What is up, fellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan Pavalley coming at
you with another NBA team look ahead, We're onto these Sacramento Kings, and
so that of course means that I need to bring on the one, the
only Greg Whissinger. You can follow him and should follow him on Twitter at
g whist that's at g w I s s. He's an editor for The
King's Herald. That's a fantastic website. There's a lot of great writing that
comes up over there. Following Greg for so long has put me onto a
bunch of the good writers that are there as well, so I've been able
to follow them. They put out immaculate King's content, just like the vibes
that are coming out of King's training camp at the moment. The most important
question of the podcast though, Greg, how are you doing? Oh dupe
great? I mean, it's it's preseason that nothing can go wrong. Everything's
gonna work. We're overhyping ourselves on how deep the King's team looks, just
like we do every single year before they let us down. So this is
the best time of the year for us. I gotta say, I'm still
thinking about the Mike Brown roar a lot. That was one of my favorite
things to come out of the early part of training camps for the NBA.
Absolutely, it's moments like that that make me so happy we're getting back to
like traditional scrums again as opposed to just like sitting up at a podium.
You know, it's like you don't get those moments when a guys sitting at
a table surrounded by like twenty reporters, Like, no, not at all.
That's the stuff we've missed out on the past. I guess two training
was it two training camps or was it I don't even something like that.
Speaking of Mike Brown, though, I think that might be the best place
to start. What did you think of the Mike Brown higher So, when
the initial list of Kings coaching candidates came out, it was originally like a
list of seven or eight guys. Mike Brown was kind of rating them.
He wasn't the guy that excited me the most. That would have been guys
like Darvin Hamm or you know, some of the younger guys you know,
maybe not as known or proven, but of the quote unquote retreads, Mike
Brown was definitely one of the better ones. And if they wanted to coach
with experience. I think that they did a good job. They got a
guy who has a lot of experience, does a good job relating to players,
comes from a lot of really successful programs and coaching trees, and the
players all seem to be responding to him really well early on. Of course,
things can always change once the season starts. But yeah, I mean,
at the time it was not the most exciting, but when they got
into the interviews, they also were really kind of Their second round of interviews
was all the tenured guys, guys who had been around, and at that
point I was a lot more excited about Mike Brown than some of the other
options that were on the table at that point in time. So no,
I mean, Mike Brown was not my top choice, but I'm perfectly happy
with him. Definitely better than some King's coaching and searches have gone over the
years, and it seems to be, like you said, good vibes at
this point. So hopefully that continues and he can kind of take some of
those winning habits from other places and apply them here. Yeah, were you
surprised, Like you said, the second round of interviews were all like the
retreat guys, were you surprised of it? They went this route of sort
of the known coaches or been there, done that coaches rather than going with
like a first time or someone who has just deemed like off the beaten path.
More not necessarily surprised because the Kings have consistently for years now gone with
what is the most win now, you know, so they're not taking the
upside swing the raw unproven guys. I mean, you know, going from
the draft to coaching to you know, all the way down the line,
they've tried to win as quickly as possible. And it's a reasonable thing to
think that if you're wanting to win now, you want a guy that you
know can win at the NBA level. And so again wouldn't have been necessarily
my top choice, But it also makes sense through the frame of that the
Kings are operating, which is something is covering the Kings. I've had to
kind of differentiate those two for a lot of years, like how would I
be approaching this versus does this make sense in the context of what they're trying
to do right now? I think he makes sense for the team because he's
going to give a damn about defense and kind of the question here is I
just want to know if you had any like themes you notice from the off
season or takeaways from the off season, thoughts from the off season. On
an overarching level, they're sticking with you leading into this year. Because Matt
Moore of Action Network put it best to me, he was like, Daron
Fox Sabonis plus a fuck ton of shooting does make a ton of sense,
and so like that just sort of the prevailing fee from the off seasons.
That's the model that the Kings decided to follow absolutely. I mean the biggest
issue, especially as soon as they made that trade. You know, when
they traded for Sabonis, they got rid of Haliburton and Buddy Hilled, which
were their two best three point shooters, and was like, Okay, now
we've got a speedy, fast guard who wants to get in the lane.
We've got a really talented center who operates mostly kind of high posts. It's
like, okay, you need to have shooters around that, and the King's
had none. I mean, they were still not Those two players were still
okay in the limited time they had after the deadline, but yeah, the
overall model needed shooting, and they definitely went out and got that all around
them. I mean, Keith and Murray, Harrison, Barnes, Malik Monk,
Kevin Hurder, like, all those guys can shoot, open up space
the floor a little bit. So that seems very clear. And then just
kind of going back to the coaching search, all the guys that they went
within the second round of interviews were all the defense focused guys like Mike D'Antoni
didn't make it to the second round despite his past success, like which almost
seemed a little counterintuitive because obviously they are going so offense heavy with the way
they built the roster, But I think it does kind of make sense if
you're like, Okay, we've got a team that's going to be amazing on
defense. We need someone to give get them to give a damn about defense
to keep us out of like the bottom five, right, Like, you
don't may not need to have the best defense if you've got a really amazing
offense, but it also still can't be the absolute worst. Yeah, And
I have more specific questions about that, but my gut reaction is if the
Kings are like twenty second or higher and points slot per possession, Mike Brown
might belong in a Coach of the Year discussion at that point. So I
just look at this personnel and who is there, Davion Mitchell, and then
who's the second best defender on the roster after that? Well, the problem
is they have guys that are good defenders, but guys that are so far
down the roster. Were like, will they make the training camp cuts,
like they brought in a bunch of extra defensive guys, but of guys that
will actually be in the rotation. Yeah, it's kind of hard to figure
out who the second best defender is. It's like, is it Harrison Bards
who's was terrible on defense last year? Is it Keith and Murray who's a
rookie? Like, you know, it's kind of hard to say who is
the second best defensive player. So I have to ask you. This is
the first time we're like beaking not over Twitter since the Demonta Sabonis trade or
Tyre Talbert and trade, whatever you want to call it. I was pretty
critical of it. And the thing I love about Kings fans and they might
be my favorite fan base to interact with on Twitter because you guys, I
don't mean to lou beyond of the rowd but it seems so self aware,
at least the ones that are also covering the team in addition of rooting for
them. And you take criticism really well, or when you disagree with me,
you might say something and it's always just very like positive even when we
don't agree. So I appreciated the reaction. I got to being down on
it. But where do you land on it now that we've had months upon
months to sort of ruminate over it? And I'll preface it finally with this.
The fit with Fox and Sabonis, from what I watched after that was
a lot smoother than I thought it was going to be, and that was
with a roster that did not have anywhere near as much spacing as they do
right now. Yeah, I mean, I think it's fair to question the
move, and it go in and goes back to that thing of am I
evaluating what I would have done with the Kings, or am I evaluating how
they executed the strategy they're trying to do? Like I probably wouldn't have been
eager to give up on Tyris Halliburton and the many many years of team control
you have over him, right that's kind of the biggest risk and downside is
that Haliburton could grow into all these different things that we've seen the potential for
him to be. You have team control for much longer than Sabonis, who
doesn't have that much longer left than his current contract, and because of CBA
rules, it's difficult to really make sense to extend him. It makes a
lot more sense for him to hit free agency. So there's a big risk
there. But when we just look at the trade as a talent for swap
and you know, contract swaps and all of that, like, I think
the Kings got killed a little more than they probably should have, because I
think just in general, we all tend to fall in love with the potential
and what a guy could be and the long term cap ramifications. Sometimes we
kind of overlooked just the talent because as much as I love Tyris Halibert,
like right now, Sabonus is a much better player and fits far better with
Darren Fox. I mean, the biggest problem was that Terris Haliburton and Darren
Fox both put up far better numbers when they weren't playing together, so you
had to get rid of one, and I think they probably would have preferred
to get rid of Fox but the market wasn't there the way it was for
Haliburton. They could get much better talent in and if you're trying to win
now, as shortsighted as it may be, that in that lens, that
trade makes sense because they did get better now and for the next couple of
years. They also built you know, with the moves that followed, they
built a team that makes a ton of sense on paper, at least offensively
as far as how they all fit and the ages of all the guys Fox
Sabonis, Haliburton, Murray Monk, even David Mitchell, Like they're all within
like two years of each other agewise. So it's a group that is still
young enough to have room to grow, but cohesive enough and there's enough experience
there where they should be able to do some winning rate. Pap. I'm
just I'm just still so perplexed that it came down to they had to get
rid of one of them. Is there other stuff they could have done to
have made that. Yeah, it's not even worth rehashing, because you're right,
like when you look at the on off splits of them, like the
Baby night and Day, I'm just I look at Tyr's Haliburton's game, and
I'm just a little bit surprised they got to that point. I guess,
well, and the problem was that, And I think that this is kind
of a flaw that gets overlooked with Haliburton is that he is very quick to
defer, as talented as he is, if there's anyone else that he thinks
he is kind of on his level or better, he immediately defers. Like
if you look at what happened with the Pacers when I think it was Brodain
came back from his injuries, suddenly, like Haliburton's stats dipped because he was
deferring to Brogadin all the time. That's why they got rid of Brogaden this
summer, Like it's because it's just because he's a nice guy, friendly guy,
passed up guy. He's not looking for his own game, even if
the team's like, please look for your own game a little bit more because
you're really good. And so playing him alongside had Fox, he wasn't going
to be as aggressive as he needed to be. Fox is going to struggle
because he needed the ball in his hands more and after the trade, in
various interviews, Haliburton, Fox, and Davian Mitchell all said something to the
effect of, like, there were three of us that all needed the ball
in our hands, and we knew one of us had to go. Like
there was everyone in the locker room knew it. Like it wasn't that they
didn't get along, There was no like in fighting. It was just that
they all knew, like, our games don't mesh well enough. So what
did you make of the Sabonus Fox fit through? Through what we did see
for a few games last year. I mean, it was some of the
most fun I've had watching the Kings and years. I'm really excited to see
what it can be going forward. I thought it was smart that when both
him kind of had some minor injuries, they just shut him down and didn't
try to, you know, run it back. But I'm really excited to
see how it goes this year, just because Sabonis is by far the best
player Fox has ever played with and the guy it can help unlock different levels
to his game, because you know, Fox can be ball dominant, but
then he can still dump with the ball off to Sabonis and then Sabonis will
find him again. Yo, because Sabonis is such a gifted passer, and
rewards cutting and sees the angles and all of that's where it can unlock that
way that the Kings could use Fox as speed where they really haven't been able
to before. Yeah, that was the one thing, or one of the
things that I noticed during the games they play together, is that Fox was
like felt like he was moving more and with just more spirit and purpose.
And that's just not something I'd accounted for when initially evaluating the trade, which
I guess is why we play the games. Huh First, A bonus though,
So he's extension eligible right now, they can't. I think the highest
starting salary they could offer him an extension is about like twenty four point eight
million around there. Is that like, when you're looking at that money,
I'm assuming it's money that you'd be comfortable giving him if he would take it,
just because it's with the cap going up. But I think with the
cap going up, and unless he starts to play really poorly in Sacramento,
this is probably a situation. Yeah, he might still resign with the Kings,
but he's probably gonna become a free agent. This isn't going to be
an extension situation, right, that's the assumption. Just because I mean the
yeah, like you said, that number is not that big, especially factoring
in the cap will be going up. Like I don't think he's necessarily going
to get a max contract in free agency, but he's probably gonna get more
than what the Kings could pay him on an extension. Now, so even
if he's happy there, and you know, if the Kings are doing well,
he might be happy to resign there. I mean, he doesn't seem
like a guy who is seeking out a big market or anything like that.
And he wanted to be in Cali in general, right there wasn't like the
teams. He just wanted to be in Cali exactly, So that would be
me. I don't care which he might go to just seventy Cali though,
Like he bought a house in Napa, like his wife is from somewhere around
there. So like there's all those little things that we glomb onto his fans,
like here's why he's gonna stay, you know, But ultimately it's going
to come to if the Kings are good or not. If the Kings are
good, he might stay, especially if his family's happy. He's happy.
You know, why wouldn't you because at that point the Kings would be able
to offer just as much as anyone else, So it's just does it work.
If it doesn't work, the risk is you could lose him for nothing.
Daron Fox did his usual thing last year where he makes me question my
unending belief in him, and then he finishes the season so strong that I'm
drunk on Daron Fox by the end of it hit. After that trade,
he was at like twenty nine and seven thirty six percent from three fifty four
percent or something ridiculous on two's just sick efficiency. Was his year? The
struggles overblown? I mean defensively, No, I don't think they were overblown,
but like, was the way his season painted overblown? Was it properly
contextualize? And what are you looking to see most out of him entering this
is? This is year six for him, which makes me feel really old
for some reason, because I feels like he was just a rookie. No,
I don't think it was unfair at all, because he really struggled to
start the year. I mean, he started off really poorly and we were
trying to figure out why. Like he came in with like a lot of
headed bulk because like, okay, did the bulk, throw off his form
or slow him down. Is it conditioning? Is he just not used to
it because he wasn't getting the foul calls he was used to, because they
were cracking down on some of the whistle and the paint. So we were
looking for all those reasons, and by the end of the season it seemed
like whatever it was, whether he was in bad conditioning or in a funk
or whatever it was, he worked himself out of it. But it was
too little, too late. But the problem is we've seen that more than
once, Like he's done that multiple years, and it is really aggravating because
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of Kings fans are at that
same point where it's like this is kind of a make or break year for
him, Like this team is built to highlight him at this point, Like
he's got shooters all around to create space and have outlets to pass too,
He's got a big man who can pass and reward him off the ball,
Like he's got everything in his disposal. It's really just can he show up
and deliver from day one? And he didn't even talked about it in the
training camp earlier this week that the key is not to get off to a
slow start to come out firing from day one. And I do think the
biggest thing for him, it's probably become a cliche to mention, but it
is still the jumper for me. He was at thirty nine point one percent
on off the dribble threes after the SA bonus trade, I think he was
at and then he was at like thirty seven plus percent on catching shoots.
I'm not saying he needs to be that high, but like that needs to
become like he's always been able to. Like we've seen him go on runs
where he hits these ridiculous step backs and he's so comfortable working from the mid
range, but there's always this topsy turvy nous to it, or for me,
this sense of fleeting where you know it's not gonna stay like this and
it's gonna come and go. And I think if you're gonna have him work
off the ball as much like the specifically like the set three, I think
might actually be the just the biggest thing I'm looking for from him. Is
that? Is that wrong to view it in that way? Well, it's
funny because if you look at the splits when he just does catch and shoot
threes. He's actually a very good shooter. It's just the problem is the
majority of his threes historically have been off the dribble, and he's terrible at
those, and so it's like he needs to flip which one he does the
most the other thing is And this is just something that I kind of attached
myself to as an idea towards the end of the last season, and I
think it was a big part of where he found success. So much towards
the end of the year, he wasn't hunting for threes as much as just
occasionally he'd still take him, but he was really working the mid range.
And he's really good at the mid range. And you know, when you
look at something one like you know, Demard Rose and what he did last
year, where it's like, you know, the traditional logic was he'll never
be truly great because he's so reliant on mid range and we don't do that
anymore. And then he comes out and just does it a lot. And
I'm not saying Fox is gonna shoot from the mid range like the rosen or
anything crazy like that, but I do wonder if maybe there's value in just
him taking the shots he's better at and more comfortable with, as opposed to
trying to force an element of his game that he struggles with and always has.
I will never give up on his step back three, which he also
hited a forty one percent clip to close the year last season, so and
the season before he was like hit him in a ridiculous clip. So I
still believe. But I totally get what you're saying there, Keegan Murray,
Well, go ahead. Oh, I was just gonna say, I'm right
there with you. I'd love to see that become a consistent part of his
game. I'm just kind of at the point where I'm not holding out hope
until I see it. He does look comfortable taking it, like that's that.
I guess there's been elements of always forcing it, but it doesn't look
like something he's necessarily trying to force all the time. Maybe maybe more of
that in between step backs than the three point step backs. But I believe
in it, Keegan Murray, I painted the selection of him on the podcast,
thus he was The Kings were trolled for picking him over Jay Nivy,
but had they picked Jay Navy, they would have been trolled because they traded
Haliburton only to pick Ivy and still have the Aaron Fox. There was never
gonna be just an accepted decision for the Kings. After watching him in Summer
League, I fell in love just because I don't know a ton about college
prospects before Summer League. Any overarching thoughts on his fit with this roster and
just how much you expect from him his rookie season. How much are they
going to rely on him? Do you view him as a starter from from
day one? I think there's a good chance he starts from day one.
I think the most likely starting lineup will be Sabonis, Murray, and then
Harrison Burns at the three. If he's not starting day one, I think
he's definitely starting by the end of the season. I think that what his
game is is a perfect fit in so many ways, especially next to a
center like Sabonis. Just because Murray can hit the three, he doesn't need
to be the focal point of an offense to be productive and get his numbers.
I mean, even in some of those huge Summer League games, it
was like, oh, that's a quiet twenty seven points, Like, you
know, as quiet as that kind of a scoring outpit can be in I
mean Kings fans, we are well versed in Summer League. You know,
we've won it twice. We made the shirts for it, so Dynasty,
yeah, exactly. So we know that summer League isn't everything, but we
also know like it's good if your rookie doesn't struggle in summer league. C
Like, that's the kiss of death. We've seen that too many times.
So I think he'll be productive. I don't think he's going to be,
you know, the third best player on the King's right away, but the
hope is that he could be a guy on a similar level to talent wise
to Fox and Simonos within a year or two. And if that's what you
get out of the fourth pick, like that's a huge win, especially when
he fits so well with what they already have. I also wonder if his
summer league can be more of a harbing jer for success than maybe others,
because it very much didn't feel like he was in a role he wasn't going
to see with the the adult Kings, and he was. They had him
doing a lot of stuff off the ball, and him, by the way,
him moving off the ball is like a hot knife through butter. Just
watch that and so it feels like that should translate really well. And I
think that's what excites me, is that is the fit between him Fox and
Si Bonus and then Barnes just feels like it should be seamless. Yeah,
I mean the question mark is still going to be defense, but kind of
going to that point, like Jade and Ivy wasn't fixing the defense either,
like to your point about like there was no win on kind of addressing the
weaknesses on that fourth pick. So I'm very happy with Kick and Murray.
Like I was saying before the draft, like I would have probably picked Ivy
just for the upside and all that, but it kind of goes back to
the idea of what I would do for long term building the Kings versus what
they're trying to do with winning now, and if you're looking at a guy
who gives you the most upside both now and I think Murray's does still have
plenty of upside in the long run. So I liked the pick and I
really enjoyed Summer League, and I'm excited to see what he can do with
the rest of the actual Kings around him. What are your thoughts on the
Kevin Hurder trade. I love that trade. I was so excited when that
happened. I mean, Kevin Hrder is got legit size, great shooter,
like a truly consistent volume shooter, and like it makes perfect sense. I
won't be surprised if he slides down to the three for some lineups, like
because he's got the size to do that. And a lot of this might
be skewed because I just remember multiple games where he just completely wrecked the Kings,
and so I've always probably held him a little bit higher esteem. But
no, I thought it was good. I thought it was good value.
I mean the protections I think made sense. That the big concern, and
of course, as you're tying up a pick potentially for a long time if
the Kings don't get good and the Kings have been on the bad end of
that before, where they had picks that didn't convey for a very long period
of time and could never make other moves because of it, that's the scary
part. But at the same time, they added a really good player without
giving up any key pieces. In the moment, I disliked it at first
looking at the protections on the pick, and then I started thinking about it,
and it was like, well, if the Kings are good and that
conveys this year or next year, like then you can start moving first round
picks again. And you know what, if you're bad, you probably don't
want the King's trading first round picks anyway. So it's good that they theoretically
can't promise first round picks. So now then that when I started looking at
it that way, I decided that it was a it was a better move.
Are they going to give him a chance to like, he can do
so much as a shooter, and it's like functional shooting. It's like when
we talk about Buddy Heal's functional shoot, Like Kevin Hurd is a lot of
the same things and he's bigger. Are they gonna give him a chance though,
to like do stuff on the ball, because that was an element he
brought to Atlanta where he could run situational pick and rolls. It would be
a little sloppy sometimes, but he can hit like some pull ups too,
And is that going to be something they I don't think they need to ask
him to do it when you look at who's on this team, but give
him a chance to do it. I have no idea. I wish I
could answer that question just because I mean, with Mike Brown coming in,
it's who knows that it's gonna look like. It wouldn't surprise me at all
just from what we've seen in the past with how Mike Brown runs things and
the things he's talked about, the lessons he's pulled from the Warriors, like
he's talked about not wanting to have just a stagnant like pick and roll offense
that is the same thing that everyone else is running every time down the floor,
you know, where you run a pick and roll and have your shooters
out on the edge, like he doesn't want to do that, you know,
eighty percent of his possession. So it wouldn't surprise me at all if
he gets created with some different ways to use guys like Hurder or Monk or
because I mean, same sort of thing like legit shooter, but has some
ability to do things off with the ball in hand as well. So I
wouldn't be surprised at all to see that. But I also wouldn't be surprised
if we don't see it, just because I mean, you've got Fox,
You've got sa bonus Davian Mitchell, like in all the lineups there's people that
need the ball in hands a lot more. What is Davy and Mitchell's role
to this team now moving forward? You know, it's kind of tricky because
he's such a fun defender to watch, Like he's so good on point of
attack the defense, and he has moments where he looks like he could also
be a really great offensive player. Some of them off the dribble looks that
he has hit are just like faith in a singular possession. But then it
yea, it invariably dissipates. Yeah, I mean in the aggregate. Like
I looked at his numbers from the like the end of the season, I
was like, oh, those were not as good as I thought they were,
just given some of the moments I saw, Like, so it's all
about if he can find consistency. But I mean, he improved every single
year in college. It was normal to expect a little bit of a step
back from college numbers to NBA, especially now in a backup role as opposed
to a primary point guard, you know, number one option on the team
or number two option on the team. I think the challenge is going to
be if he can figure out a way to be productive when he's not the
main guy to come in and do it right off the back without having to
play, you know, thirty thirty five minutes a game, because at least
on the current line, if I don't see how that's happening, and it
could be something where if he takes that next step, maybe he makes steering
Fox expendable, or if he takes the next step, maybe they trade him
for something else, right, I mean, it could go either way,
just kind of depending on what they think that looks like. But it's going
to be interesting to see how what he does year two. I'm excited because
it's just with his work ethic and what we've seen already. I'm definitely not
counting him out up for anything. I'm very excited about his potential, but
it is hard to see exactly where that's going to come from, given that
he's going to be behind Fox most of the time. When I look at
the roster, it does feel like they almost have to default to some Kevin
Herder, if not a lot of Kevin Hrder at the three because you have
Monk and Fox and Herder and then Mitchell and Okay, having five guards is
fine, but like someone could end up being squeezed if like, that's what
you're committed to doing, and if you're still you're clearly invested in Monk,
that's why you signed him, and you traded for Hurder and Davy how much
was only going in year two, So it does feel like they're gonna have
to go with I guess it's not smaller if Kevin Hurder's at the three,
but maybe you know, Kevin Hurder defending threes not probably something you want to
see at time, but almost he's like they have to play him there a
bunch. Yeah, and he actually played a fair bit of three for Atlanta,
you know, when you look at the lineup info and and I mean
some of that, I don't put a ton into that because sometimes it's just
based on like height orders. Yeah, he was the three because he was
the third tallest guy on the team. But I think there was a plenty
of times when Atlanta did use him that way and had him defending threes.
And I think he's probably a little bit better defender than his reputation is.
You know, I don't think people think of him as a good or standout
defender, but I think he's pretty solid, and you know, he's six
seven, he's got good length, good size, like he I think against
some of the bigger threes, he would really struggle just you know, because
he doesn't have that wait. But at the same time, like most teams
struggle against the bigger, really talented threes, like it doesn't matter who you
have, Like there's only a handful of guys leaguewide that can really lock those
guys down, and the Kings don't have that, and they'll have to figure
out ways to work around that a little bit. So I won't be surprised
at all of Herder spends a good amount of time at the three, and
hopefully it won't be a disaster. I would say, if you're gonna play
him at the three, I guess I'm not in love with the Daviyon Mitchell
darn Fox fit, but you almost want to have Davion Mitchell at the court
in some form if you're gonna have Kevin Hurder at the three. There's definitely
a group of Kings fans that really want Davion Mitchell playing like point guard with
Fox essentially playing shooting guard in lineups just to kind of I mean the catch
and shoot numbers, but support that theory. But and yeah, then you
give you have a really good defensive point guard. Yeah, the kind of
cover of the fact that Fox definitely has not been that up to this point.
I'm less high on that idea, but it's definitely an idea that some
Kings fans are getting into. You know how I feel about Rashaun Holmes the
basketball player. Yes, he is the backup five on this team, which
is like the mother of all luxuries. Do you view him as part of
like the longer term vision of this team or should we expect him to be
involved in trade rumors? Again, please just tell me we won't ever see
Sabonus and Holmes play together, or that Holmes will be given the green light
to just start chucking corner threes like you had for a minute, I think
in Philly or Phoenix, whatever it was. The numbers say he was good
at that. Yeah, but it does feel like his future with the team
has been complicated by the Sabonus addition. Yeah, and I would expect that
as long as Holmes comes out and plays well in the minutes that he has,
Like, he really struggled for a variety of reasons last year. He
had a year from how like on court, off court, weird injuries,
all sorts of stuff going on. If he can come back and look like
for Shaun Holmes of old, I think that he's most likely to be traded
at the deadline just because having his contract isn't a bad contract by any means.
If he's your starting center, if he's your backup center, that contract
makes zero sense, especially when one of the biggest contracts on your team is
your starting center. Like it just doesn't make sense from a roster billion standpoint,
Like you can get backup center production for a lot cheaper. I get,
but like even with it, like next year of this season or maybe
next season, he's like eight percent of the salary caps. Is that really
that ridiculous for a backup five in the new cap climate? I think it's
ridiculous because to me, Rashaun Holmes is a starting center in the NBA.
I mean his push shot is porn for me, so like yeah, and
I've actually thought he's been underrated defensively, But I get, I get what
you're saying if he's that good, and I think I can't remember this is
not me saying it. I was either listening to a podcast or reading something
where they said he ended up not being happy with the contract he signed with
the Kings, and that's either the market for centers was just way more repressed
than we all thought that summer, or that's on your agent then, man,
Like I think everyone thought he was going to get more than just the
early bird rights deal from them, and I just I don't you know,
you don't not trade for the bonus because you have for Shawn Holmes. But
I was sort of surprised that, oh, okay, you kept for Shaun
Holmes past the deadline. Everything that was going on, I get it,
but then he's still on your team to finish the off season was a little
bit bizarre at me. So I think that Holmes definitely got misled by his
agent and that's why he fired his agent right after he signed his new deal.
Oh I didn't even realize that. Yeah, I don't pay for someone
who covers the NBA. I need to pay more attention with who's on like
whose agency and when players are firing their agents. Because unless agents released a
statement to Woas about how they tried to talk sense into their client but he
wasn't listening. I'm just not as up on the agency ties around the NBA,
and I mostly only pay attention to the ones with Kings players. But
yeah, the agent was like, leading up to free agency, he was
out there talking about how he was going to get like these massive like twenty
five million a year, thirty million dollars feels, which everyone's like, if
you can find someone like, go for it, and the King's basically kind
of called the bluff, like and then the market dried up, and then
the King's table deal with the early bird rights was the best deal left on
the table. And it's like, I don't think Holmes was mad at the
Kings. It was just more like that was what the Kings could offer him
and that was now the best deal. So I think he was a little
unhappy that that was all he got because his agent had kind of filled his
head with the idea of getting a lot more. But so I don't think
he's upset about his contract at this point, but I think he was in
the moment disappointed that it That's all. It was just, I we need
to make the Kelly breaking her for Rashaun Holmes swap happened already, Like that's
just the thing that I feel like needs to go down. I'm all about
it. Kings could use another three, or conversely, they could use a
three, like I don't heard Murray is at three. So is there any
insight or inkling on how this team will defend during its extended use of Sabonus
at the five? Like, do we expect more conservative approaches with Sabonus maybe
dropping back. I've seen some people mention that he's better suited to play that
the Nuggets sometimes use Nicole Yok. It's like, bring him up really high,
let him be aggressive. But if you do that, you kind of
need to have like good help or at least defensive playmakers behind him. I
don't know, Like I definitely wouldn't call Harrison Barns that at this point.
I don't know if you' view Keegan Murray. Is that just any sense for
how this team will defend or what they can do to maybe overachieved on the
defensive end this year. I look at the roster, I'm like, maybe
it's just rebounding. Maybe they're like one of the best defensive rebounding teams in
the league, and that's just something that's able to inflate their standing. But
I don't even know if that's just way off base. And I mean after
the Bonus trade, they were one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the
league. I mean, Sabonis is a game changer on that end, So
I think that'll help some. But that's the kind of the million dollar questions
what they're going to do defensively. One of our writers we the Kings Herald,
every year we do a series in September called thirty Q which is just
thirty questions kind of previewing the upcoming season. It's a good way to fill
the dead time of September. One of our writers, Omorgon, wrote a
really good breakdown of kind of the defensive schemes that the Warriors ran last year
where Mike Brown was running that defense, and just kind of breaking down the
different ways that they played it and how that was different from what most teams
are doing. And some of that was just kind of you know, hardhaging
and you know, kind of disrupting passing lanes more than playing the individual.
Sometimes it was conceding threes to protect the paint more, which kind of goes
against common wisdom but was very effective for the Warriors. Now at the same
time. The Warriors also have Draymond Green, who is one of the best
defenders of the past however many years. Right, So I'm not going to
pretend that Mike Brown can step in and turn the Kings into the Wors.
But if our goal is like b twentieth ranked defense instead of twenty nine,
like, I think that some of those schemes could help, right, Like,
because you look at the Warriors, like they didn't really rely on rim
protection. That wasn't their scheme. Like their best room protector was Kevin Looney,
like who sometimes would play six minutes a game. Like, so I
think that we're hoping that Mike Brown just kind of schematically can figure out a
team defensive concept that kind of covers the gaps makes things difficult. And again
the bar is pretty low, Like no one in sacrament is expecting the top
five defense, and it's like, Okay, if we can have a really
great offense and just not a bottom bottom defense, we'll be okay, like
for our modest goals of playing and maybe the eight seed like that could be
enough. Fair. I would love to know if there is someone out there
who expects the Kings to be a top five defense. Maybe one of our
YouTube commentors, because sometimes YouTube commenters are always good for will be top seven
defense easy or something. Yeah. So after this SA bonus trade was made,
I called Harrison Barnes mission critical to making it all work because of the
way he plays on offense. Now that they have Murray Monk Kevin Herder,
he is less so to making that work on the offensive end, and he
was I had to go back and watch he was pretty bad defensively last year.
He still had like some possessions where I was just looked like, oh,
Harrison Barnes is moving really quick and it's like one on ones against higher
profile dudes. Is he just getting up for those? But he looked like
you watch me more than I did. But it just he looked like stiff
and like slow at a lot of points. Is that something that you're concerned
about moving forward? And is it by extension more likely that he signs an
extension or resigns with this team or are we back to the cycle of Harrison
Barnes is going to be in trade rumors by the day end. Look,
some of that definitely depends on whether the Kings are good or not. If
they like implode, of course, but just looking at a team that's right
now trying to be competitive in the Western Conference, I offensive fit again divide,
but like they kind of need him to be, like he can't suck
on defense or them, is my point. No, I totally agree.
And last year, it's funny I wrote an article as part of that previous
series, can Harrison Barnes bounce back? Which is funny because if you just
look at his stat lines, like he had a better year than the year
before, but watching game after game, like he was checked out entirely on
defense. And I don't know if it was age or in you know,
nagging injuries, or just stopped caring. My personal theories, I think he
stopped caring because last season was a law season in so many ways and just
kind of a repeat of a cycle that has kind of plagued the King's year
every year every year. And I think that we can attribute a decent amount
of like Fox's performance and Barns and guys who've kind of been through that ring
or multiple times, like I'm hoping that they were just checked out and I
wouldn't blame them, Like we all want NBA players to be like Gung Ho
every night but the reality is their people, and you know, you can
only care about defense so long when Buddy Healed is blowing it every third play,
like even if you played your best. So I do think that there's
probably a human element. He's probably not as bad as he was last year.
He is probably not as good as he was at his peak, which
was never exceptionally high. But I do believe he can be better because I
mean, he really looked re energized in those games that Sabonis was there.
I mean it was a short sample size before Sabonus hurt his knee and was
done for the year, but in those games, Barnes look completely different.
So I still have hope that we're going to get some of the old Barns.
I mean said, yeah, I don't think if the Kings are doing
well they're going to trade him. I think that they will kind of keep
the ship moving forward. They're not going to disrupt it and take away a
key feader and like a locker room guy and you reliable role player. But
if they're struggling or just the right opportunity comes along a guy who's not a
huge downgrade but maybe has some more upside A longer term. I could definitely
see them still going for a move to improve long term, as long as
it wasn't a huge step down quality wise for this season. Who do we
trust more as sort of the primary wing checker right now? Is that Harrison
Barnes or Keegan Murray looking at that projected starting five? Is that a stupid
question? You can also answer it in that way. It's just so hard
to answer, just because we haven't gotten to see Murray play defense against NBA
guys outside of Summer League, like he played really I thought, really admirable
defense against Paula Benkaro in that really good game between the Kings and Magic and
Summer League. But it's still Summer League. Like, I mean, those
two guys were going at it. It was a lot of fun to watch
those two, and Murray I thought, did really well. I don't know
if that's a good barometer for how he can check an NBA wing, like,
especially a better one. I have no idea who their go to is
gonna be. It could be one of those you know, there's some guys
they've got this kind of end the bench, guys that aren't expected to be
part of the main rotation. But their defensive specialist, and maybe they just
throw those guys out there in those scenarios, you know, just go play
defense, don't worry about anything else where. You just want you to pes
through this guy for ten minutes and piss him off. Like I will say
some I'd probably still pick Harrison Barnes. I'm just gonna fall to the veteran
and some of the most defensive possessions I saw from him last season went back
and watch was when he was going up against Andrew Wiggins, which was sort
of like a I don't know if that was a him, like, oh,
like this is the this is the new Harrison Barnes of the Warriors,
Like I'm gonna get up for this match us. I don't know if there's
anything tied to that, but you sort of touched upon this. What is
his secondary front court rotation look like? If we're gonna go Barnes, Murray
and Sabonis, I would say, as of right now, where Shaun Holmes
is gonna be locked into like that pack up five spot, then how are
you sort of you know, mixing and matching with the three four spots on
this team. We've already mentioned that, Hey, maybe Kevin Herder plays some
three, but you still have, you know, players who are under contract
like a Trey Lyles, but then you have like, oh, is Kent
Baysmore gonna make this roster? So how do you sort of see that shaking
out that secondary front court rotation. I think that I mean, based on
the roster right now, I think Trey Lyles will get the majority of the
backup four minutes. He was actually really solid after the trade deadline for the
King's kind of like a nice surprise, like for his contract and for expectations,
was like, oh, this is a competent basketball player and as your
backup for your ninth guy in the rotation, Like, I think he's a
pretty solid player. I think the bigger question is the three and what they're
going to do there. I don't think there is a clear answer, and
that's where I think that we're going to see a lot of kind of creative
lineup slides where you know, you put in Lyles and slide Murray over to
the three for a few minutes. That one. I'll even there are basketball
refers. Page goes Rose again, but please continue by apologize. You know
you put Lyles in his four slide over is the three for a few minutes,
and then you know next time out you're bringing Hurder at the three to
sit Murray. And I mean there's ways you could kind of manage the minutes.
It's definitely not ideal, or they might just meant to is a three
or something. I have no idea. Oh man, I mean it could
be one of those guys that they brought him for training camp. You know
there's Casiopa, there's Moniche, there's yeah Campay's Moore, like Darren's. Davis
is still on this team. He wouldn't surprise me if he played some backup
three, Like I think he's a little undersized for it, but there are
probably worse options on the King's roster, Like, is is there a bigger
concern for this roster than that sort of wing rotation or is that just clearly
the biggest issue for them leading into the season. No, and that's the
biggest thing, And I think that's why you'll see a guy like Holmes be
available. It's like, if there's a team with an extra wing who needs
an upgrade on their starting center, you can downgrade your starting center and it's
not going to be as big an impact just because Sabonis is going to play
a lot of minutes, Like, it's not going to be as big an
impact as if you bring in someone who can play consistent rotation minutes at small
forward. I do have I would like, do you think they should be
involved in the Jake Crowder sweep stakes? That are insofar as there are Jake
Crowder sweep stakes, it's all about cost. I would be very happy if
they could add Jay Crowder without giving up, Like I don't want to give
up Harrison Barnes to get Jake Crowder. That doesn't matter. But like if
you could give up some of like kind of the like a you know,
throw together a package of like Terrence Davis and Alex lenn and you know something
else, you know, and that was enough for Phoenish, just a little
extra depth, you know, I'd totally do that. If they want to
to figure out a framework of homes for Crowder, I think homes a lot
better player. But just positionally, I think that that could even make sense.
You get off the long term money, you create a little bit of
future cap flexibility, you improve the wing right away, Like I don't think
that'd be the worst idea in the world. It would probably get roasted,
would probably backfire because it's the Kings. But yeah, I mean I think
that it's one of those things. They should be kicking the tires on,
but they shouldn't be throwing the kitchen sink at. I have some names actually
circle for them that weren't Crowder that I'm just wondering with this is that I
think are cost effective for them. Are gettable. Josh Richardson and san Antonio
not necessarily at three, but he would immediately become their best three if they
created for him, and he was quietly pretty good last year. Also,
if Memphis is kind of done with the Dylan Brooks experience, you don't need
offense on this team, and you might be able to keep a shot selection
in check by virtue of having more ball handlers, like a better ball handling
packing order, or not ball handling but usage packing order. When you look
at sabonus, when you look at Fox, I don't know what it would
cost to get him, because Memphis shouldn't want Holmes, but they should probably
really want Barns, and so maybe you expand that deal. I thought about
Marcus Morris Senior a little bit because I thought if you built something around Rashaun
Holmes and salary, that's something that could actually work. But that's when we
get into the other issue of do you really want like Marcus Morrison, Harrison,
Barnes and Keith and Murray. Those are three fours in my book when
you really look at them. So but I do think that they're built just
having homes then even some of the middle end contracts that they have. I'm
not I don't want to be a huge proponent of saying, well, this
team needs to make a trade before we go to the season, but I
really want to see this team like get some actual wing depth, because I
think that's gonna be the pathway to optimizing the team structure in general. But
hey, like maybe we don't need to get so wonky on defense or that's
the best way to elevate their defense at this point. No, absolutely,
I mean it's definitely the biggest area that could use an upgrade. And yeah,
I mean, like if Phoenix was willing to entertain you know, Barns.
And this is where the Herder trade gets tricky because you can't throw on
right but something like Barnes and something else, you know, in a package
where you take on like to get back like a guy like Cam Johnson.
I would be thrilled. I don't think Phoenix is going to do it,
but I think that the framework makes sense because the Kings want a young guy
who they could build around. The Suns are trying to win now a guy
like Barnes helps that. Like, again, I think that's something very unlikely,
but those are the types of things that I would be looking for if
I was in the King's front office. They could also and I wouldn't be
opposed to this, just like take a flyer. And by that I mean,
like, hey, the Nicks decided to trade a first round pick for
Cam Reddish and still don't plan to pay him play him, So can you
make a move like that? I just want to see them like and maybe
there are teams that could just implode this season, like what happens if Portland
doesn't pan out? Is Grant and Heart available all over again? I'm still
I'm not sold on Dallas after the offseason they had. Does Reggie Bullock become
available again? It's lower end solutions. Still, I really just want to
see them get some extra wing depth on this team. You kind of already
you talked about the starting lineup already, and I love going through what the
top ten man rotation would be for every team before the season. The Kings
were among the teams that made me pull my hair out because they do have
I think probably eight locks in the rotation. When you look at Fox,
Herder, Barnes, Murray Sabonis, Monk, Holmes, and Mitchell like those,
unless you think that any of those guys are in jeopardy, you're dropping
out but figuring out the final two like you had mentioned Trey Lyles U.
Yeah, so that's nine Mets who has some really good moments for them last
year, but all of a sudden, like we've just decided, oh,
we're not going to have any wings in this rotation. Then, like as
Terrence Davis belonging there is do you expect Kemp, Baysmore or Kola to make
the roster? And I guess that's also part of this equation not to lose
so many questions together, like do you have any predictions for like how those
final roster spots are gonna shake out because they have all these fringe guys just
sort of floating around out there. Yeah, it's it's tricky I mean they've
they've really got kind of two different areas for the camp battle piece, and
I think that that kind of ties in because sadly, the guys involved in
the end of Rotation camp battles could also see a few minutes at the three.
Uh yeah, you mentioned Kesey. I think those guys, I wouldn't
be surprised all off one or both of them make the final roster, because
those are guys that have some ties to Mike Brown, their defensive minded guys,
you know, And it wouldn't surprise me at all if the backup three
was someone who's not giving you anything on defense or i'm sorry, on offense,
who was strictly a defense of specialist going out there to disrupt the wings.
So whether that's Opoloica, Ocapola or Montica, I don't know which one,
but because I really don't know a ton about either player, there's not
a million hours of film on either one, but neither one would surprise me.
And then kind of the backup point guard Camp Battles, there's Delavadosa trying
to make his NBA returns. Yeah, and so it's kind of like,
all right, Delevandov is your backup three. Maybe that makes the most sense.
I mean for the Kings, it's like, do you want to do
you want a third stream point guard who could come in and play a lot
of minutes potentially, or are you're more worried about kind of the locker room
and kind of coach on the floor, Like that'd be more what Delevandova is
at this point, Like a guy with a lot of Mike Brown tenure knows
the system, could coach guys up, help them kind of veteran leader or
as Quinn Cook not exactly young, guess some veteran leadership capability, I suppose,
but yeah, he would probably be more productive in an NBA game today.
You know, right, what's the gonna be the go to crunch time
unit for this team? Is it just the starting lineup that you out later?
Could you see some tinkering with any of those spots? It depends on
if the Kings are winning or losing. Well, they're trying to win a
game, Oh you think, like just like in the game if they're down
by versus if you're up, Like I think those I thought you meant like
whether they're trying to win games or tank. And I was like, why
are we? Why are we in this scenario? How did we get here?
We're back to taking no I mean I think that, I mean,
I think the starting lineup as the default probably makes most sense. But like,
for example, if if it's a really tight game, it wouldn't surprise
me at all if you saw, you know, saw either Murray or Barnes
come out herd or slide down to the three and play Fox and Mitchell,
you know, for Mitchell's defense, especially in a late game situation, that
wouldn't surprise me at all. I think that it's really hard to predict,
just because we don't know what Mike Brown thinks of this roster and who's going
to be his favorites and what his rotations are going to look like at this
point. That's the biggest question mark because there is a lot of talent on
the roster, but it's definitely not perfectly lined up, and so how he
makes that work, how he shifts those lineups, that's kind of the underlying
question behind at all. Is there a weirdo, quirky, bonkers lineup that
you want Mike Brown to try this season that I want or that Kings fans
want? Both give me both. I love. This is my this is
honestly, this is my single favorite question. I know it is. I
know it is. And we've done this before and ended up seeing those crazy
lineups on the Kings, so so we can we can speak them into existence
right now. So choose carefully. So the big one that there is a
definitely a contingent of Kings fans that want to see Sabonis and Holmes play together,
which I mean they're Kings fans, so they're not the one I would
like to see that I think would be just kind of a fun, weird,
crazy lineup is you know, something like and it's probably like a benching
and so it's probably Homes instead of Sabonis, but like, yeah, you
got your Sabonis or or Holmes either one and then go like crazy small do
like hurder and then like Terrence Davis and Terrence Davis like Monk and Fox or
Davean or something, you know, just something like essentially what really on paper
is four shooting guards, you know, all at once, just going nuts,
like I'd be with it. You're gonna be surprised because I know,
you know that I skew micro in this area and in many others. Is
I want to go big. I want to see met with the bonus Keegan
Murray, Harrison Barnes. I'm willing to have the Aaron Fox round it out,
but I prefer it to be Kevin Hurder. In that situation, there's
no point guard there, there's no like outside in ball handle or you're going
to trust, which is why Fox would probably makes sense with just let's call
him four bigs around him. Fox plus four bigs is what I want to
see, and I'm just like, just see what happens. It's like,
it can't be any worse defense Like, if it can't be any worse defensively,
then you're gonna probably end up being because what is the I try to
go through, Like what's the best defensive line up this team looked like?
And I think a lot of that just gonna depend on what if Fox is
like trying or not as stiff himself defensively. That could change a lot of
things for the Kings. But so let's just go Fox plus four bigs or
Herder plus four bigs. That's what That's what I want to see because Herder
six seven and he'd be the smallest player in that lineup by outline. The
problem with that is Thatmez Metto would take the most shots out of anyone in
that lineup while they were on the floor together. You know what, he
was shot like fifty percent on long tubes. It was like fourteen to thirty
one or something like that. Last season he is Caplock floor spacer. Dude.
Shemez Mettu. When he's having a good game, he has a lot
of fun and I like the guy. He's a fun success story, like
guy came up from a two way contract, you know. Like, but
man, the Kings get really frustrating when he has to play a live minutes
because he he does not care if he's having a good night or not.
He is gonna shoot like it's a good night every time. That just seems
aspirational to me. I want to have that much, that much confide.
As we record this, the Sacramento Kings over under is at thirty three point
five. So as of now, are you smashing the over of the under
and where do you see them lining up relative to the west of the Western
Conference this season? Yeah, and I feel very comfortable going over just based
on again, I mean, it was a small sample. I know that,
But the way that the King's played following the Sabonus trade, before Sabonis
and Box went out, they were really good. They were really bad for
most the year before that. Once those two went out, they were really
bad again. They still won thirty games, like a three and a half
win improvement with a full season of Sabonis, with all these shooters, all
with a coach who's not Luke Walton, like I think, maybe I think
it's a no brainer that they're gonna win an extra three and a half games.
That being said, I was a lot more happy when I placed my
bet when it was like thirty one one and a half, so there's like
easy money. I'm good. I'm happy with that. But I think it's
going to be one of those few times I tell people that the over is
a good idea for the Kings. I'm leaning the over myself as well,
which is ridiculous because I don't think I've ever picked the over for the Kings.
I should go back and look at what we picked last year. But
I think they've hit the over like one year out of the last ten.
Right. And the other thing is just when you put trying to get sent
to their pecking order in the West. It gets difficult when you're really getting
into the playoff talk. But there are four teams that right now are going
to probably be trying to be worse than the Kings, and maybe Houston won't
be trying, but they should still be worse. You have Utah and San
Antonio. They're actively trying to suck, and then whom Oklahoma City without chests
is just like, so it sucks. Now all of a sudden, you're
like, okay, well you're already ahead of four teams. And so the
fifth worst record in the West last year was the Lakers and they won thirty
three, so thirty four there is. I'm leaning towards the over. I
picked way too many overs through these look aheads though, And that's what's concerning
to me, is this, Where do you see them lining up in the
West? Are they top ten for sure? Do you have questions about them
even making the play in tournament? Do you expect them should the expectation be
that they even make the playoffs, whether it's by way of getting through the
play in tournament or just being one of the top six teams. I will
say, and I don't want to like shit all over the Kings. But
if they're in the top six in the Western Conference, here, Mike Brown
better be coach of the year because you start looking at those the teams that
are just Phoenix, Golden State, Denver, the Clippers, the Pelicans,
like those teams aren't going anywhere. The Mavericks should still not suck. The
Grizzlies are good. We're up to seven teams, right, so if they're
in the top six, I didn't name the Lakers, but I'm not going
to name the Lakers, So so yeah, I agreed. If they are
top six, like I'm hanging a banner, I'm building a statue, like
I'll fund it myself. Like well, we're doing a parade down k Street,
Like I don't care, Like like that'd be an unreal exceeding of expectations,
Like I don't expect that. I think that the Kings are pretty comfortably
somewhere in the eight to eleven range. Now where in that range they are,
that's the big question mark. But the thing that we do every years,
we kind of run through that mental checklist at the start of the year
and we say, well, they're in They're in there. And every year
at least two teams completely bottom out for reasons we didn't see coming. Yeah,
I don't know which teams is going to be. I can't tell you
which teams the Kings are going to pass, but most likely as long as
the Kings aren't one of those teams that has something to blow up, which
plenty of times they have been, Like, there's reason to believe, Like,
Okay, if right now on paper they're the eleventh best team or tenth
best team, there's reason to suspect they could finish ninth, like because one
or two of those teams has an unexpected slip or you know, things go
bad early, they blow it up like whatever it might be. These things
happen every single year. The hard part is when we're predicting that the start
of the season, we don't know which team's going to be, Like,
injuries are unpredictable, locker room stripes unpredictable most of the time. Phoenix exactly.
They are the opposite of Sacramentals vibes and training camp like the what I
do. Look at the West though, and you're right, like the injuries
could definitely impact this. I'm not sold on Dallas or Memphis as short things
right now, I think most people are when you're just taking a step back
now, I think it's they have to pass. Like one team is basically
what I'm looking at when you count out the other four, I think they're
best bets at the moment. Are probably a Portland or the Lakers. Those
would be the most likely candidates. I mean, I never want to wish
injury on it, but there's a couple of teams in the West that are
very reliant on one star right that one big injury at the wrong time,
you know, early in the season could completely change their truejectory, and hopefully
that does. Dallas would be absolutely fucked if anything happens. Luke, I'm
not wishing that. Lucas one of the best basketball players in league. I
love watching him, but I love Luca. I wasn't gonna say the name,
like, but I'm just there's a lot of like even the Lakers,
they have two stars, but what do you look at their roster that makes
no With all the stuff coming out about Russ, their roster increasingly makes no
fucking sense. Right now, Let's fload up on guards, one way players,
whatever, So one injury there screws them. So oh, I mean,
who on the Lakers ever gets injured. I'm still laughing at the Kirk
Henderson tweet poured Anthony Davis out four to six weeks one shoulder. Yeah,
I mean, but yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things.
I mean, the Clippers have a couple of key players that miss a
lot of games to injury or have over the last couple of years. Doesn't
mean they will this year. But injuries happen, especially on these star heavy,
older teams, and you know that can really throw a wrench and things
early on, and sometimes if it happens early enough, teams just tank it
away. And yeah, I mean we saw it with Portland last year.
No one was protecting them to be outside the top eight last year, and
you know, I mean, it happens. Plenty of teams will take that
opportunity to do a quick reset and kind of steer into the slide, if
you will. So it wouldn't surpreas me at all if that happen. But
it's also not a great place as a Kings fan where you're like, all
we need is a couple of key injuries and we're in the play, and
I just want them to be organically better than expected. I can't if you
ask me to pick. If you asked me to say, do I think
they're gonna be a top ten team right now in the West, I might
skew no, but stuff happens throughout the year, and I really just want
the Kings fans deserve it. I cannot stand elements upon elements of the organization.
Imagine beating down a fan base so much emotionally that they're chanting for forty
wins outside of a Summer League game. I respect Kings fans for doing that
because that's an accomplishment, but like, imagine that being like the standard for
success now. I want them to be good. Kings fans deserve it.
There's roster should be fun on offense. Did I not ask you about anyone
or anything related to this roster that you think needs to be discussed for you
get out of here? No. I mean I think we've kind of covered
all the bases. I mean it's really going to come down to, you
know, can they figure out a rotation that makes sense and kind of covers
the holes in the roster. Can Mike Brown figure out a scheme that makes
the defense not be bottom five dumpster fire? How's Harrison Barnes look, you
know, I mean the questions are kind of clear. It's just we are
gonna have to just wait and see how it goes and hope for the best.
But it's the most optimism and excitement that we've had in Sacramento for quite
a number of years. And it's fun like it should be a fun team.
And I've watched enough bad teams that if you're fun but bad, that's
still a lot better. Like for sure, I've watched a lot of really
bad teams that were no fun to watch, So the the incoherently bad teams
are the ones that are toughest to watch. Uh, Greg, this was
great as normal. I appreciate you, like always giving me so much of
your time for anyone who skipped the intro, though, Are you able to
tell our listeners where they can find you and all the great work that you
you do or help do however you want to frame that? Yeah, absolutely
so. I'm managing editor for Kings Harold's at kings Harold dot com and then
you can find me on Twitter at g Whiz Gwiss, and there I mostly
just tweet jokes about stuff. Fantastic Twitter follow so I highly recommend following Greg.
Thank you so much once again, and as you know, I will
be pasturing you again in the future. That sounds good.