Chris Granger steps down.

#31
I read that one. It is absent any negative details about Matina except that Devin Blankenship, Carmichael Dave (innuendo) and Leslie Moore don't like her. And Leslie Moore is her own kind of whacko so her opinion means zero to me (less even... her own firing was a good one she was an absolute snot). Anybody who gets fired in a shake-up is likely to carry grudges (Devin). CD... well he has reason to dislike her if she networked/influenced his initial firing and she may have. Her job was to protect the brand and Dave was skewering the brand at that time.

I repeat: Nobody has really spelled out what's so wrong with her. Was she the catalyst whispering in Joe/Gavin's ear to move to Anaheim or sell to Seattle? Was she the one who drafted Quincy Douby? Did she hurt Webber's ankle? Did she talk Vivek into firing Mike Malone? Is it her fault none of the STH ever got their seats from Arco Arena?

If she's the one who said "fire Pete", "hire Vlade" I'm fine. If she bleeds Vlade Marlboro smoke, I'm good with it.

We don't know if CG went to Vivek and said "it's her or me"... we do not know what happened here. But maybe CG was out of gas... maybe the business concept of suite upon suite upon six figure club contract upon courtside wine-tasting party upon ... and free tattoos for the poor folk... is a bad one. Maybe the Arena architecture with the narrow space between rows and overly steep upper bowl pitch is a major fail (it is frankly). Great for club/courtside/suite... everyone else can be cramped.

If Vlade and DJ are running the basketball show, I'm good. If Matina killed CG, I don't care. He was a good project manager - his pull came in handy, but if he wasn't hitting this sponsorship numbers then he wasn't, and maybe HE is the one who attempted the coup and was shot down.
 
#32
I figured Granger was a short-timer when he was hired so I'm not at all surprised he's moving on. I would have liked him here a couple more years so the his successors would have a solid foundation on how to treat fans. That's where I thought Granger was really winning. He had fans engaged and interested in what they were doing and he was winning in the "fan experience" department despite all the failures on the basketball side. I don't doubt that he's tired of the shenanigans, but he is staying around for a month to assist with the transition so I imagine he's fatigued by it all more than anything and has some really good opportunities elsewhere.

I don't what Matina does or why exactly she's so hated, but ownership has the ability to shut her down whenever they want. One of the things that we've read about repeatedly is that Vivek and minority ownership do not get along and like to fight about stuff (including basketball personnel decisions). IMO until that changes the other stuff doesn't really matter. It's strange that the only person Vivek would trust would be the one holdover with deep political connections, since that crowd is always so trustworthy :rolleyes:.
 
#33
Granger is/was a stud on making non basketball operations go smooth. He is also a bulldog on getting money. Had a friend that met with him on a corporate suite and he would not budge on the insane price. Needless to say that very large Sac area business does not have a suite at G1C.

I will be interested to see if some of that stuff loosens up. I know they don't have all the suites sold. Also, the dynamic ticket pricing is a bit out of control. I ended up giving up my 1/4 share of tickets this year because I just could not justify what came out to be $400 a game (for 2 seats) between seats, parking and getting some food and a beer or two.
 
#34
Sigh ..... The President of the club resigned to move on to other and greater challenges. Not a surprise to me at all. Considering his background and the way he was hired I never expected he would stay. He's gone and we will move on as any entity would do. If there is more to it hen someday we may learn what it was. In the meantime let's play ball. I wonder who we will draft on Thursday.
 
#35
#40
Maybe the Arena architecture with the narrow space between rows and overly steep upper bowl pitch is a major fail (it is frankly). Great for club/courtside/suite... everyone else can be cramped.
You're never gonna stop complaining about this are ya? ;)

Honestly, I still don't think it's bad at all. And I've never sat anywhere but the upper level thus far. But to each their own, I guess.
 
#41
Then it should have been avoided. To me Chris Granger was the single most important person in the Kings organization.
EXACTLY.
You have a lot of reliable people saying there is more to this story. Thats code for "they screwed up".
Business side or not, you don't let someone like this walk because your FO can't get out of their own way. I don't care if he's only on the business side or not, CG was damn near about the only good thing going for this organization since vivek took over. Letting him go doesn't exactly scream "we are finally getting our S together" to me.
 
#42
More importantly, we are awash in revenue. A lot of that is the new bump. A lot is that Granger is really good at this.

The Kings are always in a small market ... and frankly often bad, which means that once the new wears off creating revenue is super important and perhaps an issue. It sure seems like the most qualified person we had ... the one that grew the money tree to allow basketball operation to work if it become competent ... was pushed out because the team's version of Frank Underwood wanted that seat back.

Everybody is tipping their hand toward something like that ... but nobody got the guts to say what's going on or why it's a problem.
 
#43
Just keep in mind whom are CD's and Hamm's primary sources and that, right or wrong, the anti-Vivek contingent of minority owners will certainly use Granger's departure to continue to build a case against Vivek. We are not close enough to know if there is any veracity to the rumors, but there are multiple angles to the story.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#48
I just love how in denial majority of the fan base is! No matter what poopoo the franchise throws at them they dismiss it as irrelevant. Fans truly deserve better than what they have been served up with.
Yeah, how dare some of us look at this as anything other than the end of the world? :rolleyes:

Kings still in Sacramento? Check.
New arena? Check.
Competent coach? Check.
Vast improvement in front office? Apparent check.
Reason for optimism about the future? Check.

I'm really sorry but I'm beyond searching for drama at every turn. I don't know why Granger decided to leave but I do remember distinctly that when he came here it was said he'd be here long enough to help turn things around. He's done that. Every corporation on the planet has decisions to make and people change jobs. Before social media made it popular for people to microanalyze every single action, a lot of stuff went on behind the scenes that never saw the light of day. And we all lived just fine.

If what I'm feeling is denial, then so be it. I absolutely refuse to continue to look around every corner and under every rock for more drama. I, for one, am looking forward to the draft more than I have in a very long time. I'm pretty sure Chris Granger stepping down as President of the Kings isn't going to change that one iota.

So please, be as upset as you wish but don't act like those of us who aren't in that boat with you just don't get it. It's not that I don't get it; it's that I just don't give a crap.

#GoKings
 
#49
Yeah, how dare some of us look at this as anything other than the end of the world? :rolleyes:

Kings still in Sacramento? Check.
New arena? Check.
Competent coach? Check.
Vast improvement in front office? Apparent check.
Reason for optimism about the future? Check.

I'm really sorry but I'm beyond searching for drama at every turn. I don't know why Granger decided to leave but I do remember distinctly that when he came here it was said he'd be here long enough to help turn things around. He's done that. Every corporation on the planet has decisions to make and people change jobs. Before social media made it popular for people to microanalyze every single action, a lot of stuff went on behind the scenes that never saw the light of day. And we all lived just fine.

If what I'm feeling is denial, then so be it. I absolutely refuse to continue to look around every corner and under every rock for more drama. I, for one, am looking forward to the draft more than I have in a very long time. I'm pretty sure Chris Granger stepping down as President of the Kings isn't going to change that one iota.

So please, be as upset as you wish but don't act like those of us who aren't in that boat with you just don't get it. It's not that I don't get it; it's that I just don't give a crap.

#GoKings
Was the post directed at you?!

Maybe you should STOP jumping down peoples throats if they question things with every right! Now seriously, people are entitled to their opinion regardless of whether or not they agree with you. The post was in no shape or form directed at you but of all people you are the one that needed to jump at it....how dare someone disagree with you! My post was a general comment hom loyal and blinded the fans are by the love for the team and they absolutely deserve better. And I stand by that comment million times over.

You chose to put on the purple coloured glasses and that is fine. I am more pragmatic and believe that I need to see genuine change over a sustained period of time before I start believing that things have changed. Every freaking year Kings lose good, quality people and it's never Organizations fault. It's always "something else"! That crap has been going on for decades and I see no change in behaviour of the people that are running the franchise. In fact it is more of the same but in different shades.

Sure the front office hirings seem to be good but they have barely been in their role. The ownership and upper management just seems to be the same old crap different day! So forgive us if we happen to have a more pragmatic approach to these things than you do. You are entitled to your approach and I am entitled to mine. The post was not addressed to you but you chose to jump on your high horse about it.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#51
It seems a bit early for him to leave, but the guy is basically a fixer right? He kind of fixed the ongoing problems and he's probably looking for his next project from there.
I thought I saw a quote where he alluded to wanting to work for an Olympics project and the article indicated he really isn't the guy to stick around just to sell seats and advertising.

He came here at the request of the NBA to help turn the organization around during the Maloof era. We kept the team. We have arguably the best NBA arena/facility in the world. Adjacent development is underway and will start being completed soon.

Maybe the guy just feels like his work is done here? Who am I to look for nefarious underpinnings to what may simply be the guy wants a new challenge?

Now, there may be more to it than we see at this point, but maybe not. And I am not about to start skewering potentially innocent folks without more than a knee-jerk reaction from a decade of ineptness and bad basketball (that hopefully is finally turning around).

Thanks for all the hard work, Chris. You were an incredible success and Sacramento owes you more than we can describe. Godspeed and I hope you find those challenges you are looking for. Be happy to have you back if you ever felt the need to come back to our humble little community.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#52
Was the post directed at you?!

Maybe you should STOP jumping down peoples throats if they question things with every right! Now seriously, people are entitled to their opinion regardless of whether or not they agree with you. The post was in no shape or form directed at you but of all people you are the one that needed to jump at it....how dare someone disagree with you! My post was a general comment hom loyal and blinded the fans are by the love for the team and they absolutely deserve better. And I stand by that comment million times over.

You chose to put on the purple coloured glasses and that is fine. I am more pragmatic and believe that I need to see genuine change over a sustained period of time before I start believing that things have changed. Every freaking year Kings lose good, quality people and it's never Organizations fault. It's always "something else"! That crap has been going on for decades and I see no change in behaviour of the people that are running the franchise. In fact it is more of the same but in different shades.

Sure the front office hirings seem to be good but they have barely been in their role. The ownership and upper management just seems to be the same old poopoo different day! So forgive us if we happen to have a more pragmatic approach to these things than you do. You are entitled to your approach and I am entitled to mine. The post was not addressed to you but you chose to jump on your high horse about it.
You may want to re-read VF21's post and I think you will change your tone. She isn't jumping down anyone's throat. In no way did she say you were not entitled to feel how you do or want. Her post simply said she chooses to feel differently about it and lists some reasons why. Seriously, go back and read it without the persecution complex. Her post was 100% about her and 0% about you (or anyone that feels similarly).
 
#53
This story is frustrating on both ends. It's frustrating that this garbage from FO mismanagement tends to surface every six months. It's also frustrating that all we hear is implicit verbiage of incompetence. Leaving us to dig through clues and attempting to infer the meanings of them. I can understand why CD does not bite the hands that feed him... but Jason Hamm? Why does he leave it at, "There's more to the story." Our media guys suck. If you know the story, have the fortitude to come out with it, or say nothing at all.
 
#55
This story is frustrating on both ends. It's frustrating that this garbage from FO mismanagement tends to surface every six months. It's also frustrating that all we hear is implicit verbiage of incompetence. Leaving us to dig through clues and attempting to infer the meanings of them. I can understand why CD does not bite the hands that feed him... but Jason Hamm? Why does he leave it at, "There's more to the story." Our media guys suck. If you know the story, have the fortitude to come out with it, or say nothing at all.
That's because...

1. He is not connected in a way where he can break insider news meaning he has no sources. Notice all he does is tweet "sources confirm" after someone else breaks the insider news.

2. He won't bite the hand that feeds him. He is scared to rock the boat.