As the Kings’ season has gone up in flames, will Divac take some of the blame?
In February 2017, Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac told Kings fans that if the team wasn’t in a better place in two years, he would step down. In February of 2019, it looked like Divac had delivered on his promise, at least in part.
The Kings were playing fast, fun basketball. Coach Dave Joerger had tapped into De’Aaron Fox’s speed and Buddy Hield’s shooting to create a surprisingly competitive Kings team. Sure, the Kings still missed the playoffs, nothing new for Sacramento, but it seemed like Vlade had a direction in mind and the team was better off. Most fans held a sense of cautious optimism as Vlade was given a new four-year contract extension, and fans waited for Joerger’s extension to follow.
Joerger’s extension never came. Vlade celebrated his own extension by dismissing the most successful Kings coach in years and replaced him with Luke Walton. Walton had just “mutually parted ways” with the Los Angeles Lakers after failing to make the playoffs with LeBron James. But that was of no concern to Divac, since he knew Walton from their short stint as teammates on the Lakers. Walton was hired without the Kings interviewing any other candidates, despite the Kings opening being viewed as one of the top job openings for head coaches.
Vlade then spent the summer declining Harry Giles’ inexpensive team option, enduring a messy and public negotiation for Buddy Hield’s extension, hiding his new coach from media questions as Walton dealt with a since-dropped lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct, and then spending a tremendous amount of money to bring in Dewayne Dedmon, Cory Joseph, Trevor Ariza and Richaun Holmes.
The season got off to a slow start. Walton’s team was unprepared and got run off the court in the season opener, and then suffered injuries to De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley and others. Injuries became the excuse du jour. And just when it seemed the season was a total loss, the Kings started winning some games. They had major momentum in March, winning 7 of their last 10 games before the league shut down. There was reason to hope that perhaps it really was just the injuries.
Leading up to the league resuming in Orlando, the Kings spoke often and loudly about being disrespected. The Kings were often forgotten in nation media discussions of eighth-seed contenders. Buddy Hield proclaimed that the Kings wanted “all the smoke”.
There’s plenty of smoke now, as the Kings playoff hopes have gone up in flames.
The Kings were blown out in their first two games in embarrassing fashion. In the third game Tuesday against the Mavericks, the Kings held an early lead but completely collapsed down the stretch. The collapse was of a familiar form. Walton’s offense consisted of isolation matchups, no recognizable plays to create spacing or movement, and no sense of urgency from the team. The icing on the cake was Luke Doncic scoring 34 points, grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists. That’s the same Luka Doncic that Vlade passed over in the draft, despite the overwhelming refrain from fans and analysts that Doncic was a unique talent. That kind of draft opportunity doesn’t come along very often.
After the game, Walton went to his usual refrain of needing to watch the tape, but it’s hard to imagine what Walton expects to learn in a few days that he wasn’t able to learn over the course of the 4.5-month break. With all the time in the world to watch tape, Walton’s team still came out unprepared and unmotivated. Walton still doesn’t have his team utilizing Fox’s speed. Walton continues to misuse Hield, asking one of the league’s premier spot-up shooters to instead try to create off the dribble. This is the coach who Vlade believed would take the Kings to the next step.
And some may argue the blame falls on the players rather than the coaches. It’s probably a combination of both. But Divac assembled this roster. He’s been in charge long enough that every aspect of this team bears Vlade’s fingerprints. He hired the coaches. He traded for and signed and drafted the players on this team. The successes and failures are Vlade’s. And right now the failures are stacking up.
Were the Kings looking better last February? Sure. An incomplete project but moving in the right direction. Now? The Kings look like a disaster. Out-coached and out-played. Unable to step up and take the playoff opportunity in front of them.
Does Vlade’s offer to take responsibility still stand? Because right now it’s hard to argue that the Kings are in any better position than they were when Vlade took over. Will Vlade hold himself accountable? Will team owner Vivek Ranadive hold Vlade accountable? Maybe they need a few more years to watch the tape of their failures.
Greg Wissinger has covered the Kings for over 10 years and is the Managing Editor for KingsHerald.com
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 8:34 AM.