Grading Vlade Divac's performance as GM

Throughout the past decade until about a few months ago, the Kings have had the perception as the dysfunctional organization in the NBA, and with very good reason. The Kings have had failed draft picks, constant losing seasons, and the trading away of players for literally nothing.

(Thanks, Pete. You sure know how to build a winning team, don’t you?)

The Kings have been associated with this joke mentality due to the previous mistakes by management. Ever since 2006, the Kings have not been able to get the right pieces to make the playoffs and be a contender in the league. The fan base, including myself, has been dreaming of the day when the Kings finally make the playoffs again. These days of dysfunction and constant losing seem to be numbered with the pieces that have been built with current general manager Vlade Divac.

As many of you know by now, Vlade is a legendary Kings player back in the Kings’ golden era of basketball. Known for his superb passing abilities as a big man among other talents, Vlade helped make the Kings a title contender during his playing days in Sacramento. Years later, Vlade has come back as the general manager and vice president of basketball operations with the Kings to try to replicate the winning culture that made his time in Sacramento as a player a very successful one.

Since his promotion as GM in August 2015, many Kings fans have criticized Vlade for his job as GM. There are plenty reasons behind their criticisms, but many fans like to ignore the many positives that Vlade has brought as GM of the Kings. Let’s now grade Vlade’s time as a GM, with grades for three key factors of free agents, drafting, and trades, and a total grade.

(Note: Vlade acted as vice president of basketball operations of the Kings in March 2015 while Pete D’Alessandro was still GM of the team until he left in June 2015 to go back to Denver, so the moves the took place between March 2015 and Vlade’s promotion to GM in August 2015 will also be included in the assessment of Vlade as a GM/front office executive.

Free agents

Vlade’s first year as GM was certainly a hit and miss one when it came to free agents. During July 2015, Vlade signed Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli, and Kosta Koufos. Rajon played fairly well during his time here, especially coming off a horrible time playing with the Mavericks which he argued with coach Rick Carlisle and “his teammates pretending he doesn’t exist”, as Satchel Price from SB Nation puts it. Kosta has played decent with the team, no matter how many close range shots he misses, which make me explode. Playing this past season with swollen hand for many games brought a lot of respect for him. Marco Belinelli was a player expected to be the excellent three point shooter like he was with the Spurs, but he struggled with his shot while with the Kings for the one season in the 2015-2016 year. His time in Sacramento was disappointing when seeing how well he played for the Spurs for years.

Also in July 2015, Vlade brought Omri Casspi for his second run with the Kings. Omri had his ups and downs while with the Kings for about a year and a half. Omri played well some nights, and others were certainly forgettable. But how can we forget the battle he and Steph Curry had in Oakland?

(What a night. You have to love Omri).

Quincy Acy and Seth Curry were two more guys that were brought in soon after Omri. Quincy Acy is a player I love very much for his energy off the bench and his outstanding character. Seth, when given his chance, showed that he is a player that can ball out when he is on the court. The move he pulled against the Suns towards the end of the 2015-16 season was a work of magic, to say the least.

Fast forward a year later. Now, we’re in July of 2016 and Vlade shows a better skill in signing key free agents. Garrett Temple, Anthony Tolliver, Arron Afflalo, and Matt Barnes were all brought in during July 2016. For the longest time during last season, Garrett Temple was the heart and soul of the team. His defensive presence was vital to many wins during the season last year. Anthony Tolliver brought a leadership throughout the season and many games where we could not miss from behind the arc. Arron Afflalo had a decent season for the team. He did hit some big shots, especially the one that beat the Cavs in Cleveland this past season

(If you don’t like that, you don’t like NBA basketball!)

Matt Barnes was brought in to help connect to DeMarcus Cousins as a veteran mentor. Barnes’ time with the Kings last season was short lived, and it certainly had its ups and downs. But there were games where Barnes flourished and looked really good, however there were other times that he looked half-decent, to say the least.

The next free agent brought in a month later was Ty Lawson, who provided valuable minutes off the bench and occasionally starting for the Kings last season. The chemistry demonstrated between him and Willie Cauley-Stein throughout the season improved after each game was exceptional to watch.

Now to this month, where Vlade signed three veteran free agents in George Hill, Zach Randolph (what a Fourth of July that was), and Vince Carter. While these signings are too soon to grade in depth, bringing in these veterans will help the youth’s development for the positive future we hope for. Bogdan Bogdanovic also was brought in this month and will hopefully bring an incredible shooting ability that he had while playing in Europe for Fenerbahce.

Overall, these free agents brought the good and the bad for Vlade as a GM for the Kings. There wasn’t a free agent where the Kings wast

ed a huge amount of money to have a huge failure. Every “failure” as a free agent was not a huge financial burden for the Kings. That being said, Vlade gets a C+, and it will certainly go higher as we see what the free agents who were signed this month will bring to the court next season and the nearby future.

Drafting

Vlade’s first draft in the 2015 draft brought Wille Cauley-Stein, who is currently the longest tenure King on the roster. Willie showed a huge improvement in his game this past season and certainly will continue to develop with help from veteran Zach Randolph. Willie is a player that still shows plenty of promise and is a key piece for the future like many of these draft picks under Vlade.

Skip to last year, Vlade drafted Georgios Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson, and Skal Labissiere in the first round and Isaiah Cousins in the second. Malachi and Skal both showed that they each have plenty of potential to be solid NBA players if they continue on this path. George has had his up and downs, and maybe he was drafted higher than he should be, but he is a project that still needs a lot of work. However, it is hard to ignore the glimpses of a solid basketball player that he showed this last season. As for Isaiah Cousins, he has yet to play in the NBA, but for being drafted with the second to last pick, there is not much expected of him when it comes to being an NBA player, but he still has lots of time to prove otherwise.

Now to this year and the 2017 NBA draft. Vlade got De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson, and Harry Giles in the first round with second round bringing Frank Mason to the Kings. All of these players show plenty of promise, especially De’Aaron Fox who looks like he’ll be the point guard of the Kings’ future, a position that the Kings have had trouble solidifying in past years.

Vlade’s talent at drafting is his most valuable talent as a GM. This key asset of finding talent separates him from the previous GM’s of the Kings. With that being said, Vlade’s drafting gives him an A- with the talent he has drafted so far. Within the next few years, this grade can drastically change depending on how ell these players end up doing on the court.

Trades

(Note: Many of these trades are still years away from determining who the true winners are. The value that each team got in the trade will determine Vlade’s current grade under trading).

There are three notable trades that Vlade has done during his time as a GM. First, back in July 2015, Vlade traded Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, 2017 first round swap option, and an unprotected 2019 first round pick to the 76ers for Arturas Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovic. This trade was done in order to get more cap space to sign Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, and Marco Bellinelli. This has proved to be an absolutely horrible trade for Vlade’s resume as it gave the right for the 76ers to swap picks this last draft, which they did but was only two pick difference.With this pick, 76ers traded it to the Celtics to move up to the first pick and draft Markelle Fultz. Also, the Kings have to give up their first round pick in 2019 with no protections on it. The signings that were picked up due to this cap dump not living up to what the Kings and fans hoped for certainly makes this trade look even worse.

Now to the 2016 NBA draft, where Vlade traded the 8th pick to the Suns for the 13th pick, 28th pick, 2020 second round pick from Detroit, and the draft rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Suns took Marquese Chris with the 8th pick while the Kings took Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere with the 13th and 28th pick respectively. The Kings got a lot of value for moving down five spots, and the development of Skal versus Marquese will determine who the winner of this trade will be years from now.

In addition to trading the 8th pick to Phoenix, Vlade traded Marco Belinelli to the Hornets for the 23rd pick, which the Kings drafted Malachi Richardson with. This trade gave the Kings a younger, more consistent shooter with Malachi, and will continue to get better as he develops his game to a higher level.

February 2017 brought the very famous trade of DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi to the Pelicans for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a top ten protected first round pick in 2017, and a 2017 second round pick. This trade hurt many Kings fans as Cousins was a beloved player here in Sacramento. He was loved in the community and he loved the community more importantly. He was an all-star player that did have his troubles at times, but it is hard to ignore his talent. However, this trade had to be done. The Kings weren’t winning with him and it was best for both parties to move on.

(I miss you, Boogie. I hope everything is well).

In addition, the development of Buddy Hield will be key to how this trade goes down in history. Buddy played extremely well this past season when he joined the Kings, and will likely continue to improve as a shooter and develop other areas to his game.

The second round pick from the Pelicans was turned into Frank Mason, and the Kings traded the 10th pick from the Pelicans to the Blazers during the 2017 NBA draft last month for the 15th and 20th. The Blazers took Zach Collins at 10 and the Kings took Justin Jackson and Harry Giles and 15 and 20 respectively. Trading one pick to two picks and getting the same player you wanted at 10 with the 15th pick was an exceptional trade and allowed Vlade to take a risk on Harry Giles, who can be exceptional if he can stay healthy.

Vlade has had his ups and downs with trading. There has been the really good when it comes to trading, and there has been the really bad. Many of these trades still have a lot of time to see exactly what will come out of them, but many of these trades look exceptional so far. When it comes to trading, Vlade gets a C+, and could much higher if it wasn’t for that 76ers trade.

Total Grade

Overall, Vlade has been an incredibly criticized GM for the Kings over the past two years. Under these three key factors of free agents, drafting, and trades combined, Vlade gets a total grade of a B as a GM, with a very high chance of getting to an A with the position he is currently at and how well he has built the team right now.

Vlade has taken many risks that have failed but many that have succeeded. Trading Cousins took a lot of “you know what’s” to do and it was the best thing for the franchise. Changing the culture was a key reason for completing the trade, and it is evident that with this philosophy, the team looks set for the future and looks to have their days of a dysfunctional franchise finally be complete.

(Isn’t it nice to be a less dysfunctional franchise than the Cavs at the moment? It is fun looking at dysfunction from the outside looking in for once).

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Alex Daniels