Following their glowing reviews from the 2017 NBA Draft, it seems that the Sacramento Kings are finally equipped to put an end to their status as one of the league's biggest laughing stocks.
It's been over a decade since the Kings last made the playoffs. Matters even went into Twilight Zone territory when the team's former owners, brothers Joe and Gavin Maloof, threatened to relocate the team to Seattle, Anaheim, or Las Vegas — mainly just to resolve their family's own fiscal problems.
But in 2013, with the help of Sacramento mayor (and former NBA player) Kevin Johnson, the city's passionate fanbase, and a certain mogul by the name of Vivek Ranadive, the Kings were bought out from the Maloofs and have since continued to deliver NBA games for the great folks of Sactown.
Ranadive, founder and former CEO of TIBCO Software, made his multi-million empire in the IT industry before becoming the first-ever owner of an NBA team of Indian descent. As the top dog of the Kings organization, Ranadive's main task was to ensure that his company was economically sound and that the team itself is built well enough to contend for a title. He needn't know how to actually manage a basketball team in the strictest sense; as what his fellow tech-savvy peers in Paul Allen (owner of the Portland Trail Blazers) and Steve Ballmer (L.A. Clippers) would attest.
And yet, Ranadive can't help but get involved in basketball operations. In the four seasons since taking over the Kings, he's had his hand in seeing four head coaches and three general managers join the organization only to leave almost as fast as they got in. He's been caught on tape getting highly involved in the team's think tank at the 2014 NBA Draft (which obviously, and as seen in the video below, went poorly). He proposed that the team run an ill-advised defensive scheme that'll never pass the league's standards of competition. Worst of all, the Kings' minority owners have gotten fed up with his utter mismanagement that they tried to find ways to wrest his overall control of the franchise.
If that wasn't enough, Ranadive was largely held accountable for trading DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans. Cousins was, without a doubt, the best and most entertaining player on the Kings roster. The collective groans and whimpers of the team's harshest critics and the Sacramento fanbase were heard loudly on social media after the trade had been finalized.
Ranadive wasn't around yet when the Kings drafted Cousins in 2010. However, the fact that it wasn't Vivek who handpicked Boogie at the draft may have been the main factor as for why the obtuse tycoon wasn't very reluctant to let his team's one and only superstar go.
Reluctance has never been a defining trait of Ranadive. But perhaps the Kings chairman has shown a more unique yet unappealing deed that further reinforces all his wrongdoings: unabashed incrimination.
In a 2016 interview with USA TODAY's Sam Amick, Ranadive was quoted to be pointing fingers at other sources for virtually all of the team's shortcomings. He blamed the Kings' blunders unto other sources, such as the NBA's formulaic team-building culture to justify his attempt in having former head coach Mike Malone and general manager Pete D'Alessandro coexist, and asking Amick to direct certain queries during the interview towards his VP of basketball operations Vlade Divac.
Denial also loomed heavy in Ranadive's sit-down with USA TODAY. He denied that he was involved in having pop sensation Drake pay a locker room visit shortly after Cousins' documented spat with head coach George Karl, and claimed that he had no knowledge regarding the firing of former Kings player and assistant GM Shareef Abdur-Rahim until after he was informed of the lay-off. Abdur-Rahim, by the way, threatened to file a civil lawsuit because of his dismissal before reaching a settlement that saw him get paid for the remaining years on his contract.
The popular opinion from the media on Ranadive's handling of the Kings organization is that he's likened to a child playing with a new, shiny big-boy toy. He didn't bother reading the instruction manual for his new hobby, tinkered with it to the best of his personal knowledge, and ended up breaking it apart in no time. The wealthy magnate's misguided actions that were just cited here pretty much reflect the analogy.
However, is Ranadive's all-encompassing, hands-on approach of team management really at fault for all of the Kings' struggles? Lest we forget, Cousins wore his heart on his sleeve and had just as much passion for basketball as his boss did for his company. The difference, though, is that the three-time All-Star‘s backbreaking temper tantrums could easily be shrugged off given his individual talent and production, whereas Ranadive was never pardoned for his oafish decisions with higher expectations bearing down on him. Having said that, it's pretty clear now that Boogie's fiery demeanor was always going to clash with Vivek's laid-back personality.
One could even argue that Cousins was indeed the team's biggest problem all along. Just ask the question: how many times did Cousins let his team down because of a preemptive ejection from a game that ultimately led to a loss? And although the Kings posted a mere 8-17 record following the trade basically with a group of nobodies and has-beens, the Pelicans only went 11-14 with Cousins on board and still missed out on the playoffs even with a healthy Anthony Davis playing alongside their prized recruit.
In addition, Sacramento shot one-and-a-half percentage points better from the field and scored just half-a-point less on average following Cousins' departure. The team's upstart bigs in Willie Cauley-Stein and Skal Labissiere both improved and displayed their upsides without Cousins having to eat up their minutes, and rookie shooting guard Buddy Hield also saw a significant spike in production during the final two months of the season.
All these positives from the Kings' young core make for a sound case that they really are rising from the ashes of the Cousins trade. Toss in their standout acquisition of Kentucky point guard De'Aaron Fox into the equation, and they basically have a nucleus similar to the the fruits bore by the Philadelphia 76ers‘ infamous “process“.
It's time to point the finger back at Ranadive — not to further bring the man down and blame him for the Kings' ineptitude, but rather to emphasize that it is his prerogative to recover from the post-Boogie nightmare with the promise that the new roster brings. Then, take that same finger directed at him and point it to the players, coaching staff, behind-the-scenes management and every supporting cast in the Kings organization to let Vivek know that he is not alone in his quest to bring glory and respect back to not just The Capital City, but also to his already-damaged reputation in the NBA business.
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