The James Ham Show – No Excuses Left For the Sacramento Kings
James ham and James I don’t know if you guys have have talked about this on the Insiders have you guys kind of you know dug a little deep about some of the weird stories behind the show aani thing yeah there’s too much weirdness coming out right now I I think everyone should
Be a little concerned um you know I saw a thread earlier on some internet sleuth who’s gone through and found bets that were placed in this city like at some point for a huge amount of money and then you look at SHI what he was supposed to do that
Night and none of it makes sense and you’re like like but I don’t know like look somebody’s tying it to to baseball because everything that I’ve read and watched even the guys who are you know kind of like have a side eye of it they’re like no I don’t think he did
Anything with baseball it was more so like soccer in Japan or something like that but somebody now they trying to tie it to baseball huh well well I mean like look this is the one thing that you can control if you’re if you’re a gambler it’s one thing that you can
Control like you can control what your how you bat in a in a game you can control how many runs you give up in a game and I don’t even think you know I I don’t know you know like look Pete Rose has been banned from baseball for life
For for gambling and like there should be heavy scrutin uh scru on this you you should be looking at everything turning over every stone and making sure that whatever he’s saying whatever his guy is saying is all on the up and up because if not you know again well well I’m ask
You James who should be doing that because I’m gonna ask you maybe me and you maybe Jeff passing if I’m if I’m Rob Manford do I want to know everything well this is the biggest star in my game do I want to know everything do I do I do I maybe have
A private meeting and say stop what you’re doing if you’re doing anything I’m not going to investigate I’m not going to go any further because that does not help me out at all I’m just going to tell you if you’re doing something stop it okay well first of all
We’re not dealing with an everyday average commissioner we’re dealing with one of the biggest morons professional sports has ever seen I mean this guy is a boob of Epic Proportion he is realistically just in the pockets of the owners and has no does nothing good for the game at all
He’s literally one of the worst Commissioners in the history of the game um I don’t think he’ll go down that path but that doesn’t mean someone else isn’t going to go down that path right because like look this thing to expose not only hey look this is one of those things
Where you better keep your hands off if you’re the commissioner you better stand down because you’ll get rolled up into this thing and just like everybody else will and these are like the the the money that Commissioners get paid first of all stupid like what are we do and
Paying these guys this much money you know it that doesn’t make any sense like you know again Goodall is was making more than the highest paid uh player the highest paid quarterback early on like none of that makes any sense at all so like look if uh if it comes out the wash
That that’s what’s happened here that that sh is dirty hey look man bye see you I don’t care what kind of generational Talent you are you know it’s the same thing I I have the same opinion of of the steroid era like look baseball of of all the sports is all
About the stats it’s all about the record books and if you violate that then you should not be allowed in you shouldn’t be on the field and you shouldn’t be allowed in the Hall of Fame Fame and you should be as far away from the sport as possible so uh to me again
A bit of a baseball purist here I just you know we what we don’t have right now is the right guy at the helm to handle a situation like this this guy is is is not a good commissioner he’s not a steward of the game he is a troll uh
Just like A’s ownership and you know like look I hope this isn’t something that unfolds and we’re not seeing see one of the greatest players we’ve ever that’s ever stepped on a baseball diamond go down like this but if that’s what happens you know like you reap what you
SE see and and I first of all I we’re having fun with it I don’t think Otani bet on baseball I really don’t I think he may have a gambling prog like everything points to he knew what was going on he may have a gambling problem
And it may be outside of B uh baseball I don’t think he bet on baseball but what you mentioned about the steroid ER and everything else like that I think because you can pinpoint a whole lot you can’t be selective with your your penalizing so what I mean by that
Is there were rumors that PUD Rodriguez was on the juice you don’t know he got in so I’m we’ll just use obviously the most uh famous example how are you going to punish Barry Bonds okay so like I didn’t know this is where our our discussion would go today
Because I have very strong opinions as a non- giiants fan about Barry Bonds so first of all you know everyone wants to like pinpoint that moment where Barry Bond started using and and I mean it’s obvious right his his head swells up like a watermelon um you know he can’t miss a baseball
He’s hitting everything that’s anywhere near the plate over the fence like you can see a moment where it’s crazy right and everyone well but he was Hall of Famer before that and then I would just like rewind and and tell you that I think like most of us understand like
Once a cheater always a cheater like there’s nothing to say say he wasn’t he wasn’t juicing in college that he was just using other stuff that didn’t nearly have the same effect that it did down the road but there’s nothing to say because it was so prevalent in the
College game at that point if you wanted to make it to the bigs almost everyone knew that you had to use the juice and you know I have friends that played baseball a a Col high level college baseball during that time and you know they sat there and made pledges to each
Other and say hey we’re not going to juice we’re not going to juice and then you come back from you know a break and you know your catcher gained 35 pounds of muscle and has acne everywhere and goes on to get drafted into Major League Baseball so like look there is no
Beginning date that’s my point because you can’t tell me that that he was clean the whole time and so with bonds like I just have a tough time like giving him any pass at all and I get that there are some players that shouldn’t be in that
That we probably will find out later or maybe we’ll never find out even in Big Poppy you know like there was uh there was rumors that he was on like the big report back in like 2003 all that stuff like look I that’s my point though James because
You said it perfectly there is no beginning date so so if that’s the case there should be no more Baseball Hall of Fame because you don’t know when it started who was doing it I mean what are Greenies you know what I’m saying saying what are there’s there’s stories about
Steroid use throughout Sports back in the 60s and 70s well I mean look at all the Raiders defensive linemen that just flat out diet of brain cancer L Alo John matusak you know guys that just Juiced and Juiced and Juiced and then died horrible horrible deaths like specifically so that but
That’s what I’m saying because you you hit the nail on the head there is no beginning date so you either say hey we don’t know a beginning date and we’re going to treat everything on the up and up and bring people in even in that steroid era or you don’t have the
Baseball Hall of Fame and I can also tell you it probably hasn’t stopped so like to to think that steroid use or per performance enhancing has stopped and like we’re out of it and now these people are going to be able to be in the Hall of Fame that’s a flawed way
Of thinking as well so if you’re not my whole thing is if you’re not going to just stop the Hall of Fame you can’t penalize select people yeah I I mean I I guess there is is you know sort of okay you remember the movie the big hit with Mark Wahlberg
Years ago um yeah and they had the trace Buster okay so so they had the trace Buster and so they were trying to make a call for you know I think they’re trying to make a call for ransom right and then the other guy had a trace Buster Buster
You know what I mean so so we have this like so I I get what you’re saying like they’re we’re never going to be able to figure out like so I I guess my point is you’re right like what we see now is you can see masking agents right but are we
To the point where they can mask the masking agents and I think the answer is probably yes but but here’s the problem it’s that when you have a guys like again bonds is like such a prime example where he gets to an age where most players start to go downhill and then
All of a sudden he’s yaked and he’s hitting home run after home run after home run and he he snaps with a normal like like graph right it’s like you when you had a your son you brought him in he’s in the 90 percentile in height he’s in
The the 88 percentile in height he’s in the 92nd percentile in height you can basically draw a string and see how tall he’s going to be by where he was at certain points in his life if you had that and then all of the sudden you get to
Like I don’t know you’re matching your height and your wife wife’s wife height and then you get to age 14 and he grows a foot and a half and breaks every single chart ever you’re G to be scratching your head aren’t you like what’s going on here honey like we had a
Really tall mailman like what is going on here right so that my point is like like you can’t just excuse Barry Bonds for literally going out and trying to break the record books by cheating because hey everybody’s doing it I mean what he was able to do after an age
Where he wasn’t supposed to be able to do that anymore and it’s the same with Roger Clemens I mean Roger Clemens is the other prime example where Roger Clemens was so great when he was young he gets to a certain point and he’s done
He’s shot we all saw it we all saw him take the standard like starts to fall apart his ER starts to spike he starts becoming a sub 500 pitcher and he’s over and he’s done with and then out of nowhere he bulks up and goes on to win four sa
Youngs like come on that’s to me it’s just a mockery it’s a mockery of the game and that’s where I kind of draw the line it’s like look I I can’t I can’t excuse what’s happening there and just like you can’t excuse all of these guys who again Rafael Palo hitting look at
His stats after the age of like 32 it’s just the most egregious Gody thing you’ve ever seen and like look sure baseball the pitchers were probably Juiced and so maybe he was getting more fast balls like there’s a lot to it but that doesn’t mean we just excuse the whole thing but
We because because you you talk about a guy like um Bond who got better at the end of his career when everybody was falling off and this is just this is just conversations that that people have had and rumors that are out there I don’t know I’m not accusing but all
Intense of purposes Mike pza shouldn’t have been in the league and he Juiced and became a Hall of Fame catcher in one of the greatest off he was what the 67th round he was picked as a favor to Tomy Lort yes crazy he was he was on nobody’s
Radar all the sudden he becomes this jacked catcher who is one of the most prolific offensive catchers the game has ever seen point is saying he was 67th round pick for a reason and all of the sudden he becames a Hall of Famer so that’s not the end of his career that’s
The fact of if he was allegedly if he was clean he wouldn’t even have been in there and he’s a Hall of Fame guy with no nobody says nothing he’s in the Hall of Fame it’s good we celebrate Mike P nobody says anything but this situation
We got to do all this song and dance about yeah I mean I get you there there is no like fair line where we know what what was real at what time and what wasn’t and Patza is probably a really good example of that um but he
Just let them all in James let I don’t think you just let them all in man I don’t think you just let if you’re gonna let them all in you might as well let Pete Rose back in let him in let pet Rose in and part of the reason why you
Let them all in is because you not you Major League Baseball you were complying in all this you knew what was going on so do not have a moral High Ground now all I get you going on yeah and you and you made money off of it just like the
Players did so let’s not let’s not be you know uh morally right at this point let these guys in and but I I mean it’s too late at this point like I think it’s already a joke as it is and it’s it’s lost a lot of luster as it is so yeah I
Don’t know it’s tough yeah I mean we’d have to go all the way back and like I don’t think there’s a way to to wh back the clock at this point but um again I I think for as much as you know steroids were part of an like an era for like 15
20 years that we know of like really strongly but also like a good 10 or 15 years where the steroids just got much much much better and much more difficult to to you know test for and hidden and all that stuff and so we saw a spike we
Saw a guys you know go back to like a lot of guys go go to the Dominican for the SU Summer come back you know gaining 15 20 pounds hitting the ball 20 feet further and then next thing you know they’re getting monstrous contracts like
We saw a lot of that like there’s all kinds of things that are going on here that that but I I just don’t think you can just say hey we just like again excuse it all and and it’s okay all of that’s okay and then like try to get
Back to the basics I I don’t know and and and again I think that’s why baseball is like it’s on its way out because you allowed something and the NFL might I mean it look on the juice now allegedly he got caught on allegedly know if he’s on now he was on very
Recently on the juice yeah yeah and he went out well and even NFL they barely didn’t work they barely messed with guys they’re like ah you get two games two games like he was on the juice and he got worse what happened with my boy Jimmy
Man he he went to Tristan Thompson’s guy oh Tristan Thompson was on the juice too I forgot oh yeah yeah who was the the one guy I think it was was it Danny ferry that got caught like in the the 2000s for juicing and everyone’s like really really has there has there ever
Been any kings that have been caught for for juicing I don’t think so huh oh I don’t know I not that I can remember um yeah I don’t but I also don’t you know it’s like I mean it used to be the joke you know when I first started covering the
Team it’s like you know the the whole marijuana policy or you know hey we’re doing random drug testing today gima let’s go and at some point jra’s like how come I’m the only one the only one who’s peeing in a cup like what is happening here they’re like all right Jimmer like
We gotta go again so D David Garcia brings up a good point uh Daren Fox was Loosely accused remember when he took the picture of him on on his um I think it was him working out he took the picture put it on Instagram and then the next
Day he was like oh uh I had to take a drug test today NBA made me take a drug test today yeah anytime you do anything where it’s like oh look how buff he is like you know Hill like sitting there flinging the ropes like yeah go buddy
And it’s like hey randomly I was tested today yeah so and uh people mention Tyreek Hill Tyreek Evans that that is not why Tyreek enhancing no no no no no so um is there anything else you’d like to talk about we can talk about aside from that disaster that took place in
The nation’s capital last night I I I thought you know we could do a whole segment on on uh you know Zach and Kelly Kapowski and you know like AC Slater and I’m all in I’m not a fan of AC Slaters anymore yeah no no not at all his
Company I don’t like his company um is AC Slater like the character of you guys’ generation who’s like the guy Z I like I was Zach oh yeah Zach Zach Morris he is a dude Zach was no Zach was way cooler than AC oh yeah was a
Hater yeah plus he like he he had so many like ridic like didn’t he call uh like Jesse didn’t call her mama all the time like there were so many things you’re like this is weird like all of it’s weird like oh don’t do that Mama like like what you’re high school
Girlfriend you’re calling Mama what is happening you did call that that was that was his nickname for for Jess man um but no man the Kings wow I I gotta I gotta admit um James I didn’t see it coming man I didn’t like I I’m not saying they’re
Above losing to teams that they’re they’re better than statistically um but if anything looking at this trip I thought it would have been the Raptor game instead of the the Wizards game man and once they got past the Raptors the way they did I I didn’t
I didn’t see this coming I didn’t I didn’t think this was going to happen they almost make you feel like somebody who just keeps falling off the wagon you know like well I had a moment of weakness and six VOD katonic you know that’s what it kind of
You know what I mean it kind of feels like every time you start to believe in somebody then you can’t and and for me from here on out like I’m not going to put anything past them one way or another yeah like I would like to you
Know like for years like the finger on the pulse of this team and you kind of knew what was going to happen you knew that even you’d walk into a day and think H they have no business winning this game tonight but I think they are
Gonna win and then they’d come out and they beat somebody and you be like huh I kind of figured that one you could see the bounce in their step you could see sort but now at this point like I don’t know what to make of it because it’s
Like every fourth game every fifth game even again here they had a an opportunity to win three straight have momentum going into Orlando momentum potentially going into Philadelphia and then these two huge games that are hanging out at that against Dallas next week and you know like I told Kyle today
On the Insiders like look I could easily see this team beating the the Mavericks twice and turning around and losing to Utah two days later like that’s just it’s it’s who they are and I I would love love to say that they’ve grown or they figured
It out but like right away last night I watched him play and was like oh no like here we go again and like I don’t even felt like they saw that here we go again they just couldn’t wake up they couldn’t start playing and it’s you know again
Like Mike talked about this with the the three-point shooting right like or the three-point shooting defense like hey I I’ll change the schematics I’ll change the system when they show me that they can actually run the system that I’m telling them to run right that’s what he
Said like you know if if they were doing what we were asking then I would say hey look that’s you know that it’s not working we tried it and it didn’t work but that wasn’t what was happening and all of a sudden again the kings are 15th
In the league in in defensive rating since the All-Star break they’re like almost top 10 I think so I I kind of feel the same way about like I a lot of people want to pile on like oh it’s coaching well first of all he doesn’t
Have anyone to turn to at all like there’s no one left he’s missing three rotational pieces in Kevin herder Sasha venkov and Trey lyes and whether Sasha is a full rotational player or not you know we’re he’s down he’s down a few rungs and the Kings still walked into
This season with like four pieces on the roster that you really aren’t GNA play and maybe even a fifth that’s joined the starting lineup now that you didn’t expect to play major minutes um but I kind of feel the same way going into these games like I would like to say
That Mike Brown just got out coached and that the game plan was bad and you know the Scout wasn’t great and that’s not just not what you see like we watch it from the moment they step on the floor where you’re like oh boy like they they
Don’t have any juice you know and it’s not a schematic issue it’s not a you know did you make the right rotation issue it’s not it’s none of that it’s are you going to shoot 10 for 40 from three or are you going to shoot 17 for
40 and we don’t know it until they get out there and so again I would like to tell you that the like there was something wrong with the the schematic last night and and there’s something like they just did something with the the scheme and they they play you know
It was it was somebody else’s fault but that’s just not like we’ve been we’ve been taught now that that’s not the problem this is a problem that this team has with showing up and being consistent and giving the right effort on certain nights and last night uh like I continue
To say I’m not trying to put lipstick on this pig I’m not it was everything about losing to the Wizards is is awful it’s awful like I’m not trying to do that but I will also just ask the question last night you talk about they don’t have it
And it’s not there tonight is it a little bit a little understandable with the whole back-to-back situation and what they did like not that they shouldn’t have won but not having that same energy is that is that a little understandable once again the good teams even if you don’t
Have the energy you find a way to win the game so I’m not excusing the loss I’m just saying like oh man just I’m a little sluggish tonight we’re a little sluggish tonight we we got to do something different to find a way to win or something like that but not having
The energy is what I’m is that a little bit understandable yeah so it’s it’s kind of what Michael’s saying here no juice because they were scheduled a a BS back to back towards the end of the season every team in the league is going through the same schedules everybody is
Doing the same thing and sure there are a lot of teams that are doing exactly what the kings are doing that doesn’t matter like these guys have been playing backto backs for their entire careers like this is this isn’t new Darren Fox was drafted in 2017 that’s seven years ago
Like he knows what a back-to-back feels like Harrison Barnes knows a back toback Damon simonz they understand a back-to-back so no and like look it’s a back toback against two really bad teams one of which you blew out and your starters didn’t even play major in
Minutes so I get that it’s not easy to get through customs and take your private jet down to Washington DC from from Toronto and you know try to you know get off your your festar plane to your festar hotel like yeah there’s going to be energy issues sometime but
That’s when you got to find it you got to dig down deep and say no no no no no we this is we can’t keep doing this we because I I mean if that’s the case then explain to me what the 73 win Warriors team did explain to me what you know the
The Boston Celtics are going to do this year where they’re going to uh like win plus like I I just don’t think it’s a great excuse and I’ll also tell you like when I first for the first like five or six years maybe even seven years I cover
The league like there were four games in five nights you’d have a back toback a day off and another backto back and then a day off and then another game you know you’re playing five games in seven nights they don’t have those anymore like the worst you’re going to face is
Three games in four nights and sure maybe this was three games and four nights with a couple of days of travel in there but man that’s that’s the worst team in basketball and there’s not even a question about it that was the most unserious team in basketball you just
Played and lost to I would I would say um real quick because we got to take a break but I would I would say James they tried to do everything you could they just they didn’t succeed because they got down and they did they did dig deep
And try to fight back got down again dig deep try to fight back they just dug themselves a little bit too but too much of a Hole uh at the start of the game there’s ‘s a couple other things I want to ask you including Malik Monk and Mike
Brown we we’ll get into all of that when we come back on DLo and KC is James ham of the Insiders of the Kings be right here on DLo and KC on ESPN 1320 James I’ll be right back sweet what’s going on people Kenny’s going to bust into the Fortress of snack itude
Wait for it um let’s see yeah I don’t think again like I I see in here the domos uh got outplayed by ran Holmes he gave up 16 rebounds to ran Holmes but look at ran holmes’ shooting percentage and everything else like I no like you had a point guard
Shoot 30 times and some of those shots should have gone to domas you should have tried to get easy buckets near the rim against a team that that had one Center and no one else like I I know the sort of the freewheeling offense is just
To push and push and push the tempo and get up and down and there is no time for Mike to call play while the team is running you know from one end the court to the next so I get that but like at at a certain point as players on the court
You need need to adjust and and make sure that you’re going to the the dudes uh that can score at The Rim secur to Yahoo a six turnovers for sabonis I think the kings are like six and0 when he has six turnovers when he has like nine and 11 they lose but we
Did this exercise one day and it’s something ridiculous so I don’t want to you know again it’s not a good thing for him to turn the ball over but it’s also sort of the nature of the Beast you have a guy who you know they run every single
Offensive possession through and to be honest they should have ran more possessions through him last night I would like to have seen him in the twom Man game turnovers on the season one two three four five six seven seven games with a turnover the kings are with six
Turnovers the kings are six and one in those games and then they’re 0 and2 when he goes nine and 11 turnovers so I don’t know understand that anomaly either that’s just a weird stat um let me see James do you think that fox not scoring as much at the beginning of the
Year indicative of the length of the season um yeah I mean like look is he running out of juice a little bit sure but it’s part of the maturation process you know we talk about it with Keegan we talked about even last year with fox fox had some roller coaster ride
Stuff um BS I don’t know if there was post game last night I haven’t seen any videos posted either they were on the road and to be honest with you I I believe Chris Beerman is on this trip and Chris isn’t big into recording videos and putting them up it’s just you
Know it’s not what he does and I don’t blame him because when he’s out on the road and there’s no one else but him it’s all proprietary your techn your information like nobody else has access to it so you can write countless stories that are that are yours that no one else
Can steal your quotes so yeah if I were on the road I would probably like and I was the only one there how I would handle that I would take the video but then I would process the video after I wrote two or three stories and I’d use the video as an
Accompaniment to the story because it’s my information it’s it’s one of the reasons why I’m not writing a whole bunch of long form stuff right now because it’s it’s impossible to get anything that uh that somebody else isn’t recording so even that right there Kings YouTube has a video does King
YouTube ask a single question do the kings ask a single question I’m going to guess no like they’re on the ground person maybe I’m wrong but most likely somebody is following Chris Beerman around the locker room and just recording his interview and then stealing his his intellectual property
And putting it out there and then saying well it’s our locker room so we can do what we want so it’s complicated now it’s become like a race to see who can get just the video up the quickest it’s like all right and I I take a little bit extra time to square
Fit it and Logo it and then I also spend a little bit of time because I’m using cinematic mode which is like full HD I don’t even know what the S what the conversation is about alcat I think they did because it doesn’t seem that far away I’m not a good swimmer
But they the well we came to the conclusion that they did get away yeah there are like three right yeah well what was it just was it two That Got Away and then the third one is Allen isn’t it no it was four it’s dummy boy Allen
Who didn’t make it and then three Escape one died and I think the two were brothers and they survived did they get caught again no they made it to Brazil or some somewhere in South America he said they sent post no and then one one story had them
Dressing up as women to their mother’s funeral yeah the sister said they did that I think yeah that’s not weird here we go it’s a Friday baby here on D and KC major Friday Vibes this this Friday Vibes it’s been a little bit more button up when you say Jesse a little more
Button up on this Friday yeah if the Kings didn’t lose yesterday nobody’s happy nobody’s in the mood for for jokes today that’s the other thing about this James ham of the Insiders of the Kings beat here with me as DLo is out uh On Assignment that’s all we should say he’s
Out on assignment uh right now not really he’s just not in today enjoying himself having a good time like he should um so a couple of things man first of all let’s salute Damonte sabonis um 52nd consecutive double double he’s still in line to get the to
To tie Kevin Love on Saturday and he would break the alltime or modern since the merger record he’ll break Kevin Love’s record Monday at home at the golden one Center so at least we have that still a good thing right yeah I think so you know again people can beat on sabonis for
Having a game like last night where it was he wasn’t as impactful but I mean if you can get 144 and six out of your Center like sure he shot six of nine from the field what is that like 66 % from the field
66.7 like I I don’t know like for me I I don’t get like there are limitations to every player and domas does about everything that he can on almost any given night if he could have had anyone hit a three-point shot he would have had a triple double I mean there’s no
Question about that and um and then if they would have hit anything from the perimeter then Washington would not have been able double team him every single time he touched the ball so you have to understand like all of these things play into them you know play into each other
And sure I think the king should have featured sabonis more down the stretch but a guy who is this consistent who what is it three or four games the entire season hasn’t had a double double crazy like it is it’s absolutely wild to see a player be this consistently good
On a team that’s completely inconsistent yeah I you know I I would have liked for him to take more than nine shots last night um there’s a number of different reasons for that but I mean last night was just a frustrating loss I I really think and I say this
Often with this team but I man they had opportunities last night they had opportunities the Wizards I mentioned it earlier this wasn’t the Spurs game that they narrowly beat San Antonio with this wasn’t Chicago uh where they blew the Le lead and Chicago and d rozan and Kobe
Wright were hitting everything in that fourth quarter this wasn’t Miami where hameh hakz was hitting everything that’s not what this was Washington was not on fire for much of that second half they weren’t hitting a bunch of shots there was opportunities there and the Kings would get opportunities back wide openen
Looks just couldn’t knock them down and that was that’s that’s pretty frustrating it they they almost and should have diverted disaster and they weren’t able to last night yeah it’s one of those games where you kept thinking well they don’t deserve to win the game but they probably still
Will and then they didn’t and you’re like okay well they deserve to lose that game that that’s exactly the thought process I had when I got done with it like yeah they fully deserved to lose that game and you know like we can point to a couple other things like again
Keegan Murray had eight points in the first quarter and then had a two-pointer in the late third to get to 10 and then had two threes in the fourth to get to 16 it’s like man I got to have more than 7-Eleven when you’re cooking but at the
Same time I I can tell you that Kyle kusma like manhandled him quite a few times and it wasn’t it wasn’t great like you had to figure Keegan didn’t like he did not play to his standard on the defensive end last night and so you have all of these pieces where you’re like
Okay I could have used more Harrison Barnes Harrison Barnes didn’t hit a three he goes 0 for two the same time he got to the free throw line and shot what five of six from the line and it’s like okay I I needed more I needed more free
Throw attempts from you slow the game down if if your team is beat up and tired then like go get high percentage shots and that’s the thing that I just felt like this team didn’t do like they just kept settling and it was a sign of
Again a tired team an exhausted team but like nobody is nobody’s crying a song for you here you got to go out and and play and you’re playing against a team that had 11 wins like and not like 11 and and 18 or something they’re 11 and 58 coming into
The game something like that this is terrible it’s a joke of a team it’s a team that doesn’t care like most Knights you know one of the worst defensive teams we’ve seen they’re what are they giving up like 123 points a night and you score
102 so yeah it’s tough It’s they did not rely on their Basics they um they definitely regress to like who they are as basketball players in this game and that’s you know guys who shoot you know a bunch of jump shots and stuff like that they did not stay to their
Principles especially on the offensive end which would have carried them through yeah I thought I thought last night um de’arra Fox he took 30 shots 15 of them threes there was a couple things going on there in my opinion number one I didn’t think I think he knew he didn’t
Have the legs and that’s where you get the 15 threes from you’re just I like I just don’t have a good feeling this just my thought but I don’t have a good feeling with my legs tonight I’m not feeling bouncy I’m not but I gotta get
Him up let me let me get this three up and you know in the fourth quarter I think he had 13 points in the fourth quarter five of nine a lot of those five came earlier in the first in the fourth quarter and couldn’t bring it home but I
Know a lot of people were upset with him taking 30 shots and mainly 15 threes and all this other stuff and I get that I understand Ed but I think it got to a point in that game where he was doing what he could to try and Escape DC with
The win and I understand that if you if you’ve taken 23 shots in the third quarter now’s not the time to be like well man I I better only take three more shots because I only I can’t be taking more than 26 man get him up and I saw
Him last night trying they’re all the whole time they’re trying to trying to avoid disaster and I I think that’s what happened a lot with de in that fourth quarter um where he was getting them up he had nine shots in that fourth quarter um but unfortunately they they weren’t
Able to able to avoid the disastrous loss to the Wizards yeah and I mean I think like look he started 0 of nine from the field and so if you if you take away the 0 for nine which is not something that we get to do but if you
Just say okay what did he do the rest of the game you’re okay with him shooting what 10 21 that’s fine and so maybe he did feel like he found himself but there was way too much settling and you know again I don’t know how many times I need
To hear Mike Brown talk about paint touches and spray threes like that’s what that’s your game plan and you didn’t do it you did not do that at all a lot of the shots were off the bounce um like again I can understand fox trying to will his team to Victory uh
But there was also like a happy medium there where you’re like okay do I have it do I not have it and I I don’t ever have a problem with Fox shooting 30 shots as long as it’s like within the flow and and it makes sense right I I
Just don’t know that last night game really was the right one to shoot 30 shots like you should have been able to to distribute the wealth a little bit especially when early on you didn’t have it so you should have taken a little bit
Of a step back and I know he’s trying to again will his team to Victory because I thought he was like I don’t think he was just trying to be selfish and like me me me he just kind of had that like singular mindset that he was going to
Try to you know get them back in the game I I don’t what I don’t ever want to see is again he can take 30 shots all the time anytime he wants but if he’s gonna take 30 shots he better be scoring 40 something and he better be hitting 17
Of them and that’s that’s kind of the way it goes like if you’re going to be that guy that type of volume then it’s got to be on a heater it can’t be taking 30 shots to score 25 points that’s not a good ratio ever no no but but but that’s
But that’s where I I talk about in the in the winning time in that fourth quarter you don’t worry about that if it if I if I if they need me to score 27 and I got to take 47 to get there but that’s gonna get us the win so
Be it and I think that’s where his mind was he wasn’t worried about I gotta take these I I’ve already taken this amount of shots trying to get the win that that the whole the whole fourth quarter they were trying to escape DC and they couldn’t escape it with with the with
The with the with a victory yeah I I get what you’re saying and then you know we have the the situation late in the game too where Malik monk um like look I’m okay with Malik monk losing his cool right there and I’m okay with Mike Brown
Losing his cool as well uh those guys cared they wanted to win and I I think you know we have the you know it’s like the Buddy comedy of of Monk and Fox right at at some point in a game like that I need Malik to go over and say hey
Man like it might not be your night and we need to do this a different way tonight and I know that that dearen has been more than willing to do that this season but sometimes it has to be pointed out and it has to be pointed out
By your peers and so whoever to do it in that game it’s like look man we got to get more demonus sabonis two- Man game we got to get more pick and rolls to the basket we’ve got to find Harrison on a on a postup or on a dribble drive to get
To the line again to slow this thing down and try to try to give us a break uh sort of just in the action so so you can take a breather on the second night of a back toback and so there has to be you know there there different ways to
Use the word accountability but like in the moment you have to be able to say hey look here are the receipts and I need we need to do something different here to try to get this thing finished now if you get hot we’re GNA feed you but if not like we
Need to try something different because it’s not working and I think self-regulation is the best Hye of Regulation and this team is still going through that but again I would point to like last week when when dearon and domas stepped aside and let let Malik
Monk do his magic not only in the fourth quarter but in the overtime section session in that big win that they had and I would like to see more of that where where somebody else is saying hey look you know we have to do this differently or having a player go okay
They have to embrace what’s happening in a game and go towards that and again when are they gonna do that for Keegan like and it’s because Keegan’s not saying it he’s not saying hey man I need the ball and until he does you’re going to keep seeing games like this where he
Shoots seven of 11 from the field and everyone’s wanting more from him and you know again the second and third quarter is basically non-existent on the court let me ask you a little bit you touched on it and we’ve been talking about it throughout the day and you’ve
Been around NBA players uh way longer than I have the Malik monk Mike Brown situation I always say I don’t like it right like I don’t like that but I’m also coming from a point of view of being a high school coach and being a high school player being a college coach
And a colle player an a coach and an a player that’s a completely different world than the NBA and I can see to that and I recognize that I don’t like it but is that something that typically it happened because this the second time we’ve seen it in a week something like
That happened with those two is that something that hey it’s just the NBA no big deal they say love each other so we leave it at that or is it something that you know either one of them because Mike kind of went at at Malik too where
Somebody should pull him and said like hey guys let’s not let’s not do this at least in public like if you guys want to have it out in the locker room cool but let’s not do this on the bench and all this other stuff I would take the
Opposite approach because I I think there is sort of and some of these losses for the Kings there’s a complacency like aspect that is really frustrating for fans to watch they they don’t understand the lack of emotion the lack of physicality the lack of energy I think that sometimes that the
Fans need to see that that stuff does happen that this team does yell and scream at each other on occasion and does try to hold each other accountable in certain situations and if it’s always behind closed doors and we never really hear about it you kind of get this
Feeling that like oh well I just don’t know how much they care and they care Mike Brown cares Malik monk cares uh dearen Fox cares you know deonis sa bonis like these guys they fully fully care they don’t always they’re not able to like show their emotions in in a way
That some people would like them to but I’m okay man Malik is a fiery player you want him in order to be great what he does on the court it requires him to have a certain amount of like fire like Underneath Him and a certain amount of passion and passionate people sometimes
They snap they yell back like I like we always joke around about like me popping off at people and stuff and like look I I’m a passionate guy I’m a very very fiery guy when I when I I’m super competitive like there’s no question like do I yell at coaches no probably
Not but have I yelled at a ref have I yelled at an opposing player have I yelled at a teammate sure like that’s part of being in a sport and like having like being a personality like that in a sport right and so I I’m okay with it
And again I’m okay with it spilling because I think if you’re watching that game as a Kings fan and you know like a lot of people shut it off long before that because they were just disgusted and frustrated and to be honest pissed angry like like disappointed all of
Those things but if you see the end of that and you’re like okay well good I’m not the only one who feels that way Malik monk feels that way and Mike Brown firing right back at him like okay like they’re not just taking this as like
Another loss no big deal we’ll get the next one guys it’s it’s cool no show me some passion show me some fire show me that that you flat out care and so I’m okay with all of it so I’ll have the the the counter to the counter the masking
To the masking just like the steroids era and I would say uh with all due respect to myself and everybody out there who cares about what the fans want to see if that’s not good for the team I don’t want I don’t need to see it
So if they’re if they’re good then fine but if stuff like that like for instance if I’m not saying this happens I’m just throwing an example if Keegan Murray is sitting there here goes Monk and Mike again and that leads to that type of I don’t care that the fans see passion or
Not that’s not good for if it’s not good for the locker room we don’t need to see it no but what I’m telling you is you see that stuff in the locker room like they these guys know these guys know who they’re around you know like just like
Like again no one wants to talk about like you don’t have a bunch of guys going on the record about what it was like to be in the locker room with DeMarcus Cousins like what we saw in the court was a microcosm of what they saw
In the locker room what they saw in practice and like there are a lot of players who walk away and you know we talked about it the other day about like the the Spurs right like there are players that that just flat out won’t talk about their experience with the
Spurs because it wasn’t fun they did not have a good time they felt like as basketball players they were they weren’t allowed to be who they wanted to be or or that they were you know run through drills and like too hard or whatever it might be like so like look I
I get it I get what you’re saying that you know there could be some players but this isn’t like a Mal content who’s doing this stuff all day long every day and you know throwing temper tantrums and breaking stuff and like half the locker rooms just sitting there like
What in the world is going on and another half of the locker room is going oh that’s just him that’s what he does like I think we just saw bleed out onto the court a little bit with Monk and and again I want that kind of fire from not
All of my players but certain types of players and and Malik is one of those players that like look in order to be to throw down those dunks that he throws down you got to have something cooking inside like you just flat out do and and
You know I think lastly on that Paul westwell told me years ago with regards to DeMarcus Cousins that he would always much rather try to find a way to tame the flame inside of a player then try to build a flame because if you can’t if you got somebody who’s just like Blas
And doesn’t have that fire and doesn’t have that that passion that energy there’s no way to put it to instill it in them and like again that’s that’s Monk and that’s Mike too like Mike is a passionate dude sometimes Mike needs to show that too that you know he’s there
Like what’s Mike supposed to do in that game yell and official I don’t think the officials had anything to do with a win and loss in that game love I love Malik I love Malik ain’t nothing changed I love Malik that’s my guy I love Mike
Brown that’s my guy too I would say like Kanye once said in the back in the day I ain’t letting everybody in our family business that’s how I go about it but you know whatever happens they just need to find a way to get a win on Saturday
In Orlando we’ll be back on Monday
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