The Sacramento Kings Are Hard to Figure Out | Locked On Kings

The Sacramento Kings Are Hard to Figure Out | Locked On Kings

How many of you think you understand the Sacramento Kings you’re all liars nobody understands this Kings team after getting their butts kicked at home to the now seven win Detroit Pistons and the day after doing absolutely nothing at the trade deadline the Sacramento Kings dominate the defending Champion

Denver Nuggets and beat them for the second time this season yeah this Kings team doesn’t make sense but we’re still going to try and talk about him right here on locked on Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team

Every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of Locked on Kings hello and welcome to locked on Kings your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all season long today’s episode is brought to you by prize picks the easy easiest and most exciting way

To play daily fantasy sports go to prize.com locked on today and use code all lowercase locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here I’m a Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter

For ABC 10 news and it is my job to talk about the Sacramento Kings it is my job to watch every second of Kings basketball analyze it break it all down and try and figure out what this team is all about well I’m here to tell you I

Think I know some things but for the most part like all of us when it comes to making sense out of this Kings team maybe I just know nothing and you know what maybe I should stop trying to make sense of this Kings team and just enjoy

The ride right the Kings losing to the Detroit Pistons at home following it up with a big time win really a statement win one of the best games the Kings have played so far this season over the Denver Nuggets like I mentioned in the intro beating the defending champions

For the second time this season now granted in both occasions of the Kings facing the Nuggets they were in Sacramento and the Nuggets were coming off of a or were on the second night of a backtack not that that matters because nobody feels sorry for the Sacramento Kings on the

Second night of a back-to-back so why should we feel sorry for the defending NBA champions regardless it’s bad for podcast to say hey forget making sense of this team let’s just enjoy the ride really the the ups and downs the roller coaster of this king’s team maybe this is just who they

Are and the good news is even though the lows feel really really low in the grand scheme of things they’re nine games over 500 right they’re 30 and 21 granted in the Western Conference that’s not good enough to get you in the top six right now even after tonight’s win the Kings

Are still s sitting in the seventh spot aka the first playin spot so the kings record-wise are on a similar Pace to where they were last season around this time and yet they’re in a worse spot standings wise that has more to do with the west and less to do with the Kings

However this season for Sacramento of course is all about growth it’s internal Development building those Championship Tendencies trying to get this team further down the path towards becoming a championship Contender and it feels like there have been more speed bumps and more roadblocks this season compared to

Last season and maybe we expected that last season was about Vibes and fun and the dawning of the beam and uh the return to Greatness who cares about any of the struggles from last season because that season was just so much fun the kings are relevant again this season

We knew there were going to be bigger expectations it was going to be more difficult for this Kings team especially with them betting on internal Improvement the growth of this core and choosing not to add on to it and address some holes to this roster well not only

Did the kings make that decision this past off season the Kings made that decision yesterday at the trade deadline choosing to to stay put and really the the best things that I can do or or or point to to try and figure this team out are are a couple things one when this

Team is dialed in and when they approach a game focused and ready to go they are they’re capable of beating anybody I won’t say they’re Elite or unbeatable or anything like that the the Kings reach unbeatable status when they’re at that that scoring level where they have three

Or four guys scoring 20 plus points and and everything they’re putting up just seems to be going in they’re playing with Pace getting up and down the floor that best version of the Sacramento Kings I do believe is is basically un unbeatable but this version the dialed and focused

Version of the kings that we saw tonight against the Denver Nuggets that is when they are capable of winning and beating anybody on any given night and I I I don’t fully understand what it takes to to to bring that mental focus and to be that dialed and locked

Into every single game all 82 games during the regular season regardless of the teams you’re playing whether they’re good teams bad teams on the road at home Wednesday night or Friday night I don’t understand mentally and physically the toll it takes to be that prepared and

Locked in and focused all 82 games of the regular season but hopefully this Kings team can learn how to play this way without a circumstance like the Detroit game or without the circumstance of of a trade deadline maybe this team the fact that they knew that nobody was

Going to be traded and they were all together maybe that helped to reignite them and fire them up and get them excited to play again I don’t know but hopefully it doesn’t take so many out outside circumstances or bad circumstances to wake this team up if

The Kings I mean consistency is such a buzzword and it’s a word that we use a lot here on lockon Kings it’s a word you hear talked about or used in sports period with every single team trying to be consistent is the name of the game

And even the best teams like the Denver Nuggets for example even they can struggle on certain nights and even they deal with inconsistencies but if the Kings can consistently bring a focus and determination to the table the vast majority of the times they play they are a good to hopefully one day great

Basketball team it’s when they take the floor and their laxidasical like they were against Detroit or they don’t give their all uh and play ugly basketball like they did against the Memphis Grizzlies on the road it’s those kind of games the loss to Charlotte earlier this season getting blown out and obliterated

At home by the the the I don’t know the Boston Celtics for example like games like that where they’re just not focused they’re just not dialed in they’re just not locked in that’s where we see this team start to unravel so maybe that is an aspect of figuring this team out and

Figuring out the ups and downs another aspect is actually pretty simple this Kings team lives or dies by the three-point shot they do now that can be NE sometimes a recipe for Success right check this out statistically the Kings shoot 33.1% from three-point range in losses

In wins 40.1% that’s a difference of 7% between wins and losses when this team knocks down the three ball like they did tonight they shot uh over 50% from three-point range tonight when the kings are are shooting at a high clip from the perimeter they’re a very very difficult

Team to beat right this Kings team is very much feast or famine from three-point range and it’s not just one or two guys right it seems like when one guy gets going everybody body gets going from the perimeter there’s a game every now and then where like Keegan went off

From the perimeter and had his near 50o game where dearon Fox is is knocking down three after three after three and the rest of the kings are trying to keep up right but this team feeds off of each other’s energy and if one guy has it

Going and is balling out and is feeling it it feels like another two or three are right there behind him I love the fact that the Sacramento Kings can have Knights like this where they shoot lights out from three-point range and another aspect of of their shooting performance tonight is the fact that

They hit a boatload of Threes but they didn’t take a boatload of Threes right it’s not like they’re shooting 45 46 47 thre pointers on these games where they’re shooting 40 to 50% from deep in fact more often than not the games with the higher three-point volume are actually the games that they’re

Struggling from the perimeter because they’re trying to shoot their way out of it I it’s not as simple as okay if the Kings can just find a way to knock down the majority of their three-pointers they’ll win basketball games no dub mat that’s just called common sense to me

It’s finding a way to limit those famine games those drought games those nights where if you’re shooting 33 34% from three-point range or Worse don’t keep chucking them up right get to the rim get to the basket get to the foul line explore other options than just continuing to launch from three-point

Range living and dying by the three ball more often than not is a recipe for success for the SA or recipe for disaster I should say for the Sacramento Kings now think back to the playoff series right against the Golden State Warriors neither the Kings or The Warriors shot well from three-point

Range in that series neither of them did the Kings managed to win three of those games and take that series to seven games the Kings shoot better from three-point range in that series they absolutely make it into the second round no ifs an or buts about it maybe the

Golden State Warriors too could share their perspective and say yeah if the Warriors shot better the Kings probably don’t push them to seven games or the Kings aren’t in a position where they’re up 20 to begin with maybe they’re right if Sans or butts about it like it’s it’s

Hindsight of 2020 right e regardless we know that the Kings can win important meaningful games on nights that they aren’t shooting the basketball well but if they’re going to consistently struggle from three-point range the way that this team is made up typically that is where they struggle all right let’s talk about something

That hopefully every show involving the Sacramento Kings is talking about and really the podcasters the writers the the the journalists the media members outside of Sacramento should be talking about this too but they’re not I’m not seeing any of it on social media tonight no surprise hey damanda sabon has just

Outplayed Nicola yokich anyone want to talk about that anyone want to tweet about that because we know Nicola yic is the the creme de laem the crem of the crop right he’s the best center in the league rightfully so I’m not going to sit here on this podcast and tell you

That Damonte sabonis is a better Center than Nicha yogic but what we consistently talk about here on lockon Kings is that sabonis does things that only yic can do he’s second to yic or just behind yic or does these things that I guess joic does so well or has

Done so often now that we’re used to it to the point that it’s not impressive for yo for sabonis anymore or joic can do it and it’s oh my God look at this unbelievable Center and what he’s doing with the Denver Nuggets damont sabonis does it’s like empty calories empty

Stats okay well the Kings have played the the the Nuggets twice this season both times the Kings have beaten the Nuggets granted joic had a better game the first time they played than he did tonight but regardless I know one game or two game sample sizes don’t tell the

Full story again I’m not going to even suggest that sabonis is a better player than Nicola yic but on nights like tonight where joic is outplayed by domas we have to talk about it it has to be pointed out we can’t just ignore sabonis successes and when sabonis head-to-head

Outplays centers and he’s done it all season long outplayed the best centers in the league he’s been doing it all year long and nobody talk about it this is the second time this season he’s beaten joic and tonight he had 17 points 17 rebounds 10 assists and a steal shot

Seven of Nine from the field that number is important because joic outscored sabonis 23 points but only had eight rebounds and seven assists that’s still a good statline for any big man in the league maybe a little disappointing by joic standards but joic was nine of 17

From the field so joic shot eight more shots than damont sabonis did and only scored six more points points so it’s not like oh wow joic is outscoring sabonis because he’s more efficient of a big man no the the the Nuggets need joic to score more than the Kings need

Sabonis to now yic and sabonis are two unbelievable passers yic is the best passing big man I have ever seen period And I grew up watching vlat dvat here in Sacramento so I know that yok an elite skill of jokic’s is is to assist and and find his teammates but jokic’s first

Instinct is to score that’s what the Nuggets need from him D zones’ first instinct is to get his teammates involved is to facilitate and run the offense these are two players that have different roles on their teams that put up relatively similar numbers and with this triple double tonight Damonte

Sabonis now has 16 triple doubles on the season which passes Nicola yic I don’t know if that number is going to hold up but as of right now damanda sabonis is 2-0 against joic this season and now has more triple doubles than Nicol yic does and is still not an

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So we’re feeling better to end our day with the Sacramento Kings victory over the Denver Nuggets earlier in the day we had the post trade deadline press conference from Monty McNair and there were some mixed responses to this I have a few different clips from you or for

You from this press conference and and responses to each one of these clips let’s let’s roll that first clip from Monty really kind of summing up the decisions around this trade deadline what they were looking at and why they decided to stay put I think the the biggest thing is we’re we’re always

Almost all of our conversations are about uh as we you know really prep for the deadline for for months is okay what what will this do for our our team counterbalance against the cost uh versus what what we can do with what we have already in house and uh I think I I

Complimented our group I said we have we have a lot of good players we’re accomplishing a lot of good things we obviously you know our goals have not fully been reached but um we’re in a good spot where we where we can have those conversations sometimes the conversations are uh are much different

About what you’re trying to do um I think the West is hard the West is tough it’s always tough it’s even tougher this year I think we’re we’re on the same win Pace as last year when we were the three seed and now we’re I think we’re in six

Or seven right now so uh the West is going to be tough we’re going to have to earn it we got 32 I think games left um but uh if we didn’t think that the 17 guys that we got here could could get it done um that may have changed what we

Did but uh these guys have shown um you know dating back to last year and this year some growth especially on the defensive end I think it’s been exciting for us um you know we know we got to improve the offense back closer to what

It was last year we do that we think we make some noise but we got we got some work to do because the West is is tough you know one to 12 13 this year and um every every game is going to be a dog fight I’m glad Monty acknowledges the

The strength of the Western Conference there towards the the end of that clip because it’s unavoidable and and and you can’t ignore it however what I really took away from that clip was what he said at the very beginning right he’s talking about weighing the the cost for making improvements in the trade

Market versus just how much you can improve by sticking with what you have right it’s it’s it’s like your improvement Minus cost versus just sticking and staying put I understand that way of thinking completely especially when it comes to a Kyle Kosar Jeremy Grant type bigger move that would

Have cost a significant amount of assets and potentially had a high reward but also could have handicapped you in the future too much and and not gotten this team as far as maybe he would expect them to go by trading away as many assets as it would have taken to to make

That trade happen so I understand that that thought process from that standpoint but then I look around at what other teams did specifically like the the Phoenix Suns they go out and get Royce O’Neal a player that I think the Kings could have used that type of of

Rotational piece right we’re not talking about a guy that’s going to come in and start right away and be a game changer for the Phoenix Suns but someone who’s going to bolster their bench and bolster their rotation which is something I really felt the Kings needed to do and

Something they needed to address at this trade deadline they traded three second round picks for Royce O’Neal now maybe I value second round picks significantly less than I should or significantly less than the Sacramento Kings do but when we’re talking about weigh the cost of three second round picks for

Reinforcements to your bench versus sticking with the group that you have right now with so many question marks on your bench to me the the the risk and reward seems pretty straightforward and seems comfortable at the very least so I understand what Monty is saying there I just don’t necessarily think that the

Moves available moves that other teams were able to pull off granted I don’t know if those deals were available to the Sacramento Kings or not but other teams were able to pull off kind of minor moves without sacrificing a whole lot that Sacramento could have taken advantage of and could have

Used like I said the defense I do see the Improvement and we we’ve done some really good stuff um you know I think Keegan in particular has taken a step on that end um but I think we’re seeing also this is I think maybe one of the benefits of that continuity second year

With with coach and his system um we we certainly haven’t brought it every night on the defensive end but overall we we’ve we’ve seen our our rank improve we’ve seen some really good performances um that said we have not maintained our offense and that’s that’s

An issue we we got to get better on that end because if we had maintained our offense and seen the defensive Improvement we’d be in a much different position so we we know those things um uh but yeah I think the the Improvement has been a positive not being able to

Maintain some other aspects um is something that we continue to work on and and need to get better at I really like in this clip that brought up the offensive regression because the defense has improved although it’s only marginal Improvement in fact the defense while it is better

From like a thousand feet up and statistically it is better in certain areas where this team is really really struggling which we’ve talked a lot about recently here on the lockon Kings podcast is opponent three-point percentage not only are the Kings second to last in the league and opponent three-point percentage meaning opponents

Are shooting the second highest uh three-point percentage against the Kings than than any other team in the league in addition to that like the kings are are are they’re allowing a three-point shooting percentage that is one of the highest in NBA history at this point in time they’re like top five

In NBA history granted tonight in a victory they held the Denver Nuggets to 34% from three-point range great to see but that’s tonight right for the most part of this season the kings are allowing teams to shoot between 39 and 40% from three-point range which is way

Way too high so yes the defense has improved but still this team has a significant glaring defensive issue that’s leading to a lot of losses for this team or a lot more losses than maybe they should have had they had a little bit better of a perimeter defense

That being said yes the offense has taken a step back a significant step back and we know that this core that is here in Sacramento is capable of being much better offensively while they’re trying to improve defensively and Mike Brown has made that a focal point for this Kings team offensively going back

To last season when the Kings had the best statistic all offense in in NBA history we know this Kings team can be better should be better Monty even pointed out later in a clip that I’m not going to play for you Monty talked about how he thinks it’s the pace that has

Really dropped off and this Kings team has stopped pushing the tempo and playing as fast as they know they’re capable of I’m just happy that Monty talked about that when asked about the the defensive struggles yeah I think if we were more consistent we would be

Further up the standings for sure um I think the the positive to take from it is for every you know l that doesn’t feel good that means we’ve also had some pretty good wins if we’re still on the same Pace um you know I think we’re 12

And8 against the top 10 these these playoff playing teams in the west so that’s shown that we can do it but uh the NBA these days I mean it is there there are some of the records maybe aren’t there for teams but there’s no nights off we can’t take nights off if

We want to get where we want to get and um at the same time we’ve shown that we can go into some of these on the road in tough places and win so we know we can reach those Heights which is good to see because those are the teams that are

Going to be there uh hopefully with us in April May and June so um it’s it’s disappointing of course um that we can’t seem to do every single night last year I think we did a great job I think after our initial start to the season I don’t

Think we lost more than two games uh for the bulk of the year in a row we were able to write it this year we’ve had maybe some more ups and downs but it means we’ve some UPS if we can continue like to to the question that James asked

Um you know we can keep our defense there offense can improve same thing with our record if we can uh you know bring it a little more consistently um you know and match those highs we can contend with those those teams that have you know kind of separated themselves from us in the

Standings that’s where we want to get to this clip Monty looks a lot better or Monty looks a lot more right in this clip after tonight’s win than he did earlier on today but I still slightly disagree with with what Monty said there I understand his point about the Kings

Have performed well in their 30 wins some of their wins have come against really really good teams right they’ve beaten the Nuggets twice they’ve beaten the Thunder twice they’ve beaten the Timberwolves on the road in fact I think they gave the Timberwolves their first home loss of the Season at that point

They’ve they they’ve played well and beaten good teams there are other good teams like the Clippers and the Pelicans that have given them fits to this point but Sacramento has performed well in a decent amount of games this season against teams that are at the same level

Or higher than them especially in the Western Conference that being said this is where I disagree with Monty because even though the Kings have nine more wins than they do losses and I don’t think this is just a pessimism in me talking to me the losses have been more

Memorable and more concerning than the wins have been exciting or encouraging if that makes sense like that doesn’t mean that their their wins aren’t impressive it just means the losses have stuck out so much and the the the struggles of the Kings team this Kings team the pitfalls in these

Losses have been so alarming and so glaring that they outweigh and outshine in my opinion the wins even though there are more wins than there are losses right this Kings team has been inconsistent inconsistent in in in many many ways truth be told one of the ways

This team has been the most consistent is how they’ve been losing basketball games they’ve consistently been beaten down they’ve consistently struggled against certain types of teams typically long and athletic teams and they consistently have struggled against short-handed teams or teams that are worse than them that that’s where I I push back

Against what Monty said there yes this team is performing well against good teams and this kind of leads into the next clip where he’s going to talk about like getting to the playoffs and and and the playoff experience from last season I’m glad Sacramento can play well

And like I said earlier when the kings are focused in they can beat and hang with anybody in the league but they still have obvious issues that have led to glaring losses that other teams are paying attention to too and you best believe they’re going to try and exploit those issues if the

Kings do get into another playoff series we know we got to win the 82 games in the regular season for sure and the West is going to be tough and and right now we’re I think we’re not even in the the playoffs I think we’re we’re seventh by

Tiebreaker or something but so you know we know we want to get into the top six first and then hopefully into the top four for home court at the same time um you know when you get to the playoffs it’s a different game which we saw last

Year um I think it’s great for our guys to have that experience um we know defensively I think we did a good job against Golden State relatively speaking stepping up our game that’s carried over to this year but we also the offenses are are only getting better I don’t even

Know what it is I think the League’s up two points as a whole so I think we’re we’re similar to where we were last year but that’s not the rank’s not there because everybody else is getting getting better and catching up to what maybe we did last year so we got to find

Ways to improve we got to Target on our back teams are going to continue to guard guard us um you know in ways that they say work in other ways we’re going to have to adjust and get better but we get that back up into the you know top

10 top five um with our defensive Improvement that’s how we can make some noise so this clip I think maybe I might be exaggerating too much but my take away from this clip was that the Sacramento Kings have gone from a situation where at the beginning of the

Season Mike Brown and dearen fox were talking about legitimately contending this year and trying to win an NBA championship what you want everybody on your organization to say you don’t want anybody to go into the season and go yeah we’re just trying to make the playoffs or yeah we’re just trying to

Make it to the second round you want everybody to what are you playing for if not playing for an NBA championship but I genuinely believed Mike Brown at least when he said that that he wanted to build the foundation and push this team towards actually legitimately contending

I didn’t believe that the kings were contenders coming into the season at no point this season have I felt like the kings are actually legit contenders even with dearon Fox playing at that mvp caliber level he was to start the season that being said I feel like this Kings team and I

Feel like what Monty kind of said there in that clip is hey we just got to get to the playoffs let’s just get to the playoffs once we get to the playoffs we have that experience to lean on from the Golden State Warriors series we have dearn Fox we have damont sabonis we’re

Going to learn from those mistakes that’s where you’re really going to see us lock in that’s where we’re going to get to that next level and to some extent I understand that like the Kings get back to the playoffs and and dial in on the defensive end of the floor

Hopefully knock down some more shots dearon Fox plays at that mvp level Damon sabonis has a better series than he had against Golden State Keegan Murray is more effective for seven games Harrison Barnes and Kevin herder do something during that playoff series yeah the king should be better off than they were last

Year I understand that to some extent but I think this Kings team should be taking the regular season more seriously than Monty suggested In that clip now to be fair he did say of course winning games and and taking the 82 game regular season is important and trying to get

This team to a a top four seed to get homecourt advantage and certainly a top six seed so they can avoid the avoid the play in Tournament of course that’s a goal and that’s important to this king’s team but this this was a kind of statement that I would expect a general

Manager of the Los Angeles Lakers Golden State Warriors Phoenix Suns one of those older veteran teams that knows that all they have to do is get there and once they get there they’re good enough and have enough experience to kind of take them from there right teams like the Los

Angeles Lakers the Miami Heat from last year the Golden State Warriors a couple years ago when they won the NBA Finals they’re just trying to get to the playoffs they don’t really care what the seed is because they know they can win on the road they can win at home they

Have guys that have been there done that before and they can handle business once they get to that stage Sacramento hasn’t earned that Sacramento is not one of those teams they’ve been to the playoffs one time and they lost in one playoff series so again maybe I’m reading too

Far into this but my take away from that quote from Monty was a little little too passive about the regular season than what I would have liked our information is good we know what the opportunities are uh generally what the costs will be uh really well before deadline day the

Final day um but it’s um you know OB the exact details maybe obviously aren’t known but uh we have a very good sense this is you know as as we kind of got closer and closer was about what what we expected and um you know obviously uh

You know for us uh at the end of the day we we chose mostly to to stand Pat but um you know we knew what was out there and uh Wes and Phil Paul our whole group they’re were doing a good job of talking to teams and and trying to figure out

What’s what’s going on and what where opportunities May lie this last clip is essentially like at this point Point hearing this like kings fans we we kind of just have to either trust or not trust Monty in this front office right he is saying they knew for a long time

What the price was going to be for the players that they were interested in they explored their options they had conversations the price stayed consistent with what they expected and ultimately they decided that that move was not the right move for their team I don’t know if that was for kozma I don’t

Know if that was for Grant whether it was for Pascal SE yakum who knows we know because of reports and we know just based off of common sense that the kings were making calls the kings were involved in conversations ultimately they decided that those moves were not

Worth it we don’t know what the specifics of those conversations were we’ll never know the specifics of those conversations so it comes down to do you trust your general manager that he took all that into account and made the right decision or do you not that’s up for you

To decide but I think Monty McNair has earned our trust like I said at the top of the show today’s episode of the lockon Kings podcast is brought to you by prize pick prize pick is America’s number one fantasy sports app with over 3 million members it’s the easiest and

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Absolutely do it join us all playing prize picks at priz picks.com loongon NBA use code longed on NBA for first deposit match up to $100 prize picks pick more pick less it’s that easy couple things here before we wrap up first off first off dearen Fox while offensively tonight again it wasn’t a

Big scoring game for dearen only 15 points did have 10 assists which You’ love to see anytime Fox can get into the double digits and assists that is awesome but he had five steals tonight that’s swipe of the fox being the swiper we love he’s got 21 steals in the last

Five games that’s pretty incredible for dear and this is also his fourth game this season with five plus Steals and three out of them have been in three of them have been in the last five games he also passed 600 career steals we know that dear Fox is capable of being that

Pesky Defender this Kings team they prioritize deflections on the defensive end not just for dear but for for everybody for Kevin hder for Harrison Barnes for Keegan Murray get into passing Lanes deflect be nuisances don’t let a team move the ball as freely and crisply as they want to against

Sacramento be disruptive well dearen has taken that to heart recently he’s been playing very very well want to shout out some other honorable mentions tonight the king’s bench was fantastic led by Malik monk of course 23 points nine of 13 from the field only had two assists

Tonight but he took a lot of the scoring load onto his shoulders he was excellent coming off the bench uh for Sacramento uh proving that once again he can start if he wants to and he can score with the best of them but I mean it’s just a a nice

Performance and and Malik is back to that like six-man scoring punch that he wasn’t he he was struggling with he went through that scoring drought kind of early on in that that road trip that the Kings just went on so it’s nice to see

Him kind of back back to to him uh his his normal self also continuing on the bench Trey LS tonight he and monk period have been really good over the past couple of games but Trey L 15 points five of six from the field three of four from three-point range love that

Efficient shooting from Trey also seven rebounds is great and then there’s Alex Len we haven’t seen for a handful of games and I’m telling you every single time Alex Len plays good things happen for the Kings he just always stays ready and tonight he comes back 11 points four

Five from the field two rebounds and one steel also want give some love to Keegan Murray great bounceback performance from him after scoring zero points I don’t remember if Keegan ever scored zero points at any point during his NBA career to this point he follows it up

With a 17-point night and he does it on efficient shooting right six of 11 from the field I love the fact that he didn’t come back after a tough night like that and say you know what I can’t have zero points again I’m going to force the

Issue I’m going to take a lot of shots right he he took shots still within the flow of the offense had a very efficient scoring night 17 points isn’t the the the greatest number the most impressive number out there certainly for Keegan he’s had better nights than that but a

Good bounceback performance a solid just overall smart wellplayed basketball game by Keegan he needed it we all needed to see it from him also hey shout out to the Sacramento Kings they shot 88% from the free throw line 16 of 18 you’d love to see that and finally got to give some

Love to Keon Ellis Keon Ellis going from a two-way contract to a full contract with the Sacramento Kings talked about it earlier this season I thought it was only a matter of time before Keon got that full NBA contract talk about an excellent story not drafted chooses to

Join the Sacramento Kings a two-way player all of last season starts this season on his second two-way contract gets an opportunity to play with dearon Fox being injured starts carves a roll out for himself gets some consistent rotation time has played really really well this season and now here he is with

His full multi-year NBA contract so congratulations to Keon and I would tell tell him to keep staying ready cuz I know Davon Mitchell is still on this team he didn’t get moved at the trade deadline I don’t know if that’s going to be Davon spot forever I wouldn’t be

Surprised at all to see Keon work his way back into the Kings rotation at some point this season also wouldn’t surprise me at all if Keon ended up getting maybe a few playoff minutes with how important he was to the Sacramento Kings and how well he played for the Kings earlier on

This season not saying a lot of playoff minutes because if Keon Ellis is playing a lot in the playoffs and the kings are probably in trouble a little bit but Keon is C he’s earned this contract and he’s capable of playing important minutes for Sacramento and making a

Positive impact he’s great a great story I love to see it he’s also a great young man so congratulations Keon now I want to hear your thoughts are you feeling better about the trade deadline feeling better after the Detroit game with this Kings win over the Denver Nuggets are

You skeptical do you need to see a little bit more of it I mean this is a tough nine game stretch for the Sacramento Kings but they got off to a great start with tonight’s win let me know how you’re feeling hit me up on Twitter at Matt George sack you can

Email me Matt George Sports gmail.com or leave your thoughts in the YouTube comment section down below just a heads up next Kings game is Sunday a MAA game against the Oklahoma City Thunder I am in Las Vegas still covering the Super Bowl I’m going to be at the go the Super

Bowl I’m very excited about that but that means I’m not probably maybe I might sneak in an opportunity to to to do a podcast when the game is done but I kind of I kind of doubt it I don’t know when I’m going to get that King’s Thunder postgame pod out I’m just

Wanting you ahead of time so just be aware of that I will try and get it out as soon as I possibly can but of course Super Bowl takes priority with my work for abc1 but I appreciate your support can’t wait to have you join me on the

Next episode of Locked on Kings until then my name is Matt George you’ve been listening to the lockon Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network

Matt George reacts to the Sacramento Kings dominant win over the Denver Nuggets after a confusing loss to the Detroit Pistons. Plus, some of the best clips from Kings general manager Monte McNair’s press conference.

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