Welcome back to Chainmail! Will is out this week (Michael Scott impression camp and magician extravaganza), so I’m taking on your questions solo. And speaking of questions, we had several great ones, so let’s dive right in, shall we?
From Adamsite:
Is the KZ Okpala experiment over? Please tell me it’s over.
Tim: The KZ Okapa experiment is almost certainly over, and I don’t really understand the purpose of the experiment in the first place. Okpala is a solid defender, but he’s incredibly foul prone and his offense is worse than his defense is good. He’s not an NBA starter, and I’m not convinced that he’s an NBA rotational player. Yes, the Kings need help on the defensive end of the floor, especially when they have less than zero rim protection, but the Kings also aren’t good enough to support a complete negative on one end of the floor, whether that be on offense or defense. Okpala should be a defensive specialist who’s deployed for 10-15 minutes per game and nothing more.
The good news for the Kings is that Keegan Murray is a freaking stud, and shifting him into the starting lineup ahead of Okpala should resolve some significant problems with that group, but Sacramento is still short a reliable backup wing; I don’t think that can be KZ. Monte McNair has some work to do on that front, although Terence Davis has shown some flashes in small-ball lineups.
From RobHessing:
Put these teams in the order that you think they will next play in a playoff (not play-in) game: Kings, Lakers, Thunder, Rockets, Spurs, Pacers
Tim: Lakers, Thunder, Pacers, Kings, Rockets, Spurs
From Yakshi:
Which underperforming Kings player is going to surprise you first, and which one will never surprise you?
Tim: I’m going to take this in the context of which kind-of-crappy player is going to get better and which one isn’t. In that regard, Davion Mitchell is someone who has played really poorly to start the season, but I have a lot of confidence in his ability to impact the game in a positive way over the course of an entire season. His shot has abandoned him over the first few games, but I think that’ll come around, even if we don’t ever see him perform at the same level as we did at the tail end of the 2021 campaign.
Conversely, I have zero faith in any of Sacramento’s backup fours: Chimezie Metu, Trey Lyles, and KZ Okpala. Metu could be a decent energy guy if he ever realized that he’s a terrible shooter, but for some reason, he’s decided that playing as selfishly as possible on offense is his path forward in the NBA. He. Can’t. Shoot. Trey Lyles is an okay shooter who doesn’t do a whole lot more, and similar to Metu, he’s also seemingly addicted to shooting first and asking questions later. And I already mentioned Okpala’s weaknesses above. The Kings need to upgrade at the backup 3 and 4 spots sooner rather than later.
From Kingsguru21:
Assuming Keegan Murray starts from here on out, who else would you start next to him at the other forward spot if you had your way?
Tim: I don’t want to start Harrison Barnes or KZ Okpala next to Keegan, as frankly, they’ve both sucked to start the season. I would start Kevin Huerter at small forward and Davion Mitchell at the two. With De’Aaron Fox’s recent resurgence in defensive intensity, the combination of Fox and Mitchell on the perimeter would hopefully prevent all of the paint penetration that we’ve seen, as teams are gleefully targeting Domantas Sabonis’ lack of rim protection whenever possible. Of course, that would leave Kevin Huerter at the three-spot, who’s underweight for some wings across the league, but Keegan Murray’s defense on Paul George the other night was demonstrative of his abilities on that end of the floor. He may not be a shut-down stopper, but he’s more than capable of hanging with good scorers.
I don’t think Mike Brown would actually consider this lineup (they haven’t even played a single minute together as a unit this season), but that group offers the best balance of offense and defense to me.
From rff:
What can the coaching staff do to get Barnes more involved in the offense?
Tim: The issue for Barnes is that there are better options than him in the lineup, which he hasn’t seen in Sacramento before. Huerter is about the same level of three-point shooter as Barnes when comparing the last couple of seasons, but K’Von is a much more dynamic player between his ability to handle the ball and his pull-up shooting. Keegan Murray is also about the same level of shooter, but he can score from all over the floor and he’s proven through Summer League, preseason, and through his first two games that the Kings would be foolish to not involve him as often as possible in the offense. Add De’Aaron Fox’s and Domantas Sabonis’ usage rates and there simply isn’t much meat left on the bone for Harrison Barnes.
Really, the solution for all involved is to bring Barnes off of the bench until Monte McNair can work out a trade. Barnes still has some scoring left in the tank (or at least he did last year), and his ability to both shoot from the outside and also take advantage of mismatches in the post could offer the second unit some steady scoring relief with Murray in the starting lineup.
Q: Do Kings fans get free anti-depressants from Mark Cuban’s RX program?
…asking for a friend.
I am still hopeful that they will get better at cutting off drives. I am not sure if it is that they are not hedging towards the center enough, or whether the help is just reacting too slow.
Also, I like the idea of Barnes off the bench. I have not stats to back this up, but it seems like he isn’t adapting as quickly to some of the system changes as some of the other players. On both offense and defense, he seems to be involved in some of the indecisiveness in cutting and switching. I had to laugh on one possession against the Clippers where I think he eventually ended up in the same corner as Okpala.
I greatly appreciate the use of my brilliance here!
Who’s your next 5?
Well, there wouldn’t be any hockey changes. You would leave one of Fox/Mitchell/Huerter on at most times for ball handling.
But obviously, Monk, Barnes, Holmes, and TD are your other guys off the bench.
I have 2 ideas. One trade Barnes for Markkenen. It won’t continue but Markkenen right now is scoring 21.5, rebounding 8.8 a game and with 3 assists. He is also shooting 3.s at a 24% rate. We know this will also change. He doesn’t play defense but Barnes doesn’t either. He does rebound and this is a big plus. He can also play small forward but is better at the 4.
The second idea is to trade Barnes and Mitchell tyo the Magic for Terrance Ross, Jalen Suggs and Chuma Okeke. Ross right now is playing better than Barnes scoring 15 a game, 4rebounds and shooting 44% from 3. He has always shot 3,s at a good clip. He also played decent defense. He as well as Barnes are on 1 year contracts. Jalen Suggs is 6′ 5″ can score and plays defense almost as well as Mitchell and would replace him as second point guard. He has a ton of potential. Okeke is having an awful starting this year but that will not continue. He plays either forward positions and plays really good defense.
I know why the Kings try to make those trades. Why do the other teams agree to them?
Orlando would do it because Davion made Cole Anthony cry.
He’s averaged 12.7 minutes per game this season. So, we happy?
As happy as a fan base of one of the three remaining winless teams can be!
Still a hell of a lot happier than last year. Everyone talked about what a rough schedule there was to start the season, and here we are. There are still important problems to work through, but we also have aspects that are very encouraging.
The defense has been bad, but an important difference is that it isn’t due to lack of effort. I like the odds of there being steady improvement there.
The lack of Luke is enough to make me happier than last year.
I tried to give you eight thumbs up, but this fascist site wouldn’t let me.
I think the Rockets should be moved up a few slot here. Maybe even to the slot right behind the Lakers.
History says the Kings will be last on that list.
I’ve often wondered if the Thunder would make it back to the playoffs before the Kings. If OKC makes it before SAC, I considered the possibility that anti-tankers might possibly admit Presti did a better job with his tank and rebuild than we have done with our non-tank and rebuild. But … nah they probably wouldn’t admit that.
There will also be some teeth-gnashing if IND makes it in a full season (or two or three) before we get there. Just cause of the Tyrese-Domas trade obviously though Tyrese wouldn’t be full Tyrese here with Fox and him taking turns.
In terms of finding a landing spot for Barnes, I’m in the camp that I think Miami makes a lot of sense for all parties. They are a small team and Barnes can give them minutes at the 4 without taking up too much usage. The problem with sending him there, is the Kings would likely have to eat Duncan Robinson’s deal in return. If the Kings could pry an asset from Miami like a future protected first or Nikola Jovic as the sweetener, I’d strongly consider it.
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