Welcome back to the first offseason Chainmail of the year! A few things have been happening across the Kangzdom and the league as a whole, so let’s recap, shall we?
- Originally, the Kings were interviewing seven coaching candidates – four previous head coaches and three well-respected assistants. Over the weekend, Mike D’Antoni and the three assistants, Darvin Ham, Charles Lee, and Will Hardy were eliminated from contention, leaving Mark Jackson, Mike Brown, and Steve Clifford as the finalists.
- According to reports from both Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, Mark Jackson has emerged as Vivek Ranadive’s preferred option, while Fischer says that Mike Brown is currently the leader for Monte McNair.
- The Kings have yet to announce where Greg stands in the coaching process.
- Amidst the coaching search, Joe Dumars, Vivek Ranadive’s advisor extraordinaire, who was involved in the first round of interviews, departed the team suddenly to take a job with the NBA.
- In his same report, Jake Fischer also indicated that Monte McNair could be terminated if the Kings fail to make this postseason this coming season, which is a reasonable inference considering the team would have made no progress in three seasons in that scenario.
- From around the league, the Utah Jazz were eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, despite the Mavericks missing Luka Doncic for multiple games, and many believe that Utah’s failure to advance will lead to a blow-up this offseason, which could include the departure of Quinn Snyder and one or both of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. Stars such as Mitchell and Gobert becoming available are the exact situations that Monte McNair will likely try to take advantage of this summer.
- Aside from the Jazz, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Charlotte Hornets were all taken out in the first round, with those teams hoping to make it much further along. Each of those franchises could be looking to make some changes in the offseason as well.
- The NBA Draft Lottery is about two weeks away. The Kings have a 7.5% at the first overall pick, a 32% shot at getting into the top-4, and a 48.4% chance of moving back.
Now, get to asking, so we can get to answering!
Hi, my name is Rob, and I am a first-time caller, long-time listener. Love the show! I have a question, and I’ll take the answer off-line:
WTF?
“Did you guys find the playoffs yet?”
When the Kings hire Mark Jackson, what are you going to do with the time you used to spend on the Kings?
Closing the browser with Kings Herald on it and then reopening the Kings Herald on another tab as I don’t know what else to do with my life.
Hey! I resemble this remark.
I’ve taken up gardening. At this point, it’s more interesting to watch my plants grow from seed rather than waiting for the Kings to make the playoffs.
My answer was spending more time working on my fruit trees. So rewarding to get something out of my hobby.
And a much better ROI!
I think that it’s generally understood that Ranadive’s stewardship has made the Kings organization very good citizens of Sacramento, in terms of charitable work, community events, and social justice. It seems that it’s important to try and do good.
So why are scumbags like Luke Walton and Mark Jackson invariably inserted into the mix when important hiring decisions are to be made?
None of us can answer it, but I’ve wondered the same. And they’re not invariably inserted, but their insertion is jarring (twss).
And Josh Jackson, and Terence Davis, and Matt Barnes, and Ty Lawson, and Darren Collison, and Rajon Rondo, and DeMarcus Cousins, and (allegedly) Richaun Holmes, and… and… and…
The Kangz have a very particular and interesting interpretation of “social justice.”
If only we could figure out the common theme in what all those players and that coach did or were accused of doing. I guess it will just remain a mystery.
Basketball?
Name the best player that the Kings can add to their roster this summer (excluding rookie picks), and how the Kings get him.
“Just call me.”
“Who do I offer the Celtics in exchange for that Stauskas kid?”
I expect the Kings to give Otto Porter Jr. the full MLE while dubbing him the new 3 and D wing the Kings have been missing.
He will add zero wins to the team next year.
It will be interesting to see the direction players go with the MLE considering the amount of teams that will be able to offer it. In Porters case, the Kings with the obvious wing hole will have the minutes available in ways other teams might not be able to guarantee.
Someone like Porter might be able to establish a larger role on a bad team before re-entering the market in a few years to see out his last chance at a reasonable payday. That said he has excelled in a winning culture, made good money over his career so his priorities might not be on his counting stats and next check compared to others.
But the Kings can realistically project starter minutes for a lot of guys likely considering the MLE. And the teams playoff boom or bust and lack of general talent, MLE candidates aren’t likely to be usurped by the front office or coaching staff for development or tanking. Does that overweigh the Kings reputation? we shall see.
Q: WHY?
There’s plenty of negativity around here (for understandable reasons), so let’s think positive. Imagine one year from now, we have just won 42 games and lost an exciting first round series and you are writing an article about what an instrumental role our new coach played in our successful season.
For each of the three coaching finalists (Brown, Clifford, and Jackson), what are the positives about their styles and approaches that would have led to such a successful season? In other, why is it each of these three might be the right choice?
Is this theoretically based on the team being the jazz?
I know they are going to answer this anyway since it’s a great question. But this is an awesome thought exercise.
Should we imagine this before or after ingesting large quantities of hallucinogens? The latter seems more doable.
If Jackson is the pick, is Monte officially a paper figure and GM in title only in the eyes of Kings fans?
Oh, can I then petition the board to christen him McGutless in replace of McGenius? Asking for a friend.
Jackson being hired would confirm all of Vivek’s meddling, & I’d probably extend that suspicion to the trade for Sabonis rather than tanking. We’ll inevitably miss the playoffs again and Monte will get the ax so Vivek never has to look at the man in the mirror.
But even still, I’ll always be left with this vague feeling that McNair/Wilcox really was the right pair to end the drought if they were truly given the chance. The uncertainty combined with the dread of knowing the guy who is the root of all our greatest failures will always be in charge would be the worst part imo.
He never really had as much power as those who thought he was more or less doing the best job within reason you can expect, like myself, would be my conclusion. And at that point should consider resigning his position if he doesn’t even have the power to make even ONE coaching hire. ONE!*
I was wondering why you were making so much sense.
I have my moments. Especially since I’m pretty gifted as a plagarizer.
Why do birds suddenly appear?
Because birds aren’t real.
Favorite childhood/sugary breakfast cereal you could still proudly eat an entire box when nobody is looking.
Golden Grahams.
Life’s a close 2nd to those, IMO. Not that I do cold cereal anymore, though.
Yea milk is a no for me now, but Life was a big staple in my house growing up.
I have two categories in this discussion…
Childhood Favorite, and College-Late-Night-Straight-Up-Crack.
GGs are very much the latter.
Loved Cocoa Puffs & Trix, but the roof of my mouth would disintegrate before I’d get through the box. Maybe Lucky Charms?
I loved eating Trix out of the box. I went through a Captain Crunch phase but eating it out of the box without milk is like chewing on razor blades.
Frosted Flakes. I could put away so many frosted flakes.
Clearly none of you have ever had Cocoa Pebbles
the answer is obviously Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch – a gift from the gods to make us human
Followed closely by Crunch Berries.
For sure.
Lucky Fucking Charms
Assuming we stick at #7, and the top 5 is Chet, Jabari, Paolo, Ivey, and Murray, what are you doing with the pick?
Trade up? Trade out? High upside swing on Sharpe/Mathurin/other, or a high-floor roleplayer like Agbaji?
Sharpe. If he’s gone, trade back or out. I don’t think we have the currency to trade up. I think there’s a really deep third tier that starts at 7 and runs through 20 or so.
I think Sharpe may go at five or six, the more I read about him, the more impressed I get with his game, and his potential. If the Kings don’t jump into the top three, he might be pretty great option if he falls.
He’s definitely getting some helium right now. It will be interesting to see how much he participates at the combine.
As it stand now I would have him 4th on my board if I had any reason for a board.
Get a board!
or a utility guy like Daniels
Trade down to get two of mathurin, sochan, Eason, or brown. Then trade Barnes and Holmes for next year’s draft to plan for trading up for wembanyama.
McGutless. The Final Jeopardy question was… ‘what will we call Monte after Vivek hires Jackson?’ I mean, he’s not gonna quit, right?
If Jackson is named coach of the Kings, you’ve decided it is time to move your team loyalty to another. Which team would you be a fan or root for if it wasn’t the Kings?
Can one answer this question by saying I’d prefer to be a general NBA fan and just watch the NBA as a whole?
Because I don’t think I can stump for a team the way I do with the Kings, or the Oakland Athletics for that matter (All 5000 of us remaining, that is).
I’m kind of already a general basketball fan first anyway.
Toronto Raptors, all day long.
Different conference. Different country!
Top notch organization from top to bottom.
What’s not to like?
Very probably would be the Mavs, I think, for most of the fans……..(all because of Doncic)
I’m sure if he were on the Kings I’d find reasons to justify his constant (constant!) whining to the officials and what appears to be, at times, a complete disregard for defense.
I don’t think I could switch to being a fan of the Mavericks to “get to” watch that on a daily basis, tho.
Yeah, I had the same though cuz of Luka. Or Indiana, cuz of Hali.
I briefly considered the idea of finding another team, but I’m not about to shell out for League Pass, so with the very rare exception of a compelling game broadcast nationally, I doubt that I’ll see more than a handful of games in a season.
My fandom of the Kings and NBA basketball began when I moved to Sacramento. It’s fun being a fan of the local team, but I know that if they choose to be a rehab center for alleged sex offenders, I won’t be able to sustain vicarious interest in another team.
I used to watch an enormous amount of college basketball, and between getting back to that, and watching other sports, there will be no void in my life, only regret that a team to which I was die-hard devoted chose to make willfully bad choices as to whom it employs.
Sticking around for the inane hiring of Luke Walton and his inevitable failure was hard enough. Hiring Mark Jackson would put me on hiatus as a fan until he ends up being fired for any number of HR offenses.
I’m hard-pressed to think of a worse person to hire.
Splitting the cost of league pass with one other person makes it much more affordable. Or, I’ve heard of people using a VPN to set their region to India and getting league pass for 30 dollars for the season.
I grew up south of Sac, so they’re the only team I’ve rooted hard for. But this last year or so has just been draining on my fandom. I think I can count on one hand how many games I watched this past season, which would be the lowest ever.
I’m with you on Jackson though. I had missed all the controversy and drama that had followed him through his different jobs. Call me naive, but just up until a month or so ago I had though he was a decent coach that helped lay the foundation for the Warriors run with Kerr, and with the development of Steph/Klay of course. Oh how wrong I was.
I’ve had more free time to do other things though, so there’s that!
Mama, who is that man and where is he going?
Why would Brown, Clifford, or Jackson be an upgrade over Gentry? What do each bring that Gentry didn’t?
In reality, nothing. Good straight forward question.
Defense. Maybe.
What current playoff team do you see the Kings emulating to get back into contention? I love seeing the successes of the Grizzlies. Are we capable of replicating what they have done/created? Is the Bulls route an option? Or could we more likely duplicate what the Cavs, Timberwolves or Pelicans have done?
Kings don’t have the talent to replicate any of those teams:
Just look at The Top 3 players of all the teams you mentioned: Are the Kings top 3 or even Top5, better than the Grizz, Bulls, Cavs, Wolves or Pels. I would say absolutely not.
Grizz are extremely deep and talented. They also know how to develop late picks and undrafted players. Besides Jah, Bane, Brooks, JJJ. They have guys that come off the bench: Tillman, Williams, Jones. Memphis is going to be a Top 3 in the West for years to come.
Cavs are younger and more talented. Mobley is going to be more impactful than Sabonis. Garland is going to be an All Star next year. Okoro, Allen, Mark. Cavs are younger and deeper.
Wolves: Ant is going to be better than any single player on the Kings roster. Mcdaniels took a big leap in the playoffs. KAT and DLo are a mystery. Wolves still need a point guard.
Pels: Forget it. A lineup of Zion, Mccollum, BI, and Valen.. Cmon. The Kings have no shot at that. That’s a scary good team. If healthy.
Overall, the Kings will be lucky to nab a playin. That would be the ceiling.
The Kings benefited from teams in the West dealing with major injuries and they still couldn’t cash in.
Who are the Kings going to supplant in the West. I don’t see it.
Suns, Dubs, Dallas, Grizz, Pels, Wolves, and Nugs are all locks for the playoffs next year.
The only questions marks are CLips, Lakers, Utah, and Blazers.
Clips: If Geroge and Kawhi are healthy. Clips will earn a playoff berth
Utah: Depends on what happens to Mitchell and Gobert
Blazers: If Dame comes back. Teamed up with Simons. That’s a potent 1-2 punch
Lakers: Not sure if they are rebuilding are rolling it back.
Really good post and recap. I think you just made a good case for the Kings to start a significant rebuild. When you watch the playoffs you can see the kings are a long way from being playoff competitive. If the Kings give Sabonis a max contract which they will have to do to have any chance to keep him and then they are not willing to go over the salary cap, there is just not enough resources to supplement Fox and Sabonis into a competitive team. Either Fox, Sabonis or both need to go for this team to have any chance to achieve a sustainable winning roster.
Talent aside, I think the Kings are trying to emulate the Nuggets. A system based on a talented passing big man surrounded by cutters and 3 point shooters.
who will be with the Kings longer – the new coach or the 2022 draft pick?
I give the new coach 2 years. Monte 1 year. 2022 pick, multiple years if Top3. If not, 3 years
I’m going to assume for a moment that the Kings A) hire Mike Brown, B) draft and trade well, and C) get an useful player in FA.
Provided these things, what conditions do you think it would take for De’Aaron Fox to be a 1st time All Star?
Not being a turnstile on defense?
Since when does defense have anything to do with All-Star selections?
Playing at an all star level all year. Not waiting to get going until after the all star break. Oh and care about d.
The thing that may sting a bit next season is when Haliburton is an All Star.
I’ll believe it when I see Hali being an All Star. And that’s not doubting he’s incapable. It’s just not automatic.
Oh, I certainly don’t think it’s automatic. But I wouldn’t give him meaningfully worse odds than Fox.
Kings would need to have a winning record. Clear and Simple There are too many talented guards in the West. Fox will have to be playing impactful winning basketball. Period.
Fox is going into his 6th Season. Either he’s turning the corner to greatness this year, or he can continue to be Monta Ellis/Bradley Beal.
If Fox is putting up 25ppg and this Kings are 7 games under .500. He’s not getting in.
The Kings need to play well enough to earn a national TV presence. Nobody gets an All Star nod without national TV exposure.
With the draft lottery upcoming, who would be your dream additions to the Kings from the draft?
If we jumped to #1?
If we jumped into the top 4?
If we land in the dreaded 7-10 range?
I am starting to get concerned on a possible corner the Kings could be in if they stay at 7 or slide. I assume the first 6 picked in some order will be Chet, Jabari, Paolo, Ivey, Murray, Sharpe. After that in my estimation there is a bit of drop in value and leverage for the Kings. Maybe someone is picked above those names mentioned and one of those guys drops, or someone has a grade on the names after those to value 7 trade wise. But I am also struggling to see if those names are gone who might be willing to trade for the pick.
It’s always hard to tell. There’s still time (and the combine) for a lot of movement, and you never know when a team just falls outlier-style in love with a certain prospect. Or you can look at a team like the Hornets and consider if you think they would actually have any interest in rostering two new rookies considering their roster.
None of us have the answers to those questions. I could only respond based on the players I watched with some regularity. Jabari Smith is the best player Ive seen with the most high level potential. He has the tools to be very effective on both sides of the ball. Really like his feet on defense and think he can be an elite defender in time. As for Holmgren, proceed with caution. He didn’t perform well against better talent and I saw some very problematic things with his hands. Banchero, Mathurin, Duren, Ivey, I suspect will be quality NBA players. Keep in mind these NBA scouts have been tracking these guys since 8th grade and they still miss with their projections. Btw – I’ve watched Koloko since I coached against him in during his high school days and he’s developing rapidly and really like him with our second pick.
If we get 1, go get chet. He’s a 3 inch taller Andrei kirilenko. If you get to four, draft chet or jabari if they’re there. Otherwise, trade down. If we land in the 7 to 10, trade down.
What’s one thing that gives you hope?
Put yourself in Monte McNair’s position. You want to hire Mike Brown but Vivek hires Mark Jackson.
Do you stay or quit?
Quit. He’d have a better chance at getting another job pretty soon after.
Who was this year’s nostradumbass?
If the Kings hire Mark Jackson as coach, what percentage of decline in viewership / attendance would you anticipate?
For young coaches like Hardy, Ham etc., is it better to interview with a garbage org like the Kings and not get to the 2nd round, or not interview at all?
Dwayne Dedmon and George Hill: Is Sacramento the place where players sign to get big guaranteed deals and then suck their way out of town?
would it be possible for the Kings Herald to organize a protest at the golden one center opening night if the Kings hire Mark Jackson? I would pay to go to that first game if a huge group of kings fans were there with signs against Jackson, against Vivek meddling, telling Sabonis to demand a trade. Telling Fox to demand a trade, signs saying this is the last kings game I’ll ever attend and all wearing brown paper bags on our heads.
I don’t know that I’d want to put any money in Ranadive’s pocket just to make a point that he’ll ignore anyway. Maybe those fans who want to show their disappointment could take a piece of King’s gear and leave it outside of Golden1. A big pile of King’s apparel outside the arena send a message (Just please don’t burn anything. Seriously). VR still wouldn’t take it seriously, but at least he wouldn’t make any money from it.
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