[Game] 41/82 Kings vs. Rockets 16 JAN 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET

[funkykingston]

Zero chance Amen is involved for any deal for Fox.

I think you're right. Unless it's basically Amen and filler salary for De'Aaron. I think he's Houston's 2nd most valuable player after Sengun and he may close that gap quickly. He's elite defensively and probably the best athlete in the entire NBA. He has a long way to go, but I think he's going to be an absolute stud.

But this trade works and I'd strongly consider it:

Jabari Smith Jr
Tari Eason
Steven Adams
Jeff Green
1 or more FRPs

for
De'Aaron Fox
Alex Len

It also opens up a spot in the starting lineup for Amen by moving Jabari.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Amen is averaging 12.8 points and shoots .250 from three on fewer than 1.5 attempts per game as a "perimeter player". Amen and Wemby are not remotely in the same class.

Right now, Fox is a better player than Amen. Seven years from now, there's a decent chance that Amen is a better player than Fox, but that's not guaranteed. Houston can certainly make Amen unavailable in a Fox trade, but that may make it very difficult for them to acquire Fox in trade, because there will be other possible trading partners if we put Fox up for sale.

What he’s averaging and who’s better doesn’t matter there’s zero chance they even pick up the phone for Amen everyone that writes for the kings has even said this.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

I think you're right. Unless it's basically Amen and filler salary for De'Aaron. I think he's Houston's 2nd most valuable player after Sengun and he may close that gap quickly. He's elite defensively and probably the best athlete in the entire NBA. He has a long way to go, but I think he's going to be an absolute stud.

But this trade works and I'd strongly consider it:

Jabari Smith Jr
Tari Eason
Steven Adams
Jeff Green
1 or more FRPs

for
De'Aaron Fox
Alex Len

It also opens up a spot in the starting lineup for Amen by moving Jabari.

I don’t think they’re gonna offer Eason and Smith it’ll probably be one of them with Reed and picks

Miami can give us aware who has all nba defense potential and Herro we’re gonna need a scorer if we trade fox

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don’t recall how early it was but the corner was the only place he was shooting well from 3 at one point. He was at around 40 percent from there and in the high 20s above the break.

I think that flipped at some point?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The Kings could not have made that turnaround because Mike Brown was in the way. He did not put the players in the best position to succeed. When his schemes didn't work despite the players putting in the hard work, instead of taking responsibility and standing with the players, he separated himself from the players and coached via the media. He lost the respect of the players and he had to go.

I was explaining to @KingsFanSince85 what Barkley said, not co-signing it.

Also, I really do not understand why we're discrediting Doug Christie's work with the team.

Who's "we"?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Amen is averaging 12.8 points and shoots .250 from three on fewer than 1.5 attempts per game as a "perimeter player". Amen and Wemby are not remotely in the same class.

Right now, Fox is a better player than Amen. Seven years from now, there's a decent chance that Amen is a better player than Fox, but that's not guaranteed. Houston can certainly make Amen unavailable in a Fox trade, but that may make it very difficult for them to acquire Fox in trade, because there will be other possible trading partners if we put Fox up for sale.

I think there are other assets on Houston that in a package would be more attractive than whatever they might consider Amen in.

Like you say - he is NOT better than Fox today and he is not a once in a lifetime player like Wemby (weird how many of those San Antonio gets though, at least 3 in my lifetime). But he might be the one guy they are highest on, which means other equally good prospects may wind up in an overall better package. With the amount of picks they've had the past 2-3 years outside of OKC probably the most young draft picks that are showing up in the West, they can't keep all of them so they should definitely move for a high end talent or else they'll be stuck making side deals or letting guys go in FA, or just maxing out the team in 4 years possibly without a superstar.

I would love to go into negotiations "demanding" Amen so that we could extract more young guys while they scramble to keep him untouchable.

 

[twslam07]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880313060285641081

I made this comment in the off-season, but I thought DeRozan would actually help us combat teams that have a length & athleticism advantage over us despite him not being particular long or athletic.

He’s really good at making contested shots which negates opposing team’s length & athleticism to a degree. I actually cited his stats against NOP in the offseason (since NOP utterly destroyed us last year) and DeRozan was very efficient and effective against them (despite being outmatched length & athleticism wise).

 

[dude12]

I think you're right. Unless it's basically Amen and filler salary for De'Aaron. I think he's Houston's 2nd most valuable player after Sengun and he may close that gap quickly. He's elite defensively and probably the best athlete in the entire NBA. He has a long way to go, but I think he's going to be an absolute stud.

But this trade works and I'd strongly consider it:

Jabari Smith Jr
Tari Eason
Steven Adams
Jeff Green
1 or more FRPs

for
De'Aaron Fox
Alex Len

It also opens up a spot in the starting lineup for Amen by moving Jabari.

Amen has been filling in at almost every position when someone’s hurt….positionless basketball. He was creating havoc with Fox late in the game and the trapping. Not many players in the NBA who actually are able to bother Fox like that. Just looks like he can wreck an opponents offensive possession.

 

[funkykingston]

Amen has been filling in at almost every position when someone’s hurt….positionless basketball. He was creating havoc with Fox late in the game and the trapping. Not many players in the NBA who actually are able to bother Fox like that. Just looks like he can wreck an opponents offensive possession.

Amen is pretty special. He'll have to be able to shoot from outside to unlock his full potential, but he's one of the only guys in the NBA (Giannis is another) where you can just sense that other players are intimidated by his athleticism.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

What he’s averaging and who’s better doesn’t matter there’s zero chance they even pick up the phone for Amen everyone that writes for the kings has even said this.

"Who's better doesn't matter" is an odd thing to say when thinking about what is fair compensation in a trade. Of course who is the better player matters.

Houston is not entitled to Fox. That's the bottom line. They can't come in and offer us a bunch of stuff that's not all that valuable and expect us to take the offer. Maybe Amen is off the table. But if I were Stone, and I was taking Amen off the table, I wouldn't want to report back to Fertitta that we thought we were in the driver's seat to land Fox. I mean, they're not going to include Green, and they're not going to include Sengun...so they're going to trade for our best player while not giving up even ONE of their best three players? How do we accept that deal, when there will clearly be better offers on the table?

 

[ESP47]

Amen reminds me a lot of a healthy Isaac. Special player despite the lack of shooting. Maybe a little more 1-4 rather than 1-5 like Isaac but I can see why HOU would consider him untouchable.

DDR looked extremely uncomfortable when he was guarded by Amen and didn't seem bothered by anyone else.

 

[sactowndog]

"Who's better doesn't matter" is an odd thing to say when thinking about what is fair compensation in a trade. Of course who is the better player matters.

Houston is not entitled to Fox. That's the bottom line. They can't come in and offer us a bunch of stuff that's not all that valuable and expect us to take the offer. Maybe Amen is off the table. But if I were Stone, and I was taking Amen off the table, I wouldn't want to report back to Fertitta that we thought we were in the driver's seat to land Fox. I mean, they're not going to include Green, and they're not going to include Sengun...so they're going to trade for our best player while not giving up even ONE of their best three players? How do we accept that deal, when there will clearly be better offers on the table?

fairly recently Green was more on the table then Thompson. I heard Amen and Sengun were the two off the table.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

"Who's better doesn't matter" is an odd thing to say when thinking about what is fair compensation in a trade. Of course who is the better player matters.

Houston is not entitled to Fox. That's the bottom line. They can't come in and offer us a bunch of stuff that's not all that valuable and expect us to take the offer. Maybe Amen is off the table. But if I were Stone, and I was taking Amen off the table, I wouldn't want to report back to Fertitta that we thought we were in the driver's seat to land Fox. I mean, they're not going to include Green, and they're not going to include Sengun...so they're going to trade for our best player while not giving up even ONE of their best three players? How do we accept that deal, when there will clearly be better offers on the table?

Alright what do you think we could realistically get for Fox?

Despite every report and taking away personal bias there’s not a single GM or fan base trading amen for Fox but some here continue to bring him up.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

... I mean, they're not going to include Green, and they're not going to include Sengun...so they're going to trade for our best player while not giving up even ONE of their best three players? How do we accept that deal, when there will clearly be better offers on the table?

Whether you think that De'Aaron Fox is the Kings' best player or not, the notion that he's one of y'all's three best players is a very easily defensible position. The proposition of trading one of your three-best players to a team and not getting back either one of their three-best players or multiple unprotected FRPs in return is the reason why the term "NBA Malpractice" was invented.

If the Rockets aren't willing to offer Thompson, Şengün or Green for Fox, the bidding has to start with three firsts.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

fairly recently Green was more on the table then Thompson. I heard Amen and Sengun were the two off the table.

Seems like they had regrets on Green's extension (which always seems to be a thing now, doesn't it?) and then he started playing like a guy earning it.

 

[TaxMan]

Hopefully Keegan isn't that sensitive. That would be about as soft as you could get and would be a huge red flag as far as his mental strength moving forward. I have faith that he has gotten way worse ribbing than that without getting offended

To some extent it doesn’t matter. As a coach, you can either go it’s my way or the highway or you can understand your players and take a nuanced approach to get the best out of them (no different really than in a business/team setting). One could argue Keegan should be more mentally tough, but if he’s not then he’s not. It’s the job of the coach to get him to play the best, job of the GM to decide whether hes a critical part of our future. I personally believe that Keegan’s personality may limit his upside to some extent (probably never a number one option, etc) but that doesn’t mean he cant be a very valuable player.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Whether you think that De'Aaron Fox is the Kings' best player or not, the notion that he's one of y'all's three best players is a very easily defensible position. The proposition of trading one of your three-best players to a team and not getting back either one of their three-best players or multiple unprotected FRPs in return is the reason why the term "NBA Malpractice" was invented.

If the Rockets aren't willing to offer Thompson, Şengün or Green for Fox, the bidding has to start with three firsts.

And what if he says it’s either houston or San Antonio you’re not getting half of that if his list isn’t long

 

[pdxKingsFan]

And what if he says it’s either houston or San Antonio you’re not getting half of that if his list isn’t long

Typically players only do that when their team is screwing them over. And they do it with one team. As long as there are two teams you can initiate a bidding process. I don't think Fox will do this because he likes being the good guy, thus the PR dinner with Brown last week.

 

[jiimbob]

Sorry if i’m missing something but any word on Keon’s ankle sprain?

 

[sactowndog]

Whether you think that De'Aaron Fox is the Kings' best player or not, the notion that he's one of y'all's three best players is a very easily defensible position. The proposition of trading one of your three-best players to a team and not getting back either one of their three-best players or multiple unprotected FRPs in return is the reason why the term "NBA Malpractice" was invented.

If the Rockets aren't willing to offer Thompson, Şengün or Green for Fox, the bidding has to start with three firsts.

Smith was a 3rd overall pick shooting 35.4% from 3, averages a block a game, 6.5 boards, 105.9 defensive rating. Has really good length.

kid fits our needs like a hand in a glove……

if Rockets offered a trade with Smith for Fox I would say yes.

if you are trading small for you never get an “equivalent” level player. One reason I hate stacking 6’3” guards. “Working it out later” is really hard. Now if you are talking stacking 6’ 8” forwards like Houston has done I have a different opinion.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Smith was a 3rd overall pick shooting 35.4% from 3, averages a block a game, 6.5 boards, 105.9 defensive rating. Has really good length.

kid fits our needs like a hand in a glove……

if Rockets offered a trade with Smith for Fox I would say yes.

I would still expect picks and one other young guy in this deal. That's just how it works. Especially since we'll also have to take back their garbage to make the salaries work.

 

[sactowndog]

I would still expect picks and one other young guy in this deal. That's just how it works. Especially since we'll also have to take back their garbage to make the salaries work.

You might get a pick. More likely you are taking back Van Vleet and routing him elsewhere for picks or an another player. How it works is small for Big is always uneven.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

And what if he says it’s either houston or San Antonio you’re not getting half of that if his list isn’t long

"If" feels like it's doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement. Has he said that, or are you projecting that onto him, because you've gone into full Marvin K. Mooney mode when it comes to Fox?

 

[Caccia]

Sorry if i’m missing something but any word on Keon’s ankle sprain?

Not yet, so far as I can see.

 

[twslam07]

"If" feels like it's doing a lot of heavy lifting in that statement. Has he said that, or are you projecting that onto him, because you've gone into full Marvin K. Mooney mode when it comes to Fox?

There’s got to be a”Fox in Socks” type of reply to this somewhere…

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880357007867392385

which one of you was this?

 

[sactowndog]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880357007867392385

which one of you was this?

Not me. Not at that game.

 

[sono]

The Kings could not have made that turnaround because Mike Brown was in the way. He did not put the players in the best position to succeed. When his schemes didn't work despite the players putting in the hard work, instead of taking responsibility and standing with the players, he separated himself from the players and coached via the media. He lost the respect of the players and he had to go.

Also, I really do not understand why we're discrediting Doug Christie's work with the team. The proof is in the pudding. There is joy and grit in this team and the results speak for themselves. Any notion that Mike Brown could have got the same results is just plain disingenuous and insulting.

Hear hear! a true motivator is in place now. Brown lost it before he started badmouthing his players publicly, it was brewing all along lately.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1880401757895028798

 

[sono]

How long does "new coach bump" last?

Nate McMillan seemed to ride it all the way to the ECF. I'm sure there are similar stories. And he probably had the Hawks going for as long as Brown managed to have the Kings playing at a high level.

What's the threshold on when we can officially pronounce Christie the real deal?

It could last, till the players reach their potential limit both physically and mentally, who knows.
Playoff perhaps, hopefully we make a deal before the deadline to bring a long player who can impact our defense.