http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14266707p-15078611c.html
The Maloof family way
All six must agree when big business moves are made
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, June 11, 2006
When Eric Musselman walked into the first interview of the rest of his life with the Kings, he was met by three people: Joe Maloof, Gavin Maloof and Geoff Petrie.
Oh, and the speakerphone.
"My brother Phillip was on the phone that first interview," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof says. "He was … actually, I don't know where Phillip was. But he was on the speakerphone. He heard the whole thing."
The second time through the Palms in Las Vegas, with a potential job offer to coach the Kings in the balance, Musselman nearly got the full Maloof treatment. Joe and Gavin were there, and Phil, and brother George, and mother Colleen, with Petrie serving as the sort of moderator. The only missing Maloof was the men's sister, Adrienne.
"And we had her on speakerphone that time," Gavin says. "And after the meeting, we called her back, and she said: 'He's great. Let's go ahead and hire him.' "
And so they did.
Therein lies a modern tale of the throwback variety: In a sports world increasingly controlled either by vast corporations or Al Davis-type autocracies, the Maloofs continue to make their biggest decisions family style.
That they do so in every facet of their business life was never particularly news, because so few people actually see the privately held Maloof companies in action. But Joe Maloof says that when it comes to the top positions in any of their companies, be it distribution or Hollywood production or the NBA franchise in Sacramento, or the Palms casino in Las Vegas, the family ultimately is either in full agreement or looking for another job candidate.
"I don't know if it's the best way," Joe says, "but it's always worked for us."
As sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise in the United States, the trend against simple family ownership has grown both in strength and momentum. It's just generally not practical anymore. It makes more financial sense for the Chicago Cubs to be owned by the media giant Tribune Co. than by a single family (the Wrigleys, say) or even a consortium of individuals.
That trend, in turn, has pushed down the concept of family business, which implies occasional forays away from the simple bottom line. As Peter Magowan has learned as managing general partner of the diverse and occasionally shifting Giants ownership group, money is the driving force in the pro game. One ignores that truth at one's long-term peril, period.
The Maloofs have played the money game from both sides since taking over ownership of the Kings in 1999, first front-loading the product by investing heavily in player talent (Chris Webber, Vlade Divac et al.) and operational upgrades, then consistently ratcheting up ticket prices to the point that they're among the most expensive in the NBA.
But the Musselman hire, easily the highest-profile personnel decision of the family's tenure that did not involve a player, provided an uncommon glimpse into the Maloofs' way of conducting business.
That style resulted in a 6-0 vote in favor of hiring Musselman -- and Petrie, who runs the basketball operations of the franchise for the Maloofs as he did for Jim Thomas before them, was quick to point out in Musselman's introductory news conference June 3 that "there was no seventh vote."
Meaning?
"Meaning exactly what I said: It was their decision, all of the family's," Petrie says. "When it comes to these kinds of decisions, they're not looking for a seventh vote -- from me or anybody else.
"That's just the way they do it, and it's the way they do it in all of their businesses. It's the way they've been doing it since whenever."
It is an approach so unusual in contemporary sports as to be almost unique. Among NBA teams, perhaps only the Los Angeles Lakers even resemble the model, with owner Jerry Buss relying upon daughter Jeanie as executive vice president of business operations and having used sons Jim and John in varying capacities.
Petrie himself has worked for three owners: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in Portland, and Thomas and the Maloofs in Sacramento.
"With Paul Allen, it was Paul Allen making the decisions," Petrie says. "With Jim Thomas, it was Jim Thomas. But with this family, they check with each other, all of the family. They have a way of working it out by themselves."
According to Joe Maloof, the family's varied business interests always have revolved around the six family members -- five siblings and their mother. The Maloofs' father, George Sr., passed away in 1980, leaving his companies to be operated and expanded by his heirs.
"I think it's how we were brought up," Joe Maloof says. "We were never pitted one against another. We were taught to have respect for each other's opinions.
"We've got a lot of good salesmen in the family. If one of us wants something or someone hired, he'll try hard to sell it to everybody else. But if there's a flaw in the idea or a concern about a hire, one of us will almost always see that, too -- and that's how we do it with any of the big hires, even our CFO (chief financial officer)."
Gavin Maloof makes the process sound a little less exclusive, saying of the conversation about Musselman: "There's six, but then Geoff is seven. We wanted to make sure Geoff was comfortable, because he has to work with Eric. We had to make sure that he was in favor of it."
Clearly, hiring Musselman was a move Petrie could support. He conducted the primary portion of both interview sessions the former Golden State head coach had with the Maloofs, asking most of the basketball-oriented and technical questions. During the full-family second session, Petrie said he began by repeating many of the general questions he asked Musselman the first time around, for the benefit of those Maloofs who weren't involved in the earlier conversation.
From the Maloofs themselves came questions that related more specifically to the kind of top executive the 41-year-old Musselman might be. And, from one through six, the family members have a very clear idea of what they want their executives to be, regardless of which company they join.
Job obsession and workaholism are seen mostly as a plus, consistent with how the Maloofs view their own approach to business. Vitality, energy and good health matter. Preparation is paramount, one reason Musselman's interviews sailed along; he presented to family members two full books regarding the Kings' players, the organization and his philosophies of basketball and motivation.
"This is our guy," says Gavin Maloof. "He's going to have some peaks and valleys, but you have to stay with him because you have to look at the long view.
"The long view is, he's got a passion for it, he's going to be prepared and you're not going to outwork him. And when you start with those three things, your chance for success is like 90 percent."
After years of essentially allowing Petrie to run the basketball side, Joe and Gavin and their family were principally involved in four significant decisions over the past year: Pursuing Phil Jackson as coach last summer, not extending Rick Adelman's contract, trading for Ron Artest and hiring Musselman.
Now, "We'll do what we've always done: Get out of the way and let Geoff and Musselman run it," Joe says. "You guys don't always write it that way, but that's what we've always done."
Joe Maloof says the involvement in those three decisions came about strictly because of their magnitude and potential impact on the franchise as a whole, and he bristles at the suggestion that he and Gavin in particular are attempting to wrest more basketball control from Petrie.
"Of course we were involved in these decisions -- they're huge," Joe says. "In cases like those, you've got to stick together as a family."
So they do. And the result, Joe says, is unanimity or nothing.
"You can't splinter off as a family," he says. "You've got to be able to ride in the same car together. If you can do that, that's a good test of how close you are as a family. We can ride in the same car."
About the writer: The Bee's Mark Kreidler can be reached at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
The Maloof family way
All six must agree when big business moves are made
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, June 11, 2006
When Eric Musselman walked into the first interview of the rest of his life with the Kings, he was met by three people: Joe Maloof, Gavin Maloof and Geoff Petrie.
Oh, and the speakerphone.
"My brother Phillip was on the phone that first interview," Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof says. "He was … actually, I don't know where Phillip was. But he was on the speakerphone. He heard the whole thing."
The second time through the Palms in Las Vegas, with a potential job offer to coach the Kings in the balance, Musselman nearly got the full Maloof treatment. Joe and Gavin were there, and Phil, and brother George, and mother Colleen, with Petrie serving as the sort of moderator. The only missing Maloof was the men's sister, Adrienne.
"And we had her on speakerphone that time," Gavin says. "And after the meeting, we called her back, and she said: 'He's great. Let's go ahead and hire him.' "
And so they did.
Therein lies a modern tale of the throwback variety: In a sports world increasingly controlled either by vast corporations or Al Davis-type autocracies, the Maloofs continue to make their biggest decisions family style.
That they do so in every facet of their business life was never particularly news, because so few people actually see the privately held Maloof companies in action. But Joe Maloof says that when it comes to the top positions in any of their companies, be it distribution or Hollywood production or the NBA franchise in Sacramento, or the Palms casino in Las Vegas, the family ultimately is either in full agreement or looking for another job candidate.
"I don't know if it's the best way," Joe says, "but it's always worked for us."
As sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar enterprise in the United States, the trend against simple family ownership has grown both in strength and momentum. It's just generally not practical anymore. It makes more financial sense for the Chicago Cubs to be owned by the media giant Tribune Co. than by a single family (the Wrigleys, say) or even a consortium of individuals.
That trend, in turn, has pushed down the concept of family business, which implies occasional forays away from the simple bottom line. As Peter Magowan has learned as managing general partner of the diverse and occasionally shifting Giants ownership group, money is the driving force in the pro game. One ignores that truth at one's long-term peril, period.
The Maloofs have played the money game from both sides since taking over ownership of the Kings in 1999, first front-loading the product by investing heavily in player talent (Chris Webber, Vlade Divac et al.) and operational upgrades, then consistently ratcheting up ticket prices to the point that they're among the most expensive in the NBA.
But the Musselman hire, easily the highest-profile personnel decision of the family's tenure that did not involve a player, provided an uncommon glimpse into the Maloofs' way of conducting business.
That style resulted in a 6-0 vote in favor of hiring Musselman -- and Petrie, who runs the basketball operations of the franchise for the Maloofs as he did for Jim Thomas before them, was quick to point out in Musselman's introductory news conference June 3 that "there was no seventh vote."
Meaning?
"Meaning exactly what I said: It was their decision, all of the family's," Petrie says. "When it comes to these kinds of decisions, they're not looking for a seventh vote -- from me or anybody else.
"That's just the way they do it, and it's the way they do it in all of their businesses. It's the way they've been doing it since whenever."
It is an approach so unusual in contemporary sports as to be almost unique. Among NBA teams, perhaps only the Los Angeles Lakers even resemble the model, with owner Jerry Buss relying upon daughter Jeanie as executive vice president of business operations and having used sons Jim and John in varying capacities.
Petrie himself has worked for three owners: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in Portland, and Thomas and the Maloofs in Sacramento.
"With Paul Allen, it was Paul Allen making the decisions," Petrie says. "With Jim Thomas, it was Jim Thomas. But with this family, they check with each other, all of the family. They have a way of working it out by themselves."
According to Joe Maloof, the family's varied business interests always have revolved around the six family members -- five siblings and their mother. The Maloofs' father, George Sr., passed away in 1980, leaving his companies to be operated and expanded by his heirs.
"I think it's how we were brought up," Joe Maloof says. "We were never pitted one against another. We were taught to have respect for each other's opinions.
"We've got a lot of good salesmen in the family. If one of us wants something or someone hired, he'll try hard to sell it to everybody else. But if there's a flaw in the idea or a concern about a hire, one of us will almost always see that, too -- and that's how we do it with any of the big hires, even our CFO (chief financial officer)."
Gavin Maloof makes the process sound a little less exclusive, saying of the conversation about Musselman: "There's six, but then Geoff is seven. We wanted to make sure Geoff was comfortable, because he has to work with Eric. We had to make sure that he was in favor of it."
Clearly, hiring Musselman was a move Petrie could support. He conducted the primary portion of both interview sessions the former Golden State head coach had with the Maloofs, asking most of the basketball-oriented and technical questions. During the full-family second session, Petrie said he began by repeating many of the general questions he asked Musselman the first time around, for the benefit of those Maloofs who weren't involved in the earlier conversation.
From the Maloofs themselves came questions that related more specifically to the kind of top executive the 41-year-old Musselman might be. And, from one through six, the family members have a very clear idea of what they want their executives to be, regardless of which company they join.
Job obsession and workaholism are seen mostly as a plus, consistent with how the Maloofs view their own approach to business. Vitality, energy and good health matter. Preparation is paramount, one reason Musselman's interviews sailed along; he presented to family members two full books regarding the Kings' players, the organization and his philosophies of basketball and motivation.
"This is our guy," says Gavin Maloof. "He's going to have some peaks and valleys, but you have to stay with him because you have to look at the long view.
"The long view is, he's got a passion for it, he's going to be prepared and you're not going to outwork him. And when you start with those three things, your chance for success is like 90 percent."
After years of essentially allowing Petrie to run the basketball side, Joe and Gavin and their family were principally involved in four significant decisions over the past year: Pursuing Phil Jackson as coach last summer, not extending Rick Adelman's contract, trading for Ron Artest and hiring Musselman.
Now, "We'll do what we've always done: Get out of the way and let Geoff and Musselman run it," Joe says. "You guys don't always write it that way, but that's what we've always done."
Joe Maloof says the involvement in those three decisions came about strictly because of their magnitude and potential impact on the franchise as a whole, and he bristles at the suggestion that he and Gavin in particular are attempting to wrest more basketball control from Petrie.
"Of course we were involved in these decisions -- they're huge," Joe says. "In cases like those, you've got to stick together as a family."
So they do. And the result, Joe says, is unanimity or nothing.
"You can't splinter off as a family," he says. "You've got to be able to ride in the same car together. If you can do that, that's a good test of how close you are as a family. We can ride in the same car."
About the writer: The Bee's Mark Kreidler can be reached at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
