This Season Is A Turning Point For the Sacramento Kings
is this the turning point for the Sacramento Kings we’re talking about they you’ve got a a situation we don’t know how it’s going to develop over the course of the next few weeks few months with Mike Brown um you got a team that went from 48 wins to 46 wins who in year one the 48 win season people will tell you they left some games on the table at the end of the season because they were they were shutting down they were solidified they weren’t fighting for a spot anywhere like they were this year like they were the three seat and nothing was going to change that you can make an argument that’s a a true like that’s a 550 win team you could you could dearon and and number of other kings will tell you they left games on the table this year and Deen went as far as to say if we did what we were supposed to do from the free throw line y That’s we’re we’re we’re a 50- win team they didn’t in either situation they they weren’t a 50- win team year one they weren’t a 50- win year uh Team year two but we and I’m sure they believe that year one if they had run through the tape they could have dearon was the one who said yeah we we could have and should have been better than we were well you’re not to label anyone as excuse making you’re out of excuses here you’re like the you know the slack on the Rope it’s it’s tightened up a little bit like you can’t that that’s not a conversation piece what you should have done or what you could have done isn’t A Conversation Piece anymore it can’t be a conversation piece anymore I should say this to me feels like a year where okay if you think you were this in year one if it we we’ll use the term 50 win team you were a 50 win team in year one but you didn’t for this reason you believe you could have been a 50 win team team in year two but you weren’t for this reason okay you need to be a 50- win team this season 100% 100% this year this upcoming year is uh kin to the year the offseason going into the year they make the playoffs remember it felt like yo I think the the phrasing was the end of the last year they didn’t make the playoffs I was on here and I was like yo it can’t turn to 17 like it just can’t yeah if it turns to 17 everything is on the table with people that I like with people that I wanted to be here for a long time but everything’s on the table it didn’t they got to the playoffs they had a sense of urgency they made some Right Moves and they stopped that that drought it almost feels like this upcoming season is the same thing to a certain degree you miss the playoffs next year I don’t want to say I don’t want to say everything’s on the table you could say it because so I’ll tell so Jesse just put that note to the side and it like I read it and thought about it like what what does that mean the Turning Point like what what does this mean and I started to think to and I think context is important in understandingly people hate that context to why they didn’t win 50 wins the first time context to why they didn’t do it the second time that’s fine context is important if they’re uh uh if they’re approaching uh a top six spot at 50 wins and domas gets hurt the final week of the Season dearen gets hurt the final week of the Season or the final 10 10 games of the Season yeah like context to how things went wrong that’s that’s important um but I did think do you start to think about life without one of those two guys do you start to wonder if that combination doesn’t work together and I don’t know the answer to that because I don’t think you can have a conversation well if the Kings miss the playoffs everything is on the table Fair that’s a fair sentiment in on May 21st happy birthday to the notorious b Christopher Wallace but it also is well they missed the playoffs and here’s the story of the Season every season has a story and that’s important to this too Jesse do expectations change if Malik monk is in a Sacramento King this season do we kind of all right give him a year to work or whatever we kind of took a step back I don’t think so okay no what what sucks is if Le’s not back man that sucks all right Monty fix it and that’s and that’s that’s the true like that’s that’s another you know damaging component to what happened this season that’s another damaging component to losing in the playing and missing the Playoffs is you have a situation now that could alter your roster a little bit it could alter your Vibes a little bit and Monty doesn’t get leeway for it right like okay hey you know it sucks there was only so much that you could do okay you got to fix it like immediately like right now you have to fix it it sucks we’re going to miss Malik we won him here but sorry Monty you don’t get a cushion here you’ve got to fix this and so no I I I don’t think nothing nothing changes I I agree and it’s unfair it is unfair it’s on fire all right but that’s that’s where they’re at right now and that’s the the urgency of everything that’s going on man like you’ve got major major contracts on the horizon um contract extensions all this other stuff on the horizon and you’ve gotta you’ve got to have a direction the reason why I hesitate a little bit saying everything’s on the table because I don’t see a scenario where if they don’t make the playoffs they trade Fox and sabonis remember I don’t think so or fox or sabonis the remember before they make the playoffs I I would say like when people are like yo it’s this person’s fault or this whatever I’m like if you want to say dearon fox is the problem or they need to look at moving him I’m not here to argue with you but what I would say is there are about four or five things that you can do to this team and this roster and this franchise before you get to Trey dearon Fox that was the absolute last thing like we have no more hope because we’ve tried everything else and now we’ve got to move on I feel like and I won’t say one is higher than the other but I’ll just say trading either fox or sabonis if you don’t make the playoffs this year is the last thing on that list there are other things that you can do to try and fix that roster other pieces that you can trade other pieces that you may be looking to move before you get to all right man we just gota we we got to move either foxer or sabonis to reset this whole thing I don’t that that’s what gives me the um the pause on saying everything’s on the table because I don’t think moving on from one of those two would be on the table if you didn’t make the playoffs but everything else would be yeah we know it doesn’t start with the players but like what is what is it looking like for Mike Brown if they miss out I know how we feel about that and all that but like honestly if they miss out like he doesn’t have a contract extension right now so they miss out or whatever like well Jesse we talked about it and and Damian didn’t agree I understand why but they don’t make the playoffs Monty and Mike are on the hot seat so I would okay fine I don’t agree but if if we’re GNA play this game Monty seat would be hotter so if you if you if if you have a fancy car like KC’s and you than yours yours is more the interior is like literally custom let the guy cook let him cook you have the seat warmers like Mike Mike is like level one of the seat warmer but Monty’s like level level three no I got you I agree with that as well like Mike is a good coach and like they missed the playoffs and all that last Mike’s a great coach yeah great coach yeah yeah like like he’s one of the better coaches in the league it’s the more so like he’s got to work with something and I don’t think he has everything like they haven’t maximized it yet we’re still searching for Mike Brown guys and all that yeah they need they needed they need just a little bit more Talent on this roster and that’s where that’s Monty’s job because I think if you do get the talent like you do get an A Brandon Ingram type or even a Kyle kusma like I’m not like oh we’ll see if they can make the playoffs like oh no it’s go time now I think that’s kind of just what we’re missing at that point not even specifically like Ingram rusma but just we need to round out the roster finally I mean because look as they are I think they talked about it before they’re sealing what they could be I think they could be a team that is like fifth in the west as they are you know what I mean if you want to um raise your floor and your ceiling that’s where you got to get more Talent you know what I mean you like if you you get an Ingram or something like that it feels like your floor at that point turns into uh top six you know what I mean and you can get up to the second or third seed at that point you want to you this maybe that’s what this offseason is about maybe maybe I could be wrong you want to raise your floor maybe it’s maybe it’s not as important to raise your ceiling as it is to raise your floor see because I think you gota you got to make the playoffs I don’t think anybody’s saying you got to be a two seed everybody saying you just got to make the playoffs and you gotta do as much as you can to almost guarantee that isn’t your floor already that you’re like just a 46 48 win team cuz like it wasn’t great this season like we watched them all years like these guys cannot get into the flow anything but like they missed playoffs but they still finished around 46 wins or whatever where game out like isn’t don’t we kind of know their floor more so saying it needs to be higher oh I got you got floor need the floor the floor now is like the 10 seat I don’t think they go below that but you got to make your floor the six yeah yeah yeah I got it yeah but Jesse said something of a he used a phrase I don’t think we’ve used before Mike Brown guys like what’s it we’re searching for a Mike Brown guy and I don’t know who wellon Ellis is a Mike Brown guy that’s what it feels like right Kevin herder is not that’s what it feels like so I went back to look at the 200920 Cleveland Cavaliers team to try to figure out what exactly is a Mike Brown guy obviously you have LeBron James there averaging 29.7 points per game my goodness but it’s uh you have Mo Williams there who was a a fine score you know the league was different uh he he was second on the team with 15.8 Cleveland was not an offensive Juggernaut either that was one of interestingly enough the mics on Mike the the knocks on Mike Brown is he wasn’t doing enough for LeBron James offens offensively and he wasn’t surrounding LeBron James with enough offensively let’s let’s do this as you run down that that roster Mo Williams is closer to Kevin herder I’ll tell you who’s closer to Kevin herder or Keon Ellis Antoine Jameson Kevin herter Anderson verou Keon Ellis Anthony Parker yes that’s Candace’s brother did he play much yeah I would he played 20 minutes a game 28 he’s probably closer to Keon I it’s it’s he’s in the middle but he’s closer to Keon Delante Keon I’d say Keon well Shaquille O’Neal was on this team well Keon Ellis guy right there so let’s let’s do let’s do two more JJ Hixon herder and saduna sowz i’ like to say herder but I think he was like a good Rim Defender so I think you’re I think I think the ilowski take is wrong you think he’s more Keon yeah and I actually think the hickon you said I said Kevin herder is more of an offensive player that’s I mean we could I could have made this even more simpler be like offensive player defense yeah no yeah I know um but it it it was a mix it sounds like there was more of a mix than maybe people remember or anything or well but there I think the I think what people remember is there was no if LeBron is dearen there was no domas there wasn’t even a Keegan there were herders and Barnes with all due respect proba look they probably look at big Z is as the sabonis what was his number sure what was his number they were well this year this year this year was a bit of a he was 34 this final year they did I always point to this year Mike won 61 games this year um but IL galus this year played 64 games average well he only started six but like I said this was he only started six he started remember Shaquille O’Neal was on this team I know I know but he was um Z this final year seven points per game five rebounds less than an assist yeah that was that was the end ofy yeah that that that I don’t I think this was Z last year he might have stuck around uh for one Byron Scott year I don’t he did he stuck no he didn’t he was in Miami oh he was with LeBron he went with LeBron he was like I’m going with LeBron I’m out of here do not remember that at all he went he went man he played 72 games in Miami wow zow played 72 games in Miami he absolutely that’s crazy absolutely he did I thought that was more Joel Anthony ah 71 games with the Miami Heat that first year of the heatles but Z was a very good player for for Cleveland but he wasn’t the passer domas was no he was more of a big yeah but again most of the bigs in the league were that that’s what they that’s what they were um what do you guys think of Mike Brown player as like now is it just more so a guy who can knock down a shot play defense also because like I kind of thing that’s Keon Ellis I feel like Mike can trust Keon out there like if the ball comes to him he can knock down three but also like you can count on his defense no matter what is it crazy to say Davon might have finally turned into a Mike Brown player that’s a good that’s a good one right there and it felt like I think there were a lot of things going on with Davon oh have to ask someone more skilled in film watching like what like the dramatic shift was between when he was playing and when he wasn’t we can look at the offensive stuff and we talked about what he did regularly on the offensive end with extreme confidence his confidence level changed in the middle of the season for reasons known to no one but the people in that Golden One Center practice facility he just got confident every time he took a shot that certainly wasn’t there to start the season but it’s hard to for me to believe and and to davon’s credit he did dumb it down to that talking to Chris Haynes uh at Charlene’s Beauty Supply in El Grove you I’ve got to hit I’ve got to get consistent with my shot like Mike couldn’t leave me out there because I I couldn’t do what he needed to do on the offensive end um but he looked like you know Keon kind of took the spotlight because he came out of nowhere Davon was doing what Keon was doing when Malik went out second half of the season I don’t want to say like Davon completely like um matched his production or whatever but the Benin completely fall off because guys like daveon were stepping up too when Malik was done yeah yeah yeah I I I mean the other thing that I think about when we talk about like who’s a Mike Brown guy and and all this other stuff is how many does how many does Mike think he needs right like you he would want 10 Mike Brown guys right but that’s I think there’s got to be a little give there well that might get you 61 wins and a loss to the Celtics that’s game five that was that was a bizarre outing from from LeBron James um but like if you get stay away from those rumors forever yeah which I don’t believe by the way I don’t either yeah um Google it if you haven’t read it but the the you know like I think there’s got to be some balance right like there’s got to be some balance you need I I know people get on me about you know offense and all this you need some scoring man you need some guys that are straight bucket Getters and if they’re able to get Buckets and compete on the defensive in that’s cool too you don’t want anybody as just a Turn Style but you got to look at like you got to go to have some offense well I feel like it’s not just necessarily you can only be a defensive guy CU I was I think right now the Kings brought probably has seven seven guys Mike Brown would consider like his guys like a Mike Brown type guy who who you thinking I mean starting off the bench I’m goingon to go Trey Davon and Keon and then um it’s sabonis Fox Keegan and I know how we feel but it’s Harrison as well yeah I I completely agree so he’s in there so there’s about seven guys right there like Trey La isn’t necessarily like a defensive stopper or anything like that but more so he’s not I think some of the younger players might be guys Mike really likes too they’re just not not there yet yeah yeah so I mean the way I look at that you got you got room to go to go get you a a bucket ker I think he wanted DTE to be a mik br oh he tried his best he tried his best he tried he tried like you got and I agree with what you’re saying Jesse and that means you got room to go get you somebody you know go get you I’m I’m just throwing out the name I don’t we don’t have to have a long conversation about but you got room if you got all those guys around around him that are tough-minded and this is assuming that he’s not but tough-minded and you know we we’ll lock up we’ll defend and all this other stuff you can take you can go get you a Zack LaVine if you don’t think he’s that because if you got look at this the starting lineup you got four other dogs around them you can back to that you could you could essentially essentially hide him and let him be on you know one of the worst offensive players on the other end and let him focus on scoring as long as he makes his rotations and stuff like that why not we don’t we don’t I don’t think if you and I once again I agree with Jesse I think that’s an accurate assessment if you got that many guys that you’re confident in on the defensive end on that roster they’ll help make up for whatever deficiencies that that guy has or that guy will step up with those other guys around him they be like well I don’t I don’t want to look like the weak link out here so I need to make sure you know I’m giving the same type of effort giving my best effort on the defensive end or making my rotations and all this other stuff I don’t mean to pick on Kevin hder either but it’s a lot different when the guy who was not playing def defense is scoring 23 a game compared to 12 13 if Kevin herder if Kevin herder put up that same 15 he did last year I don’t think there’d be an issue but his scoring didp and and now everything maybe was looking funny in the light to to to m
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