After yet another blown lead resulting in a loss to an opponent with a worse record, there’s plenty of blame to go around. The players absolutely shoulder a big part of the blame. Poor decisions, bad turnovers, and a general lack of effort and attention were major contributors to Monday’s loss, and to several losses throughout the season. I personally think the questions about De’Aaron Fox’s leadership are overblown, but I was pretty unhappy seeing him smirking after throwing the ball away on a broken inbounds play in the final minutes of the game. Kings GM Monte McNair also shoulders some blame. The Kings glaring lack of length and defense have been apparent since last season, and yet we’ve seen two trade deadlines and a full offseason go by without these needs being addressed. The Kings have a full 15 man roster plus 3 two-way players, and yet on any given night it feels like there are only one or two bench players who you can truly rely on.
All of this is to say that there’s no single person to point the finger at, but today I’m asking some questions of Mike Brown.
Why doesn’t Alex Len play more?
If you eliminate guys who only appear in garbage time, do you know who has the highest net rating on the Kings? It’s Alex Len! With a net rating of +15.5! That’s a full 10 points higher than the next King. Would that net rating hold up in heavier minutes? Probably not, but I’m willing to bet it would still be pretty solid. Why? Because Len plays solid defense, doesn’t commit a ton of fouls, doesn’t try to do too much on offense, but is still able to contribute on the offensive end as a roll and lob threat.
Why didn’t you try Keon Ellis last night?
This is a question for the season as a whole, but especially after last night. Where in world was Keon Ellis when Coby White was carving up the Kings? Ellis started the previous game and played well! He racked up 4 steals and a block in 19 minutes against the Timberwolves, and the Kings felt it appropriate to glue him to the bench when the Kings were looking for a spark and trying to protect the lead? It makes no sense.
Why do you abandon the offensive scheme in crunch time?
This is perhaps my biggest pet peeve this season, and we’ve seen it come back to bite the Kings so many times. At its best, Sacramento’s offense is filled with movement, screens, actions, and passing to create open shots. And yet, time and time again this season we’ve seen the crunch-time Kings revert to Isolation basketball featuring De’Aaron Fox or Malik Monk. And yes, those two are pretty dang good at breaking down a defender in isolation, but it’s a heck of a lot harder to do when every opponent knows its coming. And the success rate this season feels like it’s about 2% (I have not checked the stats but my gut knows this to be true). Keegan Murray becomes an afterthought on offense in the fourth quarter. Sabonis’ screens are only utilized on the inbound. I simply don’t understand it.
***
So, Coach Brown, if you want to drop your responses in the comments, I would really appreciate it.
“Those are good questions. But you gotta give props to the Bulls. They wanted it more and deserved it. That motivation has to come from within the players. That’s not my job. Neither is it making shots or avoiding turnovers. I created those shots but they have to make them! My job is to eat these donuts and burn challenges.
And you can see in today’s game that a technical foul can completely change the momentum of a game in a way that an ineffective lineup never can. No, I’m not throwing Duarte under the bus. It’s barely a minivan and more of a nudge, really.
What were the questions again?”
Perfect.
I definitely did not understand how 1 tech could lead to a blown huge lead. Ridiculous.
I thought Kessler Edwards might have been worth a look guarding DeMar DeRozan in the 4th. Barnes was clearly not the answer to close the game on him.
Yeah, there’s plenty of blame to go around. I figure that Mike Brown, as head coach, should also be the head blamee. To add to the questions that Greg asked, I’d also ask why the offense has been allowed to be so free-wheeling all season when it seems like a bit of discipline seems would do the team some good. I’m thinking specifically about why three-balls are allowed to fly so often in games when the team isn’t shooting them well.
“If the answer is Chris Duarte (or Kessler Edwards or Davion Mitchell or Keon Ellis), are we asking the wrong person the question?”
or Juan Toscano Anderson, or Chime Moneke, or KZ Okpala, or PJ Dozier, or Delly, or DDV, or Ramsey, or Woodard, or Harkless or…..
There is a long list of “answers.”
I’m a Monte McNair supporter overall, but it’s worth pointing out that every single one of his moves this offseason was a big whiff. Duarte– underperformed his (low) expectations. Vezenkov– nowhere close to living up to the (moderate) hype. McGee– should never, ever, ever be played when Len is conscious. Re-signing of Barnes– Black Falcon has had 3 good games and 50 disappearing acts. Letting T. Davis walk– at this point he seems like a clear upgrade over Duarte.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but also ask yourself this:
has Brown given any of these players a defined role and a consistent run of approx. 15 games with meaningful minutes to get in a flow and be able to show consistency?
I have my doubts.
Agreed. I thought Duarte had enough time perhaps, but I have not understood the lack of investment in Sasha, who is clearly skilled, nor the lack of consistent minutes for Len, other than perhaps a personal fondness for McGee from their days together at GS.
Yes, and add Keon to that list with Sasha and Len as well.
Absolutely right. Brown wasn’t given much to work with, but he could’ve at least in return given those players defined roles and a comfort zone in which to operate. Honestly, although Monte’s moves were all misses, they were perfectly reasonable at the time. Brown’s rotations this year have been a long-running train wreck.
Barnes is the only one on you list that gets legitimate run. Duarte minimal risk, Vezenkov should get minutes on this team, it’s a coaching error that he doesn’t. McGee over Len is a coaching error not a FO error.
Are you suggesting that there were better players available, and who could have been had for what’s here, and wouldn’t have cost a key rotation player?
There were a couple of trades that occurred where I thought that the Kings could have made a competitive bid, and gotten a pretty decent player. Of course, it’s entirely possible (likely, even) that such an offer was made, and the other team had one they liked better.
You didn’t suggest this, but there’s always been some talk of McNair overvaluing his assets, and I’d call Tyrese Haliburton a very solid counterpoint to that.
The type of players that the Kings need are the exact same ones that are coveted by every team, and aren’t just given away for a middling return. Between our assets who won’t be moved, a likely fat contract for Monk here or elsewhere this summer, and a somewhat thin bench, McNair has the same dilemma that we all see:
Move a key piece (probably Murray) as part of a deal to get a legit star in an attempt to win now, or bank on Murray, Fox and Sabonis to continue improving, and try to find gems in the draft and UFA pool. And unless Ranadive gives McNair permission to break the bank, the salary cap is another obstacle in the mix. The last one complicates attracting free agents, which has always been a steep task in Sacramento.
I don’t have answers, but I can acknowledge that the questions are infinitely more complex than they are generally considered to be. I doubt that this is foreign to the decision-makers downtown.
Correct.
Glad to see this said.
One follow-up coach….at what point in the season did you lose the locker room?
Mid-November?
.
Brown’s rotations have sucked this year. It’s partly McNair’s fault for giving him chaff to work with (Duarte, McGee, Vez to an extent), but mostly Brown’s fault for jerking his players around and not allowing them to develop a comfort zone and embrace a defined role. The chemistry has been off all season.
You hit the nail right on the head. Jerking guys around began with Huerter in training camp and has carried on throughout the season.
Ah, you said it better than I did.
100% agree.
Not McNairs fault that Brown’s rotations have been dog shit at all. Everyone with eyes can see that Len should be playing over McGee and it’s wild to me that Vez can’t get minutes on this team. Dude plays pretty well anytime he gets a chance.
Like the article said, Keon went from starter to dnp…that is fuckin ridiculous
The Keon Ellis situation is really puzzling. If you feel you can start him one night then give him a DNP/CD after he actually made in impact is just so bizarre. Now couple that with Monte giving him a log term roster deal, that’s guaranteed for next season is really confusing.
Monte wants Keon to play, Brown wants Davion to play. It’s the Billy Beane-Art Howe situation.
Hi Coach, longtime Kings fan, first time caller. My question is do we have a back up offense for those nights when the 3 ball is not falling? Maybe something like going to the hoop and drawing a foul to get the other team in foul trouble and maybe get our points at the line instead of continuing to chuck up misses? Errrrr, never mind. Anyway, you know what I mean.
Eppiiiic! Phenomenal!
Rack him
Coach, the team was up by over 20 points midway through the 3rd quarter and a blow-out was imminent. You subbed out the starters, who were playing well, and inserted Duarte, Mitchell, Monk, et al. They immediately started dicking around and the lead slipped to 14 in about 2 minutes. Why did you not call a time-out, chew some ass, and put the good players back in? It’s not like Fox, Sabonis, Huerter, and Murray could have been very tired at that point, having played just about 7 minutes after a halftime break.
Follow-up: Why on Earth do you ever put Chris Duarte on the court when on the bench, waiting patiently and ready, is Keon Ellis, who is a better defender, a better floor general, has a much higher BBIQ, and doesn’t throw stupid-@$$ temper tantrums just because some guy on the other team bumped him in the normal course of play?
So why do you mash buttons with the rotation but fall asleep at the controller in the 4th quarter, basically?
Question:
Who thinks that COY last year was just an anomaly, a lucky year for Brown?
I am for one.
I never thought he is a very good coach since he was in Cleveland and then moved on to other teams. For me, he is just an average coach.
Put Erik Spoelstra on this roster and we probably would not have those questionable losses and melt-downs in the 4th quarter.
In the NBA, who is the exception, Spoelstra or Brown? Now, who’s the rule?
A better coach than Brown ain’t walkin’ through that door.
He 100% got coty for the mere fact that the SACRAMENTO KINGS were in the playoffs…and they did that because the talent level was finally there (thanks Monte)..his rotations have always been suspect and he is definitely a middle of the pack coach (still better then a lot we have had). Malone and Joeger better coaches then MB.
This team has a talent problem. Counting on internal growth was a bad strategy. You could certainly question Brown, but I don’t believe anyone is getting a lot more out of this set of players.
Keegan has been improving on defense and showing more on offense. I would expect the Kings to add another wing defender in the offseason which would allow him to further improve next year, not having to guard the opponent’s best player as frequently and not getting in as much foul trouble.
I still like running it back this year. such a special year last year that I think this group earned another shot at it.
Agree-and frustrating watching the “talent” assembled has already hit its ceiling last year.
You could clearly see lack of D and clutch/focused players in the playoffs last year. But nothing was done…..feels like watching a slow match to mediocrity.
Lack of Focus/defensive players and a coach who can or will adjust is what the Kings had and have.
Monte-you’d better do something this off season. The way this team is constituted ain’t winnin shit
Monty what can you do this off season?
Adding a caveat to this – this is a good team! But it would take a small miracle for them to beat a top four team in the first round, so the question is whether everyone is satisfied with a team whose ceiling is the first round of the playoffs. For me, the answer is no. I said at the beginning of the season that if the team didn’t win a first round series, the season wouldn’t be a success. That outcome feels pretty unlikely at this point.
Seemed at last seasons end the team had four legit keepers and they still do . Sadly most teams in West added at least depth . Huerter and Barnes could be solid 7-8-9th men on a conference contender but no more . Agree, with many that the bench is less effective since little idea of playing time game to game .
I know I’ve harped on this but Huerter and probably Barnes needed to get gone (or moved to bench) last yesr/in off season .
Huerter is fine for his role, Barnes needs to be a 6th/7th man at this point in his career but MB either can’t see it or doesn’t have the stones to make the call.
Who fills Barnes spot as a starter? Lyles is probably the obvious choice, but he has been inconsistent this season as well.
Nobody else has stepped up to take those minutes, and that is why Barnes is probably still starting.
Huerter is not fine as the starter. He barley fulfills his role as is. He doesn’t defend well and doesn’t hit shots when needed. That’s supposed to be his role.
Instead, he’s a non-defending inconsistent shooter. What’s the point? The Kings badly need wing defenders. Heurter needs to get gone and HB to bench.
I think both Monty and Brown have their favorites. Monty has Huerter and Barnes and Brown has Mitchell and Duarte. Huerter should have been traded along time ago and Barnes shouldn’t have been offered that contract. Now what do you have to work with this summer? Ellis should have been playing more than either Mitchell or Duarte. Maybe even Jones since IMO has some really good potential. Needed to play in the big league to see what we have. What ever happened to Edwards? Great defender and can shoot and is taller than Mitchell or Duarte. If both Jones and Edwards were allowed to play more at the beginning of the season IMO would be better off the bench than just sitting there.
Keon Ellis had a good outing the previous game, then no show last night.
What is MB thinking? How can he develop consistency with the bench players when their playing time is on and off?
It’s bad enough that the starting 5, save for Sabonis, is very inconsistent.
Now you compound that with the 7-10th player who can’t even get consistent minutes even though they play well and contribute in previous games.
The coach himself is very inconsistent.
I love Sabonis but he spazzes out/loses focus late game or when needed some too. The Kings disease.
Like dribbling into teeth of Chicago D over and over again and forcing up misses rather than kick out etc. Slow down Sabonis. Think. Adjust. But I wonder if this is where Briwn needs to step in.
I totally agree.
His minutes for the starting five are pretty consistent and probably too heavy with Huerter and Barnes. Bench minutes and rotations are all over the place, should’ve figured out your team early in the season and been more consistent with bench minutes. Guys should have more well-defined roles at this point but he can’t seem to settle on anything this year. The way the offense becomes is the norm in the NBA and it’s probably because the regular offense becomes harder to run as defense tightens. I would like to see Keeg and Da Boner get/take more shots at end of games though.
Brown’s run last year was overrated because of the pathetic state of the franchise up until last year, people love a feel good story. He’s a good coach but I don’t think he’s elite, Monte may not be that great either. The next year or two we will see how far these guys can take us, they haven’t done that much really for any typical franchise. Making the playoffs is not that special, contending for a championship shows real greatness from owner, GM, coach, and players.
I wonder how we can improve when we don’t have the resources to do so next year? Could someone explain this if I am off base.
We’re not actually that asset poor, all things said. Should the Huerter pick convey this year (which it will if we get to the playoffs), we’ll have all our future firsts and only the 2030 2nd sent out. The Monk situation is more tied to his contract (limiting how high of an offer we can make) versus our actual ability to pay for him. Sheets are fairly clean, and Keegan’s rookie contract is a bargain. While we don’t have a warchest overflowing with riches a la Presti and Ainge, we have the ammo for one very good swing at things.
Maybe Mike Brown isn’t the right guy to bring home a Larry O’Brien trophy but for right now he’s the best coach this team has had since… I dunno, definitely before my old ass moved to California 20 years ago. I think he gets until early 2025 to start showing some progress on the championship front but for now I’m not too concerned – progress is rarely linear and I am not soooo old that my patience is that limited.
Malone and DJ were/are better then him, talent is just much better now.
More than anything, I have been the most surprised at how much expectations have skyrocketed. Of course, coaches should be questioned, and the questions are obviously good ones. I’ve had many of the same questions myself. With that said, I’m happy with the quality of the front office, the coaching, the play on the floor, the record, and the chances that the Kings will make it to the second round this year.
30-52
31-41
31-41
39-43
27-55
32-50
33-49
29-53
28-54
28-54
Above, as you already knew, has been the Kings record for the ten seasons preceding Brown.
If you had told me in early 2022 that in 2024 some fans would be upset that the Kings aren’t contenders yet, I would have fallen out of my chair and rolled down the hill into the nearest stream, lake, or inlet.
Brown set the bar high in the pre-season when he mentioned something similar to the goal being a title this season (I don’t remember the actual wording he used).
Those expectations are fairly high, and I think it made the entire team and staff feel a lot of pressure to win.
In year 1, Brown and Fernandez were very focused on the process and not the outcome. Year 2 seems to be all about the outcome.
I think that it’s understandable for a coach to say those kinds of things to motivate his players, just as it’s understandable for the fans to take all of that with a grain of salt.
In all honesty, at the start of the season, I would have guessed that the Kings’ chances of winning a championship this year were less than one percent, and I still feel that way.
But they’re still a playoff team, and that’s way better than they were before.
If we keep losing games we are supposed to win I can’t see us being in the playoffs. Losing those games have made a trend and don’t know why or how this can be turned around. Very frustrating. I am so sorry for the fans like you and me who maybe didn’t expect a whole lot more but something like a small improvement over last year. I still can’t root for anyone else. GO KINGS!
I thought it was interesting that they went from process focused to results oriented. It is a major shift in philosophy. I guess he was trying to set the bar high and hoped his players would meet the expectations.
I just would have liked to have heard the same message about focusing on the process (which they can control) versus the outcome (which they can’t control) this season.
I find it hard to understand this kind of reasoning.
So because the Kings were historically bad for such a long time, we should not have high expectations? Or medium expectations?
If you want to rate their progress relative to their previous records, that’s your choice. A weird choice in my view, because they are in a competition with the rest of the league, not with themselves. And in that competition, I see not much progrss, if at all.
If you had told me in 2009 that it would take more than 10 years to even reach the play-offs, I would have fallen out of my chair and rolled down the dyke into the nearest canal or sea.
Your question was rhetorical, but I’ll answer it anyway. Yes, imo, because the Kings have been historically bad for such a long time, we should not have high or even medium expectations.
I’m confused that you’re confused with my point, and I’m struggling as much with your reasoning as you are with mine.
The Kings are a playoff team, and as a small market team with an extended history of dysfunction and horrible decisions and failure, that’s fantastic. And unless injuries derail Fox or Domas, they’ll continue to be a playoff team for years.
I personally have positive expectations. I hope they are a playoff team this year. It will be hard but they need to turn around those loses to teams they need to beat plus play like they can against teams like the Timberwolves and Nuggets. Anything is possible even in basketball.
Except the Kings aren’t a playoff team today. They’re a play-in team. At the end of the regular season they will not be in the playoffs they will be the play-in. So I’m not sure how you would confidently say they’ll be in the playoffs year over year when they aren’t in the playoffs right now.
To Rik’s point, I’m perplexed that you’re perplexed by his position. The Kings don’t go play historical versions of themselves every night. They play other NBA teams. They’ve already been passed a number of teams like the Thunder and Twolves. The only thing that matters is how good they are in relation to everyone else. This year, they’re aggressively mediocre. If you choose to grade them on the Kangz scale that’s fine but I’d prefer to grade them against their peers. Like every other fanbase does with their squad.
I agree with Smits. The Kings have opened a window of opportunity to become contenders.
I mean shit, Coach Brown himself made it clear they are building for CHAMPIONSHIPS not first round exits.
So, when I see the Kings flaws in playoff first round loss last year I want them to address said flaws and move toward contention.
They have not done this. So, why the F should I be ok with going backwards or standing pat
The goal is to build a contender not a playoff first round exit.
That’s the mentality the team claims to have and what I want to see.
This feels like a bit of a straw man argument. Nobody in this thread is upset that we aren’t contenders. We’re upset at the Kings losing winnable games in the same ways, and questioning why the coaching staff isn’t making adjustments.
In your case, it is a straw man argument, because I don’t think you’re upset that we aren’t contenders.
But I had been responding to a remark I had read in the comments, something along the lines of “making the playoffs is not that special, contending for a championship shows real greatness from owner, team, players, and coaches.”
That made me think how dramatically expectations had shifted for some.
I did preface my comments by saying that the questions being asked are obviously good ones.
I feel kinda weird not being all too worried about things. My view of this teams matched that of Dame’s Blazers: it could be exciting, it could be fun, but as constituted we’d cap out of best of the pretenders… which, mind you, is a vast more preferable situation than our sojourn in the lottery. More than likely, we’ll be back in the playoffs (although I’m not too excited about the possibility of having to dance in the playins, due to the asset situation tied to it and and any-one-game scenarios), which was my main hope for this season. I feel a lot of my concerns about the Kings are things that aren’t as prevalent in the playoffs (focus is up, tighter gameplans means fewer mistakes that our defense can’t recover from, etc.). I can see routes to the second round if thing line up right too.
It’s when we get to the off season that things get interesting. We’re not asset rich, but once the Huerter pick conveys we’re not dry either. There’s four guys that make up the backbone (Fox, Sabonis, Keegan and Monk), two guys I don’t mind seeing (Huerter and Barnes), and the rest that are interchangeable. It’d be REALLY nice to find a Aaron Gordon analog for the front court, we can definitely spruce up the supporting cast. Time to start spending.
For the most part I am very diappointed in Huerter and Barnes Huerter’s shooting this year has been very disappointing along with his defense and Barnes has no consistency what so ever. That is 40% of your srarters.
For those two, I don’t necessarily feel like that they don’t have a future on a better version of this team, but you don’t have to talk me into using them as a trade asset. Barnes in particular would be best if he can transition to the bench with the arrival of another good wing, but I’m not too sad if we say bye to him in getting said better wing.
He currently should already be on the bench for Lyles who provides better defense and rebounding…it would also open up Barnes for more shots with the second team where it’s all the monk show
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