SLAB
Hall of Famer
It’s the latter. Our guy wasn’t this inept last year.
[Game] 09/82: Kings vs. Thunder [NBA Cup Game] 07 NOV 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET
- Thread starter Mr. S£im Citrus
- Start date
It’s the latter. Our guy wasn’t this inept last year.
QWERTYLICIOUS
Starter
Exactly!
Padrino
All-Star
Eh. I'm a massive Christie skeptic, and part of the reason is that he was rather inept last year, particularly when it came to his lineups. Consistently ran Monk/LaVine/DeRozan/Murray/Sabonis for big minutes, despite that lineup's obvious defensive deficiencies. Consistently kept Kepn glued to the bench until Monk went down with injury. You'd think a former NBA 2-guard who buttered his bread on the defensive end would grasp Keon's value to a team filled with so many weak and/or disinterested defenders, but it's obvious Christie is more of a fraternity head coach who puts egos first.
You mean something like Vivek telling Christie, “Don’t play Keon this game til the 4th Q”. I highly doubt it
Kingster
Hall of Famer
I totally disagree with the notion that Christie's ineptness last night was due to Vivek micro-managing him from the sidelines. Lavine played 29 minutes last night. A blind man could see he didn't have it after 5 minutes because of his back. That leaves 24 additional minutes for Ellis. Christie had the easy excuse of injury to sit Lavine. He didn't. If he doesn't have the stones to tell Vivek he can't play the guy because he's injured then get another fricken job. Nobody can tell me that an injured Lavine is more impactful than a healthy Ellis. In addition, the Vivek excuse doesn't wash concerning the manner Christie is using both of his rookies. The "great" point guard Westbrook had seven turnovers for which Christie rewarded him with 35 minutes. Schroeder was awarded with 25 minutes for his two points and 0-10 shooting. There is absolutely no reason Christie can't persuade Vivek (if that's what's really happening) that out of the 60 minutes he gave those two that Clifford shouldn't get another 15 minutes or so at the point guard position. All of it speaks to Christie's weakness as the HC, and it doesn't make Perry look good either.
gunks
Hall of Famer
The team should be called the Sacramento Sunk Cost Fallacy instead of the Kings with how many minutes our washed up but highly paid vets get over younger players.
It would also be a neat nod to the fans of this team who still tune in even though the franchise continues to make the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over again, and will continue to do so for as long as Vivek is owner.
I dunno what they'd do for a mascot though.
It would also be a neat nod to the fans of this team who still tune in even though the franchise continues to make the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over again, and will continue to do so for as long as Vivek is owner.
I dunno what they'd do for a mascot though.
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
Is it mostly putting egos first, or managing contracts by basically being obligated to favor who is paid the most by far?
Factoring in the contracts and the vested interest of the organization is quite a challenge for a head coach in this situation. Always makes me wonder how the rotations would go, if there wasn't such a massive gap in pay among many of these players. That was the beauty of collegiate athletics
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
The bottom line is does he have the power to tell the owner that he wants to play the guy that is paid 2.3 million nearly as much as the guy that is paid 47.5 million?
No chance. Follow the money
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Westbrook has a minimum veteran salary. His minutes are not remotely correlated to his salary. It's hard for me to believe that Christie has gotten the word from management/ownership that because of his brand Westbrook absolutely must get at least X minutes a game.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Like I said, if that's what's going on, it's an easy excuse to play Lavine much much less in this game because of his injured back. If Christie doesn't have the words to justify that to Vivek-Perry, then get another fricken job. Weak, weak, weak.
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
Westbrook is a far outlier, because he will be in the hall of fame and he still has some left in the tank.
By the way, Christie is making about the same as Keon Ellis or slightly less. He has little to no power or leverage in his current position
SLAB
Hall of Famer
More like Vivek saying “Play the names, who cares about ‘Keon Ellis.’ I don’t, so the fans don’t either!”
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
It's still a question of what Vivek wants more, to light the beam on a random Tuesday in November, or to get a ring in June? The ironic thing is players like Carter and Ellis probably actually could help the team win more games now, of course it comes at the cost of basically crunching potential into a surefire role player position at least with Carter.
The mantra is defense supposedly, well DBPM has Carter at the top of the team at 3.2, Keon next at 1.8, then the next is Cardwell at a not even in the vicinity 0.4. You get out what you put in. Don't put in your best defenders? Expect hopelessness. Carter and Ellis should be playing TOGETHER, it's obvious when they do the defense is close to passable on the perimeter. That said, historically vets win in this league, but if being 3-6 is >>> 2-7 in their mind then Christie is doing the job asked.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
He's the coach, isn't he? If you reduce Westbrook's minutes by 10 to 25 minutes is that going to get Christie fired in this game? It's ridiculous. Then you look at Schroeder's minutes in this game and it's ridiculous squared. Then you look at how Clifford was actually used when he was in there and it's a total cluster-F. Totally moronic coaching. There's no excuse whatsoever other than stupidity.
I've been very critical of Vivek in the one way that I think is warranted -- his managing of the front office situation. But I don't think he cares one way or another if it's Keon Ellis playing big minutes, Zach LaVine, or anyone else. And I say that because clearly the man has eyes, watches the games, and is a fan of basketball. He may have pined for a shooter like LaVine before he saw the reality of everything else he does on the court, the same as the fans did. But he's seen it now. If the team wins more with Keon Ellis he will quite quickly become a Keon Ellis fan, especially since Ellis -- even with a new contract extension -- is going to cost a fraction of what those highly-paid veterans in front of him in the rotation cost.
But is it his job to tell Doug Christie to knock it off already and get Ellis on the floor? I don't think so. That might be Scott Perry's job though ideally Perry and Christie are on the same page in terms of who they want to see on the floor every game. This is ultimately a front office issue to me. We have a whole team of people to look at the numbers, watch the game tape, and make the right decisions about roles and playing time. And then as a result of those decisions to make the right roster moves to improve our chances of winning. This is the part of the season where we don't know which direction the front office is leaning about who to keep and who to trade but we will know pretty soon. In the meantime all we can do is watch and wait.
Which may be why he has the job. Any time we've had a strong personality in that head coach position (Mike Malone, George Karl, Dave Joerger, Mike Brown) they've ultimately been fired for reasons other than basketball.
Padrino
All-Star
What's hilarious is that I don't even know what the Kings are getting for this trade-off. They've currently got the 27th ranked defense in the NBA... and the 23rd ranked offense. They're 3-6, and each of their wins have been squeak-by's. And that feels about right given how abysmal their offensive and defensive efficiency is.
Theoretically, their offensive efficiency could improve with a healthy Sabonis and a healthy Murray, but with Westbrook and DeRozan and LaVine all in the starting lineup, I just don't know that they'll be able to square that particular circle. It's just such a miserably ill-fitting roster as they intend to utilize it.