Fire Walton

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So either the minutes restrictions are more arbitrary than anything else or Luke Walton was just being grossly negligent. Either option is not great.
minutes restrictions are absolutely not arbitrary. It’s hubris on top of stupidity. More than anything it’s incredibly on brand - Luke doing something just to please one of his players despite it being an obviously horrible idea. Decisions like this go a long way in showing why this team lacks discipline and focus over extended periods of time. Barnes being out obviously makes it way worse, but we also shouldn’t be leaning on the leadership of veteran players to make up for an undisciplined man child running the show
 
I still think they may have missed their window. That run would have happened under Gentry if he used the same sets based around Fox, and THAT would have been a fresh start. As is, they will have to fight back up that same hill to get where they were which is back at square 1 and likely just end up at the end of the lottery anyway. If they have it in them to turn it around again that is. They've made this much more of a no mans land scenario than need be.
 
Haven’t they fired this guy yet? If a coach is not getting maximum potential out of his players, no need to keep him. Kings are a better team with lots of upside than what the pretty boy is putting on the floor every night. Fire him!
 
Idk why people think another draft pick will save us. Every one of are starters are high draft picks except Holmes. We need to win. And we need a coach to get us to the 8th seed. Sac needs confidence not a high pick.
 
Idk why people think another draft pick will save us. Every one of are starters are high draft picks except Holmes. We need to win. And we need a coach to get us to the 8th seed. Sac needs confidence not a high pick.
Because there is not enough talent on the roster and a high pick is the best way to acquire talent. Some toughness would be nice as well.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Idk why people think another draft pick will save us. Every one of are starters are high draft picks except Holmes. We need to win. And we need a coach to get us to the 8th seed. Sac needs confidence not a high pick.
We’ll eventually get a high pick and hit right. Getting the 8 seed only to get crushed by the Lakers with no obvious way of improvement from there has very very limited appeal to me. Unless the Kings can find another Webber via trade (unlikely at the very best) it has to be the draft.
 
Idk why people think another draft pick will save us. Every one of are starters are high draft picks except Holmes. We need to win. And we need a coach to get us to the 8th seed. Sac needs confidence not a high pick.
Sigh... Fans will never learn.

Top 5 picks drafted in the last 5 years (excluding this year with a limited sample. Although Melo Ball looks like a franchise player):

2019- Zion, Ja
2018-Ayton-Luka-Trae
2017-Tatum-Fox
2016-Simmons-Ingram-Brown
2015-KAT-Kristaps

Wouldn't it be nice if the Kings had the ability to get access to these guys? It's the easiest way to find a franchise changing talent. There's always cases of dudes falling way too far (Tyrese, Bam, Mitchell, Herro all come to mind), but it's incredibly rare for a draft to not have a franchise player in the top 5 picks.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
I still think they may have missed their window. That run would have happened under Gentry if he used the same sets based around Fox, and THAT would have been a fresh start. As is, they will have to fight back up that same hill to get where they were which is back at square 1 and likely just end up at the end of the lottery anyway. If they have it in them to turn it around again that is. They've made this much more of a no mans land scenario than need be.
Ride it out with the tank commander. Gentry would have been a stop gap either way.

We might have an opportunity to get a really good coach if some of the elite teams underperform in this years playoffs. Fox and Hali + a high draft pick could be an enticing core.

Also, I don’t know what other tank moves McNair can make besides rolling with Luke. I’d actually prefer it if we keep players like Barnes and Holmes around because this could be a really quick rebuild. Trading Buddy would probably make us better, assuming there’s even a market, and he might actually be useful again under a good coach.
 
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Idk why people think another draft pick will save us. Every one of are starters are high draft picks except Holmes. We need to win. And we need a coach to get us to the 8th seed. Sac needs confidence not a high pick.
It doesn't matter if it's a high draft pick or a low draft pick. It's about the talent and we need one more good player as good or better then Fox.

At least some Kings fans are rising from 6 feet under and peaking their heads out thinking, "Hey we're one Fox level or better player away from being at least a solid team"
 
Sigh... Fans will never learn.

Top 5 picks drafted in the last 5 years (excluding this year with a limited sample. Although Melo Ball looks like a franchise player):

2019- Zion, Ja
2018-Ayton-Luka-Trae
2017-Tatum-Fox
2016-Simmons-Ingram-Brown
2015-KAT-Kristaps

Wouldn't it be nice if the Kings had the ability to get access to these guys? It's the easiest way to find a franchise changing talent. There's always cases of dudes falling way too far (Tyrese, Bam, Mitchell, Herro all come to mind), but it's incredibly rare for a draft to not have a franchise player in the top 5 picks.
I agree with the premise of your post. But man that list is almost an argument against tanking. Pelicans and grizz are basically where we are now fighting for 8 seed. Suns are good but it’s mostly booker and addition of cp3 that took them to the next level. Dallas is a 9 seed right now. Atl sucks. I believe Boston got the high picks due to trades. Minny still sucks and Knicks did nothing with KP. The only team that amounted to anything with their high picks is Philly and I’ll give u Boston. Again I agree we need another star and the draft is the way to get that star. But top 5 pick isn’t a guarantee to get us to the promise land unless we get another lebron.
 
Sigh... Fans will never learn.

Top 5 picks drafted in the last 5 years (excluding this year with a limited sample. Although Melo Ball looks like a franchise player):

2019- Zion, Ja
2018-Ayton-Luka-Trae
2017-Tatum-Fox
2016-Simmons-Ingram-Brown
2015-KAT-Kristaps

Wouldn't it be nice if the Kings had the ability to get access to these guys? It's the easiest way to find a franchise changing talent. There's always cases of dudes falling way too far (Tyrese, Bam, Mitchell, Herro all come to mind), but it's incredibly rare for a draft to not have a franchise player in the top 5 picks.
We have this draft pick argument every year lol. Some things never change.
 
Ride it out with the tank commander. Gentry would have been a stop gap either way.

We might have an opportunity to get a really good coach if some of the elite teams underperform in this years playoffs. Fox and Hali + a high draft pick could be an enticing core.

Also, I don’t know what other tank moves McNair can make besides rolling with Luke. I’d actually prefer it if we keep players like Barnes and Holmes around because this could be a really quick rebuild. Trading Buddy would probably make us better, assuming there’s even a market, and he might actually be useful again under a good coach.
I think they have to monitor it very closely. If the locker room sours again this time they probably have to fire Walton. Will it help change the direction if they do? Who knows, but if the players fully buy out prior to that then no. And that's why I think they are teetering on having missed the window of getting that new car smell back and starting fresh. Also nothing about Gentry's history shows that he's going to be ruining draft picks on his own. The talent is there, if they buy in and play right that pick will go down in value regardless. They somewhat built back the locker room at one point. Amazingly. If it goes crashing down again it might take some of the young building blocks with it. The league now is too sketchy. Players are far too easily tilted towards the EXIT sign in hopes of self preservation. Bagley has been on the cusp multiple times already. If it's a cost or loss thing then Vivek is as oblivious to the human factor as ever and this team is doomed. He doesn't understand the people game. Juggling personalities and coddled athletes is a delicate process.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
I think they have to monitor it very closely. If the locker room sours again this time they probably have to fire Walton. Will it help change the direction if they do? Who knows, but if the players fully buy out prior to that then no. And that's why I think they are teetering on having missed the window of getting that new car smell back and starting fresh. Also nothing about Gentry's history shows that he's going to be ruining draft picks on his own. The talent is there, if they buy in and play right that pick will go down in value regardless. They somewhat built back the locker room at one point. Amazingly. If it goes crashing down again it might take some of the young building blocks with it. The league now is too sketchy. Players are far too easily tilted towards the EXIT sign in hopes of self preservation. Bagley has been on the cusp multiple times already. If it's a cost or loss thing then Vivek is as oblivious to the human factor as ever and this team is doomed. He doesn't understand the people game. Juggling personalities and coddled athletes is a delicate process.
I agree with just about all of this. One of the reasons I was down to abandon the tank during our run is that eventually we do need to build SOME kind of momentum with team moral. Perennial losers can’t be the identity forever.

However, I don’t think we need to worry about core players bailing, but that’s because I really only consider Fox and Hali core. Those two both seem to want to build something here. I doubt Fox goes all AD on us and forces a trade right after signing the big contract. Bagley may want out, but I’m not a huge fan of him. I think we’d survive if he moved on.
 
I agree with the premise of your post. But man that list is almost an argument against tanking. Pelicans and grizz are basically where we are now fighting for 8 seed. Suns are good but it’s mostly booker and addition of cp3 that took them to the next level. Dallas is a 9 seed right now. Atl sucks. I believe Boston got the high picks due to trades. Minny still sucks and Knicks did nothing with KP. The only team that amounted to anything with their high picks is Philly and I’ll give u Boston. Again I agree we need another star and the draft is the way to get that star. But top 5 pick isn’t a guarantee to get us to the promise land unless we get another lebron.
The mental gymnastics to get to these conclusions lol...

No one said a top 5 pick is a guarantee to get to the promised land. Your team actually has to have a good coach, GM, supporting cast. Million other factors. But there's no argument for saying those teams would be better off without Zion/Ja/Melo/KAT/Ingram/Simmons etc.
 
Ok, Luke has some positives about him as a coach, I can't think of many right now but there has to be some. That said, and this is saying a lot, I'm not sure the Kings have had a coach with lower coaching IQ than him since Rick Adelman's departure and that covers a lot of ground as we all know. Most bad coaches will ride what works in a game to survive then regress back to their systems the next game. Luke will do that by half and even by quarter. I'm dumbfounded. This is some legit Freud level stuff here. On the flipside he could be the most brilliant concealed tank coach ever but his end of the year runs don't jive with that at all. That means he typically even messes that up.
 
In 2 weeks we went from "could we make the playoffs?" to "could we win 1 game?". That's a 2-week stretch that gets people fired.
Monte somehow escaped the hellfire and brimstone earlier but that talk on TNT about why the Kings are still bad are the types of conversations that are just a few steps away from his door. At some point the appearance of incompetence always finds it's way to the GM. Vlade bailed so quickly when things started to head down hill at warp speed that Monte is holding a bag that he probably doesn't realize contains leftover mud meant for the one who used to sit in his chair.
 
Sigh... Fans will never learn.

Top 5 picks drafted in the last 5 years (excluding this year with a limited sample. Although Melo Ball looks like a franchise player):

2019- Zion, Ja
2018-Ayton-Luka-Trae
2017-Tatum-Fox
2016-Simmons-Ingram-Brown
2015-KAT-Kristaps

Wouldn't it be nice if the Kings had the ability to get access to these guys? It's the easiest way to find a franchise changing talent. There's always cases of dudes falling way too far (Tyrese, Bam, Mitchell, Herro all come to mind), but it's incredibly rare for a draft to not have a franchise player in the top 5 picks.
Not one of those players in a small market have gotten there team to the next level. 76ers took much more than Simmons to get to playoffs.
Celtics was stacked before Tatum
Ayton is a afterthought to brooks
Kat might as well be cousins on kings.

You proved my point exactly. We need the playoffs way more than a. Player. Fox and Bagley and rook are those players your wishing for we just badly coached
 
You say what good would making to the playoffs do only to lose. I say plenty! How about snap the longest drought in history. How about maybe attracting some free agents. Draft a stud? Ok we will lose studs too. How about making these games watchable. You guys say we been scratching the bottom forever and need to tank and forget not only does tanking not guarantee you the number 1 spot but we just had the number 2 spot. We need good coaching and some dam trades when they matter. Be buyers not sellers and push to this 8th seed for the good of the francise. This is pathetic
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Not one of those players in a small market have gotten there team to the next level. 76ers took much more than Simmons to get to playoffs.
Celtics was stacked before Tatum
Ayton is a afterthought to brooks
Kat might as well be cousins on kings.

You proved my point exactly. We need the playoffs way more than a. Player. Fox and Bagley and rook are those players your wishing for we just badly coached
Who?
 
Not one of those players in a small market have gotten there team to the next level. 76ers took much more than Simmons to get to playoffs.
Celtics was stacked before Tatum
Ayton is a afterthought to brooks
Kat might as well be cousins on kings.

You proved my point exactly. We need the playoffs way more than a. Player. Fox and Bagley and rook are those players your wishing for we just badly coached
And on top of that you're just throwing talent into a blender and hoping it shakes out at some point. Teams that win have some sort of sense behind them in terms of fit. The Kings are getting to the point where BPA can't be the end all. They lucked into the fact that while they still picked a pick and roll PG after having Fox as the franchise, he's big enough to play SG and is much more of a glue player at his core. Obviously trades then become an option if a top pick player isn't a fit but building through the draft has to stop at some point so the next phase can begin. Perpetually bad teams are the ones that never seem to get to the next phase or they just keep stacking BPA. Look at the Hawks right now. The only plus for them is they are stacking the right kinds of players on the wing. However they just drafted an inside out PF and he's getting crunched into oblivion. Good job guys.
 
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