Vivek Ranadive Rumors | Hoops Rumors

More Notes, Reactions, Updates On Cousins Trade

February 20th, 2017 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of Sunday night’s DeMarcus Cousins trade agreement between the Pelicans and Kings, we rounded up several notes, reactions, and details on the deal earlier today. Updates and reactions continue to trickle in, however, so let’s round up the latest…

News/rumors:

A source familiar with the Kings‘ thinking tells Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com (Twitter link) that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive believes Buddy Hield has “Steph Curry potential,” which was a key motivator for Sacramento. Given Hield’s struggles so far to adjust to the NBA, that seems like an awfully optimistic projection.
The Celtics never had any real interest in Cousins, league sources tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. According to Himmelsbach, Boston “could not overlook all the warning signs” associated with the star center. “It’s just really hard when you can’t find one basketball person [to vouch for him],” one source said.
Although an earlier report from Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical suggested that the Kings would probably waive Langston Galloway after acquiring him, Bobby Marks of The Vertical now writes that the team is planning to hang onto Galloway, who has a $5.434MM player option for 2017/18.
The Pelicans likely aren’t done after striking a deal for Cousins, according to Scott Kushner of The Advocate, who tweets that he expects the team to try to claim, sign, or trade for a backcourt player.
An earlier report suggested that the Pelicans offered Tyreke Evans to the Sixers in a package for Jahlil Okafor, but Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Daily News (Twitter link) hears from a source that Evans wasn’t a part of that trade scenario.

Reactions/analysis:

The acquisition of Cousins is a franchise-altering move that will return the Pelicans to relevancy in the NBA landscape, writes Justin Verrier of ESPN.com.
Michael Lee of The Vertical makes the case that the Kings‘ timing in trading Cousins – interrupting the standout center’s enjoyment of All-Star weekend – was a microcosm of how they handled his entire stint in Sacramento. Sunday represented one last night of Kings chaos for Cousins, as Ben Golliver of SI.com details.
While the Cousins trade should mark rock bottom for the Kings, things could get even worse for the franchise before they get better, says Tom Ziller of SBNation.com.
The Kings‘ decision to trade Cousins is the “sanest move they’ve made in years,” argues Howard Beck of Bleacher Report. “This was a definite culture move,” a source with insight into the deal told Beck. “Enough was enough.”
Bobby Marks of The Vertical provides a full breakdown of the swap from both the Pelicans‘ and Kings‘ perspectives, with a focus on the salary cap details.

Kings Rumors: Ranadive, Cousins, Gay, Westbrook

January 26th, 2017 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Sources with “intimate knowledge” of the Kings insist that team owner Vivek Ranadive won’t entertain the prospect of trading DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Arnovitz writes in a lengthy and entertaining feature piece for ESPN.com. That’s something we’ve heard before, and comes as little surprise, considering the Kings and Cousins are reportedly on track for an offseason contract extension.

Arnovitz’s piece features many more fascinating tidbits about Cousins and about the Kings’ franchise though, many of which we haven’t heard before. The entire story is worth checking out, but we’ll round up a few of the highlights right here:

Although Ranadive insists that the only major player personnel decisions he has made were the ones to trade for Rudy Gay and to not hang onto Cousins, Arnovitz writes that “not a single league source for this story outside of Sacramento said that ultimate authority resides anywhere but with Ranadive.”
Arnovitz hears from one NBA insider that Ranadive told him “some months back” that he’d like to assemble a big three in Sacramento, with Russell Westbrook joining Cousins and Gay. It’s not clear if that declaration was made prior to Westbrook signing his extension with the Thunder, but either way, it seems extremely unlikely that the OKC star would end up with the Kings. Gay also seems likely to depart in free agency this summer, though Ranadive remains unconvinced of that, per Arnovitz.
Members of front offices that have dealt with the Kings say that Sacramento’s front office structure is confusing to navigate, according to Arnovitz. “There’s just so much ambiguity about how the decision-making process works [in Sacramento] and what information actually gets back to whom,” said one rival executive. By way of example, Arnovitz cites one Kings source who says that during the 2015 draft, there were as many as five team owners in the draft room, including one who was trying to make a side deal for a second-round pick.
One league source tells Arnovitz that Ranadive has an “unhealthy fixation on the Warriors,” having previously been a part of Golden State’s ownership group.
According to Arnovitz, communication between Cousins and Kings’ executives has sometimes created problems. Sources tell Arnovitz that Cousins was assured that George Karl wouldn’t be hired as the team’s head coach in 2015. Cousins was later told in February 2016 that the team was going to fire Karl that day, but it ultimately didn’t happen until two months later.
Be sure to check out Arnovitz’s full story for many more tidbits about Cousins and the Kings.

Pacific Notes: Buss, Lakers, Karl, Tolliver

December 24th, 2016 at 7:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers president and part owner Jeanie Buss will face a major decision after the season ends, writes Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. Buss could signal a change of direction for the franchise by firing her brother Jim, who serves as executive vice president, and GM Mitch Kupchak. It has been nearly three years since Jim Buss promised to resign if the Lakers weren’t “contending for a championship” in three or four seasons. Coming off three of the worst seasons in franchise history, L.A. sparked some hope with a 10-10 start, but has lost 12 of its last 13 games. “We’re like every other team that we will play a season and we will assess that season when it’s over,” Jeanie Buss said. “No reason to speculate on any possible changes. It’s a waste of time to speculate.”

There’s more news from the Pacific Division:

Nearly all of the Lakers‘ offseason signees are now eligible to be included in trades, notes Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders. Power forward Thomas Robinson passed his deadline December 23rd, a day after Metta World Peace. Marcelo Huertas, Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov and Jordan Clarkson all became eligible on December 15th. The one exception is backup center Tarik Black, who cannot be traded until January 15th. League rules stipulate a later deadline for him because he received at least a 20% salary increase while re-signing with Bird rights.
Critical comments about the time he spent coaching the Kings were removed from George Karl’s new book, according to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears and Marc Stein. A proof copy of “Furious George” obtained by the network included negative passages about DeMarcus Cousins, GM Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive. Karl said he had “not authorized” those parts of the book to be included. Sources told ESPN that Karl agreed to refrain from critical statements about the organization in the settlement he reached when he left the team after last season.
Anthony Tolliver is earning more playing time with the Kings, relays James Ham of CSNBayArea. The well-traveled forward signed with Sacramento in July for $16MM over two seasons. He has been in and out of the rotation during the first two months of the season, but has found a larger role in the past week. “Professional — he can sit five games in a row and his name is called and he’s going to come out and play like it’s his last game,” Cousins said. “True professional. He’s always ready to play.”

Kings Notes: Cousins, Casspi, Gay, Stauskas

November 30th, 2016 at 7:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kings coach Dave Joerger has gone back to a bigger starting lineup in an effort to improve the team’s defense, according to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Kosta Koufos is back with the starters, being used at center with DeMarcus Cousins at power forward. Joerger briefly tried a small-ball starting lineup, but wasn’t satisfied with the results. “I’m trying to protect DeMarcus a little bit by letting Kosta take the hits on a bigger guy like [Washington Wizards center Marcin] Gortat,” Joerger said. “And defensively more pick-and-rolls and try to save [Cousins’] legs for the end.”

There’s more news out of Sacramento:

Cousins continues to put up incredible numbers, averaging 28.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per night, but the Kings need more production from their complementary players, writes James Ham of CSNBayArea. “We’ve just got to be better,” Omri Casspi said after Monday’s overtime loss at Washington. “Our bench guys and our role players have to do a better job of helping DeMarcus. It feels like he’s doing anything he can to win the game for us. We’ve just got to be better.”
Rudy Gay confirmed that he has left Octagon Basketball, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. Gay, who has suggested that he won’t be re-signing with Sacramento after he becomes a free agent next summer, may be joining Roc Nation, an agency headed by rapper Jay Z (Twitter link). However, he told Jones that the change isn’t related to his impending free agency (Twitter link).
Nik Stauskas says it doesn’t bother him to hear that the Kings feel like they should have drafted someone else in 2014, Jones posts on Facebook. Owner Vivek Ranadive recently told Amick that he preferred Magic guard Elfrid Payton over Stauskas as the No. 8 pick. “Like I said, they did me a favor sending me here to Philadelphia,” Stauskas replied. “I’ve had a really good opportunity to play even though I hadn’t been performing though my first year with the Sixers. I’m thankful that the organization gave me an opportunity, they drafted me, but if they felt like the made a mistake by drafting me then they felt like they made a mistake. I can’t do anything about it now.”

Pacific Notes: Paul, Walton, Chriss, Ranadive

October 16th, 2016 at 9:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers aren’t worried about a sprained left thumb that Chris Paul suffered Saturday in practice, according to Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. The All-Star point guard stood on the sidelines as the team practiced today, but his availability for the season opener isn’t in doubt. Paul has been listed as “day-to-day,” and coach Doc Rivers explained that he sat out practice as a precaution. “He’ll play in definitely one of the two [remaining preseason games], and that tells you it’s not that serious,” Rivers said.

There’s more news out of the Pacific Division:

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr believes the Lakers are the only team that could have tempted Luke Walton to leave Golden State, writes Joey Ramirez of NBA.com. Walton spent two years on the Warriors’ bench and served as Kerr’s lead assistant last season. He accepted a five-year deal in May to take over in Los Angeles, where he spent the first eight seasons of his playing career. “He’s such a great guy,” Kerr said. “He’s become one of my best friends. We’re all gonna miss him, but we’re all happy for him. I know he wouldn’t have taken any other job but the Laker job to leave Golden State.”
Marquese Chriss may be a 19-year-old rookie, but he is impressing his Suns teammates by standing up to veterans in preseason games, relays Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. His latest skirmish was with Mavericks’ center Andrew Bogut on Friday night. “’Quese has to show that he ain’t scared,” said Eric Bledsoe. “Once one of those players or a veteran player feels like he got fear in you, as a young player, it will ride you for the rest of your career. ‘Quese is setting the tone early.”
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has apologized to former executive Geoff Petrie for slighting his contributions to the organization in a recent interview, writes Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. The apology was prompted by Petrie’s angry response after reading the two-part piece in USA Today. Voisin accuses both parties of engaging in revisionist history and contends the whole incident was unnecessary.

Ranadive Draws Angry Response From Geoff Petrie

October 12th, 2016 at 9:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Geoff Petrie, who ran the Kings’ front office for two decades, is blasting Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive for a “sophomoric attempt at revisionist history,” writes Kevin Draper of Deadspin. Ranadive conducted a two-part interview with USA Today in which he deflected blame for many of the franchise’s poor decisions. Petrie responded with an email to Draper calling Ranadive’s statements “an ugly lie” and taking issue with “representations regarding [former head coach] Keith Smart, myself, and our professional staff.”

Petrie and Smart were fired shortly after Ranadive’s group purchased the Kings from the Maloof family in 2013. Here are a few excerpts of Petrie’s interview with Deadspin:

On how he handled the transition after the sale took place:

“Leading up to the actual sale of the team, it was obvious the team was going to be sold. What became of the bidding match between the [Steve] Ballmer group and ultimately Vivek’s group, through the league office, people were concerned about their jobs, what their future was going to be, what it would hold for them. And really, we had a group of people there that had been there, and we had worked together for a long time and were part of the best heritage that the Kings have ever had in Sacramento. I brought everybody together at different occasions and said, “Look, we’re going to be professional here, we’re going to continue to work like we’d work any other year, we’ll prepare for the draft like we would every other year, and ultimately we will assist any new people that may come in here and try and make them comfortable and get them situated. And that’s what we did.”

On Ranadive’s statement implying that nobody from the previous regime wanted to stay and work for him:

“The way it came across in the article is like [Ranadivé] came in there and there was nobody there, nobody wanted to be there. Keith Smart wanted to be there! He had a year left on his contract. He didn’t get a discussion or an interview, he got a 90-second phone call in his car that they weren’t going to keep him. How do you arrive at a statement that he didn’t want to be there?”

On his first impression of Ranadive:

“I only had about an 8- or 10-minute little meeting with him. I found him to be a very arrogant and dismissive little chap. He doesn’t seem to understand that he owns it. He was the one that came in with Basketball 3.0, and changing the culture, ‘I have the smartest guys in the room, they’re four steps ahead of everybody else, I have 80 gigs of data, nobody else has that.’ Well, okay, you know?”

On the start of the Kings’ playoff drought:

“The really good team we had, it ultimately had to be rebuilt because the core of that team wasn’t one that started out in its early 20s, it started out in their mid-to-late 20s, so that period of time once you have a core that you can win with and become very good with, the longevity is not … and of course with [Chris Webber’s] injury that accelerated things. We had to get into serious rebuilding, and unfortunately the last three, three-and-a-half years of that period, were under some really difficult operating circumstances salary cap wise, and we were really limited in certain things. And then our last two drafts were not good, which is on us, although we did get Isaiah Thomas and Hassan Whiteside in there.”

On his desire to return to the NBA:

“Listen, I love the NBA. It’s been a lifetime of basically living your dream, even with the ups and downs over some of the different periods. But the ups were so great. You remember the people you worked with and the fans in both Portland and Sacramento are unbelievably loyal. I would like to see them get back to a higher level and all that. But as far as me, I certainly think I could be a good advisor to somebody. With running a team again, without having a really close relationship with the people you’re working with, pre-existing relationships I guess, probably wouldn’t be of great interest. But I am comfortable with the life I have and grateful for what it was up to this point. Fortunate and grateful.”

Western Notes: Ranadive, Cousins, Chalmers, Durant

October 9th, 2016 at 9:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told Sam Amick of USA Today that he is confident the DeMarcus Cousins situation can be resolved. Cousins has repeatedly expressed unhappiness with the direction of the franchise and had frequent clashes with former coach George Karl last season. Ranadive thinks the hiring of Dave Joerger as the new coach will help smooth over the bitterness. “When I first bought the team I had to make one decision, which was ‘Do I give [Cousins] a contract [extension] or not [in September 2013?’ and I made the decision to give it to him,” the owner said. “I feel like that was the right decision. But other than that, I haven’t really made any basketball decisions, because after that I hired a GM and a coach and everyone else. But I expect that [GM] Vlade [Divac] will make the right calls. I think DeMarcus truly looks up to Vlade. I think he truly likes the coach.”

Ranadive also addressed the status of Rudy Gay, who recently announced that he plans to opt out of his contract next summer. “He’s a professional,” Ranadive said. “It’s his last year, and I’m sure he’s going to go out there and do his best and we’ll see. But I have confidence that Vlade and him and everyone else will work it out.”

There’s more out of the Western Conference:

Free agent addition Raymond Felton said the rumors of discontent in the Clippers‘ locker room are untrue, relays Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. The 12-year veteran, who came over from the Mavericks in July, said stories of personality clashes involving Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are greatly exaggerated. “You hear a lot of negative stuff through the years about this team when you’re on other teams,” Felton said. “But being here, this team is actually closer than you think. That surprised me. To see that, and add the couple of things I feel like I can add personality-wise off the court, I think we’re going to be all right.”
Mario Chalmers, who played for the Grizzlies last season before tearing his Achilles in March, is making progress in his comeback, posts Brian Windhorst on ESPN Now. Chalmers said he is about a month away from being ready to return and several teams have been in contact with him.
Changes in the collective bargaining agreement could be the biggest obstacle to Kevin Durant re-signing with the Warriors next summer, writes Dan Feldman of NBCSports.com. While it would be a virtual certainty under the current CBA, a lower salary cap or changes to non-Bird Rights could complicate Golden State’s effort to keep Durant.

George Karl Speaks Out On Kings’ Situation

May 1st, 2016 at 10:48am CST by Arthur Hill

Brian Spurlock / USA TODAY Sports Images

Former Sacramento coach George Karl discusses his firing, his relationship with DeMarcus Cousins and the turmoil inside the Kings organization in a wide-ranging interview with Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. It represents Karl’s most extensive comments since the team dismissed him April 14th.

Karl says executive/GM Vlade Divac has a huge task ahead in trying to rebuild a team that hoped to be a playoff contender this season, but sputtered to a 33-49 record and finished tied for 10th in the West. Divac’s most pressing offseason decision will be whether to keep or trade Cousins. “The roster needs to be tinkered with,” Karl said. “[Divac] is going to be in for an NBA free agency unlike anything we have ever seen. If the decision is made to keep Cuz, you have to put the right players around him. But it can’t be about Cousins. You have to make basketball decisions.” Karl believes the Kings have too many guards and that Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore and Marco Belinelli are too similar to function on the same roster.
Karl said his relationship with Cousins was doomed from the beginning because Cousins’ agents, Dan Fegan and Jarinn Tasi Akana, lobbied hard to prevent Karl’s hiring. Former Sacrmento GM Pete D’Alessandro signed off on the move, but he was demoted weeks later and replaced by Divac. D’Alessandro left for a job with the Nuggets just before the draft, taking valuable information on the Kings’ strategy with him and leaving Divac with an inexperienced staff. Meanwhile, Karl was failing to set down new borders with Cousins and didn’t respond forcefully to early incidents of disrespect. “I never felt I got into a good place with Cuz,” Karl said, “and some of that was my stupidity when I said that no player is untradeable. I still believe that. But I should have been smart enough not to say it, and I in no way, at any time, thought DeMarcus was going to get traded.”
The situation escalated when Divac orchestrated a public handshake between Cousins and Karl on NBATV at last year’s Las Vegas Summer League. Cousins reluctantly shook Karl’s hand, then embarrassed his coach by quickly turning away. “Vlade thought he was helping me,” Karl said, “but that looked really bad.”
Their relationship became more poisoned when Cousins unleashed a profanity-filled tirade at Karl following a November 8th loss. Karl wanted to impose a two-game suspension, but Divac opted for an undisclosed fine. “When they supported Cousins instead of me, I felt, ‘OK, I’m in the compromise position. Cuz has the power,’’’ Karl said. “They sent that message many times, too many times sent it to the players. And the players wanted someone to stand up to Cuz, and they wanted it to be their coach. But at that point, I realized that you either compromise or you blow it up, and my job was to make us a better basketball team and get to the end of the year.”
Karl believes Sacramento’s front office expected too much too soon after an aggressive summer of trying to rebuild the team. He hopes a better atmosphere greets whomever the Kings select as their next head coach. “Whether or not they trade Cuz,” Karl said, “they have to empower their coach. They have to let him coach. It takes a few years to build a program. It becomes a culture, an energy force. [Owner] Vivek [Ranadive] wanted magic to happen, but in the NBA magic happens once in a while, and usually is associated with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan.”

Pacific Notes: Lieberman, Ayres, Clarkson, Booker

March 17th, 2016 at 9:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

George Karl has unofficially exiled Kings assistant coach Nancy Lieberman because Karl views her as a confidante to owner Vivek Ranadive, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. That’s created an extra plot twist with the Karl-DeMarcus Cousins saga because Ranadive has been loyal to Cousins and the mercurial center can’t help but notice the in-fighting among the staff, Amick adds. The Kings deny that Lieberman has Ranadive’s ear or that Karl has pushed her to the background, sources indicated to NBCSports.com’s Dan Feldman, though Feldman notes that Amick is well connected and has reported out of Sacramento for many years.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

Power forward Jeff Ayres is relieved he can settle into one place now that the Clippers have signed him for the remainder of the season, Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com reports. The power forward, who played under two 10-day contracts with the Clippers earlier this season, played two games for the D-League’s Los Angeles D-Fenders after being traded from Boise before the Clippers came calling again. “I was telling somebody this morning, I’ve been living out of my suitcase – like really living out of a suitcase,” Ayres told Kavner.
Lakers coach Byron Scott isn’t concerned about Jordan Clarkson‘s shooting slump, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register writes. The second-year shooting guard has averaged 9.7 points, shot 29.5% from the field and made just two of 17 3-point attempts over the past three games. “I don’t put a whole lot of stock into it,” Scott told Oram and other members of the media. “You’re going to have stretches of this season, which is a long season, where you’re going to have some bad games.”
Rookie shooting guard Devin Booker is being groomed as the Suns‘ go-to player at the end of games, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Interim head coach Earl Watson is putting the ball in his hands during those situations to see how he responds, as Watson relayed to Coro. “Devin has to learn how to finish games at the elbow like Kobe Bryant,” Watson said. “He knows that. We talked about that. That’s the progression of him finishing games.”

Latest On Kings, George Karl

February 8th, 2016 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

Assistant coach Corliss Williamson is more likely to be the head coach of the Kings by season’s end than George Karl is, barring a surprise, according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The front office has lost nearly all confidence in Karl and players have tuned him out, Mannix hears from league sources, echoing Vertical colleague Adrian Wojnarowski’s report from Saturday that once more cast Karl’s job security into public question. Many of the Kings players have heard through their agents that the team is actively shopping them, Mannix also writes.

It’s the latest round of upheaval in Sacramento, where team’s minority-share owners have looked into ways to seize control from owner Vivek Ranadive, sources told Mannix. They nonetheless have little means to stage a coup, Mannix adds. The turmoil surrounding the Kings has made the head-coaching job unattractive to potential candidates, the Vertical scribe writes, suggesting that well-regarded assistants Kenny Atkinson of the Hawks and Jay Larranaga of the Celtics aren’t particularly anxious to take the job if it indeed comes open.

Kings players are upset with Karl about ineffciency in practices and shootarounds, and about in-game moves that haven’t worked out, as Mannix details. Kings GM Vlade Divac said in November, amid the last round of rumors surrounding Karl’s job security, that Karl would remain coach through season’s end. Former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the same about interim coach Tyrone Corbin last season, but the team replaced Corbin with Karl over the 2015 All-Star break. That’s when the Kings gave Karl a contract that reportedly pays him $3.25MM this season and $5MM next season. He has a $5MM salary for 2017/18 that’s partially guaranteed for $1.5MM, as Wojnarowski also reported at the time.

The Kings have lost seven out of eight games and gave up 46 points in the first quarter Sunday in a loss to the Celtics. Sacramento is four and a half games behind the eighth-place Jazz in the Western Conference.

What’s the solution for the Kings? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.