't much fun.

Hopefully before the 2nd round, we can find our new coach.

No, Petrie worked as part of the radio announcer crew for the Portland Trailblazers before become the vice president of basketball operations. He had no previous history in any front office prior to that. Same story for West and Ainge. You want to say that their personalities are different? Fine, I'll agree to that, but the fact remains that a lot of people, whether they deserve it or not, have become GM's, or the equivalent there of, with no previous experience. I'm not saying that its a recipe for success, but certainly many have succeeded. Don't forget that Vlade was also a scout for the Lakers for a year, and that he was also the president of his country's Olympic committee. One has to believe that he has leadership quality's.

Now, where I think the problem is, is the fact that everyone wants to win tomorrow, or next season. So do I, but is that really reasonable? Is it reasonable to think that after 10 years of losing basketball, Vlade is going to come in, and in one or two off seasons, turn this team into a contender? I'm not asking what you want, but if it's reasonable? The old saying is that haste makes waste. Shortcuts usually lead to disaster, because in reality, there aren't any shortcuts. We seem to think that because we as fans have had to endure 10 years of failure that Vlade had nothing to do with, he then is responsible for building a championship team overnight. I don't agree, and that's what is unfair about this process for Vlade.

 

[dude12]

The criticism of Vlade is so far off point it's in fathomable how he gets any of it when the head coach arguably was the worst in the entire league. When your head coach butchers the handling of the roster, it starts and stops with GK.

 

[bajaden]

The criticism of Vlade is so far off point it's in fathomable how he gets any of it when the head coach arguably was the worst in the entire league. When your head coach butchers the handling of the roster, it starts and stops with GK.

Who Vlade didn't hire!

 

[King Baller]

Fans are very fickle. Best example I know of is right down I-80 from Sacto:

 

[dude12]

Furthermore, Vlade is having to overcome the deliberate undermining by PDA who was in it to get his crony Mullin hired......and by undermining I mean letting IT2 go for virtually nothing. He dumped assets getting nothing in return. It does take more than 1 offseason to overcome that and the previous drafts. I think Vlade's off to a good start with bringing in proven vets and drafting WCS.

 

[randymoss1881]

McHale knows his basketball, you can hear it when he was doing his analyst job for the TNT games. I wouldn't mind bringing him on board by any means, he wouldn't be my primary option, but I wouldn't be upset with the hire either. There's going to be so many different candidates being interviewed and a number of different opinions on who fans want to bring in.

I agree right now if have:
1. Blatt
2. Messanir
3. Walton
4. McHale

Either way these coaches from what I've read will have us playing defense and cousins ass will be planted in the paint. No more 3s