The James Ham Show – Kings Need To Pick Themselves Up On Friday

The James Ham Show – Kings Need To Pick Themselves Up On Friday

I don’t know James I equated the hulkk I equated uh Hulk Hogan to Michael Jordan and the whole Show’s gone to hell since then all right but it still beats uh talking about the Kings losing by 30 plus points to the Dallas Mavericks and before we talk about them I just because

There’s a bunch of NFL stuff probably get to tomorrow I don’t want to get we might never get to it it’s been in the notes for three days but did you did you see uh that thing about how the um how the 49ers got caught I did yeah I need

Stacy Kaufman to do that hey you giveing the money back if I already got I didn’t even notice no I wonder how how how long it took them to get back because the money spent like there’s nothing I can do about if you if we get paid on Friday

And you found out on Tuesday maybe I could like give it back but if it’s months later and I didn’t bought me a new this and that sorry no I can’t give it back to you if it’s months later I’m I’m probably not thinking about it so the story for those who

Didn’t know John Lynch says the ners got in that salary cap trouble because they accidentally overpaid one of the players by $75,000 and they went to the before they got caught and or had to report it and all this other stuff they went to the player like hey we gave you an extra

75,000 on accident we got to get that back and the player was like no and they they were like hey like and I think he said they could have like appealed or like done a bunch of stuff he’s like just forget it just move forward we’ll take the penalty and

And do what we got to do yeah by law you have to give that back I mean oh shut up James yeah I mean it is what it is like like a bank error in your favor this is not Monopoly you do have to actually give the money back well wasn’t

Necessarily A Bank error though it wasting yeah your company messed up I just thought y’all thought highly of me once I don’t know what to tell you I thought this was a Safeway check I thought rules Finders Keepers losers weepers right that’s what it is I

Thought this was a bonus for me showing up at the sales meeting yesterday that’s right no bonus er no apparently James gave a legendary sales meeting uh recently because they love many people have brought attention that James was drawing boxes on on on the whiteboard in

The room and that was brought to my attention today because James and I have different approaches apparently during our sales meetings many people say I did well in that meeting but I don’t know what that means they when they agreed to it they’re probably like oh yeah sure

We’ll meet with DLo and KC we saw how well went with James and Kyle so nice I wonder what dowlo and casy will draw on the Whiteboard so nice you guys just walk in with a stack of phone books and set them down really heavily on the counter all

Right let’s have a talk yeah it’s about how it went James it’s about how it went um all right man we’ve had our fun oh man yeah I know know let talk about it here’s here’s the thing Hammer yesterday sucked and it it was it was bad on

National television it was a Beatdown it was it was just a tough game uh from Sacramento but we all knew you got two games against Dallas if you get both man that would be incredible but really you’ve got to find a way to at worst split these two games as bad as last

Night was Hammer nothing’s changed Friday is still in front of you you’ve got to play a whole lot better than you did yesterday but the ability to split these two games with Dallas and win the season series is still right there in front of you yeah it’s huge I mean like

Look this team has put themselves in a position where every game is basically a playoff game at this point if they want to get in they’ve got to win and you know there there aren’t any more excuses there are no more you know reasons why

You you didn’t hold up and and you came out in the third quarter and just you know laid a complete egg you just have to figure out ways to win and you know if you if you want to be a team that makes the PO the postseason uh you can’t

You can’t just float around for a second half of a game and and hope that you don’t get clobbered because NBA teams are tough and you went up against two of the best shop makers in the in the world and they burned you one of them burned

You in the first half one of them burned you in the second half and you got to be better next time out you got to be better but I’m sorry I just saw this did you see that the fox clip made awful announcing oh no but it was all over the

Place yeah like I I I James when you I did not think anything of this this clip really is everywhere I didn’t anything of this clip when when when it just kept popping up but they grabbed Matt’s you know because he had the straight he he they they grabbed that video and

It well okay they wrote an article about it Um you can go read that for yourself I don’t want to be yeah um but yeah I guess that I guess that was a big deal from dear last night did did you think anything of it when he said that um well I I knew it was a potential viral clip

But no I didn’t think anything of it because I I know that that’s how dearn handles his business and that’s how dearn thinks like there’s there’s nothing new in there like I’ve known that for a long time dearn does not love speaking to the media until it’s time

For him to speak to the media for specific things and then he’s fine with it but overall like he knows it’s part of his job he knows it when media relations comes in and asks him to go speak to the media that it’s time for

That he he doesn’t say no he he comes in and does his job and and he understands that it’s it’s not a real fun thing for him um I think the only time he does have fun is when he comes out with Malik and they do like the tandem uh post

Games and then it’s kind of those two just kind of go playing off each other and having a good time but like look you get asked very similar questions like in an 82 Game season 41 of them are at home it’s the same group of people sitting in

The same exact room the only difference is for some reason they move the chairs almost every single day so we always have different formations with the chairs which is weird but outside of that it’s the same exact thing again and again and again going on seven years for

Him and every once a while we have a a really cool moment with dearon or one of the other players where they reflect on something in an interesting way that question um you know again Jason Anderson asked a question which you know he he asked it so it’s not like I’m

Telling Secrets here but uh I just think dear’s answer was was just like forthright and like this is how he feels like he would rather not be there and and to be honest I don’t blame him you know I I would much rather we just have

Like right after the game they bring one guy in you know seven minutes after the game and then another guy right after words then those guys get to go shower and leave and do whatever they’re going to do the rest of the night it is kind

Of a long drawn out approach now and and it takes a long time and then again you’re asked sort of the same questions night in and night out that question was a little bit different but it it just seemed to strike aord with him here on awful announcing the headline is dear Fox

Denies doing postgame media is a form of leadership saying quote I don’t get S out of that is the picture of him smiling next because he was smiling when he said it he’s like I get I thought the clip was funny I was like that’s dear like I

Think for us here like that’s just dear like you just said that dear is being real as he could be right now no I totally agree and to be honest with you I understand the sentiment like if I were him I wouldn’t want to go out and talk to the

Unless you’re a player who’s going to to be in the media when you’re done playing and you need reps and you’re you’re you’re actually working on something like Vince Carter would like hold Fireside Chats at his locker every night and everyone just fawn over Vin Vince Carter oh he’s amazing he’s amazing and

Like as a writer it wasn’t great like for television sure for a video clip a guy in San Francisco who does that yeah yeah but the a bunch of words to get ready for his television appearance exactly well Vince would tell stories and I mean it was it was really fun to

Listen to but if you’re trying to make a quote out of it it just was like totally unquotable he he had at least like 300 extra words in a sentence and you’re like I don’t know what to do with this so I get like I get that he doesn’t love

It and he doesn’t love the process and I also get that he thinks it doesn’t matter to his teammates or anything else that’s never been my point my point is that you don’t have to be accountable to the guys in the locker room when it

Comes to who goes to the podium you have to be accountable as a leader for what happens in the game so there is a different a different set of rules here that we’re talking about there is an accountable somebody has to come out and talk when you lose to a Dallas Mavericks

Team by whatever the final score was 32 points or what I don’t know what it was 36 bad bad it was bad so somebody has to come out because that’s part of the game it’s part of taking ownership of what happened but as far as what goes on in the locker room

And and whether he likes it or not hey I I totally get it you know yeah I I I’m said it before and I’m just I’m gonna continue to say it and it’s no knock on anybody I just don’t understand why they all these professional athletes

And all sports have such a problem with going to the podium like it’s like pulling teeth and I understand same questions or whatever but just give the same answers like you’re not up there that long you you can say the same can response if you want to uh all the time

And then you move on and I I just I’ve never understood that aspect of why um they get so annoyed with doing it it’s clearly not just Fox like you ask most of these athletes and they’re like it’s the worst part of the job like all right I

Guess I don’t I don’t I just don’t understand it yeah and I mean like when you’re asking questions it like as someone who has asked these questions a bajillion times at this point um you’re trying to get like a player to open up and give you something some good content

Right and dearen inadvertently gave good content last night but he’s also had moments where he just opens up and he’s phenomenal and when that happens it’s like it’s really difficult because there are like two or three people in the room that I think see it happening and are

Like oh my gosh we’re getting gold and then we kind of start chasing it but the problem is in these settings you have that and then out of no one nowhere someone will you know raise their hand and sort of ask like a ridiculous question that doesn’t make like you know

About very to specific about a game something happened in the game or about the other posing team and whatever it snaps a player out of whatever they were going through and how they were laying things out for you um and so I I get it

Like but again it is part of the job it is and names absolutely has someone in mind when he just gave that scenario no I mean there are people that do that all the time that like they they’re not reading the conversation that they’re that they have in their head a question

That they have to ask they they’ve got to know the answer and what they’re not understanding is a player is or a coach is starting to go down a pathway that that is really cool and Rich you know something that you we can go mine that

Thing for a while and then they just like they’ve got to ask their question for whatever reason that is and snaps a player or a coach out of that conversation and like look I think sort of the interesting thing about like what we do here right um when I’m on the

Insiders I talk a totally different way than I do with you guys like we cover a lot of the same topics but the format is different you guys are throwing questions to me wherein on the Insiders me and Kyle are going back and forth we’re taking a million different topics

And and I’m also very different when I talk on the Kings speed podcast I’m running the show I’m leading you know questions to so like if every time we got into one of these conversations and we started having like really cool insightful stuff that’s happening whoever is is talking you want to let

That breathe and you want to let it have space and time and and then you want to follow up like there’s been times where like Kenny we had a last week we had something that we were talking about and you just kept coming back to me and

Asking more and more and more about it that’s what we’re trying to get to in a press scrum most of the time what we don’t want is you know the the one sentence answer from deonis sabonis which you know and that’s not because deonis doesn’t say anything it’s because

He he he’s in and out he doesn’t like have a bunch of extra words that he likes to throw but I mean that’s our job is to is to try to chase a story and try to pull as much out of a player as we can and it’s not the easiest setting in

A in a scrum it’s not like in this Podium setting that we have now it’s not easy either it’s just different I don’t know why I have in my head the clip that I think I saw for the first time I had always heard about it but I think I

Actually watched the clip for the first time like a week ago when somebody asked Kyrie about LeBron being a father figure to him and Kyrie was the lady asked the question and this is when they were in Cleveland she asked the question and Kyrie was like

Um uh no what I I couldn’t hear what you said I’m I’m hearing thing what’ you say say she’s like hey how about him being a father figure to you it goes I I don’t even um he was so perplexed he’s like well I have one father and that’s he

Said the father’s name but yeah LeBron is he’s she’s really great at being a leader in the locker room and do he was so flustered by and that’s like what James about like maybe he’s talking about like regular stuff and somebody comes out of nowhere with this question

That’s just like the reporter probably had the idea of writing a story about how Kyrie looks up to LeBron James so they formed that question that way in hopes of getting the answer they want for the story that they already had developing in their head yeah as it turns out the story doesn’t

Exist no and I think that that happens all the time right but I also like again you you do this long enough and there’s moments where there’s like synchronicity with the group right where it’s all of a sudden we see something that’s happening and Sean will ask a followup

And I’ll follow up to his followup and then Jason will ask a followup and we’re all pulling on the same thread like unwinding this saying like crazy and that is when you get gold and it just doesn’t happen all that often especially now like if you get a a an interview in

A pregame setting with like I had the one-on-one with Keon Ellis last week right it’s just very much like there is no flow yet there is no we’re not around these guys nearly as much as we were in the past so there isn’t like a level of

Comfort that he has with everybody and a lot of times that’s not when you get the best right it depends on the player like and and also depends on the line of questioning so that’s a place where like if I’m writing a story about let’s say

About Malik mon right but I I know that you know Mason Jones and him have a relationship because they’re both from uh they well I think Mason played at Arkansas but they also both played for the Lakers at the same time and and then I want to get a quote from dearon Fox

That’s a pregame is a really good time to go in and ask a very specific line of questions that are very short and with the understanding that you’re pluging plugging them into a specific piece right so I can go to Dear hey I just want to ask you something really quick

About Malik and then hit him with two questions all right have a good game whatever leave them and then you go to the next person that’s those are good places to formulate those those questions um and postgame it used to be that while the scrum was in one area if

You were writing a story you could sneak off and go get another player but that’s just not how it is anymore there’s one player in the locker room at a time for the most part like the post postco era is very different for us so this is fun um talking about a

Viral social media clip but what went wrong for dearon in yesterday’s game or and this was my stance three hours ago when we were actually talking about the Kings Mavericks I thought Dallas did a lot right that frustrated de Aon and perhaps frustrated Sacramento what were your thoughts on the way the game

Transpired probably more specific spefically the first half I thought the first half was pretty Rocky obviously everything went terrible at the beginning of the third but they they the Dallas Mavericks had a game plan that seemed to really frustrate dear Fox and damonta sabonis as well yeah I mean they

Sent Derek Jones Jr at dearen from the moment the ball was inbounds so he was tracking him at all times picking up picking him up full court which took the ball out of Fox’s hands and sort of changed his trajectory of what he was trying to do there wasn’t a lot of

Downhill action for for dearen and I thought it was brilliant and then they just kept doing it they they Ed Dante exom to do it they uh whatever whoever the player was it’s a defensive minded player on the court they sent him at dearin and I think that I mean it worked

For one night that I don’t believe will work again on Friday when they play again um I thought it was again it’s sort of clever for like a little short stent to try to get the ball out of dear’s hands but the king’s motion offense went to hell in a

Hand basket and dearon wasn’t getting the ball in the right spots again that will change and not only that but when dearon found success early in the game it was because he kept using that and getting switched onto Luca and then Luca doesn’t play any defense at all he just

Tries to reach out and grab you the whole time and so dearen was abusing Luca on the high screen and uh he just didn’t hit his shots and so like look I I think this was a bad game for dear his bad game for the Kings in general but I

Think that they’ll look at what happened in that game and they’ll be able to make some pretty substantial changes into how they handle situations like that and then if you look at the third quarter you know basketball players like anyone else when whenever things go wrong you regress to what you’re best at

And or what you think you’re best at and dearen and Malik I think both of them really regress to watching Kyrie and watching Luca and how they were dominating the ball and they turned into that player as well and so there wasn’t a lot of movement there wasn’t a lot of

Screens um you know they forgot about poron Ellis who has seven points in like the first three minutes and doesn’t get another shot attempt until late in the fourth quarter when when he gets an and one uh they forgot about Keegan Murray for stretches and it just became very

Unking likee basketball of way too many dribbles way way too much like M me me hero ball and it and everything fell apart completely one of the things that I also think about with um that game and that strategy is if they’re gonna defend dear like that with those type of players

Like okay well you’re taking something off from the offensive end for Dallas and you didn’t exom and Derek Jones were a combined four of seven from Beyond The Ark last night and that’s just like I said if they’re being effective on the defensive end that’s one thing but you

Don’t expect for to get both right like all right we’ll take a little off of our offense right now to get better on defense well not only did they not take a little bit off on their offense they shot relatively well today so or last night so um

James I just thought it was one of those things like I said we could talk about you know being ready and you know letting people I don’t think they necessarily let anybody do anything Dallas shot the the the crap out of the ball last night um 22 thre um

56% from Beyond The Arc mama told me there’s gonna be days like this and and it was like that last night you combine that with the fact that the Kings didn’t really shoot the ball well which is a little bit on them and a little bit you

Your hat to Dallas then you get a 30o loss yeah I thought it was interesting even the way the Kings decided to start the game with damis sabonis defending uh PJ um why am I draw blank yeah PJ Washington um because then Dallas just kept getting him in the screen in roll

And and so both you know they would sort of sabonis would go with Luca and whoever’s defending Luca would try to go with him as well because he’s so crafty M BJ Washington was wide open and hit three threes right away like right in the first quarter boom boom boom then

They made some adjustments and next thing you know it was no longer uh PJ setting that screen they started using their big So Daniel Gafford was coming up and setting the screen or um uh Derek Lively and and then they tried to do screen and rolls

And so the big mans roll into the basket well that’s what happened in the second quarter and none of that worked and King stayed in the game because they kept getting Steals on Luca making bad passes and they were again shocking Luca they’re running two guys at him and and

Then when he was trying to make the pass to the cutter the kings were just stepping in and taking the ball so I I think first of all Dallas learned from that and when they came out in the second half they stopped doing the screen and roll they went specifically

To all of those sets that you’re talking about where they’re getting the wide open looks and I’d also point out to you when you talk about dck Jones Jr and exom like they have to play defense like at a crazy high level but the way that that

Team is designed if dearen has to play defense like that on one end and then on the other end he’s running around like a crazy person that’s not what they’re doing with exom and with Derrick Jones Jr those dudes are going over and hanging out in the corner catching their

Breath and when the ball gets thrown to them at you know three seconds left in the shot clock because Luc has driel all over God’s creation with it and then finds them it’s not a huge expenditure of energy they’re really only expending the energy on one end of the court so

While they were effective and hadit four of seven number one I don’t think they’ hit four or seven again because that’s not who they are as players but also those guys are just kind of well rested all they’ve got to do is play on one end

Of the court because you have two like tremendously High usage players in Kyrie and uh in Luca Hammer I thought we you know we talk about the Maverick defense what they did to Sacramento Sacramento missing shots I thought particularly in the first half the Sacramento Kings were really indecisive on the offensive end

Like there were some plays around the rim of course they just they just missed a couple that you know if they do again today maybe those drop but there were some points where they made the extra pass where they probably shouldn’t have made the extra pass and it either

Resulted in a bad shot or a turnover and it felt like and I don’t know if this is a credit to Dallas or just their own thinking but they looked really really indecisive in that first half yesterday yeah I just think they had a lot running through their minds that’s what it kind

Of looked like one team wasn’t thinking and was just playing and the other team was thinking about it and thinking about upet they were on True TV that’s what was going on that first like wait we’re on True TV what the hell yeah and it was

In their head wondering why it was going to double overtime with the with the Lakers and Bucks wondering why Doc Rivers blew another lead yeah h imagine that 19point lead hey Anthony Davis did a hell of a job last night but LeBron didn’t play yeah I love I love I love

How um Doc Rivers is the first person we go to there oh yeah that’s a must yeah yeah like he was one for five in the fourth quarter it’s his fault I said I said to Mike he’s in 3-1 mode right now sorry James go ahead Rivers Comedy Hour yeah I mean the

Kings just made a lot of s and you know just a weird game plus I they they also like each of these games is a reminder that you’re on nationally National Television that everything’s the breaks are longer that yeah you know you have to slow yourself down and kind of living

The moment a little bit more and I think it also plays into it too we saw you know Malik try to go play off Malik and it wasn’t a good form of playoff Malik it was forced and you know his three-point shot is not following at all

Right now and same with dearn you know his three-point shot has been hit and miss um and we saw just way too much of that almost like hey the bright lights are on uh you know more people are watching and it it just did not go the

Way that they thought it would go that is a good first half though I mean until Kyrie started I thought it was I thought it was a terrible first half but I thought they’re still in it like they’re right there so this is this is actually great they didn’t play well they’re

Right there in the game this will be a strong third quarter the that that didn’t happen it did not that game that game ended quickly man yeah it really felt like like like an anvil just fell from the sky and right on top of the Kings it was

Just a Kyrie Avalanche yeah just one like mistake one forced offensive play after another and then on the other end Kyrie he wasn’t even touching the net like it was like what in the world um when that’s what makes those two that team so tough when they start hitting

They’re nearly impossible to stop when when you have Luca and you have Kyrie hitting I don’t know I like I I feel like and that was the cold piece it wasn’t even at the same time no it was like Luka feel like I got the first half

Kyrie you take the second Kyrie went crazy I kind of feel though that that Golden One Center has become like the Kors field equivalent for for basketball teams you know like you go to Coors Field and everyone hits a home run because the err it seems like whatever

Is with the sight lines in Sacramento they are perfect for Shooters and Shooters love it and everyone everyone hits everything at Golden One Center and I you know I don’t really remember a whole lot of teams having bad shooting nights there U except for the Kings see and that’s because they play

There more often than everyone else but yeah it’s not the king’s fault it’s the architect’s fault go to chill out it’s not about defense it’s about the architect lighting that’s it’s about it’s about that damn open thing that everyone tries to it’s the hanger that everybody tries to replicate uh we’ll

Come back we’ll talk much more about the Sacramento Kings with our Insider from the Insiders our man James ham here medo and Casey brought you by Sky River Casino return here on Sacramento sports leader ESPN 1320 I uh was looking for a picture to be a smartass because I’ve never seen

One and didn’t think it existed and to the best of my knowledge it in fact doesn’t exist but I came across a very unfortunate Reddit post from squared Circle Jesse are you listening to this nine years ago Mike and Mike on ESPN just called Hulk Hogan the Michael Jordan of

Wrestling oh no yeah well Mike and Mike broke up so that shows how much they knew recycled up I’m Damen Barling here that’s funny I’ll con see Hogan and Jordan if you give me Brett Harden Harden I’ll give you that that’s pretty funny I’ll give you that

Man I looked at the I don’t know James for some reason after that loss last night I feel like the king’s schedule looks a lot tougher than it did last week got the Jazz ahead I got that that Nick Celtics thing is stupid the Nick Celtics net stretch is

Ridiculous yeah but look at the look at the sun schedule well starts tonight for the Suns right it’s it’s uh uh Denver tonight yes they have 10 games left the easiest win loss percentage on their schedule is the Sacramento Kings they have a six 647 so if you look

At ton strength of schedule the Kings aren’t on their schedule as one of their tough teams and they have no easy teams this is a monster it starts with the Nuggets tonight uh the thunder on Friday this I I I I’ll do better sorry at nuggets at Thunder at pelicans they’re

Home versus the caves home versus the Timberwolves home versus the Pelicans remember those two games they have against the Pelicans could help the Kings out either way especially if they win Friday versus the Clippers at the Clippers again remember those games against the Clippers can help the Kings either way

Especially if they win on Friday then they’ll play Sacramento the second to last game of the season on April 12th and then close out at Minnesota so they end with three games on the road while Sacramento finishes with three games at home yeah that is brutal that Kings game

Against Boston will still be tough but I think that’s going to be one with like um the Kings will be playing like the Celtics without Drew holiday like like they’re GNA be nursing like injuries and stuff like that like resting guys till they get to the playoffs so the Kings

Might have a little bit of um that’s second night of the back toback I think I think the first night York it’s the national televised game and then uh and then they gota go back to New York Boston New York yeah Stupid yeah I don’t think the Lakers are making the six seed either and that Clippers is a road game right that’s at the clippers for the Kings yeah is or is that here oh no it’s next Tuesday at home it’s here it’s here oh okay okay yeah

Yeah yeah I might have to go see my boy I got to get out to that these game yeah oh Russell’s Back yeah yeah yeah these games have like every game down the wire is goingon to be crazy so it’s a good point Amos mind need the

SS just to play everyone that day yeah it’s a good point even the Kings finished two games at home right so it’s Phoenix and then Portland last game of the season I think it’s three games at home um because I think the Blazers are in there Blazers last game Pelican Suns

Blazers oh Jesus let me let me double let me let me double check to make sure I’m not and the Pelicans and suns are both the fifth game of the season against those teams yeah weird all right real quick someone in the chat Matthew threw it in the chat is

Jeff Hardy um is that AI That’s not a bad one Jeff Hardy is alen Iverson that’s not a bad one H the Soulshine band we have no idea what’s going on with s uh with Sasha they have not given us an update at all except for to say he’s questionable but

He’s been questionable four consecutive games and not played so it’s kind of weird like it they there were certainly strong indications he was like pretty close well he’s been a full part participa in practice before right yeah yeah yeah they they practi tomorrow mhm what time is practice will you get

There probably not oh probably be at noon tomorrow okay all right um D every time this dude Smiles it creeps me out um the Kings just played Just so just to answer this question he’s questionable for St games hasn’t he been practicing the Kings just played five

Games in seven nights there are no practice practices when you like today there’s no practice anytime you have a back toback you don’t practice the next day so the Kings have not practiced at all yeah I mean they might be trying to get him in in game shape I I get what

You’re saying but it see there’s no practice to do that and even practices this late in the season you’re not doing full contact real practice that ain’t happening everyone is taped together domas is stitched up Jesus yeah even the other night he had to have his face taped up like we’re coming back

Hammer all right all right we’re back here I guess we should bring that conversation ation to the to the radio here James um whatever update we can have on do we have any sort of update on Sasha I think there was a belief his return was really

Really close about a week ago and it just seems game after game after game he’s continuing to be ruled out um do we have anything on Sasha at all yeah we don’t um he hasn’t even been in the locker room in pregame so I’m used to at

Least like going over and talking to him in pregame um I’ve had plenty of conversations with him this this entire season uh the problem that he probably has is that the Kings like their players to go through a handful of practices to build up and the Kings just haven’t had

Practice again we talked about this off the air but the Kings had a back toback last week and then a day off uh to travel and then a game and then a day off to travel again and then uh and then the back to- back again so they they’ve

Had five games and seven nights the Kings will not practice in that scenario at all you’re not going to practice um when you have three games and four nights and then you’re you’re practicing the next day and you never practice after a backtack so like today the Kings

Have off they’ll practice tomorrow uh for for Friday’s game but like there’s just not a lot of time to get somebody in game shape and you know again he’s a 28y old dude you’re not going to send him down to the G League to get him some

Run although that might might be the best scenario for him to get him some some game action that the G g- League just isn’t used that way and I don’t know again I think it’s the flaw to the G league and a flaw to the thinking um

That’s gone into it uh but they teams don’t do that like rehab assignments in baseball I I think it would like in this situation how else is he supposed to get you know out there and start running and this late in the season too teams just

Aren’t doing a five on five go out each other prti practice where you’re running up and down the court and you’re trying to get somebody some Court time so a lot of times the younger players they’ll get together and they’ll do like three on three or they’ll do five on five with um

With some of the like uh you know the training crew and the uh the uh Player Development crew you’ll see a lot of that even this late in the season um but like who are we talking about at this point because most of the younger guys are having to play right now because

You’ve got herder and lyes and and of course Sasha out uh so there isn’t even a lot of that going on because players if they’re gonna play in a game they usually don’t have those uh those like secondary games um because what you don’t want to do is roll an ankle in a

Secondary game before on like on a game day um or on the day before a game when you might get to actually play so have you kind of changed your feelings maybe about seeing Sasha this year I know when he first got HT it was like ah we probably won’t see him this

Year do you you feel maybe a little different about it now or is it just not the time not lining up um to possibly see him this year what are we down to nine games nine or 10 I 10 think he might play yeah he might play but in my

Opinion the reason he’s gonna play if he plays right now the reason is because Trey Lyles is out like I don’t think I was off base with my thought on that like at they’re just it’s been gone for so long and he wasn’t a huge part of the

Rotation when he went out so what exactly are you expecting from him you know I don’t know um so and I think that also tells you something like there is an opportunity here if Sasha could play you would expect that he would because he the Kings need him because they don’t

Have Trey and so you would expect that if he could go that he would you know go out there but I think the Kings maybe are being a little bit cautious but also again we don’t have a medical update we don’t have a medical update on him uh we

Haven’t got one yet on Trey lyes we’re at the two-e mark on try lyes um right now that was their re-evaluation point right that was the original reevaluation yeah of the spring but again we didn’t get a reevaluation point on on Sasha either we just heard he was at practice

One day just heard he was at practice and then and then we also we don’t know what’s going on with Kevin herder shoulder yeah I was going to say we haven’t even acknowledged the two guard who they just kind of like well we’ll figure it out later well I guess I I

It’s it’s possible that you know that he’s not going to do surgery you know I I mean if they had a surger surgery they would have told us I I believe they would have said it was successful like everyone else says with these things but

Um but at the same time like we have we have no idea he’s wandering around on the sidelines without a sling or anything on and so it kind of makes you believe that they’re probably going to see you know once it heals up and it gets to where he can it’s not super

Painful they’ll probably reassess him at that point and say okay are we gonna are we going to go in for surgery or not um we had Dr P on last week to talk about the the types of surgery there and um you know like it’s not like a baseball

Player like which is called I think a slap a SLAP tear which is in the upper part of the rotator cuff or the laum sorry the upper part of the uh the laum and that’s from an overuse situation where again the bicep tendon goes into the shoulder and you know throwing

Repeatedly baseball after baseball you end up you know damaging and you can have um the laum tear away from the socket uh and then you have to go in and like Stitch up that tear um the type of laboral tear that Kevin has is from like

A singular event like a like a violent act that happened to his shoulder where it pulled his shoulder pops out of the socket and it pulled the laum with it and tore the bottom of the laum so on the bottom side not on the top side and so those things they don’t typically

Heal up all the way but it can like do a little bit of scar tissue the question is what grade he of of tear he had and then on top of that it’s whether his shoulder is unstable like where it might pop out again and so that’s the problem

With the type of tear that that Kevin has he has the risk is that it will continuously pop out or a baseball pitcher when they go in and they clean it up it’s because it’s a pain tolerance issue so just two different types of of of problems and you don’t want to have

Repeated dislocations of the shoulder because then you can do more and more damage to the labrum is there anything you enjoy more than graphically describing injuries in their I love it oh there’s a lot going on Dr Dr James ham here with us on on D

Casy uh well good news Kings fans we’re all really big nuggets fans tonight let’s rooe on okay let’s r on Michael Malone our our old our old buddy Michael Malone some of us throw the game not all of us some of us some of us might want

To root for the Thunder too just for fun yeah or or or or root for the root for the Rockets I mean because it’s the rockets in the Thunder yeah roote against the Thunder I mean go Pao Co pushing him down all right maybe out go GG by the way go GG Memphis has got the Lakers um sneakily they’re like too bad I mean there’s a lot of tiebreakers and stuff like that but aren’t they like two back in the standings three in the L colum or

Something like that from Sacramento yeah they won last night they came back and won that game last night after stealing the first half from Sacramento on National Television um by the way Suns and nuggets on ESPN 1320 tonight that that reminds me I remember game five 2004 kings Timberwolves the whole first it

Was supposed to be on TNT obviously a double header the whole first half was on NBA TV because Pistons Nets went like three over times Chanty hit a half quarter the tide and stuff like Miss Stam the whole well I was able to click over the NBA TV but this is 2004 remind

You this isn’t it’s a different time it’s whole damn damn near the whole first half flashbacks it it looked like that game was going to a third overtime last night we were watching it on a computer like this this it was 117 to 117 for at least an

Hour that was rough then doc couldn’t figure out how to get a get a stop doc River’s fault was Doc River fault F I wish I story D Liller put him up late ahead but doc messed it up I mean look at the Ruster I got Pat Beverly I mean

What you gon don’t know doc we brought Pat Beverly here for you buddy ridiculous most important one is Michael Malone Nicole yic uh and the standup Porter Jr Michael Porter Jr he’s the standup brother is he well maybe not in all cases but we’re rooting for him

Tonight let’s go buddy prop him up yeah well shames shames come on Jam hope he can parlay this into a second Championship James oh no is he gonna Double Down is he gonna double down on this James goodness gracious it’s all part of the showy you’re you’re supposed

To be the grown-up in the room James come on man come on come on um got to split got to get this one we went over we were looking at the schedule during the commercial break the Mavericks ahead for Sacrament obviously the second game against the Mavericks on

Friday they got the Jazz the Clippers the Knicks the Knicks and Celtics which is a back-to-back and then they go from Massachusetts back to New York to take on the Brooklyn Nets uh and then they close out with uh the Thunder I think that’s a road game and the Pelicans Suns

Uh and Blazers these are all massively important games and I was feeling I was I was feeling pretty tough about that and then James reminded me hey just go take a peek at Phoenix’s schedule and man it starts tonight they’re on the road against the Nuggets tonight then

They got the thunder on the road the Pelicans on the road the Cavs and the good thing about these games is they’ve got two against the Pelicans they got two against the Clippers if the Kings can win some games here like those help Sacramento no matter what yeah yeah no

Matter what those help Sacramento given that the Clippers and pelicans have fallen back a little bit into the conversation so it could be it could be a a situation where as as as weird as this might sound if the Suns beat the Pelicans the first game just root for

Them to beat him again like whoever wins the just don’t root for splits in these games root for whatever team wins the first game to go two and0 that’s that’s it that’s it that’s what we’ve been hoping for here now we need we need a

Split yeah now we need a split yeah we were talking I think Kenny wasn’t part of this the it’s crazy if you look at ton and the most difficult games left on your strength to schedule the the Suns have nine games that are on the most difficult games and then the 10th game

Is against the Kings like the Kings the Kings game doesn’t even reach the point of what the rest of their schedule is I mean it’s 647 win percentage I didn’t even know there were enough teams in the league with a 647 win percentage to have you have that as your final like

Strength to schedule against they’re playing with the exception of well because of what happened if the Kings had won last night every team remaining on their schedule would be a top six team they’d be a solidified playoff team if they get in they’re gonna they’re going to earn it oh they’re absolutely

Going to earn it but let’s hope that doesn’t happen no let’s hope it doesn’t yep let’s hope it doesn’t unless they win two against the Pelicans and two against the Clippers knock them both out and the Suns and the kings make it then that’s fine yeah that’s that’s that’s

Perfectly fine um any concern about Malik you you kind of you were talking about this a little bit earlier uh we saw obviously an aggressive Malik he got a little there was a couple of P there were a couple of moments in the first half where you know the the bad pass

That kind of led to a blocking foul you know on on the on the on the next play um he’s had a string of a couple of games where the shot really hasn’t gone his way that just Malik that’s just the the game or you you a little worried as

We head down here to these final 10 no I’m not worried um Malik has had a couple of stretches like this through this season but we talked about this last year like his his stretch that was bad last year was like six weeks this year it’s been like three games and even

One of those times that he had one of the these little Swoon like this he came out and apologized you know and and just like this time he said you know I but I I couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean or whatever it was

That he said um yeah I think that first of all just the way he’s played how much responsibility is on him the fact that he is playing way more minutes than he did last year even in the second half of the Season he’s playing way more minutes

Than he did last year I think this is just part of his maturation just like it is part of Fox’s maturation um to learn how to play at this level continuously for 82 games and you know people want to call it an excuse but five games in

Seven nights in what like four different cities that’s like that’s ridiculous it’s not easy at all these guys are beat up um we’re getting even D sabonis you can look at his numbers over the last couple of games they’re down and if that guy’s numbers are going to be down that

Should tell you how much this stretch can wear on somebody so I think Malik will be fine these two days off right here I think are going to do wonders for the Kings I I think that they will come out with a bounce in their step on

Friday I hope that they come out with a bounce in their step but we’ve seen this team also come out after getting thumped by a team and get thumped by the same team again like what happened earlier in the season against Houston what happened earlier in the season against New

Orleans and you hope that that there’s some carryover from the earlier games against Dallas where they were just a much better team than Dallas even with Kyrie and with Luca and that for some reason it’s not that Luke that Dallas just got way better and the kings are

Regressing so I expect A Better Effort and and I do I do think that Malik will have a bounceback you know final 10 games here I’m sorry I’m looking at the schedule and I’m trying to pull up have the Kings uh this year have they like dominated any backto back like the

Little two game series or won any of the too I don’t think they have I think they’ve lost Houston and they lost New Orleans those only I don’t think there’s been as many as there were in in in recent years um they’ve only had two and they haven’t gone well although in the

Um wasn’t the case in the Houston two game series but in the New Orleans two game series they got destroyed the first game and lost the close game the second time okay buddy you’re not helping well no they don’t they gonna play well on Friday I

Know that now this is also you literally just said they played well and lost well that’s what happened but this is eerily similar to the two game series The Kings had last year against Dallas came in yep uh it was right after the trade deadline matter of fact and somebody on the

Stream looked at me and said they didn’t need Mason plumbley huh huh then and they got worked and then they came back that next Saturday and handled business who said that I don’t know that was like a Friday Saturday right it was like a Thursday it wasn’t a

True back toback but it was like a Thursday Saturday I think I don’t think so are you sure think it was maybe it might have been it might have been a Friday I could I could probably look I thought there was a day between while you checked that too I I just want

To point out that people again the craziness of the last week and a half right so on March 18 back February 10th February 11 yeah correct Friday and Saturday so the Kings last Monday so we’re talking about an eight day stretch Monday to Tuesday right so over the last eight days leading into

Like yesterday right they played Memphis at home in Sacramento they flew to Toronto the next day and then played the Raptors then flew to Washington and played the Wizards the next night then they had one day to fly to Orlando and they played the magic then they flew

Home and then they played Philadelphia and Dallas on back toback so in eight days they played six games one in Sacramento one in Toronto one in Washington DC One in Orlando and then two more in Sacramento and that’s just absolutely ridiculous so if when you you look at

The totality of it and what they should look like on the court man maybe they should have a bad third quarter against a team like Dallas I mean that’s it’s an NBA scheduling anomaly that was Common Place five years ago or seven years ago but you don’t see this at all anymore

Where you have five games in seven nights or six games in eight nights stuff like that it just doesn’t happen all right let’s get this W on uh Friday yeah yeah there’s there’s there’s I do think there’s a few I I know they need to hit shots I do think there’s a

Few adjustments they need to make and oh yeah some of it is like freeing dearon up a little bit also we had we didn’t really talk like they they made life tough on domas uh domas had a very oddly unefficient night uh on the offensive

End and then you know I I know guys not hitting shot allthough this stuff comes into a play Man when they say the ball have energy boy they mean that when it comes to Sacramento cuz rarely does one guy shoot bad it’s like they all I mean

I know Malik had that night a few nights ago but like man it feels like when when it’s bad it is bad bad and that’s what happened yesterday it was bad bad and Luca was good good Michael Jackson Bad then Kyrie took over and and they hit all of their shots

Around the perimeter what was that other game this year where they had that where um oh when they were playing Phoenix and you had aogi and you had nir little anyone who could have possibly made a three that was like jarring made every three they took you’re like it’d be like that

Sometimes buddy ham here yeah buddy buddy you see our man Ben Ross tagged Us in the on this date buddy buddy going off for Oklahoma buddy was cooking that day he sure was I love that buddy heeld is part of the permanent fabric of this show I I I get

A kick out of that oh he gave it to Jason Anderson yesterday the other day gave it to Jason Anderson messing with Jason it’s good stuff well I guess we’ll we’ll end there we’ll end there yeah we’re the game ends on a penalty

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