I'm sorry, Vlade
- Thread starter VF21
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Contrary to popular belief, running one of the bigger sports communities on the internet and writing grades threads for every single game is a lot of work (as a guy who wrote extensive game threads almost every night for several years, I can tell you it's freaking exhausting). Brick, like most of us (hopefully), also lives a busy life beyond the Kingsfans.com confines.
After slogging through over a decade of aimless losing basketball and finally seeing the beginnings of a team that had a fighting chance at some form of competitiveness (like it or not, this team'd probably still be right in the thick of things for the 8th seed race were Boogie still on the team), seeing the franchise decide to punt on yet another season of basketball would be frustrating to say the least. If the team isn't going to put in the effort to field a winning product, some of us decided that(for better or worse) we weren't going to put in that effort as "good fans".
Happened after the C-Webb trade as well. When the truck decides to make a quick swerve left, some are going to get thrown off of the wagon. Don't need to antagonize them for it.
After slogging through over a decade of aimless losing basketball and finally seeing the beginnings of a team that had a fighting chance at some form of competitiveness (like it or not, this team'd probably still be right in the thick of things for the 8th seed race were Boogie still on the team), seeing the franchise decide to punt on yet another season of basketball would be frustrating to say the least. If the team isn't going to put in the effort to field a winning product, some of us decided that(for better or worse) we weren't going to put in that effort as "good fans".
Happened after the C-Webb trade as well. When the truck decides to make a quick swerve left, some are going to get thrown off of the wagon. Don't need to antagonize them for it.
Things change. I dare say for the past few years he's been very much of a Cousins fan over and above being a Kings fan. The difference is whether you want the team to succeed for the player's legacy or whether you want the player to succeed for the team's legacy. It was not a reactionary thing, he made it very clear for a long time that if Cousins was traded he was gone. Guess he wants nothing to do with a franchise that "has the basketball intelligence of a flatworm". But that's just my observation, and it's not my place to question people's allegiance. Regardless, we have a good number of posters who ARE here and excited about the team
Philly trade was ok in my eyes, until lately.
It is ok trade when your strategy is to fight for playoff and the pick you are giving is mid to late teens at worst and pick swap would need a lot of bad luck to happen.
However, when you go to full rebuild mode and that pick becomes easily top 10 and pick swap does not require that much bad luck to happen, the trade does not look so good anymore.
That is what happens when you make solid long term plans, and then flip those plans upside down a year later.
It is ok trade when your strategy is to fight for playoff and the pick you are giving is mid to late teens at worst and pick swap would need a lot of bad luck to happen.
However, when you go to full rebuild mode and that pick becomes easily top 10 and pick swap does not require that much bad luck to happen, the trade does not look so good anymore.
That is what happens when you make solid long term plans, and then flip those plans upside down a year later.
1 positive development that has come from all this, is while there are still valid concerns in regards to Vlade in handling trades, the play of all 3 of the rookies he selected gives me a lot of optimism that maybe he can turn this franchise around through the draft. This time last summer I was all in on the build around Cousins camp because I saw the draft as a disaster and thought Cousins was the only hope. Fast forward to today and it is looking like Vlade may be a magician when it comes to scouting young players. Even Buddy much more promising as a prospect than I thought. We have also yet to see Bogdan.
If indeed Vlade does have a special skill in regards to picking young players, that is incredibly valuable and would shoot him up the GM rankings board. And the trade record is mixed as well. Call the philly and the Cousins trade losses, the Belinili trade for a 1st was a clear win and its looking like the Suns trade was a win as well. So there is even a little hope on the trade part of his GM game that he isn't totally incompetent. And we must consider the catch of Joeger in the "grade" as well.
All in all, clearly a big question mark in regards to handling complicated trades, but there are a number of positives, the big one being his ability to judge young talent. With the future hanging on the ability to draft well, I've switched my position of dreading Vlade making those picks to happy and optimistic. Combine this with the coaching staff and I would switch the future outlook of this team to positive.
If indeed Vlade does have a special skill in regards to picking young players, that is incredibly valuable and would shoot him up the GM rankings board. And the trade record is mixed as well. Call the philly and the Cousins trade losses, the Belinili trade for a 1st was a clear win and its looking like the Suns trade was a win as well. So there is even a little hope on the trade part of his GM game that he isn't totally incompetent. And we must consider the catch of Joeger in the "grade" as well.
All in all, clearly a big question mark in regards to handling complicated trades, but there are a number of positives, the big one being his ability to judge young talent. With the future hanging on the ability to draft well, I've switched my position of dreading Vlade making those picks to happy and optimistic. Combine this with the coaching staff and I would switch the future outlook of this team to positive.
The Kings are a very exciting team to watch right now. Whoever left because Cousins is missing out on something that could be special. For the first time in an eternity, Kings have a core of young players that can become part of a new era of Kings basketball. Add to that 3 potential draft picks coming in next year and things get interesting. There's also some emotional attachment watching home grown talent develop right now, so it's not hard to follow this team.
We had Tyreke Evans, Demarcus Cousins and IT a few years ago......
Having decent young guys is only the very first step in a long Journey to become a solid Nba team.
We need long years of consistency, development and most of all smart decisions to be successful and contra popular believe right now, the odds are still very much against us, because so far this franchise hasnt been consistent nor smart. Let's hope this has finally changed.
Having decent young guys is only the very first step in a long Journey to become a solid Nba team.
We need long years of consistency, development and most of all smart decisions to be successful and contra popular believe right now, the odds are still very much against us, because so far this franchise hasnt been consistent nor smart. Let's hope this has finally changed.
One thing I dont see mentioned much anymore is Viveks obvious infatuation with Buddy. I cant link it but I am confident we have all seen the signs. Going so far as telling Buddy personally "We are still going to get you" .
If Vlade knew for a while, for whatever reasons, DMC had to go but Vivek was never on board. Then his only window opens in that Vivek agrees to a trade only if we get Buddy in the deal. Vlade had to make the choice. Make the move he thinks is better for the long run, even at the cost of looking like "he rushed it" or "got fleeced". Or stick with Cuz and ink him to 40% of our cap against his gut feeling it wasnt ideal moving forward.
Whether his decisions as GM are better or worse than GM X, I think he took this job to better this franchise over the long haul.Period.
And since it will be tied to his name, win or lose, may as well win or lose his way. Now the Vivek "irritant" as his boss puts him in a tough position. One I hope does not hinder him going forward.
If Vlade knew for a while, for whatever reasons, DMC had to go but Vivek was never on board. Then his only window opens in that Vivek agrees to a trade only if we get Buddy in the deal. Vlade had to make the choice. Make the move he thinks is better for the long run, even at the cost of looking like "he rushed it" or "got fleeced". Or stick with Cuz and ink him to 40% of our cap against his gut feeling it wasnt ideal moving forward.
Whether his decisions as GM are better or worse than GM X, I think he took this job to better this franchise over the long haul.Period.
And since it will be tied to his name, win or lose, may as well win or lose his way. Now the Vivek "irritant" as his boss puts him in a tough position. One I hope does not hinder him going forward.
@kingsfan1984 You make really good points and I hope your right about Vlade and the draft. This franchise needs a shot in the arm and someone knowing what they're doing in the draft would certainly help jump start things. I do like the the players from the past 2 drafts, though we still need to see a lot more development. But so far, so good.