[Game] 78/82: Kings vs. Pelicans 03 APR 2026, 7pm PT/10pm ET

[KainLear]

Counter-point, do we lose our minds over something we have no control over for what feels like the 15th year in a row (give or take a couple in the middle there) or do we shrug and hope for the best?

Genuinely a good question, since the full meaning behind the word “fan” often goes unspoken.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

How many regular posters do we have here relative to the site's peak?

A lot less, but we don't have any children posting here. Your original premise was that losing was making children lose interest.

 

[KainLear]

I think a lot did, they don't post on Kingsfans.com.
How many regular posters do we have here relative to the site's peak?

I joined this board back when J-Will was our lead guard.

I can’t say I really follow basketball, or really any sport, the way I used to, but I still care about it and enjoy watching from time to time.

Over the years, sports have taught me a lot that carries into everyday life, especially the habits that separate winners from everyone else. It’s easy to put too much stake at minutiae details that only affects something based on the luck of a draw, and lose sight of the bigger picture.

Some wins aren’t just about the outcome or even the kids in the stands like some here suggested, that’s just a bonus, they’re about what those moments do for our own players in the locker room. The growing together and winning together, and learning how to win, those habits just like the ones they are undoubtedly learning from vets like DDR and Russ, are going to be invaluable to these kids' future.

Winners keep their spirit high so they can approach each task with that same energy, which is proven in increasing your chances of success.

Losing too much sometimes lead to forgetting how to win altogether... or as the kids call it these days, losing the plot.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

A lot less, but we don't have any children posting here. Your original premise was that losing was making children lose interest.

I wasn't intending to draw a distinction between a child losing interest as opposed to a young adult.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

That is a very cynical, disingenuous and inaccurate interpretation of people's stated opinions on here.

How many people have told Slab or sactown that we could maybe get a better player picking later in the draft


now we’re back to hopes and dreams if we can’t move into the top three… Paolo maybe and keep Keegan and Sabonis



I’m sick

 

[dude12]

This is what it’s about for kings fans:

Do you want better odds or worse odds?

Everyone knows the draft is a crapshoot. Everyone knows you need a lot of luck. But do you want the best odds to pull that high pick or worse odds to pull that high pick? Every other team has figured out “we want the best odds, except the kings.

This team knew at the halfway point that they were really bad, again. They had a really bad team and coach who shouldn’t even be a coach in the nba. A competent franchise would have told Doug not to play the vets at all, or there’s the door. Put Woodson in as interm and go exclusively with the young guys for an entire half of the season. No Westbrook and DDR would have the kings exclusively there at 1. Does that guarantee anything? A top 3 pick. But you gave yourself the best odds to pull that 1 pick. I don’t understand why people have such a hard time grasping this concept.

Correct on all fronts

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Last night’s win was a lot more valuable than the win before it. At least it was the young ones leading the charge.

Cardwell’s blocks at the end were SICK! Especially the one putting Zion in his place.

Too bad the KINGS didn’t have him a couple seasons ago when Zion and the Pels owned them that one season and in the play-in.

 

[The_Jamal]

If the team you win against isn’t trying to win, is it actually a win?

So ill ask you. Is the answer for us to intentionally throw the game? Do we bench Max and Cardwell for playing too well? Plowden had a nice game too, is he too good to be playing?

Someone has to play NBA minutes for us to finish this season. It needs to be the young guys. If we win the game because they play well, so be it, even if I dont like it at this point in the year.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

How many people have told Slab or sactown that we could maybe get a better player picking later in the draft

I do not believe that your interpretation of those remarks is accurate. I think that you are mischaracterizing them.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

So ill ask you. Is the answer for us to intentionally throw the game? Do we bench Max and Cardwell for playing too well? Plowden had a nice game too, is he too good to be playing?

Someone has to play NBA minutes for us to finish this season. It needs to be the young guys. If we win the game because they play well, so be it, even if I dont like it at this point in the year.

I think the answer is to try and avoid this situation in the first place. Every move we could make to throw the game could be matched by the Pelicans. Somebody does have to win.

I think Slim mentioned we had a 5-9 record vs teams that are trying to lose over the last 36 games. If both teams are trying to lose equally as hard, you'd expect a .500 record just like that. I can accept that we're going to win our fair share of those, but don't expect me to light the beam.

 

[Caccia]

So I'll ask you: Is the answer for us to intentionally throw the game? Do we bench Max and Cardwell for playing too well? Plowden had a nice game too, is he too good to be playing?

Someone has to play NBA minutes for us to finish this season. It needs to be the young guys. If we win the game because they play well, so be it, even if I dont like it at this point in the year.

You might say that the whole point of the season, which started with an impossible schedule for two straight months, stacked in the face of injury after injury, was to develop the young players. I think Coach Christie is terrible at his job, but you could argue the opposite: look just how well the young guys, even the two-way players, are performing on the court.

 

[Warhawk]

Are you new here? Some want the 10th best odds instead of the best odds cayse it moved up before. Some want to pick at 13 instead of one cause SGA and Giannis went in that range

Literally nobody here has ever said that (that I can recall, and certainly not me). Quit making **** up.

I have pushed back on the idea that "a top 5 pick is necessarily a panacea for the Kings ills". Our issues run a lot deeper than just one pick. And, often the #1 pick is indeed not the best player in the draft, with players selected later performing better. It depends not only on the pick position, but the players available at that pick (and yes, I understand the higher you pick the more options you have), who is doing the evaluating, what they use as criteria, if they choose BPA or not, what the team construction looks like, if they can develop that player, if that player stays healthy, etc., etc.

You make a snide comment about SGA and Giannis going later in the draft, but a ton of other players have as well (or have gone undrafted!). Perry hitting with pretty much all our picks/young players last year indicate to me that wherever we pick we should hopefully do OK.

Do I want the #1 pick? YES, obviously. But there is no way to guarantee even a top 4 pick at all, and the odds are very flat already amongst the "worst" teams. Does a "worse" starting spot pre-lottery mean we may fall more after all the ping-pong balls get selected? Obviously, yes. But our team, while injured, has significant talent (often mismatched, but it is still there). We were NEVER going to be as bad as some of these other teams.

Do I agree that we should have limited DDR and others to say, 20-25 minutes a night? Yes. But DC is coaching for his career as best he can, and the players are also proud and never want to lose. It's easy for someone like you on a message board to say, "DC, go lose us some games" but unless Perry is going to give him a guaranteed 10 year deal to ride through a rebuilding process, it's HIS career on the line. I'm sure you would feel the same way in the same position. I know I certainly am not going to tank my work product at my job. If I need to go elsewhere for employment at some point everyone will know I didn't do the best job I could - and why would you hire that person?

 

[Warhawk]

I do not believe that your interpretation of those remarks is accurate. I think that you are mischaracterizing them.

Agreed.

 

[HndsmCelt]

I just realized Slim left the birthday of Scott Lafaro off the list… I was just too distracted last night to notice

 

[NewArena]

Pelicans board on Maxime:

quote:

---

Also embarrassing when you watch a 2nd rounder (Reynaud) who is so far ahead of a guy we traded potentially 2 lottery picks for.

---

Absolutely!!

If 'Doofus' and 'Dream Weaver' would have just drafted Fears, picked Reynaud with 23, and perhaps traded Olynyk and Hawk for Bey, what a great position we would be in right now and the 'Dynamic Duo' would have been deemed geniuses right now,

CJ would be coming off the books (if not traded at the trade deadline this year for someone and additional draft capital) and we would have a lottery pick this year.

But no!!!!!!!

The foolishness of Poole and Queen have made us cellar-dwellers for the next three to five years minimum if (and only if) they decide to blow it up this summer. Otherwise, it will be more like five to seven years.

DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!!

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Literally nobody here has ever said that (that I can recall, and certainly not me). Quit making **** up.

I have pushed back on the idea that "a top 5 pick is necessarily a panacea for the Kings ills". Our issues run a lot deeper than just one pick. And, often the #1 pick is indeed not the best player in the draft, with players selected later performing better. It depends not only on the pick position, but the players available at that pick (and yes, I understand the higher you pick the more options you have), who is doing the evaluating, what they use as criteria, if they choose BPA or not, what the team construction looks like, if they can develop that player, if that player stays healthy, etc., etc.

You make a snide comment about SGA and Giannis going later in the draft, but a ton of other players have as well (or have gone undrafted!). Perry hitting with pretty much all our picks/young players last year indicate to me that wherever we pick we should hopefully do OK.

Do I want the #1 pick? YES, obviously. But there is no way to guarantee even a top 4 pick at all, and the odds are very flat already amongst the "worst" teams. Does a "worse" starting spot pre-lottery mean we may fall more after all the ping-pong balls get selected? Obviously, yes. But our team, while injured, has significant talent (often mismatched, but it is still there). We were NEVER going to be as bad as some of these other teams.

Do I agree that we should have limited DDR and others to say, 20-25 minutes a night? Yes. But DC is coaching for his career as best he can, and the players are also proud and never want to lose. It's easy for someone like you on a message board to say, "DC, go lose us some games" but unless Perry is going to give him a guaranteed 10 year deal to ride through a rebuilding process, it's HIS career on the line. I'm sure you would feel the same way in the same position. I know I certainly am not going to tank my work product at my job. If I need to go elsewhere for employment at some point everyone will know I didn't do the best job I could - and why would you hire that person?

It was said multiple times

The front office should tell Doug to reduce DD minutes of course he won’t he’s a lame duck he has to try and win even though he’ll be fired by next year regardless. Look at Milwaukee Giannis is trying to come back for unnecessary wins but they won’t let him. Even though I think he’s playing games to get traded and look like the good guy

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Some of the cognitive dissonance and irrelevant reasoning here is really a fascinating look into psychology.

I trust that Vivek Ranadive and the Kings organization have a handle on this whole situation