Sacramento Kings gave the power of player personnel decisions to Kings legend Vlade Divac and took it away from their GM Pete D’Alessandro, yet he wasn’t removed from his job as general manager. He was the GM in place to bring in Rudy Gay from the Toronto Raptors but in his 2 seasons with the team, they haven’t achieved much success.
In his time in the NBA, D’Alessandro became known for his strong analytical skills and expertise in the NBA salary cap. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive initially hired him away from the Denver Nuggets to help the Kings build a new roster with talented players but it hasn’t resulted in wins. D’Alessandro helped build up a winning culture in his time with the Nuggets as an advisor to then-GM Masai Ujiri and they achieved some success over that time.
Now after a short stint in Sacramento, D’Alessandro will be returning to the Nuggets franchise with Josh Kroenke.
Following from Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski.
Sacramento Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro has accepted a high-ranking front office job with Josh Kroenke in Denver, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 10, 2015
In role, D'Alessandro will work to support Kroenke across the Nuggets and Avalanche franchises, sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 10, 2015
For Nuggets GM Tim Connelly, a huge proponent of addition, D'Alessandro will be another experienced pro to help on building of team.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 10, 2015
D'Alessandro had chance to become athletic director at alma mater, St. John's, but chose the reunion with Denver organization, sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 10, 2015
As Woj stated, D’Alessandro was almost gone to St.John’s but it appears that another offer in the NBA will keep Pete around for a little bit longer. The situation in Denver is interesting as they may be looking to sell high on a bunch of their veterans and look to rebuild. A few of these guys were actually drafted by D’Alessandro so it will be interesting how those discussions go.
In Sacramento with Pete D’Alessandro and his hiring of former Nuggets coach George Karl along with trading for former Denver point guard Andre Miller, it appeared that they were looking to do a Nuggets 2.0. Now with Pete gone, it will be interesting to see where Vlade Divac, Vivek Ranadive and the Kings go from here.
