Calipari rumor quickly debunked ... by CALIPARI

[The Hammer]

What is your definition of 'first', in this context? Because it seems to me that, for the four years of Cousins' career prior to firing Malone, that the franchise has pretty much bent over backwards to appease Cousins.

Yeah I just don't see that. I saw a young player with intense emotions trying to find his way in the NBA, never intentionally hurting his team or franchise. And never breaking his word.

Then I saw a new ownership with weak leadership succumb to the special interests of the GM, rather than holding firm and sticking with the best coach Cousins had. It may be fading in time, but here is still absolutely no excuse for the firing of Malone. Nothing Cousins did beforehand comes close to equating with that.

I also just simply don't see how (at least the new ownership) "bent over backwards" to appease him. If anything, at their first opportunity, when success with the new coach (that Cousins loved) was at our fingertips... they can him... showing zero loyalty to Cuz.

 

[Bricklayer]

Its Fegan with Cuz giving the approval. As much as we hate to believe it an agent cannot behave this way without his boss (client) giving him the go ahead. No one else who is a possible suspect can do what Fegen can for Woj in terms of getting him information first. Woj will only risk his credibility or write these slander pieces for the guys that helped build him (agents).

Actually they kind of can.

Especially in these sorts of relationships with guys like Cousins who are still basically kids being taken care of by veteran battle worn lawyers who have been in the game for decades. The agent can't go rogue, but he can certainly feel/have a certain carte blanche to just do whatever it is that he thinks has to be done. Cuz has never shown much stomach for all this hassle, media wars etc. Fegan is in a perfect position to have a client who's only instructions are "fix this".

Using Cal may be going too far however. I would expect that to draw a protest from Cuz behind the scenes.

 

[Bricklayer]

This latest piece seems much more a slam on Vlade than a slam on Karl - that's the weird thing about it. The little digs thrown in at Vlade are pretty mean-spirited. Seems like whoever is behind this has serious wood for Vlade Divac (and who more than Weasel Pete would have that motivation?). There are not too many people who don't like Vlade Divac, but presumably two of the guys who feel that way would be Chris Mullin and Pete D'Alessandro

Could be, but Vlade also stood tall in the face of the Fegan pressure on draft day, so you slime him. Who knows, the idiot owner may believe some of it.

 

[pshn80]

When will the leaks end? I thought they were supposed to end when PDA left town... apparently not...

The leaks will never end. It's the nature of the business. We have an open issue that is not new - whether or not Cuz and Karl can usefully co-exist on a Kings team. Until that is answered we will read a thousand tweets. And after it is resolved we will read a thousand tweets.

 

[kingjatt]

Actually they kind of can.

Especially in these sorts of relationships with guys like Cousins who are still basically kids being taken care of by veteran battle worn lawyers who have been in the game for decades. The agent can't go rogue, but he can certainly feel/have a certain carte blanche to just do whatever it is that he thinks has to be done. Cuz has never shown much stomach for all this hassle, media wars etc. Fegan is in a perfect position to have a client who's only instructions are "fix this".

Using Cal may be going too far however. I would expect that to draw a protest from Cuz behind the scenes.

I agree that a group of lawyers and battle tested agents can have a lot of pull with a young star like Cuz but I don't think he is as innocent in this as some might think. Cuz has shown that he is not a pushover or someone who doesn't understand how the media works(just look at his tweet game recently). He must know the consequences and trickle down effects on the team of what Fegen is doing yet still refuses to put a stop to it.

But ultimately this is on Karl and he needs to go, he was the one who tried to go behind Cuz's back and have him traded which was the starting point of this current mess.

 

[Kingster]

First of all, I do not like at all what presumably Fegan is doing.
That being said, I do not see what Fegan is doing as anything different or unexpected from what other agents did in the past.

As long as Cousins puts his 100% in the game (no boycotting) and does not mess the locker room (openly asking for a trade) I do not see any problem from practical point of view.
I do not care who his agent is or says as long as the above is done.

Can you elaborate how does that PR war affect our franchise beside raising blood pressure on the board?
What dignity and reputation you are referring to exactly?
Will that huge line of NBA players wanting to play for Kings suddenly dry out?
Do you think that the only folks that matter (Vlade, Cousins, Karl and Vivek) will do something differently because of the leaks?

Unfortunately for the Kings, reputation does matter. It makes it that much more difficult to get decent FAs; it's much more likely to get "sell-out" players who don't give a crap about winning and just want the money (not a great culture builder). And you don't get new coaches wanting to come here. And eventually the fans don't want to participate in the circus. Also, a bad rep feeds on itself in a positive feedback loop - the worse the rep gets, the easier it is for the rep to get even worse.

 

[andjel]

I believe it is an attempt to tarnish the image of our franchise, deliberately timed on the eve of free agency, to demonstrate Fegan's "power" to hurt our franchise by driving down free agent willingness to sign in Sacramento unless we capitulate to his demands.



This is a rhetorical question intended to imply that our franchise currently has no dignity/a bad reputation. Since this question is not actually looking for an answer but is merely an attempt to score a point I won't respond to it further.

Not exactly rhetorical, compared to the actual stuff that was going on over the last year, I see this much less damaging to reputation of the franchise than firing Malone, the way franchise handled transition to the new coach, fully published internal power struggle from the previous year ....

Notwithstanding the dig at the franchise in the question, yes, I believe that news like this perpetuating the image of a Kings franchise in internal turmoil could very easily sway some free agents away from signing in Sacramento.

Do not share your opinion. The folks will not come to Kings for fame or championship or reputation, they will come to try to salvage their career or for $$$. Those will not be swayed.
If we had a long line of people lined up (sorry for using irony, not dig) I would be more worried about effect of this.


Probably not as a direct result of the leaks, no. For instance, I don't think that Vivek and Vlade will fire Karl and try to hire Cal just because a leak said we would. However, given the possibility of losing free agents due to this sort of damaging leak, our front office may be forced to take steps to stop the leaks. I don't know what those steps would be, but one possibility would be to give in to Fegan's pressure. Which, I believe, is the exact point of Fegan's pressure, and the exact thing that I am upset about. Fegan is sleazily attempting to damage our franchise. There is simply no way that I'm going to sit back and be OK about it.

Nobody should be OK about it, but that does not mean that it is a big deal down the road (again as long as Vlade/Vivek do not capitulate or Cousins does not let this affect his performance).

Edit: most of my replies are inside the quoted post.

 

[andjel]

In other words, you're one of the equivocating fans I spoke of earlier: their interests line up with yours, so you don't care about their process. And, as long as a trade demand comes out of Fegan's mouth, and not Cousins', you've decided to play the plausible deniability game.

Cousins/Fegans interests line up with mine, lol.

Cousins pouting on the court, Cousins making news conferences and being negative in the locker room = bad for team
Cousins letting his agent do his (dirty) work = do not care as much. As soon as organization proves as a serious one, wind will blow the other way

 

[Peter_Gibbons]

At what point does Woj lose credibility? This is getting ridiculous.

He should, but unfortunately he won't nationally.

Other than real kings fans, no one really keeps track of the details enough to know who is lying and who is making what up. Most people willbjust read the article and laugh at vivek and the kings.

 

[The Hammer]

Unfortunately for the Kings, reputation does matter. It makes it that much more difficult to get decent FAs; it's much more likely to get "sell-out" players who don't give a crap about winning and just want the money (not a great culture builder). And you don't get new coaches wanting to come here. And eventually the fans don't want to participate in the circus. Also, a bad rep feeds on itself in a negative feedback loop - the worse the rep gets, the easier it is for the rep to get even worse.

Not to nitpick, but that is a positive feedback loop.

A negative feedback loop would be that the stimulus (bad reputation) leads to a decrease in that stimulus (bad reputation dissipates).

Positive feedback loops are rare in nature. Occasions where a terminal endpoint is desired are usually where they occur, for example delivery of a baby. Oxytocin is released causing contractions start, that releases more oxytocin, more oxytocin = more contractions until eventually the baby is born.

If someone is trying to create a positive feedback loop in this situation it is likely that they have a specific endpoint in mind: i.e. getting Karl fired or Cuz traded.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Yeah I just don't see that. I saw a young player with intense emotions trying to find his way in the NBA, never intentionally hurting his team or franchise. And never breaking his word.

Every time the Kings franchise has reached a fork in the road, where one direction was 'X', and the other direction was DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings have chosen Cousins, from the time he got drafted, up until when they fired Michael Malone. Where am I wrong on this?

 

[Kingster]

This latest piece seems much more a slam on Vlade than a slam on Karl - that's the weird thing about it. The little digs thrown in at Vlade are pretty mean-spirited. Seems like whoever is behind this has serious wood for Vlade Divac (and who more than Weasel Pete would have that motivation?). There are not too many people who don't like Vlade Divac, but presumably two of the guys who feel that way would be Chris Mullin and Pete D'Alessandro

It does send the signal that firing Karl will not fully appease Cousins. It may also send a signal that Cousins isn't happy Divac didn't trade him after he requested it.

 

[The Hammer]

Every time the Kings franchise has reached a fork in the road, where one direction was 'X', and the other direction was DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings have chosen Cousins, from the time he got drafted, up until when they fired Michael Malone. Where am I wrong on this?

That is not "bending over backwards". That's simply the right thing to do. And they were not major forks. Until the Malone firing.

 

[Kingster]

Not to nitpick, but that is a positive feedback loop.

A negative feedback loop would be that the stimulus (bad reputation) leads to a decrease in that stimulus (bad reputation dissipates).

Positive feedback loops are rare in nature. Occasions where a terminal endpoint is desired are usually where they occur, for example delivery of a baby. Oxytocin is released causing contractions start, that releases more oxytocin, more oxytocin = more contractions until eventually the baby is born.

If someone is trying to create a positive feedback loop in this situation it is likely that they have a specific endpoint in mind: i.e. getting Karl fired or Cuz traded.

Thanks for correction. A negative rep feeding on itself to be even more negative is a positive feedback loop. (Sounds confusing, doesn't it?).

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

That is not "bending over backwards".

That may be a matter of point of view.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Every time the Kings franchise has reached a fork in the road, where one direction was 'X', and the other direction was DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings have chosen Cousins, from the time he got drafted, up until when they fired Michael Malone. Where am I wrong on this?

To be fair, it's been some pretty easy choices. Choice 'X' has never been much. Like when X = Paul Westphal

 

[The Hammer]

To be fair, it's been some pretty easy choices. Choice 'X' has never been much. Like when X = Paul Westphal

Exactly my point.

 

[The Hammer]

That may be a matter of point of view.

Fair enough.

 

[The Hammer]

Thanks for correction. A negative rep feeding on itself to be even more negative is a positive feedback loop. (Sounds confusing, doesn't it?).

Very confusing. And bad. Not a good combination.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

To be fair, it's been some pretty easy choices. Choice 'X' has never been much. Like when X = Paul Westphal

I'm not super interested in making a value judgment on the difficulty level of the decisions, I'm just pointing out that there is a track record of the organization supporting Cousins, in the face of his immature, distracting behavior, which contradicts the implication that the Kings have **** on Cousins from jump street.

 

[The Hammer]

I'm not super interested in making a value judgment on the difficulty level of the decisions, I'm just pointing out that there is a track record of the organization supporting Cousins, in the face of his immature, distracting behavior, which contradicts the implication that the Kings have **** on Cousins from jump street.

I hear you, and agree to a degree. But I contend that the firing of Malone was so egregious that I completely understand why Cousins lacks trust in this leadership. Also, it's a completely new leadership since the changeover. I'm not sure why people aren't making that distinction. Nothing from the old guard carried over to the new guard. So the record of the new guard treating Cousins is not very good at all, in sum.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I hear you, and agree to a degree. But I contend that the firing of Malone was so egregious that I completely understand why Cousins lacks trust in this leadership. Also, it's a completely new leadership since the changeover. I'm not sure why people aren't making that distinction. Nothing from the old guard carried over to the new guard. So the record of the new guard treating Cousins is not very good at all, in sum.

Touché.

 

[Kingster]

Cousins probably doesn't know the details; he probably doesn't want to know the details of these "attacks." That said, it looks like he and his agent have come to a meeting of the minds - he wants out of Sacto. The agent looks to have been orchestrating these attacks for quite some time now. The fact that these attacks are coming during vacation, that they occur before the draft, after a "nice" conversation with Divac, before FA, and after WCS has been drafted, all indicate that Cousins is entrenched in his desire to get out of Sacto. A potential Calipari hire along with Karl firing strikes me as a "hail Mary" by Vivek to appease Cousins, but that doesn't look probable. I would expect these "attacks" to continue until Cousins finally gets his way. I don't see any way that Vlade and/or Vivek can fight back. They are waaay behind the curve on this. Vivek is facing much more than a 2 second disadvantage in this case.

 

[IfAt1st]

I simply don't see the Kings as having appeased Demarcus.
The very first thing they did was exploit him by throwing his HUGE likeness on the side of Arco Arena, before he'd ever stepped on the court. That was a move for THEM, not to put Demarcus in a place to succeed.
Then they forced him to play with Paul Westphal way after the time that it was brutally clear he wasn't a qualified NBA coach anymore.
Then they showed their true colors : Petrie didn't immediately come out and denounce Westphal's hissy fit, throwing Cousins under the bus after Cousins did what he was told to do and talked privately with coach about his feelings about the team.

That event, more than any other, has indelibly marked this franchise as NOT supporting Cousins IMO. And he's never forgotten it.

Then they followed it up by wasting the rest of that season and the next by using Keith Smart (who proved he knew nothing about coaching here) all while deliberately sabotaging the team to try and move it to LA for the broke-ass owners.

Then, barely a year after getting new ownership and not moving the entire team (despite all attempts to do so), they promptly fired the only real coach this team has had in almost 10 years while using Demarcus' freak contracting of viral meningitis as the opportunity to do so.
BTW - they did so because the coach wasn't playing an uptempo, fast-paced style of basketball (which, of course, is completely against Demarcus' strengths).

Seriously? Where the hell does ANYone get off thinking the Kings' franchise has constantly supported Cousins' desire to win here and turn it around?

(BTW - the Kings have NEVER gone to bat for Cousins the way that many other franchises have supported their stars. They NEVER have publicly backed his getting screwed by the refs for 5 years. They've never crafted tapes of the bullcrap calls Demarcus gets which are blatantly against the rules and established practices of the NBA and sent them in under protest. They've never backed him against the manufactured technicals that aren't called on other players.
Where was there public push for Cousins All-Star bid in 2013/14?
Where was their outrage at his historic snubbing?
Where was their push for him to make All-NBA? etc etc etc

Demarcus has been on an island since he got here, with NO franchise backup, and it's frankly shocking that anyone here would suggest otherwise.
I'd expect that level of misinformation from callers of Grant Napear's show - not at KingsFans.)

 

[HereWeBoogie]

So did Pete D'Alessandro secretly give Cousins the Viral Meningitis?

 

[IfAt1st]

In other news, that Mike Malone quote is explosive.
It quite clearly shows the Kings have been lying through their teeth, and Vivek WAS responsible for firing Malone, and for all things because of playstyle.

This single revelation is the key.
It clearly brands all the problems with the Kings as coming from the deluded, power-tripping, embarrasingly-offbase Vivek.... our fearless leader and irritant determined on burning this franchise to the ground despite his weak demeanor.

Guys - I fear we are well and truly ****ed.
There's no escaping this owner's catastrophic decisions, and apparently the minority owners can't even stop him, either (their threats of selling their shares to escape this dumpster fire didn't fix a thing).

It's going to take a complete ownership change to fix this team, if all this is accurate.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

So did Pete D'Alessandro secretly give Cousins the Viral Meningitis?

lmfao funny you mention that as i mentioned that before and was blasted for even suggesting it! and fwiw, i think that gerbil would do that to achieve his goals.

 

[Bricklayer]

Cousins probably doesn't know the details; he probably doesn't want to know the details of these "attacks." That said, it looks like he and his agent have come to a meeting of the minds - he wants out of Sacto. The agent looks to have been orchestrating these attacks for quite some time now. The fact that these attacks are coming during vacation, that they occur before the draft, after a "nice" conversation with Divac, before FA, and after WCS has been drafted, all indicate that Cousins is entrenched in his desire to get out of Sacto. A potential Calipari hire along with Karl firing strikes me as a "hail Mary" by Vivek to appease Cousins, but that doesn't look probable. I would expect these "attacks" to continue until Cousins finally gets his way. I don't see any way that Vlade and/or Vivek can fight back. They are waaay behind the curve on this. Vivek is facing much more than a 2 second disadvantage in this case.

All of these attacks have come in the context of firing George Karl. Whether he would still want out of town if Karl was fired is an open question.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

In other news, that Mike Malone quote is explosive.
It quite clearly shows the Kings have been lying through their teeth, and Vivek WAS responsible for firing Malone, and for all things because of playstyle.

This single revelation is the key.
It clearly brands all the problems with the Kings as coming from the deluded, power-tripping, embarrasingly-offbase Vivek.... our fearless leader and irritant determined on burning this franchise to the ground despite his weak demeanor.

Guys - I fear we are well and truly ****ed.
There's no escaping this owner's catastrophic decisions, and apparently the minority owners can't even stop him, either (their threats of selling their shares to escape this dumpster fire didn't fix a thing).

It's going to take a complete ownership change to fix this team, if all this is accurate.

lol, we're vivek'd as a franchise. nba 4.0 rebuild here we come

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Whether he would still want out of town if Karl was fired is an open question.

Most likely yes, the damage is done.

Cousins agent had their mind made up to get him out of here the minute Malone was fired. They would probably be using any coach the Kings had hired (not just Karl) to create this Cousins vs the Kings narrative