A year wasted thanks to Monte.
- Thread starter nikefutbolero
- Start date
coolhandluke
Starter
Our 3-pt defense so bad that even Mike Bibby is giving us advice.
Right. If those guys are shooting high 30s or 40+% from 3 that’s more space for all 3 Fox, DDR, Sabonis and a much more dynamic offense.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Considering his season is almost a mirror of last one if not worse it's likely a given at this point. Odds are also him getting pushed from major minutes just like last season at some point as well. Just like with all those "sucky" players that find their game somewhere else, I think they are doing what sometimes happens and that's trying to turn a player into what they need rather than what that player needs to be. The two DHO staples in Huerter and Keegan are struggling and it's not a coincidence even if they shouldn't be struggling this bad. The thing with Keegan is he's now a top notch defender and a darn good rebounder so he's still a net positive every night. With Huerter, deflections aren't taking a player anywhere long term if they are doing so but still not really capable of keeping their man in front of them. Huerter is a classic need a big that can protect the rim player. Domas ain't it.
Bosnian Diehard
Starter
Same dude. I have defended all the way up until this stretch. I still think he’s a good GM, and he was placed in an extremely difficult situation. Turn around a sorry franchise and get them to the Playoffs without a proper rebuild, with a severe lack of assets. He did great in accomplishing that goal.
I was frustrated by, but understood, the lack of deadline moves. The team was a winning team in each scenario. But this offseason surprised me the most of any McNair off season, the weaknesses were clear as day.
It's hard for me to put any of this current struggle on Monte. What's he supposed to do when all our shooters are massively slumping? You build the team that, I don't know, are going to hit shots pretty close to their career levels. And it's not like we can just forget the start of the year and then 3 of our best players all get hurt for a stretch and now we're all out of wack trying to reintegrate them into the offense.
The two things I put on Brown are 1. Not enough Keon and 2. The 3pt defense remains in the gutter. Those are two things we have direct control over and it took 20 games to even address one of them.
There's also the mental hurdle of overcoming the Sacramento Kings whistle. Which, I will admit, is exaggerated to a certain extent by our bias as a fanbase (2002 Western Conference Finals PTSD for those of us who remember it and the same type of confirmation bias that all fans of a particular team are susceptible to). But there is a fair amount of smoke to the fire that Sacramento is just treated different by officials relative to other teams. Kevin Huerter commented on it during his first month on the Kings. I don't know if DeMar has spoken to it, but his reactions during certain games suggest that he is aware of it. The Kings have lost a handful of winnable games already due to suspect officiating and that's the difference between riding high at 12-6 in the 4 seed right now and 8-10 with a constant stream of "I told you so's" filtering in from the usual naysayers.
Like most Kings seasons this one started out with high expectations, a lot of energy from the entire roster, and early buzz about All-Star spots for our top players. But after 4 weeks the doubts have started to creep in, the shoulders have started to slouch, and there's a palpable frustration starting to spread across the faces of our main rotation players. It's the frustration of "when we do everything right, are these officials even going to let us win?"
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Bosnian Diehard
Starter
Monte came into the season with a forward rotation of DDR/Keegan/Lyles, and signed McDermott right before training camp. Two older forwards, one who was specifically injured a lot of last year. McDermott shouldn’t really be counted on to get minutes. So that’s 3 guys at forward to rely on, while you have 6 guards. Just so imbalanced. That’s just unacceptable imo. I agree on the Brown criticisms though.
nikefutbolero
G-League
Tried to tell yall
Joshyjosh31
Starter
You didn’t even let him trade for cash considerations yet
nikefutbolero
G-League
Where are all his supporters and apologists at? His inaction is causing us to lose our best player since Chris Webber and send us back to obscurity and lottery hell.
SLAB
Hall of Famer
Fox is talented but will never be *That* guy. He can be the Robin to someone else’s Batman.
Monte is not immune from criticism and I still will look back at the good Fox moments fondly - not sure if my timeline is off - but it all changed with the Dubs series - he hooked up with Steph in the offseason and is that also when he signed with Klutch?
everything got in his head and its been downhill since, last season the ball started but now it's a giant snowball steamrolling everything.
Last night was my breaking point - 1 for 7 first half. Somehow looks like an MVP for the next 20 minutes. Complete meltdown including blowing the game on the final play. Oh wait, penultimate play. But his half court shot was lazy too.
People can say "DHO has been figured out" but the team was better when it ran around Domas.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
What if opponents keep getting him mad every game? Isn’t that what gets leebron actually check that isn’t that what gets Ja, Brunson, and Cade to coke out like stars every game they get pissed right
Edit::
I still want a three way trade with us getting Zion **** rebuilding
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SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Were you around during the last of the Petrie years? If you think THIS is inaction? Holy cow those years were brutal. Monte literally traded Haliburton for Fox. Likely drafted Keegan for the same. Signed DeMar. This summer after the run it back he shifted. No, not a lot, but Monte >>>> previous GM's in terms of inaction so far.
SLAB
Hall of Famer
Word. I take this season (taking a swing and a chance and missing badly) as opposed to last year. Being stagnant with a team that has zero title aspirations is boring. Run it back was probably my least favorite season I can remember as a Kings fan, because I knew that team wasn’t good enough to be better than the previous season but it also was too good to give us dreams of the lottery once again.
And from here it looks like they know what has to be done, and that gives us eyes back on the lottery. It feels so right again!!!
Yeah the most talented team we've had in 20 years is absolutely on Montes shoulder. Give me a break
nikefutbolero
G-League
First of all, he traded Halliburton for Sabinos not Fox, and that trade was to fix his mistake of drafting another guard that didn’t fit with the team. Then what does he do? Drafts Mitchell. Signing Derozan was to fix the hole we had with Barnes who he traded away one year after the mistake of extending him. Derozan doesn’t even fit with this team. No defense, slows the pace, and has been inconsistent. Where are the moves to address the true needs we’ve had the last two years? There are none. He’s done nothing to improve the roster, he’s only fixed his mistakes and now here we are with a losing record on the verge of blowing everything up thanks to him.
We made changes last year, they also sucked. We let TD go, as well as Metu & Nemi.
All of those guys have huge flaws but for the most part their replacements have been complete and total busts.
The less said about Sasha the better.
All of those guys have huge flaws but for the most part their replacements have been complete and total busts.
The less said about Sasha the better.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
No, I'm saying he traded Hali to make a team FOR Fox. And he did. Maybe not the perfect team but that's the issue you run into when a team wastes all those breathing room years of a player being on a rookie contract. Which was Vlades mistake, not Monte's. Monte came in with his back up against the wall to build a team around Fox from day 1. Remember that.
nikefutbolero
G-League
And he’s failed because we are terrible and are probably going to lose Fox.
Like I said, a bunch of little mistakes adding up? Has Monte been horrible? No, but the roster construction could be better. Had Brown been a horrible coach? No, but he could handle his rotations and philosophy better. Has Fox been a bad franchise player? No, but he hasn't found a way to elevate himself to Luka/SGA type status.
Add in the other 10-15 little things and you get the product we have now. Along with a little bad luck too
nikefutbolero
G-League
This whole thing is Montes fault. Thanks for ignoring the glaring weaknesses making Fox lose hope and any trust in the organization.
sactowndog
All-Star
doesn’t even include not trading Barnes for Nesmith and a 1st, not tanking the year of the Mitchell draft ( which would have gotten us Wagner), the multiple bad trades for 2nds, the multiple dumping of contracts he signed with 2nds, the Huerter trade for the 14th overall pick in a good draft (coming).
Monte drafts okay because he takes zero risks which is why other teams have good forwards and we don’t. But his asset management and ability to make trades is among the worst of all Kings GM’s.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Can’t keep someone who wants to leave.
QWERTYLICIOUS
Starter
And you're confident that this is Fox's ONLY motivation to seek a new beginning with another franchise because...???
nikefutbolero
G-League
Because he wants to win, and it's clearly keeping us from winning.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Fox might want to look at himself in the mirror. The true greats? They ALWAYS did. The buck stopped with them, nobody else.
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