Interesting Vivek article.

[Kingsfan23]

Here's the thing about Petrie - he's incredibly loyal. Always has been. So he wasn't necessarily saying Smart was a great coach - just that he wasn't given a chance. Petrie dissed Vivek and praised the Maloofs by saying that when the Maloofs came in they didn't fire everybody. He was upset that people he fought with were fired summarily.

And this interview with Vivek just reopened that wound and made him upset.

To Brick's point, Petrie's comments aren't going to make Vlade's job more difficult. Geoff is loyal and he's not petty - he's already been a sounding board for Divac and he's never criticized Vlade. Airing the truth about Vivek only hurts Vivek. What COULD make Vlade's job more difficult is if Vivek is still meddling under the guise of not being involved.

I think it hurts the franchise to further cast the owner as a lunatic/despot, which is why I don't like the Vivek stuff personally. Hurts FAs/draft when the owner is the butt of league wide jokes, and he isn't going anywhere. It can take years to get his rep back to lukewarm as the media stuff continues

It helps Vivek let the basketball folks do their jobs if he isn't, but there has never been any proof he hasn't been the entire time.

 

[jcassio]

Well, this is a fine mess you've got us in, Vivek. Another setback for our team's image. If you're going to set the record straight, it would be helpful if you actually got it right. Most of us lost confidence in Petrie 2-3 years before you came along, but his strong rebuff to some of your assertions makes you look like the "arrogant and dismissive little chap" that he observed in you.

I agree with VF. I just want to focus on basketball. If you make no more embarrassing owner mistakes for the next 5 years, and if our team becomes consistently respectable, we might have a shot at changing the way the world looks at our team and organization. It'll take some time, though. So let's give it our best shot, eh? Just let the professionals do their jobs and you keep your thoughts and your meddling ways to yourself.

 

[funkykingston]

I think it hurts the franchise to further cast the owner as a lunatic/despot, which is why I don't like the Vivek stuff personally. Hurts FAs/draft when the owner is the butt of league wide jokes, and he isn't going anywhere. It can take years to get his rep back to lukewarm as the media stuff continues

It helps Vivek let the basketball folks do their jobs if he isn't, but there has never been any proof he hasn't been the entire time.

Is it worse that people think Vivek is a joke or that he really is a joke?

The reality is that if Vivek is still meddling and the minority owners are still angry then pretending that's not the case isn't going to fix anything.

 

[upinsmoke]

Burn. Anyways Vivek will continue to be mocked by both local and national media until this team turns it around. I sure hope Vivek understands now that he shouldn't touch the basketball and let's Vlade do his thing because if he doesn't and Vlade and him have a fall out...

 

[Padrino]

I felt the only person Vivek really trashed in that interview was PDA and his initial advisors. The rest was basically that he was bringing in a new regime,did it quickly and screwed up by hiring the coach first.

I don't see the reason for the drama.

from my perspective, "the reason for the drama" is that vivek ranadive has proven nothing and doesn't appear to know what he's doing, but constantly attempts to position himself as if he does, while taking reasonable criticism very poorly--and in public, no less. he talks of "jazz bands." he talks of "nba 3.0." he talks of "innovation." he claims to surround himself with the smartest people he can find, people who are four steps ahead of everybody else. yet vivek's brief tenure thus far has been marred by a series of personnel decisions that range from head-scratching to downright damaging. he absolutely screwed up by hiring his first head coach before his first gm, but let's not pretend like that's his only sin; it just happened to be the first domino to fall in what would become a much larger series of clusterf***s...

 

[Bricklayer]

from my perspective, "the reason for the drama" is that vivek ranadive has proven nothing and doesn't appear to know what he's doing, but constantly attempts to position himself as if he does, while taking reasonable criticism very poorly--and in public, no less. he talks of "jazz bands." he talks of "nba 3.0." he talks of "innovation." he claims to surround himself with the smartest people he can find, people who are four steps ahead of everybody else. yet vivek's brief tenure thus far has been marred by a series of personnel decisions that range from head-scratching to downright damaging. he absolutely screwed up by hiring his first head coach before his first gm, but let's not pretend like that's his only sin; it just happened to be the first domino to fall in what would become a much larger series of clusterf***s...

But, not one of them that we know of after the brutal 3 coaches coaching fiasco, followed by Vlade's rise. Been a while, with the confirmed period of Vivek meddling/arrogant ****ups ending less than 2 years after it began. Last year we were still suffering from the Karl decision, which may or may not have been Vivek's choice, (and we will likely never know), but the roster was steady. Hence, Vlade. Vlade has again appeared to be in complete charge this summer. things have slowed down enormously after the initial burst of amateur hour stuff.

 

[Kingsfan23]

Is it worse that people think Vivek is a joke or that he really is a joke?

The reality is that if Vivek is still meddling and the minority owners are still angry then pretending that's not the case isn't going to fix anything.

The worst scenario is people thinking he's a joke when in reality he isn't

If he had no leading hand in Stauskas/Malone etc. and he is being held accountable to the media bombardment of the team and the trashing of his image

At this point I think the message has been sent either way, and Vlade has went out of his way to state the decisions being made are his

 

[Padrino]

But, not one of them that we know of after the brutal 3 coaches coaching fiasco, followed by Vlade's rise. Been a while, with the confirmed period of Vivek meddling/arrogant ****ups ending less than 2 years after it began. Last year we were still suffering from the Karl decision, which may or may not have been Vivek's choice, (and we will likely never know), but the roster was steady. Hence, Vlade. Vlade has again appeared to be in complete charge this summer. things have slowed down enormously after the initial burst of amateur hour stuff.

that's all well and good, but does it mean that vivek shouldn't be held accountable for those "meddling/arrogant f***ups"? does it mean that i have to be satisfied with his deflections and defensiveness? i have no idea if he's actually taking a more hands-off approach yet or not, but i do know that i'm very much put off by the arrogance that's been on display since vivek assumed ownership of the team. that "initial burst of amateur hour stuff" was hardly inconsequential, and it may have caused irreparable harm to the franchise's chances of building a winner around demarcus cousins, which in turn could mean another half-decade or more of losing as the kings weigh the appropriate time to consider moving on from cousins and starting yet another rebuilding process.

vlade's currently making lemonade, and i have great appreciation for the work that he and coach joerger are trying to do, but neither has been given much to work with. and if we're assessing things honestly, there's only the narrowest of pathways for improving this roster into a serious playoff contender; they've gotta get something of value in a trade for rudy gay before he walks, they've gotta make the playoffs to convince boogie that this franchise isn't a lost cause, they've gotta hope that a playoff berth is enough to renew optimism in sacramento as a free agency destination, and they've gotta pray that some of these young pieces take big leaps in the next couple of seasons. unless all of those factors break right for a team that hasn't caught many breaks in the last thirty years, i don't see how the kings transform into the kind of winner that will convince big cuz to stay. even his loyalty is going to have its limits.

 

[gil renard]

We had ongoing draft workouts, we had them scheduled. We went over to Greece to scout Giannis [Antetokounmpo], the kid that Milwaukee took. We had a workout set up for him to come in, highly recommended that they work this kid out, and of course they didn’t.

Smdh...oh man, that hurts. We could easily be looking at a team of DMC, Giannis, and IT.

 

[ElRey]

Vivek should just be quiet. He looks worse and worse every time he speaks to the media. At the very least, hire a publicist to help him with media and public relations. The dude is a genius in computer software and technology, but definitely lacking in how to be a NBA owner.

 

[swisshh]

The part that appeared to set off Petrie was a comparatively innocuous one paragraph throwaway Vivek used just to start off his tale of woe. It is kind of amusing to see it drawing so much attention compared to the rest, but Petrie felt maligned. It did feel inaccurate, but in that sort of benignly generalized way that unimportant things are quickly summarized. I guess unless you are the person being summarized.

Petrie seemed upset about the idea that people didn't want to be there while at the same time admitting in the interview that he wanted to leave. I think he's more upset at the lazy way it was said, which made it look like Petrie's efforts to transition things didn't occur. That I understand.

I saw a former Kings employee imply that Vivek threw Shareef under the bus in that interview, but it was PDA he said did that and he said nothing bad towards Shaereef. He said he didn't know that was going on.

 

[gil renard]

I only had about an 8 or 10 minute little meeting with him. I found him to be a very arrogant and dismissive little chap. He doesn’t seem to understand that he owns it. He was the one that came in with Basketball 3.0, and changing the culture, “I have the smartest guys in the room, they’re four steps ahead of everybody else, I have 80 gigs of data, nobody else has that.” Well, okay, you know?

Hilarious...I'm going to see about making that my new sig. Vivek comes across as such a weasel...even if some of what he said has truth, he just threw everyone under the bus...should have just kept quiet. Good luck getting anyone to come work for you now.

 

[IfAt1st]

Vivek should just be quiet. He looks worse and worse every time he speaks to the media. At the very least, hire a publicist to help him with media and public relations.

Here's the hilariously pathetic thing : He already DID hire a publicist to help him!
I guess you've forgotten the absolute cluster-f&^% that was Leslie Moore?

The most insane thing was - this was a person Vivek hired to ensure his public image and social media presence was a good one.
And she constantly stirred up the ire of Kings fans, blocked any critical tweets/accounts, was arrogant enough to think she (and by extension Vivek) spoke for "true Kings fans", and openly gushed over the Warriors ten times more than the Kings.

Vivek sure does think we should genuflect at his giant brain-power, a'la Princess Bride:

 

[IfAt1st]

I take issue with two narratives Vivek is (and has been) pushing:

1) That his mistake was hiring Malone before hiring a GM.
No, it wasn't a mistake. Malone was the right coach, and he listened to people who knew what the hell they were talking about, and Malone would have likely been hired by someone else if he'd waited, AND the season prep HAD to start asap that year.
His mistake, and he has never mentioned this (despite lots of opportunities) is that he hired PDA as the GM. A guy so weasely that he couldn't simply get along with Malone and act like an adult working on a team together.
Then Vivek compounded this with a more egregious error - he hired (?!) Chris Mullin as his trusted personal basketball advisor.
Vivek had lots of people to choose from, and he actually trusted Chris Mullin to give good basketball advice?!
The guy had zero actual duties from everything I've read except steer Vivek in the right bball direction, and instead he steered him into the iceberg with almost every decision and choice was wrong!

2) That their mistake was being too open and collaborative in their business approach, a la Silicon Valley.
I don't believe for a minute that things were collaborative or open - remember, this is an organization that had Mullin and PDA sliming every corner of the org with selfish, self-aggrandizing power plays - and I truly believe that is due to Vivek's personality infusing the franchise.
Malone said he couldn't even talk to PDA - the same Malone that we all could understand him and find a way to talk to him about basketball if we had the opportunity. You're telling me THAT guy was so impossible to communicate with that you had to fire him after Cousins got menengitis just because you couldn't stand to see Malone continue to succeed once DMC he came back?

This is an organization that won't even come clean about basic fundamental decisions! We still don't know who's responsible for destroying multiple seasons, due to the galacticly stupid decisions to fire Malone, and then make Corbin head coach while saying he'll be more successful than Malone, then hire Karl on that terribly long contract when he wasn't physically or mentally capable, all the while completely ignoring the needs and desires of its franchise player (while simultaneously pushing the narrative that they've coddled him too much and too long).

I think this kind of He Said, She Said will continue to haunt this franchise for YEARS, because unlike this repeated narrative of "we were too open", I think this franchise is completely addicted to lying out their asses, and wouldn't know the truth if it came backto bite them in the ass.
The franchise doesn't deal in truths anymore - just what they can convince the public and force the people in the know to stay quiet about what really happened.

P.S. Everything in this old James Ham article is only more accurate today: http://cowbellkingdom.com/sunday-musings-the-lowest-point-is-still-ahead/#sthash.Kxz20TpA.dpuf

 

[gunks]

Well shoot,

Looks like those of us saying Vivek is a BSing tool (sic) were correct!

Sucks being right sometimes.

Vivek, please just sign paychecks and only sign paychecks. Or sell your shares, that'd be even better.

 

[Gliesian]

Since I already blasted Vivek on here last week, I'll try to help him out a little bit here by indulging the sudden craving to spew out my new feelings, while getting psyched for this season:

Over the last 12 years, I've run out of patience, especially when it comes to squandering Cuz. I'm more upset now than I was when the Maloofs went broke, even though the current situation is far better. This isn't fair to Vivek because he hasn't been here for 6 years.

Although Vivek is responsible for hiring PDA who fired Malone, George Karl should have been an adequate replacement for Malone. I thought to myself, "Wow, George Karl is such an amazing coach! I bet he will prove his brilliance once and for all by courageously implementing a scheme he's never tried before, tailor-made for us!" Basically, the same stuff Malone was doing, but with sage, old-man wisdom sprinkled on top. But NOPE. The exact friggin' opposite. That's on Karl imo. UNLESS, the whole "jazz NBA 3.0" was the reason for the Karl hire and Vivek knew exactly what he was going to do. Still, Karl was in charge and could have done whatever he wanted. He should have known better.

Vivek never got a shred of patience from me and I feel bad about that. I just plum ran out, because we're out of time. Even with the Golden 1 Center, I feel uneasy about the Kings immediate future if we underachieve this year. If we have to trade Cuz, will any FAs come to this career-killing organization? How much longer do we have to wait for good basketball? 2 years? 5 years of newfangled infamy? The dichotomous destiny that this season presents us is unlike any that I've ever experienced as a Kings fan. We're going to Heaven or Hell and it's all up to Joerger and his squad.

What I'm saying is, a lot of my undue animosity towards Vivek was manifested out of anxiety and impatience, which he only partly contributed to. I'm not saying he gets a free pass, though. I stopped liking Vivek when he unleashed the perv-bots on everyone's underwear; however, he is the very last lightning rod left under a woeful storm 12 years in the making. That's gotta be rough. Meanwhile I turned into a pessimist, which I hate. I'm just gonna pretend this is the first season for everybody in the Kings, except Matt Barnes

 

[mac]

Next thing he'll be saying he didn't have anything to do with Sim Bhullar. Don't trust a word that Vivek says.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Next thing he'll be saying he didn't have anything to do with Sim Bhullar. Don't trust a word that Vivek says.

i echo that statement. can't trust a slime bucket. cousins is all about loyalty and trust. hope he can see past this and stick it out long term.

 

[John Galt]

Here's the hilariously pathetic thing : He already DID hire a publicist to help him!
I guess you've forgotten the absolute cluster-f&^% that was Leslie Moore?

Leslie has apparently taken to twitter to insinuate that some Kings insider has it out for Vivek. I don't know how the convo went as I'm blocked by Leslie (and Marcos Breton... that's about the only two tough talking but thin-skinned personalities who have blocked me as far as I know). I don't know if she is back working for the Kings or is some Vivek loyalist in another capacity.

But she said something like "who is the ONE person who has never been mentioned in any article, not one article in 3 years?".

I think she may be trying to imply that Mark Mastrov is behind a hit campaign against Vivek but I don't know.

 

[John Galt]

I stopped liking Vivek when he unleashed the perv-bots on everyone's underwear;

wait what?

 

[fansinceday1]

Leslie has apparently taken to twitter to insinuate that some Kings insider has it out for Vivek. I don't know how the convo went as I'm blocked by Leslie (and Marcos Breton... that's about the only two tough talking but thin-skinned personalities who have blocked me as far as I know). I don't know if she is back working for the Kings or is some Vivek loyalist in another capacity.

But she said something like "who is the ONE person who has never been mentioned in any article, not one article in 3 years?".

I think she may be trying to imply that Mark Mastrov is behind a hit campaign against Vivek but I don't know.

To be frank, What a $hit show.
Im sick of this crap. Why can't vivek just accept SOME blame?

 

[Big Cuz 15]

To be frank, What a $hit show.
Im sick of this crap. Why can't vivek just accept SOME blame?

vivek blocks blame like neo blocks punches

 

[Bricklayer]

that's all well and good, but does it mean that vivek shouldn't be held accountable for those "meddling/arrogant f***ups"? does it mean that i have to be satisfied with his deflections and defensiveness? i have no idea if he's actually taking a more hands-off approach yet or not, but i do know that i'm very much put off by the arrogance that's been on display since vivek assumed ownership of the team. that "initial burst of amateur hour stuff" was hardly inconsequential, and it may have caused irreparable harm to the franchise's chances of building a winner around demarcus cousins, which in turn could mean another half-decade or more of losing as the kings weigh the appropriate time to consider moving on from cousins and starting yet another rebuilding process.

vlade's currently making lemonade, and i have great appreciation for the work that he and coach joerger are trying to do, but neither has been given much to work with. and if we're assessing things honestly, there's only the narrowest of pathways for improving this roster into a serious playoff contender; they've gotta get something of value in a trade for rudy gay before he walks, they've gotta make the playoffs to convince boogie that this franchise isn't a lost cause, they've gotta hope that a playoff berth is enough to renew optimism in sacramento as a free agency destination, and they've gotta pray that some of these young pieces take big leaps in the next couple of seasons. unless all of those factors break right for a team that hasn't caught many breaks in the last thirty years, i don't see how the kings transform into the kind of winner that will convince big cuz to stay. even his loyalty is going to have its limits.

a) the problem is people, including Amick afterwards, saying "nothing has changed". Well, something has changed. Or "he hasn't learned". I can't speak to what is going on behind the scenes, but to outside appearances, as far as practical effects are concerned, maybe he has. There's an easy narrative that he came in, got bit, realized he was in over his head (or if you prefer, just flinched at the wall of contempt coming his way as he became the butt of jokes) and backed off and engaged Vlade to settle things down. He has been unexceptionable as an owner for a year and a half now. Invisible except for the arena stuff until this article.

b) we may not be in as bad a position as all that. Or we may be. We certainly have burned up all of our rope between the late Maloof and early Vivek years. but the squad is starting off feeling very solid, its got the best coach we've had since Adelman (Karl was obviously once a great if problematic figure, but we didn't even get that), and Vlade has been very saavy in handing out contracts. We basically don't have a bad contract on the team, by new television deal standards, and we've got the ability to clear huge cap room next summer if we choose to. The key to everything is this current team breaking back through to decency. but if it were to, we've actually got a pretty good setup to be able to build from there however we want. We've got some youth to go that way. We could reup the vets if we had a great season. We've got some Euro prospects to bring over, and an interest in Nick Calathes too. We've got as much FA money as we want to go sign whatever players we think will help. Vlade has done this intentionally, and we have a lot of flexibility, IF this team turns out to be as solid as it might be.

 

[Gliesian]

wait what?

The k5 knightscope security robot at the home opener last year. It has near infrared thermal imaging which can see through thin layers of clothing. It also has facial recognition, license plate readers, smellers, audio recording, behavioral analysis. It's just too invasive for me.

 

[IfAt1st]

Leslie has apparently taken to twitter to insinuate that some Kings insider has it out for Vivek. I don't know how the convo went as I'm blocked by Leslie (and Marcos Breton... that's about the only two tough talking but thin-skinned personalities who have blocked me as far as I know). I don't know if she is back working for the Kings or is some Vivek loyalist in another capacity.

But she said something like "who is the ONE person who has never been mentioned in any article, not one article in 3 years?".

I think she may be trying to imply that Mark Mastrov is behind a hit campaign against Vivek but I don't know.

How can anyone tell what she's blabbling (blabbing AND babbling) about on Twitter?
She Tweets over 10 times a day - it's like searching through a haystack trying to find any coherent thoughts from her (a supposed PR-expert).

She seldom Tweets knowledgeably about her company (Juniper Networks) - the only posts with content are ones she Retweets from other people.
Most of her Tweets are random short stream-of-consciousness crap about the sports teams she likes.

There was no other conversation that I could find to that Tweet, and no references or hashtags to give anyone context.

 

[Bricklayer]

The k5 knightscope security robot at the home opener last year. It has near infrared thermal imaging which can see through thin layers of clothing. It also has facial recognition, license plate readers, smellers, audio recording, behavioral analysis. It's just too invasive for me.

Indeed, many of the marvels of the new arena strike me that way. Its all very much a double edged sword, and for somebody who intentionally does not have a social media presence, who goes to great lengths to disable every tracking related device and program on every device he has, who uses IP masks and has layers of dummy email accounts linked to other dummy email accounts, who brings his own laptop with him to work with cutting edge security to avoid being monitored whenever possible, and who routinely turns off GPS related functions unless absolutely necessary, the idea of being tagged, tracked, ID'd and watched "for my benefit" is creepy as hell. I think many people miss the George Orwell potential of their lives. "They are watching" I'm probably going to end up in a cabin in Montana. If I ever attended a Kings game I'd pee them off by doing it wearing a paper bag over my head and using a burn phone.

 

[Gliesian]

Indeed, many of the marvels of the new arena strike me that way. Its all very much a double edged sword, and for somebody who intentionally does not have a social media presence, who goes to great lengths to disable every tracking related device and program on every device he has, who uses IP masks and has layers of dummy email accounts linked to other dummy email accounts, who brings his own laptop with him to work with cutting edge security to avoid being monitored whenever possible, and who routinely turns off GPS related functions unless absolutely necessary, the idea of being tagged, tracked, ID'd and watched "for my benefit" is creepy as hell. I think many people miss the George Orwell potential of their lives. "They are watching" I'm probably going to end up in a cabin in Montana. If I ever attended a Kings game I'd pee them off by doing it wearing a paper bag over my head and using a burn phone.

Nice! And I thought I was careful lol. I like the paper bag thing as a form of protest if the pervbots return. I actually made a sign and stood in front of the robot fleet, letting everyone know the specs of the machine and how they could see some people's underwear. God forbid someone wears yoga pants without underwear. One of the workers at the station even called me a liar lol. What bothers me most is that they use the exact wavelength of light that is best optimized to see through clothing. Ugh.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

"We went over to Greece to scout Giannis [Antetokounmpo], the kid that Milwaukee took. We had a workout set up for him to come in, highly recommended that they work this kid out, and of course they didn’t."

This is as much revisionist history as anything Vivek said. We now know who the better draft choice would have been and how Giannis has developed, but why mention it? As he himself stated, they screwed up the prior 2 drafts. To me, it's a backhanded way of saying "we were right in 2013 but they didn't bother listening to us". Well, if looking at the previous two drafts and all the personnel decisions 206 outlined, why would they?

lol vivek just needs to stfu really. how many of you think petrie is lying or being dishonest in his interview? i don't.

I don't think he's lying per se, but I think it's obvious he has an agenda. People are quick to take Petrie's word as 100% gospel on the premise that he rarely speaks out. So what? That doesn't mean everything he says is 100% factual. I'm not saying Petrie is lying or that Vivek isn't lying in some fashion. It's quite possible that neither is actually lying -- they just have different POV's and recolletions of how things actually went down. That happens quite often, actually.

BTW, when I say Petrie has an agenda, I'm referring to his loyalty and care to the people he hired. He could trash the Maloofs equally, if not more than Vivek, but has never really done so because "they" retained his people. Thus his agenda was protected.

Tbh, jimmer was all maloofs and he was operating with shackles I.e. a very tight budget on players/coaches

While I also subscribe to that notion, why hasn't he ever come out for the record and said so? When he was still employed by the Maloof family, his silence made sense. But why come out now against a guy you never really worked under and not against the former ownership group that did far more heinous things all while you were there?

Geoff Petrie has been hammered for all of the moves that occurred the final 2 years. His legacy has been tarnished by it. If it was the Maloof family's doing, why not clear the air as he claims to be doing with Vivek? Either they were all his decisions or he has the agenda I spoke of above. Either way isn't good. But if it is the latter, then he's not the most unbiased party to be speaking out about this -- same as Vivek.

Everything is a matter of perspective.

 

[itzcoatl]

Just listened to Geoff on 1320 AM. Mostly just reiterated the same things from the article. Said that it was a total fabrication when Vivkek said no one wanted to be here. He felt that Vivek crossed a line when he manufactured something that was not truthful about himself, Smart or Abdur Rahim. Geoff felt he needed to stand up for people that were being marginalized. He stated as a leader you have to move beyond "blame it on George Bush". You have to take responsibility for the good and not so good.

 

[IfAt1st]

Thanks for the summary - I caught the show after his interview and was wondering if anything interesting was said.

I like that Mark Kreidler got Geoff to interview with them, instead of KHTK.