Sachin Gupta seems to be the fan-favorite for the GM opening and was just reported as being one of the three candidates coming to Sacramento for a second interview.
We were joined by Dane Moore, a beat writer for the Minnesota Timberwolves, to talk about his interactions with Sachin Gupta and get a better understanding of him as a person and professional.
It’s always difficult to tell who deserves credit within front offices, but we also do our best to go through Gupta’s past jobs in Houston, Philadelphia, Detroit, and now Minnesota.
Dane also gives his two cents on if he thinks Sachin Gupta would be willing to move on from the Timberwolves to be the head man in Sacramento.
The Kings Pulse Podcast is available on all major listening platforms.
Sachin and Donovan/Brown/D’Antoni…GET IT DONE!!!!
Of course 2 and 3 are up to 1. And Donovan left OKC because they couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be a rebuild in the near future. I doubt he’d want to go to a place that is nearly guaranteed a rebuild but with fewer assets. And I’m sure there are a number of quality “Tolzmans” out there. He’s just the young, experienced with a good org, scouting/player dev background-type I’d like to see Gupta bring on.
ð¤ ð¤ 𤠅not a bad line up there.
Excellent interview. Sounds like Moore doesn’t want Sachin to leave 😉
I found the discussion about Fox riveting as well. We seem to as an organization become beholden to one player (like Cousins) instead of focusing on building a championship roster.
I hope the selection is Sachin, and that he will be given full autonomy to make that call, and every other call in terms of BB Ops. Including who he wants as his coach from day 1.
Thanks for the podcast. For Brendan Nunes (ie, Kings fan, not TWolves fan), if you are talking about fan interest in Nesmith, Bey, Williams, and Poku, please look at Lamine Diane. He has recently shot up my draft board over all those guys and is in my top 10.
Diane is interesting. You also have some one like Queen, who is the slightly smaller, more polished/in control version. N’Doye falls into the same “older than your usual prospect but with intriguing combination of measurables and production” category. Also somewhat similar to Diane would be someone like Naji Marshall. Lots of intriguing elements but the shot, like Diane but for different reasons, is going to take some work. Tres Tinkle is interesting in that mold as an UDFA as well.
Thanks for the prospects. I will have to dive deeper into them but the guy who stands out from that list the most now is Naji Marshall. His shooting percentages declined after his freshman year which might be due to him having to play out of position as the #1 guy. As a role player, I think the percentages will increase again. I’ll probably rank him over Okoro, Green, Nesmith, those guys. I’ll compare and contrast him to Saddiq Bey soon. Lamine Diane is unique from the rest. There is a two-hour video of him on the net. Just a gamer. Freakish athlete. Can be trusted with the ball in his hands. Takes nba level shots. High IQ. Aggressive. Flashes of impressive passing. More a 3/4 with a skinny body, which some might draw some skepticism until they remember Tayshaun Prince. Some questionable defensive plays which can probably be explained by fact that he played center, was a high usage guy on offense who sprinted the floor on the fast break and had to watch his fouls to stay in the game (thus keep his team in the game). His playmaking on both sides of the ball improved towards the ends of games. Leader on a winning team. I mean, after some work on the three ball, some adjustment to the nba, some more training, some improvements on perimeter defensive technique. I’m drooling. He’s got nba written all over him.
Yeah, he’s an interesting late round guy for his physical abilities and production. I got a chance to watch a few of his full games. I was hoping to watch him against Kessler (there’s another deep sleeper for you to look at. He decided not to enter the draft this year, but I think he’s an interesting second round sleeper for next draft) of Pepperdine, but Diane was suspended for the first handful of games. You love his motor and some of his raw skills. His finishing at the rim is excellent. His biggest issues ultimately are in awareness and decision-making. He’s really undisciplined at this point. He’s a whirlwind most of the game (though he chooses some odd times to take plays off) and often that whirlwind gets WAY out of control. He does everything on the court. Score, rebound, block shots, get steals. Unfortunately, that everything means EVERYTHING. He also turns the ball over a lot, fouls a lot, takes a lot of bad shots, and basically dominates every possession for better or worse. Ultimately, he’s a really interesting lottery ticket that you draft in a position where you don’t have to count on him becoming a contributor. I can see being happy with him with either of the Kings last two picks. He may even be available to pick up as an UDFA. Sidenote while you’re watching Northridge, their 5’8 PG Terrell Gomez is a ton of fun to watch. He transferred to San Diego State for this season and will take over from your boy Flynn. Also, Ron Artest III is on the Northridge roster. But he isn’t much to watch.
Just reading your comments now. I’ll check out Kessler. I just thought of a good comp for Diane offensively: Kevin Martin. It shows in the midrange game, the elevation on jumpers, the adjustments in the air, the way their bodies bounce off contact, still get a shot up, and slide on the floor 10 feet. Then I compared stats from sophomore year: it’s about the same, except KMart attempted twice as many 3s and was a better free throw shooter, and Diane eclipsed KMart in rebounds, blocks, and more dimes. There is a lot of value in the midrange game. It can open up the floor. I can picture Bogdan playing a nice 2-man game with Diane. I can imagine Fox tossing lobs to Diane. I can picture Hield doing give and goes with Diane for open 3s. I can picture Diane finding backdoor cutters. And if nothing else, he can always put up a sweet turn around jumper.
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