If you liked what you saw out of the Sacramento Kings this season, you will like a new report that indicates a rebuild isn’t in the plans for the offseason.
Marc Stein included a blurb about the Kings in his Sunday Best edition of The Stein Line:
“What already seems clear in the Perry Era: League sources say that the Kings do not plan to initiate an offseason teardown post-Fox. While this is certainly a flawed roster — one that Perry said requires an influx of “length and athleticism” in addition to the point guard that Domantas Sabonis has openly lobbied for — there is little expectation that Sacramento plans to take any further steps away from the playoff chase in the West. The Kings’ playoff berth in 2022-23, remember, represents the only trip to the playoffs for this franchise (gulp) across the past 19 seasons. During his news conference, Perry himself repeatedly used the phrase “sustainable” when it comes to the winning environment that he hopes to construct, which suggests tweaks to the roster rather than an overhaul.”
The Kings finished the season:
- 30th in opponent three-point percentage
- 22nd in opponent field goal percentage
- 10th in points per game
- 23rd in three pointers made per game
- 19th in three point percentage
- 16th in rebounds per game
- 13th in assists per game
- 19th in pace
- 7th in offensive rating
- 22nd in defensive rating
- 15th in net rating
So, the Kings were efficient enough on offense to be competitive, but is held back by major defensive flaws. The team didn’t play fast and was average at rebounding and just slightly above average in passing. The Kings were an average team, good enough to hang around but not built for the playoffs. This checks out with the 9th place finish and Play-In exit.
Stein also addressed Perry’s relationship with Vivek Ranadive:
“It remains to be seen how much autonomy Perry has to make that decision given that Christie is known to hold tremendous support from Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé. Yet one of the attributes that led to Perry’s swift implementation as Sacramento’s replacement for Monte McNair was the belief that he can collaborate more successfully with Ranadivé than various predecessors have after some hopeful signs in that department during Perry’s previous short stint as a Kings executive in 2017. Ranadivé is known for his affinity for prominent former Kings players like Christie and also for originally pushing for the hiring of former Warriors coach Mark Jackson before McNair’s front office successfully convinced him to hire Mike Brown, who wound up winning Coach of the Year honors in his maiden season in Sactown. It’s also strongly believed that it was Ranadivé, rather than McNair, who drove the Kings’ widely criticized decision to fire Brown right after Christmas and mere months after Brown had been awarded a contract extension. The decisions last July and in February that landed DeMar DeRozan (via sign-and-trade) and LaVine (as part of the Fox blockbuster) in the California capital are likewise frequently painted as mostly Ranadivé-driven.
“He did what was asked of him,” one league source of McNair’s roster construction.”
Who is ready to run it back!? If Perry does end up doing this, his roster additions will need to dramatically improve this team so it is not in the “Can’t compete, but also can’t get a high draft pick” range.
(Photo via screenshot of Sacramento Kings YouTube)
Think about how many galaxies this team is away from the OKC’s, Cleveland’s, Minesota’s etc. No super star, almost no legit youth, no athleticism, no size, no camaraderie, no defense. I don’t car what anyone says, I’m sick of Keegans’s 4 game stretches of 6 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists. Then he’ll have a game with 24 points, 1 assist and he’s the savior. Don’t tell me he’s a defensive juggernaut so it’s worth it because that’s a lie. He is a bench player on any real team. Same gummi bear competitor as Jason Thompson. I’m watching Indiana who every one says got an even trade with us, doesn’t seem like it! Seems like we got rid of the wrong young star because Halliburton is someone you build around. Fox was not. Tear it down.
Same as it ever was, rec’d
Sick Byrne.
Bravo!
Let the freak show begin. This is going to get bad. Denial of reality, nepotism, and a dismissive little chap will keep us in basketball hell. I fully expect them to bring Monta Ellis out of retirement to roster him at this point.
A freak show would be interesting. Monta suiting up would be amusing. This will just be dreary and frustrating.
Freak Show? They are trading for Giannis?
They’ll probably bring in Thanasis instead.
No need for a teardown – it’s coming down on its own just fine.
I thought this was a given.
I thought a given was part of the ape family.
Your humor is anthropologically sound.
And quite punny.
It’s been a given since Vivek took
over.
He’s a real piece of shit. Obvious.
Keeping this team crappy for over a decade-that’s on Vivek’s biz cards
I still believe this is his intentional plan so he can keep raking in the dough. Couldn’t care less about Sacramento or its fans.
And he’s in his sweet spot at the high end of the crappiness meter. Sink too low for too long and the plan doesn’t work (no butts in seats). He’s invented some new f’ed up kind of art form.
He’s like the Hallmark Channel of NBA teams. He puts out the same seasonal crap, with the same plot lines, played by the same has-been actors and on shoe string budgets…but damn does it print money come the holiday season.
Good analogy. Only difference is those viewing his product aren’t feeling warm and fuzzy about it (except for the Kings’ opponents).
Hmm. Interesting and probably correct
Unfortunately and apparently, in today’s NBA the owners get so much money from TV rates that the fans really don’t factor in anymore. Ticket sales, etc. doesn’t account from much. I already have a ton of money from the TV stuff.
So Vivek doesn’t give a shit about the fans and doesn’t have to.
I think the only thing we can do as fans is to make his life miserable. Make him
embarrassed if that’s possible.
By wearing sell kings shirts., billboards, sell the team chants at, games, etc.
This last part got me.
This is why I firmly believe Monte quit. Everyone has been jumping ship in the past calendar year. It’s simple to me, why would Vivek fire the guy who made all the moves that Vivek wanted? If I had to bet, Monte was giving blow back and tensions built over the lack of a cohesive roster that Vivek demanded. He caught wind of Vivek talking with Perry (and we still don’t know when the relationship rekindled) and decided he wanted out. Vivek now has a super chill Perry who will do what he wants with a smile on his face.
If Kayte were honest: “What Kings fans need to realize is that Vivek Ranadive is the Kings GM. He makes all the decisions, and anyone given the title of “General Manager” or “President of Basketball Operations” is just someone who is paid to cover for this dismissive little chap that manages to avoid all accountability for running this team into the ground year after year after year…”
I feel confident in saying that the trade to bring LaVine to the Kings was driven by Vivek, with Monte and Wes being told to make it happen. LaVine and DeMar just didn’t seem like “Monte guys”.
It’s been clearly obvious from the beginning that Vivek is making decisions. Meddling fuck.
Not sure how anyone thought Monte, who was GM of the year, when it seemed he was aloud a little leeway, was making these moves.
Once you have a bad owner, it’s always their bullshit that holds the team down. Look at the Jets, The As, formerly Washington football. Etc.
The problem is, with these owners, the only way to fix the problem is to get rid of them.
This is not a serious owner. Vivek’s results speak for themselves. He’s like what you would get if you put a 12 year old fan boy in the front office making all the decisions.
Except maybe there are plenty of 12 year olds who would do a better job. No joke.
He continually does the opposite of what a quality franchise would do. Which is why nobody like Danny Ainge, or Sam Presti, or even Bob Myers is walking through that door to help us.
Vivek got his next lackey, who will inevitably come to the conclusion in maybe 1-2 years that this roster needs a total overhaul. Which he won’t be allowed to do, and will continue to tinker around the edges in an effort to return to Vivek’s “Glory Days” (which is a first round playoff exit). But we won’t even get that far. Play-in bound next year. Then slowly returning to the late lottery. Rinse and repeat.
If this is even a consideration then it means your team is already SCREWED. Owners, especially incompetent ones, should have no business dabbling in the GM’s responsibility areas.
Basically an admission that this org doesn’t plan to be competitive next season. They wanna do just enough so that Vivek can keep raking in the dough.
They will be competitive for the 10th seed again! Mission Accomplished!
I’m trying to parse the semantics here. An “off season tear down” can mean a wholesale rebuild. GM Perry is stating that he does not believe that is the right direction.
As a 40 win team in the Western Conference, that is a plausible strategy. They are not the 25-30 win teams we had seen until 3 seasons ago. The squad has talent.
The trick is to fit the right pieces of the puzzle together to make a picture and not just rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic.
Scott Perry is Pat Sajak and Doug Christie is Vanna White, unfortunately, Vivek is The Wheel.
There is a possibility of landing on a jackpot, but it’s a longshot. Can GM Perry find those pieces, better than GM D’Alessandro, GM Divac or GM McNair? Time to spin the wheel again.
A 40 win team that is young and on the upswing, you could maybe say just needs some tinkering to get to the next level.
But the Kings are not young. Their highest paid players are 29, 29, and 35. Two of those contracts are probably not movable for anything significant. Any trade of younger players like Murray or Ellis would be lateral at best. No draft pick this year. How are we re-tooling exactly?
And it’s hilarious that now we need a point guard. Didn’t we just have a pretty good one of those?
Never been a better time to rebuild, but Kings are always way behind when it comes to adapting and reacting to reality. Kind of crazy for an owner who talks about being innovative and thinking ahead. Probably the most incompetent owner in all of the major sports.. and that includes Jerry Jones.
I’d say the only team with a bleaker future right now are the Suns, and in part because they currently have no future picks and are in cap hell. Their advantage, however, is they can sell off Durant and Booker for positive assets, like prospects and/or picks. They can immediately correct their situation if they so chose to. The Kings, on the other hand, don’t have stars they can sell off for a reset. There are only lateral moves to be made at this point until contracts expire. True purgatory.
Yep, even the Suns can tear it down and rebuild, and will likely be relevant again before the Kings.
Yeah, if they moved Durant and Booker, they could easily follow the OKC model and acquire more picks and youth than they know what to do with. I feel one of them is going to Houston this summer for a nice haul of prospects and picks.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if Durant goes back to OKC. They definitely have the picks and prospects to pull that off. They could win it all this year and then add Durant this summer.
So I guess you could say we’re even bleaker than the Suns 😉
Seriously, there is not one single team I can look at and say I wouldn’t trade situations with right now.
Worst owner in sports. A retread GM who promises more of the same. No recent past success. An inexperienced coach who wouldn’t be considered for any other job in the NBA. No stars with significant trade value. No draft pick this year. Future picks in the next couple of years look like late lottery.
It’s just so… hopeless.
I probably wouldn’t trade with Philly right now. That PG contract is horrible and Embiid only plays for a half season at best.
The Embiid contract is horrible as well. That team is sunk.
Philly has a forward-thinking owner who oversaw “the process”, and has been to ECF. Darryl Morey has been successful and isn’t afraid to take chances.
The gambles they have taken haven’t paid off, but George can be traded imo. Embiid’s contract is awful no doubt. An older version of Zion at this point. But they have Maxey and McCain.
Oh and they have their pick this year, and a 42% chance to pick top 4.
And the slim chance that Embiid and PG can put together a healthy season is still way better than our chance to do much of anything.
Nothing Stein reported is new information since the Perry press conference. Also, if they actually wanted to “tear it down”, why would he come and say that to tip his hand before he can make any deals?
I fully expect minor tweaks, maybe DeMar being traded and some fringe guys being added. It’s not enough. The roster needs some major changes to be longer, more athletic, better defensively, and a PG who can run the offense. I just don’t see much of that being changed this offseason.
#SellTheTeamVivek
Here is my surprised face.
Not committing to a teardown isn’t necessarily the same thing as saying that the current roster will remain largely intact come October. It probably means that, but as a great lover of ambiguity (a mediocre lover that tries really hard), I can’t let myself get too demoralized by Perry’s statement.
Competent point guards aren’t terribly rare, and acquiring one in the off-season is hardly a Herculean task, so let’s assume that this comes to pass.
Then we get into the semantics of what a teardown actually means. The ideal would be moving DeRozan and LaVine, but managing to move one or the other for something of value in the present or near-future would be acceptable.
For my money, the notion of a rebuild only comes into play is Sabonis is moved. I’m not trying to be rid of him, but if part of the return is a starting point guard and a rim-protecting athletic center, I think pretty hard about it. To me, that constitutes, if not a rebuild, then a radical change in direction for the type of basketball played in Sacramento.
(If you can move DDR/Lavine for that type of return, or maybe a stretch four, that would be better, of course.)
Sabonis is probably the easiest to move of the three, but also the one I’m least interested in moving. DeRozan’s contract hardly qualifies as awful, and if he can’t be moved during the summer, he might tempt some contenders looking for scoring at the trade deadline.
Lavine qualifies under those conditions, too, but he makes a lot of dough. From the standpoint of the organization, creating an offense where Zach can score thirty points per game might pay off with opportunities to trade him. I’d expect that to negatively impact the win/loss record, but I’m not too hung up on that since I don’t have high expectations given where things stand.
Perry has a tough road ahead, and I’m basing that strictly on the dry numbers. When you factor in that he’s likely primarily a figurehead, it becomes tough to have…what’s that thing called?
Oh, yes. Hope.
Curious to hear which teams you think would be interested in acquiring Domas. Those teams would ideally want/need a Center like him, has the young players/picks to send back, and is looking to compete during the next few years.
OKC (simply because they have so many young players and picks), Memphis, Orlando, Atlanta, NOP?
I’ve thought the Spurs could actually be a good landing spot for Domas. You put him next to a unicorn like Wemby, and that could be something special.
Kind of would also reinforce that Fox and Domas are 2nd and 3rd options on a good team.
They could offer a younger player and one of their first round picks this year, which seems realistic.
Oh, that’s a good one! Sabonis, Wemby, and Fox. That could definitely work. Sabonis would also give them Wemby insurance in case he’s out for an extended amount of time.
Match up well with Hartenstein, Holmgren and SGA too.
Have to work a 4 team deal so we can get Kuzma and Poole back for Sabonis though. Cause we don’t want any SAS youth or picks.
How about a sign and trade for CP3. Kings could hard cap themselves, overpay for CP3, and become the oldest team in the league in one move! Profit!
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say the Knicks, especially if they get bounced in round 1 or 2. Sabonis next to KAT could work,
The other are the Heat. He could definitely play next to Bam, in fact I’d I actually enjoy seeing those two as front court partners.
What do you think the return would be from the Knicks or Heat?
No clue. Perhaps Knicks with some package that includes Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride. Maybe you can get Josh Hart as part of it?
Heat have all kinds of contracts to add up, but I’d prefer a package of youth with guys like Jaquez, Jovic, and Ware. Guessing Vivek would just want “win now” type players and we’d get back Wiggins and Rozier.
I would take Jaquez, Jovic and Ware with some light draft capital. Go young and athletic guys on the wing/frontcourt.
They just need to solve the PG issue. Use DDR for that if they can.
Maybe they can get that Davion Mitchell guy. I hear he’s been doing pretty well lately.
He sure does fit the undersized combo guard mold that the Kings like.
Mitchell has found a system that will allow him to be that Pat Bev-type player.
I really feel either Tre or Tyus Jones is going to be the starting PG next season by using the MLE.
How about Ty Jerome either thru MLE or sign and trade. I really like the guy.
Jaquez is barely playing these playoffs. Does anyone know why?
The arrival of Wiggins really undercut his minutes, and he doesn’t shoot it off the bench as well as Duncan Robinson. And Davion next to Herro works more to Spoelstra’s liking than having JJJ at 2-guard
Think Wiggins and the rest of deadline haul moved an undersized F who can’t hit the 3 to the bench.
Wiggins and Rozier are “win a while ago” players perfectly in line with Vivek’s bbiq, which is completely based on name recognition. I swear he makes basketball decisions based on how it will make him look with the “cool” kids.
I’ve said it multiple times but if the Kings move Sabonis, I can guarantee right now that people are going to be really bummed out by the return because it’s not going to be very much.
I don’t know…Jordan Poole does have a championship ring. LaVine and DDR can’t say that!!
So does Kuzma! “Championship Pedigree”!!!
I agree. For example a realistic Spurs trade I can see is maybe something like Barnes, Keldon Johnson and the 14th pick for Sabonis.
I agree and in my opinion a tear down doesn’t mean a rebuild. Trading Lavine and Derozan would be a start to a rebuild. IMO I could go either way with Sabonis leaning toward a trade. The hardest of the 3 to trade is LaVine because of his contract. One possibility I can see is LaVine and Lyles in a sign and trade for Morant and Clarke. Contracts almost match. From question below IMO a trade with Sabonis and Carter to the Nets for Claxton, Johnson and 2 firsts. What say you?
I would not do that Nets trade. Claxton is fine…Johnson is older, and the picks might not be that good after the Nets get Domas. It also does not solve the PG spot, and they trade away their offensive hub in Domas which leaves even less play making on the roster.
I also don’t know if the Nets want to compete in the next 2 years or so. They seem farther away than that.
As for the sign and trade, I don’t think additional players can be added to a sign and trade. If the Kings sign Lyles, they can’t include other players in that trade (at least that’s how I think it works.
I wouldn’t trade anything of value for Ja Morant, full stop. If he’s your best player, as he allegedly is in Memphis, your ceiling isn’t particularly high. It’s not hard to imagine him being out of the league while he’s still in his twenties due to him being so damned stupid.
The second trade, assuming you mean Cam Johnson, would be worth very strong consideration.
Agree with you on Ja. I don’t want him here, but I also don’t think the Kings have the assets to get him, unless they leverage a bunch of the future picks, which I absolutely DO NOT want to see happen.
I don’t think we have to worry. Because nothing the Kings can offer can resemble something Memphis might consider for Ja Morant imo.
Once again, hats off to anyone here still detailing specific moves that a competent organization should make.
I don’t know where you find that endurance but it’s impressive.
I’m working on a patch that you can wear, called Nikotine (for Stauskas – the Nicotine patch is exclusive to Dallas and is much stronger). The Nikotine patch gives off the essence of hope, desperation and angst, with no Kayte aftertaste. And if it fails? Don’t blame Vivek – we had a better patch two days ago.
Nik Rocks the Patch! Can we get the Nikotine Patch on as the jersey sponsor next season?
That’s fine because if they do run it back they’ll be a bottom 10 team next year. So, mission accomplished even if it will happen in the dumbest way possible as usual.
I love (in a gallows humor kinda way) how many of us get a temporary thrill out of thinking how trades involving the Kings could help the OTHER teams. Like a brief glimpse of sunshine before the gloomy realization of which team we follow settles back into our bones.
I can’t see this team winning over 30 games next season. For all the talk about Domas wanting out, I wouldn’t be surprised if Keegan comes to the same conclusion.
For Perry, it is a nice paycheck when you just do what the owner says, which includes listening to Vlade.
Getting WKRP in Cincinnati vibes from this organization (anyone recall the final episode?)
So many good takes, so many good jokes. What else can we do? The one thing from the Stein article that sticks for me is the last quote. The Kings are now ‘building around’ DA BULLZ because The Little Chap wanted them. Period. They made the playoffs for the first time forever, and The Chap decided to double down on dribbling. What can we expect from this off-season?
I wonder why Vivek hates Kings fans so much.
So basically we’re tanking next year?
I am good with a run it back. Spurs and Blazers will both pass the Kings in the standings. The only team that will definitely drop is the Suns.
Denver, Dubs, Lakers, Wolves, Grizz, Clips, Spurs, Blazers, Mavs, OKC, Rockets and a healthy Pels. All better if healthy.
Kings will be 13-15 and a top 5 pick.
Suns Jazz and Kings will be the bottom 3.
At best Kings will be 10th again. If the Clips decide to blow it up, The Grizz dismantle, and the Pels are injured again.
The Ceiling is 10th
The Floor 13-15
Keeping this joke together will probably be a good thing for The draft in 26.
Retooling is all this team ever does. So, it doesn’t matter who they bring in. The results are going to be the same.
No real Number 1. No real exciting young prospects, An aging core, and 2 of 3 core are stat fillers.’
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