Welcome back, my fellow hopeful idiots! Those two short days of semi-meaningful Kings basketball were fun while they lasted. At least we are back to knowing where this team stands – back in basketball purgatory, right next to tonight’s opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder. After a nail-biting win against the Thunder in their first matchup, the Kings looked to make all the mamas out there proud again tonight. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings win, 126-98
Sacramento Kings: 126 PTS, 52.9% FG, 44.4% 3 PT, 83.3% FT, 29 AST, 14 TO
Oklahoma City Thunder: 98 PTS, 39.1% FG, 29.7% 3 PT, 65.5% FT, 23 AST, 14 TO
Those numbers tell most of the story. The Kings scored a lot and made a high percentage of their shots and the Thunder didn’t. A silver lining for Will: Aleksej Pokusevski finished with 13 points and five assists. However, all five of the Kings’ starters finished in double digits, along with Damian Jones, Terence Davis, and Chimezie Metu. Sorry, Will, Poku didn’t stand a chance.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- Energy & Effort: Without their stars, the one thing this squad has consistently brought every night is effort. And against weaker teams, like the Oklahoma City Thunder, this can be enough. Tonight, the Kings outworked the Thunder on both ends of the floor, swiftly cleaning up the defensive glass and crashing the offensive one for easy put back points. The Kings forced the Thunder into 14 turnovers with their defensive pressure and provided effective help side defensive coverage to contest deep drives. Their usual weakness of getting beat on the second pass after the help side arrives wasn’t exposed tonight, and the Kings’ effort and handsy coverage was enough to hold the Thunder off throughout the entire game.
- Offensive Flow: By the third quarter, the Kings had built up a 30+-point lead as their offense found a smooth flow. Bodies were moving off the ball, extra passes were made, and easy buckets were had. The Kings were able to connect on 29 assists tonight, with Buddy Hield leading with seven. It was nice to see Buddy looking to distribute more rather than prioritizing his own looks, and it worked out for the Kings.
- Mo’ Moe, Mo’ Flow: It’s always fun to trace back to who starts things off for the Kings. In prior games it has been Delon Wright or Terence Davis off the bench, and other times it has been Marvin Bagley III finding early success that gets the Kings going. Tonight it was Moe Harkless, who tied with Terence Davis for leading scorer, with 18 points. Moe poured in 12 of his points in the first quarter and gave the Kings the spark they needed to get the Thunder on their heels. Though it got him into foul trouble, Moe kept his hands active and in passing lanes and caused disruption on the defensive end which he then translated into offensive points.
The Bad:
- Moses Brown Town: The Kings only allowed 10 offensive rebounds tonight. A few could be accounted for from long shots that got away from them, but four of them were snagged by Moses Brown who fought all night long to build his own city underneath his team’s basket. Brown earned his way to the line seven times tonight after grabbing these boards, highlighting instances where the Kings fell asleep on their box out duties.
The Ugly:
- Thunder Tank: Like the Kings, the Thunder have been without their star point guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Since losing SGA, the Thunder have now lost 24 of their last 26 games. I haven’t watched the Thunder enough to know if this is a well-executed tank job, or if they are just really bad, but whatever their intentions are, they weren’t able to put together a very pretty game of basketball tonight. The Kings were able to build a comfortable 20-point lead by the end of the half and the Thunder showed little resistance throughout the entire night. On multiple occasions, the Kings were able to walk and cut their way into the paint for easy looks. The comfortable lead allowed the Kings to give some minutes to young players Jahmi’us Ramsey and Louis King, which are always welcomed.
The King of Kings
In celebration of Mother’s Day, tonight’s King of Kings crown goes to the Sacramento Kings team mom, Dr. Lydecia Holmes. Mother to our beloved Richaun Holmes, who dropped 15 points on 7-9 from the field tonight, Dr. Holmes has been a consistent bright light for this team. This season she has started one of the greatest Kings Twitter trends where she celebrates every win with a “we won” chanting video. Here’s her video from tonight:
Happy Mother’s Day! We won!! pic.twitter.com/y5ZRODPFNw
— Dr. Lydecia Holmes (@DrLydecia) May 10, 2021
For your infectious spirit, genuine fandom, and the unwavering support that only a mother can provide – Happy Mother’s Day, Dr. Lydecia Holmes! And Happy Mother’s Day to all TKH moms!
Up Next
Tuesday May 11th vs. Oklahoma City Thunder – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
Only this loser of a franchise would invite their previous GM back after his disastrous tenure crippled the franchise and set the team back a decade. I don’t give a damn what he did 20 years ago. I don’t care that his jersey is retired. Vlade Divac should never be allowed back in the city of Sacramento.
It’s a joke that the postgame show tried to sit there and excuse why it’s fine that he screwed this franchise over because he’s a legend on the only relevant team this pathetic franchise has ever put on the court.
This franchise acts like a loser in every aspect of its existence. The loyal fans deserve better then this joke of a team.
I am with you all the way!! 110%. At first, I thought the twitter pic was doctored. I said… No way this can be real. Just when you think Vivek can’t go any lower. Unprofessional and Gross. I feel sorry for Monte. I am not so sure he signed up for this.
It’s completely FUBAR. I, too, thought the image was photoshopped as there was no way in hell it could be. What a joke.
This was bad
Go check my comment on the game thread ð
My man! This was good
What’d ya expect? They hired a player, not a front office executive.
You stand up and cheer for the guy who crippled your franchise, you get what you deserve, which in our case is a big empty bin labeled accountability.
So awful.
Vlade watching a Kings game isn’t high on my “what’s wrong with the org” list. In fact, it’s not on the list.
Feels like you’re looking for things to be pissed off about. The problem isn’t Divac so much, as the guy that hired his unqualified ass.
What both you and 1951 said.
Really, We should hate Vlade Divac. You say you don’t give a damm what he did 20 years ago, maybe you weren’t there, but I was and you should give a damm. He was more that just good, he was transformative. Maybe you were not there but he helped turn around a team that was way more pathetic than the team is now. He helped turn around a team that was just horrible and turned it into one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. Some of the best basketball I ever say was with that KIngs team. He helped the Kings stand toe to toe with Kobe and Shaq and the Lakers. The excitement level of those games was amazing. Vlade was one of the great centers of the NBA.
Yes, the Kings have been incredibly poor with him as a GM. He did a poor job and made bad decisions. But to the best of my knowledge he gave it his best and worked hard but it did not work out.
Sorry all you haters but I will always have good feelings for Vlade and I would love to sit with him at a game any time.
I’m going to push back a little bit. I agree with your point where I can celebrate Vlade as a player and still despise him as a GM for the terrible job he did.
YES-we should absolutely celebrate and love Vlade for his role as 1 of key players on the best team in Sacramento history.
Where I push back…you said the team was more pathetic back then vs. now. That’s just not true. The Kings had Mitch Richmond who was a multi all star and multi all nba player. There is no one on the roster now that can say that. Corliss was young and playing well. Polynice had fun moments. Abdul Rauf missed the last part of the season with sickness. Obviously The Rock was traded for Webber in the offseason but the franchise was not as pathetic now.
The franchise is way more of a laughing stock in the league right now because of ineptitude.
They were better with Mitch, but were never over 50% with him on the team. He did help pull the team up from the 30% winning ratios
and they had two 48% win seasons with him and I think they went to to playoffs once(better than the current team). With Vlade and other the Kings became a force.
Thankfully these people are grown ups. These comments here are childish. Maybe he wasn’t the right man for the job. But I’m sure his heart and energies were all solid in his efforts to succeed. And I’m sure everyone of you have always knocked it out to the park with each and every one of your pursuits in life.
Happy Mother’s Day to Dr Homes!
Vivek you are truly a pig with no class and the absolute worst owner in the history of the NBA. I absolutely hate your guts and wish nothing but misery on you for the rest of your life or at least for the length of your bs rule over this horrible franchise that you continue to destroy.
Great username, it works for you
Donald Sterling and Ted Stepien on line 1….
Whichever team gets the #7 pick should trade it for Roby asap!
You have to wonder about the thought process of Vivek before he said:
“Sure, he can sit courtside with Monte and me. Maybe have a photo opp together. Yes, and then we can all flash the shaka sign! That would be cool. And we can do a thorough analysis of all our successes together, during a 60 second timeout.“
Previously, on ‘As The World Burns’:
“I believe Kings fans want to follow a winner. I need to make a splash. Hmmm…..how about bringing in a big name to join our ownership group: SHAQ.”
My question is, does Vivek go out of his way to ask him to come? Does vlade text him and ask if he’s got some extra tickets? Did Kings staff suggest this in a meeting? I just have so many questions about how this came about.
Has there ever been a front executive, who was fired less than a year ago, sitting back on the sideline with the owner who fired him along with his replacement? Just bizarre all the way around.
Welcome to Vivek. Or rather Vivek Ranadive I should say.
As far as the player, Vlade is a King for life. No issue with him attending games. From a PR perspective, yeah not sure it is the best move, but I am not losing sleep over it. So many more important things in life, no need to further complicate it.
Is it all Vade’s fault, or is it part scapegoat? Vivek hired him. Vivek has reportedly meddled with decision making.
Vlade was once part of the problem. Not sure that he is the root cause.
This franchise only has glory moments and hope to hold onto. 1x championship if we are talking pre-Sac days.
My frustration for this photo-paux lies squarely with Vivek.
Boy, it would be great if our owner wasn’t a jock-sniffing fan boy.
When Vlade’s contract expired here and he ran to LA to sign with the Lakers, that was it for me. All of the battles against that team, all of the hate and nastiness, and he couldn’t wait to get back to where he always wanted to be. I saw it as a betrayal, still do, and it told me everything that I needed to know about who he was.
He played for Sacramento, but was never of Sacramento.
Could someone create a Change.org petition to recall Vivek as Chaiman? I don’t care if it falls flat on its face, we need another way to voice our disgust with this arrogant, dismissive little chap.
Billboard anyone?
Our last billboard was “watered down” because the billboard companies was too chicken shit to print what we wanted 😀
BREAKING: Caitlyn Jenner to become new Sacramento Kings Chairman. Replaces Vivek Ranadive in recall effort sparked by fan Change.org petition.
The group that OKC put on the floor last nite would not win win a G league game ! Tanking 101 !
I didn’t get to watch the game but have been thinking, if the Thunder somehow land Cade, who might be the best prospect since LBJ, do they make the playoffs before the Kings?
SGA and Cade each just might be better than any current King. They also have $50M in free cap space this summer and a real threat to pay Holmes.
I can’t imagine they’ll pay Holmes with a young front court that include Bazley, Roby, Brown, Bradley, even Poku, whatever they decide to do with Horford, etc. But it’s going to be a really interesting offseason. With all their assets (picks, cap, and young interesting players) they could very easily add a top 5 pick AND acquire 2-3 high level/max players via trade or FA.
In short, if they decide to, yes I think they could very easily make the playoffs well before the Kings.
I could see then flipping those young cheap players and a handful of firsts for someone like KAT. They have so many assets in their cupboard and future cap space. I think they could turn it around very fast.
Yep, I have to imagine the Wolves want to see at least one full season with KAT, DLO, Edwards, 2021 pick together. But yeah, from an asset standpoint they could go get any theoretically available player or two (KAT, Beal, Kemba, Turner, etc.).
They will likely turn it around then sell off as players get expensive! They could have competed for the top spot this season if they had kept Paul, Adams, Grant and Gallinari ! Just sayin !
I don’t think that core gets you anywhere near the top spot. That aging core got them the 5th seed last year. They knew they wouldn’t do any better than that this year and had no additional assets to keep success going. They blew it up now to be the young an upcoming team as teams like the Lakers and Clippers age out. Excluding Horford, the oldest player on their team next year is 26, and those contracts aren’t even guaranteed.
They were smart about it and had the foresight and balls to make it happen.
They will not be fifth seed for several years and then could lose Alexander and Dort ! No guarantee and no Chris Paul’s in sight ! They blew it up due to money issues ( Maloof 2nd ) !
What kind of phone do you have? I’ve never seen one that didn’t have a period key.
I 1,000% expect OKC to make the playoffs before the kings.
Yeah, that’s what happens when you have a better coach, way more assets and cap space, a GM whose hands aren’t tied by the worst currently active owner in the league, and an actual plan for future success.
to be fair, OKC would be starting Westbrook/Harden/Durant right now if Sam Presti’s hands aren’t somewhat tied by Clay Bennett.
Part of me want to see the Nets trade Kyrie for Westbrook so we can see what could have been if OKC had kept all of their talent.
At this rate every NBA team is going to lap us in terms of postseason appearances.
Yeah, but at least we got to cheer for Vlade again.
Best prospect since LBJ???? You’re kidding right? This draft is OK at the top, has some depth but in general this is a meh draft. Better than 2020, but not better than 2019 and certainly worse than 2018. Oden, Durant, Rose, Irving, Griffin, Davis, Simmons, Ayton, Doncic, Embiid, Wiggins, and Williamson were all much better prospects than Cade. That makes Cade the best prospect since Anthony Edwards. I think Cade and Mobley are both great gets, but they don’t come with nearly the projection that any of the aforementioned had coming out of college.
I don’t think they’ll draft Cade because they don’t want to take the ball out of SGA’s hands. They’ll probably draft Evan Mobley instead.
Can we get an article on what is going on with Bagley’s minutes?
18 in the prior game (which I was told was because of poor play) and now 21 in a game against a G-League squad?
Bagley was 5-7 from the field with a +24 and we couldn’t get this guy some time on the court?
Metu got 27 minutes while shooting 4-10 with only a +4 and Jones got 21 minutes too.
It is certainly looking like the Kings are fully committed to trading him rather than giving him the time on the court that he so desperately needs.
Strange indeed. Even if they were planning on trading him, you’d think they’d give him all the minutes, especially against OKC, to show teams he still has value. Maybe the Kings are just trying to get more of a look at guys like Metu and Jones?
Yes, Bagley can maximize his minutes by playing those the OKC..and I think it would be reasonable to play him extra minutes…
But Metu had over-played him in this game, and Metu earned those minutes, I really like those quick pass from Metu right after he grabbed the rebound, and Metu has nice stroke, and shoot the 3 with confidence.
(Of course I know Bagley is younger than Metu, and Bagley might have potential, but the fact is Metu right now is a better all-round player than Bagley)
I am going to need to see your work on this one. Bagley had a higher TS% (.714 to .553), higher TRB% (22.8 to 18.1), higher AST% (13.4 to 9.5 (since you mentioned an assist from Metu), and all with lower usage rate (22.2 to 22.5) and higher ORTg (135 to 107) and much better BPM (1.9 to -5.2).
I know this is super small sample size territory here (one game) but you are claiming that Metu outplayed Bagley in this game, so how exactly did he do that?
Well, because it’s Marvin Bagley. Duh.
To my eye test, the edge of Metu over Bagley is ï¼Metu knows what to do, and when to do during his time on the court, and he is not forcing anything…
those pump-fake used by Metu works everytime, and Metu either can drive into the paint or dishes out to teammate at 3 pts line…(While Bagley cannot do that, up to this moment)
I like Metu well enough, but there’s no reason this needs to be an either/or. Play them both next year and see what happens. Davis, too.
Adding – Metu’s played 320 minutes of mostly non-consequential NBA basketball this season. Bagley’s been put into the fire a bit more.
Metu’s a bit of a try-hard. He has an interesting skillset, but I really wish he’d kinda play within himself more.
What Fake Bratz said.
Not sure if related but I heard a couple of games ago during the interview (forgot who interviewed Bagley) but he was asked if he re-injured/ aggravated his hand. Bagley just shook it off and said that he was okay.
After that Bagley’s minutes significantly drop the last couple of games so IDK. He might be playing injured or Walton just being Walton.
That would make more sense. Otherwise, the sudden plummet after a string of 30+ minute games is odd.
If news broke that Bagley somehow re-injured his had or had some other type of nagging injury after sitting for weeks, things might get ugly with the “injury prone” narrative. I bet if it were the case, the Kings and Bagley just want to keep their lips sealed and make it to the end of the season.
I don’t know, they’d still have to disclose that information to any team interested in trading for him.
Bags doesn’t need more time. He is what he is. Bench big and his D is atrocious as are his D boards, or lack thereof. Etc. .
I don’t get this idea that Bags is going to blossom into some star. Obvious the Kings don’t believe it either. Nor do all the GMs out there otherwise some type of value would be offered for Bags.
Hes not good and chances are he won’t be much better.
That certainly isn’t my idea and yet he still lacks NBA playing time to see what he is.
We know he isn’t a star. We know he wasn’t No 2 pick worthy. I don’t think we know what he really is yet though as there is still some room for growth/experience.
Bagley is on a minutes restriction. That’s why he’s not playing big minutes. It’s been mentioned several times on the broadcast.
He played over 30 minutes in the three previous games. Then all of a sudden, he can’t get more that 20 or so.
The one part of the Vlade thing that stuck out to me is kinda the juxtaposition of his interaction after the game and McNair’s. I know the situation is unique since the players/staff probably haven’t seen Vlade since he resigned, but he definitely seems to have more of a bond with those guys than McNair has. I don’t think forming those types relationships is super impactful, but I feel like it can help on the margins.
I remember reading Bogi’s interview with Amick, and he basically said McNair never even talked to him until he wished him best of luck in ATL. That stuck to me at the time. On the one hand it’s probably good to not be best friends with people you may need to fire, trade, etc. On the other, I don’t think a GM should treat the roster as collection of “assets.”
It will be interesting to see McNair’s management style. He’s a former Princeton football player, who’s known as a stats guy, and right hand man to the GM that’s known for just doing a ton of transactions. His interviews are all an interesting mix of boiler plate and lighthearted banter, but not a ton of substance. One thing that I think sometimes gets missed, is that relationships matter in this league. It matters in trades, the draft, free agency, and just making sure everyone’s organizationally pulling on the same rope. That’s why the dynamic between Dumars and McNair intrigues me. Dumars is a former player, GM and agent and obviously has a ton of relationships throughout the league. It feels like he could be a huge asset for this front office if he was the lieutenant that handles the relationship stuff for the boss. Who knows what Dumars is actually doing here though. I think Ham was the one who said the Kings basically won’t even allow him to do interviews.
Can you tell me more about what and who did Divac talk to during/after the game ?
(Where did you get those information from)
Any interview done by Divac ?
and any view from Divac about this roster now, and of course, M. Bagley….
I just saw a video on Twitter:
thanks for posting and sharing…
It’s Buddy Hield (who got a HUGE contract from Divac), and Bagley (who being drafted by Divac).. and to a less extend, Barnes, a very professional basketball player got to Vlade, and give him a hug….
p.s. I really wish someone give Divac an interview..and ask him what did he see from this team now
yeah I mean I don’t think anyone should take anything from seeing a short clip. The contrast in style between Vlade and McNair has always intrigued me though.
I get what you mean, I can see even Vivek has a better relationship with players than McNairs..
(Remember in one game, Fox hit ï½ game winner, and he high-five with Vivek, and of course Barnes did similar after his game winning shot against the Cavs)..
but itãjust seems not much interaction between McNair and the playersï¼ï¼However, I am result-orientated…McNair did a great job so far (the trade and the pick)..and I don’t care much about his relationship with players
No, you actually can’t see that. I doubt guys like Fox are thrilled to be entering their second contract with almost no realistic hope of the team being competitive at a high level.
McNair did more to improve the roster at the trade deadline than VD managed in his entire tenure. Players being pals with management isn’t part of the job description, and frankly, those relationships don’t need to be anything more than professional and reasonably cordial.
The GM has expectations of the players, and the players have expectations of the head of basketball ops. I don’t give a shit whether or not they hug, or even make eye contact. As long as there is respect earned and given from both sides, that’s the only thing that matters.
Well, you’re overstating almost as much as HK.
I mean, technically you could say that drafting Fox was more of an improvement. And these guys he got at the deadline could be our next set of Quincy Acy’s, really hard to tell at this point. We are once again in NBA garbage time.
But I do agree, we know nothing about McNair’s relationship with the players – plus who knows if it really matters?
I wasn’t as clear as I could have been. I was referring specifically to trades, and not all roster moves. I’d say VD’s trades topped out with getting Barnes, as I think he’s great to have mentoring and playing with a youngish roster. From a cost/benefit analysis, I think that getting Wright, Davis, & Harkless (a law firm) for aging vets was such a clear win that nothing from the previous regime comes close.
Wright is under contract for another year, and looks like a lock for regular rotation minutes. Davis’ option next year is super-affordable, and he really give off volume-scorer vibes with aggressive defense to boot. Harkless is a bit different, since he’s FA. I wouldn’t mind having him back, as he provides real toughness, and can defend well at three or four positions. He’s done a great job showcasing himself for a significantly better deal in free agency that he could have dreamed of in February.
A lot of possibilities for roster spots with the current group. I’d imagine that some player movement via trades will happen ahead of free agency. Ideally, you can flip 2-3 guys and maybe the first-rounder for a player that can be expected to make a big impact, and makes the Kings legitimately competitive. I don’t have anyone particular in mind, although I’d think we’d be targeting a PF or center.
One point Sims, but Terence Davis has a QO, not an option, for next season. It’s an important distinction, as I’m sure you’re aware.
For those that don’t understood, in order to make a player a restricted free agent, you must offer him a qualifying offer beforehand.
This summer will be rather interesting on alot of levels, me thinks.
Gotcha, thank you for the correction, that is a very important difference.
I can’t imagine that the org won’t make the QO as soon as it’s permitted. Davis is looking like a very nice asset, either on the roster, or as part of a transaction.
You could be looking at a similar situation as Bogi if the money TD gets on the market is more than McNair is willing to pay. The TL for offering QOs is around the time of the draft in that week timeframe. So that’s really when most of these transactions and first set of trades (prior to FA) all go down.
That said, one thing to keep in mind is that to effectively pull off a S&T, being under the cap is essential so BYC rules do not come into play. BYC, simply speaking, just means the outgoing value of the player is half of the actual salary. There’s a reason the league eliminated BYC on most player trades. And being under the cap keeps BYC from applying in a S&T transaction.
In otherwords, I would not automatically assume TD is an asset in a S&T. The good news is I doubt it will matter much. But, like I said, it’s going to be a very interesting summer.
I can’t imagine that Davis is going to draw offers anywhere in the neighborhood of what Bobo got. Still, given the cap situation as it currently sits, it will be tough for the Kings to match an offer that’s got some meat on it.
Free agency starts 2 August, a few days after the draft. That leaves a lot of time to hammer out trades beforehand, and hopefully, it’ll provide the opportunity for the Kings to get something like a starting center in place before names start getting called and fashion faux pas begin their tragic journey to meme infamy.
Kings have yet to show a willingness to go over the cap to match controlled assets in the Vivek era. Until they do, I’m not holding my breath.
In all honesty, they probably won’t need to go way too far over the cap to re-sign Davis. There’s a difference between operating as if you’re over the cap, and ultimately signing contracts that put you over the cap. I think at most the Kings will end up about $10 million over the cap, but $10 million below the luxury tax line. My back of the envelope math puts them at $125 million if they just re-sign their free agents using the exceptions at their disposal, guarantee most of their currently unguaranteed contracts, and sign their 1st and 2nd round picks. Before everyone says “but that’s a 35 win team!” I’m just talking about a specific theoretical scenario here. I assume one of Barnes/Buddy/Bagley will be gone this offseason, and the Kings may also trade their pick, so there’s a lot that’s still up in the air. My point is that re-signing Davis won’t be limited by their total operating budget.
Retaining Davis this offseason could be the end of Buddy’s tenure as a King.
this is probably the most interesting aspect of the offseason for me. Buddy’s destiny is as a super 6th man. Unfortunately, he may need to get traded to accept that. Davis is basically a poor man’s Buddy with a slightly different skillset and 5 years younger. In a perfect world the Kings could trade Buddy for the 5th starter, and re-sign Davis on a value deal.
Yeah. Fox and Haliburton are the future backcourt of the Kings which means Hield is the odd man out. I just don’t see a scenario where Hield would be happy coming off the bench. If Mcnair can secure TD to a 3-4 year deal, he would be the ideal 6th man and I would presume would cost less than what Buddy is making.
I wonder if Indiana would be willing to trade Sabonis. Maybe a package of Bagley, Buddy + 2021 FRP would get it done. Re-sign Holmes.
Fox / Wright
Haliburton / Davis / Ramsey
Barnes/ Harkless / Woodard
Sabonis/ Metu
Holmes/ Jones
I don’t even require a starter in return for Buddy. In all honesty I might prefer trading him to the Knicks into their cap space for a fat TPE. A win now Knicks team could use his shooting and the Kings free up quite a bit of space plus the TPE.
In order to get under the cap, you have to renounce all exceptions to do so. Remember that a TPE is a monetary credit the league issues teams to even out money discrepancies in trades, but is part of the Traded Player Exception. Technically, they aren’t even called TPEs. I just call them that so people don’t confuse it with the technical name of the Traded Player Exception which is how teams over the cap trade players. Most call it the 125% rule, which is also technically incorrect, but one aspect of the Traded Player Exception if we are being into this whole ‘precise’ thing today.
Either way, the only way a TPE would be of much use to the Kings is if they were over the cap.
That would be my intention. Free up the space from moving Buddy, pay to retain Holmes, extend the QO or even extend Davis, and maybe throw the remaining money at someone like Markkanen or Collins. Get over the cap then use that TPE within a calendar year to either improve the roster or eat a deal for draft compensation.
The issue is you can’t be under the cap and have the TPE. To get under the cap, you have to renounce all exceptions. The TPE is an exception.
Then how do the Kings currently have TPEs from the Nemanja and Joseph trades when they are 4 million under the cap?
Because they aren’t under the cap technically. That’s why they used the MLE (another exception) on Woodard, Ramsey, and Metu.
The Kings are in that weird place of not having more salary than the cap limit but at the same time not having enough space underneath the cap line to justify renouncing all their exceptions.
Read this. That may answer the gaps I’m not able to figure out how to explain to you atm.
Man, this is confusing. Either way I seems the Kings are in a very awkward place with their cap situation right now.
Thanks for trying to break this down for me.
It’s not really that bad. Much of the challenge is figuring out what you can and can’t do. And in this case that generally means understanding how a team actually calculates cap space.
Also, that’s why trading for a known talent is a bit more straightforward. As we saw with the Philly trade, there is risk with doing a trade to create cap space unless you’re 100% sure what you can use the space for.
the confusing part is that not renouncing the exceptions is what makes it so you operate as if you’re over the cap. So in the example I mentioned below with Holmes you’d still use an exception to sign him even though you’re technically below the cap in terms of real $$.
yeah I guess I just don’t really think a big TPE is really worth all that much for a team like the Kings. As you said, they aren’t going to go way over the cap until they’re a playoff team, if ever. So you trade Buddy for cap space, then use most of the cap space to re-sign Holmes, and possibly use a TPE at some point down the road. How is that better than just trading Buddy’s contract for an actual player and re-signing Holmes using his early bird rights?
I might agree if I hadn’t been seeing variations of this take for over a year.
Buddy Hield’s tenure as a Kings’ player will end when he is traded, or when his deal runs out. This constant expectation that he’ll be dealt any minute now has really skewed the perception on the kind of season that he’s having, which is, by objective standards, pretty good.*
*The defense team-wide is so godawful that it’s difficult to dump it on any individual player, although certainly Buddy has a lot of room to grow. Haliburton has a 118 Drtg, and in small sample sizes since coming to town, Davis and Wright are at 117 and 115, respectively.
Most of this talk just seems like an attempt to discount Hield’s value in order to justify trading him for non-equal value, evidenced by the frequent “get rid of him for anything” suggestions, which you mercifully spared me here.
To paraphrase Mr. Clemens, rumors of Buddy’s imminent departure have been greatly exaggerated.
One can hope. No need to pay a guy who will be 29 in December and should be a super sub as much as he’s getting. TD is capable enough even if he is able to give you 75% of what Buddy does.
They do and on the flippity flip relationships also do not supplant skill and execution. By all accounts, people in the org liked Vlade. By all accounts, the players like Luke Walton. That’s great and all but in the end both are/were sub-par at their respective jobs.
Thibs isn’t always the most liked guy, for example, but I bet the Knicks players are having fun right now winning more games than not!
yeah I get that. But take the Knicks for example. They have Thibs, but they also went out and hired Kenny Payne from Kentucky to be his assistant. Leon Rose, William Wesley and Scott Perry are all super connected. Their collective rolodex dwarfs McNair’s by orders of magnitude. That stuff does matter.
I don’t think we can shortchange Thibs at all. Any of his detractors have little argument right now. He ended the 14 year playoff drought in Minny and now has the Knicks ready to host a playoff series. Who would have thought that a year ago?
I’m not short changing him. I just think stuff on the margins matters for a team like Sacramento. Ultimately, winning solves a lot of issues. But go back and look at the workout videos and articles from the 2017 draft. The Kings basically had every major rookie show up for a workout due to Perry’s presence on the staff. The problem is that Vlade wasn’t able to fully capitalize on Perry’s connections. So you need someone with connections, someone capable of capitalizing on said connections, and someone capable of ultimately executing the vision. The Knicks have done a good job of creating that type of synergy.
Good point, and they did it all with a shit owner.
Wrong- it is Tibs and the rest is window dressing ! Rose hired Tibs and let him coach and bring in his players ! ( Rose and Gibson )
I’d rather have a competent GM than a friendly one. Those relationships certainly didn’t equate to much winning for the Kings during Vlade’s tenure.
Of course, the best scenario is to have a GM that has both strong suits. Don’t know enough about Monte yet to say if he’s handicapped in the relations department.
well yeah, that’s basically what I’m saying. If McNair isn’t the type of guy who spends a lot of time relationship building, then he needs to find someone who can handle the responsibility. The Kings will never compete unless they are capable of creating opportunities, and seizing upon said opportunities.
https://imgflip.com/gif/5917rc
I tend to disagree. I’m perfectly fine with the GM seeing these guys purely as assets/pieces that may or may not go to the puzzle they’re putting together, while the coaching/training staff can be friends and warm/fuzzy with the players.
well then you need to also be perfectly fine with limiting the players who are willing to consider signing/re-signing here, and having limited access to prospects during draft time.
That’s sort of been the case no matter whether we’ve had overly-friendly or seemingly “pal” type GMs (Jerry, Vlade, Pete), or the more “lack of emotion” types, Petrie, and now McNair.
The Kings are now tied for the worst points allowed per 100 possessions (116.8) with the 2017-2018 Cleveland Cavaliers. They just need a couple more sub 100 point games to allow Cleveland to retain the title of worst defense ever.
KiNgS NeEd tO rUN It BaCk wItH THis RoSteR aNd COAcH! kEEp eVerYoNE bUt BUddY!
🙂
On the flipside, the Kings are .01 points per possession away from tying the 2016-17 Utah Jazz for most efficient transition offense since stats.nba.com started tracking transition stats in 2015. The Kings actually own the record for most transition points (2250) in a season(18-19)
FWIW: Fox has confirmed COVID infection
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/kings/kings-deaaron-fox-confirms-coronavirus-diagnosis-return-unknown
just to clarify, he had a COVID infection. At this point he’s tested negative, and has rejoined the team.
WALTON!
oh boy. Jaylen Brown out for the season with a torn wrist ligament¦ bet the Celtics could use Harrison Barnes right about now¦
Badge Legend