In a survey of 31 NBA insiders, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was voted as the best team governor while Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was voted as the worst.
The participants in the survey included 13 executives, 10 front-office personnel, six scouts and two coaches who cast their votes for the three best and three worst owners, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
Ballmer ranked first with 20.5 votes followed by Micky Arison of the Miami Heat (14 votes), Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks (11 votes), Joe Lacob and Peter Guber of the Golden State Warriors (10.5 votes), Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca of the Boston Celtics (eight votes) and Peter Holt of the San Antonio Spurs (eight votes).
“Ballmer is the best because it’s: ‘Hey Steve, we need this,'” one agent told Vorkunov. “OK, boom.”
“I would say Ballmer is No. 1,” said another scout. “His enthusiasm, his willingness to spend money, what he’s done with the Clippers, forging into L.A., creating their own identity, and building their own building now, that’s bad news.”
Ranadive (23.5 votes), Robert Sarver of the Phoenix Suns (23 votes) and James Dolan of the New York Knicks (21 votes) were voted as the three worst owners in the league.
No other owner received more than five votes.
“His intentions are good but in terms of hiring the basketball people and letting them do their work, he both hires bad basketball people and doesn’t let them do their work,” an executive said of Ranadive. “That’s a bad combination.”
The Kings haven’t had a winning season or made the playoffs under Ranadive (since the 2005-2006 season) and the franchise has won more than 33 games only once since 2013-2014.
