For Kings fans, this Wednesday might just be the humpiest of all hump days, as we continue to struggle through the back end of this season. What’s over the hump? It’s hard to say. Possibilities include: a slow roll down to the bottom of the league in hopes for a high draft pick, a late-season push towards the shrinking horizon that is the 10 seed, or, this franchise’s personal favorite, a noncommittal performance somewhere in between these two endings that pushes us all into another year of basketball purgatory. In short, there’s nothing good to look forward to over the hump. But the Kings keep playing basketball, so here we are. Let’s see how they did tonight:
Quick Stats
Outcome: Kings lose, 123-111
Sacramento Kings: 111 PTS, 46.2% FG, 33.3% 3 PT, 75.0% FT, 22 AST, 24 TO
Washington Wizards: 123 PTS, 52.2% FG, 29.2% 3 PT, 81.5% FT, 23 AST, 17 TO
It was the same old story. Kings come out bad. Wizards score a lot and get a big lead. Somewhere in the second quarter, the Kings decide they want to try to win and fight their way back, but can never get over the 8-point hump. Fourth quarter chaos ensues – highly questionable referee calls, technical fouls given out like candy, and Russell Westbrook gets his sixth consecutive triple double (15 points, 11 assists, 15 rebounds). Kings lose. And scene.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good:
- Offense from Defense: After going down by as much as 19 points, the Kings were able to dig their way back into the ball game by creating offense from their defense. It started with the intensity of De’Aaron Fox as he got handsy and aggressive on the ball and finished with six steals for the night. His defensive tenacity eventually became contagious as the rest of the Kings stepped up and forced 24 turnovers from the Wizards. With how heavily dependent the Kings are on their transition scoring, their defensive activity becomes all that more important. It’s a lot more difficult for the Kings to score after having to inbound off of a made basket and run a half court set than it is for them to get a steal or quick rebound and push the pace in the open court. As the story has gone all season, the Kings saw the most success tonight when they were able to score in transition and these opportunities were created once they remembered to play some defense.
The Bad:
- Limited Scenarios for Success: Of all the possible scenarios and settings in the game of basketball, the Kings are only able to be successful in a few. To simplify what the Kings are good at: open shots in transition and De’Aaron Fox with the ball in his hands. The list pretty much ends there. Tonight was a prime example as the Kings were able to stay within striking range for most of this game by scoring in transition off of an exorbitant amount of Wizards’ turnovers, but they ultimately failed to ever catch the Wizards because they couldn’t function outside of this realm. When forced into half court scenarios, the Kings just struggle to produce consistent flowing offense. With such a narrow window for success, opponents are able to force the Kings into multiple situations where they just aren’t likely to be successful.
The Ugly:
- Wizards’ Layup Clinic: In typical Kangz fashion, the Wizards were able to score 42 points in the first quarter. Just 14 of these points were from 3s and free throws, which leaves 28 points produced from 2-point field goals. And with the exception of a Bradley Beal jumper here and a Russell Westbrook midrange bank shot there, all of these were layups. For the first 15 minutes of the game, the Wizards put on a layup clinic. Reverse layups, scoop layups, and one layups, wide open layups – the Wizards showcased it all. A lot of these came from transition opportunities after the Kings committed nine turnovers in the first quarter, but there were a handful of ugly moments where the Kings just refused to defend. It was ugly, hard to watch, but sadly, not surprising. We’ve seen some of the most unbelievable defensive performances from this team and tonight was no different.
The King of Kings
For sparking the flame to keep the Kings in this game, De’Aaron Fox gets tonight’s King of Kings title as he finished with 33 points and six assists. It was De’Aaron who was the first to step up and demonstrate some pride in his defense tonight and this energy eventually inspired his teammates to fall in line. I admired his response to the first quarter 40+-point fiasco as he locked in on defense and led by example. My only wish is that he extends this leadership even further and starts getting vocal about holding his teammates accountable. If he’s working his ass off on defense, he has every right to expect his teammates to do the same.
Up Next
Thursday, April 15th @ Phoenix Suns – 7:00 P.M. (PT)
I chuckled when I looked down at my phone and saw the halftime score notification. Then I went back to video games.
I don’t know how you do it, but mad props to every writer here for subjecting themselves to watching and analyzing this team.
You missed some sick dunks
there were quite a few good ones
Still tanking, after aall these years
Let’s remind ourselves; they’re not tanking… they just suck.
They don’t just suck at playing, they also suck at tanking. We could’ve easily had a Top 3 pick this year, but we’ll probably land around #8-10.
T O T A L L Y
they currently have a 20% chance of a top 4 pick. 17 games to go.
Yep. There is a two game difference between the #10 spot and the #5 spot. If the front office had dealt Holmes, who the team seems fairly likely to lose anyway, or Barnes, the Kings would likely be around the 5 spot instead of the 10 spot.
This is starting to look more like a strategic failure by the front office. Let’s see where players picked in the three spots ahead of the Kings do over the next several years. Maybe the Kings get lucky in the lottery or draft and it won’t matter, or they lose 15 straight and end up in a high spot anyway. But throwing away higher draft position this season seems like a bad strategic move, however you look at it.
Those are really good points however we don’t know what was possible. We can however criticize the moves that were made which made absolutely no sense. We didn’t improve the team now for the stretch drive and we didn’t position the team better for the future.
How do you know they didn’t position themselves better for the future?
“It’s not leaking. It’s overflowing.”
The six steals are nice, but it seems that Tyrese is hitting a bit a funk right now.
Or is he finally learning to be an integral part of the Kangz? Thank God we kept Luke around. Because financial impact of bad coaching rarely goes beyond the salary amounts, right?
With Buddy Hield as his most vocal veteran teammate… what could go wrong?!
So glad the Kings didn’t draft that Doncic kid. He ain’t doin much.
Yeah, the trick shot stuff gets stale after a while.
The NBA sites are listing Luka as a point guard. I’d rather have Fox at that position. They are pushing him to play out of position to compete.
Could we be a playoff team with him, yep. Dallas has Porzingis and Him. Not a lot of depth for double digit scorers. Yet they are a current 7th seed. The Kings have about 5 double digit scorers. Both teams do not have enough depth to be a contender. It is better to take our lumps and hope in the off season to get more quality player depth. I can’t find that Pandemic basketball is important. I’m good in waiting.
In a 82 game season, Dallas was on pace to win 47 games last season and 45 this season. The last time the Kings won at least 45 games was 2004. Doncic just turned 22. I think they’re in a pretty good spot.
More losses equal more opportunities for a higher pick!
Didn’t one of the broadcast crew say something like “don’t expect another 9-game losing streak from the Kings” a couple of weeks ago?
It might happen if they lose to the Suns… 🙁
WE ARE LES MISERABLÃS
‘Epo-NINE’ game losing streak, here we come.
Groundhog Day 2.0
The Sacramento Kings haven’t won since TKH declared they finally found their identity on March 30. ð
They have reclaimed their true identity: Keystone Kangz!
Death, taxes, & the Kings making me look like an idiot whenever I say anything remotely nice about them.
Not an idiot, an optimist! We can all laugh at our fate!
Dare to be wrong, it’s fun.
They appear to be definitely embracing the tank, now. Finally!!
Nope. They just suck.
Same difference. Whatever it takes to get us to the 4th or 5th spot. I’m perfectly fine with it.
I wish the Kings had as much passion for defense as they do for officiating.
Yeah, I don’t like that. It feels too much like blaming their issues on external factors, instead of focusing on what they have to improve themselves.
Last year, from 25-29 ft, the Kings had the 6th highest FG% in the league, but were only 18th in number of attempts at 20.8.
This year, from the same distance, they are the 29th team in the league with nearly the same number of attempts at 19.8 per game,
It’s like they forgot how to shoot from deep.
Would be interesting to find out how much of that drop is Buddy Hield by himself.
I can’t wait for the next red banner that’s not about comments.
MARVIN BAGLEY RETURNS TO TEAM. REMEMBERS THE NAMES OF ALL HIS TEAMMATES!
Suffers torn labrum putting on practice uniform.
I would say “Gallinari’d” but Danilo has played more games than Bagley every year for the three years of Bagley’s career.
Vivek hails the second coming and announces that the playoff run is officially on now with Bagley back.
Katie tells us all what we don’t know.
Rinse. Repeat. Pay with Bitcoin.
Just wait until Kayte tells us the Kings have been plagued with injuries this year and they could have really used Bagley over the past 9 games.
She dropped injuries as a factor last night in the post-game with Holmes/Barnes out and Buddy coming off of illness, and Ham quickly shot that down saying that every team has injuries right now and the Kings have been remarkably healthy this season. I was proud of him.
I do recall that and thought Ham did a solid.
Yea Ham was definitely in a space last night that seemed grounded in realism and humor. I dug it.
When you have absolutely no depth like the Kings, injuries are exponentially more damaging. One question, which team had the stronger roster last night.
That doesn’t make it a valid excuse.
That makes it bad roster construction, likely.
A roster much worse than your opponent isn’t a valid excuse for losing? It’s the coaches fault he can’t win with castoffs from other losing teams? I noticed you didn’t answer the question.
It isn’t a valid excuse for a team proclaiming to aim for the play-offs, which was a reason for not having traded away key assets and for taking on salary to ostensibly improve our bench, no.
As to Washington’s roster, I think that apart from Beal and Russ, that roster is very thin and very poorly coached. I follow the Wiz closely because of Avdija. Beal is a great scorer but he gives little else, especially on D. And Russ is a superstar one night and a bad shot chucking liability the other. I think they are the worst D in the league behind the Kings.
I don’t think the Wizards roster was better than the Kings last night, and I don’t think Detroit’s was either. Those teams just played way harder.
The Wizards have a better roster especially last night with Holmes out. I watch a lot of Wizards game and their effort is sporadic. Detroit doesn’t have a better roster IMO and yes they out worked us the last game. When you look at some of the young pieces on Detroit, I don’t think their roster is far off from the Kings. Yes however I agree to some extent.
I don’t necessarily think the Wizards are setup better long-term or even have a good mix of players, but their top end talent is far better than the Kings have.
Disagree. Beal is the best player on both teams, but Fox is close. Westbrook stuffs a stat sheet and plays hard, but he’s been a negative contributor for them this season. Barnes is better than Hachimura (right now). The rest of the Wizards roster is pretty meh.
I said the Kings are setup better in the long term but the Wizards have a better roster now.
Without having any idea who is on the Wizards, I would says its 100% the Wizards.
no question.
Good move of Walton to insert Harkless into the starting lineup for defensive purposes. It’s really paying off!
Agree, and wonder why those Value trades have not been valuable ?
Mo Harkless has been extremely valuable. This 6’7″ forward, in 20 minutes of playing time last, snagged 13 rebounds. Oh wait, correction…he had ZERO. On the offensive end, he must of had 20 points. Oh wait, only 2. Now THAT’S VALUE!!!
Were you one who thought the trade deadline moves were good. I hate to say I told you so.
“Not I,” said the duck. (Gotta love The Little Red Hen). I would have traded Buddy for a late 2nd round pick, just to clear cap space.
They were basically nothing. Wright is an improvement over CoJo at a cost of $6 million next season. But that’s not moving the needle on wins.
The goal isn’t too improve over Cojo, it should be to position the team to be a championship contender. Giving up two second round picks and taking on $6 million for an aging declining veteran doesn’t accomplish anything. To somewhat agree with you however, the moves were not catastrophic and closer to a nothing burger.
I think Wright is fine. He’s only 29. But I agree that the team isn’t going to improve with the front office sitting idle, or holding on to the current team because they think they can get marginally better deals, or getting enamored of the plus/minus of the starting group. This team needs changes to get better, and doing nothing will lead to nothing.
As I’ve mentioned, I don’t think anything more than incremental changes are coming, and everything is being bet on getting a superstar, or even a massively plus player. (Look at the Suns with Chris Paul).
Would like to see Silva in there too.
I don’t mind Damian Jones as a fill-in if Holmes leaves in free agency. Won’t move the needle much, but I appreciate effort in the place of a usually lackadaisical-looking Whiteside.
After we won a few games when Bagley got injured the conclusion was it was Bagley’s fault we were losing. (wrong)
When we won 2 games after the trade deadline moves the conclusion was the added depth is paying dividends. (wrong)
We are losing because of poor coaching (wrong)
Now the real answer and only answer. We are losing because the roster just isn’t good. I noticed when the question was raised to name 5 rosters worse than the Kings, a sickly silence feel upon the patrons of the blog. We are fielding a bench of castoffs and end of bench players from other teams and we expect to win with that personnel. Davis, Harkless, Jones, Etc. How in the hell are we going to dump that extra $6 mil we added to next years salary cap. It’s the roster. Fix that and all these other half ass theories will disappear.
You’re always right, and everybody else is wrong. What’s more to talk about?
WADR – you haven’t a clue.
It doesn’t look like you answered my question.
I’m on record and so are you. Check the results? To answer your question, Yes I’m right and anybody who thinks the roster isn’t the main problem they’re wrong. Now name 5 rosters worse than the Kings.
Worse rosters: Detroit, Orlando, Cleveland, Houston, Thunder.
No way on the Thunder, that’s a big miss on your part. Yes on Detroit but the gap is closing, yes on Houston, Yes on Orlando only after the trade of Vucevic and Gordon, Cleveland is close.
A big miss, Greg. And you had some huge ones over the years. How could you?
What a suck up.
I have to save my new marriage, dude.
And lighten up, if I may make a suggestion.
Who exactly do the Thunder have on their roster, other than SGA, that you think is good? Like, I like Lu Dort, Poku might be good someday, but what else are you seeing that makes you think that’s a better roster than the Kings?
Ok fair enough but the potential is huge. SGA and Fox a wash. Dort, Bazley, Robey, Maledon, Moses Brown, Pokusevski, Williams, If you include Horford they are better now although they have shut him down. Muscala is a good veteran backup, a kinda big that can really shoot it. They also gave up Diallo for what else but more draft picks. They are so far better positioned for the future than the Kings and their current roster when you include Horford is better.
We weren’t discussing potential.
I realize that but I also said with Horford the OKC roster is better. It’s also deeper. Keep in mind that team is playing with a different objective than the Kings. They were winning a little too much and they pulled the reighs in. With SGA, Dort, Bazely, Robey and Horford and their bench pieces that team was pretty decent.
Washington too.
No – the Kings may be a little better positioned for the future. Come on Beal, Westbrook, Hachimura. They also lost Bryant for the year.
This whole thing seems unnecessarily pedantic. Can’t it be a bad roster and bad coaching?
No coach can win with this roster. I’m not he’ll bent on keeping Walton but to exchange for another NBA retread is superfluous. I’m on record for Few or Nancy Lieberman. Unless you can reach out of the box for someone, IDK.
I have two other candidates Randy Bennett from St. Mary’s and another woman I will share later.
Joerger did.
Let’s be honest here, this roster should be a poor defensive team. They shouldn’t be historically bad. They also don’t play as hard as their opponents.
That’s on Luke & his coaching staff.
And Few gets to pick from a plethora of jobs in the NBA if he decides to jump…no chance he comes to this sad place. And LOL at Nancy Lieberman.
Joerger’s record for the Kings 98 – 148 nuff said.
You make a good point about Few. I don’t think the Kings job is desireable enough to get a big upgrade unless you gamble and really go out of the box. Nancy Lieberman, I’ve witnessed at a couple of camps and she is an impressive speaker and I got a few minutes with her and she has tremendous basketball knowledge. Whether or not she can relate to the players IDK but she has some experience with NBA players. Randy Bennett of St. Mary’s is intriguing. Not the most dynamic speaker but he sure gets a lot out of his rosters.
We’ve had this discussion in the past, but getting 39 wins out of that roster (which is very similar to the current roster) was a monumental coaching achievement.
Joerger got pretty consistent effort out of that roster. It tells me that coaching does matter, and our coach is awful.
The problem with Nancy is that she has history here in Sacramento, and not good history at that – is she even involved in the NBA at this point?
Yeah she’s getting up there in age and she left coaching for awhile to take care of her mother. She was doing some coaching with Big 3 basketball. She was a great player with a big basketball IQ and she’s impressive in person. My general point is that it can’t be another NBA retread and as you said the Kings are unlikely to snatch a high profile person like Few so if you’re going to make the move it has to be someone outside the box IMO.
Another woman you will share later
Where do I sign up for the Want -to-be-GM insider access? Do I get a free month trial first?
Davis has star potential, he has Donovan Mitchell quality to his game, which I pointed out last week, and which he put on display last night, breaking out of his terrible slump.
It is conspicuous to claim yourself an astute observer of the Kings and NBA then group Davis with Harkless, who has actually performed fairly admirably after being DNP with his previous team and slowed by injuries.
The problem is not Harkless, it is the overinflated value in which the coach holds vets. He put Harkless on Westbrook, after assigning him to Zion and Donovan previously. Russ proceeded to put him in the torture chamber to start the 4th and that was the game.
We did have a faint hope for a late comeback, but Buddy Chuckets forced 2-3 contested 3s to extinguish the flames out on any comeback inferno.
Buddy did have some good defense moments, offset by bad ones, and undermined the whole team with bad shot selection, enable by a bad coach. There was one particularly egregious moment in which Buddy inbounded the ball after a made Wiz basket with a hook pass straight to the opposition.
The coach stood there like a fool and let it happen with no consequence.
This mindlessness and carelessness is tolerated, no wonder we have lost 8 straight!
And hence we arrive at the distinction between Buddy and TD .
Davis does not have to shoot well to play well or at least keep you in a game. Buddy will extinguish any hope or chance with his blunders. He’s done this for 3 years when we have tried to make a playoff run.
Buddy also has an inflated sense of self and ego and hero ball tendencies. He tries to make up for mistakes, he is playing his own personal game within a game. He’s not playing THE game, he’s playing his selfish perspective of the game.
That is a loser in my book. And Marvin has the same mindset to a degree.
Don’t worry, McGenius sees all!
I will say this on Buddy though. Finally, finally, his body looks right. His physique is more toned and ripped and not as “chunky” looking as he was. Buddy cannot afford to lose an ounce of his average quickness and speed and that is what he did for the first 3-4 months of the season.
And your guess is good as mind about his “one game illness”. It is a miracle, he’s cured!
Anyway, when you say we’re losing because “the roster isn’t any good” you are not saying anything profound or insightful.
Losing Teams Are Good at Losing. Bad Teams have Bad Players is not exactly a news flash.
And correlation is not causation. You can’t say we are losing with Bagley out so that proves Bagley was not the problem. That is not even an argument that is worthy of a debate. It is intellectually immature.
The reason this team is losing is because :
> Marvin sucks , not a starting caliber PF , low effecient scorer, bad defender
> Buddy sucks, bad on both ends, just like Marvin, his “elite” shooting is no longer elite
> The coach sucks
> The coach developed NO bench from limited options and now that he has options he does not have enough time or prudence to integrate them smoothly and quickly.
Within this context there is the semblance of a very good team. We need to add to Holmes, Fox, Ty and HB, And we need to subtract from the list above. That is what McGenius is doing and gonna do!
Buddy’s days are numbered, especially if Davis strings together more games like last night, and even if he doesn’t, he, Marvin and this coach are on their way out. I assure you of that.
With his improved physique, I would like to see Buddy reclaim his former self as the season winds down. It will be easier to dump him along with the coach and Marvin. The odds all 3 are gone by next year I place at 75-80%!
If there ever was a screen name that matched their posts more consistently, I can’t think of one.
At this point I’m hoping for:
-competitive losses
-Fox with 30+point, 10+assist games
-Hali with 15+point, 5+assist games
-any increase in defensive effort
-more minutes for Woodard and Guy
I’ve only watched a couple of USC games, do y’all have thoughts on how Mobley would fit with Holmes?
A. It is far from sure that Holmes will re-sign.
B. We are not in a position to draft for fit, IMO. Take the BPA, figure out the fit later.
It’s still okay to discuss theoretical fit. If the GM uses fit with an unrestricted free agent center to substantiate making the pick, then we have problems.
We shouldn’t be drafting with the thought of fit with another player. We just need to get the best player available. As for Mobley who knows. My guess he’ll be a good player in time but his physicality definitely needs to improve.
Thanks for touching on Mobley….
I do realize we might not retain Holmes and I’m all for drafting BPA.
and I know right now we aren’t in position to draft Mobley.
I should have been more explicit:
If we keep losing and/or jump to 2nd or 3rd pick and Mobley is the best player available….
If we trade Bagley like I hope we do…..
If Holmes takes the hometown discount and re-signs in Sac…..
lol then how does Mobley fit with Holmes?
Actually they are a great fit. Holmes starts and Mobley gets developmental minutes as a backup that increases steadily as his performance improves. At some point they can also be effective on the court together. Mobley has a perimeter game if that is your concern.
Thanks! Mostly I was curious about their potential fit as the starting frontcourt. It definitely seems offensively they can complement one another.
Defensively are they a fit, can Mobley guard perimeter? I know he blocks shots, but is he a good’ interior defender?
And I like Holmes effort and ability to guard inside and out. But would the two be a fit defensively?
Mobley unlikely to be available at our spot.
So of my two additional Kings coaching candidates are Former Cal women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb who is now an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dana Altman of Oregon.
A few years back I attended a weekend coaching clinic at San Francisco City jr. college. The 16 hour clinic included Dana Altman, Mark Few, Sean Miller, Johnny Dawkins, Randy Bennett, Mike Dunlap and others. The most impressive speaker however was Cal’s women’s coach Lindsay Gottlieb. She completely wowed the clinic with her speaking style and in depth knowledge of the game. During one the breakout sessions, another coaching colleague and myself went over to talk with her. I ask her about the use of staggered screens with the read and react offense. She took us over to a big chalk board and gave us the most impressive 15 minute discussion on the read and react offense detailing how to effectively utilize multiple staggered screens along with flex concepts and how to create fixed pieces from the offense. I can’t tell you how impressed my coaching colleague and I were and how personable and generous she was with her time.
She’s now has been an assistant NBA coach and I know Bob Myers wishes he would have hired her. She’s one of my top picks if the Kings move on from Walton. I previously mentioned Mark Few and Nancy Lieberman and I will also add Dana Altman. Mark Few is not likely gettable and I don’t think the Kings can get a high profile coach. Somebody like Lindsay or Dana Altman would be an intelligent out of the box flyer. Please not another NBA retread. With that said, you need players first and foremost.
I’m all for hiring someone who hasn’t necessarily been a head coach in the league. I just want someone with a good amount of experience, whether as a college head coach or nba assistant. Lindsay Gottlieb might be intriguing for Monte, someone who is super knowledgeable of the game and he can easily dialogue with regarding game strategy.
I’m not sure how hands on he is as he seemed to be in Houston, but it doesn’t seem to be going so well this season for us.
Badge Legend