Jason Thompson Vents Frustration With Sacramento Kings

Jason Thompson is not a starter for a playoff caliber team in the NBA.

He's been jerked around and that sucks but because he is a rotation quality big he is going to get paid for as long as he is physically able so he may as well suck it up.
 
I can certainly empathize with him. The problem is that JT is a Nick Collison level player. The team keeps trying to upgrade, but they bring in other Nick Collison level players to do so.
 
I found it somewhat disturbing to what degree JT cares about his shots. certainly last season wasn't an ideal situation, but for him to say it was the most frustrating year of his life, mainly because of the shots he wasn't getting is a bit weird. Ham already pushed him in that direction a bit, but he needs to realise that the kind of role he was playing last year is probably where his future in the NBA lies.
 
Whether he's right or wrong, management has given every indication that they intend (and have already attempted) to deal him.
 
Jason being particularly upset about his lack of touches just speaks to the flawed offensive mentality we saw this season. Maybe I'm just projecting, but that's something I was frustrated with all year as well so I can understand where he's coming from. He does talk about Patterson coming in to spread the floor and accepted that was a role he's not personally equipped for. And while he talks a lot about his own shots here, you could see the same effect playing out throughout our roster as the season went on -- Rudy Gay, Isaiah Thomas, and DeMarcus Cousins were averaging so many shots that everyone else on the roster was frozen out. And you could see the frustration on everyone's faces -- every miss is magnified when you only get 4 or 5 shots per game. When we run plays and everyone is supposed to be at a certain spot, are you really going to make those cuts sharply and with purpose on the 30th or 40th running of that play when you got the ball once in the previous chances? Is the defense going to spread out to guard players who represent at most 10% of the offense or are they going to cheat toward the 3 guys who are almost certainly going to be taking the shot?

But this really stems from the front office's decision to take a mulligan on the season. Looking back on it now, it's easy to see what the end goal was. Pete used this season to exchange the roster he inherited for a different one of his choosing. Guys like Jimmer, Vasquez, Patterson, Thornton, Salmons, and Hayes weren't really kept around to try and establish a role with this team, they were kept around as trade chips. That makes for a pretty awkward experience for everyone involved. I don't know that Thompson will have a big role with this team going forward either, and it seems that he senses that as well, and just wants to get it over with and get settled somewhere else if not here. That or the awkwardness is over and next season we'll start making forward progress with whatever group of guys we have. Hopefully that's the case. And hopefully that means a more balanced approach toward distributing the ball.
 
JT sucks. I'm tired of listening to this guy. He thinks he's a starter but he'll never be anything more than a role player. If you're tired of being rotated, maybe you should work on your game dummy! Especially if there's been management changes and both managements think that you're a role player. The problem must be in you rather than those surrounding you. He's playing the victim and I think it's pathetic. JT has good games here and there but his inconsistency is what ends him up on the bench year after year after year. He gets demotivated easily and shows lack of interest in 70% 0f the games we play in a season. I don't want a player like that. I'd be more than willing to offload this scum; however, nobody wants scum and we've tried on multiple occasions to offload him but his contract is a cancer and nobody likes cancer. I'm tired of little babies like him who think they're too good for a team when nobody in the league even wants him. He's a role player at best and in a few years will be a bench warmer. Enjoy the best time of your career JT because once you leave Sac, it will only get more frustrating. At the end of his career, he'll realize that this season wasn't as bad as he initially thought ;)
 
hrdboild said:
Jason being particularly upset about his lack of touches just speaks to the flawed offensive mentality we saw this season. Maybe I'm just projecting, but that's something I was frustrated with all year as well so I can understand where he's coming from. He does talk about Patterson coming in to spread the floor and accepted that was a role he's not personally equipped for. And while he talks a lot about his own shots here, you could see the same effect playing out throughout our roster as the season went on -- Rudy Gay, Isaiah Thomas, and DeMarcus Cousins were averaging so many shots that everyone else on the roster was frozen out. And you could see the frustration on everyone's faces -- every miss is magnified when you only get 4 or 5 shots per game. When we run plays and everyone is supposed to be at a certain spot, are you really going to make those cuts sharply and with purpose on the 30th or 40th running of that play when you got the ball once in the previous chances? Is the defense going to spread out to guard players who represent at most 10% of the offense or are they going to cheat toward the 3 guys who are almost certainly going to be taking the shot?

But this really stems from the front office's decision to take a mulligan on the season. Looking back on it now, it's easy to see what the end goal was. Pete used this season to exchange the roster he inherited for a different one of his choosing. Guys like Jimmer, Vasquez, Patterson, Thornton, Salmons, and Hayes weren't really kept around to try and establish a role with this team, they were kept around as trade chips. That makes for a pretty awkward experience for everyone involved. I don't know that Thompson will have a big role with this team going forward either, and it seems that he senses that as well, and just wants to get it over with and get settled somewhere else if not here. That or the awkwardness is over and next season we'll start making forward progress with whatever group of guys we have. Hopefully that's the case. And hopefully that means a more balanced approach toward distributing the ball.
Click to expand...

Short answer to your somewhat rhetorical question: not if your team is only winning 28 games. That's the whole problem with having a young inexperienced team, unproven coach etc. There's no credibility behind the system. And when you have no credibility, players aren't going to buy in, and when they don't buy in, the system fails, thus perpetuating the problem. The other problem is that I actually think our system itself is flawed - offensive hierarchy is still not very clear at times. A lot of that falls on Malone/point guard.
 
hrdboild said:
Jason being particularly upset about his lack of touches just speaks to the flawed offensive mentality we saw this season. Maybe I'm just projecting, but that's something I was frustrated with all year as well so I can understand where he's coming from. He does talk about Patterson coming in to spread the floor and accepted that was a role he's not personally equipped for. And while he talks a lot about his own shots here, you could see the same effect playing out throughout our roster as the season went on -- Rudy Gay, Isaiah Thomas, and DeMarcus Cousins were averaging so many shots that everyone else on the roster was frozen out. And you could see the frustration on everyone's faces -- every miss is magnified when you only get 4 or 5 shots per game. When we run plays and everyone is supposed to be at a certain spot, are you really going to make those cuts sharply and with purpose on the 30th or 40th running of that play when you got the ball once in the previous chances? Is the defense going to spread out to guard players who represent at most 10% of the offense or are they going to cheat toward the 3 guys who are almost certainly going to be taking the shot?

But this really stems from the front office's decision to take a mulligan on the season. Looking back on it now, it's easy to see what the end goal was. Pete used this season to exchange the roster he inherited for a different one of his choosing. Guys like Jimmer, Vasquez, Patterson, Thornton, Salmons, and Hayes weren't really kept around to try and establish a role with this team, they were kept around as trade chips. That makes for a pretty awkward experience for everyone involved. I don't know that Thompson will have a big role with this team going forward either, and it seems that he senses that as well, and just wants to get it over with and get settled somewhere else if not here. That or the awkwardness is over and next season we'll start making forward progress with whatever group of guys we have. Hopefully that's the case. And hopefully that means a more balanced approach toward distributing the ball.
Click to expand...

This sounds great except for the fact that JT is a role player at best! Don't make it seem like we are hindering his potential. JT has been given more than enough opportunities to prove himself. His mid-range jumper is below average. He's too short to be a post player and constantly gets destroyed under the hoop. He has no outside range. His defense is abysmal and he's nowhere near a rim protector. In fact, probably one of the worst defenders I've seen play center. He's garbage. The sooner he realizes this, the better for him because he can move on with his life and embrace the role of a bench player that he is expected to be. The Kings will never be a playoff team if JT is a starter. I think this is fairly obvious for all parties involved, including the fans. You would have to be fairly delusional to consider otherwise...
 
I love the part where JT says that there have been guys like Patterson, Hawes, Hickson, T. Rob, Landry etc coming in to the team and leaving. He says there has to be a common denominator as to why these guys didn't succeed in this team and that common denominator is also the reason why he himself is not able to succeed in Sac.

Yeah, JT, I have the common denominator for you bud: You guys all suck!! All those guys got traded and guess what...they're all role players now! Wow, what a surprise! The common denominator is that you guys suck and need to be demoted as starters in order to succeed as role players.
 
This is certainly not surprising. JT has been wearing his unhappiness on his sleave for quite some time now. JT thinks he's a lot better offensively than he is. That's the rub. He's not good enough to get a lot of shots; more than anything else, he's a rebound, defense guy, and he's pretty inconsistent in those areas. The Kings will continue to look for a trade partner. I hope they can trade him before the draft to either get another pick or possibly move up.
 
JT is a serviceable big man, a true member of the nba's middle class; he's never going to be the strongest member of a frontcourt, and he's probably never going to be the weakest, either. unlike many, he's able to effectively swing between PF and C, and that makes him a relative commodity in a league where frontlines are shrinking. for that reason he will likely always be "overpaid," but, in this age of "capology," he's certainly not the kind of player you break the bank to keep. he's clearly ready to move on, and i think the kings' should oblige him...
 
SacKings2002NBAChampions said:
This sounds great except for the fact that JT is a role player at best! Don't make it seem like we are hindering his potential. JT has been given more than enough opportunities to prove himself. His mid-range jumper is below average. He's too short to be a post player and constantly gets destroyed under the hoop. He has no outside range. His defense is abysmal and he's nowhere near a rim protector. In fact, probably one of the worst defenders I've seen play center. He's garbage. The sooner he realizes this, the better for him because he can move on with his life and embrace the role of a bench player that he is expected to be. The Kings will never be a playoff team if JT is a starter. I think this is fairly obvious for all parties involved, including the fans. You would have to be fairly delusional to consider otherwise...
Click to expand...

I'm not saying I liked what Jason had to say (a player who, btw, I've been putting in almost every single trade scenario I've made for the past 2 years) but I don't think it's necessary to lay into him either. He does exhibit a certain lack of self-awareness that has kept him in various coach's doghouses for most of his time in Sacramento -- he's still looking at everything through a filter of "how does this effect me". But on the other hand, while it may not be apropos to talk in these terms, you're fooling yourself if you don't think this is a consideration for every NBA player. This is their career after all, not a hobby. Jason, bless him, has no problem venting about this kind of thing to his detriment but I would guess if you anonymously polled the rest of our team you would hear a lot of the same sentiments. And that was what I was trying to point out -- the lack of assists is a direct result of an iso-heavy offense and in addition to such a system being inefficient, it does little to maximize the skills of the players we do have. In other words: I don't care all that much that Jason Thompson of all people is unhappy. But he was put through a meat-grinder of a roster situation this season so it's probably fair to cut the guy a little slack for feeling frustrated. This topic is already headed for "trade his ungrateful ass" territory and I felt like that was an overreaction given the circumstances.
 
He needs to get dealt, it is obvious he needs a change of scenery and we need to get rid of the all the stench Petrie brought in. I believe last summer we heard the same thing about Jason before the season started with his frustrations over the years with the constant coaching carousel and organization instability, sometimes you just need to keep things to yourself and not put everything out there for the world to pick apart.
 
SacKings2002NBAChampions said:
JT sucks. I'm tired of listening to this guy. He thinks he's a starter but he'll never be anything more than a role player. If you're tired of being rotated, maybe you should work on your game dummy! Especially if there's been management changes and both managements think that you're a role player. The problem must be in you rather than those surrounding you. He's playing the victim and I think it's pathetic. JT has good games here and there but his inconsistency is what ends him up on the bench year after year after year. He gets demotivated easily and shows lack of interest in 70% 0f the games we play in a season. I don't want a player like that. I'd be more than willing to offload this scum; however, nobody wants scum and we've tried on multiple occasions to offload him but his contract is a cancer and nobody likes cancer. I'm tired of little babies like him who think they're too good for a team when nobody in the league even wants him. He's a role player at best and in a few years will be a bench warmer. Enjoy the best time of your career JT because once you leave Sac, it will only get more frustrating. At the end of his career, he'll realize that this season wasn't as bad as he initially thought ;)
Click to expand...

You know, of all the players on this team, JT has bitched the least. He hardly ever complains, and yet he's been jerked around more than anyone else on the team. He's been through at least five head coaches since he arrived here. Every year they either trade for, or draft a player to play his position. How's that for a vote of confidence. And while I don't think he's the player we need at the PF position, at least as the starter, no one has been able to wrestle that spot away from him. So I think he as a legitimate gripe, at least in how he's been under appreciated. He's a hard worker who constantly works on his game. His limitations are his limitations and he is what he is. Our problem is, that what JT is, isn't the perfect fit for him or the team.

I also agree with hrdboild that if you name wasn't Thomas, Gay, or Cousins, you wern't going to get many touches. We were at the bottom of the league in assists. No ball movement. If you've ever played team sports, then you know how frustrating it is to become a spectator on your own team. After a while, you lose focus, and that edge you need to play at a high level starts to fade.
 
JT is a role player and a decent one if there was a system in place. if anybody watched the games this past year, it was the pizza boy show. i stopped watching most of em bc of the pizza boy diarrhea that was spewing out of commentators mouths.
 
kingsboi said:
He needs to get dealt, it is obvious he needs a change of scenery and we need to get rid of the all the stench Petrie brought in. I believe last summer we heard the same thing about Jason before the season started with his frustrations over the years with the constant coaching carousel and organization instability, sometimes you just need to keep things to yourself and not put everything out there for the world to pick apart.
Click to expand...

I agree that he probably needs a fresh start,....but it's not fair to include him in the "stench that Petrie brought in"
 
Hmm. Players don't do this, by the way. At least not in any regularity. JT wants out, we want him out .. probably best for both sides.

JT's arguments are pretty weak, to be honest. I always thought of him as a player who knew his limitations. He sounds delusion at points in this interview.

I do applaud JT for doing his job despite the frustrations. He talks about shots, but he rarely, if ever, forced shots. So, good on him for keeping his cool on the court, and doing what was best for the team despite his own frustrations, but man .. he has to know he's not that good. He's good! I like him, I always have, but he's just not going to be a major piece for any serious contender. Third big is his ceiling.

And complaining about guarding the opposing teams best big? That's what the Kings need out of that position. That is exactly what the Kings need out of that position.

And he talks about the other power forwards, and sort of blames the role instead of the player. That just isn't accurate. The guys he beat out weren't any better than him, at any stop, and won't be good in the future. Mikki Moore. Spencer Hawes. Carl Landry. Thomas Robinson. He's beating out bench bigs at best, which is exactly what he is.

He talked about numbers A LOT. And specifically. Just a weird interview overall.

Oh, and I'm not NOT blaming PDA, too. Poor roster construction this season, but it's hard to really judge him on it because of how they clearly wanted to clean house.
 
JT seems confused about what his strengths and weaknesses are as a player, as well as what role he'd fill next to Boogie.

Few shots, guarding the opposing team's best big and cleaning up the glass, do the dirty work, is his role, here or elsewhere. He's not some offensive threat being held back by a lack of touches and involvement on the offensive end. And if he wanted to be a guy who gets more touches and is a key part on offense, he probably should have developed more of a postgame than, drop-step----> charge/offensive foul as well as a jumper that is more consistent than something which can be relied on once every 3-4 games.

Looking back at how inconsistent JT is at times, from game to game, half to half, it now makes more sense. It appears to me when he thought he wasn't getting enough touches on offense, his focus and effort suffered. That's a problem. He's simply not a guy who should have plays called for him. If anything he should pattern his game after a guy like Haslem. Glue guy, complete effort and focus on defense and the boards, move the ball(JT is a black hole) and hit the occasional 15ft jumper when the situation calls for it.

Role players complaining about a lack of touches and their role on offense is usually never a good thing.
 
Last edited:
JT has value to us as a role player he can play the back up 5 and 4 but if he wants his number called on a regular bases he's being unrealistic. JT has been paying to much attention to his agent and or people around him if he thinks he should be getting more touches.
 
Yeah, JT has an unrealistic view of what his role should be. But as the longest tenured King he absolutely should be frustrated. He started as a rookie for a terrible Kings team and has spent every year since then with the team trying to replace him (and failing) while the team has never gotten any better. Even with all the uncertainty, terrible coaching and ownership the Kings won the exact same number of games last year as they did this season. If a player in Thompson's situation weren't upset I'd think they were just floating through and cashing checks.

That said, here's the real question for me. If JT were in the spot I think he should be - third big backing up both Cousins and the shotblocker/defensive anchor this team needs - and playing for a winning team would he still be unhappy?

That is, if he knew exactly the role - come off the bench, provide hustle and rebounding, guard the best offensive big, run the floor and hit open jumpers - and the team was winning and sharing the ball more would he still want out?

If so, then he needs to go. If not, then he simply has the same frustrations about this team that I do. That it looks rudderless with too much isolation offense and not enough defense and without the consistency that a contending team needs both from individual players and as a whole.

I've said repeatedly that I think the Kings currently have two starting level players in Cousins and Gay. I think IT is an ideal 6th man and JT is an ideal 3rd big. But Thomas is either bolting this summer or being resigned to starter money and Thompson wants out with the FO seemingly wanting to grant that wish. There's not even a guarantee that Gay returns. This team is a mess and while his reasoning is selfish, I don't disagree with JT's frustrations.

Which yet again highlights that this offseason is crucial for the D'Allesandro and the Kings. If he shows the ability to really make great moves and build a team then it could be the start of an upward trend. If he shows himself to be inept then I think you'll get one more offseason with PDA, one more terrible Kings season and then yet another full rebuild under another GM.
 
funkykingston said:
Yeah, JT has an unrealistic view of what his role should be. But as the longest tenured King he absolutely should be frustrated. He started as a rookie for a terrible Kings team and has spent every year since then with the team trying to replace him (and failing) while the team has never gotten any better. Even with all the uncertainty, terrible coaching and ownership the Kings won the exact same number of games last year as they did this season. If a player in Thompson's situation weren't upset I'd think they were just floating through and cashing checks.

That said, here's the real question for me. If JT were in the spot I think he should be - third big backing up both Cousins and the shotblocker/defensive anchor this team needs - and playing for a winning team would he still be unhappy?

That is, if he knew exactly the role - come off the bench, provide hustle and rebounding, guard the best offensive big, run the floor and hit open jumpers - and the team was winning and sharing the ball more would he still want out?

If so, then he needs to go. If not, then he simply has the same frustrations about this team that I do. That it looks rudderless with too much isolation offense and not enough defense and without the consistency that a contending team needs both from individual players and as a whole.

I've said repeatedly that I think the Kings currently have two starting level players in Cousins and Gay. I think IT is an ideal 6th man and JT is an ideal 3rd big. But Thomas is either bolting this summer or being resigned to starter money and Thompson wants out with the FO seemingly wanting to grant that wish. There's not even a guarantee that Gay returns. This team is a mess and while his reasoning is selfish, I don't disagree with JT's frustrations.

Which yet again highlights that this offseason is crucial for the D'Allesandro and the Kings. If he shows the ability to really make great moves and build a team then it could be the start of an upward trend. If he shows himself to be inept then I think you'll get one more offseason with PDA, one more terrible Kings season and then yet another full rebuild under another GM.
Click to expand...

I think it's pretty clear Thompson thinks he should be getting more shots; that's the upshot of his beef. It's a mischaracterization to imply that he's frustrated just because he's with a losing team and a coaching carousel. Sure, he's frustrated with those elements, but he sure does talk a lot and emote a lot about those touches that he's not getting. Why should we believe that he wasn't clearly told to him what his role was? Does coach Malone really give the impression that he doesn't say what he means and mean what he says? Reggie Evans figured it out; surprise, surprise, he took Thompson's minutes. Enough is enough with Thompson. He's obviously had enough. It's time to give him what he wants - a different team.
 
Kingster said:
I think it's pretty clear Thompson thinks he should be getting more shots; that's the upshot of his beef. It's a mischaracterization to imply that he's frustrated just because he's with a losing team and a coaching carousel. Sure, he's frustrated with those elements, but he sure does talk a lot and emote a lot about those touches that he's not getting. Why should we believe that he wasn't clearly told to him what his role was? Does coach Malone really give the impression that he doesn't say what he means and mean what he says? Reggie Evans figured it out; surprise, surprise, he took Thompson's minutes. Enough is enough with Thompson. He's obviously had enough. It's time to give him what he wants - a different team.
Click to expand...

And that's certainly a possibility. That's why my question was IF Thompson were filling the same role on a winning team would he still be disgruntled. Because if so he's not what this team needs. Quite frankly if JT thinks he's a primary offensive option I don't think he's what ANY team needs but I digress.

On a 28 win team that runs virtually nothing but isolation offense don't you think every halfway decent player is going to think he needs more shots?

If Thompson were filling the Haslem role on the Heat or the Splitter role on the Spurs would he still be grumbling about his number of attempts? I don't know.

If JT does go I think one positive aspect would be hopefully a big decrease in the amount of whining to refs. The negative aspect would obviously be losing a guy who SHOULD be an ideal role player.
 
I'm sure they're more frustrated than you are JT my boy. They're probably wondering how anyone drops a contract on a player like that. Then they look over and see Carl Landry.... and then they shrug their shoulders.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lwc
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Booker and Durant each score 22 points as Suns beat Kings 122-106
Replies
0
Views
178
Associated Press
A
A
The Kings hand the Cavaliers their 3rd straight loss with a 123-119 win
Replies
0
Views
186
Associated Press
A
Y
Kings blow out De'Aaron Fox and Spurs in PG's return to Sacramento
Replies
0
Views
172
Yahoo Sports
Y
A
Murray scores 26 points to spark hot-shooting Kings to a 118-101 win over Jazz
Replies
0
Views
190
Associated Press
A
A
Sacramento Kings Season Outlook: Key players to watch
Replies
0
Views
155
abc10.com
A
Back
Top