The last time the Kings had their standard regular season starting lineup of De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, Marvin Bagley, and Richaun Holmes healthy at the same time, Sacramento held a decent 12-12 record heading into a home game vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. The Kings have lost 7-straight games since.
But here we are: February 23rd, 2021, and the Kings are finally healthy once again. Would it make a difference against a very good (and without Kevin Durant) Brooklyn Nets team? Probably not, but you never know? That's why they play the games.
The Kings started this one with some of the most pathetic defense they've played all season, and that's saying something. Kyrie Irving and James Harden were doing whatever they wanted out there, but you expect that to some degree. What shouldn't happen is Bruce Brown beating the Kings defense down the court repeatedly for easy buckets inside. Bad, bad, bad.
This game looked over already after 8 or so minutes until Tyrese Haliburton saved the Kings to the extent that you can save a team that lost the first quarter 42-28. In 18 first-half minutes Hali dropped 18 points on 7/11 shooting from the field and 4/5 shooting from three, with 4 rebounds and 6 assists. He was also the only '+' player for the Kings in the first half at +4.
Harrison Barnes picked up his scoring a bit, too, and Sacramento smartly fed Holmes the ball in the paint repeatedly, and you know he just doesn't miss near the bucket.
This was Tyrese Haliburton's night, though. It was his brilliance that turned this game from a first quarter blowout to a respectable 72-66 Nets lead at halftime.
If Monte McNair hadn't landed Haliburton with the 12th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, this would have been a considerably more depressing season. At least we have a future Fox-Haliburton backcourt to look forward to throughout all the losing. Outside of that, there isn't a lot of good happening here. But back to the game.
The Kings did the unthinkable in the third quarter, and actually took the lead briefly after a Haliburton mid-range pull-up jumper. We're so accustomed to the Kings losing games in the third that closing the lead gap vs. the Nets here is certainly a win. With neither team playing any defense whatsoever at this stage of the game, Sacramento gave themselves an opportunity to steal a tough game on the road with one quarter remaining. If you believe in acceptable losses, the Kings were heading in that direction here.
De'Aaron Fox was pretty quiet for most of this game until the 4th quarter when he knocked down a couple of big 3s, but ultimately it was too little, too late for the Kings' best player. Fox ended the game with 27 points, but it was a bit deceiving. He wasn't much of a factor through three quarters, and you aren't going to beat this Nets team when your best player doesn't have his best game, and your highest paid player (Buddy Hield) only contributes 11 points in 36 minutes.
The Nets cruised pretty comfortably to a 127-118 win. The Kings kept it competitive in the 4th quarter but never really made Brooklyn nervous. The better team took control, and the better team won.
I'm going to call this a good loss, though. Outside of a terrible start, the Kings competed hard. Haliburton looked fantastic. Fox and Buddy didn't have their best nights. It is what it is. The Kings aren't making the playoffs this season anyway, so please excuse my indifference in the outcome. A great Tyrese Haliburton performance is enough to keep me watching for now.
Most importantly, the Kings are in sole possession of the 5th pick (pre-lottery) of the 2021 NBA Draft after tonights loss, and are quickly gaining on Houston and Cleveland.
Meanwhile, in Dallas...
LUKA. FOR. THE. WIN. 💫 pic.twitter.com/xrKnMGjzTP
— NBA (@NBA) February 24, 2021
I was enjoying Bagley’s progress and then you are there to remind me.
What could have been: Fox, Hali, and Doncic. That’s championship level.
Ok, that hurts..
Realistically, if Doncic was on this team we wouldn’t have been in a position to draft Hali.
Also, Vlade would still be GM anyways.
Not if the Kings fired Vlade before the 2018 draft.
Doubtful the Kings could have ever had those 3. It’s either Fox and Hali or Fox and Luka.
Thanks Vlade
You forgot Michael Malone as their head coach.
If it wasn’t for Haliburton, I wouldn’t be watching.
Agreed, I’m just checking box scores now to see how he did … the games are becoming pointless as usual.
This season, for a lot of teams is just a requirement. Get fans back and lets have some fun next year post pandemic.
The new coach is going to switch Hali to point Fox to Combo. I see it now.
I agree. I see Fox sliding to the off guard like N.O. moved Holiday there. Fox could be lethal off ball with his quickness, ability to cut, and new found 3pt shot.
Truth be told, they can run a combo lead guard set like Portland does, only Hali and Fox look to be better defenders.
Once Kyrie told Harden, you be the point guard and I’ll be the sg, the Nets tool off like a rocket.
Amazing that is what Jerry said in an early podcast ! Have Hali on the ball more and Fox more a 2 and move Buddy to 6th man !
Or just move Buddy.
Buddy’s value must be terrible now. Seems like Barnes and Holmes are our best trade options.
So my other team by birth is the Pistons … Thomas and Dumars did this for many years. Dumars would bring the ball up all the time. It works, you just have to have unselfish guys to do it.
Agree, I think this is where things will sit eventually.
Tank on.
Fox, Hali Holmes and Bagley playing well coupled with a loss. Sounds like a win to me.
Good minutes from DaQuan also. He has the right attitude.
This will sound outrageous but Hali was giving me shades of a slimmer and taller CP3.
Long term Hali is the primary ball handler and Fox is more of a combo when they are playing together.
That’s the way I see it too!
For a rookie to be in command of each possession like that is so impressive, hard not to get shades of Paul.
It’s crazy how often they make the one mistake they can’t make. I know the Nets are a bit of an offensive juggernaut, but there were multiple defensive laps that were basically “yeah you don’t want to leave the most accurate three point shooter in the league wide open like that.”
Also…Who says No?
This is the norm for the Kings every year, unfortunately.
If the Nets are going all in on a title run, then no one should say no. That being said, I think the Nets would really miss Brown. That kid looks like a solid defensive wing. He’s their DaQuan Jeffries.
If this were to happen, the Kings need to move Buddy as well. I don’t see how the team could go forward with Fox, Hali, Buddy and Dinwiddie locked up long term.
Dinwiddie just has one year left on his deal. It’s a player option too, so he can technically be a UFA this offseason if he wanted to be.
If we can keep Holmes, I’d prefer that.
So I’m honestly unsure why folks say we need to “keep” Holmes. They guy is a UFA this summer. The Kings have no advantage in keeping him over any other team. They can’t offer him more money, give him a longer deal, or promise him a title contention more than any other team.
Why not trade him to a contender to give him a shot, get assets for such deal, then try and re-sign him this summer?
It goes like this:
McNair: “Richaun, I’ve traded you to “said contender” for “future assets.” I feel this is best for the Kings AND you going forward. I wish you the best on you title run because we love you and want you back. Go get it! The city of Sacramento loves you and wants you back. We are going to be the first to call you in free agency if you are willing to listen. I feel you know this is a business and this is nothing personal. We want you as a Sacramento King as we build a team to contend for a title and this is the best way to do that.”
Richaun: “Sounds good, Monte. Thank you for the opportunity to earn my keep in the league and give me a shot to be a champion. I hope this also increases my value in the league. I will talk to you soon.”
Disclaimer: If Monte decides to do this, I feel I need some kind of compensation. I can be paid in beer.
this is good too
I think they do have an advantage. An extra year?
I don’t believe so. There are no Bird Rights with his deal.
Why give him an extra year (even if we could)? The going rate for players of his caliber is 2 yr $18M max if you use Harrell as a comp. Although I think Harrell has a bit more value.
I agree. The “Keep Holmes” camp is the antithesis of the “Trade Barnes” camp. Similar in age and Barnes is the more versatile and better player. And Barnes is under contract for a few more years putting him in the “playoff window” hopefully. Holmes is not under the King’s control this summer and will likely be gone for nothing. IMO it makes a lot more sense for both the Kings and Holmes to make a deal that returns assets and gives Holmes the opportunity to compete in the playoffs. Then hope you can maintain goodwill and get him back. I love Holmes as a player, but he’s a bit limited because of his size. He might get a similar deal to Harrell (2yr $18M). He’s not getting a 5 year deal.
This is good
Awesome trade. I’d take Dinwiddie for Richaun and Jelly, Nets can throw in whatever crap filler they want.
The Nets!
I love me some Dinwiddie, but not at the expense of Holmes. Put Bagley in there – deal!
if Monte has a taker for Barnes, not sure why you’d keep his salary and not play Jeffries and Woodard at this point
Why is no one questing Walton’s decision to sit Holmes the last 5 minutes? Attitude was gone. Total head scratcher.
He tweaked his ankle and why risk the tank
Okay. I feel relieved, in a way. But, knowing that, I would have considered putting DaQuan on the floor.
How about those valuable 4th quarter crunch time minutes for Marvsey
Not good, especially when two bad defenders are on the court together (Bagley and Hield) and the glue guy defenders (Holmes and Jeffries) are on the bench. Really questionable coaching move.
RQCM is Luke’s nickname.
Marvin should be playing 4th quarter crunch time minutes every night (if there’s a crunch time).
http://www.tankathon.com/mock_draft
This Jalen Green looks like a player
The more I see him, the bigger my eyes get.
Somebody on the thread is cery anti tank, down voting any pro tanking comment lol
I wonder if Leo is a lurker lol.
It’s probably Jalen Green lol
That was me. I think tanking is against the integrity of the game.
I generally agree. The problem is that if they want to protect that aspect of the integrity of the game, they have to stop incentivizing tanking. The way it is right now, if a team is out of the playoff picture, it’s borderline irresponsible of them not to do everything they can to increase their ability to win meaningful games in the future. Thus, PROMOTION/RELEGATION. Sorry, Wolves, you’re heading to the G-League!
Man, would I LOVE that idea.
Obviously, it isn’t happening. The more realistic answer is just to flop the lottery odds. Incentive non-playoff teams to win as many games as possible instead of the opposite.
I’m looking forward to the next game, only to watch the progression of this incredible rookie.
I know Woodard is a beast.
Ramsey
Vanja
Newman
How’d Fox play?
He turned it on late
can we pool our money and pay a lip reader to transcribe what Harden/Kyrie said to Haliburton after the game?
“How’s basketball Hell?”
Definitely nothing about teaming up
“Tyrese, let’s make THE BIG FOUR here in Brooklyn”
“Hey kid, where the strip clubs at in Sac?”
LOL
Harden has played in Sac enough times. He was probably the one giving the recommendations.
Here’s how to force your way out of sac….
Probably said.. Damn.. I haven’t see a Kings player go off like that since I was in middle school.
Where’s the “this is bad” guy
This is bad
Talent recognizes talent. They told Hali “Keep working, you got the goods”.
“You are going to be really good. It will be nice to see you at all star games consistently in a couple years.” Or something like that.
It seemed like Kyrie was discussing something that happened in the game.
Yeah but my thing was more fun 😃
It’s so fun to get excited about Bagley doing basic things on the basketball court while Luka hits game winners.
Really can’t thank you enough Vlade you incompetent moron.
Thank Vivek more. Moron kept the moron in his position for far too long.
It’s really hard to believe how far off Vlade was on so many transactions. But the Luka one takes the cake…unbelievable.
He was terrible no doubt… but he did trade Boogie and not give him that 200 mill extension. Which if he had and was debated at the time the team would be right in the middle of. Boogie at 40 mill a year on this team…like there is no describing how depressing and hopeless this team would be. Plus Holmes signing. As such, Vlade gets a D- from me!
I mean Boogie was great before his injury and there’s no guarantee he would’ve been injured if he was on a different team, just too many different variables at that point.
Look at it this way, if we had boogie we likely wouldn’t have had the #2 pick in 2018 so that wouldn’t have to haunt us forever
I disagree boogie was “great” pre injury. Some great stats but not sure he leads you to any wins. And entirely still could have had number two pick. We jumped up in that draft…not like boogie was doing anything but leading us to mid lottery anyway, which is where they were when they jumped. Yes variables, but looking at how many injuries he’s had seems unlikely he comes out unscathed injury wise.
It was kind of crazy to many of us that the Kings didn’t sell high on Cousins long before the potential extension was bearing down on them. They had a chance to sell high, and whiffed.
Of course, he traded Cousins 1.5 years too late, thus creating the Supermax dilemma.
Side note: Remember some of the semi-underwhelming rumors of offers for Cousins.
2015 #2, Randle, Clarkson, and “other draft assets.”
Vucevic and draft assets
Beal, Porter, Gortat
Second worst missed pick ever? Behind Bowie Jordan.
Not there yet, but there is time. 2003 with Darko over Carmelo, Bosh and Wade still holds 2nd place in my book.
Yeah. Time will tell. It’s trending that direction though.
Survey says! Why not both GIF incoming from somebody who knows how to post a GIF!
The problem is, all things Kangz are always graded on a curve … so for many of us, Marvin occasionally showing that he might be a nice player someday equates to Luka being an All-NBA player at exactly the same age.
Almost as fun as hearing Doug and Co praise Bagely and proselytize about his progress when he does something like-make a good move and almost score…..move his feet…..almost set a screen or try….
“hey kiddo, if Vlade was still the GM, you’ll be pick #13”
My new nickname for Haliburton: Sub Zero.
Haliburton is such a joy to watch. So happy to see him in a Kings uni.
Blockbuster Fantasy Trade: Fox and Barnes to Boston for Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. Who says no?
Boston because they are still stuck with Kemba’s contract and Kemba and Fox can’t play together at least in closing time. Now if they were able to unload Kemba’s contract who knows. Would all depend on how much Boston would want to shake up the dynamic of their team. Brown is on a considerable cheaper extension than Fox too.
If I’m the Kings I call it in as fast as I can and let Hali take over point.
Kemba’s salary is a problem, but Celts are in a nosedive and the window is quickly closing. Fox completely shakes up the situation and Ainge needs to make a splash. It won’t happen, but it’s a fun thought.
Okay, lets have even more fun: We take Kemba back and hope he returns to form. We add in Hield and Cojo to shed more salary. Unbelievably, the trade works.
If it’s Bagley and Barnes – deal!
I already said fox for brown earlier in the season
Here’s a Spongebob sticker for you.
I say yes. Hali and Brown backcourt would be a terror.
I’ll have what she’s having.
Can you imagine an alternative universe, where Spurs take Hali with 11th pick? With Pop as his coach and that style of play, I bet he’d be getting compared to Luka. Sure gives you hope for the future knowing that he’s playing like a star for a shit coach, shit system and shit roster.
Once Tyrese started dropping on draft night (every mock I saw had him going 7 or higher), I was positive the Spurs would take him at 11 – savvy organization, high BBIQ player, perfect match … and I was legitimately shocked that they didn’t pick him.
But instantly my shock turned to grief when I realized we were too fuckin stupid to take him, and then elation moments later when we actually did.
What a roller coaster, I’m crapping you negative.
Haha I like to go back and look at draft grades and specifically 2012 and 2013 draft. From what I read, we had our guy picked out. Lillard in 12 and McCollum in 13 but both years there was “top tier” guy falling and of course we picked those players instead of going with our guy. While I love to throw out my GM opinion, I do not envy the people that hold those positions. I can’t imagine a more mentally stressful job.
Love me some Tyrese but NBA.com rookie rankings did rightly call him out for not getting to the foul line. It’s the one thing I’m not liking so far but he has plenty of time to bulk up, learn to take contact, and hopefully get more calls (seems to be getting rookie treatment at this point). We need this pick, I’m all in for tanking, final answer.
I think he will, he’s starting to get more comfortable on offense
DaQuantum Physics!
CoJo’s “defense” is an added bonus.
This is a pretty crazy on/off:
Haliburton’s eFG% when he’s the floor with Fox and Holmes is 72.1, and his AST/TO ratio is 5.0. That’s pretty good.
It’s amazing what a competent pick and roll big can do for a team.
It’s a trip though to see that big of a swing. ~480 total minutes is a pretty decent sample size.
With every Boston loss you know Ainge is starting to feel the pressure.
It just makes me that much more hopefully he finally loosens the butt hole and let’s someone else win a trade… In slips McNair
…. Not that there’s anything wrong with that
-Seinfeld
Who cares what Luka did? I wonder if Suns fan forlorn this hard for him. It’s going to be a long time before the Mavs make the playoffs again and they gave up the assets to rebuild getting Porzingus, who is always injured, and is about as inconsistent as it gets. Who says Divac wouldn’t have done a similarly dumb all in kind of play? As a whole I like the Kings roster and position moving forward over the Mavs.
In regards to the game I liked that they kept it competitive and fought hard. Seems like we got gassed at the end. In the end I’m happy with the result: getting our youth good minutes and improving our lottery odds.
Suns fans are absolutely forlorn over passing Luka but not as much as we are because their team is a lot better. And the Mavs made the playoffs last season. And they’re probably going to make it again this season as well. They’re a game out right now and they’re finally healthy/not missing half their team due to Covid. Liking the Kings roster more than theirs is silly. I’d trade the entire Kings roster for Luka right now and I just wrote a post talking about how much I love Tyrese Haliburton.
Trading the whole Kings roster for Luka is about as silly as it gets…not even taking into consideration that they have crap draft assets moving forward too.
Actually it’s not. You clear the cap sheets completely which is great. And then you fill out the roster with G leaguers so the team is bad this year and we get a top 4 pick to pair with Luka! Re sign Holmes this summer with all that extra cap space and a few vets and we’re good to go!
No it actually is. Let’s take a guy that would be 10th on the team in FG%, 8th on the team in 3pt %, and 1st in shot attempts….and trade the whole roster for him. And he’s terrible on defense. It would be extra silly, you guys are just distracted by the flashy aggregate numbers.
I think if you would swap Fox with Luka last season, the Mavs miss the play-offs and the Kings make it.
The only reason that I have doubts is that I seriously think Walton would be capable of fucking it up.
I don’t disagree with that statement. But that’s a Fox for Luka exchange. I don’t particularly like Luka or his high usage offense and poor defensive game, but I’d still probably trade him for any 2 players on the Kings. Two. Not the whole roster, and certainly not for the Mavs overall situation where they’re without considerable draft assets.
That’s one of the shallower analyses I’ve seen. Nice work.