Your Sacramento Kings are the third seed in the West and have a little time off before Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors. With such a successful season and a gap between games and obvious connections between the franchises, it’s only natural that Sacramento Kings Chairman Vivek Ranadivé take a quick curtain call.
Vivek did just that, in a wide-ranging interview with Marc Spears of Andscape. And while most of the interview is your run-of-the-mill NBA owner being happy things finally stopped sucking, there’s a certain quote that stands out to any Kings fan familiar with the Kings history since Vivek purchased the Kings 9 years and 11 months ago:
“I decided that I was going to really get involved in everything because people were saying I was involved, but I wasn’t actually involved. And so, I got involved in the coaching search and that process, and I just really got close to everybody.”
Over the course of the entire interview there is one connective theme; Vivek would like you to know he was involved in every positive decision, but not involved in the negative decisions you heard he was involved in.
In short, Vivek:
Now, to be clear and to be fair, Vivek has gotten a lot of flak over the years. Some of it has been fair, some of it has not. Even today you don’t have to search far to find Kings fans criticizing Vivek for slights both real and imagined.
Vivek, to his credit, seems to have a positive attitude towards the criticisms:
What has been your toughest time during the ownership of the Kings?
Obviously there’ve been challenges along the way, many challenges. And so, when you find fans that are unhappy, that’s a privilege, to have fans that care that much and that have that kind of passion. So, I’m one of these people that’s always moving forward, and always trying to learn and get better. So, there were things that were often said and written which were just simply not true. And it was not for me as much as it was for my family and friends, that I felt bad that they had to read those kinds of things.
But, look, I grew up in Bombay [India]. And there’s kids on the street that don’t get food and that are eating out of a garbage can. Now, that’s stress and that’s hardship. This? This is a privilege.
But at the same time that Vivek discusses the difficulties of unfair criticism and downplays his past involvement, he also spends the articles taking credit to varying degrees for De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Mike Brown, while taking no blame for any of the franchise’s past mistakes.
At the end of the day, I don’t want to focus on the negative here. I feel like, due to past mistakes, Vivek gets less credit than he deserves for this season’s successes.
Vivek hired Monte McNair. Vivek allowed McNair to draft and then trade Tyrese Haliburton. Vivek signed off on hiring Mike Brown. Vivek’s fingerprints are all over this season’s success, just as they were on the failures of seasons past. We must credit where we also assigned blame. Success and failure all start at the top.
I think, no matter what Vivek says, that he has always been a very involved owner. We’ve heard enough stories over the years, both on the record and through rumors, that it seems silly to pretend otherwise. But I don’t believe that makes Vivek any different from most owners. If I owned the Kings I would certainly have opinions on how to run the franchise and I wouldn’t be shy about sharing those opinions with the people I hired to run my team.
But I also think Vivek has, at times to a fault, trusted his decision makers too much. Is there any question that Vivek allowed Vlade Divac to draft who he wanted to draft? To make the (awful) trades he wanted to make? Everything I have ever heard, including conversations with Vlade himself, say that Vivek expressed many ideas and opinions but ultimately allowed his front office to operate as they saw fit.
With Monte McNair, Vivek got it right. With Mike Brown (whatever Vivek’s level of involvement was) Vivek got it right. Whether Brown was his call, or simply deferring to McNair’s judgement, we can give Vivek credit for it.
At the end of the day, Vivek cares about making the Kings a good team, and has far less problematic stances than many NBA owners. Criticism has been warranted over the years, but praise is also warranted now that the Kings are good.
Personally, I wish Vivek’s victory lap had been more transparent and honest about past mistakes instead of trying to paint every good move as his doing, and every bad move as out of his control, but it’s standard tech billionaire talk.
in the end all that is matters is it finally worked. As long as Vivek doesn’t impact the team in a negative manner moving forward, let’s give him his flowers as the team succeeds.
If there’s one thing I know. It’s that Vivek knows what he’s doing, and above all reproach.
is this where I parked me car?
Kevin!
”you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, Wayne Gretzky , Michael Scott “ -thishotfirekevin
Nothing better, than old leather.
The last 16 years of face palms, has made my face and head strong.
I want to see Vivek trash talk Lacob on Twitter. That would be fun.
Anyway, Vivek brought in Barry Bonds to the preseason shoot around, and well…here we are now, ready to make waves against the Bash Brothers, or whatever that tandem in the Bay Area is called.
Seriously, though, I’m happy for Vivek and glad he’s finally enjoying success as a majority owner.
Is he majority owner or plurality owner? I honestly don’t know.
Managing general partner. Doesn’t control a majority ownership stake.
Actually, now, I think he’s also the majority shareholder in the partnership. Owners in the group have sold their shares to him a few years ago now, I believe.
Boring… and beautiful. Let’s fuck some shit up!
if anything, Vivek didn’t get enough criticism. Just a monster ego taking credit for the good and ignoring all the years of terrible.
He hasn’t been like any other owner. His team has been at the bottom because he didn’t give power to someone/the right GM. He did and now it’s rolling.
He can spew Bs all he wants as long as he allows his GM to work. Just enjoy the damn winning Vivek. Go along for the ride. Cause it’s Ws.
Nailed it, thank you !!!
Wanker!
indeed the perfect English insult for him
Bloody pillock!
Exactly. My high school Rugby team -Davis High School- was called The Wankers. Seriously. Even in the newspaper. .
My intramural football team at college was called Painful Rectal Itch. Actually, that was the name of all of our teams. No one wanted anything to do with us.
calling a bunch of high school boys Wankers – seems to hit the mark.
It does remind me explaining adolescent promiscuity and my own sexual history
I had sex all the time in high school – two, three times a day, sometimes more…
oh wait – did you mean involving other people?
🤡🤡🤡
With such a wonderful season, I had almost forgotten what a blowhard Vivek is. I don’t think his relative level of involvement vs. other owners matters much. What matters is results. This season has been great and the future looks bright. The 9 seasons before that? Not so much. I still remember him stuffing the organization with retired player mascots to deflect criticism and distract fans from the poor product.
It’s best for all involved if the owner of our favorite sports team is an anonymous rich person who stays out of the media.
If I’m Monte, I keep the incoming Executive of the Year trophy sitting dead center on my desk and smack Vivek in the face with it every time he wanders into my office with a “thought” or “suggestion.”
Guarantee that Vivek would say something like “Should have both our names on there!”
Because it just wouldn’t be Vivek Ranadive if he didn’t offer up utter bullshit in response to anything. It reminds me of a line Molly Ivins once used about a certain gun toting Congressman from East Texas: “Have you heard about this guy running around shooting off automatic weapons running around with this woman, Ms World, in Afghanistan?” (This was in 1980.)
Molly Ivins response was rather simple. As she explained it: ‘There’s only one way you can respond to something like that (as she’s sighing deeply): “You must be talking about Charlie Wilson.”‘
That’s my response about Vivek, without the part of a young Russian model in a white fur coat standing in mud, more or less. ‘Oh, Vivek said something again. Oh goodee!’ At this point, my eyes have been injured so badly from rolling my eyes that I need surgery to fix them.
There’s a bunch of eye rolling bullshit in there. The thing about ‘having to save the team in the Capitol City’ is a good example. Domas being traded here and instantly making De’Aaron an All Star is another. (LOL.) Wanting to be in Mike Brown’s Day to Day coaching is another great example.
What you said Greg:
This is pretty much the long and short of it. I have questions about how things will operate moving forward, but when it comes to these types of interviews: ‘Oh, Vivek said something again. Oh goodee!’
I’ll never disparage Vivek, he swept in and kept the Kings in Sacramento when they were moving to Seattle. His involvement and how transformative Golden One has been to the city of Sacramento and the region is huge. Now that we are hosting a playoff series with a brilliant, likable young core it’s just a bit of validation I think he deserved.
You know? All of this seems true! And important!
The complaint is his failure to acknowledge errors (weak ego?). Both the contributions and the colossal dishonesty about errors can be real.
Many have always said his business and community efforts have been extraordinary. His basketball efforts have been equally horrifying.
That assessment is highly dependent on what you value.
Only took nine years and three cycles of hiring a coach before a GM to get everything running smoothly! 😉
Cool.
So we now know who to blame if it all comes tumbling down next season? (I hope it doesn’t).
Too bad he didn’t pick up Brown’s leadership quality of praising his staff and being humble himself.
He just couldn’t help himself…what a troll.
E. G. O
Fingers crossed Vivwreck only talks shit and doesn’t actually go back to dragging this franchise down.
“I was reading up on the Reagan era’s policies of trickle down economics and thought how can this be applied to the game of basketball. That’s when I came up with the idea of the dribble hand off, and instead of a financial kickback, I came up with something outside the box…the kickout! You literally do it to outside the box! So I approached Coach Brown with the concepts.”
-Vivek, probably
“If we win, I deserve all the credit. If we lose, I shouldn’t be blamed at all.” 😉
When it comes to the on floor product Vivek is a shitty owner. Not to mention rumors of behind scenes/culture of organization.
Does James Dolan deserve credit for being a good owner?. No, he’s an overwhelming ego who backed off and now The Knicks are building. Same goes for Vivek.
This piece concerns me to be honest
This may be my irrational Kings terrors creeping up and finding an outlet while we are in a good phase, but one of my biggest fears of this season is Vivek feeling emboldened by the turn of form.
Lest we forget he hired the majority of main decision makers over his tenure based mostly in their proximity and chemistry with him. The amount of ex players that circled the team and him over his tenure to be the next in line if someone would be let go is too many to count.
If the change in form starts somewhere I honestly think it’s begins with McNair’s appointment, as all the other good decisions are kind of predicated on that one first. Vivek can give himself credit but lest he and us forget, they outsourced the job search to a 3rd party because of how bad he had been in hiring GM’s prior. And then was extremely coy or hesitant in offering an extension to that same GM.
If that alone doesn’t discredit this framework I don’t know what does. I am sure Vivek has picked up the bill and or spent a little more behind the scenes to aid to the current culture shift. To his credit money has never seemed a deterrent.
But the last lesson he should be taking away is being more involved. The best owners know what they don’t know. And the main decision that has led to the other good decisions starts from hiring someone under that guise
McNair has three years of salary coming his way, so he can run things as he sees fit. I don’t think Vivek has the balls to fire McNair after all he’s accomplished, nor should he.
Nor should anyone.
Hit a tape measure home run with that Earth to Vivek -. Just let Monte and Brown continue to be outstanding .
Meh. CEO is gonna CEO. I give him credit for saying yes to the right things and trusting M&M (Monte&Mike). Vivek kept the team here and paid Fox. Now that Luka is turning into Campbells’ Chunky Soup Luka I feel a lot better about past fuck ups.
you mean Fatty, Flabby? who complains ALL the time.
Words that are hollow . Luka for all his perceived issues is a future Hall of Famer and has led a low talent team to 51 wins and Western finals . Just be fair .
I find this to be a rather problematic and unfair statement. That was not a low talented team. Unless you think Jalen Brunson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith are all low talented players. I happen to not agree with that sentiment.
So, if fairness is what your’e after, perhaps you could lead the way in this regard?
What are his perceived issues?
Not sure he has many perceived or real issues?
(Searching hard to maintain the positive vibes…) Well, he sweats less than Ballmer, bloviates less than Cuban, is less racist than Sterling and less misogynistic than Sarver. Yea?
Here’s a pertinent question: Who green lighted the hiring of Vlade Divac? And if it wasn’t Vivek, who green lighted the hiring of the guy that hired Vlade Divac? And so on.
I will give Vivek Ranadive as much credit for this season as the prior nine. No cherry picking, Vivek. In for a penny, in for a pound.
Good way of looking at. Most moves, by most org’s, are always done by basketball people. Do people around here think that Vivek Ranadive has any sort of clue about who the Kings might take in the 2nd round this year when the draft actually comes? I doubt it. Short of looking at Tankathon or looking at the Kings big board, he wouldn’t have a clue of any of those guys.
He knew, of course, that Domas was going to be an amazing multi-time All Star……despite the fact that Sabonis signed an extension that raised eye brows about whether or not Indy would get their money’s worth (at the time). Especially since he had never averaged over 25 MPG at that point. But Vivek knew Domas would be great, he would magically ride in on his Lithuanian horse and take De’Aaron along for the ride, yadda yadda yadda. Oh and did you hear he went over there to India with his good buddy Herb Simon whom he’s known forever. (We’ll ignore the fact that the Simons have owned the Pacers for 40 years.)
Oh, and even better, they had to take a plane full of shit over to Mumbai just to build an arena that just weeks earlier had chickens and mud puddles and everythang! And it went up just like that!
It’s hubristic tech billionaire bullshit. All of it. Same as it ever was. Proof is in the pudding, and the reality is he’s always been involved and always will be. For better or worse, that’s the way it is. The only question is will he allow his basketball people to do what they need to do once the discussions are had and minds are made up.
Same as it ever was.
Stats on Domas not accurate in Indy . His AllStar seasons almost identical except he scored over 20 per game .
I didn’t provide any stats. Actually read what I actually wrote if you’re going to edit me. Thanks.
Conditioned to see your posts with stats copied from other websites without any correlation to anything.
In Domas last three seasons at Indy he averaged 35 minutes, 19 pts, 12 rebounds and 5 assists . Very similar to now .
Only on the surface is this true. If you look at impact stats, he’s obliterating all of his career highs.
Domas is having a career year. You can choose to believe that or not.
More Vivek BS that won’t come close to allowing one great season to erase ten embarrassing ones.
Just go make an app or something.
The important thing is that no one is overreacting.
Mocking, ridicule, rolling of the eyes, that’s still allowed right? Asking for a friend.
This is a fansite for discussing a sports team. Are you at the right website?
Hit dogs, as they say, holler.
Owner takes credit for employee work, a tale as old as time. But the sky is most certainly not falling, not even a little bit.
Dumbest owner in all of sports.
Last time I encountered Vivek, I thanked him. To a degree this was a thank you for not being so “involved”. and, primarily for keeping the Kings here.
According to his recent account, he has sort of reversed the narrative that has often been described about him: from being too involved to being less involved, in the sense of allowing his hire to do their jobs. His reverse narrative seems to be I was always involved but trusted my hires in the past and now am more involved. Huh?
We all see the world through our own lens and most often this lens reveals our heroic and best side. I suppose there could be a veiled truth to his comments: that he has always been involved and continues to be so. But the new hires seem to be the right ones and seem to be able to make the right decisions. He can see it however he wants but Monte and Mike Brown have got their way- either by standing up to him, convincing him to accept their decisions or by making him think that they are his decisions.
There are always multiple narrative about events and most are self-serving. I suspect that his personality does not accept any semblance of a mistake or error. We can call that confidence, arrogance or see it as a driver for success.
No matter- he bought the Kings, kept them here and they have been successful- and that success is due to who he hired and how they acted, not to his granular decisions.
I am grateful for him and excited with the recent success. He can take credit if he wants.
Great points all and fairly certain Vivek will take credit- blame not so much .
Vivek could not help himself . All of the bad stuff was some other employees decisions and all the good decisions are his . Thanks – got it and not surprised .
How can you have so much success in the Tech world, make hundreds of millions of dollars and yet be so incredibly insecure.
This tells us that Vivek still has his head up his ass and all he smells is roses.
Hey – but at least you have beaucoup bucks! You can tell us all more about your 4 on 5 strategy, you Jazz band analogy and how you used a full court press for 8th grade girls basketball. This genius hasn’t learned from his mistakes if he doesn’t realize he’s been at fault. Shaka!
The Maloofs didn’t know any better and didn’t hide their trust fund baby attitude. This guy is worse – if he’s so brilliant (I went to M.I.T.!) he has less excuses.
sad and pathetic.
Show me any sociopathically wealthy person that isn’t insecure.
Rec’d for the appropriate spelling of beaucoup.
You all may take this brief anecdote with as many grains of salt as you see fit.
With this season’s joy, I have returned to wearing my favorite Kings hat whilst living here in Rip City. Every now and then, I’ve gotten a head nod throughout the season. Recently, I was at a coffeeshop and the barista commented that they’d worked at the DOCO Starbucks for a while. They said Vivek was a regular customer. They also said he was always rude to service staff, almost in a “going out of his way” to be rude to them.
I said I wasn’t surprised, and we left our interaction with a Light the Beam nod and me walking back out into the rain with my drink.
NBA 4.0: Get rid of Vivek, keep the team.
Vivek literally bought the right to say anything he wants about this team. He can never buy the right for people to respect or believe him.
“When the Kings were awful, I wasn’t meddling. This year, I meddled and look at us now”
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