The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Are A Top Five Team In the West

The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Are A Top Five Team In the West

James ham in the building truncated version of the Insiders what’s up James what’s happening um yeah I think uh we still don’t know the exact dollar amount whether it’s 74 76 million it does look like um I’m I’d even say it looks like it’s probably closer 75 point something um if you start at like 21.1 um and and go up 5% every year so I don’t think we’ll have the exact dollar amount for a couple of days but once we do we’ll make sure everyone knows the exact penny that he gets in his uh sign and trade deal I I’d also point out we we don’t know how much of the third year is guaranteed as of today we know the first two years are guaranteed the last year is probably going to be a team option with some sort of protection for the player whether it’s like six million or eight million guaranteed in that final year whatever it might be so yeah good deal is did this come as a surprise for you when you heard that they were in on the Demar de rozan thing or was this something that had kind of been like yeah hey this is this is in the works for a while well I mean it certainly was in the works for the last couple of days leading up to Saturday night um you know our good friend Damen Barling was all over this um I I reported on Friday night that uh not only were they in contract negotiations basically but um but that there was also they already had a third team worked out um from what I know we kind of knew what the deal was on Friday uh just whether or not he would sign the contract and whether they could get him to be um sort of the the centerpiece of it so it’s kind of weird how you have to work these deals out you have to work them out and then hope that you can uh close a deal with a player and as long as you have some rough parameters when the player gets there and you start the negotiations then it becomes like a pretty small window as to you know what it is that you can do in a deal and and they were able to get it done what do you think he says about the Kings like as an organization now that they were able to land got like Demar de rozan like dear de R rozan wanted to come to the um Kings like he did have the Clippers as a suit or whatever you can even throw like a guy like mink monk in there too like he signed early back knowing like there probably was a bigger market for him outside like what what do you think it says about the Kings now yeah well to start with monk I mean I I think it’s really cool we we talked to Monk on Saturday morning uh as part of um you know they had their press conference to announce his signing his free agent signing and we asked him a lot of questions he did have somewhere else to go for more money he would like to start but he’s willing to take whatever role and on top of that um you know we asked him about about taking making sure the Kings knew early right and he said that’s like the least I could do like this this is the organization I want to be at this is my NBA home um but like by by me telling him when like what Malik was saying is like when he told them when he was coming back it was very specifically so they could go out and do what they needed to do to add more pieces because he knew they needed more pieces they knew they needed more pieces and just getting that off the books as as like a potential like you know really a catastrophe for the off season um I think it it really did help the team and gave them momentum heading into free agency uh James ham in the here on DLo and KC kadson and Jesse Topia filling in for DLo and KC um help me out with the financials of this um we talked a ton about Lori Markin we talked a ton about Brandon Ingram we talked a ton about Kyle kusma are any of those deals still on the table just from a purely Financial standpoint or because I know the kings are hard at that first apron so how much wiggle room do they have in a in a trade to acquire a high dollar player like that yeah they do still have wiggle room um I think you know like look there’s the first apron and then there’s also the tax like as of right now they’re below the tax and even if they sign I think if they sign one more player they’re still right around the tax so we’re going to have to see how they if they decide to be a taxpaying team and so when I’m looking at the like the financials of it this is pretty much a net neutral trade uh you can look at Harrison Martins made 188 million bucks uh Chris DTE made $5.9 million and they’re going to you put those two together that’s basically 24 million 23.9 million and it looks like uh demard de rosen’s goingon to make right around 24.1 million um but the problem is in the NBA when you do a sign and trade deal it does cap you it hard caps you at the the first apron so they can’t go above 78 million so as of right now what that does do well you can go above 78 million but what you can’t do is go above 78 million um without it being a league minimum contract so again we haven’t seen Alex Len sign yet uh and we haven’t seen Jordan uh mlin sign yet who are two players that we expect to sign with the Kings um but they’re they’re both on veteran minimum contract so in in a way you can actually because they’re hard capped right now 178 they can actually go out and like before they sign those deals they can go out and try to add a player uh into part of their mid-level exception and uh they’re going to get hard capped at 178 but then if you’re signing league minimum contracts uh even if it’s a veteran minimum which is like 3.4 million for Alex Len you can exceed the the first apron to sign league minimum contract so I don’t think they’re going to go over the first apron um but you still have wiggle room right now and then you still have the ability to make a trade so let’s say it’s kakusa right 23.5 million bucks you still have plenty of room between the the tax and the first apron which is about like it’s like $ million difference basically uh so you’ve got that room that you can play with right um and then you have the the contracts of players like Kevin herder or players like Trey ly or I don’t know you’re you’re gonna have some other like Colby Jones that’s on a league minimum deal but those are players that could be included into a deal to get closer to kozma’s $23.5 million salary so as of right now um you know whether you want to include any of those guys out outside of herder uh you know that’s going to come down to to mon McNair and to thec and how much he wants to spend in tax right um but you could still pull off a deal for a guy like kusma um Lori Markin only makes 18 million bucks so his contract could be a straight swap with with Kevin herder with no questions and it wouldn’t hurt your cap space at all what it would do is uh it’s going to cost you long term as far as draft capital and you guys had Sean Cunningham on from Fox 40 uh my partner of the Kings Pete and I’m sure he told you that he he’s heard from a lot of people in Markin and’s camp that that he wants to test free agency this offseason and really give it a look and so he’s a little bit more scary of a of a prospect to trade for just because you’re GNA have to give up a ton to get him and then you have no assurances where at least a guy like Kyle kusma you know again Kyle’s got uh he’s under contract for three years and and you got a good opportunity to keep them around long term right still with CR how aggressive do you see the um how aggressive do you see the Kings being like making more moves and all that is it just a matter of you think maybe they just Shore up the roster a bit with like a wing player here and there or or do you think they go hard after kman because they think it takes them over the top like how aggressive do you see them being going forward yeah as of right now I do know that uh you know as of this weekend that they were still interested in pursuing either uh Lori marinan or uh or Kyle kusma via trade um there’s no reason not to go all in at this point you know what team you have you know what the next three years looks like you’ve got deardo Rosen locked in if you want him for three years as long as he doesn’t tail off big time in year or two you you know you would assume that he could stick around for a third year um yeah this is is this is kind of a gut check Mo a gut check moment for the Kings where they’re looking around and saying you know if we make one more substantial move can we jump into the conversation for you know the team that could represent the Western Conference in in the finals and you know maybe they could I I don’t know it depends on the level of player you get the one player I would say it’s it would be really difficult for them to get at this point is probably Brandon Ingram and that’s just because he makes 36 million bucks and it wouldn’t be easy for them to come up with enough contracts to to reach that uh amount I think they could do it I you know but it would like at a minimum you’re talking Trey Lyles you’re talking Uh Kevin hder that puts you at 25 and and then you’re going to need more on top of that in order to stay into that hard cap I’d also say that like until the the uh demard de rozan deal is actually finalized with the league like until that deal is done you’re not hard capped so we hear everybody say oh they’re hard capped well they’re not hard capped until that deal is put through the league office and right so far we haven’t seen that and so like look at I just think it’s it’s uh there’s a lot of moving pieces here and I always tell people that and just because you put all your money in right now or or the the salary cap looks a certain way today it doesn’t mean that it will look that way in a couple of weeks or in a couple of months uh you know because you have all kinds of moving pieces here including you know the the 4.7 million um Jaylen McDaniel’s contract we don’t know what that’s going to look like if he’s going to be around if not um I mean they could always do something drastic if they had to and wave him stretch provision him and and save three million bucks right off the top and drop down lower so so again that’s what I mean there’s a lot of moving pieces here and and they’re cooking right now H and they’re they’re being as creative as possible I just want to clarify something just re real quick uh the kozma thing is not just us talking that’s the kings are interested or at least having conversations about acquiring him correct yeah from what I know the kings are very interested in in pursuing both kozma and marinin at this point still they do not feel like they’re done they also feel like there’s a move here that could put them in a really really strong position um not just to be a you know a top four or five playoff team um but actually a team that could you know potentially compete and that’s what you’re hoping to do at this point I kind of think the Pelicans aren’t going to wind up trading Brandon Ingram I don’t think so either I feel like it’s kind of moving towards these stays and takes maybe less than the max or something like that yes yeah we’ll see I feel like they fumbled the bag by broadcasting to the world that he was available yeah and like David Griffin I think after the season was talking about yeah we need to make some changes this this and that and yeah tough yeah I kind of feel like too with that team um like if they are going to trade him they’ve realized very quickly that the Center Market is dried up which is why you see them go out today and and sign a guy like Daniel Ty uh they need somebody because as of right now they only have a rookie there and and they need to go out they they traded both of their centers um you know here in the last or they lost Jonas valunas but they they also traded um Larry nass Jr um so like look they they’ve got uh they’ve got some work to do on their roster and financially they’re not going to be in good position at all and they know that and so it would behoove them still to trade Brandon Ingram now while they still have an opportunity um I mean certainly could try to extend him uh and then trade him next summer or something but that’s still the risk is there especially with Ingram and his in his history of injury I I really like him as a player and I think he would fit as well as any player on this team right here and I’ll also point out you know um Jesse you asked me earlier and I skipped over the the question like the King’s Landing demard de Rosen is is a tremendous you know like feather in the cap of these guys because they’ve never been able to go out and land a true free agent like this not since vat dbot now it is a sign in trade so there is like a stipulation there that it’s not truly just a free agent signing and and well us because we never look at the the Brad Miller tra uh sign the Brad Miller acquisition as a free agent signing we always think of that as a sign in trade because it cost him heo Turk L and it cost him Scott Pard but it’s the same exact trade basically it it was a sign in trade where they they picked up a free agent paid him a bunch of money uh and and were able to swap assets but I would still say that like the fact that the Kings for so many years have been trying to shake this exact like stigma that they cannot go out and get a player like this and all of a sudden they did um I I think that’s a big deal and and I also think it’s a big deal if you’re a player on the outside like ay kusma who’s been like a little him and and Han maybe about whether or not you want to go to Sacramento and he’s got a 15% trade kicker there could come a point where he goes you know what let’s do this that that sounds like a fun place to go play that sounds like a team I want to play for and I think one of the the really cool things about demard de Rosen is he can play the two or the three he can star for you at either position which allows you to go out and chase a guy like that like that that does the versatility of him really does help yeah big time um do you we’ve been talking a lot today about the concerns over the fit because that was my new- jerk reaction right in fact I I texted you it feels like man like initially it was like man this D rozan thing feels like a move just to do something but the more I thought about it the more it’s like well it’s not it’s a quote unquote bad fit if you’re expecting that player to stand in the corner and shoot threes because that’s just not deard de rosen’s game but it’s very clear there’s so much more to it than that um does the fit concern you at all you know I was with you initially Kyle like because you’re looking at this and you’re wondering what exactly um you know he is a guy who number one has a pretty decent usage rate uh he’s a guy who doesn’t shoot it’s not only that he only shoots 33% but he only shoots like three three threes a game and and you can’t ask a 34 going on 35 year old to reinvent himself you can ask him to to take more threes from the corner to help your team out um but then when you look at sort of the rest of his game I I would point to the fact that uh for 11 straight Seasons he’s averaged over 20 for uh seven straight Seasons he’s averaged 4.9 assists per game or more uh which again six of those he’s over five assists of game he’s a playmaker he’s a playmaker for everybody and I think everybody saw this team last year really fall apart when both herder and monk went down late in the season we’ve talked about this how everyone was so focused on the the 25 points per game and they overlooked the seven and a half eight assists per game that those guys put up on the board the fact that you didn’t have somebody else who could create their own shot outside of dearon fox once monk went down that was a huge problem for the Kings it was probably the reason why they didn’t advance to the playoffs and why they were balanced in the playin if they could have had a Demar Ro D rozan type player who isn’t just like oh he can create for himself is a dude who averaged 24 points a game last year he’s you know top I don’t know 15 in the league and scoring uh this is a ball player this isn’t some uh you know some guy who who pad stats on a bad team he’s a guy who’s who’s done it for years and uh you know is one of the best mid-range players in the game and so I think what he does do is he adds this element that the kings were just lack uh it is that secondary Creator and I’ll also point out him and dearon fox finish one and two in fourth quarter scoring like when things get messy deep in a game and you’re searching for answers this dude gets to the free throw line 7.7 times per game he shoots 85% from the free throw line but he’s one of the best finishers the best closers in the game and you don’t just have two of them now you actually have three because Malik monk is so good in this situation too so teams are going to have to pick their poison how do the kings attack and it really comes into play when you go up against teams that like to switch defense and you’re gonna have a mismatch a and you’re going to be able to exploit that mismatch whether it’s d rozan whether it’s Fox whether it’s monk in the final three minutes of a game when you’re trying to close somebody out how do you think this move affects Keegan Murray like good or bad like Keegan was thought to be like maybe eventually take over this spot that Demar going to have now as a third guy like do you think it like helps Keegan’s development more so like he doesn’t have to have that pressure on him right now like yeah how do you think it affects him yeah you know what to be honest Jesse I think that that Keegan Murray is still two years away from being the player that he’s going to be and and you know like he’s getting better and he’s really good defensively um but you know every every year every offseason he’s going to take a step and the Kings as of you know Friday they needed him to jump two steps forward for them to compete and all of a sudden you don’t need that anymore you need him to continue to get better but to get better organically and in a way that makes sense for him and allow him to build his confidence I I’d also point out that um D rozan is considered one of the NBA good guys so you lost one in Harrison Barnes but you got another one back and he’s gonna be a guy who mentors he’s gonna Mentor Devin Carter he’s GNA Mentor who he played with Devin Carter’s dad and his uh in Toronto um for Anthony Carter’s final season in the NBA um so you’re going to have all these Ties That Bind but I think having a new voice and another voice in the locker room that can just give Keegan Murray a different perspective is good and as you see demard de Rosen kind of age out you’ll see Keegan Murray hopefully be able to take over for who it is right now because as of as we look today the Kings just added their third best player especially on the offensive end and now it’s a it’s a coin flip between Monk and Keegan Murray who your fourth and fifth best player is and that’s a really good thing for the Kings that’s a that’s a good problem to have for the Kings if they can add one more player that to add to that fourth fifth mix a then I think that they would even be uh you know they would even have more potential here um you were talking about demard de R rozan and and the clutch points last year he was third in clutch Player of the Year voting La two seasons ago second last year and I went back because I I wanted to go see I couldn’t remember exactly what he did against the Kings Z Golden One Center I just remembered he had a huge fourth quarter seven for seven in the fourth quarter with 19 points H against Sacramento you imagine that game on whatever Friday night Kings went 14 to 14 from the field because it was just Fox and demard de roseen taring it up could happen the thing the thing for me the thing for me that that I keep coming back to with this James is this is a floor signing this elevates the king’s floor to a playoff team that’s what I believe I I think this is a firm top five team in the west now top six maybe um their ceiling is still going to be riant on a if there’s another move for them and B what Keegan Murray does like all of this still comes back to like hey Keegan Murray’s got a a leap to take if the kings are really going to ascend into that upper tier of the West yeah well I think I think the other ingredient there is how well does this team just how quickly does a chemistry build and how quickly do they figure out how to put these guys in in the right places um I agree with you it does still like Keegan Murray’s development is still gonna it’s going to be the difference between them being um like a five seed or a three seed probably uh I think that’s what you’re probably pointing to and um you know I I would agree with you but I’d also say like look they have a way to to change who they are a little bit here that so far the last like two seasons under Mike Brown they’ve been predominantly like a dribble Drive motion offense it’s it’s either it’s either Corner three or it’s finish at The Rim right and they get a lot of that with uh through running through D sabonis and all that they’re going to have to figure out ways to to get a lot more buckets in the mid-range and it’s kind of a throwback we saw the Spurs do this throwback about four or five years ago when they had to Rosen and they had LaMarcus Aldridge where they’re the only team in the league that’s not shooting up you know 25 to 3 threes a game at that point and it’s even gone up since then um but dearon Fox is one of the best mid-range jump Shooters in the league he went away from it this last season but the year before he was lights out uh Demar D rozan is one of the best if not the best mid-range jump shooter in the league and then keeg Murray said he’s also been working on his mid-range game as well so I think it’s possible that we see the king um sort of have a whole lot of different identities especially on the offensive end this season where they can they can give you so many different looks and it’s not just like hey we have an ISO player here and a bunch of Shooters to space floor on the other side I think it’s going to be more where they can hit you with different looks and quality looks and high efficiency looks time and time and time again and uh they have potential to be absolutely electric offensively yeah they’re going to make team defend areas of the floor that they don’t typically have to defend yeah I would totally yeah thetically were you going to say something Jesse sorry I felt like I cut you off oh that’s good okay thanks how much better did they get um after acquiring to Rosen like are they on paper off like now because we haven’t seen them play yet or whatever are they a top six team now do you think or are they still a team that can get into the play playoffs by way the play in no no I I would put them in a as a top five team um I like what they’ve done more than I like what the Pelicans have done um again the Pelicans have lost depth uh they lost n Marshall they lost Jonas Valen chunis um you know they made them yeah learning ants they made the move to go get uh to go get dejonte Murray but I’ve never been convinced of him as like a star- level player uh they lost Dyson Daniels in one of those trades too I believe um so it’s uh that team is they’re good um but I would put the Kings above them I also think teams like uh the Clippers like the Warriors like the Lakers they’ve taken a step backwards and I don’t think there’s any question about that um I’m really intrigued to see I have the Lakers done anything other than draft bronny and and Dalton connect because I don’t think I saw anything else and it’s kind of strange how they’re just in this holding pattern waiting for LeBron to retire well they did get LeBron to take like two million less than the max that’s a huge deal Kyle it’s big time I don’t know why they’re not favorites in the west right now and look at their cap situation it’s so much healthier now yeah it is oh they did oh yeah they got a new head coach oh that’s right a guy who’s never coached before dominating the content game I forgot about that I forgot about that yeah oh yeah joing the staff Drew Down brings up uh that that they also did lose um they lost uh Prince yeah torian Prince interesting uh okay we’ll that that’s it that’s all I’ve got on the Lakers guys sorry uh we’ll keep talking about what the DeMar rosen Edition means for the Bulls we will bid farewell to Harrison Barnes um and we will discuss um there’s something else I wanted to ask you James I’ll try and figure it out at the break all right uh Jesse Let’s uh let’s go we’re on ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Center yeah man I got it for sure I think I James can we do half an hour together what just two of us yeah yeah we’re used to doing that four times four times a [Laughter] day I was gonna you can hear I’m getting a little raggedy I remember yeah I know I’m I might yeah yeah yeah start pulling out some very white Tunes good idea about idea coming them next oh there you go no we’re not doing that I did not prepare any bits got it the Jordan mlin signing is interesting his uh his offensive rating and defensive ratings were were crazy he’s like a 111 offensive rating and a 100 defensive rating for a plus 11 net rating in 11 yeah yeah I want to ask about him for sure Jordan mcglauflin big supporter of the lamb chops brand all right he’s one of those players that like the numbers are all nice and stuff but it’s like why was he only playing 11 minutes a night um Tom how easy do you think the Kings lift protections owed on the Atlanta pick to free up their their other picks the Kings don’t have to technically do anything with Atlanta they can give a team a 2027 a 2029 and 2031 the 31 pick is now encumbered by the pick swap um but the 2027 will come with an asterisk that if it’s not relayed that year then it would be relayed the next and then it would have to like again the picks would have to change if they needed three first round picks which the only way I think that they would really need that is Market in and I wouldn’t give them three first round picks when you can’t guarantee he’s going to sign an extension um you could go to Atlanta and just pull the protections from next year and say hey is it okay if we do an unprotected first round pick in 2025 and they’ probably say yeah that’s fine I saw somebody today say if you’re excited about the 2025 draft just wait until you get a load of the 2026 class oh like oh sure man yeah yeah totally well I think the key is you want to make sure that you um you don’t tie everything up even if you give pick swaps like uh if you give up a 27 a 29 and a 31 and pick swaps in um in 28 and 30 that’s a lot to give up um but if the right players there okay like this is a moment where you have it all stacked up and you should be good during those years and those picks sure they could hurt but they could also be like the 25th 26th 27th pick in the draft so yeah I saw something the 2031 class I think that those kids are in sixth grade at this moment I don’t know just deep in the AA circuit the Spurs are they love the 2031 class David Jackson I I probably do sound like I’m I’m saying Pig swaps not Pig swaps Pig swaps Pig swaps I don’t know giving up a 2031 pick swap I thought was interesting I’m surprised he didn’t give up a 2030 but San Antonio has been collecting those pick swaps for around that area in case they uh they get really good with Victor womman Yama and they’re like trying to be sneaky sneaky but the 2031 like again the Kings can still trade that pick it just comes with the stipulation that the San Antonio Spurs can pick swap with the Kings wow I just saw the somebody said the analysis that this the Spurs won the trade because of the 20 uh somebody said 347 for the first ham freeze we got 332 hey we got 332 shout out show your bed slips please uh uh just in case my mother-in-law is watching England is who I am picking I’ll be very salty if england gets to the final I’m a big fan of penalties though I’m back oh he’s let’s go I switched internet we’ll see if it helps fingers crossed shout out Sophia Jones salute how you’re doing Sidelines the Kings just officially announced that the acquisition of demard Rosen wait the Kings got demard Rosen yeah what get out of town that means our hard cap officially yeah yeah it is it’s just not DLo or KC it’s DLo and KC the show but it’s Kyle Madson James ham Jesse Topia also in the building we’re holding it down for you until tomorrow KC will be back tomorrow DLo out on vacation all week but Kenny caroway will be back Manana uh got some news from the Kings just now glad didn’t deserve NE officially a Sacramento King toar Rosen yeah deal is officially done does that change your does that change anyone’s thoughts now that it’s been officially announced any buyers remorse from anybody man I think he’s too old a g it he got older like what are they doing they needed win I like before was official what tall is he three and D not dear Rosen I don’t like the fit they’re just making a move to make a move Monty back on the hot seat dear isn’t officially announced as a member of the Sacramento Kings um does the Jordan McGlothlin acquisition uh backup guard for Minnesota very good Defender um is that a sign of anything other than Devin Carter’s injury status does it mean that we can Bank on another one of their guards being sent out the door here during this offseason what is the Jordan McGloin signing if anything yeah yeah I think the Jord okay so first of all I I kind of like him as a player I mean he’s an undersized point guard but he plays defense uh he shot something crazy like 47.2% from three last year unlimited opportunities um you know again he’s a defensive mining guy posted an offensive rating of 111 a defensive rating of 100 for a plus 11 net rating which is is wild um for a guy who plays 11 minutes a game so like look this is just like a solid guy that you can throw in there but uh I don’t know how much he’ll play or anything else the Kings have plenty of guard depth uh but with Devin Carter being out and potentially long term this just became um something you need to shore up a little bit Shore up a little and uh again I would point out the Kings have you know dear Fox is their starter uh Malik monk can play the one Keon Ellis played the one last season Kobe Jones can play a little one you got a bunch of guys who can play the one the two uh demard de Rosen can slide over and play the two if you need more guard depth uh you still have Kevin herder on the roster so this is just one of those moves it’s like hey before everyone’s picked up we might as well pick up somebody who is uh solid and can help us out in case we get in a pinch is it really six to eight months for Devon Carter I don’t know um I mean we’re we’re hearing that he’s he’s having surgery soon um but I heard on draft night that there was a potential for like an 8mon recovery for from whatever it was and then um the number we’ve heard over the last couple of days is potential for six to8 months but I don’t think we’ll know until they get in there because if it’s just a laboral terror like what Kevin herder has is four to five months um you know and they would have him back on the court relatively quick you know you don’t want someone if you if it’s just a liberal ter they’re finding that you want to use the thing and start going after a couple of weeks um so the rehab actually goes quicker uh but we’re going to have to wait and see we’re going to have to wait and see what uh what kind of injury it is because as of right now um we just have Shams report of a you know uh surgery needed and there are so many different types of surgeries for a shoulder um he did hurt it during the pre-draft workout process so I don’t know when the Kings knew or if they knew when he did uh that that he was injured but I do know like at least one other team told me heading into the draft the day before the draft that um that he might be a little his his not might might be a little rocky because they thought he was going to be out long term with uh with shoulder injury and it’s something I I warned people of last week um you know after the after the acquisition and I don’t think it changes anything I think the Kings probably would have still made the pick he’s a really really good player and he fits everything that they’re looking for in a player um you might just have to wait for it until you know training camp or or maybe January um we we don’t know yet though yeah I don’t like it doesn’t like ideally you you would have all your players healthy and available right away but you mentioned all the depth like if if the kings were going to have a player out for the first you know however long that’s probably an okay spot to have it uh and I don’t think this this I don’t think Devin Carter is the kind of player either where obviously any rookie you’re going to want him in Camp you’re going to want him in practices as much as possible but I think his impact isn’t NE arily contingent this year on like uh hey he’s going to be super involved in the offense and he’s going to be heavily involved in these actions or whatever it is I think he’s a super high IQ player uh I think his length is going to bother teams particularly defensively and I think in his rookie year his impact is going to be hey go play these four or five hard minutes and just go make plays yeah yeah I mean this could potentially mess a lot of that up I mean he’s still going to be able to watch film he’ll go through a training camp watching unless it’s a much quicker recovery um again we’re going to have to wait and see what the the recovery is here but if if he recovers quickly you know you do want him in a training camp you want him going through preseason you want him getting his first Chase of the NBA early in the season when games don’t matter as much and and a lot of other teams are putting their young players out there um my fear would be that he gets back a little bit later and that really does hurt your opportunity to put him in the game um to to give him minutes down the stretch as you know guys like maybe Keon Ellis or or even uh you know Mason Jones who who looks absolutely phenomenal uh at Summer League um if a guy like that sort of steals a little bit of Limelight and a little bit of the the potential minutes here just because you know he’s 25 26 and has like a mature body um so we’ll have to wait and see what it means um it is a setback I just hope that it’s not big of a setback okay I have a couple things I want to talk about you mentioned Mason Jones want to talk about Cal classic um I didn’t even recognize Mason Jones dude he looks like a different human yeah really look at the roster and I was like who is number eight not he also looks like he also played really well no I think when you’re watching him he even moves different like it just everything about him is different um you know when he he came through and he signed with the Kings um to play in the G League he weighed 240 and he’s down to 195 man I mean that’s a a transformation we’re talking six seven months he’s dropped a tremendous 45 pounds is what he’s saying and that to me is absolutely crazy so at this point like look he’s got He’s got potential as like a two-way Wing um he plays defense hard you know he’s uh he’s a guy who attacks who’s put up triple doubles at the g- league level um who you know again he’s not like a a young Prospect he’s not like a 20 something year old guy well an early 20s guy uh but also like look he’s a guy that we saw last year like he’s a raah ra guy he’s a good guy to have around on your team who brings a a good spirit and a good energy to him he’s on a two contract and uh I think the the Kings made a wi wise decision last year to keep him on a two-way uh because now you have that ability to pull them up for up to 50 games during the season and uh that could really really be an advantage for the Kings to have a player that you know maybe can fill in quite a bit while Devin Carter is is uh although they don’t play the same position while he’s out of action though I thought Keon Ellis looked really good too just from a standpoint of he looked like an NBA player playing in the Cal classic that’s how that’s how it appeared to me yeah you’re you’re hoping that he looks better than everybody right that he looks like kind of did to me yeah you’re like hey why is he here he doesn’t belong here and and I think I think that’s exactly what we got he looked really good um he’s taking on more he’s doing more than he has before and some of that looks a little clunky uh but when he’s ready to uh you know play with the the you know the standard team um whether it’s Off the Bench or as a starter I think he’s going to have a really nice impact this season it’s really tough in these like Cal classic games to distinguish between like I think there’s a pretty significant difference between Keon Ellis looking as good as he did and like Adonis arms in the first game looking as good as he did because one of those is an NBA player who is playing really well against non-nba competition and another guy is just like the best of the non-nba competition and yeah I thought arms is like in intriguing particularly because of what he was doing passing off off the bounce and and like these one-handed little pocket passes it was it was impressive but very different type of dominating than than I think what we saw from Keon yeah he’s one of those players who are are trying to fight and and stake their claim to an NBA spot right and and you got to respect those guys like I I always have an affinity for the self-made man um the guys who you know what did he play in four different colleges you know and if he played in four different colleges there’s a chance he played in a couple of different high schools too um is somebody who’s just clawed and and and trying to fight his way into the into the NBA he played really well for the Memphis hustle last year and he’s a guy that if the Kings could somehow find it get his rights that he would you know probably make a lot of sense to have in Stockton and you never know maybe you do develop them the Kings have done a nice job the last couple of years of finding sort of Diamonds in the Rough and and developing them um but you’re you’re happy for guys who were able to Showcase themselves in in a game like this in a in a tournament like this and then maybe he gets an invite to Las Vegas if he gets an invite to Las Vegas maybe he gets an invite to training camp and and if you get that invite to training camp that’s typically where teams go out and try to acquire your rights uh so if they if they wave you um they can give you a signing bonus wave you and then if you stick around in the g- league for a little while uh you get to keep that signing bonus and that can that can sometimes be double triple what your your g-league contract is you mentioned the starting lineup when we when we were talking about Keon earlier um what does your starting lineup look like today um today I still think it’s Fox Ellis to R rozan uh Murray and sabonis okay but that can change which part um I mean fo fox fox and sabonis are locked in at the one and the five yeah yeah um who would go go on how now now what changes besides that well I mean here’s the deal like the fact that you just added another playmaker might not actually be advantageous to um to Malik monk because there’s no question dear to Rosen starting right so either he starting at the two or he’s starting at the three and that just depends on whether you add another piece to the puzzle um again if you go out and get Kyle kosma you slide kosma or Murray to the four uh you those who are your three and your four and and d rozan goes to the the shooting guard position and then your primary backup at the point guard is going to be Keon Ellis and your primary backup at the at the two is going to be Malik monk right so I I could see a way in which monk wins the starting shooting guard spot but again does it help you to have all four of your best passers your best Playmakers in the starting lineup um I guess you can do that and then you know just like sort of stagger all of your your rotations after that uh but you know like it’s not a knock on Malik monk to come off the bench Ben is it’s a position where if you’re playing in a starting lineup with a guy who averages 26 a guy who averages 24 a guy who averages almost 20 and a guy guy who averages 15 there’s just not a lot of shots there for you and uh there’s there’s an advantage to coming off the bench and being a guy who can get 13 14 shots as as the primary scorer Off the Bench in that first wave uh but either way you know Mike Brown’s gonna use eight eight and a half maybe nine man rotation uh for a lot of this season because he’s got the the horses now to do it I think they need one more when we start getting deep into the into the rotation I think they they I think they need one more Wing who can play like the three four that’s kind of where I fall yeah about it well I mean I would like to see the length in athleticism of a guy like a guy like kosma now again maybe the kma deal works out maybe doesn’t I don’t know what they’ve got on the table there um whether Washington’s what uh willing to do business or not um but if if he’s there uh and you can somehow get him he does add that that little bit of Bounce you know and I know a lot of people are like well he his usage rate is too high and all that stuff like look KY kosma was part of a a championship team it was in the bubble but still a championship team with the Lakers like he knows how to play different types of positions different styles of play and at this point in his career like 28 I don’t see him looking around and saying okay if I get to the Kings if I get to the Kings and I can average 27 a game and I can be a four time Allstar and I can somehow get to the Hall of Fame and all this stuff I think he kind of knows who he is at this point and that’s a good thing and and you might be able to work with who he is and you know have him do a lot more uh you know go to the corner type stuff but then play off of sabonis on the high pick and role um all of these things that we’ve seen the Kings do with other players I I just think that he would add another element to the team that you lack at this point and like look there might be someone else out there that can they can provide that same stuff I know people bring up cam Johnson and the chatty house and uh you know Dorian fny Smith and those guys but as of right now uh he would still be a pretty high level guy to look at I would worry a little bit about what that would do to Keegan Murray and and like how far that sets him back as far as like scoring option because he does have so much potential still the amount the varying amount of opinions about Kyle kosma is nuts it goes from like the Kings need to go add this guy and they will become a championship Contender tomorrow uh to stay away from him with at all costs what a fascinating what a fascinating damic yeah he he definitely um he’s one of those players that that really like you either love him or hate him and I would just say that the reason why I lean towards him and I and I bring him up is because he’s really really a good I mean like he’s very good as a basketball player you can not love what he does like on on W the Washington Wizards or whatever but that doesn’t change the fact that he still has like a skill set that’s very intriguing he can rebound he can shoot the three his his three-point numbers would look much better if he was off the catch and shoot versus um having to create for himself he can he can get out and run in all honesty he’s the guy that you really hope the Marvin baggley would be right when the Kings drafted baggley they were hoping that they would find a Kyle kosma type they could get out and run and space the floor with dearon Fox and it just never really developed um right and the other thing is Kyle like I was never a huge I’m all in on kousma especially after him choosing to go to the Wizards go back to the Wizards he had other opportunities including Sacramento last summer from what I know and he decided not to to go play for a winner and that’s always like a red flag for me when someone goes okay I’m I’m okay being here in Washington while we’re not going to be very good and now he may have thought hey Jordan P’s here maybe we can have some crazy fun and we’ll be the talk of the NBA and all that stuff right um but I I don’t think that that happened and then and I also think that there was a time during um during the season where he could have gone to Dallas and chose not to uh but at the same time you just can’t look away from his contract his contract is is 23 and a half 21 a half and 19 and a half for the next three years where Brandon Ingram makes $36 million right now and is going to want 40 for the next five years so you’re looking at 200 million there and then the same thing for Lori marinin he’s going to be 18 million this year but after that like affording him is going to be ridiculous and so building a team and keeping a team around these guys is gonna be hard uh so yeah just kind of interesting food for thought why why I think kma might be a good fit um is very specifically its contract its style of play a and then after that I think he’s he’s probably miscast where he’s at um I got lost thanks man it’s one of my favorite hats um Harrison Barnes I want to talk about him before we go uh I was looking at the clock and I was trying to do math in my head which as you know never goes particularly well uh no we got a couple minutes left uh just wanted to shout out Harrison Barnes one one more time uh heck of a pro he’s put together a really nice career and I personally just wanted to make sure that it’s clear that uh um because I I frankly was not a huge fan of his throughout this season um and and wanted to see more from him and I and I think a lot of people probably did uh but that was strictly about this year and what The Kinks needed and trying to get it out of him it had nothing to do with him as a person or as a as a pro heck of a heck of a player and uh should be saluted for his time in sack for sure yeah and a heck of a human being him and uh I wish nothing but the best for him and Britany and their little girl August uh really really good people and I really do think that um you know at a certain point you do need to go somewhere else and and him going there with Chris Paul to be mentors for Victor uh Victor wanyama just an absolutely Stellar move by the San Antonio Spurs you just picked who uh like Chris Paul is considered probably the best leader in the NBA and Harrison Barnes is one of the best community uh locker room guys that you’re ever going to run across and those guys will help him develop they’ll they won’t just help him develop as a player they’ll help him develop as a man and help him become the player he’s going to be which is going to be one of the best players that we’ve ever seen in the game and uh like so I definitely you know you lost one uh but Demar d r roen everything I’ve heard from about him too just salt to the Earth one of the best dudes ever uh media dream never turns down media uh just one of the NBA good guys as well um we have a minute so I think that’s it I we’re gonna get out of here thanks for hanging out James this is great yeah it was fun right it’s like we should do this more often Kyle in fact you know what tomorrow let’s just 10: am we’ll Rock 10: to noon it’ll be great okay we’ll try that we’ll try and see how it goes 10 o’clock tomorrow the Insiders 10 am right here on ESPN 1320 uh James appreciate you man we’ll we’ll talk to you next time

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