Monte Interview in the Athletic

[captain bill]

Nothing groundbreaking but a decent read behind the paywall. Seems clear that Kings were very invested in keeping the core together both over the last trade deadline and this summer. Clearly counting on internal improvement, especially from Keegan.

It also sounds like the organization has had its eyes on Sasha for a very long time. They did a full court press of sending representatives to Greece to recruit Sasha over, and they seem happy that the charm offensive paid off.

Overall FO seems happy to keep this train rolling forward, while still maintaining flexibility in contracts and owning almost all of their own picks, save the conditional first to Atlanta. The front office seems to have stuck with its philosophy of not just making moves for the purpose of making moves. We can likely expect some stability on this roster for this entire year.

https://theathletic.com/4701945/2023/07/19/kings-free-agency-monte-mcnair-interview/

Regarding how to use all that cap space:

“(I’m) not saying that we won’t look at upgrades (or that) we didn’t,” McNair said. “Because we certainly explored all those options. But knowing that one of our options was going to be to bring the bulk of our team back (was appealing).”

About last year's trade deadline and looking at OG and Siakam:

“At the time, (the league) had (Kevin Durant) going to Phoenix, (Russell) Westbrook going to the Clippers, Kyrie (Irving to Dallas) and all this stuff. We kind of stood pat…” McNair said. “We didn’t do anything major, and we were kind of relying on the continuity of what we’d built and our chemistry. We certainly got lucky. We had some injuries on other teams that helped us out coming out of the break. But I do think you see (that) trying to assimilate new players and new coaches and things like that on the fly can work, but it also carries risk.”

Some 'inside baseball' on how the org focused on Sasha as a target:

“Colin Montague, who’s our Director of Analytics, has been probably the first one I remember (who was) on Sasha,” McNair said. “He’s got a great eye for finding a lot of intriguing international players, both in the draft and potential free agency or trade targets. This was a couple of years ago, when Sasha was a guy that (Montague) had flagged.
“Per our process, we have some international consultants that have seen him, but our domestic scouts, on up to (Kings vice president of player personnel) Phil Jabour and (assistant general manager) Wes Wilcox, who do a lot of our personnel from the more traditional scouting side, started watching him more and were like, ‘Yeah, this guy is really good.’ So that was a multi-month, if not a couple of years (process), in the lead-up to just trading for him (in 2022). At the time, we didn’t know if he’d come over.”

On Keegan's future:

“We know we need Keegan to take another step,” McNair said. “And one of the ways he can do that is to be more of a second or third option as opposed to a fourth or fifth option. And it’s hard to do that when you have two all-NBA guys, right? Then you have Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes. So you know, it may take some time for him to do that within the natural flow.”

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It's funny I don't think Colin Montague's name is a household word in the Kingdom and yet he's apparently had that role since Monte took over. I've seen some of the "Vivek is cheap" crowd complain on twitter that "for such an analytic driven GM we don't have a deep analytics department" but maybe we really do.

 

[macadocious]

Just as we expected, that is about the most you are ever going to get out of McNair. I think it's a great spot to be in moving forward.

 

[dude12]

Good article, it’s almost like he has a plan which is pretty good for a middle manager

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

https://theathletic.com/4701945/2023/07/19/kings-free-agency-monte-mcnair-interview/
Some 'inside baseball' on how the org focused on Sasha as a target:

“Colin Montague, who’s our Director of Analytics, has been probably the first one I remember (who was) on Sasha,” McNair said. “He’s got a great eye for finding a lot of intriguing international players, both in the draft and potential free agency or trade targets. This was a couple of years ago, when Sasha was a guy that (Montague) had flagged.
“Per our process, we have some international consultants that have seen him, but our domestic scouts, on up to (Kings vice president of player personnel) Phil Jabour and (assistant general manager) Wes Wilcox, who do a lot of our personnel from the more traditional scouting side, started watching him more and were like, ‘Yeah, this guy is really good.’ So that was a multi-month, if not a couple of years (process), in the lead-up to just trading for him (in 2022). At the time, we didn’t know if he’d come over.”

So let me get this straight. We have a genius analytics guy that spotted Sasha (a late second round pick) back in something like 2020 or 2021, long before he was Euro MVP or anything like that, and while Sasha's rights are getting shunted around the league as grease to make other trades happen, we step in and buy extremely low, then Sasha develops and becomes the best player in Europe, then we make our pitch and bring him over?

Is that what happened? Because if it is, that's phenomenal scouting already, before Sasha even plays an NBA game. And it only makes a stronger case that he will continue to develop and be a great fit for our team.

If Sasha becomes any kind of contributing piece, it's already a massive win - but he clearly has huge upside as well. For basically nothing. Sasha would very likely be a lottery pick today if he declared and announced he was coming over.

They need to start giving awards to scouts.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

It's funny I don't think Colin Montague's name is a household word in the Kingdom and yet he's apparently had that role since Monte took over. I've seen some of the "Vivek is cheap" crowd complain on twitter that "for such an analytic driven GM we don't have a deep analytics department" but maybe we really do.

Just sent him a message on Linkedin thanking him for his work.

 

[TaxMan]

I think this quote from Monte to finish off the article is all you need to know about their strategy and approach. This is how you build a sustained winner.

“One mistake you can make in this league is thinking your path will be linear,” McNair said. “We know it’s not going to be a straight line where we just continue to take one step at a time. Hopefully we’re taking major steps forward. But if there’s other road blocks or adversity in the way, you have to have the ability to pivot off of that, whether it’s a better fit or talent. So for us, we feel not just set up this year, but we have plenty of room to the tax line for trades (if needed).”

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

It's funny I don't think Colin Montague's name is a household word in the Kingdom and yet he's apparently had that role since Monte took over. I've seen some of the "Vivek is cheap" crowd complain on twitter that "for such an analytic driven GM we don't have a deep analytics department" but maybe we really do.

I love the level of secrecy and humbleness with which our FO operates. Night and day compared to the BMM era. (Before Monte McNair).

 

[captain bill]

So let me get this straight. We have a genius analytics guy that spotted Sasha (a late second round pick) back in something like 2020 or 2021, long before he was Euro MVP or anything like that, and while Sasha's rights are getting shunted around the league as grease to make other trades happen, we step in and buy extremely low, then Sasha develops and become the best player in Europe, then we make our pitch and bring him over?

Is that what happened? Because if it is, that's phenomenal scouting already, before Sasha even plays an NBA game. And it only makes a stronger case that he will continue to develop and be a great fit for our team.

If Sasha becomes any kind of contributing piece, it's already a massive win - but he clearly has huge upside as well. For basically nothing. Sasha would very likely be a lottery pick today if he declared and announced he was coming over.

They need to start giving awards to scouts.

Based on his LinkedIn he started in 2017 and predates Monte by a full 3 years. Good sign that the FO kept talented folks around and took their contributions very seriously rather than purging ranks and looking to get "their guys" in

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I love the level of secrecy and humbleness with which our FO operates. Night and day compared to the BMM era. (Before Monte McNair).

The people trying to make a living off the Kings without being employed by the team absolutely hate it but I definitely feel like it's a competitive advantage when it comes to getting the talent we want into the org.

If you're gonna produce fan content you better remember to be a fan first.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

So the "Vivek is cheap" twitterer that I know any of you who are on that hellsite probably know who I am referring to, their takeaway from the article is that the team won't go into the tax ever because Monte said we had lots of room for trades up to the tax line. I guess once you have your narrative you will never budge.

 

[TaxMan]

So the "Vivek is cheap" twitterer that I know any of you who are on that hellsite probably know who I am referring to, their takeaway from the article is that the team won't go into the tax ever because Monte said we had lots of room for trades up to the tax line. I guess once you have your narrative you will never budge.

There is always something to complain about on twitter...

 

[Rain man]

So the "Vivek is cheap" twitterer that I know any of you who are on that hellsite probably know who I am referring to, their takeaway from the article is that the team won't go into the tax ever because Monte said we had lots of room for trades up to the tax line. I guess once you have your narrative you will never budge.

Probably the same people who KNEW that the trade for Sasha was just a selling of the pick for cash considerations.

 

[The_Jamal]

Just sent him a message on Linkedin thanking him for his work.

Sent him some of your Nonnas sauce. That's the best thank you possible!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

There is always something to complain about on twitter...

At some point people just won't back down from their wrong opinions even when you cite references. I hate that webpage but it's still a good source of breaking info and there's a good network of Kings fans there that don't have their heads up their butts.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

Sent him some of your Nonnas sauce. That's the best thank you possible!

 

[SacTownKid]

Monte's now at that point where his career will be defined. If keeping the core together works and Sasha transitions, he'll be a genius, if the Kings sag back and these other teams rise the media will eat him alive probably hahaha. So far though Monte has proven he's going to tackle problems before it's too late so that's a great thing to finally have at the GM spot.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Nothing groundbreaking but a decent read behind the paywall. Seems clear that Kings were very invested in keeping the core together both over the last trade deadline and this summer. Clearly counting on internal improvement, especially from Keegan.

It also sounds like the organization has had its eyes on Sasha for a very long time. They did a full court press of sending representatives to Greece to recruit Sasha over, and they seem happy that the charm offensive paid off.

Overall FO seems happy to keep this train rolling forward, while still maintaining flexibility in contracts and owning almost all of their own picks, save the conditional first to Atlanta. The front office seems to have stuck with its philosophy of not just making moves for the purpose of making moves. We can likely expect some stability on this roster for this entire year.

https://theathletic.com/4701945/2023/07/19/kings-free-agency-monte-mcnair-interview/

Regarding how to use all that cap space:



About last year's trade deadline and looking at OG and Siakam:



Some 'inside baseball' on how the org focused on Sasha as a target:

Thanks for taking the time to summarize and post this. Much appreciated by all, I'm sure!

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1681780869235904512

 

[63royals]

So the "Vivek is cheap" twitterer that I know any of you who are on that hellsite probably know who I am referring to, their takeaway from the article is that the team won't go into the tax ever because Monte said we had lots of room for trades up to the tax line. I guess once you have your narrative you will never budge.

Like Ronald McDonald's restaurant recommendations ...

 

[KingsFanSince85]

I think this quote from Monte to finish off the article is all you need to know about their strategy and approach. This is how you build a sustained winner.

“One mistake you can make in this league is thinking your path will be linear,” McNair said. “We know it’s not going to be a straight line where we just continue to take one step at a time. Hopefully we’re taking major steps forward. But if there’s other road blocks or adversity in the way, you have to have the ability to pivot off of that, whether it’s a better fit or talent. So for us, we feel not just set up this year, but we have plenty of room to the tax line for trades (if needed).”

I agree. IMO this shows a level of knowledge and awareness not seen in others before him (during the Vivek era).

It also tells me MM is running the show and not bowing to pressure from the owner. I may be wrong, but I think all evidence points to it.

I love the level of secrecy and humbleness with which our FO operates. Night and day compared to the BMM era. (Before Monte McNair).

Reminds me of the the Geoff Petrie era. You know, the last time this franchise was really, really good.

 

[iowamcnabb]

This is the most open I’ve seen Monte. Usually he keeps things close to the jacket vest.

 

[TaxMan]

I agree. IMO this shows a level of knowledge and awareness not seen in others before him (during the Vivek era).

It also tells me MM is running the show and not bowing to pressure from the owner. I may be wrong, but I think all evidence points to it.



Reminds me of the the Geoff Petrie era. You know, the last time this franchise was really, really good.

I agree. Year 1 or 2 of Monte's tenure, he probably was walking a bit of a tightrope to keep people off his back. However, with the performance of the team last year I would think he's now got the status internally to clearly be in charge.