Monte McNair built the foundations of this Sacramento Kings’ roster in the span of 6 months in 2022. As Akis outlined in his State of the Kings article, Monte traded for Domantas Sabonis, drafted Keegan Murray, and signed Malik Monk and Keon Ellis in the span from February to July 2022. Since then, the Kings saw a rapid ascension the following season, a stumble in the second, and disaster so far in the third. But what we haven’t seen since Monk’s signing in July 2022 is Monte McNair make a significant addition or change to this roster.
Of course, DeMar DeRozan’s addition this summer counts as a significant addition, but his addition has not significantly improved the Kings as we all hoped. And the rest of the Kings depth hasn’t been playing significantly efficient basketball either. The Kings are undersized, as they’ve been for the entirety of McNair’s tenure; they get beaten up by more physical teams, as they’ve been for most of McNair’s tenure; and they’ve got a serious roster imbalance, as they’ve had for the entirety of McNair’s tenure.
So where’s the urgency? Where’s the trades? Why has the Sacramento Kings’ front office treated the talented roster opportunity they’ve built as more of a finished product than they’ve ever indicated they should be? We’re watching the vultures circle this team as it struggles under the weight of its own expectations despite having never beefed up in the first place. Monte NcNair, rocking casual attire, is making only casual, fringe roster moves with Jae Crowder and Doug McDermott.
The Kings need to trade for a damn capable forward and/or big wing. Bring the size to this roster that fans and Kings players alike have been expecting, hoping, begging for. John Collins, Cam Johnson, Jerami Grant, Dorian Finney-Smith, Isaiah Stewart. We can quibble about trade targets and the costs to get them till the cowbells stop ringing in Golden 1 Center, but what can’t be argued is that the Kings have watched multiple teams worth of big wings and forwards get drafted and traded during the Inaction years and Monte McNair got ONE of them — Keegan, who was absolutely the right draft pick. Let’s talk about Devon Carter possibly being the right pick when he’s playing and playing well, and when Dalton Knecht (gasp, a wing) isn’t a ROY candidate for the Lakers.
The Kings have been massively outsized for years now and the most promising young forward besides Murray on this roster is arguably Isaac Jones, their undrafted FA rookie. How in basketball hell has this roster ever supposed to contend in the West when the most clear and obvious roster weakness hasn’t been addressed?
Whatever the reason for the lack of trades, Monte McNair’s inaction the biggest reason the Beam is faltering. Show some urgency and make a move – this window is shutting fast.
(Hat tip to the impeccable Rob Hessing, from whom I stole this title)
Gafford & PJ Washington to Dal, using the assets of the Holmes/pick giveaway to help facilitate the deals was a thumb in the eye at last year’s deadline. The way that it 180’d the Mavs was a kick in the crotch.
OUCH. Since this game, which is the last playoff game I attended seems we will always be the Mavs’ bitch
A thumb in the eye, slap to the face, and knee to the groin…
I found behind the scenes video Monte, Wilcox, and Vivek discussing roster construction:
Mo-nte McNair.
What was really frustrating was that I saw plenty of rumors that the Kings might sign Washington when he was a FA, so Monte only needed to use $ to get him.
This is actually the biggest reason I don’t like the thought of us facilitating a GSW (or someone else) trade for Butler. In the trades proposed, the Kings end up with Kuminga (ideal!). That’s just not going to happen if we help that trade.
I think Monte needs to roll up his sleeves even further on that vest and make a homerun swing. There’s a trade to be made that brings us two of the top 20 players in PER right now, and trims some fat while changing the culture of the team.
In this [asinine?] trade, the Kings ship out a whopping 7 players and get 4 back.
Wizards GET:
Trey Lyles
Orlando Robinson
Kevin Heurter
Doug McDermott (Trade can’t happen until January 14)
Draft Considerations
Heat GET:
Kyle Kuzma
DeMar DeRozan
Devin Carter
Alex Len
Kings GET:
Jimmy Butler
Jonas Valancunias
Kel’el Ware (Trade Exception)
If possible Bub Carrington or Haywood Highsmith (Trade Exception).
In this trade the Wizards get long term flexibiity, a roster downgrade on both offense and defense (impressive!) and draft considerations
The Heat get away from Jimmy Buckets who wants out, restock their depth, and now have more moveable pieces to give them options. Pat Riley loves options and with the new aprons upon us, that’s a big deal.
The Kings make a massive swing, but get two top 20 players in PER who will massively move the defense/toughness side of the Kings like Fox wants. It’s a shame to lose Carter, but this doesn’t rock the boat in any other way. JV fills in minutes from Lyles and Len while giving defense (which is a need since with Sabonis off the floor offense hurts). Ware is a fun get as a possible rim runner defense guy. The Heat make up for that loss with Carter and flexibility and the fact that Ware currently isn’t beating out Thomas Bryant for minutes. So. There’s that. DDR is a great talent, and a poor fit. Jimmy Butler might not be better, but he’s certainly tough as nails. And for those concerned about usage, currently JB is 21% on Miami and would be 4th (behind Fox, DDR [traded], Monk and Domas in that order) on the Kings.
The team is small. This makes them bigger. The team doesn’t play defense well. This changes thiat. We get a wing defender (albeit an older one), and Keegan might actually get MORE shots up which is a win. This doesn’t compromise much depth (our rotation pieces 3 & 6-8+Carter) but we pick up a new #3 and #6, as well as a potential depth pice in Ware ore Highsmith/Carrington. Assuming we got Highsmith, this is our new rotation:
Fox/McLaughlin
Monk/Ellis/Jones
Butler/Highsmith/ McBuckets
Murray / Ware / Crowder
Sabonis / Valancunias
Tougher, better defense, bigger, and now a little thin on guards. But I think this team is a major upgrade.
As of this morning, I’m at Monte needs to go, and Brown can stay. Brown has demonstrated the ability to win in the NBA and drive a defense. Monte hasn’t demonstrated anything significant in years.
Vivek is not an excuse; your job is to convince the owner of the right course. Not having roster flexibility or cap flexibility is not an excuse; that’s on you. Other teams beating you to deals is not an excuse; you’re out of touch with the market if you keep being a runner-up on trades.
We have wasted enough draft picks and prime years of Fox and Sabonis.
I am no big fan of Monte, but you have to wonder if Fox will stay if there will be a new GM, especially if that GM won’t have a handpicked coach.
IMO, Brown then has to go as well. He had success in a season when we were absurdly healthy, and while the league adjusted to us, he did nothing to counter these adjustments. His decisions are puzzling, his rotations a mess. His stubborn refusal to give Keon a signifiucant role after last year while Huerter has been bad is infutiating. Brown’s recent lineup of both Huerter and McDermot is criminal, and his explantion for doing that while sitting Keegan was moronic.
Blow it all up.
The Keon thing irks me. Of players in the Kings that have actually played meaningful minutes (not Robinson, Mason Jones, etc), Keon leads the team in Ortg, Drtg, and Net rating (8.9!!!). But Brown benches him.
Then the “minutes crunch” remarks after the Pacers debacle while playing Huerter and McDermott together.
Get your best players on the court. It’s apparent Keon is one of those guys.
The argument for blowing it all up is that Fox might not be happy if you replace the GM who hasn’t gotten him proper support?
i think the main argument is Fox needs to go also. get as many picks as you can for him.
Yes. He wants a chance at at All-NBA and a big payday.
Firing the GM and bringing in a new one (who may have zero attachment to Fox) while either leaving in a lame duck-coach who hasn’t been part of the solution, or bringing in a new coach who would install a new system that would require the team to adapt to it.
You think he would be happy and patiently wait for the dust to settle?
He wants All-NBA and a big payday. If he gets All NBA, he can only get the supermax here. That ability does not transfer if he’s traded. So yeah, I think he has millions of reasons to see what happens.
Fox called out the need for size and rim protection on the Draymond pod. Fox’s agent is meeting with the front office to pressure them into improving the team. There’s not a lot out there to suggest Fox is real happy with the front office right now, so I don’t think replacing Monte would suddenly cause Fox to demand a trade.
Still, I think if he can’t get the Supermax here, Rich Paul will have explained to him how he can recoup some of that loss at a bigger market or a team with clear championship chances.
You don’t change agents to Clutch Sports to sign a lifetime contract with the Kings, unless there are significant benefits.
He signed with Klutch 2 years ago. At the time he didn’t have a shoe deal. He now has a signature shoe. Klutch is already getting him additional benefits.
And this isn’t the last year he can qualify for the supermax. All NBA this year OR next year gets it for him. I really don’t think they are forcing their way anywhere right now.
And if the argument is that you don’t want to wait until the end of next season because he could walk for nothing, that’s where the team would have to also evaluate the landscape. It’s not like good teams have max cap space. If there’s no apparent destinations where he’d want to sign, you could play it out and move him in a sign and trade to still recoup assets.
But to go back to my original point, I do not think replacing the GM this year, or even this summer, is going to suddenly make Fox ask out.
Fewer assets than you could get now or in the offseason, and San Antonio is very likely to have the cash to sign Fox. They are already looking like a better team than the Kings without Fox there.
It’s funny but I now remember that a while ago, maybe even a year, Fox’s wife went into detail on the taxes in California for NBA players.
The money aspect has been clearly discussed with Paul.
I am not blaming Fox, I’m just saying that I believe that money is a main motive here and if Fox can’t get a supermax here he has little motivation to stay.
Can the supermax be a sign-and-trade?
Fire Fox and/or dump Monte and Fox goes. Stay where we are and Fox goes. Fox is using the Kings to stuff his statistics chasing the elusive All NBA status he does not deserve because he does not win.
Fox and Rich Paul now have too much say in what the Kings organization is going to do. It is highly likely Fox leaves with our without a new coach or GM.
Disagree.
It’s this.
100% agree, but I think Fox refuses the extension and asks for a trade by next season’s deadline if the team’s record isn’t a LOT better.
If you fire McNair now (almost no chance that happens) a new GM has one deadline and offseason to turn the team around. If McNair makes it to the end of the season, they have one offseason.
If a new GM comes in, it’s almost certainly going to involve moving Fox, either to rebuild or to retool because he’s asked out.
Do you think Fox has a better chance at All-NBA this season with Houston or San Antonio? Is there a realistic trade destination where he’d be less likely to get All-NBA than in Sacramento?
I think the Kings have to play >.650 ball the rest of the way for Fox to win All-NBA here. What are the odds of that?
That’s irrelevant. Once he’s traded that supermax is gone.
The argument for blowing it up is that the GM has failed, the coach has failed, and a core built around Fox and Sabonis has the ceiling of a play-in team in a normal year. So, yeah I’d say blow it up.
SRSLY?
Timing?
Next week? By trade deadline? This Summer?
I understand fhe frustration, but the logic of replacements and resultant expectations eludes me.
Flip that homie
Want a fun mental exercise, had Monte not done the S&T for DeRozan and the Kings were still rolling out Harrison Barnes next to Keegan, would they be any worse? Is it possible they’d be better? Barnes is shooting 41% from three for the Spurs and is putting darn near numbers per minute that he did for the Kings last season. The point being, is Monte’s move for DeRozan even that significant? Has Monte made a single move over the past 2 years that has improved the team one bit?
DDR: Better player, worse fit.
Yup.
Which was obvious to
the biased national mediaeveryone who didn’t have purple and black coloured glasses on.I think they signed the BPA. They just did nothing behind that and have not pivoted.
Barnes had become a fit issue as well, but his low usage masked that a bit.
Whatever the case, it has failed spectacularly, especially (and oddly) at home.
Barnes is not a four so he did not fit on this team when they continually put him there.
So we put Keegan in the same position and repeated the same mistake. Keegan has been marginally better than Barnes in a similar role, and bad overall.
Exactly.
We have needed a four and back up five for a long time.
Bingo. Adding DDR broke the roster. Not his fault but there’s just too little shooting now and no way to fix it.
Ways that some may not like, but it can be balanced for sure. Starting lineup of Fox, Keon, Murray, Lyles, Sabonis is our most balanced options, then bring monk/huerter/dd off the bench to focus on scoring in bunches
Our offense bolted after we closed the Barnes door
Sabonis and Barnes were the IQ of this team.
i refuse to believe we’d be a “better team” with Barnes. Regardless of his production on the spurs Barnes was a constant non factor on this team for his ability to literally do the bare minimum and keep his rotation minutes. Was he a locker room guy, maybe i guess.
had we rolled him back out again this year, we’d be hearing the same arguments from last year repeated in an even more difficult western conference.
Well, I refuse to believe they’d be any worse. One thing is clear, the team is worse this year then they’ve been the past two years and the Barnes swap for DeRozan is really the only change.
As Rob said, it’s fit.
They would be better. The idea that Barnes was (significantly) slipping always seemed false to me. Barnes was the fourth or fifth option on offense when Keegan arrived, and he played that role well.
DeRozan is more talented than Barnes for sure, but his game doesn’t work on this team.
IMO, Fit is a coachable strategy, not a strict set of rules.
The won-loss record speaks for itself.
Derozan is a significant upgrade on offense (HB40 had outbursts, but many whisper quiet games in between last season). I’ll give you that HB is a better 3 point shooter. Defensively, Barnes > Deebo, and positionally that increases.
Barnes averaged 3 rebounds a game last season. Three!. 2.4 FTA. 12.2 ppg. DeMar is averaged 3.8 rpg this season,
Keegan is 12.2ppg/7.4 rpg, btw. Those are decent, if underwhelming our expectations, of a starting PF with 3 20 ppg scorers (almost 4) in the starting 5. IF he made 1 more 3FG a game we’d feel so much different about him. Just 1 more.
To me, and my coaching degree is in the mail, is
1) 3 Point defense
2) 3 point shooting (offense)
it’s a 3 point League after all.
And yes, of course, better bench support.
Only John Collins makes this team better now . Sadly, his value has gone much higher since he has out performed Markketon in every stat . He is 18 pts, 8 rbs with shooting numbers of 53, 44, 87 %. Lauri is 2years younger with stats of 20pts, 6.6 rbs, shooting 48, 38, 88% . Grant too small and doesn’t rebound or defend at all .
Thread jack: Big thanks to Akis, Zack & Bryant for stuffing our stockings these past couple of days, and to all partaking in the conversations. What a treat during what is usually a quieter time of year.
Wishing everyone at TKH – writers and members alike – the happiest of holidays, and a healthy and prosperous 2025.
Well said! As much as the Kangz have us frustrated, this forum is joy to be a member of through the good and the bad. Thank you TKH and happy holidays everyone!
Absolutely, thank you!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Go light that
beamchristmas tree or menorah candle!Happy holidays everyone!
I don’t post as much as some but I’ve been reading and following along since I found this community during the Jason Thompson draft. Yahoo had linked to the epic post draft meltdown thread. I was hooked ever since.
Pretty crazy to think that was back in 2008 and even crazier that a lot of you have been commenting through the entire time! That’s a lot of bad basketball that you all have provided excellent analysis for.
Thank you to this entire amazing community!
Can someone just draw out the decision tree here? I’m having trouble keeping all the possibilities and permutations straight.
Rich Paul is about to be running this team from a player personnel stand point.
Could be now? Could be in a week? Could be in a few days?
Monte needs to step up and salvage what he can before Rich Paul takes over.
He wants the Kings to be mote competitive so that his star player has a better chance at getting the All-NBA nod and thus a syper max extension. Players on irrelevant teams aren’t likely to get All-NBA status.
Fox has a better chance of that happening on a different team. Paul and Fox know that.
He can’t get a supermax from a different team, or that I what I understand from Greg’s comments.
He can get paid a crazy amount of money either way. He has said numerous times he wants to play for contender. He has never said about the super max. Paul can get him more money on another team in other ways. Shoe deal gets bigger. Many other possibilities.
Houston market – china
spurs- national tv , global with wembanya
lakers – the biggest market in the NBA
those 3 places will get him paid w endorsements and fox is actually very marketable. Once they see he can’t make All NBA team on the kings in my opinion he is gone. Also came out talking about his taxes in CA. Now with 3 kids pretty sure generational money is a sticking point for him.
Big problem is still defense, even with offensive issues including 3 pt efficiency and inconsistent play. The defensive scheme simply doesn’t work. Teams kill Kings from open 3 point shots and are able to easily penetrate against perimeter defenders. Kings get crushed repeatedly trying to go over high pick and rolls, letting the ball drive the lane, then kick out, pull up or get fouled. At times the defense locks down but not consistently for 48 minutes. Luke Louks is in charge and needs to explain what the problem is and how to fix it. A big wing will help but that alone won’t fix it.
The scheme’s a problem, but I think that the lack of size & the defensive deficiencies of many Kings players is a bigger problem. I’d say that getting a F who’s good at defense would be more helpful than anything else.
Yep it wouldn’t fix every problem but it would sure help.
Maybe the coach should try and play our best 3 and d player in Keon? Or just stick with huerter/mcdermott and wonder why the defense sucks
No risk, no reward. Not taking big swings is a poverty franchise mindset. I understand that the old regime was just taking stupid blind swings on crappy veterans and overpaid free agents in the past but that doesn’t mean Monte has to take the same type of risks. The bottom line is that more guys should be getting cycled in and out, to test fit and fill in obvious holes. I will say however that Mike Brown has been very reluctant to give new guys run and establish roles so he has undermined a fluid approach of cycling people through. But yeah Monte has to be unafraid and trust himself because he seems like everyone in this organization from top to bottom, timid and hesitant, too scared to fail.
Look not further than McDermott and Crowder. Classic kings pick up, washed up has beens who should be lots of the league. Deck chairs every year same story.
yeah those two instead of playing keon/issac jones…great coaching call
The old threadbare idea that the Kings are inept and can’t make the right moves just isn’t believable anymore. The story of this franchise since they moved to Sacramento 40 years ago is much more palpable once you just accept the theory that they are getting paid to lose.
I think they’ve just been cursed with incompetent ownership. It’s as simple as that.
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