[Game] 56/82: Warriors @ Kings 21 FEB 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET
- Thread starter QWERTYLICIOUS
- Start date
Yeah, and that's largely read and react which is probably why the Kings are having issues right now because it's all about knowing your teammates and timing. The Kings run off ball screens but nobody is seeing the action out there right now. In time that will come. Christie simplified it a bit early on and honestly Brown really just spammed pick and roll this year, but maybe just running more two man game and "spraying" as they say is what they might want to stick to for the time being. By far the more concerning long term thing is the defense.
The only player in the twilight of his career is DeMar. This team is far from old and even he looks like the type to continue solid play well into his later years. Now we see what the Kings can do development wise. It doesn't matter if you have a 100 young players if you can't develop them or have an idea of what they bring to the team. The most important thing might be this summer and how much Carter, Jones, and Crawford improve. If those guys can at the least turn into rotation level players then Monte has cap gold. Young guys on good deals is going to be vital with all this apron stuff now.
It's terms of talent you can't be upset with the trade/signing of DDR/LaVine but the fit and question if these guys are winning players is legit. Aside from Keon and LaRavia no one seems to be going even 90% there just a lack of effort LaVine has been Harrison Barnes @SG since he came despite having amazing talent. The teams is playing like they are too cool to care.
Fultz looked good only positive tonight.
Fultz looked good only positive tonight.
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If it was true that the players quit on Brown, then no one should be surprised at what they are seeing. A lack of intestinal fortitude from the group. Lavine is not playing free. The new coach bump lasted for awhile but that is long gone.
If Fultz is the real deal, then DC has to convince Monk to come off the bench. Monk is a 2 guard who can run pick and roll with Domas. DC has pieces to keep a balanced lineup on the floor but he’s going to have to get buy in from the team/players and it goes back to this is a group that quit on Brown. This is not a team.
If Fultz is the real deal, then DC has to convince Monk to come off the bench. Monk is a 2 guard who can run pick and roll with Domas. DC has pieces to keep a balanced lineup on the floor but he’s going to have to get buy in from the team/players and it goes back to this is a group that quit on Brown. This is not a team.
Well, after the break, I was expecting big changes, would have accepted some changes, but saw few changes. It is starting to fall on Coach Christie to shake things up. Unless he rips up what has been and starts over with lineups, rotations, offensive scheme, and defensive approach, then the team can expect results similar to this game. It is time to make changes and take chances that make sense in a basketball way.
After the new player acquisitions, this team is a jigsaw puzzle just dumped out of the box. Somebody needs to start putting it together rather than stirring it around on the table hoping it assembles itself.
Yes, it is very late in the season to develop innovative changes, but it may serve as a database for the summer and next year. Find something that works and develop it.
After the new player acquisitions, this team is a jigsaw puzzle just dumped out of the box. Somebody needs to start putting it together rather than stirring it around on the table hoping it assembles itself.
Yes, it is very late in the season to develop innovative changes, but it may serve as a database for the summer and next year. Find something that works and develop it.
Positives: Fultz looked really really good. Excited to see what he can do.
DDR’s shot looked really good. He was locked in on offense. Good game from him.
I thought Keegan did well on Steph and shot well from 3 but hard to chase through 3-4 screens every possession all game long because Keon is the only other player that can switch onto him and they don’t play enough minutes together.
Negatives: We are still trotting out 4 awful defensive players in the starting 5 as if we need more time to determine it doesn’t work. It doesn’t.
I thought Sabonis was especially bad tonight on D. Often guarding no one and directing other guys in confusing ways asking guys to guard their man + his. Multiple times resulting in easy buckets. Blitzing in strange situations that led to 4 v 3s (maybe he is being coached to do that so might not be in him).
Sabonis and LaVine were turnover machines.
DDR’s shot looked really good. He was locked in on offense. Good game from him.
I thought Keegan did well on Steph and shot well from 3 but hard to chase through 3-4 screens every possession all game long because Keon is the only other player that can switch onto him and they don’t play enough minutes together.
Negatives: We are still trotting out 4 awful defensive players in the starting 5 as if we need more time to determine it doesn’t work. It doesn’t.
I thought Sabonis was especially bad tonight on D. Often guarding no one and directing other guys in confusing ways asking guys to guard their man + his. Multiple times resulting in easy buckets. Blitzing in strange situations that led to 4 v 3s (maybe he is being coached to do that so might not be in him).
Sabonis and LaVine were turnover machines.
Can we really say this with such strident certainty?
Fox maintains he didn’t demand a trade. Maybe that’s semantics, but probably semantics that the players association would be happy to litigate. You think the post Brown firing, pre trade rumbling good vibes come back with a grievance process going on in the background? Do you think the Kings get better offers this summer for 1 year of Fox on a contract telling the world he’ll only sign in San Antonio?
Fox maintains he didn’t demand a trade. Maybe that’s semantics, but probably semantics that the players association would be happy to litigate. You think the post Brown firing, pre trade rumbling good vibes come back with a grievance process going on in the background? Do you think the Kings get better offers this summer for 1 year of Fox on a contract telling the world he’ll only sign in San Antonio?
It doesn't matter how good your team is offensively when your defense is so bad that you're giving up practice quality shots to the other team 50% of the time.
This team is in trouble for sure. I don't think it's an issue of who is starting or how the minutes are distributed. They are just completely flawed at the core.
This team is in trouble for sure. I don't think it's an issue of who is starting or how the minutes are distributed. They are just completely flawed at the core.
I'm glad you're more optimistic than I am.
I was watching that game yesterday when the Kings were up by a few points in the first quarter and knew that they'd be down 20 in no time. Kings were just hitting shots (mainly DDR) while the Warriors looks either consisted of layups or wide open 3s.
I guess the good news is LaRavia should be cheap if they want to resign him. He looks like he's never played a minute of offensive basketball in his life.
I was watching that game yesterday when the Kings were up by a few points in the first quarter and knew that they'd be down 20 in no time. Kings were just hitting shots (mainly DDR) while the Warriors looks either consisted of layups or wide open 3s.
I guess the good news is LaRavia should be cheap if they want to resign him. He looks like he's never played a minute of offensive basketball in his life.
I stated not paying 40M for LaVine was better than just sitting Fox. I didn’t state what other options might have been better than just sitting Fox as I don’t have those alternatives. But Fox for Ingram would have been better in my opinion.
here are our numbers for when Keon started
Offense Defense. Net
117.8. 108.7 9.0
here are the numbers with LaVine
Offense Defense. Net
114.3. 120.2. -6.0
Would I like more games? Sure but it seems pretty definitive to me. Lavine doubles (triples) down on what we do well while doing the same on what we do poorly. So he adds a little on offense and kills us on defense. All while tying up our cap for a couple more years.
it was yet another brain dead trade and asset management.
here are our numbers for when Keon started
Offense Defense. Net
117.8. 108.7 9.0
here are the numbers with LaVine
Offense Defense. Net
114.3. 120.2. -6.0
Would I like more games? Sure but it seems pretty definitive to me. Lavine doubles (triples) down on what we do well while doing the same on what we do poorly. So he adds a little on offense and kills us on defense. All while tying up our cap for a couple more years.
it was yet another brain dead trade and asset management.
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and why are we chasing the 9th playoff spot?
Vivek.
Grant said it again in his post game, as long as Vivek is head of this organization nothing is gonna change. And Vivek isnt going anywhere so who and what is this team?
I watched last nights game and it was just boring. Same problems, same complaints, rinse and repeat. I mean I was like, why post my thoughts cause they are just the same as they’ve always been? Didn’t take long for me to just not care anymore. I feel bad for anyone paying to go see this trash. What a waste of money. The games will be on but they will just be background noise as I’m doing other things.
Vivek.
Grant said it again in his post game, as long as Vivek is head of this organization nothing is gonna change. And Vivek isnt going anywhere so who and what is this team?
I watched last nights game and it was just boring. Same problems, same complaints, rinse and repeat. I mean I was like, why post my thoughts cause they are just the same as they’ve always been? Didn’t take long for me to just not care anymore. I feel bad for anyone paying to go see this trash. What a waste of money. The games will be on but they will just be background noise as I’m doing other things.
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What a lot of people don't seem ready to admit is that the Fox trade effectively nuked the season. It just did. If you fire your head coach mid-season and trade your best player mid-season, you can pretty much expect it to be... a lost season. It's too difficult to integrate a new head coach (under the implied threat of an interim tag) and new talent in a meaningful way without the benefit of offseason team-building, training camp, pre-season, and practice.
The Kings were bad in the immediate aftermath of the Haliburton trade, too. There were glimmers of what Sabonis could bring to the offense, but no time to completely restructure and relearn the playbooks to account for his skillsets. However, an offseason and training camp with Mike Brown and Domantas Sabonis led to the Beam Team's initial success. When you make a big mid-season trade and/or coaching change, you're just biding time until the following season when everyone can get on the same page. It's just how it works.
So I suppose we can expect quite a bit of bad basketball in the weeks to come. Maybe the Kings stay afloat. Maybe they make the play-in. Maybe they sneak into a first round matchup with a team they probably won't be prepared to beat. Hopefully the front office gets enough of a look at what won't work and what could work to determine what the next steps will be. Will Doug Christie be the Kings' head coach heading into the '25-'26 season? Will the team's offensive and defensive playbooks be overhauled? Will the current rotation be overhauled? Will there be further changes to the roster?
Even if this roster had the benefit of a full offseason and training camp together, I think most are at least ready to acknowledge that the Kings are going nowhere fast with such a defensively inept starting lineup. They're 4-4 since the trade, giving up about 123 ppg. They've either lost in blowouts, lost in nail-biters, or won in nail-biters. My guess is they'll muddle along at roughly a .500 clip for the remainder of the season, continuing to frustrate when the lineup is defensively challenged, tantalizing on occasion when the lineup is more balanced, but convincing nobody that they're a threat in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Kings were bad in the immediate aftermath of the Haliburton trade, too. There were glimmers of what Sabonis could bring to the offense, but no time to completely restructure and relearn the playbooks to account for his skillsets. However, an offseason and training camp with Mike Brown and Domantas Sabonis led to the Beam Team's initial success. When you make a big mid-season trade and/or coaching change, you're just biding time until the following season when everyone can get on the same page. It's just how it works.
So I suppose we can expect quite a bit of bad basketball in the weeks to come. Maybe the Kings stay afloat. Maybe they make the play-in. Maybe they sneak into a first round matchup with a team they probably won't be prepared to beat. Hopefully the front office gets enough of a look at what won't work and what could work to determine what the next steps will be. Will Doug Christie be the Kings' head coach heading into the '25-'26 season? Will the team's offensive and defensive playbooks be overhauled? Will the current rotation be overhauled? Will there be further changes to the roster?
Even if this roster had the benefit of a full offseason and training camp together, I think most are at least ready to acknowledge that the Kings are going nowhere fast with such a defensively inept starting lineup. They're 4-4 since the trade, giving up about 123 ppg. They've either lost in blowouts, lost in nail-biters, or won in nail-biters. My guess is they'll muddle along at roughly a .500 clip for the remainder of the season, continuing to frustrate when the lineup is defensively challenged, tantalizing on occasion when the lineup is more balanced, but convincing nobody that they're a threat in the Western Conference playoff race.
Because they were a) about to lose BI for nothing and b) Murray is not on their correct timeline.
this wasn’t exactly a Kings ransom for BI..
Raptors sent Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2031 second-round pick to New Orleans for Ingram on Feb. 6.
I’m not saying such a deal was possible. I was saying letting Fox sit and get his hand healthy and see what better offers you could get was better than taking on that Levine contract.
this wasn’t exactly a Kings ransom for BI..
Raptors sent Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2031 second-round pick to New Orleans for Ingram on Feb. 6.
I’m not saying such a deal was possible. I was saying letting Fox sit and get his hand healthy and see what better offers you could get was better than taking on that Levine contract.
it’s always everyone’s fault but Monte’s with you.
The Levine trade was an awful trade for this roster:
A) tripled down on what you already had
B) made you worse in an area you were already weak
C) blocked a key player who did help and your new rookie, whom you personally raved about, from getting any playing time.
The Levine trade was an awful trade for this roster:
A) tripled down on what you already had
B) made you worse in an area you were already weak
C) blocked a key player who did help and your new rookie, whom you personally raved about, from getting any playing time.
They played like a team that was disappointed their mid-season break had come to an end and a team yearning for summer break to come earlier rather than later. Sure, they are bound to have a disjointed offense because of the trade, but it doesn't excuse the lack of effort on the defensive end of the floor. They don't really care about play-in or playoffs. They look like they have given up on the season.
given he is the GM and President of Basketball operations seems pretty reasonable.
but no it’s Huerter’s fault even though Monte traded a first to get him
it’s Fox’s fault even though Monte drafted 3 guys at his position and 1 guy elsewhere in Fox’s 5 years together and Fox’s intent was pretty clear to the rest of the NBA when he didn’t sign an extension
It’s the coaches fault even though the roster has been unbalanced for 5 years.
but no it’s Huerter’s fault even though Monte traded a first to get him
it’s Fox’s fault even though Monte drafted 3 guys at his position and 1 guy elsewhere in Fox’s 5 years together and Fox’s intent was pretty clear to the rest of the NBA when he didn’t sign an extension
It’s the coaches fault even though the roster has been unbalanced for 5 years.
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