Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22
Ghost of Kleine wrote:
This is really good news ...................right??? It'll ensure a big move?
By Sam Amico -April 11, 2022
It’s been 16 years since the Kings made the playoffs and a source who spoke to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee said the issues start with team owner Vivek Ranadive, while alleging a “toxic” work environment.Vivek Ranadive
“I’ve been on conference calls with him around the trade deadline. I think, like any successful business or organization, a lot of this stuff starts at the top,” a former member of the Kings’ basketball operations staff told Anderson.
“In an ideal situation, you hire someone you feel is qualified. You do your homework on them and then you trust that person is capable of doing the job. It’s one thing to be a fan and want to be involved from afar, but I think when you are meddling in decisions, I think the problem is you have an owner who’s too involved.”
The Kings are parting ways with interim man Alvin Gentry as coach, perhaps shifting him to the front office. Gentry replaced Luke Walton, who was fired in November.
This is nothing new in Sacramento. As Anderson relayed, the Kings have been a revolving door of coaches, general managers and players during Ranadive’s reign.
“People are not treated well,” the source told Anderson. “They’re not valued. It’s a toxic workplace where there are some super-talented people who either move on or get let go for different reasons. It’s unfortunate because I think people come with really pure intentions and want to turn it around.”
The source went on to describe the Kings’ environment as “toxic” under Ranadive, telling Anderson that those within the organization “don’t trust each other.” He added that the Kings aren’t even operating in basketball purgatory. “Basketball hell,” the source told Anderson.
The Kings finished 30-52 and are returning to the draft lottery. On the bright side, it appears the GM Monte McNair is getting the freedom to make the key decisions on his own. McNair was hired prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.
“I’ve looked people in the eye and said, ‘We know this has been a problem. Is it a problem today?’ They’re telling me it’s not,” a Kings minority owner told Anderson. “Does Vivek have the right to approve trades or give his input? Yeah, but I don’t believe Vivek is micromanaging Monte. I believe Monte is in charge and has total control.”
One Western Conference executive doesn’t believe that the Wolves will keep Russell beyond this season, per Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus.
“I don’t think the Wolves reinvest in Russell,” a Western Conference executive said. “The combination of players they have just isn’t clicking.”
“If Minnesota goes in a different direction by the deadline, it would need to fill Russell’s 32.5 minutes a game,” Pincus wrote. “It’s unclear where he might land, though teams mentioned as possibilities by various NBA sources included the Heat, [Phoenix] Suns, [Dallas] Mavericks and [Los Angeles] Clippers.”
Ghost of Kleine wrote:
Mark Bryant was a very decent Journeyman big man, and is a decent low end big man coach. But if you look at this clip, it doesn't really look like he's capable of challenging Ayton at the level they should be looking to do! Ayton looks like he's exerting very little effort here. It goes back to what I'm saying that I believe in order for Ayton to become truly elite and reach anywhere near his potential, They might need to really consider higher level (elite options to really challenge Ayton more and make him have to work much harder and adapt to these changes with greater effort and focus! He just needs someone that'll really make him work and sweat more. Maybe just not while sick though of course.
BobbieL wrote:
Paul made sense but he has been playing well .. granted the last week
Crowder Shamet and Saric is the math - but not sure that he is the right long term.
Lowry makes sense
NapoleonII wrote:Paul isn't being traded lol.
If anything with Minny happens, I could see Ayton being a part of it. Especially with Gobert just not working at all for Minny after paying a premium, Russell and Booker being tight, and Monty finally getting the center that only cleans up and rebounds.
Gobert / Russell for Ayton/Crowder/Shamet/Saric.
CP3
Booker
Bridges
Cam
Gobert
with Russell/Payne/Okogie/Craig/Biz or Jock being our bench.
It'd be a dumb trade though because Ayton's mid-range and hooks are deadly, especially in the playoffs when the 3 gets shut down, and Gobert can't play in space - he'll get eaten alive by Doncic / Jokic / Steph and the Grizzlie's shooters.
It's exactly the sort of short sighted move I'm always expecting the Suns to make.
sunskerr wrote:D'Lo is alright I guess. Kinda mid if we're talking about post-Paul era championship aspirations because it seems scary to me to bet on Ayton becoming a real star. But it works better than the other options I guess? Admittedly I don't know much about Quickley who was another name mentioned, and of course Rozier and Van Vleet are like sub 40% fg% guys which is hilarious(ly bad).
NapoleonII wrote:Paul isn't being traded lol.
If anything with Minny happens, I could see Ayton being a part of it. Especially with Gobert just not working at all for Minny after paying a premium, Russell and Booker being tight, and Monty finally getting the center that only cleans up and rebounds.
Gobert / Russell for Ayton/Crowder/Shamet/Saric.
CP3
Booker
Bridges
Cam
Gobert
with Russell/Payne/Okogie/Craig/Biz or Jock being our bench.
It'd be a dumb trade though because Ayton's mid-range and hooks are deadly, especially in the playoffs when the 3 gets shut down, and Gobert can't play in space - he'll get eaten alive by Doncic / Jokic / Steph and the Grizzlie's shooters.
It's exactly the sort of short sighted move I'm always expecting the Suns to make.
WeekapaugGroove wrote:I've long been a Russell hater, arguing with Kerresed about him lol. But if he was basically free for expiring contracts I'd be down to see how it looks for this next 30 games. He'd have to come off the bench but he's big enough to play in lineups with both CP and Booker.
Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app
Ghost of Kleine wrote:Quickley pretty good and really improving. He's a very good young guard and becoming a really good perimeter defender too. He's also improving his playmaking too. He'd be an awesome young guard for the future, But he's currently not ready for consistent high level competition such as the playoffs yet! And New York is currently high on him so they're not likely to deal him without a generous overpay offer! Other than that though, We absolutely should be in on him as a potential core timeline consideration. He's basically a slightly better scoring/ perimeter defensive version of what we currently already have in Payne:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?player_id2=payneca01&player_id1=quickim01&sum=0&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=bbr&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=quickim01
Ghost of Kleine wrote:WeekapaugGroove wrote:I've long been a Russell hater, arguing with Kerresed about him lol. But if he was basically free for expiring contracts I'd be down to see how it looks for this next 30 games. He'd have to come off the bench but he's big enough to play in lineups with both CP and Booker.
Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app
I'm sure they could figure something out to accomodate premise.
Ghost of Kleine wrote:
Not bad value, But then why would Toronto want Toppin with already having Barnes, Siakim, Boucher, Young, Porter Jr, and Achiuwa already at the 4?
