The update on Pope's promotion and Hartfield joining the ranks is pretty minor. But just like all the news this offseason it's seemingly positive.
I think we can all agree that the business side of the Kings has been doing a phenomenal job. Just reading this article (and watching the video) confirmed yet again that Vivek, Chris Granger and everyone involved on that side of things is killing it.
http://www.wired.com/2016/06/highest-tech-stadium-sports-built-like-tesla/
The new logo and it's unveiling was yet another great example and I have high hopes for the new uniforms.
So we've all been waiting for the basketball side of things to catch up and hold up their end of things by putting great players in those uniforms and a winning team in that amazing new arena.
It's going to be a long offseason but every day I'm starting to feel better and better about the organization and performance of the front office and coaching staff. We're no longer hearing a flood of leaked information from the Kings. Vlade made what looks like a great hire in Catanella and with Stojakovic, Bratz and Beech it seems like a very solid front office. The coaching search seemed to drag on and on without a lot of promising names but for Divac to swoop in and grab Joerger seemed like a coup. Joerger's staff is solid - love that Turner is back in town and that Corliss and Liebermann were retained - and FINALLY it seems like we have a coach and a GM on the same page. The announcement that Arsenault wouldn't be retained and that Peja wanted a new coach that would align more closely to what Joerger wants to do on the NBA level is just more evidence. And while they didn't quite work out as planned I understood everything Vlade tried to do last summer including pursuing Wes Matthews, signing Rondo, Belinelli & Koufos, drafting WCS, nabbing Seth Curry etc.
With D'Alessandro there were so many things that just did not make sense to me. Royce White? Landry? Trading for Williams only to then trade for Rudy? Letting Tyreke and IT walk for nothing? Drafting disappointing SGs two years in a row? All the leaked reports to the media? Firing Mike Malone? Wanting to play faster despite not having the roster for it?
I was always in fear that one of the really stupid rumors about the Kings would be true - like the idea that they would trade Collison, Williams and Thompson for a broke down Deron Williams on a completely awful contract primarily so they could get Mason Plumlee. Everything seemed so random and with no sense of stability.
Now every time there's Kings news it's good. It's confirming that Vlade runs a tight ship. That all the major players are on the same page.
That basketball operations are now in good hands.
And I think what Vivek, Divac, Catanella, Peja, Bratz, Beech, Joerger & his assistants and the rest of the basketball side of things are building is a positive culture that will lead to stability, a bright future and (finally) to more wins than losses.
Go Kings.