Solving the Sacramento Kings Harrison Barnes Problem

Solving the Sacramento Kings Harrison Barnes Problem

All right hang on I messed up hang on all right let’s see we got to get rid of that we got to get rid of that and we’re gonna take that down all right hey welcome back in um I messed up in the last segment that’s fine we do

Six quick thoughts around here not five six is one more than five it goes four then five and then six so I botch that that’s on me I’ll wear that 100% my fault I lost track of which quick thought we were on um all right how’ yesterday’s Kings game go

King Insider James ham has six notes you need to know he has one more here are James ham six thoughts here’s James Ham’s six quick thought all right number six James uh I’m waiting for the Bell my bad hang on number oh oh oh my God figured out

Good there we go bench bench lless in Sacramento it’s my homage to Sleepless in Seattle there you go very good there you go I got it I got the ref The King The King’s bench has been solid that wasn’t the case in this one Midway through the third quarter they had four

Total points all of which Malik monk had scored they finished with 16 nine from monk seven from Sasha venkov who keeps playing himself in to the rotation every time he steps on the court he’s just so sneaky like no he’s just a good player high IQ player should he start over

Harrison Barnes no because I saw a bunch of people saying that last night if you’re going to plant Harrison Barnes in the corner and have him shoot threes why not just have Sasha venkov do it well Sasha venkov by the way uh averaging 02 fewer rebounds per game than Harrison

Barnes no swear to God there are eight players on the Kings averaging more rebounds than Harrison Barnes all four starters Trey Lyles Alex Len and javil McGee both of whom play fewer than nine minutes per game I think uh an even more intriguing stat might be to look at the per

36 and see where um yeah Harrison Barnes per 36 10th 12th last he’s 16th out of 15 the only people behind him are Jordan Ford Davon Mitchell and the artist formerly known as Philipe petrusev oh Philip rip 3.4 rebounds per 36 I mean Keon Ellis is up there uh like well everyone is up there want Tano Anderson just so you know quite literally every player on the team is above him except for Jordan Ford and Davon Mitchell of course uh yeah um wano Anderson

JTA is fourth on the team in rebounds per 36 he hustles he does hustle wow okay if you if you put Juan Tuscano Anderson’s Verve his motor his motor oh motor is a way better word yeah if you put want Tuscano Anderson’s motor in in if Harrison Barnes had want Tano Anderson’s

Motor he’d be awesome he’d be a really good player yeah he’d probably be like Lance Stevenson yeah but I think probably a better shooter yeah yeah yeah that that kind of that kind of player he’d be a 68 good-sized Wing who could guard two through five depending on the two three

Through five reliably and knock down threes and put the ball on the deck and make plays then steady he’s that’s it’s maybe run our test like you just like but you just can’t do that yeah I mean like we can’t make a player well they’ve tried it’s called Victor wanyama but

They tried to create him in a lab and we’ll see how it goes yeah TBD yeah TBD so you had an interesting note about that that may or may not relate to Harrison Barnes what was the roster move the Kings just made uh Kessler Edwards has been sent to the Stockton Kings of

The G league so they’re definitely like hey Kessler go play the four figure it out and then see if he does so he can they have an option to play Harrison Barnes in the starting lineup I I guess but I I feel bad for Kessler because he’s up against uh like

Five 28 to 32y Old former NBA players that play for the Stockton Kings because championships matter Kyle championships at the g-league level matter yeah no if you’re not I mean why have a team if you’re not gonna try win a title yeah they matter Kyle they matter no so you

Really hang on so this is a two-part question let’s put a pin in the Harrison Barnes ask okay I want to in I’m now intrigued by the Stockton aspect because your your John Dickinson two-part question is coming I love it well call them right but but I’m not nearly as

Much of a pro as JD but I’m gonna separate this okay I’m gonna ask two questions that are related but separately okay the first being the same but different okay the first one we’re putting a pin in the Harrison Barnes aspect of this I just want to talk about

Kessle Edwards and Stockton so the Kings the Sacramento Kings the NBA team they are sending a player down off of their roster to Stockton presumably to play stretch his legs that’s what you would get out there play the four and just do the stuff that Harrison Barnes does so

They can evaluate how he does get some experience especially like he’s on an expiring contract and what is he 23 years old yeah yeah it’s fine I don’t know exactly how old he is but he’s not old so go play right he’s 23 is there a scenario where the head coach of the

Stockton Kings is like great he’s going to be on the bench because I got to get Jeremy Lamb and shabaz Muhammad out there well I don’t know I mean it’s seems insan It’s Lindsay Harding so she’s she’s got to be taking directives from Mike Brown because that’s the way

It’s supposed to go right but like look that that team is laser focused on victories like scaler is playing huge minutes they just like Deontay Burton is like 29 years old Jeremy Lamb is in you know like he’s Jeremy Lamb’s like my age he’s like entering his mid-30s

And playing so shabaz Muhammad um you know that they have one other kid that they they traded for not too long ago like a week or or two ago who again is like a 26 to 28 year old this is not the the D-League this is the Gatorade League

It’s wait hang on Stanley Johnson’s on the Stockton Kings yeah Stanley Johnson is on the Sacramento Kings I mean Stockton Kings the Stockton Kings yeah this is this is an All-Star team of players I was just wrong about this is an All-Star team of players I loved who

Are just not good basketball players in the NBA okay this is really funny it well but that doesn’t mean that they’re they’re not gonna be that that they’re not like functional players so no no I know but if they were good they wouldn’t be in their 30s playing in the G League

Yes no no of course okay that’s all I’m saying Mason Jones that’s the other guy the Mason Jones was born in 1998 so maybe he’s what he’s 25 yeah yeah yeah 26 if he was early 98 okay um no so I just can’t imagine the Kings would be like hey we need kessle

Edwards to play 25 minutes a night and we need him to put up threes and maybe put the ball on the deck now and then and guard the other team’s you know best perimeter player and do all this stuff so we can evaluate and see what we have

Here because you can’t do it at the NBA level because you got to try and win some games and you can’t be confident he’s going to help you do that so that there you believe there or do you believe there’s a realistic possibility that Lindsay Harding is gonna be like

Nah no I don’t feel that way no no no no no no no when it comes competing with 30y olds no well he is I mean he’s still going to compete with them for minutes and in crunch time if they need to go to somebody else they’re going to but like

Look this is like the this the Kings G league roster is doing some interesting stuff so again like summer league champ ships don’t really matter like you can hang a banner if you want but that it it doesn’t really matter in the long I mean if you’re building a program it’s

Positivity I get that but like no one ever like won a summer league championship and that led to them winning an NBA title the next year like that’s not typically how this thing goes so like look I hope he goes down there and if there’s if nothing else I’ll say

This he’s going to play with players that that should know what they’re doing ideally like it’s not like he’s going down there and playing with a a bunch of young players that are still trying to find themselves or anything else he’s going down there and playing with a

Bunch of guys who would love nothing more than to drop 40 three nights in a row and try to get a call up to The Bigs like that’s where he’s going so I hope that that means that he’ll have an opportunity to do what he’s supposed to

Do which is sit in the corner and shoot open threes hit open threes and then play defense at an elite level yeah and if he can do that he can add a little bit of rebounding then sure why not because that’s where we’re going here and when you say a little bit of

Rebounding the bar is not high well if you can’t I mean give me three as of right now like where is Kessler Edwards is uh he’s not 16th he’s 14th on the kings in in rebounds per 36 minutes oh maybe I’m wrong just ahead of Harrison um no he’s 11th he’s 11th

5.5 yeah I dude I I just I I honestly I love the idea if there’s nothing on the trade market that and this is where the Kevin herder thing comes in for me because if Kevin herder is all of a sudden a player the kings are like hey we can’t like

Unless we’re adding another Elite three-point shooter you can’t just go get some Rando that may or may not shoot 36 37% and play some good defense because you have Kevin herder who looks like he’s back to shooting 40 plus percent again yeah Kevin herder looks like Kevin herder yeah which is a a

Super valuable piece of the team and I don’t know that there’s a player that’s going to be available in the trade market that you feel like you’re getting equal value back on your team if you’re dealing Kevin herder so that’s what it his play over the last few games has

Potentially I don’t know change the calculus for the Kings a little bit but I think this Kessler Edwards thing is really interesting because a the Kings I promise I see it in the chatty house right here youtube.com ESPN 1320 and twitch.tv/ ESPN 1320 if you want to

Contribute to the chatty house also if you’re there hit the thumbs up we’d really appreciate it subscribe to the YouTube channel as well anyways I see it in the chat house I see it on Twitter I know you see it on Twitter or talking to people or being at

A game and listening to people and you hear why is Harrison Barn still starting why why is he playing why is if he’s gonna go two shots in 22 minutes and score two points and grab one rebound and have one assist why is he out if

He’s going to get cooked by TJ McConnell when he guards him defense what is he doing like what what’s the point and we’ve talked about this before the Kings don’t have a really like like logical replacement yeah who’s going to be significantly better without messing up

What you’re doing down your bench but I think this is the King’s acknowledging by sending Kessler Edwards down theoretically to get him some playing time to see if he can play over Harris and Barnes his acknowledging like yeah no we know like I promise the Kings aren’t looking at Harris and Barnes

Going hell yeah like this is awesome I mean this this could be something way more simple like Kessler Edwards hasn’t got to play in weeks and you need to stretch his legs because the Kings haven’t been able to do a full contact practice for for a while because some of

Their guys are banged up and they’re on the road and all that stuff and so maybe you’re just trying to get Kessler Edwards some burn so it doesn’t I’m gonna ride my theory okay your theory is much more interesting I I totally agree where you’re like hey why not like at

This Point why not yeah and and you know like if you look at last night’s game right the fact that he has one rebound and one assist in 22 minutes is is just unacceptable it just flat out it’s unacceptable now the assist I can look

At the assist total and tell you hey I don’t look at that because the Dude doesn’t have the ball in his hands enough to make it to have any assist no doubt but the rebound number when you put someone else in his position all a sudden they go and get three or four

Rebounds that’s kind of all everyone is asking for maybe maybe get five because this guy used to average six and a half rebounds a game yes so like maybe that’s what you need to do but um I would say even if you look at last night’s game

Where he goes one of two from the field and everyone could say hey I want him to have more shots I want him to have more shots why didn’t he take more than two shots well Keegan Murray took 18 and Deon sabonis took 13 and Kevin hurder

Got hot and took 17 and dearon fox took 20 so the other guys in the starting lineup took a total of 68 shots I believe that’s what the total is quick math uh 30 50 68 68 shots your starting lineup took 70 shots that’s a really

Good total so Harrison barns is left out in the cold he’s not part of what’s happening and there’s no way for him to like on occasion maybe he could demand the ball or something but like look he’s not gonna do that no well that’s just

Not who he’s ever been is to be like a selfish guy but last night specifically the bulk of shots that came from the starting lineup was was a lot and it’s because they were hitting you know like Fox eight of 20 that’s still 40% it’s

Not perfect but it’s still 40 per. I so I I get the whole field goal attempts aspect of this yes it’s all the other stuff and it is it is wild like I posted a shot chart on Twitter it is wild that you look at all these other starters

Shooting all these and then there’s this guy with two shot it’s not even the field goal attempts is that really even the points MH it’s that rebounding number it’s the fact that in 22 minutes this 6 fo8 athlete grabbed one board you got one again and this isn’t a one-off

This isn’t hey Harrison Barnes had one bad night this is a a an exclamation point on an accumulation of games where it’s a lack of overall effectiveness you can pick whatever stat you want yes but it is the lack of overall effectiveness from parison bar maybe maybe you have

Mentioned this several times when we’ve talked about this maybe if he goes up and gets a rebound and gets a putb or he gets a rebound he kicks it out he relocates now he’s open because he has grabbed an offensive rebound maybe if he grabs a defensive rebound and gets out

And runs uh defense is scrambling oh look he gets a wide open Coast to Coast layup and all of a sudden he’s got eight field goal field goal attempts and he has 12 points and and and the field goal aspect of this goes away because hey he

Is grabbing rebounds he is a himself or not asserting himself but just inserting himself into the action and forcing the issue by going and getting the basketball that’s that’s what that’s where the frustration lies for me it’s not hey he only took two shots he needs

To shoot it more like no man I I it’s that’s not really the issue it’s the fact that he just exists on the court so often without impacting the game well Kyle I mean like to your point this season he has 12 games where he has one rebound

Or less and three of those games he has zero he also has another six games where he has two rebounds so he has 18 of the team’s 41 games where he’s had two rebounds or fewer and that to me that’s a starting power forward in the NBA yeah

That’s where I’m confused like why is it is he not is he being told not to crash is he the first guy back what is it that that’s happening here and I’m sure I don’t know how to like but I’ll also tell you Kyle this happened Midway

Through last season like it started in February where he stopped rebounding and I don’t know if that was a made some sort of structural change where he’s not in the same position to go rebound whatever it is like there should be they have What’s called the crash Zone and

It’s where the the two guys that are in the corners fly into the middle to go crash the offensive glass yeah I it’s just not happening I like again I don’t I don’t know what to like heads or tails of what’s Happening Here but this season that crash Zone I

Mean 20 of the 41 games he has zero offensive rebounds and you know we’re talking he’s only got an offensive Rebound in like more than one offensive Rebound in 11 of the 41 games the other 30 he has one or fewer offensive rebounds and that’s where like the crash Zone thing is real

Like and you see other players come in and all a sudden they’re living in the crash Zone but I also know it’s it’s difficult when you’re playing alongside the best rebounder in the NBA when you’re playing alongside deont sabonis sure but sure but somehow that doesn’t affect so many other players ability to

Average as many or more rebounds as haris and bars Sasha venkov all right Sasha venkov is playing 13 minutes a game right 12.9 minutes a game and averaging two fewer rebounds per game than Harrison marks that’s wild and it’s not like Sasha venkov is some seven-footer who just goes in there

And cleans up the glass I don’t know that like he can jump over a phone book but two phone books stacked on top of each other it’s dicey it’s that’s like that’s not who he is but he’s a very very smart position rebound he gets he

Gets to a spot and he’s a body and he he reaches up and snares gets the ball yeah like that and that’s that is where like I said I I understand that if maybe I I mean I don’t know I don’t know the guy but maybe being included in every trade

Machine involving the Kings affects a player that much well okay and that’s what I’m gonna say a lot of people say he’s checked out this dude’s under a lot of stress like he signed back in Sacramento for a three-year what is it $54 million deal whatever yeah expecting to finish out

Most of the rest of his career here like he signed a three-year deal to play in Sacramento he did not sign a three-year deal to just get money and then hopefully get traded somewhere else a and so this is wearing on him I know that to be the fact and so like look

This is it’s tough like every player deals with it differently but it’s also really tough for you to be a player who slowly has been downgraded and downgraded and downgraded in your situation and I mean we’re seeing in Golden State who are Clinging On to who

They were so hard that they can’t and so I think that there is a happy medium here between you know being Klay Thompson and like refusing to acknowledge that you aren’t the same player and being willing to accept a lesser role and being where Harrison Barnes is where you’re too willing to

Accept a lesser role and you need to be more and that’s difficult it is like I don’t know how to like put a guy in the right spot and and make sure that he’s right mentally especially where every single day you see his name in every single trade everyone every everyone the

Kings are mentioned with every single major player that’s up for grabs and Harrison Barnes is now the centerpiece in every one of those trades it is Harrison Barnes and stuff well like well I mean for sake of like so people understand like if they made the Pascal SE yakum trade Harrison Barnes was

Getting traded to another country yeah he was getting the opposite side of the map 3,000 miles away to a different country M where like moving your your wife and child maybe you don’t get to move your wife and child maybe they have too many things going on maybe you have

To go get a passport and then you have to expedite it and that’s expensive and let me tell you and if you can’t get you need to call your Congressman if you can’t get it in time or your local Senator right you go to get a long form

Birth certificate yeah you gotta say oh it’s a whole thing I know it’s absolutely wild lines at the post post office oh my gosh it’s it’s Kyle this is happening for you right now I can tell yeah it is yeah we’ve got 16y old he’s he’s we we got to get his passport

Renewed I love the I love the idea that Harrison Barnes is sitting there like oh man he’s stressing out the trade deadline he’s like no I got I haven’t got an update on where my passport is I asked I yeah it’s supposed to be three weeks three and a half he’s sitting

There Googling what is it Tom Horton Tim Horton Tim Horton Tim Horton yeah like just looking up like no it’s tough that’s what like I always try to expl like getting traded in the middle of a season is brutal for players especially players with families

Doubt no doubt and and I I get it if it’s Weighing on him it’s like it would weigh on me the trade deadline takes a ton out of me as well like all the things that I’m doing all the time the conversations I’m having all over the

Country all the time you don’t even have to move I don’t and all the little information that we’re getting yeah and they can’t trade me somewhere else because at this point I think they would like to trade me somewhere else but they can’t Kyle they can’t trade me somewhere

Else no they sure I wouldn’t show up in the 72h hour window K required Dorian finny Smith in exchange for Harrison Barnes a 2028 second round pick and James ham the subscribe to the Nets beat all right there it is yeah I so I get it like I don’t and this is again

Everything I say on this show everything you say on this show about any athlete is couched in like under understanding that the the the personal side of this is is separate I don’t I’m not gonna look at Harrison Barnes performances this year and go actually it’s okay because he’s

Stressed out like I get I get that that’s a a cause for it but at the same time we need to the Kings have lost four in a row they they are in a spot where their roster does not look like it’s ready to compete for a championship and our

Discussion has to center around like hey how did they get there yeah and how do they get out of it and right how do they how do they how do they win a game how do they get their team to PO to to Championship contention like that has to

Be the conversation so again all due respect to every single player as a person as a human and as a as a man like I can’t fathom what they go through put their bodies through but on during the season after the season the stress of free agency the stress of getting traded

And you know getting benched whatever it is I I I get that I couldn’t fathom what that’s like but also we need to have these real conversations about a player who goes out and in a game that the Kings lost by five their starting power forward went

For two one and one in 22 minutes in 22 minutes yeah no I’m with you man like it yeah we have to keep it real we have to be honest with you know the conversation but also it has to be nuanced and people have to understand that there’s more

Than just right a guy isn’t doing anything on the court because like some if you could find a a a shooter that like if Harrison Barnes is going to be this player right you can find other people Kessler Edwards in reality could do a lot now people aren’t

Going to respect Kesler Edwards they’re not going to stay with him on three-point line so yes it would hurt your offense they’re just not they’re not going to defend him right you have to defend Harrison Barnes yes and so there is something different than I I think people are missing there but there

Are a lot of players in the league that can shoot the three ball at a high clip that people understand can shoot the three ball who can also defend at a higher level than what we’re seeing or who can also go get you six rebounds like I you swap out Harrison Barnes for

Josh Hart and this team is is totally different MH I mean straight up like you like six4 yeah you add that rebounding element and you’re totally different you switch him out for matis styel all a sudden you’re you have an elite defender on the perimeter to go with like the the

TJ McConnell thing doesn’t happen last night yep you have someone else to slow down Steph Curry in in game six in game seven yeah like those those are things that actually matter and so yeah it’s tough they got they got some things to figure out which is why these guys are

Mentioned in trade conf

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