Why does Kings’ DOMANTAS SABONIS not get the RESPECT he deserves? | Yahoo Sports

Why does Kings’ DOMANTAS SABONIS not get the RESPECT he deserves? | Yahoo Sports

Next question I have written for you here is what do you find most frustrating about the way the kings are discussed nationally and why is it damont sabonis I I I assumed that but I but I might be wrong um but I I I want to provide the opportunity for you to

Perhaps clear out give you an ISO here uh talk to me about Deon sabonis and the way that we talk about Deon sabonis yeah so I I love the framing of the question because it’s 100% correct uh the the way that sabonis gets discussed is insane to

Me uh sabonis last night racked up his 50th consecutive double double which has been done by eight players in NBA history um I mean he’s nowhere near Chamberlain’s record Chamberlain’s record is like 220 something it was over 200 games it’s insane and Preposterous and Chamberlain has the second and third records as well

And they’re both over a 100 like it’s it’s nuts uh but in like the the post merger era it’s the second longest streak second only to Kevin loves 53 uh he’s got the most triple doubles in the League this year he is leading the league in rebounding Fifth and assist

Since January 1 he’s first in rebounding and assists across the league like uh for totals I’m not sure per game but for total assist and he’s just the he is the engine that drives the Kings like you know you can talk about is he the best

Player is Fox the best player you fox is the crunch time guy the the Superstar but I mean the Kings don’t work without SA regardless of what the onoff numbers say or anything like that like you watch this King night the king team night in

Night Out sabonis is the guy like he is the guy that makes it all work he may not always put up the godest of scoring numbers but he does everything and he’s improved his game in all the ways that people said he needed to over the

Offseason like he doesn’t take a lot of Threes but he can reliably hit a three if you leave him wide open up top he is no longer afraid of taking the free throw line jumper you know that was the big talking point in the Warrior series which people tend to forget he was

Playing with a broken thumb and they forget it because he played most of last season with a broken thumb that’s right you know like I think my biggest frustration is that the Warriors last year in the playoffs you know which by the way went seven games and took Curry

Going nuclear in the seventh game to like put away the Kings like sabonis is still fighting that perception and it was just such an awful matchup for him because not only did they have Looney who was a big physical rebounder you know a great rebounder in

His own right it’s not like some scrub came in and out rebounded sabonis like that’s what Looney does and then you know Draymond so like he was always getting one of those two defensively and they’re going to pester you and be physical and and disrupt you in

Different ways and you know the bigger issue with the kings in that series was Shooters all went cold I mean herder I mean Barnes no one could hit a shot and then Fox broke a finger too like I mean on his shooting hand in the middle of

The series it was all these things that it took for that series to like not go their way but it all gets boiled down to well sabonis had a bad series and I mean I I heard a you know talking points on National media about you know well I’m

Not sure he’s all NBA because you know I can’t get that playoff series out of my head it’s like it’s just like it it drives me crazy that it’s like we’re we’re holding him responsible for something last season when we’re talking about what he’s doing this season and what he’s doing this season

As you mentioned is nothing short of like historic production and the way you framed his importance to the offense and the role in the offense makes me think of I know Mike Brown has talked about the like the identity he wants the team to play to being like Fast physical

Together and like what I flash there when I thought about the Kings fast I used to think like Fox end to end right when you when I think about the Kings now I think about how the offense moves side to side with those handoffs with everybody sprinting around him and

Orbiting sabonis and sabonis being the guy who makes the side to side decisions about like no not you you you come over now we do this and like everything moving bang bang boom and the physical of course is like anybody unfortunate enough to be trailing a wing around

Those screens and like that dude it’s like feel like you know like Batman would have like the the the uh spikes coming off of his like forearms that’s what all the every shoulder every forearm all those things I’m like how is he not just like dislodging guy’s Jaws

Doing that like knocking your neck loose with some of those screens like that’s what the identity has ident has uh evolved as it has because of you get him and then I think there’s also this the the forever like uphill perception Battle of we watched Tyrese halberton turn into like all NBA

The kind of guard and the kind of playmaker that is easy for everyone to understand and get behind we perhaps under sold and have not paid as much attention collectively to the fact that dear and FOX also became an all-nba guard after that trade and they also got

An all NBA Center in that trade like I think we we can fairly leave to set aside like who won or whatever like it led two teams in Positive Directions and sabonis like even though he’s not as aesthetically pleasing in terms of the his game as you know Halbert and was or

Whatever the necessary evolution of that roster and of that identity all of it comes from him like if he doesn’t show up Midway through two seasons ago like the kings are just in a who I mean who the hell knows where the kings are right

Now in terms of like a team that had been sort of desperate for a divide a you know uh organizing principle and a definite or direction to go in finds it through him and so now you go from Seventh in MVP voting to not you not on

The All-Star team to uh historic levels of double doubles and triple doubles and the burden of proof still being on him I think that’s it’s a weird place to be yeah I mean you mentioned seventh in NBA All-Star or MVP voting last year and an All-Star all

NBA this year he’s like a point better a rebound better and an assist better than his averages last year like he’s having a better season across the board in every way and and it feels like you know people are like ah but Sacramento you know which I I get it like there’s that

Ingrained the thought process of like you know for nearly two decades Sacramento was an afterthought and not something you needed to pay attention to and it takes time to change those perceptions right so you know I’m realistic about that as well I also know that we’ll never be LA or New York but

It it’s definitely frustrating sometimes just hearing the way that it gets discussed

Why does Kings’ Domantas Sabonis not get the respect he deserves? Yahoo Sports NBA writer Dan Devine and Greg Wissinger of The Kings Herald discuss the national media narrative around Domantas Sabonis.

Watch the full conversation here ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlt5J2qsu_U

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