Would Only Making the Play-In Be a Failure for the Sacramento Kings? | Locked On Kings

Would Only Making the Play-In Be a Failure for the Sacramento Kings? | Locked On Kings

I wouldn’t say I’m feeling better today after last night’s Sacramento Kings lost to the Washington Wizards but maybe I’m in a better heads space to have more of a conversation about it thankfully I don’t have to do that alone Jason Ross longtime Sacramento Kings radio broadcaster one of the hosts on sack

Toown Sports 1140 radio and the former host of the locked on Kings podcast the OG of this podcast J Ross joins me we’re going to talk about last night’s loss talk about the journey through this season and even going to focus on if the kings were to end up in the playin round

Is that a failure of a season we’ll discuss right here on locked on Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of lock on Kings [Applause] Hello and welcome into lockon Kings your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all season long today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $ five bet that’s 200 bucks if your bet

Wins visit fanduel.com loged on to get started my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here I’m the Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter for abc1 news I’m still angry I’m still bothered by that King’s loss last night make no mistake about it if

You want to hear angry Matt George and you missed last night’s podcast go check that out I screamed at a camera for for 30 minutes so if that’s what you’re looking for you can you can get that fixed over there today it ended up being

Like I I had already scheduled to have J Ross join me well before we knew the result of this Wizards game and thank God I scheduled him it could not come at a better time Jason has a really really Prof ability to to take these losses to be

Frustrated as we all are but to kind of break it down and and and and look at it for what it is and not erupt like a little mentally fragile volcano like I do from time to time so to have J Ross on today is actually really really fun

We have a really good conversation uh regarding last night’s game just the state of this Kings team what this season is really all about for Monty McNair and the Kings uh and then a a good a good chunk of this interview at the end is what I really want you to

Focus on which is us talking about the Kings if they end up being a play in team like is that a failure or what would happen in the postseason that would actually make this a tremendous success and stuff like that there’s really a fine margin between failure and

Success for the Kings this season which is kind of what we get into so I hope you enjoyed this for full conversation with my good friend and the original host of lockon Kings Jason Ross if last night’s game was any indication uh I didn’t take it too well

Last night’s loss a tough loss on the lock on Kings podcast so this interview this conversation with jayon Ross could not come at a better time Jay Ross the voice of reason sown Sports 1140 from the morning show of course long time Sacramento Kings color commentator J

Ross help me make sense of this loss last night because even though we’ve seen losses like this before this season based off of how the Kings have been playing really a five game sample size before last night I really believe that they were past something like this and

Then here they are it feels like every time they take two three steps forward it’s one gigantic step back a loss that not only sucks that you’re losing to a team that had only won twice in their last 23 games it’s a loss that knocks you two spots down the standings that

Should not have happened how how do you make sense or when you woke up this morning how are you feeling about last night’s loss not any better today that’s for sure Matt and I appreciate you having me on yeah I I appreciate you calling me the voice of reason and I

Would love to give you some like oh that makes sense there’s a profound answer I don’t think anybody has it and I think even inside the game trying to make it make sense when the kings were losing early it’s like what are they doing and then boom here’s that 180 run okay good

They figured this out they’re only down two at half they’ll probably win this one by double digits second half get hit again oh my gosh they’re gonna lo oh here they come they take the fourth quarter lead they’re gonna win this game I don’t know why they got to had to do

This twice but they’re going to win and then by the end they played with fire too long lost the game game and in an odd way Matt I would say some of the other terrible losses this year kind of made maybe some sense this one didn’t to

Me Washington’s not good they didn’t get a bunch of players back um they hadn’t they had only beaten two teams above 500 this team sees the Finish Line I didn’t look at a team that went you know Washington didn’t make everything under the sun they had a good night but it

Didn’t make sense and I don’t really have a great answer as to uh why it’s still happening and to your other point literally they had been playing better defensively the night before they had the perfect type of game on what you want to do in a game like that where

There was no mystery handled their business rested their starters um it’s just been a puzzling year should this bother them more than it looks like it does and maybe it does and they’re just not showing it to us and and and making it public but we saw the clip of Malik

Monk leaving the game early and frustration going into the tunnel before the final buzzer and I guess some people reacted negatively to that I’m curious your reaction to that mine was good like be pissed off go be pissed off because I want to see somebody upset I know dearn

Fox has kind of adapted this whether call it a coping mechanism or just how he handles losses now because early in his career J Ross you remember after losses dearon would not be taking them well um and and now he’s to the point where he’s straight up told us like as

Soon as I leave the arena it’s over and done with and he doesn’t let it bother him too much but should this be bothering the Kings more because this is four losses to really really bad teams we’re talking seller of the western and Eastern conferences Washington Charlotte

Uh uh Portland uh and and there’s one other that I’m missing but oh Detroit like these are these are games that it happens once or twice during the season okay like that happens it’s happening four times now and in a playoff race that’s likely going to come down to one

Game between the playoffs or the playin it just can’t happen should this be bothering them more um I think we’d like to see that I don’t know if there’s net win in that I mean I honestly don’t know the answer to that when you play 82

Maybe it’s is healthier to to move past I know when they’ve got a great win I like to celebrate that longer than hey they play again the next night it’s just not the way the league works but I think we’d all like to see it I I honestly

Don’t know if that will help them or not but it’s not only those four losses to me because there’s probably six to eight others where they either had a big lead or there was a maybe even a middleof the road team that was without three or four

Guys so that’s the thing I like you could even tell me hey you were G to lose to the Wizards and the Pistons those would be bad but if you didn’t have those others as well um it’s really been a strange year um at times they’ve looked better and at times they haven’t

It it’s just it’s kind of what day is it with them and that’s that’s been the hardest part to figure out but yeah I have no issue with Malik left the court early if he’s mad if he threw a chair like fine but maybe others would be like

Hey relax it’s just a game I I don’t know I think each person has to be authentic to themsel in that Mike is a very Cur I I absolutely love the opportunity to interact with Mike Brown basically after every single game and I’ve told him that before privately

Pulled him aside because he’s his personality is phenomenal what he brings to the table I just think he’s he’s phenomenal to work with and phenomenal to cover that being said he’s sometimes really tough to figure out not just with his rotations and with like sometimes

He’ll have a short leash for one guy but a Long Leash for another guy last night the short leash was for Keon Ellis who’s been playing extremely well but then there’s Mike will show up after bad losses where I’m like okay Mike’s gonna be hot and then he’ll be like yeah yeah

Tough loss and then he’ll show up after a win and be like yeah we gotta play better like the New York Knicks win last year where on national TV the Kings beat the Knicks and he showed up and was more pissed post game than I’ve ever seen him

Before I I’m trying to figure out if Mike is tactically doing this and and Mike has has talked about like not wanting to like drag his play or not wan to put more pressure on his players they know where their their their pitfalls have been so it doesn’t help anybody by

Him taking the podium and and throwing guys into the bus and screaming necessarily but like I I’m I’m just having a hard time with Mike of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable about the consistent problems I think that’s that’s the most concerning is these losses now the four losses that I

Laid out about these bad losses it’s been one month or it’s been each month since December one one bad bad loss every single month since December so this is spread out over the course of the season this is not just a bad stretch like this keeps happening so what’s acceptable and what’s not

Acceptable from Mike Brown yeah and I think even last year Matt we saw him a little bit more quick trigger on timeouts you know there’d be like a 20 40 run not even that it’d be a defensive breakdown he’s like timeout and you’re like oh coach well okay clearly he

Doesn’t like that and he’s not GNA accept that um and it’s not that he’s accepting these losses but I honestly think he doesn’t know how to get them out of it I’m not saying that hey every coach should be able to figure this out they’ve got a talented team I’ve been

Stuck on this they’re good they’re chasing greatness last night doesn’t make them great but it drops you back down to hey maybe they’re just barely good like you know just brings up so many more questions and it’s not exclusive to last night it’s not exclusive to Detroit or Charlotte or

Pick your game um and I think part of the reason like you said it Matt I’m sure and I said it and heard Mike Brown and dear and whoever else when they lost to maybe Charlotte two months ago well this has got to be a lesson what was it

Like you have that to avoid last night and that’s part of the frustration that those lessons I guess quote unquote haven’t been learned how I just wonder how much we should be looking at the stars too because I mean fox has had phenomenal uh moments this season deont sabonis is

Just having a phenomenal season period domas is the probably the guy that consistently is given us the most in terms of frustration after losses like he’s been the guy that’s just been like we got to play better we can’t be doing this that being said like I thought

Damont sabonis he continued his double double streak we I thought damont sabonis was awful last night not just the fact that he turned the ball over six times he shot what nine times in a game where offensively you can’t get going you’re scoring 34 points in the paint and your Superstar Center is

Shooting the ball only nine times like and that’s not the first time or second or third time even that that that’s happened this season but for this to keep happening for the team to keep falling apart losing games like this and running into the same I think mental

Hurdles just as much as physical how much of that should be on the leadership of fox and sabonis I have kind of a follow-up question to that too but I I’ll start with that part well I always go to the players to me first and foremost coaches are part of all of this

Uh roster construction is a part of all of this but on the night toight basis I think it’s how the players play and you know if I believe if Fox and sabonis were good last night good they would have won yeah they weren’t to me sabonis

You’re right I I mean stats were there I’m glad he kept the streak alive let’s break a record those are all great things and he’s played really well this season he was not that good last night dearen kind of worked his way to a good stat line kind of not efficient though

Um 30 shots six deals I love that but 30 shots no foul attempts took 15 tws 15 threes um so he wasn’t efficient I feel like if those guys were on their game um I don’t think we’re having this conversation about last night’s game we’re talking about a team that’s still

In six I mean that’s how fragile this is so they rely a lot on those two and if those two aren’t great then the others have to be great and that wasn’t the case either so all of that and they still had a chance to beat a bad team on

The road so that’s kind of where this team is and I don’t know um if it would make a difference honestly if if fox or sabonis just kind of in a huddle at one time like no it’s not going to be us let’s get this together I just don’t

Think they’re made that way and sometimes sometimes you need someone that does that but I I don’t know if the team entirely maybe they would rally around that but I don’t look at them as not trying I look at them as not performing not executing and I don’t

Know how you get to that um in a leadership way I mean you could put it’s a little bit like my analogy I guess and I don’t know if this would be a good one Matt but earlier in the year when they were just awful at free throw shooting

And I could see both sides of that I know they practice it you know they practice it shoot a thousand a day all right right what if they shot 40% the next game I mean they practiced a ton do you ignore it maybe there’s a thought in

That because I got to believe if all I’m told is I’m terrible at the foul line the next time I’m at the line I’m thinking about that and I think the last thing you want to do is think about it but hey don’t practice it sometimes

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The kings are a minus 420 outright on FanDuel right now to make the playoffs they are plus plus 310 not to make the playoffs so FanDuel is is is is expecting the Kings to actually make the playoffs in some capacity but interesting enough amongst the Phoenix Suns Dallas Mavericks and of course New

Orleans Pelicans the Sacramento Kings have the worst odds or or should I say best odds to make the play in tournament so there’s kind of a positive and negative way to look at that the the positive way is FanDuel expects that the kings are more likely to make at least

The play in than any other team that the kings are competing with the bad news is fandu also thinks the kings are most likely to be a play in team so it all depends on your perspective but you can bet on that you can bet on Malik monk

Winning Sixth Man of the Year although the odds on that are are are really high meaning you’re not going to get the best of payouts for that right now hey maybe that’s where you use your five dollar BET right put five dollars on Malik monk

To win Sixth Man of the Year you’ll win $200 in bonus bets when that hits just visit f.com lockon bet on College hoobs and the NBA until they cut down the Nets yeah my follow-up question had to do with Fox’s and and sabonis leadership styles because

I I think it’s a very Broad and unfair question to just bluntly put like is their leadership style a problem but Mike Brown shared a story with us a couple of months ago uh I can’t remember it was after a postgame press conference and he was talking about his early days

Coaching young LeBron in Cleveland and he was talking about a a a situation where they had practiced something defensively and it just was not working in a game early on in the season and he called the timeout and said guys what do you want to do should we do something

Different and LeBron stepped up young LeBron stepped up and said like F that this is what we practiced this is what we’re going to do and he pointed at different guys and said you’re G to do this you’re going to do this you’re G to do this and Mike said that Cavaliers

Team that year was one of the best defensive teams in the league so that’s a one game circumstance we’re also talking about LeBron freaking James but does dearin does sabonis need to at some point when things are unraveling like that if Mike Brown takes a timeout or

Even if he doesn’t and we saw a couple times actually domas pull the guys together yeah uh and so that might be happening but does does there need to be more of guys we’ve done this way too many times stop it you do you this you do this you

Do this let’s figure this out because on the court we’re seeing these big runs 180 15 last night so something they’re able to turn something around but it needs to I just need to see more to stop it from getting out of control and I know dece Mason has talked about that a

Lot you guys have talked about that a lot on the broadcast too it’s not just that the kings are going on the wrong side of 104 runs it’s 20 to4 16-2 it’s these massive runs that completely swing a game quickly they keep happening so is

Sabonis or Fox do one of them need to while it’s happening go everybody calm down knock it off get back to what we do because this team can’t hang with us yeah I I think what that happens there is my best read on this is part of their

Strength is they’re kind of a read and react free flowing offense I think there’s some charm in that um but I think when they get into those when it’s starting to go south maybe it turns into a little bit more I’ll fix it and sometimes Daren can which is great

Daren can end any run sometimes but if he’s not and he’s taking maybe an ill-advised shot or they’re hurried or it’s a bad shot then all of a sudden wow this was 70 but now it’s 130 or whatever I think that run extends um so I would

Kind of implore them to maybe even run a play or something that makes more logical sense I think sometimes they’re a little guilty of uh trying to work it out like individually as instead of as a team so you know it’s it’s a weird team again I’m kind of back

To I I should have an answer or these guys should have an answer I just don’t feel like they do in a lot of these questions earlier on you talked about you you’re you wouldn’t say that they’re not trying and I agree with you 100% and again these big runs that are happening

Are indications of they are absolutely trying it’s just they’re starting to try or they’re waking up a little bit too late or whatever the the case may be but like I I I look at last night in particular like I look at the shot selection there was a play J Ross in the

Fourth quarter that made me literally like just throw my hands in the air and go what are we doing here it was the the Kings had a five on four advantage after a Wizards player I think it was Cory kissper or someone went down like he he

Got a little banged up he ended up being fine but he was down and stayed on the ground for a while the Kings go back the other way five on four opportunity no one even comes remotely close to touching the paint and they settle for a Chris Duarte pretty

Contested three-point shot to me that has nothing to do with what the Wizards did defensively that has everything to do with you didn’t put in the effort or you didn’t put in the work to exploit one of the easiest mismatches you’re G to get which is somebody go inside draw

The defense in get a better if a three-point shot is what you want fine you can get a better one than a contested Chris Duarte three it has nothing to do with Chris it has everything to do with it’s a contested look so that to that play was an

Indication of and the fact that the Kings took so many threes last night and a vast majority of them were off of like one dribble pull-ups not paint touches which is what Mike speaks so much about to me that has everything to do with it’s not that the Kings aren’t trying

It’s just the Kings weren’t putting in the work to play their game they were just settling for this hero ball and like you said I’m gonna fix it not let’s get back into the game as a team they played about 10 minutes a really really good team basketball over those 10

Minutes they dominated the Wizards everything else was just Chuck and prey and I just don’t it doesn’t make any sense to me yeah the dwarte shot I know the exact play you’re talking about made a note of it while it’s happening I’m like I can’t believe this just happen

That the only way that should have happened was if somehow the Wizards played the most incredible four on five defense got the fifth player back and then it was a grenade for dwarte because the shot clock cut late and okay just got to throw it up with two seconds that

Was not the case it was five on four they didn’t space the floor well they had numbers and it just was not a very good offensive sequence at all and so they’ve been guilty of that the other one that you know the team really stands

By this and the the the phrase this year is the spray three so get to the paint throw it out get the spray three uh I know I’ve heard numbers like they wanted to hit or shoot 40 threes a game we’re a good shooting team that’s the stuff or

Great shooting team I don’t know that they’re a great shooting team I think they’re good and some nights they’re falling but there’s plenty of nights where it’s it’s fine you know we at about 10 15 12 um great like I just don’t think they’re great at that I

Think they’re good at that and so I think there’s maybe a little bit of an identity thought there like I mean big one of the big offseason deals was to get Sasha venkov now he hasn’t played that much but when he’s been out there there’s been moments again good not

Great um Malik can get as hot as anybody dearen there was a stretch man dear’s hitting seven threes a night what’s going on with him well that’s not happen all year uh off and on for L I just think you go across the board and I think they’re a good three-point

Shooting team a little bit like the team they’re good they’re not great and so um I think maybe offensive philosophy is maybe a little bit off too with the team interesting interesting that’s an interesting I mean I think you agree or am I off on that no I I I think this

Team is far too reliant on the three-point shot right now because you don’t believe that they’re I mean they’re good at it I think on paper they have a lot of weapons that in theory should be able to knock down a high volume of Threes where I agree with you

Is this Kings team struggles to get two of them or more on the same page on the same night like typically it’s one guy getting really really hot you mentioned fox in the season monks done that at times Keegan Murray went for what 40 earlier on this season and couldn’t miss

From three-pointer R typically it’s one guy that goes Supernova but everybody else like the Kings haven’t had too many games this season they’ve been a few and they’ve obviously won those games but where almost everybody was getting involved in the party and knocking down three-point shots but yeah clearly as

The playoffs indicated last year that’s not a recipe for Success because the Kings couldn’t hit water if they fell out of the boat from three-point range from most of that seven game series against Golden State so and maybe that’s to Mike Brown’s Point Mike’s talking

About we need to know and need to learn how to win games with our defense when shots aren’t falling it’s almost like he’s mentally preparing for games where where where it’s famine not Feast from from three-point range but I actually I actually agree with you I just hadn’t

Thought from that perspective because I think the kings are supposed to be a great three-point shooting team based off their personnel but they’re not yeah and I think and I don’t I pardon me I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I remember looking a little while

Back Matt and the most the highest percentage at one point the most consistent has been Barnes and we haven’t even mentioned him and i’ think of him as he’s fine as a three-point shooter but I would go L Sasha Malik Keegan what a year he had last year oh

Fox is having it stretches even sabonis will knock maybe one a game two every other you know every other game but yeah it’s Davon here and there DTE here and but none of them like man that guys locked in all year this makes this a lethal offense from three they’re

They’re all pretty good at it today’s episode of the lockd on Kings podcast is brought to you by better help sometimes we all need the opportunity just to get something off of our chest big or small certain things in life can really start to get to you it’s important to let that

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Well with the loss last night J Ross the Kings dropped down to eighth now they’re only half a game back of the Suns in seventh and the Suns in seventh they’re tied technically with the Mavs in sixth but the Mavs have the tiebreaker so it’s

Not the end of the world right they go they we’ve seen them respond to bad losses they take on Orlando tomorrow they could win that game and and be right back in the mix they have two games coming up against the Dallas Mavericks those games are a mini playoff

Series in itself based off of this situation but as of right now the kings are sitting in the playin spot and I mean there’s a very real chance looking at the schedule and games against Boston the Clippers the Suns the the Pelicans again there’s a lot of tough games

Coming up on this schedule there’s a good chance that this Kings team could enter the playoffs as a playin team I think a lot of Kings fans are going to chalk that up to a failure and and and I can relate to some of that or I can feel

Some like you go from the third seed to a playin team regardless of how much better the West got like that’s a that feels like a steeper drop maybe than it actually is if you’re looking at going from a third seed to an eight seed that’s a that’s a pretty steep drop in

Itself too uh too but where like how do you maybe this might not be a possible question to ask because we still need some context but how how would you feel about looking from 10,000 feet up the Kings regardless of what happens in the playin we get to the very last day of

The season and we know okay it’s going to be the Kings and the suns in the opening round of the play and the Suns of the seventh seed the kings of the eighth seed man that is a failure or okay that’s fine I mean there’s so many layers to

That right I mean I think it would 100% of that would depend on probably the next steps right do they get through the plan in your playoff team then it’s kind of you could almost make the argument what if they won a home game as a plan

And they moved on as the seven seed or an eight like that’s kind of cool we would have taken that for many years I’m not saying you resort to that but um I I wouldn’t deny though that if it was Game 82 and your you’re playing Portland and

Somehow you lost in that theme of the year and lost game 82 and dropped to seven to be in the 78 that would feel disappointing but then like my next point would be if you then beat Team eight and you hosted or you weren’t hosting but you’re team seven now you’re

In the playoffs and you actually won the series I wouldn’t even care about the regular season sure it feels like way more context but there’s a long lot of ways to go there I don’t know how it wouldn’t feel slightly disappointing but I’ve also been on this thought a little

Bit I think we really maybe are guilty of and myself included comparing this year to last year too much in this sense that there’s a chance Matt that the Kings could win the exact same amount of games at 48 and be seven or eight I doubt nine but let’s say seven or eight

And some people would say failure and that I can’t tell them how to think but the West is clearly better and if we say and we’ve got a handful of games to rip them apart for uh injuries not more than last year but nothing like major detrimental but they’ve had more

Injuries and the West is clearly better you could almost argue their season is more impressive in a weird way I it would take some work to argue it but if we would agree that the West is better that they got to there with more obstacles and they had 10 games that

Think could go my gosh wake up and you’ve got 55 wins they’re a better that you could argue that that they’re better so I don’t know that we’re I feel like we’re punishing him a little little bit probably fairly because the West is better but I don’t know that they should

Be punished in that typical way as a failure of like okay so what if they finished seventh with 48 wins oh yeah they were third last year well it was a little bit my argument last year well the three and the six the difference was like two games right so when you’re 48

Wins and the eighth team I think had 45 are you really better I mean are you really that much better whereas um if the one seed ran away with it this year or if like the one seed was Boston in the west it’s like that’s the best team

This year right now I don’t know if they’re going to win the championship they had the best regular season that’s a difference between one and eight this year there’s not that much of a difference yeah I understand completely what you’re saying I think my my push

Back or what my reaction is and I think a lot of Kings fans would probably Echo this is this is the bed you kind of made for yourself you went through two trade deadlines and an offseason where you said we’re running it back we’re sticking with what we have so that those

Were three opportunities for you to make changes you didn’t make changes and like you said perspective wise you could say given the circumstances us reaching the same win total feels like Improvement but in what matters which is the standings and is winning and is building towards a championship

Contender which those are the words that we weren’t using those were the words that Mike Brown and dearon fox were using coming into this season you didn’t go anywhere maybe you tapped you in some ways you te stepped take took Min minor minuscule little steps forward in other

Ways you took steps back sure I think that’s where Kings fans and this is something I’ve talked about a lot J Ross I’m curious your perspective on it this might be a year when and and hopefully when we’re breaking down the king’s journey to a championship in in two

Years or whatever it may be this might be the year that from 10,000 to 50,000 feet up we look at this year and we summarize it last year was the the like the return the Renaissance the the dawn of the beam this year might be the

For lack of a better term separating the boys from the men of okay we know now after this season the context of which guys we want to bring with us further in this journey and which guys aren’t going to cut it that might be what this year

Is about you just hope that’s not a lost year when Malik Monk’s on the last year of his contract and dearon fox and damont sabonis are now another year older they’re still in their Prime they’re fine they’re not old necessarily but I just I I wonder if this is what

This year is about was just kind of figuring out who are the dogs and who is who’s the pup yeah I I think that’s a great point I think there’s a lot in this whole argument or this conversation so my thought on a couple things here

Would be um I agree on they made this bed right like there’s not a guarantee if you make trades you got better some we can point out some cases it worked some it didn’t I was one I thought they would I really thought they would I thought there’ be something actually

Kind of significant it didn’t happen so now you deal with that and that could be anywhere from more wins than last year to less wins than last year I would argue if they won two more games and won 42 this year uh it all be disappointing

Let’s say drop him to the 10 seed but they won a round it’s more successful like absolutely oddly weird like everybody because their goal was to improve on last year yes one of that is regular season wins sure if that’s not done to me it more importantly is

Playoff wins so if you kept the SE same team you had less wins than last year and you’re out in the first round or out in the plan it’s a worse year I don’t know how any other way you can put it that way but you made that bed that’s

Your roster but I think no matter what let’s even give him a a pie in the sky not even I don’t even care regular season where they finish but let’s give him a round win maybe even a good second round series I still think it’s been

Defined that this roster is not it and that doesn’t mean a fox sabonis Murray monk blow up but maybe um but it’s kind of the like I don’t think it’s it and it doesn’t have to be find that this is the championship team because I think it’s

Clearly not um but they’re closer to that I don’t think they’re not a lottery team to me um but what is it I mean you have a bad offseason you don’t make another move you make the wrong move and you go backwards that’s the worst thing

They could do so um I think they’ve clearly seen that okay we did get a good run at this for two years the come up year is the best year this year has not been as enjoyable but I think to your point you boarded it perfectly kind of

Who the who you’re going to build around I think everything has to be a fact finding Mission I think they I believe if they haven’t figured it out I think looks like we have I mean I think they know that this isn’t isn’t going to cut

It yeah Monty is in for a I think a busy and I think all eyes and a lot of pressure is going to be on Monty this upcoming offseason but there’s still a lot of context gather before we get there we’ll wrap up with this jross you’re 100 perent correct if the Kings

Win a playoff series like all this is a kind of a moot point and hopefully that is the case I I I’m also like I think the NBA has always has been consistently trending in more of a direction of the regular season matters less and less and

Less so I want to be careful because I I think this regular season and for the development of the Kings is tremendously important and can’t be ignored but again if the Kings win a playoff series regardless of the competition it’s like well the regular season had its ups and

Downs but ultimately hey look where the kings are in the postseason so I kind of feel that way but dearen Fox made a joke and it’s a joke that all of us I know your co-host Carmichael Davis made it we’ve talked about this so many times

Not just over the last two years it feels like over the last 20 playing to the level of your competition Fox made the joke of okay if that’s the case the good news is in the playoffs we’re going to be playing good teams not bad teams

So like there’s like a blessing and a curse to it should we kind of feel that way because I feel like I’m not saying that these Kings problems aren’t going to be exploited by smart good top-of-the-line teams because if the kings are a seventh or eighth seed they’re taking on The

Best of the Best of the West but I I have more confidence for the Kings against the Thunder or the Nuggets or even the Clippers to some extent than I do against the Wizards or the Pistons or the Spurs or whoever at this point in time and I don’t know if that’s wounded

King syndrome or if that’s like a legitimate character trait of this king’s team yeah I I mean I think it would be I think where we would get to with that is we would feel less pain if let’s give him a team you said Thunder they get the thunder in the first round

And the Thunder beat him in six games we’re all disappointed because the season ended but you go well the Thunder are pretty good they had a good year you can rationalize it more than how did they lose to the Pistons at home how did they lose to the you know those are

Harder for us to comprehend but your initial point that you said in there I think is kind of what dearon and maybe others might be thinking incorrectly on is yeah I believe they’ll be ready they’ll be coached they’ll scheme all that but the season long worth of

Problems don’t go away yeah and right now they fix free throw shooting it’s better uh I would not be stunned if game two of a series like wow they missed 12 free throws tonight how do you explain it because they did that during the year

Wow they blew a 20po lead in the third quarter who saw that coming well we did because that’s happened yeah it might have happened to the you know Hornets but it’s happening tonight in a playoff game when it matters more so I think the things that you do during the year are

Really who you are um but in that same sentence then it’s man did you see what they did into the Milwaukee Bucks how about how do they win in Minnesota twice they’ve smashed Dallas and like so they’re capable of all of these things and that’s what I think this year is as

A heads scratcher I mean I don’t think it’s well it does feel crazy to see them going far it just feels like it is because of the Wounded animal and what we’ve seen them do in a negative way but when they’ve been good they’ve been pretty darn good even with some flaws on

Their roster and flaws in who they could be so it it’s they’re a tough one to figure out I mean all all this we’ve talked about and it’s like I don’t I don’t know I don’t know about these guys it’s a different level of stress but something that will take meaningful

Games in March and April compared to where we were I know regardless of the ups and downs you and Gman have been having a blast on the radio call it’s been a really fun two-year at least kind of mini uh mini stretch that this team has has turned themselves around so keep

Up the great work of course over there on the Kings radio broadcast on Sactown Sports 11:40 in the morning with Carmichael Dave uh all the all the amazing stuff you do of course calling sack State football as well when football season comes back around Stingers up uh I appreciate you J Ross

Thank you so much for uh for coming back on the lockon Kings podcast who which again if you didn’t know J Ross started this podcast he was the OG and I stole it from him I snatched it from him like you elevated it you’ve taken look at

This we’re on video um looking sharp you getting people following you all the time you got numbers you’re you’re you’re crushing it you didn’t see the podcast last night of me in a multi thousand television news Studio screaming at a camera and frustration because I can’t comprehend a loss to the

Washington Wizards again so it’s accurate I mean like how do you explain that I don’t know you know what I was is you’re saying that you’re talking about like you know Dave’s very emotional he’s always all over the place but I think you know I I for whatever reason a

Strength or a weakness I have the ability though every night entering that building like they could have just lost five and like the music will start the song that you and I look and make magic eyes to when we hear d it’s like we’re here like something special could happen

And I know like next week the two games against Dallas are going to be so energetic oh yeah high stress but I love it I hope there’s postseason games you know it’s like you live for this stuff as miserable as some of this has been this year there there’s still some good

Stuff ahead oh I will take all of this even the lowest of the lows this season have been nothing compared to the lows that we’ve experienced over the last two decades with this Kings team to so we’ll take this every day of the week J Ross I

Appreciate you so much I’d have you on every day of the week if I could here on the podast podast but we’ll settle for every once in a while when I can grab you it won’t be the last time hopefully we’re previewing a Kings playoff series together coming up in the near future

But I appreciate you my friend I’ll see you soon enjoy the rest of the ride this year hang on Titan and we’ll see you for the 76ers and the Mavericks coming up sounds good thanks Man

Matt George is joined by Sacramento Kings radio broadcaster & SacTown Sports 1140’s Jason Ross to try and make sense of last night’s Kings loss to the Wizards and discuss if the Kings only making the play-in tournament would be a failure or not.

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Would Only Making the Play-In Be a Failure for the Sacramento Kings?
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