[Game] Kings vs. Raptors, 11/19/21 7pm Pacific 10pm Eastern

[Woot!]

It is so sad the level of excitement a 5-4 record can generate with kings fans. We are desperate for a sniff of respectability and now this season is basically shot. Thank god golden one was built or this team in sac could be on its last legs.

In fairness, it was much more than simply the record. 5-4 w/wins against good teams and very competitive losses against good teams.

 

[Tetsujin]

De’Aaron was never a leader, but remember the good Ol’ days when he at least looked engaged and like he enjoyed doing basketball?

Dude looks miserable and like he’s rather be anywhere else on the planet now. And it’s been that way from the start. Did he get paid and just IMMEDIATELY check as far out as humanly possible? Is something else up? I mean, we don’t know and we’ve all been asking these questions but man… this is the most baffling part of the season for me.

To be fair, this is how our entire roster’s been looking.

 

[Dongoodboy]

In fairness, it was much more than simply the record. 5-4 w/wins against good teams and very competitive losses against good teams.

Remember the Suns game? Suns was bricking all open shot and Barnes was like a god. The point differential doesn't show that we are competitive.
Even a 5-4 win record is not sustainable, that is what we are now.

 

[SLAB]

Remember the Suns game? Suns was bricking all open shot and Barnes was like a god. The point differential doesn't show that we are competitive.
Even a 5-4 win record is not sustainable, that is what we are now.

Shocking that as soon as Barnes stopped his unsustainable LeBron impression things started rolling downhill.

 

[The Effort Police]

if Luke thought rebounding was the issue, how many appearances has Len made since the slide?

I mentioned this in my previous post about that.

The (true) PF spot is their least talented position, the most irrelevant position overall league-wide, and the guys you have there to solve your rebounding crisis aren't good defensive rebounders anyway.

 

[Woot!]

Shocking that as soon as Barnes stopped his unsustainable LeBron impression things started rolling downhill.

HB came back to earth - w/a huge assist from his teammates and coach. But you'll also remember that the Tyrese and Fox weren't exactly excelling early. Tyrese has picked it up. ...

 

[kingdivac]

Its gonna be long season it appears. No more Golden One without a marked and sustained change in effort.

 

[Groovygreg]

What a hopeless, hapless Kings squad. I don’t see a will to win.

 

[Letsgokings13]

I'm glad Grant and Jerry don't have to deal with this.

 

[TaxMan]

De’Aaron was never a leader, but remember the good Ol’ days when he at least looked engaged and like he enjoyed doing basketball?

Dude looks miserable and like he’s rather be anywhere else on the planet now. And it’s been that way from the start. Did he get paid and just IMMEDIATELY check as far out as humanly possible? Is something else up? I mean, we don’t know and we’ve all been asking these questions but man… this is the most baffling part of the season for me.

Win or lose this year, he has had the same blank look on his face. I think he’s mentally checked out and it’s only a matter of time. Either he starts grumbling for a change or the front office does.

 

[Letsgokings13]

What a hopeless, hapless Kings squad. I don’t see a will to win.

The checks are clearing so it makes no difference to them. We're a placeholder until they can get to legitimate organizations.

 

[AaronPDX]

They don't even care anymore, not sure why we fans should. I'm taking a break and hope that with the coming many losses come some kind of change, be it a trade and/or getting rid of Walton. It's really the only chance of the front office doing a damn thing, I'm afraid.

 

[Groovygreg]

This Kings team has no clearly identifiable leader among the players. That’s probably the single biggest problem.

 

[TaxMan]

In fairness, it was much more than simply the record. 5-4 w/wins against good teams and very competitive losses against good teams.

Trust me, I’m not mocking kings fans for the excitement. I was right there with you. I was more making the point that this fan base is desperate for decent play. The bar is so low and they can’t even meet it after 15 years.

 

[chief bromden]

I went to the game, second of the season. Crowd is a fraction of what it was two years ago.. is that Covid related? or because the Kings are trash?

Man, that last year with Joerger (with all his faults) was fun. I went to 11 games that year and that place was rockin. The Yogi chant was phenomenal, and the team played inspired basketball. This current version is boring as all get. The most exciting part of the game was the Fire Luke Walton chants toward the end of the game. It's just sad, man. Even Luke gave up half way through the game and just sat on the bench while Gentry and Doug talked to players during whistles, etc.

 

[Groovygreg]

Dang.

Looks like the comeback will fall a little short.

Only by 19 points.

 

[SacTownKid]

Remember the Suns game? Suns was bricking all open shot and Barnes was like a god. The point differential doesn't show that we are competitive.
Even a 5-4 win record is not sustainable, that is what we are now.

Anyone that was paying attention to the gameplan could tell that for 2+ years now it's been player carrying that's brought them any of the successes they have had.

 

[Groovygreg]

De’Aaron was never a leader, but remember the good Ol’ days when he at least looked engaged and like he enjoyed doing basketball?

Dude looks miserable and like he’s rather be anywhere else on the planet now. And it’s been that way from the start. Did he get paid and just IMMEDIATELY check as far out as humanly possible? Is something else up? I mean, we don’t know and we’ve all been asking these questions but man… this is the most baffling part of the season for me.

Nailed it. Fox has inexplicably gone from a rising star to looking quite pedestrian. Why the precipitous decline? It’s vexing.

 

[SacTownKid]

HB came back to earth - w/a huge assist from his teammates and coach. But you'll also remember that the Tyrese and Fox weren't exactly excelling early. Tyrese has picked it up. ...

And BTW, Barnes at PF is actually a thing. He's a difference maker there. At SF, you get the player Dallas traded for scraps. I mean, he's still good, but not the same.

 

[sactowndog]

I get you all want to blame Luke but consider Toronto was as bad as us and traded for Gary Trent Jr and got themselves in draft position to draft Barnes. All things Monte could have done.

 

[SacTownKid]

I get you all want to blame Luke but consider Toronto was as bad as us and traded for Gary Trent Jr and got themselves in draft position to draft Barnes. All things Monte could have done.

It isn't about blame at this point, and never should have been. It should have been about common sense. What coach has ever lasted as a holdover when his GM got ousted by another power player like Dumars? Both of these things are true, one should have been corrected the moment Vlade was shown the door and so far it doesn't matter any other mistakes Monte makes. That one will always been the one you're stacking on top of.

 

[NewArena]

sure didn't look like it the first 10 or 11 games where every game came down to the wire or within striking distance

With a very difficult schedule at that. Walton is the incompetent one and i wish to God he’d never been placed in that short interim stint with the Warriors because he wouldn’t even be here right now without that distant memory. Even as a player he was praised highly for his basketball IQ and i didn’t see it back then either.

 

[NewArena]

Metu in the San Antonio game over Harkless, and later Bagley. Going from basically one big at all times to two bigs at all times. Whereas everyone else is talking about effort, I'm seeing a clogged paint and sticking ball and an inability to switch defensively.

Yup. Walton has already begun tinkering with a lineup that gave us a better chance to win games, immediately panicking after 2 bad losses and 2 other excruciatingly close ones. This team is talented and should not have the record we have, even in this difficult western conference.

 

[NewArena]

FWIW, TT is rebounding MUCH better than Len so far this season - 15/36 vs. 8.5/36.

Len plays more winning basketball and is a flat out better and smarter player though. I just don’t understand this coach or highly touted staff. Do they even communicate with Luke?

 

[NewArena]

Shocking that as soon as Barnes stopped his unsustainable LeBron impression things started rolling downhill.

That isn’t the full story though. This team was playing hard and playing like a team on both ends. Even when a defensive assignment was missed, we didn’t get too down on ourselves because the effort was there and the lineups made more sense. A couple losses and Walton began to panic, basically playing Bagley at the 3 now. Smh

 

[SacTownKid]

Len plays more winning basketball and is a flat out better and smarter player though. I just don’t understand this coach or highly touted staff. Do they even communicate with Luke?

I've been thinking about this. There was something mentioned somewhere about Bagley/TT being a valuable trade package as expirings. Which is besides the point dumb since expirings haven't had great value for years by themselves since teams have given up on FA as a major build route, but I think they are trying to increase TT's trade value lol. I hope that it isn't the case because showcasing players like that on losing teams will only hurt.

 

[kingsfan101]

I think I will stick to following Stockton this year. Hope they continue the strong play and Bobby emerges a viable candidate as a coach.

 

[EIM86]

Didn’t even bother watching. Is everybody finally down to yell “Vivek you suck” at the games yet to get this guy to stop meddling lol

 

[SacTownKid]

I think I will stick to following Stockton this year. Hope they continue the strong play and Bobby emerges a viable candidate as a coach.

I'm hoping in the next 12 hours or so Stocktons watchability factor decreases dramatically if you get my drift.

 

[ESP47]

Got a kick out of the Raptors announcers saying something to the effect of "They need to put more points up on the board because this Kings team isn't even trying to defend right now".