It’s safe to say that last night’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers was probably the most disappointing effort of Doug Christie’s tenure so far. The Kings went into Philadelphia to face a 76ers team that was on the second night of a back to back and missing several key players, and still managed to lose by double digits. The Kings are 1-3 on this road trip now and looking at the very real possibility of a 1-5 trip with tough tests against Oklahoma City and Minnesota still remaining.
This game was the most reminiscent yet of how the Kings looked back when Mike Brown was still coach, with the team failing to execute on either end, giving up big leads in no time at all and getting absolutely no help from the bench. Each Sacramento Kings starter finished in double digits, led by Malik Monk’s 21 points, but the bench only managed to score 15 total points. The shorthanded 76ers still had Tyrese Maxey, who scored a game-high 30 points, but also got 40 points from their bench, including 13 each from Kyle Lowry and Ricky Council IV.
Sacramento was absolutely abysmal from three point range, making just 10-41 attempts (24.4%). For comparison, the 76ers made two more threes but on 12 fewer attempts. Keon Ellis and Keegan Murray combined for just 2-14 shooting from distance. Domantas Sabonis was 1-2, but passed up way too many open opportunities, particularly in the second half. If you’re shooting almost 50% from three for the season, you need to be shooting more than 2 threes a game. Sabonis had a triple-double tonight with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, but took just 6 shots in almost 41 minutes of action. That’s unacceptable, especially when the 76ers are fielding a 6’8 starting center in Guerschon Yabusele and a 6’10 rookie in Adem Bona as his backup. Instead, the Kings opted to take way too many perimeter shots that weren’t falling. The Kings had a huge advantage by going in the paint, but didn’t make nearly as much use of it as they should have. Sacramento won the points in the paint battle 54 to 52, which seems good, but the Kings could have won it 80 to 52 if they felt like it. The Kings shot 27/34 in the paint (79.4%). Instead they took 41 threes on a night they couldn’t buy a basket from deep. It was a frustrating lack of awareness from the Kings to not take advantage of one of the few times they had a size advantage on a team.
The Kings also did a terrible job of closing out each individual quarter. The Kings actually got off to a good start in this one, and led 27-18 with 1:43 left to go in the 1st quarter. By the end of the quarter the lead was down to just 30-28. In the second quarter, the Kings were up 48-43 with 4:31 left. They finished the half down 60-56. In the 3rd quarter, they again got off to a good start, and built up a 12 point lead midway through the quarter at 80-68. They finished the quarter down 89-87. The Kings spent the entire 4th quarter playing from behind and never got the game closer than three points. They attempted their fewest shots in the paint (7) in the 4th, were just 1-9 from three and 6-21 overall from the field and scored just 17 total points, their fewest points in a quarter since before Christmas.
This team still has some glaring needs, particularly in terms of depth. Domantas Sabonis played nearly 41 minutes and was a +2 in a 13 point loss. Alex Len played just 4 minutes and was a -8 while Trey Lyles was -10 in 15 minutes. The inability for the team to field a capable backup when Sabonis leaves the floor leads to the team stagnating on both ends and leads disappear quickly. And when one of our only reliable bench players, Keon Ellis, struggles to score, there’s no other help coming as Kevin Huerter hasn’t picked up the slack in weeks and Devin Carter isn’t yet ready to play major minutes.
Sacramento’s winning streak and resurgence under Doug Christie was most welcome, but this team still needs some work done if it hopes to compete at the top of the West. Right now it’s unclear if this team can even make the playoffs, as they’re currently tied for 10th in the West and on the border of being out entirely. The Kings will also need to make up for dropping what should have been one of their few easy wins on this trip and now will have to face a very tough Oklahoma City squad on their home floor on Saturday. Hopefully the extra day of rest will help the Kings, as they’ve just completed a stretch of 5 games in 8 days across 4 different states.
I recorded and watch the game on speed mode last night, so I missed much of the conversation as I simply went to bed wen it ended, but man, that was bad. The Kings looked the the team on a SEGABABA. They were lethargic (sans Keegan), disinterested, and defeated. They looked like a team that knows it’s over.
I had hoped they’d come out with a vengeance, especially Fox, and shut down the rumor campfire that’s now turning into an inferno. Couple all that with Ham’s comments this morning and DDR hinting at being upset…well shit, this could be the beginning of the end.
Fire up those trade machines, friends.
It was a nice 2022-23 season while it lasted…
A 1 year reprieve from Kangz. Now we go back to black 🙁
We had a better outlook two
daysyears ago..At this point, I think that trades are a wasted exercise.
As much as this roster needs a stretch four and wing depth, the organization needs a capable front office. I simply do not trust the front office that got us into this mess to get us out of it.
What is needed more than anything may not exist: our own Jerry West. Someone with the league-wide reputation and standing that will force Vivek to stay in the back seat. And after 20 years of consistent failure, Matina either has to go or be completely barred from any conversation that is within 1m miles of basketball operations.
Who knew that the Petrie/Adelman dynamic was this difficult to replicate? And therein lies the real tragedy. This is not a dynamic that can be had only in large markets. By luck or design, smaller markets such as OKC and Milwaukee and Cleveland and Denver (and hell, Memphis, in spite of Ja’s mercurial existence) have found varying levels of success. The money spent on front office and coaching personnel does not affect the salary cap, and there are many good GMs and coaches in smaller markets. And without that foundation, you’re pretty much fucked.
…
…
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We’re pretty much fucked.
I woke up thinking, what if Presti or Ainge walked in the door and took over? What would they do with this roster? Both of those guys have completely blown up quality playoff teams…more than once! Would they look at this roster that’s barely sniffing the play-in and think to do the same thing? Or does Vivek dictate to keep the team’s head above water and butts in seats over all else?
Probably the latter, unfortunately.
Regardless of whether any trades happen before the deadline, I’m not sure I see Monte still having a job here by the time the season is over. However, no matter how many GMs/coaches we go through, Vivek will still be calling the shots for everything, so I’ve got no confidence of us getting out of this hole.
Yep – I don’t think it ever gets past the first interview, for the reason that you mentioned. I could absolutely see Vivek saying to Presti, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
I think that Bob Meyers is probably the best option for what this front office needs, placing him as head of basketball ops, with a GM below him. But Vivek (a) will not spend that money, and (b) won’t keep his nose out of the basketball ops. And you can rest assured that Matina will have a mole somewhere in the front office. And that is why the Kings really need to be viewed as empty calories, because how can you invest in something as a fan when the organization won’t do the simple things that are needed?
It’s a privilege to watch Domas night-in and night-out, so I will continue to watch and enjoy that. And I love this community. Beyond that, there is no reason to commit to this team as a fan, emotionally or financially.
Vivek and Matina should just name themselves as the BBall OPS staff. We all know that the decisions are made from the top. Firing a coach has to be approved by ownership.
My hunch is that Vivek let Monte has some freedom with personnel, then Vivek got frustrated and started making himself part of the process more than he already was.
Spot on, Rob.
It’s wild to me that Vivek, who undoubtedly is a very intelligent person, can look in the mirror every day after cutting checks for over a decade to NBA employees, and not think, “hey, maybe I have it wrong?”
Little chap, big ego.
Dismissive too.
He ain’t like us.
I’m Shaka’d by all the anger
Thats for sure
Huge ego. Narcissistic behavior. Gross
I think this whole Vivek discussion gives too much credit for good things to McNair and too much blame to Vivek for bad things. It’s a convenient narrative.
Two things can be true: It can be the case both that Vivek is a tiny narcissistic incompetent egomaniac and that Monte McNair is an incompetent, atychiphobic hoarder of undersized tweener guards and sweater vests.
Well said. Basically where I’m at. There is nothing worse than being saddled with a terrible owner.
Our luck with owners has been about as good as our luck with draft picks.
At least we’ll always have Luckinbill
I think Bob Meyers gets a lot of credit for spending someone else’s money and don’t particularly think he’s a very good GM at all. We’d have 4 championships in 10 years too if we had Curry and a literal truckload of money to get high quality rotation players like Iguodala, Durant, Wiggins, etc. year after year.
Maybe. But he is probably the closest thing in the industry to what the Kings need in a figurehead when it comes to reputation and caché.
Man, if nothing else, I have not used that alt0233 since Donté Greene was here. That was refreshing!
I like a lot of your stuff, sir, but on this we shall disagree. I think his caché is full of pyrite but besides that, what’s to stop the Kings curse from happening, where basically just the fact that he’s on the Kings decreases his competency and value by anywhere from 10-65%…?
Yeah, except I’m not really talking about whether or not he would be good at the job. I’m talking about getting someone in here with enough gravitas that he would be permitted to do the job. And as I mentioned at the top, I don’t know that such a person exists. But Meyers is probably the closest that is available, as Sam Presti is not walking through that door.
If I’m missing someone that is both reasonably available and a big enough NBA persona to keep Vivek and Matina in their places, I’m all ears. Because again, and as I mentioned at the top, that is the only way that you’re going to break this cycle, in my opinion.
Petrie was pretty respected, and Vivek shrugged him off. It would be great if some strong willed GM with a good pedigree came in here and told Vivek to stay out of basketball stuff. I don’t see that happening.
Agreed.
Okay, you convinced me.
I’ll do it.
I still wonder how much respect you should give to the GM who had picked Jimmer and TRob in the previous two drafts
“pretty respected”, lol
Good points but he was a two time executive of the year . Seems respectable !
Until he wasn’t.
With money the Maloofs were good owners – they didn’t know anything and rode the success. When their finances floated back to Earth, Petrie stayed and instead of leaving (he could have moved to another team, he was, after all, a 2X Exec of the Year) he stayed loyal to the Maloofs and betrayed the fan base.
He famously exclaimed – “A conductor has to turn their back to the audience”, he turned and dropped trou with the sell offs and draft picks that he did in those waning years as Gavin, Joe and George tried to sneakily sell the team out of Sacramento. And he knew what was going on. Betrayal.
It won’t happen. My hope was, previously, he’d get absorbed by another shiny object and back off like James Dolan but no such luck.
And the way Vivek/Marina treats employees and anyone dealing w this org is just as bad as bask ops
I guess in that sense Vivek is a typical corporate piece of shit. He doesn’t care about employees or basketball results. He only cares about the bottom line. Money. Cuts corners wherever he can. Get rid of employees whenever he can. He’s a dick.
Agreed. Myers would know who to hire below him, and he could get anyone in another FO to pick up the phone.
I have oft wondered if other teams just avoid the Kings when it comes to trades. How many of these pursuits of players, or trades that got close, were not brought to fruition because Vivek butted in at the last moment? tried to change the terms at the last second so he could take credit for a “win”? I often think of the Buddy for Kuzma deal that tanked, and wonder why.
I think personal/professional relationships play a larger part in these things than we can realize from the outside, I would imagine Vivek’s rep is awful.
I think they actively seek them out – when they are trying to make deals with other teams.
Tin foil hat time: A Collins (or Johnson) Kings deal makes the Kings a more balanced team, and hopefully a better one down the stretch of the season. There are other teams that would like Collins and/or Johnson, and there are teams that would benefit from the Kings getting neither of these players. So they poison the waters via their “sources” and media connections stating that they have had conversations about trading for Fox, and the Kings FO bites on it, gets distracted, gets pants’d.
Tin foil #2. Utah or Bkn throws it out there to see if they can drive the price up on their guys, via another team jumping in or the Kings bidding against themselves out of desperation.
If I wanted leverage, the Kings FO would be among my first calls. If I wanted to make an actual trade with the Kings, not so much.
And that is pretty much has it played out all through the Vivek Era, most especially with Vlade and now Monte/Wes – we see the Kings as an “interested” team in many many of the midway (not necessary big star) deals.
“We had a better deal two days ago.” “We were very close to making a deal.” “We thought we had a deal.”
Don’t forget his first puppet Pete D .
Myers did a solid job but did not draft Curry , Thompson or Green . Often gets credit for those and they did seem to impact the franchise more than he did .
Im sure Matina has a forever contract. Shes a power player in Sacramento politics and therefore is good for business. Matina knows where the bodies are buried
H/T and RIP to Rordawg for this snippet the link to “madness of kings” article is no longer valid.
Yes we are. Fuck Vivek. The collapse is already happening. And he’s too young to leave.
I guess, if it gets bad enough, we as fans can protest and that may help.
Again – please fuck all the way off Vivek.
And they had Jerry West at the start but this pos owner decided he knew more
Don’t you worry, the Ranadive family will just inherit Vivek’s stakes in ownership. Anjali will take over next. Performing her latest hit songs at halftime or something.
“Anjali had a little Lamb”
Last night when I was watching, I actually wondered if the reporting about King‘s entertaining trades for Fox was impacting their energy level. Now they are pros that get paid a lot of money and it shouldn’t impact them however they are humans and it’s natural that something like that might impact them.
Man, I want to come up with some clever point or excuse for why we lost this game. But I got nothing. The starters looked uninspired. The bench stunk. Doug didn’t make any adjustments that worked. Minutes without Domas on the floor made it clear how much we need another big. It seriously looked like the team was as depressed as a lot of us are feeling. I didn’t even hate it enough to turn it off in the fourth. Just stopped paying attention.
Somebody say fire up the trade machine?
I’d do backflips if the Kings could land Amen, but I’m guessing he’s as close to untouchable as anyone might be on that Rockets roster. I’m thinking it’s the Spurs or nothing, which unfortunately means Monte has no leverage. This is looking like the Denver and Carmelo saga all over again.
If the Kings can swing Sochan, some guard or Collins, and 2 firsts I would immediately take it. Sounds like there is no leverage at all, so Sochan and more than 1 first are likely completely out of the question. Amen is a pip dream I would be willing to take as well, but that trade leaves the Kings scoring 90 points a game lol
The official one week countdown begins…
The vibes went from being immaculate to basement status again in like a week. This season is absolutely cursed.
Good vibes were too much to handle for some players, I guess. That winning streak seemed months ago at this point.
It feels fitting, at least for those of us fans in the Northwest, that the winning times and good vibes coincided with a near record streak of clear, sunny weather and now today has turned back to the Big Grey with likely snow on the way all throughout the next week.
So long, sunny vibes! It was nice knowing you!
Hello Darkness, my old friend.
Droughtifornia needs the rain and snow like crazy so I am grateful for this storm.
This season feels like three seasons and we’re not even at the All * break.
Perfection. Snowy quittin on dry January too. Lol
They probably confused vibes with shivers of premonition.
The curse of Roy Al is real.
He will have his revenge on Fox. In this life or the next.
I want to see this guy dunk a basketball the way Slamson would. This would be gold.
Did this recap really manage to not mention Fox once?
Just getting us used to it.
Ha! Beat me to it. I was about to post that the staff is removing the X from all of their keyboards.
FO
Xis the problem!Fo around and find out.
Sorry, he asked to be moved to another recap. He has one in mind.
That’s not true. His agent did.
It doesn’t really matter, it’s not going to make anybody feel better.
Barter Town
Population: Monte
Time to start the sell the team chants in earnest at home games. That’s the only way we get out of this hell hole.
That would be great.
Vivek to Matina…
That has never crossed their minds.
Moiratina.

That’s what Death’s Door looks like?
I remember the #HereWeBillboard campaign and Carmichael Dave pushed and convinced us to target Vlade instead of Vivek…
Shills gonna shill.
I was just thinking about this today. Dave was so adamant about where blame needed to be placed. He was completely wrong and has yet to really call out ownership. He certainly has the platform to do it and just hasn’t despite the fact that Sam Amick is on the radio every other week telling everyone that Vivek is the problem.
Dave is an employee of the flagship station for the Sacramento Kings, hes not going to put his job in jeopardy….again.
I don’t remember that.
Sooner-or-later this journey ends in lowered expectations.
Yes it was something to the effect of “look deeper, it’s not Vlade”. He didnt go into more detail when pressed. But it also seemed like he was also trying to to dissuade the billboard movement. The kings ultimately won because the week the billboard ran was the same week the pandemic started shutting down every thing which seemed to start with NBA games being cancelled.
I did a search to see if the old threads came up in the archive and they did not……dang it.
I don’t listen to his radio show (I had to look it up to determine that he still had one) but the interactions I’ve seen were always Dave hinting around about stuff, but never actually saying anything, while being very sure that you’re a moron for not agreeing with whatever his secret take was. To be fair, he is on sports talk radio, so that’s sort of the whole thing.
They aren’t saying “Light the Beam!” They’re saying “Sell the Team!”
“Boo-urns”
New theory, it was really the Vivek who did not want Luka Dončić; . My theory is that he tried to flirt with Luca’s mom gave her the Shaka and she ignored it, so he went into a bit of rage that she was not attracted to him and told Vlade to draft Bagley!
I actually think that Vivek grudgingly ceded control to Vlade (there were reports about that) and after he realized how badly he screwed up that infamous draft he decided to take it back and never relinquish it again.
Thanks, Vlade!
Vlade, the gift that keeps on giving.
Always.
How do I flag this gif
do you think he can still hit a 3? I’ve been looking for a stretch for for a while.
The trade deadline is the 6th.
The Kings are in Portland on the 6th.
The cheapest tickets on sale are $6 (but really more like $15-20 after taxes and fees).
Do I dare go see what possible Frankenstein roster we might have that evening with my own eyes?
Wow, $6 is insane.
I’m not bullshitting!
Unlike a certain NBA franchise.
I don’t think there is anything in Golden One that is under $6. Not even a bottle of water.
For as much as people can rightly unload on Ishbia for his basketball decisions, his $2 concessions and other outreach efforts are commendable. The guy gets that long term financial success in sports comes from an engaged fanbase versus chasing short term profit at all costs (which is wild since no one gets to be a billionaire without doing the latter!).
Lawn seats for a White Sox – A’s game are $62, the only seat in the house under $100.
I have to imagine some of the pricing for the A’s next year is the novelty factor.
Flip side, most expensive ticket listed for Kings-Blazers is $1850. Imagine having that much cash to burn!
Go and enjoy watching Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija.
Sorry for so many comments but Kings speculation is so much more fun than work.
Rumors now flying that Vivek is headed to OKC today to have dinner with Fox.
Is this like Fox’s dinner with Brown? Was Vivek fired?
Lol! Someone on Reddit suggested that it’ll go great until Vivek asks Fox to pay the bill. I cracked up
We can only hope.
“I’ll pay for your last meal before we trade you!”
Employee appreciation pizza party
The Last Supper.
Heh, I just saw the post you were referring to:
Very punchable face.
This fills me with…what is the opposite of confidence? That.
Doubt. Your are filled with Doubt.
You haven’t found your joy?
This is an awful idea. Vivek meeting a player without his agent, and his agent is Rich Paul? And the GM isn’t included? Is Matina going?
And what is De’Aaron supposed to say afterward, now that Vivek has let everyone know he is “taking a meeting with our star player”?
This is the same Vivek that had given half-truths, falsehoods and misstatements (basically lied through his teeth) in the past when he claimed that he wasn’t involved in the basketball decisions anymore (when Vlade was involved, picking Bagley and hiring Luke Walton). Who would believe any “promise” he made?
How does this meeting make sense? What if Fox, and/or his agent say – Fire Doug Christie, re-hire Mike Brown, trade Domas, Fire Matina. Fire Monte and Wes. Or whatever they want to say.
This is a new Vivek low, and that is really saying something. It is entertaining however.
A wise quote:
Nice arena though.
Well, yeah. It’s a last ditch effort from an owner to save face for the idiotic crap he has done.
At least Vivek can he tried to keep Fox by meeting with him personally…whatever that’s worth.
I would expect that De’Aaron/Rich Paul will have little in the ways of demands – other than making a deal to San Antonio or where ever De’Aaron and Reece wish to go, Maybe wait until the Summer to do a sign and trade for a 4 year extension at the Sacramento rate – which would not be in Sacramento’s favor for both the financial upgrade and means that a team that wanted Fox for this season’s playoff push also drops out of the trade offers.
If Vivek leaves the meeting and then they trade Fox – does he dump on Fox and Klutch and claim “I did all I could do, but they asked too much”?
I am trying to find a positive spin here, but instead find this spiraling out of control.
Is an extension and trade even possible? Why not just trade him and he signs the extension wherever he goes. His extension price is the same no matter where he goes.
I thought Fox got more if he re-signed the extension with the Kings? Normal max, not the supermax.
I don’t believe so. The only way he makes more money in Sac is if he qualifies for the super max. I’m pretty sure any team that trades for him can extend him to the same number as the Kings can. Not 100% positive, though.
I’ll also add, that’s why his camp may want a trade sooner than later. I think he can make more on an extension then he can in free agency. Again, not 100% sure.
Yep. The 5/$345m is only available if he’s with the Kings. The 5/$296m follows him in trade, I think? The 4/$219m is UFA max.
Yeah, the $345M is just the supermax that only the Kings can offer if all-nba, which is looking more and more unlikely with each passing game.
The 5/$296 is what any of the 30 teams can offer him as a regular max, before he hits free agency.
To me it just boils down to Fox wanting to sign the regular max here or elsewhere, but it really does him no good to play with the Kings through next season and hit free agency.
I guess from a Klutch Sports point of view, is if Fox doesn’t want to sign the extension here, then you might as well trade him ASAP so he can settle in elsewhere. Why beat around the bush?
If I’m Fox, it comes down to show me, don’t tell me. In other words, don’t tell me that you want me to stay. Add the pieces that this roster needs, and don’t bother me with whether or not that’s going to put us in luxury tax territory. Get me Collins AND Cam, because that’s what the roster really needs. Send out contract, send out picks, send out anything and everything that is not contributing to wins today.
Or let me play with Wemby for the next several years.
If this meeting does in fact take place between just Vivek and Fox (FWIW, I fully expect Rich Paul to be there) it’s going to get very interesting in the days after. I really don’t anticipate a situation where everything comes up roses where Fox is content with his future and the Kings stand pat. My prediction is on of the two following results:
1) Monte makes some knee jerk trades to pacify ownership and Fox for the “compete now” narrative. That’s going to mean trading off future draft capital in an overpay for a middling star that moves the needle very little. Something like Brandon Ingram, Jerami Grant, or at worse Kyle Kuzma. It wouldn’t surprise me, but will utterly disgust me if they move Keegan to make said “splash.”
2) Fox demands out leaving Vivek with egg on his face. He will then fire Monte with Wes Wilcox promoted as interim GM. The Kings will get pennies on the dollar for Fox by next Thursday. The team will then tailspin for the reminder of the season, but will continue to flirt with the play-in keeping us and ATL on edge if we convey the pick.
Good times.