[Game] 31/82: Kings vs. Pistons 26 DEC 2024, 7pm PT/10pm ET
- Thread starter Mr. S£im Citrus
- Start date
The conspiracy theories are a bit far fetched for me right now. It's easy to see all the "miscalculations" that led us to this point in the season:
This is running it back 3 YEARS IN A ROW with the primarily the same core and group.
Fox has rightfully got crapped on, but it's simple to see why he is frustrated with the Kings. He went from having 3 semi-reliable shooters in the starting lineup, to his best shooter being DOMANTAS SABONIS. Keegan and Kevin have been dreadful at shooting this year. It has to get discouraging time and time again to pass out to a wide open Keegan/Kevin only to get a brick. For someone like Fox who isn't a natural leader, it becomes easy to lose confidence in your teammates when they aren't doing their jobs. If you're not playing for each other, then who are you playing for? That is what made the beam team fun, more than the purple lazer or 4th quarter Fox. You could genuinely tell that those guys loved playing with each other on the same court. Since then? Energy is dead in the building. Don't get me wrong, Fox hasn't played at the superstar level we all know he is capable of playing at, but if Keegan or Kevin shoot at least league average from 3pt land, this team would be at least .500 right now. Things are not going right, and we don't have a leader who can regroup the team. Mike Brown is a vocal guy, but he's the coach and that's where I think we have some underlying problems.
Mike Brown tries to push his players to be better, but it's clearly rubbed off a couple players the wrong way over the last few years like Monk, Keegan, and Fox. But that's what happens when you've got a bunch of mentally soft players with no leader in the locker room. Mike Brown is not blameless. His coaching was mediocre last year and we were 3/4ths into the season and still didn't have a consistent rotation because he kept jerking guys around the dog house. Players do not respond well to this.. it drove Sasha back to Europe. Brown is stubborn and we should've replaced him with Jordi when we had the chance. With that being said, I think Brown is salvageable. He needs a better lead assistant coach who can check him. Brown is trying to his best balancing the roster where his 3 best players are all ball-dominant 2pt scorers with a dash of defensive liability (DeMar and Sabonis). We are leaving 3pt shooters open trying to over-compensate for our lack of interior size.
When the foundation is weak, the house comes crashing down. We're seeing the after-effects. This has not been an enjoyable season.
To think, most of this would've probably been avoided if certain players didn't decide to collectively forget how to shoot a basketball.
- Monte spent the #13 overall pick on an injured guard instead of trying to plug at our holes or trading the pick to ATL in order to free up flexibility from the Huerter trade (it could've opened up room for us to package more picks for a star)
- Monte did nothing to address our hole at PF in FA nor our lack of size
- Monte tried to address our hole for a #2 scorer with a gamble on DeRozan, but he was never going to fit this team.
- DeRozan can't shoot 3s
- He's iso heavy and kills the offense
This is running it back 3 YEARS IN A ROW with the primarily the same core and group.
Fox has rightfully got crapped on, but it's simple to see why he is frustrated with the Kings. He went from having 3 semi-reliable shooters in the starting lineup, to his best shooter being DOMANTAS SABONIS. Keegan and Kevin have been dreadful at shooting this year. It has to get discouraging time and time again to pass out to a wide open Keegan/Kevin only to get a brick. For someone like Fox who isn't a natural leader, it becomes easy to lose confidence in your teammates when they aren't doing their jobs. If you're not playing for each other, then who are you playing for? That is what made the beam team fun, more than the purple lazer or 4th quarter Fox. You could genuinely tell that those guys loved playing with each other on the same court. Since then? Energy is dead in the building. Don't get me wrong, Fox hasn't played at the superstar level we all know he is capable of playing at, but if Keegan or Kevin shoot at least league average from 3pt land, this team would be at least .500 right now. Things are not going right, and we don't have a leader who can regroup the team. Mike Brown is a vocal guy, but he's the coach and that's where I think we have some underlying problems.
Mike Brown tries to push his players to be better, but it's clearly rubbed off a couple players the wrong way over the last few years like Monk, Keegan, and Fox. But that's what happens when you've got a bunch of mentally soft players with no leader in the locker room. Mike Brown is not blameless. His coaching was mediocre last year and we were 3/4ths into the season and still didn't have a consistent rotation because he kept jerking guys around the dog house. Players do not respond well to this.. it drove Sasha back to Europe. Brown is stubborn and we should've replaced him with Jordi when we had the chance. With that being said, I think Brown is salvageable. He needs a better lead assistant coach who can check him. Brown is trying to his best balancing the roster where his 3 best players are all ball-dominant 2pt scorers with a dash of defensive liability (DeMar and Sabonis). We are leaving 3pt shooters open trying to over-compensate for our lack of interior size.
When the foundation is weak, the house comes crashing down. We're seeing the after-effects. This has not been an enjoyable season.
To think, most of this would've probably been avoided if certain players didn't decide to collectively forget how to shoot a basketball.
The guy is clearly on PEDs and still at 40 years old is playing a young mans transition game and yet everyone is wondering how he's doing it, it's clearly steroids on top of that every team he goes to has two plus All stars and somehow his teams can always pull of trades where they gave up trash to get like 3 quality rotation player. Bubble championship is a joke the Lakers were training when they were not allowed that whole bubble was a joke to.
NBA has been pushing him way to long and they are not even trying to hide he's a drug cheat anymore how is a man at 40 out jumping and out running 20 something year olds he's not even dominating with skills/touch still with raw athletic ability it's disgusting to watch how no one in the media even questions it
He's never made young players better instead he gets that traded as well for All Stars/vets.
NBA has been pushing him way to long and they are not even trying to hide he's a drug cheat anymore how is a man at 40 out jumping and out running 20 something year olds he's not even dominating with skills/touch still with raw athletic ability it's disgusting to watch how no one in the media even questions it
He's never made young players better instead he gets that traded as well for All Stars/vets.
Kings had a total of 5 assists in the second half (4 in the 3rd Q and only 1 in the 4th Q). Team plays wins games.
Pistons scored 37 points and had 10 assists in the 4th Q alone. Keon played only 11 seconds in the 4th Q. We maintained a 3 possession game lead until Alex Len was subbed out.
Pistons scored 37 points and had 10 assists in the 4th Q alone. Keon played only 11 seconds in the 4th Q. We maintained a 3 possession game lead until Alex Len was subbed out.
Last edited:
Monk had 0 assists during the whole match, was averaging 6+ in the month of December before that with matches with 8, 9, 10 and 12 assists. I guess no Domas was an issue but still all this "hidden playmaking abilities" he had are now well "hidden".
On his defense he had a "fancy" assist not credited to him, when he gave that pass to Lyles that earned him a trip to the line. No idea why it didn't count as an assist, I am not sure how things work, according to Kayte "if he makes one of the free throws the pass counts as an assist" but maybe it's not like that.
On his defense he had a "fancy" assist not credited to him, when he gave that pass to Lyles that earned him a trip to the line. No idea why it didn't count as an assist, I am not sure how things work, according to Kayte "if he makes one of the free throws the pass counts as an assist" but maybe it's not like that.
Also regarding the last play when we didn't foul before the shot was taken...
Watching Lakers at Warriors, when Lakers up by 3 before Warriors final possession, I think Mike Breen reminded the audience that during his podcast with Lebron, JJ Reddick told that "I always foul" in situations like this, yet his team didn't foul and Steph Curry made the 3 that tied the game.
I think in the NBA that "fouling when up by 3" was like "forbidden" until some years ago, and when Popovich started doing it he was like a "villain" that doesn't understand the "beauty of the game". At the same time in that period in the NBA there were other things like "hack the Shaq" (or Howard or dunno who else couldn't make free throws) that were "ok" and weren't blasted by the media (and not social media back then). In Europe it was always normal to foul when up by 3. Perhaps NBA players aren't used to that but at least I hope after today Kings players learned their lesson and will not act like that in the future. But then again how many lessons were they supposed to learn the last couple of seasons with the same mistakes repeating over and over again?
Watching Lakers at Warriors, when Lakers up by 3 before Warriors final possession, I think Mike Breen reminded the audience that during his podcast with Lebron, JJ Reddick told that "I always foul" in situations like this, yet his team didn't foul and Steph Curry made the 3 that tied the game.
I think in the NBA that "fouling when up by 3" was like "forbidden" until some years ago, and when Popovich started doing it he was like a "villain" that doesn't understand the "beauty of the game". At the same time in that period in the NBA there were other things like "hack the Shaq" (or Howard or dunno who else couldn't make free throws) that were "ok" and weren't blasted by the media (and not social media back then). In Europe it was always normal to foul when up by 3. Perhaps NBA players aren't used to that but at least I hope after today Kings players learned their lesson and will not act like that in the future. But then again how many lessons were they supposed to learn the last couple of seasons with the same mistakes repeating over and over again?
I’m getting way too many vibes from Fox similar to the lead up to the Domas trade. He is always kinda high effort when he wants to be and nonchalant when he wants to be. It has always been my issue watching him because he always seems like he doesn’t play with effort during stretches of every game. And Matt George and Brenden Nunes made a great point on locked on kings: the team kinda seems like it’s taking on that personality. Stretches of listlessness, being nonchalant, and just not caring.
Sixers don't have a winning record but they have all their stars back. Only their rookie missing that would be interesting facing us as a Sacramento native that we chose not to draft, he was going for ROTY but an injury kept him out of the race since he won't be returning this season.
Also Dallas won't have Doncic but this year they are used to playing without him and have a good record, bouncing back from a bad start that they were losing many matches in crunch time (sounds familiar).
Also 4 of the next 7 at home... will the team manage to make the fans come back to the stadium? On a bright note it's good that it's not an "easy" schedule because with the morale the team has anybody can beat us so it's better not to have high expectations.
Also Dallas won't have Doncic but this year they are used to playing without him and have a good record, bouncing back from a bad start that they were losing many matches in crunch time (sounds familiar).
Also 4 of the next 7 at home... will the team manage to make the fans come back to the stadium? On a bright note it's good that it's not an "easy" schedule because with the morale the team has anybody can beat us so it's better not to have high expectations.
https://twiiter.com/mattgeorgesac/status/1872534819684732966?s=46&t=XHl6MkQyOm3Zbk1mBBrooA
Get rid of them all trash players that haven win jack shut not listening to a championship coach
Get rid of them all trash players that haven win jack shut not listening to a championship coach
If anything, and we are speculating, signs point to Fox being a disruptive presence. Kayte said on the game that the team is tight and on board with Mike. On the other hand, since that Klutch situation, we are seeing cracks. Is the source Brown or is it Fox? It sure appears to be a lot of frustration with Fox. Super talented, but when you are a big contract guy looking for an even bigger contract, you aren’t really allowed to be passive and disinterested when you feel like it.
And I actually do agree with Brown in his presser about slowing down the offense. It’s an issue on Fox. Sure, bring Keon in but he can’t stop multiple guys. Cunningham was going off and guarded by several guys. Beasley became unconscience, knocking down a 3 over Keegan. Just don’t think this team locks down another team in cru ch time and the best way to go about it is to keep up pressure offensively but Fox does what he wants.
And I actually do agree with Brown in his presser about slowing down the offense. It’s an issue on Fox. Sure, bring Keon in but he can’t stop multiple guys. Cunningham was going off and guarded by several guys. Beasley became unconscience, knocking down a 3 over Keegan. Just don’t think this team locks down another team in cru ch time and the best way to go about it is to keep up pressure offensively but Fox does what he wants.