The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Shams Charania provided an update on the Sacramento Kings general manager search Tuesday, including an encouraging list of current and former NBA executives they plan to formally interview over the next several weeks. One of the names on that list was current Minnesota Timberwolves Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, Sachin Gupta.
Gupta isn’t a household name in Sacramento, but he has an oddly significant connection to the Kings organization everyone should be familiar with. As a member of Sam Hinkie’s front office in Philadelphia, Gupta, according to Derek Bodner of Philadelphia Magazine, was the “driving force” behind the infamous trade that sent Nik Stauskas, Jason Thompson, and Carl Landry into 76ers cap space, costing the Kings an unprotected first round pick in 2019, and the rights to swap first-round picks with the Kings in 2016 or 2017.
For a rebuilding team like the 76ers, this trade accomplished everything Gupta’s organization was looking for. It was a genius use of cap space considering they had no desire to add veterans (or wins) in free agency. Instead of signing players, they used that space to take advantage of an impatient Sacramento Kings organization, and stole some valuable draft assets in The Process.
Gupta has one of the more interesting NBA executive come up stories. Shortly after graduating from MIT with a degree in computer science, he landed a job with ESPN as a software engineer. While at ESPN, Gupta was tasked with developing the Trade Machine, a staple tool among NBA journalists and diehard fans of the league. In order to make the Trade Machine run properly, Gupta had to learn every aspect of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. Gupta was a passionate sports fan prior to the Trade Machine project, but after months of studying the CBA in unfathomable detail, he had an education every NBA front office would be smart to utilize.
Houston Rockets General Manager and Managing Director of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey already had a prior relationship with Gupta through MIT (Morey spent years working for the Celtics in Boston before Houston hired him) and when an opening in Morey’s analytics department opened up, Gupta landed his first gig in an NBA front office.
It didn’t take long for Gupta to transition from analytics developer to Morey’s trade whisperer. According to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski, Gupta “figured prominently” in the deal that landed James Harden in Houston, in addition to presenting Morey with different trade ideas constantly.
I remember I would stay up for two days straight before each All-Star break just combing through each team and coming up with several ideas for each team so Daryl was prepared, Gupta said.
The ideas would come from all angles. He once told Morey of one that jumped into his head while he was taking a shower. The GM liked it so much he told him to go get back in that shower.
When Sam Hinkie left Morey’s staff in Houston to rebuild the 76ers, he took Gupta with him. Hinkie has gone out of his way to praise Gupta at every opportunity. In Krawczynski’s Gupta profile, Hinkie states:
He was the driving force behind all the good ones [roster moves]. He’s so well respected, you wouldn’t think of doing something without asking what he thinks.”
After Hinkie’s run in Philadelphia met its demise, Gupta returned to Houston as one of Morey’s special advisors, but this second tenure in Houston didn’t last long. Shortly after Ed Stefanski took over the Pistons, he brought in Gupta for the 2018-19 season in an assistant general manager role. Gupta only spent one season in Detroit before following another Morey disciple, Gersson Rosas, to Minnesota with a promotion to Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
Gupta’s natural next step is running his own organization, and by all accounts the Sacramento Kings would be wise to grant him that opportunity. There is no concrete track record for Gupta, as he’s never been the primary decision maker in an NBA front office, but if the Kings are looking for a new school mind instead of a league retread, Gupta is near the top of that list.
There is inherent uncertainty about hiring someone that has never done the job before, but this is the pool of candidates an organization like the Kings has to consider. They aren’t going to land a proven NBA winner like Daryl Morey, but they can find the next one, and according to everything you’ll find published on Sachin Gupta, he has that potential.
Just take the “BGmA” ……….(Best GM Available)
I don’t know if much credit should be given to Gupta, as he totally robbed a newbie GM (Divac) for that particular trade…..
I doubt Gupta can do the same to rob other teams if he really taken up this job.
But like I said before, if he is the best among the 5 candidates…then go after him.
i can’t think of a single reason to consider him as GM.
https://twitter.com/JillAdge/status/1303732492164186112?s=20
However, this was a live look-in at Gupta during the trade deadline.
There are several listed above. I hope that helps.
You mean, aside from all the reasons listed in the article above, the fact that he’s played pretty much every other FO role including on that is often above the GM in org flow charts, is highly constantly praised by many of the best FO minds in the business, has a deep, nuanced understanding of the most complex element of the GMs job, and, based on stories brings a high level of creativity and work ethic.
Besides all that, no. No reason to consider him as a GM.
so, basically he knows the collective bargaining agreement, he thinks up a lot of trade ideas, and he’s a fan of basketball. Add one year for the Pistons which might have the worst roster in the nba, then one year for the mighty TWolves.
Not one for details or nuance, eh?
I got the nuance: you want the kings to hire a tank commander.
No, I want them to hire a farm team manager.
Because Eddie loves farm livin’
Also those other years upon years of experience with Houston and Philly, but I guess those don’t count?
It’s fine if you don’t like a candidate, but your arguments aren’t making a lot of sense.
I counted those years. He came up with a lot of trade ideas in Houston and Philly. That’s what the article says he did.
I mean, as much as you’re trying to dismiss them, understanding and manipulating the CBA and coming up with smart, actionable trade ideas are BIG parts of the job.
But can he come up with great PR terms like Superteam, just young?
No, but they have in-house marketing people and copywriters. I’m sure there’s at least one hack-y enough to come up with something similar.
Make the Superteam Young Again
Make our mascot unironic again!
Just win (the 8th seed), baby!
Just eKING by!
I’m in!
people around here talk about the CBA wizardry of Ken Catanella because he hides part of the Kings veteran free agent tax in the partially guaranteed last year of the contract. Gupta went from creating the trade machine to being involved in some of the most complex/clever trades over the years. I think that should count for something.
Once he perfects the draft machine and cap management machine, Vivek can replace him with one of his robots, which can also pour drinks on gameday in the concession stands.
It counts for a good assistant.
What I’m about to tell you may blow your mind, so I hope you’re sitting down. A lot of good top executives were formerly good assistants before being promoted.
And a lot of good assistants remained good assistants.
So what exactly is you point in all this? Do you want the Kings to go poach an already successful GM with tons of experience.
Why not just hire Danny Ainge, amirite?
Kings leak list of GM candidates including Ainge, Ujiri, Morey, Buford, Presti, and Riley.
I would have included Frank, but he isn’t experienced enough.
My sources also say they are interested in trading for LeBron James, but only if he wins the title this year.
My point is the Kings can find someone more qualified. Below, Rordog talks about two possible combinations: one is having a GM who came up on the basketball side of things (former player / scout) and hiring an analytics guy as an assistant. The other is having a GM who is an analytics guy who hires a basketball guy as his assistant. Of those two options, I would rather go with the basketball guy. Of note, BHE notes that managerial skills are paramount, which didn’t really shine through in the article about Gupta. Furthermore I should add that there is no indication that Gupta preferred certain trade ideas over others. Brainstorming ideas is different from selecting the best course of action. And every team should have one or two CBA experts and trade feasibility experts. It’s not rocket science. I really think building a competitive team requires getting back to basketball, not trying to win with a computer program.
But isn’t that why Vlade failed. He used old school basketball intuition and was a pal to the players, but he could have used a computer program.
So the Gruden plan isn’t going to work?? Shit!
There are exactly zero teams that try to win with a computer program. But the best ones incorporate as many data points and points of view as possible. Including advanced high level analytics. The Stats vs “Basketball” false dichotomy is ridiculous and lazy.
My lengthy and thoughtful response talks about priorities. Obviously data, analytics, and computers are important and that’s why I think Gupta could be a good assistant. But at the top, at GM, I would prefer a basketball guy. From there people can take the low hanging fruit and pick on Vlade, or you could reach for a better example like Petrie or Ainge or hundreds of others who came up through basketball.
So basically you think Gupta is the same as Bill Simmons?
I think Gupta as GM would be the same as a tank commander and the fact that no-one can name qualifications other than (1) knows the CBA, (2) brainstorms lots of trade ideas, and (3) fan of basketball, leads me to believe that people are backing Gupta only because they want to tank, something I would rather not do.
Seems like he has the mind and the work ethic. I’d be fine with taking a chance on him (although I prefer someone more proven as lead decision-maker).
But obviously the main questions are:
A.) Will he want to come to this shit-show?
B.) Will Vivek give him complete control?
And Question A is likely very dependent on the answer to Question B.
I wonder how much, if any, impact Gupta’s Indian background would have on the situation. Particularly considering the Kings efforts to grow their business in India. I wonder if that would factor into how much money/power they would consider offering Gupta.
That said, i don’t how any idea how strong Gupta’s connecting to India is. I know he is an Indian-American, but that’s about it.
I would imagine it means something to Vivek. Obviously it shouldn’t qualify or disqualify a person, but if that’s what it takes to get Vivek to hand over the keys to someone capable… that’s fine by me.
It certainly shouldn’t qualify or disqualify a person. But I think it could reasonably be considered a point in his favor all other things being roughly equal.
It’s funny how much we were sold a bill of goods by Vivek initially. He came in with this vision of making the Kings popular internationally. His “plan” to achieve that popularity, in part, was to hire the best people capable of using tech and analytics to give this team a competitive advantage. Instead, he basically just brought in a bunch of former players and former agent/lawyer.
I’m curious if Vivek uses this to go in a different direction. These lists can all kinda be split up into two types: people who come from an analytics background and people who worked their way up through scouting and player personnel side. Booth is the only former player, but he started as a scout, and I doubt Vivek will be as enamored by a NBA journeyman who averaged 3.3 points over his career.
As you’ve discussed, in a perfect world they’d hire a top guy with one of those two types of backgrounds, then also allow that person to hire a lieutenant with a background in the other. I guess technically in a perfect world you hire a guy with a demonstrated background of building a championship team, then allow that person to hire a Gupta and a Simon type. But we’re still talking about the Kings here so beggars can’t be choosers.
Yeah, I mean ultimately in this position, being a great scout or brilliant analyst isn’t nearly as important as being a great manager. Assuming that manager is given the freedom and resources to actually manage, of course.
Interested to see the write up on Adam Simon. Gupta was my second choice when I saw the original list. Like many people have said before, it is hard to know how much these employees did with their organizations. I just love what the heat have consistently done with talent development, drafting, and G league player development. Drafting and development is one of the big reasons the kings have been terrible over the last decade.
Gupta seems like someone Vivek would hire based upon his basketball 3.0 vision.
Don’t be shitty.
As we’ve discussed in other places, I’m as interested in who the hire brings in to fill out the department as I am in the individual. There’s no reason Gupta couldn’t/wouldn’t bring in someone with a Simon-esque player development, scouting background (ala, well, Simon or Tolzman). Just as there’s no reason Simon couldn’t/wouldn’t bring in a Gupta/McNair style analytics-focused person.
Agreed. And it won’t mean much who the GM is if they are not allowed to fully staff their department as they see fit.
Yeah. This is my concern. With Amick mentioning low salary being an issue with this hire, hard to imagine they’ll pony up, like they should, to fill out a staff.
Hire Sachin “The Trade Machine” Gupta!
The first 3 letters of his name are a good fit here!
Huh, what does Gup stand for?
So you’re saying that this guy owes us. Although is it really fair to denigrate the man who sold Doofac the magic beans?
The biggest thing I want out of the new Kings front office is to correctly value assets in incoming and outgoing players. I feel like that is the greatest strength of Gupta based on his reported history. He’s probably 2nd on this list next to Simon, who I don’t think will leave Miami.
I wonder how much Gupta had to do with the Wiggins trade. Because that was a thing of beauty for Minny.
I’d say the Covington for Beasley, Juancho, Vanderbilt was a good one for them. Even the #11 + Saric for Culver was a smart one IMO, even if Culver hasn’t exactly set the world on fire yet.
That said, getting big credit for big roles in both the Sixers-Kings trade and bringing Harden to Houston are pretty big feathers in his cap. He seems to be somebody who keeps an eye on other teams’ situations and tries to figure out how he can benefit from the other team’s mistakes/challenges/desperation.
Those are good examples too. In Minny, they basically had to rebuild on the fly, since they went all in with Thibs and Butler…
So flipping RoCo, Saric, etc for young potential role players while hanging on to Towns was pretty brilliant. There was no way they could out of that horrible Wiggins contract by giving up anything other than a prime first round pick. So I think they did quite well by at least getting an all-star point guard back in the deal. And the fact they even got it protected 1-3 in 2021 is pretty savvy.
A core of Russell, Towns, and Anthony Edwards could be nice going forward. And they have options. If someone REALLY wants that #1 pick this year (hello Knicks), they could fleece someone and get back into the 2021 draft.
Just considering where they had to start, I think that FO did really well.
If I were a betting man, I would say that as of today Minny will have a better record than the Kings next year. That’s how quickly things changed in Minny. It took one season of new management in Rosas and Gupta to drastically change things for the better.
If I was a betting man, I’d bet that Minny & Sac will be the bottom 2 teams in the West.
I don’t think either makes the playoffs, but the Kings have the best chance of being dead last…as things currently stand.
If Minny has a heathy KAT, Russel, and the #1 pick, they could do some damage.
Given the weakness of this draft & their defensive problems, I don’t think they’ll do well against most West teams.
It’s true they are crazy young, but if their youngsters make a leap, they might surprise folks.
If James Johnson opts out of his deal (he won’t) the oldest guy on the team would be Layman at 26. Their core is all under 25.
Yeah the best case for them would be to stay terrible for one more year, get a top 3 pick, and then make the leap in 2021-22.
As I say in my post, even the worst team only has about a 40% chance of having a top 3 pick.
Yep, I was just pointing out if they could somehow Vlade their way to a top 3, that would be ideal for them. Since I don’t think they will really compete next year. But if somehow that pick is outside the top 10, and then they are in the playoffs by 2020, that Wiggins trade looks even better.
Yeah, I just think the new odds really do chance the equation. I don’t think a team like the Wolves who have two high level players on max contracts already, rightfully feel those contract clocks ticking. I don’t think they’ll be willing to throw away one of those years when there’s a 60% chance that they give away that pick anyway.
They definitely won’t tank for it. But maybe they’ll luck (AKA “Vlade”) their way into it 😉
That said, I don’t think they’re in a place to think about waiting a couple years to compete. For example, I don’t think they should avoid adding older players because of some theoretical window because KAT and DLo are young. Both are already on Max deals. As such, I would expect them to be more likely to use the 1st to go get someone like Jrue Holiday, or even someone like Rozier + 3 or a 2021 1st. Rather than tank for a year. Especially considering no matter how bad they are they’ll still only have roughly a 40% chance of getting a top 3 pick.
Oh, I like that Rozier and #3 for the #1. Not sure if the Hornets do that unless they are looking to move Rozier, but that could work for both teams.
If the Hornets do move Rozier to someone else, Buddy could then be of interest to them.
Yeah, I’ve pushed that one before. It was mostly part of my FULL BLOW UP scenario, but it doesn’t have to be. Rozier and Graham are clearly a terrible match. Personally, I’d say Hield and Rozier are roughly similar values-to-contract. Though I think I had a bigger deal in mind. It was something like:
Hield + Bagley + Joseph for Rozier + Batum + 32 + 2021 CHA 1st
Minny’s main problem is defense. That’s where they’ll need to make a leap.
But that’s also arguably the easiest thing to acquire talent-wise.
Yup, they could go out and sign someone like Andre Roberson and turn around their perimeter defense real fast.
On an aside, they could be a team interested in Corey Joseph.
We’ll see. They’re in such different positions. One has the tent poles but no tent. The other is all tent. If the Wolves can add a couple of the right role players, they could be in the hunt for the playoffs.
I think they’ll have to have substantial defensive improvement to be in the playoff hunt.
I don’t know. I mean, they were a better on defense than offense this season. They were just as “good” as the Kings defensively this year, and the Kings were “in the playoff hunt.”
They obviously need to improve in a number of ways, but just jumping from 20th in the league to 15th or so could be enough.
Theoretically I agree. But it all depends where that 2021 pick lands. And I think a lot of that has to do with what the Warriors can get with the 2 pick and/or Wiggins.
Yeah I agree. But as I mentioned in the above response to BHE, the Wolves FO last year was really in a tough spot. Unloading that Wiggins contract was a huge task. They were going to have to give up something of substantial value. But they still got a young all-star back in the deal.
In general, I think when assessing a FO, you have to judge moves within the context of the time they’re made. Judging in hindsight leads to giving them credit and/or blame for things outside their control.
Definitely. I think you also have to consider the moves that they DIDN’T make.
For example, during Gupta’s time in Detroit, I’m pretty sure it would have been a goal of theirs to get out from under Blake Griffin’s contract. Teams likely would require at least two high-end FRP’s to take that on. Nothing enticing came along, so it looks like they just stood pat.
Bottom line, people might look at that year in Detroit and count it against Gupta. But that FO didn’t do anything to handcuff themselves in the future, and they made smaller moves to get some young players with potential (like Mykhailuk for Bullock)… They are firmly in rebuild mode, and won’t compete for some time. They didn’t panic, and should be in good position to draft some cornerstone-type players in 2021 and 2022.
I think that’s how teams recover from crushing mistakes. Instead of compounding the mistake (like the Griffin deal), they try to work around it the best they can and just take their losses.
So that’s two less than desirable situations (Detroit and Minny) that Gupta inherited and those teams at least have some type of forward direction.
The more I read about this guy, I kind of like him for the job here in Sac.
I didn’t intend to come across so down on that trade. Not having to attach another asset to Wiggins to get out from under that contract is a win itself.
Definitely.
OT:
RIP Emma Peel aka Diana Rigg. Loved the Avengers as a kid.
https://images.app.goo.gl/mEF9ReVQ7eUR7Yug7
Sad news. She was incredible in everything she was in, and was one of the only reasons I continued watching later seasons of Game Of Thrones.
In a fictional universe we could hire Gupta and Simon. With them and Catanella it could be a front office super-team, just young.
He sounds really good based on this article, but it makes me wonder why he’s the #2 in Minny.
Because Minny hired Rosas (another Morey disciple) in 2019 to run their team. He then brought in Gupta a few months later. Their connections go back to Houston.
It’s crazy to think that there may be/were 3 GM’s coming out of the Morey school of thought: Hinkie, Rosas, and possibly Gupta. That’s like the Popovich school of coaching.
Ah. That makes sense.
This is the guy I personally hope accepts the job. Even if he wants President of Basketball Ops, give it to him.
My first choice for GM as long as Vivek can give him the reins
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