Update: 9:45 p.m.
The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Sacramento Kings 139-118 Thursday. The loss was Sacramento’s second in a row and puts the Kings at 18-53 on the season.
The Sixers had 32 assists and only 9 turnovers. The Kings stellar defense at work there. Philadelphia also had 21 fast break points to the Kings. The Kings stellar transition defense at work there. The Kings shot 69% from the free throw line. Because of course they did.
On a positive note, Maxime Raynaud scored 30 points, his second game in a row of 30 points or more. Daeqwon Plowden scored 20 points in 31 minutes as a starter. Malik Monk left the game with a right shoulder injury.
VJ Edgecombe dropped 38 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds for the Sixers.
Next up: The tanking 17-52 Brooklyn Nets.
From Earlier Preview:
Sacramento hosts the most prolific tankers in NBA history tonight – the Philadelphia 76ers. Let’s get to it.
Who: Sacramento Kings (18-52) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (37-32)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
I don’t have much to say about this game, so allow me one moment to complain about something tangentially related to the 76ers: Jared McCain.
McCain was having a great rookie season with the 76ers before suffering an unfortunate series of injuries that both put him on the shelf, and tanked his value around the league. By the end of his run in Philadelphia, the 76ers had essentially given up on the 21-year old guard.
Back in February, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a handful of weakish draft selections. The best asset was Houston’s 2026 first round pick, currently slotted at 22nd overall. Well, it turns out McCain is still a very promising prospect. He’s putting up some excellent numbers with OKC right now. Sam Presti is too good at this.
I won’t tell you the Kings could have easily beat that offer, but they could have beat that offer. And these sorts of trading opportunities – distressed young assets – are exactly what the Kings should have been pursuing from the moment Monte McNair was out, and the new regime took over. Instead, Scott Perry has opted for veteran acquisitions. Dennis Schroder. DeAndre Hunter. Drew Eubanks. Russell Westbrook. Sick.
Anyway, good luck to the tank tonight.
Prediction: Kings 118, 76ers 108.
The Sixers sometimes look like contenders;
No Embiid makes them simply pretenders.
Both teams just lost bad—
Both teams’ efforts were sad.
Let’s mark Vivek with “Return to Sender”!
+1 A matter of trust…
https://craftednba.com/strength-of-schedule. Is interesting to compare remaining strength of schedule analysis for the tank teams.
“It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!”
Don’t know how yall still watch and LISTEN to the games. Clown show between Jones and Kayte.
Ha! Just for some perspective, here’s a comment I noticed on “SLC Dunk”—the Jazz blog—the other day:
Lol.
Jordan Pope would be a nice second round pick. Shoots well with range, handles the ball securely, sees the court well and plays decent defense.
Staying optimistic. With a little luck in the draft this can turnaround quickly.
Let’s say we get Boozer and do nothing else. Sabonis, Murray, Boozer, Raynaud, Clifford is a good nucleus.
Boozer would be a great fit. If not Kingston Flemmings would also be a great fit at point guard for the future. We sure need one. Has all the tools and can play defense. Just an idea. If we could trade Sabonis to the Magic for Suggs and Howard you now have a one two punch as really good defenders. Add Murray to the mix now you have 3 ( Flemmings, Suggs, Murray) really good defenders. Exactly what we deed. All 3 are good offensive players too. Good start for the rebuild.
Boozer is so ground bound. It’s going to be interesting to see how his game translates. He’s skilled for sure and worth a top 3 pick.
Kingston Flemmings stats: 28 minutes, 18 pts., 8 for 12 from the field, perfect 6 for 6 in the first half, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Not to bad.
I watched a good chunk of that Duke game. Boozer reminds me of a more traditional PF years gone by. I got some LeMarcus Aldridge vibes from him yesterday. He’s not really an above the rim player, but has skilled feet and a polished game, but by no means a rim protector.
I too and wondering how he will transition to the modern NBA. The current NBAer I might comp him to is KAT, but without the rim protection.
I think he may wind up being a better shooting Paolo Banchero.
Dude has won and excelled at every level, and he’s still only 18.
If your front line was a rim running shot blocker, Boozer and Keegan, you’d have something interesting there – you’d have to support that with a better than solid back court. Alas, there is no silver bullet in this draft that will fix the numerous roster issues, not the singular ownership issue.
Man I love that Aldridge comp, forgot about him and he’s one of my fave players of all time.
Boozer is good but has limited ceiling. Kings need a PG. Unless they get luck and get in top 4 with ping pong balls where I would, alas, take AJ or Boozer, in some ways I would prefer Flemings or Acuff.
Flemings is really good. Acuff does not play much D but has been the best statistical PG in Calipari’s career- over Fox, SGA, Jamal, Dillingham, Maxey etc.
Every successful team needs a PG with very few exceptions
Get the PG
The Kings need talent. The Kings need size. The Kings need shooting. The Kings need athleticism.
Singling out a PG as their biggest need seems like a fool’s erand to me. What they need is a franchise cornerstone to build around.
But whatever. They won’t know what to do even if they stumble into one.
Agreed. Kings are not in a position to draft for specific needs, just draft the player you think has the highest cieling.
If you want size then trade Monk and Carter and the Kings 41 second rounder for Kuminga. I disagree friendly on the point guard situation. IMO a franchise point guard is more important than any other position on a team for a lot of reasons I won’t mention here. My first pick other than a top 3 ( Boozer is my choice) would be Kingston Flemmings then Keaton Wagler. Both would be the starting point guard for the Kings for the future.
You get the best player available at this point. I think your assessment of Boozer is premature and without merit.
Suggs gets hurt too much
That’s not a bad thought but I’m not sure with the contracts we have there’s a good trade out there for us. This upcoming draft appears to have a lot of talent and one of the top 3 or 4:guys can go a long way to getting things on the right track. As we approach next seasons mid year trade deadline, we may be in a better position to make a positive trade.
Next offseason when much of the payroll comes off the books we may be able to take on a bad contract for some draft capital. I want to keep Sabonis for now and see how the team develops. Boozer, Murray, Sabonis, Clifford, and Raynoud will at least make us somewhat interesting to watch. Maybe also find a couple of undrafted sleepers like Jordan Pope on Texas and we would be fun to watch.
Nice game for Jordan Pope in Texas’ upset victory over Gonzaga. Led the team in scoring from the point guard position and didn’t commit one turnover. All that playing with a bad foot. He’d be a nice acquisition as an undrafted free agent or late second round pick. Playing as well as any point guard in the tournament right now.
could use a sweep at hands of Nets
Nets now list Michael Porter Jr. as out for for 2-3 weeks. Nice timing on their part before they face tank Kangz.
no surprise there. all nets are out, at least the ones who we have heard of.
Nets are comical. Whiffed on all five of their FRP’s from last off season haha.
I feel it’s way too early to make that declaration I like all of their rookies, and it was 4 of them. Denim just turned 20, is a 6’8″ PG in the mold of Josh Giddey. Saraf and Traore are still just 19. Danny Wolf seems like a solid role player and is also just 21. That’s four dudes who are younger than anyone on the Kings.
We’ll get to see 3 of them in action tomorrow.
Of course it’s early, but none of the four have shown anything.
Kings lost, Utah won. Tank improves.
Haven’t been online almost the entire season. Been paying attention but haven’t really been inspired.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to the draft lottery and draft, I’m also very happy for De’Aaron and Harrison Barnes. They are so lucky to be able to play with Wemby and go deep into the playoffs.
We’ll see how deep they can go in the playoffs this season. A lot of experienced teams in the West. This iteration of the Spurs has yet to earn their playoff lumps.
All I hear from NBA talking heads and podcasters is that the league is loaded with talent and therefore expansion is a no brainer.
However, looking at daily box scores I see a ton of teams getting blown out on the regular.
Seems to me there isn’t as much talent in the NbA as the yappers would like you to believe.
Having said that, SEA deserves a team, LV not so much. Hopefully expansion brings about realignment with 8 four team divisions.
The season is just too long. A ton of the non-playoff teams are listing players as out for the season. Indy just did with Zubac. Nets list Demin as out until summer league with a non-surgical procedure for Plantar Fasciitis…whatever that means.
If the bottom 8 teams were playoff contenders, I wager a ton of their rosters would still be playing.
I know these bad teams killed my fantasy rosters. No point in getting guys on bad teams who put up good stats if they are going to sit from March until the end of the season.
The non-surgical procedure for plantar fasciitis is…rest, of course!
non surgical plantar fascia treatment is anti-inflammatories, rest, ice/heat and deep ultra sound wave therapy.
sort of waht any of us would do at home, just to play another day at the gym
Zubac playing is like Trae Young playing- window dressing then a long rest for no reason
there ar 8-9 teams deep into the active tank and another dozen on the selected tank. This dilutes the talent for each game and makes for lopsided box scores. If all the teams actually played, expansion makes sense.
Expansion may actually increase tanking since the middle of the standings is just so bogged down.
The NBA has a bunch of problems right now. From tanking to players resting and all the dumb nonsense they’ve added like the IST. Silver has bombed as commish and should step down.
The league is at the lowest point O can remember, it’s become unwatchable until you get to RD2 of the playoffs.
Adding two teams to this mess has the chance to worsen an already declining product.
Going direct inverse and no lotto would reduce tanking because only 2-4 teams are ever close enough for dead last, those teams in 4-10 range wouldn’t have a reason to do it
Well said. This commissioner has not served the league well IMO
Last night was a good night with a Jazz win. Jazz have the Wizards and the depleted Sixers
but those depleted Sixers rose up to defeat the mighty kings.
Wiz vs. Jazz- someone has to win unless Silver lets both declare a loss. Is 0 to 0 tie a loss or win?
OKC wanted McClain- he is the new Isiah Joe.
They have so many picks it is sick. They gave up one, a alte first round one for a guy worth more than that.
OKC wins.
Plowden vs. Ellis:
P 25 minutes, 9 pts, 3 reb, 1 assist, .7 steal 41% from floor, 31 from 3 and 85 FT
E 25 minutes, 8 pts, 3 reb, 1.7 assists, 1.4 steal 50% from floor, 39 from 3 and 80 FT
I was hoping for better DP performance
Have to lose 2 to Nets but the Nets are playing G league drop outs.
Let them score then don’t shoot. At all.
For what it’s worth two power forwards worth trying to get in free agency this summer Tari Eason and Jonathan Kuminga. Both would be starters.
Kings have zero cap space this summer.
I am enjoying the new Grant Napear show.
What about a trade package sending Monk and Carter with our 41st, second round pick this year for the Hawks Jonathan Kuminga?
I definitely prefer mustard on a burger over anything else.
Thanks Bill. I aim to please!
Minutes to tipoff for Nets vs Kings and no Preview/Gane thread, so
From Brooklyn the Nets just flew in;
Neither team should be wanting to win.
When our tank got stalled,
Many fans were appalled.
Time to oust Vivek, kith and kin!
Kings Win!
I don’t think! Is the right reaction. Unless you’re being sarcastic.
Just the dumbest organization and coach of all time. Literally doing his best to win. Substituting offense for defense at the end of the game. Playing veterans longer than he should.
I hate this owner. I hate this coach. I hate this organization. I like the king’s Harald.
Yes sarcasm is in play.
Badge Legend