The Sacramento Kings kicked off the season with a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, and then immediately had a lull in the schedule with a couple days to dwell on that result. I’m sure the team is thankful for a little practice time to address mistakes from Wednesday before playing the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
For Kings fans, there haven’t been any major news stories since Wednesday, but there have been a few minor things so we’re gathering all the little tidbits you might have missed.
- The Athletic’s Sam Amick wrote a profile on De’Aaron Fox. It’s a very refreshing read, as Fox makes no excuses for past struggles but seems entirely bought on in Mike Brown and the direction the Kings are going. Definitely worth a read.
- The Sacramento Kings released Episode 4 of The Run. It actually came out late Tuesday, but I think it flew under the radar with the home opener happening on Wednesday. This episode gives us a look behind the scenes at Kings preseason workouts and training camp.
- Keegan Murray returned to practice Thursday after clearing health and safety protocols. He spoke about hoping to be able to play on Saturday.
Keegan Murray on returning to practice and his hopes to make his NBA debut on Saturday: pic.twitter.com/SO7i3UEhvV
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) October 20, 2022
Murray practiced again on Friday, a good sign for his availability.
Keegan Murray is practicing for the second-straight day as he hopes to make his NBA debut this weekend. pic.twitter.com/jtp6MElDaa
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) October 21, 2022
- Kawhi Leonard, who sat most of the first half of the Los Angeles Clippers game against the Lakers on Thursday, says he is likely to sit out one of LA’s two games this weekend. They face the Kings Saturday and then have their home opener against the Suns on Sunday. There’s a distinct possibility he sits out the Kings game to be available for LA’s home opener.
De’Aaron was on Draymond’s podcast as well a few days ago.
WHO LEAKED THIS VIDEO??????!!!!!!
Google.
Picked the wrong franchise guard to stick with. Moronic. Nice guy Fox is right, the team hasn’t won mainly bc its defense is non-existent, though he shouldn’t say it so lightly. Another reason is because he’s a decent slashing scorer but not a very good NBA PG in terms of reading/controlling the game, at all, and has never been a consistent shooter, that’s more than mental …… So the Kangz send away the one player who made everyone else better, controlled the tempo, played great O and D, made smart decisions w/ball and did NOT turn it over like Fox does … to bring in a serviceable, former all-star big who doesn’t play much D.? Way to keep the streak alive, Kangz! Always find a way to lose. Want a preview of next season? Fox: “This is the year! I feel good.” Pretty sure he’s said that for the last 5 years straight and gullible Kings fans have said, “please sir, can I have another?” Lets keep building around the same guy and expecting a different result.
If Kings lose a bunch early, Coach needs to man up and start playing Davion or another effective PG at the end of close games. Enough already. Plenty of NBA players have proven the rule that you can score a lot, not play D, be inefficient, and still lose most of your games. Prove me wrong, Fox. Please … this shhh is so tiresome.
Haliburton with a nearly 17% turnover percentage last season. Fox at 12%. Even if you compare their sophomore seasons Fox took care of the ball a bit better. Fox has more turnovers because his usage is significantly higher.
I’m not gonna argue who will be better player…but just pointing out the idea that Hali doesn’t turn the ball over while Fox is handing out turnovers left and right isn’t really supported by data. I think our notion of Haliburton being a savant at not turning the ball over stems from his first 7-8 games rookie year where he had almost none and it was a constant talking point.
“But we didn’t get familiar enough with Tyrese to start hating him yet!”
“Fox is a proven leader that wins”
Admittedly: Fox not playing D, not making shots consistently, and always making boneheaded plays in crunch time that kill us, is supported mostly by my eyes and memory (though Im sure I could find some stats for anyone who doesn’t recognize ineffective PGs in the wild) .. Unfortunately, it also looks like the all-star we missed in the draft is the Pacers’ Mathurin. That guy is already beasting on people nightly. Looking like he will be either ROY or runner up to Paolo. And I like Keegan, but if there’s one thing you can count on from the Kings – besides trading or driving away our best hopes for success — its just missing those franchise changing players in the draft … Halli and Mathurin are going to be extremely fun to watch for many years … Fox and the Ox, not so much.
Fun in losses it seems . No proven winners there yet either .
Fox is proven.
Cannot change the roster and Fox is a proven winner.
We will be a dynasty with this thought process!
KAnGz!,,,,,,,
I know there will be very few stretches this season where there are two days off between games, but I like this idea of getting a post to have conversations start again without having to look through 200 comments of the post game thread.
I do want to submit a suggestion, maybe a once a week or once in a while league wide “round-up” post, for some general conversation? The start of this season is already intriguing:
Barnes for Markkanen shows as +8 wins for the Kings and -7 wins for the Jazz in the ESPN trade machine.
http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2ywob96j
Interesting. Does that mean Murray plays the 3 spot?
I didn’t know Markkanen can also play the 3 spot and he shoots over 42% from the 3.Even more interesting. Also only 25 years old. Now we could keep Murray at the 4.
They’re both combo forwards. Who would be the 3 or 4 between them would be pretty immaterial. And would likely be based on who the opponent is running out in those positions.
I am going to nix this trade because Markkenen can’t play defense.
Neither can Barnes anymore.
Not a chance Utah would have interest . Lari is better and much younger with a fair contract . Conley is the player they want to move in Ainge rebuild .
We generally aim to have one new post per day. Doesn’t always happen, especially on weekends where there are no games. And sometimes just because our lives get busy, but we’ll do our best. I’ve done those Around The Realm posts in the past but they’ve been very hit or miss as far as how much interest they draw.
I think the Hornets eventually blow it up. No Bridges and possibly no Bouknight for a while leaves them pretty weak. One thing I’ve been kicking around in my head is Hayward and Rozier for Westbrook and the two future Laker picks. It might be a better deal for them than the Buddy/Indy package. For the Hornets, they get out of two long term deals in a full rebuild move and get two picks for it. They could just tell Westbrook to stay at home in dramatically increase their lottery chances.
After Bouknight’s blunder, I thought the same thing with them unloading those two to the Lakers. I wonder if LA is trying to see if Damian or Beal shake loose. Jeannie seems so invested in stars. Definitely something to watch with CHA though. I dont know how long they can be mediocre and not have LaMelo wonder what it would be like to play on a winner.
Looks like the Jazz were underestimated. Ended up watching a good amount of their first two games and they look good. They play hard and are hustling, playing together, and having fun together. They’re a bunch of guys with something to prove.Might be an early overreaction, but they look more like a playoff team than the Kings.
They looked good again tonight, didnt they. I will be interested to see what Ainge does.
Wouldn’t it be something if they continue to win, AND have all of those picks from Minny and Cleveland?
Still, at some point I think they move Conley and his unguaranteed deal for next season at some point. They have to had the keys to Sexton sooner or later.
I need to find out if I can also opt out of work because I’m tired.
…and re-tired!
Nah, no chance. I’m Gen X, so my retirement plan is to die at my desk.
I knew you were a goddamn latchkey kid!
Dude, as a fellow Gen X’er you’re WAY ahead of me. My CFP told me last week that I’m right on schedule to retire exactly 3 years after I die…
Still, at least you get to retire eventually.
Some of us are quiet quitting life
I am jealous
Very on brand for De’Aaron – he offers no defense.
Has a player ever said in an interview that he’s not sure yet and that he’ll see how his new coach will perform before he’ll buy in? Now that would be refreshing.
We are only 1 game out of the play-in.
We’re actually tied for 9th right now!
Wait a minute. The Kings are not beneath 50 feet of crap right now?
Raise a banner!
I mean, why not? Everything else gets a banner around these parts….
Thank you in advanced
at some point the Kings will need to beat a good/greet team at full strength. If they win it comes with an asterisk. If they lose, it’s because the Clips depth was too much.
The hoops you jump through to make statements like these are truly breathtaking. It’s pretty damn impressive on all fronts. The Russian judges will only give you a 3, but that’s pretty good for them.
The only thing that merits a 10 from a Russian judge is Vodka, bonfires raging at the heat of the night, and fur hats with those commie symbols on them.
“The important thing, is that under no circumstances, should you ever take joy from the team, no matter how small or fleeting.”
This is one of those that would win $100 mil in the lotto and bitch about the tax implications.
The Kingsburu and Sims echo chamber.
Mike Brown on De’Aaron Fox.
For anyone scrolling by, take the time to listen to the entire thing. Oh my God that might be one of my favorite answers I’ve heard any coach give in any sport.
Coach: “We lost”
Player: “Yeah, but I scored 33!”
Coach: “BFD, that’s what you’re supposed to do. Show me more.”
I think I’m love…lol. <3
But Coach, I scored 33. That’s part of the problem. Fox is a scorer. Not a leader. Big difference. That comment alone certifies it.
So a made up comment that Fox didn’t actually make certifies that he is a scorer, not a leader? I don’t get it.
Many agree that he can score and not lead or play defense.
There is also five years of actual reality that supports this.
Will the new coach call him out publicly?
So smart.
Mike Brown didn’t actually say what Noda said…..he said something very different.
Of course you would know that if you actually bothered to listen to the clip that Sean Cunningham posted.
The copy paste master.
The pragmatist in me says KL is sitting out so he can heal. The Kangz fan cynic in me says the Clippers think they can beat us without KL so might as well sit him out.
One team’s cynic is the other team’s realist…
Kawhi was never going to play tonight. Because they have already said Kawhi isn’t playing b2b’s this season. And, you give Kawhi tonight off vs tomorrow, he gets 2 days of rest in between games instead of 1 day. Tomorrow is also the home opener for the Clippers, it’s tough to see Kawhi missing that.
I know we shouldn’t overreact after losing the first game. I know we shouldn’t overreact if we lose the second game also, but at some point if the losses start piling up I hope the team comes to terms with the advantages of tanking and with the foolishness of chasing a play-in spot.
Did we change owners? This org has to show that they’ve changed for the better. Until then I KNOW they would still chase the play in
A stark reminder that referees are also people of flesh and blood, with feelings, friends and family. And not just a lightning rod for all our anger and frustration regarding a game.
My take on the refs: Yeah the ones we had on Wednesday made some bad calls and missed others. Refs always miss calls. And that’s because refereeing is really hard. Game is fast AF, the calls must come in less than a second, you have an imperfect angle all the time, +6ft athletes shouting at you all night, and 17,000 people hate you wherever you go. Shit ain’t easy.
Suffice to say that night in and night out they have been better at their job than the Kings have been at their jobs, especially over the past 16 years.
Fact
Badge Legend