SB Nation St. Louis: All Posts by Greg Wissinger

The Sactown Royalty Show Episode Two: Section214

2013-06-18T16:00:14Z

We're joined by Section214 to talk Pete D'Alessandro, the NBA Draft, and to find out why Section is covered in cat hair.

Listen to internet radio with The Sactown Royalty Show on BlogTalkRadio

The Sactown Royalty Show, Episode One

2013-06-14T16:00:11Z

Sactown Royalty has a podcast! And Tom Ziller is on it! Is Tom actually a robot? Greg asks all the tough questions.

Listen to internet radio with The Sactown Royalty Show on BlogTalkRadio

For DeMarcus Cousins, it's now or never in Sacramento

2013-06-04T06:44:03Z

In Monday's press conference to officially announce Mike Malone as the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings, center DeMarcus Cousins was a hot topic of conversation. There had recently been rumors that Malone was hired with the expectation that Cousins would be traded. There have been rumors of Cousins being floated in trade scenarios. All of this despite that fact that the Kings are currently being run by lame-duck GM Geoff Petrie. The likelihood that VivekRanadivé would allow a lame-duck GM to negotiate the biggest trade since Peja for Artest is laughable at best, so I don't put a lot of stock into those rumors.

But nonetheless, rumors exist and drive conversations, so Cousins was a hot topic in Vivek's first press conference since escrow closed on the purchase of the team. And both Vivek and Malone gave Cousins their full support:

Malone also said you don't give away players like DeMarcus Cousins. I don't think he wants to trade him.
— JasonJones (@mr_jasonjones) June 3, 2013

"I'd like nothing better than a billion Indians to know who DeMarcus Cousins is" - @vivek
— Sactown Royalty (@sactownroyalty) June 3, 2013

Now it's time for the excuses to end. I'm perfectly happy to forgive past transgressions by Cousins. I'll forgive but I won't forget. But we can move on. What happened in the past is in the past. We all know that the environment around the team has been dysfunctional at best and completely toxic at its worst. It's undoubtedly been a difficult environment for all of our young players to live in. And some players have handled it better than others, but none of that matters anymore.

Vivek and Malone and whoever is chosen as GM will have a shared goal: change the culture of the Kings and turn this franchise around. This isn't the Maloof regime anymore. This means no more excuses. Malone is a fiery figure and I won't be the least bit surprised to hear of shouting matches between him and Cousins. And that's ok. That can be healthy. It's a normal thing in the NBA. What matters is that those shouting matches be productive and generate something more than ill will.

The days of DeMarcus the malcontent must end.

We've seen what Cousins is capable of. The final game of the season against the Clippers was the embodiment of every argument of why you don't trade Cousins yet. He is a superbly skilled player. That single game showed just how dominant a force Cousins can be. It's time to embrace that level of focus and engagement for 82 games.

The culture of the Kings is changing. Cousins can get on board with that culture change or his exit will become a signal of it. It's his choice.

Updated - Better Know a GM Candidate: Chris Wallace

2013-06-01T00:43:41Z

Recent reports indicate that Chris Wallace has emerged as the leading candidate to become the next General Manager of the Sacramento Kings. Chris Wallace worked as Director of Player Personnel for the Miami Heat in the mid-90s. He then became General Manager of the Boston Celtics for 10 years. In 2007 he became General Manager and VP of Operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, a post he held through this season.

Since his most recent stretch has been with the Grizzlies, I asked for some insights from Kevin Lipe, managing editor of Grizzly Bear Blues, SB Nation's Grizzlies blog. Enjoy.

What are Chris Wallace's strengths? His weaknesses?

Wallace's strengths and weaknesses are sort of hard to evaluate from a Memphis standpoint since the previous ownership of the team was *very* involved in every basketball decision, sometimes to the point of overruling Wallace and picking somebody else. The worst example of this was the 2009 draft, when the Grizzlies drafted Hasheem Thabeet essentially because Michael Heisley said to. So behind Wallace's moves in Memphis lies the spectre of Heisley's ownership and, frankly, his meddling in roster decisions when sometimes he maybe shouldn't have.

That said, I think Wallace's strength is as a talent evaluator. He's an old school basketball guy, who is responsible for some really good draft picks. He was able to orchestrate moves to bring Tony Allen, who he drafted in Boston, to Memphis. The Grizzlies traded Quentin Richardson for Zach Randolph. He orchestrated the deal that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, which everyone killed him for, but which enabled the Grizzlies to rebuild around the Mike Conley/Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph core that just got them to the Western Conference Finals this year. He's responsible for grabbing Tony Wroten—a raw rookie with a ton of upside—late in the first round of last year's draft. He's a guy who knows good players and brings them in.

I think Wallace's weaknesses are really hard to evaluate in light of what we know about decision making in the previous Griz front office. He brought in a ton of crappy veteran point guards late in the year when Lionel Hollins decided he was done playing the rookie. (Jason Williams for his second Griz tenure in 2011, the ghost of Gilbert Arenas in 2012, and The Keyon Dooling Experience in 2013.) He didn't quit his job over the Thabeet draft, so maybe *that's* a weakness. I genuinely don't know what bad decisions were his and what bad decisions could be blamed on the demands of someone else in the organization.

What are some misconceptions people outside Memphis may have about him?

I think the thing he's gotten the most public flack for is the Pau Gasol trade, of course, but look where the Grizzlies are right now and tell me that trading for Marc Gasol wasn't the right decision. They had no room to grow with the elder Gasol here. He took a mediocre fringe playoff team and blew it up and built a Western Conference Finalist, and that's something that isn't easy to do.

What is your overall opinion of Wallace as a GM?

Overall, I think he's a great guy and a good talent evaluator and he'll do a good job as the GM of whatever team he ends up running. It's clear that the new Memphis organization is headed in a different direction, but I don't think that's an indicator that they think Wallace sucks; I just think they have a different philosophy they want to implement. If Wallace is GM of the Kings, he'll build a good team in Sacramento.

***

It's interesting that so much of Wallace's recent pedigree is difficult to judge because of a meddling owner. We've spent much of the past several years trying to parse out which of Geoff Petrie's moves were forced by the Maloofs either directly or indirectly.

This information impacts the evaluation of Wallace as a candidate in a couple of ways. First, it means he may receive a pass for some of his more questionable moves. Was he the one who wanted to give Rudy Gay a massive extension? Or was it Heisley? We don't know for certain. On the other hand, that can also make it difficult to accurately judge his successes. Does he get a pass on failures and credit for success? Just the opposite? It's probably some mixture of hits and misses being credited to Wallace.

Nonetheless, this gives us a better picture of Wallace the GM and how fans of his team perceive him. A huge thanks to Kevin for answering my questions.

***

Update: I asked similar questions to Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog. I specifically asked for some clarification on the beginning and end of Wallace's tenure in Boston, because based on the transaction history of the organization it seemed Wallace may have overlapped with the drafting of Paul Piece and the acquisition of Rajon Rondo's draft rights. I couldn't tell whether or not Wallace was involved with those choices. I also asked for some context around some moves that look pretty bad on paper.

Jeff offered the following:

It has been a while and there may be holes in my long term memory, but here are my fractured remembrances.

I don't honestly recall if he was calling the shots on the Pierce draft, but I think it was a no-brainer pick when he fell to 10 after being projected as a top 2 or 3 player in the draft.

Long before Rondo was drafted, Ainge had taken over the GM duties and Wallace had been demoted but kept on staff (much the same way he was in Memphis actually). Obviously he was seen as a valuable guy, but not the best lead man at the time.

The thing to keep in mind with Chris Wallace is that he did a lot of things right, but his legacy in Boston is unfortunately defined by two very unfortunate trades. One seemed like a decent gamble at the time and the other was forced on him by ownership.

First of all, he had 3 first rounders in 2001 (I think). He got a hit with Joe Johnson (but didn't know it), struck out with Kedrick Brown, and sadly Red Auerbach made the call on Joe Forte - not one of his best moves as a legend. Before the end of that year Wallace traded Joe Johnson and other stuff for two role players (Rodgers/Delk) that helped the team win a bunch of games in the playoffs but ended up costing us a future All Star.

The other big blunder was Vin Baker. I'm hazy on all the particulars, but see the last link below for a full account from Bill Simmons on that deal. I believe that it was later revealed that the cheap owner of the time was looking to shed short term money (the deal saved like a million that year) without regard to the long term cap killing nature of the deal because he was looking to sell the team anyway. So again, I think Wallace was nudged in that direction and took the fall for it.

See below for some more Bill Simmons articles mentioning Chris Wallace. Enjoy.

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

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It's interesting to see yet another circumstance where it's difficult to entirely separate the actions of Wallace from his ownership group. A big thanks to Jeff for his insights.

Ready to believe again

2013-05-31T01:01:34Z

I spent the past two years in a job where I was unhappy. I was disgruntled and disengaged, doing just enough to stay off the radar. Things hadn't worked out the way I'd expected with my career, but a steady paycheck with a generally good company was too much to walk away from. The biggest perk was that it granted me ample free time to peruse the web and write about the Kings.

I entered a new role in my company two weeks ago. It happened just as the Kings saga was coming to a merciful end. And now I find myself in a strange place. I'm re-engaged at the office. I'm only checking the web for a few minutes during lunch or in the evenings. The timing has actually been pretty ideal. Spending every free minute watching and waiting for news to break was rather daunting. It's nice to have something to focus on beyond the Kings and their possible relocation.

And just as my career seems to be getting renewed, so is my traditional NBA fandom. Sure, there will still be times when news breaks during the day, but I don't expect that I'll be scheduling my meetings around press conferences nearly as often. Instead I find myself leisurely checking in to see if there are any new rumors about the front office. I wonder who the Kings might draft. But it no longer feels like it's a matter of life and death. And it isn't. It never was, really. But the Kings are such a big part of my life that it felt like it was.

But now I find myself ready to believe again. Ready to believe that I can work hard and be recognized in my new role. Ready to believe that Vivek can salvage this sinking ship. It's a wonderful feeling. I believe that we'll get a competent coach and possibly a great coach. I believe we'll get a competent GM and possibly a great GM. I believe we'll get a competent player in the draft, and possibly a great player. I believe trades can happen. I believe the unexpected can happen, but in a good way.

When you experience what we've endured the last few years and somehow come out fine on the other side, it suddenly feels like anything is possible. If Vivek and company can keep the team here, I'm willing to believe in them on other topics. If they decide to keep DeMarcus Cousins, if they believe that he's worth the effort, then I'm on board. If they decide to sign Tyreke Evans to a big new contract, I'll believe they made a smart choice. And when they trade away a player I like, which I expect to happen although I don't know which player it might be, I'll trust that it was for the best. They've earned that goodwill from me.

So I'm ready to believe in this team. On the court, off the court. I'm ready to believe again.

Greg's Season Review: Brooklyn Nets

2013-05-24T13:37:21Z

[Before the 21012-13 NBA season began, before Sactown Royalty became overrun with covering negotiations, I previewed all 30 NBA teams and how I thought their season would go. But as much fun as it is to preview a season, it's also fun to look back and see what actually happened. And since Kings fans were pretty distracted by off-court events, these will also serve as a reintroduction to what we missed while we watched committee meetings.]

What I said:

The Nets arrive in Brooklyn with incredible buzz, and it seems inconceivable that they will miss the playoffs, especially in the East. But the Nets may not live up to the hype. Even though several Nets players, including Deron, have acknowledged that the team was checked out in the second half of last season, this team was still awful last year. A healthy Lopez should help. A full season of Wallace will help. Joe Johnson will absolutely help. But now the Nets need to deliver. They've created the buzz, built a respectable and exciting roster, and delivered on every promise they made. Now they need to deliver on the court and redefine what it means to be watching Nets Basketball.

What happened:

The Brooklyn Nets delivered on their preseason promise. We expected them to make the playoffs, but we didn’t exactly expect them to be title contenders. But that isn’t to say there weren’t some disappointments along the way. Gerald Wallace struggled mightily to find his role in the offense, and went through a prolonged period where he admitted he’d entirely lost confidence in his shot. As Wallace’s age is taking its toll on his athleticism, Wallace’s shot becomes more critical than ever. Kris Humphries was also a disappointment. I scoffed when the Nets gave Humphries a 2-year contract worth $12 million per year, but even I didn’t expect Humphries to be as underwhelming as he was. Humphries eventually saw himself become an afterthought on the bench. It’s truly a terrible signing, salvaged only by the fact that Billy King contained himself to a two year contract. The Nets will hope to find a team looking for a large expiring contract sometime next season.

The disappointment of Humphries was offset by two other very smart moves the Nets made. Reggie Evans, for all his faults, proved to be a better option in the starting line-up on a far smaller contract. Still, even at his best, Evans is a very limited player and isn’t a long-term solution for the franchise. The Nets also turned some heads this past offseason when they signed the oft-maligned Andray Blatche. Blatche was always a very talented player, but had become a punchline with the Washington Wizards. For the Nets, though, the gamble paid off. Blatche played very well in spurts, and it will be interesting to see what kind of contract he’s earned himself as he enters free agency. It seems like the Nets would like to bring him back if the price is right, but they’ve limited their flexibility entering the offseason.

Deron Williams chose to stay, but then failed to look like the franchise star he was supposed to be for much of the season. Whether it was an issue of conditioning, injury, or some combination of the two, Deron did not look like the guy we all expected him to be. Late in the season he finally turned it on and had a brilliant spell for the final month or two. If he can play like that consistently, the Nets will be regular staples in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

But perhaps the biggest key to this season’s success was Brook Lopez. Lopez battled injuries most of last season, and spent his time watching the Nets do everything they could to acquire Dwight Howard. When the Nets came down to the wire and risked losing Lopez outright, they bit the bullet, gave up on Dwight, and gave Lopez a monstrous contract that was heavily scrutinized. Lopez showed up as though nothing had happened and had a great season, re-establishing his reputation as one of the best offensive big men in the game. Perhaps more importantly, Lopez stepped up on the defensive side of the ball. While he may never be an elite defender, Lopez showed that he could at least be an average defender as opposed to the defensive sieve he was when he entered the league. In the coming seasons, Lopez could establish himself as the most critical player to Brooklyn’s success. Given what happened last season in his absence, some would say he’s already proven to be the critical piece.

Now that the Nets have delivered on their promise of immediate improvement and an immediate playoff berth, the Nets will now face an uphill battle towards trying to become legitimate contenders. In the playoffs the Nets were dispatched by a severely depleted Bulls team that simply outplayed and out-hustled the Nets. Brooklyn’s players looked lethargic and ready for the season to end. It was a disgrace. The contracts of Deron, Lopez, Joe Johnson, Wallace and Humphries will presumably prevent the team from making any major moves this offseason to improve the team. They’ll have a new coach next season, but you have to wonder just how much farther a new coach can take this roster. The Nets delivered on their first promise, now they have to figure out how to live with the consequences.

Greg's Season Review: Boston Celtics

2013-05-13T20:54:16Z

What I said:

The Celtics will be a playoff team yet again barring significant injuries to Rondo, Garnett, or Paul Pierce. I don't believe they'll be legitimate contenders for the crown, but Rivers knows how to coach this team to do just enough to get to the playoffs, get healthy, and then wreck havoc. Although Boston seems unable to overcome the Heat, you just know that Miami dreads any series against the Celtics. Boston always has a puncher's chance.

What happened:

The Celtics were a playoff team yet again despite a significant injury to Rajon Rondo. What the hell, Celtics.

When Rondo tore his ACL in late January, the Celtics had been struggling. Even in the weak Eastern Conference, it seemed the Celtics might be in danger of missing the playoffs. When Rondo went down, many assumed it was the final straw. Surely, the Celtics would completely fall apart.

Instead, the Celtics surged. They won 13 of their next 17 games. The dug deeper at a time when everyone assumed they would give in. It was impressive. And still nobody outside of Boston gave the Celtics much of a chance in the playoffs.

The Celtics ended up a 7 seed in the East, facing the surging New York Knicks. It was supposed to be a quick and easy dispatch for the Knicks. The Celtics were banged up, Jason Terry was awful, there was no Rondo, there was no depth. But the Celtics fought anyway. Forcing the series to 6 games. The Celtics continued to fight every step of the way throughout a season in which there was every reason to give up. A let down for those hoping the Celtics had one more playoff run in them, but impressive to anyone who was paying attention.

Entering the offseason there's a lot of uncertainty. It's unclear whether or not Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have played their last games as Celtics. Will they retire? Will they be traded? Nobody knows for sure. If I had to guess, I'd say they stick around and make another run at it next season. It makes no sense at all, but it would be in line with everything else the Celtics did this year.

Likely Scenarios

2013-05-13T15:03:02Z

There are a lot of different scenarios being tossed around right now. Mostly this is because the Maloofs are nitwits of the highest order who generally enjoy farting at common sense while they do doughnuts in the parking lot of their latest idiotic business venture. And also because we're being forced to wait for this to all come to a mercifully final solution. But wait, what if this isn't final? What if the Maloofs simply refuse to sell and remain the owners of the team in Sacramento? I keep seeing this scenario being tossed around, so let's explore it, shall we?

The Proposed Scenario:

David Stern (visibly annoyed), addressing the BOG: Thank you gentlemen for participating in this asinine exercise. You have voted to reject the relocation bid. The team shall not be granted permission to move to Seattle.

Maloofs: We still want to sell!

Stern: Really guys? You're really going to make us do this?

Maloofs: We have a binding agreement!

*A few moments later*

Stern: Ok, the sale agreement has been denied by the NBA Board of Governors. Chris Hansen et al are denied their bid to purchase the majority stake of the Kings.

Hansen: We want to buy 20%!

Stern, with a deep sigh: Really, Chris? You're really going to make us do this? This is what you want?

Hansen: Yes! Good faith efforts and all that!

*A few moments later*

Stern: Ok, the Board of Governors has rejected your bid for 20%. We're done with this. Chris, please leave the room. Now, boys, there is $341 million in an escrow account. That money is all yours if you sign on this piece of paper. It's either that or you return to a team that will never again be valued this high, will never have a bidding war, and will be lucky to draw 8,000 people per game. The salary floor is rising, so you'll have to continue to spend. You won't be able to cut salary. So you can do that, or you can sign this paper and get $341 million. What would you like to do?

Maloofs, while setting fire to the contents of a small trashcan and running out of the room: "WE'RE GONNA OWN THIS TEAM FOREVERRRRRRR!"

End Scenario

Yeah, no, I totally see why everyone thinks that's likely. I'm sure that's something we should be worried about. Sure.