Sean Cunningham lays out the Sacramento Kings path to the playoffs
For those of you checking us out on YouTube there he is you can see our guy Shan Cunningham reporter for Fox 40 joining us here on the show Sean good morning how are you I am here I’m good you are here shout out our old friend
Brian wheeler uh I am doing fine I uh I got a chance to like look at the movie going on in Downtown Sacramento uh oh the Leonardo DiCaprio one yeah I I just missed the explosion the the uh if so spoiler alert if you’re watching that Paul Thomas Anderson movie later on in
Two years or whatever but yeah like got to peruse the interwebs finally and see it but I was hoping to see it up close and personal last night yeah you should have been in it we need you in the movie I was gonna make a cameo I’m good at
That just to walk by just to walk by and make eye contact with the camera and break that is it the fourth wall the third wall I don’t know third wall I I break it yes what do we know what this movie is about uh I I know there’s a well okay
Spoiler alert we have to do that in this day and age uh Leonardo DiCaprio uh Shan Penn Alana Heim uh from the band Heim Paul Thomas Anderson directs like all their movies or all their music videos I should say uh Regina Hall and Tiana Taylor who was sat courtside at a king
Game recently in a very seethrough distracting top and uh and yeah I mean there’s like a bank robbery there’s chases all over town we saw you know highspeed Chase go around the tower bridge they’ve shot in Stockton they’ve shot in Eureka it’s just it’s all over the place sorry for the distract
Movie knowledge but no that’s what we love to do here um do we know his role is he the bank robber is he the heist guy is he trying to stop this what’s what’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s role do we know I’m not sure he’s wearing some very
Long hair that appears to uh probably be his and very big shoes that don’t seem to fit him if you’ve seen some of these pictures outside the Sacramento Courthouse uh he’s in when they were in Eureka he was on a pay phone uh a friend
Of mine who lives up there and they were huddled at this Middle School I believe it was that she work you got moles everywhere yeah man I just I just I know a lot of these things and it was uh well you know actually fun fact when I well
We won’t get to that I was going to say I’ve been on I’ve been on the set of a few movies before so I kind of know my way around some of these kind of a big deal kind of a big deal I I just hang
Out at craft service most of the day and get to know people yeah that’s that’s what makes you a good sports reporter Sean Cunningham here joining us Sean you’ve been at practice uh the last couple days I was telling this to Chris earlier I find it interesting I mean I
Know what they mean almost every single player you talk to and the media talk to and Coach Brown all kind of collectively said yeah it was good to get away from everybody and now we’re glad to be back but um for a team that seems so closely
Knit I think it was all kind of in just but it did sound like they needed that break yeah especially with how much they were on the road for these long extended periods of time um but and and you know it’s funny Jay they come out the
All-Star break and you know we the media we want to talk about you know what at least kind of trendy and topical and so much had been discuss discussed about you know just how awful the All-Star game has become and you know you had domas and who hasn’t been around the
Team because of an illness coming back from Mexico and uh so we haven’t had a chance to talk to him necessarily yet since they’ve been back but you know Deen Fox who was in a is in really good spirits uh having some a few days off to mentally kind of physically mentally and
Physically decompress but he experienced it last year and obviously he’s a pretty competitive guy uh and then Keegan Murray of course who was out there for the past two years representing Sacramento in the rising stars challenge so interesting to kind of not only get their perspective especially with
Harrison Barnes who’s on the NBA players uh Union committee as a representative as a Treasurer and secretary so just reelected so it’s interesting to see these different perspectives of how do you make the the All-Star Game better no one seems to really have the answer to
That some would say it’s Financial I I sit back and go you know you really only have five days off if you don’t go to the all-star site and if you do as it was kind of outlaid Darren Fox kind of outed Keegan Murray saying the fact that
He was fortunate to lose early in that Rising Star so he could get the hell out of town a lot quicker um and we’re talking mere minutes really but it’s still got to jump on some of the other guys who had to stay a little bit longer
And so what he gets like two days so like what what’s the All-Star break really does it need to be longer and I here I am arguing you know oh God it’s got to be a lot longer Fox pushes back and he’s like well no you know you’re
More creatures of habit five days away does kind of take you away from your day-to-day routine and Rhythm and and your wind and all that and if you’ve got guys like let face at javil McGee who’s longer in the tooth and you know running up and down the floor on a fast-paced
Team can be a bit of a challenge for him at times you know that matters so um maybe there I mean there’s just probably no perfect answer to that but I wanted to talk to him about how do you increase how do you get better at this because
Throwing money at it to me doesn’t really seem to be the problem um I think these guys make enough money as it is and you’re talking at least the playing tournament had worked because right one through 15 two-way players they get paid well the guys going to the allstar game ain’t hurting for
Money yeah and the guys the those that were competing like people were going for the in-season tournament title and you could just tell and there’s a difference and so if there was um kind of that belief amongst the I think this is on the players like if there was a
Meeting and LeBron sat everybody down and says let’s go we’re playing like nobody wants to get hurt that would be the the catastrophe of the all-star weekend but they know the difference maybe even if it’s a show for a half and then I personally like the Elum ending
Sean if they had that and there was competition I want to say four five years ago um there was a really good finish the first time they added the elim ending and you could tell players were playing and now you’re getting the best athletes competing and stuff you
Don’t normally get to see I think that would be the peak they get it you want some entertainment but I think you want some competition I don’t think it has to be anything like crazy um rules implemented it’s just see if you can get the players on board that’s to me is
Where they need to go yeah and you could tell look I mean I know you just had Sam amcon a minute ago and how people coaches and players voicing their frustration you know at the league and the officials and all that and to that point it was
Interesting to see Adam Sil pissed off after a game yes I mean that guy was severely bothered and it was because you know he goes out there uh you know before the game and says how great this All-Star weekend’s going to be going back to a traditional format East versus
West all these things and I agree with you I think the El mening could have be a recipe for this could be an ingredient to actually fix the game and maybe you keep it east west but you have an ending like that but the interesting thing is
To see him just go great you scored a lot of points congratulations in a year where we needed this uh going into a contract season with with negotiations for a network and all this and you could tell he was upset and I was like well do
You get it now because yeah your your product can sometimes suffer from night in and night out yeah as we’re talking with Sean Cunningham you mentioned uh damont sabonis Sean uh being under the weather out with an illness for practice what do you think sabonis and I know Fox
Addressed his shoulder talked about it with you guys the other day too what do you think about uh their chances of we expecting those guys playing tonight sabonis and fox yeah I mean obviously sabonis is is listed as doubtful I think you know being seeing what they do at
Shoot around here coming up in the next a little over an hour or so um I’m not really expecting to see him to be honest you know it sounds like it’s really just a you know you come out of Allstar Weekend I know he was out of the country
Um I think you know the whole don’t drink the water I think might apply here and uh uh yeah it’s it’s just one of those things see how he feels but with Fox you know the shoulder has been an issue and he’s not missing games and and
That was kind of a topic in discussion with with Mike Brown last night which was you know the for all the things that are talked about comparing last season to this season and you know rightfully so because they are so similar even right down to the record through 54
Games um the one thing that’s kind of glaring is the fact that your offense has kind of dipped a little bit but you’ve had really for the most part The Good Fortune of health and availability and you can argue you know they will push back last year if you say oh were
Healthy they will push back and say no we were available you know we made and and I would argue one is the same thing but yes okay you were available well this year you you are available you know guys are especially within the core for large part available to play and I think
That they’ve you know been able to reap the benefits of that and clearly they’ve had losses on their docket that are just really heads scratchers and disappointing and certainly the same flaws last year apply this year so uh it’s natural to talk about you know
Where this team is at this point in the All-Star break because you take a step back and look at the the whole landscape of the NBA how competitive it is being a game and a half out of five and being a game and a half out of 10 so or even
Below so it’s uh it’s it’s a little bit of a head scratcher to see what this team is but I think it’s then again it’s also kind of you know they you want to use continuity this is part of it you are a little bit of the same what if you
Had to do your best guess looking at the next 28 and we don’t have to break down every game but just where do you envision this team finishing uh assuming they’re going to be relatively healthy or at least the same kind of availability that they’ve had yeah I I I
Kind of go back to the beginning of the Season not to you know Pat myself on the shoulder because I I don’t know but like I I argued that I felt this team was going to be rather capable of taking a few steps back I mean they finished
Third in the west last year and I think that they would avoid the the playin tournament and I think they’d be better set to make an extended playoff run I.E getting out of the first round even if they finish fifth sixth where wherever it may be in the standings and I kind of
Think that’s going to largely be true of this year because you know for the most part they’ve kept their head above water they’ve stayed in that five six range to avoid the you know the the numbers that are in the playoff tournament or the playin tournament people who don’t know
That’s seven eight nine and 10 and I think that they can they’re more than capable of doing that and you’re you’re seeing that separation one through four in the Western Conference but it is really really difficult right now because every time the Kings play and they win
So does everyone else I mean it was weird to see one through I believe it was one through 10 going into the break where only Denver had lost and some of those losses come at the hands of Sacramento so uh everybody had won in the west and and even when they don’t
Play everyone wins in the west so teams are starting those phoenixes the golden states the Lakers are starting to play some of their best basketball right now I think the kings are capable and you can throw them into the mix as well um you know obviously not many home games
In February you’re goingon to have a ton of home games in March uh how does that bode well for this Kings team when they’ve played so well on the road usually so um you know I still think if I was had you know gun to the head I
Still think that they stay out of the playing picture I think they end up right around fifth or sixth and then uh there’s probably about four teams in my estimation that might finish in the playoffs that they’d have a good chance of beating in a playoff series is there
One that you know if you could create a perfect map for the Kings and let’s put them in your scenario five or six uh that you’d want them to play well let’s put it this way I like you look at Denver right and they’re three and0
Against Denver in this in this season so far I ain’t picking them in the playoff series The King said is so I I I still roll with the defending champs for some reason I still think they give the Clippers some problems and and I think
There’s a little bit of I have to see it first like they they’ve had some great success U being two games out of 500 or two two games out of the first place and and in locked into the third here and but all of a sudden you’ve got a kaai
Abductor injury now obviously played in the all-star weekend but I don’t think people are betting them they’re going to have 100% Health going into the playoffs so we’ll see how that rolls out I actually would pick the Kings over the Clippers some people would probably push
Back there I would take the Kings over the Thunder just because I don’t think they have that experience and they’ve played them really well this year as well I don’t like their chances against the Timberwolves at all I think it’s a bad matchup they’re much like the
Pelicans who just give them fits with that length and physicality Phoenix I don’t think is deep enough but I’d probably still pick Phoenix I think they can but I think the Kings can beat Dallas the Lakers Warriors would be interesting um but yeah to me there’s like four teams there that they can
Probably beat in a playoff series so if you’re asking me yeah go somehow to somehow maybe play a Clipper Thunder team I think that might be the path or even and the Mavericks will probably stay below Sacramento all right Sean last thought for you about tonight Victor wanyama our first chance to see
Him in person at least I know the Kings a lot of them were talking about him um what what are you uh excited to see him tonight I I am I mean I’ve been able to see him in summer league I remember sitting waiting to do an interview at
The Kings hotel in Vegas and you know we’ve been around the NBA a long long time and and you see guys who are you know really really tall all the time so it doesn’t really strike you but I remember seeing and let’s face it I’m a
Man of larger carriage and I was sitting in a in a in a in a chair that kind of sunk down in this Lobby of a small Lobby of this hotel in Vegas and he comes walking through from the elevator where he literally had to duck down and and
Make his way to his his Caravan outside to to head to the arena and I my job out hit the floor I mean and then you watch him play and it’s like it’s incredible because you don’t really see anybody like him and that was kind of a fun Topic at Kings practice
Even yesterday which is like asking guys like Malik mon Harrison Barnes and even Mike Brown it’s like does he remind you of anybody thinking like oh you guys know basketball you’ve probably seen somebody like him before with that tall slender build that dexterity you know
Being able to shoot and have put it on the put it on the deck all these things and they’re just like no one of one unicorn I mean even even Mike Brown who’s just like there’s nobody we’ve never seen anybody like him and and I I
Say that all the time and I just go to me he must watch must see TV despite how awful San Antonio is yeah and if the Kings don’t have sabonis man they’re gonna need McGee Len you and I on top of a chair to guard I mean this is gonna be
This G be a problem tonight yeah yeah it is but you and then again don’t play up to the level of your opposition this is these are those teams that absolutely were you if you’re a Kings fan because you have not fared well against teams with with really awful record records
And guys are just come out there hungry so yeah this would this would be a real stumble out of the All-Star break yeah not what they’re looking for well Sean we appreciate catching up with you we will see you out at the arena tonight and we’ll talk to you soon anytime buddy
See you all right thank you that’s Sean Cunningham joining us reporter for Fox 4y Sports reported in our air a long time Sean has done uh tremendous work continues to do so we will break when we come back Chris will give us who’s hot who’s not and we’ve got our three in the
Key for the Kings and the Spurs tonight we do that when we return here on Sactown Sports and Sactown sports.com
FOX40’s Sean Cunningham joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross Thursday morning ahead of the Sacramento Kings’ playoff push, which starts at home against the San Antonio Spurs.
Sean lays out the Kings’ path out of the NBA’s Play-In Tournament and into the playoffs.
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