The Kings may have trouble attracting quality general manager candidates if interim executive VP of basketball operations Joe Dumars guides the franchise through this year’s draft and free agency, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
Although the dates may be moved, the draft is currently set for Oct. 16, with free agency getting underway two days later. There have been indications out of Sacramento that the search will be lengthy, and a new GM might not be in place in time. A source tells Anderson that potential candidates “don’t want ownership of those decisions” if they aren’t able to make them.
Anderson points out that the Kings gambled in 2015 when they hired Vlade Divac to run the team with no previous front-office experience in the NBA. He doesn’t expect that to happen again, noting that the rumored candidates for the job include Knicks GM Scott Perry, Raptors GM Bobby Webster and a few others, all of whom come from winning organizations.
There’s more from Sacramento:
- Harrison Barnes tells James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area that the players should accept responsibility for their disappointing performance in Orlando. The Kings went 3-5 in seeding games and extended their streak of missing the playoffs to 14 years. “It starts with personal responsibility, everyone looking in the mirror,” Barnes said. “I can speak for myself and say I got better every game that went on, but I wasn’t at my best in the first game. So you have to own that and move forward from there.”
- Richaun Holmes didn’t get much notice when he signed with the Kings last summer, but he may have been this season’s MVP, suggests Tracee Jay of NBA.com. Holmes took over the starting center spot early in the year and wound up averaging 12.3 points and 8.1 rebounds, both career highs. He also led the team in win shares among players who appeared in at least 40 games and was second to De’Aaron Fox in PER. “The love they’ve shown, the way they’ve embraced me, it’s very special,” Holmes said of Sacramento fans. “I love playing here. I’m happy to be a part of this culture.”
- Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, has already interviewed with most of the league and will talk to the Kings next week, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.
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