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Kings vs. Hawks Preview: All Out in Atlanta

Can the Kings keep their one game win streak alive?!?! (Also, Bogi back.)
By | 8 Comments | Mar 13, 2021

Congratulations are in order for the Kings who come into Saturday afternoon’s game on a blazing one game win streak after blowing out a formidable, entirely healthy Houston Rockets squad in Sacramento. Now the Kings have to take to take their newly found winning ways on the road to Atlanta, where the Nate McMillan era has already gotten off to a dramatic bang after a Tony Snell buzzer beater sank the Raptors and pulled the Hawks into the 8th spot in the West. The Kings will get to see an old friend in the process: Bogdan Bogdanovic is back on the floor, semi-healthy and struggling as all hell in limited minutes. Can the Kings take advantage of their easy schedule over the next few weeks? Will the Kings bring John Collins into their locker room after the game and let Marvin Bagley find out on his own that he was the only one on the team with a one way ticket?  Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: Saturday, March 13th, 4:30 PM PST

Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

TV: NBCSCA –  Mark Jones on the call.

RadioKHTK Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

Bogi at 4 O’Clock: So lets get this out of the way early: after missing a decent amount of the season with a fractured knee, Bogdan Bogdanovic is back in the rotation for Atlanta and trying to work his way back into playing shape. In his three games since returning, things have been noticeably, well, rough. shooting 5-19 from the field in those games, including 2-14 from deep, while on a minute’s restriction of 20 minutes in those first two games back. That’s to be expected for a man returning from a injury like Bogi’s and yet if Atlanta is going to keep their head ever-so-slight above the water, they’re going to need their $72 million man back to form as soon as humanly possible. With those bottom seeds in the Eastern Conference entirely up for grabs, the Hawks start off the second half of their season with five straight games against teams with losing records, but will need to make up ground there – the next 8 games following that are all on the road against Western Conference squads, squished into a total of thirteen days and will take on the Lakers and Clippers in consecutive games. If the Hawks are going to survive that onslaught, Bogdanovic is going to need to be the Serbian Sniper of old.

Tonight’s match-up against the Hawks and particularly a former Kings favorite doesn’t give me much in the way emotions one way or another. Bogi was a favorite of mine while he was here, the man deserved more money than the Kings were willing to give him and someone’s loose lips cost the Kings Donte Divencenzo, D.J. Wilson and a proper goodbye for Bogi. Had the deal with the Bucks gone through and this game were against Milwaukee, I’d have been over the moon writing about him, rooting for him every step of the way and entirely fine with any beat down the Kings were about to take from him. The screwiness of the deal-gone-bad and the rumors of the agent meddling that led to Sacramento getting nothing in return and for Bogi to go to a situation that was less than ideal leads to a general apathy about his match-up tonight. I’m glad he got his bag o’ money, I hope he’s doing well but I don’t want Haliburton showing any mercy out there tonight. My views will obviously soften with time because he is a loveable guy and he always played his ass off for Sacramento’s fans but for now, I’m glad there’s some space.

In general, the game tonight is going to come down to rebounding and free throws. The Hawks are pretty fantastic at both and the Kings wax and wane with the moon in terms of effort and effectiveness on each of those categories. The Hawks are a mediocre shooting team overall and from deep, but they get to the line A LOT – taking the third most freebies in the league and hitting them at the fifth highest percentage, over 82% collectively. Imagine that. They’re also second in the league in offensive rebounding and sixth overall in rebounds. My teeth just clenched a bit.

I don’t usually offer up a match-up to watch but I’m very curious watching John Collins tonight. I know Kings twitter is still very much in the air about getting rid of Bagley at this stage, especially for a deal that would involve a soon-to-be expensive John Collins, but my eyes will be peeled to both tonight. I’m not necessarily looking for Bagley to keep pace with Atlanta’s second leading scorer and rebounder, I just want to… imagine the other side of things if a swap somehow did occur.

Also, lastly, Clint Capela is having a rocking season. If the Hawks were better he’d be in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. The guy is leading the league in rebounds per game at 14.3 per game and third in the league in blocks at 2.3 a contest. For a guy that was sent away from Houston in the manner he was a few years ago, I’m glad to see he’s bouncing back in a big way this season.

Prediction

The Kings extend Trae Young’s winless streak against Sacramento and Tyrese Haliburton continues to prove Monte McNair was solid for not matching the Bogi offer. John Collins impresses, we argue about a Bagley trade that won’t ever come while all the while a nice Saturday evening goes to waste.

Kings: 126, Hawks: 114

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Jman1949
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March 13, 2021 1:08 pm

On our longest road trip we embark
To Atlanta, no walk in the park.
We’ll see Fox versus Trae,
And who might be in play.
Maybe Monte McNair finds his mark!

Kosta
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March 13, 2021 1:22 pm
Reply to  Jman1949

Better than a Hawku!

Kosta
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March 13, 2021 1:26 pm

King Cobra > Hawk

STRIKE FIRST
STRIKE HARD
NO MERCY
MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS
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Last edited 3 years ago by Kosta
BestHyperboleEver
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March 13, 2021 1:49 pm

Collins is basically Bagley’s ceiling comp. so the question is whether you want to (over)pay for the certainty of getting that player, wait to see if Bagley can reach that ceiling to (over)pay or pay less is it looks like he won’t, or trade him because that’s too much to pay for their type of player.

Adamsite
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Nostradumbass 14
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Nostradumbass 14
March 13, 2021 2:02 pm

I could easily see Bagley getting to Collins level production by the end of next season. The issue would be, however, is Bagley would ask to fo a lot more money than Collins. That being said, I think anyone who signs Collins this summer is likely to give a large overpay to him. The free agent market is pretty weak this summer so someone will throw too much at him.

Also, I’m not 100% certain Collins is all that good. His numbers have definitely slipped from last season while his usage has remained steady. To me, on a good team, he’s likely your 3rd or 4th fiddle, sort of like the Harrison Barnes of PFs. Would he move the needle all that much in replacement of Bagley?

BestHyperboleEver
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March 13, 2021 4:57 pm
Reply to  Adamsite

Oh, I agree both with the idea that Collins isn’t all that good AND I don’t want to be the team paying him what he’s likely to get. And since, like I said, I think the fully realized version of Bagley basically is Collins, I would say the same about him. I’m just not a fan of paying a ton of money to anyone that isn’t a high level playmaker and/or an elite defender. Like you suggest, I don’t think there’s a big enough difference in actual on court impact between guys like Collins/Bagley and, say, Royce O’Neale/Thad Young to justify the difference in cost FA contract cost.

Gallo
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March 13, 2021 2:05 pm

Gallo del Cielo likes our chances.

Klam
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Nostradumbass 19
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March 13, 2021 3:00 pm
Reply to  Gallo

Been a while since we’ve seen a Gallo comment!

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