Chainmail: Harrison Barnes’ future, rotation predictions, and more

Welcome back to Chainmail! We had some great (and random) questions this week, so let’s dive right in, shall we?

From Adamsite:

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.

Tim: There definitely is a future Harrison Barnes article pinging around in my head right now, but I’ll try and keep it brief for the sake of the mailbag.

I would not, really under any circumstances, extend Harrison Barnes. From a value standpoint, he’s going to command a hefty payday ($15 – $18 million per season would be my guess), and the Kings don’t need to be spending that kind of cash on a 31-year old (at the start of his new contract) who is basically a redundant, older version of Keegan Murray. And that’s especially true of a team that isn’t really near a true contender status.

After watching Murray throughout his sophomore year and in Summer League, it’s clear that he’s going to be a power forward who can swing into the small forward slot on occasion, but playing the three is never going to be his strong suit, and the Kings need to set their rookie up for success, rather than force him immediately out of position. In the case of Barnes, he’s almost always been better as a 4 than a 3. In fact, over the last seven seasons, he’s been significantly better as a power forward six times. He’s not a true wing; neither is Keegan Murray.

The best path forward for Sacramento is to shop Barnes and Holmes (and anyone else on the roster not named Fox/Sabonis/Murray) and try to acquire a long-term solution at the starting three spot.

Will: I’ve been trying to trade Harrison Barnes since the pandemic. It has nothing to do with his faults and much more to do with his strengths – for many of these seasons he’s been the most valuable realistic trade asset we had outside of first round picks (well, until Hali was suddenly on the table). Obviously it’s return-dependent but I’m fine with Barnes being sent to another team if the right deal comes along. I’m ALSO okay with the Kings extending Barnes at this point, regardless of the positional traffic jam it may cause, especially if he can be had for the lower end of the spectrum that Tim mentioned. In a world where a guy like Marvin Bagley is getting 12.5 mil a year or Marcus Morris Sr. is pulling down $16 mil, the 15-18 mil range sounds about right for a guy like Barnes. If things go well, he’ll be on a market-level contract and if they crash and burn Kangz-style, he’ll still be tradeable. I could even squint hard enough and envision a Rudy Gay in San Antonio role for Barnes as he ages and not be torn up about the price tag.

My preference is to get assets for him, but I’m not really sweating it either way.

From tom4life2001:

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?

Tim: GUH. UGH. HUG. GHU. UM.

I don’t know? My first instinct is yes, because summer league play shouldn’t really affect a prospect’s value, whether they played well or not, and I would have happily made that trade on draft night. On the other hand, Keegan was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo impressive in Vegas and in the California Classic, and all of his contributions seemed completely translatable to his rookie and future seasons.

I hate this question because my answer is still yes.

Will: Without a doubt. Really love what Keegan’s done and he’s definitely turned me into a big fan of his in a very short amount of time but, yes. Holmgren is a perfect fit next to Sabonis and Mike Brown and Co. would have an absolutely ball scheming around the front court on both ends of the floor with Chet replacing Murray. I think Murray will be better than I originally expected and I’d still do it without much wavering.

From TyrekeFan18:

What’s the rotation/starting lineup that YOU would like to see, not necessarily what you think Mike Brown will do?

Tim: The Kings still have some camp battles to figure out before we know the exact start-of-season roster, but I’ll roll with who I think will make the team and where I would like to see them play:

Fox/Mitchell
Monk/Davis
Huerter/Bazemore
Murray/Barnes
Sabonis/Holmes

To be clear, I don’t think that Mike Brown will actually bring Harrison Barnes off of the bench, but putting Murray alongside Sacramento’s best players and allowing him to act as a key cog without being the focal point would be incredible for his development.

For the other guys on the roster, Quinn Cook would be my choice as the third-string point guard, Trey Lyles would be the emergency/foul trouble power forward, and Alex Len would step in if something happened to one of the rotational centers. KZ Okpala would spend most or all of his time in Stockton, as would Chimezie Metu, while Matthew Dellavedova (sorry, Bryant) and Chima Moneke wouldn’t make the team. The two-ways will also spend most of their time in the G League.

Will: Tim’s really on point today and I agree with everything he’s said for the most part, so I’ll give a different line-up that I’m looking forward to seeing and that will also never happen. I’ll say first off this is a lineup that would only really be seen if there’s a blowout or the one of these guys has a fantastic camp and solidifies himself on the main roster.

Davion Mitchell/Malik Monk/Kevin Huerter/Keegan Murray/Neemias Queta

There’s a really, really fun mix of youth, scoring, passing and defense in that line-up. You’ve got the defensive dog at the tip of the spear, a sharp-shooting running mate, the do-everything small forward, the effeciency monster at power forward and the shot-blocking, smooth passing center. It tickles my youth/tank sweet tooth while also being a fun competitive group.

From Tunel_21:

What is you favorite comeback to Lakers/Warriors fans who try to bully Kings fans?

Tim: I typically ask them if they’ve been able to sell their old Heat jerseys on ebay yet.

Will: I really don’t have to say much. It’s probably overused and cliche but if anything, it’s like the Joker interrogation scene in The Dark Knight. Bandwagon fans have NOTHING, nothing to insult me with, nothing to do with all their strength.

17 Championships? Okay. 16 straight losing years. Okay. I’m a KINGS FAN, you literally cannot hate my team more than I have at various points in the last one and a half decades.

From SMF-PDXConnection:

Food: A semi-cold slice of watermelon, with a thin edging of BBQ sauce on one side, right where it touched the baked beans on your styrofoam plate.

Movie: Honestly, it’s the second half of Gone in 60 Seconds that you flip over to on TNT at 3 pm on a Saturday while you’re waiting for plans to be finalized.

Place: Halfway through whatever new favorite songs been on the radio, in the shotgun seat of a buddy’s car, with an arm out the window, ten minutes after the sun’s set and on the road somewhere between where we were all day and where we hope to go that night.

From GregoryI:

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

Tim: I grew up in an ultra-conservative household (like, no, way more conservative than you’re thinking) and we weren’t allowed to listen to music. Yes, you read that right.

So I have a weird (note: non-existent) relationship with music. I’ve never been to a concert, although I do love attending plays/theater!

Will: First concert ever? Tracy Byrd played at the Shasta District Fair one year when I was a pre-teen. Some lady tried to carry four beers and a baby and she dropped the baby on the bleachers during some  fumbling. She stuck out her foot to catch the poor thing and the head kind of slid down her leg the last bit of the way down. She yelled “He’s FIIIIINE” to the people in my section who gasped as the baby just cried and cried. Stayed the whole concert too. First at a venue was Willie Nelson.

Last concert I went to was Childish Gambino at The Forum in LA. It was the last weekend I’d spend with my brother while he was living and friends from the area picked me up and took me out for the night to give me a break. An unforgettable concert for a lot of reasons.

Best concert ever? Okay it was objectively a bad time but I absolutely loved the chaos of Kanye at the Golden 1 Center. The 3.5 songs he performed were electric, even if he was 2 hours late and the chaos that ensued after he went on a long rant about Bill Gates and Beyonce and radio then quit? Man… what a night. Don’t condone the looting or the people throwing trashcans in anger at the TVs in our beautiful arena… but the experience of walking through a hoard of confused and pissed off fans was unlike anything I’d ever been around. 10/10, funny as hell, the concert would have been an all timer either way.

Second place goes to George Strait and Reba McEntire in Fresno. Sang ‘Fancy’ so loud I couldn’t speak for two weeks and my vocal cords have quite literally never recovered.

Worst Concert ever: Gary Allan. This was 10 years ago now at least but the man tried to turn every song he had into a rock anthem, had terrible vibes, stole a kids cowboy hat that he passed up to get autographed and then tossed it into the crowd all while staring at the kid. Maybe he was having an off-night but he hated being on stage that night and made sure everyone felt it. A lady in the crowd flashed him (she was in front of me, I only saw the motion) and he just gave her a thumbs down and a wave off. All time concert moment at a bummer of a concert.

From Yakshi:

What is a food or drink that most people like and you hate?

Tim: Positivity and mustard.

Will: Does room temperature water count? Man I HATE a lukewarm glass of H2O. I’ll drink plain hot water before I drink dead-even temperature water. Toss a couple cubes of ice in there and I’ll down gallons… give me a water bottle that’s been in a random room and it might as well be anti-freeze.

Food wise? Is lox popular here on the west coast? Like on a bagel? I tried it once when I was a kid, disgusting. Waited until July of this year, tried it again… still get that nasty lump in my throat thinking about it. 10 thumbs down.