What About the Sacramento Kings Has You Least Concerned? | Locked On Kings

What About the Sacramento Kings Has You Least Concerned? | Locked On Kings

still early on in the NBA off season what are you least worried about or concerned about with the Sacramento Kings at this point in time on today’s podcast part one of my conversation with my partner Kevin John from ABC 10 we’ll discuss what we’re least concerned about right here on locked on Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of Locked on Kings hello and welcome into locked on Kings your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all offseason long my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here I’m a Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter at ABC T news where I work every single day with my guest on today’s podcast not the first time that Kevin John has joined me here on lockon Kings certainly won’t be the last Kevin and I work together as the entire Sports department at ABC 10 we travel together covering the Sacramento Kings always one of us if not both of us are at every single Kings home game he and I were in New Orleans for the play-in game we have gone together through these two roller coaster seasons for Sacramento we’ve had a lot of fun working together uh and it’s always fun to have him on the podcast so this is part one of our conversation where at first Kevin’s gonna kind of give you his feel for what this offseason is going to be if it’s going to be a kind of a loud busy chaotic and active offseason like we’re hoping and expecting or if he has a feeling that it’s going to be maybe a little more quiet and a little more disappointing than what we’re expecting we’ll discuss that then we’ll get into what we are least concerned about with the SA ACO Kings at this point in time now this is a very broad topic or very broad umbrella of conversation right and we want for you to be a part of that conversation as well again it could be anything involving the Sacramento Kings it could be player specific could be team specific could be offseason specific draft specific whatever route you want to go it’s what you think and right now you feel is the least concerning part or the thing that you personally are the least worried about out with the Sacramento Kings right now if you want to share your answer please do so if you’re watching on YouTube get loose in the comment section down below if you want to reach me on Twitter or X you can Matt George sack and you can email me Matt Georg Sports atgmailcom what are you least concerned about with the Sacramento Kings right now at this early point in the offseason Kevin and I answer right here on lockon Kings welcome into the ABC 10 sports office we’re bringing lockon Kings into the ABC C10 world with my partner in crime Kevin John Kevin and I have done a number of podcasts together Kevin one of my favorite podcasts that we did a little over a year ago was when in between games two and three right we’re in the car driving down to the Bay Area driving down to the Trade Center the Kings had a two lead in the series against the Warriors at the time we don’t need to talk about how that series ended up but that was I think one of the first times that we did a podcast together now we’re kind of in the early stages of of the off season right it’s it’s like the Calm before the storm it feels like before we dive into what I really want to focus on today which is things that we are and aren’t concerned about about the state of the Sacramento Kings right now just your kind of gut feeling feeling like we’re almost in June which is draft month then we get into summer league sooner or later we’ll get into free agency and stuff like that just do you feel like this is going to be a summer worth all the hype that has a lot of moves and a lot of things that’s going to keep the both of us busy or do you think this kind of feels like it’s going to be one of those Summers where we expect a lot and it’s Ely a let down well first of all Matt let’s go back a year ago to last summer I don’t want to uh well yeah the reason I say that not in a bad way by the way it’s funny the podcast we were talking about last time we were driving up to San Francisco kings were up two and0 we were feeling optimistic and then they lost the subsequent two games and we know how that series ended up Matt so they lost game three without Draymond because they’re better without Draymond by the way well with that bead said uh you know when you look when you look ahead and you look at this summer The reason I wanted to compare last summer to this this summer is cuz remember last summer even though they had lost that series to Golden State they went seven games with them there was a high level of optimism for sure and you saw it with the team you felt it with the city with the franchise overall you felt they were going into last offseason wow it’s we’re only going to go up from here there’s a lot to build on from here it was one of the first off Seasons Matts in what 15 years where I think Sacramento Kings fans truly felt optimistic with the direction of the franchise where they were headed we had two all-nba players last year granted third team and dearen fox de Mon sabonis and the the trajectory was high Mike Brown had just won Coach of the Year Monty mcir run executive of the year so Matt going back to last year at the same exact time I believe the optimism was through the roof for the Sacramento Kings and you were like this is a team a year from now who’s going to make a late run into the playoffs and is on the right track we were hoping now fast forward to this season and this year and where we’re at and dear God it’s it’s safe to say I almost feel like the Kings took a step back from where they were last year I mean at this and numbers will say they did yeah I was about I mean if you just want to look at the games won they won 48 games last year third seed they won 46 games this year ninth seed and um we we they missed the playoffs alog together so before I got of talk about you know the off season just when you think about from last year to this year it’s just a drastically different drastic changes this the way this season ended Matt could not have been more disappointing you’re literally in the six seed with what two to three weeks left in the regular season you lose some games you really could have won and then you find yourself in a playin game or or playing tournament now the Silver Lining mat they got to end the Warriors season this year and potentially the Warriors Dynasty that’s not a bad consolation price exactly so I was going to say for what it’s worth even though they didn’t make the playoffs the fact that they ended the team season who ended their season last year is somewhat of Revenge but all right now to get now now to kind of break down what you were talking about when you look at this off season right now Matt I honestly think it’s not going to be a quiet relaxing off season and the reason I say that Matt is if you look at what happened during the trade deadline back in February it was relatively quiet Monty McNair did not pull the the trigger on a lot of things there was talk about Pascal seakan but I guess Pascal would not have signed to stay here or an extension here in Sacramento so needless to say it was relatively quiet the reason I don’t think this is going to be a quot quote quiet off season is because you’re looking at what’s going on in the west right now you’re looking at teams like the Dallas Mavericks the OKC Thunder um and you know Denver of course is going to be Denver Minnesota who’s young and getting so you just look at all of the teams out in the west and you look at the Sacramento Kings right now and you’re thinking okay what do we have to do in order to make ourselves competitors what do we have to do to make sure that we raise the bar and M there’s one nice thing I did see defensively the kings were were better this year than last year and that was one of the things that I felt last year they were able to hide behind their horrific defense because their offense was historically great but um clearly when you look at playoff basketball and I’m pointing to our TV in the office if they’re like what is he pointing at um when you think about playoff basketball you’re not seeing 140 points scored tonight 130 points uh scored a lot of these scores are under 100 points if you look at it so um anyway getting back to the off season I don’t think it’s going to be a a calm one because I believe that Monty McNair um you know Mike Brown all of them right now are looking at what’s going on obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen with Malik Monk and I’m sure we’ll talk about that later but I don’t really see them just kind of sitting back and saying okay you know not much we can do I honestly think that really if there’s any Silver Lining to the way this season ended maybe it lit a fire underneath uh Monty mcir or the you know the king’s front office executive office to do something now another thing I would make this off seon interesting is what the Kings end up deciding to do with the 13 pick yeah you know are they going to be busy at the combine looking at players or are they going to trade it away I mean that’s something else that’s going to kind of dictate how we moved with this off season but Matt I I just don’t see it being a kind of slow kick the feet up and just say let’s just let things play out I I think there’s things going on behind the scenes yeah I think a lot of Kings fans ultimately would be upset by a quiet off season they certainly don’t want to see the kings run it back even if that meant resigning Malik monk it’s a big move but if that’s the only move you do I think you’re you’re you’re not feeling too great although there have been some comments there were some comments by Mike Brown at his end of season press conference that suggests that maybe the Kings feel like if they were to go that route again they’re they’re the 46 wins and where they finish in the west this year is not accurate to where he feels like they can be and where they were going a lot of that has to do with playing in playing defense for 82 games instead of just the final third of the Season which is stuff we’ll get into but a big difference to me between last offseason and this offseason in addition to the optimism which you brought up is last season was kind of Uncharted Territory at least from our perspective right they’re going into a summer where the kings are coming off of a playoff appearance and there’s optimism and I’m the kind of person I think you are as well where we hold ourselves and I think a lot of people naturally hold themselves to a linear progression and what I mean by that is you constantly want to be just trending upward even if it’s small but you want to continuously be going in the right direction right I’m the kind of person to where if I if I stalemate or I even I take a step back it’s incredibly frustrating to me and Mike I think has spoken directly to me at times this season in media press conferences basically saying Matt like progression isn’t always this way yeah so yeah and he’s someone who’s been there before and and gone through it before so that’s what I think a big off difference between last offseason and this offseason is last offseason was kind of Uncharted Territory for all of us except for Mike telling us hey it’s hard as hell to get from good to great and now we’re we get it now we’ve gone through a season of oh God that was hard as hell to get from good to Great like the rest of the Western Conference and here the kings are now trying to figure that out so Mike just continues to be proven Right Time and Time and Time Again by the things that he says which is why I feel like I mean one of the things that should get done without question this offseason is an extension for Mike Brown today’s episode of the lockon Kings podcast is brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keep keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything that you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride the first time every time or you get your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home that win keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions do apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers I wanted to jump into this and we’re going to focus a lot on this for the podcast today we’re each going to share one thing that we are not concerned about with the Kings and then we’ll share one thing that we are concerned about with the Kings and it could be anything offseason related based off of last season future projected and this is something we want to hear from you as well so in the comment section on YouTube Share one thing that you’re concerned about one thing you’re not concerned about you can send that to me on Twitter or on xmt George sack you can email me Matt jports gmail.com Kev we we’ll each share one why don’t we start with you what’s one thing that you’re not concerned about with the Sacramento Kings at least on this day at this point in time one thing I would say I’m not concerned about is the role of the players and what the players on this roster know what they’re supposed to do and contribute let me explain what I mean by that because I’m sure that’s kind of vague well when you look a year ago Matt kind of coming into the kind kind of coming into the season excuse me two years ago coming into the 023 season it wasn’t when I say that we were kind of unsure what the rows were who was the Bonafide leader of the team who was the spirit animal of the team who was the you know who was the cheerleader of the team who was the defensive specialist of the team sure who there was a lot of these roles that we just did not know who was going to assume what role who was going to step up and be this role who was going to be the emotional leader who is going to be a lot of those things and I think that we’ve kind of seen throughout this season players kind of stepping up into the roles that I feel they’re supposed to be dearen Fox is someone who Mike Brown has challenged in the past to be more vocal and to be a leader and to kind of take you know um um initiative on certain things and we’ve seen Fox kind of dive into that role particularly this year granted he wasn’t an Allstar but still we’ve seen him take a step up and be more vocal with some of the younger guys and kind of trying to help out um and doing you know some of the coaching behind the scenes and whatnot even at practices when you see shootarounds and whatnot and you look at what dearen is doing and what he means to these players another person I um uh I want to talk about who was obviously an All-Star last year in all NBA players D sabonis we saw him go on this historic double double streak this year um triple doubles as well he led the league in that and you know there was a lot of questions surrounding D sabonis coming out of last season especially in that postseason Series against the Golden State Warriors where by lack of letter better words cavon Looney kind of owned him um particularly on the glass and I think that you kind of seen Damas sabonis this year kind of show you that he’s not afraid to be gritty he’s not afraid to kind of do the dirty work but still obviously be at the facilitator that he is I mean when you look at big men who facilitate I mean you have Nicole yic deas sa bonis those are only two ones that kind of come off the top of my head and you’ve seen deonis be more of a facilitator on offense and part of the reason I think uh we saw dearen Fox’s three-point um um you know percentage kind of H go up farther this year and his three-point attempts kind of increase this year and I think that’s as a result of just the spacing on the floor the only person I say Matt who I don’t think they know know their role yet and I want to see them come into it is Keegan Murray that was someone who I was expecting to take a dramatic leap this year and yeah he had that 47 Point freaking Ali against Utah I think it was I can’t remember um where he was ridiculous so we’ve seen glimps of greatness but if there is something else who’s uh speaking of roles and players kind of coming into their roles which is what I’m talking about um I would love to see Keegan Murray uh uh step into the role that he which is he could be a third the third option on that team um but and also with speaking of Rose I mean I think Malik monk who we’ll talk about later he embraced his role as the six man and running the second unit um obviously he wants to start eventually and that’s for another day but I believe that he really embraced that also other players who embraced their roles I think Davon Mitchell did a great job of embracing his role um he wasn’t in the rotation earlier in the year we saw that change uh come what the second half of the Season where he really embraced you know just becoming a a a great defender and knocking down three-point shots also somebody else toward the end of the season who I believe was one of the best stories was Keon Ellis a two-a player he came in embraced he became a starter obviously after Kevin herder went down but he embraced that role of who he needed to be which was a lock down Defender and he even did give you some offensive outputs at times so Matt what I going back to what I I I would say one of the things that I liked and I think that I would not say there’s a cause for worry is just players embracing the roles that they had and you’ve seen them take leaps in their respective roles uh this season today’s episode of the lockon Kings podcast is also brought to you by better help this is a fitting sponsor for a podcast episode when I’m with my partner Kevin John Kevin has and I I I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me sharing this Kevin has been through it in terms of mental health and being tested and dealing with severe depression and things like that and he and I are both tremendous suppor of therapy and of seeking the mental health that everybody needs to take care of themselves the same way that you keep active physically or need to take care of your body for your own health that way mental health should be taken just as seriously if times even more seriously to be honest with you now therapy sometimes kind of has a taboo feel about it it’s getting more and more common more and more comfortable but you might be on the fence about it I encourage you just give it a try your issues whether big or small small deserve to be talked about deserve to be worked out and you will be a better person your life will feel easier feel more equipped to tackle the challenges that daily life throws at you by seeing a therapist and prioritizing your mental health and if you’re considering giving therapy a try go to better help it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get match with the licensed therapists that you need and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge get it off your chest with betterhelp visit better health.com lockon NBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com lockon NBA you’ve set me up perfectly for what I’m not concerned about because you talked about Keegan Murray and I’m I’m not concerned about Keegan Murray at this point at all because he made a tremendous jump defensively which is something we didn’t see coming right we were hoping for and we saw the next step of the offense coming so much so that at the beginning of the year Monty McNair an interview with the athletic and in his interview with the athletic he said like hey we we need a big leap we’re expecting a big leap offensively from Keegan Murray so everybody was kind of expecting this is the next step of Keegan’s progression and Keegan just goes uh wrong the next step in my progression is going from a guy that had defensive potential to a one of the best defenders on the team immediately he’s the best defender at his position he’s the best Wing defender on this king’s roster now it’s debatable if he’s the best defender period I think Davon Mitchell Keon Ellis and even dearon Fox are in that conversation dearen Fox led the NBA and Ste steals for God’s sake so but I’m not concerned with the progression of Keegan Murray because we have to remember and and it’s and it’s kind of hard to feel this way sometimes because we think about the king’s timeline and they’re trying to win right now and you have Fox and sabonis who are in their Prime and in their upper 20s and Harrison Barnes is now in his 30s and blah blah blah Keegan Murray’s entering his third year in the league right and he’s he has shown this growth over the he went from his his essentially freshman rookie key year of being a three-point catch and shoot specialist who Mike Brown was challenging him to try and put the ball on the ground more and attack the rim more aggressively to this past season he kind of got a little bit away from that three-point shot he wasn’t as much of a three-point catch and shoot specialist you could tell he was trying to create for himself more but he attacked the rim a lot more aggressively this time one of the concerns I think I have if at all with Keegan and the Kings is think I think it’s a mutual issue is the games where Keegan starts off hot and then the Kings for some reason completely go away from him and I don’t know if that’s a Keegan issue of he needs to develop and grow more as a guy that says I’m hot get me the ball or if the Kings need to recognize he’s the hot hand and and say okay we’re gonna go away from Fox we’re going to go away from monk we’re going to go away from sabonis and keep Keegan cooking and they did that in the night that he scored 45 points so I’m not concerned at all about the progression of Keegan Murray because he’s just going into year three he’s shown steady growth he’s embraced everything that Mike Brown public and privately has asked of him um and I I have no concern like look there’s a reason to me why in every single trade conversation the kings are having to try and includ upgrade their roster Keegan Murray is the first name being asked about it’s because he is a coveted player at a coveted position and he has coveted measurements the size the athleticism the length he is what every team wants more of and the Kings have him just going into year three and he’s already this good he’s he’s dar good I mean I would like Keegan to show a little more emotion sometime on the quarter being a little bit more vocal he’s cuted out Mike Brown a couple times that is true that is true and and it’s always funny when you get that emotion out of Keegan because this is a guy who literally he could be going through the worst day of his life or the best day of his life and you would have no idea no clue but with that being said Matt you know one of the things when I was talking about Keegan’s progression and saying that I did not necessarily see him take the leap that I would have liked to seen him take this year you’re absolutely right you called me on it was offensively and I think because of he did last year he broke the record uh in his rookie year uh beating pass surpassing Donovan Mitchell for the first threes in his season and then Matt I got spoiled because I had a chance to see Keegan Murray during the Cali classic where it was the second year um the Cali Classic this past where he was just dropped 50 he I mean 40 points one night it was just so easy for Keegan right it was so now granted it’s the Cali classic that’s what you’re supposed to do if you’re that good that’s what you’re supposed to do is show it there right exactly and that’s what and that’s what he did so I was expecting you know I was expecting at least you know um I think it was the fourth leading score this year on the Kings if I’m not mistaken um as far as points per game yes behind Fox sabonis Malik um and I think he was right above Kevin herder but he was far above Kevin I think he was at 15 and Kevin was down at 12 but he he and Kevin flip-flopped this year so he was at 15 this year that’s right but you know back to your thing about the defense Matt one of the things I want to say and Matt really uh kind of hit uh hit in on this was defensively I remember this was earlier in the season last year we were at Chase Center for a game and as we all know Steph Curry has been a king’s killer y I don’t need to remind you of game seven last year in the first round of the playoffs but I remember the second half Mike put Keegan on Steph Curry and Keegan did a phenomenal job I can’t remember off the top of my head Steph stats in the second half but I just remember once Keegan went on Steph Curry it was completely different and he made Steph work for it and I think that’s one of Keegan’s more under well I shouldn’t say underrated but I think because Keegan is such a great shooter and offensively we know he can go off people don’t talk about how great a Defender he is because I don’t think people expected it coming into the league they thought okay he has the he has the tools to be a good Defender but in year two he showed he not only is a good Defender you can put him on the best dude on the other team and he’ll be successful absolutely and you you know you you you lock that up and you know obviously you look at the fact that he is being asked to do things defensively I do believe yes we will still get ke could still be a 20 points per game kind of person by year five six what if he wants to be they might need him to be yeah I was about to say yeah depending on what happens he but to be able to get that kind of um production on both sides of the ball from somebody is phenomenal which is why why you said his name is at the top of trade um other teams who are looking for him as part of a trade package thank you to Kevin for joining me here on this long Don Kings podcast but again this was just part one of our conversation on tomorrow’s episode we get a little more Doom and Gloom the things the two things one from each of us that we are most concerned about with the Sacramento Kings at this point in time we’ll discuss at length on tomorrow’s episode of lockon Kings so I hope you will join me for that if you want to answer your Mo what you’re most uh concerned about save it for tomorrow’s episode save it on this episode just share what you’re least concerned about or least worried about about at this point in time my pessimists out there will get to you in the next episode I promise we’ll hear your thoughts and air those all out too cuz I know a lot of you have plenty of concerns with the Kings right now so we’ll get to that I hope you will tune in for that episode but for now we are done until next time my name is Matt George you’ve been listening to lockon Kings part of the lockon podcast Network [Music]

Part 1 of Matt George’s conversation with his partner at ABC 10, Kevin John, discussing what they are least concerned about with the Sacramento Kings and their offseason.

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What About the Sacramento Kings Has You Least Concerned?
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