Sam Amick on where the Sacramento Kings will be at the end of the season

Sam Amick on where the Sacramento Kings will be at the end of the season

Good morning guys nice to see you um my mind’s a little distracted you see this Minnesota news this morning yeah that’s that’s what we just led into it’s uh it’s it’s it’s Glenn Taylor uh putting putting out a statement uh basically uh not so fast on the whole Alex Rodriguez thing this

Thing was all but wrapped up but Timberwolves PR I won’t read the whole release but I’ll give you what I have here I’ll give you the Top Line Glenn Taylor confirmed the expiration of the option of Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez acquiring the t-wolves and the Minnesota

Links uh it was supposed to occur within 90 days following the notice issued that expired uh yesterday now he he does say I’ll continue to work with Mark Alex and the rest of the group to ensure the teams have the resources to compete at the highest levels but here’s the the

Hammer the Timberwolves and links are no longer for sale your thoughts Anthony Edwards and uh Rudy goar and Chris Finch in the middle of a historic Timberwolf season and you look up and you’re worried that the lights might go off um yeah it’s not

Good man I mean like you a lot of people thought that this deal was unofficially done I think we are kind of guilty at times at just you know forgetting how massive these transactions are um but yeah and I wish I don’t have fresh Intel

Or reporting on it I just know that you know Glen Taylor I don’t know his exact age he’s he’s a very old man at this point um he had been pretty stubborn to sell the team this was a good opportunity and it seemed like everything was going really well uh

Obviously that’s not the case so um that’s just that’s tough from a basketball standpoint you know you got a franchise that that hasn’t won a first round playoff series in 20 years and you know has got a good thing going this is a hell of a distraction yeah and Sam I

Know obviously this is totally in its infancy and you said you don’t have a lot of intel on it so it may be asking you an unfair question but you know generally when a team goes for sale it also elevates everything right the the the lowest level Team all the valuations

Go up it’s good for the league money just more money’s coming in so not only what impact on the t-wolves but any kind of impact I guess League wide on this uh I don’t know I mean like you said Jay you know I I do admittedly hate

You know reacting in real time where I haven’t even picked up a call uh I I know that um I never heard anything negative about the transition process um you know I I’m close with our guy in Minnesota John krinski who does a very good job covering that team and

What’s that yeah exactly yes um and you know never heard any Rumblings about things going Ary you know I I think about the the ripple effect of that transaction and how like even in our world like they you know I don’t want to put anybody’s business in

The streets but like they had members of high ranking members of the media relations staff for example that you got the sense that like they came to Minnesota from other teams thinking like oh okay this is an exciting New Era and like these are actual people who who

Thought they were joining something that was on the rise instead of you know this creates a real problematic thing because you have an owner who was clearly a willing to sell B um MoneyWise I I don’t know where he’s at I mean today’s NBA ownership experience is wildly expensive

So I don’t know what Glenn’s books look like and and the fact that he has to say that we’ll continue to make sure the team has resources you know is is like me telling my wife like no yeah we can probably the electric bill you

Know yeah well look we I will avoid the urge to get incredibly nerdy on this and we’ll get to the kings in a second just for those who are saying we’re being nerdy but Sam couple of things fascinate me about this and again we’re reacting

In real time number one uh it was just reported a few days ago I remember it caught my eye that uh Rodriguez and his partner had tapped dial Capital as uh as the funding to finish this payment and why why did that perk my ears up because

Dial Capital uh is a minority owner of the Sacramento Kings they are they were one of the first places that that that the NBA approved uh these Equity firms to take smaller stakes in teams and that’s when you saw a lot of Kings minority owners sell a couple years ago

Dial Capital was the one that funded that in I think they have with the Timberwolves it would have been five teams they have pieces of they’re limited by the NBA uh they divested their shares in the Suns when the suns were sold so something had to happen on

The dial Capital end either that fell through or they didn’t like it we’ll find that out secondly um I am not a rich man like these people so I I I understand how it sounds with me grading their moves but I have logic behind what I’m about to say this is

Like to me the dumbest time to sell an NBA team you could possibly be into for two main reasons number one MLS NFL Major League Baseball hockey they’re all locked into long-term deals for television and what we’ve seen and what has been proven is that live sports is the

Highest commodity when it comes to advertisers because you’re not DVR in you’re not fast forwarding you’re watching these spots in real time both during breaks and during games there’s a ton of money the NBA is about to sign their big deal their big TV deal which is going to be a massive massive

Windfall to the owners of these teams secondly that will as you know clear the way for expansion which is almost certainly going to be Seattle and Las Vegas that’s $5 billion doll they’ve said they’ve floated out there per expansion team that’s $1 billion divided through 30 teams not to mention team

Valuations then skyrocketing with the All Ships rise types of thing I have no idea why an owner would choose now to sell a team when he or she could wait two or three years and and truly realize somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars extra in Revenue so I

Understand maybe why Glen Taylor became reticent on selling I don’t know if that’s the deal or not and I just got nerdy about everything but it does seem weird yeah you are a nerd man what I am kind of I know I know you just made me

Pick the phone up and Google Glen Taylor age he’s 82 years old he doesn’t have a few years to wait um he also you know has lived a long life been successful these are these are the uh thoughts of a much younger entrepreneur like yourself

Dave um you’re clearly on your way to to getting into NBA ownership I also think about uh because admittedly as you know it’s like the main Crux of my job is diving in on the basketball on the team so so my disclaimer is I am not a sports

Business reporter I have a good understanding of the way it works but when somebody like Mark Cuban sells the Mavs when he did or his portion of them and his logic agree or disagree some people thought he was you know framing it in a in a curious way you know he

Painted a picture of this being you know near the peak for the NBA and that he was concerned about a bit of of a downturn when it comes to the next deal that this deal was going to be great but then after this deal when you have you

Know potentially the the fragmenting of the rights among multiple streaming Partners um and and really just kind of a confusing landscape in terms of content and the customer and consumption and the best way to package all this stuff you know he he got out when the

When you know the getting was good and and that’s the way he kind of framed it so that to me combined with I mean I think the Glen Taylor age thing is you know that’s the biggest thing is is uh it it he thought it was going to be a

Wrap for him he was going to have courtside seats and enjoy this timber wolves team and then on the basketball side you know the success is wonderful for them but they were also faced with a really challenging off season where their luxury tax bill you know if they

Don’t trade Carl Anthony towns was going to be up in the neighborhood of the Warriors just you know tops in the league um some big time bills to pay and and now the question obviously is is who’s gonna pay him and Jason just just before I Turn to You Adrian wowski

Reporting Glen Taylor says the window for Mark Lori and Alex Rodriguez to purchase expired that we knew and quote the buyer could have been entitled to a limited extension however those circumstances did not occur so this thing keeps unraveling stay tuned and uh we’ll have

Uh we’ll have all that for you yeah um so Sam let’s Dave mentioned the Kings let’s let’s talk about them a little bit here I would say in just the last two days things were kind of going better for the Kings they were back into sixth

Uh they lose and get blown out by Dallas and then last night basically every combination of game went wrong for the Sacramento Kings now still 10 games to go lots of things can shift but you know we like to check in with you on your thought on where the kings are now where

You think they might be when this is all wrapped up yeah interesting week um you know this whole Dallas twofer is is is kind of fun to track you know um I’m writing a little bit about the Mavs for tomorrow in the context of the West playoff race one thing this doesn’t make

Kings fans feel any better but I’ve been telling people this week about that last game that is for me pretty unique is it I feel like it’s the first time all year with this team that my takeaway was oh no they I I think you’re allowed to say

This word on your station they just got their ass kicked like that’s it you know like that’s it it’s not why didn’t they show up against Charlotte or Detroit or whatever they you watch that game and they tried I mean they you know they tried the first half the offense was

Actually okay um but you could see the struggle you could see you know domas down in the paint you know doing his shimmy like he does and just he’s on the doorstep of of finishing and is not able to in ways that we’re not used to seeing

You know Gafford size Derek Lively the second size um you know a lot of guys on that team they have length and what I’m kind of writing about is and this is I guess to maybe lessen the sting for Kings fans is like if you didn’t know

And you just looked at the standings and said W the Mavs are are somewhat in the middle of the pack just like the Kings um since make sure I have this right March 1 I think it is in the stretch where they’ve won nine out of 10 games

They have the second best defense in basketball um that’s with Luca donic and Kyrie Irving in your back court or you know running the team and so I’m shocked that their defense is really good I talked to Jason kid uh the other night about it and one thing he shared that

Was pretty fascinating was that you know the officiating as everybody knows has changed in the second half of the season and Jason is on the competition committee for the league and and he was essentially saying that you know once he started hearing Whisperers that a shift was coming you know he he

Talked to his team about how it’s it’s time to get tough and it’s time to to realize that if you’re willing to you’re about to be able to guard um and to really guard and to get up in guys and you’re not going to get the Ticky Tac

Fouls and then the the inverse of that is telling a guy like Luca big fella we need you we love you uh you’re about to get whooped on pretty good by opposing defenses so you got to be tough um and the other night they did that and they

Just they hit shots uh but I thought their defense was the biggest thing Sam Amic with us from the athletic you said something there and you’re 100% right and you’ve really seen it flourish with a team like the Knicks who by the way also put up 100 almost 150 points last

Night which is incredibly scary but Sam do you have any color on you know you mentioned the officia exchange and a lot of these fouls aren’t being called and I guess my question is what why what what are we doing did it just arbitrarily change was there a an alarm

Clock that went off was there a memo sent out did Adam Silver just say yeah you know what I’m tired of this we’re g we’re why would you change things in the middle of the year which is going to help some teams but let’s be honest it’s gonna adversely hurt other

Teams well I mean full disclosure I love it I know everybody I do too I do too I love it I feel like they’re kind of they’re getting back to the game a little bit um but I have my informed opinion and I’ll say a couple things for one you know I

Cover Allstar Weekend in Indianapolis that game was a disaster obviously you know um 200 plus points between you know whatever the final score was um it was it was a an you know Abomination when it comes to the game well I go in to do postgame media and Jaylen Brunson is

Doing a a little group session right and he like very in in an unaware kind of way and not reading the room like innocently tells a story about how at halftime of the All-Star Game the guys in the East locker room looked at the score and said hey we could probably get

To 200 let’s try to get there instead of God forbid like let’s go get a couple stops and and not give up 180 or whatever it was um and and between that and Anthony Edwards saying you know we’re not even trying you I heard a lot

Of stuff that night about how upset Adam Silver was so to me that’s a flasho that was kind of the final straw for Adam in the league where a conversation you know because it represented what was happening during the regular season and it was just symbolic of that um they

Then you know had points of emphasis given to all of the refs that you know that kind of led to the shift in officiating and I mean that you know I don’t know is it problematic to do at mid-season yes but you’re talking about some of the numbers that were coming out

Of that first half and really these past couple years you know they were changing really the history of the game you you had all of a sudden 50-point games were no big deal um you know so yeah it’s been an Abrupt shift and and it has made for an

Interesting turn here in the season but to me that’s the the root of it I bet you know as an offshoot it GMS may not love it because they could said well look I I I kind of made my team to fit these rules and maybe already have the

More physical players SL teams but it seems really odd I mean I again I think the end result is better for the game but it’s weird to do it in season as opposed to say all right you know next season these are points of emphasis we

Got to make this more palatable yeah no I agree I mean that’s all fair um you know and even to go deeper in the weeds guys you know at our place um we’ve been asking a lot of questions about the frustration with the officials relating

To the first half of the season and we had been doing a fair amount of digging on like are we going to do some coverage you know talking about why GMS and coaches and players are so upset about the officiating this year and I think that was a factor too because and I’m

Maybe giving the media too much credit but I I am a believer that you know when the scrutiny comes and the pressure comes and and it comes in a lot of different forms sometimes it comes in the form of reporters asking a lot of questions and and and augmenting the

Viewpoints of people who are not happy and I think the league looked you know felt all of that saw all of that didn’t like um the commentary relating to the state of the game and and decided to do something about it um again right now in

The moment I’m guilty of being stuck in the I don’t really care how they got here I I kind of love it even if it means admittedly that like some of the stories we were going to tell maybe we’re now telling a different story that’s not as salacious or not I mean

The the anger level has gone down as a quick Side Story you know we’re doing our Anonymous player poll which I think I’ve mentioned to you guys and one of the questions is what grade do you give the officials this season and it’s like in the couple of weeks that we’ve been

Gathering answers I’ve noted like now I’ve gotten a couple guys that were like well I I was gonna give them a c but but I guess now A B you know like answers are changing because of the way things are being called interesting as you we

Were we and I know James Harden’s an exception but we were we were commenting last week that I don’t know if he’s the only one ever but when you consider how many points he scored how much offense he’s put out there and you know how I

Feel about James uh big fan he has more free throws made than field goals made in his career and you you hear some of those rumbling Shay just Alex in or a few others where it’s like ah they’re free throw Merchants Joel embiid’s gotten that tack too and I I agree with

You dude like and I think we all three agree we want to see defense back in the game not not 1988 Nicks and and and and Hornet’s defense but we want to see defense back um the shift in the middle of the Season not to not to just bury

The point here and grind it but the shift in the middle of The Season’s a little interesting a pissed off Adam Silver uh if you will but now of a sudden uh you’ve got teams we we just mentioned them a team like the Knicks now all of a sudden uh it’s like they

Got they got jet skis man like that that Tom timido has got these guys playing well and they look like they can beat anybody in the league and I and and these types of shifts in officiating are going to highly benefit teams like that they are I mean as you were painting

That picture Dave I got a image in my mind of of domas you know wiping blood off his face the other day um a guy like that is like all right I’m I’m not a big fan of this because now a lot of this stuff doesn’t draw the whistle you know

Right watching that Philly Clippers game last night down the stretch it was a great game um and I’m forgetting who did kawhai block on the on the last shot was that Maxi no it was Kelly UB I think Kelly UB and you know I kind of love the

Fact that you know there was a little bit of body contact but it’s a huge play let’s not just give the game away no call Kawai you know wedgies the ball right in the in the rim and there were quite a few plays down that stretch where the Sixers were losing their minds

Because if the whistle went the way that it did a couple months ago they probably win the game yeah um you know so yeah it is a big shift it’s not anything like I’ve ever seen um and and we’ll see where it goes but you know again I do

Think it matters and it’s good for now because this season was losing credibility this you know really the league was losing credibility um I I think that that people want balance I think people want defense to matter and you know it’s a little wonky because of

The mid-season thing but you know I hope they continue it going into next year and kind of ironic Sam that on the same thing we’re talking about officials letting things go it takes four minutes yesterday for Draymond to get two T’s and get ejected it’s crazy

I mean and just the look like Steph had like it was such a critical game that they still won to their credit but it almost looked like ah not again oh 100 perc I mean I watched the full clip this morning because I had seen somebody say

Steph was crying yeah oh man and I thought oh I’m sure it’s social media they’re exaggerating well no he was crying like and and I we need a new word other than crying because crying in sports denotes you know well of course it Den knowes Tom Hanks and Little

League of Their Own but like it like this was just passion and intensity and frustration so like those tiar are different this is this is over being overwhelmed this is being overburdened um and and in a weird way Part of Me loves it because it’s like I love the athletes where even though

You’re making a billion dollars um you absolutely are invested and you care and that’s who Steph is so to watch him after Draymond gets ejected you know lean over shake his head um you could tell I think Steve cerr Pats him on the back and we can all relate where it’s

That moment where you really don’t want anybody to make it worse by touching you yeah and Steve like touches him and and and next thing you know Steph is he’s got the Jersey up on the face and he’s wiping those eyes man like he was um

Then when they win the game and he was huge in the last 30 seconds you know I don’t know if this even made the rounds on social media I’m sure it did because people don’t miss anything but he walks over to the bench and absolutely kicks

The hell out of a couple of chairs yep and I mean that to me you might as well have said you know God dang it Draymond like dude we can’t do this anymore so yeah they’re in it right now they’re trying to hold on and last thing Steph

Wants is you know let alone being in the playing game is is to be sitting home watching playing basketball well not to get get all Sigman Freud but and also we’re talking about sports and not real life but watching step what we talked about this earlier

Sam look this isn’t an excuse nor did I feel bad for him but in watching Draymond last night it occurred to me really for the first time and it reminded me of DeMarcus Cousins and what what he had said before about his own temper I’m I’m

Watching Draymond and I go you know what I almost feel bad for him because he can’t he can’t stop he he he cannot stop whether it’s it’s a family member you know that has some form of addiction or there a chronic liar or whatever it may

Be he could not I don’t think he had the ability to shut his mouth and walk away he had redlined and in Steph’s case it’s almost like that family member that you love that promised this was going to be the last time that uh you know that that that had once again

Had disappointed you and to kind of wrap everything up I’m going to ask you I’m going to put you on the spot I apologize and if this hasn’t happened whatever have you ever has anyone to your knowledge ever asked Steph like in a in a deep kind of way like dude have

You ever confronted Draymond has there ever been private have you ever lost your mind on him because I gotta wonder what that locker room was like after the game when they’re one-on-one with each other yeah I mean he’s talked about that at length like what the conversations are

Like behind the scenes and yes you know the answer you get is that yes he has he’s absolutely confronted him the thing with Steph and you could see it kind of there for everyone to see on video last night is that even Steph’s ver I’m not saying he’s never lost his mind on

Draymond I don’t know but like his version of addressing it in confrontation he’s just not wired that way so like he’s he has an opportunity when Draymond is sitting there chewing the ref’s ear off to to literally grab him by the jersey and push him physically away and say stop yeah but

Instead it’s one hand on the chest mildly saying like tapping him saying all right that’s enough that’s enough and it wasn’t enough like if you I’m trying to think of a somebody who who kind of just did it differently um you know maybe even a king’s reference I

Mean like a corus Williamson back in the day right yeah like gonna grab you by the jersey and said no like here’s a good one corus played with Ron Artest and was the only guy that I ever came across who scared Ron our test you know

What I mean like like and I say scared lightly but like he he had the ability and the strength and the confidence to tell a guy like that no you’re done and we’re going to not get kicked out of the game Steph he’s just not wired that way

And he wants Draymond to do it again not to be corny but out of love because they have this Brotherhood that goes back you know for so long um but you could see it right there man he’s exhausted by it and this is the the predicament for him is

That he knows I know they’re intent I know that people get their shots in about how bad they are right now but you know in his mind like the only path to the type of success that that he is used to and that he wants still includes

Draymond Green if you take that away I think probably got a fear of the unknown on the other side but then you see you know what comes with that experience and and you’re right about Draymond I mean listen I know you alluded to the fact that the whistle came quick for Draymond

Where it’s not coming quick for others uh first of all you can read his lips you know you can’t call the ref a b word with the a word after it yeah um and he knew like he didn’t argue the ejection he just headed straight for the

Exits yep he got his money’s worth and he let his team down and I’m sure they let him know that much more on that I’m sure Sam’s got his article coming out about the maths to take a look at that as well with the athletic along with all their other

Coverage I’m sure of the Minnesota sales situation and so much more always a great conversation brother we’re way late appreciate you say hi to the fam we’ll talk to you soon thanks guys be good you too that’s Sam Amic we will take a quick break when we come back the

Guest cavalcade rolls on Marcos praton of the Sacramento be will join us to talk about his article today uh he says Sacramento the perfect place for the Oakland Athletics we’ll talk to him about that right after this

The Athletic’s Sam Amick joined “The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross” on Thursday morning to talk about the Sacramento Kings playoff positioning, officiating in the league post-NBA All-Star game and Draymond Green’s latest ejection. 

With 10 games left in the season, the Kings find themselves in an arms race for the sixth and final playoff spot with the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, a team Sacramento will meet again Friday night. 

#sacramentokings #dallasmavericks #phoenixsuns #nbaplayoffs

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