Next Scapegoat?
- Thread starter SLAB
- Start date
hahaha. Look, Vivek is clearly a good dude. If there were any dirt his co-owners that have been trying to get the keys from him from day 1 would have found it by now. His problem is still trusting the wrong people and not being an a-hole. He needs to start holding people accountable and trust his instincts. His instincts were right at the start when he went to someone like Larry Bird. If it comes to it, he should start back at the beginning if need be. Joe Dumars wasn't a terrible idea if not for his complete failure towards the end of his tenure with Detroit. He was a one hit wonder. Larry Bird has succeeded at literally every level possible in this game. Give him a lousy 2-5 percent of something that you've literally made a buttload on Vivek. Done.
And this is my concern with Monte. I get it, the NBA is a buddy-buddy league. Karl was Petes bud. Hence why Finch was apparently on the top of Monte's list. And as seen, that would have been a great call, nooooot. lol. I mean, maybe who knows. It might just be as bad a situation for him on that team as it was for Luke here. Still, now they have to think smart. I figured a young coach with upside like Bobby is a smart call considering he's been here already. Hopefully Gentry isn't just a stop gap but if he is, well, chalk up another middling year to add on top of at least 12-13 or so directionless ones out of the 16 missed playoff years. And the only ones not directionless were the few times they committed to the darn tank.
I don't think so. Unless the NBA saw it as a bad look and who knows, they might turn against the city instead after sticking up for Sacramento last time around. With the way NBA franchises are valued now it makes things dangerous. Vivek could probably put the team up for 4-5 times what he put in for it less than 10 years ago right now and get it within minutes. That's a lot of years of empty seats before it hits his bottom line.
It's always Vivek. The final 3-4 Maloof years when they stopped caring about the team and every since Vivek got here, this franchise has refused to do things in the proper order and set up a proper power structure. The owner hires one person; the president of basketball operations and then he/she dictates everything else down the line, setting up the FO and coaching structure. That way, you know exactly who is at fault when things go wrong and it's easy to make the necessary adjustments.
The Kings ****ing problem is we refuse to just start things correctly. Malone hired before PDA. Brandon Williams nonsense with Joerger. Walton hired 1 day after he gets rid of Joerger after the best Kings season in 10 years. Joe Dumars inserted likely as the Vivek mouthpiece and no one really knows what his influence actually is. McNair doesn't get to pick his coach likely because of finances after Walton gets a big extension (lol). Vlade telling the media he had a better deal 2 days ago for the franchise player Boogie. Missing on 7 of 8 first round picks in the Vlade era where Fox is the only one to get a 2nd contract of the bunch.
I honestly am all aboard a full reset. McNair clearly has talent evaluation chops, will get to pick his coach in the off-season and I think you can get a serious rebuild haul shipping out Buddy/Fox/Barnes and probably Holmes although we may keep him just because of how good his contract is. Just get rid of the Vlade era and let McNair have his full stamp on this team. That way we can actually hold him accountable and not have all these outside forces that are likely influencing the decision making.
The Kings ****ing problem is we refuse to just start things correctly. Malone hired before PDA. Brandon Williams nonsense with Joerger. Walton hired 1 day after he gets rid of Joerger after the best Kings season in 10 years. Joe Dumars inserted likely as the Vivek mouthpiece and no one really knows what his influence actually is. McNair doesn't get to pick his coach likely because of finances after Walton gets a big extension (lol). Vlade telling the media he had a better deal 2 days ago for the franchise player Boogie. Missing on 7 of 8 first round picks in the Vlade era where Fox is the only one to get a 2nd contract of the bunch.
I honestly am all aboard a full reset. McNair clearly has talent evaluation chops, will get to pick his coach in the off-season and I think you can get a serious rebuild haul shipping out Buddy/Fox/Barnes and probably Holmes although we may keep him just because of how good his contract is. Just get rid of the Vlade era and let McNair have his full stamp on this team. That way we can actually hold him accountable and not have all these outside forces that are likely influencing the decision making.
Next scapegoat? That implies that Walton was a scapegoat. A scapegoat is someone who is unfairly blamed for something wrong or bad. Was Walton unfairly blamed? IMO, no he wasn't. He was one of three causes for poor Kings play: 1) Walton, 2) poorly shaped roster that doesn't have enough quality 3/4s, 3) Fox regressing.
Now if you look at those three variables, what has changed from last year's equation? Walton is a constant. He's the same coach he was last year - mediocre. The roster is a constant. It's no worse than last year; in fact even with the poorly shaped roster it looks to be better than last year. That leaves Fox, who is much worse than last year. If in one year your point guard is playing at or near an All Star level and then he gets traded for someone who is at the bottom tier of starting NBA point guards, chances are your team is going to be worse. The ultimate bummer with Fox is that he's only 23 years old. Normally, a 23 year old is better than his 22 year old self from last year. He should be on an upward trajectory. He should easily be 10% better than last year's Fox. Instead, he's 20% worse than last year's Fox. So that means there is a 30% swing from where he is and where he should be. At this point, any hope of seeing Fox this year being 10% better than last year is completely and utterly demolished. All we can hope for is that Fox starts playing at the same level as his 22 year old self.
Now if you look at those three variables, what has changed from last year's equation? Walton is a constant. He's the same coach he was last year - mediocre. The roster is a constant. It's no worse than last year; in fact even with the poorly shaped roster it looks to be better than last year. That leaves Fox, who is much worse than last year. If in one year your point guard is playing at or near an All Star level and then he gets traded for someone who is at the bottom tier of starting NBA point guards, chances are your team is going to be worse. The ultimate bummer with Fox is that he's only 23 years old. Normally, a 23 year old is better than his 22 year old self from last year. He should be on an upward trajectory. He should easily be 10% better than last year's Fox. Instead, he's 20% worse than last year's Fox. So that means there is a 30% swing from where he is and where he should be. At this point, any hope of seeing Fox this year being 10% better than last year is completely and utterly demolished. All we can hope for is that Fox starts playing at the same level as his 22 year old self.
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Was Walton a good coach? No, not really.
But here's the thing. We're now into season 9 of Vivek Ranadive's ownership of the Kings and they have had zero winning seasons in that time. Joerger's last season (2018-2019) was the only time the Kings were within spitting distance of being a .500 team at 39-43.
Nine seasons. And the team's overall winning percentage over that time is 39.2%. They've played 17 games this season. 39.2% of 17 is 6.66. So at 6-11 it's not like the team has dramatically under performed with Walton this season. It's just ever so slightly below average for what the Kings have done Ranadive's entire tenure.
And I think it's just a byproduct of the Kings being so poorly run for all but a few seasons of their now 36 seasons in Sacramento that we fans (the ones that are still left and I'm barely hanging on at this point) are just conditioned to provide excuses even as we complain.
"No star players will sign in Sacramento"
Yes, the Kings aren't likely to ever sign a superstar in free agency or be the team that a superstar forces a trade to. Guess what? That's true of the vast majority of teams. Which teams are we talking about every season as those types of teams? The Lakers and the Heat. That's it. In the past you could have included Houston and today you can include the Nets and I guess the Clippers since they landed Kawhi and Paul George. At any given time there are probably 4-5 teams that will consistently land stars. It's unfair, but it's unfair for most teams.
"Higher taxes mean the Kings will always have to overpay in free agency"
The Kings are small market team that still has to deal with California tax rates. True. And it's a legitimate issue. All things being equal a player would prefer the same contract in Dallas or Orlando vs Sacramento. But all things aren't equal. The Kings are hurt more by the fact that they've been a bungled mess of a franchise for most of four decades than they are by tax rates.
"It's harder to win as a small market team"
Yeah, it is. But Utah has built winning teams. OKC has built winning teams. San Antonio has been one of the most successful franchises in the NBA. Per this site, the Kings have the 19th largest market in the NBA. Ahead of Portland, Charlotte, Indiana, Utah, San Antonio, Milwaukee, OKC, New Orleans and Memphis and only a bit smaller than Cleveland.
There is some truth to all of those rationales, but they aren't why the Kings have been and continue to be terrible. That's just bad management and bad ownership.
In Vivek's 9 years the Kings have also had 9 lottery picks. NINE.
2013 #7 Ben McLemore
2014 #8 Nik Stauskas
2015 #6 Willie Cauley-Stein
2016 #9 Marquese Chriss (traded for the rights to Bogdanovic and #13 Papagiannis and #28 Labissiere)
2017 #5 De'Aaron Fox and #10 Zach Collins (traded for #15 Justin Jackson and #20 Harry Giles)
2018 #2 Marvin Bagley
2020 #12 Tyrese Haliburton
2021 #9 Davion Mitchell
There's definitely room to criticize the job McNair has done, but he's cleared the very low bar of his first two picks looking like they may actually be contributing players in the NBA. Othe than Fox you can't really say that about anybody else on that list.
And as much as we rehash passing on Doncic for Bagley, what about passing on CJ McCollum, Giannis, Gobert, Zach Lavine, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, John Collins, OG Anunoby, etc etc. And that's not even counting 2nd round steals like Jokic or Brogdan.
The Kings have some additional hurdles as a small market team. But a being terribly run franchise with a deservedly awful reputation is the real culprit.
But here's the thing. We're now into season 9 of Vivek Ranadive's ownership of the Kings and they have had zero winning seasons in that time. Joerger's last season (2018-2019) was the only time the Kings were within spitting distance of being a .500 team at 39-43.
Nine seasons. And the team's overall winning percentage over that time is 39.2%. They've played 17 games this season. 39.2% of 17 is 6.66. So at 6-11 it's not like the team has dramatically under performed with Walton this season. It's just ever so slightly below average for what the Kings have done Ranadive's entire tenure.
And I think it's just a byproduct of the Kings being so poorly run for all but a few seasons of their now 36 seasons in Sacramento that we fans (the ones that are still left and I'm barely hanging on at this point) are just conditioned to provide excuses even as we complain.
"No star players will sign in Sacramento"
Yes, the Kings aren't likely to ever sign a superstar in free agency or be the team that a superstar forces a trade to. Guess what? That's true of the vast majority of teams. Which teams are we talking about every season as those types of teams? The Lakers and the Heat. That's it. In the past you could have included Houston and today you can include the Nets and I guess the Clippers since they landed Kawhi and Paul George. At any given time there are probably 4-5 teams that will consistently land stars. It's unfair, but it's unfair for most teams.
"Higher taxes mean the Kings will always have to overpay in free agency"
The Kings are small market team that still has to deal with California tax rates. True. And it's a legitimate issue. All things being equal a player would prefer the same contract in Dallas or Orlando vs Sacramento. But all things aren't equal. The Kings are hurt more by the fact that they've been a bungled mess of a franchise for most of four decades than they are by tax rates.
"It's harder to win as a small market team"
Yeah, it is. But Utah has built winning teams. OKC has built winning teams. San Antonio has been one of the most successful franchises in the NBA. Per this site, the Kings have the 19th largest market in the NBA. Ahead of Portland, Charlotte, Indiana, Utah, San Antonio, Milwaukee, OKC, New Orleans and Memphis and only a bit smaller than Cleveland.
There is some truth to all of those rationales, but they aren't why the Kings have been and continue to be terrible. That's just bad management and bad ownership.
In Vivek's 9 years the Kings have also had 9 lottery picks. NINE.
2013 #7 Ben McLemore
2014 #8 Nik Stauskas
2015 #6 Willie Cauley-Stein
2016 #9 Marquese Chriss (traded for the rights to Bogdanovic and #13 Papagiannis and #28 Labissiere)
2017 #5 De'Aaron Fox and #10 Zach Collins (traded for #15 Justin Jackson and #20 Harry Giles)
2018 #2 Marvin Bagley
2020 #12 Tyrese Haliburton
2021 #9 Davion Mitchell
There's definitely room to criticize the job McNair has done, but he's cleared the very low bar of his first two picks looking like they may actually be contributing players in the NBA. Othe than Fox you can't really say that about anybody else on that list.
And as much as we rehash passing on Doncic for Bagley, what about passing on CJ McCollum, Giannis, Gobert, Zach Lavine, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, Donovan Mitchell, Bam Adebayo, John Collins, OG Anunoby, etc etc. And that's not even counting 2nd round steals like Jokic or Brogdan.
The Kings have some additional hurdles as a small market team. But a being terribly run franchise with a deservedly awful reputation is the real culprit.
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