Domantas Sabonis changes his number, Sasha Vezenkov just wants to play

Domantas Sabonis changes his number, Sasha Vezenkov just wants to play

welcome into the Kings beat podcast I am James ham Kings Insider for ESPN 1320 and the Kings beat we are of course a bluewire podcast joining me today we have Fox 40 Sean Cunningham Sean how are you oh I’m pretty good um little tired but uh looking forward to the weekend how about you guys brilliant it’s bright sunny 82 degrees no rain no dark clouds Sean you should be happy I mean my element we are in Nirvana right now that’s right we are of course joined by Brandon Nunes from the Kings BS podcast Brendan how are you I am doing well back in SoCal visiting some family for for Father’s Day and my little one of my little brothers graduated from high school yesterday and I believe that I’ve made everybody aware that this podcast is happening but we are subject to to guest appearances you know it happened in the last one and again I think people are aware but you know I it’s little chaotic over wait what did I miss something happened in the last one like there was my uh my stepmom made a brief appearance talk about this Sean oh yeah not the last one that was second to last because I was like I was pres of T yeah okay we talk right no he means that last time he was down you know visiting it got a little wild Sean it got a little wild yeah she thought she was sneaking out the camera and she was not and it made for what I thought was a hilarious video Andes all all the jokes because there’s much inuendo from that by the way down there for yeah since you’re down there for a graduation can I I no children that I know of so I I I preface it with that but James you’re a father um and Brendan you just went through uh graduating high school like a couple years ago so um sure when you were how many freaking graduations are there like it seems I know there’s high school I know there’s college but it just seems like I have friends of mine who have younger children and it’s like oh my little daughter she’s going through graduation like oh grad I thought she was young thought she was younger would she graduate she going to high school already no she’s graduating fourth grade fourth grade do we graduate every freaking grade I thought okay I can understand not that it happened to me although I’m not saying I got held back I I can understand people who go graduate Elementary school to Maybe Junior High or or graduate Middle School to high school which you should only have one like either pick one it’s gonna be you’re GNA graduate elementary school and go to Junior High or you’re GNA graduate junior high and go to high school and then you graduate high school and then you graduate college if you go on and do that that should be it right like what are we doing okay so typically with nowadays kids that are going from like kindergarten to First Grade A lot of times they do little kindergarten graduation because it’s like the first right after that there shouldn’t be another graduation in my book until you’re going from eighth grade into your freshman year when you’re going from a junior high to a high school and that can be someone who goes through a a k through 12 I mean k through eight or who has like my junior high was fifth sixth seventh and eighth um and now I think it’s just sixth seventh eth um but yeah that’s kind of like to have a bunch of extra graduations I don’t buy that and then High school and then college and then if you get to go to grad school yeah all of those things so Sean you won’t be at my fourth grade graduation next week I take it damn it did you just graduate fourth grade did he get did you send him an invite did you send him an invite come on I did I did I think this was him uh formally rejecting that but this is there’s a little too many sometimes hey I’m I’m all for giving kids credit and uh celebrating I’m hey I’m here for a party I’m just saying like good God man how many the invites like oh you got to come to the graduation it’s fourth grade and I don’t even know your child like what the hell are we talking about oh no they don’t want you to come to graduation they want you to send like a they want me to buy [ __ ] for them like $25 in it or $50 in it yeah it’s a this is that season where we get a lot of cards like hey someone so’s graduating and we send out like here you go here’s 50 bucks or whatever so someone told me oh you know it’s because we want to you know pick up children and and lift up their Spirits okay fine that’s I’m all I’m all for that but I don’t buy that I think it’s because of the social media era where everyone wants to you know make everything about themselves and yeah I think that’s next time you get one of those just send a an envelope card no with a participation a little blue ribbon participation ribbon it’ll be like Sean’s thing yeah a participation Ribbon or yeah or like a you participated trophy or I should say oh did are they are they starting employment yet because now that you’ve graduated now you can start contributing to society you can say hey did are they um are they an honor student do I at least get a bumper sticker I know an honor student uh all right let’s jump into this uh number one if you’re watching here on the YouTube um give us a thumbs up if you don’t mind yeah why not let’s see if that helps uh Also let’s yeah where’s my bubble let’s see does the oh yeah the bubble appears um if you are uh listening somewhere whether it’s apple or wherever you’re listening uh you can get this just about everywhere uh give us a rating and review uh give us stars all that stuff if you don’t mind um let’s see outside of that uh we are going to try to throw together uh next Thursday and off the record with the Kings beat virtu ual happy hour we’ll do a virtual start to get it going again and then we’ll work on something for later and then the next week after that I am actually going on vacation the week of the NBA draft uh I’ll be back in time for free agency to start but I’m GNA miss the two-day NBA draft um but uh we we might still be able to throw something together I’m not going to be that far away I’ll be in Cabo Cabo yeah I’ll be in Cabo so uh a little trip with the family and some other friends uh and we’re at the we have to bend to the will of the people that we go with because they’re like time share people and it’s like okay like I can’t fight it um it worked out just fine last year when I was in Port of iarta during the same time uh okay so we’re gonna try to uh um throw together author record with the Kings be virtual happy hour if you’re premium subscriber to the Kings beat you’ll get an email about that uh I’ll probably send out an email on Monday and then I will send out another email on Thursday with the link to the festivities and then you can join us uh for like literally off the record I don’t even think we need a guest it’s been too long since we’ve had one uh since we’ve had an off the Record and I I think people uh we we owe the good people at least at least that to start um where we’re just kind of catching up and and and talking hanging out having a few drinks uh virtually and chilling so um so watch for that that and if you want to get in on that uh go to the Kings be.com become a premium subscriber uh it’s only seven bucks a month or 75 bucks for the year um and if you’re a premium subscriber you get invitation sent to you um cool we we do have Kings news um it’s kind of the fun time of the year where it’s quiet but it shouldn’t be this quiet but we’re about to get into crazyville when it comes to uh what’s happening next we got the NB a draft on the 26th and 27th uh free agency the the official window opens on uh I think 300 p.m. on the 30th um 3 pm Pacific Time on the 30th but then the moratorium opens so it’ll be a little like wild and crazy here over the next like two to three weeks but um Sean we’ll start with you um because you were able to uh some we talked about Sasha last week and sort of the situation uh but you were able to get a little bit more clarification uh and put out a tweet yesterday um to try to clarify what’s going on with Sasha vov whether he wants to be with the Sacramento Kings whether he would like a trade whether he’s going back to Europe all of that stuff what do you got for us yeah well I mean yeah I mean it was it was I think there was a lot of confusion uh when those reports kind of surfaced and um there probably shouldn’t have been I think honestly Sasha zenov was very open in his exit interview and we talked about that quite a bit um at just what two months ago and frustrated with the lack of playing time you know frustrated with wanting to have a bigger role um he didn’t Express really regret for coming to the Kings or even to the NBA for that matter um but certainly wanted a different type of role than what played out um in the season and and part of that too I mean let’s be fair like there was excitement around him I there was a buzz around Sasha he had his own press conference he had you know people going overseas to try and pluck him over there he was really the big offseason acquisition and when he came in and it you could see that there was going to be like a development process there was going to be a little bit of a learning curve here for him and even Mike Brown talked you know was comparing him to what happened with monoy when he was in San Antonio and during his time on on Greg papovich is uh staff so um and then of course I mean man he wish he missed like nine weeks because of an ankle injury so I can understand yeah I can understand his frustrations I can understand his um you know desire for for for more playing time and and a bigger role um but there when you see a report that he’s going to leave the NBA or um which is separate than even just leaving Sacramento um it’s startling and I figured you know reaching out out to a number of people when that report came out uh there was days of Silence that it was a little bit jarring because you would think that you’d want to get out in front of something like that that’s a strong message um whether it be for the confirmation or at least to to get out of head if it was if it wasn’t true and the silence made me think that this is true um and then finally I think when there’s just a you know kind of a huddling of people throughout the NBA on both Sasha side King’s side um people who are you know connected to both sides it’s it’s um re a little bit of reading of some of the te tea leaves I think with the end of the day he just wants to play and when I Got One Source on Thursday was it Thursday I’m getting my days mixed up now but yeah on Thursday who said that it was you know off base that the reporting was off base and um he would honor his NBA contract um that was bold enough to where I figured I’d go with the report which was that despite his you know frustration of lack of playing time in his first season with Sacramento um is you know that he’s still going to honor his NBA contract now unless he goes to a buyout and works out a buyout you know that’s that’s something different but it’s not like he’s just going to up and leave from what I’m told and so you know I know that there’s a desire that the Kings want to keep him on in Sacramento they look at him as a as an asset um and there’s other teams that would look at him as an asset but do those teams Kings included do they look at him as an asset that can play a large rotational role with extended minutes we don’t know that yet so um just a lot of moving parts and I think it’ll kind of figure itself out but no nothing will surprise me whether Sasha is on the Kings next year or not on the Kings next year neither one will surprise me and I think uh it’s an interesting conversation but I don’t I do think that Sasha will be in the NBA next year unless he decides him and his people decide that they want to work something out with the Kings and and try and you know go back to Europe and you know figure out the contract but if if it gets to a point where they have to play hard ball or whatever or they can’t find a middle ground there then he’s going to have to he’s going to have to honor that contract yeah Brandon what are your thoughts on this because like Sasha as a player It’s just tough for me like I’ve got a lot of opinions on it but I also you know the NBA is about opportunity and I’m not sure that the opportunity is going to be here in Sacramento for one reason or another like where are you at with this yeah honestly when they were bringing Sasha over and just to kind of echo what Sean said like that did feel like the big offseason acquisition felt like really what they were adding to their team that along with Crystal Arte but even more so Sasha I thought Trey L was a bit redundant they they almost kind of feel like they do the same thing whether that be a stretch four or even playing the backup five a little bit we kind of saw Sasha do that here and there throughout the course of this season but I’m with you I think that the opportunity may not be the simplest to figure out in Sacramento I will say that um it seems like one of the criticisms people have of Mike Brown is his uh rotations at times and he said that one of the things he gets from Steve Cur is that he’s going to throw people in keep guys engaged and I I think that I can understand where Sasha may be a little bit frustrated but I feel like Mike did do that I feel like he gave him okay amount of opportunity you mentioned the games missed uh with those ankle injuries three different ankle injuries throughout the course of the year and it felt like um I’m forgetting which one it is here um but one of them happened right as it seemed like he was starting to roll and they were getting him in the rotation a little bit and that’s just kind of poor timing you know it does make me think of I believe it’s Mitch is how you say it the um other European guy that came over to OKC earlier last season and then eventually was included in the Gordon Hayward trade over to Charlotte and now that he’s on Charlotte he was playing really well getting more opportunity and honestly something like that could make a lot of sense for Sasha and from a king’s perspective his six point whatever close to7 million do deal is pretty valuable in trade conversations yeah so you’re right like milisic like it was a bad situation for him where he was and he found a better situation um I’m going to go this way like I don’t think his time in Sacramento has to be done right like first of all I don’t think anything’s out there that we didn’t kind of feel coming out of the season right uh he was I thought like what Sean said he was very Frank with everybody when he was in his exert exit interviews he did not feel like he had made a mistake coming to the NBA he wanted the challenge he still wants a challenge of the NBA but he also would like to play more and I I remember very distinctly he said everybody wants to play more he’s like even the guys that are playing 35 minutes a game here they want to play more so that’s just who we are we’re basketball players we want to play as much as possible and I get I get the frustration and everything so for me when it comes down to it though like this roster wasn’t built to optimize Sasha V zenov and that’s tough because if you’re going to run it back with the same basic forwards and that’s Harrison Barnes and keam Murray and Trey Lyles and Sasha venkov I just don’t see an opportunity I think Trey Lyles is a more seasoned NBA player and a better Fit For What the Kings do and they I agree with you Brendan I think they are redundant to a certain degree I don’t think you can have them on the floor together a whole bunch of time and if you did you would have to have like such a crazy Su super athlete defending behind them and you would have to have super athletes defending in front of them because that’s kind of where we’re what we’re talking about like the lack of ability in rotations uh neither one of them are true creators for themselves when you lose Malik monk as your number two guy your guy off the bench who’s creating for people the Kings had no answer for who that would be with the second unit and the guys that that really hurts is guys like Sasha and and guys like Trey who they don’t naturally create eight shots for themselves they’re guys who are catch and shoot guys every once in a while they’ll take a guy off the dribble but it’s in an extreme situation where so closes out too hard uh or they’ll do like the back door cut thing for Sasha or with Trey he’ll go get an offensive rebound and put a ball back in that’s kind of like who they are as players so I think like look if you’re going to maximize a guy like this that you have to surround him with long super athletic players that can defend his weaknesses and that someone else that can create and if you can’t find those pieces then you got to choose between you know again a guy like Trey and a guy like uh like Sasha and I think Trey is more valuable to the Kings um because of his leadership because he’s more defined in the NBA and who he is uh because he’s bigger and stronger um those are things that and because I think Trey can legitimately play the four and the five where Sasha they tried him at the three quite a few times um but he’s more of just a stretch for so uh I I think it’s a it’s a weird situation but I also think like the reporting from Europe is always a little strange and um you know I’m glad we were able to clear up some of it Sean yeah I mean I I feel like too there’s um I just don’t think like I agree with you not much has changed you know and I think Sacramento the front office I don’t think that they are completely surprised by anything and and what I mean by that even even with the the lack of playing time for Sasha in this in this first season I was asked earlier today about you know is there a like a contrasting sty opinion when it comes to Sasha in terms of what the front office wants and what Mike Brown wants and I think there might be a little bit in terms of what ultimately they view Sasha as and how they build this team that Mike Brown is in charge of to to to put together rotations and ultimately win um but I think when you have the injuries though you factor those in and you also factor in the early portion of the Season where it was apparent that there’s going to be there’s going to be like a learning curve here like there’s some things that have to get understood and even Mike who I thought was brilliant in the way he talked about the Manu genobi situation I think everyone was kind of on the same page realizing that hey it’s not just a one-year thing you signed him for a three-year deal you have a team op for him on that third year so ultimately you’re not just signing him for that one year you knew there was going to be some teachable moments that come along the way and it’s why and we talked about it on this podcast where you know there was chatter legit chatter of the possibility of sending him to Stockton but I think what what became uh consistent with what this front office does especially within the first year and I’m talking about nus kada uh this way as well is if you remember with kada he stayed around the big Club in his rookie year a lot almost to a fault because we’re like this guy needs to go play but then realizing that those game his game days become practices and the stuff that he learns about being around the NBA culture and the day in day out life of what’s expected to be a professional basketball player uh in the NBA particularly in Sacramento and the grind that the schedule is like that almost becomes more value for him than sending him off just to get some minutes because you already know what he can do on the basketball floor it’s can he learn the NBA game um can he adapt to that that type of style of play and so I think everyone’s on the same page with that certainly I think it was a disappointment that you weren’t able to see more of that but in my mind it’s more of the the lessons of the of the of learning the the actual NBA game and then you factor in the injuries with that and that really kind of just puts him behind the eightball so I think going into next season whether he’s in Sacramento or elsewhere that’s not going to change like he’ll be so much more advanced and ahead of the game and look so much more ready for prime time so to speak and see if he can take advantage of any opportunity he gets yeah I didn’t think he was a bad NBA player like I watching him play I thought he was a player that you know I don’t know if you could have put him out there for 30 minutes and and hid some of the deficiencies as a player but overall thought he’s he’s smart um he’s a better rebounder than we thought he’s a better Defender than we thought um but he also was Green in the NBA world and I I’ll add this too like he was in the locker room every single day like almost every sing until he got hurt and then he was gone for a little while and when he came back from that um the toll that it took on him to be injured was like extreme he was not used to being injured he hasn’t had a bunch of injuries throughout his career and then he was alone and that was really tough and then when he did get back on the floor late in the season I think he played seven of the final nine games look at the king schedule they played every other day sometimes they played three games in four nights like it was like their schedule to finish there was no break there was no time for practice and there was no way to integrate him back in in a meaningful way where he can find a rhythm and get better and be you know ready to contribute so I feel bad for him him because he he left a place where he’s a superstar he comes to a place where he wants to show that he can be something and then the opportunity was just difficult and and again Mike Brown had to win everyone knows that the king’s like the goal here was to to win games not to bring young players along if you would have if you would have got Sasha venkov four years ago he probably could have played 30 minutes down the stretch or 28 minutes down the stretch try to get him acclimated but that’s not who the kings were and so it just it makes life a lot more difficult for him um so I I I hope the best for him I don’t know if he’ll be in Sacramento or not yeah I mean I think when it comes to en Court production like he he’s kind of an interesting case where I think he’s a pretty much Perfect Fit offensively I think he moves amazingly off the ball um I love watching him shoot the ball the confidence that he has and the follow through it’s just it’s fun to watch even just when it comes to him shooting and he’s damn good at it um so I I think he’s a really smart player the ball never sticks with him one of the Kings big things is playing in a 0. five offense making decisions in 0. five seconds I think he’s really good at that um it’s just defensively he can get targeted a little bit sometimes and and that’s where they were trying to make a decent jump throughout the course of this season so I think trying to strike that balance and figure out where he’s going to fit when both of those are true is just a little bit of a a weird spot to be in and uh when it comes to the injuries that was definitely a major part of this whole conversation I remember talking to him at a shootaround uh right after one of them had happened and he said like he’s never really dealt with anything like this throughout the course of his career whether that be in Europe or in this season so I’m sure that that while also attempting to adjust to an NBA schedule there’s just a lot going on there to figure out I still think he can be a really productive NBA player uh it’s just about ideal timing and and figuring out what’s going to be able to optimize both him and the production that the team gets yeah piggyback off that a little bit I remember talking to him about the injuries as well and how he didn’t expect to be out as long as he was and thought he could play sooner than they would that the doctors would clear him and the reason that is the re is because games come at you in the NBA so quicker so much quicker than they do in Europe so you know he might play a game once a week or however the schedule breaks down but as James pointed out three games and four four nights know six and seven at times like I mean these crazy scenarios back to backs and the width of travel I mean not that that’s unheard of in in in in Europe but there’s a lot more space and and and days off between games you’re not playing so many games in so little time and so the recovery and the rehab and the you know rushing back from an injury it might be easier to do that with days off in between as opposed to no you got to come back and play three games in four nights now and maybe maybe you’re on a minute’s restriction you know it’s like okay well no if we just maybe hold you out another day or two another week or so and to get you more strength in that in that ankle and not have any setbacks um it’s better for you so I think I think overall if you just frustration there’s frustration all around as it as as as he experienced his past year and um hopefully he sees a pathway that whether it’s in Sacramento or another team he sees a pathway that finds an opportunity to get ultimately what he’s looking for yeah so Ju Just to throw this out there the Kings played on March 29th they played on the 31st they played on the 2nd of April the 4th the 5ifth the 7th the 9th the 11th the 12th the 14th the 16th and the 19th hidden within that is a trip to New York Boston back to New York and then to OKC so again travel swelling like there’s so many variables here no practices no prac I think they had two practices that entire time at all no practice time nothing to get yourself acclimated and I think that that’s part of this it’s just really really difficult to to catch back up once you’ve you’ve uh like fallen behind it’s a little bit like when you’re in school and you missed a week of school and you can get through most of your classes but you’re so lost in math because it’s it’s all built on knowledge that you already should have and I think that that’s where like for him some of the time the time that he lost it’s it’s in compounded by the fact that there’s no way to get back and put yourself back in a position to catch up so like really difficult brenon you got some yeah um I guess just to add to that real quick like and Mike is always big on at least from what I’ve heard that you know he wants guys to be able to go through a practice before he they’re eventually playing again I think he reinjured one of his ankles or or it may have been the other ankle of in a practice right after one of the injuries um but question to you guys anytime I had seen sash in the locker room is on the phone speaking in what I’m assuming is Bulgarian I don’t know if either of y’all know um is that that tell you guys anything in a way does that stand out to you I talk to him a lot like I would go over and say hi to him we would we would chat like I I would make in fun of him because he doesn’t like American food is too it has too much flavor he he wants his food like Bland and like we would just go back and forth I would ask him about you know like who who was hanging out with on the team or or just like how he’s dealing with stuff I know the second time he got injured so he rolled one ankle then he came back into a game rolled the opposite ankle and then at the next practice rolled went back to the first ankle I believe and got the grade three so he basically had had had like a grade two in one ankle and then a minor sprain in the other and then rolled the rolled an ankle for a grade three so it it was both ankles at at one point that that were hurting and he tried to play through it and the kings of course have a different idea on this like they they’ve done this a million times and they wanted him to be 100% healthy so um okay so we we’ve talked about Zasha a lot we have no idea whether he’ll be back or not um good reporting from Sean there getting as much information as we we can possibly get uh no I mean really like this is very it’s kind of weird because we’re in a weird part of the season um I would not be surprised if his $6.6 million is packaged in a deal any sent elsewhere um I don’t think that we’re going to talk buy out with him like what we we may have discussed last week uh the only way for him really to walk away is for him to just say hey look I I don’t want to I’m going to take a full buyout and I don’t think the kings are going to do that um yeah I mean even if they were to just wave him and do what’s called the stretch provision uh basically the only thing the Kings would do there is basically free up like $4 million in cap space this year where you would you the stretch provision is twice as many years as as that are left on the contract plus one so because his last year’s a player I mean a team option the Kings would void the team option they could break his 6.6 million bucks up into 2.2 million in each of the next three years if that’s just like that’s for waving him and giving him like a true buyout he could also renegotiate his contract down uh to walk away or could ask to have his contract voided so he could walk away and I believe you know the Kings would have to at least listen but it’s not going to mean anything it would mean that the Kings might be able to save a little bit of luxury tax money if they were able to do some of the want to do uh but like he’s not going to give you enough money to like open up cap space so if it really wouldn’t help the team um all that much in the grand scheme of things I think he’ll be in the league next year um yeah I and I hope the best for him I think he’s a good dude and uh I just think that like everything kind of snowballed on him on him this season and um especially with injuries and loneliness and not getting to play nearly as much as he thought so uh tough tough look to clarify that real quick just cuz I’ve gotten questions about it and you pretty much covered it um it doesn’t that does nothing for Malik monk people have asked me before like does that you know help clear up space nothing close doesn’t the two don’t really equate to each other yeah so the Kings right now are at 152 million in dedicated salary uh they’re already 11 million over the salary cap the luxury tax is 172 million so another 20 up if you sign Monk and then consider the 13th pick in the draft is a $5 million draft pick you’re already in the luxury tax so if the Kings want to avoid the luxury tax and are able to retain Malik monk they’re gonna have to find a way to clear up other money um so that’s one thing so if if you were to lose Sasha it would drop you down but the only way to give monk more than the 17.4 million is if the king’s not only get all the way down to the salary cap at at 141 million but then free up like another like let’s say you want a $25 million contract for monk you’d have to free up like another 28 maybe even 30 million because you have minimum cap holds for for minimum scale players that are a million bucks a piece so like if they were so now basically L you have the 11 million that they would need to get down to the luxury tag I mean down to the salary cap and then you would need to clear up another 25 to 30 million to give monk 25 so again can the king clear $40 million in cap space without taking anything back and the answer is no there’s not a team out there that’s going to take on like a Harrison Barnes contract and then another team they take on Kevin herder contract another team they take on Trey ly’s contract and another team to take on Chris DTE contract and take back nothing because there not enough teams in the league that have salary cap space to actually take those players so really really complicated but it it wouldn’t help them one way or the other so does that clear that up absolutely definitely okay we had the Tre ly saying Trey lyes uh has been invited to play for the Canadian national team or at least try out for the Canadian national team there are ties there uh of course Jordi Fernandez is the head coach of Canadian national team and I believe J Fano is still there and still has a role with Canadian national team uh which he’s had like he’s had many many roles including the head coach of the Canadian national team over the last couple of decades um any thoughts on I would love to see Trey get to play like super high level because that Canadian team is gonna be like spectacular but uh like I I don’t know if he’s gonna make it he’s up against guys um like Kelly olenic uh Ken Birch uh they have a couple other guys that would play around his position but he does have experience with the coaching staff which is kind of a good thing yeah honestly it’s hard to gauge if I think he would make it I do think that like you said that Canadian team is very talented and that’s more so a credit to their team rather than anything about Trey I think Trey definitely has his value on the basketball court um I also think he’s a great locker room guy you know almost kind of the enforcer that the Kings have in a way right now um and it’s valuable to have those sort of guys and you know I guess uh Canadians are typically nice so maybe you get one of those every once in a while um but it’s a it’s uh I think it probably would be an up pill battle but it’s an extremely talented team I think that Canadian team will probably give USA a run for their money even though USA is going to have a dream team out there um and yeah I just again I think it would be an uphill battle but I would love to see Trey compete on that Sean well I mean I think there’s you can certainly see how he could be impactful there especially with the physicality of the international game um I think I don’t recall his FBA experience off the top of my head I was trying to look it up real quick but um if he doesn’t have the feba experience I think that’s going to set him back a little bit but he would have been a part of their Camp had he not been a free agent last year is um from what I had been told and so I think that um this is a good this is a good starting point for him um I I can see a pathway for him to to get in there and certainly the familiarity with what Jord is going to help um I was trying to see if Jay still had a role as well with uh Canadian basketball but also there’s a guy I remember talking to Triano earlier in the year um down in Stockton at the University of Pacific they hired a coach by the name of Dave smart to now oversee to now coach the the Tigers men’s program and Dave smart is like a Canadian basketball Guru for lack of a better term and um he Jay had talked about how he would have hired Dave smart to be his uh associate head coach or at least be on his staff had he gotten the Phoenix job back in the day so um at any rate it was uh it’s just interesting I think there’s a lot of familiarity there so I think he kind of gives him a leg up on the competition he’s also you know as a guy who’s been a former Lottery Pick and was a little bit of a journeyman before coming to Sacramento I think he’s really found his Niche and his role point now and U probably in the best shape he’s ever been in so um I think that’ll bow well for him so it’d be interesting to see if he can if he can get there that team by the way I mean I don’t know if you guys are keeping up the international game but they might be I mean the favorites to do it again I mean to to to to win it all I know they obviously won FBA last year so that’s not really going out on a limb there but um the Olympics are a little bit different than FBA you your rosters look different during the Olympics than they do with FBA so um they’re still they’re still Stout and I I almost think they might be the team to beat H um I think the dream team that that Team USA is Sting is going to be really impressive I think they’ll they’ll still be the team to beat in my opinion but I still I think Canadian national team is right there it’s very a little age too yeah I mean if you look at there’s some uh there’s some miles on that team I mean you’re talking about Steph Curry being on his first Olympic team that’s wild crazy that’s crazy yeah but I mean they’re bringing the horses like they’re trying to win this thing one more time um yeah I think it’s interesting and just to make sure we’re we’re touching based on a couple of things here uh number one I I did talk to Mark Jones who just ran into Trey lyes and was one who put it out there that Trey was get was going to team the team Canada training camp uh Mark said that uh that Trey looks like he’s in the best shape of his life he said he looks amazing he’s been back in Sacramento for like the last three weeks working out and before that he was in LA for a while so uh Trey lyes is definitely like ready to roll um number two uh you brought up uh that he would have been on the team well it would have been in Camp last here if it wasn’t for the fact that he is a free agent and uh Mark actually brought up today on the air that um that yonas Valen chunis is in the same situation with Team Lithuania and will not play this summer because of his contract status as a free agent and so those are things to kind of like put in the back of your head that it’s not just you know a guy like Trey who decides hey I’m not g to go um it’s also for a guy like Valen chunis who um you know it’s just you got to make your money while you can and you don’t want to risk getting hurt in in uh like in Olympics and then cost yourself a whole bunch of opportunity uh with with your NBA contract stuff so um interesting stuff there what else do we have um real real quick on that what Sean was talking about earlier it does look like from what I can see he was on the under 18 and 19 teams um but also played a couple qualifier games in 2021 oh cool so he’s been around the team yeah and I I noticed a minute ago when the roster when Nick nurse had uh um coached the team um for the senior men’s team he was on the at least the roster so okay that’s pretty recent yeah not not too long ago so yeah good luck to Trey lyes and again uh the the Kings have you know sabonis will play for the Lithuanian national team this summer um I think that’s well I don’t know does is Chris uh dwarte going to play for well I’m not sure that they’re in the tournament uh for Dominican Republic um and then what other guys might we have that are oh the bulgar bu Bulgarian national team is not in the Olympics so uh although I think they do have a Euro Cup that Sasha probably play there’s a qualifier too so like Lithuania they don’t they have they’re in a group with uh with Ivory Coast and Mexico and then if they win they play they the group B has Puerto Rico I’m trying to remember the other two but the the tournament will take place in Puerto Rico so that’s coming up later that comes up July 2 I believe and then so Lithuania I just spoke to domas uh yesterday morning and they have they have a they still have to qualify and he wasn’t obviously part of feba last year Jonas valent chunis was um and they you know they came up short so um he’s trying to get back to the Olympics he remembers the Tokyo outside of Tokyo I mean he remembers those those games that being a part of it and being in the athlete Village and how much it meant for Lithuania to be represented there so he’s trying to get them back into uh into the Olympics but they’ve got a tough road first and they’ve got to qualify yeah it’s interesting um I know Sean talked to domas domas is in Spain right now um like we need Doug Christy’s job because Doug is with him in Spain and yeah both of them are there I’m pretty sure Barbosa was over there but Barbosa has to come back for the big three because he is the last year’s uh second leading scorer in the big three and they tip off uh tomorrow as we record this Saturday in Oakland oh that’s crazy that’s crazy uh so Sean you brought it up um we have this the news that broke today uh deonis sabonis is going to switch numbers this year uh he will go from number 10 to number 11 number 11 is near and dear to his heart uh it is the number that his dad wore as an NBA player uh it’s a number that he wore when he was a member of the Pacers but in order to get that number um he had to go or the Kings had to go to the family of Bob Davies uh who his number 11 is retired for the Sacramento Kings um Bob Davies of course is a legend of the game from from the 40s and 50s and uh is you know was on the N the the last time the Sacramento Kings won an NBA title was like what 1950 1951 um he was part of that team um and the family was gracious enough to allow domas to take over uh the number 11 which uh so basically they’re they’re pulling the number out of retirement um which I thought was a was a very very nice move by family and uh and so what do you got for a Sean because you talked to domos about this um and sort of like what it was that he wanted to do here and why he wanted to do that remember when he first got to town I kind of joked with him and I was like you know get to were 11 it’s it’s in the rafters you know Bob Davies who you know obviously never played in Sacramento it was in rockchester at the time rockchester Royals but um he he was aware of it he kind of you know smiled about it and he talked about it at the time like you know wanting to you know he wore 11 to honor his father and um coming over here but I didn’t realize that it was a something that was had kept going like this dates back even for a while there were efforts to um it always been in the in his mind and thinking that it might be a possibility it came up during his his contract extension and this past year when the team was in Orlando he actually met with the family um the you know Bob Davies passed away back in like 1990 but his daughter is been Camy is one of the people who was who has been the most active and she’s you know obviously had a quote out there but they met with domas they were not only gave the blessing I mean they’re thrilled I mean it’s going to shine a light on Bob Davies and the franchise being able to honor him in in such a way and they were really kind of touched by it and I asked him I was like was there some hardcore negotiations did you have to you know Bend arms do you have to send a bunch of money they I mean that the family was just kind of thrilled that that he would want to do that and so um it’s it’s fun it certainly means a lot to him I mean you know people who may not know aside from just arvita sabonis wearing it and being a Hall of Famer you know his daughter was born last year last July on July 11th and they named their daughter 11 and so it’s just it means a lot the siblings I know talk about I mean 11 he said every time he saw a player he if he watched basketball he’d look at the guy in the 11 Jersey and’ be like I bet he’s the best player on the team it’s just that’s much you know 11 you know he’d gravitate that way towards it and he always wor it in with the national team with Lithuania and yeah he’s got it and it kind of leads a little bit of speculation too like now that tenna is occupi is unoccupied again I don’t know if they’re going to give it away there’s some people thinking that maybe just maybe might see Mike biby’s name possibility of sending that number to the rafters at some point so something to kind of keep keep track of for sure yeah interesting I don’t like I’m kind of to the point where like we were discussing this on the radio today like I like a Ring of Honor more than I like a a jersey retirement at this point like first of all like the NFL they’re running out of out of numbers like the the 49ers are running out of numbers to retire and and that’s a a problem because what do you do like you can’t just totally disrespect somebody but sometimes you have to and you have to give away a number after a guy leaves um and I get it like in the NBA there’s not as many players but when you have a team that’s been around for like a hundred years which the Kings had their their hundredy Year celebration last last season like there’s going to be times where you want to like retire somebody’s number and I think a a Ring of Honor to me would be better for like moving forward like you can put uh a guy like Mike Bibby which I don’t know that I would retire Mike biby’s number like not to be disrespectful but like that team as a whole you already retired Paia you already retired Weber you already retired uh Vlade um are you gonna reti well Amit Richmond but from the team that the great the glory years right like if you’re GNA retire Mike do you retire Doug do you retire Bobby like I I almost would prefer like a Ring of Honor and that way you can put a guy like DeMarcus Cousins in a Ring of Honor but not retire as a number um I I don’t know maybe I’m just crazy here I I’m with you and like this almost feels unnecessary but they didn’t win you know like they I know they far I know they got far and they have a great legacy within the city that still very much exists um and mean very much it just I don’t know at what point is it too many well and I’d say this I mean you look at teams across the the landscape of the NBA and yeah they’re not the Celtics they’re not the Lakers and there’s a ton of jerseys hanging from those Rafters but in the Sacramento era you’re only talking about a handful of players so I think there’s a that’s the tough part about being the King’s organization you have a hundred years you’ve been in rockchester Cincinnati uh Sacramento Kansas City so you Omaha yeah you you have ways to honor the history of your team um Ring of Honor sure I mean I guess I I I don’t think the kings are approaching unnecessary um amount of numbers to be retired yet um but I will say like they already have someone some of them up there that are a little heads scratching um even in the Sacramento era like I mean to me there’s really only two that you really need to retire if you have to and I’m just being to to James’s point I’m being a little a little bit overly uh critical but to me there’s two there’s two faces there’s Mitch Richmond and there’s Chris Weber and beyond that everything else is kind of maybe a Ring of Honor I kind of like what the not to bring it to baseball but you know the San Francisco Giants don’t retire a lot of numbers I think you know you there are a few numbers out there you can see it I think Will Clark and Barry Bonds were the most recent of the ones that were retired but they have a Giants Hall of Fame you know and it’s it’s there’s a wall outside the stadium and every body is you know for your players that were stars but maybe weren’t Superstars or Legends of the game they go on that wall um and you know maybe yeah I agree maybe you can maybe build a statue or have a mural in the building there’s other ways to honor players but there’s also no rule of not being able to you could just unretire a number it’s not the most tactful thing to do but you know maybe you’re gonna say hey hey we’re going to uh retire another number maybe you’ve got two of them I don’t know I mean Kobe’s got two numbers in the in Laker lands that are that’s retired I think there’s no rules to it there’s obviously some some tact that goes into it but you want to do it in a classy way this is the first time I’ve heard somebody pitching temporarily retiring a number yeah yeah just you look up there and you go you know what we’re not feeling this anymore Sam Lacy let’s pull that down and uh no I’m kidding yeah I I I I would add this too I think like Vlade is in the Hall of Fame and he’s in the Hall of Fame like not as just an NBA player I mean that helped his case but he’s in because of his time team Yugoslavia and the Serbian national team and sort of the greatness the the bringing the European game over so I’m actually okay with vat um and I think you know again vlady and Sacramento is considered different is thought of differently now than he was like eight years ago 10 years ago before he took on the job as a GM um and then I would say the same thing with Paia like when Paia retired he was third in the NB in NBA history in three-point makes and now he’s like 25th because that’s the game’s changed um but Paia will likely be in the Hall of Fame and so I kind of think that you should wait until they’re in the Hall of Fame before you do that but at the same time I kind of get it you know the these players meant a lot but then my question would be like how do you if you’re G to have P who’s not in the Hall of Fame how do you not have BBY how do you not not have Doug how do you not have Bobby Jackson and then at what end you know like do you start getting to the Scot pols of the world do you not um like how do you manage that and how do you not hurt feelings and all that stuff and so I just think it’s really weird and I think you could do like a Ring of Honor for a specific team and like I don’t know there’s a lot of space up there um so anyway not to it’s a building yeah go ahead not to be disrespectful are we paig is a Hall of Famer he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame from his combined between his at least I I believe between his European play and his and his uh play in the NBA you know again Mike Biby never made a All-Star team no so I mean so that’s one of the things where you’re like he’s not going to be in the Hall of Fame and like I I’m not sure how you like would keep him out of the Ring of Honor in Sacramento you know and and the same with Bobby and the same with Doug like how would you how would you not so yeah just kind of an interesting discussion I do think it’s uh a like a total mistake to not have Rick adelman’s Banner in in the in the like the ceiling well they should retire the microphone of Gary Gerald and I’ve always said have him represented up there I mean that’s a that’s a thing that they they need that in my opinion you do while you celebrate the man while he’s here and still doing the job especially in his case and I just to close the book on that I I’m not saying that Mike bi’s getting his number R tired I was just kind of having some fun there since he wor also um there if if there’s one person that needs there uh for the Hall of Fame for example you mentioned Paia um there’s one that’s not in the Hall of Fame and it bothers the everloving [ __ ] out of me and it’s Tisha penero and she should be absolutely in the Basketball Hall of Fame I think that’ll happen it’ll probably happen very soon but boy that just drives me nuts she’s like the John Stockton of that Sport and she’s not in the Hall of Fame it’s crazy well that and she doesn’t have the John Stockton post NBA career Legacy which is a nightmare actually both those and she’s representing athletes she’s you know in an agency I mean she’s gone on to have a great post basketball career still attached to the game and so I would uh that’s interesting yeah I would love to see that yeah I mean um it’s it’s tough because you go through ownership changes you go through management or or like president of you know the King’s organization changes you go through changes all the time and um it’s difficult to like who’s gonna be up there and who’s not and how do you represent something but again Rick Adelman is in the Hall of Fame U the Kings have you know have 10 winning seasons in in 39 years and eight of those are Rick adelman’s like the dude’s greatness as a head coach is is unmatched and he’s still around he could still you know accept what it you know the the honor and they did they did name Gary the the radio Booth after Gary Gerald but I’ve also like I think he should be in the Rapters uh his name should be in the Rapters and also um I’ve always thought that they should name the the media room after Gary Gerald yeah it’s just my own opinion uh what else do we have to cover there’s something else oh the NBA finals going on um but it’s not competitive at all um I guess that let’s do uh let’s do the business of basketball something happen damn it Sean do something no you do enough figure it out dude you’ve had plenty of episodes to figure it out I’m got I don’t know I’m just making [ __ ] up over here figure it out yeah but I like what I liked what you did I didn’t like the sportser I can for you no no I like you you’ve got it taken care of I don’t know if I need to do anything afterwards okay so um the NBA finals are going to end whether it’s tomorrow or whether it’s Tuesday or it’s sometime next week the Boston Celtics look in inevitable uh yeah it’s Monday right is is game five tonight is game four um the Boston Celtics look inevitable like they are so much better than anyone uh and then of course just so people know the day after the finals end whatever that day it is if it’s to if the finals in today and tomorrow the Sacramento Kings can officially start negotiating with Malik monk for his contract extension officially well a new a new contract because he is their own free agent um none of us know what’s going to happen here uh whether Malik’s going to get uh some some crazy deals somewhere that he can’t turn down or or what’s going happen the Kings can offer him a 4-year 78.4 million uh contract they can do an opt out at some point like like we understand and what it is that they can pay him but but also there’s only so much they can pay him and they’re they’re sort of uh locked into this early bird thing and that’s all they can do right um I bring this up but to jump back to the NBA finals the NBA Finals um I think they’ve played out the way that a lot of people I mean I had the Celtics in five um I think you guys both had Celtics and five or six right I think we all did I think we all had Celtics and five yeah I think so too we might be wrong I don’t know if it’s going to go five um but there’s this situation that happened after after game three where um Brian W windhorse decided to unload on Luca donic in post game and that’s what we’re bringing this up as the business of basketball because it’s it’s not totally Sacramento Kings related but it still fits sort of what we’re talking about here um I didn’t think Brian wior said anything incorrect uh I don’t think there’s anything you can single out and say oh like what is he doing I I thought that the stage in which he was doing it on and where he was on the court and all of that stuff like was slightly jarring but at the same time this is the hot take world we live in and um I I thought calling a player out like Lou donic in this situation uh was a was I don’t know it’s different it’s different I I don’t want to say good I don’t want to say bad I just I were you guys as caught off guard by by Windor uh in this situation as I was I watched it happen in real time and uh my eyes kept getting wider and wider and and I rewound it immediately to to to watch it again to make sure that I heard it right uh you’re right I mean he he didn’t say anything wrong uh it was just a very dramatic take and I think the way that he uh he did it and it it’s also a little I mean if you listen to um The Hoop Collective podcast that windhorse does um he’s got some strong takes on there so they’re not you know this isn’t this isn’t like a uh like unheard of thing but I think you’re right James in the in the nature he was doing it right after after you know the NBA Finals rap he’s on the court he’s on sports center right after that with Van Pelt um it it it seemed like that a little like it kind of it almost like someone might have thought it crossed the line I didn’t think that that it crossed the line at all and in fact I don’t think LCA donic would have to I I’d be curious to see how he’d respond to it because I don’t think he honestly would be the type of guy that would be bent out of shape over what wior said um but I thought the analysis was spoton I just thought the way he did it was a little was a little uh insane but I’m here for I I thought it I was I thought it was great I mean um it’s accountability and I think you know it’s things that people have been talking about forever and to see that play out especially the way that foul did and the way he reacted to the bench and I think wior drew a nice comparison to what happened um in years prior in international competition and things like that um it’s a little a little bit of a track record so it does shine a light on him in a in a way for a brilliant basketball player it it you kind of understand why some people have talked about like you know we can bring it back to a King standpoint a little bit like if Luca donic had come to Sacramento one would he still be with Sacramento in 2024 would you still know Luca donic the way you know him now and furthermore who would have had to have left like I know there’s people all the time that say oh he and fox could play together sure they could you know Fox is not a dominating person ity per se but look at how many personalities they brought in and talents they brought in around Luca when he first I mean they immediately trade Dennis Smith um Jaylen Brunson has gone just recently um you know christaf porzingis things like this all these different elements that have been around him um that they’ve tried to win with uh he’s not an easy person to play with and so this is a lot of the same stuff that DeMarcus Cousins uh would be slapped for during his uh Prime you know so it’s it reminds me of that but the difference is is Luca donic is actually in the postseason and getting deep into the playoffs during his prime so I think because he wins it puts him in a different light than the light of like somebody like Demarcus with Sacramento at that time yeah I mean I I think Luca is one of the best players in the league I think at some point he’s probably going to deserve an MVP it and I I think that what he’s going through right now is actually a pretty Val learning experience it it feels similar to I feel like seeing Tatum kind of go through the same thing there was years prior where he’s in the finals and he’s complaining a lot um and now he’s kind of not doing it to the same extent at least and I I think this is just a learning process and Edwards Luca these guys like the experience they got in these playoffs I think will be valuable long term uh when it comes to the wind horse stuff you guys made me aware of this right before we got on air um and yeah I mean it’s just like damn okay uh it feels so personal like I I mean I guess personal is not the right way to say it because I do agree with you guys I think it’s accurate I I do think it’s warranted to an extent it just felt a little extra I guess um but I do think Wendy is kind of that guy um and when it comes down to it this is kind of entertainment that we’re doing and he definitely was entertaining to say the least but I I do think he was accurate it was just like just a little bit of a lot you know and I I’ll say something that I’ve kind of struggled with balancing and I’m still fairly new to this going into year four is how to talk about players when they mess up because they’re all still human and the best way to go about that um and so I guess I’ll say I don’t think I would have had the easiest time going about it that route but I think he was fair for what he said yeah I think that that’s you just said it right there the word is fair like don’t be personal don’t attack you can attack a player’s action but don’t attack the personality or or the reason behind it I don’t know it’s really difficult because we’ve had we’ve had some characters here and Sacramento but I also want to draw this back because you know Shan brought up you know the kings are they get roasted all the time as a team that pass on Luca for some reason again the Phoenix stunts don’t get roasted for this and the Atlanta Hawks who traded the pick get roasted the Kings do uh for you know a ly of reasons because they’re the Kings but um like talking to vat after that and not just like the instant reaction and two days later but like over the course of like a couple of years it was issues like this that were always in the back of his head it and I I’ll tell you some of the issues that he had number one like you had no idea what position he played on the court which isn’t a problem on the offensive end but the kings were very concerned about whether Luca could ever guard anybody because he doesn’t have a natural position because he’s not in very good shape they were also concerned about that they were concerned about the other side of Luca the off- thec court side of Luca that you you don’t you know you don’t know what you’re going to get from him whether it’s you know again him his night life or you know they he was an 18 19 year old kid driving around Europe doing whatever he wanted and and they knew a lot of sort of who and what he was off the court and that was a concern and then there’s the teammate aspect and they loved Fox they knew that fox would never become Fox with Luca and I think I don’t want to say that they’re off the hook because they passed on a generational Talent who Sean said is in his T in his prime he’s not in his prime yet he’s three years away from yeah 25 I I it’s funny right when I said that I said no not really but he plays I mean you just look at what he’s doing I mean it’s incredible he so good but look at all of the things that the concerns were they’re all still there he will not play defense at all it’s it’s shameful what he’s doing on the defensive end like James can I say one thing like Wendy’s comments this is maybe what struck me most it’s it’s you’re not wrong but like what did you expect did you expect him to change who he is in the NBA Finals he just got his team to the NBA finals he he got his he’s playing basically on one leg yes he’s he’s a man of larger Carriage as am I uh like he is a guy who is never in the best basketball shape he’s playing practically on one leg um I mean he was playing on one leg when he was trying to prevent when he was playing the Kings those two those two games here in Sacramento before the season came to an end I I was a little surprised he stayed in one of the games um but he’s not going to that that zebra ain’t changing his stripes can he become a better Defender sure he’d have to really dedicate himself and and and do the one thing he can control is what he does to the officials what he does to his teammates what he does he’s a dominating he’s dominating in the game he’s dominating personality but he’s a ball dominant guard as well so like all the I go on to say all these things are like what’ you expect have you never seen Luka donic in your life and I’m saying that sarcastically because clearly not only Windor has but he knows him so well and has has done his homework so much on that the only thing is to see him roast him at that moment in the playoffs and yes or in the finals he’s not wrong but it’s like man this is this is who the guy is I don’t know if you were expecting to see something different in the NBA Finals okay so here’s the problem I have is that in the previous round when things were going good that’s not who Luca was he had stopped yelling at the officials he was smiling he was having a good time he was winning as soon as things are have gotten tough he’s regressed to who he who he’s always been which you can kind of expect right a and if you look at like watch some of the defensive tape like the blow buys are the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen where he just like olays everybody but it’s not just that it’s no rotation it’s standing eight feet off a shooter when you know he’s knocked down a couple of threes it’s not even trying to defend someone on a back cut like his refusal to play defense is the reason his team is just getting its ass kicked and I mean it’s tough but I would just point to uh a couple of things number one they didn’t make the playoffs last year at all like they weren’t a good team at all with him there and a lot of that was on him and then you get to this year and he becomes a darling again the media and everyone is just so excited and everyone wants to hand him an MVP trophy and I get it I mean his stats are ridiculous he averages but almost 34 almost 10 assists and and like over nine rebounds a game he is literally insanely good but he’s still out of shape he still doesn’t play defense he still doesn’t have a natural position to defend he still does whatever he wants off the court and it kind of like again I don’t want to let Vlade off the hook for passing on a generational talent but I also can understand why you’re always going to have some sort of little thing in the back of your mind of like do I want to put everything in my franchise on him and I I I don’t know I don’t know if that that’s something that I mean it clearly was something Vlad was not willing to do um and and it proves to be a mistake but like how big of a mistake it’s not that Luca has a bunch of MVPs it’s not that he has a bunch of titles um he’s a great player but was still some of the same warts that he had at like a 19-year-old player brenon I definitely get what you’re saying I will say I think that uh I think Luca could end up being the best player in the league for a couple years over and it was you you’d rather have him on your team even if he has some [ __ ] to him yeah I know but i’ I’d also say you’re you’re talk into a team that had just gone through an entire era where they had another player that was like extremely difficult or matters and another guy in the DeMarcus Cousins that was tough you know and so it’s hard to like not have uh not understand the PTSD of it right because I think it does at the end of the day so interesting discussion um all right I I think we’re good I think we’re g to wrap this thing up um you you guys have any final thoughts Brendon what do you got yeah I will go um I am thinking often as the Celtics are whooping the Mavericks ass in this finals about how I think in hindsight we’re going to look back at this team and be like they really dominated this season they’ve lost two games in the postseason and they won what is it 67 uh 64 yeah throughout the course of the regular season they lost less than 20 games and they had a net differential of 11.7 like this team was dominant and I think that it was understandable to question them throughout the course of the year because they’ve gotten to this point a couple times Eastern Conference Finals six of the last eight which everybody talks about that as if it’s a bad thing which is a little weird to me um but I I get why it’s like we need to see it but we are now and I I think in hindsight this team is going to really get looked back on as they were kind of whooping everybody’s ass all year long they they were far in way the best team that we’ve seen all year and and and we were talking about it you know you can learn something listen to this podcast damn it we we were talking about I know I was and I’m not trying to say I’m this genius I admit when I’m wrong this this uh this I didn’t think anybody could be in the class of the Celtics this year at all and they were my pick for the championship they were that good and they were that good coming into the season by January you knew they were that team I would agree and and Brendan like I know you Celtics fan and all that stuff you’re not wrong and honestly I could see them doing this for the next three years I absolutely agree I think they’re going to be a problem for a little while yeah I agree I also I want to see how their legacy changes because we’re seeing like year one and I also I love that Tatum and brown are like coming of age together like this is they’ve had their failures they’ they’ve had their failures deep in the playoffs I also would point out that like the team that they had last year which was really good and the team they had the year before that was really good like last year’s roster in the rotation Grant Williams Marcus Smart Malcolm Brogden were in their rotation and Brad Stevens knew he didn’t have enough to win a championship and he went out and he made bold and strong moves to improve his roster and that is it’s not easy to do just like I I will say this about Jeff Petri it was not easy to trade Jason Williams for Mike bbby that was a hard hard decision but at the end of the day you have to do what’s right for the program and that’s where I’m hoping that the kings are looking at what they’ve built and the flaws that they have and how difficult decisions have to be made but that’s the job and it’s it’s part of you know if you want to take another step you have to be bold and you’ve got to put risks out there you’ve gotta you’ve got to extend yourself where you’re not comfortable because that’s what the great teams that’s how they’re built that’s how they become great and it’s how they sustain greatness they don’t sit back and just wait for something to happen they they have to go out and make it happen themselves so specifically with Marcus Mark to me like as a you know I kind of grew up a Celtics guy and to me Marcus was like embodiment of the Celtics you know and moving on from him seemed at least from my perspective like that that tough decision that you’re kind of talking about and one of the but he really seemed like the guy and it is a little you know I kind of wish he would get an honorary ring but fair enough and it was the right decision but definitely with you that’s the one that really sticks out to me though yeah tough decisions have to be made um Sean final thoughts oh I don’t know I’m I’m a little upset that I’m going to miss the jug life celebrity game uh softball game at cter health park that javil McGee basketball I mean he’s been making the rounds man yeah what’s up with that he is good for him he’s on everybody’s stuff we had him at Fox 40 he’s been just everywhere guy is promoting the hell out of this thing so found out Mike Brown’s gonna play that’s gonna be fun that would that that makes me want to go but I can’t I’ve got some family stuff so uh if you guys get out there let me know I want to see this yeah Mike’s gonna play I want to see like a full swing bunt or something and see if he turns the Jets trying to turn turn first head into second big old head first slide or something you know I think that people like if you’re not around Mike Brown you forget that Mike Brown is a big dude like Mike Brown is what is he 63 like he’s he’s a a good siiz dude and not only that but he I mean he played college basketball um like gu I’m gonna guess that Mike Brown can play a little softball I’m gonna guess he can hit a ball a long way he’s gonna be softball guy I’m just gonna put it out there that like I think Mike Brown could probably hit a probably hit a home run I’d want Mike Brown on my beer league softball team that would be credible any team that I’m a part of oh Brad would play yeah Brad would play he’d be down yeah interesting yeah um but the other thing is like I mean I gave a shout out to the big three I got to talk to Ice Cube this week um that was every time Big Three comes around it’s just funny to see how many former Kings there are uh and then just former players where you look around and go oh my gosh like he’s still in the league but yeah like Barbosa to be able to still be an assistant coach in the NBA and then you know Moonlight as a as a three onree basketball player for 10 weeks during the summer that’s that’s that’s awesome um you know Nancy liberman as a head coach in that League Lisa Lesley so they have two you know female coaches that are legends in their game um and Nancy liberman’s won a championship with that within the big three so uh seventh year now for the big three and it’s kind of getting bigger and bigger good good on them it’s going to open in Oakland I hope to see it up in Sacramento one time and again with when nothing is happening you know during these these next 10 weeks of the of the of the year um it’s actually really entertaining I find myself tuning into it so if if you guys haven’t checked it out check it out and then I went to Jordan Ford’s basketball camp caught up with him you guys might appreciate this I don’t know how many camps you guys have seen But like you go there sometimes you see an athlete involved with the kids and that’s always good I like to shout out the guys that are always there doing their thing they usually have Coach that’s kind of running things and running the drills and going from Station to Station and certainly Jordan Ford has help but the dude has the whistle on and he is literally running his own Camp that’s and it is it is hilarious he had three days with the kids boys and girls from like kindergarten to seniors in high school it was it was wild and then lastly um if you hadn’t checked out the demonus sabonis interview um I not trying to Pat myself on the back at all but like I think there’s a lot of stuff outside the number um change that was kind of interesting him talking about his father he weighs in on Malik monk saying he’s still being annoying to Malik and if Malik doesn’t come back to the Kings he’s never going to forgive him uh he’s not going to talk to him stuff like that I mean he weighs it on Mike Brown heigh in on you know him being at Bottle Rock it was just a fun conversation with domas you might see him in a little bit of a Different Light I mean the guy was incredibly jovial uh and um fun to talk to and that must be what Spain does to you because I think if I was hanging out in Spain for a few weeks I’d probably feel the same way just a piggy Bo piggyback off that real quick um listen to that this morning I think Sean you came on the station this morning and we’re talking about it and I I feel like domas was very open in that interview I I would definitely say people should go listen to that he was hearing him talk about his father I didn’t know that his daughter was named 11 and I certainly didn’t know the born at whatever 11 J July July 11th yeah there you go um yeah I thought that was a great interview actually might have got me a little emotional at a point but did right he did all right it wasn’t my it it had nothing to do with me it’s all no it’s uh it’s definitely asking him if he’s a better player than his father or well right before that you know he kind of asked about is there pressure to it and he’s like no he was always just Dad to me he was an arvita sabonis might have got me a little bit here for Father’s Day you know um and then after the fact asking him do you think you’re better than your dad and him saying Hell no not even close you’re great that was fun I I think it’s interesting I I’m excited to listen to it because um like we deal with domos all the time and he’s like you’re always waiting for him to have like a moment where he lets down his guard and he just doesn’t want to in most settings and I’ve talked about this I think he’s better at the podium than he is in a scrum I’ve always thought that he like when he’s in a scrum it’s always super quick I don’t think he likes people being around him like they are in a scrum setting and um so I like to see him like kind of let go a little bit uh because a lot of times it’s you know eight-word answers and like bum bum next question next question and I feel like sometimes it’s like we’re rapid firing him and it’s pretty crazy so uh let’s see um I see my final thoughts uh Happy Father’s Day everybody out there uh it’s cool being a dad uh but you know still uh got my pops around so it’s it’s good to hang out and uh however you celebrate you know have a good time this weekend uh so shout out to all the dads out there um we definitely have a lot more King’s dads than we have in the past it’s it feels like um like the team is growing up around us which is interesting um but outside of that uh I don’t know enjoy the weather I got at 85 degrees right now 85 degrees what in the world like just beautiful after it was 103 earlier this week so kind of enjoy outside uh be good have have a a good you know celebratory weekend again we’re g to try to uh put together off the record with the Kings beat virtual happy hour for next Thursday chances are we won’t do again just because we haven’t done a happy hour in a long time we need to catch up with everybody kind of check in uh so if you’re a premium subscriber to the Kings beat you will get the invitation to that those are always fun they’re fully off the Record and we kind of let loose and have a good time there I’m sure there are plenty of things that people want to talk about that have happened transpired over the last couple of months that we haven’t been able to do a happy hour um do we got anything else guys no I mean I know you kind of mentioned the father thing when it comes to Kings uh people and and personnel and I just I I did think recently with Jordy leaving dok’s leaving I’ve kind of feel for Luke LS it seems those three were really close and even familywise and yeah I guess I don’t really have a point to that but it does seem like they are really close I I know I know give a hug go give him a hug hey doks and Luke were college teammates they’re wives were uh friends in college they’ve been friends forever they have a bunch of kids that are all around the same age that’s going to be a tough one and I I hope we don’t lose the the little kid vibe that we’ve had the last couple of years because you’re right we just like five little kids just got shipped to Brooklyn like they’re not going to be around and I I think that that’s one of the the defining things of the early Mike Brown era is that there are so many little ones like under under under four there’s probably like 12 of them running around in every pregame and it’s really cool like the family Vibe of this team has been cool so I hope we don’t lose that uh this year including including Mike’s grandchildren like that’s that’s always cool to see too oh yeah yeah definitely Mike’s Grand and lastly I think um I hate doing this every timean gets pissed I do this but uh you know the NBA lost an absolute Legend This Week in in Jerry West so uh thoughts and prayers out to West family uh I know Johnny West has been around the NBA for a long time as a front office person um I’ve always had good dude nice very nice guy uh I had the privilege of meeting Jerry West just once with Doug one time when we were in LA and uh he was super thoughtful super nice and then I kind of let them have their time um because that’s who Jerry West traded for Doug um when Doug went D was drafted by the Seattle superponics 1992 and then had a bunch of problems with the sonics and didn’t to play there and wouldn’t play there and so Jerry West actually traded for him and brought him to La uh before he went on to play for the Knicks and and the Raptors and then the Kings um but uh yeah thoughts and prayers out to Jerry West family um 86 years old uh and one of the the true probably the greatest uh overall contributor to the NBA outside of David Stern um over the last 60 years uh from a player to a coach to an executive eight championship rings as an executive it just absolutely incredible incredible aside from the obvious that’s already been said about him as a competitor and a Hall of Famer and all that stuff I thought Michael Jordan’s tribute was incredible uh what he said about him talking about how he’d Lov to have competed against him but also would have been amazing to be a teammate with him but to me the thing I’ll remember most about Jerry West that hasn’t in my opinion been said it was my first time talking to him and not realizing that I was I wasn’t ready for that conf ation and and what I mean by that is like you know you walk up to a guy and say hey how El going maybe ask him a question I’m a media member I’m super young at the time and I wasn’t ready for him to try to bring me into this 20 minute conversation and where he did a lot of the speaking and it was different in the you know you know we’d always tease Bill Walton you know our rest in peace to him as well we just lost him as well but you know Bill Walton you’d ask him one question and he’d go on for half an hour and you might get two questions in in half an hour Jerry’s was more of a discussion but at the same time like he was so fascinating that just listening to him everything he could talk about like the way he evaluated people the way he um evaluated Talent the way he would you know the way he knew the landscape of not only Sports not only basketball but Sports in general like the stuff he could steal from soccer baseball football and and be aware of all these different things and bring it into the light of the NBA world was fascinating to me so yeah what a what a what a legend what a gentleman a perfect gentleman and what a you know I hope that logo never changes I’m serious when I say that I know people think that that logo should look a little bit different and I hope it never does I would agree with you all right he he almost reminds me of Alvin Gentry like they they feel similar to me you know in that uh that way you’re talking about when having conversations and it’s always smooth and easy and and they rant in the best way possible um and I would just say I think when he went on the podcast with Paul George that it was that was an amazing episode and Jerry sure enough Ranson tells great stories yeah and that was at 85 years old on that podcast absolutely crazy so amazing uh amazing figure in in the basketball world uh all right that’s going to do it for this edition of the kingsby podcast we are of course a bluewire podcast thanks for joining us uh we’ll be back next week uh we will have a happy hour like next Thursday uh those things usually go from 5:30 until around 7 uh it’s a good time um we we drink we have a good time uh open book uh off the Record so jump on board with the Kings beat um but outside of that uh thanks for tuning in uh give us thumbs up subscribe to the channel do all that good stuff uh so for Fox 40 Sean Cunningham and Brenda Nunes from the Kings PS podcast I am James ham Kings and sat for ESPN 1320 in the Kings beat see you soon

Fox 40’s Sean Cunningham, Brenden Nunes from the Kings Pulse Podcast and The Kings Beat’s James Ham join forces for coverage of the Sacramento Kings.

Topics include some more information on Sasha Vezenkov situation, TRey Lyles gets an invite to Team Canada, Domantas Sabonis changes his number and an episode of The Business of Basketball centered around Brian Windhorst comments aimed at Luka Doncic following Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure! Big shoutout to Paul Jinkerson (@paulitition) for creating a new intro and outro for the podcast and to Brenden for creating our new overlay for the podcast.

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