What's next for Sac town?

[Edrees]

They are a no defense team and it starts with their C. All the defensive criticisms levied on Jokic should apply twofold to Sabonis. He would be a PF in any other era.

He's literally 10-0 vs AD head to head

What is he against Zubac head to head.Or embiid? jokic?

[Warriorfan]

They are treadmill playoff team with all star but not superstar ( I define as perennial MVP top vote getter) level players. They will probably have to draft one since Sac is not a destination like LA

[Mike lorenzo]

Healthy Jonathan Isaak would be perfect alongside Sabonis

[SNPA]

Look, they're the 7th seed after last night, Dallas has very much the power and control to keep them the 7th seed after Friday.

What are you talking about? It’s a one game gap and they play again on Friday in Sac, and Sac won’t be playing their 4th game in 5 nights including east coast games.

Malik Monk is going to get a nice payday from a team like the Orlando Magic or San Antonio Spurs this off season, I am not sure if they can get anything back for him.

Maybe. Maybe not. Kings can make a solid offer. He loves playing in Sac.

It's hard to say where they go from here, they clearly need a real #1 option in Sacramento, or a better #2 if Fox can become that guy (which doesn't seem likely).

You are talking about the reigning clutch player of the year, who is 9th on scoring this season. Would you say that about the Wolves and Ant? Guess who is 10th in scoring?

I don't see Sacramento beating OKC in a playoff series today. I don't see them beating Minnesota if that is their opponent. They are going to be another first round exit.

Ok. You don’t see it. Maybe check their records against those guys though. Sac matches up very well against both OKC and Minny. It’s the Pels that crush them. I’m not saying they would win a 7 game series, but it’s a long ways from a given they’d lose.

What's the move here, what's the choice with all they've invested in Domas? Him and Fox combine for $76 million next year.

Yeah…that’s what two all stars cost. Same for every team.

I mean what do you bundle up Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter to see if you can find the right guy? That money seems to line up with Zach LaVine whom Sacramento did want many years ago.

Where did LaVine come from? That contract offer was from Vlade not McNair.


Is that the only option? Zach Lavine - Sabonis - Fox? Good lord, can you imagine the defense on this team?

No. It’s not the only option. Lots of options.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Fox has already proven he's a capable #1. Sabonis is clearly a #2. Sadly, for me, the Western Conference playoff teams ALL have #1 and #2 players AND either a #3 or better top guys and/or depth. I was worried about this happening before the season because it was obvious other teams had made moves or would get healthy and we wouldn't be able to counter after a very disappointing offseason and draft. Sucks to be right.

Moving forward, it would be asinine to pay Monk more and expect a different result. If we can't compete with him making $10 million I don't see how paying him $25 million and going into the luxury tax would change things except for the negative. That leaves us with very little to work with to use to acquire a bonafide #3. I'm seemingly alone because I don't think Murray is quite going to be that. And since he's the only bargaining chip we have except for future 1st round picks, any move we make to acquire a #3 would include him and I just can't see McNair moving him.

I'm afraid we'll be running it back and making moves on the peripheral and remain pretenders vying for the play-in for the next few seasons at which point we'll have to blow it all up and start from scratch again. Some fans seem fine with this because compared to recent history it's a huge improvement. Not me. I'd rather make a major move and do it now instead of treading water. I'll literally stop watching if we just run it back. There are better uses of my time.

While I find it underrated, this draft class isn't the type of class you could trade either Fox or Sabonis to acquire a high pick(s) and get a potential superstar. It's a draft with some #2 upside types at best but mostly very deep with role players. Now, there IS a path forward by trading Fox that could net us picks and good young players or a swap of similarly talented stars.

Possible Fox trade destinations:

Celtics for Brown
Nets for Bridges and Claxton
Spurs for Sochan, Vassell, #9
Pelicans for Ingram

I would not under any circumstances move Sabonis. It's harder to replace him than it would be to replace Fox

[SNPA]

Also, take a look at their defensive rating since the new year. Then look at March. They are getting better and better. Adding Keon Ellis to the starting rotation has worked to greatly improve their defense. Playing Len as the backup center helps too.

What Sac needs to do is unload all their pick for a PF that fits on defense and can hit shots. Players I’d offer up for include; McDaniels, JJJ, Jabari Smith, etc. There are lesser guys to like Steward or Portis, etc.

[Godymas]

Possible Fox trade destinations:

Celtics for Brown
Nets for Bridges and Claxton
Spurs for Sochan, Vassell, #9
Pelicans for Ingram

This is a sick joke..right?

Even the Pelicans would be like "nah i'm good"

[CraftylikeaFox]

Kings will prob get swept but Kings fans will be like "Sabonis got 4 double doubles!"

I remember you were hating hard on the Kings last season too for some reason. No idea why, it's so weird lol.

[CraftylikeaFox]

Fox has already proven he's a capable #1. Sabonis is clearly a #2. Sadly, for me, the Western Conference playoff teams ALL have #1 and #2 players AND either a #3 or better top guys and/or depth. I was worried about this happening before the season because it was obvious other teams had made moves or would get healthy and we wouldn't be able to counter after a very disappointing offseason and draft. Sucks to be right.

Moving forward, it would be asinine to pay Monk more and expect a different result. If we can't compete with him making $10 million I don't see how paying him $25 million and going into the luxury tax would change things except for the negative. That leaves us with very little to work with to use to acquire a bonafide #3. I'm seemingly alone because I don't think Murray is quite going to be that. And since he's the only bargaining chip we have except for future 1st round picks, any move we make to acquire a #3 would include him and I just can't see McNair moving him.

I'm afraid we'll be running it back and making moves on the peripheral and remain pretenders vying for the play-in for the next few seasons at which point we'll have to blow it all up and start from scratch again. Some fans seem fine with this because compared to recent history it's a huge improvement. Not me. I'd rather make a major move and do it now instead of treading water. I'll literally stop watching if we just run it back. There are better uses of my time.

While I find it underrated, this draft class isn't the type of class you could trade either Fox or Sabonis to acquire a high pick(s) and get a potential superstar. It's a draft with some #2 upside types at best but mostly very deep with role players. Now, there IS a path forward by trading Fox that could net us picks and good young players or a swap of similarly talented stars.

Possible Fox trade destinations:

Celtics for Brown
Nets for Bridges and Claxton
Spurs for Sochan, Vassell, #9
Pelicans for Ingram

I would not under any circumstances move Sabonis. It's harder to replace him than it would be to replace Fox

Spurs one is the only realistic one IMO. Nets too, but it'd probably be Bridges and something less than Claxton. I don't think Fox has a lot of value to the majority of teams out there. Only a handful of teams realistically make sense for him.

[iLLmatic860]

Kings will prob get swept but Kings fans will be like "Sabonis got 4 double doubles!"

I remember you were hating hard on the Kings last season too for some reason. No idea why, it's so weird lol.

I said they were on the come up alot last season

called them pretenders tho which Isnt hating. But ok Make up your own narrative tho lol

[CraftylikeaFox]

Kings will prob get swept but Kings fans will be like "Sabonis got 4 double doubles!"

I remember you were hating hard on the Kings last season too for some reason. No idea why, it's so weird lol.

I said they were on the come up alot last season

called them pretenders tho which Isnt hating. But ok Make up your own narrative tho lol

My bad then. I remember during the playoffs there was this one Knicks fan who was just talking an insane amount of s**t about the Kings and Kings fans every single game in the game threads. For some reason I thought I recognized your username as that person. Sorry about that.

As far as Kings being pretenders, I wouldn't even go that far. You can't be pretenders if you aren't considered contenders and I in no way would consider this team contenders. They have an very low ceiling. 2nd round exit at best.

[iLLmatic860]

I remember you were hating hard on the Kings last season too for some reason. No idea why, it's so weird lol.

I said they were on the come up alot last season

called them pretenders tho which Isnt hating. But ok Make up your own narrative tho lol

My bad then. I remember during the playoffs there was this one Knicks fan who was just talking an insane amount of s**t about the Kings and Kings fans every single game in the game threads. For some reason I thought I recognized your username as that person. Sorry about that.

As far as Kings being pretenders, I wouldn't even go that far. You can't be pretenders if you aren't considered contenders and I in no way would consider this team contenders. They have an very low ceiling. 2nd round exit at best.

Oh nah I’m talking about last season. Werent yall the 2nd seed?

I do think Kings are a move away from being a contender tho so its not like yall are doomed

I mostly just be talkin **** bout Sabonis tbh lol

[Pelon chingon]

Bring it on SOB's!

[jkvonny]

I said they were on the come up alot last season

called them pretenders tho which Isnt hating. But ok Make up your own narrative tho lol

My bad then. I remember during the playoffs there was this one Knicks fan who was just talking an insane amount of s**t about the Kings and Kings fans every single game in the game threads. For some reason I thought I recognized your username as that person. Sorry about that.

As far as Kings being pretenders, I wouldn't even go that far. You can't be pretenders if you aren't considered contenders and I in no way would consider this team contenders. They have an very low ceiling. 2nd round exit at best.

Oh nah I’m talking about last season. Werent yall the 2nd seed?

I do think Kings are a move away from being a contender tho so its not like yall are doomed

I mostly just be talkin **** bout Sabonis tbh lol

They were 3rd seed last season.

[mako]

Fox and Sabonis have already peaked and in their prime. If they do get better it probably won't be by that much. The last time a team won a championship without a supertar was the 2004 Detroit Pistons and that was about 20 years ago. Question remains.. can a team win a championship without a superstar in today's game?

I believe the Kings can, but they will have a lot of revamping to do to their roster.

These things will need to happen in order for them to have a chance at a ring:

1. Replace Barnes with Jaren Jackson jr. or if not him a player of this caliber and type is the perfect fit next to Sabonis
2. Keegan Murray's development.. will he be an all-star or just shy of it?
3. Replace huerter with a defensive shooting guard who could also enforce his will on offense when needed. Maybe someone similar to a prime andrew wiggins
4. Get reliable veteran guys to shore up the bench

Sabonis
Jaren Jackson JR (or similar player)
Keegan Murray (Assuming he becomes an all-star or borderline)
A prime wiggins type player
Fox

Veterans to shore up the bench

With this line up you essentially have about 3 all-stars and 2 borderline all-star type caliber players. Very well balanced. For the most part this line up has switchable defenders that are very good on defense and the ones who aren't great on defense are at minimum at least average. Every player in the line up are also offensively competent. I think this team is realistic and at minimum they can make it to the western conference finals and at its peak could make it to the NBA finals.

[Black Jack]

Healthy Jonathan Isaak would be perfect alongside Sabonis

That's a fictional person.

I agree Sacto needs to go after athletic rim protector / lob target next to Sabonis, easy to say but they need their version of AG like the Nuggets have. They have almost no chance of adding a dominant MVP candidate so just max out what you can put around Fox/Sabas and hope something clicks one year to make a run to the finals.

[SNPA]

Fox and Sabonis have already peaked and in their prime. If they do get better it probably won't be by that much. The last time a team won a championship without a supertar was the 2004 Detroit Pistons and that was about 20 years ago. Question remains.. can a team win a championship without a superstar in today's game?

I believe the Kings can, but they will have a lot of revamping to do to their roster.

These things will need to happen in order for them to have a chance at a ring:

1. Replace Barnes with Jaren Jackson jr. or if not him a player of this caliber and type is the perfect fit next to Sabonis
2. Keegan Murray's development.. will he be an all-star or just shy of it?
3. Replace huerter with a defensive shooting guard who could also enforce his will on offense when needed. Maybe someone similar to a prime andrew wiggins
4. Get reliable veteran guys to shore up the bench

Sabonis
Jaren Jackson JR (or similar player)
Keegan Murray (Assuming he becomes an all-star or borderline)
A prime wiggins type player
Fox

Veterans to shore up the bench

With this line up you essentially have about 3 all-stars and 2 borderline all-star type caliber players. Very well balanced. For the most part this line up has switchable defenders that are very good on defense and the ones who aren't great on defense are at minimum at least average. Every player in the line up are also offensively competent. I think this team is realistic and at minimum they can make it to the western conference finals and at its peak could make it to the NBA finals.

I agree with most of this. I think the SG role can be split up though. Ellis is as a 3&D guy with Monk as the scorer. I think they have what they need there in-house, if they can keep Monk.

It’s the PF spot where they need to use their draft capital in trade. Anything that keeps Sabonis/Fox/Monk/Murray has to be considered…so all draft capital.

[TyFrekey]

I'm team run it back, but agree that Monk at something like $25 million is not the answer. Hopefully he enjoys Sacramento enough to not take more from another team but if not, I wish him well and thank him for two great seasons. Overall, Monk epitomizes the issues with this roster:

1. Too many players who are a liability on one side of the ball.
2. Too hot and cold and the quality of the basketball falls off a cliff during the cold stretches.

Who on this team is a consistent positive on both sides of the ball? Sabonis is the only one I can think of (his defensive deficiencies are way overblown here imo and the team's perimeter defense makes him look worse than he is...what can the guy do when any perimeter ball handler essentially has a free lane to the paint). Fox has potential, but is too consistently lazy defensively, especially off ball. Davion and Ellis are good defenders but offensive liabilities; Keegan should be lumped in here this year because of his shooting regression and lack of development as a playmaker and scorer, though his defense has really taken a step back in the second half. Barnes and Huerter have been essentially unplayable for much of the season. Keon replacing Huerter has helped a ton because he has been a reliable shooter and great defender, and thats saying a ton because Keon does not have a lot of offensive skills.

Compounded on that is that the team just plays so awfully when this aren't going right. They settle for bad threes, get stagnant and devolve into hero ball. Too many turnovers. They start to foul and gamble too much defensively. Incredibly poor discipline and iq when things start to go bad. It's why they have a 7-3 record against the top 3 teams in the west, but have found a way to lose to the Wizards, Hornets, and Pistons at home, not to mention multiple drubbings at the hands of good to great teams.

So why run it back?

Because they have shown the POTENTIAL to not suffer from these things. Fox was playing at an mvp level for the first month or two of the season on both sides of the ball, can he do maintain that level for more of the season? Keegan was an elite shooter last year and great defender for most of this year, can he do both at the same time and potentially develop into a more versatile scorer? Is Keon a long term answer at the 2? Davion has been contributing off the bench while being at least a net neutral offensively since the all star break, why can't that sustain? This season has been more a consistency issue than a talent issue; run it back and see if you can figure out the mental part of it that is holding the team back while making improvements on the fringes like upgrading Barnes and/or Huerter and maybe a bench player.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[jayu70]

Fox and Sabonis have already peaked and in their prime. If they do get better it probably won't be by that much. The last time a team won a championship without a supertar was the 2004 Detroit Pistons and that was about 20 years ago. Question remains.. can a team win a championship without a superstar in today's game?

I believe the Kings can, but they will have a lot of revamping to do to their roster.

These things will need to happen in order for them to have a chance at a ring:

1. Replace Barnes with Jaren Jackson jr. or if not him a player of this caliber and type is the perfect fit next to Sabonis
2. Keegan Murray's development.. will he be an all-star or just shy of it?
3. Replace huerter with a defensive shooting guard who could also enforce his will on offense when needed. Maybe someone similar to a prime andrew wiggins
4. Get reliable veteran guys to shore up the bench

Sabonis
Jaren Jackson JR (or similar player)
Keegan Murray (Assuming he becomes an all-star or borderline)
A prime wiggins type player
Fox

Veterans to shore up the bench

With this line up you essentially have about 3 all-stars and 2 borderline all-star type caliber players. Very well balanced. For the most part this line up has switchable defenders that are very good on defense and the ones who aren't great on defense are at minimum at least average. Every player in the line up are also offensively competent. I think this team is realistic and at minimum they can make it to the western conference finals and at its peak could make it to the NBA finals.

I agree with most of this. I think the SG role can be split up though. Ellis is as a 3&D guy with Monk as the scorer. I think they have what they need there in-house, if they can keep Monk.

It’s the PF spot where they need to use their draft capital in trade. Anything that keeps Sabonis/Fox/Monk/Murray has to be considered…so all draft capital.

Sac pick is owed to Atlanta per below:
2024 first round draft pick from Sacramento
Sacramento's 1st round pick to Atlanta protected for selections 1-14 in 2024, 1-12 in 2025 and 1-10 in 2026; if Sacramento has not conveyed a 1st round pick to Atlanta by 2026, then Sacramento will instead convey its 2026 2nd round pick and 2027 2nd round pick to Atlanta [Atlanta-Sacramento, 7/6/2022]

[Gary Cokeman]

Overrated Sabonis will get another triple double in the playoffs as they lose. They’re not good enough.

Still better, than anyone on the Knicks.

Sabonis is not better than Brunson.