VLADE GONE

Status
Not open for further replies.
I mean, isn’t this largely what the Sixers did (even before Elton Brand went crazy and signed Horford to a max deal)?
Yup! Horrible move on their part. I never liked that for Philly

Losing Jimmy Butler and basically replacing him with a big that doesn’t really do anything better than Embid (outside of maybe blocking shots) was a disastrous decision IMO. Especially when you consider how much he was paid. Yikes.
 
Well...

1) Vlade was never technically a full member of my list. Although he could have been on an addendum, and certainly earned the spot by mishandling the two greatest bird-in-the-hand talents of his era, and somehow ending up with neither of them. Not to mention continuing the ridiculous worst in the league Kings coaching carousel.

2) the toxic media has largely been purged. That's a flat yay, and Grant being drug out into the light by Boogie remains one of the few lol highlights of this most ridiculously bad of years. Given some time to bleed out, it may even drain some of the toxicity from the fanbase and restore lovable loserdom to the franchise.

3) A GM with a plan might even open a future. But with the remaining list members still holding ultimate authority in the kIngs hierarchy, the chances are dim. You figure Vivek can't possibly be as big of a dumbass as he was when he bought the team. Maybe. But every failure is an invitation to meddle. And the heir apparent, while I would be intrigued, is the guy who drafted Darko over DWade, Melo and Bosh.

4) Unfortunately I do not like the NBA's current product to such a degree I now actively encourage people not to watch it and have been engaging, pre-COVID, with Mark Cuban to try to convince him to table a motion to fix the damn rules and restore basketball rather than trashball. The COVID catastrophe has cost them billions and might shake the tree, but then again maybe it will allow them to defer the concerns about plummeting TV ratings and just blame all the problems on the disease. Or worse yet, Adam Silver can continue his fatuous beta-boying fawning over Euroball and actually pervert the league even further. And Vivek would be just the guy to hire Daryl Morey and Alvin Gentry this offseason and turn the franchise into everything that is wrong with the league.

5) Ironically, after 35 years of futility, the Kings team that the current squad reminds me most of is the one that first arrived in Sacramento. Opportunity after opportunity to acquire or retain superstars have been blown, and instead you have a high scoring defense free group of soft perimeter players peaking just at the fringes of All Stardom (Theus, EJ, Woodson etc.). You have a disappointing young big with some star but no superstar potential (Thorpe in this comparison, although at the moment Bagley could end up being Pervis). A nice flavorless placeholder coach. A big all offense PG (Theus). and the ability to win in the mid to upper 30s, sneak into a playoffs maybe (and avoid the all time futility record) and get bounced. It's almost come full circle for the franchise, with a giant jelly filled doughnut of a Sacto tenure. 8 glory years at its heart, same ole everywhere else.

There is more potential for health than there has been in a long time, but the top decisionmakers who helped create and nurture the sickness are still there to do it again. There is a breathing moment here worth paying attention to, but the Kings are just as likely to draft Joe Kleine and hire Shaq to be the new coach as they are to get it right.


P.S. Longstanding note for the next GM, and Vivek's brain: During the Rick Adelman era the Kings DRTGs were 103.1, 102.1, 99.6, 101.1, 99.1, 104.9, 108.2, 105.0 and they made the playoffs all 8 years. In the other 27 Kings seasons, they have only been under 108.0 ONE (1) time. And they made two playoffs as 8th seeds in all those years. Best argument for Dumars might be at least he understands that defense matter.s
Brick?! Omg *wipes eyes*

ok ok I’m gonna read ur post now
 
The thing about Hinkie is he played his chair like it was freaking 2K. Acquiring and hording assets that either went unused or had a slim rate of success for that franchise in the end. Now, who knows what his end game was but like Ainge in his last go around, they started to fall in love with those assets rather than selling high at the right time. A ton of picks are only good as assets as they are in relation to when you use them. It's like Vlade hording 2nd rounders. Toilet paper in the end.

As for Morey. I'm not a fan of his all or nothing approach to interior-exterior basketball but at the very least, that's the way the game is played. Also happens to be the kind of team they have. If D'Antoni came along with him then guess what? I'd pretty much expect it's as likely as ever that the playoff drought ends next year. Fox's life becomes total pie, Buddy becomes an all star, Harrison is revealed for the glue value he brings, and Marvin starts to close the gap on 'ol Luka if he stays healthy. Is it championship ball? Eh, who knows. I will say you have a chance. Just like the shot you don't take has 0% chance of going in, looking on from outside the playoff bubble gives you 0% chance of winning a ring. Those are facts.
I don’t argue that’s the type of team they have. I’m simply saying I don’t like watching that type of basketball. Period. So it should go without saying that I would be against hiring a GM that wants to assemble a team like that. Or play like that.

As for the way the game is played, really only the Warriors have been overly successful with it. And they are an anomaly that has two of the best shooters (three when KD was there) and also played top level defense.

When the Warriors did it, they were bucking the big man trend because they couldn’t match. And they happened to benefit from fortuitous timing when some HOF bigs were exiting or had recently exited the league with nobody close to them to replace.

But that doesn’t mean someone can’t buck the current trend by playing a skilled big that can dominante smaller players down low to the point of forcing them out of small ball.

Philly’s clearly got a player in Embiid (when healthy) that can do just that. If they commit to keeping him in the post.

The KINGS could try to build a team around a player like him. Clearly they had that same opportunity with Boogie Cousins but blew it with a myriad of blown draft picks and other player acquisitions. But who is to say it can’t be attempted again?

Like Bricklayer, I prefer to see a GM build a team in a more conventional manner rather than follow suit with the current trend. They can still shoot three’s like they’re doing now, but also punish teams that use 6’5” centers. Basically use a hybrid system.

And I don’t want to see them field g-league lineups for 3 consecutive years or more in an attempt to find capable players. Good GM’s and scouting departments can find players all over the draft and don’t have to reply upon having a top 3 pick for multiple years.

No Hinkie, no Morey! Find me a Sam Presti clone. I’d be far more ok with someone like him. He does things more conventionally while also understanding current day tactics.
 
Morey has traditionally been a star big + star perimeter player guy though, all the way until Dwight Howard crumbled into sand as the league shifted around him. Hell, his first two coaches were Jeff van Gundy and Rick Adelman, who are far from awful defensive coaches and that Yao/T-Mac/RonRon team was well on the way to wining a potential ship as a traditional inside-out defensive grinder before Yao’s body simply gave out on him and T-Mac got old and bad. His moves over the next several years seem to all have been made under the assumption that Yao would eventually have to get healthy at some point as he acquired a bunch of complimentary pieces like Kevin Martin and Shane Battier and kept Rick around to coach the team. When Yao finally retired, his complimentary players were still around and his team probably Didn’t bottom out as quickly as he would have wanted it to in hindsight (which would maybe appeal to some of you anti-tankers out there) but he lucked out and took advantage of OKC’s need to clear up its hierarchy by throwing mediocre picks at them for James Harden, who blossomed into a superstar as the league shifted further and further out to the perimeter.

As Harden continued to develop, however, he recognized that in order to maximize Harden’s skill set, he had to find floor spacers and a coach who could actually use him to win games instead of Kevin McHale, who is Kevin McHale. This naturally came at the expense of defense and big ball.

This year, as Tilman assumed ownership of the Rockets and immediately refused to pay the luxury tax, Morey had to figure out how to maximize his roster’s chances at winning before their window collapsed/Tilman decided to do something really really stupid, which led to him trading his offensively challenged center on a massive contract for a versatile strong stretch-capable floor spacer that wouldn‘t get in Harden’s way on offense. The Westbrook trade was another move on that maximizing the short-term window path.

Hell, I’m not even a huge fan of the guy and think his bromance with Bill Simmons is weird but even I can recognize that he’s a good executive who also approaches basketball from an analytics moneyball mindset that would probably mesh better with Vivek than, say, Vlade’s approach of accidentally tweeting a picture of his draft board and predicted record without a thought.
Agreed that his approach has changed and used to be different. I don’t align with where he is now.

But I disagree that he’s proven to be a good executive. His team has won nothing. Even with supposed super star players and former MVP’s. They should be winning 50+ games with players like that. And guess who drafted those players? Sam Presti!

Anybody could have won games with Yao, who he inherited and didn’t draft.

Take a look at HOU’s draft history since 2007. While it may be better than the KINGS (nearly every team can say that) it’s not exactly impressive either.

The Rockets have been largely built via free agency and trades. Tactics that are much harder to accomplish in SAC.

Not only do I not want to see a Rockets type team built, I don’t believe Morey has proven to be that great in the draft.

Sorry, I’ll just never be convinced of the money ball analytic method. It has some merit, but is replied upon far too heavily and Morey is the poster child of that.
 
I never said that Vlade was a draft god. Vlade is very sub-par at drafting, just like Hinkie's drafting. That is why both are out of a job.

If Hinkie was so great at drafting with all those high picks, he would still be GM in Philly. But his repeated drafting blunders cost him his job.

You make out like Hinkie is Jerry West at talent evaluation and drafting. Hinke is good at tanking and accumulating draft picks, which he blows on players like Jahlil Okafor, Saric, MCW and Nerlens Noel. He got exactly one All-Star in all of those drafts. You mention other players he drafted like Holmes and Grant, but they are playing on other teams, not the 76ers.

Sure, Hinkie is great at tanking and trading away everyone for draft picks, but please don't make out that he built a championship team in Philly through his drafting. He never won $$%t!
Amen.

This is the only post anyone needs to read regarding Sam freaking Hinkie. You clearly get it.

From this point on I’m gonna ignore anybody that seriously considers that dude a competent GM, buys into his ridiculous g-league tanking tactic, or lobbies for him to land the position with the KINGS. I’ve read enough of that nonsesne.
 
I think not selecting Donic is a mistake obviously. I have no doubt Divac regretted it inside but I think that the thing that makes it sad is that Luka is from Europe and Divac being from Europe where everyone thought that he know the talents there better than anyone and therefore would favor in selecting a European prospect more than Americans...but ended up picking Bagley was a surprise. Although he can justify his pick by claiming that that's what the Kings need and that they don't need another ballhandler. So on the one hand, you can't blame or fault the guy because who knew Doncic would turn out to be a superstar? But on the other hand, one can argue that you should pick the best talent on the board regardless of position. For that, i think Divac failed. I really thought he would select Doncic when it's time for the Kings to make a pick.
 
I think not selecting Donic is a mistake obviously. I have no doubt Divac regretted it inside but I think that the thing that makes it sad is that Luka is from Europe and Divac being from Europe where everyone thought that he know the talents there better than anyone and therefore would favor in selecting a European prospect more than Americans...but ended up picking Bagley was a surprise. Although he can justify his pick by claiming that that's what the Kings need and that they don't need another ballhandler. So on the one hand, you can't blame or fault the guy because who knew Doncic would turn out to be a superstar? But on the other hand, one can argue that you should pick the best talent on the board regardless of position. For that, i think Divac failed. I really thought he would select Doncic when it's time for the Kings to make a pick.
I agree with this. For years, this organization has thought they were just one player away from the playoffs. One player to fill a weak spot. First it was a SF. Then SG. Then a PF. The focus should have been on collecting talent, because they have been weak at every position. A lot of really good 2nd team players playing as low level starters.
 
I think not selecting Donic is a mistake obviously. I have no doubt Divac regretted it inside but I think that the thing that makes it sad is that Luka is from Europe and Divac being from Europe where everyone thought that he know the talents there better than anyone and therefore would favor in selecting a European prospect more than Americans...but ended up picking Bagley was a surprise. Although he can justify his pick by claiming that that's what the Kings need and that they don't need another ballhandler. So on the one hand, you can't blame or fault the guy because who knew Doncic would turn out to be a superstar? But on the other hand, one can argue that you should pick the best talent on the board regardless of position. For that, i think Divac failed. I really thought he would select Doncic when it's time for the Kings to make a pick.
Donnie Nelson has a long history of scouting and drafting players from Europe. IMO he is the main guy in Dallas that made the Luka pick happen once Vlade passed on him (Nellie Jr. may have known this in advance) .
 
I think not selecting Donic is a mistake obviously. I have no doubt Divac regretted it inside but I think that the thing that makes it sad is that Luka is from Europe and Divac being from Europe where everyone thought that he know the talents there better than anyone and therefore would favor in selecting a European prospect more than Americans...but ended up picking Bagley was a surprise. Although he can justify his pick by claiming that that's what the Kings need and that they don't need another ballhandler. So on the one hand, you can't blame or fault the guy because who knew Doncic would turn out to be a superstar? But on the other hand, one can argue that you should pick the best talent on the board regardless of position. For that, i think Divac failed. I really thought he would select Doncic when it's time for the Kings to make a pick.
I feel bad that not selecting Doncic will be Vlade's new legacy in Sacramento. All the goodwill he had as a player and as a Sacramento ambassador is still partially there, but this was such a big misfire for all the reasons you stated that it will follow him in any discussion for a long time regarding his time here.
 
I don’t argue that’s the type of team they have. I’m simply saying I don’t like watching that type of basketball. Period. So it should go without saying that I would be against hiring a GM that wants to assemble a team like that. Or play like that.

As for the way the game is played, really only the Warriors have been overly successful with it. And they are an anomaly that has two of the best shooters (three when KD was there) and also played top level defense.

When the Warriors did it, they were bucking the big man trend because they couldn’t match. And they happened to benefit from fortuitous timing when some HOF bigs were exiting or had recently exited the league with nobody close to them to replace.

But that doesn’t mean someone can’t buck the current trend by playing a skilled big that can dominante smaller players down low to the point of forcing them out of small ball.

Philly’s clearly got a player in Embiid (when healthy) that can do just that. If they commit to keeping him in the post.

The KINGS could try to build a team around a player like him. Clearly they had that same opportunity with Boogie Cousins but blew it with a myriad of blown draft picks and other player acquisitions. But who is to say it can’t be attempted again?

Like Bricklayer, I prefer to see a GM build a team in a more conventional manner rather than follow suit with the current trend. They can still shoot three’s like they’re doing now, but also punish teams that use 6’5” centers. Basically use a hybrid system.

And I don’t want to see them field g-league lineups for 3 consecutive years or more in an attempt to find capable players. Good GM’s and scouting departments can find players all over the draft and don’t have to reply upon having a top 3 pick for multiple years.

No Hinkie, no Morey! Find me a Sam Presti clone. I’d be far more ok with someone like him. He does things more conventionally while also understanding current day tactics.

If you are rating success by championship and nothing else maybe, but the league is littered with teams better than the Kings doing just that. Right now the Kings need to look at a) just not sucking and b) just not sucking quick enough to make sure this situation doesn't become as toxic as it's on the cusp of being right now. The answer is to look at what your players are good at and right, wrong, or indifferent it is that. Having to blow up a team including young top draft picks in years 2, 3, and 4 is ridiculous. Even for the Kings franchise. Build a foundation then start tweaking.
 
If you are rating success by championship and nothing else maybe, but the league is littered with teams better than the Kings doing just that. Right now the Kings need to look at a) just not sucking and b) just not sucking quick enough to make sure this situation doesn't become as toxic as it's on the cusp of being right now. The answer is to look at what your players are good at and right, wrong, or indifferent it is that. Having to blow up a team including young top draft picks in years 2, 3, and 4 is ridiculous. Even for the Kings franchise. Build a foundation then start tweaking.
Until Bagley proves himself to be a core piece, we are actually in a really bad position. Look at Memphis, Phoenix, they are younger and probably better. I am pessimistic for this squad to go on. Without assets and picks, no free agents coming, we should look for talents in the draft. I don't think we have other choice.
 
I’m sorry to see Vlade go. I like him, I like the players he’s acquired, I like the players on the team now. I respect the decision he has made to resign. I am confident that they will choose good people to replace him and any others that might be gone. I don’t want the team to be “blown up”. I want the current group of players to form the basis of continuing to build an even better team for the future.

Best of everything for you, Vlade. Good luck,
I like those things too, but I'm tired of being content with just liking those things. I want a winner, not just likeable things. I don't have any faith that they will choose good replacements either. Why would I? What track record does the team have in making good decisions?

I'm frustrated, but that's life as a King's fan. As always, I'll still keep hope.
 
Can't tell if he wants a job or if he's just doing a "I told you so" like DMC did.
I read it more as he’s taking shots. Think its clear as day that Dumars is the new GM/main decision maker. And if the Kings brought on a new person, that dude would be younger than Dumars. Translation, there is no role for Karl to be angling for.

Reading btn the lines:
1. Dude thinks Vlade/Peja/Vivek weren’t focused on winning and there was no accountability. Grant used to say Vlade’s outside interests were varied and huge. There were also plenty stories of Vlade being MIA—preferring to have a COO run the Kings while he acted as a CEO for the big decisions. Plus the Boogie behavioral issues n the Kings refusing to allow Karl to trade him.

2. Karl obviously has axes to grind. N feels that Vlade/Peja were in over their heads—hence the indirect, but overt celebrations.
 
Last edited:
Furthermore, I think a lot of folks forget how angry Philly fans were when Hinkie started fielding non-competitive D-League teams. And not just for one season.
I think a lot of folks in philly are happy now to have a seriously competitive team. Also a lot of folks in Sacramento are pretty unhappy to be out of playoffs for 14 years

And tanking guarantees NOTHING!

First, you have to be fortunate enough to actually win the lottery. Or likely place top 2 or 3.
Then you have to be fortunate enough to land that pick in a worthwhile draft, which doesn’t always happen.
Tanking guarantees nothing but it gives you the best odds to land a star level player. Odds say its significantly more likely to draft a star with a top 3 pick compared to lets say 8th pick. In order to draft top 3 you should enter the lottery as a bottom 3 team. Its just math and nothing more complicated.

Hinkie got lucky with a couple high picks. But it easily might have turned out as it did for our KINGS in 2009, when they finished with the very worst record yet only landed #4.
It could've but when you give yourself the best possible odds for three years you usually get better results even if one year you happen to be unlucky

Vlade gets trashed on this site for all his gambles, because they didn’t work. And thus he’s labeled incompetent (I’m not suggesting he isn’t). But because a few of Hinkie’s gambles worked out, he’s considered competent.
Vlade gets trashed because he made horrible decisions (for example the philly trade where Hinkie straight up embarrased Vlade) and he had a horrible strategy that didnt work (paying below average vets big money to desperately chase the 8th seed.)

However, had Vlade not overthought things and actually drafted #77 — he’d still have his job. And he’d suddenly be getting a ton of praise. Despite all the other things that didn’t work out. His team would likely be in the postseason and one of the NBA darlings being lauded all around the league. His team would probably be just as good as the team Hinkie built in Philly DESPITE not purposely fielding D-league line ups and tanking for years.
You talk about luck a lot but we had huge luck to even be in a position to draft Luka. It was obvious then that Luka should've been the pick. If someone was stupid enough to think Bagley was the right pick over him, they shouldnt get paid to evaluate talent in this league. But basing your strategy to getting extremely lucky in a lottery when there is a generational talent available is not a viable startegy to me. If you want those type of players you need to give yourself the best possible odds for several drafts to get one.

If Hinkie comes to SAC and pulls the same BS here and the draft position and talent in those drafts don’t line up well for them, then what? And that tactic is even less likely than before to workout since they’ve changed lottery odds.

Again, what has Hinkie ever done besides tank and bank on getting lucky a couple
If Hinkie does here what he did in Philly, we'll have extremely flexible cap situation that will allow us to get additional future assets and gives us a huge opportunity to sign good players once we are good enough to compete. We will find good players on team friendly contracts that are very valuable on the court and in trades. We would also have a lot added draft capital to keep improving the team even when the cap space is getting smaller. The idea isnt only just to lose games. Its about gathering future assets, remaining flexible and making sure you are competitive in the future.

I said it in here three years a go, our strategy to pay for vets and not getting any additional future picks was extremely stupid. Hinkie executed his strategy for three years, how is Philly now even when other GM's did horrible job after him? How good are we now after three years? Just as bad as we've always been and we have zero cap flexibility and zero additional future 1st round picks. I said that our strategy was short sighted. It might be funnier for an impatient fan to win 30 games vs winning 20 games for couple of years but in the long run there is no question which strategy is smarter.

But according to the ‘experts’ here, Hinkie and Morey are the types of guys we should be looking at. SMH.

Yeah, those guys sure understand the concept of defensive!

Let’s hire the guy that traded away his center to play a 6’5” PJ Tucker in his spot. Or the guy that fields G-League lineups so he can then play a game of craps!

But they had ‘plans’ so it’s all so genius.

Good, great, wonderful, grand! Sign me up!
Morey evaluated talent well by for example recognizing Hardens ability and thus getting a franchise player. He studied statistics and found a new way to gain a competitive edge. Ever since that Rockets have been serious contenders. I would be extremely happy if our GM did that type of stuff.

Also I'm not sure what your point is about defense but Hinkie drafted Embiid and hes a top 3 defender in this league and found Covington who is/was one of the best 3D wings in the league.
 
Last edited:
OK, first coaching domino and better option has fallen. Gentry is out. If anyone in this organization has an ounce of sense he's at the top of the list currently. This is one of the coaches that runs a system close to what Vivek supposedly wants from his team. He took a Pels team from 27th in pace the year before he came in all the way up to 9th the next year and peaked it all the way to 1st, 3rd, and 2nd the last 3 years. Thank Luke for the work and start building your list Joe and Vivek.
No please no. Gentry is possibly one of the only coaches who might be worse than Luke.
 
I think a lot of folks in philly are happy now to have a seriously competitive team. Also a lot of folks in Sacramento are pretty unhappy to be out of playoffs for 14 years



Tanking guarantees nothing but it gives you the best odds to land a star level player. Odds say its significantly more likely to draft a star with a top 3 pick compared to lets say 8th pick. In order to draft top 3 you should enter the lottery as a bottom 3 team. Its just math and nothing more complicated.



It could've but when you give yourself the best possible odds for three years you usually get better results even if one year you happen to be unlucky



Vlade gets trashed because he made horrible decisions (for example the philly trade where Hinkie straight up embarrased Vlade) and he had a horrible strategy that didnt work (paying below average vets big money to desperately chase the 8th seed.)



You talk about luck a lot but we had huge luck to even be in a position to draft Luka. It was obvious then that Luka should've been the pick. If someone was stupid enough to think Bagley was the right pick over him, they shouldnt get paid to evaluate talent in this league. But basing your strategy to getting extremely lucky in a lottery when there is a generational talent available is not a viable startegy to me. If you want those type of players you need to give yourself the best possible odds for several drafts to get one.



If Hinkie does here what he did in Philly, we'll have extremely flexible cap situation that will allow us to get additional future assets and gives us a huge opportunity to sign good players once we are good enough to compete. We will find good players on team friendly contracts that are very valuable on the court and in trades. We would also have a lot added draft capital to keep improving the team even when the cap space is getting smaller. The idea isnt only just to lose games. Its about gathering future assets, remaining flexible and making sure you are competitive in the future.

I said it in here three years a go, our strategy to pay for vets and not getting any additional future picks was extremely stupid. Hinkie executed his strategy for three years, how is Philly now even when other GM's did horrible job after him? How good are we now after three years? Just as bad as we've always been and we have zero cap flexibility and zero additional future 1st round picks. I said that our strategy was short sighted. It might be funnier for an impatient fan to win 30 games vs winning 20 games for couple of years but in the long run there is no question which strategy is smarter.



Morey evaluated talent well by for example recognizing Hardens ability and thus getting a franchise player. He studied statistics and found a new way to gain a competitive edge. Ever since that Rockets have been serious contenders. I would be extremely happy if our GM did that type of stuff.

Also I'm not sure what your point is about defense but Hinkie drafted Embiid and hes a top 3 defender in this league and found Covington who is/was one of the best 3D wings in the league.
The fact that Vlade netted zero extra first round pick in 3 years is mind boggling. Memphis and Oklahoma show how a rebuilding job should be done. You don't use cap for useless free agents. You take advantage of a time that you don't need to chase for results to get more assets. Then when you want to hit a home run, you have the bullets.
 
Last edited:

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
You talk about luck a lot but we had huge luck to even be in a position to draft Luka. It was obvious then that Luka should've been the pick.
In retrospect, yes. And this is coming from someone who wanted the Kings to draft him. But Luka was also such the "consensus pick" that he was immediately traded for the guy selected at #5 and a conditional future pick. If anyone seriously thought he would be THIS good he wouldn't have been passed up by the first two teams (and immediately traded by the third, who selected him). Look, that pick (in retrospect, given the way things stand today) was blown. And it apparently cost Vlade his job.

(Who knows, maybe the Luke coaching selection did as well. I certainly didn't like that hiring process or it's result.)

But let's not go all revisionist history here about the draft.

And this isn't the spot to go into a deep dive about a player who was never on the Kings roster. There is a dedicated thread for that and you know where it is. Bleeding over of that topic into other threads (other than this one to a certain extent for obvious reasons) is going to be parsed quickly as it has been.

Luka isn't here and the guy who didn't select him in the draft isn't either any more. We are going to have to focus on the current team and where to go from here instead of constantly wallowing in the past. We do enough of that crap already with this team. :rolleyes:
 
I think a lot of folks in philly are happy now to have a seriously competitive team. Also a lot of folks in Sacramento are pretty unhappy to be out of playoffs for 14 years



Tanking guarantees nothing but it gives you the best odds to land a star level player. Odds say its significantly more likely to draft a star with a top 3 pick compared to lets say 8th pick. In order to draft top 3 you should enter the lottery as a bottom 3 team. Its just math and nothing more complicated.



It could've but when you give yourself the best possible odds for three years you usually get better results even if one year you happen to be unlucky



Vlade gets trashed because he made horrible decisions (for example the philly trade where Hinkie straight up embarrased Vlade) and he had a horrible strategy that didnt work (paying below average vets big money to desperately chase the 8th seed.)



You talk about luck a lot but we had huge luck to even be in a position to draft Luka. It was obvious then that Luka should've been the pick. If someone was stupid enough to think Bagley was the right pick over him, they shouldnt get paid to evaluate talent in this league. But basing your strategy to getting extremely lucky in a lottery when there is a generational talent available is not a viable startegy to me. If you want those type of players you need to give yourself the best possible odds for several drafts to get one.



If Hinkie does here what he did in Philly, we'll have extremely flexible cap situation that will allow us to get additional future assets and gives us a huge opportunity to sign good players once we are good enough to compete. We will find good players on team friendly contracts that are very valuable on the court and in trades. We would also have a lot added draft capital to keep improving the team even when the cap space is getting smaller. The idea isnt only just to lose games. Its about gathering future assets, remaining flexible and making sure you are competitive in the future.

I said it in here three years a go, our strategy to pay for vets and not getting any additional future picks was extremely stupid. Hinkie executed his strategy for three years, how is Philly now even when other GM's did horrible job after him? How good are we now after three years? Just as bad as we've always been and we have zero cap flexibility and zero additional future 1st round picks. I said that our strategy was short sighted. It might be funnier for an impatient fan to win 30 games vs winning 20 games for couple of years but in the long run there is no question which strategy is smarter.



Morey evaluated talent well by for example recognizing Hardens ability and thus getting a franchise player. He studied statistics and found a new way to gain a competitive edge. Ever since that Rockets have been serious contenders. I would be extremely happy if our GM did that type of stuff.

Also I'm not sure what your point is about defense but Hinkie drafted Embiid and hes a top 3 defender in this league and found Covington who is/was one of the best 3D wings in the league.
Basically Hinkie/Morey built contending teams even though Morey was hamstrung by ownership and Hinkie was thrown out 3 years into his 5 year plan. But ya let’s not want two guys that have build contenders for some odd reason
 
Status
Not open for further replies.