SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Then Monte will watch that hot seat find it's way under his butt at some point. That's when all will be revealed. Who is running this show?
[Game] Kings vs. Pelicans, 1/17/21, 6pm PST, 9pm EST
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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Then Monte will watch that hot seat find it's way under his butt at some point. That's when all will be revealed. Who is running this show?
KainLear
Starter
Well, this is the part where I believe it was talked about between McNair and his employers. Walton is not his hire thus he won't be blamed for it. They chose to ride it out with Walton for stability's sake I'd imagine at the beginning of the season. So no point to change now.
Some of this "worst ever" business is overstated, I think. Scoring is up league wide this year. We have 2 teams (the Bucks and Wizards) both averaging over 120 a game right now. Yes it's technically true but teams are breaking franchise records every season right now for three point attempts so obviously that's going to add up to a whole lot of points allowed for somebody. And we're talking about a sample of 14 games.
Is the team terrible defensively, yes. It would be ridiculous to argue otherwise. Worst in the league still counts for something even if the run and chuck era makes all-time comparisons sketchy. But we're not hopeless, in my opinion so long as Fox is our franchise player. He was great on defense tonight in the losing effort and Lillard-esque on the other end. We also saw our new GM Monte McNair targeting three-point shooting and defense with his off-season acquisitions. And then there's the issue of Luke Walton's imminent firing. Add all of that up and I think there's still hope for a quick turnaround next year.
KainLear
Starter
This is what I wanted to say in my previous post in gist, but you just wrote it all out for me so thank you.
Dammit, you quoted me before I realized my maths error and now @Capt. Factorial is going to laugh at me.
NewArena
All-Star
No. And it’s way too early for that
KainLear
Starter
What math error?Dammit, you quoted me before I realized my maths error and now @Capt. Factorial is going to laugh at me.
NewArena
All-Star
Yes, i like this post as well so I’m quoting it. I choose optimism tonight - for some reason
Iced Espresso
Starter
One of my favorite past times with basketball is trying to think of ways to increase our assets, we've got some vets that may be able to pick up a few meager ones. So if the losing trends continue we've got that as well.
At that point Walton if he is still around has to play some of our second round guys potentially. Things to see here down the road if the losing continues.
At that point Walton if he is still around has to play some of our second round guys potentially. Things to see here down the road if the losing continues.
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
A few stats to consider. Opponents have shot 50 percent from the field against the Kings (dead last) 39.8 percent from 3 (dead last) and 80.8 percent from the stripe (second to last)
Yes our porous defense has a lot to do with this, but I'd say we have ran into a few buzz saws along the way. I'd expect those numbers to even out over the season and we won't be looking up at 130 every night.
On offense we are 27th in free throw percentage at 72% and 25th in rebounding.
Yes our porous defense has a lot to do with this, but I'd say we have ran into a few buzz saws along the way. I'd expect those numbers to even out over the season and we won't be looking up at 130 every night.
On offense we are 27th in free throw percentage at 72% and 25th in rebounding.
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Though you do realise that likely means a year of Luke wasting one of their careers too?
SactownShaq
G-League
SMH nothing like getting home from a long day of work and seeing u missed Fox put up 43/13 
Chupacabra
Starter
Is it too late to sift through has-been and never-been players in hopes that the right one will turn us into a playoff team? Anyone know of Jared Dudley's whereabouts?
steelevt
All-Star
But u also missed out on watching the kings lose. Glass half fullSMH nothing like getting home from a long day of work and seeing u missed Fox put up 43/13
I have to guess that its less about stability and more about not wanting to put a new coach in an impossible situation. Now Monte definitely could be after an established retread like D'Antoni, I know some people would see that as a huge upgrade over Walton, but I'm not sure he'd get more than 5 extra wins as a result. Now imagine he has an up and comer like we once had with Malone in mind, he doesn't want to sandbag that guy. That guy may also struggle next year - but in year 3 of the Monte era; year 2 of the new coach era - the puzzle comes together. New guy only has one year of taint on him and when the club improves 10 wins from his first year to year 2, but just falls short (a la Joerger in his third year), we actually build on it rather than sack the coach and start over again.
That's my hope. PLEASE basketball gods.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Again, for an organization dealing with being a laughing stock, breaking any records can't be taken lightly although yes, defense overall is DEAD. First year GM's and organizations with a black mark next to their name already are better off hiding somewhere in the middle, not at the back of the pack.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
So then stupid it is. Or he didn't do what they told him to. Either way highly questionable with no timeouts.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Right now they just need at the very least the appearance of change with how far off the rails this is getting. Monte will eventually miss his window.
I'm concerned about Bagley and overall morale but I don't think this wasn't accounted for. There is some danger that if we fire him the team could go on a run and the interim coach makes a case for getting another year. I would be very not thrilled if that happened. Walton really isn't giving us much of an option though
SLAB
Hall of Famer
I'm concerned about Bagley and overall morale but I don't think this wasn't accounted for. There is some danger that if we fire him the team could go on a run and the interim coach makes a case for getting another year. I would be very not thrilled if that happened. Walton really isn't giving us much of an option though
The team going on a run and taking the “interim” tag off Gentry would be a nightmare.
I want Walton gone but I find that solution absolutely terrifying.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
I'm concerned about Bagley and overall morale but I don't think this wasn't accounted for. There is some danger that if we fire him the team could go on a run and the interim coach makes a case for getting another year. I would be very not thrilled if that happened. Walton really isn't giving us much of an option though
If that's Montes goal then he needs to very on top of this NOW, not later. You can't expect to keep this roster together in mostly any form considering what it will take for them to bury this teams talent enough to make it through the eventual tank race. Walton isn't this bad really, the situation is this bad. If it gets too bad that's when you start getting the Harden treatment from someone that has a contract. Young players don't know any better and that's why in a rebuild you want them beyond the contract flexibility of course. Players like Buddy, Fox, and Barnes are beyond individual performance bumps. They don't want to be laughing stocks. Players now starting to get paid and recognized aren't going to want to wait through some 4 year plan to simply not suck. At some point the players will attempt to pull themselves out of the garbage heap by deflecting if there is a rift forming from player to coach. In terms of Walton you can't trust the guy. He'll find a way to alienate someone at some point and it's not even really fair considering the players are fully aware what is going on here. This is for all intents and purposes a lame duck coach. For fans the thought of a great draft pick is fine, for players it's insulting. Just like going to hackashaq on a critical defensive play with how fragile your teams psyche is while they are busting their butts for once can sink you. As it did.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
The thing that scares me more is mediocrity and a crop of players that are done waiting for the other shoe to drop. Monte didn't blow his team up. If he was looking for a team to suck it's way to a top pick he doesn't know what he's walked himself into.
Believe me I'm in 100% agreement, it's just a matter of, let's say, can we get 10 more games out of this turd before giving it to Gentry, does that minimize the chances of a fire being lit in a way that sticks us with a full year of Gentry? I suspect the goal going into the season was to get 30-40 games out of Walton.
EIM86
Starter
Yeah I agree the law of the averages has to play out. We can’t be giving up career games for every team all season.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
I guess that would depend on how strong the bond is between players as to whether or not they can survive the cloud of the eventual full sweep of the Vlade era coming to fruition later than it should. If there is going to be a run it's going to come. It could be a mediocre fire under Walton at some point because the players are sick and tired, or a decent one or not under Gentry. I still don't think long term this is a good group to bet on high draft picks with. Walton coaching it especially. He's the master of cleaning up on the back end when the games don't matter. Look at the bubble for anything you need to know about that one. Rather than using the franchises time well by developing players he just had to make that horrid showing look a little brighter against teams that weren't even trying. It's tough to say coaches should sacrifice themselves but hey, that's what you get paid the big bucks for. Take the lumps and give a little back to the ones you're stealing money from. haha.
Part of that plan with the mid-season firing of Walton is I imagine trading away of CoJo, Bjelica, possibly Buddy and anyone that might be valuable to a team that thinks one or two of those guys gets them over or a team like the Blazers that is always dealing with injuries late. So you basically clear the cupboards and give your interim guy no shot either. It's kind of dirty, but we're set up brilliantly to do it. At least we were if Walton could manage to be just slightly less awful and rotate the players around in a more intuitive fashion.
kingsfan101
Starter
As losses go, this is the best kind of loss. As Baja posted in the Luke thread, we need to get (and score on) a high pick next year, and also develop the players we have on the roster. Out of the three potential core pieces of the future, two played very well, and we lost.
Given the slightly shortened season, pretty soon it will get to a point where making the playoffs will become even statistically improbable (in fact, it has likely already happened). At the same time, some teams will be looking for some veteran help to either make a push for the off season, or to help once they get there. We have some cheap vets on ending contracts (GR3, Whiteside, BJelly), who hopefully can get us some second rounders.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Haha, maybe that's it, Walton is just waaay too good at the gameplan. If early on he hadn't have misused them all so extensively to the point where their effort and/or role is up in the air at every moment it might make it a little more likely. And hence all the potential issues with a team like this with where they are at if that was the goal all along. If the idea was to juggle value, raise draft standing, while keeping it a positive environment with the illusion of a bright future ahead then they are failing about as hard as Vivek has in his stewardship. All in all, it's hard to know what the plan is when they have the lingering existence of the prior guys "plan" leading the charge on the floor. Then that doesn't even remotely get into the whole Dumars stuff. Whatever it is at some point, it will be revealed.
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