Interesting Vivek article.

Vivek doesn't come across as a likeable guy, unless you already liked him and needed this article to set the record straight for you.
But there's been so much inaccurate info since he took over the Kings that it's hard not to see some truth in his side of things.
All in all, I think the article is good and bad for Vivek, but more good than bad. He needed a chance to clear up some things and to spin a few tales that reflect his pref'd reality. We all do that; it's human nature. Just need to keep that in mind during the spin cycle.
 
King Baller said:
I would like to see that report. Did he also state what he would do with Tyreke?
Click to expand...

Might be a Vivek quote again:

I'm very pleased with those decisions. When I bought the team, everybody told me the first thing you should do is get rid of DeMarcus, including the previous management. But I just kept an open mind, and I interacted with the young man. And what I saw was a young man who wanted to win and had experienced nothing but chaos during his time with the Kings. Throughout the season he has proven that he wants to win, and he is maturing. I can't fault him because he wants to win so much.
Click to expand...

From a 2014 Bee Q and A with Vivek.
 
Bricklayer said:
On the flipside:

a) its not as if these events had just happened, and everybody noted them and went on. Blame in fact was assigned. To Vivek specifically. So at the point you have been falsely accused (if it is false) the desire to set the record straight is a much more powerful one than a desire to keep something behind closed doors. After all what's the point of that? Everybody already decided Vivek was the villain and an idiot. The whole point of closed doors it to shield any one person from that blame. Well, the blame fell anyway. If it happened to fall on you, you might justly be expected to try to return it to the rightful owner.

b) because of the major stink of everything that went on the entire Kings brand was damaged, to the degree of its a stupid loser franchise, and specifically with a standard attack line that since Vivek is still there, things can never get better. So again, for the sake of the Kings reputation, for money, to be able to sign free agents, etc., you might very well decide to open up (truthfully or untruthfully) and point the finger at people no longer with the organization so you can say, look, we had bad apples, they have been purged now, we're fine at this point, come sign with us!
Click to expand...

I generally agree here. It was a smart and strategic media move, regardless of it's "truthiness." To me it reads: I didn't know what I was doing, hired in the wrong order, the wrong people got together. I was burned and I learned. We've since cleaned house and things are on a different trajectory (I.e., we are putting the past behind us). With the new arena, and hopefully some more wins (or at least less drama), there is opportunity to change the narrative, and this interview feeds a more positive one going forward.
 
Well Vivek mananged to make Gerbal sound like more of an asss than I previously thought.
Wonder if Gerbs will respond to this?

Anyways from what I hear Vivek has helped facilitate a beautiful new arena and was instrumental in keeping the Kings in Sacramento. So I will continue to give him the benefit of the doubt.
 
notoriousBEN3 said:
Great to get a little clarity, but I will say that Vivek comes across VERY defensive. He doesn't seem to be pinning much, if any, blame on himself. Obviously there is a learning curve with any job and it's good to hear him say that, but it still kind of sounds like he has no idea what he's doing, and it's on Vlade now. Hope Vlade know's what HE'S doing...
Click to expand...

i got that from reading his responses also. how many times he said LOOK (deflection) & i'll write you a check.
 
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so in other news; Vivek came in and wanted to meddle on personnel decisions. He then brought along Pete and Mullin and those two were spewing garbage in his head and in the process Abdur-Rahim couldn't even handle the two remaining years left, due to incompetency and back stabbing. Some of this, if not most...we had a feeling about all ready, the writings were on the wall about Pete and Malone's relationship. The fact that Vivek allowed such behavior is telling enough. All negative talk aside, I hope to god that he is done meddling and just keeps quiet and let Vlade makes decisions with no input, mistake or not.
 
I really feel for Vivek. It's funny that a lot of people mocked him for his vision of "position-less" basketball which he said would be the future of the NBA. It's pretty true just a year removed away from his comments.

I'm thankful that Vivek has kept the team in Sacramento. He seems like an all-around great guy. I hope he's learned from his early mistakes, and we can all move forward as an organization.
 
Sam amick was just on with Dave and Katie.
An interesting point he made, of course with every article were someone is getting stuff off their back, he will eventually get contacted by people who dispute what was said. He said he was stopped by people at the game yesterday saying that nothing has changed. That we will eventually see that.
Like Sam just said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see which side is right.
 
Everything is best by just moving on. Mistakes were made by all and we just need to learn from them and move forward. That is the tact to take. Why this is getting regurgitated now helps nothing as far as I can see.
 
fansinceday1 said:
Sam amick was just on with Dave and Katie.
An interesting point he made, of course with every article were someone is getting stuff off their back, he will eventually get contacted by people who dispute what was said. He said he was stopped by people at the game yesterday saying that nothing has changed. That we will eventually see that.
Like Sam just said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see which side is right.
Click to expand...

Can you clarify what you mean here?
 
fansinceday1 said:
Sam amick was just on with Dave and Katie.
An interesting point he made, of course with every article were someone is getting stuff off their back, he will eventually get contacted by people who dispute what was said. He said he was stopped by people at the game yesterday saying that nothing has changed. That we will eventually see that.
Like Sam just said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see which side is right.
Click to expand...

At what game? The Kings game?

What, were minority owners grabbing him? Or maybe his old pal Ailene?
 
fansinceday1 said:
Sam amick was just on with Dave and Katie.
An interesting point he made, of course with every article were someone is getting stuff off their back, he will eventually get contacted by people who dispute what was said. He said he was stopped by people at the game yesterday saying that nothing has changed. That we will eventually see that.
Like Sam just said, I guess we'll just have to wait and see which side is right.
Click to expand...

That's just lovely
 
This is shaping up to be a nice grudge match. I can see it now, the headliner would be Vivek vs. The Gerbil in a no rules bare knuckle cage match:) Opening the show would be Abdur Rahim vs. Ol Flat Top Mully. I would include Malone in the event but I think he was truly an innocent bystander in this tragedy:)
 
I don't know what to believe about it all. I think I'm just going to chock up the first few years as lengthy on the job training for Vivek. He saved the Kings, I'll give him a pass for those first few years. I will most certainly judge his actions from this point forward though. He saved the Kings and got an arena built, now lets focus on the product he puts on the court and see where we can go.
 
bajaden said:
I always find it interesting to hear everyone's take on an article like this, and how people seem to be reading a different article than I did.
Click to expand...

I read the same article that you did and got the same out of it.

BTW, many of the things Vivek said are easily verifiable. He said he'd never been on the team plane or in the lockerroom. If he lied about those things, there would be many people that would know. The players don't have to care about contradicting his statements. If none of them ever refute, then it's easy to conclude that he wasn't as involved with the team as all the pundits had reported.

I for one believe what he's saying. He admitted the early mistakes. He admitted the the bulk of the friction was between PDA and Michael Malone and that was his fault for hiring the coach first.

Outside of that, what other mistakes has he made since? Apparently he didn't hire Karl and he's not making personnel decisions for Vlade. He did, however, manage to get G1C built along with the the hotel that's going next to it.
 
Man, that article is a crap show. Look at Amick twitter timeline. I have been very uncomfortable with Vivek since the Malone firing, but it seems as if he is lying to protect himself, I don't know but it seemed very desperate.
 
Bricklayer said:
On the flipside:

a) its not as if these events had just happened, and everybody noted them and went on. Blame in fact was assigned. To Vivek specifically. So at the point you have been falsely accused (if it is false) the desire to set the record straight is a much more powerful one than a desire to keep something behind closed doors. After all what's the point of that? Everybody already decided Vivek was the villain and an idiot. The whole point of closed doors it to shield any one person from that blame. Well, the blame fell anyway. If it happened to fall on you, you might justly be expected to try to return it to the rightful owner.

b) because of the major stink of everything that went on the entire Kings brand was damaged, to the degree of its a stupid loser franchise, and specifically with a standard attack line that since Vivek is still there, things can never get better. So again, for the sake of the Kings reputation, for money, to be able to sign free agents, etc., you might very well decide to open up (truthfully or untruthfully) and point the finger at people no longer with the organization so you can say, look, we had bad apples, they have been purged now, we're fine at this point, come sign with us!
Click to expand...

The decision to go to the press and tell his side of the story is a good one -- though puzzling that it would have taken this long. I don't have any problem with Vivek giving interviews or attempting to explain why he made some of the mistakes he made. In fact, I think he should do it more. If I never read another article speculating about what Vivek might be thinking or doing that would be perfectly fine with me. Cut them off at the pass and get your story out first. But if he's always going to come across as this aggressively defensive, than perhaps he'd be better off just keeping quiet. Sometimes it isn't just what you say but how you say it. This all amounts to a non-apology apology... "I'm sorry things went wrong but I bought a team with a broken down old arena and no staff and then had to (shocker) get a new arena built, sell tickets, and hire a staff." Isn't that exactly what you signed up for when you bought the team? "I hired the wrong people and let them order me around against my better judgement but then I dismissed all of them (but only) after they fired my coach and pissed off Shareef enough to make him sue the organization." Sure I guess it can't all be your fault if you're never around, but is it better to have a meddling owner or an absentee owner who has no idea what his employees are doing? I'm paraphrasing of course, but is this unfair? That's essentially what he's saying.

Remember when he first got here he said he was going to hire people smarter than himself and hold them accountable. He gave the impression of being actively engaged and ready to apply his business acumen and outside-the-box thinking to reinvigorate a tired and broken down organization. Now we see that was all bluster and PR facade. How was he holding Pete D'Alessandro accountable while he lobbed (metaphorical) grenades at our coaching staff? Most of us could see the smoke on the horizon there at least a year before he was finally dismissed. Maybe if he was as clued in as we are he would have seen it too. And he was the public face of both the Stauskas pick and the Malone firing and now he wants us to believe that he just let himself get played. Of course I believe him! Why would you intentionally create the impression that you're that naive? This is not an improvement as far as I'm concerned. Particularly because someone who manages to make themselves look even less competent while attempting to dispel reports of their perceived incompetence is seriously lacking in self-awareness. This is a man who labeled himself the "Chief Irritant" with pride who is now hiding behind his checkbook: "Well tell them that I'll write them a check." It's hard for me to reconcile these two statements on the surface. But then I look at what the organization has done since he took over -- the meandering self-defeating personnel decisions, the stream of embarrassing leaks and bad press, the confusing front office hierarchy, the long periods of indecisiveness followed by rash decisions (like hiring George Karl at the All-Star break) -- and it adds up to an organization which has taken on the personality of it's owner in all the worst ways. The Maloofs were a whole other kind of problem but none of these problems were inherited -- they were created by the decisions Vivek made.

You want people to respect you? Earn their respect. It's really that simple. Malone didn't talk much but his actions told you what he was about. Vivek has done a lot of talking mostly with disastrous results. If he really wants to know why players are avoiding Sacramento like the plague despite a brand new arena, a successful young coach, an enthusiastic fanbase, and an affable superstar on the roster (who has more friends around the league than enemies regardless of what certain local columnists may think) he really needs to take a good long look in the mirror. Considering the results he's had to date, maybe he should move to Sacramento and be more hands-on. That would require a level of self-awareness he has yet to display though. Sure seems to me like nothing has changed. I see no reason to try and be cute about it. I had every reason to love this man after he helped save the team and so I gave him the benefit of the doubt at every turn, but I have my limits. I don't like him, I don't like what he's done with the team, and my enthusiasm for Kings basketball is currently at an all-time low because of it. I used to root for a basketball team, now I mostly just cringe at the circus act which has taken their place. I'm not speaking for anyone but myself. Maybe things will eventually change. I'm just not going to invest any more mental energy on this team until I seem some indication that the circus is gone for good.
 
hrdboild said:
The decision to go to the press and tell his side of the story is a good one -- though puzzling that it would have taken this long. I don't have any problem with Vivek giving interviews or attempting to explain why he made some of the mistakes he made. In fact, I think he should do it more. If I never read another article speculating about what Vivek might be thinking or doing that would be perfectly fine with me. Cut them off at the pass and get your story out first. But if he's always going to come across as this aggressively defensive, than perhaps he'd be better off just keeping quiet. Sometimes it isn't just what you say but how you say it. This all amounts to a non-apology apology... "I'm sorry things went wrong but I bought a team with a broken down old arena and no staff and then had to (shocker) get a new arena built, sell tickets, and hire a staff." Isn't that exactly what you signed up for when you bought the team? "I hired the wrong people and let them order me around against my better judgement but then I dismissed all of them (but only) after they fired my coach and pissed off Shareef enough to make him sue the organization." Sure I guess it can't all be your fault if you're never around, but is it better to have a meddling owner or an absentee owner who has no idea what his employees are doing? I'm paraphrasing of course, but is this unfair? That's essentially what he's saying.

Remember when he first got here he said he was going to hire people smarter than himself and hold them accountable. He gave the impression of being actively engaged and ready to apply his business acumen and outside-the-box thinking to reinvigorate a tired and broken down organization. Now we see that was all bluster and PR facade. How was he holding Pete D'Alessandro accountable while he lobbed (metaphorical) grenades at our coaching staff? Most of us could see the smoke on the horizon there at least a year before he was finally dismissed. Maybe if he was as clued in as we are he would have seen it too. And he was the public face of both the Stauskas pick and the Malone firing and now he wants us to believe that he just let himself get played. Of course I believe him! Why would you intentionally create the impression that you're that naive? This is not an improvement as far as I'm concerned. Particularly because someone who manages to make themselves look even less competent while attempting to dispel reports of their perceived incompetence is seriously lacking in self-awareness. This is a man who labeled himself the "Chief Irritant" with pride who is now hiding behind his checkbook: "Well tell them that I'll write them a check." It's hard for me to reconcile these two statements on the surface. But then I look at what the organization has done since he took over -- the meandering self-defeating personnel decisions, the stream of embarrassing leaks and bad press, the confusing front office hierarchy, the long periods of indecisiveness followed by rash decisions (like hiring George Karl at the All-Star break) -- and it adds up to an organization which has taken on the personality of it's owner in all the worst ways. The Maloofs were a whole other kind of problem but none of these problems were inherited -- they were created by the decisions Vivek made.

You want people to respect you? Earn their respect. It's really that simple. Malone didn't talk much but his actions told you what he was about. Vivek has done a lot of talking mostly with disastrous results. If he really wants to know why players are avoiding Sacramento like the plague despite a brand new arena, a successful young coach, an enthusiastic fanbase, and an affable superstar on the roster (who has more friends around the league than enemies regardless of what certain local columnists may think) he really needs to take a good long look in the mirror. Considering the results he's had to date, maybe he should move to Sacramento and be more hands-on. That would require a level of self-awareness he has yet to display though. Sure seems to me like nothing has changed. I see no reason to try and be cute about it. I had every reason to love this man after he helped save the team and so I gave him the benefit of the doubt at every turn, but I have my limits. I don't like him, I don't like what he's done with the team, and my enthusiasm for Kings basketball is currently at an all-time low because of it. I used to root for a basketball team, now I mostly just cringe at the circus act which has taken their place. I'm not speaking for anyone but myself. Maybe things will eventually change. I'm just not going to invest any more mental energy on this team until I seem some indication that the circus is gone for good.
Click to expand...
That is one way to look at it. Very reasonable approach given what has happened. There is also Bajaden's take, who also has a reasonable approach. I take it simply as a he said, she said and the truth is in-between with heavy dose of revisionist history mixed in.

I think he's trying to give his side of the story and he simply was out of his league when he signed on. But that is his problem, hopefully he's learned some tough lessons.
 
I love how some are making accusations of "lying". How the hell would you know? Furthermore, if you don't believe the majority owner is above lying, what makes you think anybody else involved is or was??

It seems many have made up their mind about what they "think" might have happened and will only believe those that affirm their beliefs. Anybody that contradicts is clearly lying.
 
hrdboild said:
That would require a level of self-awareness he has yet to display though.
Click to expand...
I think your whole post is spot-on, and a good review of Vivek's indefensible blunders that have no realistic explanation other than his incompetence.

But you used the term "self-aware" to refer to Vivek. ;) (I'm poking fun here, not disagreeing with hrdboild)
Have we so quickly forgotten the colossal lack of self-awareness Vivek demonstrated through his Twitter account posted by him and that hack PR college girl he had working for him?

My god, that was some of the most embarrassing and aggravating crap I've had to put up with as a Kings fan (and we've had to put up with a lot!)

Between his gushing over the Warriors team and his self-promotions, patting on the back, his clueless photo ops that rubbed Sac fans noses in his drooling over the Warriors, and his insulting of Kings fans, actually having the balls to say that WE wanted a more up-tempo exciting team (instead of one that was beating the NBA's best in early 2014 with apparently a boring defensive approach), Vivek's complete and utter LACK of self-awareness has been a long-proven flaw.
 
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IfAt1st said:
I think your whole post is spot-on, and a good review of Vivek's indefensible blunders that have no realistic explanation other than his incompetence.

But you used the term "self-aware" to refer to Vivek.
Have we so quickly forgotten the colossal lack of self-awareness Vivek demonstrated through his Twitter account posted by him and that hack PR college girl he had working for him?

My god, that was some of the most embarrassing and aggravating crap I've had to put up with as a Kings fan (and we've had to put up with a lot!)

Between his gushing over the Warriors team and his self-promotions, patting on the back, his clueless photo ops that rubbed Sac fans noses in his drooling over the Warriors, and his insulting of Kings fans, actually having the balls to say that WE wanted a more up-tempo exciting team (instead of one that was beating the NBA's best in early 2014 with apparently a boring defensive approach), Vivek's complete and utter LACK of self-awareness has been a long-proven flaw.
Click to expand...

You should re-read what you quoted from hrdboild - he WAS saying that Vivek seemed to lack self-awareness.

I think Vivek signed on because he liked the idea of the limelight. But he's definitely made some PR gaffs and rightly or wrongly he's largely been ridiculed by the sports media. I'm guessing for a guy who seems like he wanted adulation that must sting.
 
John Galt said:
Wow - that is a must read. Amazing article thanks for the link
Click to expand...
KingsFanSince85 said:
I read the same article that you did and got the same out of it.

BTW, many of the things Vivek said are easily verifiable. He said he'd never been on the team plane or in the lockerroom. If he lied about those things, there would be many people that would know. The players don't have to care about contradicting his statements. If none of them ever refute, then it's easy to conclude that he wasn't as involved with the team as all the pundits had reported.

I for one believe what he's saying. He admitted the early mistakes. He admitted the the bulk of the friction was between PDA and Michael Malone and that was his fault for hiring the coach first.

Outside of that, what other mistakes has he made since? Apparently he didn't hire Karl and he's not making personnel decisions for Vlade. He did, however, manage to get G1C built along with the the hotel that's going next to it.
Click to expand...

sounds about right.
 
IfAt1st said:
I think your whole post is spot-on, and a good review of Vivek's indefensible blunders that have no realistic explanation other than his incompetence.

But you used the term "self-aware" to refer to Vivek. ;) (I'm poking fun here, not disagreeing with hrdboild)
Have we so quickly forgotten the colossal lack of self-awareness Vivek demonstrated through his Twitter account posted by him and that hack PR college girl he had working for him?

My god, that was some of the most embarrassing and aggravating crap I've had to put up with as a Kings fan (and we've had to put up with a lot!)

Between his gushing over the Warriors team and his self-promotions, patting on the back, his clueless photo ops that rubbed Sac fans noses in his drooling over the Warriors, and his insulting of Kings fans, actually having the balls to say that WE wanted a more up-tempo exciting team (instead of one that was beating the NBA's best in early 2014 with apparently a boring defensive approach), Vivek's complete and utter LACK of self-awareness has been a long-proven flaw.
Click to expand...

Leslie Moore did him no favors. Her little tantrum "block party" was a disgrace - pretty sure she was canned shortly after that one.
 
Kingfanpaul said:
I don't know what to believe about it all. I think I'm just going to chock up the first few years as lengthy on the job training for Vivek. He saved the Kings, I'll give him a pass for those first few years. I will most certainly judge his actions from this point forward though. He saved the Kings and got an arena built, now lets focus on the product he puts on the court and see where we can go.
Click to expand...

no pass from me if boogie bolts.
 
Reading this article is troubling and does very little to dissuade my opinion that things won't change under Vivek's stewardship. Consistently, he shares revisionist history (look up past articles as have been quoted here) blaming other people for his organization's problems.

Vivek's a businessman, manager and former CEO. Management 101 says you take the blame for your decision making (even if you got bad advice), say what you learned, and how things will be different. He may have thought he did that with Sam's interview, but it reveals a warped POV that is consistent with a lot of media reports. Blech - this article only cements the perception of him and the Kings organization.
 
I'm a little bit disappointed in how Amick has chosen to refute Vivek's comments in some instances by taking to Twitter AFTER the articles were published.
 
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