[KINGS] Comments that don't warrant their own thread (Redux)
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Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
jUsT qUiNcY dOuBy
Yep, having the F on shot quality is better than having an A+. Means he hits just about anything, regardless of whether he's guarded or not. Steph Curry is one of the all time greats for that very reason. Steve Kerr probably had an A+ on shot quality but that meant he took way less shots in order to keep his percentages high.
I have no issues with LaVine shooting the ball more than anyone on the team. I just don't think he's capable of leading a team to much more than a bottom seed in the playoffs due to his lack of defense and playmaking. One could say you'd have to build the right team around him but that's difficult to do when his contract takes up a large chunk of the cap.
Fox was there too.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Nope, still can't think of LaVine as one of the worst contracts. Maybe in per year salary although the productivity ain't too far off the mark TBH, but Shroder relatively speaking might be as well. The deals not lasting very long >>> per year salary. Much rather have LaVine making 100 million over 2 years than 4 or Shroder making 30 over two rather than 3 or 4.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Hali needs to visit a barber pronto
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
Didn’t see this anywhere but some articles online have DJ Ham, son of of Darvin Ham, as the new director of player development. Apparently Paul Jesperson has stepped away
Thanks, I know what not to listen to during that time. I never liked his schtick (generally rude New Yorker and all-around know-it-all). Yeah, no thanks.
Well... the guy being a top 5 shooter in the league in an era where it seems like all anyone cares about is shooting and also all but untradeable tells you everything you need to know about the rest of his game. He can't be gone soon enough for my taste.
I'm not high on Zach but the big knock on him has been injury history, hasn't it?
From 2016 - 2022 he never played in 70 games. And in 23-24 after a healthy 22-23 he only played in 25.
That's why he was viewed as such a bad contract as far as I'm aware. You can't pay 30% of your cap if a guy is missing a quarter of the season.
From 2016 - 2022 he never played in 70 games. And in 23-24 after a healthy 22-23 he only played in 25.
That's why he was viewed as such a bad contract as far as I'm aware. You can't pay 30% of your cap if a guy is missing a quarter of the season.
My knocks on him are that he's an offensive black hole who loves to shoot, doesn't play defense very well, doesn't handle the ball very well for a guard, has mediocre passing vision, and appears to be allergic to hustle plays. Also he's played 12 seasons in the NBA and has shot better than 39% from three in just two of them so he's probably not going to keep scorching the net the way he did last season.
Many of these are valid but if he does shoot over 40% many teams would welcome him if he was playing 72+ games. Many of the top stars are allergic to defense as long as they aren’t a big nobody seems to care.
Yeah, but then we have the Sacramento problem. If the Lakers are trading him mid-season, they would get something worthwhile because they always do. There's a whole industry of media people out there to hype up their trade assets, as suspect as those assets may be. It never works that way for this team. If Sacramento calls other teams ask for Keon Ellis and Keegan Murray or an unprotected first round pick then go back to forgetting that we even exist.
I did find it interesting that KOC smashed the Spurs extending Fox at the max level. I thought SAS was immune from that, but it's very real for us. Every asset we have is trash by association. Meanwhile the Lakers trash is talked about like its the Hope diamond.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Yeah, people assessed his value at the very bottom. Just like when people assess players values at the top. This is how we get Curry and Harden > Jordan crap. The last 5-6 years of most players tend to balance things out. If LaVine can stay healthy he'll probably get another major deal.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
That was what I had heard about him, and that was my memory for earlier in his career. But to be honest, I did't see it last season, There were times last season when I was hoping he would be more aggressive. I remember games where he only took 8 or 9 shots.. Sometimes we see things that aren't there because we expect it.
I was so upset with everything that happened last season that I only managed to watch about 3 quarters of Kings basketball with LaVine on the team. Those 3 quarters made me so physically ill that I couldn't bring myself to watch anymore. Not even the play-in game. LaVine didn't shoot the ball very much but in every other way he was the same player I remember.
Granted that was only 3 quarters and maybe things will be different this season with an actual PG on the roster. I'm probably not going to watch though. Doug Christie is my favorite Sacramento King and his head coaching career may end before I get a chance to watch it because of that one stupid trade. Still, I'm not going to force myself to watch something that will only make me angry. I'm not watching the Sacramento A's either, no matter how much I love baseball.
No one has to worry about me though. Pro sports fandom has taken a dive but I'm playing music, writing stories, helping my aunt fix up her house, and I can walk to the beach whenever I want to so life is good.
TaxMan
Starter
I think people conflate "unmovable" contract with "worst" contract. It very much is one of the most unmovable contracts in the NBA. But that's mostly because it's one of the biggest salaries in the NBA. Does his play on the court merit the salary? No, probably not, but it's not like he's a min salary player. His "fair" value is probably 80% of what he's getting paid now. He has a couple warts that stick out in his game, but he's also elite at many things.
Unless you are talking absolute no brainer superstar, all of these huge contracts are pretty much unmovable. For example, I'm guessing the Spurs would now have a hard time moving that Fox contract, even assuming he continues to play at the level he has over the past few years. There is such a huge chasm now between the max/super max contracts, and everyone else, that it pretty much has to be max contract for max contract. Otherwise, you surely are getting pennies on the dollar (which is why the value is always in draft capital).
HndsmCelt
Hall of Famer
To me, it’s the contract. Seriously if the best player on your team is Zach you’re screwed. His game is just too one-dimensional to be the best player on a good team. If he’s number two option, you’re probably gonna win a lot of games and very likely to see the postseason play. But no team with Zach as their number two guy is going for deep in the playoffs not enough defense and an unbalanced roster around him if he’s your number two. This is where the contract, kicks in, if he’s your number three you’re in great shape except you’ve just financially shot your wad on your third option that’s just not economically sustainable. If you can surround him with quality defenders and guys who share the ball and look for the best shot, the man will be deadly. He was still leave the team in scoring, but he’d be pushed primarily to the perimeter and mid range. Maybe the Kings can do this on a budget with some young talent filling in those spaces in the starting lineup what you need defense passing and smart play but I doubt it.
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Kingster
Hall of Famer
Pathetic rebounder, lousy defender, gritless, poor shot quality reflecting low BBIQ and lack of basketball intelligence/creativity, which bleeds into other aspects of his game. Fortunately, overall he does make bad shots, otherwise he'd be out of the league. But poor shot selection is only going to yield any benefit when he's "in the zone" or on a "hot streak in the regular season. His streaky shooting is part and parcel with his poor shot selection. If and when there is a playoffs situation the poor shot selection becomes horrible shot selection and there's much less likelihood his hot shooting on poor shot selection is going to get him anywhere. Another thing that stood out last year was his inability to play off of Sabonis in pick and roll situations, reflecting his lack of fit on this team.
Telemachus
Starter
This analysis seems kind of bias and not based on anything he did on the court last season. You said he is a lousy rebounder, but he averaged 4.3 rebounds a game last year and 4.1 for his career (good for a guard). While he didn't excel on defense, he also was not a liability either. His defense was pretty much average. As for poor shot selection, how bad could it be when shooting 51% (44.6% from 3) from the field? Lest you think that is a fluke, his career averages are 47% (39% from 3). I have never been a huge fan of Lavine, but you are trying to make is sound like he should be a player that is the 8th or 9th man in the rotation. At least try being honest with your evaluation.
On point with this post. I saw a post here saying LaVine would be on a vet min. Ridiculous.
Are you aware he shot 51% FG and 44% from 3? That does not add up to streaky shooting. If his shot selection was as bad as you said he probably wouldn’t be shooting those percentages. And if that was accurate that would just prove how elite he is offensively.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Oh, yeah. My analysis is bias, no doubt! Bias against!
With the Kings he had 3.5 rebs/game. For a guy with his height and athleticism he should average double that. He's a huge underachiever in the rebounding dept. I swear I saw him run away from rebounds (leaking out as it were) much more often than going after rebounds. It was ridiculous. His under-performance in rebounding and defense supports my view on his gritlessness. (If someone can find a clip one time last season where LaVine actually went to the floor to get a ball they win an AI award). And if you want another bias viewpoint on this all you have to do is look up what Perry thought about him before Perry became a King. He's not the tough two-way player that Perry wants and I anticipate that as soon as he can Perry will unload him.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Streaky shooting isn't reflected in averages. As others have said, he was very up and down in offensive performance. He's not elite. He's all hat and no cattle and he and DDR annoy the hell out of me with their respective games and are not compatible with the Perry vision, and I want them GONE! asap.
As we well know, some here dont even pretend to put effort into their take.
Seven rebounds per game? Here's a list of players 6'6" and under who averaged at least 7 rebounds per game last year:Oh, yeah. My analysis is bias, no doubt! Bias against!
With the Kings he had 3.5 rebs/game. For a guy with his height and athleticism he should average double that.
Josh Hart.
Let's have some reasonable expectations here.
Telemachus
Starter
You think a guard should be averaging 7 rebounds a game? You could count the number of guards who do that on one hand with fingers left over. I would guess about 60% of SFs don't get 7 rebounds a game.Oh, yeah. My analysis is bias, no doubt! Bias against!
With the Kings he had 3.5 rebs/game. For a guy with his height and athleticism he should average double that. He's a huge underachiever in the rebounding dept. I swear I saw him run away from rebounds (leaking out as it were) much more often than going after rebounds. It was ridiculous. His under-performance in rebounding and defense supports my view on his gritlessness. (If someone can find a clip one time last season where LaVine actually went to the floor to get a ball they win an AI award). And if you want another bias viewpoint on this all you have to do is look up what Perry thought about him before Perry became a King. He's not the tough two-way player that Perry wants and I anticipate that as soon as he can Perry will unload him.
