The Sacramento Kings got a much-needed convincing victory Monday, thumping the Charlotte Hornets 130-88 thanks to red hot three-point shooting from Zach LaVine. The Kings came into the game off an embarrassing loss to the Golden State Warriors, while the Hornets came into the game with a 13-41 record and in the 7th game of a nine-game road trip.
The Kings built up a nice lead in the first half 65-45 thanks to 57% from three and 17 assists. LaVine hinted at what was to come later by dropping in 20 in the first half. DeMar DeRozan added 12 points and 5 rebounds in the first half. The Kings defense held the Hornets to 36% as Charlotte struggled to find any offensive rhythm. Miles Bridges did manage 16 points, however.
In the third quarter, the Kings offense stalled out a bit and the Hornets pulled to within 9 points as a result of some sloppy play by the Kings. They gained their footing toward the end of the quarter with a Trey Lyles three and a shot at the buzzer by LaVine.
The fourth was owned by LaVine who had the game pretty much wrapped up midway through the period. Heat check after heat check from long distance hit nothing but net. This was his best game as a King so far as he finished 8-9 from three and 42 points. His shooting propelled the Kings to a 25-3 fourth quarter run, which put the game out of reach and led Doug Christie to insert the bench midway through. LaVine looked like the was having a good time, and why wouldn’t he? As the starters headed to the bench, they were all smiles.
It was a refreshing moment after the team stumbled out of the All Star Break. The Kings are in 10th place and 1 game behind the Warriors.
The Good
- Zach LaVine’s Scoring Explosion: In just 31 minutes, he scored 42 points on 16-19 from the floor and 8-9 from three. He added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He was a +36 on the night. That fourth quarter was a fun moment for the team and the fans to experience.
- Ball movement: Christie’s team meeting after the Warriors loss seemed to help for at least this game (hopefully more), as the ball was moving. The team finished with 30 assists. They did have 18 turnovers, but only allowed 13 points off them, compared to the 30 points the Kings scored off the Hornets 19 turnovers.
- Defense and rebounding: The Hornets were held to 34% from the field and 25% from three. The Kings scored 31 fast break points compared the Hornets 10. The Kings won the rebounding battle 49-37 and points in the paint 50-38. Complete domination.
- Bench production: The Kings bench outscored the Hornets bench 40-24. Markelle Fultz logged 18 minutes and finished a +12 on 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assist. Trey Lyles finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Jonas Valanciunas added 6 points and 8 rebounds. Devin Carter got some late run (7 minutes) and scored 9 points on 3-5 from the field.
The Bad
- LaMelo Ball: He finished a -32 on the night, going 3-13 from the field and 1-7 from three.
- Sabonis and Monk turnovers: They both had productive games – Sabonis a little less than his usual self at 7 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists; and Monk had 13 points and 10 assists, but they combined for 9 turnovers.
- Doug McDermott: Should probably cut him a little slack given his playing time, but he had 0’s across the stat sheet in 7 minutes other than 1 turnover.
The Ugly
- Keon Ellis left the game with a right ankle injury. (It is worth noting Christie subbed him in Monk quickly in the first quarter.) We’ll update you when there is news on Ellis’ injury. Here is to hoping everything is OK.
Up Next
The Kings will look to keep the momentum going against the Jazz in Utah Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Have to find a way to get Domas more shots. Should be getting 15-20 shots a night not 7.
That’s one of the issues moving forward. Monk, DDR, Lavine, Domas all needs shots, and distributing them more evenly each game. If one of them gets hot, then the others will have less shots. Then add in that Keegan probably needs 10-12 shots a game, and Ellis somewhere around the 10 range. It’s a good problem to have, so long as the shots aren’t being chucked by a player having a bad game.
He only once in his career averaged more than 14 shots per game (14.6 in his last season at Indiana). He’s just not a chucker, for good and for bad. I don’t think he’ll change in that regard at this point in his career.
But yes, 7 shot attempts is too few.
His usage this season is the lowest since his rookie year. I agree it probably won’t change. But it should. It would help the team for him to be getting more than 13 FGA/game
Yeah, usage is another matter. I do think he needs the ball in his hands more.
Good to see the team start with a defensive focus and Zach play like a star .
It was fun to be on the giving end of a Klay Thompson heater. LaVine’s 4th qtr. run made me LOL.
Those heat checks were hilarious and awesome.
I can live with a few turnovers by Sabonis and Monk because their aggressiveness and attitude for playmaking are important.
I went into this game with low expectations. It’s a bit of a lose-lose scenario. If you win, it’s just the lowly Hornets and disproves none of the negative views I and many others have about the direction of this team. If you lose, it emphatically validates the negative views. I expected the Kings would win, but not in a convincing fashion.
The Kings, for the first time in a while, truly exceeded my expectations for them in a game. That was such an emphatic win. And while it’s still just the lowly Hornets, and while I still maintain my concerns about this roster construction and the overall direction of this franchise, that was a really fun win and I enjoyed the hell out of that game.
I’d prefer the Kings lose and keep their pick and maybe luck into a franchise-fixing talent, but I still want to enjoy the wins along the way, especially when a player has a big, fun night like LaVine did. I have to enjoy those moments when they come along.
I am beyond disappointed that Zach LaVine was the primary return piece in the De’Aaron Fox trade, but that has to do with a lot of issues around his contract and fit with the roster and the direction and goals of the team as whole. Zach LaVine, despite all those things, reminded us how talented he is, and that’s better than what he showed us in his first few games as a King. I’m sure that felt good for him, and hopefully that confidence boost can carry over in the games to come. No matter how I feel about the direction of the team, at the end of the day I still enjoy watching wins more than losses and will always root for the Kings to prove my pessimistic ass wrong.
I don’t get the people that don’t think Lavine fits the roster, the true issue with fit is Demar, he cannot play in a system. Lavine can absolutely play in a flow system, he is not a ball stopper, is an effecient scorer, and has the athleticism to be an average defender on a team with some other defenders like keon/murray.
He likely knows he won’t get another max deal so I can see him sign an extension for the 30-35 mil range and secure his future.
This franchise needs to convince monk that his role is 6th man, and if that isn’t possible he has value around the league and we need to trade him. Then they need to just get off of Demars contract.
Move forward with Fultz, carter, keon, hopefully monk, lavine, laravia, murray, sabonis and jval.
If you can package carter/pick/demar for a wing upgrade that would be great.
Offensively, I don’t think that LaVine fits any better / worse with Sabonis than did Fox. LaVine and Fox are very similar when it comes to career usage, and they have had similar PnR numbers over the years.
The divergence between the two is that LaVine has been a defensive liability over the years (whatever one’s opinion of Fox is on that end of the floor, LaVine has been worse by any eye test or measurable metric), and Fox has a much, much higher career assist percentage. In essence, by swapping out Fox for LaVine, you have fortified what was your deepest position (shooting guard) while gutting the point guard position, which, as you point out, forces Monk out of his best value role of 6th man. And once the new car smell wears off of the eight year veteran / oft injured Markell Fultz, what we’re left with is a new, substantial hole in the starting lineup.
So while I agree that LaVine may not be a wonky fit with Sabonis, he is a bit of a redundant fit with this roster. His arrival does not solve the issue of length / depth at the 3 or 4, but it does add a problem at the point, and once again creates a logjam at the 2. In that regard, the problem is not LaVine. The problem stems from whoever is responsible for this mish mosh of a roster.
I should add, LaVine does add quite a bit to the team beyond the arc, and does possess a higher career TS% than Fox.
I primarily saw it as a swap of a worse shooter, but better defender for a better shooter, but worse defender. Unfortunately, if the goal is to build around Sabonis you need need good defenders AND good shooters, not one or the other. At least LaVine provides spacing for an offense focused on Sabonis being the facilitator.
I wouldn’t be that upset if Monte somehow finds a way to move DDR for a 3 and D PG (I’m thinking a Suggs/VanVleet type player), start Keon at the 2, LaVine at the 3, Keegan at the 4, and bring Monk off of the bench. The other option is to move DDR for a 3 and D PF and slide Keegan to the 3, but I still prefer to find a real PG because Monk and LaVine as your POA defenders isn’t going to cut it going forward.
This is my line of thought, ddr needs to be moved for either upgrade at wing or pg.
A healthy Markelle Fultz going forward could be the answer at PG.
100% agree. LaVine is a heck of a scorer. And really replaces all of Fox’s scoring and is in fact a much better shooter, arguably adding some gravity. However, I think the divergence is:
Passing volume and quality: Fox has had a 25-29% assist rate the last 3 years and a 2.2-2.4 A/T, whereas, LaVine has had a 17-20% assist rate and 1.6 A/T all 3 seasons.
Defense: As you said, worse by eyeballs and effort (hate LaVine’s upright stance), but also with advanced metrics, Fox has had a 0.1 to -0.9 DBPM the last three seasons and LaVine a -0.7 to -1.4.
Pressure on the rim: Both take similar amounts of shots (Fox actually takes a few more), but Fox shoots about 42% of his shots inside of 10 feet and 32% from three, whereas Zach shoots about 31% inside of 10 feet and 44% from three. Makes for a very different effect on the offense and how they pressure the defense.
Redundance: On this team, Fox’s creation was just more important. LaVine gives us another player better at finding his own shot, which we already have in Monk, DDR, and Sabonis. We need more defenders who are credible offensive players and while Fox wasn’t a shutdown defender, it does hurt to get worse in this area while duplicating skills we have.
Contract and Age: Less pure playing style, but it is a bitter pill to grab someone turning 30 and making $47M and $49M the next two seasons.
LaVine certainly isn’t bad or talentless. But he is a very unique player you really need to fit the right pieces around to win. He doesn’t play the most winning style of basketball. And I am not sure it’s worth building around him.
This is comparing a shooting guard to a point guard. Not the same.
They have functionally taken over a very similar role in the offense so the comparison is appropriate. We are also starting three shooting guards so trying to fit Lavine into a position in this case doesn’t seem very helpful. Lavine is our primary scorer in the offense. So was Fox.
I would disagree wholly, I think Lavine fits significantly better if you are talking specifically with Sabonis. Yes Lavine is worse than Fox on defense but it’s not by a large margin.
Lavine isn’t redundant with this roster moving forward, that title belongs to Demar. Lavine can play the 2 or 3 with his length.
As can Demar (play the 2 or 3). Hence the redundancy. If you want to bequeath that title to DDR, so be it. I was looking at it through the lens of what the roster already had (DDR, Monk, Ellis) at the 2 and what it added (LaVine). /Shrugs.
And none of this touches on the significantly worse value LaVine is to contract that LaVine brings with him. The Bulls were willing to attach a 1st rounder to get off his contract last year. They didn’t have to do that this year – all they needed was the Kings.
Just for a thought experiment discussion:
I think we can all agree that Fox is near 100% likely to sign a max extension with the Spurs come August (he can’t sign an extension for 6 months from the trade). The max number is 4 years $229M, averaging roughly $57M per season. I should also note, that if Fox were to NOT sign an extension and instead enter free agency, the Spurs can re-sign him to a 4 year $296M at roughly $59M per season, but I think he takes the sure thing money on the table this summer.
Fox will be making over $20M more than LaVine in the 26-27 season, which will be the last of LaVine’s deal, and Fox will still be on the books for 3 years beyond that.
Had Fox decided to stay, would us fans have preferred to have him making nearly $300m through 2030 or LaVine making around $97M for the next two seasons. Could it be that was the impidus for Mote to make the trade? Take the shorter expensive deal vs the longer more expensive deal.
LaVine will make $49M (PO) at age 31 and will then come off the books in 27′. Fox will be making close to $70M at age 32 when coming off the books in 2030.
It’s a completely unknown hypothetical with injuries and performance but which is preferred, LaVine’s contract now, or Fox’s extension running longer?
Yeah, cost and expectations are always a factor.
Kings fans would have turned on super-expensive Fox quickly. We always love our players until we need them to do more than they are capable of.
Difference is Fox has been All NBA and I think engaged and with the right supporting cast could be again.
We can get on him for less effort this season, especially after Brown was fired.
To put it another way, if he came with lame effort and we were losing and he wasn’t playing well, fans would be frustrated.
But I do like the odds of him returning to his prior heights and getting way closer to justifying that contract than LaVine.
(Lavine has been to twice as many All Star games as Fox! Boom, end of discussion!)
“him returning to his prior heights”
IDK. Kings fans have been questioning Fox’s motor and ability to be a 1A for a long time now, certainly much longer than just this season when Brown was fired.
If he were making $55m+, I think those discussions get much louder and things get a lot more sour.
When you pay a guy to be an alpha and he plays like a Robin … oof …
100%. We will see. Might follow a similar trajectory as Lavine. Hits peak around 25-26 with a perfect team around him. Gets overpaid and never reached those heights again.
Only real tiebreaker for Fox there would be I feel like he’s an easier player to slot into multiple lineups, whereas, I think LaVine is just such a poor archetype that requires a much more hyper specific supporting case to be successful. Ball pounding, poor passing, poor defending wings are one of my least favorites types of players.
He isn’t a ball pounder, where does that come from lol
He’s been a bit better with us, which is part of why other than the prior game he’s scored less. But he generally has dribbled and held the ball for a good amount of time and does not pass a lot.
The numbers in paragraph 2 are not right: 4 x 59 is not 296.
Sorry, I think I meant to put 5 years.
I think that there is a far better chance than 50% that Vivek made / greenlighted the deal to save money. For the next two seasons it is closer to a wash, when you consider that LaVine will make about $10m more than Fox next season. But I think the long term commitment was more than Vivek was willing to swallow. And the question then becomes, if not for Fox, what is the list of players that you would pay that sum, and what are the odds that the Kings ever land a player of that caliber.
These are the decisions that are made when ownership is more concerned with the bottom line than the win line.
I totally agree. Kings brass/ownership didn’t want to commit to that kind of long term money. It’s a familiar and troublesome trend. It’s more than similar to not wanting to commit to DMC. In that deal the Kings got a pick, a rookie prospect (Buddy) and expiring cap filler. In the Fox deal, the Kings actually cut salary (with Huerter included), but got 2 guaranteed first round picks and a fringe all-star as value in return.
Putting personal opinions of character aside, could it be argued that the Kings got more for Fox than they did for DMC, who in my opinion, put up better numbers with more accolades than Fox did?
Depends on what you do with the pick, and what becomes of that ’31 unprotected Minny pick? Remember, the pick was the #10 in ’17. Fox went 5th. The Kings could have selected Spida or Bam or OG at 10. They instead flipped it for the 15 and 20. John Collins was available at 15. OG, Jarrett Allen, Josh Hart were among those available at 20 (we of course went with Justin Jackson and Harry Giles). So had the dealing of Cousins, red flags and all, yielded Fox and a combination of the assets noted above, the trade would have been a huge win for the Kings.
Butterfly effect this one on your noodle. The Kings select Markannen at 5 and Spida at 10. As rookies, they have little impact on the win total, so you still luck into the #2 pick in ’18, at which point you draft Doncic.
Fox netted an overpriced good player (along with getting out of the Huerter deal), what will likely be a non-lottery 1st rounder (SA ’27), the Minny pick, and some 2nds to sell. Time will tell.
It’s a great call, dmc and fox are not nba max/supermax quality players
You can’t ignore that Cousins was widely known to be a team-wrecking cancer well before that trade happened.
Here’s my issue. This is 100% rationale. And there is a moneyball type play here where maybe the Kings don’t want to get stuck with that contract, so they quietly shop him and trade him for great value. We might be looking back in 2-3 years and praising it as a Presti type maneuver.
But holding him to the deadline, while firing the coach he had said was the only coach he wanted to play for and then watching him demand to be traded and narrow down his list to one team until all you get are a couple of meh picks and one of the worst contacts in the NBA… well, that is not Presti-like.
Basically, you are being 100% logical here. And there’s another way this could have played out where I might believe that our FO was using your rationale. However, based on how the actual situation played out, I have a hard time seeing that being the case.
$70m for Fox at 32 is what is wrong with the current CBA. Borderline all-stars making way too much money. It cripples franchises that aren’t spending well above the tax.
100% this was the belief with additional hope that lavine signs a cheaper extension knowing he isn’t getting max money contracts again. Also, Lavines game ages much better than foxs.
fox was miserable in spurs loss to the pels tonight btw
Neither. I don’t think those were the only choices. I would pick door #3 Monte – young promising player(s), filler salary and picks. I don’t buy that Fox would absolutely have waited a season and a half on the Spurs and the Spurs would absolutely have waited a season and a half on Fox, if he were traded elsewhere.
rumor mill since it didn’t happen
Yes, we all understand that it is fact when we agree with it, and rumor mill when we don’t.
If all we are left to discuss here is what we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, it will be crickets around here. Conjecture (and the occasional use of logic) is a crucial component to the conversation around here.
Sure but just saying that they were willing to attach a first rounder and no one would be willing to take that is hard to believe…I don’t think it’s the case, and don’t think it’s really close
I think that it’s very viable, when you consider his health issues coming into last summer, and the fact that he had a 3/$142m contract at that time.
Just playing the position doesn’t give them equal value or fit imo, demar is a black hole and much less athletic for team defense. It’s really not close for me who has a future with the team and who doesn’t
I don’t disagree. Also, that was not what I was discussing. I simply stated that the roster has a redundancy at one position and holes at other positions, and when they traded Fox, they created a new hole while not filling the other existing needs.
The new power forward and back up center filled two gigantic holes. A point guard is needed. Fox was playing point guard here but is actually a shooting guard.
Enter Fultz…and I’m not kidding, he looks the part of a defensive and run the offense type pg
8 year vet that can’t stay healthy is the answer? Color me very skeptical.
Neither JV or LaRavia is a power forward, and neither is a floor stretching four. The Kings still lack a viable stretch four, as well as depth at the wing.
The legit core:
Sabonis – JV
<Insert stretch four here>
Murray
LaVine, DeRozan, Monk, Ellis
<Insert point guard here>
JV is a back up center. LaRavia is always shown as a power forward and has played that as a King and everywhere else. So they got a power forward better than what they had and a very good back up center.
An All Star power forward would be ideal but we have more balance with LaRavia instead of another guard. We also have the long needed back up center. Still missing a point guard.
When I say LaVine doesn’t fit the roster, it’s not a knock on LaVine versus DeRozan or anyone else. It’s simply a statement that this current roster does not fit together. LaVine, DeRozan, and Monk do not work together. Any of those three individually are not bad. With proper roster construction you can even have success with two of them together (the Monk/Ellis/DeRozan/Keegan/Sabonis lineup has been really good this season, for example). But all three together don’t work. Whichever piece or pieces you move, a move is needed because it’s a bad roster fit as currently constructed.
It was interesting to be at the game last night and initially saddened by the starting lineup that included Monk, DDR and LaVine. But then Monk was subbed out within the first couple minutes for Keon. From an eyeball perspective, I didn’t recall the 3 being on the floor together anytime further in the game.
Yes, the three together do not work, but maybe there are rotations where you always have one of the three out of the game.
And MAYBE that will work.
You CAN make things work, but it’s really hard. Especially when you have an interim coach managing the egos of a bunch of guys who all are accomplished enough to justifiably think they should be starters and primary options.
I agree with this. DDR often fails to move the ball and when he does it is a slow often late decision.
I wish DDR could be convinced to be the microwave scorer off the bench, that role would fit his skillset better than starting with Lavine and Monk.
I thought last night—for one game—DDR was trying to facilitate others’ involvement—more than usual.
I’ve said for a while that would be his best role. Go out there and get buckets on the 2nd unit
I have cycled through losing is winning quite a bit over the years. That feels just plain wrong. The road to the bottom 12 to keep the pick is a long one.
The road to 6 or 7 is longer. At this point, my hope is 7 or 8. This team is clunky- lots of good one on one but team- who knows? This is however the type of team- added players end of year, mi-fit but talented–that can catch fire in the playoffs and win some games. Like the Mavs last year.
My “logic” is absolutely jaded. I have no faith in the organization turning the pick into anything useful – they would probably attach it to contract that they want to get out of. So yeah, might as well try to win games.
Thank you for sharing that in this forum.
absurdity gets normalized in echo chambers.
rooting for your players to win is not absurd.
Best comment I’ve seen you post in some time Greg, thanks. I’m not trying to be cynical, it’s really nice to see you, and the rest of the Kingdom haven’t grown too jaded to still enjoy a good Kings win. And thank the BB gods for it! We needed that one in the worst way. Here’s hoping for more of the same to finish this season, and beyond.
I should have been there but I had to work early. My GF took her son to his first game at G1C and he’s hooked. She sent me a picture in her new Kings jacket. So cute! Best Wishes for Keon. Go Kings!
Kings FO today:
And everyone who was at the game
uhhh.. the Suns need to get their stuff together. They are in danger of gifting the Kings the last play-in spot.
They’re currently at $188 million for the luxury tax this season, and they aren’t even a play-in team right now.
You’d think they’d figure it out but man they look bad. At least we didn’t trade fox for Beal
Such a good team tag line.
Your Sacramento Kings: At least we didn’t trade Fox for Beal!
I think the Suns are going to be the team that determines if the Kings keep or give up their pick. The Kings, IMO, are going to continue to to hover around .500 ball.
I think the Kings are going to drop below .500 once we get into March because the schedule is absolutely brutal. But as you said, the Suns are a dumpster fire of the highest order. They just keep losing to bad teams and seem to have worse vibes than any team I can recall recently.
I liked the idea that DC, rather than messing with the starting lineup, did a quick sub at the beginning of the first quarter (4 minutes in or so?). I think by handling getting Keon into the game that way, it allows a) for there to be flexibility on WHO Keon comes in for based on how they’re playing at the time, and b) might be a motivational factor which could encourage the starters to play better in order to not be the guy that Keon comes in for.
I wonder if more subs and rotational shifts might not help distribute minutes a bit easier, and leave the harder decisions for who closes the game, and that should be based on that game’s performance, primarily. I understand the nod to DDR as clutch, but if he doesn’t have it, and Lavine does, go with Lavine and Keon. If Lavine is having a bit of a slow night, go with DDR and Keon. If Monk is having a messy game, then go with Keon, DDR, and Lavine, and sit Monk. It should be a situational decision – like I feel most substitutions should be – put the best lineup for the circumstances in as much as possible.
By keeping monk, ddr, and lavine starters, it soothes their potential ego issues with coming off the bench. They get the “starter” tag, and then they get to come out and go play a better role for the team.
130 Nightly LFG 🙂
from an article by Jason Anderson in today’s Bee:
“I’ve known Zach and the way he plays and what he’s capable of,” interim Kings coach Doug Christie said. “I have had conversations, and to his credit, I thought he’s been trying to fit in, but we need him to be himself so we can figure out how to best support him. That doesn’t mean he’s going to come out and get 42 every night, but be aggressive and stay aggressive.”
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/article300902354.html#storylink=cpy
Nice win versus a meh opponent. I liked seeing Lavine have a strong game.
They need to cut out the 5-6 just brutal, bonehead turnovers they seem to have every game now.
After seeing several games now, I am convinced the trio of Monk, Lavine and DDR should not be playing together. It’s a wonky fit. 2 of 3 is OK but all 3 is bad news. In the offseason I am hoping they find a way to offload DDR hopefully to fill a need.
At what point is it accepted as common knowledge that Fox is no longer a Sacramento King?
Correlating every single current aspect of the organization to the past Fox run organization is not useful or logical. He left by his own choice.
Huh?
Likely a lot less time than it’s taking people to get over trading Hali or passing on Luka.
I’m still not over trading Webber before Peja. Webber was still good in 2005-06!
Ron Ron on that squad with Webber would have been fire!
I’m still not over picking Kenny Smith over KJ
Hard to beat the Kings trade for Derek Smith when you talk about BAD trades.
Ol’ Hop-a-long? You didn’t KNEEd to go there.
“Let’s not talk about it until it happens.”
“Well, it happened. No point in talking about it.”
My guess is that people will stop talking about it when they feel like it? That will come earlier for some, later for others. The great news is that if you’re tired of that conversation, no one is ordering you to take part in it.
I still get salty thinking about the Kings not drafting Luka from seven years ago.
I doubt I will ever not be salty about that. I remember Jonathan Givony talking incessantly about how the Kings loved Marvin Bagley and honestly thinking it was a joke right up until they drafted Bagley. I said on draft night that it would go down as one of the worst draft whiffs in NBA history and sadly, that was correct!
Up until that pick, I always argued that the worst NBA GM was still smarter than a bunch of bloggers. Once again, I was proven wrong.
I went to the G1C draft party just so I could boo the announcement.
Those reports started coming in a couple hours before the draft … brutal times!
It is a very short list of worse picks in NBA history. Milicic (‘Melo, Bosh and Wade in order after him), Bowie (Jordan and Barkley in the top 5 after him), Olowakandi (Vince, Dirk and Pierce all in the top 10 after him). A missed pick that sets you back at least a decade. At least.
How about Joe Kleine @6 directly ahead of Mullin, Schrempf and Oakley with Karl Malone going 13th?
Ha! I remember you making that argument and then immediately saying that the Kings had proved you wrong! It was the rare case where everyone outside of the people inside the Kings draft room knew that Luka was the right pick. Just an incredible unforced error that you realize was always liable to happen the second Vivek thought employing Vlade to run the team was a good idea.
Gave Vlade a contract extension after the “successful” 2018-19 season, only for Vlade to resign a year later….
When your employed by Vivek, you’re guaranteed at least two years of paid vacation time!
It was such an amazingly bad pick, I wondered what the organization knew that we didn’t. Were there medicals on Luka that were suspect? Did Bagley unveil deadly 3 point range and shot blocking during a private workout? I mean, no organization that has been as bad as long as the Kings passes up on the sure thing, right? RIGHT???
Did his mom cut his steak?
What does Fox have to do with anything? The current roster doesn’t fit together, has a very limited ceiling and almost assuredly isn’t going to make the playoffs. What does that have to do with Fox?
I was thinking about this last night as I rested my head.
5-6 years ago, if you told me the Sacramento King were playing meaningful basketball in Feb/March i’d probbly need new underwear.
as it stands we are only a few games out of the 6th seed, and currently set in the play in.
Are these goals ? no, of course not. The goal should be to attain a championship banner for these rafters. That does not mean we can’ have some fun along the way.
I think as a fan ( speaking for me personally ) we get focused so much on the “next thing” that we lose track of our actual expectations. even before the beam team year, NO ONE predicted that team was going to be good ( let alone a 3 seed ). We overachieved, but it was fun as hell.
This front office is weird, this team is weird, us fans are weird.
But by damn we’re playing basketball that means something with 45 days left in the season.. and for all the complaints i have i am sort of happy about this…
now someone get me some new underwear.
It’s easy to enjoy Kings basketball. You just need to do ONE thing:
Lowered expectations is my middle name.
just ask my wife!
In his postgame interview w/ Morgan and Deuce Levine said 3 things that resonated w/ me.
1) He wanted to fit in and not step on any toes.
2) His wife had just had their 3rd child.
3) His family was living in a hotel.
Being a military veteran I know how difficult it can be to uproot your family and move to a unfamiliar state.
Now that he’s getting settled in I think moving forward we’ll see the Zack Levine the Kings traded for.
For those that don’t understand the fit issue…
We have 3 SGs in the starting lineup & our starting PF is playing out of position. But Murray can’t slide into the SF role because one of our 3 SGs is slotted in there.
Even if you move 1 of those SGs to the bench, Murray is still playing out of position. Best case scenario is convincing DDR to come off the bench as the 6th man.
PG: Ellis
SG: Monk
SF: LaVine
PF: Murray
C: Sabonis
PG: Fultz
SG: DeRozan
SF: Laravia
PF: Lyles
C: J-Val
Carter comes in when one of the many guards is having a rough night and/or when we need some extra defense.
This is FAR from perfect. Ellis is more of a SG himself, so we are lacking a starting PG & a starting PF. To accomplish this we have to move 1 OR 2 of our SGs (who are playing out of position).
You get a PG, who goes to the bench? You get a PF, who goes to the bench?
If we get a starting PF, Murray moves to the 3. Who out of Ellis, LaVine, Monk, DDR gets the 2 remaining spots? Same question for those 4 if we get a starting PG.
Keon can’t play PG, he doesn’t have that ability unlocked yet.
i love Keon, but thats not whats toing to make this team better
Keon makes Tyreke look like Oscar Robertson when it comes to playing PG.
For a FO that has drafted a PG in the first round in 3 of the last 5 drafts while already having Fox on the roster, it’s wild that we are now debating which SG/combo guard is best suited to play the point for the starting line up!
My “favorite” FO move was spending the #9 pick on Davion, later attaching a 2nd round pick to him to get him off to Toronto, only to have Toronto deal him after a couple of months, getting a 2nd round pick in return. Recapping, the Kings gave up a 9 pick and a 2nd rounder to draft and get rid of Mitchell, and the Raptors got a pair of 2nd rounders for employing him for a couple of months. Asset mgt. vs. ass hat mgt!
And that doesn’t even include the offloading of Sasha Vezenkov – who basically walked away from his contract in a manner that best suited Toronto.
I can’t recall seeing LaVine smile and look happy until this game. I’ve never seen him express any kind of happiness for a teammate or the success of the team. He’s definitely a ‘me’ guy through and through.
Whatever you do, don’t watch Keegan Murray play!
Clearly he hates the team, himself, and everything and everyone! 🙂
Tim Duncan’d
I’m really not upset about getting rid of Fox’s weak 3 point shooting, it always drove me crazy and never sold me on him. If LaVine can ball out and we can move DDR or Monk (or both) we might have something, even a small improvement is a move in the right direction. I’ve always loved Monk but his offensive efficiency (3 ball mostly and turnovers) are questionable. I’d rather keep him than DDR but both are expendable. The DDR signing was not a wise long-term play by Monte and the Kings, he’s just too old and we weren’t pushing to contend legitimately. That was actually a move that looked good but wasn’t really, not on a roster with Monk and LaVine at least. We need some 3 and D wings as always. This team doesn’t seem to be able to change quickly enough to keep up with the rest of the league.
Unlike many, I am not much of a Malik Monk fan. His game is full of home run swings with a ton of strikeouts.
Often, he seems to purposefully make his shots more difficult, his passes more elaborate than need be. He clamors for the attention getting, highlight style play over the direct one.
I like his two man game, and his energy and swagger are infectious.
For example, his need to throw the high bounce pass last night or his three point attempts when the clock burns down at the end of a quarter, and even his MM special pizza, leave me shaking my head more often than not.
He’s got the talent, the drive and the skills- but the decision making is too “leave it on the practice floor” for me lately- he seemed to calm that fever better before the trade deadline.
I hear ya with Monk. He is basically the anti-John Stockton of point guard play.
I appreciate that he plays very hard, competes and is fearless. He can be frustrating and electrifying all within a couple minutes.
My opinion on Monk is that he walks that line between spectacular and bonehead and as a coach DC has to let him, it is what makes him special. The balancing act is to minimize the bonehead without snuffing out the spectacular.
I do give him a pass for now because he is trying to fill a role he has never had.
all of the reasons why he fits on this team, just as a super 6th man, he can’t be the teams starting PG
Much more JWill than Bibby
Monk’s attitude is something the Kings need. I loved that crazy bounce pass. If anyone else did it, I’d complain, but Monk should have the green light to do a few things like that in a game.
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