/r/kings
The Reddit-Home of the Sacramento Kings.
Thy Kingdom Come.
/r/Kings discordbuy & sell tickets
Home of your 2017 /r/NBA Survivor and 2023 Pacific Division Champions
/r/kings
They’re (in my opinion) bad. Super.
I hate to say it, but I miss Grant Napear (aside from the racism/players not liking him). He told it like it is, gave actual substantive gameplay analysis, didn’t ramble on/go on tangents unrelated to the game (looking at Kayte), and did great play-by-play commentary.
Obviously I miss Jerry Reynolds but he’s retired from commentating. He was perfect.
Having good commentators made the bad years bearable and exciting to watch even when we stunk it up.
Now it’s a double whammy, bad team play and bad commentating. And mark jones imo isn’t all that great.
When can we/do we get new commentators? Is their a contract kind of thing or how do we get new commentators?
Honorable mention: Kyle Draper seems like he has improved, but is held back by Kayte’s incessant rambling. He also seemed pretty heated (justifiably) in last nights post game show, while all the other commentators (Morgan and Bibby) seemed to keep a chipper silly mood. I like him a lot, he seems to be invested in our team and wouldn’t mind keeping him on the broadcast.
I’ve been trying to eye some of these teams that are tanking. Teams like Portland and Brooklyn have pieces that are available that could be useful for teams that are trying to get over the hump. While I don’t believe we are title contenders, if we want to be at least playoff contenders or deep playoff potential we need to be buyers at the deadline. Like any delusional kings fan at the moment I have been cooking up mock trades. Now whether I believe these trades could even happen is another thing. Going back to the tanking teams, such as, Utah, Portland, Brooklyn etc…. It brings me to New Orleans, not for Brandon Ingram that I know a lot of teams are going to inquire about, not Zion that I’m sure they possibly might move on from, by the looks of it. But herb jones, who is an elite and first team all defensive defender that I fantasize his presence on this team. If Mike chooses to keep rolling out this, what I like to call “kamikaze” lineup. I call it this because defense is thrown out the window pretty much and we keep in mind that you will score on us but we’re going to make sure we score even more. My idea of herb is to have him come off the bench with Keon and absolutely hound team’s offensive threats that essentially help preserve leads that are created from the kamikaze lineup. I guess my question to everybody is what are your guys’ thoughts on a move like this? Is herb jones even available? What do we need to give up to even have New Orleans pick up the phone? I’ll also throw in that as a starter he’s averaging 10 pts a game, 1.5 steals, shooting 37% from three on about 3 attempts a game, and a career 112.1 defensive rating.
In the 2022-23 season the Kings had a new look filled with new additions and a rookie starter in Keegan. With much improved shooting added along with their fast pace, Kings took advantage of a weaker Western Conference at the time and shot up to the #3 seed, as well as leading the entire NBA in offense. Unfortunately, as great as their offense was the defense needed some work. At that season's deadline it looked as if Kings were going to solve that with the projected move of landing Matisse Thybulle from the Sixers at that time, instead they didn't trade and Portland landed him for 2nds. Fast forward to the playoffs, with a combo of poor game management/adjustments and defense the Kings lose in the 1st rd to GSW.
Following the exciting playoff season, the 2023-24 was filled with optimism and most, if not all fans having the same view of Kings just needing tweaks on defense to get them over that hill, since they led the league in Offense making it less of a priority to add to that. Before the season starts, Monte makes head scratcher additions in signing another back up center in McGee to go along with Len, adding Sasha Vezenkov who's mainly known for offense, adds yet another guard in Chris Duarte on the bench, buying low in hopes to get lucky replicate Monks rise in value. As one can imagine the season was filled with inconsistent rotations of players seeing time on the floor and with the combination of poor coaching and game management the Kings now found themselves blowing leads and losing to bad teams much too often. The Kings now have to play vs pelicans in the play in and lose with their chances taking a hit with injuries.
After a disappointing season with high expectations for the team, it's much clear now what's working and what's not working. With grumblings on the team Sasha wants out due to his playing time and Kings trade Sasha, Davion and their 45th pick in the draft for Jalen McDaniels. Fox grumbles and sends a warning shot to Kings front office and with a sense of urgency and panic Kings trade Barnes, Duarte, two second round picks, unprotected 2031 pick and cash in a three way trade getting DeRozan. Jalen McDaniels doesn't work out, he's now traded to the Spurs along with a 2031 second round pick and cash for a 2025 top 55 protected Bulls pick. As a result the bench takes a big hit and much weaker than previous seasons. Also with the new acquisition of DeRozan, Kings now have to figure out how to make him fit. With their style of play which was previously fast pace and outside shooting, the task of creating a new kind of system is now on that list of things to take care of. DeRozan known as the opposite of today's basketball with his finesse 2 point game, adds more questions than solutions with the Kings heading in to the season.
Fast forward to today. Kings to no surprise have slipped down even more from the initial playoff season with yet more confusion and inconsistency on the team. The only thing that has been clear from the pervious seasons to now is the lack of improvement from both the front office and coaching. They could add players or move them around but at the end of the day if they aren't the right players for the team or have the right system then that impact is pretty much non existent. In my opinion, at this point it's as the Kings are tightly tangled in a knot that keeps on increasing in size each season. Only real solution I see are moves Kings will be forced to do with us seeing a new gm and coach with Fox seeing his way out for hopefully getting a great return.. Whatever happens going forward I hope we get back to the excitement and euphoria of playing in the playoffs again. The one thing we do know the team, fans and the city all deserve better.
It already had raised from $5 to $7 to begin the season. Parking in downtown sac for kings games is quickly inflating y’all.
Seriously stop being so pessimistic every team is going to take time to gel when you add new players and coaches,but we've already beaten the Lakers, the warriors and the clippers, you've got players like Ellis and Jones playing well, and then you look at 3pt% but then Antoine Davis is shooting 57%, plus drew timme looks decent and Isaiah Crawford is getting good reps in too! And... End shit post!
Alex Len has played 5+ minutes in 11 games this season. We are 6-5 in those games.
Alex Len has played 10+ minutes in 4 games this season. We are 3-1 in those games.
Alex Len has played 20+ minutes in 0 games this season.
Alex Len has played 0 minutes (or only played garbage-time minutes) in 9 games this season. We are 3-6 in those games.
This isn't the most advanced stats analysis out there. But I just cannot wrap my head around why Mike Brown will not give Len more time on the floor.
Maybe he is too old? Maybe he can't handle more minutes? He really can't play more than 30 minutes of professional basketball per week?
Maybe he doesn't fit with Mike Brown's schemes? The schemes that clearly aren't working and lose more games with him out than with him in?
Why is he not in the normal rotation for more than 2 game stretches? He clearly is not the reason we are losing. In my amateur opinion, I feel like he could really be a big presence off the bench. But it seems like Mike Brown wants to give everyone a chance except Len.
Those are my boys 😔
its pretty apparent when you go to games and even on TV that there are a lot of empty seats at Golden 1. After the beam team season tickets rose dramatically and i think they rose again this year, even though we missed the playoffs, which has priced a lot of the fanbase out. the kings home record isnt good and the teams problem isnt as simple as playing i front of empty seats, but it cant help.
I know as Kings fans, one loss becomes the entirety of all loss in the universe like a central valley big bang. I was at the game last night, three rows up from the court, was my birthday, I wanted a win bad. I had never seen Victor play in person (nor CP3). Here are my takeaways:
We lost, the Spurs did not win. We lost control and focus in the second half and resorted to Demar iso ball. I love Demar he is an efficient unstoppable wizard. But I guarantee you, every team is fine with a stretch of what happened last night several times: Demar backs down a guy with 10 seconds left in the clock, hits a midi. Other team comes back down, hits a three. Every time it’s two good shots for Demar, 4 points, two threes for the other team, 6 points, we lost every game. Demar is good for stopping runs, setting pace and eating innings. If we don’t TAKE AND HIT THREES WE WILL NEVER WIN AGAIN.
Major moments: -Keon Ellis had three very bad IQ mistakes at the end of a quarter that allowed for the Spurs to catch up 5 points very quickly (when we had the lead) and then a turnover
-Very early in the game, in his first start, Malik felt slightly on a call, he turned it over, on the next play, scored because of HIS bad IQ play.
If we did everything we did again, but changed like 2 stupid plays we win.
We’re in every game, or winning during every game. IF WE DONT TAKE AND MAKE THREES WE WILL NEVER WIN AGAIN
At this point, I’m not sure if this team is really in playoff contention. If we stay at this level of mediocrity we need to blow this up. Do we enter operation Cooper Flagg?
The best teams over the past several years at getting the most out of their role players (Denver, Miami, Boston come to mind) actually run plays designed to get their role players involved in the offense, whether it's easy buckets, or letting role players initiate certain plays even if they're not a "playmaker".
It's not easy to be consistent when your only job on offense 95%+ of the time is to stand in the corner and be ready to shoot if you get the ball. There's a reason that a lot of shooters struggle when they go play with someone incredibly ball dominant like Lebron, unless you're absolutely elite at shooting (someone like Korver). Many Lebron teams are known to have been pretty stagnant/one-dimensional. On the other hand, if you watch Denver play, Jokic is also "ball-dominant", but they actually run a ton of off-ball plays designed to get cutters and shooters wide open.
I understand that the Kings want to play to the strengths of their "stars", but far too often the entire offense consists of running a 2-man game between Fox/Monk/Derozan/Sabonis, and everyone else is just "spacing the floor". Brown should run more plays specifically designed to get Keegan and Ellis shots, and to let them handle the ball in order to get them into a rhythm, because having them on the floor is vital to keep the Kings from being literally the worst defensive team in the league. If you have played basketball at any level, you understand the difference in confidence & rhythm when you actually know where some of your shots are coming from. I know some fans like to oversimplify and just be like "if your shooters aren't hitting their shots, there's no one to blame but the player", but that's not (entirely) true. It's Brown's job to know his players and get them into a good rhythm.
I just want to put this out there. Statistically we have been probably the unluckiest team in the league so far, along with Detroit.
You guys can look at opponent 3pt% stats here. Opponent % on wide open 3s is a good indicator of luck. The league average on 6ft+ defender distance is 38%, but we're at 42%, third worst in the league. Teams have been nailing them against us. We were last (unluckiest) in the league last year, which passes the eye test.
You can also look at shot quality data here. We are currently in the top half of the league in both offensive shot quality, and defensive shot quality against. Our performance here suggests an 11-10 record.
Also we're 2-for-9 in close games.
Something to think about. I'm pretty depressed as well but this team is not nearly as bad as it seems right now.
I don't see this team competing meaningfully in this western conference (play in at best, really) and I think it's clear this core has ceiling limitations that would only be solved by adding something I don't think is available (Giannis, Wemby, Chet, etc). I am NOT saying blowing it all up is necessarily the right thing to do but now is the time to make a big decision on where to go with all this. December 15 is when guys signed this year can be traded so that seems like the time to act. This looks like a very strong draft and the Kings keep their first round pick if it's top 10. I would seriously consider a complete teardown/tank, especially given Fox's contract situation. Teams like OKC and Houston have shown the way to go from nothing to loaded in a very short period of time without relying on free agency or Wemby/Luka level draft picks. Some possible trade scenarios. These were expressly designed not only to help the Kings rebuild, but to thank the traded players for their service by trading them to teams they would probably love to go to.
- Houston looks to be very close to a top tier western conference team way earlier than expected and in a position to go all in for a chance to be up there with the coming OKC and San Antonio superteams. Their only issues are shooting and shot creation. Fox and Monk provide exactly what they need to compete with literally anybody including Boston. Fox goes home, Monk goes with him, and I get to root for Houston for a few years while the Kings figure it the fuck out.
- The Curry/Draymond window is obviously closing soon. There are very few good teams where Sabonis' skills make a natural fit but Golden State is one of them (San Antonio would be another). The Wiggins contract is brutal but taking that is what gets us extra draft capital out of a trade like this (maybe you could even get three firsts?). Melton is out for the year and not under contract after that, and I really like Jackson-Davis. Sabonis gets to stay home. I also think this helps the Warriors immensely during what's left of their title window and they're not giving up any of the young players they seem to value the most.
- This one is not as great as the Lakers don't really have much draft capital to trade. That said, DeRozan is pointless on a tanking Kings team and goes to the team he's probably wanted to play for his whole career, plus the Lakers get a real point guard and not whatever the fuck D'Angelo Russell thinks he is. I like Hachimura.
We'll be left capturing the Flagg with a G-league team, 6 extra first round picks including two more in 2025 (three total), and can focus on scouting and development like a proper small market team for once. Plus tickets will be cheap as hell on the secondary market.
I’ve never been the type to care too terribly about our future picks but trading any for a team struggling to make the 10th seed would be malpractice. Monte could be desperate enough to try but I hope ownership has the foresight to block any desperate move trying to save his job.
Better option would be to extend him a season or two and let him manage the rebuild if things continue to decline. He can handle trading our players for future picks and then transition out when it’s time to start cashing in on those picks.
I still like the move but a pick swap in 2032 could be downright brutal. We can’t make this any worse and we can’t give up the 13th pick this year. If things don’t turn around soon we need to tank.
Im sick and not working today so tried to do a deep dive into why our opponents seem to never miss from 3 against us. This is what I found:
This is the breakdown using nba definitions of tight coverage all the way to wide open 3s given up by the Kings:
0-2 Ft (Very Tight): Us, Brooklyn, and Indy allow an average of .1 of these per game and teams have not missed a 3 against us with this coverage on them.
2-4 Ft (Tight): we are tied with the warriors at 4.2 of these types of attempts allowed per game and teams make 38.6% of these attempts (highest in the league). Warriors opponents make 17.7% of the same shots.
4-6 Ft (Open): we allow the 2nd most behind atlanta at 16.5 attempts a game and teams make 33.7% of these attempts (~15th in the league).
6+ feet (Wide Open): around 10th best in the league at 18.9 of these given up per game. Opponents make 42% of these looks, which would be 3rd highest against.
Now, this doesn’t take into account some factors (e.g. who the closest defender is and their size/wingspan) so its probably a little flawed. But interesting regardless to see that basically no matter what kind of coverage we allow on 3s, opponents make them at a higher clip almost across the board.
117-115 131-127 131-128 130-126 109-108 127-125
Do any Peacock subscribers have access to games or other streaming services?
The defensive scheme and the constant miscommunication by players that have been together for 3 seasons.
The constant lineups changes thrown out to see what sticks doesn't promote consistency.
Playing Lyles at small ball 5 over Len clearly hasn't worked the entire season.
Playing Colby jones over Jmac is still questionable.
Not many rosters are perfect. Just take Jordi for an example. Some are filled with young players but they still execute much better.
Would a coach like Erik Spolstra be able to get more out of this group? I think so.
Use this thread for any Kings discussion. Try to keep your semi-low effort self-posts in here.