The Sacramento Kings defeated the Golden State Warriors 114-113 on Tuesday night in one of the more entertaining preseason games you’ll watch. Marvin Bagley showed some promise in his return to the lineup. Hassan Whiteside re-debuted with the Kings and showed you the good, the bad, and the hilarious. Tyrese Haliburton continued to show off his defensive potential. De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield played well, too.
But this was Kyle Guy’s night.
Kyle Guy has been a bright spot throughout the shortened 2020-21 NBA preseason for the Sacramento Kings, but he had a special performance on Tuesday. Guy dropped 20 points in 20 minutes on 7-11 shooting from the field, and 6-10 shooting from three. He looked confident, played confident, and just when it appeared like the third string Warriors were going to sneak away with the win, this happened:
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1339081306957701120
Kyle Guy. Game.
It was a tremendous moment for a player that has worked his ass off to get to this point. Guy played just 10 total minutes over 3 games for Sacramento last season, spending most of his time in the G-League with the Stockton Kings. Guy performed well in Stockton on a two-way contract before joining Sacramento in the Orlando Bubble, but his long-term NBA future is and was no guarantee. Guy needs opportunities like last night to prove to scouts that he can play at this level and secure his next contract, so it was great to see him put together a memorable performance on national TV against the Warriors.
Guy’s journey here, coupled with his big game against the Warriors Tuesday night, is what made Luke Walton’s postgame comments about Kyle’s projected playing time this season so perplexing.
“What he’s doing is he’s building confidence in his teammates and his coaches as far as trusting him. I think that’s why it’s great the NBA has gotten to this place now where you have two-ways and you have a G League system. So maybe someone like Kyle who physically isn’t ready last year, can spend a year really getting a feel for it and I think our development staff and our G league team did a really nice job of putting him places and then he obviously has continued to work and got stronger. He’s somebody that we trust and his teammates trust him. Now, as far as the regular season is concerned, if we’re fully healthy, there’s probably not a lot minutes every night for him, but if we’re having an off night or guys are out then he’s somebody that we can throw in there and count on.”
Walton praised Guy quite a bit here, so if I’m being overly critical of a line or two of this otherwise positive assessment, feel free to call me out on that, but this is what immediately grabbed my attention:
“Now, as far as the regular season is concerned, if we’re fully healthy, there’s probably not a lot minutes every night for him, but if we’re having an off night or guys are out then he’s somebody that we can throw in there and count on.”
I don’t doubt that Walton believes this to be true, I’m just not sure why this has to be the case in Sacramento considering the circumstances here, and if it is, what does Walton have to gain by saying it publicly, particularly after what Guy just did on the court?
If Guy’s strong preseason continues, the player he’d be competing for minutes with is Cory Joseph. Why, exactly, are Joseph’s minutes etched in stone on a team that isn’t expected to make the playoffs this season?
Sam Amick recently reported that the playoffs are not a priority for the Kings, so I’m struggling to understand why backup guard minutes are so important for a veteran that is likely gone at the end of the year over a young, clearly hard-working prospect where playing time would accomplish one of two important tasks:
- If Kyle Guy is good, you’ve suddenly found another young asset under long-term team control.
- The risk is so extremely low that if Guy isn’t good, it only helps your draft position.
But beyond why I might believe that giving minutes to Kyle Guy is the right move, why is Walton making this point after the game anyway? It’s unnecessarily deflating, and downright silly to determine playing time on a perennial losing team based on previous (and underwhelming) accomplishments. At least keep up the illusion of a meritocracy while you play favorites.
I understand why a head coach would play Cory Joseph over Kyle Guy, I do not understand why a head coach would tell a player that his minutes are locked in before the season starts despite his strong play. It’s a disappointing approach from the outside, but I’d be even more disappointed if I were Kyle Guy.
Guy clearly wants more NBA opportunities as any competitor should, and having Walton shut the door on that 3 games into the preseason is just odd.
"I know I can do a lot more, and I'm hoping to get the opportunity to do a lot more."
Kyle Guy mentions he's really happy with his preseason opportunities and that he's going to stay ready into the season.
— Kimani Okearah | Let Me Out Productions (@theKimansta) December 16, 2020
I don’t know if Harry Giles is going to be a great NBA player yet, but I know the Kings bailed on that project too early. They didn’t give him enough playing time, and as a result, he left before the Kings found out how good he is or isn’t.
I don’t know if Kyle Guy is going to be a good NBA player, either, but there is no harm in finding out now. He’s playing well, he’s playing with confidence, and his fit as a shooter in the backcourt with either Fox or Haliburton as primary ball-handlers could be more valuable than Joseph off-ball anyway. The worst case scenario is that you lose a few more games. We’re 14 years removed from the last playoff appearance, Kings. We’ll gladly take a few more losses if it means young players aren’t leaving before we find out if they can play.
Is there a way to hide graphics?
You bastard.
I cannot stand Luke Walton. It is misery having this joker coach the team I root for, and extra icky he will always have that L*ker smell all over him. Gives me the heebyjeebies. ð¤®
Seth is the comp. that first jumps to mind with Guy. I’m not entirely sure why I like Guy better, but I do. BTW did anyone get a look at Seth’s new look in Philly?
Strangely, I actually agree with Walton here. That was gross to type. If the team is healthy, then whose minutes is Guy taking? I wouldn’t mind seeing him come off the bench before Joseph, but I don’t think we need to play him just because he’s a fun player to root for.
Is Lose Walton good at any aspect of his job?
Unless he’s suggesting that playing Kyle would negatively impact the team’s ability to get a higher draft slot, I honestly have no fucking idea why he’d say that.
Does being good at getting press attention for himself count?
Like they used to say, any publicity is good publicity.
OJ was good at that shit, too.
Making sexual harassment/assault allegations go away without much of a peep from anyone since.
He is good at that.
Fox Heild Haliburton Barnes Bagley Holmes Whiteside take up about 204 minutes, leaving 36 for Joseph Jeffries Guy and Bjelica. If Bjelica takes 20 then Barnes gets no SF minutes. Youth movement says Guy for 12 and Jeffries for 24. Win Now means Joseph for 12 and Bjelica for 24. I lean to youth to see what we have.
I wouldn’t read much into it. When the Kings are up/down by 20 he’s going to be getting about 7 minutes a game. When he averages 11 pts a game in those 7 minutes either we are forced to play him more or another team is going to start asking questions about him.
Once again, dont look too much into this
Since we being honest. Luke, your welcome has worn out, and its not a matter of if, but when the Kings let you go. Honesty can be mean?
maybe luke doesn’t want to take developmental minutes away from Jaihm’us Ramsey.
I’m going to learn how to spell Ramsey’s name by the all star break.
spel it funnetikalee
It must be Italian.
Kyle Guy will be here longer than Luke Walton…
Not if past performance is any indication of future results
Hopefully there won’t be many (more) minutes for Luke.
The quote, it lives on!
Whenever I try to get back in, they pull me back out!
its funny to me that Luke seems so boring since his dad is the opposite of boring. I just imagine the rest of the staff all dosing off when they’re in the room with Walton and McNair.
Gentry at the weekly basketball ops meeting:
In Lose’s defense, Bill is equally irritating when he opens his mouth, only in a different way.
We get it, you took a lot of drugs.
How come I keep sarcastically writing off these random down votes as an Aneel burner account? Someone is a Debbie Downer with understanding humor around here.
Also, is it just me or is the comments clock off? I just posted something and it it says i posted it 7 hours ago. any ideas on how to get to present time. the future is weird.
It’s the new TKH passive-aggressive troll job: “Your comment is so 7 hours ago.”
What would that be in ElRon years?
“How many years have you been a Kings fan?”
“Remember the last time the Kings made the playoffs?”
Ah, “Saving Ryan Robertson.” A classic!
Ooof. 30something to just shy of 50 for this Mookie.
That’s so fetch.
It’s a known issue, we made a server update and have to get it updated to PST.
CLticketBuyer (of last resort) says there are probably not a lot of minutes left for Loser de la Luke either!
To be fair, Luke was only referring to the fact Guy wouldn’t be getting many minutes during the regular season under his regime. So, hopefully by the All-Star break, Guy should see a bump in minutes.
And this type of idiotic commentary is one of the Vlade gifts that keep on giving (in a way nobody wants).
I consider the Vlade Trifecta of Doom to be passing on Luka, making it so the Kings couldn’t retain Harry Giles and hiring Walton. The first one will haunt us for decades. The second will possibly haunt us for years. And the Walton thing just plain sucks. Although under competent coaching, we likely fall too far to draft Haliburton. So, I guess there’s a silver lining to the stupidity.
I dunno, if I were a professional coach, I’d spend some serious effort learning about how to speak to the media without making statements that can be made inflammatory so easily (or are simply immflamatory). Seems like learning that stuff would be a key skill for the position.
These guys all receive media training. Plus he has been in the spotlight since before he turned eighteen.
Of course, you can’t fix stupid.
First: Walton is an idiot for feeling the need to make that comment when not directly asked.
Second: For this team, this year, Guy should be getting 10-15 min a night and if that means trade Cojo immediately so the coach understands that then do so.
Third: That game winning call was no where near Napear quality, hopefully the duo gets better at it.
why do you feel like Guy should get Ramsey’s developmental minutes?
Why do you feel that they are Ramsey’s minutes?
No snark intended – just wondering why a ’20 late 2nd round pick would automatically be bequeathed developmental minutes over a ’19 late 2nd round pick. I’m all for Ramsey being ahead of Guy on the depth chart if it is earned.
Money talks. Ramsey got the guaranteed contract. Guy’s still on a two-way. I feel like that’s a better indication of how they believe the developmental minutes should be distributed.
So contract > performance. I guess the point is moot, then. CoJo it is! (Justin James, too, for that matter.)
that’s not what i said:
Ramsey is 17th in salary on the current roster, subject to any players getting cut between now and the beginning of the season. So he would be above Guy but behind everyone else if developmental minutes were parsed out by $$$. This does not pass the sniff test for me.
They chose to give Ramsey a fully guaranteed deal. They chose to not do the same for Guy. If the plan was to give Guy minutes this season, then they would’ve given Ramsey the two-way deal, and fully guaranteed Guy’s contract.
things change as they see them play on the court, its always fluid
I mean I think it’s just a matter of perspective. Have things changed enough to prioritize Guy’s development over Ramsey’s? I don’t think it’s a good idea to give both of them 10-15 minutes per game.
Right, I wouldn’t give Ramsey any minutes based on preseason
Waltons agent, is that you? It is a matter of perspective, it is also a matter of prudence. When you “stumble” onto something special, whatever you want to call it, lightening in a bottle, you don’t throw away because of previous commitment to a guy who is just as unproven.
I will state the case I made elsewhere, Kyle Guy is the kind of player to mask the defeciencies on the wing, guys who struggle to create, you know who they are. Haliburton, Fox and Guy are trio of players who can razzle and dazzle to varying degrees with their high energy and high activity and in the case of Guy, lethal shooting ability.
How do you not recognize this and capitalize on it? How do you explore how much potential is there? You are going to say pass on Kyle Guy because why “Cory Joseph”? How can I put this succinctly, Cory Joseph is sh*t. Nice guy, great guy, I am sure, but as a NBA basketball player he is cow manure, highly expendable, barely replacement level.
And he does NOT fit the style and tempo and age range of the players you are trying to put about Fox. What about this is not completely obvious to you that you would choose Joseph and Ramsey over Guy. The PG spot is VERY important too, more important than the off guard position Ramsey projects to play.
Ramsey is a very good prospect I like him, but lets send him to the G-League, lets put Kyle Guy in the rotation and send Joseph to the end of the bench. I would bet our GM is thinking this way and it is you who are thinking in contrary to our primary decision maker.
The reason I give our new GM this credit is because he has common sense, and he chose Haliburton, a great pick! And he signed Whiteside, another great choice!
our new GM chose to give Ramsey a multi-year contract over Kyle Guy:
A good GM is always taking in and responding new incoming data, is he not? He is in a perpetual evaluation mode? This is also true of a good coach too.
I think that giving Ramsey a multi-year contract make turn out very well for us. I like him a lot. But why are you reducing it to Ramsey vs Guy? I don’t see that way at all. This is about Joseph v Guy.
This is a basketball decision. It is not a contract or cap decision when the dollar amounts are relatively insignificant.
Joseph is a crap player, it is just a fact. Kyle Guy is an up and comer with moxie and flair and extreme confidence and he’s the 2nd best shooter on our team. He has definite PG skills that we need to set up a frontline that lacks shot-creating ability.
Joseph is a half court slow tempo player. His defense is vastly overrated and if you cannot see that I cannot help you, just like if our coach cannot see that cannot help him, and look forward to him being fired as a result of this and other incompetencies.
Lightening in a bottle.
i love the optimism about Guy, but I have not seen enough from him to assume he’s going to stick in the league. I like to say dream that he’s sixth man of the year material, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
They gave James the exact same deal last year that Ramsey got this year.
Not buying what you’re selling here, that the contractual obligation to Ramsey (which is pennies in NBA terms) automatically gives him a seat in front of Guy. He’ll have to earn it, like most rookie picks and virtually every 2nd round pick.
Contracts shouldn’t dictate minutes, but we’ve seen this organization make that mistake in the past.
yeah not the way to develop a winning culture
If you’d like a precedent for that particular algebra, you need only look at the head coach in year two of his four-year deal.
Apples and kumquats, but okie dokie.
Isn’t it dollars to donuts?
Ramsey has earned zero minutes to date ! Hope he is a player but no evidence yet !
because Ramsey has been hot garbage so far
CoJo has no trade value
Agreed. And his salary is the definition of dead weight. They might as well just buy him out, even for 100% of the value of the contract. It’s a sunk cost. They won’t “lose” any money by doing so, since the loss is already guaranteed. Might as well set him free and give the minutes to Guy and others.
yet, one guard injury to a playoff team and he earns an easy 2nd round pick
Did Walton promise Joseph minutes as contingency of him signing here? Somehow help me out, my memory is not clicking on all cylinders, who was here first, Walton or Joseph???
What a &*%$head! Yeah because this team is too damn good for Guy. I can’t wait until Walton is fired.
How can we play farm team for Portland if we begin accurately assessing talent?!?!
Best comment of the day!
Talk about eliminating hope and opportunity when there is and should be reason for both based on actual play ! Seems to say more about the coach than the player !
Puts on Purple Glasses: Everything is fine nothing to see here.
This does feel a bit like an over reaction to two sentences in a paragraph full of praise for the player. If you acknowledge how far they have come and the good work they have done and say they still have room to continue to improve that isn’t a bad thing. It is true and likely aspirational or motivational.
Maybe don’t turn the nits into moon craters? I mean i figure you are still going to pick the nits, but maybe we can at least keep them from becoming massive craters that all signal the end of the world?
How they do add up, though.
Mehh its all talk for Walton. I mean what he gonna do when Monte specifically wants him to play Kyle Guy consistent minutes? Let’s not forget Monte is pretty much involved with the team now and if he wants Kyle Guy to play minutes he will get minutes.
If Luke doesn’t do what Monte wants then I guess Luke does not value his job that much after all.
Oh, yeah Am I the only one who knows Whiteside is ADHD, or just the only one who cares?
Is there any chance that’s what some of you are seeing as “lack of competitive spirit?”
we should all probably avoid accusing the rest of the fanbase of not caring about mental health.
It’s a coach’s job to break bad news sometimes and temper expectations. That said it’s not your professional obligation to be a complete bummer all the time Luke!
Wow a lot of back and forth over a very small sample, in a preseason game. The guy defending him on that last shot won’t be in the NBA after tomorrow. lets see if Guy is able to match any of this tomorrow night now that they might defend him a little.
Luke Walton can suck an egg.
Corey Joseph was not even good in college.
Give guy all of joseph’s minutes and move on
Badge Legend