Welcome back to Chainmail, where everything’s made up, and the points don’t matter. We are extremely deep into the 2021-2022 NBA campaign, as the Sacramento Kings stand undefeated in the all-important, all-encompassing, season-defining preseason, having defeated the fully staffed, no stars resting Phoenix Suns on Monday evening. Will and I (and maybe someone else if anyone will reply to me in The Kings Herald Slack Channel), are here to answer your questions about the upcoming season, respond to your overreactions to one preseason game, and answer a zillion queries about Ben Simmons’s trade value and the reasons as to why the 31-win Kings shouldn’t trade for a 25-year old Defensive Player of the Year candidate who perfectly fills the missing fifth starter spot for Luke Walton.
Now get to asking, so we can get to answering!
I mentioned a day ago I was slightly stupidly optimistic. I am raising my outlook to moderately stupidly optimistic.
Man! That is some ample actual eagle!
After beating the Suns in the pre-season opener, are the Kings now considered favorites to win the west?
I’d like to field this one:
No, they are not favorites to win the West. They are favorites to win a title.
Thanks. I wasn’t considering the dominating fashion in which the Kings won. It’s nice to finally have a contender.
Current Summer League Champs and complete ownership of the current Western Division Champs: Is it unrealistic to expect 82 wins this year?
Also, which is the more impressive banner to hang in G1C? The Pacific conference champs or 2x Summer League Champs? I have only made it to one game at G1C, and I cannot recall what, if anything is hanging up there.
Yes. Need to add in the wins from sweeping the playoffs.
2003 Summer League Las Vegas Backup Point Guard Non-Alcoholic Beer Pong All NBA Third Team Runner Up
Ugh, I remember the start of the ’02/’03 season, when the team held a “banner raising ceremony” at the first game to unveil the “2002 Pacific Division Champions” banner. This was right after the team lost the WCF in 7 to the L*kers. What a lame ceremony that was. The crowd reaction was… tepid, at best.
Why do you think that trading, at minimum, one proficient shooter, at least one other player, and in all likelihood, a couple of first-round selections, to acquire a player who is both unwilling and unable to take and make shots, will perfectly fill the fifth starter spot? Do you see any potential downside to allowing defenses to always be in a position to double-team the Kings player of their choice?
I’ve seen flip responses to questions like these along the lines of “the Kings won thirty-one games last year,” but that ignores the inherent problems that come along with Simmons’ defensive excellence. It ain’t all gravy, no matter who ends up acquiring him.
Without knowing the specific personnel cost in adding him, but assuming that it would be significant, can you offer an estimate of the impacts that Simmons would have on offensive and defensive statistical categories? My feeling is that once the actual price is known and factored in, the benefits could be outweighed by the negatives, both on the court and off.
This, of course, is reliant on the giant assumption that Simmons would actually set foot in Sacramento to play for the Kings. It would be silly not to look into acquiring an all-star who becomes available, but the details as they pertain to Simmons are a series of red flags. I don’t feel that they can be so easily overlooked or dismissed.
Who are (in order) your three favorite current Kings?
Billie Jean holding on line one, Rodney on line 2.
My phone autocorrect says don’t forget Kong.
Honorable mention, for sure.
Tyrese/Richaun/Davion/Fox (in no particular order–it’s a tie for me)
Also happy to see Doug and Bobby coaching the young fellas now.
It’s hard when you have to boil it down to three. Tyrese is my clear #1. Fox is my current #2, and Holmes probably next, just above Barnes. Mitchell could change that.
Yeah, I like and appreciate Barnes very much, too.
Fox, Tyrese, and Holmes are the easy 3 for me too. Lunch pail type guys – Great players with great attitudes who bring it every night. Barnes and Davion, too. They’re the type of culture builders you look for. Honorable mentions to Metu and Ramsey who I’m excited to see grow.
If a hot dog is a sandwich, is cereal soup?
WE ARE NOT RELITIGATING THIS
Someone’s an anti-cerealite.
A certain cereal is a soup. (Alphabits = Alphabet)
That’s what Kings players wake up to their morning meal to.
They don’t have the right pieces for ‘help defense’.
Just gotta get a better breakfast.
I missed this meme like George Karl misses bacon.
I have the image at the ready when there’s an opportunity and the word “breakfast” is brought up!
Wait…is Blucher German for breakfast?
The horses just went crazy.
how many preseason victories before we take the obvious Kings step of locking in our coach with an expensive, long-term, non-voidable, non-replaceable contract?
WWVD
What Would Vlade Do
Given how the current roster looks, is holding onto Buddy Hield this season good or bad?
Yes.
Is volume-three-point-chucking Buddy a sustainable role for team success, even off the bench?
Context:
Last night – Buddy was 5-15 overall, 4-13 (30.7%) from 3. (Walton)
2020-21 – 39% on 10.2/game (Walton)
2019-20 – 39.4% on 9.4/game (Walton)
2018-19 – 42.7% on 7.9/game (Joerger)
2017-18 – 43.1% on 5.1/game (Joerger)
2016-17 (Sac) – 42.8% on 5.5/game (Joerger)
The numbers and trends are what they are. The last time Buddy shot over 40% from three was when his shooting role was controlled by Joerger. In the Walton era, the reins have been off and Buddy has the green light to get up 10 plus threes per game (last night 13 in 23 minutes). His efficiency has dropped every season since.
So, back to the question. Which Buddy is best for team success: (1) 10+ chucking Buddy at sub .400; or (2) 5-6 attempt Buddy who knocks them down at a 43% clip?
Follow up: if the latter, then why is Luke letting Buddy shoot every shot he wants?
To piggyback on this a bit, I think it is also interesting to note that Buddy went from an all time high in usage at 27.2% during Walton’s first year, but dropped to near carrer low of 20.7% last season along with a massive jump to 72.7% 3PTA rate. It’s a tale of two Buddys
I’d assume the major difference in Buddy’s role and shooting between Walton’s first and second year is the addition of Haliburton, which begs the question…can the two succeed together.
It’s worth noting that the career high usage rate correlates with Walton’s first (bad) Buddy idea, which was to try to turn him into Point-Buddy “Steph” Hield.
Thankfully, Luke abandoned that in year two, hence the droppage in usage but increase in three point volume.
Personally, I’m on board with the Buddy at SF experiment. The team is really missing that crown jewel, volume-scoring, two-way wing to run the floor next to Fox and Hali. We know Buddy can at least score (on most nights…) and we don’t have anything better really since Barnes is better at the 4. Why not? At the least it’ll be exciting to watch since I still don’t think this team is making the playoffs without finding said two-way wing at the trade deadline.
Is Holmes the long-term solution at center? He’s reliable and brings energy on both ends but his game ultimately has limitations. He’s the perfect backup center to an Embiid or Jokic type on a title contender, but can he be the guy that makes Kings a regular playoff team? If not, what’s your solution for the frontcourt long-term?
HOT-TAKE QUESTION: If Haliburton really does make a big leap this season and shows he can be “the guy” running the offense (as well as being a good defender), does that open the door to Fox, of all people, being packaged in a deal for Simmons (or some other star)? Dealing Fox might actually bring the Kings a pick or other asset(s) along with Simmons in return. Combined with Mitchell’s arrival, this would turn the Kings overnight into a hard-nosed, defensive, pain-in-the-ass-to-play-against squad on a nightly basis. I’m not advocating this kind of move (I really like Fox and want him here), but is it something to think about, or at least argue unthinkingly about, a la Skip Bayless?
What specific scheme/plays (zone defense, pick and roll plays, etc.) would you like for Walton to integrate more of this season?
No sparky answers about wearing his mask, watching the tape, or not being a douche, those are a given.
Why does Slamson get in the middle of the player huddle during player intros? He’s knows he’s a mascot, right?
Hollinger’s Expected Extension Value (EEV) for Marvin Bagley is 4/20. If that was the price to keep Marvin, would you re-sign him?
Zach Randolph would
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