Voisin: Kings are a mess but there's still time to fix it

[VF21]

DeMarcus Cousins has every reason to be angry, demoralized, confused, distrustful and thoroughly disgusted by the abrupt and premature firing of coach Michael Malone.

His bosses blew it. They messed up. They can cite unresolvable philosophical differences and a lack of communication between the coach and front office, but despite the absence of the team’s best player during the 2-8 slide, they could have justified their decision to dump their coach barely weeks into the season if two things had occurred:

One, they hired a superior coach.

Two, they outlined a plan.


Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/ailene-voisin/article5401434.html#storylink=cpy

I have to Voisin credit. When she gets it right, she really gets it right.

 

[VF21]

Now this gives me hope:

And all the speculation about Karl being out of the picture? Here’s further intrigue: It’s not true. The former NBA head coach and current ESPN analyst remains near the top of the list. Some of the owners, in fact, wanted to sign Karl the day Malone departed. But Kings general manager Pete D’Alessandro is so intent on making the perfect hire – so fearful of making a mistake – that he is digging around like a CIA agent, thinking too hard and anticipating the worst. And by the way: He worked with Karl in Denver and is intrigued by the possibilities.

 

[rainmaker]

So PDA is the one standing between us and Karl?

More fodder for Monday! Not only was he, along with Mullin the guy who forced Malone out with no plan, but he's now standing between us and Karl?

Get a hold of yourself, PDA! Stop thinking, as when you think, you **** up. Go with the obvious. Listen to the majority on this one. There is not a better candidate for what you want out there than George Karl. It's not even close. Stop being a stubborn idiot and engage.

Now we have a GM too scared to make a hire after he fired the coach? That's why you have a replacement lined up first and foremost! You don't get to this point if you had half a plan.

This weasel should have been too scared to fire a successful coach during our best start in 8 years after our star went out with viral meningitis. Where was your conscious then, Pete?

 

[VF21]

So PDA is the one standing between us and Karl?

More fodder for Monday! Not only was he, along with Mullin the guy who forced Malone out with no plan, but he's now standing between us and Karl?

Get a hold of yourself, PDA! Stop thinking, as when you think, you **** up. Go with the obvious. Listen to the majority on this one. There is not a better candidate for what you want out there than George Karl. It's not even close. Stop being a stubborn idiot and engage.

Now we have a GM too scared to make a hire after he fired the coach? That's why you have a replacement lined up first and foremost! You don't get to this point if you had half a plan.is

This weasel should have been too scared to fire a successful coach during our best start in 8 years after our star went out with viral meningitis. Where was your conscious then, Pete?

Don't hold back, rainmaker. Tell us how you really feel.



Seriously, I totally and completely agree with you. And I'm observing something interesting. First Grant pretty much threw him under the bus and now Voisin is doing the same, albeit with a little more subtlety. Kinda makes me curious, you know?

 

[Livinthedream]

Don't hold back, rainmaker. Tell us how you really feel.



Seriously, I totally and completely agree with you. And I'm observing something interesting. First Grant pretty much threw him under the bus and now Voisin is doing the same, albeit with a little more subtlety. Kinda makes me curious, you know?

The writing is on the wall. Especially when Grant speaks out strongly. I think we all agree that PDA is on his last legs. And his hesitation to pull the trigger on a coach sounds like a man who knows he has no room for error. It may be too late anyways.

 

[Tetsujin]

The writing is on the wall. Especially when Grant speaks out strongly. I think we all agree that PDA is on his last legs. And his hesitation to pull the trigger on a coach sounds like a man who knows he has no room for error. It may be too late anyways.

Being at the end of his rope should actually be more incentive for PDA to sign Karl. They've worked together before and you'd assume that Karl would rather work with a guy he knows as he moves into the organization instead of random replacement candidate A.

 

[Alacron]

OK so let's say that Karl was always the target, and the delay is a result of PDA's abundance of caution and thorough investigation. I still don't see how that theory makes sense with the facts we've observed. If Malone was fired to make way for Karl, why is this investigation being performed after the firing instead of before?

"Hey, we could get George Karl in here! Wow! Let's fire Malone and then spend a few weeks during the season looking into whether we might want Karl."
-No One Ever

The only way the front office's actions make any sense is if their theory was addition by subtraction-- that Malone was so toxic/ineffective/stubborn that his mere removal would be an improvement. And clearly that was a miscalculation compounded by lack of communication with the players and PDA's disastrous first interview with Grant.

Still, the best solution from my seat is to hire Karl. Likely the team would climb out of the depths of despair we're currently witnessing, though I wouldn't bet on competing for a playoff spot. This move would signify to fans and players alike that, while the execution may have been poor (which we can chalk up to rookie ownership/management), this group is serious about contending sooner rather than later. PDA could even save his job by averring that, while it was handled wrongly, when you have an opportunity to get a coach like Karl you have to take it. Of course many fans still have 'We wanna run... we need less defense... winning doesn't matter' ringing in our ears so for us PDA is a lost cause unless he manages to countermand those comments and make us believe he means it.
~~

 

[John Galt]

I'm not sure we should assume PDA and Karl are any kind of pals. Karl was fired a little while before PDA left the Nuggets... I might be wrong about the timing but I'm pretty sure that Pete D'Alessandro was PART OF THE FRONT OFFICE THAT FIRED GEORGE KARL.

Would it be a huge shock if Vivek fired PDA and hired Karl next week (to a job that includes final say on personnel)?

 

[VF21]

I'm not sure we should assume PDA and Karl are any kind of pals. Karl was fired a little while before PDA left the Nuggets... I might be wrong about the timing but I'm pretty sure that Pete D'Alessandro was PART OF THE FRONT OFFICE THAT FIRED GEORGE KARL.

Would it be a huge shock if Vivek fired PDA and hired Karl next week (to a job that includes final say on personnel)?

There's a pretty good article about the history of the Nuggets, PDA, Karl and Mullin but I've read so much stuff the past couple of days I cannot remember where I saw it.

EDIT: Here's the article, written by Fireplug.

 

[Jojimbo]

There's a pretty good article about the history of the Nuggets, PDA, Karl and Mullin but I've read so much stuff the past couple of days I cannot remember where I saw it.

I think it was on STR, it was a really good in-depth article.

 

[Livinthedream]

Being at the end of his rope should actually be more incentive for PDA to sign Karl. They've worked together before and you'd assume that Karl would rather work with a guy he knows as he moves into the organization instead of random replacement candidate A.

True, Karl is a really good coach, but not a permanent solution. PDA knows this. History has shown that Karl wears out his welcome eventually. If PDA had a hard time getting along with Malone in his current role, it only gets more difficult with Karl, who is not only strong willed, but brings in a strong resume to back him up. In 3 or 4 years PDA will again be in a position where he will want to fire a successful coach. That's if PDA is still around.

So, although the answer is simple to us, I can see how PDA would be hesitant. Hopefully, PDA will have to hire Karl very very soon to clean this all up. Players careers are short. Fans loyalty has a tipping point. Just get this train back on the track and bring in Karl.

 

[Hadlowe]

I'm not sure we should assume PDA and Karl are any kind of pals. Karl was fired a little while before PDA left the Nuggets... I might be wrong about the timing but I'm pretty sure that Pete D'Alessandro was PART OF THE FRONT OFFICE THAT FIRED GEORGE KARL.

Would it be a huge shock if Vivek fired PDA and hired Karl next week (to a job that includes final say on personnel)?

I know this is kind of the modern trend in the NBA with Rivers and Van Gundy, I also think it is mostly a terrible idea for a few reasons.

First, (I am going to have to hunt down the source for this apocrypha eventually,) there was a social experiment done 50 or so years ago where a psychologist took children one at a time and put them in a room with two boards and two ropes and told them to make it to the other side of the room without touching the ground. The fastest children would loop one rope under each board and step on the boards to slowly shuffle across the room.

He then put a second group of children in the room and gave them two ropes and one board. The result was that a rope looped under each end of the board got them across the room much faster in terms of raw mobility and in reduced time to experiment to try to find out what worked. The point being, sometimes having too many tools leads to waste when you try to incorporate all of the tools.

A coach who can make whatever trades/personnel decisions he likes in order to put winning product on the floor is going to spend less time working on the tools he has available. The end result, you try to fit Josh Smith in with Drummond/Monroe and end up sucking up cap space for five years on a player who plays for Houston.

The other side of it is that a GM is less involved in the lives of his players than a coach is/should be. Coaches are humans, and humans tend to empathize with or have irrational hatred of people they spend a lot of time with. Having a larger dose of "Do I like this guy personally?" in personnel decisions can be disastrous as well.

Whoever the eventual coach is, I really do not want him to have personnel decision powers at all. Let him build the product on the court and that's it.

 

[dude12]

Why Karl has not been hired is mind boggling. It saves face for the FO and ownership. Is easily the best move after firing Malone. Keeps those STH happy. Karl, a hall of fame to be coach, wants to be here. He runs the style they want. Karl has coached high maintenance players before.

There s no other move to make other than hiring him.....like weeks ago.

 

[Livinthedream]

Having Karl say he wants to coach the Kings is like a top tier free agent saying he wants to play for them. It just doesn't happen. When it does, you have to take it.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I wonder if caution or hesitancy in hiring George Karl has something to do with his cancer diagnosis, now apparently in remission. I've always thought Kings should offer maybe 3 year contract for his reported asking price $5M/yr. and have someone or more than one assistant coaches highly qualified to take over at any point if necessary. Otherwise, only cancer I see that needs to be radiated and removed is PDA with Chris Mullin in the wings for GM.

Some background on health of Coach Karl: http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/denver-nuggets-coach-george-karl-cancer-021610

 

[pshn80]

Don't hold back, rainmaker. Tell us how you really feel.



Seriously, I totally and completely agree with you. And I'm observing something interesting. First Grant pretty much threw him under the bus and now Voisin is doing the same, albeit with a little more subtlety. Kinda makes me curious, you know?

In today's Bee, Marcos Breton, Ailene Voison. And Jason Jones in their three articles do great job of covering the Kings picture and problems. Read the Bee. It is all encouraging as you say, VF21. It doesn't look good for shallow answers, inaction or dodging the issues. As one of them says, it's going to be an interesting few weeks.

 

[mdme]

Otherwise, only cancer I see that needs to be radiated and removed is PDA with Chris Mullin in the wings for GM.

If PDA gets Karl, I'd say, Mullin is the tumor that needs to be removed.

 

[kingsboi]

based on the quote above....if Pete really is trying to find a coach without making a mistake then he is just over thinking this process to be honest. This team needs a proven winner and there aren't many on the market right now that make sense and are willing to coach right away...

 

[Spike]

Is PDA being cautious because Karl might eventually (or currently) want some of his power? That would be the only holdup I could honestly think of.

Give Karl a 3 yr deal, then look to upgrade with a stable, long term solution as Karl rides off into the sunset. That'll have a good team humming by the time the arena opens, if you're thinking #5StepsAhead.

 

[funkykingston]

I had to laugh when I read Aileen Voisin's article about the coaching search. Nothing against Voisin but the idea that George Karl was "near the top of the list" and that Pete is "so intent on making the perfect hire – so fearful of making a mistake – that he is digging around like a CIA agent, thinking too hard and anticipating the worst".

Just ridiculous stuff really. Either Karl isn't really a consideration and it's just being floated out there to appease fans or he IS a candidate and Pete is taking weeks to make a decision while the team sputters and falls further and further from even having a chance to compete for a playoff spot.

Even if things were never going to work out with Malone, he was building a great foundation, guys were buying in, growing, trusting each other and competing every night. And with a realistic chance of beating any team they faced. So how do you pull the plug on something that is clearly working without a backup plan? And if management is willing to give up on the whole season why shouldn't the fans?

 

[Glenn]

I had to laugh when I read Aileen Voisin's article about the coaching search. Nothing against Voisin but the idea that George Karl was "near the top of the list" and that Pete is "so intent on making the perfect hire – so fearful of making a mistake – that he is digging around like a CIA agent, thinking too hard and anticipating the worst".

Just ridiculous stuff really. Either Karl isn't really a consideration and it's just being floated out there to appease fans or he IS a candidate and Pete is taking weeks to make a decision while the team sputters and falls further and further from even having a chance to compete for a playoff spot.

Even if things were never going to work out with Malone, he was building a great foundation, guys were buying in, growing, trusting each other and competing every night. And with a realistic chance of beating any team they faced. So how do you pull the plug on something that is clearly working without a backup plan? And if management is willing to give up on the whole season why shouldn't the fans?

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/denver-nuggets-coach-george-karl-cancer-021610

Is this article true? If it is, it would explain the length of the search.

 

[Bricklayer]

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/denver-nuggets-coach-george-karl-cancer-021610

Is this article true? If it is, it would explain the length of the search.

That's from way bakc Glenn. Yes, he's had cancer and treatments back when he was still coaching. Oddly dated there with "updated Jul 24, 2014" when clearly that info and article was at least a year and a half earlier than that, maybe even 2+ years.

 

[Glenn]

That's from way bakc Glenn. Yes, he's had cancer and treatments back when he was still coaching. Oddly dated there with "updated Jul 24, 2014" when clearly that info and article was at least a year and a half earlier than that, maybe even 2+ years.

He has had prostate cancer and then this. Prostate cancer is not a big deal. So he has had 2 different cancers.

 

[funkykingston]

He has had prostate cancer and then this. Prostate cancer is not a big deal. So he has had 2 different cancers.

Yeah, he took time off during the Nuggets season to have his thyroid cancer treated in 2010. Five weeks of radiation treatment and then cancer drugs. And his prostate cancer was in 2005. Obviously Karl may have additional health issues given his age and history but his two bouts of cancer were both years ago.

 

[Kingster]

So PDA is the one standing between us and Karl?

More fodder for Monday! Not only was he, along with Mullin the guy who forced Malone out with no plan, but he's now standing between us and Karl?

Get a hold of yourself, PDA! Stop thinking, as when you think, you **** up. Go with the obvious. Listen to the majority on this one. There is not a better candidate for what you want out there than George Karl. It's not even close. Stop being a stubborn idiot and engage.

Now we have a GM too scared to make a hire after he fired the coach? That's why you have a replacement lined up first and foremost! You don't get to this point if you had half a plan.

This weasel should have been too scared to fire a successful coach during our best start in 8 years after our star went out with viral meningitis. Where was your conscious then, Pete?

This is sooo freaking classic. It's a hackneyed movie plot. The captain is back-stabbed by the weasel. The ship becomes totally dysfunctional and is listing from taking on water. The weasel, who has taken command, panics and becomes totally paralyzed not knowing what to do. Who is going to come to the rescue?

 

[VF21]

This is sooo freaking classic. It's a hackneyed movie plot. The captain is back-stabbed by the weasel. The ship becomes totally dysfunctional and is listing from taking on water. The weasel, who has taken command, panics and becomes totally paralyzed not knowing what to do. Who is going to come to the rescue?

Either Aquaman or Capt. Nemo.

 

[upinsmoke]

"Kings are a mess but there's still time to fix it"

 

[Hoovtrain]

Now this gives me hope:

I guess. But to me its just too little too late. What this FO has done, for me, is just unforgivable. I have zero confidence they will hire Karl at any point. Not to mention Once Blatt gets canned he will most likely end up in CLE

 

[Spike]

Can it be fixed though? Not this year.

Without a miracle, we'll be in purgatory and likely lose our draft pick in the process.

Can we fix the broken relationship between management and fans?

We'll see. Karl would go a long way towards mending the relationship. Had PDA gone with Karl, as the other owners suggested, there probably wouldn't be so much vitriol.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I guess. But to me its just too little too late.

Agree. i really don't see the FO doing anything that can salvage this season to the point where we would have been had Malone not been fired. Probably would have won 40-45 games and built even more great chemistry. Even hiring Karl or some other proven coach isn't going to put us at 40 wins and we are starting all over again on chemistry.

irreversible damage is done