Sacramento Kings GM Monte McNair has hired three new people to his front office, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Woj reports that Wes Wilcox will be Assistant GM, Phil Jabour will be VP of Player Personnel, and Paul Johnson will be Director of Basketball Operations.
New Kings GM Monte McNair is reshaping his front office, hiring former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox as assistant GM, Philadelphia’s Phil Jabour as VP of Player Personnel and OKC’s Paul Johnson as Director of Basketball Operations, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 14, 2020
Titles are different across teams, but the key here is that Wilcox will be McNair's lead assistant, with the other two handling various responsibilities in the front office. The three new additions join Ken Catanella who stayed and joined McNair's staff as a holdover from the previous regime.
Wes Wilcox was a finalist for the GM job that McNair ultimately won. Wilcox has extensive front office experience, and you can read our full profile of him here.
Phil Jabour joins the Kings from the Philadelphia 76ers. Jabour was promoted from a scouting role to Director of Scouting 2019. From the 76ers press release announcing Jabour's promotion to Director of Scouting:
Jabour joined the 76ers organization in 2014, after serving as a Scout for the Orlando Magic the previous two seasons. He's scouted at the collegiate, professional and international levels. Prior to joining the Magic, Jabour worked in several different roles for the Houston Rockets from 2006-11, after serving as a support staff member with USA Basketball during the summer of 2006.
Definitely noteworthy that McNair has experience working with Jabour from his time with the Rockets.
Paul Johnson comes from the Oklahoma City Thunder where he served as pro evaluation coordinator. He was recently promoted by the Thunder and was going to serve as Assistant GM for the Thunder's G League team. It wouldn't be surprising if he was going to oversee the Stockton Kings.
We were already familiar with Wilcox, and we'll surely learn more about Jabour and Johnson in the coming days, but it's clear that the Kings just added a supporting staff with the level of experience Kings fans should hope for. We were hoping the Kings would add another experienced front office member, and the Kings just added three.
Update:
The Kings have officially announced these additions via press release.
I am excited to have Wes, Phil and Paul join the front office, said McNair. Wes' background as an executive in the league combined with Phil's veteran leadership through the scouting ranks and Paul's proven experience in evaluating talent will be strong additions to the basketball operations group. Their diverse skill sets and unique perspectives will add valuable knowledge and innovative thinking as we focus on executing our vision of building a winning culture in Sacramento.
The release also confirmed our speculation that Paul Johnson will oversee the Stockton Kings, along with clarifying additional roles and responsibilities.
Wilcox will support General Manager Monte McNair in all facets of front office operations including roster construction, strategy and player evaluation. Jabour will be primarily responsible for overseeing the structure and processes of the scouting department. Johnson will lead Stockton's front office and have a hand in multiple aspects of Kings basketball operations. These three executives join Chief Strategy Officer Joe Dumars, Assistant General Manager Ken Catanella, Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Teena Murray and Vice President of Kings Academy and Professional Development Galen Duncan in rounding out McNair's management team.
Is this… competence… ??????
Our team might suck, but at least we have an all star front office.
I wouldn’t call this an All-Star FO, but it should be competent.
How about 6th man of the year candidate front office?
That sounds better.
Wait now just a moment. Are you trying to tell me that the Kings have a full on, fleshed out, experienced front office right now? I don’t recognize what’s in front of me, you see I was pretty young the last time I saw it.
This is…encouraging.
I’ve been trained to feel fear when I feel hope. Damn you Pavlov!
This is a great foundation to build upon!
Wow, I’m impressed
So wait, before Monte McNair, did our Front Office consist of Vlade Divac, Peja, and Ken Cantella?
Jesus.
Yeah they never replaced Brandon Williams.
T-shirts & additions to the front office on the sane day. Woot!
Well, i’ll be damned…
WTF, where does that leave Marty Conlon, Travis Mays, and Jason Thompson when it comes to joining the front office?
This might be the best Kings news since the NBA Board of Governors voted down the sale of the team.
I’m blown away honestly.
This is impressive. The Best front office personnel I have ever seen constructed in Sac. Next on the to-do list. Blow up this roster.
I’m scared. That looks like a very legitimate front office, but I’m afraid to hope again.
Yes, but can they play the 3?
Super FO, just experienced.
Don’t worry, McNair will sign John Salmons soon.
Um, this seems like a good thing! I don’t know what to do when this franchise makes competent hires like a normal team would. I continue to hope and pray that Vivek has finally figured out how to run an organization. Fingers crossed and hope springs eternal and all that.
It’s curious they still don’t have a person in charge of analytics. Luke Bornn is just an advisor at this point, so one would think that his replacement is a role that needs to be filled. Technically, both Catanella and McNair have an analytical background, so they aren’t lacking from that perspective, but I still think there’s a spot open.
Also, holy shit! This team has actual front office depth. McNair, Wilcox and Dumars are, or have been, GMs in this league. One can nitpick their resumes, but this is the most experienced front office of the Vivek era.
John Salmons is being brought in for the Homerific angle on Analytics. LOL!
Part of me wonders (hopes) if Bornn would kind of return to the fold now that his input would be taken seriously.
McNair may try to handle that himself, and maybe outsource data collection (maybe from Bornn) when needed. At least for the first year or two.
What do I do with my hands?!
Wow! Color me impressed! A month ago most of us our clamoring a Gupta-Mcnair combo and now we got a Mcnair-Wilcox combo which is still a really good combo! Now if Vivek can just stay away and let this dudes do all the work, we might actually turn this thing around sooner rather than later! Fingers crossed of course!
Phil Jabour is a good hire as well! Might not know him that well but given his time with the sixers and had already a relationship with Mcnair is probably a good thing! Can’t wait for the draft and free agency to start!
I’m waiting for the 2020 part of this news to kick in.
Like Amick reporting that the Kings hired them on the condition that they each implement 3 of Vivek’s basketball ideas or something.
BREAKING: Jabour is part of three team trade that lands the Kings Jabour, Al Horford, and Tobias Harris. Kings sending Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, Jabari Parker, and 2 future picks and pick swaps to Philly. Lakers land De’Aaron Fox. Detail still coming in.
i dont need that energy this early in the day
This is the most optimism I can remember on TKH thread… I feel very uncomfortable.
Yes, the most excited TKH has ever been is the time when the team brought in 3 guys who don’t play basketball. #KangzLyfe
We’re hiring capable people? I’m getting nervous that good things might start happening!
Seriously though, fingers crossed on the future. The experience this group brings, and hopefully they’re not just “yes men” types, is quite impressive and refreshing. Cool to see that one has worked his way up from being a scout, maybe this will help in that department more.
Looking great. Shocked ownership is shelling out the dough for a complete FO
We now have 4-5 voices with more sense than our previous head of operations (Divac)
On a side note: Some of y’all thought Joerger was about to be hired… Last year not getting a call. This year, shockingly 2 franchises out of the litany of openings he was in the headlines for, the verification may or may not be questionable. Sixers didn’t profess to serious thought. But the Pacers, shocking he was rumored to have been well thought of. But now, sources have Chris Finch as the grunt runner.
another year going by I’m not sure is going to help him, as his famed 39 win team starts to fade from contemporary consciousness and future FOs wonder why he hasn’t been hired
It’s the mark of a weak mind to claim victory before the game’s really started.
But keep flogging that mule. I have no doubt you’ll quietly disappear when Joerger gets his next job.
-inthesturs
No one likes Walton, don’t know wtf your saying
Just because he shouldn’t be written off after a year, doesn’t mean I think he’s a good coach
When do the Kings stop paying Joerger? I suspect that has something to do with it too?
At the end of the current season Murf, but GEEZ HE HASN’T GOTTEN ANOTHER JOB YET.
An excuse for Joerger no one is paying attention to
No precedent for coaches turning down opportunities unless they are Grade A
Why does that matter?
aside from flat out saying he was looking at jobs with his exit interview with Napear on 4/12/19, non hot coaches don’t pick and choose
its an excuse for Joerger
Monte’s done…for today!
That so many comments are overreactions shows how pathetic our previous FO was and how desperate we are for some positive news.
But let’s not forget that as a GM candidate, we wanted no part of Wilcox and rightfully so, because he had some horrible decisions as Atlanta GM. But as an assistant he is great?
I don’t know the other two.
It is somewhat encouraging that we can pay some experienced and apparently competent people, but I have to assume at least 80% of NBA teams have a competent FO.
I hope they are better and smarter than most, because we have lot of ground to make up.
All true, but don’t forget that all things being equal each team has a 53% chance of making the playoffs each season. If we can get back into the group of teams where those are actually the odds each season because we have an average front office that isn’t actively sabotaging our chances, that is cause for celebration.
Can you imagine this group picking Bagley over Doncic?
Good point.
Actually, I can more imagine this group trading the 3rd pick for the 5th pick and a protected future first round pick. Which may or may not be okay.
Fair, but even that would be a huge improvement which doesn’t set the team back several years.
That is sort of my point.
“Yay! They won’t set the franchise back for years.”
The thresholds we have for feeling positive about this franchise are so low, it’s crazy.
It really resembles a form of Stockholm syndrome.
Sacramento Syndrome?
When you’ve been down for a long time and it finally looks like there’s a chance for things to get better… hope springs eternal.
This actually seems like a sign of systematic change. A different approach. I’m not saying we should declare victory yet, and I don’t think anyone is. This could turn out to be PDA 2.0. But a fresh chance at being a competitive basketball team brings me some joy personally. Piss on that if you want.
Hey, here’s a quote:
Piss on that, if YOU want.
It’s a good quote, and yes, we’re just discussing.
I meant the last line as a sentiment of your mood/outlook bringing down the vibe of the room, not to rile you up or express ire. We’re all good here.
Love the quote, and yes, we’re just chatting here.
My last sentence was meant express that it seemed like your take/opinion was intending to drag down others’ more positive mood.
It wasn’t meant in a spiteful way or to try and rile you up. But it is a little on the vulgar side, so I can see why you might have taken it that way, and I apologize for my part in that if it did.
Clear, thanks. No appologies necessary!
Basically Rik we are celebrating a participation award. ð¤ª
Kids these days…
I don’t see anyone celebrating this like it’s mission accomplished, but people are excited because we actually have a real front office again. I don’t know enough about any of these guys to tell you if this FO will be successful, but just having a room full of people with the requisite experience is an improvement and I’m fine with celebrating steps in the right direction, even if I know full well they still might not lead to success.
I agree with all of that Greg, maybe my celebration reference is more about twitter.
Are things generally more dramatic on twitter? ð¤ª
The celebration like mission accomplished reference was to me? Where did I say that?
And what is the “requisite experience” exactly?
Is it giving en Bazemore $ 70 million for 4 years and Dwight Howard $ 70 million for 3 years in 2016? Asking for a
friendassistant GM.People can celebrate whatever they want, just like I can utter words of caution, I presume?
A few things here. First, while you didn’t say the words “mission accomplished”, that was simply addressing your statement about people overreacting.
As for requisite experience, let’s take Wilcox (since you reference some Hawks signings). He has 19 years experience in the league, working his way up from an intern with the Heat to years spent as Assistant GM and GM. Whatever mistakes he made along the way, that’s experience. Hopefully he’s learned from mistakes. As for those specific contracts, it’s important to remember that while he held the GM title in 2016, he was not the final decision maker. Budenholzer was. It’s impossible to know how much influence Wilcox had on those signings.
Finally, of course you can utter words of caution. And I can respond. And we can discuss. That’s the fun of all this! I’m not chastising you, I’m just having a discussion with you.
A discussion? Where we exchange opposing viewpoints and actually listen to one another? Go away! I thought that was not allowed anymore in America?
Here we go then.
Sorry, but this is very wishful thinking. Reminds me of these comments about “Vlade learning on the job.”
Taking this viewpoint, we basically know very little about him, Monte and the other guys, other than that they have “experience”. So did Pete D.
Rik, prior to your comment that people were overreacting, can you cite some examples in this thread of people overreacting? I see one about an “all-star” front office that was perhaps (or perhaps not) a bit tongue-in-cheek, but beyond that I see nothing that was anything near outrageous.
I respect anyone that has a “prove it” mindset when it comes to this organization, but the announcement of these additions to the front office seems encouraging, and that was the vibe that I was getting from the overall tenor of this thread.
Disclaimer – There is a reason that I don’t do Twitter and the such, so if you’re talking about those venues, so be it. I just didn’t really see it in this thread.
Thanks for taking my call.
Not just this thread, but also Twitter and elsewhere.
But here you have a few:
This is impressive. The Best front office personnel I have ever seen constructed in Sac.
This might be the best Kings news since the NBA Board of Governors voted down the sale of the team.
I’m blown away honestly.
This is a great foundation to build upon!
And the wurst:
This is… encouraging.
Maybe it’s the difference in how one on-boards the comment?
This might be the best Kings news since the NBA Board of Governors voted down the sale of the team.
Hey, it just might be, right? I mean, I would put the new arena in front of it, but maybe mookie meant since the entire sale saga? I’m hard-pressed to come up with a lot of encouraging Kings news over the past seven years. Maybe how the team played under Joerger in his last season here? It’s a small list, to be sure.
I’m blown away honestly.
As am I. I sure didn’t see them spending money on filling out the front office right now. The credentials and experience of this front office far outweighs what I had envisioned, that’s for sure.
This is a great foundation to build upon!
I think that it has the potential to be a great foundation…or a shitty one, I guess. On paper it sure seems to outdistance any front office under Ranadive.
–
I don’t know – I think that the responses have been, for the most part, measured. But maybe I’m just reading it wrong.
Are we now at a point where each of us is going to parse the interpretation of comments made by others?
Is it the best news, or was getting the 2nd pick the best news? Or maybe the pick of Fox?
You’re reading it as wrong or right as I am reading it.
Or are you implying that you are a better reader than I am? Because I am the best reader in the world. Everybody says so. All good readers in the US want to work for me because I am so much better at it. It’s true.
When it comes to reading, I have put on my big boy pants a long time ago, Rob. What are you wearing? I thought so.
I see a notable difference between someone with 19 years experience learning from mistakes vs hoping Vlade would learn as he went. Wilcox has been promoted through the ranks over those 19 years, all the way to a GM position, indicating that those who *did* know the specifics of what he did were impressed enough to give him additional responsibilities. GM or maybe even assistant GM may be one step too high, never know where the Peter Principle kicks in until someone gets there. I just think there’s more reason to think a lifelong front office professional can learn from a mistake vs when Vlade walked in with no experience.
I’d also note that while none of us are privy to specifics about what Wilcox or any of the others did, McNair almost certainly is. NBA front offices know each other, they know who is good and who is just a blowhard, they know which guys they’d want to work with again.
Calling this an All-Star FO feels a bit like a Mission Accomplished statement.
It was tongue in cheek. The feel that somehow Vivek And Co will try and sell tickets based on his ASFO, and bright future. Akin to Young Superteam.
That said these guys are high floor guys, especially when we have Vlade’s whiteboard as comparison.
You weren’t the only person to call this an All-Star FO.
he seems to be a qualified assistant, and he was around for the 2nd half of the Hawks’ 10 year playoff streak. I like that all three of these guys have scouting experience. Just in time for the 10 in-person draft prospect workouts, which can begin this week.
Yeah, it’s actually nice that a team that has been famously short on scouting just imported a good amount of both scouting experience overall and, presumedly, people that have been spending the past XX months scouting this draft for other teams. Which would give them good insight as to the individual prospects, as well as what other teams are thinking and where draftees may be slotting in.
Yup, all true. The bar was so low it was in the subsurface. No idea how any of this works or doesn’t work, but it at least *sounds and looks* like the things competent people would do.
I keep it simple.
They’re building a competent foundation, which hopefully gives them a better chance of finding the necessary two superstars to compete.
For most teams, the building of a foundation is the easy part, it’s acquiring the two superstars that seems so difficult. The Kangz lack of a foundation caused them to bypass a chance at grabbing one of those obvious superstars on draft day. Because you know, big men.
Bagley>Luka was incredibly awful, but what made it even worse was that it was pretty clear that Bagley wasn’t the best big available when he was drafted.
I guess the question for me is whether the organization is better off after these additions than it was a day ago, or a month ago, or three months ago. I think the answer is yes, but to your point, time will tell.
There are definitely overreactions in this thread, but this is a major improvement compared to the previous FO.
Now they can sell tickets based on an all star Front Office, and FUTURE playoffs. Damn another FOMO sell!
Now we’re cooking!
And nice to see the Kings aren’t, after all, digging change out of the couch cushions to buy a six pack of Brown Derby.
Solid hires. Looking forward to the draft this year.
This feels real now. I think the team will build something good.
I wonder how Jabour’s inclusion will influence a potential Sixers deal. He’ll likely have strong opinions about the value of someone like Horford or Harris. He may also have some ideas on lesser known additions to the deal. Like, he could LOVE Korkmaz, and really push for him to be included.
It sure does seem that a Philly/Kings trade is destiny at this point.
I guess we can stop talking about Ranadive trying to do everything on the cheap. A crew like this doesn’t generally offer discounts.
What teams were bidding on any of these people? Most knew that Houston was under pressure to change things as was Philly ! Wes was clearly looking for a job ! Does seem solid hires but time will determine the level of talent ! Color me sort of optimistic !
Okay, okay, just calm down. Take my wallet, you’ll get no trouble from me.
Looks like you are right, Greg. Paul Johnson is the new GM of the Stockton Kings. This makes me wonder bout McClish.
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1316408643655434242
This is the most cautiously optimistic I’ve felt in a while regarding the Kings.
I feel like 29 other teams are pissed they can’t fleece this team anymore.
Or is it the least-cautiously pessimistic you’ve felt in awhile?
Not yet. Optimism always takes game one, then pessimism wakes up and completes the gentleman’s sweep.
Lol!! When you’re so accustomed to Kangz. Now, I am ready for the complete and utter tear down of this current roster.
Me too.
So we asked for a competent FO and we ended up with McNair, Dumars, and Wilcox surrounded by qualified people. I believe that’s a lot of experienced and quality minds. As everyone else has been saying-this is a very good sign.
Now, let’s hope they are structured in an efficient and functional manner to promote unity and proficiency. A bigger concern, as well, hopefully Vivek will let them do their jobs without meddling.
However; we now have talent here in the FO…which is a major win.
I don’t think you hire four well-respected guys if you plan to have your hands in everything, especially when there are so many players available with no front office experience.
Sooooo many of them…
Cool. People with experience, (mostly) good reputations, who have been key contributors to winning cultures with other NBA franchises. Seems like a good start to this new era…
Hiring qualified candidates makes for a good start… Now the hard work begins! Assessment, planning, and execution!
Best of luck to the new front office team. I’ll be rooting for them.
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