[Game] 10/82: Kings vs. Timberwolves 09 NOV 2025, 6pm PT/9pm ET

[LoungeLizard]

Honestly think we way overpaid with this CBA and will be stuck with him.

This is what gives me pause and makes me nervous about Perry. His “big move” was zeroing in on Dennis at all costs. Isn’t that the reason we made the JV for Saric deal? To make financial room for Dennis? We’ve seen Schroeder for 10 plus years in the league. He’s a journeyman PG who’s best role is coming off the bench and occasionally filling in as a starter when injuries/rest dictates. And we threw 13 mil at him. SMH

 

[hrdboild]

Zach and Sabonis both acknowledge "personnel" limitations.

Zach LaVine saying Rudy Gobert is "not going to get 30ppg, he's a defensive guy -- that's his job" is him telling on himself. The subtext there is "that's not my job -- my job is to score" and it shows in the way he plays.

This is a huge problem. Because if we have guys who are going to self-identify as offense only players and other guys who either by choice or lack of opportunity have been pigeon-holed as defense only players than Doug's choices here are: (1) Bench all of the guys who don't think defense is their job. Yes that means you Zach. (2) Continue to watch the team get blown off the court.

But I also have to acknowledge that Doug is really backed into a corner here. The 5 highest paid players on the team are also the 5 worst defenders and of the 12 guys who played in this game, 8 of them are guards and the other 4 are centers. Just like last season when Monte McNair somehow thought a frontcourt rotation of Domantas Sabonis, Alex Len, Trey Lyles, and Isaac Jones was good enough to make the playoffs, Scott Perry didn't finish his part of the job and has left his coach with the unenviable task of trying to juggle playing time for 6 different guys who all play the same position and build a winning team defense without any NBA forwards.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

This is what gives me pause and makes me nervous about Perry. His “big move” was zeroing in on Dennis at all costs. Isn’t that the reason we made the JV for Saric deal? To make financial room for Dennis? We’ve seen Schroeder for 10 plus years in the league. He’s a journeyman PG who’s best role is coming off the bench and occasionally filling in as a starter when injuries/rest dictates. And we threw 13 mil at him. SMH

I think JV for Saric was not necessary. Rumor was Saric was a throw in in Kuminga, initially.

 

[kingdivac]

Honestly, Thibs might be a best-case scenario type of pick-up. We sort of know how the story ends, but that kind of personality probably is the only thing that would reign in Vivek.

Thibs wouldn't let Keon/Carter rot on the bench, that's for sure

Them and Cardwell - my main complaint currently - see whatcha got.....fk winning

 

[kingdivac]

my opinion, no point in arguing about vivek anymore. some people will always give him a pass because he helped save the kings. personally i loathe the little man. he is tone def as hell and is a straight up basketball moron. he’s the reason kings fans have to continually suffer through this slop. i choose to not spend a single dollar on the kings. i believe i am on year 5 of zero dollars being spent on anything kings. if you enjoy this in person, have at it. enjoy.

haha - time to tune out the incompetence - clearly this team, coach, and management are substandard again, and not woth paying money for.....soon not worth the time either - you'd be excused not to spend your time on em either. Embarrassing.

 

[kingdivac]

George Hill syndrome

Heh, Hill looked even worse - notably defensively

 

[kingdivac]

I was just about to the same thing. Kings fans are loyal, but the coaching and the bad lineups with out size are really starting make me bitter.

"starting to"?

 

[kingdivac]

Man, I think this game will give me about a ten-game break on watching Kings games. Too miserable for me.
And for all of you concerned with Devin/Keon not playing, have no fear - neither will be here next year anyway, likely not even the remainder of this season FWIW. This is just BAD basketball and a horrible product out there. SMH

why stop at 10?

 

[kingdivac]

Can't believe he made Keon play garbage time 4th quarter AGAIN in a blow-out. Like this dude doesn't deserve to be used as an end of bencher. It's ridiculous.

Also, funnily enough, we actually played the Wolves to a tie in the 4th quarter with actual defenders on the floor and more balanced lineups. What a concept.

Chrisite, yes-man, moron, or both.

 

[kingdivac]

no one wants them now, what's a few more months? desperation might be the only card in the deck for a team on the play-in fringes

I may have been wrong about 32 wins - may be mid-high 20s. Play-in fringes? no-way - and I dislike the play-in format.

 

[serbiangoat]

Forget George Hill , Dennis at this rate is entering Ramon Sessions territory , you can't be a serious team and have DDR and Schroder starting they are terrible fits for any team unless coming off the bench for limited minutes.

 

[dude12]

He is a good defender and a good facilitator that has had playoff experience and he is on a 13 mil dollar deal. There are several teams that need vet point guard help. He can start or come off the bench.

He is not a good defender at this point in his career and he has been poor on facilitating. He’s had 2 good games this season. A bad bad signing

 

[dude12]

My prediction of only 8 wins is looking strong with every 30 point blowout

 

[kingdivac]

He is not a good defender at this point in his career and he has been poor on facilitating. He’s had 2 good games this season. A bad bad signing

I think he's fair at defense, but his offense (especially his jump shooting) is poor - its a new Kevin Huerter on shooting.

 

[dude12]

I think he's fair at defense, but his offense (especially his jump shooting) is poor - its a new Kevin Huerter on shooting.

I think he works hard on D but he can’t stay in front anymore. The want to is there but not the ability to stay in front

 

[ESP47]

Only entertaining part of the game was Keon's pettiness after the Wolves scored that last second layup. Threw it 90ft down the court with .8sec left so Nique could score the pointless bucket giving us the pointless bucket championship for last night's game.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Zach LaVine saying Rudy Gobert is "not going to get 30ppg, he's a defensive guy -- that's his job" is him telling on himself. The subtext there is "that's not my job -- my job is to score" and it shows in the way he plays.

This is a huge problem. Because if we have guys who are going to self-identify as offense only players and other guys who either by choice or lack of opportunity have been pigeon-holed as defense only players than Doug's choices here are: (1) Bench all of the guys who don't think defense is their job. Yes that means you Zach. (2) Continue to watch the team get blown off the court.

But I also have to acknowledge that Doug is really backed into a corner here. The 5 highest paid players on the team are also the 5 worst defenders and of the 12 guys who played in this game, 8 of them are guards and the other 4 are centers. Just like last season when Monte McNair somehow thought a frontcourt rotation of Domantas Sabonis, Alex Len, Trey Lyles, and Isaac Jones was good enough to make the playoffs, Scott Perry didn't finish his part of the job and has left his coach with the unenviable task of trying to juggle playing time for 6 different guys who all play the same position and build a winning team defense without any NBA forwards.

Hes not wrong tho. He is a offensive scoring beast. He also said he has been trying his ass off to play great defense. Hes being honest with himself.

Hes not a rookie. Hes not all of a sudden going to be defensive player of the year. He took accountability for missing a assignment while arguing a call. He is who he is and hes a amazing scorer and a sub par defender. Now what?

Coach the team to there strengths! Imagine Ravens making Lamar strictly a drop back passer. Luka a 3 and D guy. Like come on, what are we doing? Its not rocket science.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

If we get a top two pick it will all be worth it.

Seems like an awful lot to have riding on "if." What's plan B?

 

[MizzouKing]

Hes not wrong tho. He is a offensive scoring beast. He also said he has been trying his ass off to play great defense. Hes being honest with himself.

Hes not a rookie. Hes not all of a sudden going to be defensive player of the year. He took accountability for missing a assignment while arguing a call. He is who he is and hes a amazing scorer and a sub par defender. Now what?

Coach the team to their strengths! Imagine Ravens making Lamar strictly a drop back passer. Luka a 3 and D guy. Like come on, what are we doing? It's not rocket science.

I think that's the key... Coach the team to their strengths. And I would add, ...or do what you say you'll do. If you are willing to bench or trade guys who don't play defense, then DO that. If you are not able or willing to enforce your vision, then you have to coach the team you have according to their strengths.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Pg

I think that's the key... Coach the team to their strengths. And I would add, ...or do what you say you'll do. If you are willing to bench or trade guys who don't play defense, then DO that. If you are not able or willing to enforce your vision, then you have to coach the team you have according to their strengths.

He think he playing with guys that have his mentality. They dont.

These are not scrappy dive for the ball at any cost guys. This aint 2000. Scoring is key to the game no matter what you say.

The defense he asking for is gone. You do that you will he in foul trouble in 2 min especially with our roster.

We need to score 140 and live with the defense. This is the team you have

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Culture haha

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Hes not wrong tho. He is a offensive scoring beast. He also said he has been trying his ass off to play great defense. Hes being honest with himself.

Hes not a rookie. Hes not all of a sudden going to be defensive player of the year. He took accountability for missing a assignment while arguing a call. He is who he is and hes a amazing scorer and a sub par defender. Now what?

Coach the team to there strengths! Imagine Ravens making Lamar strictly a drop back passer. Luka a 3 and D guy. Like come on, what are we doing? Its not rocket science.

Ya I’m not getting behind that crap Lavine is talking about he’s not Luka or Lamar either so his ass needs to defend. Bulls got rid of him and Derozan and are a exciting young winning team what a coincidence

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Ya I’m not getting behind that crap Lavine is talking about he’s not Luka or Lamar either so his ass needs to defend. Bulls got rid of him and Derozan and are a exciting young winning team what a coincidence

You dont have to get behind anything. Im simply stating thr facts. Hes not a francise guy, nobody ever claimed he was. Lets forget the fact hes shooting better than Luka this session and 95% of the league.

Im simply saying hes a top offensive threat, bad defender. This is who he is, and this is who we got. Its not changing. A good coach will understand that and either

A - bench him. Coach suicide
B- play to his strengths
C- fit a circle into a square hole

We are doing. C

 

[Joshyjosh31]

You dont have to get behind anything. Im simply stating thr facts. Hes not a francise guy, nobody ever claimed he was. Lets forget the fact hes shooting better than Luka this session and 95% of the league.

Im simply saying hes a top offensive threat, bad defender. This is who he is, and this is who we got. Its not changing. A good coach will understand that and either

A - bench him. Coach suicide
B- play to his strengths
C- fit a circle into a square hole

We are doing. C

So we should just accept bad defense cause that’s who he is? Kinda nonsense is that that mentality is why he’s traded whenever it’s possible and his team is always losing garbage mentality. He’s not even an offensive hub so he should have energy for defense what is this

 

[Rob-The-Great]

So we should just accept bad defense cause that’s who he is? Kinda nonsense is that that mentality is why he’s traded whenever it’s possible and his team is always losing garbage mentality. He’s not even an offensive hub so he should have energy for defense what is this

Hes not a offensive hub? Are you serious? This guy is top 5 in nearly every offensive category. Give me a break.

You didnt hear a word I said. You can wish he was a different type of player but hes not. Just like Gobert is not Shaq.

Hes not a generational talent so stop putting him up there. Fox also was not a generational talent. Thats why hes playing with (a generational talent)

We traded him for Fox not Luka. Stop these unreasonable expectations. We have plenty of real problems. Lavine isnt 1st priority

 

[Padrino]

Hes not a offensive hub? Are you serious? This guy is top 5 in nearly every offensive category. Give me a break.

You didnt hear a word I said. You can wish he was a different type of player but hes not. Just like Gobert is not Shaq.

Hes not a generational talent so stop putting him up there. Fox also was not a generational talent. Thats why hes playing with (a generational talent)

We traded him for Fox not Luka. Stop these unreasonable expectations. We have plenty of real problems. Lavine isnt 1st priority

Being an efficient scorer is not the same as being an offensive hub. LaVine may be the former, but he's very much not the latter. And he is certainly a very real problem if he's going to continue to be such a liability on defense. But the same is true of DeRozan and Schroder and Westbrook, none of whom can stay in front of their man, much less provide reasonable cover within a team defensive concept.

 

[hrdboild]

Hes not wrong tho. He is a offensive scoring beast. He also said he has been trying his ass off to play great defense. Hes being honest with himself.

Hes not a rookie. Hes not all of a sudden going to be defensive player of the year. He took accountability for missing a assignment while arguing a call. He is who he is and hes a amazing scorer and a sub par defender. Now what?

Coach the team to there strengths! Imagine Ravens making Lamar strictly a drop back passer. Luka a 3 and D guy. Like come on, what are we doing? Its not rocket science.

If this is what Zach trying his ass off on defense looks like, I can't even imagine what him not trying would look like. I call BS on that. Nobody expects him to be a top notch defender, but his lack of effort is embarrassing and he is getting singled out and exploited the entire time he's on the floor because of it. For him to sit there in a press conference and lie that he is giving max effort out there is even more embarrassing.

But you are right that he is who he is and that is a highly efficient microwave scorer who is so appallingly inept on the defensive end of the floor that he is somehow still a net negative while averaging 25 points per game on .527/.431/.909 shooting splits. That's fine if we're trying to lose. He's an expert in doing just enough to lose, he's been doing it his whole career.

And you are right that this is not rocket science. But I think Doug Christie is allowing these veterans to be exactly who they are -- he couldn't possibly give them any more leash than he already has and we can see the result. What makes Luka a franchise player is that he uses his scoring threat to create easy shots for everyone else. That's why the totality of his play elevates his teams. And Doug is doing exactly what you want him to do -- he's playing the big name, big number players a lot and allowing them to play the way they want to play and we're getting blown up because of it. Couldn't it also be that these guys just aren't very good and if we want the team to play better than this the solution is to play the guys who are net positives on the floor regardless of seniority, salary, All Star credentials, or fan expectation?

 

[hrdboild]

Hes not a offensive hub? Are you serious? This guy is top 5 in nearly every offensive category. Give me a break.

You didnt hear a word I said. You can wish he was a different type of player but hes not. Just like Gobert is not Shaq.

Hes not a generational talent so stop putting him up there. Fox also was not a generational talent. Thats why hes playing with (a generational talent)

We traded him for Fox not Luka. Stop these unreasonable expectations. We have plenty of real problems. Lavine isnt 1st priority

Getting him off the floor absolutely 100% is the number 1 priority when we routinely lose every single minute that he is on the floor. Basketball is a simple game -- if you score more points than you give up, you win. If you give up more points than you score, you lose.

 

[Tetsujin]

I think JV for Saric was not necessary. Rumor was Saric was a throw in in Kuminga, initially.

I think the subtext to the whole JV trade was that Perry knew JV wanted to go back to Europe and wanted to get something if anything out of his deal rather than just have it vanish into the ether or become an empty buyout. JV still wanted to go back to Europe even after he got moved to Denver but the Kroenkes played hardball with his agent and sorta refused to let him go, leading to him playing out his deal this year.

 

[hrdboild]

You dont have to get behind anything. Im simply stating thr facts. Hes not a francise guy, nobody ever claimed he was. Lets forget the fact hes shooting better than Luka this session and 95% of the league.

Im simply saying hes a top offensive threat, bad defender. This is who he is, and this is who we got. Its not changing. A good coach will understand that and either

A - bench him. Coach suicide
B- play to his strengths
C- fit a circle into a square hole

We are doing. C

How has Doug's usage of Zach LaVine been "fitting a circle into a square hole"?

I'm not saying try to make LaVine into Keon Ellis. I'm saying play Keon Ellis and bench LaVine. Ellis is a better all-around player if the goal is to win basketball games. I'm saying that. Doug is doing nothing but option B. LaVine is a close second on the team (to DeRozan) in minutes played and shot attempts. He has a green light to fire away to his heart's content and everyone else is trying to cover for his lack of awareness on defensive rotations. If you're happy with this level of performance then nothing needs to change.