What is the real reason why the Kings are losing games?

What is the real reason why the Kings are losing games?

  • Tanking for a higher Draft Lottery pick

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Not enough talent/we overvalue our players

    Votes: 25 47.2%
  • Youngest team in the league

    Votes: 13 24.5%
  • Unbalanced roster

    Votes: 27 50.9%
  • Smart's coaching

    Votes: 18 34.0%
  • Coaches and players haven't been together long enough

    Votes: 3 5.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.9%

  • Total voters
    53
#5
Bottom 10 talent roster, inexperienced coach, cheap owners with a GM who probably isn't allowed to bring in higher priced talent, and also a team who looks like it flips a coin on whether or not they're going to try that night or not
 
#7
The combination of:

* Not enough talent
* Roster pieces that fit together horribly
* Coaching staff that doesn't have a clue how to create a defensive OR offensive system

and you get one of the worst teams in the league, despite having some good players on it.
But we overvalue our players (in general) something fierce.
 
#9
main 2 reasons:

1. Lack of passion and "intensity" as the half time show described
2. a defense that couldnt stop a f***** middle school girl in a wheel chair....whose also blind.....and has never picked up a basketball

im so sick of watching this team not being able to guard ANYONE. If you cant stop the teams top players, thats on thing, but not being able to stop one god d*** player, the worst players on the court, and leaving the wings wide open EVERY F***** TIME is just becoming unbearable.

And another thing, I dont think that its b/c of bad individual defenders, i think its b/c of Smart and the rest of the coaches. I believe this because i see the same stupid mistakes game after game. They are not fixing minor issues that cost them games and i dont know who else to blame but the coach. Its his job to make sure that the players dont make the same mistakes twice, yet he's let them make the same mistakes game after game after f***** game.
 
#10
main 2 reasons:

1. Lack of passion and "intensity" as the half time show described
2. a defense that couldnt stop a f***** middle school girl in a wheel chair....whose also blind.....and has never picked up a basketball

im so sick of watching this team not being able to guard ANYONE. If you cant stop the teams top players, thats on thing, but not being able to stop one god d*** player, the worst players on the court, and leaving the wings wide open EVERY F***** TIME is just becoming unbearable.

And another thing, I dont think that its b/c of bad individual defenders, i think its b/c of Smart and the rest of the coaches. I believe this because i see the same stupid mistakes game after game. They are not fixing minor issues that cost them games and i dont know who else to blame but the coach. Its his job to make sure that the players dont make the same mistakes twice, yet he's let them make the same mistakes game after game after f***** game.
We know that they are able to play defense, as they usually do it in the end of close games. Imo it's just inattentiveness and laziness that accounts for the lack of defense in those first three quarters.
 

Spike

Subsidiary Intermediary
Staff member
#12
This wasn't as issue when we pounded San Antonio and took it to OKC. That was a different lineup. Sometimes the answers are simple. Go to your team's strengths. Set reliable rotations and roles so players can develop comfort and consistency, and watch what happens.

Can Smart swallow his pride and give up on smallball, or will he sail that boat to Valhalla in a flaming dirge of Nellieglory?
 
#13
As far as I can see this team plays much harder against better teams and is not motivated at all against lesser teams. Smart has improved the team to some extent but there are to many glaring problems with motivation and closing out games. I'm not sure Smart is HC material, looking at it from the outside.

This is the youngest team in the league. I don't think the FO needs to bring in a big name free agent. Just continue building through the draft and improve the coaching. When the team starts getting good then bring in the big FA to get us over the top.
 
#14
Dysfunctional franchise, bad owners, and neglect in the form of several years of cut rate coaching with poor player development and low rent personnel moves. This happened over 4-5 years, and its going to take a lot of luck and time to get the stink off this franchise, because it permeates it right now. We are the new Clippers.
 
#16
Not enough talent. Potential yes. Talent no. Potential does not win games.

Can't seem to get established talent here despite having cap space. This may be due to the owners or the GM. My personal opinion is that establsihed talent just really do not want to come here.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#17
We are bad because Tyreke hasn't developed a jump shot. :)

Seriously, it is funny that we are finally noticing that this team is slowing circling the bowl of the crapper. I put the blame on the owners and what has occurred waaaay above the level of the players and coaches. The owners are concerned about staying afloat financially and whether the team will be in Sacramento. It doesn''t even seem clear within the Maloof family that there is any clear direction in which they want to take this team. What is obvious is that George does not agree with his two brothers. In fact he has been outright nasty to media types who want a word with him. There seems to be a dysfuntional family at the helm, a family that once famously made decisions by consensus. I suspect there is no concensus within this family except that which has been forced upon them by the NBA. They are not in control of their own destiny. Even KJ and the City of Sacramento has taken power from this once very rich family.

They can't be happy and certainly they don't speak with one voice. Underlings notice that and are affected by that. At the top is nothing but instability.

Until a week ago, it wasn't very clear where the team was going to be playing next year. In fact this whole year has been spent in Sacramento only because of a lot of frantic activity, all of it against the wishes of the Maloofs. I am not saying the Maloofs are bad people. I am saying they are a confused people with concerns that are tearing apart their interest in the Kings. Their interest is self survival and as part of that, their interest has been in its negotiations with the NBA and the city centering around the arena. Their focus on the team has been lost.

People seem to look at basketball players as movable pieces but these guys have wives/significant others, children, and homes. Their families are concerned about where they are living next year. Should they set roots in Sacramento or see their present residence as a one year rental. What I am clumsily trying to say is that the energies of everyone is diverted and not focused totally on what happens on the basketball court.

There may be other reasons that contribute such as the coaches, mismatched pieces and the like but these problems cannot be solved until the team knows where it is going to play and how much money it has to spend.

Now we know. Now the Maloofs can focus on management of the team. The problems that will come up with the arena as far as they are concerned have largely been solved. They know what they need to pay. This last item is important as until a week ago they didn't know how much they were to pay and therefore could very well have been in money conservation mode. Now they know what they can spend on the Kings. Now we will see what they will spend on the Kings. The unknown, financially, is now known.

I see the future of the Kings will be clear next year. The Maloofs will either spend money on this team to become competitive or not. It depends on how much money they have available for the Kings. It depends on how much income they will get or not get from the Kings. The NBA revenue sharing will help.

If I am correct, at least in part, the team should be better next year.
 
#18
Most of the above is mainly because we have an incompetent and lazy GM. If you have a business being managed by a very incompetent and lazy manager your business will sink. This is what is happening with the Kings. We need a very good GM to provide the right advices to stingy owners.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#19
Lazy players. Just like the Boston Red Sox of last year and their epic collapse to miss the postseason...the Kings just have lazy players.
The Red Sox had top 5 talent in the league. Maybe even the best roster in the league. The Kings have young talent at a few spots and holes all over the roster. The whole small ball thing is killing us but I'm guessing its at least partially driven by the fact that we have a thoroughly incomplete team right now due to a complete failure to get the right pieces we needed in the offseason.
 
#20
Now the Maloofs can focus on management of the team.
This is the good news?

The Webber, Vlade, Peja pieces were already in place before they became the majority owners.

During the glory days, they were very hands off.

They've been a lot more hands on over the past 6 six years and during that time we've been among the worst teams in basketball.

They've installed their l attorney - who's never worked for another NBA team - as the president of the club. And your are probably right that the Maloofs want to focus on managing this team, as it's pretty much the only thing they really own at this point.

The problem is the Maloofs track record with running a business well is close to Isiah Thomas and doing well in basketball.

I don't see any reason to believes the Maloofs can fix this. They are more likely to get into the way. Like pushing for Jimmer thinking that he'd move more tickets.
 
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#21
I honestly think we have a lot of really good players. the problem is imo that they cant play on the court together at the same time. I say move IT and possibly thornton to the bench. because I think we would be more than ok with jimmer, tyreke and demarcus starting. and by the time smart sits down tyreke and jimmer we have equal power if not better coming off the bench to bring the heat. I just dont think thornton, thomas and tyreke can play at the same time. just isnt working
 
#22
In the above poll I chose Not enough talent/We overvalue our players being the main reason the team cannot win. I always read posts here on KF with guys constantly tweaking the rotations/starters but IMO nothing will work because the players aren't good enough. Last night was a disgrace. The team was in la-la land.

Demarcus is our best player and the team should be built around him. Tyreke is our second best player but there's room for improvement. After these two guys the rest of the team sucks. MT is debatable. Throw in a mediocre coach and most importantly a down-on-their-luck and almost broke ownership and you get what you paid for. I'm afraid that this quality of performance that the team is exhibiting will continue for the next few seasons UNLESS strategic trades are performed by the FO. I don't think this team will take us to the promised land as it is built. It sucks watching the T-Wolves improve and come together as our team looks like garbage.

Hope springs eternal.
 
#23
The post above is close to right. I get that people are fans, but the Kings have horrible owners, an OK GM, mediocre coaches, 2.5 good player, not much else, and are among the top 3-5 NBA Siberias going.
Yet, the company line is. We’ve got a lot of young talent. The rebuild is moving along. We’ll just add one piece to finish this off at some point.
They've got a very good young centers and two shooting guards, one who can't shoot.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#24
This is the good news?

The Webber, Vlade, Peja pieces were already in place before they became the majority owners.

During the glory days, they were very hands off.

They've been a lot more hands on over the past 6 six years and during that time we've been among the worst teams in basketball.

They've installed their l attorney - who's never worked for another NBA team - as the president of the club. And your are probably right that the Maloofs want to focus on managing this team, as it's pretty much the only thing they really own at this point.

The problem is the Maloofs track record with running a business well is close to Isiah Thomas and doing well in basketball.

I don't see any reason to believes the Maloofs can fix this. They are more likely to get into the way. Like pushing for Jimmer thinking that he'd move more tickets.
I would be very happy if the Maloofs sold the team but they are not going to.
 
#25
I voted unbalanced roster and overvaluing of talent, which I think go hand-in-hand. Overvalued Jimmer's readiness to play PG in the NBA and overvalued Tyreke's ability to be a PG for years. They overvalued Salmons and made the roster unbalanced by trading for him, and then didn't retain their shotblocker and overvalued Hayes, creating a smaller roster.