Welcome back to Chainmail! It’s been a few weeks since our last edition, so let’s recap what’s been happening over the last month or so:
- The Kings signed Matthew Dellavedova to a non-guaranteed contract
That’s about it! We’re officially in the doldrums of the offseason, which means no meaningful basketball has been played in months and no meaningful basketball will be played for months, so let’s get a little weird, shall we? Will and I want your most random Kings-related and non-Kings related questions you can imagine. Have a trade idea for Kevin Durant? Throw it at us. Wondering which former Kings player would most help the team right now? Ask away! What kind of rotations will Mike Brown run? Should Keegan Murray start? How much does Will charge for a haircut and a beard trim? Who knows?! How did the BabyGiraffe nickname come into being? It’s my secret!
Anyway, we’re bored. You’re bored. We’re all bored. So, get to asking, so we can get to answering!
What are “the playoffs”?
I think we’re all familiar with the term “anti-trust,” as it relates to work being done to prevent or break apart monopolies, or as they are also known, “trusts.”
How did something as shitty as a monopoly become referred to as a trust? Is that just great marketing, or is it pre-Owerwellian Orwellianist?
If it must be related to basketball, it could be argued that the NBA is very much a monopoly.
I don’t know if it’s necessarily a monopoly, but it’s definitely a cartel.
That probably is somewhat more accurate.
If you were told to capture the pure essence of summer with one food, one movie, and one place, how are you defining summer?
Professor Plum, in the Ballroom, with the Candlestick?
Wait, I thought we were playing Monopoly…now it’s Clue?
Place: The basketball courts at Claudia Landeen on a 100F+ summer day
Food: A 6-pack of McDonalds cheese burgers (yes, that was a thing) and the largest bottle of orange gatorade
Movie: I’ll go with Endless Summer.
McDonalds killed my 6-pack!
Here’s a Donovan Mitchell trade with the Kings as third team.
The Kings get an NBA-rotation-quality small forward in Bojan. He can shoot but not defend, same as Barnes, except I believe Barnes is actually mostly a PF while Bojan is mostly a SF. His contract is expiring. He can play it out, and we’ll seek another SF next year. Or maybe this year as the Kings also get a potentialy NBA-rotation-quality backup small forward of the future in Reddish. Derrick Rose has to come over so the Knicks can take on Donovan’s salary. The Kings would have a team option in 23-24, so he can be cut this year, stretched (ugh), or be the third PG in which case bye bye Delly.
The Jazz get three prospects who have shown something in the NBA, plus whatever picks from NYK are needed to make it work. I didn’t want to choose a certain pick package and the deal be written off due to that. Whatever pick package Ainge would accept. A team like Sacramento or Portland really needs a player like Barnes but to a tanking team like Utah he can be re-traded for a late 1st rounder. Holmes can start in their eventual roster, rehab his value, and be traded in turn as he actually has a decent contract when he’s playing at his past level. Len is there for matching salary. His contract is expiring so he can be waived, stretched, or included as matching salary in another Ainge trade. I would also offer Davis if that gets it done, but not Davion. All three have around the right salary.
New York gets Donovan Mitchell.
What do you think?
I’m not sure what this achieves for the Kings.
A move something like this is exactly what the Kings need. One more major shakeup needs to happen, and it needs to involve Barnes/Holmes before the start of the season.
If this theoretical trade were to happen, the players the Kings unload and get in return would immediately improve the team.
This return would be more than I would expect for Barnes/Holmes, but something needs to happen with these two players.
Bojan and reddish for Barnes and Holmes make the kings worse.
agree.
The fixation with moving Barnes and Holmes ignores what these two players can get in return.
It’s not all of what the Kings can get in return, it also has to do with the players we’re dumping on another team. It’s sort of what Mark Cuban did when he dumped Barnes on Vlade, thinking it would make a difference. Savvy move by Cuban, I thought. Typical blunder by Divac
The Kings can’t get much worse, unless fans are satisfied on another mid 30’s win season, if they stay pat.
2 things I disagree with –
“He can shoot but not defend, same as Barnes”. Barnes had been a bit up and down, defensively, the last couple of seasons but compared to Bojan he’s elite.
“One more major shakeup needs to happen, and it needs to involve Barnes/Holmes before the start of the season.”
No. It absolutely doesn’t. You can make a case that Holmes would prefer more PT and that, perhaps, he deserves it. And that to get it he would need to be traded. This team also needs a reliable backup C should you trade him whereas currently we have one, even if a bit overpriced.
Barnes is still a valuable piece to the rotation this season. And if he doesn’t want to re-sign here at the end of his contract, we get 18 mil or whatever it is in salary cap space, so contrary to popular belief we don’t get “nothing” in return. He’s an expiring, which is just as valuable to us as any other team, especially with “stay flexible” Monte at the helm. Nothing’s more flexible in the NBA than actual cap space.
If they were to trade Barnes/Holmes together and only get that in return, that’s a very poor return IMO.
It’s not the linchpin to the Larry O’Brien trophy for the Kings, that’s for sure. But what it’s trying to achieve is pretty much positional balance on the roster.
We don’t imo have any NBA-rotation-quality small forwards right now. Barnes is rotation quality but mostly a PF at this point. Okpala didn’t play much for the Heat, well lauded for developing young talent, and Moneke is 26 years old and an NBA rookie.
Bojan is not lighting the league on fire, but he is rotation quality, and he is a small forward. Please anyone correct me if I’m wrong on either of those assertions. Reddish is not as good as Bojan now I’m pretty sure but could be a lot better than him if he develops well, and he is a small forward. I think Reddish is probably NBA rotation quality right now. Probably 7th to 9th man, but yeah rotation-worthy. So that’s two rotation level SFs. A good thing (or more!) on any roster.
Speaking of positional balance, I forgot to address that the two backup centers are being traded. I would first promote Queta to a minimum deal as the third center. Then I would sign a backup center from the *checks notes* … 247 free agent centers that can probably fill that role. Then sign another prospect to the vacant two way spot.
Not sure what Bojan can do that Barnes cannot do. They are pretty similar offensively from skill set to efficiency. On the downside, Bojan is older and a worse defender.
Holmes is pretty valuable to this team. He had a down year last year but his skill set is pretty hard to replace. He is a high usage and efficient roll man, who also is a switchable defender.
Just a bad trade.
Two points.
Barnes is a bad defender currently. His def rating on/off differential was +8.5 per NBA Stats. The more positive the worse it is, and 8.5 is atrocious. Cleaning the Glass, which eliminates garbage time, has his team defensive points per 100 possessions on/off at +6.7, in the 7th percentile. NBA Stats has his opponent FG% differential at plus 3.8%, also eye-poppingly bad. On all three measures Bogdanovic is better btw. Barnes is also, as stated above, pretty much not a small forward anymore.
Holmes at his peak is the type of player you describe but may not be “valuable to this team” nonetheless. He only played in 7 games with Sabonis, but that’s still 336 minutes they theoretically could have played together. They played 7 minutes together or 2% of the available time. If Domas plays 34 minutes a night, Holmes will likely be relegated to playing 14 sans foul trouble, not a good use of someone valued so highly. He must start taking a decent amount of corner 3s and make a fair number of them to have the fit be sensible and for Holmes to get more than 14 mpg. Here’s hoping, but it seems unlikely.
This is apparently not the trade, but those two players should be (should have been) moved to rebalance the roster, and it would be nice if it was for NBA rotation quality small forwards.
Barnes’ defensive impact stat is up and down from year to year. No doubt he was horrible last year but he had been slightly below neutral the year before. On the other hand, Bojan has been bad consistently year over year.
Holmes is valuable to this currently constructed team even with Sabonis as the starting center. We just don’t have another efficient roll man besides Sabonis and Holmes. There is no one else.
The trade values are not there for any of them. The best time to trade Barnes I think is at the end of next season where we do a sign and trade him. The best time to trade Holmes is when we get a credible back up center (either by getting one back in a trade or Queta stepping up).
Why are you writing off Okpala and Moneke? Watch Okpala’s defensive highlights against team USA. Take a look at the athleticism and motor of Moneke. How do you know they are not nba rotation quality? You also forgot to mention Kevin Huerter who has the length to play the three.
Barnes is better than Bogdanovic, on a better contract and is 4 years younger. How did the Kings get better? Are there Picks?
I don’t want anything to do with Derrick Rose.
WTF?
Question:
Since it’s summertime, what are some things you do to stay cool during a heatwave? And when is the best time to keep your windows open/closed when it’s hot outside?
(I’m asking this as someone who has no air conditioning in his apartment).
Normally I would have said go watch a movie in a nice, cool theater.
Any movie! You don’t even have to watch the screen. You can nap.
The last time I fell asleep watching a movie in theater was watching Dune last year. Long run time combined with getting a bit confused early on and having trouble following the story = nap time.
I often fall asleep at movies–not because they are boring–but because when the lights are dim my brain makes me go dim as well.
Went to the iMax near the Crest Theater decades (?) ago and was excited to watch some movie about King Tut. I sat down, watched the opening credits….then watched the closing credits roll up as I awoke.
Movie theater chairs are too damn comfortable now. I put that recliner back and I’m out…
Back in pre-pandemic times, and before almost every movie theater had recliners/assigned seating, I often would spend a day on the weekend movie-hopping at the theater. I usually always tried to line it up so that I could at least see two movies for the price of one, and there were some days where I’d watch as much as three in one day. Most of the time I’d just pack my lunch in my backpack and eat it when I went into my second movie and wait for the previews to come up. Oscar season was exciting for me because that’s actually a period I would frequent the theater a lot. Now with assigned seats and streaming services, I don’t go to the theater as often as I used to, but every now and then I’ll catch one on the big screen (the last one I watched in theater was the new Elvis movie).
I just can’t rationalize the cost of the theater for my family of four when we can watch anything we want in our TV room on a huge flatscreen that we can pause or rewind, while also getting a fresh beer off my kegerator (kids do mineral waters).
IMO, theaters (as much as I hate to say it) may go the way of cable tv. It’s only a matter of time before everything goes streaming.
If theatres want to truly create a unique experience, they need to go back to having screens half-a-mile wide. Needing to turn your head a bit to follow the action is a small thing, but it has the effect of pulling you into the moment.
Summer Doldrums .. There is WNBA??
This goes back to my college days, but get two box fans. Open your windows early in the morning… and I mean early. Set one box fan on one side of the apartment to blow out, set the other on the other side of the apartment to blow in. It’s a poor man’s whole house fan, but it works. Just button up the place before things get hot again later in the morning.
Also, museums are great to visit in heat waves. Generally they are near empty, the people who are there are the ones worth meeting, and you get some culture and knowledge to take home with you.
Or go the cheap route and just park yourself in the corner of your nearest public library with your laptop, headphones, and preferred streaming service. No one cares if you are there for hours minding your own business. They tend to have good books too.
Thanks for the info! Fortunately we haven’t had any heatwave out here in the South Bay since the first day of summer, but I just know that there will be another one coming at some point. I’ll need to get another box fan at some point, haha.
This is great advice. You suck in as much cool morning air as you can, lock things down all day, and once it drops into the seventies, rinse and repeat.
The rinsing is important. The heat has made you quite ripe.
Buy an air conditioner. After that, install it in the window. After that, turn it on. After that enjoy your self doing whatever it is you would like to do normally and be comfortable in your own apartment.
Maybe this is a question for a longer in depth article, but I’ll give it a shot:
What is Harrison Barnes’ future with the Kings?
Currently the two most talked about options are trading his expiring deal for assets between now and the deadline, or simply letting him walk and using his cap space for something else. I have a third, often un-talked about option…extend him now.
Outside of the new 3rd string PG in Delly, Barnes is the oldest on the roster….at just 30. He is still a very good basketball player with a lot of years left to give. So what is the harm in extending him right now, especially if he likes it here in Sac?
4 years front loaded $55M. Partially guaranteed 4th year. Barnes would be 34 making roughly $10M his fourth year if guaranteed. Who says no?
Barnes. He’s one of the most reliable two-way forwards in the league. He’s unspectacular, but gets results. These are his prime earning seasons. If he wanted to take a discount, he’d go back to GSW.
Do you think 4 years at $55M is a discount at age 30? That’s an average of $13.5M per year.
To me, Barnes is worth the near $20M a year he gets paid to start and produce at one of the most important and scarce positions in the game. I think he’ll continue to produce at around this level through age 34 – especially given the amount of work he puts into his body. I think he could rather easily fetch 4/80 on the open market, especially given inflation and the way NBA contracts are always increasing anyway. Personally, I’d be fine with paying him that, too.
Current NBA salaries are so far out of whack now, it wouldn’t surprise me if Barnes can fetch the outrageous amount of 4/80.
“He’s one of the most reliable two-way forwards in the league.”
Nah, his defense is shit, allegedly…lol
I wouldn’t have an issue with this at all. Barnes may be ready for something more meaningful at this point in his career, tho.
First concert; last concert; best concert; worst concert.
Me: LL Cool J and Digital Underground; Pearl Jam; U2 – Zoo TV Tour; ZZ Top- love the songs, but an incredibly boring show
First: Metallica/Queensryche at Arco Arena! (circa ’88)
Last: Jeff Tweedy at The Largo in LA (earlier this year)
Best: The Brody’s at Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento (about 20-ish years ago)
Worst: The B-52s at The Majestic (?) in Ventura (close to 10 years ago)….absolutely love the B-52’s, but the girl I was going with was so late that we didn’t get there until the very last song. 🙁 No fault of the B-52’s!
First: Spin Doctors and Screaming Trees at Cal Expo, 92-93ish?
Last: Spoon at Ace of Spades a few months ago.
Best: Guided by Voices at the Colonial in Sac around 2001?. It was less about the show but more about the fact that I got to party with the band/idols…before and after the show. Best live show without the perks was Fleet Foxes at the Fox in Oakland in 09′
Worst: Pearl Jam and Supergrass at that shitty amphitheater in Wheatland about 15 years ago. I went to see Supergrass and left halfway through the Pearl Jam set.
I think I saw that same spin doctors tour at an amusement park in Massachusetts… soul asylum was also on it? Great show.
Yes! I forgot about Soul Asylum. It was a 3 bill tour.
I actually like the amphitheater in wheatland, but getting in/out sucks…
Maybe getting there and driving home is what leaves such a bad taste in my mouth.
Why does every amphitheater suck to get in and out of? I took my wife to see Tears for Fears at the Concord Pavilion a few months back. It took us hours to get from 680 to our seats. The venue was nice once your were there and enjoying the show, but it was soul sucking getting there and leaving. Even the doors and security lines were shit. Same goes for Shoreline.
Adding…the Greek in Berkeley is still my favorite out door venue.
I took my daughters and wife there recently to see Beach House and enjoyed a very, very good show by Arcade Fire a few years back. That was a top 5 show for me.
Berkeley’s Greek Theater is a top notch Northern California venue. Such a great atmosphere!
Agreed. Saw Tracy Chapman in 1990 there, on her Crossroads tour. One of the most memorable shows I have ever been to, and my first time at The Greek.
How was Beach House live?
I saw the White Stripes and Beck there at different times, and I have to agree, it’s a perfect outdoor spot for a big show.
Timing.
My gal and a work group went to see Alanis Morrisette last night in Wheatland, I went along. Getting in and out was a breeze, maybe we got lucky.
HOLY SHIT she was amazing. Wow, what an incredible singer she has become. We were all blown away. Serious vocal skills. Stunned several times. We were dreading going up there and she washed that away. That was very worth it.
First concert: Black Sabbath and Quiet Riot, 1984, Philadelphia Spectrum, general admission. I was in ninth grade. Lord….have….mercy.
last concert: Tycho at B Street Theater. So good.
best concert: Pink Floyd at JFK Stadium Philadelphia, 1987.
Runner-up: Butthole Surfers, Greek Theater.
worst concert: Dave Mathews Band at Raley Field. I walked out.
Wow I would’ve killed to have been at that Pink Floyd show
The 1987 JFK show was at the very start of the brand-new tour after Gilmour put the band back together for Momentary Lapse of Reason, so the start of the tour was surrounded with significant excitement and anticipation. Three of us drove up in an old Jeep Cherokee after stopping for Chinese food and several big bags of fortune cookies.
To 120,000 surprised fans, Pink Floyd opened with Echoes, and then completely abandoned it for many years.
No show will ever top that.
*Couple years later, the Dead packed in a similar number of fans in JFK Stadium, and the building was condemned the next day by Mayor Wilson Goode. That was my first Dead show.
First: Springsteen @ Arco.
Last: Max Weinberg @ Ace of Spades 2019.
Best: hard to categorize any one show as “the” best. The best show on a purely technical level of sound mixing/etc was ELO at Golden 1 in 2019. The most epic performance was Roger Waters’ The Wall in 2012. Overall, probably have to go with Paul McCartney at BC Place in Vancouver in 2019. First time a Beatle had been back to Vancouver (possibly even Canada?) since the 60s, singing along to Hey Jude with almost 60,000 cheery Canadians? Absolutely magical experience.
Worst: I haven’t seen any “bad concerts” where people booed, walked out, etc. If I had to pick, I’d say U2 (also at BC Place) in 2017 for The Joshua Tree Tour. The show itself was fine and I like the band, but they’re not a top ten or whatever. I also was really, really pissed off and not in a happy concert mood after spending the entire day traveling to Vancouver, getting stuck in the worst traffic jam I’ve ever seen for three hours, thinking I’ve missed the start of the show, rushing to the stadium, only for them to wait to come out another two hours. Also got horrifically, life-threateningly sick a few days after returning home, so I don’t have fond memories of pretty much that entire month.
Was that max weinberg show the one where he lets people come up and sing with the band? Like a live karaoke thing?
Yep, sure was!
I stuck around after and got to meet him and chat with him for a little bit. That was the last live event I attended before the pandemic. I’ve been back to some smaller live events and movies in the last year, but no big shows yet. Roger Waters is coming next month for the summer 2020 tour that was postponed, debating if I’m there yet for the big crowds.
Great question!
1st = Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Redding Civic Auditorium ’82
Last = Either Cannibal Corpse @ Ace of Spades (I believe it was AoS) or Zepparella @ Harlow’s Both were in 2019 around the same time, IIRC
Best = The Smithereens @ this place called the Danceteria on 16th St in ’88. Smallish little club and the stage was like 3 feet tall! You could literally reach out and touch the guys in the band!
Worst = I don’t recall an actual bad show, but the worst band I ever saw was The Melvins, who opened for the band Helmet at the El Dorado Saloon in ’97. For whatever reason, they were just lousy!
First: Fall Out Boy and Hawthorne Heights at The Egg in Albany, NY
Last: Tash Sultana at The Anthem in Washington, DC
Best: Tie between Mon Laferte at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD and The Black Keys/Cage the Elephant at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC.
Worst: Frankly haven’t had a bad concert experience and don’t want to throw anybody under the bus! Shoutout to all the musical artists out there making cool things for people to enjoy.
Fun question!
1st – Cinderella / Dokken in ’90 or ’91. It was my junior year, I believe.
Last – Primus @ the Memorial
Worst – quite possibly Cinderella / Dokken. Aerosmith / Kid Rock comes close. Just not a fan.
Best – Tie between Rage Against the Machine at Arco (2006, I think?) and the 96(?) San Jose Lalopalooza that featured dual headliners Metallica (I was still a fan at this time) and Soundgarden, who literally stole the show. Like the only band to ever steal a show from Metallica, Soundgarden slayed that day. But that RATM show at Arco was absolutely bonkers, I’ve never seen a crowd so intense. Anyway, complete toss up. Both were legendary shows.
I saw Rage at the very first Free Tibet show in Golden Gate Park, and friends, I’ll likely never see crowd energy like that again.
First: Keith Sweat and Digital Underground
Last: Maná
Best: Andrea Bocelli
Worst: Keith Sweat and Digital Underground – they weren’t kidding when they called it “echo arena”
First: Rage against the machine and the roots at Cal Expo, circa like ‘97. It was supposed to be Rage and Wu Tang, but the Wu broke up just a few days before. Amazing show, and I still have tinitis from it.
Last: Jonah Matranga, aka Onelinedrawing, at a house show in north highlands.
Best: Converge on the Jane Doe tour or any of few Onelinedrawing shows at the Che Cafe in San Diego.
Worst: Modest Mouse. Isaac Brock was such a dick to the crowd and individual people. Made me like their music a whole lot less.
I must have seen that show right before you did, because Wu was in effect, except for ODB, who was absent for any number of possible reasons. I was still on the East coast then. Rage, as ever, blew the place apart.
Best Concerts:
2018: Saosin, Revolution Ft. Lauderdale
2022: Higher Power, The Abbey Orlando
2017: Beartooth, Atreyu and Stick to Your Guns, Revolution Ft. Lauderdale
2006: Head Automatica, Culture Room Oakland Park, Fl
2003: HIM and Kill Hannah, Bowery Ballroom Manhattan, New York
2010: Envy On the Coast, Space Nightclub Miami, Fl
2003: AFI (Sing The Sorrow Tour) Hard Rock Live Orlando, Fl
1997: Incubus(Science) Chili Pepper Fort Lauderdale
Worst: 2007: Shinedown, 3 Doors Down, and Alter Bridge(They opened) They were ok. Shinedown and 3 Doors Down( Hideously Bad)
Sam Smith: 2017. American Airlines Miami, Fl Boring as F…
What is a food or drink that mosy people like and you hate?
Like hot wings. I never want to be able to look at a friend’s fingers (or face) and know what sauce they ordered.
French fries. What a terrible idea. The worst is hating french fries but having to order them because a burger and Coke is more expensive than the meal with fries.
And cake. Cake is almost universally bad. If it isn’t too much cake, it’s too much frosting.
Thank you. I feel so much better.
I don’t know why but I feel personally attacked. Who the hell hates french fries? Are you being serious right now? What the hell…
I like french fries, but I do not like sweet potato fries.
Can I have your cake?
….
I do not like milk chocolate (love dark chocolate). I also don’t like white chocolate (love White Chocolate, aka Jason Williams).
Sweet potato fries are garbage.
THANK YOU!
How much wood would Terence Davis chuck if Terence Davis chucked wood instead of basketballs?
Also: Was including Buddy Hield in the Hali-Domas deal the best “addition by subtraction” move the Kings have made in years? I can’t remember a highly-paid key player who has been missed less after being traded.
What is you favorite comeback to Lakers/Warriors fans who try to bully Kings fans?
“After what this team did to me the last 16 years, you really think your words can hurt me?”
Followed by:
“F&#k the national media, they’re disrespecting us again!!!”
I love that the Ethos of Kings fans is a profound nihilism that is impenetrable to the ridicule of other NBA fans. It is universal to every Kings fan I’ve known.
How can one describe to us how bad the Kings are in a way we don’t know 1000x more deeply?
“You haven’t talked this much since you were a Bulls fan.”
This is just an excellent, succinct eff you to Lakers’ fans.
After watching summer league and assuming the deal was on the table, would you trade the 4th pick/Keegan Murray AND top-3 protected future first rounder for the #2 pick Chet Holmgren?
This was what I would’ve done if I were GM on draft night and now I’m happy that they keep me far away from the front office.
If Holmgren becomes an All-NBA guy and Murray tops out at Starter/Rotation Player, obviously it’ll be a case of what-couldve-been. But that’s really only if Chet demonstrates a SIGNIFICANT divide in their contributions over time.
But right now, Murray is just too damn good and too sure of a thing when compared to Holmgren for me to have any regrets about him. Even if Chet ends up a better player, I’m not sure HOW much better he’ll be. I honestly expect a decade plus of quality production out of Murray and it’s really hard to complain about that for any of your draft picks.
Am I the only one who misses Vivek talking to the media? I am not sure which I miss more; the stuff he says, or the media running with it.
I don’t know if you are the only one but I will take a wild guess and say it’s a very very small cluster of kings fans that miss Vivek speaking out loud.
I am so happy he has seemingly finally shut up. I’m sure he will have more episodes that I won’t enjoy. I guess you can look forward to that day. It’s inevitable.
Badge Legend