Tag Archives: Vivek Ranadive

Sacramento Kings Preview

Basketball Intelligence Previews the Kings’ 2014-15 season

Team Name: Sacramento Kings

Last Year’s record 28-54
Key losses: Isaiah Thomas. Quincy Acy, Travis Outlaw, Aaron Gray
Key additions: Darren Collison, Ramon Sessions, Nik Stauskas, Omri Casspi, Ryan Hollins,
Eric Moreland, Dean Oliver (Analytics)

1. What Significant Moves Were Made during the Off-season:

Darren Collison replaces Isaiah Thomas at point guard.  Collison plays at a faster pace but otherwise is not the offensive contributor that Thomas was.  Ramon Sessions is one of the best back-up point guards in the Association.  First-round pick Nik Stauskas is potentially one of  the NBA’s top rookies. Known mostly for his outstanding marksmanship and range in college, he will help address the Kings’ 3-point shooting and floor spacing deficiencies. He is also an excellent ball handler.  Sessions, Stauskas, Casspi, Hollins and Moreland represent a bench upgrade. Bringing in Dean Oliver to head analytics and be involved in personnel decisions is a major plus.

2. What are the Team’s Biggest Strengths:

Frontcourt scoring ( DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay). Offensively, Cousins is one of the very best big men in the league.  The Kings are optimistic that his FIBA World Cup experience will result in maturation, a better attitude and improved all-around play. His talent has never been questioned.

Versatility: Coach Malone can mix and match due to the mulit-positional abilities of several of the Kings’ key players.

Improved Bench Play:  The Kings significantly upgraded their bench adding Sessions, Stauskas, Casspi, Hollins and Moreland.  If Stauskas starts, then Ben McLemore moves from starter to sub.  Having Ray McCallum, who played well last season as a rookie,  as the third point guard is a luxury, but will it stunt his growth by over-limiting his playing time?

Analytics: The addition of Dean Oliver to head this aspect is a coup for the Kings.

3. What are the team’s biggest weaknesses?:

Defense: The Kings have been a poor defensive team for many years.  There is a lot of blame to go around.  For example, Cousins’ contributions have mostly come on offense.  He has often appeared not to even try on defense.  If all the praise he has received for his play with Team USA is indicative of some maturation, perhaps we will see a much greater effort from him defensively.  He has the tools to be much better than he has shown in past seasons.  The Kings are also counting on new-acquisition Darren Collison to supply more ball pressure than Isaiah Thomas, which could help. In addition to his exemplary rebounding, Reggie Evans is a high-energy defender. His minutes are generally limited though, since, when he is in the game, the Kings’ offense almost plays four-on-five. Acquisition Ryan Hollins can supply rim protection but he is also  limited offensively.

Lack of Ball Movement: Last season, the Kings were horrible in this regard ( last season they were in the bottom five in the league in ball movement  despite finishing in the top five in player movement.) The hope is that a 2nd year under Coach Malone and the roster changes will bring improvement.

4. What are the Goals for the Team?:

While most of the moves the Kings have made are upgrades, they still play in the extremely difficult Western Conference so a playoff spot remains unlikely.  35 wins is not an unreasonable goal.

5. Have the Kings Successfully Moved Past the Stench of the Maloofs?

First, let’s recognize just how horrid the wannabe playboy brothers’ ownership was.  How best to describe them:  The Hollies would say “King Midsases in Reverse”: they managed to turn an (inherited) successful beer franchise, a Las Vegas Casino and and NBA team into crap; Ann Richards would say: “They were born on third base and thought they hit a triple.”.  And if someone asks if they are “fools or knaves”, the best answer is “both”.

They managed to turn the maniacal local Kings’ fan base entirely against them before being run out of town.

The new Kings’ ownership group, headed by Vivek Ranadive, is now in its second season and has made significant progress in turning things around quickly. Ranadive is a forward thinker and that manifests itself in many ways that should benefit the Kings’ future.  It also helps that the ownership has deep pockets, so the Kings have said goodbye to the skinflint ways of the past. Work on a new arena to replace the embarrassing current structure is progressing. GM Pete D’Alessandro and Head Coach Mike Malone are well-respected around the Association. On the whole, the local fans are so glad to be rid of the goofball family that excitement for the team has returned to a significant degree, reflected in improved season ticket sales. Off-season moves look promising. (The one controversial change was replacing Isaiah Thomas with Darren Collison.  Time will tell if the expected resulting pace change will pay off.)

Rookies,Playoffs,Kings,Spurs,Heat,Blazers,Rockets,Mavs, Carr

– Rookie Q&A: Who do you study? (from ESPN TrueHoop):

ESPN’s TrueHoop “asked some of the top rookies who they watch in the NBA

Read their answers here: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67098/rookie-qa-who-do-you-study

Abolish the NBA’s conference system (from Ethan Sherwood Strauss, ESPN.com):

” Shouldn’t the playoffs be as competitive as possible? The NBA is operating as though this isn’t the plan.

The Dallas Mavericks are currently out of the playoffs with a 43-30 record. The Atlanta Hawks are on track to make the playoffs with a 31-40 record. The offensively thrilling Mavs are second in attendance. The mediocre Hawks are 28th. This can’t really be what the league intended, can it?”

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67090/abolish-the-nbas-conference-system

– Q&A: Kings owner Vivek Ranadive (from Jared Dubin, ESPN.com):

” Vivek Ranadive is an award-winning CEO, the author of three best-selling books, a black belt in taekwondo and a former national junior girls basketball coach. He’s a graduate of MIT and Harvard and the founder of the multibillion dollar company TIBCO Software Inc. He’s also the majority owner of the Sacramento Kings, and he thinks taunting is cool.

We had the chance to catch up with Ranadive by phone earlier this week, and he gave us the inside scoop on the Kings’ widespread use of analytics, his plan to solve tanking, and why he felt comfortable hitching the wagon of his franchise to DeMarcus Cousins. “

Read it here: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/67010/qa-kings-owner-vivek-ranadive

– Less dependence on Parker, Duncan an important development for San Antonio (from Matthew Tynan, 48minutesofhell):

Read it here: http://www.48minutesofhell.com/san-antonio-spurs-bench-depth-nba-playoffs

– The Spurs’ decision to re-sign Tiago Splitter is paying off (from Angus Crawford, poundingtherock.com):

” Among the debris of streaks, stable successes, and suspect opinions, one thing remains the same: the unheralded

play of Tiago Splitter.”

Read it here: http://www.poundingtherock.com/2014/3/28/5549218/r-c-buford-decision-re-sign-tiago-splitter-cap-space

– A closer look at how Udonis Haslem neutralized Roy Hibbert (from Azam Asood, hothothoops.com):

” The normally inefficient behemoth was terrorizing Miami’s frontline early in the game. An appearance by Udonis Haslem quickly ended all of that.”

Read and view it here: http://www.hothothoops.com/2014/3/27/5556012/a-closer-look-at-how-udonis-haslem-neutralized-roy-hibbert

With Aldridge back, so is Blazers’ edge 9from Steve Aschburner, NBA.com):

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/03/29/with-aldridge-back-so-is-blazers-edge/

Beverley loss would bite the Rockets (from Fran Blinebury, NBA.com):

” For a team that has ridden the All-Star exploits of James Harden and Dwight Howard to the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference playoff race, Beverley plays a critical role.

The 25-year-old Chicago native who was drafted and cut by Heat, then toiled overseas in Russia, puts significant bite into the face of the Rockets’ defense.

” In a worst-case scenario, Beverley is through for the season. If the injury is not so severe and the rehab process can be sped up, he could return if the Rockets are playing in later rounds of the playoffs.”

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/03/28/beverley-loss-would-bite-the-rockets/

Mavs’ Kaleb Canales a true trail blazer (from Jeff Caplan, NBA.com):

“ If the name Kaleb Canales doesn’t ring a bell, it likely will soon. Think Erik Spoelstra. No one knew the two-time champion coach of the Miami Heat when he was living in the shadows of the franchise’s video room or as an assistant on the Heat bench.

Now everybody knows his name, as well as the fact that Spoelstra is the first Filipino-American to coach in the NBA.

Two seasons ago, Canales — born in Laredo, Texas and whose father is from Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas — became the first Mexican-American to lead an NBA team when he took over the Portland Trail Blazers as the interim coach for 23 games after the team fired Nate McMillan.

In the offseason, a month after his 34th birthday, Canales was one of two finalists to become the next coach of the Blazers. Despite the support of the players, the club passed on Canales’ youth for the experience of Terry Stotts, who had previously been a head coach and just celebrated winning the 2011 championship on Rick Carlisle‘s staff with the Dallas Mavericks.

Canales remained with the Blazers last season as a lead assistant and helped ease Stotts’ transition with his new players. When Mavericks assistant Jim O’Brien decided to step aside last summer, Carlisle hired Canales at Stotts’ recommendation.”

Read it here: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2014/03/28/mavs-kaleb-canales-a-true-trail-blazer/

And, an Aquille Carr update from RealGM: http://basketball.realgm.com/article/232636/Aquille-Carrs-Second-Chance