ESPN : The Madness of Kings

[Suicide King]

I would hardly call Cousins' complaints/pouts/arguments/scenes "demonstrative and forceful." Throwing his hands up in frustration, shaking his head, yelling expletives or sitting/laying on the ground when 9 other guys are running down the floor are not "demonstrative and forceful." In fact, I'd call them more of a distraction, a nuisance and inconvenient most of the time and something that typically drags the team down and costs them games rather than motivating anyone.

Westbrook earns his rep as a fiery competitor because you won't see him take 9 seconds to enter half court on a game-changing possession.

You and Padrino both make valid points and I agree with both of you.

I see a lot of my own "fight the flawed system" in Boogie. I also agree that the manner in which Cousins does so is not helpful to the team. I doubt seriously a magical middle ground exists where both goals are met, but I will never give up hope that one does for reasons bigger than basketball.

 

[Bricklayer]

1) If Cuz takes the article to heart and cuts his "sabotage plays" in half it will be awesome. I think he has turned a corner recently but we'll see if it lasts for the long haul.

2) If minority owners can engineer a coup, any coup, to oust Vivek it will be awesome. Do the audit at the right time, or blackmail him - whatever it takes. A consensus based ownership headed by Mastrov would be far superior.

yeah, seriously, from what little birdies have told me about the minority brainiacs, right now we'd still have Karl and would not have Cousins.

 

[twslam07]

yeah, seriously, from what little birdies have told me about the minority brainiacs, right now we'd still have Karl and would not have Cousins.

It's probably best they stay minority owners then. They sound like a bunch of fools.

 

[IfAt1st]

Though he owns less than 20 percent of the franchise, Ranadive was named Sacramento's majority owner or controlling governor. It was an unusual arrangement that required approval from the NBA, but this distinction gave him unchecked power to make important organizational decisions, even if those disagreeing represented a greater share of ownership.

Was this a well-known fact before this article was published?

To me, lots of the article had the ring of truth.
I stated when it happened that I thought the Vlade Divac hire was mainly (paraphrasing) "to boost the franchise's favorability rating" and that I thought that Vivek hired Vlade mainly to protect himself with the shield that Vlade's interpersonal charm and respect grants him.

I LOVED this Boogie quote:

When told, years later, that it's standard operating procedure for agencies and teams to send out press releases and take a bow when they perform charitable acts, Cousins responds, "It just shows you how fake this f---ing league is. Everything is about, 'How can I make myself look good?' This isn't a pure-hearted league, and there aren't a lot of pure-hearted guys. I wasn't raised that way. My mom would kick my ass if I helped someone across the street and said [handing over his phone], 'Here, record this.'"

 

[Turgenev]

It would not be hard to put forth a series of valid criticisms for any organisation. Be it a basketball team, scientific institute, intelligence agency or post office.

Am pleased that the author got to indulge in such excess.

 

[Ron]

How about last night?

Hey @[B]Ugol[/B]ino!
Talking about "turn the corner" moments...

Would you believe that in Russian "Ugol" (угол, pronounced like "Uma Thurman", not like "United") means "corner"?

 

[DC222]

It would not be hard to put forth a series of valid criticisms for any organisation. Be it a basketball team, scientific institute, intelligence agency or post office.

Am pleased that the author got to indulge in such excess.

You have to admit the Kings have made it fairly easy for them. Lol

 

[Kingsfan23]

It would not be hard to put forth a series of valid criticisms for any organisation. Be it a basketball team, scientific institute, intelligence agency or post office.

Am pleased that the author got to indulge in such excess.

If they were truths though, what about him putting 100% of the blame for Malone on Vivek, after PDA/Mullin claimed responsibility, defended himself on KHTK for an hour long segment (PDA) on that decision, with it being reporters in the Bee that PDA/Mullin convinced Vivek to fire him?

Why is there some complete new version in this ESPN article about Vivek being the mastermind?

 

[fansinceday1]

This was a very in-depth article. According to Sam Amick who was on 1140 this morning, he was with the team for 7 weeks.

 

[fansinceday1]

If they were truths though, what about him putting 100% of the blame for Malone on Vivek, after PDA/Mullin claimed responsibility, defended himself on KHTK for an hour long segment (PDA) on that decision, with it being reporters in the Bee that PDA/Mullin convinced Vivek to fire him?

Why is there some complete new version in this ESPN article about Vivek being the mastermind?

I believe that's part 2.

 

[Kingsfan23]

The Westbrook part was a tidbit to laugh at Vivek, IMO

I doubt Vivek thought that was realistic, and all teams want Westbrook

That seemed a clowning part Without further relevance

 

[hrdboild]

The Westbrook part was a tidbit to laugh at Vivek, IMO

I doubt Vivek thought that was realistic, and all teams want Westbrook

That seemed a clowning part Without further relevance

Unless he was actively blocking all Rudy Gay trades because he still thinks we can re-sign him. The injury issue reshuffled the cards, but it seemed pretty unlikely that Rudy was going to commit to a long-term deal here this summer based on all of his previous comments. And that would be one more key piece we let leave with no talent coming back in return. Others have pointed this out already, but it's a troubling rumor if it is true. He tried to sell himself as an absentee owner this past Summer rather than the meddling owner he was portrayed as in the media. Hard to say which version is more true, maybe some of both. He says and does a lot of things that rub people the wrong way. I don't think it's fair to blame him for everything that has gone on since he took over the team, but regardless of how much of the chatter you believe, he's been forced to endure some difficult stretches already as owner of the Kings and I hope he's learning from them.

 

[swisshh]

I still think the piece is worth reading, but that there's a glaring piece of the story missing.

 

[VF21]

MOD NOTE: The personal subtext between two members has been deleted. If you guys want to continue the conversation, we have a system for that.

 

[Glenn]

MOD NOTE: The personal subtext between two members has been deleted. If you guys want to continue the conversation, we have a system for that.

Indeed.