Welcome back to Chainmail, where the Kings never improve and neither do the answers!
Over the last week, the Sacramento Kings have done nothing more than to prove that they're incapable of winning meaningful basketball games, no matter how much they talk, no matter how much tape is viewed, and no matter how disrespected they feel by being forgotten by the national media. After an embarrassing loss to the undermanned San Antonio Spurs, a blowout from the Orlando Magic, and a blown opportunity against Maxi Kleber and the Dallas Mavericks, the Kings sit at 0-3 in Orlando and have no real shot at making the play-in tournament. Will, our special guest, and I am here to answer your questions about how to fix this mess, how the team might perform over the next five games, what moves can be made this offseason if management (likely) remains, or whatever else is ringing your cowbell in the given moment.
Ask away!
Why does this team hate me? Have I offended it in some way?
Follow up: Why do we all like to suffer?
If I’ve watched enough movies, we will eventually find out that we were all terrible people in our past lives and this fandom is some type of a cosmic punishment.
I refuse to believe L*ker fans were ever non-terrible people in their past lives.
Haha; I came here to ask what have I done to deserve this.
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Okay, based on the above Twitter……….our coach knew Hield can really shoot the ball, but he still wanted him to do more on court….
But the fact is Buddy Hield is averaging at least 2 critical turnover whenever he tries to do more on court (i.e. dribbling) ….and Hield had never improved throughout the season and in the bubble..and we have lost two games in a row (before the Dallas games), did Walton see what we see from Hield ?
In short, Hield can only shoot, why would this coach never learn ?
Great coaches change their approach to enhance the strengths of their players and to hide their weaknesses.
Bad coaches have a single system that they cannot adjust.
Guess which one we have.
and Bad player have a single skill (shooting) that they cannot do anything else (dribbling)
Guess who I am implying ?
I simply cannot relieved……..It’s now just a complete disaster….
When can the team start all over again or maybe rename the team’s name to “Sacramento Doncic” ?
LOL! “Sacramento Doncic” is hilarious.
I would really love to see one of them youtube videos where people show their reaction to listening to a song for the first time, or watching a popular film they’ve never seen before……….
….but instead, it’s a reaction video of Vlade and Vivek watching this game. Close up on their faces.
Highlight the parts where Gary Gerould and Doug Christie give high praise to Luka Doncic.
Sort of reminds me of when the last place Bulls tried running the point through Ben Gordon.
Ohhhhhh. That’s a great call Adam. Buddy is Ben Gordon 2.0.
You’re being far too generous implying that this is a system.
Wait a minute, are you implying that our coach has a system?
Edit: ok, scrolling down it looks like we’re collectively all over this joke and I’m late to the party.
Buddy should definitely be Klay 2.0
I don’t know WTF Luke is talking about or doing for that matter.
What a stupid thing to say! Buddy obviously should be a shot-blocker!
Coach has said he is only interested in teaching the type of basketball that wins in the playoffs.
You guys can’t prove it is not working!!!!
ð¤£
Maybe this might be a question for special guest Carmichael Dave.
Will the “whole chess board” be revealed come this off season or are we kicking the can down the road another year? If we are kicking the can, yeah yeah we are, what insight can be offered about the chess board prior to the shutdown?
Why is Portland a contender, yet not even in the 8th seed yet?
Dame.
plus their team is healthy for the first time all year.
Although I would argue they’re not contenders on the level of the LAs
If the Kings go 0-8 or 1-7 in these bubble games… will that even be enough for Vivek to see that Vlade is a terrible GM? Maybe 0-8 and Harry Giles balling out and getting signed by the Lakers? In sum, what would it take for Vivek Ranadive to pull his head out of his ass and realize that he sucks and he has to get someone capable to fix this and get the eff out of the way?
It would take Matina telling him its OK.
Why?
What can we do?
We tried the #HereWeBillboard action, which was plagued by unfortunate timing (the breakout of Vovid-19), silence from most local news outlets and probably some execution which needs improvement (I suck ath these things).
What does the TKH staff think, purely as a thinking exercise, what would be a good way to put pressure on ownership?
Rik, 2.0 is always better. You fail quickly then improve on the process.
Unless you’re the Kings?
Thankfully Vlade and Co arent part of TKH FO nor the commenters watering hole.
They might have spies among us. They probably downvote in secret!
Ive been discovered!!!!!
Sorry I couldnt help but give you a down vote to play along.
I just knew it was you, G-naps! hehe
Social Media gets my vote.
I think we can do a lot, and I’m ready to help out in any way.
I think a coordinated effort with a specific target might be effective. But also make it a little playful. I suggested this back in the billboard planning phase, but I think appealing to basketball front office monolith Jerry West to come save us next might get some steam.
He built the L*kers, made the Grizzlies relevant, brought a dynasty to Oakland, and made even the Clippers legitimate championship contenders.
If he wants a real challenge: come save the Kings.
Seriously you could even keep Vlade around and have him learn from his mentor. Might be the only guy with enough clout to put Vivek in his place and tell him to shut the f*ck up and take notes.
We could make #SaveUsJerryWestYou’reOurOnlyHope trend on social media. The local media would think it’s fun. Might be the only way to fix this thing.
Jerry West is the Best!
…I’m thinking he’s the antithesis to Vivek’s approach. West is tried and true, while Vivek is all about trying to be a pioneer and getting recognition for changing the game. He wants to be a revolutionary game-changer.
I wish he’d realize his “revolution” is going at a snail’s pace.
Imagine Jerry West sitting at a table during the draft giving his recommendation and Matina tries to chime in. Mr. West lifts his eyes up over his in-depth scouting report tirelessly prepared by a multitude of professional scouts and just glares at her and says “Who the fuck are you?”
Vivek’s revolution is less American and more Bay of Pigs.
I would bet that the George Karl situation soured Vivek/Matina on listening to the fans. Of course, they have made 100’s of other mistakes, but that is the one they will point to if the fans ask for a change.
Thing is, George Karl is probably the brightest basketball mind we’ve had here the entire Vivek era. Sure he was well past his prime as a coach, but if we had just listened to him as a GM we’d probably have traded Cousins sooner for a much bigger haul and at least been in the playoffs by now.
Oh dear, this is like the RORDOG’s Batsignal.
Bring it RORDOG. Change my mind 😉
LOL. First of all, the trade Karl reportedly was interested in was like Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, and other stuff (I can’t find the tweet referencing it) from Denver. The original Lakers trade that Boogie’s agent/team was trying to engineer revolved around Randle, Clarkson and the #2 pick that became Brandon Ingram.
So Karl may have had the right idea from a timing perspective, but I don’t think the Kings would’ve received much in terms of young assets if he was in charge of negotiating a trade.
Furthermore, if the Kings ended up with Buddy + Mitchell/Bam or Buddy + Collins (#15) & OG (#20), and Thomas Bryant with the Pelicans’ 2nd round pick, then either of those are comparable to the Lakers offer. I’d still prefer Ingram to those two scenarios (I think), but we don’t even know the Kings would’ve used the #2 pick to draft Ingram. They may have used it to draft Buddy based on Vivek’s stated infatuation. Finally, the Kings would’ve received 2 FRPs from the Pelicans if Vlade had done a better job of dealing with Cousins in the lead up to the trade.
That being said, I agree in principle (and said so at the time) that the Kings should’ve traded Cousins once Karl said no player is untradeable. A) it just seemed like the marriage was over at that point, B) it made sense to do a full rebuild since the Kings had no real way to build around Cousins. There’s also the added bonus that the Philly trade never happens if the Kings chose to trade Cousins at that time.
So, did Karl have the right idea to trade Cousins? Yes. Did the Kings lose trade value by waiting to move Cousins? Probably, but it depends on a lot of unknown factors. Do I think Karl the GM would’ve put this team on a better path? I doubt it. I think his goal was to become the winningest coach of all-time. His decisions would’ve been win-now versus a typical rebuilding process. It may have paid off in the short-term, but I don’t think his strategy would’ve been sustainable over the long-term.
I’m going to agree with most of what you said, although I think if GK was evaluating the talent, the draft picks might have gone differently. And bottom line I disagree that we wouldn’t be on a better path if Karl were the GM over Vlade. To me that is a no-brainer.
Perhaps he would have chosen to win now, but we would probably have a playoff berth at least to show for it by now. Versus winning never with Vlade.
I agree they probably would’ve made the playoffs. I just don’t think they would be closer to winning a championship. As I’ve said before, I think the Kings would’ve made at least 1 playoff berth in the last 7 years if we just let this community make decisions by popular vote. That’s different, though, than actually building a team with sustained success with a championship as the ultimate goal.
Eh, just moving Cousins out of the freaking post and making him a perimeter guy showed he was probably the smartest guy in the org. Low bars and all.
Monterey Max? Shoot me an email. [email protected]
Why does Buddy insist on dribbling ?
He feels bad for the Klay Thompson, Kyle Korver and Duncan Robinsons of the world.
He dribbles for them!
Since management refuses to acknowledge their mistakes how long are we stuck with Coach L, and Vlad the self impaler?
What amount of shaming/booing, boycotting will it take before we embarrass the organization enough that the cost analysis shows it’s better to eat that money, than continue on this course? If you had to bet, how long do Vlad and Coach L last?
Props to Donte Stallworth’s brother who apparently was the bagged man on the screen vs the Mavs. Sorry I don’t know his name, but that dude is gentleman and a scholar.
Haha I missed the bagged man. I did see a lot of empty (virtual) seats though.
Can we use a new moniker for Luke Walton?
The Tape ?
Apart from his fetish of watching them and then doing nothing, his pressers also sound mostly the same, as if you’re playing the same tape over and over again (from my tape recorder time: Queens Greatest Hits).
Luke “Betamax” Walton, loser of the tape wars.
Scotch tape, because
Masking tape
I’ve got a tape I’d like to send him…
Well, the tapes are probably the only thing Walton can get away with sneaking into his hotel room anymore.
The alTape Worm
I meant the Tape Worm
I know there are a lot of doomsday questions but the apathy train is rapidly picking up steam and the deathknell of a sports team/fan base is apathy, not frustration and anger.
So maybe I’ll ask the question this way: How far away are the Sacramento Kings from hitting a critical mass of fan apathy?
Who cares?
It’s the gosh darn Kings social media that keeps sharing videos from the early 2000’s!
Fans have warm feelings towards the memories of what this team used to be.
They Kings social media team also sells the fans on the future: “just imagine how good this team will be 2 years from now. It’s a super team, just young!”
But this team currently, with it’s ownership and front office, sucks.
…insert comic illustration of the Kings holding a jersey retirement ceremony of Jason Williams’s jersey at a game where the Kings are in the middle of another losing season.
Imagine being the owner of a company with a growing contingent of frustrated customers. So you constantly remind them how much they enjoyed the company .. under the previous ownership.
It might just be me, but I am so tired of seeing that Bibby shot. It happened when I was 10 years old, I’m 28 now.
I think we deserve something in HD by now.. Being a fan of this team reaches new low after new low.
It’s not just you, PlayoffModeT. I feel the same way. I LOVE those memories, but it’s really sad that that is what we have available to celebrate as Kings fans, rather than current successes.
Maybe it’s kind of like (insert your favorite band) playing songs from their glory years at a concert you attend in the present day. All of their current songs are unremarkable, but you have to sit through them only so you can hear that one old song during the encore. Meanwhile, your friends are at a concert of a great band that is currently in their prime. Ok, that might be a poor analogy, but I just miss going to concerts right now.
Close your eyes and think about the preseason hype videos next year.
What are your first thoughts?
Dallas Mavericks
we signed Carl Landry again?
All video game highlights:
Same as this year. Videos showing Joerger being a big meany to Buddy followed by Walton having a great time with the players.
I can’t believe Vlade and Luke are still here.
Do you think this is having any effect on the players at all? Fox is being his usual delightful snarky self on Twitter, Baze is saying all the right things… do they like Walton this much, that this is apparently just another bad couple of games?
Maybe they’re following Walton’s orders of “Just be happy you’re here.”
Why are the Kings ignoring the obvious?
Which of the other 29 teams signs Bogi and Giles after the Kings pull a Kangz?
Dallas.
Dallas will create the team we could have had.
Why have we not seen or heard from Jerry Reynolds during the bubble games?
Not basketball, that’s for sure.
QUESTION(s):
What is your assessment of the job Gary Gerould is doing as the other guy’s replacement?
And how is Doug Christie doing alongside Gary Gerould as opposed to the other guy?
How is Jason Ross doing?
Would you replace Gary Gerould after this season? If so, with who?
BONUS QUESTION:
Who among the TKH staff would you pick to be a play-by-play announcer, and who would you pick to do color commentary? (I imagine this would be for a pickup basketball game between TKH members.)
We keep hearing that we have to give Vlade time due to the potential of our young players.
Now that it’s been nearly 5 years – what would you grade Vlade’s drafting prowess so far?
Probably fair to grade picks like WCS, Papa G, Richardson, Skal, Fox, JJ, Giles, and passing on Luka at this point.
Can Tony put this in article form? It’s great stuff!
This might be more of an article request versus a mailbag question for Tim. Can you estimate how much money the team could potentially save over the next 2-3 years if they did a full Hinkie-style rebuild versus their current estimated projections? The talking heads like to say Vivek was considering firing Vlade this offseason, but can’t afford to replace him now due to revenue losses. That just seems false choice they feed us to avoid accountability. The cost of a GM’s salary can’t be more than what Richaun Holmes makes for instance. It seems like they could fund the best basketball operations dept. money can buy by simply not re-signing Bogi.
This will be a very messy calculation as the impacts of COVID and potential bubble impact fan revenue.
That said, hard to imagine that we keep the stadium full even if the world returns to normal running out another 30-40 win team next season and finishing bottom 3 in the West.
Yeah my working assumption is we’re basically in a doomsday scenario on the revenue side. It just seems like that gives the Kings a unique opportunity to hit the reset button on the operations side.
MIND-BLOWING REVELATION:
Instead of paying Vlade a salary similar to what Richaun Holmes makes, Vivek is paying Vlade a salary similar to what LeBron James makes.
Without spoiling anything for anyone, we actually have one of the writers working on a very similar concept. Stay tuned!
fine I’ll settle for my alternate question: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
I like this idea
This is also more of an article request, but can we get an article dispelling the local media narrative that this team is young and inexperienced? Seriously, the median age of the team is not young and there are NBA champions on the roster. Oh, and could said article come with colorful charts and graphs?!
Yeah, this is a very easy point to make (and one I did last year as well). Fox and Bagley are young. But look at our rotation in Orlando:
Starters
Fox 22
Bogi 27
Barnes 27
Bjelica 31
Holmes 26
Bench
CoJo 28
Hield 27
Bazemore 30
Giles: 21
Len: 26
Brewer: 33
Our rotation isn’t young at all. We have one major rotation player under age 26 and two if we count the varying minutes Giles gets.
The notion that we aren’t winning because we are too young and winning is just false. We are just mediocre and poorly coached.