It's moral victory season! (Seriously though, last year, this team probably crumbles in the 3rd quarter and loses by 25.)
Small Sample Size Theater
Reminders and whatever else
We're still in the first week of the season so here's one more reminder that soliciting or randomly posting links to illegal streams is strictly against the rules on Kingsfans.com. Please. We don't want to get sued. DO NOT POST LINKS TO ILLEGAL STUFF (this also applies to the internet in general).
See more here
It's also still a good time to refresh ourselves on the general forum rules while the season is still young. The most important rule of course remains "Don't be a jerk." If someone's really ticking you off, I'd advise a liberal application of the forum's "ignore" feature.
YoU cAn ReAd MoRe HeRe
Previously On...
Mike Brown won a ring as the head assistant for the Golden State Warriors before moving up I-80 to coach the Kings.
Random Internet Basketball Head Tweet About the Kings of the Night
Award Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award -Nic Batum. Not a huge night statistically from him but he pulled down the offensive board that effectively ended the game after the Kicks finally got PG to miss a shot.
The CoJo Award - Richaun Holmes with a second consecutive pull. The guy has been a total non-factor on offense while also being unplayably bad on defense. And he can't even blame getting smashed in the face this time.
Mikki Moore - Malik Monk, who took his new contract for being a shooter and promptly decided to be a role playing facilitator instead (this is partially on the shoulders of the guys he's playing with so I'm wondering how he'd look playing off of Fox and Sabonis).
Rafer Alston And-1 - Davion Mitchell took all those Marcus Smart comps to heart and spent all summer pairing terrible iso hero ball and bad shooting with his strong defense over the summer. The dude's a better playmaker than he's show to start the season but it's painful watching him waste possession after possession even if I know he'll eventually get going sooner rather than later.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Harrison Barnes apparently aged 20 years over the summer and somehow spent most of the night being both the slowest and weakest player on the court every other possession. Even more shocking that the physical decline is his shot seemingly abandoning him as his three missed threes were compounded by him going 4-7 from the line. Can Sasha come over mid-season?
WTF Moment of the Night- I guess we're doing the "Yogi" "-Ferrell" thing for Keegan now?
Keegan Murray- Keegan Murray
We're Talking Basketball
The good news: Keegan Murray and Kevin Huerter have looked like our second and third best players.
The bad news: This is mostly because our actual second and third best players have spent most of the first two game looking terrible.
It shouldn't be surprising that the Kings are 0-2 when you consider that Domantas Sabonis is currently averaging 12/7/6 on the season and Harrison Barnes is at 8.5/7.5/2 and hasn't made a single three to start the season. Couple that with the bench largely being a non-factor aside from Terence Davis (Just in terms of minutes and role, it's hard to call Keegan a part of the bench), and a 0-2 start is pretty much guaranteed. And yet, these two games were games that the Kings should/could have won were it not for self-inflicted wounds like missed free throws or weird miscues on defense (Richaun Holmes deciding to switch on the perimeter every single time he was even close to the ball comes foremost to mind).
De'Aaron Fox has somehow gotten even better than the 28 point machine he was post-trade, scoring at will from pretty much anywhere on the floor (dude's always been a solid catch and shoot player and the stroke definitely looks smoother beyond the arc) and displaying a renewed commitment to defense that I sorta wish rubbed off on some of his teammates (*cough*Harrison Barnes*cough*). Clearing the clutter and return Fox to primary ball handling duties by moving Tyrese appears to have had the desired effect as far as Fox's production is concerned. It also helps that Kevin Huerter has come out of the gates absolutely unconscious from the perimeter. A 18 and 5 night on nine shots is really good from your third/fourth option off-ball guard and there's nothing about Kevin's nights that seems particularly unrepeatable (seriously, all the guy does is make smart basketball plays and shoot deep balls that barely even touch the rim).
The KZ opener experience probably would be working fine were two of the other starters not in the midst of epic offensive struggles to start the year. PG had 40 points on the night but most of those didn't come against him and, despite the losses, this Kings defense is far more competent than any we've seen since Mike Malone. Until Domas or Barnes get their acts together though, I'm not sure this team can start KZ based on the offensive difficulties alone.
Everyone and their mom has been waxing poetic on how good Keegan looks so I don't really feel like I have anything to add on that front other than to ask: Is this how Celtics fans felt when their team got mixed reactions to drafting Jayson Tatum only for him turn out to be ridiculously good? Totally different players obviously, but the preternatural feel for the game from Keegan is special and his ability to hit from anywhere on the floor and play long and strong on defense really suggests that the "Keegan has a low ceiling" takes may have been a tad premature.
The bench has been an issue to start the year. Malik Monk in particular has struggled to make any sort of impact and people are already calling for Terence Davis to take his place in the rotation (despite TD apparently already being in the rotation as our backup 3). Oddly, the best comparison for Monk's current struggle might be Terence Davis from the start of last year, when he followed up a strong preseason by being so unplayably bad for the first ten or so games of the year that Luke Walton eventually banished him to the end of the bench (only to eventually go back to him because Luke Walton was consistently inconsistent). Shooters go through cold streaks that they generally have to try to shoot through. One problem with Malik right now might be him not shooting enough as Davion turning into Larry Hughes on offense has led to Monk trying to initiate the offense more than he probably should be doing.
Trey Lyles was missing from the rotation against the Clippers and I wonder if we'll see him against the Warriors. With Richaun's complete and total collapse as a basketball player to start the year and Mike Brown's willingness to go small ball, I would not be shocked to see an appearance from Trey Lyles, small ball center.
Despite the practice punch heard 'round the world, the Warriors have largely been performing as they usually do. Steph is averaging 33.5 points across the first two games of the season despite a rough start shooting from the perimeter. Wiggins has looked like the Warriors second best player while Poole has sorta struggled in his first two games of the year (Is he still seeing double from that Draymond haymaker?). Klay's moving a little better than he was last season but he's still not the defender he once was. Draymond is Draymond, that is to say the perfect role player glue guy when he can just get out of his own way.
Much has been made of the Warriors having a bunch of good young players for the future and Wiseman has looked solid in his first action in a full season but none of their young guys seems to have taken "the leap" over the summer, or at the very least shown themselves capable of playing as big a role for the Warriors as Otto Porter did last year.
Old friend DDV has looked solid-ish for the Warriors in the early going but not necessarily so good that I regret losing him in free agency.
Mike Brown knows the Warriors intimately (along with half of his coaching staff) and I wonder how much that is going to come into play. This isn't like football where there are playbooks and secret terminology that teams generally try to keep out of each others' hands but I'm sure there are somethings that the Warriors would prefer their opposing coach didn't know about their schemes and systems. That of course hasn't helped the last two ex-Warrior head coaches the Kings have had beat them but Mike Brown might actually be different.
I'm expecting lots of Warrior bandwagoneers in the stands (though maybe not as much as usual since the Niners are also playing) and tired legs from our guys on the second night of the back to back. But I'm also expecting Keegan Murray. [EDIT: Totally forgot that this is an away game and the Kings will be the ones headed to the Chase Center but the "lots of Warriors fans but they'll probably be distracted by the Niners game" argument still stands.]
Injury Report
Kings-
No one listed.
Warriors-
Patrick Baldwin Jr. - Day-to-day (Accidentally swallowed a thumbtack)
Final Prediction
Third time's the charm! Domas gets his game going against a big man who isn't a 7'1" behemoth from the Balkans. Keegan drops a silent 30 point performance on the Warriors heads without ever once flashing a smile. One of the bench guys finally gets his game going and it opens things up. Mike Brown gets his first Kings win against his old squad. Justice prevails.
Kings 119, Warriors 113
Small Sample Size Theater
Reminders and whatever else
We're still in the first week of the season so here's one more reminder that soliciting or randomly posting links to illegal streams is strictly against the rules on Kingsfans.com. Please. We don't want to get sued. DO NOT POST LINKS TO ILLEGAL STUFF (this also applies to the internet in general).
See more here
It's also still a good time to refresh ourselves on the general forum rules while the season is still young. The most important rule of course remains "Don't be a jerk." If someone's really ticking you off, I'd advise a liberal application of the forum's "ignore" feature.
YoU cAn ReAd MoRe HeRe
Previously On...
Mike Brown won a ring as the head assistant for the Golden State Warriors before moving up I-80 to coach the Kings.
Random Internet Basketball Head Tweet About the Kings of the Night
Award Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award -Nic Batum. Not a huge night statistically from him but he pulled down the offensive board that effectively ended the game after the Kicks finally got PG to miss a shot.
The CoJo Award - Richaun Holmes with a second consecutive pull. The guy has been a total non-factor on offense while also being unplayably bad on defense. And he can't even blame getting smashed in the face this time.
Mikki Moore - Malik Monk, who took his new contract for being a shooter and promptly decided to be a role playing facilitator instead (this is partially on the shoulders of the guys he's playing with so I'm wondering how he'd look playing off of Fox and Sabonis).
Rafer Alston And-1 - Davion Mitchell took all those Marcus Smart comps to heart and spent all summer pairing terrible iso hero ball and bad shooting with his strong defense over the summer. The dude's a better playmaker than he's show to start the season but it's painful watching him waste possession after possession even if I know he'll eventually get going sooner rather than later.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim - Harrison Barnes apparently aged 20 years over the summer and somehow spent most of the night being both the slowest and weakest player on the court every other possession. Even more shocking that the physical decline is his shot seemingly abandoning him as his three missed threes were compounded by him going 4-7 from the line. Can Sasha come over mid-season?
WTF Moment of the Night- I guess we're doing the "Yogi" "-Ferrell" thing for Keegan now?
Keegan Murray- Keegan Murray
We're Talking Basketball
The good news: Keegan Murray and Kevin Huerter have looked like our second and third best players.
The bad news: This is mostly because our actual second and third best players have spent most of the first two game looking terrible.
It shouldn't be surprising that the Kings are 0-2 when you consider that Domantas Sabonis is currently averaging 12/7/6 on the season and Harrison Barnes is at 8.5/7.5/2 and hasn't made a single three to start the season. Couple that with the bench largely being a non-factor aside from Terence Davis (Just in terms of minutes and role, it's hard to call Keegan a part of the bench), and a 0-2 start is pretty much guaranteed. And yet, these two games were games that the Kings should/could have won were it not for self-inflicted wounds like missed free throws or weird miscues on defense (Richaun Holmes deciding to switch on the perimeter every single time he was even close to the ball comes foremost to mind).
De'Aaron Fox has somehow gotten even better than the 28 point machine he was post-trade, scoring at will from pretty much anywhere on the floor (dude's always been a solid catch and shoot player and the stroke definitely looks smoother beyond the arc) and displaying a renewed commitment to defense that I sorta wish rubbed off on some of his teammates (*cough*Harrison Barnes*cough*). Clearing the clutter and return Fox to primary ball handling duties by moving Tyrese appears to have had the desired effect as far as Fox's production is concerned. It also helps that Kevin Huerter has come out of the gates absolutely unconscious from the perimeter. A 18 and 5 night on nine shots is really good from your third/fourth option off-ball guard and there's nothing about Kevin's nights that seems particularly unrepeatable (seriously, all the guy does is make smart basketball plays and shoot deep balls that barely even touch the rim).
The KZ opener experience probably would be working fine were two of the other starters not in the midst of epic offensive struggles to start the year. PG had 40 points on the night but most of those didn't come against him and, despite the losses, this Kings defense is far more competent than any we've seen since Mike Malone. Until Domas or Barnes get their acts together though, I'm not sure this team can start KZ based on the offensive difficulties alone.
Everyone and their mom has been waxing poetic on how good Keegan looks so I don't really feel like I have anything to add on that front other than to ask: Is this how Celtics fans felt when their team got mixed reactions to drafting Jayson Tatum only for him turn out to be ridiculously good? Totally different players obviously, but the preternatural feel for the game from Keegan is special and his ability to hit from anywhere on the floor and play long and strong on defense really suggests that the "Keegan has a low ceiling" takes may have been a tad premature.
The bench has been an issue to start the year. Malik Monk in particular has struggled to make any sort of impact and people are already calling for Terence Davis to take his place in the rotation (despite TD apparently already being in the rotation as our backup 3). Oddly, the best comparison for Monk's current struggle might be Terence Davis from the start of last year, when he followed up a strong preseason by being so unplayably bad for the first ten or so games of the year that Luke Walton eventually banished him to the end of the bench (only to eventually go back to him because Luke Walton was consistently inconsistent). Shooters go through cold streaks that they generally have to try to shoot through. One problem with Malik right now might be him not shooting enough as Davion turning into Larry Hughes on offense has led to Monk trying to initiate the offense more than he probably should be doing.
Trey Lyles was missing from the rotation against the Clippers and I wonder if we'll see him against the Warriors. With Richaun's complete and total collapse as a basketball player to start the year and Mike Brown's willingness to go small ball, I would not be shocked to see an appearance from Trey Lyles, small ball center.
Despite the practice punch heard 'round the world, the Warriors have largely been performing as they usually do. Steph is averaging 33.5 points across the first two games of the season despite a rough start shooting from the perimeter. Wiggins has looked like the Warriors second best player while Poole has sorta struggled in his first two games of the year (Is he still seeing double from that Draymond haymaker?). Klay's moving a little better than he was last season but he's still not the defender he once was. Draymond is Draymond, that is to say the perfect role player glue guy when he can just get out of his own way.
Much has been made of the Warriors having a bunch of good young players for the future and Wiseman has looked solid in his first action in a full season but none of their young guys seems to have taken "the leap" over the summer, or at the very least shown themselves capable of playing as big a role for the Warriors as Otto Porter did last year.
Old friend DDV has looked solid-ish for the Warriors in the early going but not necessarily so good that I regret losing him in free agency.
Mike Brown knows the Warriors intimately (along with half of his coaching staff) and I wonder how much that is going to come into play. This isn't like football where there are playbooks and secret terminology that teams generally try to keep out of each others' hands but I'm sure there are somethings that the Warriors would prefer their opposing coach didn't know about their schemes and systems. That of course hasn't helped the last two ex-Warrior head coaches the Kings have had beat them but Mike Brown might actually be different.
I'm expecting lots of Warrior bandwagoneers in the stands (though maybe not as much as usual since the Niners are also playing) and tired legs from our guys on the second night of the back to back. But I'm also expecting Keegan Murray. [EDIT: Totally forgot that this is an away game and the Kings will be the ones headed to the Chase Center but the "lots of Warriors fans but they'll probably be distracted by the Niners game" argument still stands.]
Injury Report
Kings-
No one listed.
Warriors-
Patrick Baldwin Jr. - Day-to-day (Accidentally swallowed a thumbtack)
Final Prediction
Third time's the charm! Domas gets his game going against a big man who isn't a 7'1" behemoth from the Balkans. Keegan drops a silent 30 point performance on the Warriors heads without ever once flashing a smile. One of the bench guys finally gets his game going and it opens things up. Mike Brown gets his first Kings win against his old squad. Justice prevails.
Kings 119, Warriors 113
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