The Kings are guilty until proven innocent

It’s hard to care a ton about the on court product we’re being served right now.  The Kings are 4-13, coming off yet another disappointing week despite ending their eight game losing streak by beating the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Now they’re back home with a much more favorable stretch upcoming, but any chance of actually turning this season around seems to be out of the window.  Hopefully the fans who attend at least get to see some better games than the blowout losses they’ve gotten lately.

Sorry Scott, I’ll believe it when I see it

This season has gotten so bad so quickly that we even have our first damage control piece out from the Kings front office, as GM Scott Perry spoke with Sam Amick following the 41 point loss to the Grizzlies.  It’s a big conversation in which Perry speaks about creating a sustainable winner, setting a culture and reiterating that he has full autonomy to do what he wants to do and that we all just have to be patient with the process. It’s the same thing that we as fans have been hearing for the last 20 years from whoever has been in Perry’s seat.

At one point in the interview, Perry mentions that “losing brings frustration”.  I’d argue that losing hasn’t even been the most frustrating part of being a Kings fan.  What’s frustrating is what causes the losing: mistake after mistake, year after year.  We’ve seen this team luck into lottery spots they had no business being to with generational talents available, and then elect not to draft them. We’ve seen great talents actually slip to us in the draft and we do draft them, and then we trade them away and watch them flourish elsewhere.  We’ve fired coaches who go on to win championships, we’ve traded players for pennies on the dollar.  All of these mistakes are compounded by the fact that they’re mistakes in the moment, rightly called out by both local and national media.

Yes, we’re starved for wins, but most of all we’re starved for competence.  This has been the most incompetently run franchise in the NBA for a while now, and there’s really only one common denominator throughout that time. Sure, Scott Perry might have autonomy for now. I’m sure Monte McNair did for a time as well. But what happens when Vivek Ranadivé gets bored in a year or two?  What happens when he decides that one or two seasons of rebuilding is enough and it’s time to start trying to chase the Play-In and Playoffs again?  It’s one thing to ask the fans to be patient, but can Vivek do the same? Can Vivek let the basketball decisions be made by the basketball people?  I have my doubts.

I want to be wrong. There’s nothing more I want to see than this Kings team successful.  I want Scott Perry to succeed in his vision and for the Kings to have a “sustainable winner”.  But I’ve had the football pulled one too many times, and at this point, I’m not sure anybody in the Kings organization gets the benefit of the doubt.

Keegan Murray is now this team’s most important player

The brightest note this week was definitely the return of Keegan Murray, who had missed the first month of the season after suffering a thumb injury in preseason.  Murray made his debut on Thursday in Memphis off the bench, but rejoined the starting lineup on Saturday in Denver. Murray scored 19 points in 36 minutes against Denver and was a key reason the Kings were able to win that game.  Best of all, he was aggressive in looking for his own shot, something that needs to be a focus for him the rest of this season, because in my estimation, he is currently the most important player on this team.

Per a recent report from Jake Fischer, the Kings have made pretty much everyone available in trade talks except for Keegan Murray and Nique Clifford.  That sounds about right for who I’d also try to keep if I was tearing this team down to the studs, as the Kings should be doing. I personally would also be trying to keep Keon Ellis, but it might be worth using him as a trade sweetener to get rid of some of these larger contracts, and the Kings don’t seem all that interested in playing him anyway.

Since Keegan is one of the only Kings I expect to see on this team for the next few years, I’d love to see him get more and more responsibility as an offensive player. So far throughout his career he’s been relegated to a tertiary offensive role while mainly focusing on being the team’s primary defensive stopper.  We’ve seen him have big scoring games, but they almost all came on hot shooting nights from three (like his 47 point performance against Utah). I want to see him attacking the basket off the dribble, posting up and however else we can get him involved.  At Iowa, Keegan was a dominant offensive player and since the Kings just committed $140 million to him, I think they should see if there’s a chance if he can do that in the NBA. He’s not going to get to do that deferring to guys like Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.  I want to see this offense run through Keegan and see what he can do.

DeMar DeRozan to the Clippers?

Hidden in Perry’s interview with Sam was a blurb about how the Los Angeles Clippers have registered some interest in acquiring DeRozan.  I’m guessing it probably wouldn’t be able to happen until December 15th, but I say go and do it as soon as you can. DeMar is clearly miserable here, his fit is terrible and if the Kings can get any assets for him they should do it.  Trading with the Clippers is difficult because they’re hard capped, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it sees the Kings reunited with Bogdan Bogdanovic, or finally landing John Collins, who is on an expiring contract.  Regardless, DeMar seems to be one of the easier pieces for this team to move and it probably should happen as quickly as possible for all parties involved.

Domantas Sabonis to the Warriors?

There have been a few whispers lately that the Warriors might be interested in acquiring Domantas Sabonis from the Kings.  That one would be even more difficult to navigate than a DeRozan to Clippers scenario since Sabonis makes so much money.  Perhaps this is a way for the Kings to get back involved in some kind of trade scenario for Jonathan Kuminga, and if they can snag someone like Moses Moody or Brandon Podziemski, the Kings should pounce at the opportunity.  This team needs an infusion of youth, and Sabonis offers the best opportunity to potentially acquire some after the Kings squandered their chance with De’Aaron Fox last year.  Don’t make the same mistake again.  I love Domas, and will always appreciate what he did for this team in helping break the drought, but I don’t see a future for him here anymore and at this point it’s probably best to try to get as much value for him as you can, even if I absolutely would hate seeing him on the Warriors.

Zach LaVine is going to be hard to trade but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try

The Kings find themselves in the same scenario with Zach LaVine that the Bulls found themselves in for so long, in that they have a good player with the contract of a great player that nobody wants to trade for, but the Kings don’t have a sucker like themselves out there that is willing to trade for it.  Now the one thing the Kings have going for them is that at least there’s only one more year left on LaVine’s deal after this one and it’s a team option.  According to Jake Fischer, there are teams that might be willing to trade for LaVine if he would be willing to decline that option and extend at a lower amount.  I would definitely explore that scenario with anyone willing.  LaVine can be a good complementary piece for someone, but he can’t be the #1 guy, especially on a team that isn’t built to cover for his defensive deficiencies. He also has a bad habit of disappearing for stretches, and after his hot start to the season is now down to averaging just 21.4 points a game.  If anything LaVine needs to be shooting more, but gets far too passive at times.  The Kings having approximately 35 shooting guards probably doesn’t help matters.

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Upcoming Schedule:

• Monday, November 24th vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
• Wednesday, November 26th vs. Phoenix Suns
• Friday, November 28th at Utah Jazz
• Sunday, November 30th vs. Memphis Grizzlies

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving as well!