On Friday night, the Sacramento Kings embarrassed themselves at home against their “rival”, the Golden State Warriors. Heading into the game, the Warriors and Kings were tied in the standings, both sitting at 28-27 and tied for the last spot in the play-in tournament. The Dubs played like the game mattered. The Kings played to get theirs on offense and cruise on defense.
Four players were featured offensively for Golden State. Moses Moody and Buddy Hield scored 22 points apiece, Brandin Podziemski had 21, and Steph Curry put up 20, while DeMar DeRozan poured in 34 points, and Domantas Sabonis finished the night with 14 points, 14 boards, and 9 assists for the Kings
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Good:
A Wild Point Guard Appears! Prior to signing Markelle Fultz a few days ago, the Sacramento Kings quite literally didn’t have a traditional, capable point guard on their roster. The difference in quality of play was obvious once Markelle Fultz stepped on the floor. In his six minutes of play prior to the game getting completely out of hand, Fultz scored 6 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the floor and also showed the same defensive chops he demonstrated in Orlando last season. He may not be a 20-minute per game guy, but it sure was nice to see a real point guard in the game for Sacramento.
The Bad:
Defense: The Kings are not a particularly big, strong, long, or defensively skilled squad. The only way to truly make up for those shortcomings is to play really, really hard on the defensive end of the floor, but unfortunately, that simply isn’t in the makeup of most of Sacramento’s squad. The Kings doubled Golden State’s turnovers, 20-10, but more importantly, the Dubs outscored Sacramento 36-5 in points off of turnovers.
The Ugly:
Offensive Offense: When the Sacramento Kings traded their best point of attack defender for a…not point of attack defender, the defensive concerns surrounding a Monk-Lavine backcourt felt obvious, and they have been obvious, but Sacramento’s inability to out-run and outscore opponents has been just as worrisome in the last seven games. The your-turn, my-turn offensive schemes simply aren’t working. Since the trade, Monk and LaVine have combined for 231 points on 204 field goal attempts – a wildly inefficient showing – while Domantas Sabonis has also often been frozen out of the picture. On Friday evening, Sabonis had attempted exactly one two-point attempt with four minutes remaining in the first half. By the time Doug Christie began taking advantage of Sabonis’ size against Draymond Green, the game was well out of hand.
The King of Kings
DeMar DeRozan: With 34 points on 14 field goal attempts, alongside 6 assists and 4 rebounds, DeRozan was one of the only bright spots for Sacramento on Friday night.
Up Next
Monday, February 24th vs. Charlotte Hornets – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
We’re rolling now!
&ct=g
Sadly, that ship has sailed. I don’t think the Kings are catching the bottom 11 teams. .500 basketball is a death sentence for the future of this franchise.
This!
The rest of this season needs to be figuring out the path forward got the next couple of seasons. Attempt to make a couple of positive moves or sell the farm this off season.
The time to do that was at the trade deadline, could have traded Fox for picks and young players instead of Lavine and change. The path forward is mediocrity
Nah. Mediocrity is what the last few years were. First round exits and a few play-in games.
We’re now on the highway to Sucktitude. And there are no exits to Tankaville.
Sadly a plain and simple truth, the FO really dropped the ball with this roster getting mainly score first guys instead of bigger, two way guys that play the game the right way. Vivek is undoubtedly still meddling, could be the main reason they went after DD & ZLV…wants big name stars…but Ranadive has proved over and over again, he knows absolutely jack about basketball.
We need to tweak the line-ups. Our starters are way too score first, but our reserves have good two-way value.
IMO the way forward will take some time to get there.
oh to be a fly on the wall during conversations between Vivek and MM. Seriously wonder what the conversation and plan going forward would be?
Monte’s plan should revolve around renewing contacts with former colleagues about where his next landing spot might be.
“Yes sir. Of course sir. I will call Mark Jackson for that advisory role right away, sir.”
If it were Vivek’s plan we are screwed. He has no clue how to run a team and make meaningful choices to the roster.
The Vivek and MM special.
It’s not easy killing a zombie.
And for years to come. Old players who have past their years and whose contracts means they probably won’t ever being traded is a downfall for the Kings. I am and I will say it here am not a fan of Zach Lavine. After the first quarter of last nights game he should have been benched. In the first quarter he made a turnover by lobbing the ball which was easily intercepted and scored on the other end. I am glad my TV still works. He had more turnovers all through the game.
The Kings are not really a team but a bunch of individuals who play only iso ball. No team work whatsoever. Their defense especially on the 3 ball just stinks. By the way I think Lavine’s defense sucks. What defense? On offense Sabonis is left out of plays because of Derozan and Lavines iso ball. Monk and Sabonis don’t even work together. Iso ball and no teamwork got 108 points last night.
IMO the Kings are headed to be with the bottom teams for quite some time. They have to play for what they have. Nobody wants Lavine’s or Derozan’s contracts. We have no true point guard. Our defense is terrible Turnovers are killing us. We have to many head trips who aren’t going to change their ways. The FO sucks. They made a trade in Fox and in essence got Lavine which isn’t even close in contrast and will haunt them for years to come. With that trade we essentially got nothing in return’
I am still, believe it or not a King’s fan, but its hard to be realistic when the front office sucks. IMO the only way things can change is get rid of Vivek but how are you going to do that. I think after this year Monte and Wes will be gone. So how does that help?
With all its worth I hope and pray something good will happen. GO KINGS!
Is it too late to recind the Fox trade?
This team is not all that different with or without Fox.
This is true. Marginally better, worse, or the same is all debatable. The difference comes down to contracts and draft picks. The Kings are paying more in the shorter term, as opposed to a Fox extension, and have a few picks in their back pocket, but it’s all still a bunch of…meh.
This is true, although as a season ticket holder, THIS iteration of the Kings is just unwatchable. Can’t see renewing next season to watch this ship go down in flames.
I have had season tickets off and on since 1986. Even watched them when I lived in the Kansas City area before they left there. Every time I buy season tickets I find myself feeling immensely dumb again. The urge comes back and I do it again.
It’s called buyer’s remorse. I have it too and I only bought Tix for 2 games.
You are smarter than me. I cannot seem to associate the pain with the next purchase.
That’s the smart play and you can feel good about that. I’m down to one.
The only watchable team we’ve had in the last 19 seasons was the playoff team.
I’m with you. Been a STH continually since 2013. Renewal coming up. Can’t justify nearly $8K for games I don’t look forward to going to anymore. Last night’s game was especially irritating.
Guaranteed meh vs. 70% chance of meh.
A Fox extension is only a possibility if Fox was ever going to sign it. I don’t think that was ever his intention. We are living that reality.
Watching Fox do Fox things was way better than watching LaVine do LaVine things.
ISO offense but you don’t want him to pass because that’s a turnover.
And it’s unbelievable how poor his lateral movement on D is for such an athletic guy.
You just described Fox but the only thing you missed was his “quick first step”.
Hate Levine’s game. Always have. Another horrible add on a bad team made up of miss matched parts run into the ground by a horrible owner.
Again- only hope is Kings get so bad people stop going -putting pressure on owner.
Im afraid the only answer is getting rid of Vivek. Just don’t know how that’s possible.
Really pisses me off what he’s done to this team, and Sac. FU Vivek.
That’s not the point, Fox was a much better asset than Lavine. We lost that asset in a trade with a sad return.
Collect assets or win games?
So we probably need to figure in the 2025 pick(and likely 2026 picks) s now only traded jn for 2 seconds as part of the Fox trade. 4D chess by the front office.
Bulls are laughing. Lavine’s contract dooms the Kings for the next 2 years.
The man is laughably bad on defense. It’s comical. And equally lazy on offense. He’s laughing all the way to
the bank though
Only organization in the league stupid enough to trade for
him.
Kings are stuck with his 50 mil.
Team is going nowhere. Not this year or the next.
Demar for all his 34pts. Ball stopper and a lovely 36 next year. What a future.
if I am Sabonis I am asking for the way out this Summer.
Yeah, I’d be surprised if Sabonis wants to continue to stay here, wasting away his prime years.
Yup, it’s leaning toward players taking the decision out of the hands of Vivek, and at some point all the decent players just demand trades and force a rebuild. Season ticket holders don’t renew.
After watching these past few games, yes, I hope that Sabonis finds greener pastures. He is too good a player, and more importantly, too good a person for this misery.
Morbidly accurate.
Just wait until we give Keegan a 30m per contract, and lose Ellis to FA. That’ll be fun.
Sabonis should demand a trade if he’s smart, unfortunately I don’t think the market is hungry for a big who is a turnover machine that plays zero defense.
Keegan got an offensive board in good position and didn’t even create an impression as if he’s going to try and shoot it. Passed it out straight away. Like scared puppy.
I’m losing my love for Keegan one game at a time.
At some point they need to move on from the high usage ISO guys and incorporate Keegan more offensively, and give him the green light to be more aggressive…or cut bait because they aren’t developing him well.
Tell me how they will get rid of the iso guys?
Yeah I saw that last night. Didn’t understand why he wouldn’t try and put it back. At least get folded.
Keegan could be a Michael Porter Jr. type if he were in Denver and used the right way. I can squint and see how Sabonis, Keegan, Ellis and LaVine could fit together, much like Sabonis, Porter Jr, KCP, and Murray once fit, but with DDR and Monk out there as well, it’s just shit for fit.
Literally yelled at my TV “Shoot the ball Keegan!” He was three feet from the hoop with no defender in position and instead passed out to the three point line for a brick.
To be clear, Keegan isn’t the problem here (or the solution).
Agreed. I listen to a lot of NBa pods and most NBA analysts don’t speak highly of Domas due to his glaring weaknesses. Given that and his contract and how you have to build an O around his particular strengths, I don’t think you’d get a great return for him.
Funny enough, I think he’d be a great fit next to Wemby as Wemby could completely mask Domas’ weaknesses.
If he got trade to SAS I would probably become a Spurs homer.
Cue three team deal. Domas out, Kuzma and Chris Paul in. And we get a couple 2nds but not our pick swap back.
Naw man sabonis in Dallas w Anthony Davis, and Kyrie is the best spot for him and I’m not the biggest fan of sabonis ohh and Memphis. They both have the power forward he needs to be successful. Sabonis man needs to go back to his pacer days for sac in the low post man and taking 15+ field goals a game while also still playing, making from the top of the key. Since the playoffs the league adapted but the kings haven’t countered or made any adjustments it’s baffling because it’s so much you can do with a big guy who can pass the ball smhhh
AD and Wemby are the ideal bigs next to Domas. It’s been obvious since MM traded for Domas that he needs a specific type of big next to him yet MM has made no effort to obtain such a big via the draft or FA. He had Ware sitting there this past draft but instead chose another undersized guard.
At this point, excuse my harsh language but MM is an absolute bozo.
What would this office get in return? Look what happened with the Fox trade. Nothing in return from the Spurs.
Lot’s to criticize the Kings about or doom about, but if any podcasters are not high on Sabonis, that says more about their NBA knowledge and how much they even pay attention to the Kings.
Sabonis isn’t perfect. He’s not a rim protector. He’s definitely best in a few flowing offense or one where he facilitates, as opposed to standing in the corner or dunker spot while a wing pounds the ball.
But first, he’s phenomenal on offense. He’s averaging 20-15-6 with strong efficiency. He has a 2:1 A/T rate, which is very good for a high utilization big man. He hits 63% of his twos. And one fair knock used to be his lack of shooting, but he’s hit 37-45% of this threes the last three seasons while increasing his volume from 1.1 to 2.4 threes per game. He’s also hitting 75% of his FTs now.
Defensively, sure, it would be great to have a shot blocking big next to him. But not every strong defensive team does. Our bigger issue is our lack of defense on the perimeter. But Sabonis moves his feet well for a big man and is a pretty savvy defender. He’s not a slug and in his 9 year career has had a positive DBPM every season since his 3rd year in the league. Even in our awful defense where his overall numbers would get dragged down a bit by overall team performance, he still has a 0.8 DBPM. At some point, this isn’t a fluke. It’s one a one year phenomena, it spans 7 seasons across multiple teams with different player compositions.
There’s a reason he was ALL NBA two years ago and should have been an all star this season. He’s a phenomenal player and if we had managed our assets better and were a top 5 seed in the West, he’d be getting a lot more hype.
KOJ,
Love how straight forward and real you keep it. Much to the chagrin of some.
This FO f’d up and botched fox the asset.
Mediocrity reigns.
I really feel bad for Sabonis, He puts his heart I every game and look what he has to work with. If I were him I definite would asked to be traded. Only thing this front office wouldn’t nearly what he is worth.
Bulls got Huerter and his contract so there’s a glimmer of positivity in that trade.
We are paying both Mike Brown and Lavine for the next two years? THATS a lot of money for nothing and for making a team worse.
Christie likely gets a full time gig locking him into a guarantee for two years. Then three weeks later they fire him when the next agent takes over as GM.
Barring major roster overhaul, if DC is the permanent coach and this is what I can expect, I’ll likely be done for a while. I’ll pick up watching hockey or handball or something and just circle back with the Kings once we realize the only path forward is a complete makeover.
Hockey is awesome!!!
Going to a game tomorrow night and very excited to simply watch the game. There are no soft or lazy hockey players.
I stopped watching the games. I just come on here for my King’s fix.
I can fall back on my other favorites. 49ers and Dodgers.
Um, what and who?
I would tend to think that Monte McNair should be gone this week as well for putting us in this incredibly horrible position, but that would add yet another paycheck being given to someone who is doing absolutely nothing (positive) for this team.
McNair should have been fired the day after the Pelicans eliminated us. He absolutely kneecapped during the offseason through the deadline.
It doesn’t matter if they fire McNair. We all know Vivek is behind most of this. He’s put limitations. Has his preference is. Doesn’t pay.
Fire, McNair and it’s just gonna be some other asshole forced to be a yes, man for Vivek.
Question..if Vivek is the problem and the owner isn’t changing anytime, so the Kings are destined to suck with him, what’s the point in even watching? Why not just tune back in once he is gone?
It’s gotta be better than coming on a fan site and constantly harping on all the ineptitude each amd every day.
I agree that Vivek is ground zero when it comes to this shitshow. I also agree that he’s not going anywhere. So why stay? For me, (a) because I have followed this team for 40 years, and (b) I love this community. So I don’t need to take leave. I only need to recalibrate and treat this organization like the empty calories that it is. They are unserious about themselves, so I am unserious about them.
At this point, I don’t know that I will see the Kings in a 2nd round playoff game in my remaining lifetime. And that is as hilarious as it is sad.
Yada yada arena, yada.
Yep. It’s a lot more entertaining when your expectations are set at “heartbreak and chaos.”
Vivek has every reason to sell. I’m not saying he will soon, but the signs are everywhere. Other than keeping himself (and his entourage) on tv, I’m not sure why he is still in charge. If real estate continues to sag, or an MLB ownership comes available look for him to cash out.
I do not see any realistic reason for Vivek to sell or change the ownership structure of the team in any shape at all. He does not need to sell the team to buy a baseball team. Leaving the NBA to have an opportunity to buy an MLB team is not intelligent.
Sacramento real estate is not sagging at all. Vivek in particular is re developing the Arco/Sleep Train site. This real estate is going to do very well for him.
What signs do you see that are everywhere indicating he has every reason to sell?
Vivek is no whale among NBA owners. Real estate is topped out (sadly.) NBA tv ratings are topped out with revenues not far behind. He’s had little to no success and may get tired of trying, especially if the futility continues reality inevitably sets in. He’s shying away from signing large, long-term contracts, (Fox) and the exposure afforded owners is turning sour.
These are more like hints than actual signs, and maybe I’m misreading the entire situation. It’s more of a hunch than an actual prediction, but if the team continues to founder, eventually the minority owners will revolt, and this may explain why they are so reluctant to tank. It’s not the fan support he’s afraid of losing, it’s the financial support.
Also, if Vivek needs funding for another major investment (MLB?) it would make sense to cash out of under-performing assets rather than accept more debt, especially at today’s rates.
He is a tech billionaire not a real estate billionaire. The people that make a living from real estate in the area do not see a topped out market. They are rushing to get in.
Speculation and hope I guess.
For me, I’ve been a part of STR and now TKH for over a decade so seeing what people here have to say is something I will probably continue to do.
As for the Kings, I haven’t been to a game since the 50 point drubbing at home by the Pelicans last year and I won’t be back until there’s a meaningful change in direction or some type of coherent plan or vision for the franchise. I’ve stopped watching the games because what’s the point? Win or lose, they will never be competing for anything. I used to watch to see something cool happen on a basketball court but I can watch real teams and still get that. I’ve been a fan my entire life (40 years now, same as the Kings stay in Sacramento) and I don’t have the heart to actually root for another team. So I’ll just be a nomad for the time being.
The OT win over Miami was the best NBA game I’ve ever attended.
First, I don’t do it each and every day. 2nd, it’s cathartic. 3rd, maybe if enough fans get pissed we’ll
find a way to get rid of him.
Youre welcome to not read my Vivek comments.
I don’t think it’s necessary to tune into every game at this point. But watch the games or not, if fans just started silently tuning out (which I think will start to happen at the current trajectory) it doesn’t provide the full picture. It also allows the gaslighters in the organization and Kings-adjacent media to spin thing as they will.
Fans speaking out, even if it is just rambling on a message forum, does make a difference. It shines a light, helps educate and build consensus with other fans, etc. It may take a long time, but it will make a difference eventually. It’s how other fanbases have had their fortunes changed. It’s also how we stayed.
Brown’s contract is a non issue. It counts against nothing. Vivek won’t go into the tax no matter how clean his payroll is.
It definitely counts in many millions of dollars out of Vivek’s pocket that now can’t afford a real coach or GM.
I think it means they’re going to hire a minimum wage coach, which almost certainly will be Doug Christie, who no offense to Doug, wouldn’t be seriously considered for a head coaching gig anywhere else in the NBA.
This sounds right
Boy, having to have to watch LaVine for the next two years is going to be ugly. And no team is gonna want him on that contract.
The Suns traded for Beal, so there is hope.
Beal is more than Lavine. Beal will at least play team basketball.
But play if very very badly.
I take Beal over at least ten of our players.
I suppose the positive takeaway of having Beal is letting other players see more playing time while he’s inactive.
True. About as smart as spending eight years building around Fox.
…and now hyperbole
I’m sorry you’re hurting, but this is objectively false, and I checked the stats before posting this.
Half the assists and double the turnovers compared to the opponent. Same problem we have had for seven or eight years. Need a point guard.
About halfway through the 2nd quarter, I began to feel ambivalence for the first time this season. That’s not a good place to be for me as a fan.
That second unit of Lavine, Keon, LaRavia, Lyles, and Valanciunas showed no ball or body movement at all. They will struggle to score against any team that shows even the semblance of defense.
As with Lyles he hasn’t shown anything this year. Play Jake more.
Maybe have a coach that can call play sets
The bbiq of this team seems incredibly low, particularly when getting picked apart by a team that can play smart no matter who they play. The contrast last night was obvious and disheartening. DC had to dumb things down for the players post-MB, and now it’s just standing around. No one is smart enough to use multiple screens to get open. On defense, if the other team runs two screens for ANY player against us, they get a wiiiide open shot.
You honestly don’t need a Point guard you need guys like jaylen brown and Jayson. Tired of these guys drafting guards, rondo is the last playing making point guard to win a championship in his prime.
You need guys with handles, though, and the Kings lack that. Fox being gone has really exposed it.
Fox’s handle has been suspect also, especially with the hand injuries. I’m gonna miss his defense which I believe is underrated, and under-appreciated. It seems he can go get the ball almost anytime he needs to
I wouldn’t go as far as to say you don’t need a point guard.
I definitely would suggest that maybe having 7 of your 16 players being combo shooting guards, with 5 of them at the top of the rotation, is probably not the winningest formula ever. Especially when you’re undersized at every position except Keegan.
We’re two superstar wings away from having two superstar wings! 🙂
Good one! I realize it’s a joke, but if I were GM, I would look for two top defenders at the forward position and build from there.
Jamal Murray
This team is unwatchable.
Has been starting with Game 7
Game 7 is when I rechecked out from this team, after previously having checked out for some time when they passed on Luka.
One of these days, the front office has to make a great trade right?
Right?
A trade? What trade?
I keep thinking Lavine has to have a good game eventually, but unfortunately it isn’t necessarily so.
Monty took a team that we could nearly be really excited about, and turned it into the 2021 Chicago Bulls rejects. We had a young Halliburton who would have stayed here for 15 years and been a star. Now we have Sabonis, two chuckers and a bunch of mediocre bench players. Whahey. Burn it down. ????????????????
I can’t stand McNair and his moves have been mostly big failures, but there was nothing to be excited about with the 21-22 team, other than the idea of trading Fox.
Our bench is less than mediocre. Time to be real.
also being real; its still an upgrade to what we had before the trade deadline.
oof.
Exponentially better. Damn that is hard to believe.
Yep. LaVine is better than Huerter. JV over Len, Fultz over McLaughlin, Laravia over Colby Jones. And yet the team seems no better off.
Bench or the starting five will give up 135 on any night.
Interesting analysis. It seems depressing, but maybe it means they will improve yet.
LaVine is Fox’s replacement though, not Huerter’s. If we swapped Huerter for Lavine in the rotation I don’t think anyone would be complaining that much.
McGenius needs to take his sweater vests and get the hell out of Sac. As bad as Vlade was, at least Vlade had a built in excuse for being a bad GM, MM has no excuse
His vests are puffy. I haven’t seen the sweater vest yet. What was Vlade’s excuse? I forgave Vlade when he resigned and left his money on the table. Everyone makes mistakes. Then Luka and his whining, added to his paunch became unwatchable for me… and I thought DeMarcus was bad.
Watching this game, at times I alternated my hatred towards the Warriors, who I think ruined basketball in many ways, or the Kings, who robbed me of joy. It’s a toss up.
Back on that treadmill of waiting for someone new to gel.
We have been making jell-o for two decades now. One year we don’t have any gelatin. The next year we don’t have any ice. As soon it starts to gel the refrigerator breaks and it melts in the next two hours.
Start fultz and put monk back to the super 6th please…thank you
Meh, that’s just rearranging the deck chairs. Fultz would have been more suited for a team like the Shanghai Sharks.
Fly all the way to China to play six minutes.
I think he’d get at least 10mpg in the CBA.
I would hope so. Who is competing with for time there?
Jimmer?
Tyreke?
The Greek guy that never played?
One of the many Jones guys we had last summer?
Trippin, his limited minutes he looked more like a pg than monk
He is more of a point guard than Monk. He is not a point guard that will play a bunch of minutes in the NBA or China.
Yep. If Fultz is the answer, you’re cooked.
He’s definitely not the answer, but I can see where one may feel he, or a player like him, is the better fit as this team is currently constructed.
Also, when you’re cooked, maybe Fultz is the answer!
Hmmm …
if healthy he absolutely is a player in the nba
If…maybe….could be….at one time….has potential.
Never was and is not now.
We don’t have enough depth to not start our best players.
Best players individually doesn’t equal best lineup
Naw put lavine on the bench. Monk was doing just fine at the 2 w secondary playmaking
You’re probably on the right track. I think the key to solving the DaVinci code that is the current roster lies in data dependent decisions. Rather than theorize and hoping the results look like genius, start mixing it up and let the results speak for themselves.
I brought my boy up to Sacramento for his first game since Game 7 of our playoff series. It’s so fun being in Sacramento, seeing Kings gear everywhere, and the G1C is a great arena full of A+ customer service. Then we got pummeled by the Warriors, again.
Unfortunately, Vivek runs a clown car of an organization, and we have totally squandered the promise of the Beam Team. It’s like how I grew up in the 80s and 90s, but with the faint memory of a single dalliance with success to make it all the more painful.
This team has quickly devolved into being too painful to watch for even diehard Kings fans unless you consider it comedy.
Didn’t watch, didn’t need to. Assumed the outcome would be what it was. What sucks is the Spurs are out, and the Suns are a dumpster fire with no hope. We have to hope the Suns start winning or we’re going to fall backwards into the play-in and lose the pick. The most Kangz thing possible is definitely to get the 10 spot, lose and also lose the pick. So I definitely expect that to happen.
Anyway, Vivek still some how being this bad at owning team is done unholy combination of hubris and incompetence that I can’t comprehend. How many times do you have to do something wrong before trying something different? It’s sort of impressive.
You have summed up our dismissive little guy owners’ talents perfectly .
We can only hope that Vivek”s hubris will lead him to investing in the new basketball league that’s in its formative stages. He’s been active in SPACs and private equity funds, so maybe that will lead him to stepping away from involvement with the Kings.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/investors-are-reportedly-trying-to-create-a-rival-league-to-the-nba-but-theyre-facing-an-uphill-battle/
It’s getting closer to Easter so I would gladly take a miracle!
This team stinks in so many ways but I firmly believe their biggest issue is offense. Yes, defense is regularly terrible but at least I see a “plan” most nights (even if tonight’s plan of doubling Steph and forcing others to make shots backfired). The recap touched on it but there’s no such plan on offense. It’s just 5 guys who look like they have as much chemistry as a random group assembled for a pickup game at the YMCA. Awful, awful turnovers because no one knows what to do beyond isolate and chuck as the shot clock expires. Absolutely painful to watch even on nights where they win.
I don’t know, man, I haven’t seen a team switch to a zone defense as much as the Kings have under Christie. It’s their break glass in case of emergency defense that, IMO, they use far too much. For me, it’s an indication that it’s some combination of Doug not trusting his players and the fact there are too many poor defenders on the floor at once.
They play zone because they cannot play man defense without getting destroyed by the simplest of switches. This is the only team that consistently ends up with a small guard lost in a rotation and stuck defending a big in the post.
Would anyone be surprised if LaRavia’s first game as a King was his best, and it all went downhill from there?
Just like Crowder?
So Kangz.
He has looked more out of control and lost since he got here. The Kangz have worn off in him already.
I was getting Casspi vibes last night. He’s all hustle and heart, but he’s a bit out of control and mistake prone while trying too hard.
LaRavia has gone from a 44% 3-pt shooter with Memphis to a 22% shooter with us; Lavine has dropped from 45% with the Bulls to 26% as a King!
We’re cursed
Or maybe we have a group of incompetents leading the franchise.
That’s another sort of curse but has tangible reasons, opposed to some native American burial ground tale.
Curse, thy name is…
But Crowder was so warmly welcomed, here. Was probably the last time anyone had nice things to say about Monte, people were actually pumped. Until about his 3rd game where it was clear he wasn’t cut out to play in the NBA anymore and then everyone just… stopped… talking about Crowder… all together. Weird.
So Kangz fanz.
Well that sure sucked. This team (as currently constructed) is going nowhere fast.
I thought the offense would be fine with Lavine because he was a good 3pt shooter, but this has been ugly all around. Nobody looks like they know how to play basketball. They are trying to play selfless ball, but end up making bad passes instead of being aggressive, which result in turnovers.
The ball moves, but not to spots where players are in a position to make a play or a shot. Just a lot of perimeter ball movement, “looking” for a play.
Our legacy hire coach is losing his lustre quickly. I’m shocked.
This group of players needs structure offensively. It looks like 5 dudes just trying to freelance, and nobody knows what the others are trying to do.
Our offense was built on a drive into the paint and kick philosophy. DDR plays drive to a favored spot and put up a shot while hoping to get fouled.
LaVine seems to play drive and kick to an opponent to start a fast break in the other direction.
Lol!
Yeah, can’t just roll a ball out there for offense, shocking
I’ll answer my own question I submitted for the mailbag. Most valuable thing we got out of the trade? Keeping our own picks after we blow everything up.
What blowup?
I was calling to blow it all up early in the season, to the chagrin of some here.
The writing was on the wall with Brown, Monte and Fox.
After I witnessed Brown being replaced by Christie (a Vivek call) and Fox being flipped for LaVine (a Vivek call) and change, I have zero belief that any GM will be able to plot the course of this franchise.
Vivek will not blow things up. Everything will be quick “fixes”.
Not much he can do w out draft picks, not a free agent destination, and guys w no trade value
monk, keegan, sabonis and keon are the only guys the league wants.
You can get a good return for those players, including Lavine, JV and DDR.
I would keep KM and Keon and trade MM, Domas, Lavine and DDR for whatever picks you can get. MM in particular should return a nice haul given his contract.
Start a rebuild around KM, KE and DC.
Those of us who were calling for a rebuild early in the season were vilified around these parts. Seems like some are coming around to the fact that this core – the Fox and non-Fox – version are middling at best and won’t equate to winning.
I hope we suck the rest of the way and don’t make the play-in and maybe that will push Vivek to fire MM and blow this thing up.
That’s been the hope at this point in the season almost every year for almost 20 years now. I no longer have any hope that we will ever see a proper rebuild while Vivek is the owner. Even they somehow luck into keeping the pick or getting a decent position, McNair will pick the most “NBA ready” player.
I believe that if we had added a few pieces to Fox and Co that we could have been a legitimate 2nd round team. I don’t believe that the team we have is going to win 10 in a row anytime soon. I see MM, Sabonis, and DD asking out at the end of the season. I don’t think LaVine has any trade value. This is what the Fox trade got us. Which is pretty much what I thought it would.
I think it’s MUCH more likely the Kings trade those picks for even more empty stats guards and wings than actually use them to draft a player. They keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I see no reason to believe that changes now. Bring on Kyle Kuzma, Kelly Oubre, Trae Young and Jordan Poole.
i turned this game off at halftime. This team is not worth investing time into. They have no plan. There is no one being built around, there is not player with potential to be excited about. They likely aren’t going to have their own draft pick.
What a complete disaster. I would have rather kept Fox and trade him in the summer than have to deal with Levine’s contract for the next two years.
May start following the Magic when Sabonis asks out and the Kings still have to carry Zach Lavine’s albatross for the next two years. I live in the Magic’s market and can already tell the Kings upcoming reset is going to be brutal with so little assets.
If Sabonis were to ask out, I’m likely checking out as well. The team would be the Wizards West without him.
The only thing interesting about this team is whether the Suns will pass them for the 10th seed or not.
Ive got the Kings at 38 wins at end of season. Is that enough to keep their spot? It could come down to the final game of the season when they play the Suns.
What really cramps my gut is that it’s entirely possible, and with a good probability, that the Kings miss out on the play-in AND lose their pick. The standings could play out like that.
If they miss the play-in, it would be pretty tough to lose their pick right? Basically the 13th or 14th team would have to jump them if they were in the 12 spot. Which isn’t impossible but pretty unlikely. Of course they would also have a shot at moving up albeit small.
It’s because the 9th and 10th teams in the East may have worse records. There could be teams over there that lose in the play-in, but area ahead of the Kings in lottery.
No I get that, but there would still be two teams in the West with better records than them so at worst they would still be in the 12 spot unless somebody jumps them right?
I think 36-38 wins is about right. I’ve got the Kings at 34 wins at the end of the year, going 1-1 in Feb, 3-14 in March, and 2-5 in April.
Keegan Murray might become Shane battier one good rookie year. after that role player w some perimeter D and some 3’s smhh I really hated them treating him like the lil bro when he is only like 3 years younger than everyone lol
I don’t disagree, but Shane Battier was a darn good basketball player who started on some darn good team. Rosters need guys like that. I still want more than Battier, but that may not happen with the way the Kings are developing and using Keegan.
Battier was one of the best perimeter defenders during his time, I don’t see KM getting to that level on D, however KM should end up being a much better offensive player than Battier.
As an opposing team, I used to have to game plan defensively for Fox & Sabonis. Now it’s just Sabonis, and if I allow DDR to get a ton of touches, I don’t even have to game plan for Domas. DDR does an effective job of taking everyone else out of the offense. The offensive hit and turnover explosion since the trade has been substantial and predictable.
And on defense, whatever the opinion of Fox, he was exponentially better than Monk or LaVine or DDR.
Absent of lightning in a bottle via the ‘31(!!!) Minny pick, this was an absolutely horrific trade, and one that did not have to be made, at least not at this time. A panic move by an inferior organization that got played by a superior organization.
This is it in a nutshell. And Jerry hammered this very point during the POD after the trade.
The trade did not have to be made now. It’s clear the Spurs were punting on this season for a high pick in this draft. They would have offered more for Fox in the offseason. The fact we didn’t obtain our 31 swap back and a first rounder (the ATL or SAS) in this coming draft is insane. Fire MM!
I’m sure Monte is a huge part of the issue but I’m now at the point thinking he’s hand tied as a real gm. There’s way too much going on behind the scenes at this point. If it is on him then he should have been fired a long time ago, I just think Oz is pulling some strings.
If you look at almost every trade of the Vivek era, they all reek of incompetency on our end. I think vivek found a way to finally get one of his nba crushes and took peanuts because he loves Lavine. Just a theory of mine. I just can’t see how a REAL GM makes most of the moves over the last decade+
Worse move, Bagley instead of Luka, or LaVine for Fox?
Still Luka. He’s the best player of the 4 you just listed by a mile.
But the Fox trade is really bad since you took on a worse player with a bigger contract at a position you did not need. You also didn’t get that much value in draft picks.
How much worse was the offers going to be in the summer? You’re telling me a team like the Rockets or another random team couldn’t have offered a bad contract and two mediocre draft picks?
It’s still Luka.
didn’t need to negotiate or do anything. He was served to the Kings on a platter and they asked for more breadsticks instead.
Luka, every weekday and twice on Sunday.
Definitely Luka. Two fringe all-stars swapping places doesn’t hold a candle to a perennial MVP candidate vs. a total bust.
Luka by a mile. I’m of the mindset their shared back court would have been really tough to stop. Fox could have been a true 1B and our franchise and his career up to now would have been so much better. That’s a draft miss that sets most teams back a handful of years. Us? We’re currently living the reality of it
Bagley was a choice of their own free will.
Fox for Lavine was a choice but the situation was being dictated by Klutch and Fox. Still a choice, but it was not of pure free will.
Dinner is ready because the Kings are cooked!
This could get very dark very quickly.
What’s laughable is there is absolutely nothing they can do from now until the end of the season. It’s like they’ve shit themselves at the start of a trans-pacific flight and all their luggage is checked.
This is up there with Jerry’s dik in the dirt phrase.
Sounds oddly specific
Are you implying that Mr. Site sharted at the commencement of a flight from CA to somewhere in Asia and lived to tell about it?
Hahaha!, Hasn’t happened to me, but I’ve been on a much shorter flight where the person next to me obviously had an accident that was watering the eyes of their fellow passengers for a few rows. I felt bad for them, especially after they sheepishly apologized as we got off the plane. In my mind, it was like…it happened, and there was nothing they could do about it, so they just tried to sit there as still as possible until we landed.
They literally rode it out until the end, much like Vivek and Monte will have to do until mid April.
There’s nothing they can do until Vivek is gone. It’s a sad truth.
Logic check: Everyone who wants the Kings to keep their first rounder should be thrilled to have Lavine and that elusive rule saying he must start. The KH beam is lit. Not sure how the players feel about it.
This should take care of things!
They just had days to be together as a team, with practice, but Doug feels the need to call a team meeting after one game.
A team meeting I can understand.
But just a starting 5 meeting? WTH?
It would make sense if he told them he has to make a change to the starting five. See them all nod in agreement, and then say he’s going to start someone new (possibly Keon).
but i think DC has been told who must start and he’s not allowed to change it.
but again, anyone who wants to keep the first rounder should be jumping up for joy to see Lavine starting.
Keon couldn’t crack the meeting/rotation once again.
CD/Did Not Attend
This time the team meeting will turn things around!
This organization top to bottom is comical.
Start the possibly worst collective defenders in the entire league at 1-3. Then be surprised at how bad they are at defense. Have meetings instead of maybe playing the better defenders, or at least staggering the poor defenders’ minutes. Sigh. The collective delusion in this org is pretty astounding.
Hopefully he told them they need to step up the D now, or one of them will be coming off the bench very soon
It’s almost like the coach and De’Aaron Fox weren’t the problem.
Same shut over and over. The foundation of this team is rotten. Has been since Vivek showed up
.500 sums up the Kings, half ass, half measures. This team/franchise is not committed to anything. No real leaders from top to bottom. No real outrage, totally ok with being ok. Who can blame them, they’re all millionaires. Tanking is actually pretty depressing, so the alternatives aren’t much better. This team is just stuck, refuse to rebuild and can’t ascend.
Hot Take Time:
Lots to be upset about, but at the same time, one game doesn’t make a season.
Yes, the Kings were bidiscombobulated- Indecisive on offense, picked apart on defense.
Some of the defense can be credited to a strong offensive team, which the Warriors most certainly are. Them hitting their shots just adds to the pain. 40 assists is an eyebrow raiser. They won every quarter. Beat down.
Finding a silver sheen (not a silver lining), Markelle Fultz is a baller. It was just 10 minutes but he was composed, mostly got to where he wanted to when he wanted to and short range, short mid-ranged his scoring, and was an adequate if out of sync passer off the dribble. To me, he was a bright spot. Is he ok or good, or real good? Too early, but he wasn’t bad, so there is that.
Jake LaRivia plays with Memphis hustle and grit which makes him unfortunately unique (other than Domas). He missed his shots, it happens. Easy player to like. He makes Trey Lyles look slow(er).
I was surprised at how out of place Keon was this game, that was off for him.
I was at this one, and man, there was as much Warrior gear as Kings it seemed. The fans were a bit obnoxious, but no less I imagine, than Kings fans shouting Light The Beam, at away venues. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The future? Vivek reminds me of someone first getting a Rubik’s Cube. He doesn’t know the solving technique like the other kids and he can’t quite figure it out and keeps twisting and turning as he mumbles out loud how he’s getting closer.
Otherwise the future is…
Next.
I like your cube analogy, problem is most kids either give up or seek help, learn from someone who has done it at some point. Vivek seems bent on disrupting the industry
Because he’s the smart kid – he’ll figure it out, can’t you see he’s almost there! (just ask him)
Another bright spot (to me)- They have #17 Valančiǔnas jerseys in the team store (thankfully, also in mere human sizes)
Question: why hasn’t Coach Christie tried The Domas/Jonas twin towers more?
I wish he would go full Baltic Bros more. Why doesn’t he? I think it’s minutes pressure to play the Chi Bros.
Yeah, if Doug went double bigs, it likely means the Keegan sits, because ain’t no way in hell they bring DDR or LaVine of the bench. Ideally you sit DDR, but he’s now the leading scorer! If Keegan sits, there goes the perimeter defense and the twin towers just get in foul trouble early.
It’s a mess of Monte’s own making.
1 is Monk
2 is Derozan
3 is Keegan
4 is Domas
5 is the other huge guy that plays really hard and I cannot spell his name.
I like the idea of this change. Going from too small and no toughness to big with some swagger and toughness. This is assuming they will try.
They aren’t brining LaVine off the bench. They traded Fox for him. He’s starting until he’s no longer a King.
Does not mean I have to like it.
Rotate Lavine in and he can still get 30 minutes a night. He can play some two with Derozan at the point. He can play two with Monk at the point. He can play….
This organization is good at finding minutes for undersized forwards and sixty seven different guards.
Not much point in watching the games then.
Vivek is the kid who was given a book on how to solve the Rubik’s Cube with Luka, Fox, and Halliburton in his lap, but refused to read the book and instead hired equally incompetent yes-men to solve it for him that also refused to study the solution.
Can you imagine how much wealthier the Kings/Vivek would be if they had just drafted Luka. I read somewhere that just having him on the team brings in $1B off the court and untold wealth the city and local buisness. It’s jersey sales, televised games, International revenue, etc. Luka is a cash cow to any team he plays for and the savvy businessman of Vivek let him slide through his fingers.
Idiot. And then doubling down on Fox is the guy and trading Hali.
Not 1 but 2 franchise players.
And now we have Lavine. Vivek is such an asshat
Perfect. Accurate assesment .
Hali was also a very marketable player that the league likes to make into a star. Very valuable asset. Sabonis is also marketable and valuable but I’m not sure how good he really is, the numbers certainly look great. Fox was a solid franchise player but his game and leadership have yet to fully blossom, they may with time. As of now it’s just Sabonis as our main guy, I don’t see LaVine as a franchise guy.
Good analysis, Luka will make LA money no matter what, even if they don’t win that much. Luka was the obvious pick that draft and is still a great guy to build around because of marketability.
Sorry to enlighten you. Fultz is not good or very good. He’s an 8-10 off the bench. Lifetime. He was never a good players. And going into his 8th season, the chance he becomes Norman Powell is about Zero. He was out of the league. if he was that good why was he out of the league? The Magic cut him last year. Much like Laravia. Grizz let him go because he’s god awful defensively. If he was that good why would Memphis just let him go.
Fultz, He’s in his 8th season. He looked good in limited minutes against the 21st rated defense in the league. So. I wouldn’t get too excited about him becoming the next Coby White.
If you’re banking on Fultz being the next starter at PG for the Kings, they are really in trouble. He also shoots 25 percent lifetime from 3. He’s a decent passer.
He’s also played a whopping 235 games in 8’ seasons. And those were not all injuries. In Orlando he not left the bench half the time. Even when healthy. Low iq baller. Which we have enough of that already in abundance.
Finding a silver sheen (not a silver lining), Markelle Fultz is a baller. It was just 10 minutes but he was composed, mostly got to where he wanted to when he wanted to and short range, short mid-ranged his scoring, and was an adequate if out of sync passer off the dribble. To me, he was a bright spot. Is he ok or good, or real good? Too early, but he wasn’t bad, so there is that.
interesting insight. We can still hope, but not count on it.
So Fultz is Fox without his own shoe?
Fultz is a good player.
Kudos for the analogy, they only seem able to solve one side of the puzzle at a time. Fultz looks like a nice pick-up.. People are now just venting and he’s an easy target. He’s used to it by now and has a pile of cash to console him. Certainly fans are over-reacting to this loss, but it was a big one, and it comes on the heels of another bad one. They’ve been more than just bad, they looked over-matched and over-their-heads. If they can’t find some rhythm against the Hornets, my confidence may also be wavering.
The 1000 ft. view shows them still 2-1 against the Dubs, nothing to panic about, but they didn’t look like the team that won the first two. I did myself a favor and went to bed after the first qtr. I looked at tickets and they were too much. Plus I had a bad feeling. I’m sorry for those who attended. I opted for the Suns 3/14. If I see them lose to those losers, I may gouge my eyes out.
DC is now in position to earn his bones summoning a phoenix from the ashes of the Fox trade after catching the falling knife M Brown dropped. Besides Vivek, MB is the only person clearly responsible for the pain we are now feeling here in Sac.. We should build him a statue, and then burn it. Of course he was the same lousy HC here he was everywhere else. SA could get another good hire with him as an assistant but they’re too shrewd to make him HC. Plus Pop knows him.
Is LaRavia mad he earned a starting job in his first game and didn’t get it? What a hang-over! If DC can’t send any of Monk, Lavine, Demar to the bench w/o them checking-out, then start resting one every third game and let them decide their own starting line-up dictated by the results of their own performances. Also I have an answer for the ASG.
I agree that DC should change the line-ups. Maybe have Monk start, but checkout quickly to bring in Keon? I strangely want to start Carter and Keon and have both Lavine and Monk go to the bench, but maybe just checking both out early and going with Carter and Keon would work some games. You could then bring in Monk for Carter and Keon while also playing Fultz with Monk. Lavine could play the three in lineups with Fultz/Carter and Keon in this scenario.
one game sample size compared to an 8 yr career sample size lol
We’re so traumatized we think MARKELLE FRIGGIN FULTZ is the answer to something or other.
To be clear, I think there’s reason to believe MF could be the answer to the back-up PG position, right away. If he progresses possibly a starter in an offense built around Sabonis’ passing. Definitely not answer to the Kings problems in general. I could be wrong. What/who do you think the answer is?
I think that as you continue your journey as a fan of one of the worst-owned franchises in all of sports history, you need to find snippets of joy wherever you can.
For me that means the revolving door of cast-off veterans they sign come with no expectations of bringing anything of value.
Ok This seems oddly unspecific, while at the same time well thought out. I miss my cat!
I’m now in the “tank to keep the pick” camp. No sense getting he 9-10 play in spot or even worse 13-14 on the draft list. I’d say develop the young guys but who would that be? Keegan, Keon, and Carter?
I’m in this camp as well. This team is going nowhere fast IMO. There’s now been 7 games since the Fox trade.
7 games is a fairly small sample but it’s not nothing.
in those 7 games, Kings are 3-4 with a -6 per game differential. And this is against as weak of competition as you will see all season in a 7 game sample (Pels 3 times, Dallas with no Davis, Blazers, Magic, Warriors).
Lavine has the lowest WS/48 in these 7 games since his rookie year when he was 19. Fox has the highest WS/48 of his career in his first 7 games with Spurs.
It’s not looking good. If Doug can guide this team to 41 wins that would be quite the feat. It wouldn’t be good for the long term for the team as they’d lose the pick, but it would be an accomplishment to get this group of ISO offense /no defense players to a 500 finish.
This team is the same as it was three weeks ago. Some different names on the uniforms is the only change.
Keegan is a vet at this point.
It’s a testament to MM’s “optionality” that it won’t change the outlook much whether they convey the pick or not. He has created enough flexibility to mitigate almost any disaster. Unfortunately his lateral moves seem to be narrowing their future potential toward the dreaded middle of the pack. As a strictly business decision, the risk-off approach actually makes a lot of sense for Vivek. As a fan, it’s the worst possible scenario.
Agreed. I’d much rather keep the pick for the glimmer of a chance at moving up in the lotto or lucking into a gem with the 10th or 11th pick. Sadly, this team has never shown the foresight to properly lose a couple extra games when they need to, and it has cost this franchise over and over again. I expect them to play just barely good enough and lose their first rounder this year.
And yeah, there’s no youth movement here. We’ve drafted win-now rookies who rarely have helped us win now. We’ve attached draft assets to unload bad choices (including some of those win-now draft picks!). And when trading Fox the team opted not for youth, but for older, more expensive pieces.
3rd oldest roster in the league. The only team with an arguably worse future are the Suns and Clips.
At least we may get to keep our pick from ATL…
So far I’m not seeing any benefit and alot of loss from trading Fox. Fans were way too critical of him. The other pieces (LaRavia, Jonas, losing Huerter) have been positive. Doug Christie was an excellent player–once on the Kings he made his role as a defender and floor leader, not a scorer–and should set that tone from the outset.
How much different would the win loss record be with Fox?
I don’t think Fox leaving and Lavine showing up changed the outcome of this season or next season at all.
Even playing injured, Fox was much better than Lavine has been. Hopefully Lavine wakes up soon .
Maybe?
Either way Derozan is carrying the load or more of a load than Fox did or does. So Fox is not here.
Win loss record is the same is would have been.
Maybe
This is the Lavine experience. Nothing to wake up from.
Id say enjoy it but that’s practically impossible
Should be nicer to your home-grown stars instead of calling them out for business partnerships and not putting the team first when they have a beautiful new family and a kid named partially after your team to think about. Fox is better off a Spur…
We have to build around Sabonis and Lavine now. I think we need to play Keon starter minutes and he should match up with – be in the game and guarding them for 80% of the time – certain superstar scores. Kyrie and Curry come to mind. I also want to find time to develop Carter and see what Fultz can do. I’d also love to lock-up Keon on a team friendly deal that offers him security…
Your first sentence is awfully scary. You don’t ’build’ around Lavine and Sabonis IMO. You ‘lose’ when they are your best players.
Right now the absolute ceiling for this franchise is first round playoff loss and that’s only if they have injury luck and win more close games than they lose. Floor is about 30-32 wins.
‘building’ a team with a low ceiling and limited future assets is basically no plan / direction.
As scary as it may be, he’s stating the reality of the situation. Domas has four more years (hopefully) and Lavine two. They represent nearly $100 mil. in annual salary. That’s almost 2/3 of the cap. Domas could ask out, but Lavine isn’t going anywhere.
It probably is a low ceiling team, but up to the MB firing Domas has been the best player this franchise has had in a long time. Fill the team with 3&D players and run an actual offense again. On paper it’s a pretty simple thing to do but that’s not our teams way of operating unfortunately
Domas with power forward, a real point guard, and the back up center that we just got.
This is the way.
And yet that’s exactly what they’re doing.
The ceiling the exact same height as it was when Lavine was not here.
I agree with this. Ceiling is a couple wins higher with Fox, but basically the same.
if Fox Sabonis or Lavine Sabonis are your first and second best players, you are pretty much dead. You would need a hall of fame coach, buy in from ownership plus about 7 perfectly complementary role players that have high Bb IQ and are bulldogs on defense to make it work. And that would be just to get past the 2nd round.
The ceiling is definitely lower without Fox, he was a younger and better player. The LaVine trade looks worse by the day and the more I think about it BUT it wasn’t about a trade, it was about Fox wanting out and that’s what they allowed him to do. The big mistake was allowing him to leave and creating a worse situation in the process. You either get some picks and build for your future or you keep him until the contract ends and find a good free-agent in the offseason or just tank by letting him go and going young. The LaVine trade is actually the biggest L in Monte’s era and will be the nail in his coffin, this team went from average to mediocre.
Fox was seven to eight years of “what it might be”. It never was.
Should have been building around Sabonis the day they traded for him. He is a team leader and franchise player in more ways than Fox ever was or ever will be.
Don’t think Sabs is a franchise 1 but agree that they should have been building around him in the sense that the O should have been tailored to his talents.
You’ve got the second best passing big in game a you don’t have him running the show? (They did fir 1 year). Stupid. Waste
And not using Sabs led O leads to lesser Keegan
The Kings seem to consistently do this- not play to the strengths of their players. To use it /build.
Keegan. Great shooter/efficient (started that way)- should get plays run and have a lot of shots- etc. Now he’s what?
The Kings do it all assbackwards and counter intuitive.
Sabonis is the floor leader and rightfully so. Let him do his thing and give him help.
Lavine’s role should be a scorer off the bench. Below average defender. Below average passer. Sees things a split second later than everyone else.
If Fox told them he would not extend if MB fired, they should have traded him then and susequently fired MB. How would Pat Riley respond to such an ultimatum? I think we’ve already seen.
I don’t see the Kings leaping the Warriors and I don’t see how they finish better than the Suns (although we shouldn’t underestimate the Suns’ ability to screw up). But if this is the general consensus, the Kings won’t make the play-in and that’s probably a good thing going forward. They’ll keep their first round pick instead of maybe getting lucky and winning two play-in games only to lose in the first round. So I guess the question is, why not just accept the suckatude and give some of the younger players more time to develop?
That’s using an offense that features Keegan and Keon so we can be certain if they’re untouchable budding stars, or a serviceable role players. Can Devin Carter make a small leap in the last 25 games? Is LaRavia any kind of answer worthy of getting into a small bidding war over? Can Fultz return to any form as a good back-up PG. Even Isaiah Crawford and Isaac Jones are worth a longer look. Keep Domas as the center of things (he’s earned it) and sprinkle in your ball-dominant, non-defense-playing shooting guards and lose more than you win the rest of the season. All this talk about playing time for your “big” three won’t matter if you’re committed to playing them 25 minutes per game.
I don’t see anything like this ever happening as ownership is content with an average team, but we’d know a lot more about what we have at the end of the season and make sure we maintain a good pick in what is supposed to be a deep draft. Admit this is a lost season and learn something about your player, DC as a head coach going forward and the attitude of your stars who, through no fault of their own, just don’t fit together despite their individual talents. If we stick to the current plan, we’ll likely end up in the same spot and not be any smarter going forward. Which sounds more like what the Kings will actually do and I’ve wasted part of my Sunday in dreamland.
Right now I need to “squint” (yes, it’s still stuck in my craw!) to see this team finish anywhere except the play-in. There’s a 3 game gap between 10 and 6, and a 1.5 game gap between the Kings at 10, and the Suns at 11, and the Suns will “screw-up,” so the Kings are likely locked into the tournament already. Yes, we will still see the Kings in a playoff series this season! Will the tank crowd still be rooting for them to lose? I can’t wait to find out. They could very well qualify for the post-season and the lottery, but if they keep the pick, it can still convey next season, I believe. If it never conveys, they lose 2 seconds. Management may prefer to keep the seconds at this point, and I suspect they do. After all, they are pushing up against the cap, Bagley was a #2 overall, and Ellis went undrafted. Bagley cost more in his first season than Ellis’ current contract will pay him!
There will be plenty of time for Carter and Co. to develop next season, and if there is a bidding war for LaRavia, the Kings won’t be participating due to contractual constraints. It isn’t realistic to expect them (or any team) to tank when they are currently on course for the post-season. It’s DC’s job to make the stars fit, (align?) and giving up on the season doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of progress. Losing doesn’t usually immediately lead to winning, even when it does lead to high draft picks, and that isn’t likely this year.
This team is almost uniquely positioned to gain nothing from another #13. If they want into the top of the draft, they would have a better chance trading up than hoping for lottery luck. They may trade DeRozan, in the offseason, with some draft assets, to rebalance next seasons starting 5. If they can move off his contract for a defensive stud at the 3, and maybe trade Monk/Ellis for a starting quality, two-way PG, they suddenly look much different, but this all assumes DC won’t figure it out.
And welcome to Dreamland! I’m sure there are many here who will tell you I’ve been residing here comfortably for quite some time now.
Actually there is kind of an incentive to lose. The Kings are really only 5 games out of the 7th worst record. Sounds like a lot. Until you see the schedule In March April very few winnable games.
Losing as much as possible might finally be a wake up call. I am not counting on it. But praying for it.
Getting in the play in and losing benefits the team zero. Continues to give the front office and owner false hope.
The teams best assets are Ellis, Monk and that’s about it. Ellis is only making 2 mil.
The teams has royally buried itself. Lavine and Demar are both over 30. Sabonis will be 30
next season.
Team is a disaster. Keegan has very little trade value. Has regressed horribly on offense. Carter has a wonky shot. So does Halliburton. I don’t think Carter has his ceiling.
Lavine is here to stay. Sabonis is probably here to stay. Not sure any team pays 40 mil for a big man these days. Unless your Jokic or Davis
The only hope in hell is Vivek finally conceding this mess to Bob Myers. Realizing a full rebuild is the only way now.’
Giving Bob full reign to torch the entire front office, coaching staff, and trade and move most of the roster.
It’s A dream scenario which 90 percent won’t happen. But a man can dream.
5 games certainly does sound like a lot. A 5 game swing in the other direction puts them 1.5 games out of 5th in the west. You haven’t adequately explained how losing is going to turn this franchise around, never has before. And it’s easy to presume others are stupid, incompetent, etc. when you don’t understand their thinking. The people running this franchise are intelligent enough, right or wrong. Hoping they will abandon “false hope” because they flamed out again doesn’t sound realistic to me. Bob Meyers could be the answer, but I’ll need to plug my nose, I don’t care for him. We’re all dreaming of something here. The more they lose the more nightmarish the dream becomes for me. I just can’t relate to daydreaming about more losses.
I think Sabonis has more value than you think, but otherwise I agree with a lot of what you say here. I don’t think the Kings will tank, but I am hoping they’re bad enough to lose even when trying to win.
And while I’m not necessarily a big Bob Myers fan, I like the idea of him as someone Vivek might actually listen to and someone who actually has the necessary relationships around the league to get things done.
The incompetence of this front office over the years has forced us to hope that players magically transform. I for one, have learned my lesson, and won’t be doing that anymore.
The players you’ve mentioned are all “just a guy”. They fill the jersey because after all, someone has to come here.
Kings fandom, presented by Vivek Ranadive and co.:
I’m starting to wonder if I’ve fallen into this category with Keegan Murray. What if his end skill set tops out with his 3 pt shooting from his rookie season combined with his current chops on D? What if the best role for him is as the spot up guy from his rookie year who gets the tough covers on D?
The magical thinking for me is that he’s going to become some multi level scoring threat that’s an all star or at least near all star caliber player. We’ve seen flashes, but it seems like we should consistently be seeing more if there’s going to be more.
Maybe he’s simply best as a 3/D guy as i’m not sure he can be that 1b option or maybe not even 1c, but if he can become a true 3/D guy, that would certainly be a valuable player to have.
Barring something that isn’t going to happen (team gels, starts playing high level defense) and the remaining schedule, I don’t see the team even finishing at .500.
I’m starting to wonder if my Kings fandom will end up being like a Red Sox fan who lived their entire life between 1919 and 2003.
I also compare our lot in life to the Red Sox. One day…
I go on vacation for ONE WEEK.
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