PDA reaches out to Carmichael Dave, will be in studio 1/5 at 8 AM

[KF10]

For those who missed it, here is some cliff notes (credit to brobro) on Pete D'Alessandro's interview (Kings' GM) this morning:

Political Pete had direct answers for 5 of the 17 questions he was asked -- generally it was just a lot of BS
Here are the notes I took – just focused on the questions and answers – tried to wade through the BS.

1) Why did you fire the coach mid-season?

There is never a good time to fire a coach.

2) If Ty Is your guy, why not commit to him long term?

It’s short sighted to do that.

3) Is Ty the coach for rest of year?

Yes.

4) Do your analytics take into account the ability of a coach to get Demarcus and other teammates in line with a strategy?

We don’t just look at numbers – we "connect" with players / coaches.

Coach M did a great job with Demarcus, but myself and Vivek did a great job too.

Pete believes his and Viv’s relationship is good enough with DMC that they didn’t need Malone’s relationship.

5) How much input should players have in coaching decisions?

"I have a lot of convos with our players – we never let things come out of the blue".
He "cant answer how much say the players have, but as long as Pete is GM, his players will have a good read of what’s going on"

6) Players are saying they found out Malone was whacked / Corbin re-upped for rest of year via Twitter – this contradicts your last statement.

Pete begins by saying any miscommunication is his fault.

Regarding Corbin, the players wouldn’t have known if Ty re-upped for rest of year, its just a contract amendment.

Didn’t answer Malone aspect of the question.

7) Dave follows up – Players say they found out Coach Malone was fired on Twitter – what happened?

Pete says he is not going to tell the players beforehand and "put them in a bad spot".

Pete does "everything in his power to keep the players in the know – there is a way to handle these things and I know how to do them – you need to trust me".

8) Trying to make team fast paced – is the vision to fill the seats instead of making the team a winning product focused on defense?

Pete says he "failed on PR" again, because wins and losses are all that matter.

Management wants to put a winning team in the arena – they think Rudy / DMC Iso’s wont put a winning team on the floor.

Pete felt team wasn’t in good cardiovascular shape b/c they spent too much time practicing defense (LOL).

Reiterates time and time again that "Pace" needs to be higher.

Basically saying there was too much focus on defense, not enough focus on offense.

9) Corbin is 3-7 — at what point does Corbin’s performance become unsatisfactory?

Ty will coach the team this season and hopefully for a long time (so basically, the Kings can lose the rest of their games this year and Corbin will continue to be coach for the remainder of the season).

The 3-7 is not "fair" because DMC is at 60%.

10) Why did Malone get whacked mid-season instead of before or after the start of this year?

Management thought the summer league style of play would seep into the regular season style of play – it didn’t – so they took action.

Pete has secret data points that didn’t point to Malone as the long term answer – wont disclose what those data points are.

Pete eludes that team was really bad without DMC over past two years and that is a big reason they let go of Malone (2-18 is record he cited).

11) Team was competing every night – now we expect them to loose every game – at what point do you say Malone’s style worked even though management didn’t agree with it?

We didn’t judge Michael on his record (even though he just said Malone’s record without Cousins was a big reason they let him go).

12) What needs to happen to get to Phase 2?

Bench needs to get stronger

Locker room needs stability

"Things need to work right on the floor"

13) What is Vivek’s role in making basketball decisions? Is he meddling?

The owner has a say in in bball decisions for all 30 teams around the league.

"I love working for Vivek".

Lots of general Vivek ass kissing that means nothing.

14) Is Karl under consideration for the job?

"I know George and speak to him regularly."

15) What year will the Kings contend from an NBA title and how will losing a pick this year factor into that?

We have to get to the playoffs.

Why not Sacramento?

General babble about how the fans should have higher expectations.

16) What specific data points in Corbin’s coaching do u see that make him a good coach?

He came up under Jerry Sloan (the Jerry Sloan data point)

He took a young roster to the playoffs (so past record is apparently a data point for Corbin, but not Malone)

17) Is there any truth to running 4-5 defense scheme?

Vivek never told us to do that – it is false.

Segment closes by Political Pete kissing Dave and the dude wearing his hat backwards over his eyebrows’ ass.

Pete described himself as not just a GM, but a Lawyer, an Agent, and a Politician… shame on me for expecting anything other than BS drivel with that resume.

[ADoaN17]

Not satisfied with that interview. Thought Dave would challenge him more and make him answer the tough questions.

[SactoKingsFan]

Pete didn't really say anything that made me feel any better about the mess they've created. I'm actually more depressed about the current situation. I'll be even more distraught if Karl is still available and they decide to go with Jackson or another candidate.

[Wolfay]

It pretty much met my expectations, which were none. Also to be fair, short of saying that they're hiring Karl today and have a deal in place for Durant, I don't think there's much he could say to please Kings fans anyway.

I will be eternally grateful to Vivek and I still trust his judgement, but Pete on the other hand is walking towards some really thin ice. Went from I thought an Executive of the Year candidate to the next guy up for the firing squad in a hurry. I also still want to know what influence Mullin has, and what his advice is to Vivek and Pete is.

I want to give all of you guys props for keeping the discussions civil in what has been an increasingly frustrating time. More evidence we're the best fans in the world. We deserve better, and I'm still confident we will get it.

[RIPskaterdude]

Barf

[blind prophet]

Not happy at all.

I reserved judgement until today, sure was annoyed and not expecting much, but about the only good thing that came out of today is a chance to keep our pick.

[Silver Man]

Just another indication Pete has no idea where exactly to attack the position of the current team and is just trying save himself and Vivek by going on air to see how many Kings fans he can BS into thinking everything is alright.

Very disappointing past month from ownership and the front office continues.

[PaKwAn]

this was pete trying to salvage the pr failure that they did(during the malone firing), the funny thing is that it might have backfired lol... sensing the outrage from a lot of kings fans, i wouldn't be surprised if vivek asked pete to do this to ease on the bleeding... didn't work though..

[floppymoose]

When you fire someone, you want to tell them directly first, privately. After that the cat is out of the bag. You can't necessarily control the flow of information after that, because you are no longer solely in control of it. The idea that you can beat Twitter to the players is basically a non-starter. This whole narrative about the players finding out on Twitter is one giant non-issue.

[floppymoose]

"Pete eludes that team was really bad without DMC over past two years and that is a big reason they let go of Malone (2-18 is record he cited)."

Seems like that argument could be used against Pete as much as against Malone.

[blind prophet]

When you fire someone, you want to tell them directly first, privately. After that the cat is out of the bag. You can't necessarily control the flow of information after that, because you are no longer solely in control of it. The idea that you can beat Twitter to the players is basically a non-starter. This whole narrative about the players finding out on Twitter is one giant non-issue.

Many of us here at this forum knew that a lot of the media coverage was bs.

Like the 4 on 5 for example, but it is amusing to troll the hell out of a franchise. Eventually, it didn't matter any more and your average reader just went with it and the organization looked like a joke.

The Kings should of had an official statement or two prepared in advance, lesson learned.

Not a big deal about social media being faster than me even typing this reply to you and others....not to most people who understand such things and don't want to live for drama and actually think about things deeper than surface level.

So I agree with what you have said pretty much, with the exception that they should of had a few official statements, updated their website etc.

[blind prophet]

"Pete eludes that team was really bad without DMC over past two years and that is a big reason they let go of Malone (2-18 is record he cited)."

Seems like that argument could be used against Pete as much as against Malone.

True, I believe many of us would of rather kept Malone and saw Pete hosed, but Vivek gets the blame going with the coach before hiring the GM.

From the signing of Malone to today, that is indeed a terrible display.

So if they thought Malone was more of an issue than Pete, it could of been handled very easy.

I if I was the owner would have simply said, the front office over time has had differences with the coaching staff in the direction we wanted to go.

I have talked with both Malone and Pete and felt like I had to make a decision to move forward.

Short term we will be worse with the loss of Malone, but I'm not gonna bs you or him, I'd rather fix this now than later. Corbin will fill in until we become more stable for now, and I won't be taking any questions on long term coaching decisions.

Please be patient with this situation for my mistake of hiring the coach before the GM.

If something like that happened even if it was just a statement on the website, none of this would have ever blown to the bs and epic proportion that it did.

So now we wonder what the hell is going on for the most part because we don't feel like anyone is really saying it like it is.

[Kings2013]

The interview didn't challenge him, no doubt. I'd have to rewind to be sure, but I don't even think I heard Chris Mullin's name as it pertained to the coaching job come up..

Personally I don't know how much liability Vivek has. I may be misinterpreting, but I thought the decision was pretty much conjured by the front office and then Vivek may have given the OK at the advice of the FO.

As for Pete, indeed this decision could be fatal to the team. But when I'm angry I try to think of the work he has put in on this roster, and true enough in terms of talent I see a notable difference from the beginning of last year til now. In fact as of now, and I may be delusional, I truly believe Cousins, Gay, McLemore and Collison are about as talented as pretty much any 4 in the league, they just need help and continuity and stability. So from that standpoint alone maybe I'll try to accept the excuse that Cousins is still 60% and this team is in flux and not outright call for his head today, but he is on thin ice. I don't like the situation with Corbin though. I personally am not fond of him as a coach and don't think it is healthy to have a lame duck for a stretch like this til the end of the season...

One thing is for certain, this thing can go one of two directions..

[OGSactownballer]

Vivek is a rookis and he was just dunked on by Shaq.

Pete is also a rookie as the head guy and now has egg on his face and is taking the fall.

Both will learn to 1) Keep their fantasies out of the media and 2) that this is a star-driven league and if your already kinda touchy franchise anchor who has just spent the first part of the season (minus illness time) showing that he really is one of the top five players in the league is not in the loop, the feces is going to get in the air system.

The fact is that this team is still some distance from being a West playoff team due to mismanagement in the past. Time will correct some of that.

[PaKwAn]

didn't know where to post this but that article in cowbell kingdom The lowest point is still ahead is actually a good read..http://cowbellkingdom.com/sunday-musing ... ill-ahead/

"The Kings aren’t the first to swing and miss. These things happen, but in this situation, the miscalculation is being compounded by the franchise’s lack of contrition. Where the mistake truly lies is in not admitting that an error was made."



"Again, there has to come a point where it is understood that a mistake was made. Someone shot the conductor, so fess up and admit the gaff, so we can all move forward."

"The players need to heal. The fans need to heal. They need to hear that this issue won’t happen again. That somewhere within the walls of the organization, a lesson was learned either by management or by ownership."

"Until this happens, the assumption will be that this group is too arrogant to succeed."