Disgusting.
That’s the only word I have to describe this performance from the Sacramento Kings, a team that has lost their fifth straight game, all of which came at home. Up by 10 points with 3:36 left to go, the Kings managed to put themselves in a terrible position as the Pistons worked their way back into the game and got within 3 points with under 11 seconds left. A three pointer would have been disastrous in its own right, sending a game that the Kings had been leading nearly the entire way into overtime, but instead, De’Aaron Fox got caught in the air and whistled for a foul as Jaden Ivey nailed the three and then the subsequent free throw to give the Pistons a 114-113 lead. With no timeouts remaining, the Kings were forced to throw up a heave from beyond halfcourt that failed to go in.
This is not just the fifth straight home loss for the Kings, or the 11th loss by five points or fewer on the season, but also the second time this homestand where they lost a game that they were up by double digits with under 4 minutes to go. One time is already inexcusable as happened against the Denver Nuggets to start this homestand, but twice is another level of awful. For a team with a bunch of closers, this team can’t seem to figure out how to close games.
The Kings led by as many as 19 points in this one in the second half, and carried a 14 point lead into the 4th quarter. The Kings were outscored by 15 in that crucial fourth period, with the Pistons scoring 17 of their 37 4th quarter points in the final 2:41 of the game. The Kings meanwhile scored just 6 points in that same time frame.
Yes, the Kings were without one of their premier players in Domantas Sabonis, but this has been happening to this team all season. This Kings team doesn’t know how to execute on either end of the floor when it matters most. You can basically disregard the previous 46 minutes when you’re going to give up so many points in the final two minutes. This is a failure by the players, the coaches, and the front office that assembled this team. You’d think that coming off four straight losses, all at home, would see the Kings come out with a great energy and fire to put this away, taking every possession seriously. But routinely it is the other team that looks to play harder, execute better and in the end, come away victorious.
There’s not much else to say about this game or this team right now. This is not the team that we thought we had at the beginning of the season, or even a few games in. This has been one of the most frustrating and depressing Kings seasons I can ever remember, and I’ve lived through multiple seasons of John Salmons and Mikki Moore and Spencer Hawes. The thing with those teams was that at least we thought we were getting better days ahead. This team was supposed to be the better days ahead. But ever since that one magical season and playoff series, it’s been all downhill since, and right now, they’re picking up speed to find new lows.
Your Sacramento Kings: Why bother?
Sacramento Kings: We’re Waiting for Joy!
Sacramento Kings: Welcome to Basketball HELL!
Ring Ring!
Hello, this is Monte…
Can you transfer me to Vivek.
It’s Bob Myers
I do not think this loss had anything to do with coaching, roster construction, or ownership. This loss had everything to do with no leadership on the floor and stupid play.
No coach should be expected to prevent an NBA player from fouling a three point shooter when down by three.
We were outscored in the last half. The same half that Fox shot himself out of his mini slump. We need a point guard that can lead a half court offense to maintain possession and burn clock when the running and spraying is not working.
Fox lost this game for his team. Brown rightfully called him out. If Fox wants to threaten to leave because this team is losing he should know he is a big part of the problem.
This one game is just a microcosm of the entire season. Everything aforementioned is valid. If you choose this organization to have a roster issue solely.
That’s your right of opinion.
I believe the issues over this entire season are multi
dimensional. Blaming this all on Fox or Brown or Monte or Vivek? I would say they all take equal blame for this mess.
This loss. The key words in the first sentence.
I do agree that the last decade is an all of the above problem.
I don’t think Houston wants Fox. You might need to re think your standard stuff.
Watching the post game clips, MB told the players exactly the right things and the players failed to execute. I’m not even mad at MB anymore, we just have a soft ass team.
Soft and stupid. Ignoring the basic standard in life.
If your going to be dumb you better be tough.
The BBIQ is off the charts (but on the wrong side).
It is absolutely mind boggling how an All Star player (and Clutch Player of the Year winner) can be that clueless in that game situation. The Kings would have been better off playing 4v5.
He is not an All Star. Kings fans have been conditioned to call him an All Star because he made it one time.
….supposed All Star
Fixed it, thanks!
The vibes are back to we absolutely suck and have an incompetent organization from top to bottom.
Ah, the good old days. Kangz fans, we are so back to where we belong.
These are bad times to be Kings fans.
It does indeed feel sort of normal, like when we used to watch Buddy Hield bring the ball up the court or waiting for Cousins to be ejected.
I will never forget being at the game one time and watching Cousins stand at mid court yelling at two referees while the game was being played. It was four vs. five for at least three possessions. The referees were literally laughing at him as his team was getting beat.
Cuz did that every game. Multiple times every game.
He definitely did. It was more obvious in person because they follow the ball on the television broadcast. Referees were seriously running up and down the court laughing at him while the game was going on. They knew it made the tech worse. He would put his team down six before they finally gave him the technical and stopped the lopsided play.
Can the ticket prices start reflecting the product on the court?
Shhhh! I’m trying to sell mine.
It was better when they were paper. You could hand them to a kid and at least feel like someone enjoyed them.
Its good for us to be put back in our place and enjoy losing again. Its so much easier this way. To think we were actually starting to have hope again for the franchise was clearly an aberration. But, if I am going to enjoy sucking, I think I would rather watch a team that has a bunch of promising young players with new management/ownership instead of a collection of mostly veteran bed shitters, pick-up league coaches, and tone-deaf owners.
I’ll admit it. The Ivey 4 point play was one of the funniest things I’ve seen happen on a basketball court in a long time. Watching that play happen had me cackling with glee. It was perfect. The shot, the foul, the incompetence, the fact that it was Jaden Ivey. Every piece was perfect.
The Kings are painting their magnum opus of incompetence. It’s breathtaking to behold. I’ve come to realize that the Sacramento Kings are not a basketball franchise. Their the worlds longest running performance art installation. They are to be viewed through the lens of a classical comedy. Something fit for the Greek theater of old. As if the Washington Generals were a real boy. I’m sure now that Vivek is in on the joke. Stern must’ve commissioned this piece long ago and perpetuated the ruse. They are ineffable and unending. These are your, Sacramento Kangz.
I’m thinking more like “The Producers” in reverse.
I love it.
♫ “Springtime… for Lakers and Warriors fans,
Sacto is back to its ways!
Deebo and Huerter keep shooting clangs!
Look out, here come the brand new Kangz…”
Springtime… for Clippers and Mavericks fans,
Winter in DoCo for years…
Monte trades Fox for a third-round pick,
And Vivek will trade the rest.” ♫
Bravo
I thought I was the only one. I refuse to let this weird ass team get me in a bad mood anymore lmao
Yeah I’m just over it. If they want to prove me wrong at some point I’d be happy for them to do it.
It would hurt more if it wasn’t expected
If you want to feel extra holiday cheer after this one, go watch Mike Brown’s presser followed by De’Aaron’s 2 minute hostage video presser.
Brown is right. Fox is a clown for not owning up to it.
If the owner, gm, and coach are all wearing clown suits, why should Fox be any different?
The coach was not the clown tonight. I suspect that Brown has held back the reality of the situation many times in Fox’s losing tenure here,
Sure. Fool Brown once, shame on Fox. Fool Brown twice, student wins clown contest.
Who else is Brown going to play?
I think Brown has known what Fox since the day he got here.
Do you think Fox is uncoachable? He and the team was asked to step up the pace instead he rolls the ball up the court. He was asked to defend the three instead he had to close out the 3 and looked what happened? In his interview he took no responsibility for what happened the last play. He just IMO looked like he really didn’t care.
When Haliburton was a rookie he said more to the press than Fox did. Fox is coachable but, Fox is not driven as a competitor or a decent defender. He plays defense the same way he dribbles the ball into three defenders for a wild shot. He plays basketball using his quickness not his brain. Coachable for him means the coach benches him when playing smart matters.
I think Fox is coachable within limits, but like most of us tends to focus on those parts of what he hears that he is most comfortable with. In a pinch he falls back on the habits he’s developed over the years even if they don’t fit exactly what the coach wants in the moment.
I have wondered why it took a text from Luke Loucks (according to Kayte) to get Fox to re-emphasize getting both feet into the paint instead of taking threes early in the shot clock. Why wasn’t a conversation with MB the catalyst for that change?
I brought this up years ago and got roasted on here because I questioned Fox’s BBIQ and motor.
I have coached competitive team sports for a long time and Fox has the ultimate red flag/fatal flaw…. he thinks he is better than he is. It is at the root of most issues in team sports and it sticks out like a sore thumb to me.
I have said for a very long time Fox is a phenomenal athlete who plays basketball, he is not a phenomenal basketball player. For an NBA point guard his BBIQ and team play is well below average and it always has been.
AND that is the guy who wants the supermax and says he needs the team to win to stay.
I saw it and thought that is the biggest callout I have heard for Fox. So when does Fox get his DNP-CD?
Should be now but it will not happen. He is the starting point guard and face of the franchise. Brown can make a point and bench Fox when his assists are low or the game is within ten points.
That might be the funniest irony, they can’t bench him and hurt his value more. He actually needs to be featured and hopefully goes on a tear. If that happens the Kings need to be smart and trade him and not think, oh this is who he is, we’re good, let’s keep him and give him a max or supermax.
For me, that is the nightmare scenario and will set this team back a decade.
I think Fox nailed it:
“It doesn’t really matter. It’s not going to make anybody feel better.”
He has no desire to call himself out in public. That will make it hard to look like a good NBA player.
Or at the very least, a good leader.
He is definitely not a leader.
He thinks he leads by example. I even question that.
I think he does lead by example and this is the result
Or a player that deserve a max extension.
NO WAY!
It should matter and every player should feel terrible. If not then they are not winners.
Drapes: “First name, DeAaron…Last name, NOT HIM!”
Kangz.
Welcome (back) to basketball hell.
I think we just witnessed as to why Fox should not be given the max. With Sabonis out this game was his chance to carry the team on his shoulders alone and prove his place as the cornerstone of the franchise. When given the opportunity not only did he falter, he did the one thing you absolutely should never do: foul on a 3pt shot when your own team is up 3.
Soooooooo Kangz.
We witnessed the need for a true point guard instead of score first team second guy.
If you watch a replay of that last play, Fox was quite a distance away from his man when the ball was passed to Ivey before he took that three.
Yes. When down by three and your man is standing on the three point line waiting for a pass you have failed defensively.
Exactly; that’s zero awareness of the situation and a shocking lack of BBIQ. Puzzling, really.
They would have been better off playing 4v5
We continue to see why why Monte had hoped to trade Fox to Indy, instead of Haliburton.
Haliburton would have been throwing things in the locker room.
Fox does not think it is worth talking about.
Your 1x all star, 1 time clutch player of the year, “we have de’arron fox so we drafted bagley” everyone. Great show of accountability and leadership.
Don’t forget skipping on Jalen Ivey because we had Fox and Keegan would “fit better” next to him. Ivey definitely had the last laugh tonight.
I have never thought Fox was THE solution here, but have held out hope that he would be a big contributor to the solution. His not owning up to his blunder has snuffed out any such hope that remained. All that matters now is what assets we can get in return for trading him and who should execute the use of those assets.
I will wish Fox well wherever he winds up, but it is time to move on.
WOW that literally says it all
Back to checking Tankathon and playing with the simulator. Got a lot of 9s and 10s before hitting a 2. Kings get leads and forget to keep scoring. Wasted Lyles excellent game. Another DDR disappearance. Keegan had some rebounds but that’s about it. Sloppy turnovers. Gross clock mismanagement. Gave up 17 in 2:41? 161 seconds. Could’ve run out the shot clock every possession and probably won it.
Unfortunately, Fox decided to freeze his teammates out in the 2nd.
Had to get back up to 25. Who cares if his own team wins?
This reminds me so much of how the Kings deferred to Cousins for so long and never got better. We’re doing the same thing with Fox. Can’t draft Luka cuz he will take the ball out of Fox’ hands. Then draft PGs Halliburton, Mason, Davion, Carter.
Don’t forget all of the other guards in the second round and the undrafted free agent guards.
Why get a forward?
This is exactly why the Kings systemically suck. They put all their eggs in 1 basket on a tier 1-A player and then prop him up like he is the second coming or something. Then they draft around their false prophet instead of taking the best player in the draft. Kings take their flawed diamond and then smother the shit out of him until he doesn’t give a shit anymore. Fox is tired of being treated like the Sactown savior and is probably busy right now chucking under his breath about how Kings ownership is a bunch of suckers, Its been 8 years folks – Fox is a bust in Sactown – too bad the ownership will balk on making a move for him while he is nearest his peak value.
He will not say anything bad about Fox. He is afraid to get cut off of the Kings media feed.
As with Bagley, the shackles will come off after Fox is gone and the local media will be free to tell the truth.
Cousins was untouchable as well. Funny how small minded the organization can be.
There were a dozen screwups in that game before that last one. I don’t like Fox’s answer, but they shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.
This team’s problems run so much deeper than one Fox screwup at the end of one game.
I like the idea of a point guard controlling possessions and the clock when up by ten with two minutes left.
I like the idea of a point guard
controlling possessions and the clock when up by ten with two minutes left.…because Fox isn’t one
Watching the Knicks and Spurs now. It is crazy watching real basketball teams play each other. Silver is even at the game. Must be two teams with a future.
Don’t foul a 3 point shooter up by 3 with 3 seconds left. Don’t call a timeout with no timeouts left. Defining moments.
Sell baby sell
Amen brother.
We’ve played 31 games with 51 games left. Even if we play .600 ball the rest of the way (vs our current .419), we end up with a record of 43-39 which is not gonna even make the play-in, let alone playoffs.
Sell everything (except Sabonis and maybe Keegan and Ellis).
Keegan being a bust is a large factor of the team, he needs a new life somewhere else along with Fox
Fox for Cade Cunningham and throw in Keegan. Probably does not work after the Pistons got up close and personal scouting session in tonight.
Seeing that picture is like watching Kevin Huerter shoot threes. I have zero confidence.
Or Keegan.
The absolute funniest outcome would be for the Kings to do absolutely nothing and pretend everything is fine. Just lean fully into the self-delusion. I kind of want to see it happen because it NEVER happens.
Kings are 0-4 since Fox made his (very nicely stated) ultimatum public. I don’t know what you all think his frame of mind is, but I feel like I have a pretty good guess.
I’m not going to sit here and blame Fox for where the Kings are. Yes, he screwed up tonight, but there were a dozen other screwups in this game with coaching, etc. before that happened.
Upcoming Schedule:
The Kings of two years ago probably would have lost three of those four. This situation stands to get worse before it gets better.
This season is spiraling very quickly. Chances are pretty good the team drops even further below .500 in the next week or two. I think Fox is all but gone at this point.
Not to pick on Keegan, but I think he perfectly encapsulates the Kings front office. You see flashes of real talent, but overpowering timidity shadows any talent that’s present. The Kings front office seems to be afraid to do anything, and that’s going to cost the franchise long-term if they either can’t improve the team right now and somehow convince Fox to stay, or are too afraid to make a decision to move on from Fox before his value drops when he’s (inevitably?) moved to the next team.
Nice arena, though. Very accommodating to its guests.
And how about those uniforms? Real teams don’t have a dozen different sets throughout out the season. When was the last time you saw a Boston or the Knicks do that? Wouldn’t it be nice if they concentrated on the piss poor play of the team.
He scored 9
pts
like a player reborn.
in the first. Fell asleep the following 3. Scored 2
more
points
People are saying there is no need to drag Fox. When Fox has his agent show up to put pressure on the team he is dragging his own team.
Fox had a chance to own his mistake in a few words after dragging his own team in the national media. Fox has no credibility anymore.
I think I’m just over being emotionally invested at this point. Not trying to tell anyone how to fan, but I just don’t see the point at yelling at Fox. Yes, he screwed up. Yes, he showed poor leadership. Yes it looks like he’s checked out. Also, the coach sucks, the new guy doesn’t fit, two guys on the team look like they need a sports psychologist who specializes in the yips, etc., etc. These are all symptoms and fixing them doesn’t cure the disease.
To me, there are two choices: Somehow improve the team **right now** enough convince Fox to stay (very unlikely), or move on as soon as possible. If the front office sits around holding their hot dogs, which seems to be their best skill, Fox loses value and the franchise and fans lose out.
I totally agree with this Carl. I struggle to get worked up about any of the players or even Mike Brown at this point. They’re just symptoms of a larger problem.
Sabonis is the last player on this team I truly care about. He is a competitor and he cares.
Yeah kudos to him he plays really hard. All you can ask.
He does deserve a good chance at a ring. The man tries every game
I am punchy after seeing the last five or six games and Fox having the balls to bring his agent out to pressure the team that he doesn’t care about. I always appreciate your commentary and you have never told anyone how to fan.
I am beyond the emotional attachment as well. Fox is gone from the roster and checked out from this team. For the future of this team move Fox for something before he and his agent make it difficult. Build around Sabonis.
A few more Fox performances like tonight followed by that epic presser and Fox will see his value dive. The Kings need to trade peak Fox.
I don’t care where Fox wants to go. Time for the Kings to use Fox to improve this team.
Agreed. Or rebuild. They have three players (Fox, Sabonis, Monk) with a LOT of value around the league as individual players.
Can be a quick rebuild if we use our individual assets that we know do not work collectively as a team.
This has little to do with emotional investment, to me. More with logic.
How can you come out and publicly demand accountability from others (the organization) and show no accountability yourself? That won’t work.
Now, I’m not going to scream at him. I will just repeat what I have been saying longer than a month ago: blow it up.
Fox isn’t the main problem, but I also don’t see him as a main component of the solution, other than garnering us assets. And I think his return will disappoint.
Fox is not the man on this team or any team. He will be a flashy quick guard that scores 25 a night on a play off team. If he gets traded to a play off team. He is right between Buddy Hield and Klay.
Asked this farther down the post.
What do you think his value really is?
I am thinking the same, it is actually not great.
I’m not really much into fantasy GM-ing, so I am the wrong guy to ask. But I think he’s becoming a distressed asset, and that is never good.
Same here. I don’t get into the trade specifics or cap stuff much due to willful ignorance.
Fox has quit on this team and is trying to get the coach fired. So, of course, the Kings will fire Brown and keep him.
Could be true. Fox has a problem in that situation though. Almost every game Brown can point out how bad Fox is other than his random shooting.
Recd. What happens if we lose 9 in a row? More nothing?
I posited whether this organization could ever be successful while Vivek owns the team a few years ago and I think we know the answer.
Sure, they had a flukey playoff run but it was pyrrhic success. All it did was convince them that they were much closer to competing than they actually were.
They’ve never gone through a rebuild. Never collected assets to try and build a sustainable path forward. Never done any of the things successful organizations do to compete. It’s always been band aids and half measures.
The reason is Vivek Ranadive and until he’s either lobotomized or sells the team, nothing will matter. We have 11+ years of proof of the truth of this. It’s the same for every organization with incompetent ownership. It’s impossible to sustain success because the vision doesn’t exist to get there.
I cannot dispute that argument. I do blame the front office sitting around doing nothing about obvious, glaring holes in size, athleticism and defense, offseason after draft after deadline after offseason, which has finally come home to roost.
Yeah I get that for sure. I just start to wonder if anything in this organization actually functions as it’s supposed to.
I can’t see anything that’s working on the basketball side, from ownership on down.
Sure seems that way.
Me and some of my buddies have discussed this. Business wise, the Kings are great. Basketball wise they are the KANGZ in every possible way.
One way to get really bummed is look at their past drafts and who they took vs who they passed on. A monkey or coin flip could have done better.
I believe that Mike Brown should be fired for not fouling them to put them on the line. Katie C. called that a gamble but guess what? It’s a good gamble. They just did it to us. Do it back to them. Take seconds off the clock in a fouling back-and-forth move. Of course Fox’s foul was a dumb-ass move but still, it never should have come to that. Foul them!!
Firing MB half way through the season.
Solves nothing. If anything the team will be worse. Not only Fox will want out but half the team. I don’t think he’s here next year. But firing him now.’Solves exactly what.’Coaching is only one of a myriad of problems with this
organization.
Realistically, the team is not making the playoffs in its current incarnation so does it matter if it gets worse? If anything, getting worse should bring a better draft pick.
And if half the team want out because ownership isn’t satisfied with the product that is being on the floor, that kinda implies that the players are satisfied with how things are going and they’re not part of the long-term solution.
If Brown is not the answer, why not rip off the band-aid and start looking at alternatives. If Fox is not the answer, let’s move him and start working on the future now instead of frittering away another completely lost season and THEN trying to move him.
Who’s out there that’s a better answer than Brown? Reggie Theus? I always liked Mark Jackson as a coach (point guards make good coaches and he’s one of the all time assist leaders) but idk if he’s really that much better than MB tbh.
Brown said in his post game, they were told to foul the dribbler and they let 8 seconds run off the clock and no foul and that there should be no closeout to shooters. And in the last half of the 4th quarter to keep up the pace and Fox (the fastest player in the league, eyeroll) is trotting up slowly possession after possession to take on a set defense 1v5.
He called out Fox publicly maybe the worst I can remember.
I have been very critical of MB but that was not on him. It was on the guy who says he will stay if the team is winning. And he wants a supermax. And got his agent involved.
Ugly look for Fox postgame. Own your mistake (even if you’re pissed about Brown calling you out), talk about being a leader on the team and that you’ll do better next game. Maybe spend more than 1:47 addressing the media after losing five in a row at home.
I was at this game…went with some buddies…
and we were all open mouthed, slack jawed filled with incredulity.
First 5 game losing streak of the Mike Brown era.
Sigh. The Kings is dead. Long Live the Kangz.
The macro of all of this is that the Ranadive era is heading towards its 11th playoff miss in 12 years. That’s an 8% success rate vs. a league average of 53%. This is an embarrassingly bad organization across all levels of professional sports.
Sigh… it just sucks when there’s nothing any of us can do.
I cried when it was announced they were staying in Sac. Now I honestly feel like the team would have been way better off in Seattle this whole time. I’m still happy there is a sacramento kings of course, but good God has it been so bad year after year during the Vivek era.
Both times I’ve seen this team, it’s been the worst loss of the season*.
*Worst at the time w/r/t the Blazers.
Here’s why I think you have to trade fox. If he goes to Brown at the end of the game and owns up and says sorry I fucked up there’s no way brown throws him under the bus. Fox clearly didn’t do that in The locker room or in the presser. He’s gotta go
Fox is all over the national media talking about how he can be the man on a team and how the Kings need to build a franchise around him.
Brown is pointing out in the media that Fox loses basketball games by not having a sixth grade understanding of the game. On top of that he does not own up to anything.
So very excited to see Fox move on and the organization to inevitably leak a bunch of shit about him on the way out the door, as they have done with so many a fall man in the Vivek era. Just remember, the shit is not true or at least not all true. It is just wizard of oz bullshit that this clown show pretending it is an NBA organization is feeding the fans to distract from the fact that they are utterly incompetent. Just a bunch of phony, dismissive little chaps. We deserve better.
They don’t need to leak shit. He just shat all over himself with that play and then the postgame presser.
Beam went out
If this doesnt elicit anything from you as a fan or a player, then you are dead inside
“It doesn’t really matter.”
Bye Fox
Competent organizations occasionally trade stars for future assets. Nobody loves it, but the management philosophy behind it is sound. Will they do it? Kangz.
Competent organizations don’t fire newly-extended coaches and keep them on the books. Will they do it? Kangz.
Competent organizations don’t retain general managers who make things worse. Will they do it? Kangz.
At this point I’m hate-
watchingrefreshing, and was thrilled to see Detroit come back. I don’t know why I feel this way, and I don’t care really. I’m a Sixers fan as well, and I hate that franchise too. Life is strange.I like Fox as an important piece, but for whatever reason Minty has failed to build a team while he’s here. Seems logical to me to set him free and acquire future assets. Kangz.
Like my words here matter. I feel lucky the one game I paid for this year was fantastic. I’m glad we have an arena, and the area around sure is nice.
Keep the embarrassments coming, but at this point I’ve come to accept those embarrassments won’t change a thing. Kangz.