I agree that Karl is not improving anything. However we can not lay the blame 100% at his feet. If Malone had not done what he did and showed the fans that this team COULD compete, then I'd say that the coach is completely irrelevant. But the fact is that Vlade has the reigns now, and he does have options. They need to bring in new players to replace the players who are not succeeding for whatever reason. They desperately need a 2 guard who can defend his own shadow. McLemore isn't the answer (at least here anyway). Start with what you can fix. Go get a decent 2 guard and see how the season progresses. If it stays the same or gets worse, THEN make changes in the off season like stable franchises do.
Kings Plan On Searching For New GM, Coach In Offseason
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I agree that Karl is not improving anything. However we can not lay the blame 100% at his feet. If Malone had not done what he did and showed the fans that this team COULD compete, then I'd say that the coach is completely irrelevant. But the fact is that Vlade has the reigns now, and he does have options. They need to bring in new players to replace the players who are not succeeding for whatever reason. They desperately need a 2 guard who can defend his own shadow. McLemore isn't the answer (at least here anyway). Start with what you can fix. Go get a decent 2 guard and see how the season progresses. If it stays the same or gets worse, THEN make changes in the off season like stable franchises do.
I don't understand why things that are reported by Woj have to be considered leaks within our organization. In this case, there are two other possibilities: first, writers can make things up completely, although I don't think that's what's going on here.
The second possibility is that Woj could have talked to one or more of the people Vlade has talked with. Or Woj could have talked to a reporter who has talked to one of those people. That's just how information spreads. It doesn't have to be the fault of someone within the Kings organization, much less a malicious figure skulking around in the shadows of Sleep Train.
The second possibility is that Woj could have talked to one or more of the people Vlade has talked with. Or Woj could have talked to a reporter who has talked to one of those people. That's just how information spreads. It doesn't have to be the fault of someone within the Kings organization, much less a malicious figure skulking around in the shadows of Sleep Train.
Vlade said he wouldn't make a trade just to make a trade.
There's something to consider with that line of thought. We are flexible at the moment, you want to stay that way unless you truly can get the proper long term solution. It may or may not be possible by this deadline.
So don't make it worse.
This is the first time in probably a decade we've got an owner who will spend, and every piece of ours can be moved with relative ease.
If we have to wait until the off season so be it.
This is a critical time, we need to be potentially patient until the off season.
No deal is better than a bad deal.
There's something to consider with that line of thought. We are flexible at the moment, you want to stay that way unless you truly can get the proper long term solution. It may or may not be possible by this deadline.
So don't make it worse.
This is the first time in probably a decade we've got an owner who will spend, and every piece of ours can be moved with relative ease.
If we have to wait until the off season so be it.
This is a critical time, we need to be potentially patient until the off season.
No deal is better than a bad deal.
There's that blind faith needed to be a King's fan.
Yeah, everything is under control. Vlade is here with mountains of experience to fall back on, all those coaching and GM searches he's done in the past. Forgot, he's got Peja! Shoot. Everything really is great.
So all he has to do is hire a GM and coach and trade multiple players demanding out while his owner demands he makes the playoffs NOW while Vlade's own contract is about to expire?
Good luck with that.
This isn't much a change, in regards to the GM thing. They were looking for someone to step in as the regular GM with Vlade overseeing, but settled on letting Mike Bratz handle it for this season. Petrie was President of Operations as well, with a small team under him. Expect Vlade to fill out his small team in the off-season. Cap guys, etc.
Yup, this is exactly how I see it. If there's anything to say about this, is it's a good thing. Vlade had a great off season of pickups, has dealt with more conflict than most GMs do in a season, and now he's bolstering his staff with someone qualified to deal with Salary Cap and CBA related issues. This is a good thing, not something to worry about.
If the article is true then perhaps it was Vlade that approached Vivek and told him that the GM role is way over his head. The article says that both Vivek and Vlade are searching for a new GM. I assume a GM must know most or all of the intricacies that are involved in managing a professional sports team. It's not an easy job and there are not too many openings.
In one way or another, there has been a great deal of rooting for failure here in Sacramento over the past several years.
Some of it makes decent sense: Root for the team to fail, so we will get a better draft pick, we will draft a better player, and we will succeed.
Some of it makes a bit less sense, but some sense nevertheless: Root for Player X to fail, so Player X will be traded or leave in free agency and we can get a better player. Root for Coach Y to fail, so that Coach Y will be fired and we can get a better coach. Root for General Manager Z to fail, so that General Manager Z will get fired and we can get a better GM.
But although this is the logical extension of it, I think it has pushed past sense: Root for Owner to fail...but we're not getting a new owner. To the extent that the owner's policies to build a team fail, the team fails. There's not a good outcome here. It's not like he's going to suddenly sell the team. Rooting against the owner really comes down to cutting off your nose to spite your face. And of course, by all accounts this year Vivek has stopped meddling so much in basketball decisions - so to the extent that his failure could serve as a lesson and cause him to trust to his basketball people...it looks like he's already doing that.
I'm not a Vivek guy by any means. While I'm grateful to him for keeping the team in Sacramento, I have a laundry list of complaints about the guy. But the fact of the matter is, he's not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. So I want him to succeed, because I want the team to succeed. I get a lot more gratification from watching the Kings win than watching Vivek fail.
Some of it makes decent sense: Root for the team to fail, so we will get a better draft pick, we will draft a better player, and we will succeed.
Some of it makes a bit less sense, but some sense nevertheless: Root for Player X to fail, so Player X will be traded or leave in free agency and we can get a better player. Root for Coach Y to fail, so that Coach Y will be fired and we can get a better coach. Root for General Manager Z to fail, so that General Manager Z will get fired and we can get a better GM.
But although this is the logical extension of it, I think it has pushed past sense: Root for Owner to fail...but we're not getting a new owner. To the extent that the owner's policies to build a team fail, the team fails. There's not a good outcome here. It's not like he's going to suddenly sell the team. Rooting against the owner really comes down to cutting off your nose to spite your face. And of course, by all accounts this year Vivek has stopped meddling so much in basketball decisions - so to the extent that his failure could serve as a lesson and cause him to trust to his basketball people...it looks like he's already doing that.
I'm not a Vivek guy by any means. While I'm grateful to him for keeping the team in Sacramento, I have a laundry list of complaints about the guy. But the fact of the matter is, he's not going anywhere in the foreseeable future. So I want him to succeed, because I want the team to succeed. I get a lot more gratification from watching the Kings win than watching Vivek fail.
I think this whole searching for a new general manager thing is way overblown. The team is not going to replace Divac, he has made good moves so far and all indications are that he gets along well with ownership and the players. All the team is probably going to do is get an assistant for him that has a background with the salary cap and dealing with contracts, a lawyer type. They already have Bratz who is more of a scouting type and Divac who does some scouting, but is probably more of the salesman, convincing players to sign here and dealing with people such as players, agents, and other general managers. The last piece of the puzzle is a numbers guy, all makes sense.
As for searching for a new coach that would be an embarrassment. If Karl is not the guy then fire him now, don't leave him out there to have to deal with a horrible second half of the year just to fire him a few months later, he deserves more respect than that. Don't tell me that the only reason Karl is still here is because he won't accept a buyout either, if that was the case his position would be no different at the end of the year than it is now so that makes no sense.
I know it's easy to blame, we have been searching for answers for a long time now. My position now is the same as it always has been, this is a players' league and the problems fall on the players. We will continue this same pattern of getting talented players or players with good potential, them playing their worst basketball, then leaving for a new team where they play better basketball. If we trade Koufos and/or McLemore they will play well and the players we get will not play well. We will either blame Divac for a bad trade or we will blame Karl for not coaching them correctly. However I know that Divac has made good moves and I know that Karl can coach based on his career. We will only get better when major moves are made.
The only other alternative I see a team with Cousins and Gay as your best scorers is if we slow down to an incredibly slow pace. That way they can play isolation basketball and the team doesn't have to run as much and get beat in transition. This team does not have the players to run a high pace, wrong skill sets, low effort, and low energy.
As for searching for a new coach that would be an embarrassment. If Karl is not the guy then fire him now, don't leave him out there to have to deal with a horrible second half of the year just to fire him a few months later, he deserves more respect than that. Don't tell me that the only reason Karl is still here is because he won't accept a buyout either, if that was the case his position would be no different at the end of the year than it is now so that makes no sense.
I know it's easy to blame, we have been searching for answers for a long time now. My position now is the same as it always has been, this is a players' league and the problems fall on the players. We will continue this same pattern of getting talented players or players with good potential, them playing their worst basketball, then leaving for a new team where they play better basketball. If we trade Koufos and/or McLemore they will play well and the players we get will not play well. We will either blame Divac for a bad trade or we will blame Karl for not coaching them correctly. However I know that Divac has made good moves and I know that Karl can coach based on his career. We will only get better when major moves are made.
The only other alternative I see a team with Cousins and Gay as your best scorers is if we slow down to an incredibly slow pace. That way they can play isolation basketball and the team doesn't have to run as much and get beat in transition. This team does not have the players to run a high pace, wrong skill sets, low effort, and low energy.
Vivek you know how you make this right once and for all.
1) you give Masai Ujiri a 300-400% raise on his current remuneration and add heavy incentives based on performance to bring him to us from Toronto
2) you get out of his way - you have hired him to do a job, you do not unduly influence him
3) you have him mentor Vlade
It all starts at the top and this hire is the foundation of our success for the next few decades - are you listening Vivek - you cant screw this up
the GM hire is huge. points 1 (whoever it may be) and point 2 and what will give us future success.
1) you give Masai Ujiri a 300-400% raise on his current remuneration and add heavy incentives based on performance to bring him to us from Toronto
2) you get out of his way - you have hired him to do a job, you do not unduly influence him
3) you have him mentor Vlade
It all starts at the top and this hire is the foundation of our success for the next few decades - are you listening Vivek - you cant screw this up
the GM hire is huge. points 1 (whoever it may be) and point 2 and what will give us future success.
Oh jesus no.
The Denver architect is not what we need.
I'm perfectly fine with what Vlade is doing frankly. We don't need anything splahsy or revolutionary. Just an experienced technician. Hopefully one with no smallball roots whatsoever. If Karl is done this summer, now is the chance to kill the pace is king thinking once and for all. The Spurs crank out an endless parade of assistant coaches and front office people to populate the league. Go hire one of them.
The Denver architect is not what we need.
I'm perfectly fine with what Vlade is doing frankly. We don't need anything splahsy or revolutionary. Just an experienced technician. Hopefully one with no smallball roots whatsoever. If Karl is done this summer, now is the chance to kill the pace is king thinking once and for all. The Spurs crank out an endless parade of assistant coaches and front office people to populate the league. Go hire one of them.
Kings will search for a new GM tells me they plan to assign Vlade back to his original position and that is strictly being a President of Basketball operations and having a GM to decide together on the transactions. Let's just hope this time around the GM comes before the head coach does. The team can play fast paced for all I care this season as long as the losses continue to stock pile. Talent is a necessity on this roster.
Appears the Nets are scooping my idea, and have already offered newly minted Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks their GM spot.
For all the neato stability we always try to perceive in Spursland, they are practically a farm factory for the rest of the NBA anymore, with a constant churn of guys they come up with, and 2-3 years later somebody takes them. Then they groom another one. Endless cycle.
For all the neato stability we always try to perceive in Spursland, they are practically a farm factory for the rest of the NBA anymore, with a constant churn of guys they come up with, and 2-3 years later somebody takes them. Then they groom another one. Endless cycle.
Looks like there has been more the the Kings situation than most people know. We did not have the front office personnel to handle the complexities of the NBA? How does that happen really? It sounds like the season was kind of doomed from the beginning. Here everyone was blaming Cousins and Karl and getting rather upset about the situation.
I'm also curious why they are willing to take a bath on Karl's contract? I saw that Karl has a bad knee. He plans on having a knee replacement after the season. I'm sure that could affect his coaching. If he is in pain and/or on medication definitely. So if his knee was bad prior to the season then it seems silly to sign a four year contract. If his knee went bad after then why hold the team to a contract when you are not physically capable of performing your duties? It seems like we signed a very bad contract for someone who has had prior health issues.
I sure hope we can get a real GM and proper front office in place. We need a team that we can have pride in.
I was looking forward to some possible improvements in defense. Seems like a lost cause with Karl being a lame duck. Season is over. Why did they need to tell everyone? Why keep him and then take away any leverage he may have had?
I'm also curious why they are willing to take a bath on Karl's contract? I saw that Karl has a bad knee. He plans on having a knee replacement after the season. I'm sure that could affect his coaching. If he is in pain and/or on medication definitely. So if his knee was bad prior to the season then it seems silly to sign a four year contract. If his knee went bad after then why hold the team to a contract when you are not physically capable of performing your duties? It seems like we signed a very bad contract for someone who has had prior health issues.
I sure hope we can get a real GM and proper front office in place. We need a team that we can have pride in.
I was looking forward to some possible improvements in defense. Seems like a lost cause with Karl being a lame duck. Season is over. Why did they need to tell everyone? Why keep him and then take away any leverage he may have had?
Open letter from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov : http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-u-...the-owner-of-the-brooklyn-nets-011805013.html
Lessons 2 and 3 should be printed and posted up in Vivek's office...
Lessons 2 and 3 should be printed and posted up in Vivek's office...