Bosnian Diehard
Starter
Peerhaps they just wanna sell some BS for now and not reveal their plan. Telling the public that you are tanking isn't such a good idea.
Peerhaps they just wanna sell some BS for now and not reveal their plan. Telling the public that you are tanking isn't such a good idea.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
I can't imagine it could be much worse than telling your fanbase that you're aiming for the playoffs before the season even begins, getting off to a great start (all things considered), promptly firing your coach and holding a series of bizarre press events in which you claim that you "want a jazz conductor", that Tyrone Corbin will be more successful than Mike Malone, and that style trumps wins and losses, then, when the whole scenario predictably bottoms out, you go absolutely silent save for one incredibly awkward radio interview in which your GM implores the fanbase to "trust him" because he "knows what he's doing". Oh, and you keep leaking really stupid rumors to the press to make yourself look better.
I can't imagine publicly admitting your plan to tank would be any worse.
Bosnian Diehard
Starter
The thing is the credibility (if they had any left) would be completely diminished and we'd become even more of a laughing stock.
Despite the firing, and subsequent slide, teams were caught off guard early by the Kings. They weren't that good (and the FO knew it) and they aren't this bad. You don't blow up a promising team: you cut off it's head and let the team run crazy for awhile. Then you add another important draft pick and get your guy who you want at the helm.
Big Cuz 15
All-Star
he's a new member. cut him some slack. we all need to listen to him and preach some patience guys.
Big Cuz 15
All-Star
Actually his account is a year older than mine, I'm not saying we don't nead to be patient- I just say there is no reason to believe what he is saying is the FO plan- it's based on nothing and contradicts everything we see coming from management.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Nice theory except his account predates Pace's (the person's been a member since 2013). People can have contrary opinions without being the same sad crazy person sitting behind a desk at the Tibco offices.
Let's try to keep things civil until the situation warrants otherwise.
whozit
Starter
Good. They beat some of the best teams in the league who should have known better. This is also a blatant attempt to re-write history and make excuses for something good that happened. I guess it was bad that the fans got their hopes up just to have management to cut the legs out from underneath them. Well done.
No, I don't think they were nearly as good as the early record but management DID make them this bad. I pegged them to around a .500 team which would be a huge improvement. Now, the team and the fans are just bleeped.
But you did. Intentionally or not. You cut off the head of your enemy (metaphorically, not endorsing what some in other parts are doing literally) not your own head.
You had last summer to do that but didn't. Cowards. We've had "important" draft picks one after the other and .......................................................
Chubbs
Starter
Telling them you fired a coach so that Corbin can take you to the playoffs while actually tanking isn't such a great idea either.
That arena is going to be mighty empty by the end of this year. They'll have to make a splashy hire. And I expect that they will.
It's PDA's last chance. He hasn't found the right coach nor the right talent. And we are close to year 3. How much longer does he get? Progress has to be made next season or they have a serious problem selling season tickets to the new arena.
There seems to be this 5 year cycle for gms where owners let them accomplish nothing years 1-3. Phil Jackson is on that plan right now, making huge money while overseeing the worst knicks team ever. It's a scam. PDA knows he doesn't need to win now. He also knows when he is inevitably fired there will be another sucker owner willing to listen. Then he starts the cycle over. The shipping out of all the old talent, firing a coach or two, all while avoiding blame.
PDA's entire career is based on talking a good game, and throwing others under the bus when needed while sucking up to whoever is in charge. You can make a lot of money that way and actually accomplish nothing. Just preach patience, say you know what you're doing, and collect those checks. By the time it's clear he doesn't know what he's doing, he'll be gone. Onto the next job.
The Kings are throwing away a season to get a draft pick PDA won't be around long enough to see develop. But what does he care?
Our GM is about to go through years 1 and 2 with no improvement in the win column, and a very real possibility the team actually regresses this season, which considering the all time great season demarcus is in the midst of is truly tragic. And hard to do really. But if you wrote a script on how to torpedo a season, you'd start with firing the popular surprisingly successful coach, wouldn't you?
I can understand clinging to this type of hope. Because it would imply that we have a front office that is competent and operating with a plan vs one that is incompetent and is failing to produce the results they expected.
But there are several flaws with this line of thinking.
(1) D'Alessandro thinks he put together a very talented team. The one thing I took away from that morning at KHTK talking to D'Alessandro before the event and listening to his answers both on and off air is that he absolutely thinks he has a more competitive roster than the fans or NBA analysts do. There was some smoke blowing to be sure, but overall he really felt the team was under performing under Malone.
(2) The Kings could have openly tanked. No one would have blamed them for tearing the team apart and accumulating cap room and draft picks. Philly fans may be getting frustrated wondering how many years they are going to tank but they get it. So do Celtics fans who watched Ainge do this once before. I was almost shocked the Kings didn't try to completely rebuild with a goal of turning it around when the new arena opened. Instead they've been trying to retool on the fly and win right away. Why else would you have an owner openly telling fans that last season wasn't about wins and losses but this season would be? Or that he expected the team to win more games under Corbin and make the playoffs? That's not just normal owner marketing. Because Vivek could have talked about going a different direction and having patience etc etc. Clearly he believed that Malone was actually holding the team back. And my hunch is that it's because D'Alessandro convinced him of that fact.
(3) There isn't really a high draft pick on the line. It took Detroit's resurrection, Charlotte going 8-2 over their last 10 and the Kings losing six straight just to get to the 9th worst record in the NBA. The Kings are still a mini run away from being the 11th worst team in the league and losing their pick to Chicago. And even if they keep it, they'll still likely be in the 7-10 range which is important because
(4) D'Alessandro has yet to prove that he's got a good eye for talent in the draft. Ben has come around but was awful last year and pretty much fell in the Kings lap anyway. Stauskas? He was only a need pick if they thought their lottery pick from the previous year was a bust candidate and if they thought he was the best player available then Payton, Nurkic, McDaniels, LaVine, Bogdananovic, Napier and even Saric say hi. Saric would have been an ideal "tank" pick, which is exactly why Hinkie drafted him.
(5) There's always a "high" draft pick on the line. You're either in the playoffs or in the lottery. A late lottery pick this year likely won't yield the superstar the Kings need to turn things around. I'd love it if it were the case but if they are in the lottery again this year that will make nine straight years. If that were the way to success the Kings should have found it by now. In the last 8 lotteries the Kings have selected 17 players. Cousins, Thompson, McLemore, McCallum and Stauskas are still on the team. Casspi happens to be back with the Kings. Hawes, Singletary, Ewing, Pendergraph, Evans, Freddette, Honeycutt, Thomas, Johnson, and Robinson are all gone. So are any players we actually got in return when any of those guys left.
(6) Another year with the Chicago obligation hanging over the Kings is another year where they are handcuffed in terms of making trades. I'm never a fan of trading 1st rounders unless you're already a playoff team but it's at least a tool to have in your arsenal. The Kings have been mentioned as trying to butt into pretty much every major deal in the NBA over the last few years and haven't pulled off a single one. One large reason why is that they can't offer 1st round draft picks and other teams can. And before anyone mentions Rudy Gay, remember that that wasn't a bidding war. NO other teams were willing to take on his enormous contract given his offensive inefficiency in Toronto. That was a different type of trade.
(7) Lastly and most importantly, you run the risk of alienating the one guy you claim to be building around. This is DeMarcus Cousins' fifth season and despite how good he's become as a player he has yet to make an all-star game, an All-NBA team or play a single playoff game. How much tanking before he decides he's wasting his career in Sacramento?
The Kings have slipped down to 9th worst in the league in terms of winning percentage. They are actually 8th in terms of losses since Boston has played two fewer games.
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