[Game] 50/82: Kings vs. Magic 05 FEB 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET

[The_Jamal]

it was Nesmith and getting a 1st versus giving up an unprotected pick swap to dump him later which could be ugly.

we were tied with Chicago. We would have had more ping pong balls but yes if nothing else changes we get Wagner. certeris parabus is a pretty standard forecasting model.

At worst I would have traded Fox for Ingram and a couple picks. We had some leverage but Monte caved.

yes I agree on this rookie class why I said probably

Don't be disingenuous. We didn't "dump" HB, it was a trade for DDR. You can disagree with the trade, but don't change the facts of that deal. As was us dumping davion and Sasha

No interest in a hurt Ingram headed to UFA. That's why he got basically nothing in return.

 

[iowamcnabb]

Don't be disingenuous. We didn't "dump" HB, it was a trade for DDR. You can disagree with the trade, but don't change the facts of that deal. As was us dumping davion and Sasha

No interest in a hurt Ingram headed to UFA. That's why he got basically nothing in return.

yeh no chance New Orleans trades for Fox if they had to give up picks. He would never re-sign there

 

[bball_nomad]

The Kings have to average over 125 points to have a chance at winning.

I meant starters have to average 110+ points per game. My bad

 

[Folsomkingsfan]

It is only one game so I'm still hopeful DC and the team will figure it out, but that was my concern bringing in Lavine.

Our best starting 5 has been Monk, Keon, DDR, Murray, Sabonis. With Keon and Keegan together it helps us set the tone defensively and not let the other team get in a rhythm easily, but we won't go with it because of egos/salaries.

So after swapping Fox for Lavine, we have a starting lineup with 1 good defender with 4 guys almost incapable of playing defense. As a result, you got the other team getting hot early and building confidence from the tipoff and it carries into the rest of the night. We saw the magic switching Keegan off of whoever and then the coaches will have Keegan shadow and try to defend 2 people at once, running all over.

The other thing I like about the Keon starting lineup is that it no longer forces Keegan to be relegated to the 5th scoring option playing with 4 other guys that want to get a lot of touches and shots.

Curious to see what Christie does here. I just feel like we are at our best with Keon starting, if we could somehow convince Lavine or DDR to be the 6th man, because I don't think they are suddenly going to start being reliable defenders.

I think for the time being you bring DDR off the bench. In addition to being a horrendous defensive team, we are also one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league and at least Lavine can provide more in that area than DDR. If Lavine isn't able to replicate what he did earlier in the season then maybe you move him to the bench and put DDR back in the starting lineup. But I think you need to find a way to get Keon into the starting lineup. The wild hand flailing and inability to properly switch that I saw yesterday gave me ptsd of when we used to start Kevin Martin/John Salmons/Brad Miller/Beno Udrih/ and Andres Nocioni

 

[chief bromden]

DeMar isn't coming off the bench. Beadle asked him in a podcast two weeks ago about the rumor that Mike Brown asked him to do that and his non response made it pretty clear that him as a sixth man is, ironically, a non-starter

 

[coolhandluke]

I think for the time being you bring DDR off the bench. In addition to being a horrendous defensive team, we are also one of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league and at least Lavine can provide more in that area than DDR. If Lavine isn't able to replicate what he did earlier in the season then maybe you move him to the bench and put DDR back in the starting lineup. But I think you need to find a way to get Keon into the starting lineup. The wild hand flailing and inability to properly switch that I saw yesterday gave me ptsd of when we used to start Kevin Martin/John Salmons/Brad Miller/Beno Udrih/ and Andres Nocioni

Monk-Ellis-DeRozan-Murray-Sabonis lineup has proven to be good with a nice balance of offense and defense. I'd rather have the new guy LaVine come off the bench early for DeRozan/Monk to get some time with Sabonis as he gets familiar with our system. It's management of egos and LaVine is more pliable than DeRozan.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

Man these game threads really go some strange places once the game is over!!!

 

[Jdbraver137]

Monk-Ellis-DeRozan-Murray-Sabonis lineup has proven to be good with a nice balance of offense and defense. I'd rather have the new guy LaVine come off the bench early for DeRozan/Monk to get some time with Sabonis as he gets familiar with our system. It's management of egos and LaVine is more pliable than DeRozan.

Uh no, Lavine belongs out there with Sabonis. I’d say derozan needs to go to the bench.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I'm seriously at a loss as to why Monte's job would be in danger.

I do believe Vivek wants to win and I imagine it comes down to how he assumes blame for this season.

There's ample evidence Brown had a lot of input into the roster construction and also that he simply refused to play some guys or to bring in big/long/large/whatever player archetypes in favor of smaller more mobile guys in a Dubs scheme.

And I've seen enough now to blame Fox above Brown.

But if he sees everything as "bad roster" and solely Monte to blame, I can see failing to make the playoffs this year as cause for dismissal.

 

[coolhandluke]

Uh no, Lavine belongs out there with Sabonis. I’d say derozan needs to go to the bench.

LaVine will be good with Sabonis but he is lost in our system on both offense and defense. Don't want to risk that chaos and fall behind at the start of the game. DeRozan is a much better self creator than LaVine and his midrange game can run in parallel with the Sabonis/Monk pick and roll game. We would have enough offensive variety and we can hide DeRozan on slower players (PF/SF) compared to LaVine (SG/SF). As the season progresses, this may change once LaVine gets familiar but I would prefer to stick with what works and not introduce new variables at this point.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I was being facetious.

Fooled me, a lot of people seem to place everything at his feet.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

we were tied with Chicago. We would have had more ping pong balls but yes if nothing else changes we get Wagner. certeris parabus is a pretty standard forecasting model.

Players don't tank. It's easy to say we should have lost one more game but that's out of the GM's control unless they tear everything down and then it's probably a difference of +/= 5 or more games.

But players don't tank. Look at what New England Patriots did when they entered week 18 with #1 pick locked. Basketball is no different, perhaps even more competitive since there are fewer contracts to go around.

 

[Jdbraver137]

LaVine will be good with Sabonis but he is lost in our system on both offense and defense. Don't want to risk that chaos and fall behind at the start of the game. DeRozan is a much better self creator than LaVine and his midrange game can run in parallel with the Sabonis/Monk pick and roll game. We would have enough offensive variety and we can hide DeRozan on slower players (PF/SF) compared to LaVine (SG/SF). As the season progresses, this may change once LaVine gets familiar but I would prefer to stick with what works and not introduce new variables at this point.

It’s one game, I’d like a few games to see what happens.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Man these game threads really go some strange places once the game is over!!!

What makes you think, and believe, that the game threads aren't already in a strange place before the games are over?

 

[Caccia]

Let the overreactions begin, why don't we? Give the guys a break.

 

[Srzly]

Fooled me, a lot of people seem to place everything at his feet.

Sorry I thought it was obvious. Might have to add a emoji in the future.

I was essentially eye rolling at the thought of trading Keegan because he “disappears” every other game. He is the 5th scoring option on a team full of high usage players, his scoring will be inconsistent when he hardly touches the ball on that end most nights.

That post also ignored the fact that he shows up on defense every night and the only other player than can say that is Keon.

The idea we could somehow trade Keegan for a long, athletic, defensive stopper, that also is a scorer on basically no usage sounds like an All-Star type player. Would love to see the list of targets matching that criteria.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

What makes you think, and believe, that the game threads aren't already in a strange place before the games are over?

I admit this one went some strange places before the final whistle. We all have our ways of coping with losses lol.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

Hmmm idk, trade for a wing would do it.

Well, we did trade for a wing. The trade just happened to include Fox. He got his wish.

 

[coolhandluke]

Mercifully, we have another game coming up. Here's to bitching about new things after that game.

 

[Vinny Basketballerino]

Mercifully, we have another game coming up. Here's to bitching about new things after that game.

We get the win tonight and we are still hovering around .500 since our 7 game win streak. I would consider that weathering the storm.

We'll need to battle down the stretch but we always knew we would have to. We'll have to find a way to either squeak into the playoffs or win the play-in... all while integrating Lavine. Tough, but not impossible, the good part is the task is clear, and the debris has been cleared away.

 

[MizzouKing]

An eye opening interview with the magnificent Malik after last night's game.

 

[The_Jamal]

I do believe Vivek wants to win and I imagine it comes down to how he assumes blame for this season.

There's ample evidence Brown had a lot of input into the roster construction and also that he simply refused to play some guys or to bring in big/long/large/whatever player archetypes in favor of smaller more mobile guys in a Dubs scheme.

And I've seen enough now to blame Fox above Brown.

But if he sees everything as "bad roster" and solely Monte to blame, I can see failing to make the playoffs this year as cause for dismissal.

I actually think Monte lives to through thr DDR/LaVine contracts. If Vivek were acting rationally and planning to move on, he would not have allowed us to take on longterm money in LaVine and Jval. You have Domas and Monk for 3 more years. You have team control on Keon and Keegan and Carter.

So imo, hes won the ear of Vivek and he'll get a chance to see this core through 2 more years. And you'd clean house in 2 years with a totally new power structure, to oversee a rebuild if it fails

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I actually think Monte lives to through thr DDR/LaVine contracts. If Vivek were acting rationally and planning to move on, he would not have allowed us to take on longterm money in LaVine and Jval. You have Domas and Monk for 3 more years. You have team control on Keon and Keegan and Carter.

So imo, hes won the ear of Vivek and he'll get a chance to see this core through 2 more years. And you'd clean house in 2 years with a totally new power structure, to oversee a rebuild if it fails

I'm not advocating him being gone but if it were up to a fan vote it would probably be 90% that he goes. Of course if it were up to a fan vote they'd draw and quarter Vivek outside the arena shortly afterwards.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I guess we will close up shop here and go to today's game.