The NBA All-Star Selection System is a Complete Joke | Locked On Kings

The NBA All-Star Selection System is a Complete Joke | Locked On Kings

I’m so upset man I’m so angry it’s actually embarrassing how bothered I am by something as as useless as meaningless and broken as the NBA All-Star Game and All-Star selection system because that’s what the league has made it the All-Star game is a joke all-star weekend is a

Joke players don’t take it seriously maybe the Three-Point Contest and dunk sure although the dunk contest over the years has has gone very downhill but Allstar Sunday itself the actual All-Star Game the main main event it’s a joke players don’t take it seriously it’s boring to watch on television it’s

Even worse in person trust me on that so why do I care so much why does Sacramento care so much that the Kings did not receive a single Allstar that they’re the only team only established playoff team top six team in either conference to not receive a single

Allstar selection why does it bother us so much it’s because it cuts deeper than just being upset for dearon Fox and Damonte sabonis who absolutely deserved to be in the All-Star Game who have have the numbers and have the team success to back it up right they deserve to be

There not to mention the financial bonuses the contractual bonuses that they receive for making the All-Star team it cuts deeper than just being upset for them from a Sacramento perspective it’s impossible or at the very least very very very difficult not to take this personally because for so many of us in

This city who love this organization who love this team it is a continuation and validation of feelings that we’ve had for a long time that we are the kings are the redheaded stepchild of the league that no matter what the Kings do no matter what the Kings accomplish there’s

Always a yab butt the goal posts are always moving oh you have a player putting up All-Star numbers compared to their competition yeah but the Sacramento Kings don’t have enough wins oh the Kings have all these wins yeah but dearon Fox isn’t scoring as much as Damen Lillard did last

Year this and the Kings have the wins and they have the numbers undeniable numbers yeah but there’s so much talent in the Western Conference it’s a coin flip some of these guy they just they have to get in it never ends the goalposts continue

To move this is why if you talk to a Sacramento Kings fan or see a Sacramento Kings fan complaining on social media or complaining about how they are viewed and how they are treated by the rest of the league it’s because stuff like this just continues to happen by the way

Welcome into lockon Kings you know all the words my name is Matt George whatever who cares I’m gonna talk more about damont sabonis here and him being snubbed more than I’m gonna talk about dearon Fox not because dearon Fox deserved to be an All-Star less than sabonis not because sabonis is a better

Player than fox or a more important player to the Sacramento Kings and their success than Fox is not the case at all because dearon Fox is scoring at higher level than he was last year and it was because of his points per game as to why Damen Lillard on a significantly worse

Portland Trailblazers team got in initially over dearen Fox did remember the Kings only had two Allstars last season because dearen Fox was an Allstar reserve and the kings were the third seed at the time truth be told I came into today knowing that the All-Star uh reserves were going to be selected

Believing that the kings were only going to get one I didn’t think dearon Fox was going to make it because of a combination of of how he’s been playing recently other guards in the Western Conference and the fact that the Kings even though they have a similar amount

Of wins this season to this time last season even though all the experts said that the Kings would not be able to do the same thing this year as they did last year because last year they were just just had injury luck on their side this year the Kings have not been lucky

Injury-wise they’ve been banged up basically the entire season and yet still here they are firmly in the playoff picture but they’re fifth instead of third so I expected the Kings to only have one All-Star because to me Deon sabonis is should be and somehow the league doesn’t feel this way he

Should be and should have been a complete lock for making the All-Star Game Anthony Davis Carl Anthony towns these are the guys that the league thinks that coaches think fans think the NBA thinks are better players more successful players more deserving this season it has nothing to do with Legacy

Although I know Legacy is is always gonna play an impact in All-Star selections right Steph Curry is always gonna make the All-Star game because of his legacy spot because he’s one of the greatest of all time maybe you can I guess if you want to put Anthony Davis

In there fine whatever but we’re talking about accomplishments this season what the each All-Star team every single year is all about is recognizing the best players this season sabonis is absolutely one of the best and is certainly better than Anthony Davis and Carl Anthony tals more deserving than

Either of those two now I understand the cat selection to some extent I do because the Minnesota Timberwolves are first place in the western Co conference they’re having an unbelievable season amazing turnaround most of that has to do with Ant-Man Anthony Edwards and I’m glad that he made the All-Star team he

Probably should have been a starter and deserved to be a starter but at least he’s a reserve he’s there okay you want to give the T wolves two Allstars a reward them because of how great of a season they’re having fine put Carl Anthony towns in there even though

Damont sabonis has better numbers maybe not scoring wise domas isn’t scoring as much as Carl Anthony towns is and I know scoring is King overall apparently except for in the case of dearon FOX NOW scoring apparently doesn’t matter for him but Anthony Davis Anthony Davis you’re gonna give the Los Angeles

Lakers the 24 and 25 one game under 500 Ninth Place Los Angeles Lakers you are going to give them two all stars and the Sacramento Kings get none on top of that you’re going to give the center that domas has never lost against ever in his career

And is two and 0 against this season you’re going to give him the spot over domas over the guy that is putting up numbers this season that literally only Wilt Chamberlain has ever put up in NBA history Wilt freaking Chamberlain is the only guy that has put up the numbers

That domas is putting up this year and still that’s not good enough damont sabonis leads the league in rebounding sixth in the league in assist one of the top players in the league in win shares his impact on winning is undeniable he’s doing that on a team that is eight games

Above 500 leads the league in double doubles is on a 29 game double double streak second in the league in triple doubles behind two-time MVP NBA defending champion and established Superstar Nicola yic this is the company that Dam sabonis has played himself into the numbers suggest these are the

People that he belongs with and yet he will not get picked and recognized as one of the best players in the league this season because Anthony Davis and the 24 and 25 Los Angeles Lakers deserve two all stars are you freaking kidding me that is a joke

That is why this whole Allstar selection system it does not matter how good a certain player is playing it does not matter how good the team is performing because the goal poost will move or the criteria will change based off of the certain player Oh Carl Anthony towns

Deserves to be in because the Minnesota Timberwolves have so many wins but Anthony Davis deserves to be in because he has fewer wins but more better scoring numbers than sabonis it makes no sense it is completely broken it is ass backwards and at this point it is downright

Insulting to call the allstar game the found or the the platform the stage the Showcase of the best talent in the league That season and to leave at least one Sacramento King to leave damanda sabonis to leave dear fox out of that showcase I don’t know how much they care

I really don’t I think I’m probably more mad and more bothered by it than they are truth be told I know dearon Fox told the Sacramento be recently he does not care if he’s an All-Star or not I hope I sincerely hope not that I’m rooting for anybody in the west to get

Injured but it would be so poetic it would be so wonderful for the league to ask either sabonis or Fox down the road before the All-Star game if if they will be an All-Star reserve and for both Fox and sabon is to give the NBA the double

Bird say F you you didn’t select us initially we got vacations planned we’re gonna rest up because we’re gonna get healthy and get ready to dominate the second half of the season to make it into the playoffs and show how good we are in the playoffs and make you feel

Like bigger idiots than you already are for not including including us in your special little showcase weekend that nobody cares about it’s insulting to those players it’s insulting to even the Integrity of the league to claim that the All-Star game that the NBA Allstars are the best of the best in your league

And to make blatantly biased Market driven popularity driven politically driven decisions like Anthony Davis being in over damont sabonis it’s a complete complete joke I get why Steph Curry’s in Steph Curry’s in because again a legacy one of the greatest players of all time the Golden State Warriors are 12th in the

West there are only three teams in the Western Conference worse than the Golden State Warriors they have an Allstar the Kings have none the Phoenix Suns have two Allstars Kevin Durant and Devin Booker personally I have no issue with that because of how stacked that roster is those two their numbers are

Ridiculous but the suns are a worse team record-wise they are lower in the standings than the Sacramento Kings are make it make sense they have the wins they have the numbers they have season best numbers and his historically backed numbers in the case of damont sabonis and still still it’s not good

Enough sabonis averaged 20.8 points 14.5 rebounds nine assists shot 66% from the field 71% from three-point range had 15 double doubles and seven triple doubles in the month of January alone and that is not good enough to make it to the All-Star Game to be considered one of

The best players one of the best centers bare minimum in the league like sabonis absolutely is it’s absurd the NBA should be ashamed of themselves but I can’t say I’m surprised I’m pissed you damn right I’m pissed but I’m not surprised because this is what Sacramento is to the League this is what

The kings are to the League this is why we feel the way that we feel so all you NBA casuals out there there wanting to say that Anthony Davis was the right choice or Carl Anthony CH towns was the right choice Damon sabonis doesn’t deserve to be in because of what he’s

Done or hasn’t done in the playoffs even though again you’re you’re you’re dumb for even presenting that argument because the All-Star Game and All-Star system is based off of the regular season that you’ve had up to that point you all are idiots and you all make yourself look like idiots the more you

Try and build these ridiculous nonsensical Arguments for something that is as unexplainable and undefendable as the decision that the NBA made but fine live with your decision NBA I hope dear Fox and damont sabonis have a good Allstar break I hope the kings in general rest up and I hope they tear up

The league in the second half of the Year get to the playoffs dominate in the playoffs as well and then whether the history books were reflected or not we and Sacramento will know that the NBA once again completely dropped the ball and undermined Sacramento and the talent in

Sacramento because of the Kings across the front of the Jersey I’m done man I I recorded an interview earlier on this uh this morning with Will Z stats uh it’s a great interview great conversation with will uh I I hope you’ll enjoy it I think

You will enjoy it um we talk about just some numbers with the numbers reveal about the Sacramento Kings we recorded this obviously before we found out if dear Fox and de sabonis would be um Allstar Allstar reserves or not so uh I hope you stick around if you just came

Here for this opening rant I don’t know if this is what you wanted to hear or not I actually like I I recorded in my car I recorded like a like a 10-minute rant where I I literally screamed at my phone and and I had to delete it I

Couldn’t release it or my probably my career would have been on the line that’s how pissed off I was when this initially came out but um uh I I hope hope you stick around I hope you listen to this conversation with Will Z because I think it’s really

Really good um but until next time or for those of you checking out I appreciate you uh make sure the lock on Kings podcast we’ll have a an episode after tomorrow’s uh Kings game against the Indiana Pacers I hope the Kings take out some of their frustrations from this

Against the Pacers I have no idea how it’s going to go but you can uh you can you can tune in after and and hopefully we can just put this behind us and focus on what really matters which is the Sacramento Kings continuing to win basketball games with two of the best

Players in the league whether the All-Star system wants to recognize them as that or not today’s episode of the lockdown Kings podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors our partners at eBay motors have teamed up with locked on Fantasy Basketball host Josh Lloyd to bring you some of the best fantasy picks

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Of the week looking down this this list there are a couple really good names on there Jared Vanderbilt Josh Hart Paul Reed Aaron n Smith let’s talk about Josh Hart a little bit Hart this is what Josh says Josh Lloyd says Hart should be a big winner due to the Randall injury and

Could be seeing gigantic minutes for multiple weeks Josh Hart in addition to being a benefit right now through the the Knicks injury situation also is just a rebounding machine a defensive machine someone that maybe doesn’t always put up the big number that you want to see

Fantasy wise but is a very impactful and important player over in New York and he’s that type of player that perfect type of player that can come in and help you win a week of fantasy basketball just be that slight difference that one or two or three point sneaky difference

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Only available to us customers eligible items only exclusions apply despite my self-proclaimed nerdy ways and the Lord of the Rings poster and Dungeons and Dragons books you see behind me I was never really W for math in school I like sports so much because there’s a gigantic scoreboard that does that crap

For me but stats of course are important in professional sports stats are a big deal in the NBA and every once in a while I do my best will Z impression and try to put together stats to defend an argument or to to track down some of the

Things and and ways to understand this king’s team but I can’t do it as well as will Z I’ve referenced his numbers millions of times on lock on Kings so it’s about time that I have the actual man behind the numbers here on lockon Kings will Z joins me my friend it’s

Good to talk to you good to see you welcome in let’s have some fun with these numbers thanks Matt I appreciate it thanks for having me on uh one of my favorite things about tweeting out the numbers and posting them and everything is to have everyone else take them and

Use them for their arguments so always happy to provide not just to you but to the king’s Community consider it friendly plagiarism let’s let’s let’s with love it well one of like not too long ago a couple of weeks ago I did my best will Z impression and I did a deep

Dive into the offensive numbers because I was trying to figure out why looking at this Kings offense the eye test was saying it’s not as good as it was last year but you look at so many numbers their scoring their offensive rating their shooting percentages and stuff and

It’s actually if it’s different it’s minorly worse or in some cases even marginally better there are a couple of stats that that jumped out to me like the Kings fast break points being down of course their free throw shooting being down some things that are very different from uh from last season to

This season but really my takeaway will was it’s not that the Kings offensively have gotten dramatically worse from last year when they had the best offense in regular season history in the NBA it’s that so many other teams led by the Indiana Pacers are just offensively

Booming this year to the numbers kind of say the same thing in your mind and how do the numbers you think describe this offensive season that Sacramento’s having yeah it’s so true we’re just seeing so many other teams just become so lethal Pacers with the biggest

Example and I don’t know if it’s just the free throws or there’s been a lot of Clips shown on Twitter of kind of the light foul calls I don’t know if it’s that for me with the Kings their offense feels a little different it’s starting

To feel more like it did last year year uh they were so good at doing different things well on any given night last season and just taking what their opponent was giving them on defense this year they started out very reliant on the three ball and less emphasis on

Getting into the paint and I think we’re starting to see that a little bit more in the last few games but it’s just feels a little different but the numbers are still so good for the Kings I mean you look at it and they’re averaging as I pull this up sorry I

Should have had it and their three-point percentage 37% that’s middle of the league they’re 13th last year they weren’t the best three-point shooting team I think they were ninth in terms of three-point percentage but they were leading in so many different other categories and it’s just they’re a

Little a little lower in multiple areas across the board where other teams have kind of jumped them in a lot of different categories one of those that stands out to me is free throw attempts the Kings aren’t getting to the line as much as they were last year and then

When you factor in that they are last in the league at 73% that really kind of brings them down there as well yeah I don’t know if the numbers will reflect this or just the eye test will because obviously in addition to paying attention to the numbers you watch every

Single Kings game with us you get the eye test side of things as well um Mike has spoken before about he kind of lets this offense go with the flow and I I get the the the sense that a lot of the king’s three-point Alliance Reliance has

Been through the flow of the offense now he has offensive pillars and offensive principles one of them being paint touches and spray threes meaning someone gets down low and kicks out to an open three and the Kings do that fairly well but I think one of the inconsistencies

That we’re noticing in addition to Mike Brown’s rotations this year is is Mike’s sometimes inability to or unwillingness to draw up plays and go to specific sets unless it’s a kind of a fundamental set that they’ll run over and over and over again for different players and and ultimately setting up and getting

Different shots I know the NBA is going further away from like set plays every time down and more kind of a free form free range basketball but I’m wondering in the case of the Sacramento Kings and again I don’t know how much the numbers reflect this I just wonder if the Kings

Would be better suited to in the case of last night with how great of a night Keegan Murray was having with 33 points would they be better off to emphasize the players that have the hot hands a little bit more and get a little more rigid with that free form

Basketball that they play it feels like it it feels like that’s they did more of that last year as well again looking at differences between last year and this year they did such a good job of riding the hot hand last year whether it be like Terence Davis they had seven

Players score over 30 points and it feels like they aren’t really kind of finding that and rolling with it last night I think being a key example you had Keegan with what was it 21 points in the first half and finished with 31 33 33 yep yeah uh and a lot of those

Points came at the end of the fourth quarter where they were just trying to see if they could get back in the game would have liked to see him get more touches and yeah maybe some more structure from the play calling to kind of get him this dho above the above the

Three look above the break three looks that he loves to take off of the sabona screens and just get him more involved intentionally rather than in the flow uh something that we haven’t seen too much this year especially with the uh early emphasis of fox when he was on his run

It just kind of limited what others could do let’s keep talking about Keegan Murray a little bit because I know defensive numbers are not necessarily the easiest to track down he’s made a tremendous leap defensively to where I think it’s pretty clear in the numbers support it he’s the best defender on

This king’s team I’m scrolling through trying to find it but NBA University not too long ago uh posted a number uh discussing Keegan is one of the best isolation defenders in the league like he he actually might be number one or is number one in opponent field goal

Percentage against him in isolation sets but James ham had a theory on ESPN 1320s the Insiders recently that he discussed it at length and I’m wondering if you see any numbers to suggest this or if you could look at his numb of of the volume of shots he’s been getting or the

Emphasis of Keegan Murray on the offensive end we talked a lot about coming into this season hey the Kings need Keegan Murray to be more of a scorer the Kings need him to take a leap in that area and go become a go-to scoring option for this Kings team James

Ham’s theory is that they used the first 41 games to emphasize him to a point where it took away from guys like Kevin herder and Harrison Barnes who we’ll talk about later on in in in the podcast but do some of the numbers reflect a overemphasis of Keegan Murray or do you

Think he’s do you think that theory I guess by James is accurate or do the numbers suggest one way or the other yeah I think it is accurate his if you look at his field goal attempts I mean he’s never a high volume shooter in

Terms of like mid to high 20s he’s only broken the 20o field goal attempt barrier twice this season um but he’s just so efficient his field goal percentage just never really drops and he doesn’t have multiple stretches in a row but if you look at it just his box

Scores he’s at from the beginning of the Season 13 16 14 15 12 and you just think about like Barnes and how rare his and I’ll pull his up too to compare if you a fun exercise I think would be to look at how many games both Keegan and Barnes have

Shot a combined like 30 field goal attempts because it feels and tell me what you think it feels like it’s either a Keegan game or either a Barnes game like we never get both right this episode of the lockdown Kings podcast is brought to you by LinkedIn at the start

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Linkedin.com lockon NBA that’s linkedin.com lockon NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply curious too you mentioned two games that Keegan had with only two with 20 plus field goals can you compare that to like how many games does de’arra Fox have with 20 plus field goals obviously

Fox is the star he’s the go-to offensive player but if the Kings want Keegan to get to that level of becoming in my opinion even the second go-to option offensively because sabonis game is more to get others involved rather to look than look to score himself I’m curious

Like Keegan in my opinion should be taking or should have more than two games with 20 plus field goal attempts yeah and fox is at at 25 this season yeah and it’s the same thing we see sabonis he doesn’t take a lot of field goals uh let me pull up

While we talk as well I just want to look at how many each player on the Kings has of 20 or more so bear with me for a second but but yeah Fox with 25 and when he takes a lot of field goals they win so in those 25 games for Fox they

Are quick little format check 16 and nine so a good record not great record uh but we’ll be interesting to see kind of how that compares to the other players while you’re searching for those other numbers uh I mean just in my mind like I expect dearon Fox to above

And beyond have the most games with 20 plus field goal attempts absolutely he’s the star he’s the leader he’s that number one guy but if Keegan is supposed to take this leap and become the the other go-to off offensive options someone who can give the Kings a little

More of isolation scoring I think Malik monk if I were to guess I’d guess Malik Monk Is second highest in the team unless it’s sabonis with 20 plus field goal attempts and Malik has kind of carved out that role for himself from time to time as well but Keegan I mean

Two games with 20 plus field goal attempts I don’t know if that’s where Keegan needs to be more assertive I don’t know if that’s where sabonis and fox needed more emphasize getting Keegan the ball and again last night’s game is a perfect example Fox is not going to be

On every single night so if Fox is is taking 25 shots and he’s struggling from the field somebody else has to step up and either take some of those shots from Fox or knocked down a vast majority of theirs and Keegan didn’t take enough shots last night yeah so this is really

Interesting I just pulled it up so we have Fox at 25 Keegan at two and sabonis two monk two Barnes two and that’s it so they like Fox is the only high volume shooter that the Kings have um that’s really interesting let me look at while I’m here last year’s again

Since we’re talking about last year’s offense versus this year’s offense it’s pretty much the same you had Fox with 32 sabonis with two monk with two her withth one so they just don’t really turn to anyone other than Fox to get those high volume shots I’ve never

Really looked at it this way that puts a ton of pressure on dearen every sing Le night to deliver and it’s just again dear is capable of carrying that that that torch but asking him to do that 82 games a year granted of course he misses

Time with injuries and stuff but he I mean he hasn’t looked right for the last month in some change with the exception of a few games I think it’s fair to assume that he’s either tired or burnt out and I understand the exhaustion or he’s banged up a little bit I understand

That exhaustion when again he is taking this high volume of shots every single night and nobody is even remotely close to him to me that’s where Mike needs to kind of relook at this offense a little bit I know the kings are typically at the top of the league if not number one

In the league in passing and in assists and will you can verify that but I and I understand there’s only so many shots to go around but the Kings need to do a better job emphasizing the hot hand on any given night meaning sabonis or monk

Or herder or anybody needs to be have in my opinion at least three to five games where they’re taking 20 plus fuels if nothing else just to take some of that pressure off of dear yeah especially Keegan it feels like that’s kind of his next step is to just do that more often

Because you see it when he gets going he knows it the team knows it so just getting more involved and to yeah to verify the passes per game Kings lead the league at 311 per game next closest is the Raptors with 303 uh it’s the kings move the balls so

Much we see sometimes it gets a little sticky where they aren’t moving it I think that’s something that hurt them last night where they had so many pull-up shots I tweeted this out earlier today on they had 12 pull-up threes last night 28 catch and shoot they were two

Of 12 on the pull-up attempts and 10 of 28 on the catch and shoot attempts and they get Mike Brown loves pain action spray it out hit the open shot that’s where you’re going to get those catch and shoot threes whereas last night it felt like they just had so many looks

Where it was come down Pull from three ball never touches the paint and it seemed to really hurt their Rhythm and their flow on offense yeah I’m never going to say that moving the basketball is a bad thing at all and I mean with the greatest show on court back in the

90s or late 90s early 2000s that’s what that Kings team was so good at was sharing the basketball and moving the basketball I’m just saying maybe on Night by Night basis there needs to be a little more emphasis on some selfishness for a guy other than dearon Fox to put

Up a good chunk of field goal attempts that number is fascinating to me will that fox is that high and nobody else is remotely close to him nobody else is above two games with 20 plus field goal attempts that’s pretty incredible but speaking of dearon fox the number that

Jumps off the page for him this season is not just that his scoring is up it’s the three-point shooting right and we’ve talked a lot about it his percentage is up as well as his volume has significant increased fox has established himself as a three-point shooter there’s no ifs ANS

Or buts about it and that makes him virtually unguardable that being said there are times will what I where I feel that not just the Kings have an over Reliance on threes dearen himself has an over Reliance his best games over this stretch of four game win that four game

Win streak the kings were on Fox established himself by getting to the rim first and then the three-point shot came the Golden State Warriors game is a is a great example he established himself from the mid-range and at the rim and then he hit those really those

Two big transition threes in the fourth quarter to help the Kings win that game what when you look at the three-point numbers and you look at the volume and you see that increase on a field goal percentage that’s great but do you think it’s taking away from the other

Strengths of Fox’s game which was that mid-range jumper and finishing around the rim yeah I think so and he’s not finishing as well at The Rim this year um but that mid-range number is really really kind of dropped off both in terms of attempts and percentage so he’s at

2.6 attempts this year and finishing it 39.8% last year he was at 3.4 and 47% and I think what helped him so much last year is he always kept Defenders guessing on where he was going to stop and he so quick and Shifty that little turnaround mid-range shot Defenders

Don’t know if he’s going to do do that if he’s going to pull a fur floater or if he’s going to maybe pull a hesi and get all the way to the rim and it seems like some of that guessing game for the Defenders is Gone without that mid-range shot I love that

He’s become a legitimate three-point shooter and can make five six plus On Any Given night I don’t know I think it’s just kind of a give and take I don’t know if it’s something that he should bring back the mid-range because that’s a tough shot in terms of

NBA or just continue doing the threes but I think him getting to the rim especially against teams who like Miami don’t have the best Rim protection and they give up a high restricted area and floater area field goal percentage just go take it to them and that’s where I

Don’t know I’m not around the players is he 100% healthy I’m sure that if he’s not that’s harder to do so hence the Reliance on the three that’s that’s where I think that’s the biggest thing to me what makes the most sense I think Health plays a big part in this I think

Dear hurting his ankle early on in the season and he mentioned he returned and that ankle still bothers bothered him and has continued to bother him of course if your feet aren’t right if your wheels aren’t right the car is not goingon to go fast so dearen has kind of

Dealt with that I mean dearn has dealt with injuries and playthrough injuries every single season of his career and it’s because he goes into the teeth of the defense he goes into the paint he gets banged around as much as he does uh by big men so I understand with the with

The emergence of that three-point shot and his ability to hit that shot if he thinks that can help him get through an 82 Game season better by not having to go in there and get whacked every single time he’s trying to get to the rim I imagine he’s thinking longevity of the

Season longevity is in his career there has to be a balance though there will because he’s still so Elite getting downhill and such a nightmare for Defenders that if you’re gonna say dearin is is primarily becoming a three-point shooter I think you’re taking away a skill that didn’t just get

Him to a the league but a skill that is still very very uh powerful even though he’s not as young as he used to be yeah oh it’s so true um and looking just at the twoo percentage as a whole um 58.4% last year 52.1% this year so you see that drop in

The total twoo attempts um in terms of efficiency but it’s something where I always expect that to start Rising we haven’t really hit that we hit it with sa bonis where he kind of hit a Groove inside and I expect Fox to follow I keep looking and it hasn’t gone up yet

We see games where he’ll have Knights where he goes like eight of 10 inside the ark and it’s B to happen maybe just get some rest at the All-Star break or being participant like he was last year where it’s kind of just out and about but hoping that he comes out strong

After the break after getting some time to maybe heal up well when it comes to damont sabonis I know that man is probably a statistician’s like dream because the numbers that he puts up are just unbelievable now some people call him empty calories from the Bay Area some people don’t want to acknowledge

Him until he puts up numbers like this in the playoffs regardless sabonis I could spend plenty of time and already have too much here on lockon Kings and talking about how underappreciated sabonis is but I mean the month of January that he’s had alone you put those numbers out earlier just his

Ridiculous shooting percentages he’s got seven triple doubles in the month of January which only three other players in NBA history have ever done I mean it’s just he he keeps doing unbelievable things and things that only Wilt has done or uh it’s just I don’t know how

You can deny this man with the numbers that he’s putting up are there any other numbers that you’re finding or any numbers that you just love looking at and paying attention to when it comes to Dand sabonis yeah to me it’s just the efficiency and I think this is why

People don’t appreciate what he’s doing is because he’s not a high volume scorer he’s under the 20 point mark which feels like that’s where people start paying attention is 20 points or more it’s just a nice round number but in the month of January he was at 20.8 points on 66.5%

Shooting from the field which is just an absurdly high number and it’s not that he’s doing he doesn’t he gets his dunks but it’s not like all of his field goal attempts are just dunks and high just easy shot that result in that high field goal percentage he’s just got his touch back

Around the rim he’s hitting his mid-range shot he’s hitting from three 74% no 71.4% from three in the month of January I think all Kings fans are wanting him to shoot more at this point just keep taking that shot if it’s going in at a

70% clip for a whole month right but he just does so many things across the board where where I could close my eyes and throw a dart at a dart board and I’d hit a good stat and it’s just like I said it’s a dream to find numbers for

Him because there’s always something interesting to find I want to squeeze this in really quick before we wrap up Harr uh yeah Harrison Barnes and Kevin herder two guys that you look at the numbers and they’ve been tough to figure out this season ups and downs inconsistencies then explosive games

From both of them especially Harrison Barnes recently but what I’ve noticed through my very very minor service level box score surfing will is that on games where Harrison is getting more looks and taking more shots he’s more involved in other areas rebounding the basketball he’s more involved defensively and then

The same thing for Kevin herder I think if there has been an emphasis on Fox and Murray and those guys getting their shots and taking some away from herder and Barnes you’d think okay naturally if you’re focusing Less on scoring you have more time or more ability to focus on

Rebounding but I think psychologically with two offensive-minded players players who want to be a scoring part of a prolific offense if you’re telling them and taking away what they do best and what they love to do psychologically that has an effect on the other areas that they make an impact the numbers are

Saying the same thing or at least from what I’ve seen on the surface level what are you seeing about games where Harrison is only grabbing one rebound when he’s only taken two or three shots but when Harrison’s taking 11 or 12 shots the rebounds are up to four five

Six numbers that he should be able to grab on a nightly basis yeah it definitely Bears out that way you look at Barnes and just sort his game logs by rebounds from least to most in his field goal attempts 2 11 which is good 6

2919 and when you sort it the other way his high rebounds 111 13 then you have 8748 2420 he just I don’t think you’re ever going to get get that many assists from Barnes no if you do that’s get a great addition but it’s not something that the

Kings are like Barnes you need to pass and find some open teammates right I just don’t think that’s how their offense flows but definitely the rebounds seem to have a correlation too when he’s shooting when he’s involved he’s more active than when he’s not well will I think we stumbled upon something

Here and over the course of this conversation the fact that fox is taking that many shots consistently 20 plus shots that many times this season and no other player is above two games of 20 plus shots I think that speaks to maybe an issue with this king’s offense a

Little bit I’m gonna ask you to please put those numbers out so that I mean this podcast will come out later today so kind of a peak behind the curtain I’m releasing this podcast once I found out find out who the All-Star reserves are and hopefully at least one of fox and

Sabonis are are getting mentioned maybe both of them um but please put those numbers out on social media because I think there should be a discussion about those because I it never even occurred to me that that could be the case and maybe just maybe there might be

Something there so thank you for helping me kind of figure that out a little bit this is why we bring guys like will Z in because they help dive into the numbers and reveal things that I never would have ever considered or thought of before so will thank you for doing this

My friend this is a pleasure and we have to do it again oh happy anytime thanks for having me on I wouldn’t have found those numbers without this discussion so it’s been blast I appreciate It

Matt George reacts to De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis both being denied their rightful place as NBA All-Stars. Plus, Will Z Stats joins the show to discuss some interesting Kings numbers.

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