Speaker 1: What is a fellow sickos. I am Dana Valley coming
at you with another four five NBA look Ahead. We
are on in the Sacramento Kings, which means I have
the pleasure of speaking with the managing editor of the
Kings Herald at Greg Wissinger. Follow him on Twitter at
g wist that's at gwiss link to the Kings Herald
as well as Greg's Twitter profile will be in the
podcast and YouTube descriptions we get into all things Sacramento Kings.
It was a blast picking his brain, as always, Lots
of good stuff on the Demarta rosenfick He and Murray's
development what makes Domas Sabonis so polarizing? Before we get there, though,
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now let's get to talking loads and loads of Sacramento
Kings with Gregist. Greg, Welcome back to the Hardwarknox podcast.
This is the fifth year I think you've done the
Kings look Ahead with me. I believe it's at least
the fourth, but I'm pretty sure it's the fifth.
Speaker 2: Only it feels so much longer.
Speaker 1: That's rude, but I take it coming back, so I'm
going to allow it.
Speaker 2: How are you doing, man, I'm doing great. Thanks for
having me back.
Speaker 1: H Yeah, I was excited to have you back to
talk about the sacrament we'll call them. I'll ascribe them
to your Sacramento Kings as well as Grant Sacramento Kings.
Kings fans hate Grant, I love it. I've actually had
some of the most positive interactions just overall on social media,
which I do not use too much anymore. It has
been with the Kings fan base over the past few years.
I would think like there are certain teams like Nuggets
and Thunder fans love me because I was high on
their team like before. Now Nuggets fans probably hate me
because lower on their team. But Kings fans have always
been like relative to fan base. I think they've been
the most fair and like engaging, like in a good
way with me. So shout out to Kings fans.
Speaker 2: We're very self aware in our shortcomings. I think that
helps well.
Speaker 1: I did. I did call Kings fan an asshole this year,
which was definitely an overreaction to what they were saying.
He just caught me on a bad night.
Speaker 2: I deserved it. It's fine. We've moved on, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah you did come back. So there was some other
choice where it's there, but I threw those in Greg's
d M. So some of these Kings I want to
just start with last year where they only win two
fewer games, but they just felt so much different than that.
The offense was clearly worse. What what was there? Like,
there was a ton of factors, including Kevin Herder's play.
Injury towards the end of the season was a big
one for them with Molchan Herder out. What was just
sort of like the contribute the biggest contributing factor to
why they regressed so much on offense or why last
season went the way it did.
Speaker 2: Overall, I think it was a combination of two main factors.
The first one was that I just don't think they
were catching people by surprise anymore. You know, the people
kind of knew what to expect with the Kings. You
saw a lot of teams kind of scheming to take
away some of the dribble handoff that the Kings had
relied on so much the year before, So there was
kind of an adjustment to opponents stepping up and preparing
to play them seriously every night. I think the Kings
themselves were also trying some new things, like trying to
get away from being reliant on the dribble hand of
trying to have more effort on defense, and just the
combination of all those things. You know, a little bit
of regression on some of the three point shooting, especially
like you said, Kevin Herder, there was a lot of things,
and it was in a lot of ways let down
to win two for a game and not you know,
not make it out of the plan. But I think
one of the other big factors was really just that
the West was a lot better last year than the
year before. Like the West was really uncharacteristically weak two
years ago, and last year was kind of return to form,
you know, forty eight wins two years ago. The Kings
with the three seed forty six wins. Last year, the
Kings were in the play in fighting for their life
with other forty six and forty seven win teams, so
just a much harder conference, so that it made it
seem a little bit less successful of a season, even
though like I said, it really wasn't all that different,
you know, overall as far as terms of wins.
Speaker 1: So when you look at moving into this season, I've
been asking everyone said they can take wherever they want,
what their biggest storyline is that they're tracking. But I
feel like you can correct me if I'm wrong. I'd
be interested on a pitch that's not this answer. But
it's clearly just what is Debar de Rosen's fit going
to be or how does it look with this team? Right?
And so where where you thought of it at? Don't
all that so just the move itself, Like what was
your reaction to that?
Speaker 2: I was thrilled with the move. I mean, I think
it's a great move overall, especially when you look at
the cost of you know, what the Kings gave up
to get Tomarto Rows and I mean he is still
an excellent player, even at his age. He's really good
and he brings to the table a lot of the
things that the Kings were missing last year, some of
the things that caused the offense to stall out, you know.
So he really solves a lot of their issues as
far as needing another creator, needing someone else who can
find another shot, giving them another option in the clutch,
like it just makes them so much harder to scheme
against in just one way. It gives them a lot
more Look, so I'm really excited about it, and I
don't feel like giving up Harrison Barnes and Chris tu
Art is really very much to give up. And I
think how people evaluated the loss of Harrison Barnes told
me a lot this summer about who was watching the
Kings and who wasn't, because there was some interesting takes
flying around there. But for what it cost, and the
Kings still have, you know, they they didn't give up
any first round picks. They still have Kevin Hurder. Yeah,
so good job, bulls. So I mean they still have
the tools to make another move. I was hoping they
would do another move this summer. But you know, even
if it's at the deadline or whenever it might be,
the Kings still have the ammunition to do another move.
They didn't spend every trade asset under the sun just
to get to Martin Rows, and if they had done that,
I would have been a little bit more down on it.
But for what they it costs the team, I think
it's a fantastic move. Now, there are obviously questions with it,
and I think some of those questions are avout. You know,
what's the defense going to look like? Uh, you know,
who's how does the ball get distributed? Because now you've
got a lot of guys who like the ball in
their hand. I think those are good problems to have.
They are things that I'm curious to see how they'll
work out. But overall, I think it's a good move.
Speaker 1: Well, looking at the positive is the one you mentioned
already does Is there one thing though that like you
think will end up being the most impactful, even if
it's just like their free through times very plummeted last year,
and like, if you're not going to get to the
rim and they weren't getting the rim is often either
to get home from DeRos, who yeah, he's gonna get
to the basket of the time, but he still just
draws fouls.
Speaker 2: And that's huge. I mean the Kings last year, they're
leading free throw attempts for Gammas Darren Fox at five
point seven, and the Rosen gets last year was like
eight point seven. I think eight point two is something
like that. It was in the eights. It's like he
is faring away their best at getting to the line,
drawing fouls, uh you know, which helps you with then
getting your opponent in foul trouble. And he actually makes
his free throws, which the Kings also really struggled with,
so you know, he not only will get to the line,
but actually make some of those. That plus just the
that ability to create his own shot in isolation. The
Kings didn't have a lot of that. I mean, Monk
sometimes Fox sometimes that was about it. No one else
on that team was creating their own shot in isolation,
like and not to the level that DeRozan can.
Speaker 1: Is there are we gonna see like dribble handoff run
between Derosen and the Bonus and the paint. I just
feel like they're gonna be that low when they run it.
I just I I need to see it. I hope
so too. That's what I'm I don't know if that'll
be the biggest impact. That's the thing I want to
see the most. What is if you have, like what
would be your biggest concern if you had isolate it
down about the fit, Like what would be the potential
biggest warp for you?
Speaker 2: Uh, I would probably go with the defense. I mean,
I do think that the defense of criticism against DeRozan
is maybe a little overblown because when you look at
like defensive ratings and stuff like that, which obviously has
a lot of team noise in there as well, but
like Derozen had a better defensive rating than Harrison Barns
last year. Like again, Harrison Barnes was not in any
way a plus defender, and so I don't know that,
you know, swapping DeRozan for Barnes, I don't know how
much that hurts the defense. I do think that it
can cause issues depending on certain matchups. So I'm curious
to see what that impact is. But I'm also kind
of excited because, like, if the Kings go back to
being an elite offense and can stay a middle of
the pack like defense as opposed to a bottom of
the pack defense, that's a pretty exciting team and I'll
be excited to root.
Speaker 1: For that I guess was that the take where people
I'm just so far removed from that stile. I guess
that they thought the Kings were losing an elite defender
in Harrison Barnes or something of that, like what the
perception was.
Speaker 2: There were some pundits that we're talking about how much
the Kings were gonna miss Harrison Barnes defense.
Speaker 1: So I actually think the Rosen is worse defensively than
last year's version of Harrison Barnes, just because you have
to go to greater lengths to and I don't you
have to instantly Harrison Barnes too, But the stuff that
he they asked him to do was just like, oh,
you shouldn't be doing that, where it's like with the
Rosen like no, no, he can't, Like I just don't know.
And in Chicago, to his point was defensive, like he
got to share the floor with Alex Caruso at points there.
So but I don't think it's like when you look
at the I looked at it as I don't know
if it's a perfect offensive fhit, but Tomorrows is an
elite offensive player, which Harrison Barnes, if he ever was one,
like that's just not him, and so it's a in talent.
Like to me, it was a very clear upgrade, and
I think I over romanticize swaps. That was the thing
that gave me. Paulse like that swap is really far away,
and it's like, we want teams that are good to
go for it now, and to give up a swap
for Demarta Rosen, who's still all star caliber, you want
to throw him in that vein like it is a
perfectly reasonable cost. So that I'm like, I'm totally on
board with the move. Who do you think will benefit
most on this team though? From him being here?
Speaker 2: That is a good question, Like as far as who
he compliments the most.
Speaker 1: Either compliments or makes their job easier when it's like, oh,
it's like Darren fosking to take more like catch and
shoot open threes or something rather than having to work
so hard for his shot. Could be something like that.
Speaker 2: I definitely think it helps Fox the most because it's
going to do two things. Like one, you know, Derozen
is still a willing passer and can find Fox for
kickouts or whatever else. But I think more than anything,
it gives you another option that the defense absolutely has
to respect and pay attention to. I think there are
some concerns about the spacing because is not a deep threat.
But I do think that, like especially we saw in
late game situations, teams would just like zero in on
Fox knowing that like that's where the ball's going. It's
Fox or Monk, and you don't really have to guard
anyone else too close. And just one more especially late game,
close situation option who is deadly efficient like that, I
think opens up a lot of possibilities in the close game.
I think that taking some of that pressure off of
Fox as being the guy who has to save the
team if they're down to like, that's a huge help.
I think.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's totally anecdotal? Probably has the prettiest
jumper of anyone who sucks it hitting threes. I'm just like,
who has like the esthetics on their jumper like he does.
That's not been a good three point shooter.
Speaker 2: Ben Mackmore the most beautiful release I've ever seen, and
he betrayed us. I mean, I've got that one off
the dome.
Speaker 3: But yeah, so when you look at though, the like
the the Big three Trio, whatever you want to call it,
who do you think ends up having to make the
most adjustments, though because Derosen's in town.
Speaker 1: These ends are might just be Derozane himself because he's
the one joining a new team. But whose game do
you see being having to adapt the most because of
the way the Kings are set up right now.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be interesting. I think it's actually
gonna be fairly spread across all of them. I think
I think you're gonna see like Sabanas will probably take
fewer shots. Fox will probably take fear shots like one
can heard her probably, you know, like if everyone's taking
a shot or two less per game, that gives you
the rozen shots, and he might be taking a shot
or too less than he did before as well. I
think it's going to be kind of an impact across
the board, which could impact some of the counting stats,
and then people will be like, oh, look it's worse,
you know, but or it hurt this guy. But if
I had to focus in on one guy though, that
I think is kind of the obvious candidate who would
be negatively impacted at least in his role on offense
is gonna be Keay Murray. Uh yeah, he kind of
goes from being you know, like the third or fourth
option to being the fourth or fifth option offensively, which
I think is a fair concern, But I also think
that it allows him to be opportunistic. And you know,
that's how they used him in his rookie year and
he was fantastic. Is just like, all right, I can
just sit here and hit open threes when the defense
forgets about me, Like that's cool. Uh. And he obviously
showed a lot of development in his offense last year
in ability to, you know, kind of create his own shot.
And I think long term, getting to like learn from
Derozen and practice with him every day and kind of
see how he creates shots, I think that would be
beneficial long term. But I think this season probably see
a little step back at least offensively from Kigy Murray.
Speaker 1: If you can't tell, I'm still thinking a lot about
this move months later, What like type of staggering patterns
between the top players would you anticipate to have, whereas
I I've even in terms of I initially thought, oh, well,
Fox might spend the most time independent of Sabonis and
de Rosen, but then I'm like, eh, like you have
this bonus like Monk chemistry, so it will really be
it'll really be SA bonus maybe independent too, Like what
do you I'm assuming there'll be some trial and error
that they'll try different stuff out, But if if you
had to anticipate anything on that front, what would it be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's gonna be the big question. I don't know
what that's gonna look like. Uh, you know, Mike Brown
was pretty rigid with his rotations last season, but Frozen's
a pretty big piece to then work into those, and
so I'm really curious to see how that staggering works.
I would not be surprised at all if we do
see kind of a stagger where when Fox is coming off,
Monk is going in especially earlier in games, because you know,
can still move the ball around good good distributor, but
also a scoring through it. So I think that those
I think Fox and Monk will play sparingly together throughout games,
but will likely be in their late games. Still, Yeah,
I'm very curious to see. I mean, I think the
tricky part is that right now you're kind of penciling
in the rosen as basically the small forward you know,
in the lineups, and they've got a lot of options
that can play one or two and not a lot
of options with the three, So I don't know how
much the guard staggering is gonna impact or be tied
to DeRos.
Speaker 1: These questions loaded because of how the off season unfolded.
But were you surprised? I think in retrospect, seeing how
the off season unfold that it's not a surprise that
early bird rights were enough to keep Malik Monk, But like,
give me out quickly that news came that he was
staying with the Kings, like did that because it felt
like a lot of people were just pens like, oh,
like no, that's not the four years and seventy six,
like that's not gonna be enough to keep him. So
were you pleasantly surprised that he's actually back?
Speaker 2: Yes and no. I always felt strangely comfortable that he
was likely to stay, And really that just came down
to there weren't that many teams with the space to
offer more, and I thought the biggest threat was Orlando.
That was the big unknown. I just wasn't sure if
they would want to throw that big a contract in
the current CBA environment. At one guy, I thought they'd
try to split it up and they ended up just
basically thrown into KCPN then running otherwise running it back
with all their guys. But so I was happily surprised
when the announcement came before free agency. That was the
surprise for me was that he locked that in even
before the draft. I thought that was the big surprise.
I thought he would at least go out and test
the market and it'd be, you know, a few days
of dramas we waited to see if some team would
step up with an offer. I always thought that it
was a pretty good chance he would come back, but
I was really shocked that he took it before even
actually hitting free agency.
Speaker 1: That ended up being one of the few predictions I
got right, was that he was going to be back
because I didn't see you mentioned Orlando was the only
team that I could see throwing money at him, and
I just didn't think they would do that. But he
sort of might have been the harbinger for just like
dudes that maybe you thought were gonna get a lot
of money didn't. Because that news comes before free agency,
I think you look at just all the other we
I call it weird stuff that happened where it's like
Simoti Fontechio got eight million dollars and Malik Beasley got
six and Gary Trent funiors on the minimum, and just
such a bizarre off season which I think probably worked
out in the King's favorite. At this point, uh does
Maliite Monk's role shift at all, though, following the addition
of uh Derozen.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't expect a big change. I think it's gonna
be pretty similar. I think he's still going to be
in that sixth man role. I still think that he's
likely to be in there in late game situations more
often than not, so I think it's gonna be pretty similar.
I think the biggest difference is just if he's not
having a great night, there's less pressure to still keep
him in and crunch time because you have other crunch
time options with Drozen.
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned Kegan Murray kind of developing offensively last year.
The way he played on defense just forced me to
recalibrate what I think this player can actually become. That dude,
especially like before the emergence of Keana guarded everybody and
it was just absurd. What was stood out most to
here was most impressive about the deal I would call
like a defensive leap he made last year.
Speaker 2: It was a leap absolutely, I mean just from what
we expected when he was drafted to what even showed
as a rookie. It was a night and day difference
what he was able to do last season. I mean,
he was guarding everyone from you know, smaller guys like
stuff to bigger guys down low. He was guarding Lebron.
I mean, so he was guarding one to four.
Speaker 1: John Collins was his center. At one point, he was
guarding John Collins in the game.
Speaker 2: Everybody, Yeah, just whoever you want to throw him at all, right,
there you go, like he can go lock him up.
And him having that gear, I mean I didn't see
it coming at all, but it completely changes his value
and what he can be for the King's long term
because his size, his offensive ability, his shooting like that
was valuable. That was good. But like if people had
known that he was going to be this good a
defender as well, I think the Kings would have taken
a lot less flack for taking him third. I think
it would have been a little bit more like should
he be one, should he be two? Like, no worse
than three? Like I think that that conversation would have
been a little bit different, but it's that was one
of my favorite surprises of last season is just how
good he was defensively and just using his length, using
his body, his you know, his positioning, because he's a
really smart guy. He's got good size. You know, I
don't think he'll ever be among the elite elite just
from a I mean, I shouldn't say it. I didn't
think he'd ever be able to stay in front of staff,
and he did the last season, So what do I know?
But you know, I don't know that his footspeed will
ever allowed him to be the absolute cream of the
crop defensively. But he's a very very good defender and
it definitely flew unto the raidar last season.
Speaker 1: I think even some of the stuff he covered up
for around the basket, not as like a primary room protector,
but as a helper or someone coming like recovering. I
won't I'm not going to predict this, but like I
just won't rule out like all defense for him at
some point. I mean that the ten best one of
the ten best defenders in the league is like a
pretty high bar. But you just if you just watched
him at all, like you could just chop her in
for like a game or two, and you'd be like,
holy fuck, like this kid, and I did not see,
Like I guess you might have saw a hint of
it as a rookie, but I just I was in
like flabbergasted by it for basically the entire year, and
everything I wrote about the Kings was like the it
had to be the Kig Murray defensively was like the
qualifier because it was, like I just I still so
speechless over it. And so I don't even know what
his ceiling is now, and I do wonder he already
touched upon this with the offense, like his role is
probably gonna be, if you want to call it, more
streamlined or a little bit marginalized. He does at least
play away where he could still score like twenty points
a game doing that, and if he's comfortable maybe not
being on the ball as much, if you look at
it through the lens of how much of the defensive
workload he's ferrying, that might actually be a good thing
for him, just because if they're gonna continue to ask
him to basically do everything he did last year, even
if Kean Ellis is playing a ton so I wonder
if that helps. But then you run into the issues
of like, well's he gonna want like a bigger offensive
role at some point, And do you think he's capable
of one, Like you mentioned some of the shot creation
stuff he saw last year, do you think in a
vacuum that that's a part of his game that he
does stand to broaden.
Speaker 2: I think he definitely is capable of it. As far
as just his ability to score, I mean, he can
score it all three levels. He showed an ability to
score off the dribble. He can obviously catch and shoot.
I think the biggest thing with him being a bigger
offensive force is just that's not his mentality. He's not
the guy who's like, I need to get mine, you know,
and sometimes I think you need a little bit of
that to be a really good offensive player. So I
think he's perfectly fine, and I don't expect there to
be issues if he doesn't have a bigger offensive role.
He'll just be like, all right, he's just like the
most mellow and chill dude, and he'll just go out
there and you know, drop twenty, all right, let's go.
And so I think he's capable of much more, But
I don't think he'll have an issue with taking a
step back, Like I mean, if the team needs him
to do more, I think he will and he'll just
kind of do whatever's asked and do it.
Speaker 1: Well, do you think he might be in the next
like you know ball litt in miss Test when his
extension comes around next year and it's like just a
no brainer Max And during play some people that are
like sticker show maybe he has like such a huge year,
but he dropped it was at forty five last year.
I feel like that wasn't something that was talked about
too much. So he might be one of the next
you know ball litt in miss Tests married.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, there's gonna be people that like Gass at
his extension and it's it's just gonna be the riggy
Max like pencil it and now it's done.
Speaker 1: Wait for like I don't know, o Jannoby's gonna have
like a huge game for the next Like, I just
don't know why the King's would have traded Keegan Murray
for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the uh, all the discussions about like well you
know so and so you know the Kings are interested,
but I was told they won't trade Keegan. It's like, yeah,
they're not trading Keegan.
Speaker 1: I will probably guarantee you though that before the start
of last season I probably said that I would have
given up keegya murray for Ogannobi, like when he was
still on the Raptors, And so that is definitely if
anyone has receipts, I'm sure that is something I said
to be fair.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uhke on Ellis deflection king uh pun intended. Uh holy shit,
what did you make of kind of just his emergence
and how like big of an impact did he have
on a King's defense that ranked sixth in points let
for possession from March first on, which is basically I
think he made his first start on March March first
of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, his insertion into the starting lineup was the turning
point where suddenly the Kings were like a not just
a passable but an actually good defensive team. It was
such a fun moment for him to just kind of
come out of nowhere and not just be a defensive guy.
He was capable of contributing on offense. He shot well
from three, like obviously still kind of a small sample size,
so there is a little bit of that question like
how much of that is going to sustain? But if
he can be the player was at the end of
last year, that's huge for the Kings because between Kean
Ellis and Keiky Murray, you now have two really good
defenders who can guard a variety of positions and that
helps cover up a lot of things. The other thing
was that once he got in, like his intensity and
his effort seemed to push darn Fox defensively, and Fox
is playing much better defense as well. And maybe it's
just like knowing that the guy next to you is
gonna do his job too, and it's not gonna like
your effort's not gonna be wasted. But like Fox is
a capable defender, Like he's not a turnstyle by any means.
So like two really good defenders and then Fox who
can play good defense, Like suddenly you're in a much
better spot than the way people traditionally think about the
Kings defensively.
Speaker 1: Do we know if I mean I could have googled this,
but do we know of ke On Ellis? Did he
play football when he.
Speaker 2: Was in school at all? I do not know.
Speaker 1: Some of the steals that he had is like catches,
but just like reminded me of watching a football game
with a wide out or yeah, in the secondary. So
just say he's super fun. There are some players that
are fun to watch on defense because it's not like
sexy all the time to watch it. He's one of
those guys, Like he was super fun, And so what
do you his role on this team this year? Would
you expect him to stay in the starting lineup where
it's kind of like fox Ellison de Rosen or we
penciling in Kevin Hurder for that starting two spot, Like
what would you think?
Speaker 2: I would hope it's Kean Elis. I mean, I think
that especially given how much Mike Brown is talking about
the importance of playing defense and contributing defensively and effort
and disruption like all the things he's preached about the
need for defense to be there as well, Like I
have a hard time seeing him then be like, all right,
this good defensive guard I found now has to go
back to the bench for Kevin Herder, Like there is
that little bit of like, well, do you lose your
spot because you were injured? Like Kevin Hurder got hurt
and now he's out, But like he was kind of
on the way out anyway, like he was playing pretty
limited minutes, like he was getting kind of the quick
hook because he wasn't having a good night. So I
feel like it should be Kean Ellis. And then you know,
Kevin Herder can play a little bit low pressure off
the bench, can still get plenty of minutes with you know,
catching passes from Sabonis. Can you kind of play alongside
Monk like he can you know, find ways to kind
of find his groove again. But I do think that
it should be Keon Ellis until proven otherwise, like if
Keon Ellis comes out and turns back into a pumpkin, like, yeah,
make the switch, like you know, we don't need to,
you know, stick with it too long. But I think
he showed enough that he deserves the opportunity to stay
as the starter.
Speaker 1: I wondered after the Devin Carter injury news if it
made him less likely that Kean Ellis would start because
you wanted some of like the defensive punch to come
off the bench, and like Jalen McDaniels is, I mean,
he's Jalen McDaniels and so, but I would start Kean
Ellis personally, even just I think that that would probably
end up being their best five man unit. Maybe there's
some fussing and fiddling when you include Monk and some
of them, So I think he should start, especially when
you mentioned this stuff about Mike Brown, who like seems
to revolt against this idea that the Kings need to
be offense offense offense, So that would shit with that motive.
How sustainable though, do you view And I'm not saying
they need to be a top six defensive team, put
that close to the season, because it's March. There's a
lot of noise in March. We all shout out Jaalen Green,
March All Star. But like when you look at what
they were doing and they weren't getting a lucky like
when you look at the opponent shooting numbers, they didn't
get lucky there. So how when you're looking at the
Kings saying their ability to be, let's say, an above
average defensive team, how sustainable do you view or realistic
do you view that goal to be?
Speaker 2: I think it depends a lot on if the shift
in officiating that we saw midseason last year stays, because
the Kings were a huge beneficiary of that, just the
way that they played defense is more physical and kind
of poking and prodding and trying to get steals, which
led to a lot of dumb fouls under the way
the rest were calling the game at the start of
the season and turned into a lot of like flustering
opponents and getting steals and getting fast break points after
the adjustment, So it's like, if that kind of new
style officiating is here to stay, I think the Kings
can still be that good defensively if it goes back
to the way it happened. Maybe not so much, like
they might get in some foul trouble. Again, Like I
do think that they were a big beneficiary of that change,
So I it feels like a cop out answer, but
I think a lot of it does depend on just
how the game is being called.
Speaker 1: I'll be fascinating to see how the game is being officiated.
It's just like league wide.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be interesting to see because that's
a big difference for everyone that whole are better than others.
Speaker 1: But that whole shift was super awkward too, because you
had the NBA like basically in an official statement saying, well,
it was like it was a conscious decision, but it
really wasn't and it was just like it was just
so awkward.
Speaker 2: So it's like, no, we didn't change anything, and then
like a month layer, it's like, well we we had
some conversations, like.
Speaker 1: So awkward. Kevin Herder. I won't a lot of bounce
back here from him, but he's had like a rough
go basically since the playoffs of what years at twenty
twenty three, Yeah, now coming off with shoulder surgery too,
Where do you view his future on this team? Is
like we already got into will be coming off the
bench or not. And his look, the type of shooting
and scoring he brings is absolutely valuable. But when you
look at what this team has now, now you envisioned
him being his value coming maybe a salary matching in
a trade more so than someone who is contributing to
this actual team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm kind of surprised he's still
on the team. I thought he was going to be
traded this summer. I think you look him up to
a light detector. I think he was surprised that he's
still here at the end of the summer. Like I
think that everyone kind of expected, like, all right, we've
kind of done this it hasn't worked out, Like you
kind of hit that slump, You're just get you a
fresh scenery, Like I don't think it's hard feelings or anything.
I think it's just for whatever reason, he's struggling in
a slump, in a bad spot, unhappy, whatever it might be.
I would be surprised if he's on the team after
the trade deadline, but it's more there. So you know,
sometimes guys stick around for two years longer than I
think they're going to shout out Harrison Barnes, So you know,
it's it's hard to say. I do hope he can
bounce back and kind of show that he's still that
elite shooter because that obviously is very beneficial for the
Kings and huge, huge part of what made that run
two years ago so special was his shooting along with
everything else that kind of fell in line that year.
So I'm hoping for a bounce back, but I also
feel like it's kind of un borrowed time and just
kind of wait and see when he moves on.
Speaker 1: And I guess you're the King, you probably are at
least hoping you could rehabilitate his trade value a little
bit because his contract looks a little bit steeper now
than it did before, where I would still he seems
I don't know what the word would be like, I
would absolutely be trading for Kevin Herder from a team
that needs any sort of shooting and rolling the dice
on that. And I know I think King's fans, at
least from what I've seen, I've seem obsessed with the
idea of some sort of like Kevin Herder for Dorian
Phinney Smith constructional trade, So that could be somewhat interesting
for the Kings. I just the version of Pete Kevin
Herder is just so good that if you are looking
to really lean into the offensive identity like you have
him in a week monk coming off the bench, like
that's kind of just stupid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like it could be fantastic, It could work out great.
It just depends. Yeah, I think one of the other
question marks with herders just can he be as efficient
and effective coming off the bench. Yeah, He's a guy
who kind of seems to do better with starting and
kind of getting his rhythm right away, So I'm curious
to see if he can adjust to that role. I
don't think his contract's that bad though, I mean, he's
at like basically seventeen this year, eighteen the next and
then that's it. And in the modern cap I don't
think that that's too steep a price, especially if he
can regain his shooting. He's still young, he's twenty six,
so I think that there's plenty of upside still there
for him, and hopefully he can bounce back. And you know,
make us all look like fools for suggesting he'd be
on the bench, and.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to be ready for the start of the season, right,
there's not gonna be any like yeah delay, okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not in any sort of brace at this point.
They're at least not that's been reported. You know, teams
aren't always the best about medical updates in the offseason.
But as far as anyone knows, he's supposed to be
back for the start of the season.
Speaker 1: Someone who won't be Devin Carter. Yes, what do you
make of before we get into the pelt stuff, and
if he even would play this season, what do you
sort of do how many early impressions of his game
or like what theoretical his fit would look like here?
Speaker 2: So I'll prevose this Posida was not a big Devin
Carter fan going into the draft, so I was a
little disappointed that they picked him and then he got
hurt and then he needed surgery. He's gonna be the
most hys rookie year, so I'm not super high on that.
In general, I see the vision, though, I mean a
guy who is a very active and smart defender, a
guy with really good length and disruptively. He's basically the
I see the idea being Okay, bigger Davion Mitchell, Like
Davion Mitchell didn't work out because he wasn't big enough,
didn't have the length. Like, Okay, we'll get a guy
who's a bigger version of that. That's the hope. I
have some questions. I feel like my personal opinion, I
don't feel like he's quite polished enough, given that he
is an older rookie when I was I don't watch
a lot of college ball, so I always caveaut my
draft takes with saying like they're done with minimal research
and just kind of early first impressions and just little
things I noticed when watching highlight tapes. But like I know,
it's a lot about these like defensive highlights where him
like getting burned and like recovering for a block. It's like, well,
that's great at college, but like that's easier against an
eighteen year old than an NBA pro. I'm a little
concerned about how that's going to work out long term,
but yeah, I'm hoping he proves me wrong. I always
want guys to prove me wrong when I'm down on them.
But yeah, it's frustrating that he's gonna miss so much
of the year because I would have loved to have
been proven wrong early on. But now I've got kind
of this lingering, bad feeling hanging over.
Speaker 1: From what little I've dug into him with I find
myself being more sold on the offensive progress he made
last year translated into the NBA. Then the stuff he
can do defensively. I'm wondering if the NBA like speed
and spacing, could hurt him there and if it doesn't,
my colleague Jonathan Wasserman said, like his peak outcome could
be like a Derek White, and I sort of see that.
Then I just have it's weird, yeah, build because he
was drafted, like the whole thing surrounding him coming out
of the draft with his defense, defense, defense, and then
when I just just watching him, and I'm like, that's
probably the question I have wonder whether it'll translate. But
if it does, I think he has a chance to
be like a heck of sort of like a connective
type of player, which would be you know, and it's
always tough to envision them on teams that are supposed
to be really good. I never know how much they're
actually gonna lean on rookies, like the Grizzlies are kind
of in weird on Charted Terror, like Zachie, He's just
gonna start, I guess, and play for a minute, and
that's just that's an objectively weird spot to be if
you're a team that's hoping to be top four in
the West.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And I've heard that comp too, like kind
of a ceiling or kind of a best case outcome
is kind of a Derek White type and I think
that would be fantastic. The Kings could have, every team
in the league could use it. Derek White, Like, I'm
not breaking any news here, like that's a good thing.
So I would love that to be the outcome. But realistically,
also just given his time frame to come back, like
we're probably going to see very little of him this year.
If we do, it's gonna be like March. So I'm
not expecting much this year, and hopefully next year, be healthy,
go through camp, and we'll see what he brings.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's kind of I mean, the injuries are a
bummer regardless, but because you're a rookie and the Kings
have immediate aspirations, like let's just say he's ready by
January or February, it's like, well, they're not going to
just integrate him midstream when they're in the middle of
like a postseason seating battle. And so I'm hoping he
plays this year, but I just can't imagine he's going
to be whereas at least before it was kind of
like maybe they would give him a shot. But if
he's not gonna be ready and be able to go
through a training camp with them, I just find it
hard to imagine he'll play any type of like role
on this team as a rookie.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The only hope is that the Kings are good
enough that they have like a ton of blowout wins
right at that time of year, so that he can
get thrown into garbage time in like a winning situation
like that'd be great. That way we can kind of
get a glimpse of him.
Speaker 1: But so d'aron Fox and Domasa Bonis are boring in
the sense that we know what they are now and
so like, I can't do the whole like normal player
deep dive that we do with these guys. So this
is my question to you, why is it where, however
many years removed from the Domosa Bona, why is he
still such a polarizing player? Literally anything involving him, whether
it's the contract, the trade itself, like the bruises or
marks on his face. I just I everything about him
just feels like it incites division. And it's if you're
talking about a big, like a young, up and coming
big who can do stuff with the ball. It feels
like people's normal pot shot. They gravitated, like, yeah, he's
gonna better than Domasa Bonis, Like who would you rather
have Alprinschang Ger or Domosabonis. So I find that without
taking a stance, I just find it. I guess is
it morbidly intriguing? Like what makes him so divisive?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I I was thinking about a lot about that
last season, just because we saw a lot of the vitriol,
especially people kind of have a backlash to his like
double double streak, like they're like a lot of people
were very angry about that being talked about online. So
it kind of made me think about, like, Okay, what
is it that people don't like? And I think if
I kind of take my King's fan hat off, I
think there's two things that he does that make people
not like him.
Speaker 1: It looks like he's wearing a tupe. Is that one
that's not one of them?
Speaker 2: So there's three things. So the first is that he
is a very physical player, Like he loves setting hard screens.
He definitely like leans into from time to time like
most guys do. But I mean he's a big, strong,
like physical player and plays very physical and I think
opposing fans think he gets away with stuff, and then
on the other end, he does get hit a lot,
but he also reacts like he's dying like every time,
like and I think if you're very physical players like
laying the hurd on people on one end and then
like getting upset that someone like raised your head on
the other end, Like I could see where that could
irk some people. Like I think that that's my leading
theory on why he bothers folks, because yeah, it's I think,
and then kind of the more tinfoil hat theories that
there's a lot of people that don't like him because
they had very strong takes on the Sabona's Haliburton trade
and when both teams are good, it makes those takes
look bad and so they kind of take it out
on sus.
Speaker 1: Will he take more than one hundred total three pointers
this year? Though? That is awesome? My other question on him,
He's been at eighty three and eighty seven respectively in
Sacramento his first full seasons.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say yes. Then I was gonna look at
I was gonna look at the number. I think yes,
And I think it's because that, like, if you're gonna
have DeRozan in your starting lineup, like you need to
still have spacing, right, Like you're gonna have spacing from
Fox who shot the three at a decent clip, you
know you still have hurt Her and Mom, can you
know can of mix guys in there? Kean Elis can
shoot decent threes, But like if you're losing that Harrison
Barnes floor stretching element, replacing it with the ros and
like you need a little more spacing from somewhere and
thirteen extra threes from Saponus. I could see that.
Speaker 1: The Kings themselves have not done a ton or even
really any mid season maneuvering since that Sabona's trade. When
you work at just the circumstances right now, you get
a thirty five year old to mardiros In, you have
to start thinking about Keegan Murray's next contract. The Iron
Fox could be super Max eligible after this season. You've
already paid some bonus. Do you think that there will
be more of an urgency to upgrade things on the
fly now?
Speaker 2: I certainly hope so. Monte mcnaer has been very disciplined.
Is the way I'll put it, is that he kind
of has an idea of what a player is worth,
and if the market isn't given it, he just holds
on to his player, which is good to a point.
It helps you from getting fleeced. But at a certain
point you turn into messia U Jeri where you're just
holding on to your pieces forever and never do anything,
and then like you kind of watched things fall apart
around you and guys walk away for nothing, and so
like it's such a fine line to walk between, like
don't make a move just to make a move, But
there's times when it's like, no, you need to make
a move. And when I look at this King's roster construction,
like there's a lot of good pieces, it's not a
perfectly meshed and pieces all fit together perfec Like there's
obviously some concerns there, and I would really hope that
they find a way to make a move to balance
out the roster. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They I remember being aggravated them with this past trade
deadline and this is so stupid aggress team of things.
But I was like, why were they just not the
Royce O'Neil team that if that's all the cost to
get him, I'm not even like, go out there and
make a blockbuster move. Just make a fucking move and
not Tesler Edwards or somebody along those lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I Royson. It was one of the targets
I really wanted at the deadline. And it's really frustrating
because there's all these guys that you're like, that's the
guy we need, go get him. They don't go get him,
and like the common excuse is like, well, you know,
it takes two and maybe the other teams just don't
want what you have or and it's like okay, but
at a certain point, you just gotta make things happen,
like m hm. So it it gets tiring. Like PJ.
Washington was a guy that I really wanted at the
deadline last year, and it's like, oh, it turns out
he can help a team that wants to make a
push starts the playoffs, like who knew? Like, so yeah,
not to say I'm always right, there's plenty of those
that I want, and then they don't help their team
do it anything at all, so you know, but it
would be nice to see them make a mid season
move again. I think Kevin hurt is the obvious candidate,
Like that's a solid salary for matching purposes, and I
would hope that they can make a move that can
really kind of bounce the roster and address weaknesses all
at the same time.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to enter the cookie cutter portion of
this podcast always you're also ready to accept your award
that I don't know what it'll be with the intro
in there, but I've done. I think this is number
fourteen in the look Ahead series so far of the season.
It's the first time we got to the cookie Cutter
portion under forty five minutes. So, oh man, that's off.
Speaker 2: I am not known for my brevity, so that's fine.
Speaker 1: Yes, all your podcasts, Ben, you really don't like talking
to me then, because they're always so efficient with the
knowledge that your drop it. You're trying to get out
of here as quickly as possible.
Speaker 2: All right, we've done.
Speaker 1: So the two basic questions we begin with the first one,
are there any Is there anything about this team that's
flying under the radar in terms of like strengths or
just development you'll be watching that doesn't receive enough national attention.
Speaker 2: Uh, I mean under the raidar. I think we've already
kind of covered it. I mean it's Katy Murray kean Ellis,
like that defense of duo is really strong, and I
don't think that they get enough credit. I think a
lot of people had kind of penciled and they knew
what the Kings were, you know, as a playing team
towards the end of last season, and so they kind
of missed what happened with Kean Ellis, missed a lot
of what was going on with Keegan Murray's The season
went along so I think that's still under the radar,
and hopefully the Kings would be good enough to get
some folks to notice that this year.
Speaker 1: When you are looking at the roster, the Kings are
interesting because you mentioned this before. They have so many
individually talented players, but so few that I would like say,
approach completely where it's like I look at Keigan Murray
and he could be that guy. Daron Fox might already
be that guy. But then it's like when you look
at everybody else, I feel like they're these really big
flaws or voids in their game you would like them
to fill. So when you're looking at this roster, what
is your biggest concern or biggest need for it that
you think they're going to ultimately have to address this season.
Speaker 2: I think the biggest need is still the same issue
that they had all of last year that really hurt them,
and that's just size. You know they have. Keigan Murray's
likely going to start at the four. Trey Lyles is
a very good backup forward. That's pretty much it, you know,
behind no alex Linn. I mean, I love alex Linne,
but like you've got Sabonas and alex Linn and Alex
Line is a very good backup, but he's situational and
plays limited minutes. Like you don't want to rely on
Alex Line for more than like ten minutes a game. Uh.
And I really like Katie Murray, I really like Trey Lyles,
but like that's it. You don't have anyone else big,
Like all due respect to Jalen McDaniels, who I not
rely on, but I mean, they don't have size. And
there's certain teams you just need bigger guys against and
and so I'd love to see that get addressed, like
even if it's just a bench guy, but someone that
you can throw out there to give you size when
you need it. I think the Kings still really lack that.
They have a lot of guys who are on the
smaller side.
Speaker 1: And would you prefer that size to come in the
form of someone who can play with Sabonis or is
it more you'd be fine if that's, like you know,
I kind of thought if they would just relative to
the minutes that his body can clearly handle if he's healthy,
they seem like an interesting how much would it cost
to get RW three out of Portland? It's just like
sort of soak up some of those backup five minutes.
And he's not huge, but he plays huge. But would
you prefer like you're more so targeting you think it's
someone that needs to be able to play alongside the
bonus in the front court.
Speaker 2: I would say alongside. So when I'm looking at for size,
I'm actually looking more at like the three and four
spot as opposed to the center spot. Like like, yeah,
and upgrade to the backup center would also be fantastic.
But I mean Sabonus does soak up the minutes. He's
he's been durable, you know, kind of knock on wood
on that, but but more concerned around kind of the
four in the in the three spot.
Speaker 1: Uh So, when this team is fully healthy, what does
the top ten rotation look like?
Speaker 2: So, I mean Fox, Monk de Rosen, Keaty, Murray, Sabonis.
I should have been paying attention to who I said.
Speaker 1: There, but I think Ellis is definitely.
Speaker 2: Kevin Herder, Trey Lyles at eight, and then then I'd
say Alex lenn and Jordan McLaughlin.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, So no Jane McDaniel is not a part
of the plants, then that's actually a good thing. To hear.
Speaker 2: I do not think he's They didn't even do an
introductory press conference when they traded for I don't think
he's part of the plan at all.
Speaker 1: Probably a good thing, yeah, off my experience. So this
is actually an interesting question for this team, and I
know it'll be matchup dependent sometimes, what do you think
will end up being their most used crunch time star
crunch time lineup? Excuse me?
Speaker 2: I think it will be situationally dependent because I think
the way you roll out that lineup is going to
depend on if you're ahead and trying to protect the lead,
or if you're behind and trying to play catch up.
But I think that most common you're gonna see see
I'm looking at the line, I'm looking at the roster.
I'm trying to figure out what they're even gonna do.
I think that most likely you're probably still gonna be
looking at like Fox, Monk, DeRozan, Kegan, and Sabonis. But
I think there's gonna be times when you just have
to have Ellison there for the defense and it's like, Okay,
who do you take off? Do you take off Monk,
do you take off DeRozan? Do you take off something?
Speaker 1: You'll consider because I think when you look at the cachet,
the bonus and de Rosen and Fox have you would
think those would be three players that are just pentled
in his locks for the crunch time. You didn't yet
sa bonus specific bonus euse DeRozan specifically feels like someone
where when you're looking at the situation of the matchup,
like that might be a spot you should be a
little bit more malleable with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think it's gonna I think it's gonna
depend on matchups as well as just how that game
has gone. I mean, we sing with Mike Brown in
the past where he was perfectly fine sitting Monk in
close games where Monk had been having just a bad game,
Like if someone else was playing well, he's happy to
ride the hot hand, even crunch time. So I think
it will be heavily dependent on who's playing well that night,
what's the matchup, what's the situation. I don't think it's
gonna be every Yeah, I don't think you're gonna see
seventy games of the same closing lineup. I think there's
gonna be some variability, but I think that it's gonna
be some combination of those six guys, you know, so Fox, Monk, Kean, Ellis, DeRozan,
Keegan Sabonis. I just don't know who the odd man
out is gonna be night tonight.
Speaker 1: Is there a funky, weird, quirky lineup you would like
to see Mike Brown Troy this season?
Speaker 2: I do think it'd be fun to see like the
four Guards, so Fox, Ellis, Monk, and De rosen Ole
playing at the same time. You're probably gonna have to have,
you know, like Alex Lennon there, so that there's some
sort of backstop for you. But I think that'd be
fun just to kind of go all guards.
Speaker 1: I think I would pick the same. But it's time
to put the Kegan Murray has already proven he can
do stuff that it's time to put cup. You're worried
about size and the Kings can just lean right into it.
Tall player on the coard is what is he? Six eight?
Speaker 2: That'll be.
Speaker 1: So as we are recording this, they're over under is
set at forty six and a half. I have a
two part question to this, are you taking the over
the under?
Speaker 2: On that taking the over?
Speaker 1: Okay, that is only one game to hit the over.
It's only one game more than last season. If you
add the rosen impactor and maybe better health even next
year's West, that doesn't seem all that ridiculous. Yeah, which teams, though,
are you prepared you have to put on? You might
have take off your King's hat again for this. I
want to ask you how many, Like, what are the
teams that you were be most confident in saying they're
going to be better than Sacramento next year in the West.
Speaker 2: That is tricky.
Speaker 1: I can give you the ones I'm prepared to guarantee
if that will help you at all. Sure, I think
okay See will be better.
Speaker 2: I'm good with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Minnesota will be better.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I am absurdly high on Dallas next year, and I'm
trying to take I feel like I've been a little
overly pessimistic on them, but I still throw the nuggets
into there, and that's where my guarantees would end. It's like,
if you told me Sacramento was fourth, I would believe you.
I think they're more likely to settle into like the
fifth or sixth spot, though, it's where I would have
them right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that. I mean, history tells us that
one of those four likely falls out of the top four.
Speaker 1: Calvin Booth better hope it's not the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: The top four just especially in the West, just does
not stay the same, like it changes every year. We
tend to think like who was good last year will
be good again this year, and it just like obviously
there's some level of consistency, but it tends to change
in surprising ways, like you know, one injury is enough
in the West, like knock you five spots down the
pecking order. So I would agree that like based on
current lineups, based on health like all that, like those four,
I'd be pretty comfortable saying, yeah, those are very likely
better than the Kings this year. And then there's a
bunch of teams that's like, well they could be or
they might not be. So yeah, I think here four
is a good That's probably what I would have come
up with as well. I think I think Dallas is
probably one of the bigger question marks, mostly just because
I don't trust Jason Kidd.
Speaker 1: Like Madison didn't last year.
Speaker 2: So I still don't think they should. I mean, I mean,
they played phenomenal after the deadline and their acquisitions, Like
you look at what that pace would have been like
they would have been much higher up and all that,
but I think that regular season, kind of the ins
and outs, I could see them a little bit lower
if I was going to bet on one of those
four to slip out and be them or Denver.
Speaker 1: But and it's the West is fucked because it's like
Phoenix is just floating around out there. And if if
you told me Phoenix finished ninth, I'd be like, oh, yeah,
that makes if you know where they finished first, yeah,
so wild. So that's what makes it even tougher. But
I do think we haven't done her over unders yet.
I do think I'm leaning towards over on the Kings
just because it's an extra win compared to last year,
and I do think they're better and that they'll be healthier.
And I also do believe, I don't know if I
said this, I do think they're gonna make a mid
season move this year. Like I think the urgency has
to be ingrained into how they act. And it's fine
to be like, we're not gonna make it now, we
want to see what this looks like. And that's okay, sure,
but it's like if stuff isn't like working or clicking like,
now's not the time to just ride this out like
you've done that now, And so I do. I do
believe that they will make and act a move that
we're talking about at the trade deadline, not like one
of those cutes like oh whatever, like bookkeeping moves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's very likely. I mean, I think
we have too many cards not to do something. You know, again,
barn injuries, I mean, injuries could shake that all out
to where it's all right, we don't need to make
a sure but there.
Speaker 1: I don't want to galaxy brain this, But is there
like any chance we're talking about Kevin Hurder, Kevin Hurd
or Kevin Hurder, Is there any chance just because of
his value in a vacuum and now what they have
on the roster, that Malik Monk is just on the
table once the restriction lifts.
Speaker 2: I'd be very surprised, Okay, I'd be very surprised. Like
that type of move I think would shake up that
locker room in a way that I don't think the
front office feels the need to at this point in time,
Like like the vibes in the locker room with the
fan base like that would be that'd be a ballsy
move that could like make or break moneyma Neres remaining
time in Sacramento fair enough.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else or anyone else on this team
about this team? We haven't discussed that. You think we
need to touch upon. I mean, I think you want
to get into Mike Brown extension negotiations or No.
Speaker 2: I'm just glad that got done. That was so stupid.
It's like the dumbest leaks coming out trying to a full.
Speaker 1: Like day before it was just okay, like it was
done after it was a full day. I thought for
some reason I had I thought it was hours.
Speaker 2: No, it was like, yeah, they tried to play hardball
through the media like buckle the dayly. It was so dumb. No,
I think the only thing I would say is that, uh,
you know, we talked a little about Sibonas and white
people don't like him. We talked a little bit about
Fox and kind of the fit and all that. But
I think it's worth kind of closing on just like
how good those two have become and how consistent they
are for Sacramento. And like I said, that's a little boring.
It doesn't make for you know, good sports talk. But
they have been just so good, Like I was just
kind of looking at numbers and like I want to
caveat this with like Shay is like a way better.
He is. He is a better player than Fox. I
fully conceide that, Like, but like Fox is not that
far off, like you look like category by categories, like
not that far off, like he is worse. I'm not
trying to argue he's better or anything like that, but like,
just the difference in how Shay gets talked about versus Fox,
like does not align with like where their numbers are
and what they do, and like Fox is getting where
he's underrated this on what he's doing year over year.
Speaker 1: Right now, I will say I'm not a big believer
in agendas unless I'm the one that's creating them. Like
I just tend to believe that when people think that
an outlet has an agenda against their team, As someone
who works for a very big national outlet, I can
just confirm that's not the way things work. But I
do have my own agenda, So that's fair. Yeah, yeah,
relative to being just two guys, when any given season
can be on an all NBA team and no one's
good at bat an eye at it Fox and the
Bonus don't seem like they get enough credit, and I
don't know what goes into that specifically. I mean we
already talked about with Sabonus, but like Fox has been
basically really good since the Sabonis trade, like that unlocked
something in him. So I will side with you on
that that it does feel like those two don't get
talked about. And I don't know, is it just like, oh,
we need to see them win a playoff series to
get like is that we kind of like almost similar
to what Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum went through, except
like they made it to the finals and lost, and
people use that against them as like lotters, like why
this couldn't work. They lost in the finals, they were
second of thirty teams. So I would agree with you there.
I think that's where those two are really good. I
some think Fox is noticeably more important than Sibonis, and
I actually think that he's I actually think I picked
the Bonus to make an All NBA team though over
him last year, so maybe I should look this is
just me forgetting what I'm saying, But I'm a big
believer in the Aaron Fox. Uh, Greg are you able
to tell our listeners where they can find you and
all the work that you help put out or sometimes
put out yourself. When you drop the link, I will
click if I know that you wrote it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'm managing never at Kings Herald dot com
where independent Kings coverage, so you can check us out there,
and then I'm on Twitter at gsgwiss and during basketball
season I'll talk about basketball there. Otherwise it's me just
retweeting dumb jokes.
Speaker 1: Which I always have. I'll know it's you too, Like
before I retreated, it's like this tweeted from like twenty
seventeen and it's funny.
Speaker 2: Oh that's Greg that.
Speaker 1: To put it on my tweed.
Speaker 2: Yep, you're welcome.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for coming on podcast once again. As
you know by now, I'll be pastoring you again in
the future, and I will try to limit the profanity
that I hurl at you in the direct messages, and
I won't call you names this season. I promise.
Speaker 2: If you do, I'll probably have deserved it. Sof