On occasion, the basketball gods gift a struggling but good team a random scheduling break. Tonight should have been that night for the Sacramento Kings.
Facing the injury and trade-affected Indiana Pacers, who were missing two All-Stars in Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, and two starters in Bruce Brown and Aaron Nesmith, the Kings embarrassed themselves at home against a team that could only dress 11 guys, including a couple of two-way players. This team, which once had hopes of a deep playoff run, allowed the Pacers to punk them for the vast majority of the game, as they refused to play an iota of defense, refused to protect the rim, and refused to care about the fans in the packed Golden 1 Center who were more desperate for a win than the team they were cheering on.
Outside of a late run in the final two minutes that saw De’Aaron Fox finally look like himself and the Kings finally show an ounce of pride on the defensive end of the floor, TJ McConnell was the best player on the hardwood all evening, carving up Sacramento’s defense for 20 points and 10 assists, while Benedict Mathurin put up 25 points of his own, and the much less talented, and much more aggressive and focused Indiana Pacers walked out of Sacramento with an unlikely, but somehow unsurprising victory.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good:
- Red Hot Red Velvet: After struggling for the majority of the season, Kevin Huerter has come back to life as of late, and that trend continued on Thursday evening. He was the best player on the court for the Kings, on both sides of the ball, and Huerter ended the night with a career-high 31 points, including 7 of 12 from deep. It’s good to see one of Sacramento’s most important players (and trade assets) find his confidence again.
The Bad:
- Free throws: The Sacramento Kings can’t shoot free throws. Despite a 32-19 free throw attempt advantage, the Kings added just three extra points in that column, as the made just 18 of their 32 attempts, good enough for 56%. De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk combined to make 6 of 15 free throws.
- Late game execution: As the Kings made their run in the final two minutes, and as their defense tightened up and flummoxed the panicked Indiana Pacers, a slight breath of hope could be felt in the building, but the Kings snuffed that out with several late errors. Kevin Huerter committed an awful foul on Buddy Hield to send him to the line for two free throws, De’Aaron Fox took an ill-advised, difficult three-pointer instead of looking for the red hot Kevin Huerter, and Malik Monk missed a pair of free throws to seal Sacramento’s fourth consecutive loss. At some point, playing lazy, undisciplined basketball for 46 minutes spills over into a successful run, and that’s exactly what happened to the Kings.
The Ugly:
- Defense: Normally, when a more talented team shoots 51% from the field and 41% from the three-point line, they find themselves in the win column, but Sacramento’s lackadaisical defensive effort throughout the entire night essentially neutralized their impressive offensive performance. They allowed a layup and dunk line, with the Pacers scoring 70 first half points and 62 points in the paint, and at no point did a single Kings player seem to care. There were certainly occasional individual efforts on that end of the floor, but the lack of leadership and accountability on defense was palpable, as it has been for the last several weeks.
The King of Kings
Whoever the Kings might trade for to rescue this season.
Up Next
Monday, January 22nd vs. Atlanta Hawks – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
At some point Brown needs to be questioned about his starting unit and the rotation in general. Barnes usually gives nothing positive, but he gets ran out there every game. Maybe he needs a stint on the bench like Hierter got.
Put Sasha in the starting unit. He at least has a pulse.
And if no trades are going to be made, the 2nd half of the season just might get ugly.
the Kings are just treading water right now and if they don’t get at least 2 life jackets thrown to them they will drown.
PS Those 2 life jackets better play defense. The Kings are also last in the league in free throws. I can’t believe this is a NBA basketball team. My high school players shoot better and none of them went to the NBA. Seems to me we arern’t playing to wn but playing not to lose. Surre different than last year. When you are a starting forward who only scores 2 points and 1 rebound that’s a lot of your problem. Sorry Monte I think you have really made some really good decisions but this is not one of rhem. Hope it wasn’t sentimental. But the biggest problem is defense. You need to fix that. The other thing that bothers me is our bench. Last night the Pacers bench out played our bench by a great margin. Lyles seems to be no where to be found lately and Monk’s turnovers and bad free throws are really hurting us. That’s enough for now. I need some positives so I can sleep at night. GO 49ers!
I think Dejounte Murray is the guy to get, if possible. He slots in at starting SG, can handle the ball and play make a bit, and plays defense.
Playing him with Monkwpuld allow monkbto play off ball more. Monk turns the damn ball over too much.
Barnes would probably need to go out in the trade, so putting Sasha or Lyles in the starting unit, and huerter coming off the bench.
Whatever the route Monte takes, defense needs to be the focus.
I don’t think the Kings have the assets to get Dejounte.
Remove the 2024 protections and include an unprotected 2026? Plus Barnes/sasha/lyles/jones/Davion, etc to match salaries.
Not sure what the Hawks want. Kings also have the Portland 2024 or 2025 unprotected 2nd, so that should be a good pick.
Maybe, but it’s really only one pick if ATL assesses that the Kings are still likely to miss the playoffs, since they own the rights.
I also don’t think the Hawks want to take long term salary. IMO, It would take 2 picks, Monk and Mitchell at a minimum.
Think realistically. What would the Hawks want any of those players? Think about want you’re saying. Barnes has ZERo value. Davion cannot run an offense. Sasha is an unknown. Jones is a g league player. So you think the Hawks are giving a way an All Star for a couple late first rounders and garbage? Another Kings fan overvaluing the roster and assets.
I’m not overvalued the roster, I know they aren’t that good of players. Just not sure whatbthe Hawks are looking for. Maybe they like something about those players, maybe additional picks, who knows.
Realistically it probably won’t happen, and I know that.
The Hawks want 2 FRPs and they don’t want to take on any money beyond 2024 (they only want expiring contracts back).
I don’t think the Kings have any expiring salaries to match, but they have the draft assets Atlanta wants. It would take a 3rd team.
Monk and Davion works salary-wise on the trade machine. Davion has a team option for next year. So both are expiring if the Hawks decline Davion’s option. Now, the picks are a different situation as they would most likely be mid-late 1st rounders. Really comes down to who else wants Dejounte and what they are willing to trade.
Davion’s 24-25 option was picked up this past offseason.
Well that sucks. But he could be replaced in a deal with someone else. Dejounte ain’t coming to Sac anyway, so the point is moot.
Murray could be a good fit but we still need one more, a 4 at best, to replace Barnes. Then Murray would be the 3 where he should be.
I’m terrified about what is likely to happen over the next 10 games, starting with Golden State. I’m expecting a blowout with Draymond back.
I agree that Brown has been messing up and I am concerned. Sasha not being in the starting unit is fine, as long as he get 20-25 minutes a game. Our defense sucks a ton, but it’s about time inserting a bench player, other than Monk, who can score about 12 points a game with decent minutes. Lyles isn’t quite doing so hot lately, so make the necessary change and add Sasha to the rotation, using about 10-15 minutes from Barnes’ time.
You can’t wait until two minutes left in the game to finally show up and start caring to win against second and third string players. They’ve lost the last four games in various disappointing ways, and you couldn’t afford to drop so many games you should’ve won when you’ve got a seven game road trip upcoming soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop in the standings significantly after this road trip is done, sadly.
The Kings are bad and they aren’t going to make the playoffs without major changes. It’s that simple. They’ve been bad for a month plus now so this result isn’t surprising. The Kings were above their skis last year and now the conference is better and now they’re regressing to the mean.
They’ll make the playoffs regardless but get bounced in the first by a superior team.
I don’t know. There are quite a few new teams out there who have really improved. who they are. If by chance we do get into the playoffs I hope we aren’t playing the Pelicans.
Not sure they’re making it out of the play-in. They’d need to play a lot better and they’ve got a brutal February schedule so I’m not sure I see it. I could easily see a couple long losing streaks.
We could very well be in the midst of a 10-game losing streak right now. Hard to see a realistic chance win prior to Chicago. Even that might be rough, depending on the Bulls’ trade situation.
Yeah I think they could win but I’m not picking them with the way they’re playing right now.
I agree!
This ship be sinking . Looks like a play-in team currently .
Yeah. Hard to see them sinking below that, but nothing would surprise me.
I don’t think this is even a play-in roster. A game or two under .500 feels about right for this group.
Probably time to stop watching these games live for a while, they’re not good for mental health.
Is there such a thing as a FT&D player? Someone who can shoot free throws and play defense? They would be worth trading for
If they start collapsing I might have to end my monthly League Pass at some point. Don’t wanna watch bad basketball.
It not worth watching. And how the hell did we get back to Shitsville (Population : Kings) so fast.
The majestic swagger of last season was here at the beginning of the season and then it is as if it has gradually been beamed away and all that’s left is that sticky icky Kangzness.
Really hard to explain, and there are probably several factors. Coaching and leadership are surely big factors.
Time for Domas to stop leading by example and lean into everyone who give an half-ass effort and demand more. including from Fox. On the other hand, Domas has to be more willing to demand the ball and make shots.
At this moment, I expect little leadership from Fox. I may be wrong, because he has proven me wrong before and I don’t know what goes on in the locker room etc. But not looking great from the outside.
I don’t know what Brown is doing but you can feel the desperation in the constant changing rotations. Sasha played well last night and only got 10 minutes now, while the big 3 played heavy minutes and the rotations shortened. Brown really wanted this win and didn’t get it.
It’s a house of cards about to collapse?
This team showed its weaknesses in the playoffs and none were addressed.
Add to that Fox is playing hurt- players have regressed and some like Davion hardly ever see the floor? Or Vez for stretches?
Monk is inexplicably handling the O/Ball more than anyone it seems. Last year, Davion and or Fox were always the primary-sharing w Monk. Why? A million questions like that now……it’s weird to say the least.
Is there more to it than just D personnel brought in?
Has it been reported that Fox is injured? I must have missed that.
Fox has said awhile back he’s not 100 from ankle/might not be for awhile.
And Hamm said he’s dealing with a wrist and hip injury. (Beat up)
The wrist coincides with his poorer shooting mid range/amd freethhrows. And he’s not going into lane near as much. Doesn’t have the lift etc.
I do think this has a lot to do with Kings completely messed up O. But I also think Brown needs to adjust
Hard to explain losing against teams missing their best players but we can’t win with Fox at 80%.
But if that is the case sit him out until he is 100%.
I was saying Fox hurt one of the reasons the Kings are a house of cards. I wasn’t using it as an excuse foR losing.
Gotcha, agreed.
How can Brown adjust especially with the bench. He doesn’t have a reliable bench.
I also noticed he keeps grabbing his shoulder and wincing
Yeah, that’s been an issue for a while now. He is definitely banged up, which means he needs to get the others involved on offense more and take a back seat for a bit.
Right. There’s obviously an issue with Fox. It’s why we don’t see 4th quarter Fox or him just taking over like before.
The Kings relied on him to take over when a bucket needed but he can’t at the moment, so their other facilitators/their O is exposed.
Some of it might be Brown and the coaching staffs fault but how do you win with one starter scores 2 with 1 rebound, nobody plays defense, nobody can shoot free throws and in most cases they turn the ball over especially in critical situations.All of this is not coaching.
Where art thou
They seem to have forgotten the fundamentals – ball distribution on offense, timely rotations on defense, FREE THROWS, etc. They play every game as if they have enough individual talent to win, not playing cohesive team ball. They’re charting a clear path toward a 0.500 record, maybe worse. Hopefully they figure things out before the bottom falls out completely.
They finally got the ball to Murray last night and looked what happened. The last couple of games that wasn’t done. You just can’t win when the only ones to get the ball in the 4th. quarter are Fox and Monk. Not even Sabonis. Go figure.
I have to say, I’m shocked that a team who played no defense last season and made no defensive improvements in the offseason can’t play defense! I’m shocked I tell you!
MM doubled down on O and is currently taking the L for it.
IMO we don’t have the players to do this or they don’t care. It takes special players who want to play defense.
The Kings fucked around and found out. Just embarrassing defense at the point of attack, and Indy exploited that very well.
I hope Brown changes some things up after this. Barnes (deservedly so) gets a fair share of the blame, but this loss is as much on Fox and Monk, who put up zero resistance for most of the game.
Fox and Monk have done the bare minimum on defense all year. It’s like they’re reinforcing which others poor play. Breaking up the brofest might be the best thing going forward.
This is the team that MM assembled. No D, no size, no athleticsim. Can’t blame the players for being who they are as players and playing their games.
You can blame them for effort and focus.
You sure can.
You need players that instill that within themselves. We don’t have that. We have no dogs. We have guys that like O and padding stat sheets but don’t want to get dirty. To me that is on MM as these are the players he signs.
HB didn’t need to be resigned, he’s a big part of that problem. Until there’s some dogs on this team, they’re going nowhere fast.
Boy did you hit the nail on the head.
You can absolutely blame the players for ditching the ball-movement script they used to play by, and going rogue. You can also blame the coaching staff for not punishing their playing time for doing so.
IMO it’s on the shoulders of all the players. Last night TJ had more straight line drives than Carter has little liver pills. Didn’t just last night but almost every night this year. We just can’t stop. Also look at Mathurin. He individually outplayed our whole team.
Brown couldn’t have changed the way the team was playing TJ earlier? Seemed like they stuck with the same scheme for the entire 1st half and we saw the results.
Adjustments were made in the 2nd half, but TJ then just found back cuts and was still blowing by Fox.
So why did the adjustment take so long? And why was Fox still trying to pressure TJ so far away from the hoop?
Brown has been slow to make adjustments defensively. We all see it every game and note it in the game thread. It seems to take the coaches waaaay too long to make any adjustments.
The optimist in me hopes this roster looks dramatically different after the deadline passes. However, the realist in me says the FO and the staff feel like it’s close the perfect.
Slightly disagree. I think the Fo understands that something needs to happen, but they are not willing to panic and seel the farm to accomplish that. Which at this point seems prudent to me. I do reserve the right to change my mind on that, though.
Yeah, this is almost a lost season because I think its obvious that FO wants to make a move but understands that it lacks the assets.
Unfortunately, the best path forward might just be to stand pat and hope that the team finds it’s groove again. Then look to make deals in the offseason if Huerter and/or Barnes regain enough value to make them tradeable for a decent asset.
I do think guys like Monk should be available to deal now. If it’s part of package to upgrade to a D Murray or someone who really defends.
As much as I live Monk, he and Amy King who doesn’t play real D can be traded.
This team is starting to feel like ATL the year they made a run, but the Kings haven’t made a run yet.
Next year ATL falls. Good O bad D etc.
My hope is, Monte comes from that Houston front office that was constantly dealing/changing.
The Milwaukee and Phoenix losses hurt but at least the Kings played well in both. They didn’t play well at all this game until I’d already left the building. Love Barnes the man, but really tired of seeing him on the court contributing nothing. Can’t win playing 4 on 5 despite what Vivek thinks. Mr. Coach of the Year needs to get his head out of his you know what and make a change.
HB is averaging 2.8 boards a game 😭
Yeah, I now defend Barnes as much as he defends his opponents. He’s reggressed significantly.
I think exchanging Barnes for Sasha is the only logical mayor roster card left to play for Brown, even if it’s temporarily like with Huerter.
But I think with a starting spot, steady increase of minutes and a clear understanding of his role, Sasha might improve. May not fill the defensive holes, but there are too many to fill.
Well Sasha gives a whole lot more effort and rebounding than Barnes, so that would make a difference.
A small one but a difference.
I wouldn’t get too high on Sasha. He’s not really the answer. Remember this the Pacers have the 27th worst defense in the league So Inwoildnt be flexing on Sasha’s performance.
I can’t figure out how he has fallen off a cliff so quickly. Not only does he appear physically checked out, but mentally as well. I really hope something isn’t going on with him beyond basketball.
It’s like he aged 5 years in the 4 month off-season.
Wondering… didn’t he have a child recently? Babies and toddlers can seriously wear a person down, especially if they aren’t sleeping through the night. I was half-zombie for a year or so myself.
That’s true, but you don’t have the same resources he does. I would think that someone would’ve told him that he can hire a nanny.
And he probably has a fairly large house so the kid can sleep on the other side of the house and he won’t hear the potential restless sleeping nights.
Looks like the entire squad practically just had babies then.
Light the binky!
That’s about what he has to wotk with. It’s worth a try.
He doesn’t have much to work with.
Did we trade the wrong point guard lol? Fox gets these lulls every season and it sucks from the best or second best player
Of course we did. Hali is a better player than Fox at a younger age. It’s not complicated.
We traded who we could. And got a fair value. Trading fox wouldn’t have netted us any value.
that’s my thought on it. Maybe we should have traded both Hali and Fox, probably could have gotten quite a haul.
I think people forget that Fox had very little value when we traded Haliburton. I’m not sure how anyone could argue that Fox is better than Haliburton. They are both good but Haliburton has been clearly better this season and I don’t see why that would change given his skill set.
Only saw the last 8 minutes or so. Looked very kangzy. Time to put Davion back in the rotation.
The Davion ship has sailed. He’s merely trade fodder at this point.
He doesn’t fit anything the coaches are trying to do. Hope he finds a home somewhere else and plays well.
Have fun watching Kangz
We’ve been watching them all season.
These last five losses have been all over the map.
Bucks was a great breaker with not enough defense and FTs.
Suns was a great game for 42 minutes, and like Mike Brown said, it was an offensive collapse from not being able to execute on that end.
Tonight was FTs and effort.
The pelicans out muscled the Kings and I didn’t really watch the Philly game.
What I feel like is we don’t have a ton of game plan adaptation. We seem to run a lot of the same offensive sets in game without changing if it isn’t working. When one guy is torching us, we often can’t stop it. The other team exploits it, but we don’t adjust. Three only exception to that I remember is Detroit’s Bogdanovic going for 20 in the first and finishing with 26 total.
This team is in a funk. We’re not losing trap games or tough teams. We’re not unable to finish our getting blown out. It’s all of it, but in ways that don’t make sense. I still think things will get better but I want to see Barnes benched a few games like Kevin was and I hope we can do more mid game adjustments.
Barnes needs to take a seat. Also, can someone hit a free throw please. If we’d hit 75% (or so) we’d have won.
This just isn’t the same team.
Even in losses last year, we had an identity of pushing the pace, playing the half court through Sabonis, or Fox attacking the paint and punishing them or kicking it out to open shooters. I don’t see any of that this year.
The only thing I’m okay with during these past few weeks of bad ball is that the front office just got a little bit hotter and a move at the deadline seems like a must-do compared to if we went 12-3 in the last 15.
For anyone wondering why I’m so adamant about trading for a legit wing defender, even if it takes Monk, just look at what the Knicks have done with OG. The Kings shot 51% and 40% last night. The offense is not the problem, IT’S THE DEFENSE.
Monte…go get someone like a Thybulle or Caruso and save this season. The Knicks gave up their Monk in Quickley to get OG.
Defense? What’s that?
Caruso misses an average of 30 games every single year. He can’t be depended on to even last in the playoffs. Thybulle is nowhere the level of OG. He’s a guy that can come off the bench and give you spot minutes for D. But would not provide anything offensively. OG was the Play and Kings decided to ride with Keegan.
I disagree. The last time the Kings had a player who made an impact on the defensive end like those two was Artest, or even Christie. You dont’ get those players to score the ball, you get them to vastly improve the defense at the POA which results in transition offense. They may not show up in the boxscore iin terms of PPG, but they’re impact shows up in the end score.
I’m still in the mindset that the move should (hopefully) be Grant and Thybulle. I’d offer picks and any player not named Fox, Sabonis, or Keegan.
My guess is PDX responds with Keegan, filler, and no picks from Sac. PDX wants to cut salary and build with youth. They’d slot in Keegan at the 4.
It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if PDX actually offered a pick, Grant, and Thybulle for Keegan and filler. Monte will then be tasked with a tough decision.
Tim is on it. Make it so.
But doesn’t the 2024 to Atlanta prevent them from trading future picks?
I believe he’s implying the Kings remove all protections from the 2024 pick to ATL to make it happen.
Most likely. Tim knows his stuff. It could solve some of the issues with the defense.
ATL would likely do that in a heartbeat, as it would have a chance to get a lottery pick this year.
It’s in a tweet, so it must be possible.
I’d be all for it…even at a slight overpay.
I think the Kings best remaining shot at really mixing things up this year is to find a trade with a team like Portland that has 2 players the team could start in place of Barnes & Huerter than improves the defense.
Portland – Thybulle (SG) & Grant (PF)
Toronto – Brown (SG) & Boucher (PF)
Chicago – Caruso (SG) & Williams (PF)
Obviously, the Kings don’t have many player assets worth much to send back and would most likely need to throw in FRPs/SRPs, and pick swaps to get a deal done.
Not sure why Portland takes on that many bad players just to get two picks. Especially considering that, outside of just waiving them, they’d have to include picks to dump them on somebody else.
I also assume Camara is for salary matching purposes? As he also has no real redeeming trade value.
Kings fans and others constantly over valuing Kings assets and undervaluing others.
there is no “overpay” about it, it’s IMO another biased trade. The players have no value and the picks would be unprotected to say the least for both Grant and Thybulle
Maybe they can trade Keegan for Kris but Kris and Keegan just change jerseys and stay in place.
I’m not saying this would work, but it’s an idea..
The offense is significantly worse than last year so I would say both things are the problem.
I credit the slip in offense to Barnes and Huerter’s poor production. Fox, Sabonis, and Keegan are doing just fine.
Yeah but having 4 above average offensive players on a given night isn’t a recipe for success either (and Keegan fluctuates from night to night). The truth is the Kings are worse because they’re defense is about the same (bad) and their offense is much worse. Fox has played a lot worse for a month now and if that’s the case this team is in big trouble given the regression from everyone else.
Completely agree. Monk is traceable. Offense is fun but it ain’t what wins.
Throw in Hierter too. Vez. All these guys don’t really defend.
Not to mention, the Kings 2 stars ar OK defenders as best.
The defensive rating is similar to last year, but the league has surged in offense as a whole, while the kings have regressed offensively. That’s the main difference I see. The defense didn’t improve at the rate that the league improved offensively.
FT% is down around 7% from last season, which has a decent impact in close games.
Fox is playing hurt, and Kvon may be back – so the O will switch from regress to progress eventually. FT is not rocket science – fixable. Defense – what a shitshow. So many deadweights on the bench, defense trade improvements seems doable. Senator HB40, I love you man, but you need to be recalled.
What is Fox’s injury? Has there been an a report?
That was ugly. Three day break, get your shit together Kings!
and shoot 5,000 FTs each.
(Makes 3,500)
The missed FTs are the most mind-boggling issue to me.
Something is effecting this team’s psyche and its apparent in the little “mental” mistakes made like missing FTs, rotations, or poor touch fouls.
“The mind plays tricks on you. You play tricks back!”
Buttholes are puckered. Couldn’t get a greased bb up there. It’s all mental, trying to do too much.
Could it really be as simple as getting the team to relax and just concentrate on the basics of good basketball?
It could be. We aren’t in practice so we don’t know what all is happening. Maybe they are pressing too much because of higher expectations? Coaches pushing them with more advanced schemes and they struggle to grasp those concepts?
It’s all spit balling at this point. Sometimes going back to the basics is how you find your way forward.
I don’t envy Mike Brown in this situation.
MM has given MB the same set of inputs as last year but wants a different and somehow better output.
Optimist.
We would have won the game, if the Kings player grabbed the ball, instead of letting the ball goes out-of-bounds, after Buddy Hield shot an “air” 3 points shot…..
(But later found out it was blocked by a Kings players, and again ended up Pacers’ ball, and afterwards they hit a 3)
I mean, if that Kings player is not lazy, instead of letting the ball goes out-of-bound, he can simply grabbed the ball, and saved 3 pts on that possession.
Like I always said, win those 50/50 ball by doing small stuffs, like hustling / dive onto the ground to save the ball (like what TJ McConnell did)…
Again, it’s time to rewards some players who actually play hard
You’re talking about the play airball that Keegan let go out of bounds…I don’t think it was a lazy play, a teammate on the court yelled at him to let it go (not knowing it was last toughed by the Kings).
The overall lack of aggression- going after 50/50 balls drives me crazy.
So often the Kings watch the ball rather than grabbing the rebound. Or don’t go in the floor to get the ball. Keegan, Monk, all of em practically. Why?
The magic is gone. The team has no spark, edge, “beam,” whatever you want to call it. Monte’s “run it back” idea seemed sensible at the time, but the message it sent to the team was “we’re not contending.” I would consider trading Monk. He is a flamethrower, but he’s undisciplined, sloppy with the ball, and a defensive sieve — a rich man’s Buddy Hield. He also has major trade value. Package him with Barnes, Huerter, etc., grab yourself a true difference-maker, and level up the roster talent while sending a message to the rest of the team at the same time.
On second thought…
Playoff seeding certainly doesn’t matter the way they’re currently playing. They’re either a quickly dispatched play-in team right now or the team left without a chair when the music stops.
Monk needs to reign in the crazy play or he is not a viable backup PG. And when he’s on the floor with Sabonis & Fox he needs to understand his role.
This team has to figure out the FT problem. More fiber, a hypnotist, sacrificing a virgin, but your opponents are hanging 81% from the line vs. your 72.5%. You’re a -2.7 per night from the line. Yipes.
Your opponents are a full percentage better than you from the field (48.7 to 47.7) and from 2 percentage points from deep (39.2 to 37.2). Yep. The entirety of every opposing player that has jacked a 3 against you is the same percentage as Malik Monk.
The defense is an absolute sucking chest wound, and being 13th in FG% & 13th from 3, & 30th(!!!) from the line completely amplifies the defensive woes.
I still don’t blame Brown for this. There is nothing on this roster to replace Barnes other than square pegs. Lyles & Vez, as much as we hope, are not those guys. The Kings needed a true wing stopper this past summer & couldn’t get it done. Not sure how they fix this on the fly. We throw a lot of names around, but many of them are less than pristine fits or are not reasonably attainable when you factor in the other NBA teams that are looking for the same things.
I still think that if the Kings make a move, it will be incremental at best. The call is coming from inside the house, and you need to address that first.
Yep. This is fundamentally a roster issue. The new guys (Duarte, Vez, JaVale) have all under-delivered, and many team vets (Barnes, Davion, KVon) have regressed, while the expected second-year “leap” from Keegan has been more of a hop. Monte’s decisions haven’t panned out, although they were all perfectly defensible at the time.
Agreed. I see it more as growing pains than a fireable offense. The early season penchant for pulling out close games at the end has been replaced by a new reality. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Didn’t watch the game last night but followed the ESPN Gamecast on my phone. Barnes line didn’t change, it was like the site was broken and his numbers were frozen on a bunch of zeros, ones, and twos.
Take a second look at his line for last night, you have to work pretty hard to achieve that in 22 minutes.
Yep. Whether it was hubris or just bad luck in free agency, running it back with Barnes is turning out to be a really bad idea.
I don’t understand how Monte didn’t see that doing nothing this off season was a variable option.
Barnes and the2/3 were huge holes and he fixed it by bringing in Vez? Another non defender-good role player?
Hmmm, OK…
Saving a lot of money on not having to light the beam.
No longer feel slighted by the national media.
The Spring calendar is opening up nicely.
Visited Tankathon today and began looking at players available in the 13-14 range.
The level of play once again matches the level of the broadcasts.
Pitchers and catchers report in 19 days (this may not be as much of a positive for A’s & Giants fans).
I heard too that the A’s were touring Sutter Health Park in Sacramento yesterday as well. Wonder how Sac in general would feel about having the A’s for three years before they move to Vegas.
What I had read was probably one season, maybe two. The A’s will still play at the Coliseum this year, I think?
Oracle and the A’s AAA facility in Summerlin, Nv are being floated as alternatives as well. But if they play in Sac. for any period of time, I would buy at least a bank of tickets or go in with a group. I wouldn’t mind catching a few MLB games every month in my own back yard. And at that ballpark? Not a bad seat in the house.
It would be fuggin awesome if they played here. What a treat that would be.
There does seem to be a particularly vocal group of A’s fans on Twitter who seem to have just woken up and discovered how the real world works.
Yeah, I could see most of my entertainment dollars going to that.
Yes, the A’s could bring some winning sports ball with no roster/talent issues to Sacramento!
Oh, wait …
You are absolutely correct about the “no talent” part.
Pass for me. We already have one AAA team here, no need to add a second.
West Sac, to be exact. We might be on the motels and trailer parks side of the river, but we have 4 McDonalds and 3 Taco Bells.
Do not agree as kings team is watchable 70% of most games but broadcast 10% at most . But pitchers and catchers do report in 19 days .
I don’t post much anymore, life has gotten so hectic (and the Northwest has been covered in more ice than an outdoor freezer in Buffalo).
I watch this team, I look at what’s happening, and uncharacteristically for myself, I’ve come to a rather unscientific conclusion.
We know this team needs defense. We know they need to make their damn free throws. We know the coach needs to figure out better rotations. But you know what I believe this team really needs?
This team needs someone with that dawg in them.
This team needs the kind of vocal, intense, loudmouth player that fires their teammates up and every fanbase hates until they’re on their team.
This team needs a Patrick Beverley, a Dillon Brooks, a Jimmy Butler.
This team needs a guy or maybe two or more who hate, hate, hate losing more than they love winning. It’s easy to be fun and smiles when things are going right, but things don’t always go right. They need the kind of guy who’s going to lunge like an Olympic athlete for a loose ball whether the team is up 5 or down 20.
I’m not saying those three guys in particular, there’s no way any of them are ending up on the Kings. But that’s the kind of guy this team needs, because I don’t see that fire in Fox or Ox or any of them.
We have that guy already!
Keegan has the dawg!
It’s a good thing that Barnes was kept around to provide veteran leadership. Just imagine how bad this team would look without him.
They don’t look broken-they are broken. This is mainly for discussion – I am not completely here with my opinion but it’s trending this way…
BUT I’m tired of hearing about chemistry and development. Everyone bought it over the summer and guess what – this team is stale, boring, unhappy, and doesn’t fit together. Not sure the ultimate vision of this team but it brings into question McNair’s ability. I’m not saying tear it down, but I am saying they need to figure this out and make some major trades.
Sabonis – soft and mentally weak-can’t defend anyone when they go small, and cannot exploit match ups against people who decide they will not be bullied. Great regular season player that can bully young players but gets bullied by experienced vets.
Fox – obviously hurt or unhappy or both. Isn’t attacking the rim with the same fervor. Something is wrong. Could he be unhappy with others? Is he unhappy Malik hasn’t gotten an extension? Does he like how much the offense runs through Sabonis? I don’t know but he isn’t right.
Those are your 2 best players…
Murray – great but inconsistent, needs to be more of an alpha
Huerter – hot right now but inconsistent. The problem is – he doesn’t play great defense and he doesn’t handle the ball great.
Barnes – a good teams 9/10th man. Does everything right, just not enough for his price tag and shouldn’t be playing so many minutes. Could be a good end of bench guy for the Nuggets or Timberwolves.
Monk – a bench chucker that is asked to do more…sometimes that’s good and sometimes it isn’t. Is he also unhappy with the lack of extension, Mike Brown’s rotations, or the offense? Seems unhappy to me and something is wrong.
Trey and Sasha – fun bench guys but not championship level starters.
MY POINT = Are we sure the vision for this team is right? Are we sure we are on the right path, hitching our wagon to Fox and Sabonis? Or are we the Utah Jazz…a good regular season team (which right now is questionable) with fundamental flaws around Mitchell and Gobert where they need to be in different situations to have success.
IMO – can Fox and Sabonis be a championship teams 1 and 2…NO. So we need to go get that 1 and fit the pieces around him.
Hey yo this needs to be front page:
Scot Pollard Needs Heart Transplant
Thanks for putting that up. What a freaking drag. Pollard has always been one of my favorite ex Kings. He’s always been his own man with plenty of character and I’m hoping he wins the transplant lottery. It is such a crap shoot.
The margin for winning and losing in the NBA is on a razor’s edge. Instead of going 5-1 in the past 6 games which was within grasp, the Kings went 2-4. A few more made free throws, a little more defense or a or even a few timely rebounds could have made the difference. Losing is part of the process of winning. In order to be the best team you have to lose a lot, and the path is not linear. There is a lot of luck involved too.
Above all else, the biggest factor is having top-end talent. Not just all-stars, but all-time all stars. The kings don’t have any of those. Fox isn’t that, Sabonis isn’t that, and Murray can be really good but probably won’t reach that either. I think the ceiling for this team is at best the conference finals if everyone were to reach their fullest potential. As constructed, the Kings just can’t compete with the best of the best. Top-end talent doesn’t just happen especially when you pass on Luka, trade Tyrese, and are a small market team.
Our expectations need to be lowered a bit.
If I see Malik fly by one more pump faking three point shooter, I’m going to throw my Billy Owen’s signed shoes into fucking tv!
The worst is when he is on the weakside and sags to paint to “help” when there are 3 other Kings already down there, and the pass goes to his man in the corner for a WIDE OPEN 3. It happened at least 3 times last night.
I honestly believe if he (& others) stopped with the fly-by closeouts, they would help the defense much more. Too many pump-fake, side-step-threes allowed.
Close-out hard by all means but don’t leave your feet. I don’t see why the coaches haven’t corrected this, I have to assume they’re trying.
I WISH the coaches would address this. It’s such a terrible defensive play.
Halfway point. 41 games. Same record.
last year started with 4 straight losses. This year ended with 4 straight losses.
Kings employing the Palindrome Strategy. Bold move, let’s see if it pays off.
I went to the game last night with my son and one of his friends. I was shocked at the team’s lethargy. Fox seems to be hurt, as if he saves himself for the 4th quarter, but the team shouldn’t be so dependent on him. I kept thinking that a combination of more aggression by the Kings, and youthful breakdowns by the Pacers, would enable the Kings to squeeze out a win, which almost happened.
Everyone has already talked about the terrible defense, so I won’t say more.
The league is passing this team by. The T-Wolves, the Thunder, the Pelicans, and, in the East, the Pacers. The window isn’t closing, it is closed. Even without Siakam and Haliburton, the Pacers are stacked, with, I think, 5 players selected in the first round in the last 3 years, several in the top 10, and it showed last night. Haliburton is the perfect PG for them. It was obvious that the Pacers are more athletic, with a greater diversity of talent, than the Kings.
I wish I had an answer for fixing things, but there is no easy one. The team is probably stuck with Fox and Sabonis, I can’t see a team trading value for them. At best, and I say this advisedly, the team would move them for less value, while getting useful pieces, and recover that value and more through tanking for high draft picks. Obviously, not appealing.
If the Kings can get help by moving Monk, I would do it. His limitations are clear for all to see. Maybe, Monk and Davion can fetch something. A minor point, but also disheartening to see Trayce Jackson-Davis playing so well for the Warriors, surely he could have been a good backup for Sabonis, particularly with his ballhandling skills? Hope the Kings weren’t scared off because he demanded 2 years, guaranteed.
There’s no need to trash the team or organization, they will stabilize at a 5-8 seed which is solid if not spectacular and far better than 16 years of pure suffering. Definitely sucks to see them stagnate at this point but haven’t seen major slippage as of yet. I was a little too harsh on Sabonis it appears he is high on the Winshares list and that’s a good stat to be a leader on. I don’t know if trades gets us some roster upgrades but they are needed if we want to improve at all from last year. It’s really tough when you’re a small-market team, the OKC model seems the only proven method but you need patience, which Vivek never seems to have. Monte has a tough job, free agents don’t want to come here, and most probably don’t want to be traded here.
The Kings might make the playoffs. If they do..…they get bounced easily in round one.
Golden State will rebuild and have three more rings before the Kings get out of the first round.
Unless he trades Monk, whatever Monte trades for isn’t going to be an A level “savior,” so I wouldn’t be expecting that. Which leaves patching the holes in the bench unit. This team’s improvement, at least for this season, has to come from within. I don’t think this season is about a championship, necessarily. It could be, and that would mean everything comes together. This season is about next season and a championship, I think. They have some growth to do yet.
And then the full strength Pacers with Siakam lose to the Blazers. Monte needs to trade for Patrick Beverly just to light up the locker room. Oh, and maybe get that Jerami Grant guy who just scored 37.
McConnell with only 2 pts and 2 assists! Haliburton with only a double-double, not a triple-double like Domas! Hali took the ball out of TJ’s hands! The Pacers traded for the wrong PG!
2024 expectations were high for this team. At least mine where. I saw something in this team last year that can’t be explained. This team knows it as well. They are trying to live up to those expectations and yes it is messing with their mental. That Milwaukee loss was tough, along with the up and down play all season. The Phoenix loss didnt affect me at all because they played soooo tough in that Milwaukee game, that it felt like it too something from this team. Just that one game. They saw then…it isn’t easy to be consistently good or great as those teams that we all know as Kings fan we will lose to. We need a lengthy athletic PF that can mask Domas’ defensive efficiencies (lack of rim protection). Keegan slots at the 3. Give Keegan some time. He’ll start cooking. He’s more Kawhi Leonard than any other.
This is an unpopular opinion, but I’d go ahead and give the keys to the Kentucky boys. Let them finish what they started. All the way to the elite 8 as teenagers. Let them see if they can still challenge each other as they did as teenagers to lead their team as adults. Lack of height some nights will be a problem, but it wasn’t for Thomas and Dumars. It doesn’t have to be for us if those two just dig in.
We don’t have major trading assets now, so over paying is a must. I think we’re out on any ground shaking moves unless MM goes full sale for all. I believe the easiest plug and play trade is bring in Collins and Dunn from Utah (you can work the details yourself). Whatever the case, I don’t think too much would have to be given up. Dunn back up PG off bench (defensive minded). If not included in the trade, obviously Duarte has to step up. It would be nice to bring Huerter off the bench if not included in any trades. Either one’s play should improve against 2nd units. Bring in a low cost tweener. SG/SF/PF (in situations).
Fox (must stay locked in on D; offensive will be fine)
Monk (same as above)
Murray (time and confidence)
Collins (weakside defense; slight floor spreader; blocks lead to crazy offensive transition plays)
Domas (YOU lead this team; step up your vocals; Fox and Monk as well; lay into their asses when the effort is not there; which means your effort has to be 100% every night. Dennis Rodman did it, you can too)
Figure the bench out. Let’s roll.
Barnes available for 3 firsts.
specifically for you In Monte we trust fandom:
https://spacecityscoop.com/posts/latest-report-all-but-ensures-rockets-won-t-be-trading-for-rumored-target
Badge Legend