The Sacramento Kings introduced new general manager Monte McNair to the Sacramento media Wednesday. The former Houston Rockets assistant general manager fielded questions on a variety of topics.
Below are the five main points of discussion.
Luke Walton
What He Said:
I’m excited to partner with Coach Walton. We’re going to build a winning culture here where our players can grow, thrive in our aggressive system and compete hard every night.
I’m really excited to work with coach Walton on what we can improve, which I think we’re aligned on as far as competing hard and starting to build those winning habits.
We didn’t have a prior relationship, but we had some mutual friends, and so as I’ve got to know him the last few days, we’ve had some good conversations. I’ve heard great things and so far I think we’ve had a great rapport. Luke is going to be our coach next year. I’m really excited to work with him and I think we’re aligned on our vision; we’re going to start implementing it.
This team showed some flashes last year. I think De’Aaron, certainly is a great young talent, and I think his speed and ability offensively to create is going to be a huge catalyst for how Coach Walton and I envision this team being up-tempo. Creating the space to shoot threes and attack the rim.
What It Might Mean:
McNair continued the ongoing position we have been hearing since Vlade Divac stepped down that Walton’s job is safe. What is most interesting to me is the end of that second quote when he mentions the team playing up-tempo. Walton, of course, resisted the fast style of play last season in order to focus more on defense and executing in the half court. The team did increase the pace slightly as the season went on, but it was nowhere near where it was during Dave Joerger’s tenure. It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out with Walton supposedly returning.
Current Roster
What He Said:
There’s a lot of talent on this roster, and a lot of versatility. There’s a lot of talent here that we can work with.
De’Aaron is an incredible young talent and I love seeing what he’s done and improved on over the years and he’s got a very bright future ahead of him.
Marvin [Bagley] is an incredible young talent. Obviously, last year he dealt with some injuries, but that’s a part of the game and I know he’s already working hard this offseason. I’m really excited to work with Luke and see him develop.
Buddy [Hield] is an incredible young talent. I think we all know in this league spacing is of the upmost importance and Buddy is one of the absolute elite shooters in this league, and we’re going to be able to utilize that skillset as we implement our system.
I was able to reach out and connect with Bogdan [Bogdanovic]. He’s a great player, an incredible talent, has those winning qualities, obviously versatile offensively and was a big part of this team’s best stretches last year so he’s a big part of this team.
What It Might Mean:
You can’t really read too much into this. McNair is, of course, going to compliment the players on the current roster. They are professional athletes and he showed them respect with these comments. These comments don’t really show what he may have in mind in terms of who he is going to keep and who is going to trade, and you can’t really expect a general manager to say things like that publicly anyway. By saying there is a lot of talent here that we can work with, it could always mean in terms of working out trades as much as it could be about what they may do on the floor in a Kings uniform next season. That’s, of course, just speculation.
Building out the Front Office
What He Said:
I’m excited to work with Ken [Cantanella]. We’ve worked on some trades and things over the years. He’ll be a huge asset to me. What I’ve learned in my years in Houston is you’re only as good as the people around you so my job is to fill in the rest of the front office with people who are smart, talented, diverse and complement me so that I have all the resources that I need to build this team.
On Joe Dumars: Joe is going to assist Vivek [Ranadive] in all aspects of the organization business, basketball. I was hired to be the head of basketball operations and that’s what I’m going to do, but Joe has been a great player on the court, he’s been a general manager and he’ll be a great resource for me.
What It Could Mean:
Cantanella is a hold-over from the Divac front office and has a lot of experience in contracts, the salary cap, scouting analytics and player negotiations a skillset good for McNair to have with him. Having Cantanella also gives McNair some historical perspective on what went on with the previous brain trust, which could also be useful. In terms of Dumars, McNair made it clear he is the head of basketball operations. Dumars’ role will be an interesting aspect to watch, but as it seems to be implied here, McNair will reach out to Dumars as needed as a resource.
His Approach
What He Said:
I want to become a team that consistently competes in the playoffs and ultimately contends for championships.
Our goal is going to be to compete hard, and start building these winning habits. We need to be more consistent and going forward we’re going to maintain our flexibility. Obviously, we want to compete for the playoffs, but we know we have some work to do. So my goal is to keep that flexibility and be aggressive whenever the time comes to improve the team.
I was fortunate enough to spend the last 13 years in an organization where we were able to build those winning habits, that culture. Year in and year out we expected to be in the playoffs and compete for championships. My goal is to recreate that here. Like I said, we’re going to be flexible and just be ready whenever that opportunity arises to really improve the team.”
In Houston, obviously we pushed some things to the extreme. That was partly due to our personnel there. I think here we’ll have to adapt to our personnel. There’s some tenets I think that we’ll apply here. We’re definitely going to play fast, we’re going to space the floor, but there’s a lot of versatility and talent on this roster so I think that’ll dictate how we build the team.
We have to stay flexible and we can’t pigeon hole ourselves. There’s a lot of ways to improve the team and what we need to do is be ready for whatever the opportunity and whenever it arises that we can capitalize.
We want to be aggressive, but disciplined. Like I said flexible. We don’t need to force anything, we just need to be ready whenever those opportunities arise we’ll have the discipline to be aggressive to improve the team.
What It Could Mean:
In case you missed it, McNair wants flexibility. It could be assumed this is in regards to making trades and not being stuck in your ways should a good opportunity arise. It was interesting he made it sound like he isn’t tied to the idea of bringing the extremes from Houston to Sacramento. That could mean he isn’t sold on simply implementing the Moreyball approach of taking only three pointers and shots around the basket, but it will be more about the talent the team has. Then again, maybe that will only be the case until the team can get the type of players he wants to implement such a system. Too soon to know.
The Draft and Using the Stockton Kings
What He Said:
Draft picks are absolutely an essential way of building a team in this league. Excited to have the 12th pick this year. I think it’s a deep and talented draft class. We’re going to dive in deeper in the coming weeks, but I think we’ll definitely be able to utilize that pick to improve the team. The G League is another way to both instill our culture, our habits, innovate and develop players so that they’re ready to eventually help the big club.
What It Could Mean:
No surprises here in terms of how using the draft to get better is important. What is interesting to me is that he used the word innovate when talking about the G League. Vivek Ranadive has reportedly used the Kings G League affiliate to test out new ways of playing basketball, so that will be something to keep an eye on.
Ultimately, McNair was professional in every aspect of the press conference. It seems as though he won’t be one to share too much about his plan publicly, at least not immediately.
Well put, Blake.
The STR questioner at the press conference must’ve disliked your comment.
That was. . . Not exciting.
He handle the questions well. I like that he didn’t give any strategy away or imply anything except that all the players we have are great and they’ll all be good to work with in our system. Other GM’s were watching, he didn’t tip his hand. If their was any hidden message to gain from his answers I think it’s hello all 29NBA general managers. Make your offers, we’ll be ready.
I like it.
I don’t understand what the downvotes are for. This is how I interpreted his responses also.
I wonder how much cleaning up Monte will have to do as far as Sacramento’s front office reputation. Will other GMs respect us, or are they still going to try to throw offers that Vlade would have accepted?
Professional holds professional introduction. Shocking news at 11.
Seriously though, if you can’t conduct a presser at this point, you shouldn’t ever be a GM.
His platitude game is on point.
I was able to reach out and connect with Bogdan [Bogdanovic].
Didn’t he also say he talked to Fox? I don’t think he said that about Hield or Bagley. Either way, in a session where he was trying to protect his cards I thought his admission to the Bogi conversation was interesting. It’s probably, at a minimum, a shot at GMs to leverage the status the Kings have over Bogi regarding his Free Agency situation (as brilliantly explained by Tim recently). More than that it could be an indication of how he’s feeling about keeping Bogi. He seemed pretty measured so I’m sure he had a reason for saying that.
I have a hunch he will approach the Bogi situation with great flexibility.
Flexibility could be his version of watching the tape.
I wonder if the topic of Bogi’s contract came up. I guess it depends on the context of the call. I don’t think it would be abnormal if he discussed free agency in general terms to get an idea of Bogi’s interest in doing a deal, or just his mindset going into free agency.
Staying with Walton makes sense. No reason to bring in a new coach. Especially, when you don’t know what the roster could look like in 2 years. Mcnair may gut 70-80 percent of the current roster between now and then. Walton will either be fired by the ASB or end of next season. Talk about a hot seat. Kings will need to go at Least .500 for Walton to keep his job. Anything less, and he will be fired. It also benefits the Kings in the 2021 draft. A very strong draft. Kings will most likely be one of the worst teams in the league next year. A top 5-6 pick is almost assured. Based on the strength of the West. Kings could be anywhere between 13-15th worst team. Mcnair is smart enough to know this current roster is not a playoff team. He is not going to pick up vet free agents, desperate to get a few more wins. More likely, he will unload most, if not all the vets on this roster. Get as many picks and developmental players as possible. Building a core will be a priority. Does Mcnair see Fox as part of that Core? If not, this team could look radically different in 2021.
Walton will be fired because he sucks. Boy, we have short memories.
If it were that simple wouldn’t he be fired already?
Unless someone better is available.
available and willing to accept the job are two separate things though. You still have to take a leap of faith to a certain degree since you have to fire the coach first. I guess a GM could already have a coach in mind they’re confident will take the job, but that is how we got Walton in the first place.
How we got Walton is Vlade. I think I’d have a little more faith in McNair.
And I realize this isn’t going to happen. In a perfect world, they would have canned Walton already and put an interim in place so McNair could do a thorough coaching search.
I wonder who McNair has in mind for
our next interim coachLuke’s lead assistant.Smart man! Wasn’t really excited for the draft before the hire but now I’m pumped to see who he’ll select.
Why? All we got was a bunch of platitudes and cliches. Not that I expected anything different, but how the hell does such such a presser cause excitement?
I don’t think we needed today’s press conference to believe the analytics computer dude from Princeton is a smart man. Also, today felt like the official turning of the page, and the beginning of a new era. I was excited. But a wiser man than I once said “the proof is hidden within the rich, fairly homogeneous dairy based dessert.’
Yes as RORDOG mentions not necessarily referring to the press conference. Just speaking to his background and the fact that he will be the man drafting instead of Vlade or Dumars excites me is all.
Yeah the presser was OK in a good way. I mean most of his answers were pretty standard or the kind of answers you pretty much expect a GM would say.
Probably a good thing as he seems the type of guy who does not want to give anything away to the media or to the other GM’s who might be watching.. IMO I really think he’s a cerebral GM who would pounce at every opportunity if it presents itself. I agree that today’s roster would probably be a lot different after 1 year. We shall see.
Very hopeful in nature. I have a hard time classifying his responses as “cerebral.”
He really just addressed the media and tried to show respect to the current players. He did emphasis that he wanted to be flexible – he mentioned this more than anything – and be ready to strike if there was a chance to improve the team – and with this team there is a lot to improve. He will be making some major trades.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what a team would look like if they decided to go to the “extreme” building around Fox. The best I can come up with is a team that breaks the record for percentage of transition possessions, while also being one of the top teams in terms of points per transition possession. I’m talking run and gun with shooters, Fox as the dual threat quarterback of the offense, and bigs who can outlet pass off the defensive rebounds and/or catch lobs like wide receivers.
I don’t know if Fox will ever be the caliber of player worth going to the extreme building around, but that’s the type of thing I’d think you’d need to do based on what makes him unique.
I just looked up the Bighorns seasons they used the Grinnell system. The first season they had an offensive rating of 117, and scored 133 points per game! They also gave up 133 points per game, but still that’s crazy. They shot almost twice as many threes as their opponents per game (about 47 3PAs per game). The second season they slowed things down a bit, but they went 33-17 and had an offensive rating of 117.4.
It reminded me of an article about the legacy of The System I read awhile back. It’s definitely worth a read if you have time. There’s a lot of backstory in there. Here’s one part that stood out:
If there was ever a season to try something crazy that would be fun to watch, and at worst lead to a high draft pick, then it’s this upcoming one right?
I can see it being at least tried, maybe for half a season next year while McNair gets more of the players on the team he wants to use or build around. In transition Fox drives up the middle and forces the defender to either guard him or the kick out to Buddy on the three. Don’t know how well Walton will implement it or go along with it, but he’s a lame duck coach next year anyway.
Not like the Kings have ever been known as a defensive team anyway, so to me it doesn’t really matter if they give up a ton of points as long as the product is entertaining and of course they win. But even if they don’t win, at least there’s a direction, something is trying to be built.
There was actually an article about Walton’s time in LA that I read recently that enlightening. Technically, it’s about how Walton didn’t understand how to best utilize Lebron in a fast-paced offense, but it gets into some pretty interesting stuff about how they use his outlet passing to initiate transition offense. It’s not necessarily applicable to the Kings because they don’t have Lebron, but it’s still interesting from the standpoint of how there’s different ways to play fast. The Kings have their Funnel concept that they run as well.
Anyways, it’s all just fun to think about. The Kings don’t have the built in advantages that other teams have. They have to find that edge that they are willing to exploit. As of now, it just seems natural that they create an agressive system built on speed and chaos. It’s funny that they started building that type of system years ago and went away from it right before they had the perfect player to exploit it.
Great article, skimmed it for now but I’ll go back and read it more. From the part I did read, it came off as more knowing how to effectively use the players you have to their talents rather than just catch phrases like “we’re going to run more”, which is what any good coach/FO should do.
Not really backing Walton up, but also showing that it’s harder to actually implement that just saying “we’re going to do x”. I agree that they seem to always head in that direction or something similar and then when there are flashes of success they abandon it.
As some of you may remember I reported those seasons. Most fun I have ever had watching basketball. Ahead of their time and THEY WON. Only to have the Sacto FO jerk the team and coach around. Sad day when they brought in Derrick Martin to “install fundamentals”. Has any G league player EVER made a mark with the Kings?
Yeah it’s just crazy to see this through line from Dean Oliver asking Arseneault to implement the system to Nick Nurse tweaking it to fitting his own style to Nurse being brought in as an offensive coordinator with the Raptors to ultimately becoming the head coach in Toronto and then winning a championship utilizing some of the principles first pioneered in Reno.
Even this season, the Raptors were first in transition possession frequency, 3rd in transition possession efficiency, first in frequency of shots taken very early in the shot clock, etc. etc.
I guess the only good thing is it at least appears as though Vivek wants to get back to his roots, and be more innovative. I don’t think you bring in a guy like McNeal if you aren’t willing to take things to the extreme if the numbers say that give you the best chance to win.
McNair on Walton: Coach Walton is our Coach NEXT year.
What he really is saying: Walton is gone the year after
Tank, lottery pick, fire Luka, I mean Luke.
That press conference was a snooze fest. He just didn’t show any personality. But then again, how does this determine whether he’ll be a good GM or not?
New drinking game – every time our new GM uses the phrase “incredible young talent”, you take a drink.
Add “flexible” and “aggressive” to that and you’ll be drunk in 30 minutes…lol
Hield – slightly OT, but that will be a big decision for McNair. Two things that made me smile (in different ways) from this:
“If any franchise will cough up a useful and affordable swap for Al Horford, it’s Sacramento.”
and
“Hield is not only a gifted shooter, but he can also create off the dribble.” 🙂
of course does not say whether he creates off the dribble for his team-mates or opponents.
Or what, exactly, he creates. Havoc? Confusion? Benny Hill-style hijinks?
The news is there isn’t any news, and for this organization, that is fantastic news.
I like what the format of this article implies: front office personnel give bs meaningless answers at press conferences, can’t we deduce anything from it?
Badge Legend