The Sacramento Kings are in a bad place. Following last week’s embarrassing loss against the Indiana Pacers, the Kings are currently riding a 4-game losing streak. The Kings have had a nice little break with three days off, and hopefully that break can reset the team’s energy and focus. Extra time to practice, time to rest up bumps and bruises, and time to see loved ones, will it be enough to break the Kings out of this recent funk? Let’s find out! I’m terrified!
Let’s talk Kings basketball!
When: Monday, January 22nd, 7:00 PM PT
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140
Last Time
Sacramento defeated the Hawks in Atlanta, 117-110, as De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis carried the team with big bench contributions from Malik Monk and Trey Lyles.
Three in the Key
Don’t Get Complacent
The Atlanta Hawks will be shorthanded against the Kings tonight. Trae Young is in the league’s concussion protocols and is out indefinitely. De’Andre Hunter and Wesley Matthews are also out with injuries. The Kings, meanwhile, are listed as healthy with the exception of Sasha Vezenkov, who is questionable with an ankle sprain. The Hawks have already been in a tailspin this season, and now are without their best player. This is the very definition of a game the Kings should win, and should win easily. Unfortunately the Kings have a bad habit of taking their foot off the gas, and not taking opponents seriously. The Kings need to shake those bad habits and win this one in convincing fashion.
Make Your Freebies
This is going to be a recurring theme until it stops being an issue. The Kings were an atrocious 56.3% from the charity stripe against Indiana. The Kings simply cannot afford to squander those opportunities at the line.
Feed the Ox
Domantas Sabonis has 12 triple doubles this season, tied with Nikola Jokic for the most in the NBA. He has recorded a triple double in three straight games. Sabonis has 37 double doubles this season, tied with Nikola Jokic for most in the NBA. He has recorded a double double in 24 straight games. Feed Sabonis early and often, and don’t forget about him late in games if the going gets tough.
Prediction
A little R&R is just what the doctor ordered, and the Kings bounce back in a big way.
Kings 131 – Hawks 106
By the end of this short stay in Sac
Need a good win to get back on track
We’ve lost four in a row
And can’t let that grow.
Though the Hawks are short-handed, don’t slack!
+1 Time for the Black Falcon to show up!
Hoping that he still has a bit of the dog.
We need return of Fox-Dogg-5
Kings score 158 points and lose by thirty.
If you’re in the midst of a 4 game skid, you better take every team seriously.
The missed free throws aren’t for lack of effort –
Our team should be in the bricklayers union.
The GOAT King was Frank Mason.
I thought it was Frank Brickowski
How that man avoided a Kings uni all those years is beyond me. How about Quarry Brewer?
No relation to Klay Thompson (sorry for the stretch)?
That has me cut and paste one of the great NBA quotes from Brewer (via Coach Mike D’Antoni):
(I also looked up and found:
Gerald (World Class) Glass
1990 NBA draft, 20th pick by Timberwolves. I had to make a crack about him as well.
I love that Brewer quote
eh, Dejounte Murray has had his way with Fox before. and the Hawks still have shot-blockers in the paint, and other quality players. With Davion on the bench, it has been shooting practice for opponents.
Can you show us the numbers on how Davion is an effective defender? Something like Opponent FG% or similar?
I would hope that Coach Brown would play his best defenders on a team that is as porous as the Kings, yet Davion rarely plays.
By virtually every measurable metric, the Kings are better when Davion is off the court. He’s been that bad. Worst net rating on the team.
Yup. And his one good year of shooting in college helped him to get drafted 9th overall. Every other college and NBA season he has been bad offensively, too.
It’s is what it is, but I didn’t understand (when drafted) why Monte would take a super undersides defender who was a ?able shooter.
But his height meant he can’t be a reliable defender because dudes can just shoot over him.
Very low floor and ceiling. Just a poor evaluation/future thought. .
I realize Monte has done a ton of good things but that was a predictable whiff.
I disagree –
Jose Alvarado, Fred VanVleet and Kyle Lowry are three same heighted players as the Kings’ Davion Mitchell.
It ain’t the size of the dog in the fight…
When I see Davion play, I see intensity, fight and heart. He’s one of those (and there are many more who are than the few who are not) that you want to see succeed. You know he’s going to bust his hump to be better. He seemed on his way, think all the way back to last April’s playoff series against the Warriors. He’s just fallen back since then and not climbed up as it seemed he was going to do. I don’t want to write him off – but at a certain point, he’s got to put up the game to demand playing time and so far, for this team, at this time, he hasn’t been able to do that. But damn – I hope he can and will earn his minutes, and soon.
we already had this discussion. Davion changed his trainer in the offseason, tried to play like Curry, didn’t work. now he’s back to his old self.
remember how Dejounte Murray punked Fox last year? and remember what that shorthand Spurs team with Dejounte Murray did against Fox’s Kings in the bubble? yeah, that ain’t happening on Davion.
Davion has been absolutely atrocious for the entirety of the season. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the rotation. I think Dejounte will kill the Kings tonight and I think that if Davion plays, the Kings will be obliterated in his minutes because they have been obliterated for basically every second he’s been on the floor this year. Pretty simple.
The numbers are the numbers. Worst defensive rating among any of the core players, and an offensive rating worse than everyone not named Duarte. Worst net rating, too, unless you want to count Colby Jones.
A .246(!) percentage from 3. A 36.6(!!!) percentage overall. And his defensive metrics have just plain stunk. If Davion Mitchell is the answer, we’re asking the wrong question.
Even if we pretend in the this world of Davion being an all-star stopper, it doesn’t matter because the kid can’t shoot or run the offense. The Kings offensive rating is in the tank when he’s on the floor.
So unless he raking in 6 steals, 3 blocks, and 4 offensive charges drawn per game, the Kings simply suck when he’s on the court.
How is he back to his old self? We can look at his month-by-month splits and he’s still be playing terrible. It doesn’t matter if you adjust it per minute or per possession either. Davion is not playing good basketball this season by any measure.
We have, and you still have not shown any proof that he is a good defender. Changing his trainer and trying to be Steph has nothing to do with him not playing defense. It makes no sense.
It’s been shooting practice for opponents when Davion is off the bench too.
The 2021 NBA Draft seems so Mid
I think they’re going to lose again tonight because I’m not really sure the Hawks are much worse without Trae Young. I think Dejounte Murray goes OFF and the team probably runs better. The Hawks defense will definitely be better. So yeah, a loss is my expectation.
On an unrelated note, I’ve mentioned this in multiple threads but it bears repeating: the Kings are worse than they were last year. They aren’t better, they aren’t the same they are worse. The record is irrelevant to me because the advance stats are pretty bad. Last year the western conference was kind of a mess and this year almost everyone else got a lot better while the Kings made no changes. The other teams are also healthier this year. The Kings have been lapped by teams like the Thunder and TWolves and even the Pelicans. It’s why they absolutely have to make some pretty big moves at some point if they actually want to compete. They do not have the talent to compete in the Western conference for anything other than a play-in spot or a back-end playoff spot.
Right now, the Kings look a lot like the Chicago Bulls of a couple years ago to me. On the plus side, Fox is a better player than anyone on the Bulls Sabonis is better than Vucevic, and Keegan Murray is better than Patrick Williams. Our upside is a little higher and the floor is higher. That said the ceiling is very clear and while last year was awesome, the play-in game is going to get old pretty fast. So we’ll see what Monte can do. We really need him to pull a rabbit out of his hat to have any chance to make any waves.
put Davion on him
That will not change anything because Murray is 6’5 with a 7 foot wingspan and will shoot right over the top of him. On offense, Davion will kill the flow of the game and we will not score points. I wish it weren’t the case but he’s a bust. Simple as that. Most older (at draft time) short point guards are. He was a bad pick at the time and it’s worse now considering how good Sengun has become when he’s the guy a lot of people wanted the front office to select.
Agent or burner?
just someone who watched every game last year when Davion was in the rotation.
Last year? Taking this year off? Makes sense. Davion is.
since you’re interested in my viewership, I’ve watched about 95% of the games this year.
the reason for emphasizing last year is because Davion trained entirely differently this last offseason.
Unfortunately, this is this season, and he has stunk. If he can earn his way back into the rotation, that would be awesome for both him and the Kings. But he has shown absolutely nothing this year to this point. He has been more of a net negative than Keon Ellis. That’s not exactly the highest of bars.
sometime in December, he started looking like last year’s Davion. He did earn his way back in the rotation. then i think at a home game, he airballed a corner three, coach Brown subbed him out, and I don’t think he’s been on the court since then in meaningful minutes. not long after that the Kings have gone on this 4-game losing streak.
Kings are 1-3 in games that Mitchell has played at least half the game.
Kings are 8-8 in games where he plays at least a quarter of the game.
Kings are 14-9 in games where Mitchell plays less than 10 minutes.
Well, there’s the problem.
You keep advocating for Davion, but don’t want Thybulle!
Btw per basketball ref, Thybulle’s offensive rating this year is 116; Davion’s is 101. Thybulle’s defensive rating is 114; Davion’s is 121!
Also fun fact. For a career percentage, Thybulle shoots 34% from three. Fox shoots 33% and Davion is at 31%.
League average is 35% this year and Thybulle is sitting at 36.6%. He was 38% last year. Not only is he 2 time all-nba defensive team member, but he’s also an above average shooter from 3.
Wanting Davion over Thybulle is just nonsense.
There’s no defending it!
My biggest issue with Matisse Thybulle is that he is a Nic Batum like player: Nic Batum is French but Matisse Thybulle is Australian with a French name. I find that confusing and bothersome.
Other than that – why is a guy, who is obviously a superb defender (2x NBA All-Defensive Team) only getting around 20 min per game? He only shoots around 4 attempts per game, around half of them are 3 pointers. Career 67.8 FT%.
He ain’t the answer, but he ain’t the problem either.
(and he ain’t Nic Batum)
I personally think of Thybulle as Tony Allen/Doug Christie type player. He’s almost always your 5th option on offense when on the floor, but he’s always guarding the opponents best player at the 1-3 spot, and sometimes even the 4.
85% of Thybulle’s impact will be on the defensive end. at 6’5′ with a 7′ wingspan, he is going to clog lanes, tip passes, alter shots, and generate turnovers. Simply put, his defense is going to generate offense in transition.
As to his MPG, he is currently on a loaded wing team in PDX that is prioritizing minutes for Simons, Sharpe, and Scoot, while also giving minutes to Brogdon. He is also pulled from the floor when his team needs an offensive spark from someone else, which is fine.
In the end, he’s not a complete negative on offense (like Davion) but he is definitely an all-nba plus defender.
career 20 min per game – even in Philly (who have replaced him with none other than, Nic Batum).
I agree with you, Adamsite; he is the type of player that Mike Brown/Jordi Fernandez have been pining for (see Chima Moneke, KZ Okpala last season, Chris Duarte, Colby Jones, Kessler Edwards currently) and are trying to help Keegan to be (but with his uplifting Offense).
what skills does Thybulle have on offense? start listing them.
I never said that Thybulle is a particularly effective offensive player, only that his ratings are better on both sides of the ball than Davion’s ratings.
Facts don’t seem to matter to him. Cut bait and move on. I will be doing that now after our last discussion also beared no fruit.
We are focusing on different stats. I am focusing on last year’s stats because I believe that is more reflective of the player Davion is, and that is because he changed his trainer this last offseason and appears to be returning to the player he was last year which shows in his defensive aggression and shot mechanics. You are focusing on this year’s stats, which I think is a result of an offseason training that was not suited for him. It’s a circular discussion.
Where is the data or game tape that supports this? I am simply not seeing it.
He had nice garbage time minutes in the blowout win vs. Memphis on 12/31. He had not done much prior, and he has not done much since.
Quick glance, he has played 15 of the last 20 games. 16-42 field (38%), including 2-15 from 3 (13%). 1 steal, total. A nice 16-3 assist / turnover ratio. No blocks. A net -24 plus/minus over that span.
for shot mechanics I’m referring to his set three point mechanics which was bad last year because of the dip. he improved that this offseason with his new trainer, but he was not as agressive early in the season on defense. Now it appears to have flipped back to where they were last year. Aggressive on defense, but with the dip on the set three point shot. The refs have recently been calling charges in his favor again on defense too.
alright, so my comment which you cut and pasted onto this thread stands unchallenged.
I admire your devotion to proving Davion’s worth. That devotion is definitely unchallenged.
One final note and I am out on this discussion:
Thybulle has become pretty reliable with his 3pt shot as he’s shooting 37% this year on nearly 4 3pt attempts per game. That combined with his consistent defensive effort/prowess and length at SG makes him understandable as a desired player to bring in (especially since most people assume he won’t cost too much to acquire).
People are confused because you seem to be against the idea in principle while advocating for more Davion, which is just confusing.
Whoever the Kings bring in, and I hope they do soon or at all, has to Defend and just be good enough from 3 so teams don’t sag off him.
The Kings won the first matchup against this team in Atlanta – and the Hawks are missing their best players – all the perfect makings for a failure to beam.
If the Kings do end up moving both Barnes and Huerter in a deal and end up needing another wing, there is player available who I think could be had cheaply (future 2nd) which not too much for an uber athletic wing who is only 23 years old. KJ Martin is reportedly available before he hits URFA.
He’s definitely a guy who needs a reset. Something as simple as Kessler Edwards for him works. Gives each team a chance to kick the tires on someone different. Either way, I don’t think he moves the needle one bit.
Looks like I picked the right Sixers game to watch. My god.
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