The Athletic’s Sam Amick chatted with 1140’s Carmichael Dave this morning, and threw some fuel on the already-raging dumpster fire that is the Sacramento Kings (tip of the cap to SI’s Will Z for the excellent summary). Amick, on 1140:
“Everything old might be new again. Vlade Divac has been around a lot more lately, and that’s a talking point in league circles.”
And when asked if it was actually a possibility for Vlade to return to the Front Office?
“Yes there was chatter, but there’s a big leap from chatter to reality.”
When Amick reported there could be tension around De’Aaron Fox and the Kings, I dismissed it as being silly. Of course Fox had turned down the previous offers to wait for the opportunity to earn more! Why were we acting like that was an issue?! Silly me. Amick knew the Kings, forever dumb as a bag of hammers, saw it as an issue. So when Amick makes mention of a possible reunion between the Kings and Vlade, I’m paying attention.
It’s beyond absurd, and I’d like to think that even Vivek isn’t that dumb, but Vivek has shown us time and time again that we should not overestimate him.
The fact that there has even been a serious conversation about this is operational malpractice. And look, I love Vlade Divac. I truly do. I think he’s funny and loveable and I loved his time as a player here. But Vlade-The-GM was one of the worst experiences Kings fans have ever been put through, which is truly saying something. I know some fans can’t get past the GM tenure, and actively dislike Vlade even just as a former player who sits courtside. I’m not there, personally. I like seeing Vlade around. But I don’t want him anywhere near decision-making responsibilities for this team.
Being a Kings fan is an ongoing test of resiliency. You’d think a professional sports franchise would avoid giving fans reasons to finally walk away from this laughingstock of a team forever, yet Vivek seems hellbent on finding new (and old) ways to push Kings fans to the very limits of their loyalty.
If Vlade is hired back as GM, I truly will go on hiatus from watching the Kings. I’ll still come on The Kings Herald to read articles and comment/chat, but I think I will be done in terms of actively following the team.
And I’m still not over and will never get over Vlade passing on Luka for Marvin Bagley, and rehiring the guy who did that is more than a slap to the face to the fans that have endured years of basketball hell.
What freaking fall from where we were with the Beam Team two years ago. Only the Kangz could manage to fuck something like that up.
I was about to post something very similar.
Enough is enough.
Same. Been on board this trainwreck for 40 seasons now. (I was a sophomore in high school when they arrived from Kansas City.)
But this would probably be my breaking point. Especially as I’m about to move to SLC and will be within a 10-minute drive of the Delta Center.
It’s not fun to be a Jazz fan right now either, but at least they’ve shown a long history of being able to right the ship for periods of time.
It’s going to be fun for Jazz fans after they land a top 3 pick this year, plus the 7 future firsts owed to them over the next few years.
The Jazz are actually a good example of a small market that has built all their great teams through the draft: Stockton, Malone, Kirilenko, Deron Williams, Hayward, Gobert, Donovan Mitchell…and who ever they get this year.
That’s a great point, and very true.
I’m probably going to pick up the Jazz now as a co-team, so that whenever the Kangz invariably break my heart for the final time, the switch will be quick and ruthless.
That gets me thinking, who’s the best player the Kings built through via the draft?
I’m guessing many may say Fox or DMC, but I’m thinking it might be Peja. The list is embarrassingly small.
Probably Peja.
I think I (sadly) agree.
That’s a sharp take Adam.
Ricky Berry is obviously the biggest “what if”, maybe the L-Train being number two.
Fun facts:
There have been 40 drafts in Sacramento. They have drafted five players who reached the All-Star game in their careers. FIVE.
They have drafted 8 players in 40 years who finished in the top 5 in ROY voting.
They have drafted 3 players in 40 years who have reached ALL-NBA some point in their careers.
They have drafted three players in 40 years who have had a season in their career where they finished in the top 20 in MVP voting. THREE.
Remarkable.
This puts the literal GENERATIONS of ineptitude on full display perhaps better than anything I’ve ever seen.
Kudos…and I’m so, so sorry. That had to be depressing to pull together.
Maybe Divac already had some input on moving Fox to SA, just so him & Wemby can win more rings than Doncic, therefore proving him right? lol
Matina Kolokotronis
True Dat, Kfan. Her influence (Vlade, Peja, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby even Bobby Jackson in Stockton) should not be undersold.
Also, when was Vlade under contract as an “advisor” with the team? That’s news to me.
From the Will Z article:
And if Vivek wants to hire Vlade because he wants to keep Doug as the head coach, fucking hell…
I think we forget, Vlade was fired or even “let go.” He “stepped down” and has been circling ever since.
Deleted
…worth noting, the way Sam mentions ambassador, it sounds like he doesn’t really know and is unsure.
He said as much in the interview
With SA you never know if its just throwing another bone to the dead enders.
December of 2023: https://kingsherald.com/articles/vlade-divac-is-back-with-the-kings/
Wow, the ownership group in Dallas really knows how to destroy a fanbase.
Vivek: “Vlade, hold my beer.”
Was just about to post this exact thing. Kings and Mavs fans should create a joint support group.
Remember when the SunKings were the joke of two poverty franchises?
Kings and the Dallas should become the Rick’s Sacs
The Luka Losers!
Pin the tail on the Doncic!
Or at least a support group that smokes joints.
“I’m in!”
Time to bring back Kangz-Tshirt-Contest
Uh, no. Hiring Vlade back into the front office would be the last straw for me. I’ll go follow the Rockets or Grizzlies, and stop subjecting myself to the dumbest franchise in professional sports.
Sacramento is a great city, and deserves better.
“Being a Kings fan is an ongoing test of resiliency.”
I signed up for entertainment, not life coaching!
We’ve seen alot of public examples lately about the megalomania that goes on in very wealthy peoples’ heads.
No idea how Vivek made his money as a manager. He’s an idiot when it comes to owning a NBA franchise.
Can anyone recount anything funny and lovable about Vlade during his GM tenure?
Not the so stupid that he even doesn’t know the stretch provision kind of funny. Or the giving his pal a cushy job where he doesn’t have to do anything of consequence kind of lovable.
I used to work by Arco II during the heyday and met Vlade in line at the Starbucks near there a few times, he was very approachable and a genuinely nice guy. So as player and human I have some love for him.
As a GM/FO guy, I don’t want him involved in any capacity.
I was asking about his GM tenure, but thanks anyway.
I can’t stand that useless POS who was constantly covering up for DMC’s antics and let him run the asylum, while not putting in the work to understand his own job.
The only good thing about them re-hiring Vlade will be that I will have no more qualms about turning my back on this shit organization.
It sounds like you haven’t met him Rik. I think you would feel differently if you had.
Agree. Fuck Vlade. He was horrific. Don’t care if he’s a decent person.
And as always -Vivek-fuck all the way off.
Vlade would regularly hold off-record meetings with media when he was GM. He even invited some of us lowly bloggers. Even when we were being brutally critical of him, he was kind, funny, and generous with his time. I do not want Vlade to be GM, or President, or any other official front office role again, but he’s a nice and funny person. It’s difficult to separate Vlade the person from Vlade the GM, especially if you’ve mostly only ever experienced him as Vlade the GM, but I think of him in two different terms.
I do the same with Monte McNair, who I’ve been critical of as a GM but who I think is a very nice person who I like. He’s been great in my interactions with him.
I have completely embraced the fact that I now openly root for their misfortune. I definitely watch the games to root for them to lose.
It doesn’t make me feel good…
… but it doesn’t make me feel bad either.
He’ll always be the owner who thought it would be a good idea to roll out Shaq as partial owner. That’s a level of stupid that is hard to achieve.
And to come out of the Ws organization and choose Mullin to listen to.
So there is a chance that the Kings finish above .500 this year. This story would mean Vivek would fire the only GM, other than Petrie, with a wining record in order to replace him with a GM who never say his team get more than 39 wins and whiffed on a generational talent.
Also, lets not forget the other dumb fuckery. Vlade drafted Willie Cauley-Stein, with DMC on the roster, traded the #8 pick back to pick Papa G at #13 and Skal at #28, traded the #10 pick back for Justin Jackson at #15 and Harry Giles at #20, made the horrible JT/Stauskas trade to Philly, Signed Rondo, let Rudy Gay walk for nothing. There is probably more but my brain now hurts.
Nucking Futs!
We can probably just reuse the old billboard design.
Easy now, you sure those were not the owner’s calls and Vlade was just told to do it?
Somebody get Puke Guy on the horn immediately.
What are y’all complaining about?
As I pointed out in the other thread, by record this is shaping up to be the 11th BEST season in Sacramento history!
Quit whining!
I remember being told to “shut up and clap.”
And there’s more where that came from
Siri, show me smug, flaccid and ineffectual –
Fuck Vlade Divac.
Go away shithead.
Take it away, Petula!
When there’s no playoffs, and also no draft pick,
You can always go
Clowntown
When you’ve got Vivek, Matina and Vlade,
and hope has been murdered –
Clowntown
Just listen to the music that is coming from the Sawyer.
Paid in advance for season tix? Consult a lawyer.
How can you not lose?
The beam is much brighter there.
You can forget postseason, closet all your merch.
So go clowntown, say hi to Anjal1 when you’re
Clowntown, no finer arena for sure.
Clowntown inebriation’s waiting for you.
.
D’oh Co
Home of the Olden Self Centered.
Haha! I saw this a few times before I got it. Good one!
Dough Co., soft AF!
You know, when you take a step back and look at it, Kyle and Kayte really are the perfect broadcast team for this organization.
That’s one of many things us “Kings fans just don’t understand.”
Never thought of it like that but very accurate . They have made watching games almost as joyless as this teams performance .
This dynamic where there is a GM in charge of the team and then an advisor(Mullin, Vlade, Dumars Vlade again) that whispers in the owner’s ear undercutting the GM, is fucking absurd.
The guy whispering in the owner’s ear should be the head of basketball operations and should be the one that hires the GM so they’re all on the same page.
So clueless, it’s almost what you would expect from a cricket fan trying to understand the business of bball. No offense to cricket fans, but what kind of “dismissive little chap” thinks he can out-maneuver a group of pros at a game he admits he knows nothing about?
Please prepare for the head coach being selected before the GM, part III or IV now?
I’m now under the believe that the idiotic order in which things are done in this franchise is meaningless because it’s Vivek making all the decisions from the top.
He picks his coach, then hires a GM who will do is bidding. Then when the coach fails, he has the GM do the firing to save face, only to replace said GM after Vivek hires his next pick for coach.
” I’m not stupid, I don’t make the same mistakes twice”. I make them three times or more”
Now? Don’t tell us it’s just dawning on you this guy is over his head.
It’s truly amazing how many times this has happened during Vivek’s ownership.
I just renewed for next year. Pls tell he won’t do anything but rebound basketballs during warmups.
If your having buyers remorse, maybe this isn’t the time to tell you that’s all any of them do
If he’s anything more than the players’ official butt scratcher I’ll be pissed.
The Undead Have Arisen…
I wonder if Vivek is actively trying to aggravate the fanbase, so that he can claim the fans just don’t support him in this city, á là his good buddy Fisher.
Why, why did I become a fan of this franchise?
If this actually happens, screw it I’ll probably just become a bangwagon fan of whoever is the hot team.
Re-hire Vlade as the face of the FO while Anjali actually calls the shots.
Tell me with 100% certainty that this couldn’t happen.
I am in the same boat — if Vlade returns, I will not attend another game and I will stop watching. I can go back to the Warriors, my team from the late 1960’s until I moved to Sacto in the mid 80’s. Having a good GM is critical to success in pro sports. Vlade had no qualifications when he was hired other than being loved in Sacramento and sweet guy.
I actually sent Vivek a few DMs around the time of puke on court hero-guy, telling him that Vlade as GM was a disgrace to Sac and had to go. Shortly thereafter Vlade was gone. Not super proud of it but you’re welcome. I have not thus far sent him anymore DMs but I may need to start letting him know he needs to resign or sell the team.
Accomplish that and a statue of you is a certainty .
“Being a Kings fan is an ongoing test of resiliency.”
My liver sobs uncontrollably while nodding in agreement.
But hey. At least Zach LaVine is rostered on the Kings. So there is that!
I agree with some of you. It would be the last time I follow the Kings. Some of you would actually be thrilled I am not here anymore. Passing on Doncic as. Setting this team back another cpl decades is enough for me. If Vivek wants empty arenas, hire Vlade. He will see the fans are not going to pay high prices for an inferior product. I probably won’t be an ardent fan of o e particular team But I really enjoy the direction the Bulls are going in now. I also think Blazers have a nice future once they unload Grant and Ayton.
LOL
[…] Kings’ history of coaching and front-office hires — neatly summarized by recent chatter that Vlade Divac “has been around a lot more lately,” which, sure — it’d probably be unwise to bet against it, or against anything being at least […]
[…] Kings’ history of coaching and front-office hires — neatly summarized by recent chatter that Vlade Divac “has been around a lot more lately,” which, sure — it’d probably be unwise to bet against it, or against anything being at least […]
[…] Kings’ history of coaching and front-office hires — neatly summarized by recent chatter that Vlade Divac “has been around a lot more lately,” which, sure — it’d probably be unwise to bet against it, or against anything being at least […]
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