Tag: Vivek Ranadivé

George Karl is still the Kings Head Coach … for now

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Karl 1-2-16

by Charlie O. Mallonee

There are numerous reports that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and vice-president of basketball operations Vlade Divac were furious after Sacramento lost to Brooklyn on Friday night 128-119. The loss dropped the Kings record to 1-6 over the last seven games.

DeMarcus Cousins made reference to a “big issue” that the team needs to deal with in order to move forward. Cousins made it clear it was not just energy and effort. One did not have to stretch the imagination too far to include the coaching staff in the “big issue”.

George Karl has been under fire in since the off-season after it was revealed that he wanted to trade DeMarcus Cousins and reconfigure the team to fit his playing style. Reports surfaced then that Ranadive wanted to fire Karl but cooler heads prevailed and Karl was retained.

Then came the infamous shouting match that followed a Kings loss early in the season when DeMarcus Cousins “unloaded” on Karl. It was reported that Karl wanted to suspend Cousins and he was overruled by Divac and Ranadive. Frankly, that move took away the power of the head coach and gave it to Cousins. To his credit, Karl has tried to work around the problem.

Things were fine when Karl and the Kings won five consecutive games and put themselves in contention for the number eight spot in the playoff race. Now that the team has hit a rough spot and fallen to 10th in the Western Conference standings the talk of a coaching change can be found all over the internet.

The Kings problem is simple. They are not playing defense. Part of the reason the Kings won five straight games was the solid defense they played. Over the last seven games the defensive component has been missing. The Kings can score enough points to win but they cannot stop enough points to keep from losing.

George Karl was not hired to coach defense. Vivek Ranadive wanted his team to play an uptempo offense that scored 100-plus points per game. He did not like the more deliberate defensive style of Michael Malone who he fired for not installing an uptempo game. George Karl has delivered th0se 100-plus games but his team has given up 100-plus points to their opponents.

Vivek Ranadive wants the Kings to make the playoffs. Check that – Ranadive wants the Kings to win the NBA Championship now. The problem is the Kings are not anywhere near a championship level yet. If the Western Conference was not having a down year, the Kings would not be in the playoff race.

It takes time to cultivate a winning organization. In order to turn a team around, it takes five to seven years of solid drafts, player development and organizational stability. Ranadive has owned the team for almost three years and it has not been a stable organization (see the resumes of the three head coaches he has hired). Building a championship team is like developing a fine wine – it takes time.

Ranadive is going to fire George Karl. It may not be on Sunday after the Boston game. It may not be during the All-Star Break. It may not happen until the end of the season but George Karl is a “dead man walking”. He has been since Ranadive wanted to fire him for suggesting the team should trade Cousins during the off-season.

Another coaching change will just add instability to an unstable organization. Changing the coach will not bring the Kings a championship. Only time, solid drafts, good free agent signings and organizational stability will lead the Kings to where they want to be.

In the meantime hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

 

 

 

Kings Arena: Battle getting started between union and non-union contractors

Published on by Sports Radio Service1 Comment

By Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Non Union construction workers aren’t buying that they’ll get a fair shot at working on the new Kings arena. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson last Thursday addressed the media, fans, politicians, community groups, and contractors that union contractors will be getting top bidding for working on the Kings new arena. That’s when the fireworks began when Kevin Dayton a Roseville political consultant took the microphone from the podium where Johnson had been speaking and said that there will be a fight that non union workers should have a shot at working on the new arena.

The project estimated at $448 million had Dayton and Eric Christen who heads a San Diego coalition for Fair employment in construction who is in favor of non-union contractors and who has worked with Dayton said there is enough work for both union and non-union workers on the project that keeping non-union contractors out is discrimination. Johnson during his speech is leaning towards using union contractors something that Christen said was not fair to non union workers “our guys are furious about this, opponents of taxpayer funding for this arena just found an aggressive new ally today.” said Christen

The Mayor introduced the “community workforce and training agreement” which was signed by lead contractor Turner Construction and the Sacramento-Sierra Building and Construction trades council. The part that boiled the non-union contractors in the agreement was that there will be a no strike clause and that an estimated 3,500 jobs were promised to be union. Also union or non-union contractors would receive union scale and benefits. The agreement also spells out that 60-70 percent of the workers must be from the Sacramento area.

Kings president Chris Granger assured the crowd that the new arena will be up and ready by 2016 one year before the proposed 2017 target date. Granger was excited that the building would be ready one year earlier this “will provide us with great comfort and certainty” said Granger.

Chris Mullin signed as team advisor: Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Mullin said he was excited about being part of putting a winning team together again as the Kings owner Vivek Ranadive will make Muillin his principal advisor. Trusting the NBA veteran and his managerial experience also a huge amount of his playing experience and success Ranadive has the full confidence that Mullin can spot top notch talent that would help the Kings move to being one of the top tier teams in the NBA, “I’m especially grateful for the unique opportunity to work in close proximity, with a world class ownership group led by Vivek Ranadive and the talented group of individuals assembled in our front office.” said Mullin.

Mullin brings a lot of qualifications to the job, a five time NBA All-Star in 16 seasons with the Warriors and Pacers, during his career he averaged 18.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 986 games. Mullin is a gold medal winner, winning two in each of the 1984 and 1992 Olympics, in 1985 Mullin won the John Wooden Award for most outstanding college player. It was during that time when he and Patrick Ewing were the two top prospects out of the college ranks. Mullin was selected out of St.John’s as a seventh pick by Golden State and Ewing was selected by the New York Knicks.

In his retirement days he worked in the Golden State front office as executive vice president of operations in 2004, Mullin worked at the Warriors for five seasons. Mullin worked with current Kings General Manager Pete D’Alessandro who worked at Golden State from 2004-08 as an assistant General Manager.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Kings for Sportstalk Radio