Are the Kings starting off the season healthy? No. Have the Kings built momentum in the off-season with impactful acquisitions, coaching changes etc.? Nope. Well, at least their starters have all gotten to coalesce over the course of suprisingly good, if not imperfect pre-season, right? RIGHT??
Missing key role players, hampered by bloated contracts for flawed stars, anchored by a coaching scheme straight out of the 90’s, the Sacramento Kings are back for another season of humiliation rituals for the players and fear-mongering around potential ping pong balls for the fans. With much of the positivity surrounding the season swirling around rookie point guard Darius Acuff Jr. (with small eddies of optimism for inexperienced, but not particularly youthful draft picks of the last two years) Kings fans have their hearts guarded, hopes stretched to their capacity and fears guarded for the season to come.
Will the Kings be the most embarrassing team in the NBA this season? Will their highly touted rookie guard live up to their draft day hype? Will their owner’s previous meddling really set back their franchise a decade?
Man, wonder what Clippers bloggers have to ask themselves today.
Who: Sacramento Kings (0-0) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (0-0)
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA
When: 7:30 PM PT / 10:30 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass
So how dire is the situation in Los Angeles tonight injury wise? Well, both Sacramento rookie standout forwards aren’t seeing the floor: Maxim Raynaud starts this season out with the knee injury he sustained in the preseason and Dylan Cardwell is out for at least another week with his strained calf. Malik Monk, somewhere between being out of shape to start camp and nursing what he’s calling an ankle injury is coming into the opener as questionable. And, well, just to feel one last pang of sadness, of course, former future team captain Ben Simmons is out after sustaining a torn Achilles tendon right after the end of preseason.
On the other side of the court, the Clippers will be without the main piece back in the Kawhi Leonard ex-communication, Brandon Ingram, who is dealing with a partially torn achilles tendon. Bradley Beal is also out, though at this point in his career we should just be getting updates when he’s actually available to play. Max Strus has a partially torn plantar fascia, Jordan Miller has a torn rotator cuff and the worst (or best) potential Wheel of Fortune answer, with every vowel in his name plus y, Yanic Konan Niederhausen, is recovering from Lisfranc surgery. Also missing from the Clippers tonight are governor Steve Ballmer, President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank and President of Business Operations Jillian Zucker, all suffering from aspiration issues.
Tonight’s game isn’t a match-up of basketball titans, to say the least. While the Kings are widely considered to be the worst team in the league by national talking heads, the Clippers are routinely sitting within striking distance of the Kings crown. The vacuum left in the wake of their high profile player exits, mixed with the general franchise malaise in the wake of the Pablo Torre curb stomping has left the Clippers in a bit of a no man’s land, with decent talent but no true franchise cornerstones and without the management incentive or resources to improve in the short term. Don’t get me wrong here: Darius Garland, Keaton Wagler and Brook Lopez are enough talent to keep the game close against this iteration of the Sacramento Kings, and I will never, ever doubt Ty Lue’s abilities to get the most of his players (and Doug Christie’s lack to do the same), but this is a very winnable opening four quarters of basketball for the Kings. Zach Lavine and Domantas Sabonis are the second and third best players on the floor tonight, and as low as that bar maybe, Darius Acuff performing like he did in the preseason and Keegan Murray winning his match-ups could be enough to overcome the expected lame duck scheming from a lame duck coaching staff. But, it’s the Kings, their defense might be the worst in the NBA in this season and ITS THE KINGS.
It’s going to be a long season, everyone. Here’s to whatever silver linings we find.
Prediction: Kings 114, Clippers 111
Would could very well be watching the two worst teams in basketball this year playing with depleted rosters tonight. What a way to celebrate the start to a new season.
Also…
I think we all know 4 starters, but who is the 5th? Is it gonna be Hunter, who looked absolutely terrible in pre-season? Precious, but wouldn’t he need to be the backup 5? Could it be Nique and the Kings run small and fast?
As to Monk, something has to be going on behind the curtain, right? All we’ve heard from the Kings is a sore ankle, but it’s been weeks! Is there some official diagnosis?
It’s pretty wild to start a season with just one PG. Who is going to backup Acuff if Monk is out.
This team is paper thin at the moment.
I expect Russ to do an “Oh Yeah” KoolAid guy burst through the wall and start tonight.
Which, if the Kings lose by 20-30 points tonight, is going to really leaving me wondering who they actually CAN beat this season.
The 9-73 record of the 1972-73 76ers keeps popping up in my brain lately. I can’t imagine why…
Wait, who are you suggesting is the best player, Nique Clifford?
I am not sure Darius Garland is in a better tier than Zach/Domas, (and I don’t mean that as super high praise of Zach/Domas!)
Losing Simmons crushed the majority of joy or intrigue of season.
I suppose watching Acuff and Keegs might be something, but that’s understand the assumption they might develop. But I doubt that with Doug at the helm.
this has all the signs of a horrible season. I wish that stupid fucking owner would just sell.
Same for me.
I know a lot of people are excited about Acuff, but ball-dominant PGs that play no defense are just about my least favorite types of NBA players to watch.
And there’s just something about the vibe he gives off that tells me he really, really doesn’t want to be here. (Not his fault, I mean who really would want to be here?)
I’m going to watch tonight. I’m not sure when (or if) I’ll watch them again this season.
Badge Legend