Vlade's grade as GM thus far...

[Gguod]

We are in an awesome position at the moment. We have tons of young talent: Fox, Mason, Hield, Malachi, Bogdan, JJ, Skal, WCS and Papa G. And we have the most cap space in the whole league. For that Vlade deserves big credit.

That sixers trade was a huge mistake and thats the reason Vlade gets B or B- from me. If he ruins this franchise by signin win now vets, I'll give him D- and demand his resignation. If he manages to get top 3 pick next year and bunch of playing time for our young core it will bump to B+ or A-

 

[bajaden]

He's made some F'd up trades, but his drafting is on point and that's what a rebuild is all about.

Speaking of rebuilds.... it sucks that we're going through yet another one, but with a young core of Fox, Buddy, WCS, Skal, Papa, Mali, (hopefully) Bogs.... And we have zero bad contacts + loads of cap space..... Leaves a lot of room for optimism.

I gotta give Vlade a B+. Albeit begrudgingly, because Cuz is my guy and I still think a winner could have been built around him. Post Cuz future looking bright though.

I would argue that this is the first rebuild. Up to now, every year has been, lets see who we can get in freeagency to help us snare the 8th spot in the playoffs. What I heard, especially from Vivek since he took over, was we have to win now. That's not a rebuild mentality. What we've done since the Cousins trade is what a rebuild looks like. As a result, we might be successful this time. At least we look like we finally have a plan.

As far a grade, I'll give him one three years from now. I have no idea how good or bad any of these players will be. Looks good on paper though.

 

[KingsFanGER]

This is only his third off-season and first without cuz. His drafting looks well above average so far and he has us in a good position with an excellent young coach and a roster loaded with seven first rounders from the last two drafts. There's plenty of legitimate reasons to be optimistic if that's your disposition.

Of course there are reasons to be optimistic. Nobody is denying that.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Kinda like the premature accolades of declaring a player a future HOF-er that you shouldn't trade for LBJ when he wasn't even close to winning 30 games for the most part?

Hum....good point.
But let me say this - basketball is a teamsport, where measuring the individual contribution is difficult to say the least. While Vlade has a team around him, he himself has said, that he has the last word on the decisions he made.
Therefore it's a bit easier to measure his individual contribution.
Needless to say, that you mix in some opinions (not trading DMC for Lebron, or the future HOFer thing), that aren't necessarily things I proclaimed over the years.
But good point nontheless.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Isn't that what it is to be a fan? A little madness?
You make a lot of great points. But I can't agree that all that matters is wins and losses. That's just a little too one-dimensional for me. There's plenty of criticism that can be thrown at Vlade, probably some of which he doesn't deserve. But he has done some great things, too. But to give him an A or A+ at this point is pure fandom (or early onset...).

A very balanced opinion. So kudos to you Sir...

 

[hrdboild]

Looking at where we were a year ago and where we are now, it does look like a Cousins trade needed to happen unfortunately and the pieces we ended up with are optimistically pretty good if they pan out like we hope they will. I'm not denying any of that and what this thread does demonstrate is that Vlade has managed to make enough moves to restore hope to an embattled fanbase which is huge! VF21 is a Vlade fan again and order has been restored to the universe. I'm ready to move on from the Philly trade at this point and as it turns out, I actually prefer De'Aaron Fox to Markelle Fultz for our team situation. He probably won't be a better overall player than Fultz but we're a young team in need of leadership and he's probably the best guy in the lottery this year to step in and fill that particular void.

My main point of contention with the "Vlade nailed back to back drafts, he's a genius!" line of thinking is that I don't think it's fair to give Vlade credit for our number getting pulled in the draft lottery for the first time in decades. That was pure luck and we don't come close to De'Aaron Fox without it. If New Orleans clicks and makes the playoffs or their number gets pulled in the lottery instead we get no lottery picks from that trade. What if we'd won the #1 pick with our league-worst record instead of picking 4th in 2009 and Geoff Petrie drafted Blake Griffin or James Harden? What if we'd won 10 more games that season and Steph Curry fell into our laps at #7? There's no better example of the phrase "it's better to be lucky than good" than evaluating professional sports general managers. In the end no one is going to care how many trades Vlade won or lost just how well the team he puts together performs. So in fairness to Vlade, I'll happily give him an A when we win our next playoff series and I hope he survives in the front office long enough to see it happen.

 

[Blob]

He (Fox) probably won't be a better overall player than Fultz....

What?! Blasphemy! Flagged!

Your criticism of Vlade is mostly accurate. I think one thing in retrospect that Vlade needs to be given credit for is having the guts to pull the plug on the Boogie Experience. He tried to make it work for two years. He brought in vets (Rondo, Marco, Barnes, Omri, etc) as supporting cast to make run for playoffs. He replaced his coach. He disciplined and let him slide. He discussed terms and conditions for long term relationship. Given all the time and emotional investment it would be easy to stay the course with a stubborn resolve. It took guts to admit it wasn't working and start over. A lesser GM (or person) would continue the futile effort to try validate past actions and so as not to be faced with second guessing and backlash. He botched the trade execution but it took courage to admit Boogie as cornerstone was going nowhere. It took cojones to face reality and rebuild from weakened trade position. That impulse is paying off. You can say he can say got lucky scoring the #5 with Fox falling to us so beautifully, but you can also say Vlade created his own luck.

 

[VF21]

Isn't that what it is to be a fan? A little madness?
You make a lot of great points. But I can't agree that all that matters is wins and losses. That's just a little too one-dimensional for me. There's plenty of criticism that can be thrown at Vlade, probably some of which he doesn't deserve. But he has done some great things, too. But to give him an A or A+ at this point is pure fandom (or early onset...).

Pure fandom? So be it then. I can only speak for myself, but I am more optimistic about the future of the Kings than I have been in YEARS. I feel good about being a fan again, and I'm looking forward to heading to G1C to enjoy watching the team. And a lot of the credit for that turnaround (speaking for myself) has to do with what Vlade has done.

Was I angry about the DMC trade? Yep. Didn't hide it. Have I gotten over it? Yep. I've come to realize that as much as I liked him, it just was not going to work here. Vlade ddi what he needed to do, and as a result we're looking at a young exciting team with a minimum of drama. That is more exciting than I could have imaged.

So, again...I give Vlade an A. And again, yep it's pure fandom...and I love it.

 

[Suicide King]

I gave Vlade a V for Victory, because if we are being honest, it is years too soon to give an accurate assessment of the job he has done. Leaning one way or the other is natural, but we have a short body of work filled with positives and negatives.

I think the better question is: How do you feel about the current outlook of the Kings as compared to when Vlade was hired to exterminate the snakes in the front office?

For our current future outlook, I give us an A.

 

[VF21]

I gave Vlade a V for Victory, because if we are being honest, it is years too soon to give an accurate assessment of the job he has done. Leaning one way or the other is natural, but we have a short body of work filled with positives and negatives.

I think the better question is: How do you feel about the current outlook of the Kings as compared to when Vlade was hired to exterminate the snakes in the front office?

For our current future outlook, I give us an A.

Well said.

 

[The Hammer]

I know I already graded, but more commentary:

I don't think you can really argue that he gets an A in:

Coach (A+)
Draft
Front office clean up

And those really were our top three needs the past few years. I can forgive some of the other stuff and chalk it up to learning curve. But to nail on those big three and at such a crucial time, that's why he's stuck in the A range for me.

Any one of those get flubbed and our franchise is set back YEARS. A bad trade or bad signing, much easier to recover from.

 

[King Baller]

When you are in a training program or school you get grades along the way. Most jobs have reviews with grades at predetermined intervals. So you go to school, graduate and they say, "sorry no grade for you until we see how this works out." Being graded along the way is pretty normal

Kings have a great Head Coach and staff, Tons of young talented players, no bad contracts and a huge pot of money for player salaries. That folks is what a GM does. Vlade has set the table for the Players and Coaches success. In my book he gets an A for his work at this point

 

[John Galt]

Vlade's critics aren't giving him the credit he deserves for creating a team with ZERO bad contracts. Not a single one. Not one Landry, Kenny Thomas etc...

If the price to get there was 2019 first I'm long since over it. I can't wait till that 2019 draft comes and goes... the pick in question turns out to be nobody of consequence.. and the Vlade detractors can suck it.

Meanwhile I will be enjoying the games. I actually wish I didn't have so many partners for my season tickets right now because I want to go see these guys play night after night after night and get better together.

Vlade has boldly brought us to here and I love it. There are some teams with sweeter roster situations but for just to have BY FAR the youngest team in the league and again... not a single turd on the roster - I am a very very happy Kings fan.

Think we'll win 25 games and I'll enjoy every minute of it. Then we'll set about the next year making damn sure that 2019 first is in the teens.

 

[funkykingston]

Looking at where we were a year ago and where we are now, it does look like a Cousins trade needed to happen unfortunately and the pieces we ended up with are optimistically pretty good if they pan out like we hope they will. I'm not denying any of that and what this thread does demonstrate is that Vlade has managed to make enough moves to restore hope to an embattled fanbase which is huge! VF21 is a Vlade fan again and order has been restored to the universe. I'm ready to move on from the Philly trade at this point and as it turns out, I actually prefer De'Aaron Fox to Markelle Fultz for our team situation. He probably won't be a better overall player than Fultz but we're a young team in need of leadership and he's probably the best guy in the lottery this year to step in and fill that particular void.

My main point of contention with the "Vlade nailed back to back drafts, he's a genius!" line of thinking is that I don't think it's fair to give Vlade credit for our number getting pulled in the draft lottery for the first time in decades. That was pure luck and we don't come close to De'Aaron Fox without it. If New Orleans clicks and makes the playoffs or their number gets pulled in the lottery instead we get no lottery picks from that trade. What if we'd won the #1 pick with our league-worst record instead of picking 4th in 2009 and Geoff Petrie drafted Blake Griffin or James Harden? What if we'd won 10 more games that season and Steph Curry fell into our laps at #7? There's no better example of the phrase "it's better to be lucky than good" than evaluating professional sports general managers. In the end no one is going to care how many trades Vlade won or lost just how well the team he puts together performs. So in fairness to Vlade, I'll happily give him an A when we win our next playoff series and I hope he survives in the front office long enough to see it happen.

Vlade pulled three guys who look like solid NBA players at the least from an awful draft.

If Papagiannis turns out to be something there's now way to not give Vlade credit for that pick. Midst draft experts didn't even have him in the first round.

I hadn't even done any research on Georgios and Richardson and Labissiere were two of my absolute least favorite prospects. I remember pouring a double scotch after the first round in an attempt to calm myself down.

And now in hindsight the guys I liked the most (Dunn, Baldwin, Prince pretty much all of them but Dejounte Murray) had pretty lousy rookie years while our kids at least showed promise.

So in my mind Vlade looks to have had a really solid draft.

 

[Kingster]

He gets an A because of the Joerger hire and the drafts he has done. I think he was slow on getting rid of Cousins, but I understand that he wanted to get an up close first hand view of Cousins and not rely on others, even though there was plenty of evidence to support the idea that Cousins should be gone pronto. I think his hires to management staff is an admission that he needed help in trades and FA, and I regard that as a plus, not a negative.

 

[The Hammer]

Vlade's critics aren't giving him the credit he deserves for creating a team with ZERO bad contracts. Not a single one. Not one Landry, Kenny Thomas etc...

Hadn't really thought of that honestly but um yeah actually guys this is huge. Gargantuan capspace and a ton of promising youth... can't say he hasn't settled on a direction and executed it. It's easy to criticize mistakes in hindsight, but credit for NOT stepping in it with a big bad contract... great point.

 

[Warhawk]

He gets an A because of the Joerger hire and the drafts he has done. I think he was slow on getting rid of Cousins, but I understand that he wanted to get an up close first hand view of Cousins and not rely on others, even though there was plenty of evidence to support the idea that Cousins should be gone pronto. I think his hires to management staff is an admission that he needed help in trades and FA, and I regard that as a plus, not a negative.

Actually, I think he got rid of Cousins as soon as he could get the OK from on high. That was the holdup, I would think.

 

[Henkel]

It seems kind of premature to me to start dissecting and assigning value to ever move involving a bunch of kids. We're in the infancy of this rebuild, and maybe this early hype is justified, but maybe some of the kids struggle and we win 15-20 games next season. And I wouldn't come down on Vlade for that either. This is more of a pass fail situation for me. The front office blew it up with intention of having a young playoff caliber team in a few years, which I think is fair expectation to be judged on. If Vlade can deliver on that he's succeeded, if not then he's failed.

Everything before the rebuild I wasn't a fan of, but Vivek clearly wanted Cousins here and possibly crippled the front offices abilities to move Boogie at a early point when his value was probably higher. Vlade reacted poorly with a win now move. The Sixers trade is a bad trade. The assets we gave up got Philly from fifth to first and we got Malachi Richardson and some meaningless wins. I dunno what grade I put on this chapter because of Vivek, inexperience, and a lack of structure in the front office upon his arrival, but it's hard to see it as a success.

 

[Kingster]

Actually, I think he got rid of Cousins as soon as he could get the OK from on high. That was the holdup, I would think.

That's the nebulous area: We just don't have the inside information to know to what extent Vivek held Vlade up on Cousins. As a default assumption, I give Vlade the responsibility and the authority to run the team because I still haven't heard anything to the contrary from Vlade, Vivek, or anyone else in the organization. I don't want to be in a position where on everything positive that happens Vlade is given the credit and everything negative Vivek is given the blame when I really don't have facts to support it.

 

[King Baller]

That's the nebulous area: We just don't have the inside information to know to what extent Vivek held Vlade up on Cousins. As a default assumption, I give Vlade the responsibility and the authority to run the team because I still haven't heard anything to the contrary from Vlade, Vivek, or anyone else in the organization. I don't want to be in a position where on everything positive that happens Vlade is given the credit and everything negative Vivek is given the blame when I really don't have facts to support it.

I see your point. That said I doubt if any All Star level player on any NBA team gets traded without the owner signing off on it. Too much money involved.

 

[funkykingston]

For better or worse, Vlade's tenure as GM will largely be judged on the success of the rebuild that they've now fully committed to. And it's too early to judge that but the early returns give some reason to be optimistic.

Clearly Divac was hedging his bets last season. He brought in vets for one more attempt at winning now with Cousins but those vets were on team friendly deals and/or they were the types of vets you wanted around for a rebuild. He also traded his top 10 pick for two picks and Bogdanovic and traded Belinelli for Richardson.

To me that was very smart. The hope was that they could find a way to win with Boogie but be ready to easily pivot to a rebuild if desired.

Outside of drafting WCS I was VERY down on Vlade's moves his first season. After that he's seemed pretty shrewd. So a B- or so with the notion that it's a mid semester grade and the final grade comes when we see how this rebuild turns out?

 

[funkykingston]

That's the nebulous area: We just don't have the inside information to know to what extent Vivek held Vlade up on Cousins. As a default assumption, I give Vlade the responsibility and the authority to run the team because I still haven't heard anything to the contrary from Vlade, Vivek, or anyone else in the organization. I don't want to be in a position where on everything positive that happens Vlade is given the credit and everything negative Vivek is given the blame when I really don't have facts to support it.

To me the responsibility lies with Vlade.

It's the same thing I said about Petrie. Yes, the Maloofs were almost certainly meddling and hurting his ability to do his job. But it was still his job. He chose to stay and work under those conditions.

Same thing with Divac. IF Vivek is meddling (and I don't have any concrete evidence that he is) Vlade is accepting that by staying in his role.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I'm not sure how the Kings could have opened G1C without Cousins. In hindsight that might sound funny because it's a jewel, but I can see Vlade possibly wanting to move on earlier and getting nixed. Most likely we never would have been satisfied with the initial return. Just look at the Butler trade.

 

[Folsomkingsfan]

Pros: Dave Joerger and staff, 2016 nba draft, 2017 nba draft, garrett temple, Cousins trade

Cons: 76ers trade, Cousins trade, handling of Cousins trade.

Can't see anything but a solid B. Not bad for a guy with no gm experience and depending how these young guys play out this could easily be an A soon.

 

[kingjatt]

I just hope we don't ever regret passing up Monk/Mitchell.

 

[ockingsfan]

Something I have noticed with Vlade GM'ing is that Team Chemistry is very important to his construction of this team.

He wants players that puts the team 1st. I think he is trying to reconstruct the chemistry that the Kings teams had when he was playing.

And that is a very, very good thing.

A team that likes playing with each other and has good chemistry will go further in success because they are willing to run through brick walls for each other. They will always have each other's back.

These type of teams are also more likely to overachieve.

 

[allrightythen]

It's hard to give a grade in the middle of the rebuild. I think he's drafted well thus far and Coach Joerger seems like a good one. He's made mistakes, but if the re-build works those mistakes won't matter.