Happy Saturday! The NBA Trade Deadline is five days away, the Kings are back to playing mediocre basketball, these twelve dopamine patches Greg duct taped to the back of my neck are working – things are looking… well they aren’t looking up to be honest, but we can be kinder today and say they’re looking rather horizontal (in the short term).
The Kings are on the second night of a back to back after sneaking up on a Boston Celtics team that is reeling right now. Sacramento will have to take on a Philadelphia squad that is missing their MVP candidate, but still plenty dangerous for the Kings. Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Saturday, March 20th, 5:00 PM PST
Where: Wells Fargo Arena, Philadelphia, PA
TV: NBCSCA – Mark Jones on the call.
Radio: KHTK Sports 1140 AM
For Your Consideration
A More Traditional Preview: I want to say thanks for those who read and responded to my preview from yesterday and allowed me to vent a particular grating frustration of mine. I try not to go off the rails too frequently because my back teeth and jaw can’t handle the pressure I put on them during those hours of typing it all out. I really appreciate the level on conversation in posts like that, regardless of whether I think you’re stupid or Rhodes Scholar level braniacs.
Saturday’s game against the Sixers could give me an in to talk about Sam Hinkie or The Process, or the Kings not drafting Matisse Thybulle when many of us screamed in unison that they should. But the sun’s out for only so many hours today and so I think we’re just going to break things down a bit.
As we are all aware, these Sixers a damn good. They’re seventh in the league in scoring at over 115 a contest, seventh in the league in defense by holding opponents under 110 a game and they’re seventh in pace. They’re quick, they’re hungry, they’re the top team in the East for a reason. They’re also going to be without their Top-3 MVP candidate in Joel Embiid tonight as he’s out with a knee injury for a few more weeks and could very well be without former Kings Seth Curry, who left Wednesday’s loss to the Bucks with a bum ankle.
No matter though, they’ve still got more than enough talent to hand the Kings their 25th L of the season. Filling in for the bulk of Joel Embiid’s minutes is a nearly unknown big man by the name of … Dwight Howard. Technically he’s coming off the bench for Tony Bradley, but you don’t have to wonder if he’s still any good – Dwight is still very effective in his minutes. For a guy like Seth Curry, the Sixers have the luxury of starting a guy like Thybulle, or a great young player in Shake Milton, or even giving minutes to a 6’7 shooting guard like Furkan Korkmaz. If there’s one thing the Sixers do have in spades, it’s talent at the shooting guard spot. I didn’t even mention a guy like Tyrese Maxey, who dropped the most points in a game as a rookie since Allen Iverson when Maxey dropped 39 earlier this season, in a game that featured just 7 players for the Sixers due to COVID protocols. More nights than not he’s a DNP where he might be a sixth man for some decent teams in the league. The Sixers are loaded, they’re well coached and they’re not looking to lose games and risk giving up home court advantage throughout their upcoming Eastern Conference playoff run.
It’s fun to think that the Kings could keep sneaking up on teams with injuries and beating them in the chaos and there are probably games in the future where the Kings will do just that. This Sixer’s team is just not that team: they’re deeper than a Charlie Kaufman film and matchup particularly well against these Kings. There goes my jaw clenching again.
Prediction
Psh. Did I say Charlie Kaufman? I meant Michael Bay. The Sixers show they’re all flash, no depth and De’Aaron Fox goes for 40 against one of the best defensive point guards in the league. Buddy hits 6-11 from three in a last ditch effort to show he’s still got it for the right teams.
Kings: 113, Sixers: 108
So the Sixers will not have Embiid.
Yet if somehow we get a big lead,
I don’t think it will last
Because just like games past,
We don’t yet have the talent we need!
The depth is a real problem on back to back games. After showing me absolutely nothing in his previous short stints, I’m particularly interested if Justin James gets extended minutes and is able to contribute. The previous two games gave me a small glimmer of hope. We may also see some minutes from Guy and/Woodard.
Fun fact:
Luke Walton invited De’Aaron Fox over to his hotel suite to watch his favorite film, Armageddon, directed by his favorite director, Michael Bay.
After the movie Fox asked Walton why they would train drillers to be astronauts, rather than train astronauts to be drillers.
F: “Wouldn’t it have been easier to train the astronauts to drill holes?”
W: “You know, De’Aaron…just shut up, okay? This is the real NASA plan, alright?”
F: “You mean it’s a real plan at NASA to train oil drillers?”
W: “Just shut your mouth!”
Like Marvin Bagley, I am rooting for the Kings to lose! 😉
Why would Bagley want the team to lose? Are there reports of him being a bad teammate that I’ve not read? Anything that you’d care to share for my enlightenment would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Like most of the things I do in life, it’s just a dumb joke.
Premise being that going on a three game win streak as soon as he goes down could be a bad look for him. Ergo, he is rooting against the team performing better in his absence.
Yep. With the disclaimer of correlation =/= causation, the Kings are 12-7 when Bags plays fewer than 24 minutes (or not at all), and 5-17 when he plays more than 24 min. Now, some of this may be due to him playing more minutes in blowout losses, and while the sample size is small, it does represent what would be half of a full 82 game season. And in extrapolating both of those numbers over a full season, the Kings would be better than a 50 win team when he plays under 24 min., and less than a 20 team win when he plays more than 24 min. At the very least, it is a bit odd.
Oh god, here we go with the bogus stat to trash Bagley followed by a dozen thumbs up. There’s plenty of ways to break down his game but this one. Come on. Maybe a more logical explanation is more playing time for our best lineup which some balked at because it doesn’t fit with traditional positioning which is another bogus concept. This is almost as bad as when Walton got trashed for fouling Adams even though the statistical probability of him making 4 in a row was less than 16 to 1. This is just piling on with crap data. Thumps up here we go.
Hmm. I mentioned that correlation does not equal causation, that it is a small sample size, and there may be mitigating circumstances. But it is an interesting stat, even if it is nothing more than an anomaly.
Try decaf, Mr. Bagley.
Clearly he does not want them to lose without him! It may expose him as general Patton behind the tank commanders.
Gallo del Cielo likes our chances.
Tourney note:
Today reminded me that I think JaQuori McLaughlin is a really interesting deep sleeper in the draft or as an UDFA.
The Big West player of the year. I have two former players in the Big West one at UC Davis and one at Fullerton state. He’s quite a player and I’ve wondered all year if he has a shot in the NBA. Really like his decision making skills, shoots it pretty well and decent handles. I don’t know if he makes it but my ex players believe in him. So hard to tell these things but I’m really intrigued. He’s apparently looking to play in Europe if he can’t hook on with an NBA team. High character guy also.
Also, I hope we don’t have a shot at Evan Mobley, I wouldn’t want to have to make that decision. I know he can’t afford to do it, but another year in college might do him some good. What’s his up side? Rudy Gobert, Ralph Sampson, Robert Parrish, IDK.
I think the vast majority of players coming out these days could use another pre-NBA season (whether it be college, over-sees, G-league). Though I can’t and don’t at all blame them for coming out. Were I in charge of an NBA team, I’d be REALLY wary of non-elite one-and-dones.
As for Mobley, I think it’s really hard to comp modern bigs to guys like Sampson and Parrish because we never really got to see what those guys would have looked like if they had grown up working on perimeter skills. Sampson did some of that, but not nearly to the same degree. That said, I’m generally pretty reticent to comp guys to all-time greats (which I think Sampson is if we’re talking about talent and prospect profile). Mobley has clearly shown more versatile offensive upside than Gobert and Parrish, and he’s more agile defending the perimeter than they were at the same age. If I were to look at both ends of the floor, I’d probably look at a comp like Bosh. Both were/are about 6’11/7’4. Their athletic profiles are pretty similar. Both had/have shown good flashes of ballhandling, passing, and shooting. Both showed pretty polished post-up games. Their stats from college match-up pretty well with a little give there and a little take here.
Ultimately, he’s an excellent prospect who I think is clearly deserving of a place in that 2-4 tier. I certainly wouldn’t be upset if the Kings drafted him at 2 (unless of course Cunningham had fallen to them).
Dude Tanner Groves will be the next fan favorite ..
Walton Deja vu
Kings can’t catch a break
Nooooooooooooooooooo, I just put in my predictions. 🙁
Sixers out 3 starters.
The early bird gets the poor Nostradumbass score!
I thought 45 minutes before tipoff was late enough!
So what happens to that Ben Simmons prediction question
The correct answer will be “0”
Badge Legend