Sacramento Kings: Learning more about Scott Perry

In an extensive interview, new Sacramento Kings vice president of basketball operations Scott Perry sheds light on what’s needed to right the ship for the team’s future.

Any addition the Sacramento Kings make over the next few weeks will certainly catch everyone’s attention, but perhaps their most crucial decision for their long-term future may have been made one week into the offseason.

The move to bring in NBA executive Scott Perry had been a long time coming for a front office that had needed an experienced and well connected basketball “lifer” alongside Kings general manager Vlade Divac. Now over a month into his tenure, the Kings are already seeing differences, especially in their pre-draft process, with Perry in the mix.

This was something Perry himself, touched on in great length in a recent appearance on The Vertical Podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski. Although the whole interview touches on many topics in regards to his career in the NBA and his life in general, Perry gave plenty of insight behind his decision to join the Kings, the importance of this year’s draft and much more.

But while Perry provides plenty of perspective for all the questions asked during the podcast, it’s his comments in regard to Kings owner, Vivek Ranadive, that stand out the most when listening to the interview.

Of course, Ranadive has earned a lifetime’s worth of gratitude from Kings fans by purchasing the Kings back in 2013 to ensure they stayed in Sacramento and building a state of the art arena, but his leadership has obviously come into question, specifically with how hands-on he may be with the product on the court.

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Having the wealth of experience he possesses as well as transitioning from being outside of the organization to working with Ranadive on a day-to-day basis, Perry explained the challenges a new or relatively new owner like Ranadive faces once coming to the league:

"“I think Vivek, just like a lot of the newer owners, there’s a learning curve. It takes time, you know. I think the biggest adjustment for any owner is trying to figure out, or learning the fact that this basketball business, and they all hear it coming through the door, there’s no other business like that.“And they’ve been wildly successful and he’s been wildly successful in his personal endeavors as a businessman. So when you first hear that, oh well this business is like no other, I think it takes time for people to get in it, roll their sleeves, and find out and come to the realization that ‘oh yeah you’re right’. Because you’re not dealing with a product you’re putting out, it’s people you’re dealing with every day.“So, there’s so much that goes into that dynamic and you can’t always put numbers on things to predict behavior or future outcomes. Is it a tool that can help you in the basketball business? Yes. But when you’re talking about putting a basketball team together, it’s 15 different personalities, there’s coaching personalities, and getting all that to mesh at one time to become a successful team, that’s not an exact science.“I think I bring a lot of experience in dealing with that in my 30 years in basketball and I think one of the things that I’ve appreciated about Vivek so far is that we talk a lot. You know, he’s getting to learn and I’m sharing a lot of the experiences that I’ve had and the fact that I’ve brought championship experience to Sacramento, I know that was attractive to them.“So sharing a lot of stores and sharing a lot of insight and he’s going to be the very best owner that he can be. But he’s a very smart person, he’s a very intuitive person and I really trust that, as he continues to move on, he’s just going to be better and better as an owner and I’m happy that he’s giving me the opportunity to help, and entrusted in me, to help he and Vlade turn this thing around.”"

There’s plenty to unpack from that extended answer, but it’s one that accurately sums up what has gone wrong for the Kings in the time it’s been under Ranadive’s control.

To say things have drastically changed would be farfetched, but it can’t be denied that the Kings are making key strides in certain aspects since Perry has landed in Sacramento.

As mentioned before, the fact that both agents and current draft prospects have spoken highly on the possibility of joining the Kings is already a notable sign of progress for a team that has struggled landing individual workouts with sought-after talents in the past.

Though it may be of little substance at this point, having a person of Perry’s pedigree in the fold is an incredible resource for the Kings to have, especially at an important time with the heart of the offseason only a couple of weeks away.

Next: 2017 NBA Mock Draft: Post-Lottery edition

Time will only tell if lessons will be learned as we move forward like Perry suggests, but any progress made at this point is notable for a team that has been in dire need of some.

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