Sac-Town Follies: The Karl Watch Continues
The irony is this:
- Sofware super-geek Vivek Ranadivé saved the Kings for Sacramento,
- But his meddling ever since has turned the franchise into a bigger mess than the Knicks and 76ers combined.
It's safe to say, that takes some serious doing.
But it's the one area where Ranadivé and his circus excel:
The ongoing clash of wills between the club's star player and Ranadivé's handpicked coach shows no signs of abating, and sooner or later, one of them's gotta go.
Based on past attempts, it won't be Cousins. But by canning Karl, the Kings will take an $11.5million hit.
Karl's a hoops lifer, of course, who's rode his share of success into a positive reputation and an ironclad ego. Thus, he's gonna do things his way as long as he's authorized to stroll courtside. There's no way Ranadivé didn't know that.
But, it's a player-driven league, and Cousins must cast his eyes toward Atlanta and wistfully dream:
Maybe tonight's 101-92 triumph over Detroit -- featuring Cousins' offense and Karl's defense -- will turn the temperature down for a while.
But unless that starts a happier run of hotness, it's surely a matter of time before an itchy Ranadivé pushes the button and this show goes nuclear, and no matter how much tinkering he does, Vlade Divac could well go with it.