He says he never suggested 5 on 4, then one sentence later describes suggesting 5 on 4. He refutes the to the coach part.
In your quotes, vivek says "I know a lot of people talk about the 5-on-4 and so on. So that was not something that I ever proposed to anyone."
Uh, but also in his own words, he did propose/suggest 5-on-4. In my world, that's a lie. It's at minimum a bending of the truth.
I think I see where the confusion is coming from and I think you have the right to question it. It is understandable. But you have to look at the whole context/story of it.
Let me break it down to you.
I have never made any suggestions to the coach in terms of who to play, how to play, what to play. That’s all up to the coach.
No, no, no, no. I’ve never played basketball in my life. I would never do that.
You surround yourself with people smarter than you, and then you let them make the calls. And there’s calls I’ve wanted to make as a fan. I loved [former King, now Phoenix Suns point guard] Isaiah [Thomas], and the front office said, “No, we’re better off with a different person at that position.” And of course they were right.
Clearly, Vivek is proclaiming when it comes to basketball those he hires (coach, GM, players, etc.) know better than him. And this is not the first time he said he surround himself with people smarter than him. And he knows he has to defer to them.
What we are all saying here in this board is we have a delusional, arrogant, and meddling owner who acts as if he knows better than all - which is not true. But somehow, because of our biases we cannot seem to believe this foreign-looking owner's sincerity.
But when we talked within the front office, we always bounce ideas off. I ask annoying questions, but the coach does his own thing always. So my job is just to brainstorm and come up with ideas, but we’ll never tell the coach what to do
This questioning, Ranadive says, is all part of the culture. "My role is to set the values and ask the dumb questions," he says.
You see, we all thought he was actually suggesting to implement the 5-on-4 system. No! He was actually saying he came out with the idea within the front office and during brainstorming. That is far from what we are trying to say - that he is actually suggesting it should be implemented.
Ask yourself, why would he even say he ask "annoying" and "dumb" questions in reference to the 5-on-4, if he truly believes it should be implemented?
And do you know what brainstorming is?
It is when you come-up with all sort of crazy ideas. It is nothing formal and most of the time not even part of official day-to-day work. Maybe you haven't heard of it, but a lot of big and successful companies do it all the time. It is crazy, but it has been proven to be very effective in encouraging people to come-up with brilliant answers to problems.
I don't know why you hate this owner man, but I understand. When Vivek started, I kind of not trust him too that he will bring us a good product on the floor. I thought he was not knowledgeable enough in basketball. But how many of those NBA owners are? Also, I thought he is not rich enough (ala-Balmer) and might not be willing to spend money to improve the team. And when he hired his trusted "friend" Malone as coach, I thought we're in trouble and we are going to be run by a "group of unknowns" to the detriment of team building.
But I am looking now how good it turned out. It could have been worse and thank God it isn't. This guy is using ALL tools to improve the team which is good - from analytics, FO brainstorming to come-up with all sorts of ideas, to crowd-sourcing. That is called being innovative and we all know innovation is the mother of improvement. And you know what more I like? This owner is not afraid to fire a very good friend and lose money for the sake of improving the team as exemplified by the firing of Malone. And BTW, Malone was "respectfully fired", praised for his very important contribution in defense, and not kicked while he was down.
Do you know how hard it is to fire a friend?
Also, look who we have now? A HOF coach in George Karl. I think in due time we will be a very attractive destination for upcoming star players. And this is what year of Vivek's reign? Second year? How long did it take for the genius in basketball (NBA owner Michael Jordan) took to make his team reach the playoffs?
