After getting burned by the Suns to start the week, the Kings had a day off to rub copious amounts of aloe vera all over their bodies and get ready for their next four-game road trip. On paper, these next four games could be interpreted as a respite for the Kings after having to face the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz both twice already to start the season. But we all know Kings basketball follows no sensible logic and truly anything can happen on any given night. With that in mind, I hope we all still performed our personal pre-game rituals (mine is deep breathing exercises while saying a prayer to the basketball gods) as the Kings took on the San Antonio Spurs tonight. Let’s see how they did:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 136-117
Sacramento Kings: 117 pts, 51.1% fg, 27.8% 3 pt, 81.3% ft, 19 ast, 44 reb, 13 to
San Antonio Spurs: 136 pts, 53.3% fg, 56.3% 3 pt, 64.5% ft, 34 ast, 44 reb, 8 to
I need to make some serious changes to my pre-game ritual because what I am doing now is clearly cursed. The quick stats alone tell you a good part of the story. The Kings provided little resistance on the defensive end, giving up the most points in a game so far this season. The Spurs, not known for their outside shooting, shot the absolute hell out of the ball tonight against the Kings, because of course they did. The assists differential also paints the disturbing differences between these two offenses. The defense? Butt. The offense? Butt. This game? BUTT. I don’t blame you if you just stop reading here.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
- De’Aaron Fox: There was one good thing and one good thing only from this game and it was the return of De’Aaron Fox. Without Tyrese Haliburton tonight, De’Aaron found the ball in his hands more and took advantage of the extra touches. After a slow start, he found his stride in the second half and was able to connect for 24 of his 37 points. He had some acrobatic finishes at the rim, drained some smooth midrange pull ups, and drilled two 3-pointers. He looked more comfortable and confident during this stretch, and it felt much like the De’Aaron of last season. The hope now is that he can continue with this level of production while also playing alongside Tyrese.
The Bad
- Defense: At one point tonight, I reached out to the Twitterverse and challenged all ye who dare to take a shot any time the Kings got beat on a back door cut. To those who rose to the challenge: please comment below to confirm that you are still alive. The Kings suffered breakdown after breakdown as the Spurs ran an efficient and moving offense. Although the Spurs shot an unusual 18-32 from the 3-point line, the Kings gave them open opportunities all night long. There was a clear disconnect and lack of focus on the defensive end and the Kings were never able to build any momentum because of it.
The Ugly
- Half Court Offense: I had thought comparing the Kings’ half court offense to that of the Suns’ on Monday night was painful. Turns out, I didn’t even know what pain was back then. As the score shows, the Spurs put the ball in the basket a lot tonight. This meant the Kings were constantly having to inbound the ball to start their offensive possessions and this minimized their pace and transition opportunities. The Kings were forced into a battle of half court offense and, as expected when going up against one led by Gregg Popovich, they lost that battle. While the Spurs ran an efficient and flowing offense, filled with well-timed back door cuts and off-ball relocations for open shots, the Kings… well, didn’t. With Richaun Holmes only playing 18 minutes (reasons unknown), the Kings lost their main source of action in the high ball screen and two-man game they so heavily rely on. They then resorted to one on one attempts, which were only consistently successful by De’Aaron Fox, or non-threatening drive and kicks. When they did have hard drives into the paint, they were often stunted by help side defense and a lack of flow of where the ball should go next. Players off the ball were stagnant and failed to relocate to effective spaces, eliminating any good passing angles. To end my rant, I will summarize by saying that this Kings half court offense is gross and needs to develop if they want to sustainably win in this league.
The King of Kings
As discussed earlier, De’Aaron Fox deserves the crown tonight for finding his rhythm and leading the team with 37 points and six assists. It was great to see him back to his usual scoring efficiency and I really hope this De’Aaron is here to stay.
Up Next
Friday, November 12th @ Oklahoma City Thunder – 5:00 P.M. (PT)
Pop gunned us down again!
Pop has probably forgotten more than Luke will ever learn
Damn, maybe Bagley could’ve saved us today!
Anybody but whoever played tonight…….
Courtesy of RorDawg:
stockholm syndrome
I had a certain kind of comfort watching tonights game.
SAIEW
(David Byrne)
Popovich and nobody versus Luke and his never motivated or prepared team.
It’s not the coach! Yeah right! Everyone but the homer Kings-paid talking heads can see this!
Last week I was thinking this is a below-50-percentile team. I’m now thinking this is a below-33-percentile team. The season feels effectively unsalvagable at this point. With this head “coach” and his weirdo offensive and defensive schemes, even the play-in seems out of reach. Man this team depresses me.
Im officially putting away my altar to Rico Hines and Doug Christie.
Jobu says this is a good call…
I’m so jealous to see how Wes Unseld Jr. is transforming the Wizards into a smart, passing team with consistent effort and hard-nosed defense.
I’m jealous of every other fanbase in the NBA.
Well I was able to speed through that on the DVR in about 10 mins. Getting me to bed early before the holiday. Thanks Kangz!
Although Off Night seems like a great nickname, it’s kind of a double- edged sword.
So, I guess this is progress since last year we would have lost by 40?
Sacramento Kings 2021-22: We would have lost by 40 last year!
Game was indeed butt, they shot like ass, and coached by an asshole.
5-7 actually doesn’t seem too bad, until you realize that’s a 34 win pace.
You know what? We can hold on to hope because of all the changes they’ve made to Vlade Divac’s 2019 roster.
Is this a sustainable pace?
No.
Defense, bad. Half-court offense, ugly. Aren’t those two areas where coaching makes a big difference? Surprise, surprise. Lose Walton strikes again.
It’s almost amazing that nobody who works for the Kings criticizes Walton like ever! And you get shot down if you do so on the Deuce and Mo podcast. It’s like, are you watching this shit? This coach is terrible!
I like deuce and mo, but they both collect paychecks from the Kings.
I do get a kick out the Kings running out their 3 guard lineup to a team that didn’t even play a legit center. The Spurs rolled out a smaller lineup than the Kings and whooped their asses.
Some fun facts:
1) The Spurs rolled out just 3 lottery picks against the Kings. McDermott (11th), Vassell (11th) and the ghost of Thad Young (12th)
2) The Kings rolled out 5 guys picked in the top 10 and sat one dude who was the #2 pick! . Fox (5th), Buddy (6th), Barnes (7th), TT (4th), Len (5th), Bagley (#2)
3)The Spurs are led by their end of the first round picks. Murray (29th), White (29th), Johnson (29th). Yes, their three core of the future starters were all drafted 29th.
4) Both teams have all their picks going forward. The Spurs have an additional Bulls first rounder after 2025 thanks to the DeRozan trade.
5) The current Spurs payroll is nearly $30M less than the Kings and the Spurs also currently have over $25M more in cap space this summer.
From all that…who makes the playoffs first?
Popovich clearly is the winner.
Well, when you put it that way
Damn…
Davion already picking up the bad habits of the Kings offense. Pounding the ball incessantly.
Folks still on the fence about Luke’s coaching prowess have a special skill of cognitive dissonance!
Absolutely! It’s fascinating…
Getting Fox’s value back up, hope he continues to show stat wise
Pretty happy I didn’t watch this game. Fox and Walton might lose another 9 straight.
Haven’t gotten to bust it out yet this year but it’s about time…
KAAAAANNNNNNNNGGGGGGGZZZZZZZZ!!!!
One thing that is painfully obvious and was last year as well: this team is horrendous in the half court without Tyrese Haliburton on the floor. Fox putting up big numbers while they get blown out just continues to fuel my growing speculation that he isn’t a winning player. I haven’t seen much evidence up to this point to think that we wouldn’t better off just planning for a future with Mitchell and Haliburton as our two starting guards. One guy plays defense at a high level and the other is a great facilitator. They are relatively easy to build around. Fox isn’t a great passer, shooter or defender. It’s just hard to build a winning team around him if he’s the best player. He’s just not that guy.
I’m not sure the solution to the problem of Fox being the best player (he is), is to get rid of him, and hope the team just, I don’t know, becomes good?
And remember! He’s not that guy, so I suppose you won’t get much back in return.
I’m not that guy either. Actually, as Kangz fans, none of us are that guy.
Fox is the best player?
You’re nuts just like Luke and that retired GM who will never get another NB job again!
And you’re not ok with our max player not being “that guy”, right?
I don’t recall saying anything like that.
I’m asking your opinion, that’s all.
But if Fox is the best player on a team that perpetually wins between 30-35 games, then how useful is that? He’s obviously talented but at some point if you’re the best player, your team should actually win games right?
I don’t know what Fox is worth. I would absolutely be exploring trade options which I said in the off-season as well. He might be a great second or third best player on a better team and that has a lot value. I just don’t think your team will be very good if he’s the best player.
Yeah I’m on the same wavelength as you about Fox. Perfectly said.
Totally agree. That said, I don’t really think Fox was the problem this game, but Tyrese is definitely the better player overall. If i had a choice between disposing of either Walton or Fox, I definitely keep Fox though
I’d get rid of Luke Walton immediately. That’s an easy one. He’s a terrible coach full stop. I’d start there as well.
But I do think Fox was part of the problem last night despite his numbers. His inability right now to competently run pick and roll with Richaun turns the offense into a 1 on 1 mess with no movement. He can succeed sometimes playing that way but the team generally can’t. His defense continues to be bad as well. There was more effort for about 3 games to start the year but he looks to be reverting back to same turnstile he’s been for the last 4 years.
I just look at the roster makeup and they need either more defenders or more playmakers and really they need both.
Also agree. I’m the biggest Fox stan but he has really disappointed me with his performance, and even his attitude to some extent this year. I still hold Luke more accountable because he creates the culture more than anyone else does, and I’m pretty sure we all know incompetence as your culture doesn’t win.
The inept defense is what I am most upset about with Fox. Dude has the physical tools to be a good defender, and even Buddy has been better this year than in years past in that regard. TJ McConnell schooling Fox on defense should be a huge wakeup call to him. I just don’t know what is missing besides proper instincts and habits
Without Haliburton, the product is like two years ago: not enough playmakers. Rotating Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell, the product should be much better, and for the most part that has been true this year. I agree though that a Mitchell Haliburton backcourt has more potential.
Yeah it’s not that I really believe either guy is individually better than Fox, but they fit much better together. That’s really all it is. From a roster construction stand point you can put anybody you want around those two guys. It could be a more ball dominant wing or it could be someone who’s more of a 3 and D player. There are just a lot of options.
Mitchell could run the point, but he would need a coach.
Fox may be a better 2, not a point.
Sacramento, this is your team!
Pain.
In the predictions, I thought that Dj Murray would score the most points in the fourth quarter, but halfway through the first, I was pretty sure that he wouldn’t need to be out there by the end of the game.
He’s really something, just a lot of excellent traits that seem to give him an edge is so many different ways. And of course, he could hardly be under better tutelage with Pop. He really makes the game look easy.
I feel the gap between Pop and Luke is so wide that the level of talent between the teams is almost moot. Somehow the Spurs shutdown Holmes with some dude named Drew Eubanks who is really more of an undersized 4.
The Spurs didn’t play a single guy verf 6’9″ tonight. Thad is 6’8″ and McDermott is 6’7″. Everyone else was basically a guard.
The worst part is when I saw that Poeltl was out, I thought we had to win and Holmes would pop off, but Kangz
Having another team’s best player out is a benefit for every team but the Kangz.
I’m not sure I’d call Poeltl their best player, but he is a bonified kangkiller!
Yeah, Pop as opposed to Walton is ls like Galileo explaining his theory to a fly trapped between the curtains and the window.
Every other issue with the team is secondary until Walton is gone. Cure the terminal disease, and then try to get the rest of the body healthy.
There is simply no half-court offensive scheme, other than Holmes comes out to get the ball at the arc, dribbles one way or another before handing it off to someone, at which point there are about eleven seconds on the shot clock, and the plan is, let’s see what happens!
I’d try to get a government grant to buy out Walton, but I couldn’t stand the idea of having my money in his pocket.
VD absolutely fucked us, just to have one of his Laker buddies around to yuk it up with. Seriously, take his jersey down, it’s cursed.
Monte endorsed him and kept him around.
This is now Monte’s coach.
I like some of the moves Monte has made, especially his drafting looks good at this point. But he’s been less than impressive in other aspects, and keeping Walton around is a big negative.
My guess this was at Ruindumbe’s request to save money. And yes, fuck you Vlaker Divac
Man, if they had only drafted a player three years ago that could’ve brought in a lot of revenue….
Doncic would have take the ball out of Fox’s hands and Fox would not have scored all those points last night.
Still, as Rik said, Monte owns this. He said after last season that Walton was his guy and keeping him was not a financial decision.
Yes but like Buddy said – Media Response 🙂 If Monte extends Luke’s contract then I’ll believe this narrative. I think Monte is a smart guy, and Walton should be gone by or before end of contract- 2023? What’s a couple more years of basketball hell 🙂
Setting Franchises back 1 decade 2013 – 2023, or more
Basketball reasons.
After that performance, this is going to be a weird post. I think this team is better than last year.
McNair is doing a good job, not amazing, but clearly he has an eye for talent.
Something needs to be done about the coaching. There’s no excuse for a stagnating, non moving, non cutting, poor screening, and predictable offense. It speaks to the talent of the players when the team can still score 100+ points in this set up.
To the coach’s and management’s credit, the defense is much improved. There is more energy, more active hands, more communication, and more forced turnovers. That’s a combo of players added and philosophy buy in. Kudos.
Do I think if you change the coach, the team wins 50+ games? No. So you look at the players. Our most valuable trade assets are fox, Barnes, and buddy. I would list Tyrese and davion but to me they’re the future.
I love fox. He’s a great player and future all star. If it’s possible to keep him and measurably improve the team, do it however you can. But if you can’t sign other great players to come help, then you need to be willing to trade great players to get great players.
Think about when the kings traded their best player in Mitch Richmond for a disgruntled Chris Webber. Or when the warriors traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut. Both moves didn’t make or break their teams, but they were essential moves that led to other moves that vastly improved their squads.
Do they go after Ben Simmons or Pascal Siakam or Damian Lillard? I don’t know. But those kinds of names become available only when Fox’s name is in the picture.
Otherwise we wait until the end of the year, maybe we get the 7 or 8 seed, maybe we won’t. Anyone willing to bet their car this team can beat the suns or jazz in a 7 game series? By then we basically are just hoping McNair can keep working his magic in the draft, which ultimately is just a crap shoot.
I don’t know what happens behind the scenes or what kinds of politics play into the system, but I think it’s time to start looking at the harder choices available to the team. It just may be their way out of basketball hell.
Once again I want to know
Where is our saviour, Louis King ?
He can definitely help in these kind of situation.
Put Metu, Ramsey. King, Mitchell ,Jones in the starting five .
Won’t help if Walton is the coach.
What will the Kings record be on this 4-game road trip? I say 1-3. I think Hali will come back and get the Kings at least one win.
It is too bad Metu cannot get us more rebounds and stops because he is a poor mans Jaren Jackson Jr with that three ball of his. Actually he has a better three ball than Jackson Jr.
It would be SO easy to move Metu into that starting role over Scoreless, and I would have done so from the start, if Metu was just a little more attentive to the dirty work aspects of the game. Get those boards, move your feet, stop fouling and 20 MPG can be yours!
I am sure most fans missed this so I will reiterate: We are NOT running a true spread offense with Scoreless as a stretch forward because opponents do not respect him or his shot. They are cheating off him to crowd the lane. And perhaps that should factor into the coach decision to try to unleash his best player in Fox.
If you are ascribe to the theory that as our best player goes so goes the team, then you may want to create conditions for Fox to thrive, and Scoreless does NO favors for Fox. And the same can be said for Buddy as his backcourt running mate. He cannot be trusted to handle the rock so Fox can play off the ball.
Why for Heaven’s Sake does this coach put Buddy back in as a starter with the injuries to TD and Ty? You found something that worked, Buddy as sniper off the bench, 60% TS%, and you abandon it so readily, why, because you are so immune and adverse to starting a rookie? It is bad coaching and not knowing your personnel.
At the same time, I applaud this coach for burying Marvin in the rotation. It is beautful ! And I also applaud Marvin for when he was called into the game to say “nah I am good”. Good for him! I said this relationship had run its course at the end of last year, no way he would play another game in SAC, and with the exception of 7 minute run in which he got abused and targeted defensively, that has been the case.
Fox looked to be moving a little better this game. This is only the 3rd time in 12 games he has made 50% of his shots. He still mised a couple of shots at the rim he can tend to make and he would have had a 40 point game. 37 points looked easy for him , it looked very easy, and you cannot say this about anyone else on our team, so you cannot simply discredit this elite skill.
Davion had his first bad game as a pro, he was not a factor defensively. Buddy was terrible for 3 quarters, just like he was so many games last year. The difference this year is when he is scattered and maniacal we have alternatives, where the coach can chose to sit him in favor of TD and Ty.
If you do not have a tight leash on Buddy, you are screwed. Buddy got benched after three rushed shots vs the Pelicans early in the 4th and the score was 92-21. We subsequently went on a 14-0 run and cruised to the win. That game was RIPE to lost if Buddy stayed on the floor.
Last night was another example, like the IND game, where we seemed to be out physicaled and bullied. And this is another case in which I would like to see Len brought into the game, slide Holmes to four, and shut down the parade to the basket. And because SAN was so hot from deep, you can funnel the shooters towards the help and the second line of defense.
I do not know if it would work but you are getting such spotty ghost like performance from Harkless there is no reason to be tethered to him, like CoJo of last season, unless you want to carve out your own grave.
By inserting Metu into starting lineup can
1) improve the rebounding
2) give a little scoring
3) Spreading the floor a bit
4) Good motor
5) I LOVE METU
I agree that it’s time to try something different after these awful three games.
I would be pleased to see some lineup change, i.e., Louis King and Metu in rotation
Did Bagley refuse to play?
Dude I just want to say that you have lightened your tone a bit, and I really look forward to your long ass posts now. Seriously.
We’re going to lose to OKC, aren’t we? A collection of assets with no real game plan to build a team and we’re going to get beat by them tomorrow.
Badge Legend