“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar.”
These are words from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar spoken by Marc Antony, and yet they somehow seem indicative of how Sacramento Kings fans feel after hearing the news that General Manager, Vlade Divac, has stepped down from his position. The tyranny of a leader–who was once glorified, but now opposed–is toppled. Kings fans, let us celebrate as that tyranny dies with Vlade’s run as GM.
Kings GM Vlade Divac is stepping down, source tells @TheAthleticNBA. Joe Dumars (advisor previously) will be interim executive VP of basketball ops and immediately assumes GM duties. Dumars will be involved in the search for a new GM.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) August 14, 2020
In the absence of a General Manager, former bad boy himself, Joe Dumars, who has grown in Ranadivé’s favorability, will immediately take over the role as interim Vice President of Basketball Operations in addition to General Manager responsibilities as the franchise searches for a new GM.
“Joe [Dumars] has become a trusted and valued advisor since joining the team last year, and I am grateful to have him take on this role at an important time for the franchise,” said Ranadivé.
Kings fans are ecstatic to say the least as they have seemingly watched Vlade make exclusively poor decisions in his five years at the helm of Sacramento’s front office.
Some of his blunders during his tenure include:
◦ Trading Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, and Nik Stauskas to the 76ers along with the rights to a pick swap in 2017 as well as a completely unprotected first-round pick in 2019.
◦ Drafting Georgios Papagiannis with their first round pick.
◦ Drafting Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic.
◦ Firing Dave Joerger and immediately replacing him with Luke Walton.
Even though the Kings made their closest attempt to a playoff berth last season in quite some time, Vlade derailed any momentum when he fired Head Coach Dave Joerger, the one arguably responsible to the spontaneous success.
Adding to that, the fact that Luka Doncic is blossoming into a bonafide star while Bagley can’t escape the injury bug only intensified calls for Vlade’s removal.
Kings fans finally got what they were asking for and now they await who will take the reigns of a franchise that has been in shambles for over the past decade.
Can this new GM finally take the Kings to the promised land, a destination Sacramento has not reached in 14 years? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, Kings fans can celebrate as they watch a dreadful regime’s failed leader be removed from power.
Although Vlade will always be loved for his time as a Sacramento Kings player, his time as a General Manager only soured his formidable legacy. Fans will always love Vlade for what he did on the court, but for his time as the GM, let’s just allow those memories to pass on like Vlade from the front office.
