City of Trees wrote:Not so hot, Hot take: Vlade is keeping his job.
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(My apology for this long post, if you are short with time, read text in bold which summarize my thoughts here pretty accurately) Hey I admit I was the one of many who criticized Vlade a lot. Few times I wrote even some ugly and offending words towards him but then I changed my mind and would usually delete such a post. I only praised Vlade as a businessman, I think he is a good Businessman. He was behind D.Cousins trade and I knew from that moment that Vlade got his hands and his signature free to do as he wish in Sacramento. As a good business man Vlade mindset is that of a merchant with motto "get goods cheap and sell it with a much bigger price". With that being said you understand what represents goods here. That is SAC youth players core.
Without overreacting Doncic could be the biggest talent/prospect since Lebron and I was the one who never had any doubts in Dončić. In fact I am surprise to see how his translation to NBA from FIBA went so quickly. He is possibly already the best player in Dallas and "he did not even unpack his luggage completely yet". He is a type of player without many holes in his game and a type of a player around which you could build a team.
However Sacramento already has that kind of a player and it is Fox, whose future shines bright. Another note, SAC has his own Dončić, it is quite similar player with couple of key differences, BogBog*. Luka is younger and stronger, both can handle PG position well and I rate them equal there. Bogdan is little bit quicker yet physically weaker.
Bogdan is better shooter overall and underrated defender while Luka is better in pretty much everything else. IMO Bogdan plays with more passion and love and he is better clutch than Docic but at the end Luka is of-course better player overall. I was saying all of this because here we could search for the reason behind SAC decision to skip on Doncic.
Divac chose Bagley and I see nothing wrong with that, do you? I just expect to see this kid more. Bjelica isn't really young and should be rested occasionally. Belly would do anything for the team and if it is in team best interest to sit, he will sit without complaining much.
With Boogie gone you now have Willie Cauley-Stein. Imagine what would happen with WCS career if Boogie stayed, credits to Divac again here. On the other hand, wait as you are still to hate Vlade, once GM starts to trade, sell this prospects , players with prices which team such as SAC could not refuse. This is inevitable at one point in the future seasons and it will be sad to see players who developed in front of your eyes go so simply. Then you will hate Vlade and the whole management more.
To repeat myself one more time, I was against Divac and now I don't want to flatter him without admitting this. As a good businessman Divac now created team full of estates, pure capital, these players will worth much, much more in years to come and SAC could afford to even bring some superstar in years or two, but the question is do they need to do so?
Fox is already quick/fast as Westbrook he is not quite as strong as "wild west" but IMO he is already better shooter and better team player than Russel. It is crazy but Fox could be among top 3 PG's in the conference very, very soon. Fans need to show patience and I am sure Bagley will also show his full potential and will meet these higher then usual expectations which are attached on him.
As I said skipping on Doncic was probably mistake but should we blame Vlade for this? You see Bogdan is back and he could provide similar stuff as Doncic would at that position. And after all being said , at the end Sacramento is playing beautiful and up-tempo basketball, really modern one, and now when they have complete roster available, Bogdan could relieve job for Fox who thus far carried this remarkable team. Bogdan's return will open up 3 point line so that Bjelica wan't have to shoot from the parking lot distance so often. Bogdanovic can handle, can pass can set up others and what is most important can shoot and finish games.
Fox can do all of that too and these two could really help each other. With Bogdan back in rotation Fox should have more opet 3pt attempts as well. These two ought to complement each other and they have good chemistry between them which was passed from previous season. Not to forget Buddy , he should just continue to perform as he performs now with exception of giving the ball to others little bit more often now. Now when you have Bogdan, Bjelica and Kufus should return to his natural role, one that is simillar to what Kufus is doing so well right now.
At the present, I can't see anyone blaming Vlade for anything , he already received tons of critics after he let Boogie go (who by the way thinks he is a player that needs to earn a ring at all costs and really wanted to leave SAC badly).
Remember that all this started after Cousins left, players say that atmosphere in the locker room is better than before and SAC on the floor plays fast, unselfish, nice and they are playing hard, fans are loving this team If I am such a Kings fan like I used to be back in 2002-03 at this point I could not ask for more, really!! I love how Kings are playing, they should secure playoffs if they continue to shine. I don't have much to say against this team, maybe just we need to see more rotations, more bench players, IDK, season is long and vets should be rested more often maybe. So far so good, it is on the staff now to think how to keep this team healthy and rolling as they roll right now.
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