The Sacramento Kings fell to 0-3 Sunday following the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Kings tied it in the fourth quarter then immediately collapsed.
Following the game, Zach LaVine, who finished with 37 points, took to the podium and shared a quite revealing comment related to how long it can take to gel and figure things out on both sides of the ball.
“Sometimes it’s organized from the top down. Sometimes it’s organized from a certain player on the team, like a Chris Paul or someone like that that can get guys in their spot. Like a very high-level leader. He can point out things and get everybody calmed down on the spot. It comes from a veteran coach, or even a bench coach, but we’re all working through it. We don’t really have any of that right now and it’s not going to come anytime soon so as a collective we need to figure out what’s everybody’s strengths, what are we going to play to, and then at the end of the day, we’ve got to play down and dirty. If we’re not a defensive team we’ve still got to try to figure out how to get stops at the end of the day because that’s just part of the game.”
I’m not going to put words into his mouth, but I don’t really need to, he clearly said, “We don’t really have any of that right now and it’s not going to come anytime soon.”
Goodness.
In head coach Doug Christie’s postgame comments, after being asked how he can help the team close out games, he said the loss was on him: “I have to be better for them. This one is not of them, I take this. I just have to be better. I have to figure out a way to help them through. Their fight, the way that they’re battling, they’re putting themselves in it.”
To make matters worse, Christie preached about attention to details throughout the preseason and that is what they were working on. Yet, a lack of attention to details is what the Kings keep tripping on in these losses.
LaVine brought up those mistakes as well: “Just little mistakes – myself included. Just offensive rebounding. Every single one of those dudes [Grizzlies] are crashing and they 18, 19 offensive rebounds. I know [Cedric] Coward had like 3 of them on me and those are backbreakers.”
How many backbreakers has this franchise endured over the last 20 years? Attention to detail seems to be a problem across the board.
Lavine scores 37 and has a -21 impact. By far the worst differential on the team. He can be a sixth man at best for instant offense. If not he’s a liability. That being said..it’s true..we have no closer or composure at the ends of games. Give it time however we need a change at the 2.
Do you remember when this team had one of the best offenses in the league but acknowledge they needed more defense so in the offseason they decided to sign DeRozan? Or how about the time this team decided to trade someone who played SOME defense for someone who plays none? -21? This is exactly what everybody expected.
Pretty amazing quote. It’s a dig on himself (he didn’t even realize), a dig on every other player who’s not a rookie, a dig on the entire coaching staff, and a dig on the front office.
And you know what? He’s absolutely right about all of it.
Id say someone needs to buy Zach a “KANGZ” shirt from TKH store but Zach has plenty of money to by his own. Since Zachs quote could be summed up as “Kangz”
It’s amazing how honest people can be when they don’t realize they’re implicating themselves.
Combining Zach’s comments with Domas’s comments about how the offense is run, it appears the vets aren’t super impressed with the plan/structure, or lack thereof, coming from the coaching staff.
Well his value dropped a bit more now.
You’d hope the oldest King who’s in his 13th season and has played nearly 700 NBA regular season games would provide some of that leadership.
There are 29 teams in the league who knew exactly what Zach was in 2024. Unfortunately the Kings were not and still arent one of those teams.
Fixed:
Zach does two things especially well in this league – 1) collect paychecks that are way larger than he deserves, 2) lose. He seems incapable or unwilling to actually learn to be a better team player.
Maybe we need to hire Chris Paul as coach
This franchise isn’t serious about winning basketball games. I’ve heard some local talking heads say how much desire Vivek has to be a winning team, but I just don’t believe it. Leadership and accountability comes from the top down. Vivek doesn’t care, Perry doesn’t add the right players, or competent coaches. It’s a freakin’ clown world. Cue up the little car with all the “organizational leadership” getting out, one after the other.
Zach is right. No leadership now, and none for the foreseeable future.
Doug and Zach’s comments indicate that the organization is as dysfunctional on the inside as it appears to be from the outside. Not sure we can expect even one win from this team as long as Doug is coaching.
There is only one person responsible for Zach being on this team.
There is only one person responsible for the firing of Mike Brown.
There is only one person responsible for Doug Christie being the head coach.
DC is a symptom, not a cause.
If only someone could shine a light on the ownership shit show….
That would be awesome if there was some scandal with Vivek that caused him to have to step down and sell his portion of the team to a non-family member.
Vivek said one of his mottos/creeds from the tech world was to “fail fast” and then pivot. Does that apply to him too? Is 13, going on 14 years, long enough to consider himself a failure? Rules for thee, but not for me?
He’s failed at least twice a year during that time. He just keeps pivoting 360 degrees.
I think Scott Perry is playing chess. Let Doug coach the team into a deep hole then make a change at coach and they finish in the bottom 4 to 10.
Badge Legend