The Sacramento Kings take on the Boston Celtics in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League Wednesday.
The starting lineup is Isaiah Stevens, Emanuel Sharp, Alex Karaban, Jonathan Mogbo, and Dylan Cardwell. So no Darius Acuff Jr., Nique Clifford or Maxime Raynaud in this one. Sharp remains a fun watch. Let’s see if he can keep it up.
Maybe the team will play better than the awful performance against the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday, maybe not.
The game is on ESPN2.
Go Kings!
I wonder if we’ve already see the last of Acuff this summer? Oh well.
Cheer up. Karaban’s playing, and he’s great comic relief.
Somehow Vivek found a way to ruin our crown jewel in Sacramento, oberacheiving in the Summer League. Now we just never achieve lol
Shout out to Scott Perry and company for putting this stellar summer league squad together.
This offense is absolute shit. Just standing around.
It ain’t the players, folks.
It’s the Christie-Woodson offense. It’s exciting! The players also appear to not be very good.
That is true accurate analysis. Exactly what we fans need to know . Doubt Mark and Kayte give that level of insight .
How long until Doug gets his pink slip this season? Do the Kings wrap it and give it to him at Christmas?
We thought last season was bad. This season might be a sub 22 win campaign.
He’ll be back to join the post-game show and sit courtside in two years. By then he’ll be working under Bibby at Sac State.
Can’t work under Bibby at Sac State if Bibby is coaching the Kings.
Not only that, they cant stop the other team from scoring.
“Must be that current lettuce cyclosporiasis outbreak combined with the 2019 India preseason hangover followed by Covid,there is no way this franchise can, or will ever recover.”
You should have to forfeit the game if you can’t score 10 points in the first quarter. Summer league record for least points in a quarter.
Summer League Record! 4 points in a quarter! On pace for 16 in 40 minutes!
NBA 3.Doh!
Historically bad. Impressive.
Yikes
Four points in the first quarter. We are setting records.
The culture has clearly changed . Hope the culture changes again by October and may need some Pillar adjustments .
i think the culture we got was the leftovers in the back of the fridge that somebody forgot to throw out after making some yogurt
I don’t have ESPN2. Seems like a good thing because based on the comments so far, things are looking….not very good.
Didn’t even know they were even playing today. Turned on the TV in the 4th quarter, they had 58 points. Four minutes later they still only had 58 points.
Then they score 10 straight, lol.
Well, I got to see Karaban hit some threes. Maybe he isn’t useless after all. Got to see Cardwell play like he doesn’t belong even in the G league. Maybe he’s useless after all. The game got interesting after they went down by 16, but over all I really got the vibes that this summer league team plays quite a bit like the regular season team. The stank has permeated down to the summer league team. I suspect we’ll be seeing the Kangz get blown off the court repeatedly this season.
Or they’ll go down by 30 but only loose by 10 or 12 two dozen times. Hopefully there’s something for you to actually enjoy in Vegas!
Sure would be nice to have a young, innovative Head Coach and Assistant Coaches leading this rebuild. The offensive “system” is a joke (not just Summer League, but from last season as well). The defensive schemes seem to be to switch everything, but with players that aren’t switchable, and to cheat to the paint which only leaves 3pt shooters open.
It’s such an uninspiring brand of basketball to watch.
I’m sure Doug and Scott are nice guys, but they are old well, older. We know why, but I’d be more enthused if they went with younger guys who had energy ideas and and were activley looking to improve this roster
Flipping on the game in the first quarter brought an immediate smile. God I love watching this team lose. Seems to be the only way to minimize the symptoms of Vivekovirus.
Summer League takeaways –
I have not seen anything that tells me that any of these guys will ultimately succeed/ fail in relation to where they were drafted.
Acuff – Historically, guards that also create for others look better when they are playing with better players. It will be interesting to see if his shooting volume comes down a tick or two once he is on the floor with LaVine, Murray, Sabonis, etc. I didn’t see anything that had my bust sense tingling, nor did I see enough to make me think that he will crack the first team all rookie squad.
Karaban – OK, this guy has been horrific right up until yesterday’s game, and I would have preferred Baba Miller (who was available without having to trade up). That said, the book on him is that he is a smart player, and he might project to a nice core bench player. He does not create for himself, which is always the death knell for a player at summer league. Yes, his performance is far from encouraging, and yes, 29th picks miss far more often than they hit, so declaring Karaban a “bust” at this point is certainly the safe bet. But I’m not there yet. I want to see how he looks when slotted in with the real roster.
Sharp – My favorite of the group, again, related to where they were drafted. As a pure energy player he could be a steal at 45. If he can shoot consistently at all from deep, he could rocket up the depth chart.
Clifford – Man, you hope that a second year player is more dominant at VSL, and Clifford looked very spotty. Maybe he’s still trying to figure out his game and role at the NBA level. Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson weren’t yet Doug Christie and Bobby Jackson in year two, but as he is an older young player, the clock is ticking just a wee bit faster for him.
Raynaud – Honestly, he looked a bit tired and/or disinterested after playing (and playing very well) at FIBA. I think my favorite thing about him is that he has some nasty to him. I am very interested to see how he is used this season if Sabonis is still on the roster.
Mogbo – Has some definite limitations, but if he can provide any consistent energy off the bench, he’s a great find. Exactly the type of player that the Kings should be kicking the tires on right now.
Flagler – I’m not seeing the need for the two-way here compared to some of the other players, but it would not be a big deal to waive him and sign someone else if that someone comes along.
All in all, it looked like Vegas Summer League. Very uneven, inconsistent, ragged play from a bunch of guys that (a) have not played a lot / at all together, and (b) are, for the most part, more interested in getting their own than doing the things that it takes to win meaningless ballgames. The “real” Sacramento Kings are a bad team, and we saw nothing to make us think that the team will be anything but bad this season. The hope is that there are enough individual success stories (Acuff, Max, Sharp, etc.) to hold our attention and give us even a shred of optimism for the future. As many have noted, any level of optimism is difficult/impossible while the dismissive little chap is in the house.
2026-27: Watching games from home, on mute, and hoping that youth is served.
Appreciate the long post, but I have a question:
What year do you think that’s going to happen?
I think that he will mostly look like a rookie on a bad basketball team. The guess is that he will look like the median 21st century 29th pick. He’ll get on the floor for spot minutes, avg. a couple of points and maybe a rebound per game.
My biggest hope for AK is that he helps the other young players more off the court than on (AKA your “culture” guy). Otherwise, moving up to draft him makes no sense at all as there were much better basketball players available at the spot.
My biggest concern had nothing to really do with making/missing shots, creating their own offense, etc. I saw too many times lazy passes that resulted in turnovers
-Basic passes from the arc, back to the top of the 3pt line that were tipped away or stolen.
-Poor entry passes to the block that were poked away.
-Matador defense and a general malaise on that end.
Those are the things that these guys should be able to do at a higher level than shown at the professional/semi-professional level. The overall effort has looked poor, as a whole, too often. Talent has nothing to do with running back on defense. It’s effort and knowing the basics of the game.
And yes, many games will not be watched by me this season. If they are watched, the TV will be muted.
I’m thinking of not only muting the games but also having Yakety Sax on repeat blasting from my stereo. I’ll tell my kids we are watching the Washington Generals.
Sharp was my favorite of the bunch as well. He really got my attention. It makes me wonder if Perry should only draft in the second round instead of trading up into the late first. Too bad the Kings have traded away all of their future 2nd round picks. So very Kangz.
NBA Combine scrimmages > Summer League > Preseason games. In the middle of meaningless basketball. We’re atrocious right now, which means nothing for real basketball. We’ve won Summer League championships, which meant nothing for real basketball. Keegan was hot garbage his first summer league, then became a pretty good NBA player. We’re searching for brave little toasters in a landfill. It’s fictional.
These are summer reps. That’s it. If we were consistently a playoff team or a recent Finals winner, we wouldn’t give two shits about Summer League. We are constantly KANGZ full tilt because of the decades long trauma and oppression inflicted upon us.
It’s not your fault.
I used to be cautiously optimistic about the Kings, hoping for the best while knowing I would be let down, eventually.
Now I am generally pessimistic because the years of losing and ineptitude have made me see the light (it’s been lit for a while, but finally accepting it now).
It’s not our fault. They created this mindset in many fans.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m already looking ahead to 2027/2028. This season is all about dumping contracts, (hopefully) acquiring assets, and developing the youth.
And you honestly think this is the organization to accomplish these things?
Some call it pessimism. I call it realism.
OT: This gave me a good laugh. Apparently the Vegas ownership group has already applied for the trademark for the Las Vegas Jacks.
Las Vegas FanDuels
Well played, Spackler.
Classic.
Just send the Kings there, make Shaq a co-owner and rename them the Queens. Full circle.
Even the Kings’ 4 pt quarter didn’t last as a record for very long. The Hawks laid claim to the record for fewest points in a summer league quarter earlier tonight, posting just 2 pts in the first quarter of their game against the Grizzlies!
The whole league is conspiring to take every record from us!
Perhaps this would be a good mailbag question. But I’m curious to know:
Assuming there is interest in LaVine at the trade deadline, what would be a realistic return?
I am struggling to see a true contender that would be looking for LaVine’s services having many valuable assets to send back.
Would you be happy with a young player and a pick/picks?
Let’s say Pelle Larsson and two 2nds?
I suspect the new league rules have really had an impact on transactions. The days of trading players for cap room and draft picks maybe over. I suspect the Kings are stuck with Lavine, and the only way he goes is if he is bought out. I also am curious as to what deal he will get as a free agent.
My prediction is that they’re going to be riding the line of the bottom three (and lower lottery odds) all season, and they’re going to trade LaVine for Zion in a panic move.
Just a reminder Kings lost to Lakers in the 1st quarter 40-4 on Feb 4, 1987. I remember watching that game.
Phil Johnson was fired as HC a few days later, to be replaced by someone named Jerry Reynolds!
OTOH, that meager output is not the NBA record for fewest points in a quarter. Per “Grokipedia”:
It was 29-0 before the Kings scored.
Badge Legend