Here We Go

[KingsFanGER]

OK, fair enough. Take "full" out of it. He said he made the decision, he made the trade. That is taking responsibility. If he gives Cousins' antics or culture or whatever as part of the explanation for his decision it doesn't change the fact that he "claims" it was his decision. My gut tells me BS on both the explanation and the source of the decision.

I suspect (i.e. guess) that Vlade is simply trying to give his boss what he wants while still trying to do what is best for the origination. Those two things may be mutually exclusive.

No matter if he takes responsibility for the trade, which I believe is solely his doing and not Viveks, he still hasnt taken any responsibility for this weak roster he assembled.
And this roster is the reason we arent seeing Success and not DMC.
Instead Vlade uses DMC polarizing personality as an excuse for his own failures. Not only did he trade DMC, he is hurtig DMC reputation with statements like "character matters" or his claim "that he hopes that this will help DMC to change for the better".
This has the opposite of taking responsibility.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

....... but mabe, even quite possibly, Cuz's leaving is for the best, even though we will miss him.

There has to be a statute of limitations on that, though, doesn't there? How many more years do the Kings have to suck, until they finally get good again, before Kings Fans no longer get to make that claim?

 

[VF21]

Wow, that is the bottom of the hole right there. That's about as dark as this board can get in one post. I'm upset about the "haul" but ultimately, like someone else said above, I'll take the wait and see approach rn. I'll even admit that I may be able to afford going to the games more now and I have no problem rooting for the youth on this team as long as they're coached up.
I read Brick's post on one of the Pels board's and many here over the years and its opened my eyes to how widely varied fandom can be and how different we can all look at entertainment that's for sure.

Which one?

 

[VF21]

Still have a hard time to understand why you guys try everything to shift blame from Vlade to Vivek.
This is Vlade roster. He said countless time, that he has full control. He even said it was his decision to trade DMC.
Instead of blaming Vivek as the main source of damage, we should look at Vlade.
To me it's pretty obvious, what happened. Vivek made this season all about the Playoffs. It was Vlades task to assemble a roster able to make a run at this goal. Vlade ****ed up every FA signing possible and could only get guys like Temple or Tolliver. So with the deadline looming, he Tool the last possible opportunity to save his job. He shifted the blame for the bad record of the team solely to DMC and sang the usual Song about culture and controlling emotions to Vivek. DMC throwing some f bombs at a GS fan and the Celtics game gave him the perfect ammunition against Cousins and finally he Managed to convince Vivek. His job was in jeopardy, because objectively the missed playoffs would have been the result of his Bad GMing over the last two years.
Now with DMC gone, he has the perfect excuse, because now he can point at the young guys and claim they arent ready yet, but that at the same time have all the potential in the world. He basically secured his job for a few years, because Vivek cant go through another Pr desaster and he can always point at the next year as the year that we start winning again.
To me this looks like Vlade using DMC as the scapegoat to mask his own incompetence. Typical Kings stuff and like always he could count on Napear to help him.
Vivek is to blame for hiring this joke of a GM and for not seeing through Vlades plots.

I'm not shifting any blame. I think they're both complicit and Vlade is just doing the loyal employee thing and protecting Vivek. I will never trust either one of them again. I root for the guys who were the jerseys (and the coaches...and Doug). The rest? Meh.

 

[kingjatt]

I think its scary if Vlade really did do this on his own or had to force Vivek to do this because that means he is fully on the hot seat after all of this backlash, not that I care about losing Vlade as a GM but it means we get a new GM who will want his own coach. I want to say the kings wont mess this coaches career up and realize they actually have a competent one but I would not put anything past them anymore.

 

[macadocious]

This is my accounting of what happened to the best of ability to figure it out.

Vivek has been enamored with Cousins AND play pace and space ball. (They don't really work together)

Vlade comes in and is instructed to build a win now team. Get that 8th seed. He make short term moves with long term ramifications (pick swaps and unprotected 1st for nothing more than cap space)

Vlade sits on Karl too long

Vlade hires Joerger and brings in good locker room veterans to surround Boogie with. - This year, they expected to be a 40ish win team on the rise with a franchise player who is getting better.

Vlade was looking at ways to add long term viability to the franchise by trading back and adding 4 assets for 8th pick + Bellinelli

Boogie is getting better, but unfortunately too many things are continuing to happen

• Technicals
• Berating of SacBee guys
• Nightclub incident
• Screaming eff GS at GSW fans and flipping them off
• Suspension
• Continued plays off on D while either complaining or talking to official
• Team play in the one game without him

Now, looming is this giant DPE agreement that will give Boogie 35% of the salary cap, where in year 5 the salary would be North of 42MM and about 38% of the proposed cap space. They figure they could not go into the offseason and not give that extension and try and trade him. So they got themselves in a pickle by publicly stating they were not trading him and privately. So they pivot, and find out the market is very soft. Listen to Simmons, Duncan and Woj podcasts. They all said the same thing. There were 3-4 teams that not only had the need/desire but the assets to give up for Boogie. The others either didn't or were not willing to take on the risk by giving up anything substantial.

I really hate it, but taking off my Boogie colored glasses, I don't know if there was a path to long term playoff viability with the huge contract and the already disintegrating future assets.

Vlade got Vivek to soften his stance on trading Boogie and took what he could get. That is it in a nutshell. I think the continued on court issues that cost them games was the determining factor in all I listed above.

 

[ParniValjak]

Unfortunately this is not how it works. When the guy at the top is the rotten apple, there is nothing to be done. You are just screwed. If it's a player or coach, you can drive and petition the GM. If its a GM you can scream and hold up signs and hope the bored billionaire who owns the team sees them. When it's the owner...

And it doesn't matter if he were competent in the end. In the end the people calling for the full faceplant rebuild, despite all the encumbered picks of future years, won. That means those of you insisting on sticking around for such nonsense are going to be treated to an unending parade of mediocre youth to coo about and squint and predict stardom time and again for what will be a career roleplayer. If it goes on long enough someday, just by accident, a real star will be found, much like Boogie himself was by accident. But who knows how long that will take. And until it happens, and the way this team is run, maybe even after it happens, there is not much point in saying "Goooo Kings!". There are no Kings. Just kids, most of whom will not survive in the uniform for long. Nobody invested. There is no franchise trying to win anything. It's just open tryouts that they'll try to fleece the season ticket holders into paying to watch.

This pretty much sums it up. What you have here is an idiot in charge who has unhealthy obsession with everything Golden State. Tell me what to McLemore, Stauskas and Hield all have in common? They are limited shooters! Vivek is in love with the 3s because that is what Golden State do.

This guy is an irrational, impatient follower and NOT a leader. He has done an amazing job with the arena but he does not know basketball. Vlade is out of his depth as a a negotiator because he continuously gets played. Philadlphia trade made some sort of sense if you are building around Cousins but for you to turn away and sell your superstar big for .25 of the dollar, and get played by the most powerful agent in the process, that is something that will also have long term affects. There will unlikely be another superstar loyal to the franchise like Cousins was. Despite his agent's power play to get him into a better place and bigger market he continuously told them NO! Next superstar that the Kings luck into in the next however many years is not going to be that accommodating and god help the franchise and it's fan base if that players happens to be managed by Fagan.

Sacramento is doomed for years of basketball hell (believe me mediocrity would be an achievement) because even if they luck into the superstar or two along the way (and given owners obsession with shooting and franchise's ability to pee draft picks into the wind whether in trades or just picking duds, it will be years or maybe even decades before one comes along) the powerful agent will just force their trade into the better franchises leaving the Kings once again with their pants down around their ankles.

If I look hard enough, I might be even able to see the vision behind trading Cousins but the way it was done, the way it was handled, the back stabbing of both the player, who has been nothing but loyal, his agent who happens to be the most powerful agent in the game and even the fan base has been nothing but disgusting, amateurish and sloppy. That is not how professional sports franchises do it. That is how schizophrenic, incompetent and deluded franchise do things and its precisely the reason why they continue to be the laughing stock not only of the NBA but the wider sporting industry.

Hell there was even an article on this trade in the local paper in Australia and how ridiculously fumbly this who situation was.

 

[MizzouKing]

This is my accounting of what happened to the best of ability to figure it out.

Vivek has been enamored with Cousins AND play pace and space ball. (They don't really work together)

Vlade comes in and is instructed to build a win now team. Get that 8th seed. He make short term moves with long term ramifications (pick swaps and unprotected 1st for nothing more than cap space)

Vlade sits on Karl too long

Vlade hires Joerger and brings in good locker room veterans to surround Boogie with. - This year, they expected to be a 40ish win team on the rise with a franchise player who is getting better.

Vlade was looking at ways to add long term viability to the franchise by trading back and adding 4 assets for 8th pick + Bellinelli

Boogie is getting better, but unfortunately too many things are continuing to happen

• Technicals
• Berating of SacBee guys
• Nightclub incident
• Screaming eff GS at GSW fans and flipping them off
• Suspension
• Continued plays off on D while either complaining or talking to official
• Team play in the one game without him

Now, looming is this giant DPE agreement that will give Boogie 35% of the salary cap, where in year 5 the salary would be North of 42MM and about 38% of the proposed cap space. They figure they could not go into the offseason and not give that extension and try and trade him. So they got themselves in a pickle by publicly stating they were not trading him and privately. So they pivot, and find out the market is very soft. Listen to Simmons, Duncan and Woj podcasts. They all said the same thing. There were 3-4 teams that not only had the need/desire but the assets to give up for Boogie. The others either didn't or were not willing to take on the risk by giving up anything substantial.

I really hate it, but taking off my Boogie colored glasses, I don't know if there was a path to long term playoff viability with the huge contract and the already disintegrating future assets.

Vlade got Vivek to soften his stance on trading Boogie and took what he could get. That is it in a nutshell. I think the continued on court issues that cost them games was the determining factor in all I listed above.

I think this is the most insightful guesswork I've read here yet.

 

[macadocious]

I think this is the most insightful guesswork I've read here yet.

Thank you.

The only thing I would add is that apparently the Front Office has wanted to explore trading him earlier this year or even last year but was rebuffed by Vivek so they really didn't get any further than taking phone calls.


It's also really disappointing to hear that Vlade is very difficult to reach via phone and prefers to work in person. I don't know if that has anything to do with his accent maybe the other sides having trouble understanding him or if it is just his thing.