Stop Bashing Vlade Divac

Stop Bashing Vlade Divac

Vlade Divac is not as horrible as you think.

Vlade Divac is not as horrible as you think.

In the latest episode of Bleacher Report’s Game of Zones, the Sacramento Kings make a rare cameo in the form of general manager Vlade Divac. While 76ers GM Sam Hinkie is waiting to be burned at the stake for using the “dark magic known as ‘analytics’”, Vlade voices his displeasure: “This guy used his sorcery to force me to make bad trade, and give him all my draft picks”.

The notion that Vlade Divac is a terrible GM seems to be the majority opinion amongst NBA fans, perfectly depicted in his Zone’s cameo. I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. You’re all wrong! Vlade is not a terrible GM, and I’m going to prove it. I’m not going to prove that he is a great GM either, though. It is simply too early to tell.

Vlade Divac is one of those player-turned GMs for whom success is achievable, though unlikely. For every Larry Bird, there is an Isiah Thomas or Wes Unseld. For every Danny Ainge, there is an Elgin Baylor or Michael Jordan. Bringing in Vlade to run the Kings was a gamble, one that owner Vivek Ranadive was willing to make, given the former King’s familiarity with the organization and the NBA as a whole.

Vlade was not exactly handed a silver platter when he took over for the Kings in March of 2015. At the time, the team was the usual hodgepodge of cheap and aging free agents mixed with underachieving draft picks trying to help DeMarcus Cousins make his first playoff appearance. The team had recently fired the first coach that Cousins liked and replaced him with George Karl, who was a bad fit for Sacramento, to say the very least. The young guys to build around were Ben McLemore, Ray McCallum, Nik Stauskas and Sim Bhullar.

Try to trust THAT process.

The primary reason for Vlade’s current reputation probably stems from the first trade he made in Sacramento’s front office. Just weeks after making a solid selection in his first draft in Willie Cauley-Stein, the Kings pulled the trigger on this stunner:

76ers receive:

Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas & Jason Thompson

2017 pick swap w/ Sacramento

2019 unprotected first round pick

Kings receive:

Arturas Gudaitis & Luka Mitrovic

Why? To clear cap space and free up money to be used on free agents, mostly for Wesley Matthews. Sacramento was able to clear $13 million from their salary cap by moving Landry and Thompson and hit the free agency market with about $27 million to spend and add to their core of DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. They made their offer to Matthews, a 4-year deal worth $64 million. A week later, Matthews signed with the Dallas Mavericks for an extra $6 million. The trade was already starting to look worse. The Kings, in turn, were forced to spend their money elsewhere.

The big free agent signings that Sacramento made that summer?

Rajon Rondo (72 games, 12ppg, career high in TOs, left in free agency)

Marco Belinelli (68 games, 10ppg, 30% 3pt, traded for Malachi Richardson)

Kosta Koufos (208 games, fan favorite)

The players that the Kings sent to Philly amounted to pretty much nothing, essentially offsetting the production of the two players that Sacramento received in return. The spot that Sacramento really loses this trade, the source for the adversity against Vlade, the action behind the Game of Zones joke, is the draft picks.

First, the pick swap. At the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery, the Kings capitalized on their 3.9% chance of obtaining the 3rd overall pick but were robbed of their first substantial climb up the lottery boards in decades when the 76ers utilized the pick swap and sent the 5th pick back to Sacramento in exchange. The 76ers traded the third pick to the Celtics, who ended up taking Jason Tatum. The Kings picked up with a solid consolation prize in De’Aaron Fox with the 5th pick. The jury is obviously out on this portion of the trade, as the two rookies have plenty to showcase before we begin to judge their careers.

The terrible blemish on this trade is the 2019 unprotected pick. No matter who the Kings select in the 2018 Draft, their best case scenario for next year is “don’t suck as bad”. Barring a miracle, their 2019 pick will be in the lottery, and possibly in the top ten. With the luck of the Kings, they’ll hand the 76ers the 9th best lottery odds, and the pick will end up in the top three. Imagine adding another stud prospect to an already immensely talented young core in Philadelphia.

That is why the Kings are the overwhelming losers of this trade and the reason behind the Vlade slander.

Stop the Vlade Bashing!

That was by far the worst trade Vlade ever made. In fact, it was the only bad trade he has made so far. Below is a rundown of Kings trades between August 2015 and January 2018.

Draft Night, June 23, 2016

Suns Receive:

8th pick (Marquese Chriss)

Kings Receive:

Bogdan Bogdanovic

13th pick (Georgios Papagiannis)

28th pick (Skal Labissiere)

59th pick (Isaiah Cousins)

Despite Cousins and Papagiannis being G-League level talent, the Kings are already the victors of this trade. Bogdanovic is in his first season after coming over from Serbia, and is as NBA-ready as any rookie. He is 25 years old and has been playing professional ball for 6+ years already. He was the MVP of the 2018 Rising Stars Challenge and is widely considered a top ten rookie this year, with averages of 12 points and 3.3 assists per game on 46/40/86 shooting splits.

After an impressive end to his rookie season, Skal Labissiere took a bit of a step back this year. He was the #1 recruit coming out of high school and showed flashes of his raw skill in the February and March of 2017. His numbers have decreased, albeit minimally, and he is only playing one more minute per game than he did as a rookie. Things may be looking up, however. Though it is a small sample size, Labissiere is averaging 11.5 points in his seven games since returning from an injury, and hit an unlikely game-winning three-pointer on Sunday night.

Marquese Chriss is a mediocre season and one off-court confrontation from officially being labeled a bust. This excerpt from Valley of the Suns explains it perfectly:

He is immature for his age. We saw flashes of that last year with the constant arguing of calls (which hasn’t gotten better) as well as the technical fouls (11 last season). It came to a head this past Summer League when Chriss showed up visibly overweight. His play this year has also suffered.

He is still visibly lost on the court at times and his attitude is still not great. He seems to struggle when asked to come off of the bench. Some even compare his attitude the likes of one or both of the Morris twins – which, to me, is an exaggeration. - Patrick Nash

Winner: Kings

July 7th, 2016

Hornets receive:

Marco Belinelli

Kings receive:

Malachi Richardson

Signed with the riches acquired in the Worst Trade of the Century, Marco Belinelli’s time in Sacramento was dreadful. He endured the worst shooting season of his career, by a mile. A career .376 three-point shooter, Belinelli shot .306 from deep, paired with a career-low .386 from the field. To Vlade and the Kings, he was completely expendable. If you can, why not try to trade him for something of potential value?

That is exactly what Sacramento did, flipping the veteran Belinelli to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for newly-drafted Malachi Richardson out of Syracuse.

Despite not receiving the ample playing time in Sacramento to showcase his skills, Richardson did show flashes of potential in his 47 games in purple. He was traded just last month to Toronto for another project, Bruno Caboclo. So how are the Kings winners of this trade? They’re not, unless Caboclo turns in to the Brazilian Kevin Durant. It is a wash. Belinelli was dead weight in Sacramento, and he put up respectable numbers in Charlotte. The Kings succeeded in getting younger and acquiring potential, whether that potential pans out or not.

Winner: Wash

February 20th, 2017

Pelicans receive:

DeMarcus Cousins

Omri Casspi

Kings receive:

Buddy Hield

Tyreke Evans

Langston Galloway

2017 1st round pick (Justin Jackson and Harry Giles)

2017 2nd round pick (Frank Mason III)

Save for another franchise-altering trade by Sacramento, this is the trade that will ultimately decide Vlade’s fate as GM of the Kings. You’re aware of the story by this point: the Kings trade their best player in 15 years to the Pelicans, in exchange for a slew of young players and draft assets, not only changing the direction of the franchise, but also shifting the culture in a locker room led by a hot-headed all-star.

But was the yield large enough? Vlade was caught with his foot in his mouth the day after the trade, claiming that he had a better offer a couple of days ago. How could a tiny market team trade its best player and only claim to NBA relevance for a bunch of young pieces, none of which is guaranteed to pan out?

Evans and Galloway are already gone, but the rest of the assets still have the potential to contribute to the Kings future. Hield still has the capability to become a premier 3 and D guy, and to be one of the better sixth men in the league. At the time of writing, Hield and Steph Curry shared a .422 3-point percentage.

The second round pick that was acquired from the Pelicans was used on one of the more pleasant surprises of the Kings season. Frank Mason III has had moments of brilliance in his rookie season and is putting up solid numbers in limited minutes. There is little chance that he becomes a better point guard than teammate and fellow rookie De’Aaron Fox, but he has a chance to become quite the compliment.

The first round pick that the Pelicans sent ended up being the 10th overall, which the Kings flipped on draft night to the Blazers for the 15th and 20th overall selections. Sacramento and Vlade Divac used those picks to fill an immediate need and stash a player for the future. With the 15th pick, they took Justin Jackson, the prototypical lanky small forward, fresh off a championship in his senior year at North Carolina. His rookie contributions have been respectable yet inconsistent, but has started in 23 of his 50 games for the very-small-forward-hungry Kings. With the 20th pick, Sacramento picked Harry Giles out of Duke, a player with a very high ceiling and an equally high number of injury issues. He was the #1 recruit just a year prior, and played very limited minutes at Duke in his only season due to his recovery from his second major knee injury of his high school career. The Kings took a flyer on a high-potential player with their second first-round pick for the second year in a row, and decided to stash this one while the crowded frontcourt worked itself out. Giles won’t play until next season, but players and media members who have seen him play and work out have nothing but great things to say about him.

Given the unfortunate injury to DeMarcus Cousins this season, and the potential for him to leave New Orleans, the Kings may ultimately be the winners of this trade. They had reached their maximum potential with Cousins as their best player, and desperately needed a change of direction for the entire franchise. Internally, they’ve won the trade no matter how the young guys pan out. The need for a change was that large. If Frank Mason III can continue his progression to solid backup, and Giles and Hield can become regular contributors, and especially if Cousins leaves the Pels, the Kings will be the winners of this one.

Winner: Too early

So, Bleacher Report can feed to the conventionalism of NBA overreactions, but don’t allow yourself to be fooled. Vlade Divac has made more better, and potentially good moves than he has made terrible ones. It's just that the terrible one was REALLY terrible.

But come on. Like you didn’t do dumb stuff in your early years?

In the latest episode of Bleacher Report’s Game of Zones, the Sacramento Kings make a rare cameo in the form of general manager Vlade Divac. While 76ers GM Sam Hinkie is waiting to be burned at the stake for using the “dark magic known as ‘analytics’”, Vlade voices his displeasure: “This guy used his sorcery to force me to make bad trade, and give him all my draft picks”.

The notion that Vlade Divac is a terrible GM seems to be the majority opinion amongst NBA fans, perfectly depicted in his Zone’s cameo. I'm here to tell you that you're wrong. You’re all wrong! Vlade is not a terrible GM, and I’m going to prove it. I’m not going to prove that he is a great GM either, though. It is simply too early to tell.

Vlade Divac is one of those player-turned GMs for whom success is achievable, though unlikely. For every Larry Bird, there is an Isiah Thomas or Wes Unseld. For every Danny Ainge, there is an Elgin Baylor or Michael Jordan. Bringing in Vlade to run the Kings was a gamble, one that owner Vivek Ranadive was willing to make, given the former King’s familiarity with the organization and the NBA as a whole.

Vlade was not exactly handed a silver platter when he took over for the Kings in March of 2015. At the time, the team was the usual hodgepodge of cheap and aging free agents mixed with underachieving draft picks trying to help DeMarcus Cousins make his first playoff appearance. The team had recently fired the first coach that Cousins liked and replaced him with George Karl, who was a bad fit for Sacramento, to say the very least. The young guys to build around were Ben McLemore, Ray McCallum, Nik Stauskas and Sim Bhullar.

Try to trust THAT process.

The primary reason for Vlade’s current reputation probably stems from the first trade he made in Sacramento’s front office. Just weeks after making a solid selection in his first draft in Willie Cauley-Stein, the Kings pulled the trigger on this stunner:

76ers receive:

Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas & Jason Thompson

2017 pick swap w/ Sacramento

2019 unprotected first round pick

Kings receive:

Arturas Gudaitis & Luka Mitrovic

Why? To clear cap space and free up money to be used on free agents, mostly for Wesley Matthews. Sacramento was able to clear $13 million from their salary cap by moving Landry and Thompson and hit the free agency market with about $27 million to spend and add to their core of DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. They made their offer to Matthews, a 4-year deal worth $64 million. A week later, Matthews signed with the Dallas Mavericks for an extra $6 million. The trade was already starting to look worse. The Kings, in turn, were forced to spend their money elsewhere.

The big free agent signings that Sacramento made that summer?

Rajon Rondo (72 games, 12ppg, career high in TOs, left in free agency)

Marco Belinelli (68 games, 10ppg, 30% 3pt, traded for Malachi Richardson)

Kosta Koufos (208 games, fan favorite)

The players that the Kings sent to Philly amounted to pretty much nothing, essentially offsetting the production of the two players that Sacramento received in return. The spot that Sacramento really loses this trade, the source for the adversity against Vlade, the action behind the Game of Zones joke, is the draft picks.

First, the pick swap. At the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery, the Kings capitalized on their 3.9% chance of obtaining the 3rd overall pick but were robbed of their first substantial climb up the lottery boards in decades when the 76ers utilized the pick swap and sent the 5th pick back to Sacramento in exchange. The 76ers traded the third pick to the Celtics, who ended up taking Jason Tatum. The Kings picked up with a solid consolation prize in De’Aaron Fox with the 5th pick. The jury is obviously out on this portion of the trade, as the two rookies have plenty to showcase before we begin to judge their careers.

The terrible blemish on this trade is the 2019 unprotected pick. No matter who the Kings select in the 2018 Draft, their best case scenario for next year is “don’t suck as bad”. Barring a miracle, their 2019 pick will be in the lottery, and possibly in the top ten. With the luck of the Kings, they’ll hand the 76ers the 9th best lottery odds, and the pick will end up in the top three. Imagine adding another stud prospect to an already immensely talented young core in Philadelphia.

That is why the Kings are the overwhelming losers of this trade and the reason behind the Vlade slander.

Stop the Vlade Bashing!

That was by far the worst trade Vlade ever made. In fact, it was the only bad trade he has made so far. Below is a rundown of Kings trades between August 2015 and January 2018.

Draft Night, June 23, 2016

Suns Receive:

8th pick (Marquese Chriss)

Kings Receive:

Bogdan Bogdanovic

13th pick (Georgios Papagiannis)

28th pick (Skal Labissiere)

59th pick (Isaiah Cousins)

Despite Cousins and Papagiannis being G-League level talent, the Kings are already the victors of this trade. Bogdanovic is in his first season after coming over from Serbia, and is as NBA-ready as any rookie. He is 25 years old and has been playing professional ball for 6+ years already. He was the MVP of the 2018 Rising Stars Challenge and is widely considered a top ten rookie this year, with averages of 12 points and 3.3 assists per game on 46/40/86 shooting splits.

After an impressive end to his rookie season, Skal Labissiere took a bit of a step back this year. He was the #1 recruit coming out of high school and showed flashes of his raw skill in the February and March of 2017. His numbers have decreased, albeit minimally, and he is only playing one more minute per game than he did as a rookie. Things may be looking up, however. Though it is a small sample size, Labissiere is averaging 11.5 points in his seven games since returning from an injury, and hit an unlikely game-winning three-pointer on Sunday night.

Marquese Chriss is a mediocre season and one off-court confrontation from officially being labeled a bust. This excerpt from Valley of the Suns explains it perfectly:

He is immature for his age. We saw flashes of that last year with the constant arguing of calls (which hasn’t gotten better) as well as the technical fouls (11 last season). It came to a head this past Summer League when Chriss showed up visibly overweight. His play this year has also suffered.

He is still visibly lost on the court at times and his attitude is still not great. He seems to struggle when asked to come off of the bench. Some even compare his attitude the likes of one or both of the Morris twins – which, to me, is an exaggeration. - Patrick Nash

Winner: Kings

July 7th, 2016

Hornets receive:

Marco Belinelli

Kings receive:

Malachi Richardson

Signed with the riches acquired in the Worst Trade of the Century, Marco Belinelli’s time in Sacramento was dreadful. He endured the worst shooting season of his career, by a mile. A career .376 three-point shooter, Belinelli shot .306 from deep, paired with a career-low .386 from the field. To Vlade and the Kings, he was completely expendable. If you can, why not try to trade him for something of potential value?

That is exactly what Sacramento did, flipping the veteran Belinelli to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for newly-drafted Malachi Richardson out of Syracuse.

Despite not receiving the ample playing time in Sacramento to showcase his skills, Richardson did show flashes of potential in his 47 games in purple. He was traded just last month to Toronto for another project, Bruno Caboclo. So how are the Kings winners of this trade? They’re not, unless Caboclo turns in to the Brazilian Kevin Durant. It is a wash. Belinelli was dead weight in Sacramento, and he put up respectable numbers in Charlotte. The Kings succeeded in getting younger and acquiring potential, whether that potential pans out or not.

Winner: Wash

February 20th, 2017

Pelicans receive:

DeMarcus Cousins

Omri Casspi

Kings receive:

Buddy Hield

Tyreke Evans

Langston Galloway

2017 1st round pick (Justin Jackson and Harry Giles)

2017 2nd round pick (Frank Mason III)

Save for another franchise-altering trade by Sacramento, this is the trade that will ultimately decide Vlade’s fate as GM of the Kings. You’re aware of the story by this point: the Kings trade their best player in 15 years to the Pelicans, in exchange for a slew of young players and draft assets, not only changing the direction of the franchise, but also shifting the culture in a locker room led by a hot-headed all-star.

But was the yield large enough? Vlade was caught with his foot in his mouth the day after the trade, claiming that he had a better offer a couple of days ago. How could a tiny market team trade its best player and only claim to NBA relevance for a bunch of young pieces, none of which is guaranteed to pan out?

Evans and Galloway are already gone, but the rest of the assets still have the potential to contribute to the Kings future. Hield still has the capability to become a premier 3 and D guy, and to be one of the better sixth men in the league. At the time of writing, Hield and Steph Curry shared a .422 3-point percentage.

The second round pick that was acquired from the Pelicans was used on one of the more pleasant surprises of the Kings season. Frank Mason III has had moments of brilliance in his rookie season and is putting up solid numbers in limited minutes. There is little chance that he becomes a better point guard than teammate and fellow rookie De’Aaron Fox, but he has a chance to become quite the compliment.

The first round pick that the Pelicans sent ended up being the 10th overall, which the Kings flipped on draft night to the Blazers for the 15th and 20th overall selections. Sacramento and Vlade Divac used those picks to fill an immediate need and stash a player for the future. With the 15th pick, they took Justin Jackson, the prototypical lanky small forward, fresh off a championship in his senior year at North Carolina. His rookie contributions have been respectable yet inconsistent, but has started in 23 of his 50 games for the very-small-forward-hungry Kings. With the 20th pick, Sacramento picked Harry Giles out of Duke, a player with a very high ceiling and an equally high number of injury issues. He was the #1 recruit just a year prior, and played very limited minutes at Duke in his only season due to his recovery from his second major knee injury of his high school career. The Kings took a flyer on a high-potential player with their second first-round pick for the second year in a row, and decided to stash this one while the crowded frontcourt worked itself out. Giles won’t play until next season, but players and media members who have seen him play and work out have nothing but great things to say about him.

Given the unfortunate injury to DeMarcus Cousins this season, and the potential for him to leave New Orleans, the Kings may ultimately be the winners of this trade. They had reached their maximum potential with Cousins as their best player, and desperately needed a change of direction for the entire franchise. Internally, they’ve won the trade no matter how the young guys pan out. The need for a change was that large. If Frank Mason III can continue his progression to solid backup, and Giles and Hield can become regular contributors, and especially if Cousins leaves the Pels, the Kings will be the winners of this one.

Winner: Too early

So, Bleacher Report can feed to the conventionalism of NBA overreactions, but don’t allow yourself to be fooled. Vlade Divac has made more better, and potentially good moves than he has made terrible ones. It's just that the terrible one was REALLY terrible.

But come on. Like you didn’t do dumb stuff in your early years?

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