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Sacramento Kings ‘lose’ Chris Mullin, is D’Alessandro next?

By Tony Xypteras

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Rumors have been rampant over the last week or so that Sacramento Kings ‘adviser’ Chris Mullin was in discussions with St. Johns about becoming their next head coach.

These rumors were confirmed yesterday, as Mullin and St. Johns came to some sort of contract agreement that would pay Mullin around $2 million per year. St. Johns is expected to introduce Mullin at a press conference on Wednesday.

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has been following the Sacramento Kings this season. The Kings have been dealing with front office chemistry issues seemingly since Vivek Ranadive bought the team almost two years ago. These issues became public when Michael Malone was fired, and it’s been all downhill from there. Something had to happen. The next question is, was Mullin’s exit enough to fix the problem? We’ll find out shortly.

It feels like a lot of Sacramentan’s are happy that Mullin is out. I’d put myself in that camp, but my stance on this has little to do with Mullin. The public sentiment seems to be that Mullin was the problem. That may have been the case, but we have little evidence to back up that theory.

I’m happy with this move solely because this front office was way too crowded. Someone had to go.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to pretend like everything is going to be great moving forward, but I’ve read so many contradictory reports about which members of the Kings front office was behind what moves that it’s literally impossible to decipher what is truth and what isn’t.

An example –

Sacramento Bee writer Ailene Voisin reported in mid-March that not only was Vivek Ranadive directly responsible for hiring both George Karl and Vlade Divac, but that Pete D’Alessandro was against bringing Divac in. That would be bad news for D’Alessandro.

And then you have Aaron Bruski, another reporter who has a very good track record in Sacramento, reiterating the same stance he’s held the whole time. George Karl was Pete D’Alessandro’s hire.

Which is it?

There has been speculation that Pete D’Alessandro could be let go at the end of the season. Would Vivek Ranadive allow a general manager who is on the way out the clearance to sign a head coach like George Karl to a long-term contract? My head says no chance, but I’ve been wrong about this team before. You have to throw logic out the window when considering how this front office will handle anything.

For all the talk about how ‘hiring a coach before the general manager’ was a mistake when Vivek bought the team, firing D’Alessandro would put the next general manager in the exact same situation.

I don’t know where the Kings go from here. Mullin is out. D’Alessandro’s job is in jeopardy. We should know a lot more in a few weeks.

Despite all of the disheartening front office drama, the Kings still have Vlade Divac. I may have irrational confidence in Vlade’s ability to fix this mess, but he’s the best chance they have. He brings a unique ability to get talent to work together towards one common goal. If anyone can do it, he can.

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