The Sacramento Kings are in Tampa today to take on the Raptors – marking the first time a king has gone after dinosaurs in Florida since Steve Irwin in season three of The Crocodile Hunter. The difference between Irwin and the Kings? He never got thrashed when trying to handle them. Crikey! Losing by twenty-one to a team well-below .500 en-route to giving up a franchise record for points scored in a game is rough. Any time a team scores 144 on you, its rough. Doing it twice in the same month to the same mediocre would be, well, disastrous.
[Editor’s note: I advised against Will’s crocodile humor. -Greg]
When: Friday, January 29th, 4:30 PM PST
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, FL
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones on the call.
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Jurassic Justification: So after the Raptors put an absolute beat down on the Kings, I expected big things from them. Not because the Kings are the paramount of quality, they just, seemed to click in a way I hadn’t seen from them earlier in the season. They felt, dare I say, normal. Of course, they pretty much faded back into that unfortunate Florida haze of obscurity, having never fully righted the ship, still dealing with massive holes on their team that aren’t getting filled by their current roster and yet, every game I’ve watched of theirs, I’ve expect them to win. They took on Golden State and Portland after their thrashing of Sacramento, and in each case they lost by one point. From there they ran off three straight wins, beating Charlotte twice and Dallas by twenty-three. This is where I figured they’d regained their form and were ready to take off – they immediate lost to the Heat without Jimmy Butler, allowing Kendrick Nunn to drop 28 off the bench. Two nights later, they beat the Heat by 20, then scraped out a win against a formidable Pacers squad a few nights later. This was the second point where I was like – okay, they’re back! Can’t wait to root for this scrappy Raptors squad again. They lost to that same Pacers squad by 15 two nights later, then most recently got bounced by the Bucks.
Now, I’m the kind of person that sees a lotto ticket with zero correct numbers and thinks “Damn! If I’d have just changed the 22 to a 21 and a 6 to a 5, I’d have only been 4 other numbers away!” and so in my sad mind, me and the other voices see those two single point losses as moral victories, which means they won 7 of 8 eight before dropping the last two to difficult teams. They didn’t, but, fight me. The point of all this is that while the Raptors remain at a record that is commensurate of a bad team, they are much, much better than we’d expect. They’re two bounces of the ball from being tied for 6th in the East and they’re absolutely flirting with being a good team once again. I feel fairly confident in saying that if no major injuries happen, they’re still making the playoffs this year.
Yes, it would be easy to feel like the Kings have bolstered their defense with those extra practices and have now turned it around… please keep in mind that they were playing the two worst offenses in the league. While the Raptors are only 18th in the league in points per game at 110.3 a contest, that’s literally 17 spots better than the last two professional teams the Kings went up against. The Raptors aren’t slouching on defense either – they’re 10th in the league in opponent’s points per game and 11th in defensive rating. Something else to keep in mind that has very little to do with anything else I’ve mentioned so far: the Raptors have a very spread out attack, getting offense from wherever they can right now. Toronto currently has six guys averaging between 14 and 19 points per game right now, so they’re coming at the Kings tonight from all angles. Okay, I see the lights flickering and the SMUD truck is down the road so, enjoy the game!
Prediction
Steve Irwin visits me in a dream tonight and lightly critiques my preview while calling each change I make in front of him a “Beaut”. He introduces me to his stingray friend and he says the ‘clever girl’ line from Jurassic Park after I prod him to. I wake up Saturday morning and check the expiration date on my melatonin gummies. They went bad in June.
Kings: 124, Raptors 118
Interesting things to observe for me:
1. Fox’s 3 point shooting – temporary fluke or ascention into all star?
2. Haliburton’s recent… slump? It seems that he is much less involved in the offense for this eye. When I see his role boiled down to standing for a corner three my soul dies a bit
3. Bagley’s more fluid game – seems that he forces to get his less, or is it just wishfull thinking?
It seems to me that Bagley has been buying into what the coaches are probably asking him to do.
In regards to your #3, how many players really began to “go up levels” 2.5 years into their NBA career? IMO, it’s a very small group. Jermaine O’neal, Jimmy Butler, and JJ Redick come to mind, but a lot that was them just getting minutes after being behind others. Bagley, on the other hand, has been given every opportunity, when healthy, to show and grow.
Those players mentioned above also seemed to have a high level of understanding the game and it took time for their skills to catch up. Bagley, IMO, is the opposite. He has the skills but not the bball IQ and instincts that take a player “up levels.”
Uh, Bagley never started more than 3 games in a row until this season. You cannot equate him with the typical player entering Year 3 because he played a total of 75 games out of a possible 164 games in his rookie and second year, only 48%.
And how many games did he start over this period of time, to get experience vs frontine players? Only 10. So it is unfair and inappropriate to draw definitive conclusions on Bagley, based on experience and age, turning 22 in a month and a half.
And I say this as someone who is down on the guy, disappointed on many levels, from strength to countermoves on offense, to lack of defensive versatilty (he is unable to play defensive center).
Maybe Marvin does not get any better. But we are within the window based on age and experience level where it would be expected he would improve, even probable.
Like I said a few day ago, getting abused by Randle can make or break him. Let’s see how he responds….
What does it matter if he started or not? He’s never averaged less than 25 minutes per game over a 92 games so far.
Also, the players I mentioned, didn’t play a lot of minutes or get starts their first few years. Jermaine O’Neal in particular only started in 18 games his first 4 years. I thought the comp was fair and, if anything, in support of Bagley.
I was making the point that history is not on Bagley’s side when it comes in terms of development. In many ways he is like a player right out of high school, and in the NBA if you haven’t become something by year 3 the odds are not good that you will ever become something.
I don’t think the point holds water. History definitely is on his side in regards to development. I’m wondering how you even come to that conclusion. Basically look at any players stats in their first 3 years, and then afterwards. Almost anyone that continues to get minutes sees an improvement in performance.
The levels I’m speaking of is Freshman to JV, JV to Varsity, Varsity to College, College to Pros. At each of those levels the speed, quickness and strength are orders of magnitude greater and each player adjusts their rhythm to fit in differently.
But in your context I would say almost universally players are better 2.5-4 years into their career. This is especially true when looking at young players that would still be in college. It’s more rare for players to plateau or not get better IMO.
I don’t know if I would say Bagley is “developing nicely”. He’s doing “meh”. I said he made his a positive impact for the first time in 17 games vs the Magic and even I think that was being a little generous….since many rebounds can off his own misses. And if Bagley was so good then, you would think he could get more than 21 minutes.
There was a play a Bagley drove the lane from the corner and Holmes defender left him to help. Holmes was wide open under the basket. Due to Bagley’s complete tunnel vision, he resorted to a terrible contested running hook shot that richoceted off the backboard for an easy putback for Holmes
But this play is symptomatic of Bagley, LACK OF AWARENESS, lack of presence, failing to make the simple and easy play because he wants to be a 25 PPG guy instead of a winner. Or more accurately I would say that he wants to win on his terms as the dominant scorer.
That said, last game was something to build upon, relatively speaking, so lets see if he can play pretty good to better tonight.
I don’t know man, it sounds like you’re operating from an anti-Bagley bias. He’s had more than just one decent game. And singling out a specific play is the definition of anecdotal evidence. There’s not a player in the NBA that plays error free basketball and makes the right play every time. To my eye he’s playing better basketball all around, and seems to be getting better.
We continue this southeastern swing
With a diff’rence that this season brings.
It’s the Raptors we’ll play
But in Tampa today;
We the Norththis year not a thing!
You know what they say about Florida; the further north you go, the more South you get.
Yeah, that’s what I was told by my friend who is from Florida.
I also noticed that the further north I traveled from Boston (New Hampshire and Maine) it seemed to get kinda South-y.
I spent a week shooting farms all around central Florida once. The middle of the state where it meets Georgia was without a doubt some of the most backward ass I’ve ever seen anywhere.
My experience has been that if you’re more than three miles inland, you are, for all intents and purposes, in Alabama.
Alabama in 1958.
I see Lady Bird GIF, I click upvote.
Pictured: Steve Irwin and Will (Will is the Orangutan in the Chainmail, no?)
This guy has my prediction
So long as the kings remain in Florida on this road trip they will keep winning.
After tonight we’ll have a better record than the Mavericks.
That would suck if they got a better draft pick than us!
I think that pick belongs to the Knicks.
Yeah, “melatonin.”
OT: I thought the Kings weren’t taking part in the G-League bubble? Interestingly enough, Guy and Metu , the two-way guys, are staying with the team.
Ham now reporting that those two will join some other team while in the bubble. I guess this means we won’t be seeing either of them with the Kings for some time.
We haven’t been seeing Kyle Guy anyway, because our coach does not allow fun or synergy.
And Bjelica woud be out even if healthy because of a terminal bout of brick-itis.
Take it from me, front spasms are a lot more fun.
But to each his own.
Remember everyone, Stonks only go up!
I’m not a big fan of Mark Jones
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