The Sacramento Kings are home yet again, with their playoff paddle stream taking on Western Conference water, an embarrassing end to that Spurs game now puts the Kings at losers in seven of their last nine games, and sinking fast. Some sort of players meeting has already happened. Screaming has been reported from the locker room. Mike Brown has already smashed the “Break In Case of Emergency” option. Now, enter the Houston Rockets – winners in 10 of their last 12 games, half a game out of first place in the West and absolutely ready to eviscerate a team that they already thoroughly owned last year, when confidence was still high with this Sacramento squad. Can the Kings right the ship against a Rockets team on an absolute tear? Can Keegan Murray finally break free of his annual November slump? Is anyone else out there mentally unable to handle opening up Tankathon this early in the season?
Let’s talk Kings basketball.
When: Tuesday, December 3rd, 7:00 PM PST
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBCSCA
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
Moonshots: I’ve gotten weak in my old age. Just three years removed from being so annoyed with the Kings that we raised tens of thousands of dollars for Sacramento based charities purely out of spite, I’m finding it difficult to muster the spirit necessary to talk about this version of the Sacramento Kings. Too much has happened. The Warriors playoff series, The Beam, winning 46 games and calling it a disappointment: peacetime has made me soft. With the Kings being unexpectedly bad, maybe not in record just yet but certainly in vibes, I find myself just wanting to avoid discussing the NBA altogether. Well, that’s not true: I do find myself wanting to point out that the top two teams in the West and two of the top three in the East were teams that chose to outright tank around the same time as the Kings opted for the more difficult path but that’s more of an old reflex at this point. History has much to write on those teams, and the Kings, and I’m not trying to be an I-told-you-so, at least until a couple of those guys win championships on the back of the strategy. Regardless, we know the vibes are getting bad when I, the self-appointed canary in the coalmine, start having PTSD flashbacks to Operation: MCNAIR and the tanking wars of yesteryear. Not a lot of oxygen down here in 12th place to keep me going and yet, here I am, chirping away till everything else noxious about the discourse finally drops me to the bottom of my cage once and for all.
Now, I guess, to the game.
Houston is a nightmare match-up for the Kings. They’re far better defensively, much longer, much more athletic and anything the Kings can throw at the Rockets, they can throw right back at the Kings, and then some. You want athletic guards who can go get 40+ in a game? Here’s some Fred VanVleet and Jalen Green for you. You need a triple double threat at the center spot, who can go get you 14 assists or 20 rebounds on a given night? The former future King, Alperen Sengun is your guy. Annoying defensive wing? Dillon Brooks. Too obnoxious? Tari Eason. Not athletic enough? Amen Thompson. More the offensive variety? Jabari Smith Jr. Oh and on the off chance those guys are all struggling, they’ve got veteran’s Jae’Sean Tate and Jeff Green in the wings, or the ubertalented, just young Cam Whitmore waiting on the bench. The Rockets have, I shit you not, five small forwards. They have three more power forwards. Worse yet, each of those key forwards on the Rockets have a specialty that is just as good or better than any forward on the Kings comes to play with right now. With the way that Mike Brown has played him so far this season, and just in general, how much the Kings over rely on him at the forward spot, I’m not kidding when I say tonight might be the worst night of Keegan Murray’s career.
Houston as a whole is a well balanced team, they’re 11th in scoring per game, hold teams to the 3rd least amount of points and run at the 7th fastest pace, nine spots better than the “no way we shouldn’t be top five in pace” Sacramento Kings. They’re 8th in the NBA in steals, 6th in blocks and the best offensive and defensive rebounding team in the league, while also being 6th in the NBA in turnovers. They attempt the second most free throws in the NBA, but thankfully, they’re the 7th worst in the NBA at making those bad boys. But, really, honestly, truly you aren’t here for that. There is only one stat that matters to the Kings and their fanbase right now: three point percentage. For the record, before we get there, they’re in the bottom third in the NBA in attempts, but again, that doesn’t matter. The defense of the three ball is so piss poor in Sacramento, so utterly bad, that we all know they’re going to get what they want from deep at this point. If they want to take fifty, they will. If they want to take 20, they will. They’ll get what they want there, all that’s left is how high that percentage is going to climb above their season average, which currently is, 33% – bottom five in the NBA. At this stage, everything else is out the wind – this is the only stat that matters. If the Kings can hold them to a 33% night, an average night for Houston, they have a shot at winning this game. In my mind, every full percentage point higher than the average and it’s a 10% less chance the Kings come away with a win. Unlike their opponent tonight, the Rockets can be afford to be a bad three point shooting team, not just because they’re young, but because they’re defensively dominant and they do their detail work well. They get steals, they rebound well, they block shots. They do the things that great teams do.
The Rockets are an impending juggernaut, built for the future, built like a team that is looking ahead to what the issues of the league will be five years down the road, and they’re packed with talent to compensate for it.
The Kings are built like they’re trying to do the 2016 Rockets from memory.
Prediction
Fox is Harden. Keegan is (good) Ryan Anderson. Sabonis is Hakeem the Dream. Monk is alternate universe Jordan drafted by the Rockets. Every King, all playing like a peak random Rocket comparison throughout history and the multiverse. They still muck it up in the third and need the entire 4th to get it under control.
Kings: 114, Rockets:111
UpgradedToQuestionable, I wanted apologize for my comment yesterday. It was rude, snarky, and disrespectful. I let my emotions get the best of me. Keep commenting, you provide value to the discussion.
I appreciate your comments and I’m think you respect mine.
all good in our hood. We are passionate about our beam, and frustrated as it lights too little lately.
This is our safe place to commiserate and cogitate. Your words are much appreciated.
Christ, Will isn’t pulling any punches. This game looks like a camel back breaker. The Rockets have a team we’d all like the Kings to become. They have the wings to surround their triple-double center, they have rim protection, youth, speed, and depth. The majority of the league seems to understand where the league is going and how to build for it. The Kings are built like they’ve been watching 90’s mix-tape highlights.
What, Anthony Mason mid-range post-ups don’t make you get the warm and fuzzies?
We need to please trade for Julius Randle to add to the collection.
No we don’t. Why do wou think the wolves want to trade him?
Haha .. your sarcasm detector needs a reboot.
… also their defense looks bad with Randle on the floor. They may need to trade him just to give Naz more burn.
Houston seems to have turned the corner based less on tanking ( Green#2, Smith#3 ) and more on free agents- Brooks, Van Fleet, and late pick Senjuin . Maybe biggest difference is coaching hire ~ Udoka . Just a thought !
They drafted Green, Smith, Sengun, Eason, Whitmore, Sheppard, Amen Thompson. Most of those guys are rotational players that contribute nightly. Sheppard is a rookie behind depth at Guard, and Whitmore is behind other Forwards.
Draft well. Draft size and skill. Find all-star level players to complement the draftees. Get a coach that knows how to use those players.
I’d say they tanked. After the bubble Morey left, they fired D’Antonio, and sold off their assets in Westbrook, Harden and Capela. They accumulated picks, which is how they created 80% of their core.
Yeah, I see some folks throw around that Houston won 22 games two years ago, which is true, but they had already been accumulating young players and assets. It’s not like they decided to rebuild at that point. In the 22 win season they already had Jalen Green, Sengun, Eason, JSJ, and Tate on the roster. It was their third terrible season in a row. After stockpiling picks and young talent for three years, they got a good coach and overpaid some vets to start winning last year.
God knows I enjoy a good tank strategy, but tanking is not usually a quick fix.
Guilty as charged :).
Yes, they had an ugly 3 years. Now they’re looking like a 50-win team with 5 of their top 7 rotation players 23 or younger. The youngest guy in our top 7 is Keegan at 24. It’s not like we’re old: we’re right in the sweet spot to be breaking through to the next level! It’s just….we aren’t.
I agree that tanking is not a quick fix.
But also keep in mind that from 2018 until 2021, the Rockets didn’t have a 1st round pick. In that time we had the 5th pick (Fox), the 2nd pick (Luk- ah shit), and the 12th (Tyrese).
In 2021 they got Jalen Green with the 2nd pick (we Davion), in 2022 they got Jabari with the 2nd pick (we Keegan) and Eason with the 17th.
Additionally, it’s important to note that Sengun was a trade (for two future 1sts, I believe).
THE list:
from last season:
Boston Celtics
New Orleans Pelicans
Houston Rockets
from this (young) season:
Los Angeles Clippers
(Teams that the Kings are expected to lose and lose by a wide margin)
Can you add more?
They drafted two good players and solid role players. The over paid vets and the coach put them over the hump. Building through the draft is incredibly long.
Look at OKC. Maybe they win this year?
We have Fox and Sabonis. Put players around them. We do not need to hope we draft the next Fox or Sabonis and wait another three years. Get the good veteran players that want to and can win. Spend the money.
Very few champions are built in the draft. They make solid picks and trades for actual real players then build a team.
Fun fact. During Fox’s first 2 season with the Kings, OKC had the likes of PG13, Westbrook, Carmelo, Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, etc. When they realized their ceiling was a first round exit they blew it up. One such move was sending PG13 to the Clips for a bunch of 1st round picks and a raw SGA who just finished 6th in ROY votes.
Since then there is not a single player left on OKC from the pre-SGA trade. They went from better than Kings with star talent, to total tear down, to rebuild to a title contender all in the same span Fox has been a King.
Fun fact.
OKC has built through the draft many times and never won a ring. They have always been, and probably always will be, better than the Kings.
Fun fact.
IF OKC spent money on some solid veterans and another All Star they would have been contenders at least 60% of those years.
OKC is the perfect example of living off of the draft, drafting very well, but not winning because they did not build around the talent.
The Kings need to build around the talent. Domas is great and here long term. Fox is likely gone and definitely gone if they tank so trade him for the talent needed to play with Sabonis. Go get another All Star as well.
Fun Fact.
Fox has said if this team is not seriously improving he is gone. Tanking is the end of Fox.
“but not winning”
Thunder have won 57% of their games since moving to OKC, includng 11 playoffs and a finals appearance. And, are now the # 1 team in the West two years running.
In the same timespan, Kings have won 37% and 1 playoffs.
One team is doing it right, the other is not. In professional sports, you need to emulate what other teams are doing right. You don’t consistently do the opposite. That’s how you end up with 16-year playoff droughts.
They are much better than the Kings. I said that.
They have not won a ring. That is winning.
The Kings have not won a ring either! Sounds like you are arguing against tearing down this iteration of the Kings because OKC, even though they are leaps and bounds better than the Kings with their team-building strategy, have yet to win a ring.
I am trying to point out that the King’s team-building strategies have resulted in far worse outcomes and (unless there is some miraculous turnaround) will miss the playoffs again.
OKC is currently +500 odds and the Kings are +6600 to win a championship. So, even if championship is your benchmark OKC is much closer and has built a championship contender twice in the last 15 years, while the Kings have gone as far as one first round exit.
I am arguing with nobody. The comment I replied to was regarding building a team in the draft.
There is no doubt in my mind that this team misses the playoffs. My example of OKC is to show that a great drafting team with a gazillion first round picks will not win a championship unless it spends money on a roster. Read about the OKC organization and see why they never gotten to the championship part of things.
The Jazz never won a ring with Stockton and Malone. So are those years seen as wasted and not winning?
All a GM can do is assemble the best roster/staff possible and let them go out and play (ours doesnt seem to be doing that). Winning a title is an extremely challenging accomplishment. So much has to fall in to place for that to happen.
Winning a ring is the goal in my opinion. We were talking about building a champion in the draft. If the Kings were half as good as the Jazz organization the sky would have turned purple by now.
I’d still happily swap places every year with OKC for the entirety of their existence there when compared to the Kings, and it’s not even close.
Me too.
In my mind the goal is to win a championship. The frustration of an OKC fan is much better than what you and I deal with on a yearly basis.
Does tanking take less than 19 years? If so, I would like to try that option LOL. Seriously though, teams like OKC have tanked it took them 3 years I believe? And as soon as you accumulate some great young assets, the tanking becomes fun. I think rebuilds are vastly underrated. There is no better place to be than the young team where the sky is the limit. Even when the Kings were solid a couple years ago, I never expected it would amount to anything more than a first round playoffs exit. We just never had the top tier talent and we still don’t.
Mike Brown will be shaking things up tonight, believing that it will change things Tonight’s starting 5: Len, Crowder, Isaiah Jones, Keon and DeAaron.
Why start DeAaron with that group? Start JMac!
Hope the screaming from the locker room is channelled in a way to get the team fired up. Still baffled at how Huerter and Murray both fell off a cliff with their production – not even since the start of the season – but over the last 10 games or so.
Stop being so soft and snap out of it for god sakes, your supposed to be professional nba players, remember?
What has me not overly concerned about Keegan is that he has shot so poorly in November his first 2 seasons, only to bounce back in December and January. We will see if this year follows suit.
Huerter has been bad from 3 since the 3pt contest in the 22-23 season. I don’t hold out much hope for him. The team is so bad defensively that they can’t play him to try and shoot out of his slump.
Huerter is so overrated. He’s had 1 season out of 7 as a decent starting SG. He makes $17M a season. He’s a huge target defensively. I’m not sure why we keep beating this dead horse expecting value to come out.
I realized the truth the other night after the San Antonio loss.
It is as undeniable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
It transcends eye tests and analytics.
The root of the Kings’ issues is clear.
This is the Roy Al’s revenge curse for last second cancellation.
Roy Al was a great idea. I never got the weird vibes that others did.
Also, the Sun doesn’t rise or set (you probably know that, but I wanted to be “that guy”)
You’re absolutely right, it doesn’t, because the sun isn’t real, it’s just a reflection of the moon.
#moontruth
And our planet is a disc, surrounded by an ice wall
#Kyrie’d
Making all of us discheads.
I almost feel like there’s a Faustian deal in there.
Would we take the Kings winning a championship if it meant the entire roster was full of the most irritating, unlikable, controversial people in the league? Like if we somehow had a roster of Kyrie/Dillon Brooks/Miles Bridges/Draymond Green/Embiid with guys like CP3/Kevin Porter Jr/Gobert off the bench?
Minus the KPJ and Miles Bridges being criminals or whatever. The other guys aren’t the most likeable (I do like me some Kyrie).
ooh ooh!
Please add Garrison Mathews, Grant Williams, Pat Bev and Grayson Allen.
Head coach: Doc Rivers
Assistant coaches: Matt Barnes, Metta World Peace, John Stockton, Latrell Sprewell
Puke Alton (ducks)
Co-owners, the Maloofs and Vivek!
In a heartbeat.
Scheme Team
The double reverse revenge will come when Roy Al is named new GM/HC.
I look forward to the seat next to Vivek and the photo op with a Shaka
Hope the screaming from the locker room is channelled in a way to get the team fired up. Still baffled at how Huerter and Murray both fell off a cliff with their production – not even since the start of the season – but over the last 10 games or so.
Perhaps this team needs a boot camp to get the player’s morale boosted:”Stop being so soft and snap out of it for god sakes, your supposed to be professional nba players, remember?. Now sound off like you’ve got a pair.”
We could not beat the Rockets last season—
Udoka, big part of the reason.
They’re young and they’re rising;
It should not be surprising
That I’d love to trade with them for Eason!
+1 Shoot down the Rockets!
I’ve been advocating this for 3 years. Now it’s probably all gone.
It was probably never there.
Maybe in the future; Eason down the road.
(That’s The Wiz, also an alternative fantasy story (with music!), but not so Wicked)
Colby for Eason. Who does not do that deal?
I don’t think it ever existed. Eason has always been good and I don’t see why the Rockets would have given him up for less than an overpay.
Forget about defense, let the 3s fly, with sugar on top
I have no idea what to expect from this team. They could play great, win and baffle us and have us question why now. Or they could lose by 40. Neither would shock me.
I’m going to watch this game and try not to drool over Sengun.
Sitting at the game first row and vomit all over his feet is the way to go.
that sounds like an over the back thing.
Foul on Sabonis!
I want to go kings in this one no crazy 3pt shooters but I can see the kings letting jalen green go off lol
Is this what we’d call a scheduled loss?
Purported playoff contenders like the Kings have to beat other playoff contenders like the Rockets to get there.
The Kings allowed San Antonio 23 made 3’s; which is their season high. And their previous season high was 22 – in their last game against Sacramento…
*In my best Lumbergh Voice*: “Uhh… Yeah.. So… We’re going to need you to go ahead and dial up that 3 point defense Coach Brown.. Around 7pm tonight would be great..mmkay.
Also Paul Millsap just retired… Dang – thought we had a power forward incoming.
So naturally they’ll win and front office and Sacramento media will tell us that the team just needs more time and are starting to turn that corner
Really don’t like the return to hate-watching. And yet, here we are.
I am probably not watching for a while. I will go to the game when they are in town because I have spent the money and it is a social event many times.
I usually start to pay attention later in the 3rd, which allows me to miss all the slow starts and blown leads.
I don’t usually watch until the 4th quarter. And I’ll only tune in if it’s close or the Kings are leading.
I remember when I was told the preseason didn’t matter when they couldn’t make a three or stop the other team from making three’s. We’re 22 games in and both of these things are still very true. This team is built to fail and it is failing. When you’ve got Fox and Sabonis you have to surround them with knock down shooters who can defend a little bit. The Kings were like, naaaaahhhh.
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