The Sacramento Kings wasted no time in hiring a replacement for Mote McNair this week, quickly announcing Scott Perry as the new general manager.
For a little more background on Perry, including his time under Vlade Divac in 2017 with the Kings, check out Greg’s piece. There are several older video clips circling around the internet of Perry speaking on various topics. One video from just 12 days ago stuck out to me in which Perry discusses how critical it is for a franchise to agree on a clear internal and external identity and to consistently reflect that identity in all levels of the franchise, harkening back to his time with the Detroit Pistons, during which the team won a championship.
“When you’re building a team, you want to build a team that can have sustainable success that hopefully results in a championship, which they are extremely hard to obtain as we know, you really have to work on having, establishing, developing, working every day in an identity of who we are. And that is above and beyond everything else. Everyone knew not only in our building, but externally, who the Detroit Pistons were during that time – how we were going to play basketball, how we were going to go about scouting basketball, how we were going to go about coaching basketball, how we were going to go about making business decisions surrounding the team, trades, free agent signings; all those things were all grouped together based on what our identity was, and is and who we are. And I think that is so important. If you study the successful franchises in any sport over the history, more times than not, and I would argue probably almost every time, there is a defined identity of who we are, or who they are, and you did everything in your organization on a consistent daily basis that reflected that identity, and that is what is key.”
Alrighty, well, since he’s rejoining the Kings, let’s hear from DeMar DeRozan during his exit interview on how things went this season:
“All year we had such an uncertainty of everything. You can’t really operate in any successful environment if you have so much uncertainty,” DeRozan said. “As long as you put something on the table, this is what it is, this is what it is going to be, this is what we’re competing with, I can work with that, but the uncertainty for me has always been the frustrating part.”
Not much for an identity there.
Perry also stressed how communication is key and isolation among fractions within a franchise can create dysfunction and stall progress.
“You have to have good, healthy communication and open communication, where people feel a part of it and invested and don’t ever feel isolated. Because if you allow people to get isolated in their own thoughts and feelings, now you get different parts of an organization working against one another, and that’s not a way, in my opinion, that leads to any type of sustainable success and ultimately, any opportunity of winning a championship.”
And how about Domantas Sabonis on communication?
“I feel like the locker room is a great group of guys who want to really compete, do the right things, put in the work and wherever this organization wants to go with the next steps that happened over the past couple of hours it’s good with us we just want to be heard and really know where things are going to go,” Sabonis said during his exit interview.
You might recall that Mike Brown entered the Kings organization as head coach in 2022 declaring that the organization needed to have a “strong soul,” which included a strong organizational culture, built on trust, values, and clearly defined roles.
The track record with the Sacramento Kings franchise and its owner speaks for itself. The team is right back to instability and no direction after appearing to finally have cracked the code two seasons ago when it took the Golden State Warriors to a Game 7 in the playoffs. Until there is a change in approach in the way basketball decisions are made that results in sustained success, including a strong and positive internal and external identity as a guiding principle, there is no reason to give the Kings any benefit of the doubt. If Perry can fix all of this it would be wonderful, but he will be fighting an uphill battle against the Kangz because Kangz isn’t just a phrase for the fans to toss around to disguise the pain in laughter, it is in fact the closest thing this team has to an identity or culture – an uncertain pit of despair coined as Basketball Hell by one of its own former players.
The fans deserve better than what this season turned into and how it ended Wednesday night.
I am rooting for you to change the identity and culture, Scott, because there isn’t anything more obvious in the sports world than the Kings needing a culture change, and decision making from the top.
Communication, professionalism, identity, etc is just a bunch of corporate mumbo jumbo. Identifying talent, knowing how to manage the cap, building a cohesive roster are things needed to win.
And if you win, all of those intangible things like building an identity take care of themselves.
I will be pleasantly shocked if this dude is not a complete disaster at his job.
Exactly. No amount of ” identity ” can make up for bad decisions.
Anybody watch Davion Mitchell yesterday? Remember how the Kings had to attach draft picks to get rid of him?
It never ends with this star crossed franchise.
They had to attach a 2nd to trade him to Toronto, and Toronto got a 2nd from Miami when they traded him. The Raps got two 2nds for loaning him
a uni for a couple of months. Not a bad haul.
I always thought that Davion needed to be in more of a dribble drive system – that he was not your prototypical PG. Also thought he could have a Patrick Beverly career. Maybe he’s on his way.
Davion shot 40% from three this year, so if that holds, he’s kind of a better defending, slightly worse shooting Keon Ellis, who is one of a (very) few unqualified successes of the Monte McNair years.
I think the 2nd and Davion to Toronto was to mostly to dump Vezenkov’s salary, which Toronto then paid none of, because (possibly?) no one on the Kings thought to ask Sasha if he just wanted to go home.
I honestly don’t even know what the Kings did with that extra salary, because they’ve been worse every year since then, so it doesn’t really matter no one’s going to feel any better anyway.
That Toronto deal is one of (a number of) stains on the Monte McNair years, where they (blame whoever you want here) used picks to acquire players and then more picks to dump those same players. Just stupid and exhausting, and I fully expect to see more of that this offseason.
From what I recall, they did nothing with the salary space as it was a move to get below the tax after they had agreed to new terms with Monk. I believe the Davion/Sahsa trade was made on day 2 of the draft, which was before the end of the financial NBA year.
Not sure why everyone thinks the Kings don’t have an identity. They’ve had it for the better part of 40 seasons and Carl just zeroed in on it:
Your Sacramento Kings: Stupid and Exhausting!!
Don’t forget cheap, as far as NBA franchises go.
He also got blessed to go to Miami who has a history of pulling the juice out of their oranges down there. A real coach, utilizing a player that suites them and the team best. What a concept
Could you imagine both Davion & Keon in our back court at the same time? Throw in Keegan at the 3/4 and you’d have a formidable defense.
Definitely not Mumbo jumbo, every successful team in sports, that’s continually successful has this. Look at the 49ers they have a culture and identity and had a run building off that identity. Eagles same thing Oline and dline, good corners that fit their identity and ignore linebackers which has bit them at times. Heat culture is a true thing, they practice hard and a defensive mindset. A reason they’ve got 6 straight playoffs and 2 finals that overachieves based on their talent level. Celtics and okc have built through the asset building culture. Okc went what 2 years without a playin because they had a plan and idea of what they wanted to do. Extended dort when they fully bottomed out because they wanted their identity to be around playing hard defense. These organizations line up around these culture and if they don’t they are out of a job. There’s a reason a lot of teams are perennially in the playoffs and a reason teams like us aren’t. Starts at the top and the mission statement/ goal of what they are about. The great bill walsh always said we are only truly competing with a handful of teams and why a handful in football are getting all the ???? ???? and why some have just a flash and quickly fizzle out.
Clear direction, good communication, professionalism, etc is the goal. How the organization handles and maintains those principals when they face the slightest adversity is the real test.
Brown came in with similar sentiments (as Blake noted), and once adversity set in, shit went back to how it was before. Whether it’s Vivek and his inner circle, or other aspects of Basketball Operations, it needs to be stomped out quickly.
Wait and see approach with Perry, for me at least. He is the first GM with experience that Vivek has hired, so progress?
Pete D and Monte had just as much front office experience as Perry has.
Wasn’t he the GM of the Knicks from 2017-2023?
He was the GM under President of Basketball Steve Mills who was fired and Perry demoted under Leon Rose leadership and later released .
Perry is experienced but never top decision maker , just like Pete D , Monte and Vlade . Perfect hire for Vivek since he is and will always be the Shitshow conductor !
Yes. Perry was the cap guy mostly with NY and in general.
He ain’t coming in to make decisions. He’s coming in to be a Vivek yes man and take care of the cap.
….fuck yoh Vivrk
Perry track record with drafts and trades is mixed, but those organizations also got out of being bad also.
DeMar involved in an incident at a sushi bar.
https://x.com/KeegMuse/status/1913719523099959796
That’s a raw deal
I told you something smells fishy!
Wonder if he ordered the DMC roll.
DDR puts it ISO in MISO.
Cold roll.
Take a name and conjure up what identify it personifies.
As a fan of the Kings and attending games since 1985, the same year I arrived in this locale, being a previous New York Knicks fan, I’ve seen a lot of Sacramento basketball. The post KC Kings era arrived in Sacramento as a lower level team. The Maloofs brought in the Petrie/Adelman Kings which were a pleasing version of basketball. Pete Carrill’s Princeton offense, and a consistently winning team for 8 seasons.
The Maloofs messed up and ignited the current era, now 20 seasons in (and still with Petrie) when the Kings became the LOLKangz.
Vivek took the reigns, took the opportunity for a rebuild of reputation and his vision of a new brand of basketball (“like a jazz band”) and shit the bed. He promoted an outlandish self imagined fantasy and has never become even slightly enlightened as to make his abstract vision a reality. And he did this in the most subversive way- he hired inexperienced sycophants and legacy ambassadors and played pretend that he knew what he was doing, correcting errors, learning from his mistakes and cowardly slinked around behind the scenes. He is a liar.
We fans have lost trust. We find Vivek Ranadive a spineless fool, Matina Koloktronis a dominating nepotist (if not her family, her followers – Vlade, Peja, Doug Christie) and their efforts are described by the dismal results. One (1) playoff appearance in two decades. Two winnings seasons in twenty years.
It goes beyond belief. The level of incompetence is stupefying. Yet Vivek and Matina turn a blind eye to their outcomes and shun criticism.
That is the Sacramento Kings brand today.
Talk all you want about change – but until you show me something, Scott Perry, you’re just another piece of crap in a long line of bullshit.
You are Blake Griffin promoting Lobsterfest. And something smells fishy.
Welcome to basketball Hell.
Holy shit, UTQ!
One small quibble: I think it was the Jim Thomas ownership group that brought in Petrie and Adelman. The Maloofs reaped the benefits of that pairing.
Petrie did hire Adelman, but when the Maloofs were the owners.
Not true Adleman hired by Thomas . Thomas was still the owner when team -played Jazz in playoffs .
Maloofs owned the team when the 1st jazz team happened. The core was built right at the end. I can’t remember if vlade signing was end of Thomas or beginning of maloofs but the last Jim Thomas owned season was Eddie Jordan as coach.
From the Maloofs Wikipedia page:
Adelman was hired in 1998 while the Jim Thomas group owned the Kings; the Maloofs took majority control in July 1999.
Matina Koloktronis (which is apparently Greek for “control freak”) has been the COO of your Sacramento Kings for the last 27 years.
WTF…? Her arrival coincided with the beginning of the “glory days” teams, which explains a metric shit ton about a few things but doesn’t explain why she still gets to be the COO when the team has consistently underperformed her entire tenure. If we’re removing people from the front office shouldn’t you start from the top down at this point? Or does she have naked pictures of someone in the ownership group…
Typical corporate jargon that helps people feel better. How quickly he was hired after the McNair mutual release is concerning due to no open search to find a top candidate. This guy is a re-tread and mouthpiece from the Vlade era. I see the next season full of gofundmes for billboards. No way to slice it, we’re on a major downhill slide from 3 years ago with few assets outside of Domas. Wait till they trade him for Trae Young. Just a shuffling of the deck chairs.
They will own all of their 1st round picks through 2032 after this 2025 pick goes to Atlanta. Player assets? That’s another story.
This team has no business trading future picks to try and improve this current roster. Any such action stinks of Vivek’s win now model.
I was merely stating that the team had their picks, not that they should trade them away.
Sadly, you are 100% correct on all points . Wish it wasn’t but there is plenty of evidence to prove that deck chairs are being rearranged . Vivek had his next frontman puppet ready to go . LOL
No. Will Perry change anything? No.
The one thing all winning organizations have is an owner who hires good people and lets them do their jobs…..Scott
It’s really that simple. Vivek is the franchise ruiner.
Sell the team you little shit.
Hyperbole. I feel just another Vivek yes man and figurehead.
We will see. If Perry is truly given autonomy. It will be apparent and obvious this summer. Starting with multiple trades.
That would be a nice start. If the plan is to make a few tweaks to the roster. Keep the current core. The road is to ruin. This
current iteration won’t make the play in next year.
Blazers and Spurs are already primed to jumP past the Kings in the standings.
The other quandry is Christie. If he is retained this is definitely a Vivek directive.
I believe if Perry is half way competent. He will at least entertain interviews with a number of great candidates out there.
Sam Cassel, Micah Nori, Chris Quinn and Caron Butler(if a team needed Heat Culture it’s this one), Taylor Jenkins will be very much in demand. Great coach who had to deal
with Morants instability and injury issues.
The other option could be Christie is retained. One or 2 of those hot assistants are hired. They will have Christie’s job by the end of the season. Guaranteed.
Everything will be real transparent by Sept.
Another do boy parading as a GM or has Vivek realized after continuous failure?. Let Perry run the show.
I suspect the former. Unfortunately.
Couldn’t agree more on everything. My exact thoughts regarding the head coach of this team next season. Outside of other credible coaches just not wanting to deal with all this, if Doug is still the coach next season Perry is 100% just a vivek puppet.
The roster construction is another big tell. He’s been quoted on Zach and his contract but we all know he’s a personal favorite so let’s see. Not expecting anything new going forward sadly
I think the comments were spot on about Lavine. Perry also mentioned that Lavine needs to be like the 3rd best player on a team for that team to be successful.
That puts the roster in a spot where Domas should be a No. 2, and LaVine a No. 3, so this team still has no No. 1 option, if they want to even try to compete for anything close to a NBA title. Sigh.
And likely the only way for the Kings to get that #1 is to draft one. I know the concept of magic beans does’t excite many but when I watch the NBA playoffs and so many teams are rolling with their drafted stars in the likes of Ant, Tatum, Jokic, Cade, Paolo, etc, I can’t help but wonder if the Kings just blew it all up for as many picks as possible.
The simple truth is a #1 isn’t walking through that door in free agency and the Kings really don’t have the assets to trade for one without leveraging a lot of the future. I’m of the mindset that a team should be trading a bunch of future firsts to try ant get their #1, they should only do that once they have their #1 and they are ready to contend.
Doh…I meant to say they shouldn’t trade away future firsts to get their #1.
We’re falling behind the rest of the West with a core that has a play-in/first round exit ceiling. A smart owner/FO would blow it up this offseason and bottom out for next year’s draft. Maybe Perry can talk some sense in to Vivek that perhaps MM was unable to.
As the team is currently constructed I could see the Kings finishing in the bottom 3 of the West with only Utah and the mess in PHX behind the Kings. Hell, Utah may jump if they capture the Flagg.
Just a glance at the teams in the West and you’re right, we are easily next to PHX and Utah as the three worst teams next season. So, may as well bottom out.
Phx sounds like they are selling and I could see them getting a haul for Booker to HOU or SAS and KD would still garner a solid return.
Yeah, PHX is going to have to make some drastic moves and I could see a situation where they get solid hauls from the like of Houston and San Antonio, both of whom have tons of assets for a Booker or Durant move.
Beal’s deal is arguably the worst in the league and the Suns don’t have the assets to attach to him to move him…yet. Should they sell off Booker and Durant first, I could see them attaching picks and/or youth to Beal. If there were a situation where they called the Kings and offered Beal and two firsts for LaVine, I’d consider it with rebuild in mind. Got to get Beal to agree to first due to his no trade clause.
#SellTheTeamVivek.
Honestly in terms of communication the best version would be if Domas requests a trade. As if that happens the delusion of our owner thinking this team is anything will get even harder to rationalize.
Between Monk, Demar, Domas on the block you should be able to muster a little draft capital, flyer prospects or some cap flexibility or bad salary with caveats of future focused stuff.
Honestly wouldn’t be opposed to deals/sign and trades with Keegan or Keon down the pipe as well. Neither will be on the next actual good Kings team. I expect they are closer to their median outcome than we would like to admit and the market may view it slightly differently.
But i’m wasting breath. None of this will happen but in an alternate reality I do think we could firesale pretty effectively for a rebuild. Instead I look forward to stagnation, poor lottery picks or choosing again to play an extra game in a fake version of the playoffs than keep a draft pick.
All this from above is relevant only and only if Vivek gives the reins to Scott Perry 100%. It would be a start but if he doesn’t then it will be the same old Sacramento Kings. Vivek has to stay out of the decisions period.
Given the hiring process, and given his less than imposing resume, I little faith in Perry even if he gets the reins/autonomy and blows it up.
Having said that, in a complete rebuild, there’s a chance that the GM lucks into a Giannis/Joker kind of franchise cornerstone, which may start a turnaround for the Kings. Or not.
With the choice of a coach we will know soon enough how much clout Perry has. I fully expect “him” to pick Doug Christie. And a big part of the fanbase will embrace that choice (and Vivek knows that).
This would be the primary hope, similar to a trash GM like Vlade lucking into having the opportunity to take Luka.
Vivek would not have hired someone like Perry if he wanted him to have control . Just another 2nd banana puppet .
Nothing from VR indicates that he’s going to do things any differently. If anything he’s regressing by dragging that big goof Vlade around and bringing Scott Perry back.
I’ve been saying the same thing, the best thing that can happen to this franchise right now is Sabonis requesting a trade which would force Vivek/Perry to basically rebuild because there would be no point in keeping Lavine and DDR w/o Sabonis.
And I agree, yoi could actually get a nice haul for Sabonis, Lavine and DDR and MM as well if you choose to move him too.
Then rebuild around KM, KE, DC and picks and whatever young players you get in the trade. Then next year becomes a tank and you hope to hit on a franchise player in the post 2025 drafts.
I’d still love to keep Sabonis, but you could be right on selling off every vet of value. Keep the 3 rookie scale deals and build from there.
In addition to building with youth, the Kings could follow the path that OKC, Utah, and more recently Brooklyn took in eating bad deals in exchange for picks. As an example, OKC ate Horford’s deal in 2020 and now may have Philly’s pick if they get bumped out of the top 6. This strategy could work in large part due to the new apron rules. Teams high in salary are going to desperately want to cut their cap. Of course, the Kings would need to clear their own cap first to work this strategy, but something tells me Vivek could be persuaded to spend less.
The problem with keeping Sabonis and trading the others (Lavine, DDR) is we’d be in no man’s land, not good but bad enough to land a top 3 pick. And I don’t get the feeling with Sabonis’ recent comments that he would want to be a part of a semi rebuild.
You could be 100% right. If he really is unhappy, I’d prefer to move him. It hasn’t been fair to him and he deserves better.
Yes, it is a good approach, but as you know, we have talked about it for years, at least pre-Beam team, and it never happened.
Not a chance of moving DDR or Zach for much other than bad contracts and under performing players .
Vivek and the other owners won’t go for a full rebuild. They have such high ticket prices that they want to stay “competitive” so they don’t lose money. I don’t agree with that direction for long term success on the court.
Domas asking for a trade might be a good thing to force the organization to go in the young players/draft direction. I also don’t think Domas will be traded…
I do expect DDR to be traded. Idk what bis value is to other teams. Probably a role player or two, and maybe a 2nd in return? Maybe.
This is the sole reason Vivek has refused to rebuild/tank in 12 years of ownership.
I do expect Sabonis to be traded and Monk too along with DDR. IMO we have to keep Javine for his contract which I don’t think that’s a bad thing. He can score in multiple ways but has his drawbacks.Most impotantly his defense I think with a good defensive coach he can at least improve on that aspect of his game. Trading DDR Sabonis and Monk will get some good players without using up your draft picks. Maybe just one.
Whatever Perry believes in will be destroyed by that meddling little chap.
Sell in May and go away.
With the valuations of NBA franchises skyrocketing, I have to believe that someone will eventually approach Vivek and co. with an offer they can’t refuse. It’s becoming a very exclusive billionaires club, and Vivek isn’t one of them. From all that, I don’t think that happens until after the NBA expands and all the owners get fat expansion checks first.
Maybe Elon Musk.
Hahaha…no. I don’t want another ego maniac who thinks whatever they do is a new and innovate way of completing things. Unfortunately, I imagine most billionaires are like that. They are surrounded by sycophants who shower them with praise when they piss into the wind.
I was just kidding.
Musk is a jackass but I don’t truly hate him. He’d just be evil mark cuban in the league lol
I hate him because he thinks that destroying the government and ruining the lives of tens of thousands of innocent workers by letting AI programs fire them is a funny little game. Among other stuff we need not get into here.
That said, he’d probably still be a better owner for the Kings.
I thought he was the Dismissive Little Chap…
Why not both?
Remember just a few months ago when the King’s coaches and many fans thought MM could be the full time PG and develop into that role? I think even Jerry fell for this.
The season ends and Domas immediately says the team needs a PG. Lol.
The stupidity of this franchise is something else. It’s left a large subset of fans gasping for straws at anything that might stick like MM at point guard or Lavine and DDR becoming winning players and being able to play together even though they couldn’t for years in Chicago.
An absolute laughing stock of a franchise.
It is sad how Vivek plays upon the hopes of the fans.
I remember just a few months ago when many fans realized they didn’t have a choice but to hope MM could develop into a full time PG. But then 2 weeks later he was in and out of the Physical Therapy calendar and nursing injuries the rest of the season. Whether we were “sold” on the idea or not it was pretty obvious the team wasn’t going to find a starting PG on the waiver wire, thus further illustrating that the season was likely a lost one. But sure, we were all “grasping for straws” and shit.
Cool narrative you have of your fellow Kings fans.
IMO we have a really good chance of getting the Kings next point guard. A trade of Derosan and probably a second or two might pry away Andrew Nembhard and Jarance Walker from the Pacers. Both up and coming players.
There is no reason the Pacers would consider this.
Sure they would. They need a veteran with scoring and who can work with the younger players in development. Nembhard is stagnant behind Hali and doesn’t have a chance in starting. IMO the Pacers can use a veteran like DDR who still can score and help with younger players development.
They under no circumstances would make that move . Nemhard is younger and better than DDR and guards .
The truth hurts, I just tell it like it is and alot of commenters don’t like that.
Uh huh…
It’s pretty wild to think that Monte let this team with no starting PG after he inherited a fringe all-star PG and then proceeded to draft 3 more in the lottery over the last 5 years.
Lol, it’s comical.
Furthermore, MM could have done nothing the last 3 years and we’d have Fox and Hali as our two best and highest paid players and that would be miles better of where we’re at right now.
That’s 100% right. But with Ellis and Monk and Murray, the team would be fine without Fox to play the 2. The problem is that you can’t possibly get a player as good as Hali in return for Sabonis or Fox.
Kept the wrong PG and traded for the least valuable position in the modern NBA.
Should’ve made the younger & better player the Franchise and traded Fox for the best possible 2, 3 or 4, like Indy did by acquiring Siakham.
Alec Burks, Donte D, Davion Mitchell, Halliburton, Bogi, Buddy Hield, Cory Joseph. All former Kings guards now playing in the playoffs. I’m sure I forgot others.
As long as the Kings keep laying golden eggs for ownership, nothing will change. Can’t imagine any decent players coming here, and, after the way Vivek treated McNair and Wilcox, can’t see any decent executives coming, either. Hard to see this team winning more than 30 games next season.
I should have recognized that Vlade hanging out with Vivek courtside was a bad sign. But don’t Vlade, Peja and Doug know that Vivek is using the fans nostalgia to cover for his misdeeds? Do they care?
You beat me to the punch! Golden eggs for all the owners on Easter. And every other day of the year.
Happy Easter to all you King’s Herald fans. Just my opinion but good things are coming. GO KINGS!
The theory folks have posted here over the years re Vivek’s master plan makes a lot of sense to me: He’s keeping the patient on perpetual life support. Not bad enough for the majority of ever-hopeful fans to get pissed and stop spending their money on him. Not good enough that he has to dip into his profits to spend on super max contracts and other ways of going all in chasing a championship. Thus, he and the minority owners cruise along seeing their investment valuation rise higher and higher, laughing all the way to the bank. He’s never given a shit about the fans and, despite what talking heads spout on local media, he doesn’t truly want to win any more than he has to to keep the patient subsisting on life support. If he did, he would’ve wisened up long ago and let true basketball minds take the reins. I don’t doubt that he thinks he has more basketball knowledge than he actually does and that his ego has driven the continuation of his stupid personnel choices far longer than a competent decision maker would allow. But again, he’s making obscene profits while getting to play w his toy, so what do he and the other owners care as long as the money keeps flooding in?
Thats my issue with the profit sharing part of the league. Do the bare minimum and still swim in a pool of gold coins. The teams valuations will continue to balloon and the league will keep printing money.
The only way we get out of this is if another whale came and offered to buy the team
Afraid so.
I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but it really does benefit the league for the Lakers to get the cream of the crop at the expense of teams like the kings. I would not be surprised if the leage were offering secret incentives for the Kings to perennially suck.
Like him or not, what Vivek (or the Kings’ ownership group in general) doesn’t participate in and never have is the league’s profit sharing revenue. He waived that when he bought the team.
Based on the halftime score, dang I’m so disappointed that the Kings didn’t take the opportunity to get absolutely demolished by the Thunder. It would have been a beat down of historic proportions. (But still wouldn’t have convinced Vivek that he was anything but on the one true path to a championship, of course.)
Oh Wow!
That is a whipping. Yes, we are listening to the Thunder. And it’s loud and scary.
I so wish the Kings would follow the Thunder model for a rebuild. They knew when to trade away their “stars” (Westbrook, then PG13, then CP3) for future assets, then ate bad deals in exchange for future picks, built through the draft, pounced on an excellent role player in Hartenstein because they created the cap space, moved Giddey for an elite defender in Caruso, and are now on the precipice of competing for a title. Oh… and they have yet to play their lottery pick from last year (Topic) and they still own more future picks than they could possibly use. The Kings have done the exact opposite during the Vivek era.
See oshima’s and my thoughts above. There’s no need for them to put that much thought into things. Their profits are humming right along doing the bare minimum.
That would actually be a really interesting case study: The Thunder and the Kings are about as comparable franchises as possible in terms of media markets. I wonder what a CPA would find if they looked into which club is making more money these days.
OKC is 25h in payroll this season and have every player returning next year with cap space to spare. They are likely making more money than the Kings by virtue of nationally televised games and the playoffs. Thunder ticket prices are some of the lowest in the league in the regular season while the Kings are in the middle of the pack.
What pisses me off is that most other team, especially in small markets, drop their prices when the team isn’t performing well. PDX, Hornets, Jazz, etc all had ticket prices drop this season because ownership knew they were gong through a rebuild The Kings, however, haven’t done that despite being a crappy team for the vast majority of the Vivek era. The continue to pretend and build like they are a playoff team and their prices reflect that.
From all that, I agree, the Kings are likely printing cash because they really don’t spend to compete, aren’t bad enough to have empty seats, and can continually have expensive seats for an average product. They are the dog paddling team of the league; not out to win the race and are content to keep their heads dry
Okay, that’s the piece I was curious about: how much the playoffs and national attention move the needle financially for a small market team versus just keeping costs to a minimum and butts in seats. Thanks. I’d be curious to see the long-term comparison over the next many years between the teams bc the bills will come due for the Thunder eventually unless they keep catching lightning in a bottle by replacing their players due for big contracts with continuously amazing draft picks without missing a beat. Seems like the surer shot to keep the profits coming is riding the mediocrity train as long as possible like I’m afraid Vivek is doing. Also curious how many other markets that plan would work in, given the incredible loyalty Kings fans have for our team. Thus why I’m cynically worried that Silicon Valley Vivek found his pot of gold here among us Central Valley rubes and is taking it for all it’s worth.
OKC definitely has a vision and is executing it perfectly. With no player making over $40M per year (the Kings have 2 such players) they can afford to ride out their rookie scale deals and kick contracts down the road. If a rookie doesn’t pan out, they have a ton more picks waiting in the cupboard. They could also flip those rookie scale deals and/or picks for more short term win now moves. They are a dynasty in the making with incredible depth, youth, and future.
The Kings, on the other hand, have none of those traits. The real test that’s coming down the pike is a possible extension of Keegan Murray. Are the Kings going to pay to keep him? One disturbing fact, only two players has signed a rookie extension in the Vivek era, and they were Fox and Buddy Part of that is that they don’t draft and develop well, but they’ve also traded away 2 solid players on or before their rookie deals ending (IT and Haliburton).
The Thunder rebuild of the last 5 years is absolutely incredible and is something that every FO employee of every team should be studying. There should be a documentary made on it as well.
What’s really remarkable is that in their full history in being in OKC they’ve had just 3 seasons where the finished with less than 40 wins. The first year they moved to OKC in 08-09 and 2020-21, 2021,22 season are they years they “sucked.”
Those suck years landed them high in the lottery and they picked James Harden in 09′, Josh Giddey in 21′ and Chet in 2022. That’s how you do it.
Here again with the same opportunity despite whiffing on Luka in 2018 and trading the wrong player in Hali in early ’22. If you keep Murray, Ellis, Monk and Carter (bc he’s cheap) and JV (same reason), what can you get for Sabonis, Lavine and DDR?
Would’ve been nice to get “more” for Fox, but at least you’re not paying him $65MM per year. If you ship out $110-115MM in those vets and get back young players and picks who play the 1, 4 and 5 …. will the team be worse than 40-45 wins? Probably not and it’ll be a lot cheaper.
You can trade Sabonis and get a value return but zero chance with Lavine or DDR . Very doubtful you will see 40 wins for many years once Sabonis is gone .
I think there are scenarios where you can get value out of LaVine and DDR. Truth is, just moving off from them is value. Should the Lakers and Orlando go out quickly in the first round I could see the Lakers come calling on DDR since they don’t really have scoring beyond LBJ and Luka. Orlando could definitely use the shooting of LaVine and can easily make up for his defensive inadequacies. The returns may not be eye opening but something simple like DDR for Rui and change works. LaVine for KCP and some rookie scale deals like da Silva and Black would be fine. Orlando also has 2 first rounders this year that could be involved in a LaVine draft day trade.
Chances of any of this happening? Low…very low.
Building around a 5 like Sabonis is a fools errand— you can get to 45 wins. Get a big who can defend the rim, run the floor & rebound and surround him with some dogs who can handle, attack, shoot 3’s and play D. Murray and Ellis are 2 already. Find 3 more, one at PG and a couple who can play the 3 or 4.
F the Thunder. Their owner did to Seattle what the Maloof’s tried to do to Sacramento.
At least their owner allows Presti to run the show. FWIW, he also was one of 22 owners who voted to keep the Kings in Sac.
I actually like their team as constructed and the team energy they bring.
ho-hum
Gonna try and take the high road on this acquisition of Scott Perry here…it is 420 today after all…there is so much that has gone wrong with the Kings that I’m convinced this change might not hurt the team.
Perry had some notable defensive-minded acquisitions while with the Knicks – bringing in Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, and Taj Gibson – while also drafting some notable talent in Mitchell Robinson and RJ Barrett.
If he can replicate some of the success he had with the Knicks, then I believe (puff, puff) there is a better chance that he can bring in marquee talent at a position of need better than his successor. Perhaps praying Vivek will give the GM a little more latitude will work this time, as the owner has never been scrutinized to the level he is now.
What you’ve said about Perry is the only thing that allows me to sleep at night. Of course, there’s always the graffiti we had on the walls at my high school back in the day: Can’t cope? Don’t mope. There’s hope. Smoke dope.
He made zero final decisions on any Knick player . He was the Knick version of Pete D in Denver prior to Kings stint . He Worked under Steve Mills who was fired and replaced by Leon Rose . Rose resurrected the Knicks and kept Perry but demoted him immediately . Perry will have the same title and power as Monte . Dream if one must !
Well, yeah. The Platypus hire itself was just another KANGZ move. Same as it ever was. Unfortunately I see this team getting even worse in the coming years, as Domas leaves, as Keon leaves, as Keegs finds a way out. Nothing to look forward to, except the hope that becoming solidly planted as the worst franchise in all of professional sports causes the dismissive little shit to back off.
Maybe Mr. Perry can clearly communicate two things to me: 1. Did he get an iron-clad commitment from Vivek to not interfere or is he just there to do Vivek’s bidding? 2. What direction is he taking the roster? Status quo, tinker on the edges, shot for stars, or trade everyone gather picks and do a 3 year rebuild?
Guess we’ll find out whenever they hold the press conference.
We’ll know for sure if Christie gets the HC job and LaVine gets an extension.
My thinking is that the decision on head coach was included in the hiring of Perry. They must have had conversations prior to the news breaking of his hire. It was a quick turnaround time, so things had to have been in motion for a while.
Is Doug the right guy? Idk. He had a bad situation when he took over. But he also made some odd decisions at times, and he might not be the best Xs and Os guy.
Lavine getting an extension would be pure lunacy lol.
I’ll give Scott Perry the benefit of the doubt. Let him do his job and evaluate based on the results. For me it’s easy. Wins and losses. Kings went from 48 to 46 to 40. Just do better than that and establish a vision for the team other than piddling around the edges. Go big or rebuild. 13 years of chasing aging vets and bad drafts hasn’t worked.
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