Questions sent to Dave

[VF21]

After spending a lot of time reading the questions, sorting them, eliminating duplications, etc. I came up with the following 10 questions that are both diverse and relevant to lots of Kings fans. I didn't pick any from either of our representatives as they will be there to ask them themselves. I also didn't pick more than one question from any one person.

It's probably not a prefect list, but I think it's a fair representation.

Spike - Fans are clearly upset. The team, by any measure, has clearly regressed. What can you do this season to assure them that you're working towards a winning product?

miltonap - You said that even if Coach Malone went 16-9, he would've been fired because his coaching style didn't fit your guys' vision of Kings basketball. Why is style being put on such a high pedestal as opposed to winning ball games? What specific factors are guiding this decision?

Krunker - The Reno Bighorn's style of play is fast-paced and focuses on offense over defense. Do you see the Kings playing a similar style someday? If not, how does the Bighorn's style translate to training players to compete in the NBA?

Hadlowe - Immediately after Malone was fired, Coach Karl indicated that he was very interested in coaching the Kings. A lot of Kings fans were confused by the firing of Malone, but it made sense if it was done to bring in one of the winningest coaches in NBA history. Was Karl ever in consideration for the job? If not, why not?

andjel - it has been 3 weeks since firing of the coach that sent lot of negative things in motion. Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

rainmaker - Pete, why did you willingly throw away this season in a city starved for winning basketball, simply to chase a style which doesn't fit our top two players, doesn't play to our strengths and has clearly made us less competitive, without even having a coach lined up as a replacement who employs that style?

One and Done - What is your realistic timeframe to reach the playoffs?

Prog - Can you explain why Cousins viral meningitis and Casspi's knee contusion took so long to communicate clearly? Why keep injury reports vague?

Livinthedream - What qualities are you looking for in a coach that the previous coach/staff did not possess that will take the team to the next level that you spoke of.

HndsmCelt - What is the measure for success or failure for the new direction the Kings are going? How and when will YOU know it is working or failing?

 

[VF21]

I also figured both Capt. and funky could go over the list and grab any questions they thought I should have included.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I also figured both Capt. and funky could go over the list and grab any questions they thought I should have included.

I'm kind of putting together some of my own questions. Obviously based on format and how many questions we get to ask, and what questions (and answers) come up before my opportunity(ties?) to speak, I'll have to adjust accordingly.

It would be great if this were to be a round table, but I assume it's going to be more of a bully pulpit. In some sense, if I only get one question I'd like to go later just to make sure I have the chance to call him out on any canned answers, if he gives any.

 

[VF21]

My fondest wish is that PDA comes in WITH GEORGE KARL and announces his hiring.

 

[steelevt]

Great job sorting out the questions. But wasn't hadlowes question already answered in the voisin article you posted? It was written that some of the owners considered Karl but pda is just doing more research. So we know he will just answer "yes Karl along with others were considered as a candidate for the job".

 

[lawlman91]

My fondest wish is that PDA comes in WITH GEORGE KARL and announces his hiring.

Just make sure that that doesn't get you praising at the altar of PDA. At best, it would make up for the mess that is Doom December.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Great list of questions. I really hope Dave uses them all. But i have the feeling he will pick through them, and not use ones such as the one from Rainmaker, simply because it is way too real and would make Pete look bad

 

[VF21]

Great job sorting out the questions. But wasn't hadlowes question already answered in the voisin article you posted? It was written that some of the owners considered Karl but pda is just doing more research. So we know he will just answer "yes Karl along with others were considered as a candidate for the job".

I had already compiled the list and sent it on to Dave by the time I saw Voisin's article. It wouldn't have made any difference, though. I still think it's a great question and I'd like to see how he answers it with all those Kings fans in front of him. Speaking one on one to a reporter is a lot different than speaking to a bunch of people who hold you directly accountable for the thing they're most disturbed about.

 

[VF21]

Just make sure that that doesn't get you praising at the altar of PDA. At best, it would make up for the mess that is Doom December.

Oh please. If he brings in George Karl and announces him as our new head coach, I will definitely not only be praising at the altar of PDA I'll be forming his fan club.

 

[VF21]

Great list of questions. I really hope Dave uses them all. But i have the feeling he will pick through them, and not use ones such as the one from Rainmaker, simply because it is way too real and would make Pete look bad

Yeah, well I think you're really wrong. I've known Dave a very long time. He is not going to pull punches, he's going to read the questions as asked and he is not going to give them to PDA ahead of time. He might not get to all the questions, especially with the vast number of people who want answers, but I think you're being patently unfair.

You might want to wait until you hear the show before you accuse Dave of being a shill for the Kings.

EDIT: Of course, if PDA checks our board and the other fan forums he'll know what the questions will be chosen from. Oh noes...

 

[SacTownKid]

After spending a lot of time reading the questions, sorting them, eliminating duplications, etc. I came up with the following 10 questions that are both diverse and relevant to lots of Kings fans. I didn't pick any from either of our representatives as they will be there to ask them themselves. I also didn't pick more than one question from any one person.

It's probably not a prefect list, but I think it's a fair representation.

Spike - Fans are clearly upset. The team, by any measure, has clearly regressed. What can you do this season to assure them that you're working towards a winning product?

You can be assured there is no harder working staff than what we've put together over the last 18 months. We have an ownership group who will do anything and everything to win. When you have that there is no place to go but up.

miltonap - You said that even if Coach Malone went 16-9, he would've been fired because his coaching style didn't fit your guys' vision of Kings basketball. Why is style being put on such a high pedestal as opposed to winning ball games? What specific factors are guiding this decision?

We think both go hand in hand. We want to instill an identity that is both entertaining and gives us the best chance to win ball games on a nightly basis because our data shows that's what fans want. This team is just so chalk full of talent that for it not to be able to provide both of those things simply wouldn't represent our vision of what we've dubbed NBA 3.0. You know what I mean? I think the first half of this season allowed us to show the basketball world what this team is capable of in certain aspects of the game, now it's time to take it to the next level. You know? Fill in the pages that are still blank.

Krunker - The Reno Bighorn's style of play is fast-paced and focuses on offense over defense. Do you see the Kings playing a similar style someday? If not, how does the Bighorn's style translate to training players to compete in the NBA?
The language of exciting, up tempo basketball is universal. I mean, who doesn't want to watch exciting basketball right? What player doesn't want to play fun, exciting basketball? Right? I mean, just look at those classic Kings teams.

Hadlowe - Immediately after Malone was fired, Coach Karl indicated that he was very interested in coaching the Kings. A lot of Kings fans were confused by the firing of Malone, but it made sense if it was done to bring in one of the winningest coaches in NBA history. Was Karl ever in consideration for the job? If not, why not?

Sorry, I have to take this call. Yes Mr. Mullin?

(After the commercial break)

I'm sorry, what was that again? Well first off, let me say that anything you could even dream up we've already thought about, dissected, thought about it again, analyzed, over analyzed.... I mean look at these bags under my eyes, I've slept a total of 17 hours in the last two weeks crunching all the data. We just feel that coach Corbin has earned a chance to coach this team. He's an experienced coach who knows these players, knows the game. Right now we just want to see what he can bring to the table and so far things are looking great, we're scoring like 5 to 6 more points per game in our last 7 games or so? That's a major improvement already with only more to come in time.

andjel - it has been 3 weeks since firing of the coach that sent lot of negative things in motion. Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

I'm not one to really look at the past with regret. It's about what we can do to improve our situation for the future. I mean, you know? Everything we've done is because we believe it's the right move for our team, our players, and most importantly our fans.

rainmaker - Pete, why did you willingly throw away this season in a city starved for winning basketball, simply to chase a style which doesn't fit our top two players, doesn't play to our strengths and has clearly made us less competitive, without even having a coach lined up as a replacement who employs that style?

Change is the M.O. of our league, you either go with the flow or get swallowed by the wave. NBA 3.0 is about so much more than one game, or a stretch of games. We're in it for the long haul, you know what I mean? The best is yet to come, trust me on that. Nobody said any of what we've done could happen in Sacramento. We have an ownership who is willing to go all in to make it happen. We've got a new building on the way. We've put together a young exciting team with a tremendous future in front of them.

One and Done - What is your realistic timeframe to reach the playoffs?

We don't really look at it in a specific time frame. We think this team is going to surprise some people moving forward and sooner than later.

Prog - Can you explain why Cousins viral meningitis and Casspi's knee contusion took so long to communicate clearly? Why keep injury reports vague?
Sometimes with injuries you can't really predict the path of their progression kind of? Also, maybe sometimes information is a little more sensitive than at other times. You have to just kind of adapt to the individual circumstance.

Livinthedream - What qualities are you looking for in a coach that the previous coach/staff did not possess that will take the team to the next level that you spoke of.

Right now we're really focused on what our current staff can bring to the table and so far, as evidenced by the offensive improvements we think we're on the right track.

HndsmCelt - What is the measure for success or failure for the new direction the Kings are going? How and when will YOU know it is working or failing?

As I said earlier, I guess we want to implement a style of basketball that is both exciting and performs at a high level. As long as both of those things are occurring simultaneously we'll know we're on the right track.

My best Pete D'alessandro. And that's how you dodge every single one of those. haha.

 

[VF21]

You do realize that if any of those hits too close to home I can absolutely beyond any doubt guarantee that at least two people here will accuse you of being PDA, right?

 

[KingsFanGER]

I'm fine with those questions, but I personally would like it, if PDA would explain, what all those fragmented terms of NBA 3.0, uptempo, exciting playstyle actually mean, cause right now, there is a lot of hyperbole going on here and throughout the league, where everyone is mocking the 4vs5 idea.
I guess PDA wanted to perform the same changes to the Kings offense, that the Grizzlies applied, when they hired Joerger over Hollins (and we are talking about the right vision but poor execution in this case). But some posters here assume, that he wants to emulate the Denver Nuggets or the Warriors, which wouldn't benefit our roster at all.
The Corbin quotations in the Jones article indicate, that I may be on the right track and it's not about altering our playstyle excessively, but I would like to have this clarified by PDA.

 

[Jojimbo]

Thats a solid list of questions. I'm still not confident we'll get anything of substance out of PDA tomorrow though. Especially with the PR push news I'm expecting a lot of canned answers and Pete asking for more of our trust. That said, I'll be tuning in to see how it goes.

 

[Chicken Chaser]

Are we going to hear a grown man cry Monday morning? I would not want to be in his shoes right now.

 

[Albatros]

I'm actually scared to listen, this will all end in tears.

 

[Rockmeister]

Great job VF21 on doing this.

 

[Singhisking]

You know what? I have very good idea how he is going to respond to each and every question. Stay politically correct, diplomatic and SELL the hope

 

[theclash4u5]

Great list, but I still wish you would have included someone asking about why our franchise center has to find out about his Kings news through social media instead of directly from him (PDA) or the front office.

 

[funkykingston]

My best Pete D'alessandro. And that's how you dodge every single one of those. haha.

This is pretty much exactly what I expect on Monday.

Appearing on Carmichael Dave's show is about damage control and spin, not about real answers. Although I suppose if that's the case and my one question (because that's all I'll expect we'll get - IF we all even get a question) is later in the hour I don't think it will be a very nice one.

 

[VF21]

Great list, but I still wish you would have included someone asking about why our franchise center has to find out about his Kings news through social media instead of directly from him (PDA) or the front office.

There were a couple of questions it was tough to cut but I was limited to 10.

 

[N0tmyfault]

I wish the submitted questions were weighed more heavily on the amount of 'likes' it received. There are a few questions that were in the top 8 amount in received 'likes' that were not covered in the submitted questions. Perhaps the questions were too hard-nosed?

 

[Bricklayer]

The key is the single question format, you have to counter that with framing, you can't set him up with one question, then follow (although if you are alert you might be able to follow up another person's question with your own), so you have to partially answer your own question and force him to operate within a box that might get him off message and into some truth.

How to frame a furry critter:

1) Framing:
"On November 25 the Kings were 9-5, had beaten some of the best teams in the league, while playing the toughest schedule in the league, Boogie was being mentioned as a darkhorse MVP candidate, Collison was impressing, Ben was emerging...and yet by your own admission you were already looking to replace Coach Malone. What more could you possibly have wanted? Who wasn't thriving who should have been?"

2) Hard jab that might ruffle him and get him off message:
"In the past 35 years the Golden State Warriors have made the playoffs a total of 8 times, and never advanced past the second round even once. Why on earth would you model yourself after that franchise of all franchises?"

3) Snark
"At what point during Tyrone Corbin's 29win campaign in Utah last year that ended with his dismissal did you think, this is our guy? Or was it not until you saw him coach in summer league?"

4) Sense of history, with a jab that might get him riffing:
"Over the past 8 seasons the Kings have been dead last, 30th out of 30 NBA teams, in Defensive Rating. Not coincidentally we have also missed the playoffs for 8 straight seasons. How could you or Vivek possibly think we wanted to see yet more of that nonsense?"

5) Pin him with Vivek's words, see if a rift emerges:
"Vivek has stated about the firing that he thought we were going to miss the playoffs by only one or two games, and that Ty Corbin was going to lead us to the playoffs. That hasn't happened. On the day you fired Michael Malone, what were YOUR expectations for how the rest of the season would go?"

6) Spin a talking point back against him, with some facts:
"In the year and a half since you took over as GM, the Kings have managed to only win TWO games without DeMarcus Cousins. Their record is 2-20, and the two wins weren't impressive. Other teams survive without their stars. The Clippers survived without Chris Paul, the Thunder survived without Westbrook, Houston survived without Dwight. What does that say about our roster construction?

-- careful on the last one, as a clever gerbil could spin that into a riff on how necessary it is to run and play jazz so you don;t depend on the big guy

7) playstyle
"You have the league's most dominant post player, your #2 weapon is also a post player, so is your best bench scorer (Landry), who looks at that and thinks run n gun?"

8) Direct attack, and limit his escape routes:
"Did you underestimate Michael Malone's importance to this team's spirit? If not, why on earth would you do what you did?"

9) Make him squirm:
"Do you think its more important for a GM to have chemistry with his coach, or for the players to have chemistry with their coach?"

10) Make him squirm Boogie style:
"If your franchise player likes his coach and is thriving, shouldn't he have a major say in whether that coach is retained or not?"

11) Give him room to roam:
" In just who's best interest was this firing?"

more later..


General rules:
1) frame the questions with preambles, don't let him make up his own facts
2) where possible pin him with his or Vivek's statements, use those as anvils to prevent him from changing his tune as necessary
3) make him conscious of audience. Ask questions that make him aware that Vivek or Boogie might be listening, and keep him from shifting the argument.

 

[John Galt]

The key is the single question format, you have to counter that with framing, you can't set him up with one question, then follow (although if you are alert you might be able to follow up another person's question with your own), so you have to partially answer your own question and force him to operate within a box that might get him off message and into some truth.

How to frame a furry critter:

1) Framing:
"On November 25 the Kings were 9-5, had beaten some of the best teams in the league, while playing the toughest schedule in the league, Boogie was being mentioned as a darkhorse MVP candidate, Collison was impressing, Ben was emerging...and yet by your own admission you were already looking to replace Coach Malone. What more could you possibly have wanted? Who wasn't thriving who should have been?"

2) Hard jab that might ruffle him and get him off message:
"In the past 35 years the Golden State Warriors have made the playoffs a total of 8 times, and never advanced past the second round even once. Why on earth would you model yourself after that franchise of all franchises?"

3) Snark
"At what point during Tyrone Corbin's 29win campaign in Utah last year that ended with his dismissal did you think, this is our guy? Or was it not until you saw him coach in summer league?"

4) Sense of history, with a jab that might get him riffing:
"Over the past 8 seasons the Kings have been dead last, 30th out of 30 NBA teams, in Defensive Rating. Not coincidentally we have also missed the playoffs for 8 straight seasons. How could you or Vivek possibly think we wanted to see yet more of that nonsense?"

5) Pin him with Vivek's words, see if a rift emerges:
"Vivek has stated about the firing that he thought we were going to miss the playoffs by only one or two games, and that Ty Corbin was going to lead us to the playoffs. That hasn't happened. On the day you fired Michael Malone, what were YOUR expectations for how the rest of the season would go?"

6) Spin a talking point back against him, with some facts:
"In the year and a half since you took over as GM, the Kings have managed to only win TWO games without DeMarcus Cousins. Their record is 2-20, and the two wins weren't impressive. Other teams survive without their stars. The Clippers survived without Chris Paul, the Thunder survived without Westbrook, Houston survived without Dwight. What does that say about our roster construction?

-- careful on the last one, as a clever gerbil could spin that into a riff on how necessary it is to run and play jazz so you don;t depend on the big guy

7) playstyle
"You have the league's most dominant post player, your #2 weapon is also a post player, so is your best bench scorer (Landry), who looks at that and thinks run n gun?"

8) Direct attack, and limit his escape routes:
"Did you underestimate Michael Malone's importance to this team's spirit? If not, why on earth would you do what you did?"

9) Make him squirm:
"Do you think its more important for a GM to have chemistry with his coach, or for the players to have chemistry with their coach?"

10) Make him squirm Boogie style:
"If your franchise player likes his coach and is thriving, shouldn't he have a major say in whether that coach is retained or not?"

11) Give him room to roam:
" In just who's best interest was this firing?"

more later..


General rules:
1) frame the questions with preambles, don't let him make up his own facts
2) where possible pin him with his or Vivek's statements, use those as anvils to prevent him from changing his tune as necessary
3) make him conscious of audience. Ask questions that make him aware that Vivek or Boogie might be listening, and keep him from shifting the argument.

I'll pitch in for air fare to have you come do this Brick!! Who's with me?

 

[Bricklayer]

12) Direct snark, but see if he owns it:
"Do you think that this team would have started out the season 9-5 under Ty Corbin?"

13) You could have fired Malone after the season. So why midseason --either you felt you were going to do better, or you wanted to tank. Which was it?

14) reckless accusations looking for a sputter:
"Boogie, Rudy, Collison, Ben were all thriving in the early season. So whom did you fire Malone over? DWill? Ray? Nik?"

15) make him double down
"So seeing how everything has played out, if you could go back and do it over again, would you still fire Michael Malone?"

16) make him lie or run
"Looking at the response around the league, do you think this move has hurt this franchise's image?"

 

[Bricklayer]

17) Attack the buzzword:
"We keep hearing about NBA 3.0. NBA 3.0. And all it looks like is a bunch of clueless running and lousy defense. Is NBA 3.0 anything more than bad basketball?"

18) Take it to the extreme:
"If Pat Riley or Jeff Van Gundy had been coaching this team, walking the ball up, pounding it into Boogie, preaching defense, would you have fired them too?"

19) Again, pin him with his audience:
"Did you have any plan who was going to replace Michael Malone when you fired him? Was the grand plan all along Ty Corbin?"

20) Direct, pin with words:
"You've said that you would have fired Malone even if the team had been 16-9. Since when is front office ideology more important than winning in the NBA?"

 

[VF21]

I wish the submitted questions were weighed more heavily on the amount of 'likes' it received. There are a few questions that were in the top 8 amount in received 'likes' that were not covered in the submitted questions. Perhaps the questions were too hard-nosed?

In a couple of cases I skipped over the obvious questions, since I'm willing to bet they'll be asked by people calling in. I thought some of the questions were unique and really wanted to give them a chance to be answered.

 

[Prog]

18) Take it to the extreme:
"If Pat Riley or Jeff Van Gundy had been coaching this team, walking the ball up, pounding it into Boogie, preaching defense, would you have fired them too?"

19) Again, pin him with his audience:
"Did you have any plan who was going to replace Michael Malone when you fired him? Was the grand plan all along Ty Corbin?"

I really hope these questions get asked. I would gladly waive my Boogie-Casspi injury communication question for either of these two.

 

[macadocious]

Ok just send bricks list...

 

[VF21]

The questions have already been sent in.