The Sacramento Kings have three games left this season, and sit 2.5 games behind the San Antonio Spurs in the race for the play-in. The Pelicans and the Spurs each have a path to ruin the Kings chances to make the postseason play-in, but if the Kings win out and both other teams slip, the Kings could find themselves celebrating the accomplishment of making the 10th seed in a 15 team conference.
As a long-jaded Kings fan, I struggle to get excited about any of this. The Kings have won 9 of their last 13 games, 6 of their last 7. There’s a glimmer of hope for a play-in game that could lead to another play-in game which could lead to a playoff appearance. Everything is breaking right for the Kings as they enter the easiest part of their schedule, and everything is breaking against their opponents (Zion Williamson is out for the Pelicans, the Spurs will likely face a just-back-from-injury James Harden, the Kings will face the Jazz without Donovan Mitchell). I should be excited about all of this, right?
But I’m not. The Kings have done this to me too many times before. “Oh, if everything goes right, we’ve got this! The stars have aligned! Oh, we didn’t do everything exactly right. Sorry you got your hopes up.”
The Kings have back to back games tomorrow and Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, followed by a final game against the Jazz. None of those can be penciled in as easy wins, especially for the Kings who will be without Tyrese Haliburton, and could still be without De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes. Marvin Bagley missed yesterday’s game. Buddy Hield has a bum ankle that has him riding a bike on the sidelines when he’s not in the game. The Kings are held together right now by duct tape and a prayer.
Don’t get me wrong, if you want to get excited about this, I support you. And if you want to keep being excited, you should stop reading the rest of the way.
Because the context of this run matters, and the context isn’t great. The Kings have won 6 of their last 7, but 3 of those wins were against the Oklahoma City Thunder who are actively hunting a higher draft pick. One of those wins was against a floundering Pacers team. The wins over the Mavericks and Lakers, I’m fine with anyone who wants to count those as good wins.
I worry that this mirage is going to convince the Kings brass that all is well in Sacramento. That they’ll convince themselves that this run was impressive, and “oh if we’d had Fox and Haliburton we definitely would have made it!” That this run will somehow be used to gloss over a historically bad defense, and two separate 9-game losing streaks. That this run will be used to justify keeping Luke Walton another year and keeping essentially the same roster again next season.
The greatest trick the NBA ever pulled was convincing people that the 10th seed was an accomplishment. Consider, if you will, Dave Joerger’s final season. The Kings were 39-43, the 9th seed in the West. This year, the Kings would be finishing 10th in the West, with a 34-38 record as a best case scenario. If you adjust that to a pace for 82 games, it would be 39 wins.
I’m tired of celebrating sub-.500 teams that almost make it. If the Kings somehow end up in the play-in, which I still think is pretty unlikely, we shouldn’t treat it as a great accomplishment. If the Kings won their play-in games and got the 8th seed, I would celebrate that. Anything short of that, though, is simply more of the same old Kings.
Agree. This stretch of “wins” against teams that are weak and in the midst of mostly meaningless games is fool’s gold. If the Kings were even decent they would’ve beat the Spurs the other night.
If we had any other coach in the league, we don’t have historically bad defense and we likely at least make the play-in, which even the merits of that is a debate for another time, given the best longterm solution would’ve been to tank away.
But, if they make it (they won’t), it’ll be cool for the team to play in some meaningful games.
“Maybe they’re finally turning the corner.”
You ever get deja vu?
Exactly what I posted in last article/thread. There is nothing good about this team getting the 10. It will allow Vivek etc to continue thinking this organization is anything but terrible.
Continuing doing the same idiotic things over and over and buying into this organization going anywhere is silly.
Luke isn’t good. Vivek isn’t good. The Kings aren’t turning into a playoff club as constituted. Bags isn’t going to be a star. It ain’t happening because everything about this organization is shit.
Time to blow it all up or stay in shutsville with The Lions etc
Good tweet about that:
https://twitter.com/SPTSJUNKIE/status/1392527705397075971
By the way, Charlie Brown played 13 minutes last night for the Thunder. CHARLIE BROWN!
This Franchise is Charlie Brown
To support your point, Charlie Brown Jr. is a famous rock band in Brazil. It has ended since the singer killed himself
good grief
It’s as if before the band was created, the singer knew that he would eventually kill himself. Then he named his new band.
rats
According to the pregame: “the Kings have really been showing what an excellent defensive team they are”.
I almost spit out my drink.
The macro is that this is a sub-.500 team that will finish 11th-12th in West and around 20th in the league. Draft odds put them at the #11 pick being 63% likely, with a 17% chance of 1-4 and a 20% chance of 12-13. There is not a lot of room under the cap – even re-signing Holmes could prove challenging. Meanwhile, Hou, OKC, GS and perhaps NO will pick ahead of the Kings.
I get it. This permutation of the Kings front office, under the Ranadive ownership, has determined that blowing it all up is not an option and that a “re-tool” is the best path forward. And they may wind up being right, though the road to prosperity via “re-tooling” appears quite narrow*. I’ll hope for the best next season, but if someone is asking me to bet on it, based on this roster and coaching staff and based on NBA geography, I’d bet on a 16th straight season of not being among the eight WC teams to advance to the playoffs in ’21-’22.
*The road would get at least slightly wider under a better head coach, imho.
In all of the time that Vivek has been owner of this team, the only instances where I actually felt that the team was a turning a corner was the start of the 2014-15 season and after the end of the 2018-19 season, both of which resulted in those coaches at the time being fired for not being “good enough to take this team to the next level.”
But I’m sure Malone and Joerger enjoyed the Kings giving them a paid vacation…
In that case, you feel like they’re turning a corner now, right? I mean 6 of the last 7 and 9 of the last 13? They’ve gotta be turning a corner, RIGHT?
C’mon man, work your magic.
Well if it means Luke Walton will get canned, sure!
The Kings are so good they turn corners 4-at-a-time.
9-4 is turning a corner huh, that’s sad if that’s such a huge upgrade for franchise.
Haha, read through again, maybe you’ll get what I meant.
I’d also bet against the Kings making the playoffs next season (unless I got decent enough odds obviously). I probably disagree with most though in my willingness to believe in the feasibility of the “incremental growth, until you can land a star” path. It’s a plan that has worked countless times in the past. Memphis and Phoenix are both teams are both farther along on that path, and both were on the outside looking in last postseason. Phoenix has landed their star and made the jump, and Memphis has accumulated the assets to easily package them for a star.
The thing we don’t know is if this front office (and ownership) is capable of also executing the hard parts of the plan. McNair seems smart enough IMO. It remains to be seen if he’s also shrewd/savvy enough to do more than just hit singles, and start hitting dingers transactionally speaking.
I agree with everything that you said, but would point out that McNair’s biggest move (drafting Haliburton) was at least a double with the outfielder still chasing the ball into the gap. He’s 1/1 drafting, hasn’t taken on any bad salary, and hasn’t lost assets in trade without equal or better compensation. Obviously it’s a very small sample size of safe moves, but it didn’t take Vlade a full season to show how susceptible he was to grounding into triple plays.
If Monte gives us another solid draft, I’ll start believing we at least have a chance at making good on Fox/Hali’s talents. Even the best teams need a little luck to acquire top-end talent (eg. Booker/Mitchell falling to 13/12, superstars going to glamor markets, etc), but if you don’t have a front office that can add wins with singles, walks, and stolen bases you’re DOA even if you get the #1 overall no-brainer franchise player (eg. KAT in Minny or AD in New Orleans).
Yeah I guess single is the wrong analogy for Haliburton. Maybe hit a single but reached second (or third) on an error? There’s no reason the other GMs past the top 5 should’ve passed on Haliburton, so I don’t want to give McNair too much credit for what was really a no-brainer pick at #12.
Sometimes it’s smarter just to put it on auto-pick.
Eleven guys didn’t have the brains to select a no-brainer. Making the obvious choice ought to be very well-received from fans of a franchise that passed on Luka Doncic.
I feel safe in saying that Monte McNair is both a better judge of talent and assets than either Vlade Divac or Pete D’Alessandro.
But that’s just my opinion on the matter. It’s hardly the only perception, and there’s much to do before we get a better read in that regard.
Still, I stand by my first paragraph.
There’s really only two ways it can go. A “no-brainer” or “catching a falling knife”.
To be fair, at the time Ben was a no-brainer, too.
I mean, if he was picked at 5, 8, 11, Tyrese would be called a no-brainer. So I don’t think it’s really fair to treat it as a knock or a meh for McNair.
There were a lot of stories about how Ben had terrible pre-draft workouts though. Like it was obvious that he just didn’t have any BBIQ once he got into the gym. Also, that situation was pretty unique from the Kings perspective. Pete basically got the job a few weeks before the draft. They probably just didn’t have the time or ability to do their due dilligence.
Something has to work eventually, just by odds right lol.
The “re-tooling” thing gets me. It implies that only a little bit is off and you were just there, but now need some tweaking. The Kings haven’t needed to be “re-tooled” in 15 years. They’ve needed a complete overhaul, a true blow up, which is something they have not done in this century.
In my opinion, the last true re-build to change the course of the franchise was trading away Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe for a troubled Chris Webber. It was a serious gamble of a move that changed everything.
At this point, I’m inclined to believe that it’s simply Ranadive that refuses to blow it up. His entire ownership has been a constant retooling. It’s just sad at this point.
We have plenty of data beyond this little stretch.
I’ll just move this over to this thread as it works here too:
It was this point in the season that lead me to believe that Skal was going to be a player (a belief that still lingers to this day, lol!)!
In April of his rookie year, he had that 11, 19, 25, 12 stretch and I was sold!
Luckily the Kings don’t have us in their front office making personnel decisions!
True, now. But seriously-ish, if you and I were co-GMs throughout the PDA/Vlade eras, would the Kings be in any worse position than they are now?
🙂
And look, I would be a terrible GM most likely. But I know a few things that wouldn’t have happened if I had the say (butterfly and time continuity issues acknowledged): (1) wouldn’t have fired Malone; (2) wouldn’t have made the Philly trade; (3) likely would have traded Boogie much sooner; and (4) wouldn’t have taken Bagley No. 2.
That’s actually why I have a bit more optimism than most. I firmly believe Vlade was worse than if you just had a group of knowledgeable fans making group decisions. That tells me a competent GM should be able to convert this current set of assets into a roster that’s consistently playoff-caliber.
Championship caliber is obviously different, but that window is still 4-5 years away with this current “core.”
Thing is, we don’t know if McNair is competent. That’s really the wild card. Being better than Divac is a low bar and doesn’t alone equate to long-term success for the franchise.
If Walton is here the second day after the season ends, I’ll start leaning towards incompetence.
Agreed.
Yeah, PDA had an okay resume in terms of working his way up the FO executive ladder.
We shall see.
I agree. If it wasn’t the Kings then I’d be a bit more bullish about a front office that has 3 current or former GMs plus a cap/analytics guru like Catanella. It’s probably prudent to take a wait and see approach though. It’s hard to judge their performance so far, since we don’t know all the moves they decided not to make. The moves they have made have seemed fairly logical IMO. As I said in the other thread, he’s really only hit singles at this point though. The HRs require a bit more skill to pull off.
Yeah, he hasn’t shat himself at this point. Again, low bars.
I think the Davis/Wright trades were savvy moves. So I’d rank those above shatting oneself on the competency scale. It remains to be seen if they’ll help long-term though.
His deadline moves certainly indicate something beyond mere competence.
Huh.
Davis is decent for sure but at 8.5 million a year thats what your suppose to be so that was no great trade…we extended Metu and Jones on options (good move) but without them and Woodward and Ramsey we have 6 players signed and guaranteed (not Holmes or Wright or Harkless) for $97,300,000 next year leaving us with less than 10,000,000 to sign 9 players and I don’t believe any other team will take Buddy for 22 million next year even for free (would any of you) and our owner will not let go of Bagley in spite of the trade deadline rumors….so what is the plan??? We go forward without Holmes and Wright and Harkless? Do will we have to add draft picks to move Buddy? What is the big picture? Love to hear everybody’s ideas…because without locking up Wright or having the ability to pay him and Holmes it appears as just another year of HELL.
Incompetence or following a mandate from ownership? Do you fire a coach if the owner says you’re not allowed to?
I mean, a competent NBA GM should be able to convert any set of assets into a playoff team within a few years since it’s rare for a team to go longer than that without appearing in the playoffs. The problem is that most of the teams we’re competing with also have competent GMs. Competency is only a differentiating factor when grading on the Kings scale. Not when grading against the rest of the NBA.
I don’t think we’re really disagreeing on anything. Unless I’m misreading you?
Not at all. I’m just saying we’re working with a very low bar. Which is another cherished Kings tradition.
Yeah and I probably have a lower bar than most. I’m fine if the team is just entertaining and wins more games than they lose most years.
Oooh, entertaining is do-able (how do you feel about dark comedy?), but winning more than they lose is a TALL order.
The Cable Guy is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not sure what that says about me though to be honest.
I went to Medieval Times once and it was pretty much what you see in the Cable Guy movie.
I literally yelled “Down, Down, Red Knight’s going down!” so much that the Red Knight came over and pretended like he was going to hit me with his joust thing. I also almost got kicked out for using one of those laser pointers in the fog because they said it could blind the horses. That was when I was in high school though. I’m much more mature now.
That’s disheartening.
I mature enough to no longer do things to endanger horses. Yelling at the red knight is still in my maturity wheelhouse.
That’s perfectly fine then. Besides, why yell at a horse anyway?
While we still don’t know for sure that you are not Bratz, I guess we do know that you’re not Baffert, with the opposition to endangering horses.
My dad likes to play the ponies, so I basically grew up at the track. The sport has quite the underbelly w/r/t the way some horses are treated and the conditions for the lower level track workers. I still enjoy watching a live race though. The horses really are trying to win the race which is weird, but cool to see.
I actually took an “intro to horse racing” class in college from a guy that looked like Bob Baffert with a lazy eye.
Do you mean to say the horses comprehend that they are in a race, and are trying to outrace the other horses?
I’ve always wondered this, but never got around to asking any horses this question.
Well it’s a little more complicated than that. They can understand that they “won” because they receive more praise, so there’s a bit of a stick (or whip) and carrot approach to teaching a horse how to win. And it does take most horses a little while to “learn” how to win. They may react negatively to running alongside other horses, or not like getting dirt kicked in their face for instance. Some may like longer runs, and others prefer sprints. I guess you can say horses have personalities, and the key to winning is to put horses in races that match their personalities.
You could be fined up to $5,000 and spend six months in a correctional facility.
I’m just messin’ with you. I’ll juice you up!
Bogi was terrific again tonite ! Playing at near All Star level for no. 4 Atlanta ! Did you mention using assets ?
But they tried it before! (crowdsourcing)
and it would’ve worked (better) if they actually listened to the crowd and picked Elf over Sauce Castillo.
Yeah, Elf has done a good job keeping his career going and staying useful. He as started 60 games this year on a playoff team.
VIvek acts like he knows baskeball. It’s painfully obvious all these years later. He should be playing golf with his daughter during the draft.
I believe the STR poll would have had us take Elf, which would put the player selected at 15th in VORP in the draft class as opposed to 52nd!
OMG, soooooooooooooooo bad and cringy. Ugh.
At minimum, the head coach.
Too bad to win. Too dumb to tank.
Sad and True
The arena cost too much money.
So does golfing every weekend.
Somewhat related, we were told we needed a new arena to stay competitive in the NBA. But truth be told, I have no doubt we could be just as shitty as we’ve been for the last 5 seasons, if we were still at Arco.
It’s the same old trash we’ve seen from this team for fifteen years. They never can play well when it counts and thus never control their own destiny. Once again, they’re season depends on other teams doing the work for us.
The bad news is those are professional organizations that will take care of business and we are the Kangz.
We’ve won 6 of 7 you say? What was the 1 loss? Oh, it was the must win game against a Spurs team that was in the midst of a massive losing streak.
This team has one culture. Losing. And they’re fantastic at it. If by some miracle SAS and NOP lose all of their games, I can guarantee this team will lose as soon as they realize they just have to resemble a professional basketball team.
As a fan of this woeful franchise, it’s insulting and maddening. We should have tanked as soon as we had our first 9 game losing streak. But, in an awesome display of ineptitude, we didn’t even tank after our second 9 game losing streak in the same season!
Straight up embarrassing.
Well said.
I could care less if they make the play-in. And news flash, they are not making the play-in, don’t get fooled by this franchise.
The real value in these last dozen games of the season has been the opportunity to see what the Deadliners have to offer when given significant playing time.
Wright is nearly a sure thing to be back next season, with one year left on his deal. Davis’ situation is a bit more complicated, but Sacramento should be in a good position to keep him, barring some outrageous contract offer. Harkless is the least-likely to return, but if he can be kept on a team-friendly deal, he provides defense at a number of positions, and toughness that’s been in short supply.
Additional opportunities to see Metu and DJones have also been useful, as both appear to be able to contribute, even though both are still pretty raw.
Even Buddy has shown growth as a facilitator, which is fine in smallish doses. Wright & Davis in particular have been quite good in moving the ball and getting teammates good looks, and as bench guys/spot starters, can really help with the dropoff in ball movement when Fox sits.
None of the moves on their own take the Kings up a rung as they attempt to get back to the playoffs, but in tandem, a solid bench unit is taking form. If the Kings can get some luck in the draft and/or obtain a difference-maker via trade or free agency, it doesn’t feel like actual success needs to be years away. Big ifs, to be sure.
In any event, Walton has to go.
I was talking to someone the other day and they made a salient point about a way the Kings might tip their hand on what they really believe internally.
We know Fox has COVID and it’s apparently been pretty unpleasant. It would be telling if they try to rush him back for the last game or two. Now, I don’t think it’s likely, both given what’s left in the schedule and what we know of how messed up COVID hits people, but is this the kind of thing you can see the Kings doing? If the answer’s yes, that alone speaks volumes.
On the other hand, they may be leaving the decision about playing to Fox, if he’s well enough to run.
Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.
Yeah, well sometimes a cigar is NOT a cigar.
Sometimes your thumb is a cigar.
We just need to get over the hump.
Just need to get to our destination.
The letter said “Don’t worry Robert, I got you. I’m a Laker for life.”
Don’t knock it till you try it.
As bad as this franchise has been, and bad in so many ways, I don’t believe they would rush Fox back. Simple as that.
Watch out for Greg everyone, he’s a little skeptical the Kings brass might make a bad decision!!
All in all seriousness, that’s gracious of you, Greg. Of course they’re going to make a bad decision based on this run. They’re the Kings. I expect nothing less.
Still, I’m enjoying these games. Those guys are playing hard! In the end, that’s all I’m asking for anymore.
Good ball movement, and solid team defense. Fundamental stuff, but seeing it executed with some regularity is a good sign.
I’m enjoying “some” of these games. The two against OKC were unwatchable, because the competition was pretty dismal. If there’s two guys on that roster that are still in the league in five years, I’ll be surprised.
I think there are a number of guys that can/will be useful NBA players. They’re just all either 8-10 rotation guys (Williams) or in their pupal stage (Bazley, Roby, Brown, Poku). Williams is actually a guy the Kings could really use.
Ok, put 5/12/26 on your calendar and we’ll revisit. 😉
Deal.
From Zach Lowe’s annual Luke Walton All-Stars article out today:
If I knew who that was, I’d feel something.
He’s dope! His nickname is “Kenny Hustle.” He’s primarily an energy big, but he’s actually a decent passer and can stretch the floor a bit. And he also has a sick mullet:
His problem was always average physical tools and a lack of a shot. But he’s made huge stride on his shoot. His motion looks smooth and repeatable now and he’s hit a great percentage this year. I kept talking about him as a value pick up as an UDFA and when he was on the Pels, but I certainly didn’t expect him to develop his shot this successfully this quickly.
I know the NBA doesn’t work this way, but it’s crazy to think the Pelicans frontcourt rotation this season technically could’ve been Zion, Randle, Wood and WIlliams.
And theoretically, Anthony Davis.
Oh no! A down vote! My life is ruined.
What I take from this season is the bad roster and coach, combined with one clown and one inflated ego on the broadcast team, and I’m left thinking you may as well toss the kings in with the River Cats and Republic as nothing more than the minor leagues.
I’d say they’ve become one of the most irrelevant professional sports teams I’ve ever seen in my 51 years on this earth.
Yes. Exactly! You put it much more succinctly than I.
Perhaps the worst franchise in all sports. Anything but Vivek backing off and starting over is useless.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
They can’t even get the announcing crew right.
Joke of a franchise and we have the douche owner to thank for that.
8 winning seasons (all under Adelman). Nothing but losing seasons the 13 years prior to Adelman’s arrival and the 15 years since his departure. That is an amazing, stark, depressing statistic. It has to be unmatched by any other current NBA team, whether you want to run it back to Ranadive’s ownership or the Maloof’s or Thomas or Lukenbill.
We’re almost numb to it at this point, but it is absolutely mind boggling how bad this organization has been in Sacramento.
Biggest complaint is that I never know who gets the ball in the 4th quarter anymore! 😉
I’ve remembered that one possession I was told to remember, in case the Kings ended up losing the game.
And that one possession was from a game 4 years ago!
There is wisdom in your words.
Umm, yeah?
And she’s buy-y-ing a stairway to the Play-in
“Does anybody remember laughter?”
The article presupposes that fans are hopeful for the play-in right now, that they think everything is breaking right for the team, and that they think the wins against OKC (with poku) is an indicator of a turnaround. All of those are wrong. No one thinks that way. So your argument juxtaposes itself against a group of people that don’t exist. Okay.
That was not my takeaway at all. Greg wrote this through his lens, not through the lens of other Kings fans. Mileage varies and all that, I guess.
Greg wrote this to create a rift between us and our spouses.
I feel very badly for you if your wife, or any spouse for that matter, listens to Greg.
OTOH, I feel badly for Greg’s wife she has to listen to him. So I suppose these things do come full circle.
lol my wife doesn’t listen to me
You married well then!
Hi Rik. What’d you think of the Browns draft? Seems like they received good grades all around and picking up JOK in Round 2 was pretty sweet.
Unlike our Kings, perhaps the Browns are finally on the cusp of something good!
I feel that they both had a good draft and FA period. I also feel that they have really turned a corner (yes, I said it), and look to be shedding the dysfunctional label.
the owner hired a young but respected, smart GM (Berry) and got out of the way (finally). The GM hired a young up and coming HC (Stefanski).
They had one of the most brutal tank jobs in history (thanks, Hue Jackson), but it got us a franchise player on D (Garrett) our QBOTF and the most underrated RB in the NFL. Seriously, Nick Chubb is the most awesome and humble, no-nonsense guy.
so I am very optimistic, but a part of me is still fearing a typical Brownzian collapse or implosion.
What are your thoughts as a more objective outsider, if I may ask?
I also thought the draft/FA period went very well. I think they’re on the cusp of something good. To me, it feels like they’re the Kings in 99-00- talented up and comer starting to make noise, but maybe not quite championship caliber yet. I certainly could be wrong as it feels like pieces are in place for a deep run, just depends on how some things play out. I’m positive though too. Nice feeling for a change!
This concept seems simple to me- the owner hires the gm and stays out of the way; the gm hires the coach and stays out of the way. The more synergy up and down the better and there’s collaboration, but the concept remains the same: hire people and get out of the way. If you’re fortunate, you get the Holt/Buford/Pop version of this. Browns seem to be figuring this out while the Kings…mmmm.
Oh, absolutely. I think the defense has a lot of new pieces and will need time to gel. But anotheryear of play-off experience is what I am hoping for and they should achieve that, barring injuries etc.
The infrastructure for long-term sucess seems to be there.
What’s your NFL team?
I follow the Browns. I’ve pretty much always been a casual NFL fan, as in call me when the playoffs start, but I started following the Browns after Baker was drafted.
Somewhere, sometime before that draft, I read an interesting piece by this guy who analyzed the the big name qbs in that class by the standards he felt qbs needed to be able to achieve success in the nfl. Really interesting piece and he rated Baker the highest of the guys coming out that year, so I was intrigued by where he would go and how it would turn out. Throw in the similar fan base of loyal, long suffering fans and a franchise that appeared to be moving in the right direction at the time and I got pulled in.
Guess I picked a good time to be a Browns fan! That Kitchens season though. Oof.
maybe. That certainly was the case that in his Apathy article and I really emphasize with that. It also was the case in enjoy the wins which exposed what I think are some of the flaws of tanking, that people have to struggle to rationalize rooting for their own team. Again, I felt empathy for his conflicted sentiments which I believe are shared by many pro-tankers. So probably here, you’re right that Greg is not trying to wield some masterful rhetoric over us. Nonetheless I wanted to point out what I felt were false presumptions.
Just because you don’t agree with that view doesn’t mean that view fails to exist.
I don’t think it does. People are happy to see them win any game, and so am I, but that 10 seed is practically out of reach now. All the Spurs have to do is win one game. Anyway, I would have pasted my last comment here; I must have started writing it before this comment of yours appeared.
The sentiment exists among some Kings fans. It’s not a common sentiment here, but it’s certainly there on twitter and different forums.
Oh, well I can’t fault someone for wanting to win. I wanted the Kings to win the last games against OKC also, even though they are at the level of a summer league team now.
I’m still hopeful for the play-in!
Ha ha. Probably not optimistic though. should have said optimistic instead of hopeful. But breaking right? And getting buckets on poku?
Definitely not optimistic. And I do think more people would allow themselves to be hopeful if they knew making the play-in wouldn’t have an impact on the decision to fire/retain Walton.
No impact at all. Walton likely back next year for continuity and financial reasons.
Financial? Sure. Continuity?
Well, I suppose nine-game losing streaks are continuous.
We continue to have a millionaire owner in a billionares league
As is fan suffering.
Yeah feels like it which is kinda depressing. I know everyone here including myself thought that Luke would certainly be gone after this season but IDK man, for some reason it feels like they won’t fire Luke after this season whether we make the play-in or not.
Unless a very good coach becomes available after the playoffs like a Terry Stotts or a Mike Budenholzer. Of course my choice would be to hire an up and coming top assistant like a Wes Unseld Jr, David Vanterpool, or even Kenny Atkinson.
My guess is and I hope I’m wrong but it seems that Luke would still be the coach going into next season. FO, Ownership and local media would spin it as the same old story for the past decade about the Kings looking good at the end of the season and winning 7 out of 10 and if it was a regular 82 season game we would have definitely made the play-in.
We’re all going to be having this exact same conversation in a year.
T O T A L L Y
They’ll have the gall to come out and say that they are losing money and can’t afford to make any moves right now!
That’s another absurdity right there: rooting against one’s team because of worries that wins might lead to bad decisions. Thank you for that nugget.
I wouldn’t have given a damn if they’d gone 9-63 if it meant Walton was out.
i know everyone wants Luke to go (except their star player) but he still has the best winning percentage than any other coach since Adelman. I know the defense has been beyond dismal but the offense is a different story. The defense has been much improved in the past ten games, it would be nice if that was regular thing. I would not be surprised if Luke is the coach next season.
His team has gotten worse each of his two seasons (compared to the team he took over). I think the “best winning percentage outside of Adelman” is a red herring.
It’s a useful metric when applied to literally any other team in any sport at any level.
Adelman was a great head coach. The rankings after that would need to begin at around twenty in order to properly convey what’s happened here.
I think I’m leaning toward the idea that Luke Walton will get you exactly as many wins as the talent warrants. Unless the talent is Lebron James and he is actively trying to get you fired.
If you’re saying that we need to acquire Lebron James, I’m on board.
I don’t think this is the compliment you suggest.
Our long national nightmare is about to be over?
Which one?
Duct, or duck? You decide.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/52151/it-duck-tape-or-duct-tape
Fuct.
Luke needs to go AS SOON as the season is done. Pay for an outstandingly competent coach. Pay the man because the next coach will be who leads us back to the playoffs consistently. If we can pick up a few more pieces during free agency, I believe we make the playoffs next year. They need a summer together in the gym. Getting after it. We don’t have a bad team. We have bad coaching and bad ownership.
I think the problem begins and ends at PAY. I my opinion, we are grossly underestimating the Kings financial woes right now. This summer will tell us so much.
Lol
EDIT: This isn’t a slight on Greg, rather this is my whole view on the Ranadive era.
Fired Malone for not winning, Lol.
PDA era dysfunction (Stauskas) Lol.
Vlade hired, Omegalul.
Unprotected Draft picks, Lol.
“two days ago,” Lol.
Joerger fired, Lol.
Luka, LOL.
Walton, LUL.
Brief “re-tool.” Lol.
Sure does seem to be a lot of unappreciated effort that Vivek has put forward to build this franchise to what it is today. ð
We can take away that this isn’t the first time the kangz have finished well down the stretch, when other teams have lost interest. Means nothing. And that Walton will be back.
Treasure this moment folks:
TKH should make shirts to commemorate the occasion
We’re dominating the WC bottom-feeders! ð¤ð¤
Kinda sucks to tell it like it is but that’s what you gotta do, this article is how I feel. I’m excited we have Fox and Rese but there’s not much beyond that of just same old Kangz losing ways. We gotta do better and soon, so tired of waiting.
(Fox & Haliburton go down, team is 7-3 in the last ten games)
I’m just wondering if you’ve seen any games in the past few weeks. I’m not suggesting everything is all better, but in regard to needing to do better and soon, I’m thinking that this is better.
I doubt that I’m alone in thinking that Sacramento wasn’t going to win more than a couple of remaining games, and that goes back to when Barnes was injured. We appear to have acquired some guys who can make a difference.
I figured they would, I simply looked at the schedule. This team has been a roller coaster all season long.
At the end of the day what matters is Monte McNairs performance going forward, especially in the draft. If he continues to make lucky draft decisions in the first round like he did with Haliburton the Kings will be on their way to the playoffs. McNair also has less pressure now with the Kings draft position sliding. With a lot more talent in this draft, there will be more guys available in the late lottery.
Also Buddy isn’t as hard to trade as most here seem to think. Barnes contract was sure to be an albatross, until suddenly it wasn’t. If things are as bad in big D as people are saying, Buddy/Bags for Zinger makes all kinds of sense. Most NBA players seem over-paid, few actually are as determined by market value. One teams trash is another teams treasure!
“lucky draft decisions”
Yeah, you can stop reading at that point.
I did
😛
Kings and Chicago currently the last two teams trying to get to the play-in. I suspect the Kings will be last team eliminated. Again, goes back to that Spurs game. I think our roster is decent and with a pretty good second unit. New coaching to develop them is imperative. What we don’t know is the state of Vivek/Kings finances. That’s a big deal.
The good: Drafted Hali; Harkless, Davis and Wright are all legitimate bench contributors; Fox is a solidly top 25 player; Metu is fun; Barnes and Holmes are steady as ever.
The bad: Most everything else.
I believe this offseason will be very quiet. Buddy and Barnes are unmoveable. Maybe, one or both can be moved at the trade deadline next season. Depending on the Kings record at that point. Kings will not be able to resign Holmes. Kings will sign Enes Kantor to a 3 year deal. Better rebounder, regardless. Bagley will also return.
Team will bank on a healthy starting lineup and revamped bench. Not sure if this is a playoff team, as is. A play in team, probably. Kings will be marginally better next year. But, not enough to be a threat to the Top 6-7 teams in the West. Kings will win anywhere from 38-43 games. Teetering between Sub .500 and .500. Kings will fall somewhere between 8-10 in the West.
VIvek will deem this progress and extend Walton another 3 years.
The most depressing and likely realistic of timelines.
This and Greg’s article sums it up best for me: Vivek will see winning some meaningless games at the end of the year as “progress”, he and Joe will sit around day-dreaming about how this reinvigorated group will be unstoppable with HB, Fox, Hali, and Barnes coming back “fully-healthy” (not so fast, Marvin…) next season, and it will be Rinse and Repeat 2.0.
Hey, but at least they’ll have some great discount ticket deals next season!
Superteam, just always below .500.
That motto just wasn’t as catchy on a t-shirt…
I agree. I think McNair either overvalues the team’s talent, is passive or both. I think the team will try and fail to acquire a star. We may some some incremental change where players are moved around for similar players, but the most likely scenario is that the team convinces itself that the bench is the problem and doesn’t do much outside of bench changes.
I go back and forth on this and I just don’t think we know.
Clearly he is not in a hurry to just make moves to change out most of the starting/main core of the roster. That could be because of what you say or it could be that he is just be patient and will pounce like a tiger when the moment is right!
I hope for the latter but as a seasoned Kings fan I am emotionally prepared for the former! 😉
100% right that we don’t know and that my opinion is based on nothing. Happy to be wrong!
After listening to the Amick interview on the CD show I take back everything I just wrote!
My favorite line from the Amick interview was, “Well if Vivek wants to pay Vlade a million bucks a year to talk to him, I guess he could do that.”
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