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

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Necessary but not sufficient

Agreed.

 

[ESP47]

That still gets us back to the question: if you, as a Kings Fan, are rooting for the Kings to lose, anyway, why don't you want them to at least put the guys out on the floor that will bust their asses and try every night? You want the team to lose and be lazy and boring?

Best way I can explain it is the Kings should be investing in their future right now. Any attempt at eeking out wins on the backs of veterans is working against their own long term investment. They need to go heavy on youth with just enough veteran leadership sprinkled in to keep the games from turning into amateur hour.

We go into next year with a better idea of which young guys have a shot and we more than likely wind up with a great pick in one of the strongest drafts in recent memory.

Insanity is doing what they're currently attempting which is nearly the same thing they've done for most of the last two decades. It's like Vivek never learns despite touching the hot iron dozens of times. Every year isn't a run at the playoffs. Each time he attempts that too early, he costs himself draft positioning, salary cap room and trade flexibility.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

My take is that in order to trade some of these vets they have to play and show they will contribute to a team willing to take them on for dead money and a future pick. That is the way out of this hell long term, not just to have a few bad years and get lucky with our picks, but to get a ton of picks and massage the odds in our favor... and hopefully some luck also bounces our way.

In the meantime, the team is an unwatchable mess. But hopefully our high paid players with no long term future here play well enough to go elsewhere rather than play out the duration of their contracts here. Harkens back to trading Webber for movable pieces. Our pieces sure don't feel movable but they have enough recognition and ability to be high level even elite role players that we need to find takers.

 

[kingdivac]

You have 8 comments on that page alone, 7 in a row. Was it worth your time telling us it's not worth ours?

But, How is it worth yours, telling me its not worth it for me to tell it wasn't worth yours? It was a response to someone else's comment like most of the other posts in that string.......

 

[kingdivac]

Dont mind him. Hes clearly vested in the team. He can fake not watch all he wants

Don't worry there won't be any faking.....same goes for the 49ers - although they're at least mediocre. This team is reminding me of the 2013-2014 bad Kings. They'll probably win just enough games to not get a top 3 pick, and/or get screwed by ping-pong balls.

 

[Rob-The-Great]

These takes are amazing.

Bench the all starts and play the bench role players 8 games into the season. Amazing yea let's do that lol.

Then sprinkle in the allstars every now and then. Then let's bring up lavine as the problem, while the team plays 3.5 vs 5 to start each game.

We got half sabonis and a full on disappointment in Dennis. Litteraly only reason we are even in games is lavine. Take him out and god help us all.

Ellis is not who you guys imagine him to be. Kings fans always fall in love with a guy undeservingly. Before it was Davon, I remember when Kenny Smith was a fan fav. Then Holmes. Soon as these guys got real minutes they got exposed.

Ellis is a good role player but he takes Hella chances on defense and gets overpowered against stronger guys. He should def grt more than 4th quarter burn, so should Carter. But hes not saving anyone.

Only a kings fan would start Ellis over Freakin Lavine lol. Come on

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Also, these guys are humans. Lavine is expected to carry the offense of this team. He really needs to be more selfish.

Dennis needs to be benched.

 Rookie
Lavine
Murray
Precious
Sabonis

 Westbrook
 Ellis
monk
Ddr
Eubank

Carter spot min

Problem solved

Bye Dennis

Actually this team is Hella deep. Its crazy

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Best way I can explain it is the Kings should be investing in their future right now. Any attempt at eeking out wins on the backs of veterans is working against their own long term investment. They need to go heavy on youth with just enough veteran leadership sprinkled in to keep the games from turning into amateur hour.

We go into next year with a better idea of which young guys have a shot and we more than likely wind up with a great pick in one of the strongest drafts in recent memory.

Insanity is doing what they're currently attempting which is nearly the same thing they've done for most of the last two decades. It's like Vivek never learns despite touching the hot iron dozens of times. Every year isn't a run at the playoffs. Each time he attempts that too early, he costs himself draft positioning, salary cap room and trade flexibility.

I wasn't objecting to the "don't play the veterans" part, just the "eking out wins" part. I think that they should try to eke out wins, anyway. My philosophy is, tear it down to the screws, and only play the kids, but still try to win every game... Just be okay with that not happening.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Ellis is not who you guys imagine him to be. Kings fans always fall in love with a guy undeservingly. Before it was Davon, I remember when Kenny Smith was a fan fav. Then Holmes. Soon as these guys got real minutes they got exposed.

Ellis is a good role player but he takes Hella chances on defense and gets overpowered against stronger guys. He should def grt more than 4th quarter burn, so should Carter. But hes not saving anyone.

Your misunderstanding seems to be that you think that we think that playing Ellis would "save" the team. "Saving the team" is not the point. The point is to play him enough to properly assess whether or not Ellis can be a part of a Kings team that would hopefully be good enough to compete three years from now. Not to see if he can be a franchise cornerstone player, just a rotational player, possibly a starter, on a playoff team. As of now, that information is not known, because he doesn't get to play.

LaVine is a known quantity. And what is known is that he's not good enough to contribute to a winning team, unless you a) have Prime!Jokić or Prime!Antetokounmpo, b) construct the entire rest of your roster to compensate for his weaknesses, and/or c) build your offensive gameplan around him. The Kings don't have option (a) and, frankly, trying to implement options (b) or (c) would be dumb.

Only a kings fan would start Ellis over Freakin Lavine lol. Come on

This is reductive and disingenuous. Reducing the argument to "Ellis should start over LaVine" misses the point, which is that LaVine shouldn't be on the team in the first place, and that his (and DeRozan's and Monk's and Schröder's) presence is impeding the Kings' ability to develop the assets that might still be here in three years.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Also, these guys are humans. Lavine is expected to carry the offense of this team. He really needs to be more selfish.

Dennis needs to be benched.

 Rookie
Lavine
Murray
Precious
Sabonis

 Westbrook
 Ellis
monk
Ddr
Eubank

Carter spot min

Problem solved

Bye Dennis

Actually this team is Hella deep. Its crazy

 

[kingdivac]

The game was blacked out for me, and now that it's over, I see no point in watching the replay. But it's clear that 1) the Kings played poorly and 3) they lost. I have no idea how hard they played, or who was putting out the effort.

What happend to 2) ?

 

[Rob-The-Great]

Your misunderstanding seems to be that you think that we think that playing Ellis would "save" the team. "Saving the team" is not the point. The point is to play him enough to properly assess whether or not Ellis can be a part of a Kings team that would hopefully be good enough to compete three years from now. Not to see if he can be a franchise cornerstone player, just a rotational player, possibly a starter, on a playoff team. As of now, that information is not known, because he doesn't get to play.

LaVine is a known quantity. And what is known is that he's not good enough to contribute to a winning team, unless you a) have Prime!Jokić or Prime!Antetokounmpo, b) construct the entire rest of your roster to compensate for his weaknesses, and/or c) build your offensive gameplan around him. The Kings don't have option (a) and, frankly, trying to implement options (b) or (c) would be dumb.


This is reductive and disingenuous. Reducing the argument to "Ellis should start over LaVine" misses the point, which is that LaVine shouldn't be on the team in the first place, and that his (and DeRozan's and Monk's and Schröder's) presence is impeding the Kings' ability to develop the assets that might still be here in three years.

For one, Ellis is not a rookie, some would say hes not even young by nba standards. We have had Ellis long enough to know what he is. I dont think anyone doubts hes good enough to be a role player in this league or ok this team.

The arguing point was absolutely to bench lavine and start Ellis. Whats disingenuous about responding to those exact words?

You dont bench your star player, weather he is option A, B or whatever to see if a role player is worth having. Especially after 8 games.

Arguing that Lavine shouldn't be on the team isnt even worth arguing over. The fact is hes on the team, and he will be on the team at least this year baring some miracle trade.

Trading someone who was never a Option A and expecting a option A in return is disingenuous to the argument and unfair to the player. Those players you mentioned are not available and are generational talents. Do i want a Ant man, Wimbly? Of course. But we dont have one and one is not coming to save us, so yea we need to build around our best option until a better one comes available.

Booker is also not a option A. But nobody is asking for him to be benched in Suns for a role player . With respect to Ellis