With less than half the season left and the trade deadline just over a week away, it’s time for the Kings to fully embrace the tank.
Draft Odds are the only real race left
And just like that, the Kings are right back on schedule for the tank, riding a five-game losing streak after winning a season-high four games in a row. The Kings are currently sitting in 4th place, but wins by the Pacers and Pelicans this week have put the Kings just a game out of last place. The bottom-four teams all have the same amount of odds thanks to the NBA’s new rules, but being worse still protects the floor, as the worst place team can’t place lower than fifth, while the fourth place team could slip all the way to eighth. That’s a huge deal, especially with this draft looking like it has at least three elite prospects and a few guys just below that at the top of the draft. Just this week we saw BYU’s AJ Dybantsa drop 43 points, Cameron Boozer have back to back 30 point games and Houston’s Kingston Flemings drop 42 points on Texas Tech. The Kings need to land one of these top guys to have a chance at turning this around sooner rather than later. The Kings still have four more road games left on this trip before returning home right before the NBA trade deadline.
It’s time to rip the Band-Aid off
In light of the above, I’d encourage Scott Perry and the front office to be aggressive in moving off of some of our bigger contracts sooner rather than later, even if the return isn’t optimal. Yes, Domantas Sabonis is still very good, especially as he showed this week against the Cleveland Cavaliers with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists. The Toronto Raptors are supposedly very interested, but the Kings reportedly have been unwilling to take on the contracts of either Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl to make a deal. Poeltl’s contract is especially onerous, as it’s for four more years after this one. However, I wouldn’t necessarily pass up on taking it or Quickley’s contract if the Raptors are willing to throw in draft compensation as well. This is going to take a few years to turn this franchise around, and the Kings need to be in the asset acquiring business. Taking on bad contracts is one way to do that, and Poeltl’s contract is also only guaranteed for $5 million in the final year. If you can get an extra first or two or a young prospect in return for taking that on, I think the Kings should probably do it. The same goes for guys like DeRozan, LaVine, Monk or Schröder. If the Kings can get some sort of asset to take on perhaps not the best deal, that’s worth it in the short term because this team needs to plan on where it’s going to be in a few years from now, not necessarily next year.
Should Dylan Cardwell be starting?
Maxime Raynaud has received a lot of praise for the work he’s been doing this season as a second round rookie, but undrafted rookie big man Dylan Cardwell might actually be a better option for the Kings to be playing and starting. Cardwell has been carving out a bigger and bigger role as of late, and it makes sense; Currently he’s the only Kings player to have a positive net rating. Cardwell gives the Kings a guy who does all of the little things on both end and never looks to score himself. He even showed off a bit of passing of late, finishing with a career-high 5 assists in the loss to the Pistons. Cardwell has quickly become a fan favorite, and if he doesn’t come out of this season with an actual NBA contract, I will be very surprised.
Nique Clifford needs more time to shine
One of the other reasons the Kings need to do their utmost to move on from some of these vets is to open up more time for guys like Nique Clifford (let alone Devin Carter, who has barely seen any playing time this season). Nique got the opportunity to start against the Pistons and had one of his better games of the season, scoring 15 points in 33 minutes. In fact, he has scored double digits in all but two games in which he has played at least 28 minutes (with one of those two games being a 9 point effort). I think Nique probably has the most talent of our rookie class this year, but he’s suffered from being behind the biggest logjam, whereas both Raynaud and Cardwell have had a much easier time of getting into the lineup thanks to the sheer lack of anyone in front of them. As the season goes on, we need to see more of this from Nique in order to determine if he’s going to be a part of this team’s future or not.
Fans deserve better, or at the very least, cheaper
The Kings made a bit of bad news this week when it was announced their game against the Miami Heat had an NBA season-low 11,381 in attendance. Now James Ham said that there was an error in the reporting and the attendance was actually 15,295 but everybody knows these attendance numbers are always juiced anyway. Long gone are the days of sellout after sellout, and it’s not hard to see why. The Kings have consistently put together a terrible product, and it’s getting more and more expensive to attend games year after year despite the product not getting any better. If the Kings want to get people back in the seats, they’ll have to build a better team, but in the meantime, they should lower prices across the board if they don’t want to see the arena get emptier and emptier as the season progresses.
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Upcoming Schedule:
- Tuesday, January 27th at New York Knicks
- Thursday, January 29th at Philadelphia 76ers
- Friday, January 30th at Boston Celtics
- Sunday, February 1st at Washington Wizards
Which of Zach, DeMar, Russ, Dennis should be traded by the deadline???
Would anyone be surprised if we don’t trade anyone?
I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole “core” minus Keon and Russ will be back next season.
I wouldn’t be surprised. I have low expectations for any improvement on the roster, and for the coach to actually do what he says. Defense??? Let’s play Russ, Zach, and Demar heavy minutes!!!
this…and that’s such a gross feeling
Nothing surprises me anymore with this front office.
I’m starting to worry about this. There has been just one trade so far this season…ONE. The new CBA already put a damper on free agency this past summer and I could see it casting it’s shadow by the deadline.
The Kings may eventually be forced to just ride out all of their contracts to clear the cap sheet.
Why worry?
Because IMO, free agency and the trade deadline are important aspects to the entertainment value of the NBA. If the CBA is going to lessen those aspects of the league I feel it hurts the brand.
The play on the court has already done that. I tend to turn on other games to see what certain teams look like, and the game is just…boring. Teams run mainly the same offense, ISO heavy or PnR, the referees are bad, barely any defense is played throughout the game, etc.
They have a play style problem, along with a CBA problem, and they are focused on expanding to Europe? Ha!
The Europe thing baffles me. They could create so much more excitement here for the NBA if they brought back the Sonics and shook up the league a bit.
I feel no one here is going to give a damn about an NBA Europe league and no one in Europe is going to give a shit either when they already have a European league. It makes zero sense to try and make a team in the football crazed UK.
It’s like the NHL and NFL trying to expand to Europe. No one wants it there.
a playoff change like a 1-16 ranking regardless of east/west would do wonders for fan energy.
You might have a #1 team in the East (let’s say Boston) play against a #16 in Portland or something.
So I think you could alleviate this by have a 2-2-3 series. Lower seed gets only 2 home games. They play 82 freakin games for an advantage that could be wiped out in one game.
Yeah the game seems to have lost its soul overall for quite a few years now and especially this year. Not much intensity, especially on defense, and all the toughness is gone. Hockey, the NFL, and even MLB have fighting and are tougher overall. The NBA is missing it’s edge and a little bit of chaos.
Also the style of play is all threes mostly, so it’s just watching guys shoot threes with a few nice dunks thrown in. The cutting and ball movement seems down. I miss slashers, bigs that played like bigs, and point guards that could and wanted to pass. The fastbreaks seem less exciting too.
My interest just hasn’t been the same so far this year for the league. Game is soft and boring.
Maybe you should watch more OKC, Houston, Portland, Boston and/or Detroit?
I mean the real problem with the NBA imho is all the foul-baiting.
Really need to change how the game is officiated, and stop rewarding that type of play.
Fun fact; do you know that last season, OKC and the Lakers (to name a few teams with well-known foul grifters) averaged less free throws per game than the Kings did in the 2000-2001 season?
There are more high resolution, slo-mo clips out there. There’s the foul challenge discussions and then there’s of course the social media where people can whine incessantly. And that is compounded by people placing bets on the weirdest things and betting companies having a stake in the NBA.
Are there issues with the NBA product? Most certainly. There were also (other) issues in the good old days.
Maybe the real problem is that people insist on demanding that sport will be a product, with certain demands regarding it’s (entertainment) value, consistency and quality. We are demanding more predictablity, while at the same time complaining that it lacks character.
That is interesting.
I do wonder how much of this can be contributed to more physical play?
I remember some games back in the day that seemed to go on forever bc of some physical teams that used all of their fouls.
But I don’t remember too much of offensive players initiating contact in order to get a trip to the line.
Even “flopping” was sort of a new thing back then, and we had one of the most notorious floppers in Vlade.
Could be selective memory on my part, but it seemed like most fouls back then were legit, while today you can’t even breathe too hard around the player with the ball.
My problem with the game itself as it currently stands is that the refs don’t enforce the rules.
There is rampant carrying, traveling, offensive fouls by the ball handler, offensive fouls by screen setters, and more…the refs are acting there is no such thing as an offensive foul or the defense being allowed to take a charge. Seriously, the amount of blatant offensive fouls where ball-handlers just push the defender away with an outstretched off-hand is is ridiculous.
I’ve gotten used to the fact that they don’t enforce carrying or traveling, but then remove the rules from the book, don’t just ignore them for players who have shoe deals. No credibility at all.
So you are worried about the NBA barnd getting hurt?
Are you Adams
iteilver?problem with riding out the contracts is the talent level- these guys will win a few games and ruin the prime strategy: losing is winning. If can’t trade Westbrook, Shroeder, DS, DDR and LaVine then sit them down .
Exactly. They needed to take this direction for the last eight years essentially and they don’t do it.
I hate this owner. As I’m sure we all do.
vivek— fuck off and sell
Chris Paul incoming!
This organization seems so afraid of change, especially when it was good for one year they were afraid to keep evolving. Now it’s crap and they still won’t tear it down. Tear downs are actually pretty easy, you just gut it and strip it down because you’re already horrible. Just clear the roster out for young guys to play.
Will the Kings do the obvious thing like every one else would? Stay tuned to find out you never know with this team.
That would be something else, but do we really need anything else to convince us that this whole Kings organization is clueless?
All of them. And while they’re at it unload McDermott, Saric, Eubanks and Carter. There, I feel much better now.
I will bemoan the difficulty of being a Kings fan:
I want the team to lose games because of the tank and increasing the odds of a better draft selection and at the same time, I want the team to win! win! light the beam! and win!
Hence, the PushmePullyou that was of Dr. Doolittle fame. But please, Scott Perry, BJ Armstrong, (Vivek/Matina) don’t do little at this trade deadline.
Do little
well played
Nice arena, though. Lots of extra seats to put my jacket on.
At least they can play basketball indoors in the winter.
Costco is now selling King’s tickets lol
I was a season ticket holder for eight years, have been following the team for almost 30 years, and I wouldn’t watch this team for free.
Yes! This site has the Kings as the 9th most expensive in the league.
Among NBA owners, Vivek is broke. He needs constant cash injections in order to operate the team.
Kings Knicks rescheduled for March
Scott Perry tells you to hold his beer and recite one of his favorite Monday Inspirational quotes with him.
He can’t remember the exact words, nor its meaning since it’s a bunch of vague run-on sentences, but it’s truly inspirational. Something about forging your own path when there’s only one logical path available. And perseverance. That’s always a good worth that inspires.
Is that a six pillars of beer? Maybe six pillars of pilsner?
Can’t wait to learn which draft prospects won’t come work out for Sacramento.
Sac: finally gets good draft pick
We realize that we have no player development skills and he flops
I’ve begun to temper my expectations for the deadline. The one thing I will be disappointed in is if Russ is on this team after the deadline. There is zero reason to keep starting him. If they can’t move him, then release him so he can join a contender. Use the roster space to give Cardwell a Keon type contract.
I will be eternally pissed if Russ is playing for this team late into the season and he adds a few unnecessary wins due to his HOF greatness.
Even if the Kings can’t move the big contracts, they should at least be able to cash out on Prescious’ expiring deal. Flip him to a contender for something…anything. He has to have value. Hit up OKC for their Houston pick this year I can’t imagine they want the guaranteed salary of a late first rounder and Precious could help them contended for a repeat title.
If (when) they covert Cardwell’s contract, let’s hope they structure it to preserve all future rights unlike what they did with Keon’s deal.
Agreed, but I doubt his agent will let them. I mean, would you want to hand the rights of your client to the Kings?
It would take a 3 year deal to secure his Bird Rights, correct? A bargain bin 3 year deal might be too much to ask.
Maxime’s deal is $5.9 M over 3 yrs, with year three a team option. I don’t think Cardwell has generated enough buzz around the league to expect more than that.
Good point. My only thought would be that Maxi was an unknown and his deal is more typical of 2nd round picks. Cardwell is now a proven NBA player. Could be a wrinkle in contract negotiations.
I have to think that is why Keon’s deal was structured the way it was. He too showed he was worthy of NBA minutes and his agent put it at two years so Keon would be be in control of his future. It was the same for Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, and Austin Reaves.
The fact that they signed Westbrook was idiotic. I hate having him on his team he needs to go. But you know they won’t.
The big problem and less so with nDerozan is Westbrook brings the ball up the court then spends half or more of the 30 seconds dribbling the ball away. With that we have no offense. He doesn’t move the ball just dribblies the ball. I can not see any worth in his taking half or more of the seconds. If my point guard did that I would at least call time out and tell him. If he did it again there would be another point guard on the floor. He should not be starting IMO.
This is one reason I like Schröder better … he generates (a little bit) more team offense. But at this point trade them all!
I agree with you three about Westbrook, don’t really like watching him play or his play-style, but with all of the TOs he commits and defensive rotations he ignores, he’s been great for the tank so I won’t be complaining too much should he remain. Starting Schröder would lead to more wins (not many, but more).
I saw Westbrook walking up the floor last night with his back turned after an ill advised pass that clanked off the boards resulting in a turnover. It wasn’t a good look. He needs to be cut, and Schroder needs to start.
Hope Russ has developed some value, I don’t see it. Nobody wanted him but us and he’s still the same player. Can put up some numbers on a bottom 5 team but on a good one he doesn’t see the floor. Inefficient on offense for present NBA and zero defense, he’s been a net negative for us all year as far as what we should be trying to accomplish for player development. Completely in the way of intelligent franchise building.
I think after Ellis is traded, they will give Cardwell the contract. Typical one step back then one step forward for this franchise going nowhere.
A team with Ellis AND Cardwell would be scrappy, defensive minded, and fun to root for.
I’m afraid that he will, this was a week or two back but I radio surf during commercials and Grant Napaer ranted that Doug loves competitors which was why in a close game he was paying Dennis and Russell over the likes of Ellis. I just think they are clueless
I even heard it on 1140 this morning of what would happen if you tell the vets they wont be playin as many minutes and they are going to play the youngsters. Its not like playing the vets led to much so far. Its infuriating
My prediction is a trade of Ellis for a heavily-protected 1st in 2027 or 2028.
And they might deal Russ to a contender for a top 59 protected 2nd out of courtesy.
And that’s it.
Nobody wants overpaid, non-winning basketball players… go figure.
Vivek says hold my beer…
Jordan Poole…you are a King.
I wanna tell Vivek “I don’t want JoPoo”.
Would you settle for a “KyKuz?”
No but I won’t be surprised if we end up with JoKum.
I could see this team winding up in a Poole of Kuz Kum.
Oh my god, Rob. That’s the best Jerryism ever…if Jerry were a smut dealer.
“Dick in the dirt”, a Jerry Reynolds production.
Well, I guess that certainly is something Vivek could aspire to achieve.
Maury Povich voice
OT: I’m not really butt hurt over it, but I though Maxime might get the nod for the Rising Stars match at all-star weekend. I’m a bit surprised Dylan Harper gets the invite. FWIW, NBA.COM has Maxime as #6 on their rookie ladder, while Harper is at #10.
Also, something that gave me an eye roll. Yang Hansen got the G-League invite to the rising stars. Hansen has played 5 games in the G-League to his 26 games with the Blazers. Gotta hit that Chinese market I guess?
The Sac Tax
Nobody is interested in the Kings… even Sacramento is losing interest.
Don’t know if you saw that they are selling Kings tickets (in bulk) at a Sacramento CostCo.
As a (partial) season ticket holder, this is not good news.
Ouch, that sucks.
I had season tickets for a number of years. It was frustrating to no end to see folks re-selling their seats for half of what we paid as STH. By the end I felt taken advantage of for my loyalty.
Again, the apple doesn’t fall far when it comes to Vivek and Fisher, who are in a two-person race to the bottom of sports ownership:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46356113/mlb-athletics-fans-one-year-move-oakland-west-sacramento
Yet another case of Vivek telling someone to hold his beer. Maybe the Kings can get another ESPN expose like this one on the A’s. Probably too much to ask.
Makes you wonder if Fisher and Vivek are in it just to troll people.
Looking at the stats, Harper is very close to Maxime, and he’s about 3 years younger. It is a “rising stars” game, and so I can’t really justify anyone getting bumped for Raynaud.
He’s a fine older rookie playing his role for a trash team. Sac media just always needs to find something to be mad about.
They don’t have to search! They have Vivek right under their noses…
Well obviously the real problem is off limits. Just little distractions like the questionable reffing on any given night and certain players on our team who don’t get the respect they deserve, etc…
I think as a collective a bunch of people really jumped the gun with Max and what he might be. He was called a potential “star” on the TKH podcast if I remember correctly. Some talked about the Kings found their future center.
I just don’t see it. Defensively he feels super limited to me like Domas (even worse), just without the future ability to be the hub of an offense or elite rebounder. Comparing his December stats to January is not great at all.
This is a shitshow of a team so hard to determine development and it’s not linear. But was December just a great month and January is more who Max is? I hope I am wrong but if I had to bet, I would lean toward the latter.
Maybe if he develops into a serviceable back up big. Really hard for to see him starting on an even half decent team. All that said he needs to play 25+ a night and hopefully eventually without the old guys rest of season to see what you do have
I tend to agree. The hype for Maxi is a bit much. I like they he plays with hustle and has an nice offensive tool set around the basket, but other than that, I’m not seeing a reason to consider him a future starter. I’d love to be wrong, but I’m getting more Kosta Kufos and Zach Collins vibes. He could develop into a nice rotational piece, and I’d honestly just be happy about that.
What I find interesting is for all the love of Maxi, there hasn’t been too much criticism of Nique. The Kings put protections on what once was an unprotected future pick for him, and that falls on Perry. So far Nique hasn’t looked anything more than the next Justin Jackson (who was a year younger and had a better rookie season than Nique is currently having).
It’s why when I hear that Perry hasn’t been all bad because he a good draft I think, “but did he really?”
Maybe we are just hanging too much hope on the rookies because the rest of the roster is just sooooooooo bad.
Agree with you both. Max has shown more than I expected, but still to be determined if he can be a solid rotational piece on a good team, which would be a big win for a 2nd round pick.
Nique has some skills. I like his passing, floor vision and effort on both ends, but he has to be able to hit his shots if he wants to remain in the league. Still to be determined if he is worth the protected 1st we traded for him.
I like Dylan’s effort and D. Think he’s worth a real contract. See if he can develop some offense and be a 3rd big or even a back-up.
Something to keep an eye on for Dylan is he has used half of his 50 2-way games for the Kings. 25 games allowed with 35 games to go. I’m hoping that if some of the of the bench guys (McDermott, Saric, Eubanks) or Westbrook aren’t moved by the deadline they simply release one or more of those guys and give Dylan a roster spot.
BB Reference only has him at 20 games played so far. So they’ll probably just sit him 5 games unless some trades are made opening up a spot.
You have to include games where he was active but did not play.
Ah, that makes sense. Thanks
Spotrac has a good 2-way tracker.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/contracts/two-way
Five minutes to tip-off and no game thread. I’m picturing Tony snowed in somewhere, cut off from being able to post. Guess I’ll drop this here for now and check back later:
We beat them when Brunson went down.
Word is they’re not listening to Brown.
The Knicks are well-rested,
So we’ll sure be tested.
Vivek’s follies have gained wide renown!
Westbrook is amazing for the tank.
No defense, no shooting, bad passing. He does rebound and give effort but he is the antithesis of team basketball.
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