New Kings GM Perry embraces challenge of building ‘sustainable winner' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SACRAMENTO – One week after their inauspicious 2024-25 NBA season ended, the Kings introduced their fifth general manager in 12 years Wednesday morning.
Scott Perry, a longtime NBA executive who spent time with the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks, among other organizations, returned to Sacramento for a role he promised this time would last longer than three months.
He replaced Monte McNair, general manager for the last five years in Sacramento, who was fired just moments after the Kings’ season-ending play-in loss to the Dallas Mavericks last Wednesday.
Less than 48 hours after their loss, Kings players tried to put into words the six-month rollercoaster season they just endured while speaking at their end-of-the-season exit interviews. One collective sentiment shared was their desire for some organizational stability. The message was received by Perry, who hopes to help in that department.
“To be successful, you have to have that consistency and stability,” Perry said during his introductory press conference Wednesday. “People that know me and know me well and know my experiences, know that I’m all about stability. Even in the short time that I was here in Sacramento eight years ago, we were starting to formulate some of that stability in terms of the people we were able to draft and what we were able to do with free agency, starting a culture.
“So I’m extremely confident in not only my abilities, but the people that we’re going to have around us helping that, we all are going to be growing in the same direction in the boat. We can’t have silos, we can’t have individual agendas. Like I said, it’s all about the collective, and it’s about being the Kings. … I’m going to lead that. That’s what, to me, great leadership is, is being a servant leader, and I’m going to provide that here.
“I’m going to be heavily engaged in a lot of things around here to help make this organization, this team, one everybody can be proud of.”
That starts with building a foundation of long-term winning and success, which is “the most important thing” to Perry amongst a long list of to-dos this offseason.
He said team owner Vivek Ranadivé has empowered him to make the necessary decisions to create a sustainable winner while pledging his support and resources to help Perry see that vision through.
Along the Kings’ rollercoaster season was the early February trade of franchise point guard De’Aaron Fox. In his seven-plus seasons as the face of the franchise, Fox pleaded for stability and improvement. He got neither consistently.
With Fox’s departure, finalized by a three-team deal that brought sharpshooter Zach LaVine to Sacramento, the team was left without a true point guard for the final 34 games of the regular season. But that isn’t the only glaring issue with the roster.
“Look, I’m just learning this roster. I’ve watched them from afar,” Perry said. “There’s some talent here. There’s an obvious need, I think everybody in this room probably would agree to it, that there’s not a true point guard on the roster. Also, as I assess it from afar, I think we need to add more length and athleticism to this group to enhance some of the talent this year.
“So from that standpoint, that’s kind of what I’m looking at doing right now.”
The Kings haven’t added any significant pieces to help Keegan Murray along the wing, which has derailed Murray’s growth and progress, specifically offensively, since Sacramento drafted him No. 4 overall three years ago.
Murray has become a dramatically better defender since his rookie 2022 season and shown glimpses of his potential as a two-way NBA star, but even he admitted it’s not ideal for him to guard the five-position on a nightly basis.
“Yeah, ideally I don’t want to be guarding the five-man,” Murray said last week during his exit interview. “It’s not the most fun thing in the world. If I have to do it, I have to do it, regardless of who’s on our team [or] who’s not. At the end of the day, team defense wins championships.”
Murray added that he isn’t disappointed with his Year 3 performance, noting his evolution as a one-to-five defender is something not many people in the league can do. He won’t make excuses for his overall growth as a former top-five draft pick, and neither will Perry.
Instead, Perry advised purchasing a mirror for every Kings player and staffer to hold each other accountable both on and off the floor.
“Look, the one thing I want all the players here to do, I want to buy each player a mirror, because at first we’re going to look at ourselves, and that starts with me each and every day,” Perry said. “And so there’s going to be an accountability, first and foremost, that am I doing everything as an individual to make this team successful? And then whoever we have in here to coach, it’s going to be their job, and I’m going to be behind the scenes helping to make sure that we maximize what they can do on the court.
“So Keegan is still a young player. I’m very confident in what he can be. I’ve spoken to him like I’ve spoken to all the players already, because that was one of the most important things for me to do that. And I think he’ll be just fine. But he knows he’s got to come in here, work, earn everything he gets. And the teams that I’ve been a part of, and I spent a long time with the Detroit Pistons, and that team was built on accountability, was built on toughness, was built on defense, and was built on a team-first attitude.
“So when players come in this building, and when staff come in this building, starting with me, when I get out of my car, and they get out of their cars, we’re leaving our personal agendas and egos inside those cars. When you come inside, it’s about the collective.”
Perry hopes that message resonates with all players. He plans to spend time with them this summer as both sides get to know one another a bit better.
Aside from the casual “Where are you from?” and “What do you like to do outside of basketball?” conversations, Perry anticipates diving deeper with each player to ensure they’re on the same page with this organization and the direction it’s headed.
He understands that players are frustrated with how the season ended, but said he’d be worried if they weren’t frustrated. That is the type of players he wants on his roster as he hopes to re-establish an identity of what it means to be a Sacramento Kings player.
“Any successful pro sports organization, or any company for that matter, has to have an identity,” Perry said. “And that’s one thing I don’t see here yet, but that’s what I’m all about, is establishing identity. What does it mean to be a Sacramento Kings player? To play here, we’re going to require toughness. We want a defensive orientation. We got to play extremely hard, and we got to play together on the offensive end. We go to be professional, we got to be disciplined and we got to have accountability.
“And so if you fit that profile, you’ll see guys wearing that Kings jersey. If not, then we’ll figure out how to get guys in here that do. And a line that you may hear me say, you may have heard this before: I am looking for volunteers to that, not hostages.”
What gives Perry the confidence that he’ll be able to reach his goals and aspirations with an organization that has for so long been the NBA’s object of ridicule is his stature, his credibility and the respect from his peers league-wide.
Perry said people around the league – from players to top execs – immediately reached out to congratulate him on the new gig in Sacramento. Over his 25 years maneuvering around the NBA, Perry has built and maintained solid relationships that he and Ranadivé believe will help Perry succeed in this new role with the Kings, stating specifically by hoping to “attract good talent” to Sacramento, whether that be through the draft, free agency or trades.
He helped do it in Detroit, bringing winning basketball back to the Motor City 10 years after the Pistons’ “Bad Boys” days. As a member of Detroit’s executive team, Perry helped build a team that went to six Eastern Conference finals appearances (2003-08), two Eastern Conference finals (2004, 2005), and win a championship in 2004.
His NBA resume certainly speaks for itself, but Kings fans are tired of words. They have heard and seen it all. They want to see action, not hear false promises.
“I understand the frustration of the fan base, because you haven’t won that much in the past 16, 17 years,” Perry said. “With the right energy, with the right focus, with the right perseverance, I’ve seen things turn around. [I’ve] been a part of it. Back when I was in Detroit, obviously, the Bad Boys were good in the late 80s, great team, and then they went through a little bit of [struggle]. It might not have been as long as the one here in Sacramento, but we didn’t pay attention to the noise that you can’t build a sustainable winner in a small-market team, cold city like Detroit.
“We rolled up our sleeves, we ended up going to six straight conference finals and won the world championship while we were there. So anything is possible, anything is doable, and I am the eternal optimist, positive person. So, will there be bumps along the road to get there? I’m sure. That’s life, that’s adversity. But we’re not going to run away from the problems. We’re going to run to them.”
Clearly, there’s a lot for Perry to unpack. With an early offseason exit, there’s time to make the proper adjustments. It’ll be a busy summer for Perry and his staff, but a challenge the self-proclaimed problem-solving addict looks forward to.
That also includes finding a partner-in-crime as his assistant general manager since Wes Wilcox announced his departure just before the end of the regular season, in addition to either removing the “interim” title from Doug Christie’s job description or finding a new head coach altogether. As of Wednesday, Perry said he has not yet made a coaching decision but hopes to have that finalized by next week or so.
The Kings snapped a 16-season playoff drought two years ago. They missed the playoffs the following two years, making just one playoff appearance in 19 seasons.
Perry didn’t specify whether ownership gave him a timeline to turn things around, but the expectation is crystal clear.
“The expectation is to build a sustainable winner and do things necessary to create an environment that will breed that,” Perry said. “That’s the only mandate. I’m going to do what I see as best for that. Obviously, I’m someone who’s wired to win. So we’ll see what unfolds over the next coming months.
“But I’m going to do my very best to enhance what’s here right now and see where it takes us.”
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