Sasha signed!!!
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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KingsFanSince85
All-Star
I remember about a dozen years or so ago when a couple NBA players such as Josh Childress opted to go over to Euroleague there were some predicting the start of a trend. That sure happened.
Sasha's comments here pretty much sum up why I never bought into that nonsense.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Yes sir, I was impressed. Carries himself very well and like a team player, as you'd hope and expect.
Loved his comments about how he scouted our team. Also love that Swipa and Keegs were in attendance showing support.
I think the prospect of playing with our ball-movement system and getting set-up from Fox and Domas had to have played a huge deciding factor. That we wouldn't just use him as a spot-up shooter in the corner, but actually be able to effectively use all of his strengths. Maybe only the Warriors would be the only other franchise in the league that really knows how to use an off-ball dominator like Vezenkov was in Euro-League.
Monte in the 'can't leave home without it' bubble vest.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
if you look hard enough, you can actually see Javale McGee’s contract stuffed into one of the pockets
CVKingsfan
Bench
Key points of today's news conference compiled into one article:
What swayed Sasha Vezenkov's decision to join Kings now (yahoo.com)
What swayed Sasha Vezenkov's decision to join Kings now (yahoo.com)
Sasha sounds very excited to be a part of this organization and win a bunch of games next year. I think the FO's plan of sending everyone to watch Sasha really meant a lot to him. He was a European superstar, and the FO made sure he knew that they knew. The Kings recruited hard for Sasha as if he was like a 5-star QB up for grabs
Yeah, everything how we handled his signing showcases a potentially greater FA future for the Kings. If this were the Kings of 5 years ago? No chance he joins that mess. But us having our FO power structure together, having a fun/effective ball-movement system, keeping the core together, being good last year all play a part in getting a guy like Vezenkov to make the move over.
Even all the rest of our signings this off-season. HB and Lyles, two quality vets that would have found roles on great teams, couldn't wait to resign with us. End of benchers like Noel/Skal/Javale are signing here with just a chance of getting playing time and no defined role. Really is one of the cheat codes of the off-season when all the top-tier organizations get their pick of the litter with vet min FA's willing to sign to the end of their bench. It's nice we're starting to see some of that here too.
captain bill
All-Star
Gentry sighting is interesting. Stability and characters from prior seasons just chilling instead of trying to character assassinate and murder each other is nice
Things are finally turning around for the Kings. What separates last year's team from the rest of the league is how fun we were. We played a very unselfish brand of basketball that was headed by an elite playmaker in Sabonis. Very wild and speculative take, but if there were was a superstar unrestricted free agent this past off season, I think the Kings would've had a very good shot at landing them. The team is trending upwards. We already have a franchise player/superstar in Fox. We have another top 20 player in Sabonis. The team is surrounded by elite shooting. It'd be the perfect scenario for any star to join because we already have such a complete team. Who wouldn't want to play here?
I think Sasha saw the same thing. The expectations for him are moderate (rotational player), but maybe he c Making an help elevate the team to the next level. Making all-rookie team would be a very successful season for him considering the amount of talent we saw in the draft.
I think he'll have a pretty decent shot. Kings will be good again and I think he'll get every opportunity right out of the gate to secure a 20+ MPG role. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he just puts up a rookie Keegan type line of like 12-4 with elite spacing. Outside of Wemby and Scoot, I'm not super confident in this rookie class coming out firing out the gate.
And yeah, agreed on the Kings overall. We had 7 dudes score 30+ last year. And 2 star players who frankly could not care less if they weren't getting their shots on a certain night because Huerter hit 7/11 3's. Or T.Davis was dropping a 30 burger. I swear Domas would shoot 4 times a game if his coaches would let him and he'd just focus on setting his teammates up all game long. For a smart player like Vezenkov, who knows he's an off-ball specialist, how could he not be thrilled to sign up with this team that's returning it's 8 most important core players and perfectly fits his skill-set?
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Padrino
All-Star
I'm pretty pleased with how this off-season has gone for the Kings. There were no big fish to land, so Monte did good work moving the needle a bit without having to spend all that much. The McGee signing is one of those inexpensive and underrated moves that adds to a playoff team's ability to sustain success. Bringing back HB and Lyles on fairly team-friendly deals was a definite win. And if Venzenkov is as-advertised, it's going to be an absolute steal for the Kings to have his potential productivity on the affordability of his contract.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
CVKingsfan
Bench
macadocious
Starter
OMG he hunts cuts like a Free Safety. He floats to the open spots and the ball doesn’t stick at all. He might start at some point this year.
Man, Gradey Dick did not even remotely see that back cut at 1:35. I don't even think that he realized that the guy making the layup was his own man.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Dude really got lost so bad that I thought the Raptors might have been playing zone in that clip.
captain bill
All-Star
He did this with Keegan last year too. Would be very surprised to not see Sasha in the rotation from game 1
iowamcnabb
Hall of Famer
He didn’t start Keegan but there was never any doubt he was in the rotation. we all thought it was strange that KZ was running with the first team in practice and many assumed he wouldn’t actually start, but he did. Keegan was so good and we were losing so Brown had to switch.
This is just bizarre. You bring this guy over here knowing he is great on offense and below average on defense and now you aren’t sure if he should be part of the rotation?
If Mike is doing this out of respect for the other players who have been here I get it but he didn’t show that same respect to Len by playing McGee with the second unit (the guy Dallas stretched provisioned and replaced with a guy who couldn't get on the floor for us last year)
I can't think of hardly anything Ive been critical of Coach Brown on during his tenure here but if Sasha isn't on the second team our very first game of the season it will be a mistake IMO. He is at the very very least the 9th best player on this team RIGHT NOW and I won't be surprised if he ends up much higher.
Unless his defense is unplayable (and while I didn't get a great look at it in game 1, I wouldn't have gone that far) this is just coach-speak. Dude is a weapon on offense.
Agreed. I'm not very happy with that tweet. Before we even signed him, I've made comments about how Coach Brown should NOT be putting Sasha through his dumb mind games. Why are you trying to test him? He's not a 21-year-old college kid. He's a 28-year-old grown man who has been playing professional basketball for 12 years. You and the rest of the FO courted him for a whole year. Don't treat him like a young rookie who doesn't have his footing in a professional environment.
In the best case scenario, Mike Brown put it out there to the media in order to light a fire under Sasha (probably defensively) and show the team that he holds everyone accountable. Even in this scenario, I think it's a bit disrespectful to publicly imply that the Euroleague MVP needs to earn his rotation spot. Keep it for the locker room.
I also think it's laughable if anyone suggests that Mike Brown holds all of his players to the same standard. No one outside of Davion played plus defense last year... defense shouldn't suddenly become a reason to keep Sasha off the floor.
I hope we're missing more context from Brown where he mentions everyone on the team needs to earn their place. Knowing how the local media covers the Kings... I wouldn't be surprised if there was additional context not included.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
If Sasha isn’t among the top 6-8 players on the team, then Mike Brown has lost some of his marbles.
Is this for real? I mean, as somebody already pointed out, this can’t be about making Sasha earn his way in to appease all the returning players — because he’s not taking that route with McGee who was just signed off the scrap heap.
IDC what Sasha’s defensive liabilities are. The KINGS mainstays don’t play superb defense either. He’s already the best shooter on the team sans maybe Keegan and Monk when he‘s on a hot streak.
As others have also pointed out, you don’t go chase this guy all season over in Europe to then have him sit the bench as the 9th-12th player.
Brown’s gotta stop the madness.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
It was the first preseason game and it was clear that the defensive focus of a player coming from overseas in Sasha was >>> NBA players. His defense was actually quite solid. As for Browns quote, eh, I think this might be him trying to still make it seem like there are spots open and some internal competition, other than that? Yes, highly irrational, lol.
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