Welcome to Game #41, you maniacs! That’s right, we officially made it to the halfway mark of this season. If you are still here, *fist bump*. We are made of the same cloth. That is the cloth of loyalty, pain, and masochism, stained a uniquely dark-hued color that is the combination of purple and blood red. The Sacramento Kings traveled to Denver tonight to take on the perfectly average (18-18) Nuggets, one of the few teams riddled with plain old injuries rather than covid protocols. Denver was missing two of their three best players in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., but still had Nikola Jokic, reigning MVP. So, naturally, with Denver having only 1/3 of their usual star firepower, this really was anybody’s game. Let’s see how the Kings did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 121-111
Sacramento Kings: 111 pts, 43.5% fg, 37.9% 3 pt, 83.3% ft, 21 ast, 47 reb, 12 to
Denver Nuggets: 121 pts, 55.3% fg, 35.3% 3 pt, 62.5% ft, 32 ast, 41 reb, 8 to
Was I surprised that the Kings lost to another depleted roster? No. Was I surprised that one of the worst defenses in the league let the Denver Nuggets score +15 points over their season average? No. Was I surprised that this Kings team, forever preaching their focus on pace, got beat down the floor by Nikola Jokic?
Jokic is too fast for the Kings defense pic.twitter.com/dirnF8njOs
— Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras) January 8, 2022
Only for a second. Then I remembered who this team is and realized that nothing surprises me anymore. The Kings have been trying to sell themselves as having an identity of pace and quick scoring for what feels like one thousand years now. Tonight, the 26th ranked team in pace outscored the Kings 16-10 in fast break points and 70-44 in paint points. I’m done buying the snake oil.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
- 7 Minutes of Len: Alex Len gave Kings fans a respite from the third quarter horror show we are all so accustomed to when he had himself a moment to start the second half. Proving to be the only center on the Kings who could provide any resistance to Nikola Jokic, Len quickly earned his second half start over Damian Jones. Len provided physicality on the defensive end and scored 10 of his season-high 18 points in this seven-minute stint. At one point during the quarter, his hard work brought the Kings within four points.
The Bad
- 41 Minutes of Kangz Basketball: It’s the same old story. The Kings consistently struggle on both ends of the floor, while their opponent consistently capitalizes on their endless defensive breakdowns. Nikola Jokic led his team with 33 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, while Jeff Green followed with 18 points of his own. It was glaringly noticeable that the Nuggets were playing on a cerebral level, creating intentional looks for themselves that often ended in easy buckets in the paint, while the Kings were playing on a survival level, simply taking whatever shots they could muster and battle their way into. On the defensive end, the Kings showed no recognition to their consistent breakdowns and therefore no attempts to correct them. I’m pretty sure Jeff Green scored all 18 of his points in a row off of pick & roll actions with Facundo Campazzo.
The Nuggets targeted Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III on switches on their last three possessions. They all ended with Jeff Green dunks. Nuggets lead the Kings 96-85 to start the fourth quarter.
— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) January 8, 2022
The Ugly
- My Face: Aside from the effects of being sick for the past week, and aside from the natural (though unintentional) glare that emanates from it, there now lies a new layer of disgust across my face as a result of that performance. To think 2022 would be different…
The King of Kings
De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 30 points tonight to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. He also got to the line 10 times and cashed in on eight of those attempts.
Up Next
Sunday, January 9th @ Portland Trail Blazers – 6:00 P.M. (PT)
Just trade Marvin Bagley !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Greez……..
I just cannot withstand this guy for one more god damn second……
He is bad, real bad…..
being stripped again and again and again, in every single game…
His defense is bad, like Jason Anderson said, the Nuggets get three possession basket from Bagley and Hield…….the opponent knows they are the worst defenders on this team..
and there is no way Gentry kept putting them together on the court…….
All in all, just trade away Bagley………..even for a late, heavily protected 2nd round pick…
Whenever watching Bagley plays, I would become the next puke man
I wanted to see him get one more stretch of playing time to see if he had any shot at all to become a valuable contributor.
He’s gotten chance and….
Nope. Nothing.
But but but….he might become so good. He has such potential. …Bullshit from the first tip of Bags career.
Bags is the epitome of Kangz illogical logic. Keep trying the same shit, and totally ignore any mistakes you may have made.
Vivek’s ego blinders keep this team hostage and exactly where it’s been since his unfortunate arrival…the bottom.
He did show potential his rookie year – and then it was quite evident he has added absolutely nothing (except slightly better 3 point shooting and slightly better than abysmal defense) to his game his entire rookie contract. It was assumed he had a high motor and teachable according to scouting reports, but that has been completely wrong. No post moves, has tunnel vision and a complete black hole whenever he gets the ball.
1 turnover in 30 minutes…. OMG!
Halfway to 32-50. I was too optimistic when I guessed 35-47.
You over-estimate your win prediction every year it seems!
I’m the world’s most optimistic pessimist, apparently.
It’s amazing how easily this team makes you question even the simplest of things sometimes.
Gentry is 67 years old. I wonder if even he cares any more beyond cashing as many paychecks as possible before enjoying a luxurious retirement. I imagine highlights of film sessions probably feature rowdy debates about what to watch on HBOMax and Netflix and not so much game clips.
Gentry deserves every dollar this season.
Hell no! Gentry isn’t doing jack shit to deserve his money just like mcgenius, both are sitting on their asses and collecting their checks and Vivek is either too blind or too stupid to realize it. Why can’t we have a decent (not even saying good) organization
No
I’d bet that he cares more than some of the players.
I’m sure he cares deeply but coaches can’t win with an inferior roster. We’ve changed coaches 10 times over 15 seasons and the results are the same. Stop looking at coaching for the answers. The roster needs to changed and changed dramatically. Either blow it up, acquire a bunch of draft capital and get on with it or make a win now trade perhaps giving up draft capital to do it. Either way, do something, pick a path, develop a plan, and get the hell started.
Yep. Gentry is, at worst, a “good enough” NBA coach. There’s a reason he’s been a head coach so many times during his career. And I’m sure he’s old enough to know sh*t when he sees it, and he sees it every day with this team. If he slips into apathy, it’s because he knows nothing he does will make any significant difference with this squad.
I agree for the most part. Well said.
Hats off to whoever wrote all those words above recapping the game.
Define apathy: When you can’t be bothered to read a byline.
Kings suck, Vivek is clueless, Monte doesn’t do anything, blahblahblah.
The Kings only hope is if Vivek sells the team, or Monte is given free reign to jettison all our vets, i.e., Buddy, Barnes, etc. And throw Bagley in there as well.
No exceptions
Take whatever we can get.
Completely agree
Kings just need a couple of good practices to iron out the kinks.
Also, a new coach would fix EVERYTHING!
It’s the GM! We had a better one 2 GM’s ago.
I’ve lost track at this point.
To me, there is but one answer. Kings can be good again only when/if Vivek gives up full control to a GM. Let said GM hire a Fucking coach. Then let him pick players that work w the coach and system.
It ain’t hard to know what to do. That is the answer-the only answer.
Wrong!!!! They are still recovering from all the curry they ate in India. Just give it another season.
And to watch the tape…and maybe have a team meeting.
And to definitely not fly to India
Time for removal from the NBA,
Gladly.
I’m starting to think that the league invented the play-in because they took pity on us Kings fans.
They just underestimated the level of dysfunction of this org…
no play in! just play.
Play-in game?
You mean ….
The Vivek Ranadive 4 on 5 Championship?
Just curious, what is the point of starting a guy, in this case Jones, when you only play him 8 minutes for the whole game? Is there some 4D chess that I’m missing?
Allow Kayte to explain what is fans don’t understand.
She will explain it , explain it ,than explain it again !
The Sacramento Kangz – The Greatest Shitshow on Earth!*
-Since 2007
Well….fuck.
https://twitter.com/statmuse/status/1479690624185946112
Wow… thanks Vlade
Ugh why is Buddy in a Faker jersey I might ask?
We can dream, can’t we??
BBIQ
Monk – 138
Hield – 24
Jazz Albums
Monk-a ton
Hield-none that I know of
So the Lakers were right to take Westbrick over Buddy… Good to know. Seriously though… Could you imagine Buddy on the Lakers right now…. They would look so much better.
So would we.
I think this is a big issue BTB. I don’t think ownership is ready to let go of Buddy quite yet. I also wonder what kind of market there is for Buddy at this point.
Can someone explain why Gentry reluctance to play those rookies (especially Queta)
We cannot win games with the current roster, then why not just try to take a different look and play Queta and other rookies.
Its already garbage time at 5mins mark left in 4Qtrs, but Gentry still did not play those rookies just made me sad
his bosses want to make the play-in. He probably gets extended if he does that.
Everything sucks and there is no end in sight.
Happy Friday everyone!
We’ve paid our dues
Time after time
From Arco Arena
To GC1
But they’ve made mistakes
So many, not few
We’ve had our share of sand
Kicked in our face
But we’ve come through
And the Kangz mean to go on and on and on and on
Kings are a failure, my friends
But they keep on fighting for the play in
Kings are dumb-asses
Kings are so clueless
And Kings are the laughing stock of the world.
(repeat refrain for at least two more yeaars)
This implies people even care about the Kings outside of Kangzland. They don’t. This team barely merits mentions in highlight shows unless you see something amazing (like a GW shot or a highlight reel play).
This franchise is treated like a nothingburger because, hey, they act like it.
I hope we can put to rest that the problem was Walton. That’s not to say Walton was Phil Jackson it’s to say Walton was about 100 down on the list of issues with this franchise. This roster is simply not good enough to produce a winning team and management seems to be living in the grand illusion that things are going to change with just a little more time. We are half way through the season and it’s the same old song and dance and seemingly no sense of urgency for management to do something. The frustration of management not doing anything is flat our overwhelming. My plea “DO SOMETHING”
Until Vivek hires a proven GM and allows him to hire all the BBall staff and gets his failed ass out of the way nothing will change ! Notice he hires only rookie GM’s so he can control everything ! ( PDA, Vlade, Monte )
To be fair, I’m not sure too many GMs jump from team to team. They are not like coaches. I can’t think of too many that have had multiple stints running a team. Kupchak and Morey come to mine. I wager the majority of GMs in the league are on their first team.
From that, I’m fine with hiring a guy like Monte who has risen the ranks and learned the ropes from very qualified people. The Vlade hire was bullshit.
They need a coach with Joerger’s personality and expectation of discipline for this roster. Maybe not Joerger himself, but something like that. Michael Malone is another type. Walton and Gentry, for whatever they are, are not that. And, as we know, Vivek Ranadive hired both of those guys, not Pete D’Alessandro or Vlade Divac.
That said, that person also needs to be hired by Monte or someone qualified to be sitting in that chair. At this point, I’m hoping that’s Monte McNair because I don’t necessarily see what firing him after 2 years of not achieving a misguided goal will achieve.
Come on with this coaching changes again. It’s been tried so many times with no results. We’ve had coaches who have had success elsewhere and failed here and coaches who have failed with the Kings to go on and have success elsewhere like Malone so don’t look to a coaching change for the answer. That’s always the scapegoat.
Of course. I wasn’t disputing this. Nor I this:
I’m not saying Alvin Gentry is really the problem here, just that I don’t think he’s the right solution for this team moving forward. Really, I’m still upset they thought moving on from Luke Walton in the first place would produce anything. If you weren’t going to move on from Walton in the off-season, the least you could do is give him the full season to see if he could finally produce something from your wackadoodle bullshit you keep selling as a vision.
That said, as I’ve said, it needs to be the basketball ops people hiring that next coach since it’s probably not Gentry. It needs to be Monte McNair, or someone qualified to sit in that chair if it’s not Monte.
This organization needs to stop pretending it’s process is anything but dysfunctional. IMO, there’s a competent person sitting in that GM chair that does good things for you. What needs to change is the roster (first) and a coaching change that can bring about culturual differences because that’s sorely lacking. Unfortunately, I don’t think Gentry is that guy for this team at this time.
Blaming Alvin Gentry is what this dumbfuck organization (or ownership group really) wants you to do. But make no mistake: What’s rotten in Denmark here is the ownership group, so it really makes no difference in whomever the head coach is if you don’t have everyone pulling together on the same page.
It’s really that simple at the end of the day.
Yeah I don’t think I said anything to the contrary I’m just so tired of hearing we need a coaching change. Get a roster.
It’s both. At this point it’s both, and you better damn change the roster or be in the process of doing it if you expect a coaching change to make a difference.
McNair has drafted well and has not made any stupid long term over payment free agent signings that Vlade did so many times. For whatever reason he hasn’t been able to pull the trigger on any significant trades. We can’t be sure why that is. The trade we didn’t complete with the Lakers was a big loss but who was really responsible for that not happening. Do we really know. IMO the Kings need to move Fox, Buddy, Barnes and Holmes. Either acquire a bunch of draft capital and cap space for them or try to make roster improving moves. Maybe you can do both with something like this.
Fox, Bagley, and Thompson to the Knicks for Walker, Toppin, Burks, and 2022 and 2023 first rounders.
or
Fox, Bagley, Holmes to Indiana for Sabonis and LaVert
Barnes and Buddy to Boston for Smart, Horford, 2022 first rounder
or
Fox, Bagley, 2022 and 2023 second rounders and 2024 first rounder to Houston for Wood and 2022 first round pick
I think the Knicks, Pacers and Rockets and maybe Boston are the only available trade suitors at the moment.
Walton was a problem. Gentry is not a solution.
There are certainly a myriad of other problems that plague this organization, including the decision makers that did not cut Walton loose in the off-season. Those same decision makers also determined that Hield & Barnes were mor valuable than their market value.
Walton being a problem is tough to prove considering coaches prior and now subsequent to him were not any better. In the NBA coaching matters at the margin only and the data seems to support that. The problem when the finger is pointed at Walton it disguises the real problem. There really is only one place where the finger should be pointed and it’s ownership. Hiring a guy like Vlade with no qualifications for the position set the franchise back 5-10 years. Anybody listening to that guy talk for more than five minutes should know he’s a total buffoon. Walton had nothing to do with the roster that was given to him and no coach could win with the personnel that was given to him. When you get a decent roster and the team is not winning, you point the finger at the coach. Until then blaming the coaching is just misguided frustration.
Not saying a new coach will solve all our problems, BUT, joerger had these guys running and playing like an actual team. He also didn’t let players like buddy just chuck up shit shots all day and hope to make it. Remember the golden state game where buddy got his ass chewed out on live tv???? Yeah, then we got a “players coach” and now you have buddy, bagley, Alex Len, Damian Jones and co., all shooting threes. Like what the hell?!? There is no accountability, no structure, no team. Just individuals trying to get points.
Joerger never had a winning season.
Most wins than these other clowns can scratch out of the team
Badge Legend