Official PDA live radio thread

[Padrino]

Well i dont think I can convince you or any of the posters here, that are calling for the head of PDA. I don't like the way the way we are playing lately and i don't disagree with your opinion on our playstyle under Malone.
But the basketball the Kings played under Malone is not even close to the basketball the Grizzlies play under Joerger or at least it isn't as far as i can judge it. I don't buy this comparison and i don't think PDA wants us to play like the Warriors.
I get that you are posting stats, but those stats just don't fit with the basketball I watch every Grizzlie game.
The Grizzlies move the ball as well as the Wizards or Hawks, they run every time they get a stop, they actually get into their offense early and wait for Gasol to catch up, if there is no quick shot available, they run multiple Pick&rolls on and off the ball and they rely more on Conley than on Randolph when it comes to scoring or running the offense. Their role players get a lot of open shots and everyone has the green light to shoot the ball.
The Kings offense under Malone was a slow, iso-heavy approach relying totally on DMC and to a lesser extent Gay. The Kings didn't move the ball well, they had countless turnovers on simple plays, they were slow to get into the offense, they didn't play the pick&roll game successfully and their role players were getting almost no easy baskets. And keep in mind that the moment DMC was out of the game our whole offense simply collapsed.


I believe you hit the point, that you have to work with the roster you have available. I believe you hit the point with the bond between Malone and the players. And I don't think that PDA did a good job up to now, in particular with Malons successor and the short term improvement of our playstyle.
But trends in the NBA are there for a reason. This doesn't mean that one must follow every trend 100%, but it will be difficult to succeed in the NBA, if you are taking the completely opposing approach. There are reasons, why the Grizzlies added Carter, Udrih and Lee. There are good reasons that most teams are in love with the 3point shot. There are good reasons that most teams don't rely on isolation plays. And there are good reasons that most teams try to get into their offense as early as possible.

And adjusting to the current trends doesn't turn neither the Grizzlies nor the Kings into the Warriors.

the grizzlies move the ball fairly well because their core has years of experience together; they understand each others' tendencies, and they're disciplined on both sides of the ball. we're not exactly in disagreement here, but you cannot conflate a veteran team's chemistry with some kind of trend, and you cannot ignore that, when it comes to pace (that is, their number of offensive possessions per 48 minutes), the grizzlies are one of the slowest teams in the league. that is measurable. they play slow, and more importantly, they like to play slow. they do so with patience, diligence, and discipline, and much of that comes from experience and chemistry. i think dave joerger's doing a good job over there, but he inherited a very good team with an established identity, and he's been tasked with augmenting it, rather than reinventing it...

on the flip side, the kings' starting unit had all of 24 games to forge their new hard-nosed identity before it was deemed by their gm that another new identity was necessary, despite the winning culture that was finally taking root. darren collison is in his first year with the team. ben mclemore is a second-year player. and many at kf.com act as if rudy gay has been here for ages when, in reality, he's only participated in one training camp with the kings. give them time together with mike malone, and you would see those unforced turnovers come down. you would see more discipline instituted on the offensive side of the ball. but it takes time. the grizzlies didn't become what they are overnight. neither did the warriors. and no amount of hand-wringing by the kings' front office over what's trendy will transform this roster into one with the kind of talent and chemistry to become a fast-paced offensive juggernaut...

more dauntingly, the players have to re-establish their chemistry as a team, with a new system and under a new coach (and, in all likelihood, under yet another new coach next season)... and no matter how fast they play or how many three's they shoot, they still won't have the firepower to be the kind of team pete d'allesandro wants, not unless he can pull off some magic at the trade deadline. good luck, i say. it's his mess; he gets to clean it up. if he can't, then he's gone...

 

[Larry David]

why don't you fire yourself you little twitching rodent, since you are the idiot who put together the squad outside of Cousins and JT, and they are 2-18 without Cuz, and that's Philadelphia territory.

Correct. Malone had reached Cousins and was playing to all of his strengths, building him into a franchise player this team would need to make and advance in the playoffs. Malone's ISO ball was also helping Rudy make gains and Collison liked feeding those guys the ball and he could also take shots for doing his job. Three key pieces moving forward were happy and improving.

The 90s offense was going to become an issue at some point, but that point was not now. Not close. It would have been a good idea to keep growing Cousins and rehabbing Rudy under Malone. In another year or so, it would have been on Malone to run a modern offense or be shown the door. Shoving Malone out now, just assuming that Corbin could keep everything he'd developed and incorporate a modern offense as a lame duck coach was both nuts and rushing the process of trying to develop a winner. Even assuming Malone wasn't the right coach for next season, he was the right coach for the rest of this season. PDA botched this and we might have to start all over with the locker room and rehabbing Cousins if this doesn't turn soon.

But that's only part of what we learned yesterday. Brick is right here. The "Philly territory without Cousins" and what are you doing with "players other than Cousins" talk reveals that Pete believes he built a product that: should win a decent clip even without Cousins; and win at a very high rate with Cousins if we played faster and developed our player more. That's nuts. Rudy has turned the corner. I like him as a second banana. But his record as the lead guy speaks loudly. It probably isn't going to happen for Williams. Landry is what he is. Ben and Nick might grow into great players, but right now it's Cousins, Gay and some role players of varying talent. Gay and role players is a bad team. That's on you Pete, not Malone.

 

[KingsFanGER]

the grizzlies move the ball fairly well because their core has years of experience together; they understand each others' tendencies, and they're disciplined on both sides of the ball. we're not exactly in disagreement here, but you cannot conflate a veteran team's chemistry with some kind of trend, and you cannot ignore that, when it comes to pace (that is, their number of offensive possessions per 48 minutes), the grizzlies are one of the slowest teams in the league. that is measurable. they play slow, and more importantly, they like to play slow. they do so with patience, diligence, and discipline, and much of that comes from experience and chemistry. i think dave joerger's doing a good job over there, but he inherited a very good team with an established identity, and he's been tasked with augmenting it, rather than reinventing it...

on the flip side, the kings' starting unit had all of 24 games to forge their new hard-nosed identity before it was deemed by their gm that another new identity was necessary, despite the winning culture that was finally taking root. darren collison is in his first year with the team. ben mclemore is a second-year player. and many at kf.com act as if rudy gay has been here for ages when, in reality, he's only participated in one training camp with the kings. give them time together with mike malone, and you would see those unforced turnovers come down. you would see more discipline instituted on the offensive side of the ball. but it takes time. the grizzlies didn't become what they are overnight. neither did the warriors. and no amount of hand-wringing by the kings' front office over what's trendy will transform this roster into one with the kind of talent and chemistry to become a fast-paced offensive juggernaut...

more dauntingly, the players have to re-establish their chemistry as a team, with a new system and under a new coach (and, in all likelihood, under yet another new coach next season)... and no matter how fast they play or how many three's they shoot, they still won't have the firepower to be the kind of team pete d'allesandro wants, not unless he can pull off some magic at the trade deadline. good luck, i say. it's his mess; he gets to clean it up. if he can't, then he's gone...

I'm not trying to conflate their chemistry and a trend. I think the Grizzlies hired Joeger over Hollins and added players like Carter, Lee and Udrih to their roster, because they adjusted to a certain trend, that made it difficult to take the next step in the playoffs with their post-heavy playstyle. I can't debate your stats, but do those stats take into account, that the Grizzlies try to push the ball up quick, but are not taking early shots necessarily? More often than not they look for an early open shot but go back to Gasol if it's not there.
After all we agree on most of the points mentioned. Like I already said in the previous post - the firing of Malone was premature and not well thought out. Maybe he would have been able to improve our offense. But there were reasons to criticize him. Now it's all on PDA. It was his decision and if we aren't taking the next steps soon, things will get rough.

 

[Jose]

I didn't bother to listen to this live. It was obvious that this was going to be a PR spinfest and that all the tough questions would be dodged. But I'm not as mad as others - what's going on is pretty much what I expected since the Clowns 2.0 took over the team: over-excited meddling ownership with no experience, FO full of buddies, over-reliance on "familiar" faces, etc... However, one thing I do know is that things will get better:

1. We have a new arena coming. But, most importantly, the team is CEMENTED here for the long haul. No more threats to move, no fears of anyone scooping in and pulling the team from under us. Either make it work here or suffer the consequences.
2. Team values are going up. Attendance, fan support and profit will go down. Ownership will only bleed for so long before they decide to cash in.
3. The new majority ownership group will not treat this team as an investment or a toy. They will have to put down a HUGE chunk of money for the team and they will want a winning, profitable product.

We've put up with this for long so, as far as I'm concerned, I can wait a little longer. The question is - will all that happen sooner rather than later, or will we miss out on Cousin's window? Will DMC and/or the team blow up, ask for trades, etc.?

It could (and probably will) get uglier, but one thing is for sure. It *WILL* get better. Our biggest leverage is #1 above - the team is here to stay. They have to make it work, or they WILL suffer.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Please go back and read through what I have been saying again. You have entirely missed the point I was trying to make. I never once said three pointers were MORE important than defense. In fact I said the opposite. And the dispute here is not about defense anyway.

The whole thing started when I said (implied, really) that three-pointers are good.

You challenged this by making an argument based on NBA champions and #1 teams in three-point rate. This is a small sample size of statistical outliers, and really shouldn't be used to draw serious conclusions.

I did, indeed, say this. I then went on, in the very same post, to elaborate on my position, and include teams that finished in the Top 10 in attempts, not just #1 overall which, based on the fact that you never responded to it, I feel I must conclude that you either no-sold it, or just flat didn't read it.

I responded by making a nice plot to show you that there is in fact a correlation (and a pretty good one) between how good of an offensive team you are and how many three pointers you take. This is a better way to measure the value of the three point shot than your argument.

You dismissed this and reiterated your "championship" argument.

That is because I'd rather see the correlation between three-point attempts and assists, assist-to-turnover ratio, and/or FG%/eFG%. I can see a correlation between taking more threes and scoring more points, but I do not stipulate that scoring more points = better offensive team.

And offense is overrated, anyway. Good luck changing my mind on that.

 

[hrdboild]

I didn't bother to listen to this live. It was obvious that this was going to be a PR spinfest and that all the tough questions would be dodged. But I'm not as mad as others - what's going on is pretty much what I expected since the Clowns 2.0 took over the team: over-excited meddling ownership with no experience, FO full of buddies, over-reliance on "familiar" faces, etc... However, one thing I do know is that things will get better:

1. We have a new arena coming. But, most importantly, the team is CEMENTED here for the long haul. No more threats to move, no fears of anyone scooping in and pulling the team from under us. Either make it work here or suffer the consequences.
2. Team values are going up. Attendance, fan support and profit will go down. Ownership will only bleed for so long before they decide to cash in.
3. The new majority ownership group will not treat this team as an investment or a toy. They will have to put down a HUGE chunk of money for the team and they will want a winning, profitable product.

We've put up with this for long so, as far as I'm concerned, I can wait a little longer. The question is - will all that happen sooner rather than later, or will we miss out on Cousin's window? Will DMC and/or the team blow up, ask for trades, etc.?

It could (and probably will) get uglier, but one thing is for sure. It *WILL* get better. Our biggest leverage is #1 above - the team is here to stay. They have to make it work, or they WILL suffer.

Good post. This is the big picture. The Kings are here to stay and eventually somebody will put a winning product on the floor. When they do it will be in a brand new arena in downtown Sacramento. It's frustrating watching the growing pains, but it'll be worth it in the end. And it's a heck of a lot better than where we were 2 years ago. Anything would be.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

And therein lies the problem. Even after today's presser, we're still left with a big, fat "IF."
The only real hints at any sort of "plan," were:
a) RUN
b) Ty Corbin
c) New Arena
d) Be patient
e) "I know what I'm doing."

However, the saddening thing is that (and he prob wasn't even aware he said it) he even admitted at one point in referencing Corbin that he "doesn't know" what lies beyond this year.

If he's been GM now for 18 months or so and we still can't tell wth he's doing, that's a problem. It's no longer a "wait and see, be patient" approach OR a "well, he's inherited a Maloof mess," no, this is HIS mess now and he needs to be held accountable.

you can't see what he sees because its 44 steps ahead of the crowd?

 

[randymoss1881]

+100.

I was saying this a month ago in the fire Malone thread. PDA is inept and arrogant.

I brought up a quote of his from around the time of our 5-1 start, the gist of it was that PDA felt our roster s was complete.

Scary thing is, these recent quotes of his make it seem like he STILL thinks his roster is complete.

We have one pissed off star, one heavily flawed star, two decent guards that would probably be benchers on contending teams.... And that is it.

Hubris, thy name is Gerbil.

Don't forget our bench players now. Sessions/DWill/Nik/landry/Hollins.You know what they have in common? None of them would play over 15mpg on other teams.

It's a miracle the way Malone had us playing yet I'm reading people in here complain about no ball movement. There's only so much a coach can do at some point you have to give the man some players. It was only year 2 of malone and we had top 10 defense I give two craps how the offense was you could easily improve the offense down the road. Malone had us playing the way teams win championships if we got him a couple shooters that alone would help ball movement. And if only we could have got him some bench players. We could have kept malone still be the 8th seed and trade DWill/ray for JR/Shumpert and bam malone has done nba players to work with.

 

[randymoss1881]

Good post. This is the big picture. The Kings are here to stay and eventually somebody will put a winning product on the floor. When they do it will be in a brand new arena in downtown Sacramento. It's frustrating watching the growing pains, but it'll be worth it in the end. And it's a heck of a lot better than where we were 2 years ago. Anything would be.

What makes you think in 2 years we could have a winning product? This isn't a PDA problem this is a PDA/Mullin problem and unfortunelty if PDA gets fired Mullin will take over is PDA doesn't get fired Mullin is the next coach. We basically wasted this year and if Mullin is coach next we wasted next year. Which means Gay will opts out and cousins will follow suite and we will build around Ben. As long as our 2 best players are DMC/Gay we will never have a winning product that involves run and gun

Oh and about the winning product we had that this year and it was thrown away. You know it I know it and the players know it

 

[kingsnation]

...The question is - will all that happen sooner rather than later, or will we miss out on Cousin's window? Will DMC and/or the team blow up, ask for trades, etc.?

.... It *WILL* get better....

Missing on DMC's window is NOT getting better. If we miss out on him becoming what he can and should be, it will end up being known as one of the biggest mistakes in basketball history, and THAT will be the legacy of this current FO regime.

 

[funkykingston]

Good post. This is the big picture. The Kings are here to stay and eventually somebody will put a winning product on the floor. When they do it will be in a brand new arena in downtown Sacramento. It's frustrating watching the growing pains, but it'll be worth it in the end. And it's a heck of a lot better than where we were 2 years ago. Anything would be.

I appreciate the optimistic outlook and in a lot of ways I agree. But we seem to be conflating the arena construction and PDA's job as GM. The arena is being built regardless of the moves that D'Alessandro makes. We owe the arena to everyone who fought to keep the Kings here, the NBA's board of governors, Chris Granger and everyone working to build the arena and obviously most importantly the ownership group headed by Vivek. D'Alessandro's performance can and should only be evaluated by the product on the floor. He doesn't get a pass because an arena is getting built.

That said, I share your hope for a new Kings arena with a competitive team playing in it, regardless of who the GM is that makes that happen. As frustrated as I am now, I hope it's D'Alessandro because that means we're not waiting four or five more years minimum for it to happen.

 

[hrdboild]

What makes you think in 2 years we could have a winning product? This isn't a PDA problem this is a PDA/Mullin problem and unfortunelty if PDA gets fired Mullin will take over is PDA doesn't get fired Mullin is the next coach. We basically wasted this year and if Mullin is coach next we wasted next year. Which means Gay will opts out and cousins will follow suite and we will build around Ben. As long as our 2 best players are DMC/Gay we will never have a winning product that involves run and gun

Oh and about the winning product we had that this year and it was thrown away. You know it I know it and the players know it

I was talking more in a "sometime over the next 30 years" kindof range. Like I said, big picture.

 

[Kingsguy881]

Pete is an idiot but I am a bigger idiot for wanting fans to stop calling him a gerbil. He has single handedly been my reason for losing interest when I had gotten engaged again. I feel as a Kings fan that I was sold on a dream of the right coach leading DeMarcus to lead the team to a championship. I believed in that coach, and that player. I seriously thought that Sacramento had a coach that had gotten the ear of what was potentially one if the top 5 players in the league to buy in and take the team on his back and establish an identity that would bring order to the galaxy. That dream was growing until Pete took it away from me. I hate Pete.

 

[NowImLost]

Pete is an idiot but I am a bigger idiot for wanting fans to stop calling him a gerbil. He has single handedly been my reason for losing interest when I had gotten engaged again. I feel as a Kings fan that I was sold on a dream of the right coach leading DeMarcus to lead the team to a championship. I believed in that coach, and that player. I seriously thought that Sacramento had a coach that had gotten the ear of what was potentially one if the top 5 players in the league to buy in and take the team on his back and establish an identity that would bring order to the galaxy. That dream was growing until Pete took it away from me. I hate Pete.

I was on that train as well, until we all got Gerbilized.
I thought I had gotten rid of my old Kings fan self and put him away for good... but then I reverted back to the old and now permanent Kings fan self...
BEHOLD.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

omg hahahhahahaahhaha this guy is such a turd!

Pete D'Alessandro ‏@Pdoro 1 hour ago
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Page 2 - BrainyQuote http://po.st/XgKgPT via @BrainyQuote

"Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." Mahatma Ghandi



So this BrainyQuote, is that where Pete is getting his philosophies for the team?

 

[John Galt]

He's pumping out religious and philosophic tweets now. Seems a little disingenuous to me. He follows a CS Lewis page too, and was retweeting some of his stuff a few days ago. I assumed he was trying to put "good Italian immigrant Christian boy" on his resume before his media tour (the one that started with Carmichael Dave and was aborted shortly thereafter).

 

[lawlman91]

omg hahahhahahaahhaha this guy is such a turd!

Pete D'Alessandro ‏@Pdoro 1 hour ago
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Page 2 - BrainyQuote http://po.st/XgKgPT via @BrainyQuote

"Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." Mahatma Ghandi



So this BrainyQuote, is that where Pete is getting his philosophies for the team?

So he's playing a holier-than-thou card on the fans, albeit passive-aggressively. What a shame

 

[Gilles]

Why does he think, that Kings fans are intolerable. They totally accept him...as an incompetent moron, that he is.

 

[N0tmyfault]

omg hahahhahahaahhaha this guy is such a turd!

Pete D'Alessandro ‏@Pdoro 1 hour ago
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Page 2 - BrainyQuote http://po.st/XgKgPT via @BrainyQuote

"Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." Mahatma Ghandi



So this BrainyQuote, is that where Pete is getting his philosophies for the team?

Someone should show PDA some of Ghandi's other quotes:

- "It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom."

- "The future depends on what we do in the present."

Ghandi also stated that he preferred violence (in our case displeasure/anger) rather than being submissive and taking it up the wazoo from the government/opposition (in our case PDA/Mullin/Vivek).

 

[Chubbs]

So, when's that media blitz Aaron bruski was talking about in his tweets? Aren't we at "everything is awesome" yet?

Funny, the GM condescending to an entire legion of fans didn't make everything better. I was sure that'd work and everyone would be thrilled.

I find peter's lack of self doubt to border on delusion.

 

[Geoff]

omg hahahhahahaahhaha this guy is such a turd!

Pete D'Alessandro ‏@Pdoro 1 hour ago
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Page 2 - BrainyQuote http://po.st/XgKgPT via @BrainyQuote

"Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding." Mahatma Ghandi



So this BrainyQuote, is that where Pete is getting his philosophies for the team?

He should have thought of that before he fired Malone.

 

[Chubbs]

Some more Gandhi quotes:. Peter, you sir, are no Gandhi.

“The greatness of a nation team and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals players are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Action expresses priorities".
-- Mahatma Gandhi

“You don't know who is important to you until you actually lose them.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

And the best one:

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Please everyone, steal these if you want. Seriously.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/5810891.Mahatma_Gandhi

 

[Spike]

Some more Gandhi quotes:. Peter, you sir, are no Gandhi.

“The greatness of a nation team and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals players are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Action expresses priorities".
-- Mahatma Gandhi

“You don't know who is important to you until you actually lose them.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

And the best one:

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

I think I just found my next twitter ammo.

 

[Chubbs]

I think I just found my next twitter ammo.

Go for it. Anyone feel free to cherry pick those quotes. I'm not on Twitter.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

Some of it was on-court philosophy, both offensive and defensive. He's pretty adamant that defense is a crucial part of the equation. He doesn't want to go "Paul Westhead" and he even thinks that Corbin is pushing the pace too much right now, though he doesn't want to micromanage him down. The numbers I believe were that under Corbin we're 4th in pace and he thinks that somewhere around 9th/10th would be better for the team. But thinking like this gives me a strong impression that they've got a real plan about what they want to do (and no, he's not sharing that, unsurprisingly). Unlike the common perception, it's not about "LEt'S GeT DUnnnkZ LOL!" like he's getting crucified for here. He believes there's a need for the team to take more three-point shots, and while the smash-mouthers around here will poo-poo that, I agree that the numbers say yes. There's a reason that the number of threes leaguewide taken has increased basically every year since they were introduced, and it's not because everybody in the NBA is dumb. Threes are simply more efficient shots, corner threes even moreso.

Without giving specifics, it seems quite obvious that Malone was gone. His offensive deficiencies didn't fit in with the franchise's direction. It sounds as if the only reason he wasn't fired in the offseason (which basically everybody agrees would be preferable) is because he lost Brendan before the season started and they wanted to give him a chance to develop his offense in a year where he actually had a lead assistant. He didn't improve, and they moved on. And for those who think that PDA is on thin ice for that decision, it sounded pretty clear that this decision was concurred with by ownership. You don't just fire a head coach, much less a head coach originally hired by the owner, without the owner's blessing. Buzz Oates was there as well, if he wasn't pointed out during the interview, and he is basically 100% behind Pete right now - he says the plan (and no, he's not elaborating) is a solid one.

It's things like that.

I find PDA to be sincere. I know a lot of people don't. But they weren't in the room. Maybe I'm naive, but I generally find myself a good judge of character. Yes, PDA spun and avoided a lot on the air, he told us ahead of time he was going to do that. There are things he can't say on the air, and I'm sure it's a tough job to walk that fine line he had to walk.

I don't know, I just don't think that there was much to be gained from the whole process in general - I doubt many people were open to having their minds changed, and the format was one in which he couldn't be perfectly open anyway. But I believe he's quite sincere in wanting to do what's best for this team, and I have more faith in his ability than most here.

I just listened to the entire interview and I tend to agree with most of this. Before I had done so, I just assumed the entire interview was a disaster given the fan reaction. Afterwards I'm wondering if people even listened to the same interview that I did.

What it sounds like is that a lot of fans are conflating a disagreement with philosophical direction with a belief that the front office has no direction in the first place. And those preconceived notions torpedoed any chance the interview would have had to do, well, anything in the first place. I didn't get the impression D'Alessandro was dodging any questions. He answered most of what was thrown at him within reason. This wasn't an interview filled with political non-answers.

What was wrong with Malone's style? The front office wants a more free-flowing, creative offense alongside a good defense, and Malone wasn't delivering.

Why not fire Malone last summer? Because they wanted to give him a chance with a lead assistant after Brendan abandoned ship last year.

Why not give Malone a chance to finish the year? Because they didn't want to string Malone along knowing he wasn't the answer.

Do they want to play run-and-gun? No, defense is important. No Paul Westhead basketball here.

Does Cousins fit an uptempo style? Yes; examples of slower bigs playing at a good pace include the Spurs of the last few years with Tim Duncan and the early 2000s Kings with Vlade.

What about the relationship between Malone and the players, especially Cousins? Are you too focused on numbers? Answer: PDA is a people guy first, he has people experience in other fields like law and politics, he was a player's agent before front office executive, and he didn't learn statistics until later on in his front office career. He wants people to trust that he can handle the personalities side.

What about the players finding out about decisions via Twitter? He insists that Rudy and DeMarcus especially have a feel for whats happening, and that while he won't specifically inform players of decisions before they happen unless circumstances dictate it (he gave the example of showing players a trade on his whiteboard before it happened and asking for opinions), he insists that he is walking the fine line between letting players in on whats going on appropriately and to trust his 17 years of experience regarding that matter. He took responsibility for failing to preemptively address leaks that reporters got their hands on, such as the Tyrone Corbin extension.

None of those answers convinced me that the front office has the right idea going forward. I am still against the Malone firing, and my biggest concerns were locker room related going forward. I didn't think Malone was the most creative mind going forward but I felt he deserved a chance to finish out the year and I don't agree with the "string him along" reasoning. I don't see Corbin winning more games than Malone would have won.

But those are philosophical disagreements. I'm not sure what people were expecting out of the interview; I, for one, never expected a point-by-point thesis paper on why the pace they are looking for gives them the best chance to win going forward, or a dissertation on why Malone wasn't the guy to implement the combined offensive and defensive style they are looking for. I thought D'Alessandro rambled a lot but he made his philosophy going forward clear. I feel better, somewhat, about the relationships aspect of front office decisions; I'm glad D'Alessandro is having lunch with DeMarcus regularly and that their relationship is strong. We can't lose DeMarcus at any cost.

Time will tell whether D'Alessandro's philosophies regarding style are correct or not, but we were never going to find that from an hour long interview. Reasonable minds can (and do) disagree. I went into the interview hoping that the front office knew what it was doing regarding the 15 guys in the locker room and I feel better about that.

 

[Warhawk]

I think I just found my next twitter ammo.

What's your twitter handle?

 

[jcwkings]

I just heard the archive, aside from hearing exactly what I expected(canned answers, talking points etc.) did I hear PDA call the fans in attendance idiots literally in the first 5 minutes? Seriously this guy is an absolute idiot, I just about lost it when he justified his qualifications as an NBA GM by saying hes a lawyer, politician and agent. Good god what a moron, I am boycotting this team until he is gone.

 

[Spike]

What's your twitter handle?

jchavez_

 

[VF21]

"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

I just stole this and tweeted it.

 

[VF21]

jchavez_

Well, that's not fair. I had to go all Sherlock Holmes to find it.