The Sacramento Kings finish their preseason schedule tonight as they host the Los Angeles Lakers. After an ugly game against the Phoenix Suns, the Kings remain undefeated in preseason. One of those wins already came against the Lakers, who the Kings beat handily.
When: Friday, October 14, 2022, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: Kings.com/live
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
It would be a nice bit of momentum if the Kings can finish the preseason undefeated, although Kings fans know all too well that preseason success doesn’t always translate to the regular season. After all, the Kings were undefeated in preseason last year and went on to win 30 games. That being said, there’s still plenty worth paying attention to in this game.
Mike Brown has previously indicated that his rotations in the final preseason game will be close to his regular season rotation. The Kings waived Kent Bazemore and Quinn Cook on Thursday, leaving one final cut before the regular season. Chima Moneke, Sam Merrill, Matthew Dellavedova, and Chimezie Metu have appeared to be at the bottom of the rotation, with Merrill appearing the most likely to be cut. I’ll be watching to see how much and in what role each those players plays in this game.
The Kings should also be back at full strength as Keegan Murray and Richaun Holmes are both back after missing the last game with a non-Covid illness.
Keegan Murray and Richaun Holmes (non-COVID illness) are both back at Kings practice today.
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) October 13, 2022
Kevin Huerter didn’t practice yesterday due to a sore ankle, so his status for today’s game is unknown but it doesn’t sound like he’s expected to miss time.
Kevin Huerter was on the court shooting after practice. Ankle issue didn’t look like it was impacting him greatly. Likely happened against the Suns when he came down on a foot while shooting a 3-pointer. Flagrant foul called.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) October 13, 2022
Although it’s just preseason, it’s been an exciting preseason for the Kings. Hopefully the Kings can beat the Lakers to continue the good vibes leading into the regular season.
Should Coach Brown play mostly the core,
Or use this last game to explore?
Want to hear a HOME crowd,
Getting painfully loud,
Crying out “Beat LA!” in a roar!
Jman kept in shape during the off season I see. Rounding out pre-season very strongly.
Jman is the MVP!
(Most Valuable Poet)
But does he know it?
It’s just Kings vs Lakers pre-season. It can’t be that exciting…
LOL! It’s popcorn time!
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1580932854996865024
I dunno, if Russ focuses on playing the point, that could have nice results. He doesn’t have a ton to work with in the second unit, but he can still dish out dimes with almost anyone.
Oh, I think he is capable, but I don’t think he’ll be willing to take on that kind of role. With the new rumor that the Pistons are waiving Kemba Walker and the Lakers are a likely destination, I think clock is ticking ever faster on the Lakers dealing Westbrook
I really hope someone doesn’t bail Pelinka out of this one…whoever takes Westbrook should clean the Lakers out of draft picks and dumping bad contracts on them.
Could not agree more. When it comes to eating Lakers mistakes, half the league has Stockholm Syndrome.
All Russ can do in Detroit is gum up the works for the young guards already on the roster, and it’s not as if Los Angeles has much in the way of non-players assets. Let them choke on their own shit for a change.
That said, Westbrook is an expiring contract, so it’s not as though he is some sort of multi-year albatross. If I were a tanking team and I could obtain some future assets for him, I’d pull the trigger and then buy him out.
Detroit would be an odd deal – they would have to send something like Bojan, Bagley and Burks for Russ and picks (of which the Lakers have very few).
The fear would be that Portland decides to head to tankville and deals Dame to the Lakers. The Lakers probably lack the picks and assets to get that done, and Dame can’t be dealt earlier than 1/8/22, so the odds here are slim to none.
Definitely, they really don’t have much on the shelf to get a deal done.
“You want Dame? Send AD.”
I doubt PDX fears this one. Dame is owed 216M over the next 4 years, and frankly do you want to pay 63+M for a 37 year old Dame Lillard? I don’t think the Blazers do. Dame got his money, the Blazers get to sell tickets and TV money for this season before they trade Dame when they ‘realize’ it doesn’t work.
Westy is a handy piece to have to slice a huge chunk of money off PDX’s cap for next year and beyond. TBH, they might even be willing to take a single pick for Dame due to all that money and how Dame performs.
Dame going to the Lakers would bum me out hugely.
I’m calling it now. Westbrook will be a Spur before the deadline. Spurs will get both Lakers picks and Russ in exchange for Poeltl and Josh Richardson.
I really do not think anybody is willing to give up any assets for RW. The LAL are trying to dump his contract (and his performance) so why would they want any long terms salary just to do that- unless they can split the salary, get a lot out of the way on one year expiring and get something in return.
and why would other teams take on RW – get one year of poor play and yapping-only if they were tanking and could get the LAL to give them something.
So both sides want something and want the same – so untenable trade as far as I can see.
Most likely- a tanker takes on RW but makes the LAL pay for that. But they have to be under the cap.
You just explained why the Spurs would do the trade.
The Spurs are tanking, so an expiring Westbrook doing “one year of poor play and yapping” benefits them. Poeltl is on the block and the Spurs want a pick in return at a minimum. The Spurs are also under the cap so they can easily absorb Westbrook’s deal without matching salary.
For the Lakers, Poeltl and Richarson are expiring deals that help them win now. There is no long term salary involved. Poeltl is a legit defensive center and Richardson gives them the shooting of Buddy, without the liability on defense or the long term deal.
In the end, the Spurs are eating $26M to absorb Westbrook, in exchange for two players that are expiring, but also fit the skills the Lakers need in the present.
My guess is that he’ll have an off night
This is the way.
The Kings traded away brittle
To solve the playoff riddle
Our hope is with Murray
As playoffs is the hurry
For the play-in is too little
♫ I loathe L.A.
WE LOATHE IT! ♫
How do I watch the game with besties Monte McNair and the BabyGiraffe?
Wear a Kings Herald T-shirt, walk up to Monte, and say your name is Greg.
Feels like they could find a better third pg option on the waiver wire.
They aren’t tough to come by. Hell, we’re long overdue to have Ish Smith on the Sacramento roster.
I saw this little gem by @ALinCALI22
https://twitter.com/ALinCALI22/status/1580977002256793600?s=20&t=GrtRY7VJyKJqxqHO_-adZg
I think the L*kers owe a pick swap, though, no? So they couldn’t get Wembanyama, whereas the Kings could…?
from Silver Screen and Roll:
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com/22932237/lakers-future-nba-draft-picks-trades-swaps
“Wembanyama to the Kings!”
I almost want to see the Lakers get the #1 pick, just to see the fans eat their own livers with regret.
With some fava beans and nice bottle of chianti!
“We’re getting Wembanyoink!
Be interested to see how the Kings do their 3rd PG deal. Obviously, that’s Delly’s spot…..but what if internally the Kings are interested in seeing Keon Ellis be the 3rd PG? That would be an interesting way to use a TWC guy like Ellis and a way to get maybe the ‘better’ player in Sam Merrill onto the roster with your 15th spot.
Other than that, the only news that I think that’s fit to print is that the Kings are #1 in DRtg in the NBA during pre-season which is fun…..but they were also 5th in DRtg last year in preseason under Walton. What I do think is interesting, and important, is that the Kings are #1 in DRtg by 10 points.
I don’t necessarily read anything into this, but I do think it might be helpful that Brown is getting some of his defensive principles into play already. Murray is at an 88.4 individual DRtg. Barnes is at a 91.3 DRtg. Fox is at a 93.2 DRtg. Sabonis is at a 89.1 DRtg. Huerter is at 92.7 DRtg. Monk is at 93 DRtg. Mitchell is at 83.3 DRtg. Holmes only played the game against the Lakers so it’s criminally low at a 69.7 DRtg. The flip side of this is that Chimezie Metu has the worst DRtg at 98.7. Okpala is at 78.7 DRtg, Moneke is at a 74.3 DRtg.
Does any of this mean anything by itself? No, I’d argue it doesn’t. What it does tell me, though, is that there is team defensive principles given how many guys are grouped within a point of two or each other. That’s always a good sign. The other good sign is so many of your high minute rotation players actually have better DRtg’s than your teams overall DRtg. That’s another key I always look for. I expect nothing tonight, actually, and I don’t think the W or L matters. The only thing I’m really interested in is to see the rotations, Merrill vs Dellavedova and nobody getting hurt (that’s the most important thing of all).
Go Kings!!!!
The defense is noticeably better – that’s eye test and stats but with only 3 games, not much meaning. Your idea here is intriguing. Kings need a third PG if one of the top 2 is hurt. Ellis could be called up in a flash. With one PG hurt, the other can play 36 minutes? leaving 12 for Monk, Huerter, TD and Ellis?
Merril can shoot and brings that to the table rather than Delly’s non shooting. Delly is insurance. And there are other G league options- 10-day contracts etc.
My preference would be to cut Delly and avoid any comments about that move being pointless by using the KG21 strategy.
538 has the Kings at 32-50 this season. “But her emails!” Yeah, I know, but they’ve been pretty close on Kings record predictions every season. I was thinking mid to high 30’s but I overshoot almost every season.
There is no statistical model that is going to like the Kings until they put in at least (I’m guessing here) a half season’s worth of data with the current group. They don’t have a baseline for Murray because he’s a rookie, Fox’s career baseline isn’t high, Sabonis’ isn’t high enough to raise the tides higher, there’s the Sacramento factor, they must not like Huerter or Barnes much at all, and who knows what else they don’t like about this team?
They predicted the Pacers at 35 wins which is laughable on every conceivable front. The Jazz, WHO ARE TANKING SUPPOSEDLY, are at 38 wins using this model. Am I supposed to take this model that seriously?
Right? I just saw the Utah prediction of 38 wins. That’s total nonsense.
They actually are projecting Keegan Murray to only play 15 MPG, be a slight positive on defense and be a significantly less impactful offensive player.
I don’t even know what to say to that. But then again, the only rookie they have projected to play over 30 MPG is Banchero and that isn’t especially surprising.
Metu 5th in minutes, ahead of Murray, Monk, Mitchell, and Holmes? What are they smoking over there?
They also have Wes Iwuandu at 12MPG. The dude signed an exhibit 10 deal yesterday and will be playing in Stockton.
The Blazers, too, are projected at 38 wins. This is rather dubious on a lot of fronts IMO. But, it’s interesting I guess from a talking point perspective.
I’m going to say it as someone who is (in my view a pragmatist) but due to general pessimism more optimistic than the majority of fans and what not: The models, the narrative just won’t favor the Kings right now coming into the year. It just isn’t anything that will look very good. Start with Fox, but even Sabonis’ impact isn’t very high in this model.
The reason the Kings won’t look good is due to history and comp’s. That’s what this 538 model is using. Fair or not, the Kings won’t come out looking very rosy. And the minutes distribution starting with Davion and Keegan is way off IMO.
Like I said initially, I’d bet it would take at least a half season’s of data before this model would show improvement on the Kings part.
Let’s see how they did at the end of the season. Player ratings for the Kings are here:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2023-nba-predictions/kings/
I don’t see a lot to argue about there other than Murray’s minutes and I think his offensive impact is going to be much better than they predict.
Or we could ask these 5 Nostradumbasses what the final record will be:
https://twitter.com/Aykis16/status/1580639535192453121?s=20&t=m0IBn5whIvoBQK6TmodjTw
Indeed. I plan on enjoying myself rubbing your nose in how you wrong you were Spackler. 🙂
I think Bazemore is at 36 minutes.
This team is one of the least predictable in the NBA this year. New coach, only two starters from last year’s starting squad, young core, and a rookie that figures to be at least a major rotational player. Their model probably heavily weights last year’s record. I’m going with Bill Simmons prediction of 41-41.
Also, no India to blame this off-season!
India tripNew GMCoach hired before the GMCOVIDThe other coach hired before the other GMTraded players need training campNew coach needs training campTowel kid needs training campTechnical foul DeMarcus CousinsLose F WaltonVlade F DivacGeorge F KarlPete F D’AllesandroCash F ConsiderationsNo one will trade with usNew announcersGreg WArco Arena CurseMitch Richmond’s long toeNo Soul foodNo coach breakfastSnakes in the grass4 on 5 defenseLuka’s DadMalooferyGame 6Construction on J StreetGM needs time to implement his plan.
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.
.
.
.
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COACH NEEDS A FULL SEASON WITH THE ROSTER TO IMPLEMENT HIS SYSTEM!
There’s the good stuff.
We agree about the excuses. I don’t have any reason to make excuses for this team. I don’t think Brown does either. He wasn’t thrilled by the game in Phoenix (why should he have been?) and that’s about what you would expect from a coach.
We’ll find out where this team is at after 10 games or so. If they aren’t good at all, it turns out the pessimists are on the money again. Or at least through 10 games.
There was an error with the Jazz predicted wins- it is 3.8 , not 38. That is one bad team.
This may be the year I finally bet the Over on number of Kings wins….always been skeptical of a turnaround but this year feels different (last pre-season game excluded).
is there a online site recommended to bet on the Kings win total?
I have$800.00 on Kings over in Vegas. Was Over 34.5 but by the time I got the money there it was over 35.5 ( which means 36 wins)
What’s the payout? On mybookie I placed a $50 bet on the kings to win the division and the payout is $10,000. The payout on the over/under on the wins wasn’t very good before but I can check again cause I’d def take the over personally.
Kings.com/live again!?
I recommend the site, “Streameast.” You might not be bale to find the local feed but at least it doesn’t cut out every 10 seconds like Kings.com or have the location limiter.
That’s what I use 🙂 also don’t read the chatroom unless you want your IQ to drop into the negatives
ESPN too.
No Keegan and Kevin tonight.
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/1581073949491834880
Dammit!
Alright going to the game tonight with my KaNgZ shirt
Badge Legend