Kings training camp 2025 open thread

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1976378340736106859

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1976348143768990005

All our issues are solved!

CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

Who's hosting the official "KingsFans.com Championship Party" in June???

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1976381685563637947

Dylan “Brother Love” Cardwell.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Christie keeps talking about "picking up 94 feet", before he has a roster that proves that it can commit to a straight up man to man defense in a half court set. No sagging off to help, just stick with your man and don't give up open 3's. You will give up some easy 2's, but don't allow easy 3's. Call it high iQ analytical defense.

Optimism here escapes me

 

[ESP47]

Christie keeps talking about "picking up 94 feet", before he has a roster that proves that it can commit to a straight up man to man defense in a half court set. No sagging off to help, just stick with your man and don't give up open 3's. You will give up some easy 2's, but don't allow easy 3's. Call it high iQ analytical defense.

Optimism here escapes me

You want 94 feet then you need to start Carter, Keon, Nique, and Keegan.

 

[The_Jamal]

Christie keeps talking about "picking up 94 feet", before he has a roster that proves that it can commit to a straight up man to man defense in a half court set. No sagging off to help, just stick with your man and don't give up open 3's. You will give up some easy 2's, but don't allow easy 3's. Call it high iQ analytical defense.

Optimism here escapes me

I'll start this with the caveat that we have not played a real minute yet under the Perry/Christie regime, but I have a sneaking suspicion we've just been getting all talk this off-season. They can say all the right things in a presser about being a defensive-focused organization, build an identity, we're going to fight every game etc.... and we come out the 1st game with the exact same problems as last year, allow 54% from 3 and -10 3PM on the night.

I'm no NBA coach and I won't pretend to even come close to understanding the intricacies of how to run a professional organization, but my god how was this not the first thing addressed this off-season and training camp? How do you watch a year of being the worst 3pt defense in basketball and literally the first game has those same exact problems? And people can keep pretending it's all personal; there's significantly worse teams with far worse talent that don't get shot out of the building night in and night out.

Like you said, I'll gladly accept open lay-ups every so often if that means we're not leaving uncontested 3's the entire game. Step 1 to fixing the defense SHOULD have been "Hey guys, we are not going to be 30th in 3pt defense this year."

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

You want 94 feet then you need to start Carter, Keon, Nique, and Keegan.

I'm afraid that Doug tends to be quite "pie in the sky". I'd rather him get a feel for what his roster is truly capable of, before throwing unrealistic goals out into the media. I think most of it is based on what his individual mindset was for himself, instead of what is really the strength of this group of players. I hope it's not his downfall as a head coach

 

[Telemachus]

He would have been a good layer in the 90s. And maybe if the rooks were 20 instead of 25 we could see upside to his offense. But at 25 they are what they are.

The idea that someone can't improve unless they are young is ridiculous. Not to mention, he is 23, not 25. BTW, almost every player improves after 25.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

I'll start this with the caveat that we have not played a real minute yet under the Perry/Christie regime, but I have a sneaking suspicion we've just been getting all talk this off-season. They can say all the right things in a presser about being a defensive-focused organization, build an identity, we're going to fight every game etc.... and we come out the 1st game with the exact same problems as last year, allow 54% from 3 and -10 3PM on the night.

I'm no NBA coach and I won't pretend to even come close to understanding the intricacies of how to run a professional organization, but my god how was this not the first thing addressed this off-season and training camp? How do you watch a year of being the worst 3pt defense in basketball and literally the first game has those same exact problems? And people can keep pretending it's all personal; there's significantly worse teams with far worse talent that don't get shot out of the building night in and night out.

Like you said, I'll gladly accept open lay-ups every so often if that means we're not leaving uncontested 3's the entire game. Step 1 to fixing the defense SHOULD have been "Hey guys, we are not going to be 30th in 3pt defense this year."

There are no teams in the NBA with a starting center that is significantly worse at rim protection. https://stathead.com/tiny/kbXL8.

It's analytically the right call to give up 3s instead of open layups. I'm no coach, but I think most modern NBA offenses are going to be able to figure out a way to exploit a weak point.