Random thoughts:
- Never could have predicted that I'd be so thankful for Vlade to be in the driver's seat right now. Because I am an eternal optimist, I think that the Vlade/Vivek partnership is going to be a really good one, and in no small part because of them working through this controversy together. I hope beyond hope that Vlade is able to level with Vivek and impress the value of a calculated, patient approach to building a winner.
- I had posted at the beginning of last season (not on this site) about how great it was to begin to see the return on the investment in player development that was evident in how much McLemore had progressed. I thought that it represented a healthy change of philosophy from Vivek. Similarly, Malone was clearly making strides and I was hopeful that the Kings were on the slow but steady path back to basketball relevance. Then Vivek, PDA, Mullin proved me wrong and demonstrated that they truly had *no* clue how to actually build a contender.
- Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I reject the premise that Kings fans needed a championship contender by Fall, 2016. What we need instead is the sense that there is a roadmap for this organization. The fact that up until this point there doesn't seem to have been one is unconscionable. Again, I come back to Vlade being in place as a beacon, though perhaps irrationally so given how unproven he is.
- Journalists involved in being social media mouthpieces for those with clear agendas are not journalists. Again, this is me being an unreasonable idealist, but should journalists be party to the obvious and transparent drive-by shooting of a franchise? Obviously, I'm not Vivek's biggest fan (see above), but to simply be an amplifier for PDA or Fegan or anyone in the Kings' front office is just sickening. We have seen the nuclear escalation metaphor unfold on social media.
- I'm a huge fan of DMC's basketball skills. He also is spoiled narcissist. I'm a huge fan of GK's coaching skills. He is also a spoiled narcissist. You can't build a winning organization around either.