Carmichael Dave innuendo, "We are officially at Defcon One"

[Jerichoholic]

All we can hope is that ownership and the front office are learning lessons from all of this, they are rookies in this after all. I really don't care at this point if they are proactive or reactive as long as they are truly learning from this, then I can't complain, we all make mistakes, the key is to not make them again.

This whole plan thing is puzzling. It begins with them exploring other coaching options in the offseason, but they don't pull the trigger. Then the Kings start to win, we were told that this season was about wins and losses. Then Cousins gets sick and we start to lose, that is an easy and true excuse for losing, can't blame Malone or anyone else for that. Then they fire Malone and we all start to believe that they were looking for any excuse to fire him because he wasn't getting along with management and they wanted someone else. Yet they don't hire Malone's permanent replacement at the time, we know it wasn't Corbin. George Karl was available the whole time, if they were waiting for a coach to become available in the offseason who wasn't at the time then they should have just kept Malone for the entire season, perhaps issues were really bad behind the scenes.

My opinion is that things were bad between ownership and Malone during the offseason, if Alvin Gentry was willing to become the head coach here perhaps he would have. When ownership didn't get their man they stuck with Malone. The early winning helped smooth things over, but the issues were still there. When Cousins got sick it was like pulling the rug out from everyone, ownership developed huge expectations and the losing frustrated them even more so as a result, magnifying the earlier issues to where things got to an unbearable point to them. They then made an impulsive move thinking that rocking the boat could salvage this once promising season, after all coaching changes have given teams a shot in the arm before. It simply didn't work, the players like Malone too much, didn't blame him for the losing and therefore rocking boat did the opposite.

There was no plan, but if they learn from this then they will be better off. Pair that with the fact that George Karl is actually a good coach that could really help here, in the end it may just work out. If the Kings do get Karl then something has been salvaged, they could have done a lot worse.

 

[Bricklayer]

As for this situation, its so toxic at this point that I think there are only two possible coaches that could come in here midseason and survive the furnace.

1) a coach approved or even handpicked by Cuz and his people. Such a coach would be guaranteed of the franchise player's support, and would walk in with some of the same coach/franchise player rapport that Cuz/Malone had. He'd be immune from pressure for a bit as long as that relation held and things turned. Nobody would dare touch him until failure mounted and made him vulnerable.

2) George Karl (or a similar entity) who comes in with what has become a pumped up reputation at this point, a big ego, an established system, and looks at our GM as that funny looking little basement gerbil that used to bring me coffee in Denver, and our "advisor" as that alcoholic kid with the flat top. He too is going to be up for any fight, because he will believe he's the only one who's proven he knows how to win, and also just because he's an egotist. George Karl = drama. But he steps into our drama, he's going to be the most hammy actor of them all, and it will be his element. Throw in a huge contract that will theoretically make him immune from firing for some time (likely the Vivek reluctance getting tied to this -- can't flip to Mully cheaply)

Any other coach coming in with neither implicit support of Cuz and his camp, nor with a rep/ego so large he feels he can ignore the front office, will be in a messy distracting fight from the beginning. Except Mullin of course as the owner's handpicked boy.

 

[King Baller]

FIRE THEM ALL PDA, Mullin, Cousin's agents.

Seriously all of these leaks to the press make me long for the good old stoic days of Geoff Petrie.

I feel bad for Ty Corbin, but I'm sure he is being paid nicely for his "troubles". I would have rather the FO kept Mike Malone rather than go through all of this. Lets hope George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins get along nicely and we see some winning ways in Sacto.

KB

 

[swisshh]

Kings going to have to win a lot of games to erase the embarrassment of how the coaching situation was handled.

 

[parker]

FIRE THEM ALL PDA, Mullin, Cousin's agents.

Seriously all of these leaks to the press make me long for the good old stoic days of Geoff Petrie.

Information is spread in much different ways and at a faster rate than it was during Petrie's time. With twitter especially, there is a lot of information and misinformation being shared as quickly as someone can form an incoherent thought. I'm sure Petrie potentially would have been able to keep a lid on some of this, but I remember a lot of leaks flying during the Peja-Artest trade and that was pre-twitter.

Plus, in this case, if there weren't leaks, people would be questioning why something isn't happening. Although since no one saw the Malone firing coming, it shows that the FO can keep the leaks to a minimum if they want.

 

[Darth Divac]

plx

 

[ForlornKing]

Don't think anythings going to be announced for the next two days. Corbin has been told he his coaching the next two games, why would they hire a coach in the meantime?

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Thank god Boogie is loyal as ****, I think as we fans keep showing him overwhelming support he wonʻt go anywhere.

Now if our FO would stop acting like high schoolers..

Information is spread in much different ways and at a faster rate than it was during Petrie's time. With twitter especially, there is a lot of information and misinformation being shared as quickly as someone can form an incoherent thought. I'm sure Petrie potentially would have been able to keep a lid on some of this, but I remember a lot of leaks flying during the Peja-Artest trade and that was pre-twitter.

Plus, in this case, if there weren't leaks, people would be questioning why something isn't happening. Although since no one saw the Malone firing, it shows that the FO can keep the leaks to a minimum if they want.

you mean when the goof brothers pronounced the artest trade completed but wasn't. damn that was extremely awkward. it was all the bros doing in those leaks.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

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Ailene Voisin‏@ailene_voisin
Folks close to DeMarcus Cousins believe George Karl will be hired, if not today then shortly thereafter.

Hmmm. Can we assume that Voisin's information has been coming from Cousins camp the whole time? or some of it, at the minimum. This is the first time anyone has named a source, as vague as 'folks close to DeMarcus Cousins' is.

 

[Prince_XY]

They've never stated they wanted to increase pace as a means to involve more players.

There is nothing wrong with that vision, except that the Vivek/FO needs to be committed to winning and not pace or whatever style they want. Many elements of the Malone offense works out, given the hot start. Iso basketball should be a treasured option for the Kings -- an option that some other teams might not have.

I don't know if you are using selected memory or what, OR that you are having that irrational fear that somehow Vivek/FO have forgotten about Cousins as the center piece of this team that you refuse to comprehend the simple explanation of what they want.

All I can say is don't worry about Cousins being left behind with the brand of play Vivek/FO wants. Vivek/FO know this franchise cannot go anywhere without Cousins' talent at the very start and until now. Vivek even defended his decision to sign Cousins on contract extension on top of Malone's reluctance to sign him! That should be clear in your head by now. And Cousins himself knows and trusted the game plan of the organization. Remember, he even said he can run?

And did you forget about the crystal clear explanation of Ty Corbin that the intention was to make use of other players talent in opportunistic times and at the same time not staying away from using Cousins at the post because that is our main strength? I even posted the exact quotes of Ty Corbin, it was explained again by PDA, and explained again by no other than Capt. Factorial. Cousins is still the main guy. And no one seems to believe it.

And guess what? Michael Jordan did not win it all until all the players around him were fully utilized. Kobe and Shaq the same thing. Duncan and Spurs, and so on. I don't know why you resist the idea of involving as much players when it has been proven again and again that we are easy to deal with when all we use is the never-ending iso-heavy plays by Malone and starring only Cousins and Gay.

I don't know man. Vivek/FO is all about winning and maybe more than how we fans crave for. Vivek fired his good friend Malone, will lose money by paying another coach, all because he wanted the Kings to win. The organization made it clear they wanted the winning brand of play of the old glorious Kings and yet some of us fans still think they want us to play like the up-tempo games of Phoenix Suns or GSW. It is as if the people (Vivek/FO) who has the most to lose in this franchise are the ones we see trying to sabotage the team.

The distrust is unbelievable!

Also, some fans think Vivek/FO are some kind of extremely stupid people without any kind of knowledge about running a basketball team. Now tell me if any of us fans have any meaningful experience or had been in any way connected to an NBA team more than Vivek/PDA to say prematurely they were wrong.

Is it because of the looks of Vivek and PDA that we hate them?

 

[Warhawk]

As for this situation, its so toxic at this point that I think there are only two possible coaches that could come in here midseason and survive the furnace.

1) a coach approved or even handpicked by Cuz and his people. Such a coach would be guaranteed of the franchise player's support, and would walk in with some of the same coach/franchise player rapport that Cuz/Malone had. He'd be immune from pressure for a bit as long as that relation held and things turned. Nobody would dare touch him until failure mounted and made him vulnerable.

2) George Karl (or a similar entity) who comes in with what has become a pumped up reputation at this point, a big ego, an established system, and looks at our GM as that funny looking little basement gerbil that used to bring me coffee in Denver, and our "advisor" as that alcoholic kid with the flat top. He too is going to be up for any fight, because he will believe he's the only one who's proven he knows how to win, and also just because he's an egotist. George Karl = drama. But he steps into our drama, he's going to be the most hammy actor of them all, and it will be his element. Throw in a huge contract that will theoretically make him immune from firing for some time (likely the Vivek reluctance getting tied to this -- can't flip to Mully cheaply)

Any other coach coming in with neither implicit support of Cuz and his camp, nor with a rep/ego so large he feels he can ignore the front office, will be in a messy distracting fight from the beginning. Except Mullin of course as the owner's handpicked boy.

I generally agree, but who would qualify under 1)? Tibs still has a job and may never be available anyways, for a variety of reasons. Don't know who else (reasonably) Boogie has any kind of "relationship" with that would prompt him to support the coach.

While Karl may not be at Riley's or Jackson's or Pop's level, he is definitely in that next tier down who is an established coach with a habit of winning more games than he loses, like Adelman. I don't know (reasonably) who would be a better choice at this point. And this situation wasn't going to wait until the offseason to get fixed. It was going too far south.

 

[Chubbs]

I don't know if you are using selected memory or what, OR that you are having that irrational fear that somehow Vivek/FO have forgotten about Cousins as the center piece of this team that you refuse to comprehend the simple explanation of what they want.

All I can say is don't worry about Cousins being left behind with the brand of play Vivek/FO wants. Vivek/FO know this franchise cannot go anywhere without Cousins at the very start and until now. Vivek even defended his decision to sign Cousins on contract extension on top of Malone's reluctance to sign him! That should be clear in your head by now. And Cousins himself knows and trusted the game plan of the organization. Remember, he even said he can run?

And did you forget about the crystal clear explanation of Ty Corbin that the intention was to make use of other players talent in opportunistic times and at the same time not staying away from using Cousins at the post because that is our main strength? I even posted the exact quotes of Ty Corbin, it was explained again by PDA, and explained again by no other than Capt. Factorial. Cousins is still the main guy. And no one seems to believe it.

And guess what? Michael Jordan did not win it all until all the players around him were fully utilized. Kobe and Shaq the same thing. Duncan and Spurs, and so on. I don't know why you resist the idea of involving as much players when it has been proven again and again that we are easy to deal with when all we use is the never-ending iso-heavy plays by Malone and starring only Cousins and Gay.

I don't know man. Vivek/FO is all about winning and maybe more than how we fans crave for. Vivek fired his good friend Malone, will lose money by paying another coach, all because he wanted the Kings to win. The organization made it clear they wanted the winning brand of play of the old glorious Kings and yet some of us fans still think they want us to play like the up-tempo games of Phoenix Suns or GSW. It is as if the people (Vivek/FO) who has the most to lose in this franchise are the ones we see trying to sabotage the team.

The distrust is unbelievable!

Is it because of the looks of Vivek and PDA?

I have no idea what part of "they never stated they wanted to increase pace as a means to involve more players" you are responding to exactly.

You invented an entire argument I never made.

I'm saying pace, and sharing the ball, are two separate issues.

I have no problem with the idea of sharing the ball. But increasing the pace isn't necessarily the way to do that.

But go on with whatever you're talking about.

 

[Spike]

Also, some fans think Vivek/FO are some kind of extremely stupid people without any kind of knowledge about running a basketball team. Now tell me if any of those fans have any meaningful experience or had been in any way connected to an NBA team.

I had a good response, but then I realized you were probably just looking for some chest-puffery, so I'll let it go. They have the money and the connections, and hopefully they've learned from this season. Just because they're on the other side of the aisle does not mean we need to elevate them.

Rich people make dumb decisions.
People who've never played the game don't know the inner workings of a locker room.
Innuendo was Queen's last full-length album with Freddie Mercury.
The Show Must Go On.

 

[Prince_XY]

Rich people make dumb decisions.

I beg to disagree and I don't believe that "saying".

Are you saying Doctors, Lawyers, and the likes of Vivek/PDA, etc. get rich because they made dumb decisions in their life?

How did they get there and be successful if they make dumb decisions?

People who've never played the game don't know the inner workings of a locker room.

This I agree with you, but the thing is running a team not only entails knowledge of the inner workings of a locker room. It is more complicated than what casual fans like us think it is.

Besides, do you honestly think with several years of experience in the NBA, both Vivek/PDA wouldn't know the importance of the inner workings of the locker room?

Are they really that moronic or inexperienced not to at least have heard and learned of that very important aspect of team building?

BTW, I am not elevating them. I am just saying they are not that stupid that some of us fans think they are.

 

[IfAt1st]

Are they really that moronic or inexperienced not to at least have heard and learned of that very important aspect of team building?

Have you been watching the past 2 months?

How can you be so confused? They just PROVED that they are moronic and inexperienced.
They are proving it every day, in fact.

They have also proven to not know "that very important aspect of team building", which is - don't pi$$ off your franchise center (i.e. the Big Dawg on the court who controls influences what the other players do) by firing the one coach he has a great connection with without conferring with him, then lying in the media about events that happened directly to him, and then leaking to the media that his camp (him, in other worlds where they are actually man enough to talk directly about someone instead of sliming with innuendo and "unnamed sources") are inexplicably stopping you from hiring the coach you want to.

Your irrational support of the front office is incomprehensible. It borders on delusional.

 

[sdballer]

Now Jason jones reporting heheard multiple kings players do not want karl

 

[rainmaker]

I beg to disagree and I don't believe that "saying".

Are you saying Doctors, Lawyers, and the likes of Vivek/PDA, etc. get rich because they made dumb decisions in their life?

How did they get there and be successful if they make dumb decisions?

That's not the issue nor has it ever been. The issue is a successful doctor in no way will automatically have success as a lawyer, or vise versa a successful lawyer with a top pedigree in the court room has little carryover effect when facing a patient on an operating table.

Success in one field in no way guarantees success in another. Vivek is brilliant when it comes to technology. When it comes to basketball, thus far he's in completely over his head. Having success in basketball itself doesn't guarantee a carryover effect to other aspects of the NBA either. Just look at the top players who completely failed as coaches or Jordan's track record as an owner. Does Jordan know more about basketball than Vivek? Obviously. Did that guarantee success? Hardly.

This idea Vivek's resume in the tech industry has any bearing on how he'll do as an NBA owner has no legs to stand on. They're two entirely different entities.

 

[CurseOfTheSalmons]

Now Jason jones reporting heheard multiple kings players do not want karl

That's fine because I don't want multiple Kings players. I'm talking about you, Derrick Williams!

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

No idea what Jones means by that tweet, but

As long as Cousins is OK with it, which other reports, including Woj's latest, say that he IS, then I don't give a damn what anyone else on the roster thinks.

 

[Bricklayer]

Now Jason jones reporting heheard multiple kings players do not want karl

Huh.

Trying to remember if any of our guys have actually passed through Denver during Karl's watch, or does Karl actually have an underlying bad rep amongst NBA players who talk to each other, or if there is something else involved -- loyalty to Corbin? Or Malone's system? Resistance to the front office? A sense that Karl created the situation that led to Malone's departure?

 

[Pacboy]

I beg to disagree and I don't believe that "saying".

Are you saying Doctors, Lawyers, and the likes of Vivek/PDA, etc. get rich because they made dumb decisions in their life?

How did they get there and be successful if they make dumb decisions?
This I agree with you, but the thing is running a team not only entails knowledge of the inner workings of a locker room. It is more complicated than what casual fans like us think it is.

Besides, do you honestly think with several years of experience in the NBA, both Vivek/PDA wouldn't know the importance of the inner workings of the locker room?

Are they really that moronic or inexperienced not to at least have heard and learned of that very important aspect of team building?

BTW, I am not elevating them. I am just saying they are not that stupid that some of us fans think they are.

Everybody makes dumb decision in their life. Just because you're good at business, does not mean you know how to build a winning basketball team. Vivek said it himself that this season is about winning. Well guess what? We are not winning and in fact we are LOSING even more since his decision to get rid of Malone. Also, you need to stop with that stupid crap about how Malone did not want to resign Cousins in the first place. It's starting to get annoying.

 

[Pacboy]

No idea what Jones means by that tweet, but

As long as Cousins is OK with it, which other reports, including Woj's latest, say that he IS, then I don't give a damn what anyone else on the roster thinks.

All I care about is Cousins. If they rest don't like it, then they can get the hell out. As if anyone care if Sessions or Derrick William think at this point.

 

[Gary]

No idea what Jones means by that tweet, but

As long as Cousins is OK with it, which other reports, including Woj's latest, say that he IS, then I don't give a damn what anyone else on the roster thinks.

Same... As long as it's not Cousins then I am OK with it. The rest of the roster is expendable.

 

[ninjabiscuit]

Who is it that you could hire that has?

I could be wrong, but it seems like we need Whoopi Goldberg in a nun's uniform.

 

[swisshh]

Huh.

Trying to remember if any of our guys have actually passed through Denver during Karl's watch, or does Karl actually have an underlying bad rep amongst NBA players who talk to each other, or if there is something else involved -- loyalty to Corbin? Or Malone's system? Resistance to the front office? A sense that Karl created the situation that led to Malone's departure?

Report seems to be that players don't like Karl's very public approach to the job. They're tired of the social media drama during the season.

Basically, fed up with outside distractions would be my guess.

 

[Livinthedream]

Huh.

Trying to remember if any of our guys have actually passed through Denver during Karl's watch, or does Karl actually have an underlying bad rep amongst NBA players who talk to each other, or if there is something else involved -- loyalty to Corbin? Or Malone's system? Resistance to the front office? A sense that Karl created the situation that led to Malone's departure?

So many things are leaking out, I'm sure the players now feel comfortable saying whatever they want and leaking their own info. This isn't the culture change I signed up for.

 

[CurseOfTheSalmons]

Report seems to be that players don't like Karl's very public approach to the job. They're tired of the social media drama during the season.

Basically, fed up with outside distractions would be my guess.

Lol, so their response is to join the circus.

 

[Chubbs]

Woj is really clear that Vivek fired Malone.

It's strange that there seems to be an ongoing debate over that. Even now.

After owner Vivek Ranadive insisted on the firing of Michael Malone – against the wishes of his front office, sources said – the Kings struggled under Corbin and turned toward Karl in the past few days.

The agents for DeMarcus Cousins – Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana – have no issues with Karl taking over as head coach and only wanted clarification on the franchise's repeated changing of direction in its coaching search plans this season, sources said. The Kings had initially planned to let Corbin coach the rest of the season, and then conduct a full search of candidates in April.

Fegan and Akana were surprised over the timing of another coaching change, especially after they had been assured at the time of Malone's departure the franchise would wait until the offseason to conduct a full search of candidates, sources said.

Along with Cousins himself, Fegan and Akana were proponents of Malone and had been against ownership's decision to destabilize the team and fire the coach early in the season.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--kings-nearing-deal-to-hire-george-karl-as-coach-223216627.html

 

[CurseOfTheSalmons]

Woj is really clear that Vivek fired Malone.

It's strange that there seems to be an ongoing debate over that. Even now.

Source is obviously PDA.

 

[swisshh]

Source is obviously PDA.

As bad a move as the Malone firing was, they've handled the fall out even worse.

It's like the Golden Boy finally has a move go wrong and is unprepared to handle it.

This FO is three moves ahead, as long as the first two moves work.