What About the Sacramento Kings Makes You Most Concerned? | Locked On Kings

What About the Sacramento Kings Makes You Most Concerned? | Locked On Kings

the Sacramento Kings just missed the playoffs the Sacramento Kings are going into an off season where they could lose their Sixth Man and one of their most important players period in Malik monk the Sacramento Kings have clear holes that they need to fill and question marks everywhere so out of everything what are you most concerned about with the kings in the early stages of the off season right now Kevin John from abc1 my partner and I we will answer that question and air those concerns out right here on lockon Kings you are locked on Kings your daily Sacramento Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and now ladies and gentlemen it is that time time for another episode of Locked on Kings hello and welcome into lockon Kings your podcast HB for Sacramento Kings coverage all season long today’s episode is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs which helps you find qualified candidates that you want to talk to and it does it faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NBA that’s linkedin.com lockon NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply my name is Matt George I have the privilege of being your host here I’m a Sacramento Sports Anchor and reporter for ABC 10 News if you missed part one of my conversation with my partner Kevin John pause this episode right now go back and listen to it on yesterday’s episode we talked about what we are least concerned about with the Sacramento Kings at this point in time in the early stages of the off season so go back and listen to that if you haven’t already but today is for you pessimists today is for the Dark Cloud let’s talk about what we are most concerned about and again this could be a wide variety of things it could have to do with specific players like Malik Monk and the King’s resigning him or not resigning him it could have to do with the future of the Kings the past of the Kings something from this past season that you don’t think can be addressed or can be fixed it has to do it could have to do with King stars like fox or sabonis whatever it is let’s air it out let’s talk about it what you’re most concerned about with the Sacramento Kings at this point in time it doesn’t mean it can’t get better doesn’t mean it can’t get worse doesn’t mean it can’t change right we’re in May there’s a lot of offseason left but as of right now what are you most concerned about share me share it with me you can do so on the YouTube comment section if you’re watching on YouTube you can hit me up on Twitter or xmt Georg Sack or you can email me Matt Georg sports atgmailcom but let’s work through it let’s talk through it what we’re most concerned about about the Kings right now with my partner from ABC 10 Kevin John all right so let’s get the Dark Cloud out now let’s let’s talk about things that we are concerned about this offseason we’ll start with you again again there’s a million ways that you could take this but the first thing that comes to mind when you say say I am concerned about this with the Sacramento Kings on this right now late May going into June this is what I’m concerned about with the Kings it’s what Matt there are there’s one thing well there are two things but one specifically I’m concerned with the Kings sure them resigning Malik monk of course let me explain that that that’s a great we all want that we’re all scared of that but them reciting Malik Monk and potentially extending Mike Brown the reason I say I’m concerned about those things interesting is because is you look at them obviously everyone everyone wants them to keep Malik monk here who should have been Sixth Man of the Year no disrespect to NZ Reed but when you look at that um the reason I’m concerned is because if Monty and his crew said okay perfect we resign Malik monk we got him there we’re gonna have a healthy Malik Monk and then we’re going to extend Mike Brown we’re going to be perfect we don’t need to do anything else we got our pieces in place here we’re going to run it back for next year yeah I am entirely concerned with that because I don’t want them to say okay checklist we got Malik back check we got his extension uh we extended Mike Brown check we got that and whatever else and then them just saying okay uh you know wipe our hands we’ve done what we needed to do which is good stuff I’m not sitting here saying that that I don’t want that to happen of course I I I would love Malik M um back and Mike to get an extension but that’s not all that I would want to be done good isn’t good enough right exactly and and you said it earlier we we’ve talked about this whole good thing Mike Brown has said a million times it’s not it’s not hard to go bad to good it’s hard to go from good to great and I think that yes it’s good for them to get Malik back and and Mike Brown but is that great is that something that’s going to make this team mat a year from now are me and you going to be traveling somewhere for the second round of the playoffs to cover the Sacramento Kings and when you think about that I think there’s still more work to be done and my biggest concern is them doing is is them signing Malik um and getting um getting him on and potentially extending Mike Brown and then them thinking okay that’s all we need to do we can we we’re good now we’re good we got a good team we’re running back so that’s my biggest concern right there not to say it’s a bad thing but I still think Matt that you just we saw it in a trade deadline we’ve seen it with the West you cannot be complacent even when you do something that you think is good oh my goodness there’s other things that you could do that can be great to get this team to where it’s at now obviously Money Talks there’s all different kind of things behind the scenes um in order to make a lot of those things come to fruition but yeah my biggest concern is them resigning me Malik and then being complacent or saying that’s good enough so what you’re saying is that should be step one not the whole plan right absolutely shoot hell yeah this is I mean I’m looking at this like a five-step process and Malik is step one getting that done and then obviously there’s there’s more steps and more levels to it if you want to be a playoff contending team yeah no I I I’m 100% agree with you I thought initially we were going to go the route of I’m concerned about the Kings not being able to resign Malik monk because that is a concern of mine this isn’t my answer because I’ve talked about this enough already on this podcast but I don’t see a realm where the Sacramento Kings lose Malik Monk and are a better basketball team I just don’t it just doesn’t exist like they’re not I just don’t see a realistic way that they replace what Malik monk was Malik was arguably and this is no disrespect to Fox or sabonis Malik was arguably the most important player on the Sacramento Kings last season not the best but the most important to the energy that he brought to the squad on the court and off the court the leadership that he brought how he would carry that team when Fox and sabonis needed to take a break and fox need to take a breather because Fox can’t play 48 minutes and it’s hard to ask Fox to play more than he played like I think 74 games yeah like Fox only missed like eight or so games and that’s great for a star right there are scenarios where knock on W dearen Fox is playing only 60 games in a season you need a Malik monk to carry you through those there’s no replacing dearon but there’s there’s someone that can do the job about as well as you could expect and Malik is that guy to me so but that’s that’s not my answer my concern and this goes back to the question that I asked Mike at the end of last season is okay we saw how good the defense was to end the year like the final third of the Season that was the defensive growth that Mike’s been asking for and that was again proving Mike right Mike said like I would rather uh sacrifice our offense and play the way that we did to end the season and that gets us closer to a title than being the number one offense and scoring 120 points per game and you look at the playoffs and you look what’s happening in the playoffs there are high-scoring games every now and then typically from the Indiana Pacers but other than that the rest of these games have been in the low hundreds or high 90s sometimes even in the 80s so Mike’s being proven right again and again and again with what it’s going to take to win where I have my concern is Mike feels that this team still made progress this year because of the growth defensively I agree with that to an extent can you take that defense that you played for a third of the season when it was season on the line home stretch of the Season you’re trying to make up for injuries and you’re fighting for your postseason life can you do that for all 82 games and it’s less the start of the season because look I expect like look how dearon Fox started the season offensively right fresh full of energy coming off a big year pissed off that he was eliminated he’s scoring 30 40 points a night to start the season for the first month of the year so October November I’m expecting the Kings to have the same defensive energy I’m talking late December January early February when the All-Star break is in sight you are exhausted are you playing that hard physical tough-nosed defense that you ended the season with through that time as well if you are then I think you’re you’re a team that can actually make some noise and make a a playoff run and put yourself in a position in the Western Conference to avoid the play in altogether but if not do you have the Personnel to get you through that and that’s where the upgrades this offseason come from so my main concern because I haven’t seen it yet is that the kings are relying heavily on that final third of the season to become a full season’s worth of defensive effort and their personnel right now the roster is still not built to have that because even with the Keon Ellis immersion and dearen Fox’s defensive development and and and all and Keegan Murray’s defensive development this is still a roster that is primary loaded with offensive Talent so one of my themes of this offseason Kevin I’d love to hear your thoughts on this is get what you’re what you’re saying your goal is or the way you want to play your game plan make that and your roster in sync or on the same page because right now you have a roster that screams offense and you have a head coach and a game plan that screams defense get them on the same page well it’s funny you mentioned that Matt because I remember I caught a little bit of flack from this last year when I said this when they were going on their you know incredible offensive historic streak and whatnot and I remember I called I don’t want to say I called out Mike Brown because I can’t call him out he has a way bigger basketball IQ than me shut up Kevin yeah exactly he doesn’t even know who I am but he’ll say shut up Kevin and Matt he won’t care that is true yeah Mike that’s the thing I do like about Mike Brown he he’s definitely he’ll say what he means um but yeah a lovable coach but I remember one of the times I can’t remember was the NBA Finals postgame show or something that we were doing last year and I was like you know I remember Mike Brown he came in with this huge defensive intensity he’s always been a defensive minded coach and that was one of the things that he even talked about in his introductory press conference a year ago or two years ago excuse me was play defense and I remember that one time when we interviewed Steph Curry um ahead of it we we we asked Steph you know is there anything that Kings players should know about Mike Brown and I remember Steph even said if you don’t play defense you’re not going to play yeah and so there were these high expectations we had defensively for them Matt you remember how the Kings ended last not this past season but the season before last in defensive um defensive rating as far as the whole league nearly the bottom of the league exactly nearly the bottom of the bunch and it was one of those things it was like well we got to hold someone’s got to hold them accountable I get offensively they were outstanding and if you want to hide behind the fact that they offensively were great last year I I I understand where you’re coming from but at the end of the day this is a defensive um minded coach and also they’re going to miss Jordie Fernandez who is also another brilliant defensive mind as well um so which is a whole other story and congratulations to Jordie Fernandez but you know that was one of the things and I I I just remember saying well there’s the old cliche Matt often sells tickets defense wins championships and you already referenced it earlier when you’re looking at the playoffs and whatnot but the teams that go further in the playoffs are defensive M um minded teams and I do have to say even in that Series against Golden State last year we saw some great defense very much so we saw some really good defense the offense let them down in that that’s I’m about to say the offense but defensively they were great there so yes to answer your question is this team does this team have the Personnel or the the the roster to be a top defensive team in the league I don’t know I mean they have players you know you could look at Davon you could look at on you could look at Keegan you could look at you know you could look at uh dearon there’s players who they have who I think at the end of the day can hold their ground defensively but if you’re asking do I look at this team as a defensive team it’s hard to say yes because you seen you’ve seen Kings the king struggle against Great defensive teams throughout the year uh throughout this past season so while I’m sitting here saying yes I I I’m not sitting here saying this is a lock down top five defensive team in the league I do believe Matt that with this roster and with these players I do believe that defensively they can be great like you said we saw it the last third of the season but can you sustain that for 82 games out of a full out of a full year and not just the last 15 or 20 games of the Season that has yet to be determined but I guess answer your question I don’t look at this roster and say well they can’t do anything defensively or they can’t get it done defensively I do I do feel Matt yeah then honestly they can like I said at the top of the show today’s episode of the lock on Kings podcast is brought to you by LinkedIn when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the role that’s why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help find the right Professionals for your team faster and for free LinkedIn isn’t just another job board LinkedIn has a vast network of more than a billion professionals which makes it the best place to hire it gives you the access to professionals you can’t find anywhere else LinkedIn does all that while making the process easy and intuitive hiring is easy when you have that many quality candidates so easy in fact that 86% of small businesses find a qualified candidate within 24 hours LinkedIn knows that small businesses are wearing so many hats and might not have time or the resources to go through the hiring process LinkedIn is constantly finding ways to make that process easier they even have launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions making the process quicker and easier than ever before 2 and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring post your job for free at linkedin.com lockon NBA that’s linkedin.com loock on NBA to post your job for free terms and conditions apply well the reality is too it can’t be a defense or offense thing it needs to be the Kings need to get to a position and they even acknowledge this where they are top certainly top half of the league but top 10 if there are top 10 offense and top 10 defense they’re probably competing for an NBA champion ship because consistently you look at NBA champions and they’re in those categories not all the time but most of the time you’ll find a team that’s top 10 in offense top 10 in defense they’re not both number one but if they’re in the top 10 they’re winning a title because of it because they’re well-rounded on both ends of the ball Kevin I’ll say this last thing and then uh you can give us the last word here as we wrap up I wonder if you feel this way too going back to the Personnel matching the game plan I felt there were a number of times this season where it wasn’t necessarily Mike Brown’s Body language but his actions spoke louder than his words Mike Brown was not the type of coach that was ever going to take the podium he’d call guys out and hold them accountable but he was never going to be the guy that would throw anybody under the bus and he’s certainly not going to take the podium and go I have the wrong players on my roster to do what I’m trying to do he’d never do anything or say anything like that but there were times where Mike would be looking at his bench throwing Kesler Edwards in there throwing Sasha V enov in there after not playing for two weeks the flip-flopping of Davon Mitchell and Keon Ellis at times before he figured out the three guard lineup sets at the end of the season like there were times where Mike Brown’s actions to me were pointing to his bench subbing a guy in and he might as well turn to wherever Monty McNair was sitting and just did put his hands in the air like help me what do you want me to do with this like what do you want me to do you see the problem you see where I’m trying to go I’m telling you where we need to go I know they have this offensive potential but if we’re missing shots there’s nothing I can do to save them defensively we need to be able to carry ourselves through the games where we’re shooting 32% from three as a team like I just feel like those actions and maybe I’m reading too far into them but his rotations at time this season were a clear definitive message to his front office and maybe it wasn’t intended but I think the message was clear because I interpreted it from my seat way up at the top of the Concourse so Monty McNair sitting close to Courtside should be seeing it too this roster was not on par for what the Sacramento Kings were and are trying to do and that’s what needs to be fixed this offseason yeah well it’s interesting you mentioned the roster all the roster shakeups and changes earlier in the season cuz ironically that kind of goes against what I said earlier as far as people knowing their rols I do believe that people knew their roles later in the season but I do feel that that first two months I mean there were times we saw Chris dorte starting at the two there were times Kevin herder wasn’t even in the rotation as much a healthy Kevin herder shall I say and daveon how many dmps did he have um earlier in the season I mean it was just a shake I mean other than really Harrison dear and damis and Keegan you had no idea who was going to be on the court to Second unit or whatnot it was so much it was Kessler Edwards one night javelle McGee was in there a lot earlier in the season there were so many shakeups Matt I I I remember saying earlier in the season that this it’s going to be hard for them to build chemistry or or hard for them to build camarad Ry with each other out there when he’s there’s so much going on and I don’t know if it was maybe Mike Brown was trying to send a message to Monty saying look I’m playing everyone on this roster that you’re giving me you see the product you see the final score I have no idea what was going on with that but I will say you know once he started becoming more consistent with his rotations and people started to embrace their roles which I liked a lot particularly the last half of the season you saw things start to shift and change a little bit more you know the thing is is yes when you when you look at the recipe for any good basketball team per se there’s usually a eight to nine rotational kind of um you know players that you have especially a lot of your great championship teams you know not to say you don’t go far into the bench or to the deep end of the bench every now and then if you have a couple of players get in foul trouble or what have you but you know the thing is I personally feel that earlier in the season and this is just my opinion I don’t know if Mike Brown truly knew what he had in his roster early on so maybe it was like okay I’m gonna give this guy an opportunity I’m gonna like Sasha VZ zenov there was a lot of uncertainty with this dude yeah we know he was what a two-time Euro League MVP and whatnot he was highly decorated coming over here across Seas but we didn’t really know what we were going to get from him and I think that it was kind of the same thing with the uh quite a few other players on there so Mike Brown being the brilliant basketball mind that he is and he’s seen everything done everything experienced everything I think he was still like okay this is still like the first day of school I need to figure out what I’m working with in my class here who do we have that can do this finding strengths and weaknesses and yes I get that’s what campus for you go through that but it’s a lot different going through camping than being in a game day actual situ or game environment um in order to see that on display so with that being said Matt I honestly you know when you look at all the rotational changes everything that he was going through earlier in the season I feel that he got to a point as we saw toward the latter half of the Season where he knew what everybody was bringing and where players knew their roles and what they were supposed to do now unfortunately the way the season ended whether you want to call it injuries or what have you it didn’t manifesting the success like we were hoping but I don’t know I I I think there’s still I think there’s still some uncertainty with this roster and I think Mike Brown still has some uncertainty with this roster for sure but they’re still figuring out which is why I think this offseason is still going to be a relatively eventful one well they need to have more answers than they have questions by the end of this offseason just the Western Conference will not wait around for them to figure it out anymore there’s the experimentation time is pretty much over which is another reason why I feel that what they do with the 13th pick should Trend more towards trading it for a more proven commodity than going the route of a rookie of a question mark and unknown maybe there’s upside but how much time do you have to focus on upside when you’re winning or trying to win right now so we’ll see what direction the kings are truly pointing themselves in I know it’s never black and white super straightforward like we try to make it out to be sometimes so we’ll see what Monty and and Mike and the entire king’s staff decide to do of course we’ll be all over it covering it here in Sacramento all offseason long Kev this won’t be the last time we do this either so buckle up you have me back I I look forward to that man definitely it’s always good to talk uh sports with with you Matt George and um I feel blessed that that I’m on your podcast man I I I I don’t feel like I deserve this honor but I’ll take it you’ve been in the background of enough of them in this off in this back of my head you’ve seen in them so you know might as well have the face in every once in a while too well I’ll say this Matt the lockdown podcast you do have the greatest listeners the greatest viewers you have the most passionate emphatic uh viewers as well I’ve met some of your uh viewers out and about at certain events whether it’s at sacyard or what have you around and you know truly your lockdown podcast viewers are are are are top of the line and I’m not just saying that because I’m on here right now saying that I truly I see you guys when we’re out and about we’re both fortunate enough to work in Sacramento too and that’s the thing is the Sacramento fan base they are loyal to a tea and they’re always starred for Content thank God for a daily podcast format right and for daily Sports casters where we have to put out daily Sports stories so y the best best thank you so much hopefully you’ll continue to join us here throughout the remainder of this offseason right here on lockon Kings this episode of Locked on Kings is also brought to you by eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything that you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you are looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or you get your money back because with eBay Motors you’re burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need the prices that you want it’s easy to make your car the MVP and bring home those wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions do apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers shout out to Kevin again for joining me so we have the things that were least concerned about the things that we’re most concerned about we’ll see if those concerns have any Merit whatsoever or not the offseason continues and of course lockon Kings will have you covered all offseason long as well as if you’re in Sacramento ABC 10 always our sports team Kevin and I we’re always all over not just the Sacramento Kings news but all over our local sports from the prep scene in high school all the way up to professionals playing all over the world that are from Sacramento from our area college sports we got it all for you so tune in to abc10 as well for great Sports coverage that you’re looking for there appreciate your support can’t wait to have you join me on the next episode of Locked on Kings until then my name is Matt George you’ve been listening to the locked on Kings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network [Music]

Part 2 of Matt George’s conversation with his ABC 10 partner Kevin John, discussing what is most concerning about the Sacramento Kings in the early stages of the offseason.

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What About the Sacramento Kings Makes You Most Concerned?
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