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What is Jack lackin fell If you're
a effort, I mm BALI coming yet

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you with my certified vantabulous co host, mister Grant Hughes. But we are

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also joined by frequent guest reluctant friend
of the podcast, Greg Whistlinger. He

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is the editor in chief of The
King's Harold. They do no isn't that

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what your role is? Just an
editor, managing editor, managing the editor.

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I apologize, managing editor of The
King's Harold. They have a tasta

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content over there, so go check
them out. Follow him on what we

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still call Twitter at g whist that's
at g W I s s Greg,

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I mean both of you, but
we'll ask Greg first because he's the guest.

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Grant, Greg, how are you? How are you doing? Aside

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for me, I guess giving you
a promotion at least, I prefer to

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think that we we usurped my editor
in chief, and I'm just going to

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run with it until he corrects me. But yeah, I'm doing great.

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Happy that we're just around the corner. You kind of we got through August,

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like we're finally getting into like getting
close to training camp and like actual

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basketball conversations and not just arguing over
the lamest things that we can think of

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an August hashtag World Champions exactly.
Oh my god, Grant, how are

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you doing. I'm great. You
just triggered me with that World Champions thing,

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though, so I'm gonna try to
come down before we would get into

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the King's discussion today. I'm doing
well, thank you. I'm really excited

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to do this look ahead because,
as I mentioned before we start recording this,

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we received a lot of hate when
we were talking about the Sacrimental Kings

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in our Pacific Division section of the
off season grades people, some of which

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I responded with like niceties and they
were cordial getting back, but a lot

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of people said the unsubscribed to our
YouTube channel or podcast feed. It was

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impressive that we had that many Kings
fan subscribed in the first place, I

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think, so I was very thankful, grateful that they were there in the

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first place. Greg, I am
just curious, what are your Before we

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even get into the meat and potatoes
of the certain move that dot Grant and

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I in the most trouble, we
were just your general impressions, takeaways thoughts

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about Sacramento's offseason. I mean,
like I can understand I mean, even

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among some Kings fans, there's kind
of consternation about the way that they went

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about their off season and you know, the lack of a huge, on

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paper, splashy move, right,
but I think that there is some value

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to continuity. They didn't lose any
key rotation pieces. You know. They

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last year was really year one for
this the majority of this core, and

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they get to build on that.
You know, they had a surprisingly successful

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season, but now they can kind
of take a step further. They did

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make some adjustments around the edges,
you know, kind of adjustments to the

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bench unit, and they also removed
one of the biggest question marks that would

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have hung over the entire season by
extending Sabonis to a slightly below MAX extension

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rather than having his lingering unrestricted free
agency hanging out there. And overall,

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like, yeah, would have been
cool if there was a big splashing move.

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Of course, I'm a fan.
I write about the team. I

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love big splashing moves, you know, like that's the bread and butter,

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that's what's fun to talk about.
But I am happy with the offseason overall.

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You know, it's not flashy,
but I think it has taken a

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little more criticism than is probably warranted. I was gonna say specifically by you,

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Dan, Yes, I think I
was probably harder. I think if

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the criticism was that they should have
done something bigger, if that's what the

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criticism has really anchored in, I
understand that because what was out there for

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them to do. We could talk
about all the free agents they could have

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used their tap space on, like
they weren't getting those guys. This wasn't

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under pressive free agency class, and
so there's value and just continuity for sure.

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I actually don't ding them for that, and I don't know where Grant

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lands on it. I was just
the sabonus extent renegotiate and extend and the

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mode of operations that went into it
by based off what they did, they

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kind of needed to use a first
round pick to get off for Sean Holmes

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and to have enough money to not
just renegotiate an extent SI bonus, but

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to do everything else that they did, keep Harrison Barnes, bring over ver

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Zenkov. And so I'm just like
the renegotiate an extent, where do you

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I know you just said it took
it took it away, that it took

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away the biggest storyline heading into this
season, would he stay, would he

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leave? Whatever? Where do you
sort of land on it looking at the

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number itself, but more so to
me, the fact the opportunity cost of

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what it was to renegotiate an extent
sa bonis sure. So yeah, the

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first thing I always go back to
is when the King's traded for Sabonus,

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Right, the big criticisms were,
Okay, he's got just over a year

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or just over two years left on
his deal. You know that season was

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pretty much over, so it's basically
okay, he's got two years left on

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his deal, and then he's an
unrestricted free agent. So you've given up

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Palaburton and team control and all of
this to get this guy who, yeah,

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he's a good player, but is
he good enough to actually make your

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team good? Is he going to
stay there long term? And in just

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over a year, we've moved the
goalpost to where, okay, well,

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they broke the playoff route in his
first full season, they were the three

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seed in the West, Like,
they really maximized a team built around him

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in Fox and then they also managed
to keep him long term. So like

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all the criticisms that were there,
a year and a half ago, are

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now kind of ignored, and you've
got a really good player. He's twenty

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seven years old, he's a three
time All Star, he was just all

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NBA like and he is the thing
that drives their offense like he is what

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makes it work on a night and
out basis. And I think that a

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lot of the question mark about you
know the amount of money or you know

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the cost to make it all happen. I think some of that's also tied

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into recency bias and kind of the
way that the Warrior series went, which

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was a really bad series, and
I'm sure we'll kind of dive into that

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a little bit as well. But
overall, he is so valuable to what

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the Kings do that having that locked
in, having that security, I think

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is worthwhile. And yeah, it
did cost him something to move off of

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Rashawn Holmes. The flip size,
you could almost I mean, I don't

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know if it's better or worse,
but you could also look at it is

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okay, well maybe that was the
money for Harrison Barnes, or that was

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the money for Zen. I mean, it's really that that move opened up

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the money for them to have options, and I don't know if they were

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necessarily at the time of that move
saying that this is the money to you

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know, bump up and then extends
the bonus. I think that it was

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okay, this gives us the flexibility
to to X, Y and Z in

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the off season, and worst case
scenario, we just lock up our really

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great center and we know that.
I mean, there were reports of other

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moves that they were looking to make
and other things that they tried to do.

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There was a lot of smoke around
them trying to trade for o Gianna

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Nuby and said there's I think that
they went in with a lot of flexibility

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and this is what they settled on. And if this is your backup plan,

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that's great. I don't know,
this might have been their first plan,

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hold on, who knows, But
I think that there's worse things than

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you know, taking care of your
guys, taking care of your core And

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if they looked at what was available
at twenty four and weren't in love with

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any of those guys, like why
not move off and free up the space,

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because I mean they've been trying to
move off homes for basically a year

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at this point, and the cost
to move off and was pretty much always

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going to be a first, and
a first is it's least valuable, and

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you're on the board and you know
exactly what's there and you don't like it,

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so why not? So I think
I can't argue with anything you said,

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Greg, And I think as I've
thought about the off season and Dan

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and Dan's and my take on it, and how that has differed so much

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from certainly the local take, I
think, let me try this on you,

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because you talked about the goalpost moving, and I'm curious. I think

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this is really the root of it. I think Dan and I, you

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know, trying to take a national
perspective default to evaluating teams moves on a

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scale that is probably two one size
fits all, which is to say that

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like did you increase your did you
Daryl Morey this? Did you increase your

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championship equity? Right? Like?
Does the Sabonus move better position this team

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to win a time? You know? And You're and the thing I think

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that I certainly I'll just speak for
myself because I don't I can't speak for

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Dan on this, but we're sort
of aligned. I think the mistake that

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I may be making or the reason
that my evaluation of the Kings and the

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Sabonis move comes off harshly is I'm
not evaluating the team or their off season

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through the same prison. The goalposts, like you said, for almost twenty

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years, were make the goddamn playoffs, and they did that right, And

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so in talking anecdotally to some friends, I would say, if they did

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the exact same thing in twenty three, twenty four, they make the playoffs,

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they're out in the first round,
are you happy? Every single person

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I talked to said, yeah,
absolutely, no question. If they win

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forty four to forty eight or fifty
games whatever and they make the playoffs,

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this is great. And then and
the follow up is, well, how

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long would you be okay with that? And the windows pretty wide, like

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three four years of that would be
okay. And I think I'm discounting that

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in like being harsh on some of
the moves they've made and didn't make.

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Does that resonate with you that is
that too broad of a brush to paint

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the fan base with, because I
think it's important to remember that, especially

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for this franchise, making the playoffs
was a big deal and just having a

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team you could follow beyond like January, to be honest, like was a

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big deal. And it's hard,
it's hard to overstate that. So take

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that wherever you want to. Am
I making up this like unfair stance or

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you know what I mean? Like
what do the Kings fans that you talk

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to feel that way? And is
that part of the evaluative process from that

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side of things? So I think
that the fan base is definitely I mean,

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obviously not all. There's definitely always
going to be some people that you

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know, want more and want more, and and you know, when we

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talked about moving goalposts, there were
Kings fans during last season that we're kind

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of moving the owner their own internal
goal post, and you know, getting

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upset about things, and we're like, look a and like what are we

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upset about? Look at this?
This is amazing. You know, I

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haven't even fired a coach yet.
Yeah, And I do think that,

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you know, if they did the
same thing, and I'm kind of where

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I'm at, just kind of tentatively
going into the season, is you know,

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I think that the King's probably went
a few more games than they did

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last year, probably end up a
little bit lower seed, just because last

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year was such a weird year with
the seedings and rankings and all that like,

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so yeah, like I don't expect
them to be a title contender this

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year. I also don't think that
anyone available at twenty four. And you

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know, history has shown us that
I could be completely wrong on this,

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but just looking at the board at
that time, there's no one that jumps

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out at twenty four like Man that
was the piece that was going to put

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him into title contention. So it's
like, I get where people come from

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with quibbling over giving up an asset
and you discounting the value of a first

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round pick, because they are valuable
and there's things you can do with them.

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But one of the things you can
do with them is unload a bad

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contract, and that's the way they
chose to use it. And that does

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give them flexibility now where they don't
have to go into next offseason worried about

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preserving money for sabonas so they can
make trades this season up to the deadline

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that maybe they couldn't have made before
because they needed to be focused on the

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cap and the unknown of Sabonis and
what they're going to do there. So

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you know, for this year,
yeah, I don't know that it made

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a much more of a title contender
than they were before, But I also

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don't know that there was a move
that was realistically out there for the Kings

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that did that. Anyway, now
they've also talked about you know, they

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kept all their pieces, and you
look at their roster. They really don't

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have a horrible contract right now.
Now, things always change. You guys

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get hurt, or guys decline or
whatever like, so it's all unknown.

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Some of those contracts could look bad
in a year or two, but right

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now, none of their contracts look
bad. They're all very movable deals.

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There are a variety of different sizes, so they're very easy to kind of

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mix a match. So if a
big trade does come available, they still

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have the flexibility to do something more
as well. They haven't locked themselves into

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where they have no maneuverability going forward. I think this thing I struggle with

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and I definitely did not think of
it through the lens of Okay, they

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made that pick to clear up additional
space, had other plans, and the

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renegotiating extent was their backup plan,
And so when you kind of view it

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through that lens, it does make
a lot more sense. To me,

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a lot of the pushback we got
and I can't even cite them specifically excited

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to turn off like mute that conversation. It just got so bad after we

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put it out. Was that the
Kings needed to do this because it made

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it easier to retain Malik Monk next
summer, in part because anyone who was

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talking about the raw spending like they
have his really bird rights. They could

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have kept him, but you sort
of mentioned it with okay, having this

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a bonus number for next year allows
them to kind of plan and move forward.

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I wasn't looking at it as you
know, they missed out on a

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move. It was they've made it
harder for themselves to me to make that

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bigger move that you speak of by
going this route, because you always would

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have had unless you thought if you
thought Sabonus was gone, if you didn't

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renegotiate and extend him, that's a
different story. I just I struggled to

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believe that was the case when looking
at the cap space climate next year,

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But it's you always would have known
basically what the number was going to be,

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and you can plan from there.
I also don't think you know a

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lot of people point out, oh, the Kings are working with a smaller

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budget than other people in their division. Division, I honestly just don't care

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about that, Like I'm just not
going to be a simp or care about

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owner's pockets for that, like in
fury, like when I'm just judging them.

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But the other thing is just like
it wouldn't have gotten harder to move

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off for Sean Holmes's contract, and
now you've kind of removed a prospect from

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the chamber, even if you didn't
whether it was O Max, whether they

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would have won a different route there. That's just like one less asset now

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that you can move if you wanted
to go out and get an og Ana

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nobi. And so I'm more looking
at it from not an opportunity missed,

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but like opportunities that have yet to
arise. I think that's the biggest thing

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I struggle with. Again, it's
not even just it's not sabonus specifically.

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You point it out, you could
view it as they moved that to make

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other stuff happen. That's just where
I'm coming from, especially when you look

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at like the structure of the roster
right now it is so offense heavy still,

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like they kind of just and I
see the value in that, but

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like they leaned even further in it
into that direction this offseason, it feels

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like, and so I think that's
where I guess my concern slash disappointment kind

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of comes in. If they turn
around they're able to make a big move

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anyway despite this, or if the
Bonus makes all NBA again and like you

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now you just know you have him
locked up whatever, I'll look like a

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fool. But I think that that's
just where I was coming from looking at

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why I was so critical of the
Kings this offseason. I will just throw

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out there real quick, I'll be
shocked if Bonus when gets all NBA again,

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now that it's going to positionlessly,
Oh yeah, I'm gonna throw out

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that like tagline that he made all
NBA like shamelessly, but realistically it's probably

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not happening again. And if it
does, then wow, that's really something

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at that point. But Greg,
I wonder this is still kind of a

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subonus because heavy line of inquiry.
But I think he's such a pivotal figure,

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not just because of the extension,
but because of, as you mentioned,

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the way the playoffs ended, which
you know came on the tail end

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of a phenomenal season just like ridiculously
statistically productive. And I do think anyone

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that that did not appreciate how much
he meant to that offense just wasn't paying

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attention. So do you think with
Sabonis in the role that he is going

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to play for this team that the
Kings are quote unquote capping their ceiling?

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Like is this something that Sabonis needs
to become a different player? You know,

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not like, you know, completely
change his game, but like let's

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get a five threes up a game, or let's work on the lateral mobility,

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Like does he need to change to
level the Kings up? Or is

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that going to happen in some other
way? Like and you can take that

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any direction too, Like is what's
the way that the defense gets better or

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what's you know, is it Keegan
Murray developing or or does any of that

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really matter if Sabonis is essentially the
same awesome regular season But I think fairly

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obviously imperfect postseason player. And I
think that part of the downside in the

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playoffs was really that the Warriors were
probably one of the worst matchups in the

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West for sabonus specifically, and I
think some of the way that it has

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impacted Sabonis's reputation gets tied into how
much we still underrate what Kevin Luney does

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because nightmare matchup, Because I mean, Sabonis is a dominant rebounder, and

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Looney is one of the guys in
the league that can kind of hold his

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own and beyond par, especially on
offensive rebounds versus Sabonis's tremendous defensive rebounding ability,

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like that was a huge huge factor. And you know, just the

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way that the Warriors were able to
scheme and adjust, you know, between

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Looney and Draymond. I mean,
it was a nightmare matchup for Sabonis.

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I think that in most series,
even if you employed the same tactics,

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it's not going to work nearly as
well as what the Warriors were able to

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do. I think that they don't
get enough credit in their execution of their

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plan. It's more just, well, look how easy it is to guard

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Sabonis. You just do this.
It's like, no, that's not gonna

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work if like Orlando's out there doing
it, or you know, like most

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other teams, like even other good
teams in the West aren't gonna be able

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to pull off what happened in that
series. As far as the internal growth,

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I mean for Sabonis himself, I
mean, yeah, it'd be great

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if he suddenly developed lateral quickness,
but I'm not really holding my breath on

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that at this point in his career. I think the most realistic thing that

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he could do that you know,
was kind of glaringly obvious, is just

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be able to without hesitation hit like
that fifteen footer or you know, just

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if he's doing that in that Warrior
series, it's completely different, right,

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And there's a million little things that
could have shifted that series too, right,

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But as far as the internal growth
for the Kings, you know,

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Sabonis is kind of the motor that
gets them eighty percent of the way there.

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And this is true in regular season
as well. You know, in

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games, he's just kind of the
workhorse and kind gets them through possession by

279
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,079
possession towards the end of the game, and then Fox takes over down the

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stretch. You know, Fox breaking
his finger on his shooting hand in that

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series. I think there's a very
good chance the Kings could have pulled that

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out if Fox could shoot the basketball
in the last couple of games. So

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Fox's continued growth is you know,
he took a major leap and it's difficult

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to expect yet another major league,
but there's still potential for continued growth.

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Keega Murray definitely has shown you some
of what he did towards down the stretch

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of that Warrior series, what he
did in Summer League. You know,

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you expect a player who was a
starting player on a good team to be

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good in Summer League, right,
but you know, he kind of showed

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some abilities that he hadn't demonstrated a
lot in his rookie years. So his

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continued growth is big. And then
you know, improving the depth with a

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guy like Zenkov, who I think
is a real wild card for him this

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season. You know, So it's
really the pieces of rounds a bonus that

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are going to get better, I
dally. And then as far as the

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defense goes, you know, all
again kind of point to that Warrior series.

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They played some really good defenses for
some really long stretches, and it's

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like, okay, maybe in year
two Mike Brown gets them to kind of

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buy in and kind of engage in
that level a little bit more often in

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the regular season, you know,
they are probably never going to be a

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00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,720
top fifteen defense by any means,
but you know, if they can be

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twenty instead of twenty eight, that's
a huge, huge difference. And that's

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kind of my hope on the defensive
end, is that the offensive firepower is

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00:20:32,519 --> 00:20:34,839
still there just as potent or maybe
even better, and the defense is just

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00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,920
a couple of notches better. I
mean, I think that's enough to you

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00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,079
know, swing a handful of games
right there in any given season or playoff

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00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:47,519
series. Do you think that was
sort of part of this offseason calculus where

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00:20:47,559 --> 00:20:49,799
I said before it felt like they
leaned further into offense where they sort of

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00:20:49,839 --> 00:20:55,240
looking at you and I discussed this
earlier. They had some positive defensive indicators

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00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:59,480
before that Golden State series. They
didn't allow a ton of open jumpers on

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00:20:59,519 --> 00:21:02,960
the defense ended deep into the shot
lock. They're a good defensive rebounding team.

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I think when you even start to
look at like the breakdowns, they

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00:21:06,039 --> 00:21:10,720
probably got a little unlucky just looking
at opponent shooting from mid range and from

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the three point line last year.
And so is it part of the calculus

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where it's like you just said,
we'll never be elite but like, this

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00:21:15,799 --> 00:21:21,559
is closer to a league average defensive
team is currently constructed than a bottom five

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00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:25,640
or a bottom three defensive team.
I don't know if I'd go to our

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00:21:25,799 --> 00:21:29,160
silly average. I mean, that's
tough to see just looking at the current

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00:21:29,279 --> 00:21:33,920
roster. But but yeah, I
mean the hope is continue to be one

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00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,720
of the best, you know,
or the best offense in the league,

319
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and hope that the defense improves a
little bit, you know, kind of

320
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:47,599
year over year. And I think
that there is opportunity there because there were

321
00:21:47,839 --> 00:21:49,119
you know, we kind of talked
about I think we talked about this before

322
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,720
the playoffs. Yeah, the shooting
percentage show that maybe they got unlucky with

323
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:57,839
like opponent three point shooting percentage,
But watching all the games, there's also

324
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,680
kind of like reasons why they might
have been It's like defensive lapses that lead

325
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,079
a lot more open threes than you
know, and just good looks and guys

326
00:22:06,279 --> 00:22:08,519
kind of blown a rotation or whatever
because you know, Mike Brown doesn't run

327
00:22:08,599 --> 00:22:11,960
a simple off or a simple defense. You know, you're expected to be

328
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:15,279
in certain places and do certain things, and thinkings had plenty of guys that

329
00:22:15,319 --> 00:22:18,079
were screwing that up. And they
might still be screwing it up in year

330
00:22:18,079 --> 00:22:22,359
two, but the hope is that
some of those things are becoming more ingrained

331
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and you have a few less mistakes, you know, each game. And

332
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you know, they also got rid
of this offseason a lot of the guys

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00:22:32,599 --> 00:22:36,759
that were kind of chiefly responsible for
a lot of those lapses. Uh,

334
00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:41,279
you know, as met to Tarence
Davis. You know, guys that were

335
00:22:41,319 --> 00:22:45,000
productive on the offensive end, but
you tended to make big mistakes. You

336
00:22:45,039 --> 00:22:48,279
know, when they played bad,
it was really really bad. So they

337
00:22:48,319 --> 00:22:55,279
kind of got rid of some of
those kind of key lapses as far as

338
00:22:55,319 --> 00:23:02,279
the roster went. Kind Of speaking
of the roster, I think I'm certainly

339
00:23:02,279 --> 00:23:03,759
curious, and I think Dan and
I have kind of talked a little bit

340
00:23:03,759 --> 00:23:10,319
about him. What do you think
the Zenkov is going to bring to the

341
00:23:10,319 --> 00:23:12,079
team. I mean we have a
rough you know, an outline and idea

342
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,039
of what kind of player he is. How much do you think he's gonna

343
00:23:15,079 --> 00:23:18,640
play? Whose minutes is he cutting
into if at all? I mean with

344
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,440
Davis gone, maybe nobody is.
You know, like, what what do

345
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:26,759
you think that's gonna look like?
And how does he contribute here in ways

346
00:23:26,799 --> 00:23:30,319
that maybe some other guys from last
year's team wouldn't have. I mean,

347
00:23:30,319 --> 00:23:34,000
the first thing is he gives them
yet another really great shooter. I mean,

348
00:23:34,039 --> 00:23:37,880
we you can't just assume the shooting
is going to translate. But what

349
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,599
do he accomplished in near league?
I mean, you assume that he'll be

350
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:45,200
a pretty solid NBA shooter. He's
got a quick release, he can,

351
00:23:45,599 --> 00:23:48,759
you know, catch and shoot with
no space. And you put a guy

352
00:23:48,799 --> 00:23:52,039
like that with Sabonus. That's a
recipe for success that the Kings have shown,

353
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:56,839
right, So it's just adding yet
another shooting weapon, you know.

354
00:23:56,839 --> 00:23:59,400
And I think initially he'll come off
the bench. I don't think they're going

355
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:03,039
to tinker with the starting lineup until
they have reason to. But he just

356
00:24:03,039 --> 00:24:08,319
gives them another look, another option. I think it's going to be interesting

357
00:24:08,319 --> 00:24:11,440
to see how they use it.
I think that where the solution probably comes

358
00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:17,039
in is we'll see a little bit
more of Trey Lyles playing the five than

359
00:24:17,079 --> 00:24:19,559
he did last year because they found
some success kind of down the stretch and

360
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,319
even in I think one of the
games in the Warrior series. So I

361
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,240
think that that's kind of the solution
to it is that, especially when matchups

362
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:33,799
allow, you're sliding tray Lyles down
and so then you've got Zenkov is kind

363
00:24:33,799 --> 00:24:40,319
of the primary backup four. All
right, I was gonna ask, looking

364
00:24:40,319 --> 00:24:45,599
at you had mentioned Murray before,
is there room for him too? And

365
00:24:45,759 --> 00:24:48,160
we did kind of see it at
points last season, but based off what

366
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:49,640
we saw in Summer League, and
I wrote in the outline, it was

367
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,559
like that Desmond Baying year two vibe, whereas like he didn't belong in Summer

368
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,680
League. He was doing so many
great things on the ball. Then he

369
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:00,200
comes in and he just like absolutely
a it rates what he did in year

370
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:06,000
one. Is there room for Keegan
Murray to do that inside an offense where

371
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,319
you have some bonus being used the
way that he does, and you have

372
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:12,279
someone in Daron Fox who just was
absolutely incredible another all NBA players When clutch

373
00:25:12,319 --> 00:25:15,519
Player of the Year hit like one
of the best finishers on drives, hit

374
00:25:15,559 --> 00:25:18,119
thirty seven plus percent of his step
back threes. When you're just looking at

375
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:22,839
how established the two primary options already
are on this team offensively, is there

376
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:29,440
going to be enough runway for Keegan
Murray too? I guess hit the top

377
00:25:29,599 --> 00:25:33,400
end percentile of his like best case
outcome. I think there is, because

378
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,079
if you really look at the way
that the King's played most of the year,

379
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,160
and they talked openly about this,
it was kind of no secret that

380
00:25:40,759 --> 00:25:42,599
kind of the first three quarters,
a lot of times, you know,

381
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,160
Fox would have some points here and
there, but wouldn't be doing a whole

382
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,160
lot, and then he would just
kind of take over for the team in

383
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,160
the fourth. But even when he
was doing that, he was still keep

384
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,400
an eye for open shooters and kicking
the ball out and moving the ball.

385
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,000
It wasn't like he got tunnel vision
on it. So there's still gonna be

386
00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:03,039
opportunities there. But you know,
those first three quarters, especially, you

387
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,920
know Sabonis he's the engine that drives
at all, but it's not that he's

388
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,680
driving at all to get his own
points, So you know, he's distributing.

389
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,400
He's hitting guys who are moving,
and that was a lot of keyaking

390
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:17,519
success in year one was moving off
of Sabonis screens and things like that.

391
00:26:17,559 --> 00:26:21,559
So I think there's definitely still an
opportunity for him to do more. It's

392
00:26:21,599 --> 00:26:25,799
just going to be the situations last
year where he catches it and the defenders

393
00:26:25,799 --> 00:26:27,880
too close, so he just moved
the ball and kept it moving. Maybe

394
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,920
this year he puts it on the
deck every now and then to keep the

395
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,240
defense a little bit more of And
honest I think that's kind of the natural

396
00:26:33,319 --> 00:26:37,160
next progression and then hopefully a little
bit of improvement on defense if he can

397
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,599
be a better defender. And you
know, there's some limitations there. I

398
00:26:41,799 --> 00:26:44,359
don't think he's ever going to be
an elite defender or anything, but I

399
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,079
think that there's room for him to
grow into more than what he was as

400
00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:52,480
a rookie. Ye that goes a
long way towards him as an overall player,

401
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,839
as well as that team defense that
we're talking about, and kind of

402
00:26:55,839 --> 00:26:57,559
how do you improve there? You
know, Keegan's a place where there could

403
00:26:57,559 --> 00:27:02,480
be some improvement on the margins.
How would you evaluate Murray's defense? I

404
00:27:02,519 --> 00:27:04,119
know, I mean being a rookie, he's an older rookie, so everybody

405
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,559
assumes, oh, this guy's see
he's still a rookie. So, like

406
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:12,519
the NBA, adjustment is always incredibly
difficult. Would you characterize his shortcomings defensively

407
00:27:12,559 --> 00:27:18,319
as as physical or mental like he's
you know, because you would expect the

408
00:27:18,799 --> 00:27:22,039
ladder from from a rookie just to
you know, blown assignment or he gets

409
00:27:22,039 --> 00:27:25,359
back cut here, or he you
know, chases over the top when he

410
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,720
should and like all those types of
things. Were they those types of mistakes

411
00:27:27,759 --> 00:27:32,079
just you know, not asking for
stats on it or anything, or do

412
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,319
you think it's he actually is in
the right place a lot, it's just

413
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,000
a little bit physically limited in that
role, especially if he's gonna be kind

414
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,839
of a wing stopper, assuming Barnes
you know, slows a little bit as

415
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,400
he continues to age. Yeah,
I think that some of it is that

416
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:49,920
there are some physical limitation for like
he just doesn't have, you know,

417
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,759
that that kind of lateral quickness that
the elite defenders have, right, but

418
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,759
I mean there's so few of them. Everybody needs those, yeah, exactly.

419
00:27:59,759 --> 00:28:03,640
But I think some of it was
also just you not that he was

420
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,799
in the wrong place, but you
know, just not always. You know,

421
00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:12,640
maybe he's just a half beat slow
on recognizing what was about to happen

422
00:28:12,799 --> 00:28:15,119
or you know, kind of where
to be. And you know, I

423
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:19,880
think in that normal rookie way,
right that you could easily especially for a

424
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:25,160
player who has shown you know,
kind of a good growth path and smart

425
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:26,880
hard work or all those different things. I mean, he he adjusted.

426
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,359
We saw a lot of growth from
him, you know, just over the

427
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:33,440
course of the last season. So
I think that there's definitely again I'm not

428
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,880
expecting him to ever be an elite
defender, but I think he can be

429
00:28:37,559 --> 00:28:41,240
a better defender than what he was, and you know, especially like a

430
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:45,920
better defender than what they have and
like Harrison Barnes right now, Yeah,

431
00:28:47,119 --> 00:28:49,279
what is the outlook for davy On
Mitchell with this team? Now, there's

432
00:28:49,319 --> 00:28:55,440
like this weird disconnect to me where
it feels like he is incredibly important right

433
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,640
now just because of how limited some
of their personnel is on the defensive end.

434
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,000
But he's extension eligible, will be
a restricted re agent next summer,

435
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,480
and there just doesn't feel like a
long term fit with this team. Yeah,

436
00:29:07,519 --> 00:29:11,319
it's kind of a weird spot.
And I think that you know,

437
00:29:11,359 --> 00:29:15,319
if you told me that Davion was
traded at the deadline, I wouldn't be

438
00:29:15,359 --> 00:29:19,680
shocked. I think that he's one
of their more appealing trade assets because you

439
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,519
know, whoever gets him still has
team control, especially if there's a team

440
00:29:23,519 --> 00:29:29,119
out there that thinks he could do
more in a bigger role. Yeah,

441
00:29:29,119 --> 00:29:33,319
The challenge with him has really been
his offense being inconsistent. I mean,

442
00:29:33,359 --> 00:29:37,880
if he had a steady three point
shot or Stephen a consistent shot at any

443
00:29:37,039 --> 00:29:41,839
at any level, he'd be incredibly, incredibly valuable and he'd probably see a

444
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:47,480
lot more minutes playing alongside Daron Fox. But as it is right now,

445
00:29:47,519 --> 00:29:51,759
with his shooting being unreliable, that's
it makes it challenging and kind of who

446
00:29:51,799 --> 00:29:55,440
you compare him with what you can
do, you know, without impacting the

447
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,519
looks that the defense is going to
throw. To know, like, I

448
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,160
still believe in Davien. I do
think he's incredibly important and it'd be tough

449
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,200
to lose him just because he is
one of the few really good defenders on

450
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:15,960
the roster. But I think that
there's a decent chance that he gets traded

451
00:30:15,279 --> 00:30:21,559
before the deadline. Staying on the
topic of defense, I can definitely remember

452
00:30:21,599 --> 00:30:22,920
thinking in Dan, you and I
have probably talked about this, I know

453
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:27,400
I've written about it, you know, in the early Fox years him to

454
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:34,599
me projecting as a massively disruptive defensive
weapon. I just thought that physically athletically,

455
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,119
you know, the way he could
jump passing lanes, his length,

456
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,400
his quickness, and maybe you you
correct me, but I do feel like

457
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:48,680
there were there were periods there where
it was almost the expectation that this guy,

458
00:30:48,119 --> 00:30:52,039
at least tools wise, was going
to be an amazing defensive guard.

459
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,119
And now it's at the point where
he's so good that it's almost unf you

460
00:30:57,119 --> 00:31:00,440
know, his importance to the offense
is that, like we don't really ask

461
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:06,200
about why Damian Lillard and why you
know, John Morant aren't shutting down everybody

462
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,319
they go up against because they got
other things to worry about. And Fox,

463
00:31:08,359 --> 00:31:14,519
I think, is there but do
you see him as someone that you

464
00:31:14,559 --> 00:31:18,319
know, is it just a workload
thing? Is it? Is it a

465
00:31:18,319 --> 00:31:22,119
why? I guess the short question
is why is he not the kind of

466
00:31:22,319 --> 00:31:26,440
you know, dominant defensive piece that
you know, his physical ability seems to

467
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:33,599
suggest he could be. And we
actually noticed a big difference last season.

468
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,160
You know, still not you know
from Buzz or Buzz are not a great

469
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:44,240
defender, but especially in fourth quarters, he would really engage and he used

470
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,440
those tools exactly like what we thought
he could write. And I think a

471
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:51,079
big reason we never saw it before
was frankly, look at the situation,

472
00:31:51,119 --> 00:31:55,160
he was right like who's going to
kill themselves for defense for as bad a

473
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,799
teams as they were, like,
But Mike Brown, when he showed up

474
00:31:57,839 --> 00:32:01,519
like he did it like his opening
press conference, he called out that Deer

475
00:32:01,599 --> 00:32:06,359
and Fox needed to be a better
defender like and he he got Fox to

476
00:32:06,359 --> 00:32:09,880
buy in from day one, and
we definitely saw him improve. And that

477
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:15,119
was a big part of what made
the team as a whole better in that

478
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,319
Warrior series was that Fox was engaged
a lot more. Now, from a

479
00:32:19,359 --> 00:32:22,319
workload perspective, I don't think it's
realistic to expect that, you know,

480
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:27,240
throughout the course of an eighty two
game season, all four quarters or anything

481
00:32:27,279 --> 00:32:30,759
like that. I think he could
probably be a little bit better than he

482
00:32:30,839 --> 00:32:32,640
was, you know, especially kind
of earlier in games, Like you don't

483
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,039
give up the easy stuff early and
you don't have to do the hard stuff

484
00:32:36,079 --> 00:32:39,480
later. But you know, we
definitely saw him more engaged and make some

485
00:32:39,599 --> 00:32:44,880
really incredible defensive plays, especially late
in games, especially close games, and

486
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,880
then in the playoffs he was playing
really good defense a lot of the time.

487
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,160
Definitely room for growth, but I
think he's such a huge part of

488
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,720
their offense, especially their fourth quarter
offense. That part of it at this

489
00:32:57,759 --> 00:33:00,759
point is just kind of saving him
to where he still has something in the

490
00:33:00,799 --> 00:33:05,359
tank for that. Is that like, insofar as there is a next runtier

491
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,839
for him, is that like the
next Rountier for him just based off everything

492
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,279
he already doesn't offense? And I
would agree, like I think he got

493
00:33:10,319 --> 00:33:15,759
better or at least, yeah,
I felt him more on defense watching this

494
00:33:15,839 --> 00:33:19,359
year, like he didn't feel like
he was just kind of stiff, rigid

495
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,279
upright a lot of the time.
And so that clearly went along way be

496
00:33:22,359 --> 00:33:23,720
like, what does what does the
next runtier look like? For a player

497
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,319
who is entering year seven? But
it's it kind of just feels like he

498
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,720
only just turned the corner because you
and I have talked a year and year

499
00:33:30,759 --> 00:33:36,319
out about he's like faded like or
started poor and then finished strong or vice

500
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,319
versa. Yeah, I mean last
year was the first time he had a

501
00:33:39,359 --> 00:33:44,359
great year from start to finish,
right, like, like he hasn't done

502
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,039
that before in his career. He
it's always been broken in the thirds where

503
00:33:46,039 --> 00:33:49,759
he'd have like a terrible third of
the year, a great third of the

504
00:33:49,799 --> 00:33:52,880
year, and a third of the
year and he never knew where in the

505
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:58,799
year at those three sections were gonna
be it was always different, but last

506
00:33:58,839 --> 00:34:01,480
year he really put it all together. Consistency, I do think consistent of

507
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:07,079
the defensive end is the more likely
way for him to prove. I mean,

508
00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:13,119
obviously more consistency on an outside shot. You know, he wasn't bad.

509
00:34:13,159 --> 00:34:16,559
He was respectable from deep last year, which is huge with a guy

510
00:34:16,599 --> 00:34:22,000
with his speed and everything. But
I'm less concerned with that just because the

511
00:34:22,039 --> 00:34:25,159
way that he is able to use
kind of the stopping pop mid range and

512
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,000
you know, get to the rim
and all that. It's like, all

513
00:34:28,079 --> 00:34:31,039
right, if you're doing those two
things at that elite level, you don't

514
00:34:31,079 --> 00:34:35,800
necessarily need to have the three point
shot because you know that that mid range

515
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,679
pull up is enough to keep the
defenses from just sitting in the paint,

516
00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:42,360
and you know he can pick them
apart if they're doing that. So it'd

517
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:46,239
be nice if he could consistently hit
threes, But I think on step backs

518
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:52,239
past two season on step back threes
with the Wild, but I definitely think

519
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:58,599
that being more engaged all season long
on defense would be big, and not

520
00:34:58,639 --> 00:35:00,880
just for him as a player taking
the next step, but you know,

521
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:05,199
for the King's whole, right,
I mean, he's the guy, he's

522
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,519
him and Sabonis are setting the tone. And you know, Sabonis doesn't have

523
00:35:07,519 --> 00:35:12,679
the skills to become a really great
defender Fox. Does you know whether that's

524
00:35:12,679 --> 00:35:15,360
the best use of his energy,
You know, who knows, but you

525
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,880
know, if he could do that
with a little bit more consistency, I

526
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,280
think it does kind of set the
tone a little bit more for the team,

527
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:23,480
and then you know, maybe that's
where we see that improvement where they're

528
00:35:23,519 --> 00:35:29,320
no longer a bottom five defense.
Again, we have little bars for success.

529
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,920
So you mentioned Mike Brown and it
made me think, made me wonder

530
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,719
because and you also talked about how
you know his defense is not necessarily easy

531
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:43,599
to play, and you know their
offense may look simple because when it really

532
00:35:43,599 --> 00:35:45,480
matters, it's just a two It
becomes a two man game, which which

533
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:50,159
is should which every good team that
has guys like that can do. Over

534
00:35:50,159 --> 00:35:55,239
the course of last year, did
you see maybe the execution improving as the

535
00:35:55,239 --> 00:36:00,360
team because ridiculous continuity, So that
I mean that's starting five, everybody played,

536
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,719
everybody started. I think Fox was
at seventy three games or something,

537
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:07,159
which was the least of that starting
five, did you see them maybe executing

538
00:36:07,199 --> 00:36:12,199
what Brown wanted them to do more
consistently? Was that something that visibly happened

539
00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:14,559
over the course of the year.
And I guess the follow up to that

540
00:36:14,599 --> 00:36:17,119
would be, you know, how
much of their growth potential really just comes

541
00:36:17,199 --> 00:36:23,000
from everybody's got a full year of
understanding what is the what is expected of

542
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:28,480
them on both ends, and that
just means they're going to be five percent

543
00:36:28,559 --> 00:36:30,480
better at it or whatever. Like
So two parter, I guess, like,

544
00:36:30,639 --> 00:36:36,480
was there growth that you could see
or just like aha moments and should

545
00:36:36,519 --> 00:36:39,199
that will that translate if you did
see anything like that. Yeah, we

546
00:36:39,239 --> 00:36:44,239
definitely saw some adjustments and growth as
time went on. I mean, as

547
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,440
they got better at executing it.
We also saw them introducing new wrinkles to

548
00:36:47,519 --> 00:36:52,360
it. And you know, kind
of what we heard was that I don't

549
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:54,400
think even by the end of the
year they were really at Mike Brown's full

550
00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,159
playbook, you know, because they
needed time to kind of get used to

551
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:01,760
running you know, the base sets
and then kind of the second options and

552
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:06,280
you know, just kind of building
you know, those building blocks until they

553
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,880
could get it right and do it
all well. So I think that there

554
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:13,000
is still room for that offense,
as crazy as it sounds, because it

555
00:37:13,119 --> 00:37:17,119
was an incredible offense, but there's
opportunity for it to be even better now.

556
00:37:17,159 --> 00:37:21,360
Whether or not that will happen,
I think that's a really lofty goal

557
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,480
because the offense was so good.
I think I don't want to put a

558
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:28,400
lot of hope in like the offense
could be even better. You know,

559
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:34,039
like that seems like maybe setting yourself
up for disappointment, because realistically, I

560
00:37:34,079 --> 00:37:36,960
think they had the best offense.
I don't know if they finished the year,

561
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,480
but at one point they had the
best offense in NBA history. I

562
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:43,760
think that's right. I think that's
like for offensive ratings. So it's like

563
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,000
when you do that, it's tough
to say, like it's gonna be five

564
00:37:46,039 --> 00:37:52,840
percent better next year. So I
do think that more of the growth should

565
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,079
come on the defensive end, even
if it is kind of incremental growth.

566
00:37:57,519 --> 00:38:00,760
Yeah, and part of hopefully,
you know what I say hopefully, because

567
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,840
you never know, you know,
with offseason moves, hopefully the depth is

568
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,960
better. That's the goal of the
moves that they made, you know,

569
00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:09,800
so the better depth could help offset
if they do, you know, have

570
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:14,320
a few more injury, you know, miss games and things like that.

571
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:21,039
But I do also think it's worth
noting because a lot of the criticism I

572
00:38:21,079 --> 00:38:23,639
see with people projecting the King's Lowers, well, they had such good injury

573
00:38:23,679 --> 00:38:28,760
luck. They had almost nobody missing
time to injuries, like well that happened

574
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:30,719
because Sabonas should have missed like two
and a half months, and he just

575
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:36,639
played through a broken thumb the whole
year, and multiple guys were playing through

576
00:38:36,679 --> 00:38:39,079
things like they had that, Like, no, we are getting there this

577
00:38:39,159 --> 00:38:44,000
year. We are not making any
excuses. We're not missing time like they

578
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:46,480
were a team on a mission and
you know, so they definitely still had

579
00:38:46,599 --> 00:38:49,840
injuries, they just played through a
lot. I mean, there was a

580
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:53,440
little stretch where Fox was clearly hampered
by some injuries and they finally had to

581
00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:58,119
shut him down for a couple of
games because he wasn't playing at one hundred

582
00:38:58,119 --> 00:39:00,719
percent, but he was still playing
through. So like that, the injury

583
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:06,920
missed games numbers wasn't really indicative of
how banged up those guys were throughout the

584
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,840
year. Two players on this team, I'm fascinated by some I'm gonna lose

585
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:15,320
them together. Who has a bigger
role this year Chris Dawarte or Kessler Edwards

586
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:22,880
Duarte, unless he's hurt or just
still can't find his footing, I think

587
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:29,159
the expectation is that he is a
bigger piece, and then Kessla Edwards is

588
00:39:29,199 --> 00:39:32,199
still raw. He's shown some flashes, and I mean he's young, he's

589
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:36,639
cheap, He's a great piece to
have. He was kind of a luxury

590
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:44,800
depth piece. But I would expect
that Duarte has the bigger role. What

591
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,880
is the theory than of Chris da
Warte on this team, just when you

592
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:52,840
have Fox, you have Malik Monk, who is like in the sixth minute

593
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,760
the year running last year, you
have some bonus you want more touches or

594
00:39:55,800 --> 00:40:00,079
more exposure for Keegan Murray. I
think a lot of what christin Warte like

595
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:04,039
he should. He had great chemistry
with Sabonis in Indiana, and so i'd

596
00:40:04,039 --> 00:40:06,119
agree with you. I think they're
definitely gonna give them the bigger role just

597
00:40:06,159 --> 00:40:08,719
by virtue of that familiarity. But
it's like that just the theories they're going

598
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,320
to try and sort of tune into
that, and maybe you see a lot

599
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:15,320
of him like staggered from a Diarron
Fox situation. I just I think the

600
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:19,800
value they got him for was absolutely
like that was a great flyer to take.

601
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,800
I just still struggle a little bit
to see the full utility of him.

602
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:28,679
When the roster looks the way it
does right now, I think it

603
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,760
was more. I mean, definitely
they're looking for that chemistry with Sabonis,

604
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:37,000
right I think they're definitely gonna look
for opportunities, especially early in the season.

605
00:40:37,199 --> 00:40:40,199
I wouldn't be surprised if we see
a lot of line up staggering where

606
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:45,639
Duarte is on the floor with Sabonis, so that he's in the best position

607
00:40:45,639 --> 00:40:47,119
to get off to a good start
and kind of find his footing after a

608
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:52,679
rough sophomore year. But I think
the biggest thing is just that, you

609
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:57,000
know, he's he's versatile, he's
got some size, he's got some shooting.

610
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:00,800
That's pretty much all money. McNair's
looking at it. He's like,

611
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:02,039
all right, I've got Fox,
I got Sabonis. I'm gonna put every

612
00:41:02,039 --> 00:41:06,039
shooter I can find around him.
You know, guys that can move off

613
00:41:06,079 --> 00:41:08,119
all and and kind of get an
open look for Sabonis to find him.

614
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:14,159
That's where Duarte was really good.
And you know, outside of Haliburton.

615
00:41:15,159 --> 00:41:17,159
There wasn't a lot of guys finding
other guys in Indiana. It was an

616
00:41:17,159 --> 00:41:21,719
offense built very much around guys creating
their own shots. And that wasn't a

617
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,239
situation was where dwart who was gonna
thrive and the team just moved on and

618
00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:29,000
you know, not to fault him. They've got good guys that deserve to

619
00:41:29,039 --> 00:41:34,400
play over Duarte last year, especially
with the injuries. But for as young

620
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,000
as he is, as good as
he was his rookie year, I think

621
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,480
it's just a good flyer. And
they're like, hey, he's a young

622
00:41:39,519 --> 00:41:44,119
guy, and you know a guy
who can play the two or maybe slide

623
00:41:44,159 --> 00:41:47,039
down to the three a little bit
like I can't have enough of those guys

624
00:41:47,079 --> 00:41:52,320
with Fox and Saponas. I like
how we're talking about and it's real,

625
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:55,039
But how Duarte has great chemistry with
the Bonus, Like find me the player

626
00:41:55,079 --> 00:42:00,559
that has bad offensive chemistry and then
tell that guy. I have to look

627
00:42:00,679 --> 00:42:02,480
look in the mirror and ask,
right, if you can't play, if

628
00:42:02,519 --> 00:42:07,360
you can't play with Sabonus, it's
it's on you, man. What else

629
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:08,519
you got? Dan? Do you
want to get to the cookie cutter questions

630
00:42:08,639 --> 00:42:12,840
or anything? Else that. I
had one more question about sort of the

631
00:42:13,199 --> 00:42:19,239
front line. How many wins is
Javal McGee? No, but thirty,

632
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,119
Yeah, that's what I thought they'll
go like eighty three and oh yeah,

633
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:25,039
eighty two game season. I guess
they could play eighty three because of the

634
00:42:25,039 --> 00:42:28,920
new in season tournament. Yeah,
obviously they're gonna win that. So they

635
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:32,039
got three games, and what is
like, how do you sort of see

636
00:42:32,079 --> 00:42:37,599
the secondary frontline rotation shaking out?
You already kind of mentioned that Trey Lyles

637
00:42:37,639 --> 00:42:40,199
might play a lot of five to
perhaps or to make room for Zenkov,

638
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:44,440
and so like, does that just
mean like we're gonna see very limited Javal

639
00:42:44,519 --> 00:42:49,159
McGee or Norlands, Like, there's
not there's it could get pretty jumbled because

640
00:42:49,159 --> 00:42:51,760
of the four and five just commos
they have. But is it just they're

641
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:55,119
viewing these actual centers that they have
behind the bonus is just well, if

642
00:42:55,119 --> 00:43:00,360
we get like stuff from them at
any given point, Uh, it's a

643
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:04,599
bonus and we're gonna probably just try
and run with the spacey or lineups.

644
00:43:04,599 --> 00:43:07,320
When again we're looking at that secondary
front court rotation, Well, there were

645
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:13,239
a lot of stretches of last season
where they weren't getting stuff from their backup

646
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:16,159
center positions. So I kind of
understand why Monte Mnire's like, bring me

647
00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:20,440
all the options, like, well, put them all in camp and figure

648
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:22,440
out what we got. I think, you know, if I had a

649
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:27,800
guess today, how it shakes out. I think that near Lyn's Noel probably

650
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,400
doesn't make the team. I think
he had a very good shot of making

651
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:36,480
the team before JaVale became available and
they went out and got him. I

652
00:43:36,519 --> 00:43:39,480
think that you know, behind some
bonus, you're probably looking at Alex Lenn

653
00:43:40,039 --> 00:43:45,760
and JaVale McGee, and then you
know, Trey Laos with some small ball

654
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:50,000
five. I think that who plays
more is going to be very lineup or

655
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:55,320
matchup dependent. I think that Lenn
will probably be the primary backup center,

656
00:43:57,199 --> 00:44:00,320
just because they did have some success
with him down the stretch season and even

657
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:06,079
in the playoffs he had some some
good moments. And then you know Lyles,

658
00:44:06,079 --> 00:44:09,039
and I think that Javel will be
used sparingly or when they really feel

659
00:44:09,079 --> 00:44:13,599
like they need that riom protection or
you know, those five extra fouls or

660
00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:19,199
you know, whatever it might be. But I think mostly with him,

661
00:44:19,199 --> 00:44:22,320
they're looking at a veteran, a
guy who's been there, a guy with

662
00:44:22,400 --> 00:44:29,000
playoff experience, guy can block shots. There's a local writer in sacrament who

663
00:44:29,039 --> 00:44:31,880
had a great stat that over the
last two years, Javel has blocked like

664
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:39,360
one hundred and seven shots and that's
more than the next two guys on the

665
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:44,639
King's combined over the last two years. Like they've had no rim protection,

666
00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:47,039
like no one and one of those
top two I think was for Shaun Holmes

667
00:44:47,199 --> 00:44:52,280
is gone. Like so it's like
they haven't really had room protection. So

668
00:44:52,519 --> 00:44:55,239
he just gives them that different skill
set that they've been lacking, and you

669
00:44:55,280 --> 00:45:00,880
know, there's times when they really
really were glaringly lacking that then, you

670
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:02,519
know. So I think that Javal
will be there, but I don't see

671
00:45:02,599 --> 00:45:07,239
him being a regular rotation player.
I could be wrong, but if I

672
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,039
had to guess right now. But
I also, I mean, Mike Brown

673
00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:14,159
showed us last year that like,
if he feels like Alexland is working out,

674
00:45:14,199 --> 00:45:16,119
he's gonna switch it up, and
you know, he'll give him,

675
00:45:16,199 --> 00:45:20,559
you know games, He's not gonna
overreact to one game or anything like that,

676
00:45:20,599 --> 00:45:22,039
but if it's not working, he'll
change it up and try something else

677
00:45:22,079 --> 00:45:28,519
for a stretch. So what does
the right now with the roster currently constructed,

678
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:30,800
What does that ten man rotation like
look at because it's actually kind of

679
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,119
I feel like they are. They're
probably locks, but this is one of

680
00:45:34,119 --> 00:45:37,679
the rare, really good teams where
after you go through like the top six

681
00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:43,599
spots, there's probably a good amount
of questions thereafter. Sure, So I'm

682
00:45:43,639 --> 00:45:47,800
just making sure I've got the roster
here so I'm not missing anyone. So

683
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,280
obviously got you're starting five, you
know, Sabonus, Fox, Herder,

684
00:45:52,360 --> 00:46:00,559
Barnes, Keegan, Murray, Malik, Monk, davey On, Sasha Senkov,

685
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:04,639
Trey Lyles, and then if I
had to guess, I'd say the

686
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:08,599
tenth man at this point would probably
be the Dwartair Len. I do think

687
00:46:08,639 --> 00:46:14,360
that they will probably have a fairly
deep rotation through the regular season. I

688
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:17,280
don't see them doing like eight or
nine man because they just have the depth

689
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:22,360
and they can throw different looks and
keep guys fresh, and so I think

690
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,239
that they will try a lot of
different things. But that would be my

691
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:30,719
guess is right now, the tenth
spot is either dwart Hair Lynn. I

692
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:35,039
think Monk is obviously the lock to
play the most minutes outside the starting five.

693
00:46:35,039 --> 00:46:37,880
Who do you think play is the
most off the bench. If we

694
00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:49,840
exclude Monk, it's either Davion or
Vasenkov. I have really lofty hopes for

695
00:46:50,039 --> 00:46:53,400
Bassenkov. I've been I mean,
they acquired as rights like a year agos.

696
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:57,760
We had like the whole last year
to kind of watch what he was

697
00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:01,440
doing and get familiar with his game
and kind of watch how great a season

698
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:06,960
he had overseason. It's exciting to
have him coming in and kind of joining

699
00:47:07,039 --> 00:47:08,920
in. I think it's probably a
little bit of an underrated move when we

700
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:14,079
talked about there wasn't the big splash, right, And I mean, he's

701
00:47:14,079 --> 00:47:15,159
going to be an older rookie.
He's not, you know, a young

702
00:47:15,159 --> 00:47:19,000
guy that's going to become a superstar
for the team. But I think he's

703
00:47:19,039 --> 00:47:22,519
gonna be one of those really valuable
pieces and I'm excited for him. Yeah,

704
00:47:22,679 --> 00:47:25,159
if he can do anything. That
second unit with especially Lyles is playing

705
00:47:25,199 --> 00:47:29,559
the five and they're spacing the floor
him and Monk, and I mean that

706
00:47:29,599 --> 00:47:37,119
could be I mean, maybe that'll
be the best offense in NBA. What's

707
00:47:37,159 --> 00:47:40,880
something about this team that flies under
the national radars we head into the next

708
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:46,719
year. Everything I mean, all
right, I mean hopefully not after this

709
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:50,719
year, because this year they do
have like twenty two national TV games.

710
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:55,519
But I mean they were on national
TV like twice last year. There was

711
00:47:55,559 --> 00:47:59,840
like ample opportunities to get flexed in, and they even like flex the key

712
00:48:00,079 --> 00:48:02,000
the Kings out of an actual TV
game even when it was clear they were

713
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:06,800
really good. So I think that, yeah, the playoffs, I think

714
00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,239
we're a bit of a wake up
call for everyone. I mean we heard

715
00:48:09,320 --> 00:48:13,880
during broadcast, like all the national
guys being like, I hadn't really watched

716
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:17,800
the Kings. They're the three seed, like since like January, like where

717
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:23,519
you've been. I do think that
just how fun they are on a night

718
00:48:23,599 --> 00:48:27,079
in, night out basis. I
mean, that was a great series with

719
00:48:27,119 --> 00:48:31,280
the Warriors, but it also wasn't
really at the level that the Kings usually

720
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:37,119
operate, just because again the Warriors
defense was doing a really good job against

721
00:48:37,159 --> 00:48:39,880
them, and they had some of
their key shooters just not hitting shots.

722
00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:44,599
But I mean, when the Kings
are on, there just so much fun

723
00:48:44,599 --> 00:48:47,800
to watch it. It's just such
a fun brand of basketball. And you

724
00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:53,599
know, I still think that that
King's Clippers double overtime game was one of

725
00:48:53,599 --> 00:48:58,400
the craziest things I've ever seen,
and just one of the best games.

726
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,679
It's like, it's good thing they
didn't put that one on TV. They

727
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:07,760
had the choice between that or uh, some random crappy Suns game, and

728
00:49:07,760 --> 00:49:10,199
they went with the Suns game because
they wanted Durands debut and he didn't play

729
00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:15,239
that night. I don't think that's
gonna happen too much this year. Like

730
00:49:15,280 --> 00:49:22,280
they said they got twenty twenty national
games an age, right, I think

731
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:28,559
Wemby only had thirteen. I'm I'm
not mistaken, So congratu king first had

732
00:49:28,599 --> 00:49:30,880
a lot. They had quite a
bit. I mean, I get the

733
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:35,880
Wimby draw like that's still probably gonna
be a rough team this year though.

734
00:49:36,559 --> 00:49:39,840
Yeah, it'll be fun to watch
for basketball satus like us. But I'm

735
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:45,639
gonna normal fans pull off of the
the the the outline here because I am

736
00:49:45,639 --> 00:49:51,480
curious if this is an easy question
or not. This team's closing lineup is

737
00:49:51,519 --> 00:49:54,199
the starting lineup, right, unless
like some somebody like gets stuck on the

738
00:49:54,199 --> 00:49:59,199
bus or something, or like,
is there any matchup that you know you

739
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:04,000
could envision where maybe Monk is in
there for somebody or is this just you

740
00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:07,360
are your best five out there?
Which is the first unit, and that's

741
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:09,760
going to close the vast majority of
games. One of the reasons the Kings

742
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:14,920
were really good last year was that
they they had the depth and the flexibility

743
00:50:15,039 --> 00:50:17,800
to just kind of go with whoever
was having a good night. So you

744
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:22,800
know, there were plenty of nights
when Monk closed instead of Hurder just because

745
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:27,280
Monk was on that night and hurt
Er wasn't. And I think that they'll

746
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,239
keep doing the same thing. I
mean, you know, if someone off

747
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,440
the bench is doing well and Harrison
Barnes is having a quiet night, Harrison

748
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:37,239
Barnes might be on the bench,
or Keegan Murray spent a lot of closing

749
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:40,119
minutes on the bench last year.
I mean, Mike Brown does not play

750
00:50:40,119 --> 00:50:44,559
favorites or care who you are,
like if you're if you're not feeling that

751
00:50:44,639 --> 00:50:46,840
that night, he's going to find
someone who is. And I think the

752
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:52,559
most common starting lineup or closing lineup
would be the starting five. But I

753
00:50:52,599 --> 00:50:53,960
think there's gonna be a lot of
times when they do kind of mix a

754
00:50:54,000 --> 00:51:00,760
match just based on who's having a
good night. Is there a what's what's

755
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:04,960
a weirdo wacko lineup? You would
like to see them try this year.

756
00:51:06,039 --> 00:51:14,679
Oh it's always a fun one.
So two different weirdo lineups I'd like to

757
00:51:14,719 --> 00:51:19,679
see, you know. One is
kind of the whoops all fours where they've

758
00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:22,159
got a million power force to just
play all of them. You have like

759
00:51:22,559 --> 00:51:27,440
Harrison Barnes run the point, and
then Keegan and Vassenkov and you know just

760
00:51:29,039 --> 00:51:31,960
yeah, Lyles and Sabonus and then
the forwards. I want to see that.

761
00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:37,159
It's not that bad. It would
we could see it right, Like

762
00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:40,559
I mean, like all of those
guys that can handle the ball, Les

763
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:44,360
like not as well, but like
an open space. Yeah that's fine.

764
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:46,599
So I mean realistically in that lineup, sa Bonus is just bringing the ball

765
00:51:46,679 --> 00:51:51,800
up like he does most of the
time anyway, So yeah, you don't

766
00:51:51,840 --> 00:51:54,480
need a point guard when you got
Sabonus on the floor and the rest of

767
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:59,400
the guys are all shooters. Still
like it could work. It could be

768
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:04,559
interesting. Is it time for over
under? Dan? Are we there?

769
00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:10,079
Yeah? Man? This number is
so brutal. They're always so I feel

770
00:52:10,079 --> 00:52:14,360
like I say that about everyone,
but so currently it's forty four and a

771
00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:19,199
half? Is there over under for
regular season wins this year? Greg over

772
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:22,760
under that I wish I could just
say, yeah, forty four and a

773
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:27,559
half sounds right, but we can't. And then you alluded to this at

774
00:52:27,559 --> 00:52:31,760
the top, whether their record may
be better for several reasons. But you

775
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:36,679
suggested, and I think I kind
of agree with you that the rest of

776
00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:38,119
the West is kind of bubble.
There are. I mean, there's a

777
00:52:38,119 --> 00:52:42,559
half dozen teams that I think we
would say underachieved in the West last year

778
00:52:42,599 --> 00:52:45,760
record wise. So where do you
see them slotting in in the West with

779
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:52,360
whatever that win total ends up being. So I think that they'll probably go

780
00:52:52,639 --> 00:52:55,800
over forty four and a half,
but if they do, it's gonna be

781
00:52:55,800 --> 00:53:00,440
barely Like I would not bet on
that line at all. Like last year

782
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:06,280
I was looking at the Kings over
under and like it was ridiculous. This

783
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:09,679
year it feels pretty right, like, you know, a couple wins better

784
00:53:09,679 --> 00:53:15,519
than last year, like you know
it. Yeah, I think that it's

785
00:53:15,559 --> 00:53:17,039
pretty spot on. I think,
yeah, I'll take the over because it

786
00:53:17,119 --> 00:53:21,199
is so close, and you know, if it's close, I'm Kings fan.

787
00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:24,960
I'm gonna say over. As far
as where they slot in in the

788
00:53:25,079 --> 00:53:30,519
rankings, I would say probably somewhere
in the four to six range, possibly

789
00:53:30,639 --> 00:53:36,480
lower, but you look kind of
historically in the West, like forty five

790
00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:40,599
wins is usually like seven six somewhere
in there some years eight or nine.

791
00:53:40,840 --> 00:53:45,280
Like, I mean, the West
is going to be brutal this year,

792
00:53:45,719 --> 00:53:49,679
but I do think that there's still
going to be some of that cannibalism,

793
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:52,320
you know, especially in the Pacific
Division. Like the fact that all those

794
00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:59,760
teams play each other four times is
insane, Like is how like what are

795
00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:01,920
the teams that you would say because
the West is going to be brutal,

796
00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:06,159
but it's also feels wide open like
that I was trying to go through this

797
00:54:06,199 --> 00:54:08,719
before the number of teams that I
would predict finish with more wins than the

798
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:14,159
Kings, like just guarantee it right
now. I stopped it too, And

799
00:54:14,239 --> 00:54:16,679
I have the Suns and the Nuggets, and like I'm not even fully confident

800
00:54:16,679 --> 00:54:21,159
in the Suns just because of like
the availability of Kevin Durant specifically, and

801
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:24,039
just yeah, they hit home runs
with minimum guys, but whenever you're relying

802
00:54:24,039 --> 00:54:30,840
a bunch on minimum guys there there's
margin for error there and reliably either like

803
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:35,639
that's the other thing, right,
and so like would you add any teams

804
00:54:35,920 --> 00:54:37,639
to that list, like or is
that or is that? Do you think

805
00:54:37,679 --> 00:54:42,119
that's right? Like there are two
teams that you could maybe guarantee we'll finish

806
00:54:42,159 --> 00:54:45,079
with more wins than and look,
even the Nuggets might be risky because relative

807
00:54:45,119 --> 00:54:47,760
to what's happened to them the past
few years, they got really lucky on

808
00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:52,480
the health front last season as well
for the most part. Yeah, I

809
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:57,639
mean, I think that it's pretty
safe to put Denver ahead. I think

810
00:54:57,679 --> 00:55:02,519
it's reasonably safe to put Phoenix ahead. But I'm gonna have my own nit

811
00:55:02,639 --> 00:55:07,519
picking with their their roster construction because
I think they were like, look at

812
00:55:07,519 --> 00:55:08,519
all these guys that got on the
minimum. It's like, yeah, but

813
00:55:08,559 --> 00:55:12,559
it's a bunch of guys who should
all be like the eighth of ninth guy,

814
00:55:12,599 --> 00:55:15,280
and they're gonna have to be like
the sixth guy. Yeah, like

815
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:19,000
it. You know, when I've
as a Kings fan, I know when

816
00:55:19,039 --> 00:55:22,480
you take the guy and put him
like three spots higher in the rotation than

817
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:25,159
he should be, it doesn't go
well. Like spent years watching that and

818
00:55:25,159 --> 00:55:28,760
it's like, oh that guy,
he's an NBA player, absolutely, and

819
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:30,199
then you put him in too big
a role and you're like, oh no,

820
00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:34,639
that's a disaster. Like, so, I have my concerns about Phoenix,

821
00:55:34,679 --> 00:55:37,440
but I mean on a night and
night basis, they've got enough talent,

822
00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:39,559
they'll probably have more wins. I'd
feel pretty comfortable with that. But

823
00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:45,199
yeah, I mean the rest is
wide open. I mean, I think

824
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:51,599
outside of like Houston, San Antonio
and Portland, just because I'm assuming at

825
00:55:51,599 --> 00:55:55,079
some point Dame strated like any other
team, if you told me they finished

826
00:55:55,119 --> 00:55:58,119
with more wins than the Kings,
they'd be like, all right, sure,

827
00:55:58,519 --> 00:56:02,000
yeah, you might be a little
weird, but I could see it

828
00:56:02,119 --> 00:56:06,920
like who knows, three to three
to twelve couldn't fall in almost any order

829
00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:13,599
and it wouldn't be Yeah, I
guess I you you actually said something before

830
00:56:13,599 --> 00:56:16,440
that made me think of something else
if they can't Or maybe it was when

831
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:20,960
Grant was talking saying that fans might
just be happy making the playoffs again,

832
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:25,760
Where does that leave the Kings in
the context of okay this season, leading

833
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:30,360
into the trade deadline or just trying
to evaluate themselves against the rest of the

834
00:56:30,360 --> 00:56:35,039
Western Conference? Are they like are
they a team that will be aggressive to

835
00:56:35,199 --> 00:56:37,079
look for upgrades? And I think
it's just pretty clear would need to be

836
00:56:37,119 --> 00:56:40,480
Like on the wing defender market you
mentioned, oh Gianna Nobi, there will

837
00:56:40,519 --> 00:56:44,239
be other names that become available,
like Lou Dort. Just a lot of

838
00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:46,440
stuff's going on in Oklahoma City right
now that could sort of squeeze him a

839
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:52,119
little bit. Like are they a
team that we should be watching to actively

840
00:56:52,199 --> 00:56:55,519
try to upgrade the roster mid season
or is it more kind of they're okay

841
00:56:55,519 --> 00:57:00,639
with the stasis of we're gonna make
the playoffs again, Like we need to

842
00:57:00,639 --> 00:57:04,239
see more from a lot of these
guys anyway, Murray vaz Ankov and we

843
00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:07,880
just trust that's the bonus and Foss
might make you know, past that the

844
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:13,159
halfway point that they might continue to
make progress. So the one thing I've

845
00:57:13,239 --> 00:57:16,960
kind of come to understand about Money
McNair as a GM is that he's always

846
00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:22,559
looking for the opportunity, but he
kind of knows his price and is perfectly

847
00:57:22,559 --> 00:57:27,639
happy to stand pat So if you
told me that post trade deadline this roster

848
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:31,760
is more or less the exact same
as it is now, that wouldn't surprise

849
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:35,320
me. If you told me they
made a huge swing for a guy,

850
00:57:35,480 --> 00:57:37,119
that wouldn't surprise me either. I
think if the riot opportunity comes along,

851
00:57:37,480 --> 00:57:42,679
they will absolutely be aggressive, but
they aren't gonna shake things up for the

852
00:57:42,719 --> 00:57:45,159
sake of shaking things up. Okay, So I mean we saw it with

853
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:47,880
I mean, how many years did
we think he was going to trade Harrison

854
00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:52,199
Barnes and he just never has and
then he resigns the guy like so,

855
00:57:52,639 --> 00:57:55,920
you know, I think that they're
perfectly willing to be patient if they don't

856
00:57:55,960 --> 00:58:00,159
see the value there, but the
instant they see and then they think makes

857
00:58:00,159 --> 00:58:02,920
sense to improve the team, they're
going to jump at it. So I

858
00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:09,400
mean how they traded Tyrese Haliburton,
if there's anything to show you that they're

859
00:58:09,440 --> 00:58:15,280
not afraid to make a big move
like that feels like a trillion years ago?

860
00:58:15,199 --> 00:58:20,760
Ye half ago? Yeah, it
feels like a trillion ago. Yeah.

861
00:58:21,199 --> 00:58:24,280
Did we not ask you about any
one or anything related to this roster?

862
00:58:24,519 --> 00:58:29,599
This team that you think needs to
be covered. The only thing and

863
00:58:29,639 --> 00:58:32,239
it's a kind of a minor thing, but Colby Jones, and he was

864
00:58:32,280 --> 00:58:37,679
there kind of early in the second
round draft pick. You know, with

865
00:58:37,800 --> 00:58:39,599
the current roster, there's not gonna
be a huge need for him to play

866
00:58:39,639 --> 00:58:43,440
a ton of minutes. But I
wouldn't be surprised if he gives them,

867
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:45,599
you know, some good minutes here
and there, just kind of spot minutes,

868
00:58:45,639 --> 00:58:50,079
similar to how they'll use Kessler,
where it's like they'll just throw them

869
00:58:50,079 --> 00:58:52,519
in. But I think there's an
NBA player. They're not like a superstar

870
00:58:52,599 --> 00:58:58,000
or anything like that, but I
think there's an NBA player there. Uh,

871
00:58:58,559 --> 00:59:00,519
you're gonna say something great. I
was just gonna I mean, my

872
00:59:00,559 --> 00:59:04,599
last question was going to be just
can you how good of an ambassador are

873
00:59:04,679 --> 00:59:08,719
you? And can you reach out
to the Kings fans we've alienated and let

874
00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:15,519
them know that we're we're not the
worst people on earth? Yeah, I

875
00:59:15,559 --> 00:59:19,920
mean big ask. It's a big
ask. I mean, I mean half

876
00:59:20,000 --> 00:59:22,760
Kings fans thing I'm the worst person
on earth too, So I'm probably the

877
00:59:22,800 --> 00:59:29,119
wrong ambassador, Greg. This was
great as always. Thank you so much

878
00:59:29,159 --> 00:59:34,000
for coming on and dropping buckets of
knowledge and not not as much spite as

879
00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:36,880
I thought it was going to come
from your end of the spectrum. But

880
00:59:37,239 --> 00:59:42,519
winning has softened me. Are you
able to tell our listeners where they can

881
00:59:42,559 --> 00:59:45,159
find you and all the work that
you do and maybe even tell them your

882
00:59:45,199 --> 00:59:53,519
proper title? So I'm on Twitter
at gis g WSS. You can also

883
00:59:53,559 --> 00:59:58,639
follow the Kings Harold at the Kings
Harold and Kings Harold dot com. That's

884
00:59:58,639 --> 01:00:02,679
our kind of primary place where we've
got you know, that's our articles,

885
01:00:02,679 --> 01:00:08,400
our merch or podcasts, all of
that's posted there. But yeah, that's

886
01:00:08,400 --> 01:00:10,920
the biggest thing is you know,
just check us out there. If we're

887
01:00:10,960 --> 01:00:16,199
completely independent, fans supported. We
don't have any corporate backing or anything like

888
01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:22,239
that, so you know, we're
just out there doing our own thing and

889
01:00:22,480 --> 01:00:27,960
not taking ourselves too seriously. Well, thank you so much as always,

890
01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:30,840
and I think, as you know
by now, this podcast will be pestoring

891
01:00:30,920 --> 01:00:32,400
you again in future. Absolutely look
forward to