The Sacramento Kings take on AJ Dybantsa and the Washington Wizards Sunday at 5 p.m.
What to watch for:
- Following the first game in Las Vegas, Darius Acuff Jr. said he wasn’t happy with his efficiency. It will be interesting to see if he cleans that up a little.
- It sounds like Maxime Raynaud will play in this one, so keep an eye on how he plays with Acuff.
- Emanuel Sharp had a great game, finishing with 21 points and playing great defense. Let’s see if he can keep the momentum up.
- The national media will be watching the matchup closely with Dybantsa playing, so there will be a spotlight here. How Acuff handles that is another thing to watch.
The game is available to watch on Prime Video.
Go Kings!
Are we going to have to listen to John Wall all game?
Acuff been awful
chucking, not creating, bad efficiency, bad turnovers and looks like he’s out of shape already for SL
he’s showed some of the bag in some games that can hopefully be ironed out over time, and been not bad on on ball defense (off ball..) but overall a bad SL so far where your questioning mentality
Ugly 2nd quarter . Dybantsa in a class by himself . Wiz are going to be a fun and much improved team .
He’s also getting some absolutely ridiculous calls.
Got star calls in summer league. Crazy
Tough to watch our actual rotation players (Nique, Acuff, Cardwell, Max etc) get totally bodied by a G League Wizards team + Dybansta in the first half. Hoping this 2nd half is a little more competitive
Refs are favoring AJ. He’s getting ridiculous calls.
That’s honestly his thing. It’s not a one game occurrence. He’s really really good at drawing fouls.
I know, but some of them were not fouls. That’s the problem.
Acuff’s body language doesn’t look very good today. He’s been frustrated by the pressure and hasn’t consistently sprinted back on defense.
This is just plain f$#@ing depressing. Three guys who technically started at different times last season for the Kings and they’re down by double digits.
It could be worse. You could be here in Vegas seeing it first hand.
Every red flag ever mentioned about Acuff were on display today.
Acuff looked like Wagler tonite . Dybantsa as advertised . Kings better hope Monk, Domas, Keegan , Lavine, and Hunter stay healthy .
Why, so they can reach 11th place?
In a word, yes. I didn’t work out the mathematical formulas behind the new lottery rules, but I do know that you don’t want to be one of the three worst teams in the NBA.
I feel like the best place for them to end up is with one of the play-in spots. You get the fan base excited and you still haven’t really done much damage to your lottery chances unless you make the playoffs. Maybe I read the new odds wrong, I don’t know. But again, I’m pretty sure that you don’t want to be bottom three. If everybody stays healthy, the Kings won’t be bottom three. Gods, at least I hope not…
The sweet spot for this team is between 4-10 this coming season. Those seven teams get the exact same odds, including a 41.4% chance at a top 5 pick and a 6.2% chance at an 11-12 pick.. The bottom three teams get only a 29.7% shot at a top 3 pick and a 39.5% chance of an 11-12 pick. The 11th team has 0% chance at a top 5 pick.
https://www.tankathon.com/pick-odds
I think the 11th team (Utah) has a 0% chance because they’ve picked in the top 5 the previous 2 years. Can’t pick in the top 5 in 3 consecutive drafts. Also why #9 (Was) can’t get 1st in consecutive drafts.
The Tankathon site you’re linking to is ranking up from the worst record to the 16th worst. The 11th spot in the standings in the Western Conference would be a 9 or 10 on the Tankathon list if my math is correct.
For years I spoke about Fox’s lack of “imprint”, and I started talking about that during his second year breakout under Joerger
People thought I was just parroting nonsense without understanding the meaning
Fox’s career was derailed by a lack of motor
And I sensed that motor and knew it would derail his career when I spoke about imprint selectively being there even in his second year breakout under Joerger
Well, Acuff just exhibited potentially innate traits tonight… There was a palpable lack of interest and imprint on this game… often times its spots on the leopard…
We will see if there is any meaning behind his awful play tonight and subpar play this entire SL
Yeah, we’ll see. As others have discussed, Acuff is a better shooter and passer than Fox. Fox’s career is also plagued (IDK if I’d say derailed) by a lack of skills and he gets hurt when he plays hard.
This is probably what 50-60% of this upcoming season’s games will look like.
I really wouldn’t have cared about a close loss. However,losing by 19 with three guys that started last year is demoralizing. That’s worse than a 19 year old rookie laying an egg in a summer game.
I know it’s still early, but the collective effort of Kings media and (TKH) fans to polish Acuff to a shine reeks of desperation to have something, anything, to give hope and root for
The previous article mentioned accountability, as if it can be measured by a postgame interview at a SL game. You look at his defense throughout these games and he’s apparently just talk, no accountability. Or maybe accountability is something you can flip off (and on), like a switch?
I’ve only watched part of one game, so I can’t say much other than Acuff’s stats are a bad look.
I will say that if you dominate summer league, it means absolutely nothing. Call it Donte’s Razor. But if you aren’t good in summer league, that can be very telling. Call that Papagiannis’s Law.
So what should we call averages of 19.5 PPG, 4.5 AST vs 3.7 TO’s, 2.0 REB, 1.0 ST, 1.0 BLK, on .324 FG%, .296 3P% and .714 FT%?
I don’t call that good, I don’t call that average, and I am being generous if I call it mediocre.
People can argue the sample size, can argue teammates, can argue whatever. So far, he looks exactly like I feared he’d look. A guy who has the body type and moves of Latrell Sprewell but plays like Monta Ellis.
https://x.com/outletpassing/status/2076477688043257925?s=20
You can’t teach indifference…
There’s no getting around that being a bad performance. He’s self aware enough to know it’s bad, and players like Monta Ellis either didn’t know or didn’t care, so that’s something.
He was self aware about his D. It seems he doesn’t care much…
So what do we call 17 pts on 32% FG and 4.2 asst to 3.6 TO?
We call it Steph Curry summer league.
Do I watch summer league? Yes.
Does it mean anything meaningful? Absolutely not.
Acuff might not do well. But let’s check back in after 82 games. Time in actual real basketball situations will tell.
Curry also shot .345 from 3, had a .893 FT%, grabbed 4.6 rebounds per game and got 2.4 steals. Acuff has been dreadful across the board.
But sure, we’ll check back in after 82 games and if necessary, we’ll find reasons to excuse his shortcomings and give him another 82 games.
Are we allowed to discuss him before those 82 games are over?
Sure you can discuss…it just probably doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of projections or actual career results. I mean the fact you are latching onto a 34% 3pt percentage in summer league for the greatest shooter of all time as proof these games mean much is…something
You can find dozens of pick your stats/players that show summer league as a sign of future greatness or that a poor summer league didn’t affect future stardom. Which really equates that it means nothing except a chance to see a player we all HOPE becomes something great. It’s summer basketball entertainment in its lowest form. Proclamations around a player should go accordingly.
Ah, the days of Doratio Kane…
I think Acuff has shown enough for us to be excited about him suiting up. I think he will be a great outside shooter, eventually, he’s crafty around the basket (he’s going to get blocked a lot early on), and he’s going to be a great floor general. Alex Karabell, on the other hand, looks like he should be selling home insurance.
He looks much like someone who puts up shiny, empty stats, but doesn’t do many of the little things that helps a team win. But your mileage may vary.
Kings looked tired, or apathetic. I couldn’t tell the difference.
Acuff’s drives often were wild shots that really had no chance of going in. Defense was spot on from college scouting report/analysis. Maybe he looks better when playing with Domas, Keegan, etc.?
Mogbo was solid. Motor was high most of the game. He was active in the boards, and on defense.
Nique had some moments on offense that were nice to see. Had the AJ assignment. Held his own, but I could see the size difference was a major issue.
Why is Flagler on a 2 way?
Karaban looked slow. Recovering from an ankle injury, along with not being overly athletic to begin with, it was very noticeable.
Maybe the Sac media (and some fans) will pump the brakes on Acuff being the next great player. It seemed premature and fabricated to get some excitement for the future. But that’s media, the overreaction to a few summer league games.
Karaban is just looking like a sad reach and a loss of a future second round pick, which is him in a nutshell (wondeirng if he would have dropped past the 40th pick).
Flagler is a joke singing by Perry! I don’t see him as a good GM– too much philosophizing and little qualityaction. Crossing my fingers that he can at least be a B- GM for the rest of the year.
Acuff has a lot to work on/overcome– poor shot selection (forcing shots and getting blocked too much), an expectation that he has to score every game, a possible challenge reading the defenses (this will come in time and he just needs to improve his court awareness and look to pass when he is not even close to being open, and the need to shoot 3 point shots when he could pass the ball around to find something better. These challenges are to be expected, but damn we messed up by not tanking enough to get the top 4 picks. Those top 4 will be a good notch better than Acuff unless something odd happens, but hopefully he can close the gap with more experience and development. Those 4 don’t have to develop as much as he does and that’s the tough thing to see right now.
Mogbo may get a standard contract and deserves 15 minutes a game. Jamarion Sharp is playing for another team and seems to be doing ok. Sutton deserves a 2-way. E Sharp needs to take a good amount of minutes from Monk, who needs to be trades ASAP if we want to play well this year. Nique needs to develop the dribbling/passing and the 3 point shot to take Monk and Lavine’s minutes.
I do think a cuff has flashed what he might become, a really good player, but there are a ton of questions.
And that’s why the fucking kings are idiots for not tanking. How good do you think we’d feel if we had one of those top four players?
Doug and the rest are fools. I don’t want him as Coach and I just see this season as the same bullshit.
I like reading fans getting overly optimistic and pessimistic during summer league. My expectation from Acuff during the regular season is 12 points and 5 assists on inefficient scoring and an unacceptable number of turnovers. He’ll have a few games where he blows up for over 30, but he’ll also have games where he’ll be completely shut down and appear to be over his head. It’ll take him three years to be a meaningful NBA starter if he really dedicates himself, which he appears to have the right attitude. NBA summer league is fun, but rarely does it give valuable insight into a player’s long term value, unless it is Thomas Robinson where you immediately saw a guy that no longer had any physical advantage and his BB skills were too limited to make up for his shortcomings..
I consider it a win when they leave Vegas with all ten fingers and toes. Such is the life of a Kangz fan.
I get hammered for putting too much stock in this, but I hate, hate, hate Acuff’s body language.
To me, that tells more than saying “the right things” in an interview when all these kids are basically media prepped by age 16 these days.
I fear he’s going to be another DeMarcus Cousins in type, if not necessarily temperament. He’ll try at times, not at all in others, get his empty numbers, and look for his bag as soon as he possibly can.
I really, really really, hope I’m wrong.
But because this is the Kings, I don’t think I am.
And he’ll be traded in a deal where future Kings GM Doug Christie will note that he had a better deal 3 days ago.
https://x.com/shamscharania/status/2076748167144722710?s=46
LeBron to Golden State?
“The Decision 2: Electric Boogaloo”
I am certain LeBron will announce whenever he feels it can dominate espn, social media, etc the most
Badge Legend