ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
The writing is already on the wall, that they are going to waste finding a hidden gem in an undrafted player in Keon. He will go onto to be successful and valuable somewhere else. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head
[Game] Kings vs Clippers, 10/15/2025 7PM Pacific 10PM Eastern (Pre-Season)
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
The writing is already on the wall, that they are going to waste finding a hidden gem in an undrafted player in Keon. He will go onto to be successful and valuable somewhere else. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head
Joshyjosh31
Starter
OptimusRhyme
Jive Turkey
or in our case for 20+ years
OptimusRhyme
Jive Turkey
way to go vivek and scott perry you made Mo cry
Joshyjosh31
Starter
This is where I draw the line
TaxMan
Starter
This is going to be a rough year. Not because of the losses but because of the frustrating stupidity of our organization. I would say Perry inherited this mess and I should give him a year or two, but then he goes out and signs Westbrook. Bad teams don’t “build culture” on the way down. You tear this thing up and build your culture by drafting hard nose young players (such as Ellis, Clifford, Jones, and Carter) and let them goes balls out while they learn their way in the league. Instead we are going to pee around for a year with Westbrook, Derozen, Lavine (and to a lesser extent Domas and Monk). The writing is so on the wall with this squad.
NewArena
All-Star
ah, I thought he played tonight. No wonder the bench stunk it up so badly lol we simply aren't good enough to have any players go missing from our lineup and top 7-8 players, let alone multiple. That's what did us in last season
At least he has a chance to be better than Jon brockman or Quincy acy
I think Bill Simmons is correct, this team is going to become toxic in a hurry. I can see the players quitting very early in the season. I wouldn't doubt it if they're already beginning to not care after getting dominated in 3 straight games.
Pretending like the defense can not only improve, but become good when you have Sabonis, DDR, Lavine and Schroder starting is and always has been laughable. Kayte saying that it's a work in progress and won't happen overnight is also laughable. Sabonis is 29 and these guys are all 30+. The hell you mean it takes time? These guys have been playing for over a decade. There's nothing special or secret about how to play NBA defense. You are either good at it or you're not. Players don't normally go from defensive sieves to good defenders after a decade in the league. Even Thibs wouldn't change that.
Where did this weird narrative start that Schroder is a good player? Dude has never been a good defender, has always been inefficient and inconsistent and has never even been at the level of a Darren Collison. Yet Perry courted him like Vlade courted Luke Walton as if he was some coveted gem that he needed to scoop up before anyone else did. This dude played for 3 teams last year and shot 37% for two of them. The hell are they thinking?
Not to mention Keon looks really bad and is being placed in the doghouse. Carter can't seem to get out of the doghouse and probably never will. I really don't understand what they're attempting to do. 3rd oldest roster in the NBA and they look absolutely awful with no current or future hope.
Pretending like the defense can not only improve, but become good when you have Sabonis, DDR, Lavine and Schroder starting is and always has been laughable. Kayte saying that it's a work in progress and won't happen overnight is also laughable. Sabonis is 29 and these guys are all 30+. The hell you mean it takes time? These guys have been playing for over a decade. There's nothing special or secret about how to play NBA defense. You are either good at it or you're not. Players don't normally go from defensive sieves to good defenders after a decade in the league. Even Thibs wouldn't change that.
Where did this weird narrative start that Schroder is a good player? Dude has never been a good defender, has always been inefficient and inconsistent and has never even been at the level of a Darren Collison. Yet Perry courted him like Vlade courted Luke Walton as if he was some coveted gem that he needed to scoop up before anyone else did. This dude played for 3 teams last year and shot 37% for two of them. The hell are they thinking?
Not to mention Keon looks really bad and is being placed in the doghouse. Carter can't seem to get out of the doghouse and probably never will. I really don't understand what they're attempting to do. 3rd oldest roster in the NBA and they look absolutely awful with no current or future hope.
The worst part is pretty much all our youth are archetypes that win in the NBA now. Or at least have super intriguing skill sets.
Nique/Carter/Keon are the exact archetypes you put around star players in the playoffs. Nique in particular is flashing ability to be a high level starter and could see how a leap from him is possible. Maxime is incredibly skilled and fluid as a big. If he can play the big wing too, that opens up a ton of possibilitys, but he has to prove he can survive on defense. Cardwell is probably a starting level defensive C right now, but can his offense develop? IJ is a super fun combo of athleticism, length and motor. Can he keep developing that shot?
But no, those minutes are going to Dennis, Eubanks, Russ and likely Saric at this point
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macadocious
Starter
I think they have already quit. Have you watched the pre-season?
ockingsfan
Starter
Well, the good news is, if the Kings start off really bad this season (like 0-4 or 0-5 or worse) with no signs of life, Doug may have no choice but to bring in the young guys and sit the vets to try to save the season.
Doug really needs to have the cajones to start Keon and sit DDR to balance out the starting line up and infuse some defensive energy.
Doug really needs to have the cajones to start Keon and sit DDR to balance out the starting line up and infuse some defensive energy.
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
The ever present bad news is that no matter how things look with any prospect or younger player, Ranadive is still the one making the moves
He won't. I think we can pretty confidently say he's someone that'll continously defer to the vets, until it's too late.
Joshyjosh31
Starter
He also won’t cause they’ll play them to “showcase” them Doug got felt a bad hand and probably gets fired. Rinse and repeat the organization needs to be Donald Sterlinged
Kingster
Hall of Famer
The dynamic that hasn't been written about nearly enough is Christie-Older Vets-Youngins. We know now for a fact that the vets campaigned for Westbrook, a vet close to retirement age, over the younger Devin Carter. So it's already political, with the older vets apparently having influence over the direction of the franchise. Christie and Perry appear to be followers rather than leaders. In particular, Christie seems to be a weak appendage to a veteran core, which certainly gives one doubts about his ability to actually coach these vets to do anything they aren't comfortable in doing. In other words, even if it were a good idea picking up full court with this bunch it is a parabolic joke. Christie may be a good coach for youngins willing to run through walls to get better and get the big contracts, but for these older guys more often than not he's going to be asking them what they want to do rather than the other way around.
Exhibit A - Starting Saric last night. Just a ridiculous decision.
Padrino
All-Star
Eh, that's really not what they're doing here. It may be the end result of what they're doing, but it's certainly not their intention. No team that brings in aging veterans is actively trying to tank. Collectively, your over-30 guys will win you games by virtue of their experience alone, regardless of how faded their talent may be. The Kings are not likely to be good this season, but they will win enough to avoid truly bottoming out. All we can do is thank the league office for flattening the lottery odds so that this franchise has a shot at a top pick in spite of itself.
A true "tank" prioritizes youth, because no matter how skilled that youth may be, veteran teams make the playoffs. Young teams mostly end up in the lottery until they're veteran enough to understand what it takes to win.
That said, the trade deadline this season will tell us much about this front office's long-term intentions. Will they move off one or more of their extraneous veterans? And what will they seek in return? More middling vets, or some combination of youth/draft compensation?
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Perhaps spot on. It's understandable, they want to win. Domas is knocking on the door of his last big contract potentially, but while Domas is a good player, running off into the middle of the night and potentially getting lost in the darkness to the point it takes years to find your way out isn't something a team should do for a Domas level player. They didn't do it for Cuz, failed miserably when they actually did do it for Fox, so that said certainly don't do it now. If the Kings start the season off in the top 3 of the West then maybe those discussions can happen. The hope now is if the Kings don't jump out of the gate they don't turn a gap year into a crap year of nothing but waste. As Kings fans we've seen it too many times. Waiting out contracts and also not developing any youth behind it.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
They may not want to tank, but they are going to tank. It just might take a few more months to get real with everybody.
P.S. I can't help but think that Perry is giving Vivek "exactly" what he wants (win now at all costs), all the while knowing this thing is going to soon implode so he can get on with his real agenda of a total rebuild.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
I get what you're saying but Schroder is better than Collison, maybe not much though. As for the Kings history of retreads he's neck and neck near the top with Darren so there's that, haha. Looking at Schroders last season tells the possible story. With the Nets when he had the offense to himself he was putting up good numbers, with the Warriors and Pistons that efficiency dipped as the shots went down. Defensively he's decent but stylistically the fit isn't there. Schroder is more of a physical type, not a chase guys around and play the open floor type.
In the end, let the vets sink or swim. Go all in then if it fails the Kings better go all out sooner than later.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
This is the biggest issue now, the Kings have stacked up their rotation to win via depth, not showcase. Money has to be on Monk being one of the worst contracts in the league by seasons end at this point.
It’s eyewash for the fans. Sounds good. But the reality is it ain’t going to happen.