City of Trees wrote:Has anyone read Sam Amick's story on the Kings? I dont subscribe to the Athletic. Share a summary with the group!
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Williams arrived a month after Scott Perry left his post as a Kings executive to become the New York Knicks’ general manager, and he came with the strong support of Ranadive and his most trusted and controversial confidante, Matina Kolokotronis. The Kings’ chief operating officer has held a variety of roles in her 22 years with the franchise, most notably her time as team attorney in 2000 when she helped Hedo Turkoglu break free of an overseas contract conflict so he could start his NBA career in Sacramento. Through those early highs working with then-president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs to all these years of lows, no other high-ranking Kings official has had a longer part in this basketball play.
Her voice is heard on decisions big and small — never more so than the move to bring the popular Divac back to the organization as vice president of basketball and franchise operations before former general manager Pete D’Alessandro headed for the exits (more specifically, Denver) three months later. Divac’s arrival sparked D’Alessandro’s departure during a period of great discomfort, and he would later take over the front office.
By all accounts, Kolokotronis’ level of influence on both the business and basketball sides is at an all-time high. The same can’t be said for internal morale.
Divac and Williams work alongside fellow assistant general managers Ken Catanella (the former Detroit Pistons assistant general manager who is in his third season in Sacramento) and former King Peja Stojakovic (hired in Aug. 2015 and elevated to his current role in May, though he focuses on player development and scouting).
Cue Biggie…
“And if you don’t know, then now you know.”
All of these Kings people simply must find a way to come together and ensure that this kind of nonsense stops happening.
Yet the truth about the Kings experience is that shouting “Kangz” from the top of the Tower Bridge doesn’t do anyone any good. There are passionate fans here who want their optimism back, players who want to believe that it’s not the same old story in Sacramento.
That one-word punchline is nothing more than a byproduct of bad basketball and mismanagement that has crossed so many regimes. And if the Kangz want to earn their good name back, then getting out of the way when there are rare signs of progress would be a good start.