It would be fitting if the man who helped lead the Sacramento Kings during their most prosperous years could help guide them back after a decade of mediocre irrelevance.
You may recognize Vlade Divac’s smooth European voice from your Waze navigation system, but most know Divac— aside from being traded for Kobe Bryant— for being the center of the turn-of-the-millenium Kings team that nearly reached the NBA Finals and turned Arco Arena into the loudest building in sports.
With a new arena on the way in Sacramento and a unified voice and focus in the front office, for now, Divac— the Kings’ new vice president and lead decision maker— is looking to bring winning, stability and continuity to a franchise that has been lacking in all three departments for the last decade.
In a one-on-one interview with SheridanHoops, Divac discussed his path to the job and what he and the Kings have to do to finally bring Sacramento back to relevance and the postseason.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for me,” Divac, who emerged with this position in early April, told SheridanHoops. “It’s good timing also, with the new arena and a team that has talent, we will try to bring that excitement back from the time when I was playing.”
The Kings have some talent, led by DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore and Darren Collison. But the 2014-2015 season was a turbulent ride to say the least. Sacramento went from Mike Malone to interim Tyrone Corbin to current coach George Karl in a matter of weeks.
“It was really unfair to the players,” Divac admitted. “Having three coaches was really tough, and I give them a lot of credit for the way they played and I enjoyed watching them play over the last two weeks.”
When the team fired Malone in December after an 11-13 start— Cousins missed several of those games with viral meningitis— and then made another change to bring Karl aboard during the All-Star break, Cousins’ camp made it known that he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the instability.
Equipped with that knowledge and Sacramento’s 131-263 record since Cousins was drafted in 2010, opposing GMs will attempt to work a novice and talk Divac and the Kings into possibly trading Cousins during the offseason.
Good luck with that.
The Kings finally seem to have a set management structure in place with Divac and Karl after over a year of what seemed like too many front office voices under owner Vivek Ranadive. Chris Mullin left to take the head coaching job at St. John’s, and there were reports this week that general manager Pete D’Alessandro could join Mullin in Queens as the school’s athletic director.
“It’s going to impact the team in a big way, because when you have stability in a team, that reflects on the court with the players” Divac said. “And we want to be a good team, the front office and the basketball team [on the court]. We should all try to reach the same goal, and that’s a winning franchise.”
Divac said that his job right now consists of a lot of traveling, watching games and working in the team office. He said his experience in the Lakers’ front office, at top European club Real Madrid and as president of the Serbian Olympic Committee will help him as he grows into his role.
Sacramento played with the eighth-fastest pace in the league last season at an estimated 95.4 possessions per 48 minutes according to Basketball-Reference. That ranking could be even higher next season if Divac and Karl have their way. Divac said that he and Karl have very similar philosophies and called him one of the best coaches in the league.
“If you look at what’s happening right now in the NBA, it’s exactly the way winning teams play,” Divac said of the up-tempo style he envisions for the Kings. This year’s Western Conference finalists, Golden State and Houston, were the top two teams in terms of possessions per 48 minutes during the regular season.
Sacramento picks sixth in the first round of this year’s NBA draft (our Joe Kotoch has them taking Mario Hezonja) with the chance to take an impact player after disappointing results in the first round over the last three years. Nik Stauskas, McLemore and Thomas Robinson isn’t exactly a sterling track record. But Divac said the team’s anticipated pace of play won’t necessarily dictate whom the Kings select.
“We’re going to go after the best available, you know? And then we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Divac said.
Despite the new management in place with the Kings, Divac said he is going to be patient with recent high draft picks that have yet to live up to expectations.
“Obviously the last two years we’ve had McLemore and Stauskas, and patience for rookies is always important,” he said. “There haven’t been many rookies who have made big impacts on teams [of late]. A couple of years in the league, they’re going to get there.”
Kings fans have said “they’re going to get there” about their team for several years now. Perhaps with a stable power structure seemingly in place, one of the biggest stars of Sacramento’s golden era can finally bring back playoff basketball.
Shlomo Sprung is a national columnist for SheridanHoops who focuses on analytics, profiles and features. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. You should follow him on Twitter.
“and as president of the Serbian Olympic Committee”
Shouldn’t he step down from that role now that he’s working in the U.S. I think someone who actually lives in Serbia year-round should be president.
And Vlade didn’t do anything good or special for Serbian Olympics. He’s not successful in that role.