The other thread was locked, so this is probably the best place to say thanks to Carmichael Dave for today’s show. An honest, city-wide conversation is much needed, and takes a lot of courage and integrity to initiate. CD delivered in a major way this morning. I don’t have the twitters, but if you do, please let Dave know what a great job he did today.
Carmichael Dave sparks new conversation
- Thread starter Sactown ExPat
- Start date
He respectfully graded all levels of the organization to include ownership. He accurately stated that this is the least successful ownership group, by winning percentage, in the Kings tenure in Sacramento. He stated it is time the owner(s) evaluate the executives on staff and spend what it takes to bring an experienced, successful basketball operations staff. He was very respectful. This ownership group has clearly been quite successful in everything off the court and in the community, but on-court has been a complete failure.
Thanks.
Most successful companies have reviews of upper management anywhere from quarterly to annually. Performances are graded against expectations.
It doesn't appear Sac does this. If they do it isn't genuine as people who've made terrible decisions time and again are still employed. One thing this organization appears to run low on is accountability. The vision, whatever the hell it is, is also poorly executed.
Those who work in business and corporate leadership environments will naturally struggle to point to anything but dysfunction in this organization, running top-down. In a company with a clear vision and follow-up accountability, the crap we've seen from Sac just does not fly. Heads roll.
So while accountability would be welcome, in my eyes the real problem is Vivek is an atrocious leader. Whatever vision he has has been half-assed in execution, and that's being kind. The experts he's hired around him to enact his vision have been failures. There's a clear history of division and discord underneath him. His strategic planning appears to change on a whim. That all points to the top.
I hired a GM for my company to make key decisions a couple years ago. I trust him to do his thing. If he ends up making an abhorrent decision which changes the trajectory and ceiling of my company for years to come, who's most at fault, him for making that decision or me for hiring that person and giving him that responsibility?
It's me of course. Firing him wouldn't be transferring accountability. Rather, it would be admitting to and correcting a mistake I made.
And that's what's largely lost in the current talk about the team. People can blame Vlade all they like. But he didn't hire himself. Keeping him might be a mistake. Firing him is admitting a mistake.
It all goes back to Vivek where its been one mistake after another since he took over.
Most successful companies have reviews of upper management anywhere from quarterly to annually. Performances are graded against expectations.
It doesn't appear Sac does this. If they do it isn't genuine as people who've made terrible decisions time and again are still employed. One thing this organization appears to run low on is accountability. The vision, whatever the hell it is, is also poorly executed.
Those who work in business and corporate leadership environments will naturally struggle to point to anything but dysfunction in this organization, running top-down. In a company with a clear vision and follow-up accountability, the crap we've seen from Sac just does not fly. Heads roll.
So while accountability would be welcome, in my eyes the real problem is Vivek is an atrocious leader. Whatever vision he has has been half-assed in execution, and that's being kind. The experts he's hired around him to enact his vision have been failures. There's a clear history of division and discord underneath him. His strategic planning appears to change on a whim. That all points to the top.
I hired a GM for my company to make key decisions a couple years ago. I trust him to do his thing. If he ends up making an abhorrent decision which changes the trajectory and ceiling of my company for years to come, who's most at fault, him for making that decision or me for hiring that person and giving him that responsibility?
It's me of course. Firing him wouldn't be transferring accountability. Rather, it would be admitting to and correcting a mistake I made.
And that's what's largely lost in the current talk about the team. People can blame Vlade all they like. But he didn't hire himself. Keeping him might be a mistake. Firing him is admitting a mistake.
It all goes back to Vivek where its been one mistake after another since he took over.
Thank you for listening, and especially thank you for noticing that I went out of my way to be respectful. We are forever indebted for them saving the team, and I truly believe they want to win. However wanting it and knowing how to do it are two different things.
One other note, I misspoke. They’re all for the most part, but the Lukenbill ownership group actually had the worst record.....
Lukenbill-era:194-380 (.338)
Thomas-era: 192-300 (.390)
Maloof-era: 582-600 (.492)
Vivek-era: 203-332 (.379)
One other note, I misspoke. They’re all for the most part, but the Lukenbill ownership group actually had the worst record.....
Lukenbill-era:194-380 (.338)
Thomas-era: 192-300 (.390)
Maloof-era: 582-600 (.492)
Vivek-era: 203-332 (.379)
I'd love to see more respectful comments around here about the Kings, the current leadership, etc. Unfortunately, when fans feel so passionately about something, they sometimes forget that a meaningful dialogue can take place without resorting to name calling, insult hurling, etc.
It sounds like you did an exemplary job this morning. I feel obligated to listen. Which hour?
It sounds like you did an exemplary job this morning. I feel obligated to listen. Which hour?
I don’t claim to have any insight on what is going on “behind the scenes” with the running of the Kings organization, but I have my beliefs: Vivek does not know basketball (which isn’t a problem in and of itself), so he promotes Divac to GM and effectively hands off responsibility to him for basketball decisions (again - not a problem, per se). Vivek does so with the best of intentions and does so in large part because of what Vlade (and Peja for that matter) has meant to the Kings through the years. After the promising degree of improvement that last year’s team showed, Vivek went “all in” on Vlade with a four year contract, then Divac similarly ties his fortunes to Walton. It’s a “feel good” story, right? A former franchise player brings the team back to the prominence it enjoyed during its glory years. Unfortunately, reality is not a storybook and this “tale” does not appear that it will have a fairy tale ending.
I have been saying this for a while, but Vlade does not have the know how to cut it as the #1 decision maker for an NBA team.
Vlade is a great ambassador for the Kings and he should be respectfully moved over to a "President" or "Ambassador" role for the club. He is great for the public PR and is adored by the fans, but he shouldn't be the trigger man for an NBA club.
Once this dreadful season is over and the Kings hopefully secure a top 7 pick, the Kings need to move promptly to name an experienced, full time GM to take over basketball player personnel decisions, especially for the draft. I think the fan base is getting tired of this mess and if the Kings want to keep the loyal fans coming, they need to make a move to put an experienced GM in place to make trades, draft, and sign free agents.
I really have no confidence that the current front office can make the right moves to get this team into the playoffs anytime soon. I think it is time to bring in someone experienced to build this team around Fox and Bagley, going forward.
Vlade is a great ambassador for the Kings and he should be respectfully moved over to a "President" or "Ambassador" role for the club. He is great for the public PR and is adored by the fans, but he shouldn't be the trigger man for an NBA club.
Once this dreadful season is over and the Kings hopefully secure a top 7 pick, the Kings need to move promptly to name an experienced, full time GM to take over basketball player personnel decisions, especially for the draft. I think the fan base is getting tired of this mess and if the Kings want to keep the loyal fans coming, they need to make a move to put an experienced GM in place to make trades, draft, and sign free agents.
I really have no confidence that the current front office can make the right moves to get this team into the playoffs anytime soon. I think it is time to bring in someone experienced to build this team around Fox and Bagley, going forward.
But what can they do? They aren't selling. Vivek has already taken a back seat and let basketball decisions be made by Vlade. Then he extends him. Vlade has crapped the bed here. His failings are the failings of ownership who keeps him around. But what's their move? Fire Vlade and hire Hinke? Then we rebuild for another five years to get lottery picks so we might get a player like the ones we've passed up in previous drafts? This is all so messed up. The thought of this team passing on guys like Lillard and Leonard and Luka makes me ill. Our player evaluations suck. Our drafting sucks. Our player development sucks. Guys who can't stay healthy points to training staff who suck. Our traded suck. Everything sucks. Ok so what now?
Is he going on Grant's show today? I have a few afternoon meetings, but would try to listen in just to hear how they navigate that convo. Especially when the topic of Vlade comes up. I know both love Vlade--rightfully so, but at this point it's time for Vlade to go. A change that Grant will never admit.
Don't count on it this time. Buddy is basically untradeable under salary cap rules due to his extension. Buddy counts at $4.86M of outgoing salary for us, and counts as $19.77M of ingoing salary to another team. Basically that means we have to add at least $22M of salary from our side, and the team we trade him to has to send us back at least $33M in salary (those numbers are outside of Buddy's contract). That makes it pretty tough to find a fit.
They need to hire an experienced hand like Ujiri, Connelly, or Presti amongst other options. Pay the big bucks. Ujiri is a free agent in 2021, so there would be a buyout to pay to Toronto. Vivek might need Silver’s help to even get Toronto to allow discussions with Ujiri. Silver could lean on Vivek’s efforts to expand into the Indian market and all the great work Vivek has done for the league. But, Ujiri would have a chance to be the Theo Epstein of basketball—hands down the greatest executive in the modern era.
The great thing about the names above is, Vivek would only need to eat Vlade’s contract right away, and Vlade might negotiate that, too. All the names above would evaluate Luke on their own. They would not make any knee-jerk decisions to exert control. Control would be theirs, or they wouldn’t take the job in the first place—no need to flex. BTW, all non-basketball voices would need to stay out of basketball ops or get removed from the organization.
The great thing about the names above is, Vivek would only need to eat Vlade’s contract right away, and Vlade might negotiate that, too. All the names above would evaluate Luke on their own. They would not make any knee-jerk decisions to exert control. Control would be theirs, or they wouldn’t take the job in the first place—no need to flex. BTW, all non-basketball voices would need to stay out of basketball ops or get removed from the organization.