De’Aaron Fox
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Nope. I'm not going to join in on the hoopla. Of course, I liked the performance of Fox in the 4th against Denver. And I really liked the overall gutsy performance of the team battling on the 2nd night of a back to back, in oxygen-deprived Denver no less. Given the terrible history of this team in back-to-back games, it's a great about-face. But keep it real. Denver didn't have two of their main guys. The Kings are 5-5 in their last 10 and are clinging to the last spot of a play-in spot, not a playoff spot. Have they slipped because of the greatness of Fox? Hardly. He's been up and down like a kangaroo. It's all about defense and consistency with Fox, and both are measured not in one game, but over many games. I'm looking forward to after the All Star break. Let's see how the next 10 games go, then the next 10, and so forth. If Fox shows consistency one would expect from a star point guard, I'll be crowing like everyone else.
An eighth seed with a two-game lead over the ninth seed is slightly better than "clinging." They're closer to the second seed than they are to the eleventh seed.
Padrino
All-Star
Yeah, the good news for the Kings is that, barring injury, it's incredibly hard to imagine them falling out of the play-in race altogether. And with a home-heavy schedule after the All-Star break (the Kings are tied with Minny for fewest home games played in the West to this point), it's pretty unlikely that they'll fall further than the 8 seed they currently occupy. They probably won't be leapfrogging Denver for the 4 seed, but there's still a very strong chance that they'll finish as a 5-6 seed. I certainly wouldn't consider the Suns, Pelicans, or Mavericks to be paragons of health and/or consistency. We'll see how it shakes out, but the Kings are fairly well-positioned to march back up the standings once regular season play resumes.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Semantics. We'll see if they are "clinging," "hanging", "awesomely entrenched," or "guaranteed" a play-in spot in the next 20 games or so. Frankly, it's a little disappointing we should be having an argument about how secure this team is for a play-in spot at this juncture of the season. I was hoping the topic would be centered around the security of a play-off spot. The bar seems to have been lowered.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Since we're on the topic of De'Aaron Fox, here's where his current season scoring average ranks all-time in franchise history:
Below shows the player, year, team, average minutes per game and scoring average.
12 DeMarcus Cousins 2017 SAC 55 34.4 27.8
13 Chris Webber 2001 SAC 70 40.5 27.1
14 DeMarcus Cousins 2016 SAC 65 34.6 26.9
15 De'Aaron Fox 2024 SAC 48 35.6 26.8
The above are 12-15 in franchise history, behind Tiny, Oscar, and Twyman only. All names/numbers that are retired up in the rafters.
The above also represents #1 - #4 in Sacramento era history. Above Richmond, and several other seasons from Tiny, Oscar, and Twyman. All names/numbers that are retired up in the rafters.
At current pace, Swipa is set to pass both Peja Stojakovic and DeMarcus Cousins in franchise scoring, and surpass 10,000 career points, this season.
A full season averaging 25-26 ppg next season would have him surpassing Mitch Richmond as the all-time SAC era leader and into 3rd place in franchise history behind only Oscar and Twyman. Another season and a half beyond that could see Swipa passing Twyman for #2.
That means that barely after his 29th birthday he'd be #2 in franchise history in scoring, only behind Oscar Robertson. And probably top 3-5 in many other categories.
Moral of the story: Start putting some respect on #5's name. We're super, super lucky to have him.
Below shows the player, year, team, average minutes per game and scoring average.
12 DeMarcus Cousins 2017 SAC 55 34.4 27.8
13 Chris Webber 2001 SAC 70 40.5 27.1
14 DeMarcus Cousins 2016 SAC 65 34.6 26.9
15 De'Aaron Fox 2024 SAC 48 35.6 26.8
The above are 12-15 in franchise history, behind Tiny, Oscar, and Twyman only. All names/numbers that are retired up in the rafters.
The above also represents #1 - #4 in Sacramento era history. Above Richmond, and several other seasons from Tiny, Oscar, and Twyman. All names/numbers that are retired up in the rafters.
At current pace, Swipa is set to pass both Peja Stojakovic and DeMarcus Cousins in franchise scoring, and surpass 10,000 career points, this season.
A full season averaging 25-26 ppg next season would have him surpassing Mitch Richmond as the all-time SAC era leader and into 3rd place in franchise history behind only Oscar and Twyman. Another season and a half beyond that could see Swipa passing Twyman for #2.
That means that barely after his 29th birthday he'd be #2 in franchise history in scoring, only behind Oscar Robertson. And probably top 3-5 in many other categories.
Moral of the story: Start putting some respect on #5's name. We're super, super lucky to have him.
Since when is supporting your team considered "hoopla"? This is Kingsfans.com isn't it? Did I stumble into the Inside the NBA forum by mistake?
The bar is only "lowered" in the sense that it's only in the last four years that the eighth seed isn't a guaranteed playoff spot. And this is the first year of the play-in era that there are four teams in the same conference in the play-in race that are all above .500. That's the only reason why there's an "argument" to be had; the possibility of a team finishing eight games above .500 and missing the playoffs is literally unprecedented.
I am reminded of a clip they love to play on the LeBatard show about some townie who calls into an Atlanta radio show and calls the host a homer, and the host loses his mind: "DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME A HOMER! I'M THE FURTHEST THING FROM A HOMER!" And I'm just like, why would a guy who does a local radio show take offense at being called a homer? To me, for fans, it's like that, but times a thousand.
Yeah or how Grant Napear would always go out of his way to praise the refs during every broadcast, I guess to outwardly display his objectivity. In one sense I can understand if you're a broadcaster/journalist there may be some level of professional pride involved in calling yourself fair and impartial. But as a non-paid non-professional sports fan, I have no such inhibition. I'm here purely to be a fan of this team and impartiality is antithetical to the whole idea of fandom.
In the context of this thread, there's all sorts of objective metrics which show that Fox deserved to be an All-Star this year, is elite at his position and is a star in the NBA. The most pushback to these claims seems to be coming from Sacramento fans who are salty that the team lost a few games and Fox has slowed from the incredible MVP level pace he started the season at.
To which I say-- This is our guy. He's not our only guy but he is our leading scorer by a significant margin. We aren't a playoff team without him. What's so wrong about wanting him to get a little league-wide recognition for that? We're not all ever going to agree, especially right after a loss or during a losing streak, but it was easier for me to understand when there was skepticism directed at our best players when the team was stuck in the lottery. Now that we're actually a good team, what's the point? Can the Kings win their next 10 games in a row? Sure. They've already beaten a lot of elite teams this season. Will they? I hope so. What else is there? Predicting wins or losses isn't going to change the outcome so naturally I'm going to hope for the best and celebrate every win.
Predicting wins and losses strikes me as an exercise best left to degenerate gamblers, and people who have a fetish for being "right."
Kingster
Hall of Famer
I'm just as much a Kings' fan as you and I'll use "hoopla" if I so choose. If you and Citrus like to chew on small potatoes
("clinging" and "hoopla"), chow down.
Nobody is picking on your word choice or calling you less of a fan. The whole point of your post was (A) You're not that excited about one win, you want the Kings to show you more. (B) The Kings are slipping out of the playoffs, largely because of the inconsistency of Fox. I took issue with the first part and he took issue with the second part. It's just a disagreement, not an inquisition.
Mad D
Starter
https://sports.yahoo.com/fox-details-severity-lingering-shoulder-192631893.html
Update on the shoulder
Update on the shoulder
Caccia
Starter
I can only guess that Fox refused the MRI.
LT-Sac-Town
G-League
Oh how I've missed post All Star break Fox
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
The recovery steal from Vassell then subsequent mid-range dagger to put the KINGS up 5 is exactly what you expect and typically get from #5.
**EDIT** I neglected to include the spot up 3 once the KINGS went down by 4. That kept them in it for the above sequence to even matter.
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KingsFanSince85
All-Star
I contend that Swipa is among a minority of elite level talents that would have opted to play through the injury.
Some will say he should have taken time off to allow it heal, but I also contend that many of those same people would be the first to second-guess and criticize him for not playing through it if the team fell out of contention while he was out.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Well, that's proof there's at least two intelligent fans over in Spurs land.
Telemachus
Starter
Does it make him generational since that’s just casually being tossed around?!?!?!
NewArena
All-Star
Fox regaining his mid and close range powers just in time for the home stretch. Love to see it! I’m also not mad that we have one of the toughest schedules ahead. I think this team responds better to that anyhow, and it’s a great test for post season play. If they’re a good team like i believe they are, this is the best time to show it.
gunks
Hall of Famer
Dang
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Anybody want to bet against him playing?
If he does sit out, it will likely be due the org making that decision for him.
gunks
Hall of Famer
Yeah, I think smart money says he plays through it.
Hopefully his shot is on tonight if we can't get fully healthy "Attack mode" like we've been seeing the past few games.
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