The James Ham Show – What Will The Kings Look Like Coming Up?

The James Ham Show – What Will The Kings Look Like Coming Up?

And Coach as we welcome in uh our 13-20 Kings Insider of the Insiders uh our man James ham and James were just talking about as the Kings get ready to play the warriors uh tomorrow it’s not really been talked about for a variety of different reasons but that’s going to be

The second night of a back-to-back for the Golden State Warriors as they host Atlanta tonight in their first game since uh MLK Day yeah I don’t think we know what the the Warriors are going to look like right they they’ve been through uh some trauma as a group over

The last week week and a half whatever it is at this point uh tough going you know this is it’s part of life uh you don’t usually expect it to be a huge part of sports but you can’t ignore like how impactful this is you are really a

Family when you uh when you join up with a basketball team and these guys spend so much time together it’s crazy and to have something like this happen and not just happen like randomly but like happened at a team dinner or whatever it was like this was on full display so uh

Like huge loss for them huge loss for the you know international basketball Community um you know very very well-liked well respected uh coach and and you know but got to get back to the game to some point which is unfortunate for these guys but yeah it’s got to be

About the basketball at some point and you know it’s got to be B about the basketball at some point I guess it’s a that’s the way to transition to to the game tomorrow night where it’s it’s it’s the Kings and the Warriors and Hammer I I you talk about

You don’t really know what to expect from the Golden State Warriors for a variety of reasons we mentioned MLK day I it dawned on me this morning that was draymond’s return game and that was the story and how quickly that story is in a story anymore because

Of what they’ve been through since then from our perspective from the king’s perspective it’s they they can’t focus on all that of course Mike is he’s going to go through his own emotions uh tomorrow night seeing that coaching staff and and and and and going through

All of that uh himself but from a from a team’s perspective I have no idea what to expect from the Sacramento Kings tomorrow it seems dearen Harrison Barnes they said all the right things today but I have no idea what we’ll see yeah it’s really interesting um I haven’t seen all

The clips I did see dearon talk um of course that was you know they had they held practice at noon today I can’t make it down for for noon practices getting out of the show um but I did see Sean’s video of um of dear uh he looked like

Normal everyday dear like that just looked like dear Fox uh who knows he’s go got to go talk to the media because something big is happening uh like he was invited to Team USA and to me uh good for him for for doing the the media

I did not see that Harrison talked um but good for Harrison it was Harrison Barnes like it’s it’s exactly what you would expect it was it was it was Harrison Barnes yeah and you know Harrison talked once while they were on the road uh which I thought was his way

Of kind of like pushing out the inevitable that you would have to talk to the the local media uh but um you know there wasn’t a lot of coverage there for that conversation and uh I had no idea even happened yeah it’s good for him to actually like sit down and

Actually have one of these conversations because look not to be you know like dramatic but just like it was at the end of last year we could have already seen the last game of Harrison Barnes in the Sacramento king king’s uniform U at least in person at home you know that

May have been the last game that we see from him and maybe it’s not you know that that’s you know either way like it is what it is but uh but it’s it’s very possible the trade deadline is February 8th the Kings play on February 7th at

Home but their last Road game is February 5th they’ll be on the on the road this whole time and a lot can happen between now and then speaking of trades did you get a chance to read what Bobby Marx wrote Bobby Marx wrote like uh trade scenarios for every team in each

Conference and he had an interesting note he proposed the Jeremy Grant trade which we’ve we’ve talked about before um but he did have a what what I thought was a really important note about Kevin herder that I hadn’t thought about is we’re all under the assumption that and

And perhaps hope an assumption that mik monk will be back next year and the Kings will do everything to keep him but we know the restraints that Sacramento was facing in terms of the type of contract they can offer him versus what exactly he might get on the open market

We have no idea and Bobby was like you can’t lose Kevin herder with the idea that you might lose League monk this off season no I get that um I would kick back a little bit because if you lose either one of those guys you’re hitting

Not a huge reboot but you’re at least hitting some sort of reboot in your back court and uh so you know like the Kings have been bringing along some young players with the hopes that they could step in and play at some point whether that’s Kobe Jones or it’s k

That’s an official ham freeze right there that is an official ham freeze 30758 if anybody had it 307 an official kennes ham freeze and the rules are are the same even with uh even with Kenny taking a breather is we’ve got to keep we’ve got to keep James on the SC there

He is he un he he unthought without reset it’s the best when he’s Frozen and then he unfreezes and it’s just him shaking his head see oh yeah cuz everyone thinks it’s funny except for James only one who doesn’t find it funny yeah I just don’t want to you know oh

It’s funny it it it happens like we’re we’re used to it you um and I just mean not just with you just like because of what we do it happens a lot still doesn’t beat what happened to Joe Davidson that one day when he was on the

Phone but you were talking about the Kings bringing uh young guards along yeah I mean this is why you you started to build up guys like Keon Ellison and why you’ve started to build a guy like uh Colby Jones like these things happen you have to have Replacements like on

The horizon and I don’t know that either one of those guys can step in and be a Kevin hder or can be a Malik monk um but between the two of them they might be able to take out one of those positions if you had to and that’s just kind of

The world you have to live in if you’re going to have high money players at other positions you eventually run into this this salary cap wall that you have to get through and you always have to have a pipeline ready and this is something like it’s one of the things I

Really like about Monty McNair’s like past job right the Houston Rockets for a long time did it as well as anyone when it came to not only star chasing and going out and trying to get the biggest name possible but on the other side of developing very specific types of role

Players and using their g-league to do it so like the Vipers they they were building nothing but like the Daniel houses of the world right and you can create those players at the g-league level you can take a player like Keon Ellis put him in the right situation

Foster you know an environment where he can be who he was in college and he can be that type of player at the pro level as long as you keep him like pretty much in a refined box and say look we don’t don’t want you to you can get better

Overall as a player we want you to keep working to get better right but the real work that we want you to do is to get better at what you do well right so we’re not going to sit here and we might throw you in the point guard position

Just to get you acclimated in case you have to play that position here and there but the real idea behind that is just to kind of open your eyes up to what the basketball court looks like from a different point of view from having the ball in your hands and seeing

How everything works the real key is to create like three in D players and I think you can do that and you can do that at almost every position at the g-league level if that’s your intent right so that’s why I I take Jabs on occasion with this idea that going out

And winning a g-league title means something like not to be disrespectful to the players on the court but it it really doesn’t like if you’re running a bunch of 28 29 30 32 34 year olds out on your g-league squad just going going for it that’s that’s not great like the only

Way that that works for me is if you’ve brought those pieces in to help support the one or two players that you feel like can be real players for the main team down the road so put them in a basically a pro style offense if you

Will and allow them to succeed in in that Pro style offense right and get them acclimated to what it would feel like to be a Sacramento King not so concerned with you know going out there and scoring 25 at night and doing all that stuff and so yeah I think um like

That’s one of the good things and and whether you know it works out for either one of those players or some other player or uh it doesn’t matter as long as you’re trying to build a pipeline like that where you can bring in players that can actually have an impact at the

Major at the at the NBA level who are under team control who are very affordable so then that way you can have you know a dearn fox a Damon sabonis you can pay the the rookie extension for um for Keegan Murray you can bring in a

Jeremy Grant or a Kyle kusma you can afford to keep um a player like Malik monk around but you know again Malik is going to be full fully up to him the Kings I believe would would go to the the maximum that they can go it just

It’s going to depend on what he gets on the open market and and I get what Bobby saying but I don’t know like like again shooting guards are easier to replace in some of the other positions on the floor and you can try different things at that position if you needed

To I disagree a little bit but I want to say with the g-league thing for one more second do you think they’d be and this is just us talking would they be better suited to like not have like a championship and a playoffs and I mean I

Get why you keep records but would you be better suited just getting rid at all of that stuff so there’s no incentive to try to go win one and you actually focus on the development of these guys well I don’t know but what’s the incentive anyways you know it’s not like you’re

Gonna hang a banner at Golden One Center if you win a a g-league champion it could mean well see this this is the tough part because it might mean something to those guys on the roster right there could be guys who feel like I’m a gie guy like I you know what

I mean like they they recognize it this is probably the peak of my professional basketball career if I have something to show for it g league title there’s a championship why not go win it no I mean I don’t think you want to take away that

Sort of carrot but I don’t think that that should be your your franchise’s goal like winning a summer league title it’s fun it’s cool especially if you’re Summer League titles are awesome yeah I I mean but I would say that summer league title are almost more important than g-league titles because a good

Portion of your g-league guys are never going to see the pros and even like the top end of what you have at the G League the guys that you are spending money and time on like again like Keon Ellis or or Colby Jones um like those guys I don’t know that that’s

That you can’t get like the same joy out of the summer league league experience and a lot of times at Summer League you do have your top tier prospects there so then that way that guy can get some confidence in what the NBA is going to

Look like you know goty what we saw at Kagan Murray at the California classic where he was just incredible right that’s that’s a good thing for him to be able to expand his game you don’t see that at the G League there isn’t a you know top 10 pick that’s going down to

The G league and trying to get a whole bunch of burn and coming back up after 25 games and saying heyy look what I did the G League it it’s more of a a place where guys are are it’s a Proving Ground for players and and to be honest I I

Think that a lot of it’s flawed there should be a a way that you can call players up and send them down just like major league baseball has you know there there should be a way that if the the Kings needed if they had a big trade or

If they had a rash of injuries and they needed a Stanley Johnson to come up for three games or you know uh Jaylen noell any of those guys like come up for three games go back down but still retain their rights to me that would make a lot

Of sense just the way that it’s structured now I mean there’s a lot of things I would change I would add a third round to the draft especially if you’re going to go Prime Time add a third round add a couple more two-way players invest a little bit more in that

Product so then that way you do actually have a an ability to have players find success and that success lead directly to an NBA callup that of course would lead to something else for them my only concern with that is and and and I’m and

I’m I’m I’m I don’t want to say fearful that’s a bit dramatic that we might get to that point and I feel like it happens now like you’re gonna these these kids and I recognize this sounds stupid in today’s climate some of these kids like leaving

School you know to be a third round pick in an NBA draft and and I know a lot of them are getting advised to do it and a lot of kids have their own reasons to do it like man that ain’t it especially with nil money if there’s like any way

You could like just go to class like stay is cool like don’t be a don’t willingly go be the you know 90th pick in the draft my concern is like a freshman no I get I get what you’re saying there um but there are you know 40 50 players

That go on drafted every single year that put their name in right my my concern is actually something totally different my concern is that it’s viewed as the WNBA how the WNBA was viewed maybe a decade ago where you’re putting a lot of money into something and not

Getting a lot of money back out and so that way the experiment ends quicker so that that’s what I would hate to see I think that if you’re going to invest it’s got to be a decade of investment of where you’re really putting the time and

The energy into it and it’s not such a huge like money suck that that you know you’re you’re having this problem whether it’s like you know a team starts to lose money um or or an owner has Financial issues and then the first thing that goes is that extra

Thing that you’ve built on the side so I think that there can be a way to build all this thing up but it’s got to be a a commitment and it’s got to be built into the television contract and it’s got to be you know what you know what I mean

It’s got to have all of these assets to it where every team is is basically given a certain dollar amount to put towards their g-league product to build up and what I don’t want to see is just like it’s one thing to to have a couple

Of veterans on your team to help you get by it’s a whole other thing to like just build a like a super team at the g-league level with the hopes of like what is what’s the end game that doesn’t you know because most of those guys that

You’ve built it up to they can’t get called up to the league unless it’s a 10day or it’s less it’s your 15th roster spot like what the Kings have open now uh with W Gano Anderson gone okay that that was actually my next question did that just quietly end and he didn’t come

Back like that’s it um uh I I wish I had a better answer complicated question I don’t want to get you in trouble so it’s it’s not complicated J James is Dearing me he don’t want to talk to me just say no yeah it’s not complicated um as of right

Now um I’ve checked the NBA wire the last couple of days uh there is no like transaction and I could see them actually signing him today and because that way it’s a 10-day contract but you could get like six games out of that 10 days uh and so it’s a little more

Advantageous than if you would have signed him to a 10day a few days ago and burned an extra three days of while he’s practicing and stuff but um I just say that there’s a a slight breakdown in communication right now between people like me and people who might have that

Information James can’t go one day without pissing somebody off I swear ain’t that the truth that’s the facts right there uh I also dis now I I want to be clear you said the shooting guard position is probably more easily replaceable than um a playmaker like like like Malik but I

Don’t want to give the impression I don’t think Kevin hder is super easily replacable particularly from a young player on this team I think having Kevin herder here especially in Malik’s absence is Major I’d like to see them both here but I I I I had never really thought about

It the way Bobby marks you know wrote about it and about Kevin you’ve got to have some assurance that two guard position I would very much like Kevin herder at the two guard position over Kobe Jones or or whoever you want to pick and and throw into that spot

Next season no isn’t here I get what you’re saying but that wasn’t my point my my point to clarify it’s the shooting guard position is easier to fill than other positions on the floor and like we’ve seen for the last like I don’t know decade that the Kings have had

Trouble finding that other forward MH you know finding a center that’s impactful is is difficult finding a point guard is difficult right that fits your system finding a guy who’s 6 foot4 to 6 foot6 and loves to shoot the ball there’s a lot of those dudes around

And that’s what I met and I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination are either Kevin herder or Malik monk as individuals like easily replaced but if I had to choose a position that I could replace somebody it might be that position because you can go Jeremy Grant yeah yeah and that’s

What I mean so if it if it lands you the six foot seven guy with the 7 foot three wingspan that can defend all these these long athletic uh forwards that keep getting by you like that’s that to me is a big deal like this team has had a real

Problem filling some of the well finding that player you know it it’s got to be more than long and athletic it’s got to be long athletic and can play and that’s it’s not an easy thing to fill and so like I think as the smaller you get at positions except for

You know maybe the point guard being so in such a a crucial position on the floor but the smaller you kind of get that the shooting guard position to me has always been one that you should be able to fill right you should be able to

Go out there and find a shooting guard and that again it’s not to disrespect either one finding a guy like Malik monk is way more difficult than finding a starting shooting guard in my opinion you know like i’ I’ve told you this before like I I’ve written a piece

Called uh Searching for Bobby Jackson basically playing off the idea of searching for Bobby fiser uh the chess champion and I thought that Jeff Peter spent the last half of his career in Sacramento searching for the next Bobby jacks Jackson and never found it like the Quincy dues of the world the Jimmer

Forets of the world I think Isaiah Thomas but then Isaiah Thomas becomes more to you than that and like there was always this this want to find this player that could do what Bobby could do and it’s just a rare rare player that can can handle the ball can set up some

Guys that can bring that type of energy and who will accept that role and I to me you know guys like Jamal Crawford and uh Lou Williams are just so incredibly valuable uh even uh Jordan Clarkson like super super valuable long-term to a team and Malik monk fits right into that mold

As long as he accepts that role you talk about bringing that type of energy you were talking about that stretch forward shoots a lot and can defend or that Wing player say stretch forward but that Wing player who shoots a lot and can defend with energy with Malik it feels

Like there can be we saw it I think a bit with javel the other night there there can be your favorite player there can be a domino effect to energy right Malik does it regularly javel did it with the crowd you felt like a little boost there even though the Kings had

The game pretty well in hand at that point do you think that’s the case with defense because we keep talking about a Defender a Defender a Defender like we’re literally talking about one person is one person gonna come in here a potentially really good one could one

Person come in here and create a domino effect that you have this one really engaged really really good Defender and it boost everybody else’s defensive efforts the same way you know we talk about the energy of Malik monk yeah I mean I think that that can be the case I

Think we’ve seen it with even Keon Ellis is here where he’s brought a defensive energy that was different but I I understand what you’re talking about you’re talking about bringing in one player you know the the question used to be OG an anobi because he was like sort

Of the the dude out there that everyone wanted including myself for for this roster um but and I think he could have done a lot of work uh and I think Jeremy Grant could could be a really really strong Defender for a team like the Kings but I think it’s the impact that

It has on the players around them so if all of a sudden Keegan Murray isn’t your best perimeter Defender but Jeremy Grant is then you have Keegan Murray to use on the second best player that they have you know and if you find a really really good defensive guard and that’s where I

Kind of just throw it out there that I think you can find other types of guards that would play really well in this system and help you if you could find a defense only guy right so like a royce O’Neal who hits a three but realistically his only job is to play

Really really Stout defense at the shooting guard spot that takes pressure off of everyone it takes pressure off Dean Fox because he no longer has to defend the toughest guy it takes pressure off to monus sabonis because now he’s not going one-on-one with a guard running down hill to beats

Somebody on the perimeter it takes pressure off of both year forward positions because all of a sudden they’re not rotating all the time as weak sh weak side shot blockers so there is a trickle down that can happen with one great defensive player and let’s be

Honest like if we look at the the 2002 Sacramento Kings there’s only one plus defender in that start lineup there are some guys who are okay defensively Pia sto yakovich was okay Chris Weber was okay you know position Defender vlady was okay Mike BBY was not but Doug

Christy was the one guy and look how much that pressure that took off of everybody that’s who defended Kobe Bryant that’s who defended Allen Iverson that’s who defended anyone who could score 30 points a night on the perimeter it was Doug and so yeah one guy can have

A lot of a lot of things that that you’re looking for uh we’ll come back James Hammer the Insiders here with us the rest of the hour we’ll talk about something Mike Brown brought up to you guys over the weekend uh that is really bil really becoming glaring when you

Watch basketball every night the Pelicans put up 153 points and what the Kings did last year just doesn’t seem to be special anymore we’ll talk about that with deing with Casey with our man James ham return here on Sacramento Sports leader ESPN 1320 clear oh man are the are the doggies getting

Along James no oh well they’re separated that’s unfortunate yeah yeah yeah um well not all three of them okay so the Pug is like he’s Switzerland like he gets he he’s the Rudy Gay of the group everyone gets along with the Pug right although I think it’s more that the Corgi doesn’t

Know the Pug is a dog I think that’s probably the bigger thing she understands that the the golden retriever is a dog but the Pug is something else he’s just a little blob that snores and is lazy and is weird so who who’s who’s beefing the Corgi beefs with the golden

Retriever oh I love the golden and then it starts a dog fight so yeah it gets out of hand and then the Pug tries to get involved because pugs are like that they so he’s like Scrappy dude though he’s like he runs over and he’ll run

Into the other two with his head um or he’ll try to act like he’s part of The Fray because I think he thinks it’s fun like he doesn’t know what’s going on they playing yeah yeah and the play is not play now it’s like you know the the

Two the the little one gets too anxious and like attacks the big one and then the big one doesn’t take that and then it becomes like a big ugly mess oh boy it’s it’s just stressful for the uh for the wife oh I bet Victor the golden

Retriever is eight the Corgi just hit two and out of nowhere like personality changed and I think part of it is the the golden is um he’s anxious like he always has been he doesn’t like the vents on the floor he doesn’t like when we move furniture

Because then he it like makes him feel off he doesn’t like cardboard boxes so he has like all of these weirdness to him and he’s super sweet like he won’t come down into the bar unless somebody drags him down there um but I think the Corgi senses his anxiety and in moments

And like it stresses her out and it makes her attack so it’s kind of weird we do need Caesar at our house he can come over right now is that the dog guy yeah yeah it’s a bummer because it’s like everybody’s fun and hanging out and then

All of a sudden snap boom dog fight like it there’s no buildup there’s no nothing see pet CBD now we got the CBD y see everybody thinks the he’s chill he’s super sweet like the the golden is but the the Corgi is a menace she’s I didn’t realize Mike spoke today too well

Mike speaks he has to where did where did Casey go uh he had something to do today so he he asked if he could uh oh okay yeah leave a little ear he he like left right before you got here oh got it got it all right we’re coming back cam

Cool Casey’s on low management uh for the rest of the show he’s gearing up for he’s getting himself hyped up even more hyped for the NFC championship this weekend which we’ll talk a lot more about uh tomorrow and in the coming days he will join me on ksfm though uh coming

Up here in about 30 minutes but uh we’re happy to hang out with our and James ham who’s with us every Monday Wednesday and Friday here on D KC and of course Monday through Friday on the Insiders with Kyle Madison and this week uh with Jesse Tapia Mike spoke to you guys this

Weekend uh as the Kings it’s a really weird stretch for the Kings I started to look around because even without you know the uh circumstances in which the Warriors you know canceled two games their last scheduled game was like Saturday and their their first scheduled

Game since then is is it might it might have even been Friday is tonight and I started looking around the league there are quite a few teams that had like four five day breaks and then you got the kings that kind of had that extended break before Atlanta now then then they

Had like a couple more days before this game against the Warriors it’s just a really weird stretch that I’m guessing isn’t going to happen again in the league but it seems to be happening all over the league at this exact moment yeah I think it might have something to

At the NFL playoffs but I’m not sure I I found it really strange I don’t remember another time where we had Friday Saturday Sunday off yeah and the Kings practiced on Saturday and Sunday we we had practice on both days um I had show prep on Sunday so I wasn’t there but

Yeah there’s been a lot of conversation like Mike has been there a lot uh you know we’ve you know and there are times where like we get to a pregame and Mike is talking and I won’t ask a question I know people like why did you ask a

Question it’s like because we talked to a dude like yesterday and day before like what else do I have to ask him like I’m not going to just ask a question ask a question and waste people people’s time so uh yeah it’s been a lot uh but

You know again I think sometimes it’s good to get these these couple of days in because once you have a seven game Road Trip leading up to the the to the trade deadline like all bets are off we have no idea who’s going to be back when

This thing gets when they when they uh they fly back into town yeah and we didn’t play any of it but as as James was talking about there Mike did speak again today for almost 15 minutes over the weekend he talked about this team and the way that they look on offense

And kind of he mentioned where they’re ranked offensively and you look around the league James and what they’re doing what the Kings did last year is just the League this year we saw 153 points from the Pelicans we’re seeing the Pacers on a night in Night Out basis put up these

Outrageous numbers the Sacramento Kings led the league in points per game last season just ahead of the Golden State Warriors and this year if you take last year’s numbers which they’re not at if you took last year’s numbers and plugged them in this year it’s good for like

Fourth they’d be behind the Pacers behind the Celtics probably some teams that you wouldn’t think about and it’s it’s this weird like okay the Sacramento Kings it it I think it plays a part into the vibe and the feel of the Seas season the Sacramento Kings aren’t playing as well offensively they’re

About the same as they were last year but everybody else is better and that one thing that Sacramento did was really special we’re we’re we’re seeing on a regular Tuesday yeah I think I’ll add to that too where the kings are defensively is right where they were last year but

Their defense Now isn’t 24th in the league it’s like 17th like whatever’s happening it feels like maybe the Kings somehow like broke through the this imaginary ceiling and when they did it all of a sudden everybody else is like all right let’s just go for it and there is such a lack

Of Defense going on that I haven’t looked around the league either to see when we talk about sort of the disparity in in you know Kings with blowout losses right how it’s like 11 or 12 on the season with blowouts where 10 points are more but it’s a larger percentage of

Them are more like 15 or more like true games where it doesn’t feel all that close right I haven’t looked at other people’s other teams to see if they’re all having the same thing but I’m gonna guess that there are a lot more this year just as on the league as a whole

Because what we’re seeing is this like offensive Revolution that were you know it’s just wild I just looked that I think last year the kings were at 11 18.6 or offensive rating 11 18.6 this season is eighth it would be eighth best um and and again like that’s offensive

Rating and and the kings are at 116.5 so they are off considerably you know from from last year’s numbers which is why they’re 12th in the league but their defensive rating is 11 15.8 and 11 15.8 again is 17 in the league 11 15.8 last year and uh like

Last year’s defensive rating was a 116 and that was good enough for 24th so their defense is almost the same it’s it’s point2 better and that’s not point2 is you know that can change from one night to the next um the offensive rating is is a little off because it’s

Down a full two points per game um but especially if the league as a whole is doing that so I would like to see their offense go back to what it was but let’s be honest like Keegan Murray got off to a really bad shooting start and um not only that

But uh you know not only did Keegan get off to a bad shooting start but so did uh Kevin herder and you know so like a lot of these guys weren’t playing to their potential or weren’t playing to the the player that we saw last year yeah I I

I I didn’t go through every team in the league but I looked at teams around Sacramento maybe a maybe a week or so when the double digit loss was a big conversation and there wasn’t a massive disparity between the Kings the Kings from the maybe six or seven teams that

We looked at they did have more it was maybe to the tune of like 11 to like eight right it wasn’t like 11 to5 or 11 to four and this is with teams like Dallas this is with teams that are kind of in the vicinity of where Sacramento

Is record-wise the number that stood out though was the 20o losses because they had I think the 230 plus to the Pelicans and at the time they had had and I don’t think it’s changed since they had had like two or three other 20 plus Point

Losses that had put that total at five so you had double digit losses at like 10 or 11 but five of those were by 20 plus two of those five were at 30 plus and that was the part that was like what are we looking at right now it’s what

Brought there you know it it for it like three games it felt like their their point differential was 0.0 yeah they just broke even everywhere they blow someone out they’d get blown out and It ultimately just ended with a point differential of nothing yeah and I think that’s where the Kings have been

At almost all season long like neutral or a little bit under um just because some of the losses have been so egregious and you know a lot of good wins but I don’t think that they’ve they haven’t had like the the dragga team like 40 45 uh that

Would sort of sway that thing huge one way or another um yeah it’s just an odd season like I don’t if like we keep getting these conversations with Mike Brown right and how many times can you ask him the same exact thing like you know what is going on why do we have

These big swings but I think it’s it’s really tough as a coach when you’re trying to to figure out what’s wrong with a team and you’re trying to show them like how you can improve but but some of these tapes are just so bad overall and there’s no way to use them

As as really any type of of teaching tool and then we get to this set of games here where they lose three and they win one but all of them are reasonably close games you can go through and teach so much like this is what we’re talking about this is the

Finer Nuance stuff that we need you to to do we can’t have you drop to here we need you to drop to here we can’t have you uh like lead a player to the middle of the floor you know that’s not our defense we always push towards the

Sidelines you know if we’re GNA do this then you know I need if we’re gonna have uh like push a guy way out then I need to have somebody having like the weak side uh shot blocking position covered like all of these little Nuance things where you can actually show somebody

Where they made a mistake at least you have some of that game footage now because before you didn’t there there was too many games where it just like it was bad basketball one way or the other like somebody played bad basketball whether it was your team or was the

Other team and it made the tape like not even watchable at some point I know there is something that Mike says all the time that we’re more concerned about ourselves and we we were studying our you know what we’re doing wrong and I get that but there’s also something like

When you beat someone by 25 and your offense was moving perfectly the whole game right like how much are you learning from that is that just really bad defense or is that that your offense was so good did you hit five shots early on and broke their spirit and then the

Whole game just snowballed out of control or was it you know was there a reason why you guys were able to have so much success and at the end of the day that’s why you you like close games and that’s why I think the Kings had so many

Close games last year which made them really interesting on a nightly basis but also it was really really good training it was really you just had so much good game footage to watch and ways to improve yourself throughout the season dearen said it today Harrison

Said it today Mike has said it domas and Malik have said it they’ve all specifically said we’ve got to finish games we’ve gotta finish games why there it’s it’s one of those things where it appears they’re all aware of the issue but they’re struggling with exactly how

To fix it and it’s kind of like the you you you said for the beginning that you use the analogy at the beginning of the game did they hit a couple of shots and break your spirit some it it feels like a couple of things go wrong at the end

Of a game and it breaks their spirit because they’re all aware from the coaches to every star player they’re aware of what’s happening it just appears they don’t quite know how to fix it yeah I mean I get that and I’d even I’d compare it to the 49

Right the 49ers throughout the whole first quarter of the Season just thrashed everybody was like 20o game after 20-point game you know vict margin of Victory like it it wasn’t all that close then they get to this group of games where they’re missing some players and it gets a little

Tight and they have a kicker who’s young misses a field goal they lose to uh they lose to the Browns you get to the Minnesota game they make one stupid mistake at half time and then again you missed a field goal you had a couple of

Miss passes and things went a little bit a Ary and you lost there then you get to this other game where you just just got beat flat out you got beat you reset yourself and you came back and you went right back to beating everybody by 20 or

30 points there comes a point with with most teams where learning how to win is a huge thing and I would say that for the most part this season the Kings really didn’t have to fight to win games they either thrash somebody or they got

Thrashed so all of a sudden you get in three games in a row that are super close you just hadn’t gone through the process of winning games like crushing somebody yeah you got into the process of that but we all know what when you crush somebody that

Means that you know Keon Ellis and Kessler Edwards and Colby Jones and uh name that King is on the floor and in the last you know eight minutes of the game those are good things because your starters are getting a little bit of rest but at the same time like your

Starters aren’t learning anything from that from those 8 to 10 minute burst then you get into these games that are close that are tight and you make mistakes maybe it’s because he hadn’t been there he had been there in eight months six months since you know the

Playoffs or or before that and I think this is part of you know the maturation of a team is typically to learn how to compete learn how to compete all the way for 48 minutes uh learn how to like make it close when last four or five minutes of a game and

Then figure out a way to win and once you figure out a way to win you got to figure out a way to win consistently and that’s how you sort of progress in a season I just don’t think the Kings had any of those steps they just went

Straight to bombing teams or getting bombed each and every night well speak of getting bombed I didn’t know how to segue that Adam Sher reports Jim Harbaugh is leaving Michigan to accept the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers H Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan finally

After years of teasing it uh in winning a national championship this year uh is headed to coach the Los Angeles Chargers uh that’s obviously a huge get for the Chargers it felt like he was the biggest name out there the Chargers felt like the best job available and we were

Having a conversation on this show earlier Hammer with Jesse about the remaining vacancies uh left in the National Football League there’s still a hand full of coaching vacancies and it feels like this was the big Domino and we’ll see Atlanta Washington Carolina uh those other open jobs start to fill

Their spot now that they know uh Harbaugh is uh joining the Chargers and James froze again I kind of knew James froze froze cuz he oh oh there he is there he is there James is back James is back um I think these V vacancies around the league will be

Filled pretty quick now that Harbaugh has accepted this job yeah I think the next big one to to go is is where does billich go if he’s gonna go somewhere um and once that’s known that’s an interesting one because he doesn’t have to coach this year and that’s the conversation we were having

Earlier was it feels like especially because of Justin Herbert the Chargers is the best job available well what like what’s like what’s the next best job and there’s speculation it’s Atlanta go ahead Jesse I’m just gonna say Bill bel’s only interviewed with one team too it’s only

Been the Falcons while everyone else has been getting underway okay I get and he’s interviewed twice right he’s just there for the free dinners could could be that uh you know like I I think your initial question though was you know well he doesn’t have to coach us here

Like that dude’s almost 72 like he doesn’t get to coach forever and so I you know it’s kind of like how many years do you want to if you’re gonna if you’re gonna get back in the game you kind of need to get back in the game now

And and so that way you at least have you know a couple of Seasons with a team to to figure out what you’re doing and where you’re going I agree you’re you’re right you’re right and I forget that bill bich is 72 years old I also just look at Buffalo

And the noise around Shawn McDermot you know he’s up there with McVey and Kyle Shanahan in a group after John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin as the longest 10e coaches in the league in Buffalo you know continuously losing to Kansas City I’m not of the belief that Shawn mcder

Should be fired I’m just aware of noise regarding Shawn mcder and it makes me wonder what you know what’s the vibe headed into next season and if you’re Harbaugh excuse me if you’re bellich and you really don’t like these jobs that are available Jesse points out he’s only

Interviewed with Atlanta maybe in the end you don’t look like at Atlanta maybe you’re holding out at the thought perhaps Buffalo becomes available sooner rather than later if it’s a risk it’s certainly a risk but coaching a bad football team with the Legacy that bill

Bich has could be a risk as well no I get that I don’t think Atlanta’s a bad football team for the record I just mean if you’re taking one of these other jobs like Atlanta’s not Buffalo yeah yeah and like look at you know we’re talking

About a guy who who’s getting up there in age and like what if he does what if he does coach five years in Atlanta or whatever and then you got a fiveyear waiting period to get into the Hall of Fame I I I think I think it’s the same

For coaches I don’t know like he’s uh he’s a really good uh coach I you know I think he’s probably the best coach that’s ever been around on the NFL Maybe I’m Wrong um you know but like there’s no question there’s no question like if you’re having a

Conversation about the best coach in NFL history bill bellich is in that discussion only a handful of guys are yeah I would say to the one thing that takes away from I think his legacy is that he doesn’t have the tree right so there isn’t a big Bill bich tree where

You know again we’re still right now as we sit here we’re watching half of these coaches are part of the billwalsh coaching tree they might be like really really extended branches of the the Bill Walsh coaching tree but Andy Reid isn’t and you know I I think even Kyle

Shanahan isn’t that far removed from the same exact tree like a lot of these guys are from that and and that’s something where I just don’t know that’s something that should should be part of his legacy and part of the the question you have about who he’s been as a coach it’s just

That he hasn’t been able to pass it down where you know look around the NBA like Greg papovich coaching tree is is huge even um you know Phil Jackson has a a pretty solid coaching tree a lot of these guys like they paid it forward so

Well and I don’t know the Bell check you can say that about yeah his tree is rotten that’s what his tree is like if he he’s he’s got branches they’re just all rotten and have fallen off or they produce poison fruit or something like that it was terrible Harbaugh really did

Have an incredible NFL record during his time with the 49ers 4419 and one that’s a that’s that’s he’s he’s Jim thing is always he’s a unique guy and if you’re willing to as a as a as a grown if you’re in that Chargers locker room and

You’re a grown ass man you have to be willing to deal with the fact that your new head coach is a little eccentric he’s different he’s not Bill bich he’s not Kyle Shanahan he’s he’s a great coach who’s just a little bit different no he

Is yeah and but he’s still a really good coach you know I think he’s gonna he’s gonna make that a really really strong program very quickly uh because that’s typically what he does he’s able to build a program really quick college coaches we use the term program instead

But I get what you’re saying but I I would say that even like the 49ers it felt like a program with him you know like he was able to get the thing up and running like very quickly and um you know however it is that he does it you

Know he’s got a an idea and an identity to what he does that that uh is able to be built really quickly and so yeah I mean I think the Chargers you know again that’s the job that if I were a coach of his ilk and was wondering what should be

My next job like go get me the one with at least let’s start with a Frontline quarterback and then I can go from there if I don’t have that then I’ve got to search for it and that can take you two or three years and that’s what Bill’s

Gonna have to do if he takes the Atlanta job because that’s the position they don’t have there’s an argument that they have a roster but they don’t have that position Los Angeles has a roster uh and it has that Frontline quarterback that you’re speaking of and shout out to our

Boy Antonio Pierce because man he’s got his work cut out for him now in the division I don’t like him but Shawn pton is there uh they had a little turnaround at the Denver Broncos during the season you have Andy Reid for my money when you talk about the greatest coaches of all

Time you could throw him in there as part of the conversation um and now you’ve got now you’ve got Jim Harbaugh uh in your division so shout out to Antonio Pierce uh the new head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders buddy because you got your work cut out for you against those

Guys yeah I totally agree and I like we were talking about the coaching tree is it crazy to say that uh that Kyle Shanahan’s coaching tree is bigger than is stronger than bill bellich at this point it’s not crazy it’s accurate it’s 100% accurate I mean look you look at

The Texans hell the Jets were a Super Bowl favorite when they had that goofball as the quarterback to start the season Miami those are those are man those are those are three those are three Kyle Shanahan guys right there that’s incredible uh it doesn’t even speak to like his relationship with like

Matt laflor like that whole crew of like thef FL uh Shawn McVey and and and um Kyle Shanahan and that that that Branch spreads throughout the NFL yep those are good coaches right there but uh Jim Harbaugh on his way to the Los Angeles Chargers it’s a big one yeah

That’s a good one that’s a good little piece of business to talk about tomorrow uh on the Insiders with James ham and James for the first time in a few days you guys will be able to get ready for a game and it’s one that we actually

Haven’t seen in a while after seeing it uh four dozen times in the span of like four months uh it’s the Kings and the Warriors I think for the last time uh tomorrow night as part of rivalry week RI I think it’s called Rivals week uh in

The NBA so yeah I feel like every time we think it’s the last time they play him again every time like you’re like isn’t this the last time no got six more against them seven more yeah yeah that’s the case that’s 100 per the case um I’ll be locked into

The Warriors tonight though to be honest um I’ll be very very curious how they play and I actually this I think this is a weird situation where it’s first night of a back toback I think the Warriors will probably play significantly better tomorrow I think today is going to be I not that

They won’t play well today I think today is going to be incredibly emotional for them I think it’s going to be really difficult for them I just saw the arena with the shirts and all of that stuff that they have laid out tomorrow even though you know their

Hearts are going to be heavy for a long time tomorrow is going to be far against Sacramento is going to be far closer to a basketball game just a regular basketball game than tonight’s going to be tonight’s going to be really emotional for those guys and uh it’s going to be difficult go

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