Sam Amick on why the Sacramento Kings have been so unpredictable

Sam Amick on why the Sacramento Kings have been so unpredictable

Where or about to so we’ll have Sam as long as we have Sam for from the athletic joining us right now good morning Samuel good morning David how you doing today buddy I’m good it’s just me Jason’s uh enjoying uh his first day of vacation so is that why you’re flying

And uh not on the TV screen because Jason’s not here no there’s a thing called um all start weekend that I’m heading off to uh so no vacation for me but I’m I’m happy for the Ross family so they’re getting away so the good news

For you is you know we don’t have any dog distractions that you you probably will deal with a little bit at airport and be annoyed but happy to be with you are you uh did you say you’re taking the the family out to all Indianapolis no no no I said no vacation

Oh gotcha all to Indianapolis that’s not that’s why I was asking no that’s why I was asking I was like oh Indian February but my my kids I think a lot of kids have all or most the next week off so I didn’t know if uh if you were pulling

That or not well good no we only we only got the one day I think we got Monday but uh we must be on different schedules yeah my kids like my kids start school in July and end it in June and they get like five weeks off for President’s Day

So it’s it’s it’s not like us Sam when we used to start the day after Labor Day remember that I do I do times to change man times will change uh let me put you on the spot here with a fun sports radio question um are the Sacramento Kings the biggest Enigma in

The NBA yes um the other night after they beat the Nuggets this relates to your question uh Christian Brown from the Nuggets is talking to Nik yic in the locker room and he looks at his phone and he is very confused by the New Orleans Pelicans and he says man I can’t

Figure these guys out and I forget the teams but he says you know they beat this team but they lost to that team and I couldn’t help myself it was a little bit of a calculated risk because I don’t know either of those guys all that well

I kind of interjected I was like well not to interrupt guys but you know that team that just took it to you tonight just beat or just lost to Detroit two nights ago that’s pretty ballsy dude what they say they they laughed a little bit uh

They it did land it was fine and then Joker looked at me and he said that’s that’s the NBA yeah that’s I guess I mean it is and we see you know look every team has goofy losses we’ve seen it time and time again I mean the defending Champions

They’re in the middle of a bad stretch right now but it’s just I don’t know man the Kings whether it’s blowing the lead against the Bucks blowing a the bigger what what what do we always say 1,245 games since a team blew a lead that late like the Kings did versus

Phoenix a couple weeks ago uh Portland on the road Charlotte at home Detroit at home but then this is also the same team that uh beat is has beaten Minnesota beaten Oklahoma City beaten they three and 0 versus Denver and it makes you kind of Wonder are are are they a first

Round exit team playing like a two-time defending Champion coasting through the season or is there something else going on um I think matchups impact them greater than most I think that’s part of it OKC is a pretty good matchup although they obviously got run the other day um

Denver’s a good matchup New Orleans is a terrible matchup yeah uh the Clippers come to mind they have not beat the Clippers right uh they have not I believe beat the Clippers no yeah so I think you know honestly just some of their size deficiency down low and their

Defensive vulnerabilities get exposed in certain matchups um I also think more recently that you know it’s kind of like which de Aon foxer you going to get plays a big part um they don’t win that game last night if Theon doesn’t go Bonkers yeah Dave I need you to talk for

30 seconds give me one more no problem think I think Sam’s going through security right now what would be hilarious is if Sam got picked as the random guy that gets checked at security what would be even funnier than that would be is if uh we were on streamyard

Right now and we could actually see Sam getting padded down as he is on his way out to Indianapolis to the all-star game as somebody mentioned on the chat sabonis Fox they don’t get an All-Star birth Sam Amic does is there something wrong with that probably and yes by the

Way Clippers two matchups with the Clippers so far the first one remember that was the one they didn’t even show up for although Fox had 40 they lost 131 117 at home that was the day after they had that comeback and finally beat Golden State 124 123 uh and then a few

Weeks later they lost by 20 in La against the did you make it through security okay were you chosen for the random pat down see that that’d be fun I wish I was um I I should uh I should just let you believe that it was security because

That’s like something that I couldn’t control I’m just going to be a nice honest person and admit to you that I really needed this coffee today so uh I was getting coffee I’m going to you know what I I want to break off this normal conversation because that’s what we do I

Want to ask you some travel questions Sam uh number one uh do you have a uh I assume you have TSA pre-check funny you ask uh yes I do but I didn’t for years um and literally today is the first day that I used it ever really

Really yes and it was a lifesaver because I checked a bag because IND so cold all my clothes were massive and so the the checking the bag took forever then ccsa uh came in the clutch so that was very nice so let me ask you this Sam

Um I’m gonna turn this into a commercial right now you it’s it’s fair to say that you travel more than the average bear right I know you don’t travel as much as you used to but NBA season hits you’re traveling a decent clip right and then

You to do one or two things with the family so are you still traveling at least enough um EXC what do you mean enough what is well because here’s where here’s where I was going Sam and I imagine you’re a guy with a good credit score so

I want to tell you a little bit about the American Express Platinum Card okay because number one all right first off it’s like $600 a year for the card okay oh my God right like that’s a lot it truly is a lot of money but they pay for your TSA

And the one you really need to get is clear if you don’t have clear you ain’t living life man they they they do a scan of your eyes and then they take you let me let me interject little context uh I have an American Express card it’s a Marriott

Card I don’t think it’s all the way to the Platinum it’s not cheap but it’s not 600 so you’re telling me I should upgrade yes yes because in exchange for that that that the the the price you’re paying your TSA gets paid for your clear gets paid for which is like TSA on

Steroids bro they scan your eyes and they take you directly to the front of the line past the TSA people to the point where you’re almost uncomfortable because they Lead You past everybody and just roll you right through instead of waiting to get a coffee you could have

Gone into the Escape Lounge at uh at sack airport where it’s free that’s huh that’s the thing so that’s the thing I do have a little bit of fomo because my my American Express doesn’t get right yeah I might have snuck in a couple times I’m that kind of guy you

Are um also the clear I know your listeners really logged on travel stuff Jason’s gone this what happen since you brought it up yeah this is the thing I got kind of forced into buying clear a couple months ago when I was in such a rush and was gonna miss a flight in

Denver if I didn’t have clear the question I have for you is I was probably not going to renew it next year what is the point of having clear when you have fre TSA because clear gets you past the TSA you and I both know that TSA has become so widespread that

There’s times where when it’s busy enough even the TSA line is going to be a little bit crazy clear is like TSA VIP in the sense that it gets you they will walk you to the front of the TSA line I got and it’s almost like it’s instant

Almost because not enough people have it now not every Airport report has clear but most of the major ones do on on top of that you get a $25 a month Uber credit you get 50 bucks in December so that right there when you’re landed and you’re you’re traveling around there’s

Your Uber credits right there and there’s about 900 other benefits I could tell you about off the air I’m just telling you it changed my travel life a couple years ago I’m just saying all right I appreciate it this has been Dave’s travel segment that

Uh they just got 10 minutes of like a full sponsorship that someone’s gonna yell at me for that um yeah uh do you anticipate well I’m not gonna ask you to give me the injury update on Kawhi Leonard but it when it’s all said and done if you’re a betting man do you

Think damont sabonis is going to be offered uh some form of access to All-Star Weekend or no I actually hadn’t thought about that in the context of Kawai um I don’t have a beat on it I could look into it later today I I do think who else is in the

Running as snugs Fox yeah sabonis will get it over Fox yeah um especially you know this is not supposed to come into play but like you know the way domas has played since getting snub and then you know triple doubles and and beating joic you know multiple times in a week um National

Television games where you can even though they lost the Phoenix you know he destroyed the subs that night and you know the profile uh gets a little bump as a result so uh yeah I had not actually HED that option but if if Kawai is out uh which even if he’s like

Borderline you and I both know that Kawai being Kawai I mean he’s already playing so much this year I could see him just bowing out so maybe the Kings fans will uh will get themselves an allar after all what do you think of the uh the the smoke if not fire some of

Your colleagues were talking about recently with the idea of uh Lebron James and Steph Curry uh uniting in Golden state is that all smoke any fire there what was your take when you heard that I’m sure you heard a little bit of it before it broke um well my friend you’re usually

You know with your two subscriptions to our website you’re usually still on top of but you should read my 1600w story on the topic um I did just know everybody else did and I wanted to lead you into and full credit wasn’t just me Anthony Slater Yan buan and I Lakers and

Warriors be Riders respectively um we jumped all over it we don’t often I’m just being real and honest because we talk about Media stuff sometimes we’re competitive right so a lot of times we’re a little stubborn to like jump on a story that somebody else broke but it

Was like Hey listen ESPN did a nice job they broke that story story of The Warriors and Lakers talking about LeBron um but we thought there was more ground to cover there and so you know we did our thing and I mean the smoke is not that he’s gonna play for the Warriors

The smoke and this is the kind of stuff I love is that it just revealed um some truths about LeBron’s relationship with the Lakers which is that it’s been tenuous enough recently that a lot of rival teams are now of the belief that he would be open to leaving um by that

Being said he was forced into basically answering that question because partly because the Warriors called and it was Joe lob talking to jeie bus directly and so jeie uh says you know what uh I have no interest in trading him if you would like to know his State of Mind feel free

To call his agent guy by the name of Rich Paul and they called Rich and and rich said no we’re not going anywhere uh so you know it was almost I told someone yesterday like like somebody the Lakers and LeBron seem to have it’s like they have to renew their vows every year

Right lately um but they did do that but this summer is GNA be potentially kind of wild um I I think the smart money still is on him staying in LA but I think the bronny factor is big I had a a prominent NBA person not part of the

Lakers say yesterday that that uh they definitely think that bronny is is a huge factor and so teams are are are looking at the idea of getting bronnie to get LeBron uh you know and then on the warrior side I think it shows that Joe Li is is still

Hanging on to the uh you know trying to maximize the Steph Curry era and and shooting for the stars and and they’re going to keep looking at Big names um you know as big as they get and see if they can get lucky it’s fascinating because we’re talking about a guy who’s

Going to be 40 years old next year and he controls his own destiny as you know in the sense that he has a 51 a half million doll player option but he could opt out and the whole Brony thing is interesting because as far as from what

I’ve read there’s no way in hell this guy gets drafted if he’s you know Fred Smith this year he’s 19 years old he’ll be 20 in October that that there’s no way if he declared he’d be anywhere near a second round pick yet if it means you can get 40-year-old LeBron and

Everything that comes with it Sam could we be could we be sitting here realistically in a situation where if bronny were to declare we’ve got gmss in the first round of the NBA draft saying how high do we want to draft this kid knowing that LeBron James

Will likely come with him and I think that’s unprecedented if that’s the case it is I don’t have total Clarity of the market but I do know uh of at least one other Western Conference team that in the past who you know actually tried

To come up with a plan to to kind of get LeBron out of LA and you know they didn’t ultimately go down that road but it makes you think that door could be open again I think there could be others like them you know the the whole the

Calculus to me is all right how short is your Runway the Warriors have a short Runway because Steph is 35 right so if they if they can get two good years out of LeBron that’s great um you know most teams are not like that um Philadelphia

As the ESPN reported called um Phil you know Joel embiid’s Health means you have a short Runway yeah like we got to go so uh you know a lot of teams not a lot I think a fair number of teams would look at it because the guy is

Still playing out of his mind you know um he can sign with the Lakers there’s an over 38 rule that limits him to a three-year extension um so that’s the other contractor could be on the table this year the Lakers can pay him a lot more money than everybody else uh that

Matters because this guy let’s not forget this guy wants to buy an NBA team right and and so yes he’s rich but he not that rich uh um and he needs to keep adding to the bank account uh so uh yeah a lot of layers to it um super

Interesting and and I think again the summer will be will be fascinating hey not to not to ask you anything uh you know you want to keep on the download but you mentioned a Western Conference Team you know have done that did they just to keep it secret did they did that

Team rhyme with schmack ramento it did not okay just speaking of schack ramento uh going into the All-Star break I know you and I both said when we asked uh last week would we be surprised if the Kings didn’t make any moves we both felt like they’d at

Least make a minor move therefore we’re both a little surprised that Monty McNair stuck with things but now that you’ve had a little bit of postmortem does it surprise you as much that he decided to stick with the hand he has yeah it does um it does I mean you

Know you you’ve heard since then this kind of idea and this narrative it just got loud herebody can hear me yeah I can hear you right um this idea that you know they decided to to just you know lean into the top seven to let things

Evolve and grow uh you know they it’s a great thing with them but specifically Mike Brown kind of feeling like he wanted this group to have more time I mean that you know that sounds nice but it’s obviously a response to the market and what they thought was possible and

Not possible out there and I wrote after the trade deadline you know in hindsight what is very clear is that their big decisions came pretty early like you know the seak deal right seemed like they got fairly close and then didn’t ultimately go down the OG Noby deal of

All of them I think the OG one like if I was Jo blow fan looking to focus on something that is fair to I you know to to agree with or not agree with you know potentially criticize is like ogan anobi is a free agent this summer uh now

Granted he got hurt with the Knicks but in his short time with the Knicks he’s made a massive impact on their team and I you could make the argument that he would have done the same to the king they just cooled on him they didn’t they were not excited about the idea of

Paying him $40 million this summer um which again that’s a huge number and you’re gonna have to take Kean Murray here in a couple of years and so I get it but as far as like splashing moves that would have vaulted them a bit I don’t not into title Contender status

That what have vaed them that one I think was it because after that you know we’re talking about role players and and Royce O’Neal and and players like that um so we’ll see I mean they uh you know this group as you know I think they’re one game behind their Pace from last

Year even though in the standings they’re a whole lot farther down um and then after the alar break last year they they had a nice little surge we’ll see if they can do it again well and just to kind of land that playe it’s interesting

With M McNair now now in his what 30d years the GM I think uh that the uh defending uh executive of the year it is hard to put a finger on this guy because it seems like you know you’ll remember back before the the Tyrese Albert mov

The whole thing was this guy didn’t do anything he’s not gonna move he doesn’t make any moves and then all of a sudden he explodes and does that and then The Herder followup and the Malik monk thing and and and all that now we’re kind of back to where you’re kind of hearing

Some of the same Whispers like hey dude are you g to do something which kind of makes me go oh my God what is this guy got in store this summer or next year this is a Daryl Mory guy by the way yeah no he’s he’s a big game hunter

So to speak you know he’s from that kind of you know ethos and you’re right I mean the one massive move he made paid off and has been a good move um and you know we’ll see the other thing they’re a little bit analogous to the Lakers in

This sense and I don’t have all the info at at top of mine but I think I’m accurate saying this like the Lakers standing Pat up a deadline opened up some real possibilities for them this Summer in terms of draft ass um I mean that’s the other game plan here is that

Mid-season trades are are tough to pull off and don’t always you know really land um saving your powder for the offseason when you can maybe go even bigger you know the kings of course have the DraStic situation where they’ve got to make sure they make the playoffs um

You know so that the pick conveys do I have that correct um with herder yeah The Herder pick yeah it’s Lottery protected yes um yeah so um better to move that along I think and have access to your other picks uh hopefully I’m processing that accurately

But like you know it’s I guess generally speaking the offseason versus mid-season calculus I think sometimes gets overlooked by media and fans in terms of uh you know just strategy is that makes sense like everything is rushed and hurried and risky midseason offseason LS itself to um you know more research more

Data more time uh and maybe that’s part of what they’re thinking was the number one thing to do in Indianapolis according to Trip Advisor is the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis followed by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and then the Benjamin Harrison presidential site wasn’t he the guy that like died after two weeks

That’s anyways uh so good luck I think I should you know I’m hoping that former King local Legend Brad Miller is listening to your F program Brad I think Brad has my number although full disclosure I saw Brad from a the other day I felt bad I didn’t say

Hi I was kind of in a rush um as in aside but I know we got to go you’ll love this uh Brad I don’t think intentionally but kind of trolling Michael Malone a little bit he sees Michael Malone walk by and uh and made them comment about you know Michael and

He says hi to him real quick and I think he told him you know he’s just like I was happy you guys had a back toback thanks buddy you know or something like that like and you know how serious Malone is like he made some comment about Malone about you know the king’s

Winning the game right Michael was not in the mood to uh to have Brad to a celebration no he wasn’t that made me laugh well yeah Brad if you want to text me all the Indiana hotpots like Shake Shack and things of that nature then then I’m here for look

You know exactly what that text would be if he was listening he’d be like no I’ll take you out in my five wheeler and we’re going to grab ourselves a couple shotguns we’re going to go grab ourselves some moose or deer or whatever with an 18 pack of budweis you know have

Have fun with that that sounds pretty great to be honest with wearing camo in the middle of a Duck Blind and 20 degree weather have fun out there uh have a safe flight I’m sure it’s direct right always direct oh yeah oh absolutely you go to Denver yeah through Denver so long

Day of travel I’ll I’ll I’ll call you later so I can get the points bonus if you sign up for the anx no kidding man who lying in your pockets good Lord feel like I just got a fan call have a safe flight and uh we’ll see

You when you get back thanks buddy buddy all right take care that’s Sam a kind enough to join us from the uh from the airport where he is off to what a great you know I hope he appreciates it what a what a great thing I wonder if a little

Kid Sam in his in his class with his probably his glasses and his Ginger hair whatever he was thinking back in the day you know someday I’m going to get paid to fly to the All-Star Game and talk to professional athletes and hobnob with the media colleagues I have turn out a

Couple of stories stay in a nice hotel and fly back good for him ex Sacramento B beat writer for the Kings made Good Sam amch his his career is on fire and uh he can afford speaking of some fire wings uh with their 21 different Flav

The Athletic’s Sam Amick joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Thursday morning to share his thoughts on Sacramento’s first half of the season, contemplate why the Kings have been so enigmatic, and much more.

Plus: Sam discusses why he thinks it will be an interesting summer for LeBron and Bronny James.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and subscribe!
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0:00 Sam heads to All-Star Weekend
1:33 Are the Sacramento Kings the biggest enigma in the NBA?
3:25 Matchups impact the Kings ‘greater than most’
5:18 Travel talk with Sam and Dave
9:37 Does Sam think Domantas Sabonis will replace the injured Kawhi Leonard in the All-Star game?
11:00 Golden State inquired about LeBron James during the deadline
13:55 Could Bronny James get drafted in the first round this summer?
16:35 Was it surprising that the Kings stood pat tat the deadline?