The Kings entered the valley and found nothing but shadows and death. The Suns got the jump early, leading by as much as 16 points in the first quarter. The Kings did that thing where they made a run in the second quarter and cut that deficit to just two points, causing you to peek back through the fingers that were covering your eyes in shame. But the second half was all Phoenix. The Suns pulled away again quickly and the Kings showed an uninspiring response by trailing by double digits for the rest of the game. This loss puts the Kings back at .500 and pushes the Suns further on their heels in the race to the play-in.
Quick Stats
Sacramento Kings: 49.4% 25.0% 3 pt, 90.0% ft, 25 ast, 40 reb, 19 to
Phoenix Suns: 51.9% 55.8% 3 pt, 84.2% ft, 33 ast, 34 reb, 14 to
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
1. Early Bright Spots: The Kings were able to put a run together in the second quarter to put them down by just five points heading into the half. At that point, they were led by Keegan Murray’s 14 points and 12 more from Malik Monk. Though every Kings fan was screaming at their TV to see Zach LaVine get more looks after only taking four field goals in the half, this left runway for Murray and Monk to find some rhythm. Murray was 6-10 at that point, and Monk found some open midrange floaters off of pick and roll actions. This early aggression gave me hope that finding their rhythm early would allow a more cohesive offense to develop later in the game with their teammates. My thinking was that DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine both have the ability to jump in and get on a heater whenever they want, much more easily than Murray and Monk. All they had to do was slide into the momentum that Murray and Monk started, right? Spoiler alert: wrong. Here I am, once again, admitting that I am just another idiot with an internet connection.
The Bad:
1. Disconnected Pieces: Instead of fitting together into a dynamic scoring offense as I had hoped for, the Kings showcased just how disjointed this roster is. Remember Keegan Murray’s 14 points from the first half? Those were the last he would score for the rest of the game. Malik Monk added six more points, but finished with an inefficient 8-18 from the field and an abysmal 0-8 from the 3-point line. DeMar DeRozan ended up being the Kings’ best shooter on the night, leading with 23 points on 3-5 from the 3-point line, but never felt imposing. Zach LaVine took nine more attempts in the second half, converting 21 points on 7-13 from the field. It all just felt so disconnected. This offense lacks a noticeable chemistry, often just relying on random runs from individual efforts.
The Ugly:
1. Rain in the Desert: I fear I have run out of ways to describe how bad the Kings are on defense. So let’s just look at the numbers from tonight. The Suns enjoyed 43 attempts from the 3-point line and connected on 24 of them. That’s 72 points on 55.8%, which is a better percentage than their overall field goal percentage on the night. Tyus Jones was a perfect 6-6 from deep off the bench. Kevin Durant (22 points), Devin Booker (22 points), and Bradley Beal (15 points) all hit four a piece. Despite how poorly they have defended all year, somehow, tonight just felt like a new low.
The King of Kings
Domantas Sabonis logged a quiet triple double of 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. No matter what, even when he gets stiff armed in the neck, he can be relied upon to work his ass off every night.
Up Next
Monday, March 17th vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
We’re officially back in basketball hell.
All losses are bad, but you know the worst thing? These games aren’t even fun to watch. 2 & 1/2 hours is a meaningful amount of leisure time, and spending that watching suck ass basketball stinks.
Due to my schedule and life stuff, I almost always watch games on time delay and occassionally skip the losses (especially the bad ones). Now I find myself even skipping the wins. Bad basketball, stuck in purgatory, missed out on a good draft for nothing, oblivious ownership, no end in sight.
Same here Henry. I usually go back and watch due to my schedule but I haven’t watched a game in a few weeks. I watched the Warriors game post all star break and realized we were toast.
Their insistence on starting Monk over Keon is so stupid that I can’t watch this clown show anymore. This honest and is going to get UGLY when the losses continue to pile up.
Makes no sense. I’ve said this before but the Monk-Lavine-DDR trio is probably the worst defensive 1-2-3 in the NBA. And it’s not like we have shot blocker at 5 to compensate.
Hey at least this is all giving me time to catch up on shows.
Agreed! I’ve also said the organization is tanking by starting those three. Not sure whose decision it is to start them. I’d let Doug Christie choose the starters.
Kings should target Malcolm Brogdon in the off-season. I’d like to see a starting line-up with Brogdon, Neon Keon, Murray and Domas.
I try to sleep better so I rarely see games live due to the time difference.
I often watch the All Possessions option on LP which is about 40 minutes.
Lately I’ve been fast forwarding through them and occasionally just watching the 10 minutes recap. Better for my sanity.
That seems like a good option, might try that. I want to start getting into some of the other teams in anticipation of the playoffs, so that will help there too.
I’d love to see an OKC-CLE finals.
I think I’m routing for this. Unless the Kings can become champs of the play-in, beat OKC and then give us a championship parade of course.
You still watch the games? Lol
Totally agree. I’ve been finding myself only half watching and bored most of the time. This brand of basketball just sucks.
I stopped watching a few games ago. It’s just bad basketball, and that’s without mentioning the increasing number of stoppages for challenge calls. The game inturruptions are getting quite ridiculous and unbearable watch anymore.
For the first time this year watching the game with my wife found myself switching channels after the first quarter. As much as I love the Kings there is no reason to watch a whole game and lose sleep over it. No 3 point defense what so ever. As and old coach I just don’t understand why a professional basketball player can’t close out on a player shooting a 3. No defense what so ever. Just terrible.
Turnovers just killed us and this is now the habit this team does and they again are professional basketball players. It seems to me they either don’t care or behind the scenes they are truly tanking.
This team either won’t or can’t shoot threes. This has been going on ALL year. You have a player making over 40 million dollars and shooting over 40% from three and shoots only 13 times last night . What about the game before. 7 times. Just terrible. Murray scores 14 in the first half. Takes 2 shoots the second half. Why?
We have a team disconnected and this next year even looks worse. A team that can’t or won’t play together. What happened to our
pace game. Now we play slow basketball and play iso ball. Especially Derozan and Lavine. Monk is not a point quard. If he goes to the bench then he will pout because he always wanted to start. His ego won’t let that happen but in fairness who is going to take his place.
Who is to blame. If you say Doug Christie you are wrong. It’s the front office and the buck really stops there. Vivek is the owner and meddles too much in what Monte and Wes should be doing. He should give them FULL control and stay out of the way. But he can’t and that is a big part of why this organization sucks. Monte and Wes need to be held accountable also. They have made some bad decisions especially this year.
I don’t have the solution and I don’t know who does. Big and IMO BIG things need to change. I thing Sabonis will want out. Both Monk and in a less tier Carter should go. I don’t think Lyles has much value ( he is on a contract for only this year) I would keep Murray, Ellis, JV, LaRavia and Lavine and probably DDR as nobody wants to trade for him. I could see him coming off the bench if his ego doesn’t get in the way. My trades would be Sabonis for Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones. Monk and Carter for either Myles Turner or Jacok Poelti. I really like Kel-el Ware but so does the Heat. If possible Lyles and a first for Anthony Black. These are hypothetical but we just need to start somewhere. GO KINGS!
So true. There isn’t even much fun in the wins.
The players even play like they want to get the hell outta here. That the organization is a mess. Because it is. They are demotivated
Remember the reports that Domas will ask what the direction is after the season?
What answer will convince him to say “Hell, yeah! Let’s go, Monte.“?
Blow. It. Up.
We’ve been calling to blow it up since last offseason. It’s so obvious. Yet most are in denial for some odd reason.
I wanted them to blow up when Vivek bought the team.
Yes. And in article/blurb it mentioned other players talking about the “chaos” of the organization.
House of cards
Back?
Did we actually ever leave?
It felt like groundhog day all over again
Looking at the schedule, they play Chicago on a back to back but will they be favored against anyone else this month? They could easily lose like 11 of 12. What’s going to suck is when they make the 10 seed with 38 wins. Ooof.
Man, it is hard to envision a path to relevance for this team.
Nope we’re officially in purgatory now. Hard to see it being any better next year either. There is NO path to this team doing anything.
Vivek hiring another yes man Gm and rolling it back . It only makes sense. I would prefer they lose out and get a Top 10 pick.
Correct, unless somehow Vivek sells
or backs off.
I believe the only way that could happen (it’s unlikely) is for the Kings to get so horrible fans actually stop going. They actually start voicing displeasure for Vivek and putting pressure. Not allowing this dickhead to continue in any comfort.
It’s a lone shot but probably the only shot.
It’s why losing is actually to lone hope for this team. And losing a ton.
I don’t understand why the local media doesn’t grow a pair and just flame these clowns everyday. I’d tell fans not to waste their money. It’s like enabling an addict at this point. Every penny given to Vivek just convinces him he’s right.
Right. This media doesn’t attack like in other markets. Maybe it’ll get to that. Everyone has to be on the owners case in order for any movement- if there is any.
Yep. I’ve never understood it. They all acknowledge it’s an ownership problem but why not go into detail about exactly what the problem is? Who the hell cares at this point?
It’s not even a matter of attack. Just as pertinent questions. But as long as Ranadive & co. control the only game in town, they have the power to control the local media through threats of access.
Right. Wonder if Dan protest/not showing could move the needle. Doubtful
Because 1) almost all of them are effectively beholden to the organization in one way or another (for access) 2) they probably believe, correctly, that making fans angry at the team is bad for their ratings in the long run.
I don’t know, the media making their viewers angry works for a full half of the population these days, and is quite profitable.
I still think there is a large group of fans that just happy to have a team, even when they suck. So any “negativity” from media isn’t taken well.
I like journalists/media members to be honest about the product. Then people can feel how they want about the information.
Are people not already pretty angry? I don’t know one Kings fan who is happy with the state of things for this organization. People seem pretty pissed off to me. For the first time ever I hear casual fans wondering what the deal is with our ownership. Feels like the tide is turning after completely screwing up the beam team momentum.
We lose out this season and keep our pick. We get the #1 pick! With that pick?
Jase Richardson, pg, msu
I clearly see an 10 lane highway to irrelevance.
Fire Christie and hire Mike Brown!
At this point just name Anjali the GM and Lamb coach and go full side show. It wouldn’t be more unserious than this organization already is.
Fire Christie & hire Kayte!
She would talk too much during timeouts and get a delay of game penalty!
I know you jest, but would it surprise anyone if she was an assistant next season?
You jest but why not. She knows more basketball than any of us here. She just can say so much because of the position she’s in.
It’s the job of the color analyst to provide insight to how the team the is playing, and what’s working and not working. Critical or not, that’s what the position is all about. If the ownership group can’t stomach that, then they need to wake up and fix the problems with the product on the court. Plain and simple.
I agree fully.
Constant talking isn’t knowledge or even good TV viewing .
And then bring back Vlade- he’s already around
Bring back the courtside vomit guy!
..
Vomit on Vlade! I need the shirt Kings Herald
NO WAY! This isn’t Doug’s fault.
This is such an underrated comment.
Ok honest question. How can Vivek be so bad at this? What’s going on here? Is the whole goal to get some round 1 playoff revenue? Is that the end game? I just don’t get it. You could literally ask any fan to run the team and it would be better than what Vivek has “accomplished” during his tenure here.
As already mentioned, the goal appears to be profiting from a fan base that will accept anything and franchise value appreciation. But you’d think Vivek would be an absent owner if this is true.
Yes. And Vivek’s problem has always been his ego. Ridiculously distortingly large. He’s an ego idiot.
I don’t understand why fans still go to games. There needs to be a mass boycott against Vivek and his pocket book.
NBA playoff teams. They not like us.
We don’t like us, either
They definitely are not!
It’s either a) he’s extremely dumb/ignorant b) extremely callous/greedy, or c) it’s extreme pride/hubris. One or some combination of the three.
At this point, he cannot be that dumb/ignorant. There really is no way he looks at other teams that have lapped around the Kings and not undestand what they have done vs. what he is doing by way of team building. I mean, the Spurs (a very well-run org) just shut down Fox in order to rack up more losses and get him ready for next year. It’s Fox.. so he sees that right? He must at least follow some of the other teams?
He might be somewhat callous/greedy, but not sure if that quite fits with what we know about him in other respects, and as oshima mentioned above he would be more of a cheap/absent owner than what we see.
So that leaves extreme hubris in thinking that his way of perpetual short-term fixes will at some point magically yeild results despite 12 years of evidence to the contrary. Which aligns with arrogant and dimissive little chap.
I think this probably right. I may throw a little more credence to the callous/greedy point just given us dumping picks for cash considerations so often but I think it’s mostly just arrogance. Which begs the question: does he just have no shame? He has to realize everyone thinks he’s a clown right?
EGO. -dillusional
It’s why he surrounds himself with sycophants.
I think he knows people think he’s a clown, but doesn’t believe them. To many yes men can do that to a lot of people. Here’s the problem we know he is a clown, but he won’t listen to us because we are just fans. Not necessarily a bad thing unless the fans have a similar popular view. The owners know he’s a clown show, but they snicker when he walks out of the room because heck why would you help out the competition?
Wasn’t he one of the first owners to send the employees on furlough during the pandemic.
I think he is cheap and greedy, I think he gives lip service to caring for the community but while I don’t think he’s Sterling evil, I don’t think he’s a good guy either.
And that he’s actively cooperating with the A’s owner speaks volumes, IMO.
Well said, Rick. I good insight to his character is what he also does away from the Kings.
Absolutely. He’s the typical billionaire shithead taking over every industry (country).
It’s all about shareholders/value of club…$$$. Everything and everyone else can fuck all the way off…..it’s gross
B) little to no evidence of greediness. C) great Petrie quote, we knew this pretty early, but just hoped he would learn from it and humble himself which leads to….. A) are we sure he’s smart? He lets his impulses make his decisions which mature adults just don’t do. I think society gives way too much of a pass to wealthy people. You don’t have to be super smart to become wealthy. The smart move would be to step out of the way with stuff you don’t know and be smart in hiring the people that do and let them do their job. I’ve been gone for awhile because I just didn’t understand the fans who support the short term gains. Especially now living in OKC the model is so freaking clear for a small market. I do think monte is a good gm as well, but you know Wilcox (nothing special) and Jeremy lamb are running the show so you know. Long story short when you see multiple teams sell off their assets, load up on picks and become relevant (okc, Houston, Memphis, Detroit, Portland on the rise) and the blueprint obvious, then the question arises is he smart?
I know when the relocation stuff was happening, the Kings had a large number of ownership groups involved in this conglomeration of millionaires to make a bid to be part of the Kings.
Is that still the case? Is there any other professional sports team (Packers don’t count) that is owned in this way?
Vivek bought out a bunch of the original minority owners a few years ago. Among them was Mark Mastrov, Kevin Nagle, Mark Friedman and others.
When he first took over the team, I remember him saying at a conference that he doesn’t believe in tanking. That seems to hold true as his teams constantly chase the 8th seed or play-in, keeping them in a state of purgatory. It doesn’t seem like that mindset has ever changed.
And here we are, 12 years later, stuck in the same spot.
He also said he wanted to bring the Monarchs back, IIRC.
Did absolutely nothing in that direction.
WNBA is profit loss. Vivek doesn’t ha e the capital to hemorrhage that kind of cash. Hell, he relies on revenue sharing to pay former coaches on the payroll still.
From what I heard, that has more to do with one of the minority owners having a share with the Portland WNBA expansion team, thus conflict of interest. Regardless I’m salty that golden state, Toronto, and Portland are getting expansion teams before Sac and Houston
Interesting, I had forgotten about that. It certainly seems to be the case regardless of how short sighted it may be.
I see about 2 wins max in this 7 game home stand. Even then, the Kings still make the play in. As Dallas looks like they are shutting down Ad and Lively.
Unless the Blazers go on some 7 game winning streak. It looks like Suns Kings play in.
It’s going to be a long and painful 30 days.
I am hoping in my sick mind. The offseason has to be some huge changes. New GM, Coach, etc. I am afraid any decent GM candidates will be filtered out quickly. The ones that tell Vivek: “You need to blow this shitz up.” Vivek will be looking for another Yes man. Who thinks this current roster can actually win and be a contender. But I won’t be surprised if they do much of anything.
It’s numbing as a fan. You actually have an owner who can care less about building a culture, starting from the ground up and building a young team. Sure it will take 2-3 years. But a Kings team full of young prospects and picks. That’s a team I can get behind.
This rag tag deck chair Chicago West vision is insufferable.
It’s terrible basketball. The players are starting to tune out. Watch the game tonite for evidence of that.
There is not a single player on this team that is untouchable. Not a one. That includes Carter, Monk and even Ellis. Not One of them would be a foundational piece on a serious team.
As an aside, I can’t stand Lavine. A 50 million dollar heist. His lack of effort on both sides of the ball is really awful to watch. Sure, he can score when he feels like it. His lack of defensive is hideously bad. Next level bad. Stat filler. That’s all he is. And all he will ever be.
It’s really difficult to watch this team. The next 2 weeks will be even worse.
I agree with everything you said. EXCEPT… there’s no fucking way they win 2 of the next 7. I’d be shocked. Losing to the bulls with half their former team will be the nail in the coffin.
Huerter goes for 30
I know +/- is flawed yadda yadda, but just for fun, Lavine’s last three games:
vs Suns minus-21
vs W’s minus-34
vs NYK minus-31
Only MM is dumb enough to trade for Lavine and his contract. The fact that so many commenters were defending that trade return is wild. Let our best asset go for an empty calories player making $50 mill a year.
I’ll defend monte, he had no leverage. Leverage is always king, no pun intended, in negotiations. Vivek took it all away by firing brown. Is firing brown wrong, no but you gave him an extension so yes it was. Vivek isn’t a leader, lacks vision and doesn’t understand what it takes to build a winner. Fox we can say what we want, but how can you blame him for wanting to leave going through all these coaches? It’s a clear sign you don’t have a direction as an organization. So that leads to McNair who now has his hands tied has to make a decision because you can only trade to 1 team. Ok you can trade to all the teams, but from we know fox only wanted to go to 1 team and made it clear he would only extend with that team. If you are all the other teams why would you give up much of anything? So that leaves the spurs you’ve got so little leverage to ask for much because of your owners previous move. They may have been able to get more, but if I’m the spurs why would I give up more if the kings don’t have many options? To make salaries work Lavine comes in, who was playing well and does have value with the right team just that contract is outrageous. The bulls have shopped him for years and it’s very telling when they would give him up for just their protections taking off. His value with contract just wasn’t there, you don’t have the leverage to add a castle, and the spurs don’t have to give up much because Lavine is added. They maybe could’ve gotten better pick options, but again maybe you couldn’t because the spurs have all the LEVERAGE. I look back to a lot of Monte’s previous moves and find all the flips to get enough to grab sabonis. Haliburton was always the obvious better guy to keep, but with your owner pushing win now you are trying to gm with 1 hand constantly tied behind your back. I think monte would be amazing at a full reboot because overall he has a pretty good draft history. Carter bad draft I can see BPA, and it’s clear he would’ve loved to move off the pick, haliburton great pick, Murray solid pick missed on Jalen Williams and you can say Daniel’s or mathurin, but those were projects which didn’t line up with what Vivek wants(tied hands), Mitchell was a miss I wanted sengun and Jalen Johnson would be better no gm bats 1000%. Those are his picks and I think that’s a good track record. The problem is Vivek and his mandate I think monte has done a stellar job with what he’s allowed to do, but when your owner lacks any vision besides how do I improve today instead of how do I build a championship team over time what can even Sam presto do? No good gm worth their salt or coach would come to this dumpster fire. We are stuck with coaches who will take any job which means they suck or a young guy who can be good, but no team will give him an opportunity to be our next coach. Best move is a new owner and think god the team can’t be moved for many years so as fans you have the option to boycott. Only good move is to try to get Vivek to sell the team and pray we get a good owner. Wish it were better, but it starts at the top a bad owner you really can never get good because even if you get lucky you will mess it up! Look at Dallas right now.
Holy paragraph break, Batman.
A Wall of Words. Samwell Tarley would love it.
lol, well I just went for it. Content is spot on, but next time I’ll go for the grammatically correct. Who knows if I do that, maybe Vivek will finally get past his ego and become a good owner. I Think truly a better chance of becoming a billionaire and buying the team.
Sorry if this has been asked, but just need clarification because I tried to search it online but couldn’t find it. The pick that we talk about keeping is from the Kevin Huerter trade in 2022, right? What number is it protected, and if we don’t convey this year, will the protections carry over next season?
Correct, the Huerter trade. Top-12 protected this year. Top-10 protected in 2026. If it still hasn’t conveyed next year, it becomes two second-rounders.
Thanks!
This is so fucking pathetic. Burn it down.
I am eagerly anticipating the dismissal of the entire front office.
Once again, the empire collapsed. Long live the kings.
Won’t fix anything with this owner.
Will just hire another puppet . Pete D. , Vlade , Monte . All 3rd string candidates that needed jobs .
Yep, the GM job comes with strings attached.
Malik Monk retuned from toe injury in the Knicks game – his shooting from 3 point land was an okay 3/8.
The last two games – 0/5 GSW then 0/8 PHX. 0/13 yesterday and today combined.for 3/21 for 3 games. And at least one bad alley-oop (last game. I haven’t watched this game yet).
Those 3 games: 14 assists, 10 turnovers.
Played 42 minutes in this game.
He keeps looking for his offense, his points, and not the team. This is not a point guard.
What happened with Plumlee and Sabonis?
Monk is a good 6th man. He has that mentality to come in and go get some buckets. As a starter, with this group, it’s detrimental.
Upon his return from injury, they have been down big in the 1st quarter 3 games in a row. The issue since he became a starter was too many players, not enough shots. That is still the case.
Pretty much all of this. Well said.
I’m trying to be in this state of mind.
Hopelessness is my only hope!
Ignorance & Apathy
I don’t know and I don’t care
Regarding the top 12 protected pick:
If the Kings finish in 14th place overall in the standings (like they are now), that gives them a 2.4% chance at the pick jumping to the top 3.
Does anyone know if this means the pick then stays with Sacramento?
The status of the pick is decided by the actual lottery, not by the lottery chances, unless I am completely mistaken.
So in what place they finish is not relevant, but in what place they’ll have the draft pick. If they have any pick from 1 to 12, the pick stays with Sacramento.
You, sir, are correct.
I had good expectations after the trade with the bench depth and adding the efficient LaVine. The team just doesn’t work though. The offense…it seems like DDR, Lavine, and Monk don’t want the others to do well, so they just do it to get their stats.
Defensively, been a mess most of the season, especially defending the 3.
Now, I just want it all to be over and get ready for the offseason drama that is the Kangz organization. At least that is entertaining.
Actually, DDR has a recent uptick in assists and LaVine seems to defer too much.
Monk seems to be a hot mess, though, especially with the shooting from distance and turnovers.
Lots of hero ball and/or selfish play from Monk. Trying to do too much.
Lavine needs 25-30 shots a night. Run a 2-3/1-3-1 zone.
15-20 on average, with more when he is feeling it. Isn’t that why they got him? To make shots?
He does, then for some reason other players believe it’s their turn, when that’s simply not the case. Zach appears to be an efficient shooter/scorer. Run some easy screens because anything outside of simple is too complicated for this team understand. Find him on offense like GS does Steph. Lavine would need to exert a little more energy. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Run an easy defensive scheme (2-3/1-3-1) because we are getting cooked and it’s embarrassing.
Monk said he needed to get his teammates more involved and become a distributor more often when he returned from injury. He has taken 49 shots in those last 3 games!
By comparison, LaVine has 29 (and has been more efficient). LaVine was brought in to be an efficient, high volume shooter, above all else. He needs to have more shots when he is out there, because he doesn’t bring much else.
I don’t think those two play well with each other. Rarely do they pass to each other. Monk runs the 2-man game with Domas, and Lavine just sorta ISOs for his shots or relocates for spot up 3s.
It doesn’t work, offensively or defensively, very well.
I also saw this on Bluesky (hope the link works):
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, after his buddy Fox left and fired shots at the org.
The view of Lavine was that he was a chucker. But Monk is the obvious chucker.
I want them to somehow acquire a SF to replace DDR that is a good defender and distributor, in the mold of Scottie Barnes (obviously they can’t get a player of his caliber), and start him with Ellis and LaVine.
If Monk is a problem, he can go. See what Carter gives in that 6 man role and try to build some synergy. It’s just a mess of players that don’t seem to like each other right now.
Just hypothetical but trade Sabonis to the Pels for Deyounte Murray and Herb Jones. Trade Monk and Carter for either Myles Turner or Jakob Poelti. Try and get Anthony Black as backup point guard. Include a first if we have to. Starters: Murray, Lavine, Jones, Murray, Turner or Poelti. Backups: Black, Ellis, DDR, LaRavia and JV. Now you have shooters AND defenders. Team also becomes younger except DDR.
I’m going to be keeping an eye on Denver this summer, especially if they flame out early in the playoffs. They are totally capped out and will be a multi-year tax team. They’ve already hinted at not wanting to spent too much by letting KCP walk for nothing. I feel they are going to move one of Gordon, Murray, or Porter Jr. for tax relief. I’d also love to poach Payton Watson from them. He reminds me a Keon Ellis version of a wing.
A classic Sacramento story…
It doesn’t matter, it won’t make anyone feel better.
Ironically Monk is not the problem he’s just pissed about how his friend convinced him to take a pay cut to stay on the sinking ship he got off of.
He’s also been super vocal on the fact that he’s not a point guard.
This core is going nowhere fast.
The Fox trade should have been for picks and young players only, not $50 mill for a losing player.
The best case scenario moving forward as I see it is this, and this scenario takes control out of the hands of the FO a bit:
We lose out enough to retain our first round pick.
Domas requests a trade in the offseason which by default would usher in a rebuild. So, you trade Domas, Deebo, MM and you hope someone is willing to take Lavine for expirings. Rebuild around KM, DC and Keon and go from there.
At the end of the day, you’re never winning anything with Domas, Deebo and Lavine as your core, their lack of playoff success speaks for itself.
And Fk Vivek.
Wait, wait, wait…you’re telling that they should build around good defensive players??? Hahaha haha. That’ll never happen (even though it is probably the best way, imo)
A team the kings front office should try to emulate is the Blazers. I love what they are doing. They are exciting ton watch, tons of chemistry, play for each other, play hard every night. They have a real model of winning sustainability moving forward.
I think the Blazers going to be special. Billups probably won’t be there next year.
They probably need to trade and move Simons, Grant and Ayton. As they are redundant.
But Scoot will be an All Star next Year. Man has turned the corner. A good possibility Sharpe will be too in the future.
Team has developed Deni Adiva into a really good player.
They are also loaded with so many young good players. Clingan,, Camara, Banton,Walker,etc.
It’s called get assets, see if they work or develop and if fits great if not well you’ve developed an asset for either picks or another trade to improve. Bad teams should just do this. There is also the option where you can have a bunch of cap space to absorb somebody’s bad contract and get picks like okc. With the current CBA it’s very beneficial to have this option. Washington sucks, but clearing up this cap space and now having multiple picks that will be awesome, they can become the next Houston or Detroit in 2-3 years. Detroit kept losing lotteries, but kept collecting still high picks and over time they just accrued so much talent that now they are an up and comer. I don’t think either are championship rosters as currently constructed in the next few years, but they will have options to improve or at worst get to a 2nd round. That’s far better and more fun then what we are experiencing.
Detroit got a no. 1, as well . Cade C .
Blazers much improved in year 3 of rebuild but are probably another 3 years away from being as good as the team that was dismantled .
It’s pretty depressing to think that no matter how bad the Kings may finish off the season, they are very likely to stumble their way into the play-in and lose their pick thanks to the absolute implosion of the Mavs.
I can totally see the Suns catching the Kings and Sac edging out Dallas for the 10th spot. They will then have to travel to PHX for another ass whooping and call it a season. They’ll finish 13th in the lottery and we will have to hang on to 1.4% chance that they can jump into the top 4 to keep their pick.
Nice arena th….oh fuck it, the prices are too high and the leg room is shit.
I remember back at the old website, your signature for a long time was “Relax and patience.” At some point during the dysfunction (I think it was the Karl-Cousins season), you changed it to “Blow this shit up” or something, lol.
I’ve stopped watching games consistently so I don’t have much to say about this game in particular.
1) I cannot believe we made the same mistake with Devin Carter that we made with Davion Mitchell. “NBA-ready” player who is underskilled and can’t make shots in the NBA. He looks awful and needs to rebuild his shot from scratch. Not really what I’m looking for when drafting a 22 year old.
2) We cannot have 4 SGs in a 9 man rotation.
3) Sabonis is going to make noise this offseason, bank on it.
Thats why I’ve tuned out, most of the “names” are gone this summer and a few have already let it be known privately they need to go.
Lavine is ours until he hits free agency he’s an asset no one wants or needs.
And this is where I begin to wonder if this is the “plan.” Feign efforts to compete, but trade out of upper talent before their 3rd, max level deals. Never truly, truly invest in the roster. Just keep swapping out misfit toys while trying to create the illusion of competing.
At this rate, Sabonis will want out before his next deal. No top 25 player is coming here via the FA route, and the org. manages to fuck up even when they catch lightning in a bottle (the botched picks of ‘17 & ‘18).
Can anyone paint a reasonably likely scenario in which the Sacramento Kings are even a 2nd round playoff team under this ownership?
I was theorizing this scenario the other day. Remaining mediocre might be extremely profitable in today’s NBA. You are not bad enough to warrant empty seats and the hight priced lottery picks of a rebuild, but not good enough to justify spending to compete. You fly under the radar and just dog paddle through each season while lining your pockets.
I agree with both of you. Was wondering if the organization really wanted to resign Fox before he was traded.
The “offers” they made him were perfunctory; he had no reason to sign an extension this season, knowing he was almost assured of a better deal just by playing out the season.
The Bulls have been on that treadmill for years and the Kings seem to be doing the exact same thing.
I really don’t think they are intentionally not spending. If they are it’s probably to offset the amount of people still on the payroll that they have fired or let go and still owe.
Player salaries on this team are a lot. They just produce like others that are paid the same amount. With the addition of Lavine you can really see the disparity.
I think there is something to this but what I can’t square is if Vivek only cares about laughing his way to the bank then he should just count his pennies and stay out of it. Instead he has his grubby fingerprints all over almost every little basketball move. He owns a very expensive toy and clearly loves playing with it.
I truly worry about #3. If Sabonis were to ask out, it’s game over. I really like Domas as a person and a player. I feel if he was given the proper supporting cast he could go down as the greatest Sac King ever. Monte is currently waisting the best years of his career.
It’s pretty sad if domas went down as the best king ever.
It’s amazing how the org. Thanos’d its team.
You had your PG, C, a capable 3-4, a super 6th man plus additional G depth. You just needed to marginally improve your 3-4 depth and your end of bench. The easier part of a roster build.
Amazing. Not surprising, but amazing.
Fox, Ellis, Barnes, murray, sabonis start.
Monk, laravia, Jonas as the main bench guys…
The team would have been more balanced, less egos, and defined roles.
Sometimes I think had the Kings just simply retained Barnes and “rolled it back” once again, this team might be better off today. Keon could have been starting next to Fox, Monk and Huerter off the bench, and Keegan and Barnes at the wings. that crew for the past 2 years was better than the current .500 team, and not completely capped out either. Things went sideways when they swung for DDR in free agency.
Or if the rumored Collins trade in the offseason would have happened. But apparently Brown didn’t like the guy…you know, the coach they didn’t want to retain, wanted him to fire Triano or Loucks, then fired him a few months later…yeah, that guy had a voice in the room in personnel decisions.
Better yes, but then the argument would go this clearly isn’t working to get us to the next level. Still would’ve been on the mediocre train. All roads always led to this when the team tried to quick build instead of full, methodical rebuild.
My feeling is that Brown was maxed out, ability-, egomanagement- and strategy-wise. He was too inflexible to deal with the adjustments other teams made and much too beholden to certain players. It was bound to go sideweays at some point anyway, IMO. Especially since Monte and Brown weren’t really on the same page.
The wing is the hardest spot to fill in the current nba. The core never had a high ceiling anyways. Could that core ever beat okc, Denver, Minnesota, LA Lakers or even Memphis in a series. We were a 3 seed in a really down year in the west. The reality is this team was always a 6-10 team that would need the opposition to have a big injury to ever advance.
The only positive spin I can think of here is that Christie seems like he’d be a great coach/mentor for a really young and unproven team, so if the org finally “blows it up” they already have a decent coach in place to manage Phase 1 of a full teardown/rebuild. Christie doesn’t have the X’s and O’s expertise yet to direct a contender full of veterans, but his skill set is perfectly tailored to lead a squad of young guns. Blow. It. Up.
If there is a silver lining, I 100% agree! Christie is the perfect guy to take a young rebuilding team and establish a culture/ identity of an organization.
Me: Hey Siri…when will the Kings win a championship?
Siri: Hahahahahahaha
Even AI develops emtotion mocking us.
The last 2 comments completely and utterly contradict the ethos of a rebuild.
Christie was a 5th Assistant that was promoted to interim.
He has shown zero background or where with all when it comes to young players.
Look not further than Keon Ellis.
What proof or what evidence do you have to support your point.
The perfect coach to lead a young team?
Christie’s early success was primarily predicated on beating injured teams and hanging a few more w’s with Fox in the lineup
Post Fox, he has a losing record. I can guarantee this upcoming homestand is not going to be kind to Christie either.
A blow up in definition. Is the new Gm picking his guys and his staff.
Not, taking the job based upon n requirements that he has to elevate Christie as head coach.
Whet’s the F’in point of bringing in a New GM and telling him what he can and cannot do with the staff.
This is the BS the Kings have been dealing with this whole Vivek era.
So.. you actually think some up and coming GM is actually going to be interested in that? Lol!!
The Kings success of over 20 years ago is a curse. The organization needs an infusion. Not dried up blood from decades ago
How is that working for you?. I still see that chain smoking loser sitting in the Sidelines during games. Set back this franchise a decade.
So,
let’s continue with the old guard of promoting ex Kings players. Who are not qualified.’
Makes complete sense.
First the Spurs, and now the Nets. The bottom teams are shutting down their stars becuae they know the value of this year’s lottery picks. Meanwhile, the Kings are rolling out Sabonis, who is obviously not 100% and could very well injure his hamstring further.
But we’re competing Adam! Seriously though, any competent organization would be tanking the rest of this season as hard as humanly possible to keep their pick in what is shaping up to be an excellent draft. Sabonis and Monk should be done. DDR and Lavine should have some minor injuries. Let Keon and Keegan take all the shots and have Devin Carter play point guard for 36 minutes a night. See what you’ve got in the younger guys and actually try to figure out what’s worth keeping around moving forward.
You know I’m 100% with you on the path, but this ownership group is in the midst of season ticket renewals and will not do anything to jeopardize that.
I can understand why a business/company would keep getting season tickets. But individuals or families? I just don’t get the use of money for Kings season tickets. Until people stop renewing season tickets, or people stop supporting the team financially, nothing will change.
I know it’s just depressing. There is absolutely a way out of this situation but they’ll never do it. It sucks.
Kangz
Blow it up is a nice sentiment but when has that ever been the plan. We choose to make conservative moves with a small chance of inching up, that has been consistent. We slowly reshuffle and the main thing is trying not to get worse or only a little. This team has been average all year, not much change. Christie doesn’t look like the answer for me (though he’ll probably be retained). We need a great coach, not one that may be learning to be good and has potential. New GM and coach are what we need first and foremost, then lots of new players. This team moves so slow though, the timing and adaptability are horrible. And yes I know it comes from the top, Vivek. This team could work, the problem is we can’t ever hire top-notch GMs or coaches.
I love basketball and the NBA, the Kings slide down to my third favorite thing when like this but I’m in it for life. Definitely pay less attention when they are bad and only some when average but it’s not that serious, just entertainment.
and we’re back to the Spring of 2022 (which followed yet another Winter of Discontent).
Luke Walton was removed (6-11) and replaced with Alvin Gentry (24-41) as interim Coach and they finish 30-52. Kings finish 12th in the Western Conference.
This is, of course, a bit different. Mike Brown has two additional years left on his $10M/yr contract and Doug Christie is the Interim Coach.
It is still possible, and I am surprised and disappointed to admit, increasingly more likely, that HC DC (Head Coach Doug Christie) has lousy furlong to go in this season’s race after such a promising start.
It is still, as of today, and of my opinion, his job to lose. He’s Matina’s guy, and he’ll be purchased at a significant discount. A “great coach” will not be either of those things, and that’s assuming a “great coach” would be willing to sign on here in Sacramento.
And what was old is back again. The lack of stability that ALL winning franchises have, continues to elude this organization, excepting the awful ownership group, which is remains undeterred and in place making decisions.
And why would/should we expect that the decisions made time and again by the same decision makers will be “good” decisions in the future. Broken clocks, blind squirrels – I’ve heard it all before, and so have you.
So – if Doug Christie is the coach, and Monte McNair is the GM – do you keep them or erase the board and start over. And if you start over (again), how long until you erase that board and start again. Assume those two remain. Are they decent? adequate? competent? does it matter with Vivek/Matina still in charge?
Here’s the main question: I could’ve sworn that Charlie Brown kicked that darn football (Beam Team 2022-2023) right out of Lucy’s hands. Now, I am not that sure it ever happened. A great illusion or long ago memory?
Didn’t watch! 🙂
The ‘Beam Team’ was watchable (on offense) for me because they had a personality. High post passing and screening by Sabonis, movement, made threes. This team, Da Bulls West, has none. They still can’t guard anybody, but now the offense is a series of one-on-moves. Sabonis doesn’t look happy. Monk gets jealous of Da Bulls and throws up crap. And it’s not that Monte’s lazy; look who’s gone since the off season: Fox, Barnes, Huerter, Mitchell, Vezenkov. Three starters, half the top 10 players. He just hurt the offense (or at least made it ugly) and failed to help the defense. And he really made them pretty unwatchable. He took two guys who couldn’t win together in Chicago, and… turns out they can’t win here! Who knew? It’s hard to say where they can go from here, after they lose heir play-in game. Hard to say…
Meh. I just don’t know if I care enough about this team anymore to get upset about anything. I used to care way too much about this team and I’m tired of getting burned. Then I started to look at this team as comedy, but the jokes started to quickly wear off, as the hit and miss became just misses. It’s really hard to believe that they will remain above 500 team at this point the rest of the way. There were so many moving pieces this year. I had the team going 3-14 in March with a 10 game losing streak. But they played really well in early March. They are just so streaky. It’s hard to know which version is going to show up, but a team can only come back to 500 so many times before it sinks below the surface for good. Lastly, I’m not watching any more games until Keon Ellis starts again or for that matter spending any money on this foolish franchise. I can get more laughs at the circus.
Keon Ellis not starting tells you how unserious this team is about winning anything. It’s so obvious and they just refuse to do it. It’s insane at this point.
just watched the Suns lose to LAL to fall to 31-37.
Dallas is 33-36 and suffering through a season that can’t end fast enough.
Sacramento tips the scales at an even 33-33.
Sac plays Memphis tomorrow then a back2back Wednesday and Thursday Chicago followed by Cleveland, then Milwaukee on Saturday.
Which of these teams will win a game next?
For what it’s worth, it sounds like Anthony Davis is returning potentially this week so fingers crossed that the Mavs can get it together a little bit.
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