The Kings’ interviews for a new general manager are moving to the second round and features a mix of names: more old-school guys like former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox, and more cutting edge guys like Minnesota’s Sachin Gupta (the guy who invented ESPN’s trade machine).
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that the interviews were advancing to replace Vlade Divac and had a full list of names of people being interviewed.
However, the more interesting news came in a Tweet from Amick that Kings’ owner Vivek Ranadive and his hired advisor for this search are handling this process. Interim GM Joe Dumars is not involved in the process.
Interesting revelation on the Kings front office search front: Sources say interim EVP of b-ball ops Joe Dumars is NOT taking part in interviews. It's owner Vivek Ranadive and Mike Forde of Sportsology firm heading the searchhttps://t.co/PfNL9YzEzY
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 13, 2020
Forde spent six years as the Forde director of football operations for Chelsea in the English Premier League — winning the Premier League multiple times, also winning the FA cup and the Champions League — before forming a consulting firm, Sportsology. Forde was someone who brought advanced statistics and cutting edge thinking/technology into the front office, now he helps other teams do just that. Forde consulted with Washington owner Ted Leonsis after Ernie Grunfeld was let go. Forde has also worked with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons.
For Sacramento, a cutting edge approach would be a shift from how things have been run. Considering the Kings have a 14-year playoff drought, it may be time for a radical change.
