Reddit

Shahbaz Khan

Hey Redditors, Peja here for the first time!
I’m a 13-year NBA veteran, three-time All-Star, two-time three-point contest winner and NBA champion. Currently, I’m serving as the Director of Player Personnel and Development for the Sacramento Kings. Additionally, I serve as General Manager for the Kings D-League affiliate, the Western Conference Champion Reno Bighorns.
I’m looking forward to answering your questions!

Awesom567: Hey Peja, what bitter feelings do you have about the 2001-2002 WCF against the Lakers?

Peja: It was a tough break for us. I can't say I'm bitter, but I just felt that we were the better team and we weren't able to close that series. We can look back on the things that we had not done right. That was definitely the series that haunted us individually and collectively. Even though we moved on, we all felt those type of opportunities did not come often.

Davidib17: What was going through your mind when you made that insane behind-the-back pass to Bobby Jackson across the court? Was it simply out of supreme confidence, or did you kind of just throw it to see if it would work?

Peja: Honestly, I think it was a risk with that pass. I felt at that moment that I could make it and I took the risk. It worked out! Had I done it in the past? No, I had not!

Waimang_NINJA: Peja, having you on the Mavs was amazing. Congrats on the title. My question is who was your favourite team mate over the years and who are you in most frequent contact with now you are off the court?

Peja: I have many of them. The players that I played with on the Kings team...everybody on that team. I played with Vlade who's obviously from the same country, that was a relief for me since I was coming from overseas and not able to speak very good English. Later on, I played on so many good teams with so many great teammates it wouldn't be fair to just narrow it down.

Wkle: Hey Peja, I'll be visiting your country this summer. Any tips on what I' absolutely need to try food-wise?

Peja: Everything is delicious. I'm sure you're going to have a good time! The city of Belgrade in Serbia has been voted the #1 entertaining city in Europe, so I'm sure you'll have a good time.

Shamsofthesharingan: As a shooter, who was the defender that gave you the most trouble?

Peja: I can't say what defender, I can say a team. I always had trouble scoring against San Antonio. They always found a way to take the easy things away, so we had to work a bit extra just in order to take the shot. Bruce Bowen on those teams, he was a very focused defender.

Skinsballr: Hey Peja! Thank you for doing this AMA.
In your opinion, who are the five greatest NBA players you have ever faced?

Peja:
PG: Steve Nash
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Dirk
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Shaq

Etiolatezed: Hey Peja! I am curious about your first year in the NBA with Sacramento. How different is the NBA now from the state it was in then? And did you ever feel lost during your first year?

Peja: It’s been 18 years since my first year and some of the rules have changed, but the NBA has always been loaded with talent. Back then there were a lot of good players, a lot of superstars. Today, there's so many talented players as well that represent our game in the best possible way.

Seeseanyawn: Hi Peja, big fan of you and those early 2000's Kings teams. Do you still keep in contact with any of your teammates from then?

Peja: Now that I'm back I do. Some of the guys work for the organization, some live in the area. For some period after I stopped playing I hadn't honestly been in touch with too many of my former teammates. It's great to be around each other and reconnect.

MitsuharuMisawa: Hey Peja, was there any significance to the number 16 that you held throughout your career?

Peja: Yes. The reason I picked #16 is because it was my first number when I played in Europe. The numbers that people could play with were only #4-15. So when I was 13, I joined a team at a local club in town and I was the youngest on the team and they gave me #16. Someone literally asked to print the number 16 and I went with it.

Macsinsac: How excited are you for the arena downtown? What helped you become a top shooter in the NBA?

Peja: I'm really excited. This city and this team deserve this arena. I think it's going to be great and help the city and the arena. It'll work so well for this city.

peja-stojakovic-reddit-ama-highlights

Peja Stojakovic Reddit AMA Highlights

Katie Cracchiolo

Reddit user dlitt decided to take a look at the overall improvement of Sacramento’s team and player stats before and after the squad’s team meeting last week.

Sacramento has improved in field goal percentage, offensive rating, defensive rating, three-point percentage, true shooting percentage and personal fouls per game. And by no small margins.

All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins has also been an absolute beast since the meeting, “solidifying his spot as the best center in the league,” according to the Reddit user. Though the increase in his scoring percentages is rather impressive, the big man has managed to cut his turnovers per game while averaging an additional 10 minutes on the court.

Rajon Rondo is also filling the stat sheet, recording three triple-doubles in four games and has nearly doubled his assists per game since the team meeting.

kings-show-great-improvement-after-meeting

Kings Show Great Improvement After Meeting

sacjwise

Pete:  Have thoughts on the NBA Draft? I’d love to hear them! I’ll be back at 12 p.m. PDT today and look forward to discussing with all of you NBA redditors!

Check out Draft 3.0 – http://www.kings.com/challenge

JamesKerti: Pete, thanks for taking the time. I've consulted with other teams on Draft matters over the last couple years and I've done several AMAs on here in the past too.

I feel like, while every organization is moving toward embracing analytics with regard to evaluating NBA talent, there's a much larger gap when it comes to how teams use analytical tools in Draft evaluations.

Granted, it's intrinsically more difficult there because there's not nearly as much data available for college players (yet).

Still, how important of a tool do you feel like advanced analytics are when it comes to Draft evaluations, as compared to more traditional measures?

Pete: Thanks James, this is a fantastic question. Like you, we are all striving to find the right metrics to evaluate the draft. In fact, in my interview with Vivek I discussed a concept which I think hasn’t been done before. There is so much talent and so much information out there today outside of the walls of the NBA. I told him I felt like we could tap into that vast wealth of knowledge. For that reason I was actually planning on reaching out to advanced fans and asking for their help in this Draft. I had my analytics team here at the Kings create a website where I’m asking fans to rate college players by position in the 2014 NBA Draft. I would like more than just the ranking for fans that are interested. I would like to know how they came to their decision. From this crowdsourcing, I will select a smaller group to be in my Draft think tank. A few of which I plan to invite to my war room. Below is the link and I’ll be here for any questions!

Iamtheraptor: Hey Pete. I'm a huge fan of evaluating college and international prospects to the pro level to the point that I even created the small subreddit /r/nba_draft.

And if you ever need an extra scout I'm here for you. Thanks in advance.

Pete: I’d like to actually ask you a question, what do you do to compare college players with International players for Draft purposes?

Iamtheraptor: I'm obviously no expert but what I've always tried to do is analyze a player based what they can do in their respective leagues. A Dario Saric is always going to be harder to evaluate than a Parker or Wiggins because you have no idea how good their competition is. For this reason it constantly seems like foreign born players are a riskier pick. Rather than looking at a players stats and output like I do in college I often find myself trying to grade their quickness, first step, instincts above everything else. For me this done almost to the point where I don't even look at a foreign players stats because they mean almost nothing to me. In college O believe stats are a pretty good indicator but for foreign players I tend to rely solely on how well you can quantify their individual skills, not how well it actually translates to numbers. You obviously still do this a lot for American players but it becomes much more important for international prospects. Hope that actually made sense. Thanks for the response.

·         Gomie420: I know you weren't specifically asking me, but I always use the tried and true "defend the 7 footer with a man on a chair and a broom" routine. You see, the broom equals another player with a large wingspan, which will give you solid information about the international prospect's ability to score even if said prospect hasn't had the chance to play against another person of equal stature.

·         Pete: Do you still believe in a hands-on approach to evaluating internationals? And I agree that it is helpful, but is there a data-driven approach that you’ve thought about? These are the types of projects I’ll be providing for my Draft Advisory Council.

Zoop22: If you get quality responses from the challenge this year would you consider doing it again next year? I would love to participate in something like this, but would need more than 10 days to create a quality model for analysis. Thanks!

Pete: Everyone has 10 days to do it, why don’t you give it a shot. I would like to have a Draft Advisory Council of analytically-minded people and we’d definitely like to do this moving forward. At one point I was outside of the wall of the NBA scratching to get in and I know there are many, many others who are in the same situation. So this is really exciting for me.

makeyoucry: How much do personality traits play into evaluating prospects for the Kings? (e.g. Marketability, Interview Skills, Maturity, Coachable, etc.)

I believe someone that is likable with a good head on their shoulders at least raises their floor as far as potential.

Pete: It is one piece of the puzzle and I would call it an important piece. I do believe personality and passion for the game play a huge part in team success.

Jumpman0469: As a GM, how hard is it to battle the “Best Player Available” vs. “Best Player at Position of Need” debate? How do you approach that conundrum now with a good pick and heading into one of the deeper drafts we’ve seen in a while?

Pete: In our stage you always look at the best player available. I can see how teams that are further along in development can draft for a position of need.

xSlappy- : Pete, what does your war room/office look like?

Pete: It looks a lot like this – http://imgur.com/hiWyKbe

AlexLeSage: What do you think is the most underrated thing a prospect needs? Like being able to talk to media, etc.

Pete: I think, for me, mental toughness to go through the Draft process. Sometimes you have to go workout for teams in three consecutive days in three different cities.

Roseyrosey: Why doesn’t Draft 3.0 allow for ranking of international players?

Pete: I think it’s hard analytically to compare the college game with the international game. However, my Draft Advisory Council will be evaluating all levels of Draft talent.

GameLocks: How exactly do you, the rest of the front office and the coaches agree on choosing a player in the draft? I would imagine there would be a lot of disagreement over who should be picked.

Pete: I’m looking forward to a spirited conversation and debate throughout this process. That’s the only way we would do it for this organization and it’s the healthy way.

Hozjo: How would you feel about expanding the draft to a third or fourth round, obviously not guaranteed contracts but maybe a payment (say 50 and 25k) in exchange for summer league/training camp rights?

Pete: That’s a really creative idea, have you thought about joining the Challenge? http://www.kings.com/challenge

Demstacksdoe: I won't be here, and it would be cool if someone would copy/paste my question (and maybe everyone elses question in this thread) when the actual AMA is being taken place. My 2 questions are:

Who do you think is the best player in the talent stacked upcoming draft and why?

Who do you believe will impact a franchise the most in contending for a championship?

edit: why the downvotes? I would think people would want to genuinely ask this type of question anyway?

is it really against reddit to request a question to be posted on an AMA?

Pete: Thanks for the question, so let me understand this, you want me to give my rankings? That’s going too far, even for reddit!

Factsarntstraight: Hi Pete! Huge Kings fan: If (god forbid) you find the Kings stuck behind the eighth pick this season, what strategy do you suppose you'd use to make the most out of that position? I understand that the draft is allegedly very deep this season, but I can't see huge value after seven or eight for a team that has so many urgent needs.

Pete: I clearly believe we need to be willing to move up, down or even out of the draft. We’ve been aggressive since we took the team over and will continue to be so until we see the progress we’d like to see.

Pete: Thanks guys, I have to go submit my entry. But seriously, I look forward to some additional thoughts and will come back on and read all of your comments later on this afternoon. Thanks so much for your time!

transcript-of-kings-general-manager-pete-dalessandro-announcing-teams-draft-3-0-challenge-crowdsourcing-program-on-reddit

Transcript of Kings General Manager Pete D'Alessandro Announcing Team’s “Draft 3.0 Challenge” Crowdsourcing Program on Reddit

Check out highlights from Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro's Reddit AMA on Tuesday.

I've been fortunate to be around some amazing people throughout my career starting with Lou Carnesecca (SJU), pioneer sports agent Bill Pollak (my first job as a sports agent), Hall of Famer Chris Mullin (Golden State Warriors), Masai Ujiri &amp; Josh Kroenke (Denver Nuggets), and now the most innovative Owner, Vivek Ranadivé, and it all started with the book "Basketball's Fastest Hands" when I was in 3rd grade.

I'm excited to be here, go ahead and ask me anything!

Jalebs: Who is your favorite player on the team and why is it Travis Outlaw?

Pete: Not only is he a great person, teammate and player. How many pro athletes have a day named after them??? https://twitter.com/travisoutlawday

Gregsactly: You can only keep one this offseason: Isaiah Thomas or Rudy Gay. Who do you choose?

Pete: There's rules against me talking about free agents right now but that is one heck of a choice and those are two very talented players.

YusoStoopid: Hi Pete, I'm a moderator at /r/kings which is the subreddit on this website about the Sacramento Kings. I have compiled some of the top questions that Kings fans in /r/kings have posted. Please take your time to answer as you feel sufficient. And go Kings!

Pete: What's up /r/kings, we have the best fans in the world and it starts right here on reddit. Thanks for all that you do to support us!

Aykis16: Hey Pete! DeMarcus Cousins has been established as the franchise cornerstone this year, and I was wondering what your thoughts were as to his ideal frontcourt partner. I know it is the opinion of many that a shotblocker of some sort would probably be best but there are obviously more factors involved.

Pete: I think the great part about DeMarcus is his versatility whether he's at the 5 or the 4, a defensive-minded front-court partner could help the team.

Gwiss: What is your favorite kind of sandwich, and why?

Pete: My grandmother who passed away was from Sicily. She used to make this sandwich on fresh Italian bread with tomato, olive oil and sea salt. I know how simple it sounds, but since she's passed away, I've never had one so good. Seriously, love that woman and still feel her influence today.

Jakelshark: Can you describe the process of the Rudy Gay trade?

Specifically who approached whom (did you have a discussion with Memphis before?), how you envisioned him fitting into the offensive system with other high usage players, and the sort of negotiations involved in a trade like that.

Pete: Rudy was someone early on who we identified as being a good fit for our team and specifically alongside DeMarcus. In general trades develop over time and there is an early conversation which leads to subsequent talks. Many times the first conversation may appear to be a dead-end but then ultimately becomes a trade. The Rudy Gay trade followed a similar path.

Huble___Brown: Hey Pete, how awesome is it to work for Vivek Ranadive?

Pete: One of the amazing things about working for Vivek is that he challenges us to think differently. He has changed the way I view the game. His vision of NBA 3.0 will surely transform not only this team but also the City of Sacramento.

Xaoc15: Hi Pete, being a huge kings fan in toronto, im really liking the new ownership, management and direction the team is going. It might be the most unlikely thing ever, but im hoping for a kings/raptors finals series soon so I can watch the team play more than once a year. Keep it up!

Pete: This has been a blast. Thanks to everyone for the great questions! Definitely look forward to coming back here again soon… If you guys will have me?? https://twitter.com/Pdoro/status/463768770256060417

Reddit

Peja Stojakovic Reddit AMA Highlights

Kings Show Great Improvement After Meeting

Transcript of Kings General Manager Pete D'Alessandro Announcing Team’s “Draft 3.0 Challenge” Crowdsourcing Program on Reddit

Pete D'Alessandro AMA Highlights