Game Thread G7: 01/04 Kings (3-3) @ Warriors (3-3) 7pm

[SacKingZZZ]

This team quit on Walton. Fire Walton. Trade Bags. Trade Buddy.

It doesn’t make sense why they would do it with a winning record. They looked good a week ago. Hali went down and all of a sudden they are terrible.

Winning what? Not anymore. Luke was a long shot to stick anyway, and that shot has been fired. Time to move on.

[BoogieTime]

2 things

The bagley stuff is affecting chemistry

Hali is the truth

[SmellingColors]

How did Whiteside only play 8 minutes after getting 8 points and 3 blocks in that time?

Also Fox played 43 minutes and only got 18 points. Not enough from him even though he was probably still our best player tonight. If he's going to be our leader, he needs to be able to put up 30+ when needed imo.

[kalenclayton]

This team quit on Walton. Fire Walton. Trade Bags. Trade Buddy.

It doesn’t make sense why they would do it with a winning record. They looked good a week ago. Hali went down and all of a sudden they are terrible.

Winning what? Not anymore. Luke was a long shot to stick anyway, and that shot has been fired. Time to move on.

I was meaning why they would quit on Walton after playing well. It was strange to see how down they’ve played the last two games. I’m 100% in favor of firing Walton. I was just perplexed at the play of the guys. That isn’t all on Walton. The fire has been gone since Haliburton got hurt.

[kalenclayton]

How did Whiteside only play 8 minutes after getting 8 points and 3 blocks in that time?

Also Fox played 43 minutes and only got 18 points. Not enough from him even though he was probably still our best player tonight. If he's going to be our leader, he needs to be able to put up 30+ when needed imo.

He played 30 minutes.

[SacKingZZZ]

It doesn’t make sense why they would do it with a winning record. They looked good a week ago. Hali went down and all of a sudden they are terrible.

Winning what? Not anymore. Luke was a long shot to stick anyway, and that shot has been fired. Time to move on.

I was meaning why they would quit on Walton after playing well. It was strange to see how down they’ve played the last two games. I’m 100% in favor of firing Walton. I was just perplexed at the play of the guys. That isn’t all on Walton. The fire has been gone since Haliburton got hurt.

It isn't all on Walton it's also on the front office or the ownership for leaving a job half finished. Why, when, what, or how doesn't matter, history is fairly well written on coaches in Waltons position heading into the next year.

[SmellingColors]

How did Whiteside only play 8 minutes after getting 8 points and 3 blocks in that time?

Also Fox played 43 minutes and only got 18 points. Not enough from him even though he was probably still our best player tonight. If he's going to be our leader, he needs to be able to put up 30+ when needed imo.

He played 30 minutes.

Oh my bad. My phone's been acting up and said he played 43...

[kalenclayton]

Winning what? Not anymore. Luke was a long shot to stick anyway, and that shot has been fired. Time to move on.

I was meaning why they would quit on Walton after playing well. It was strange to see how down they’ve played the last two games. I’m 100% in favor of firing Walton. I was just perplexed at the play of the guys. That isn’t all on Walton. The fire has been gone since Haliburton got hurt.

It isn't all on Walton it's also on the front office or the ownership for leaving a job half finished. Why, when, what, or how doesn't matter, history is fairly well written on coaches in Waltons position heading into the next year.

This was to be expected. McNair should’ve been allowed to choose a new coach.

But as for the past two games, the players need to be held accountable as well.

[Sactowndog]

The fact is both Marvin and Buddy are low IQ players that play poor defense. Buddy has a role as instant offense off the bench but that role is his ceiling. In addition, they are both poor passing and selfish. Not really players for whom I want to root.

Sadly we let Bogi go for nothing as he would be a better 3rd guard and would blend well with Hali. We need to play Barnes, Beli and CoJo so we can trade them for value. We need to avoid losing more of our limited assets for nothing.

This year is a lost year where we might as well let Bagley and Buddy drive the tank. If a switch surprisingly flips then great. Ideally, we get assets for some of our movable vets.

[KF10]

There is 2-3 years worth of data that backs up the fact the Kings are a terrible team.

Walton is the tank commander. Whiteside is better than at least half the Kings roster but still doesn’t play.

I wanted give Bagley a chance but this guy is a bust. Never should been drafted at 2. He has shown ZERO improvement since his rookie year. No right hand, still predicable, offensive inefficient black hole, defensive IQ/instincts are bad. Doesn’t even set screens correctly.

Buddy is a microwave 6th man. That’s his ceiling. It’s not bad but he isn’t a 82 game starter level player that can play consistently well. When he is off, dude is useless.

Barnes is ok but should be seen as a stop gap for something better.

Holmes has been able to hide behind some of the other narratives surrounding the Kings but he hasn’t really been all that great either. Whiteside is like 10x better than him but for some reason WS spends more time on the bench for reasons we don’t know lol

CoJo is only a rotational level player. Not a starter, or the 6th, 7th or 8th best player. Dude is like a 9 or 10th level player on a decent team. Doesn’t really do much when he doesn’t impacts the game — which is basically every game.

Fox can talk the talk as much as he can through his IG, Twitter or after game pressers but can’t really prove it on a nightly basis. He is a good player but more of a sidekick to a Batman. Kind of like a CJ McCollum level player. Which is not bad but for that price tag? Hmm I’m starting to think that huge contract will hurt sooner than later imo

This team is horribly flawed and doesn’t even top out as a playoff team.

I would have blown this team up already.

Another year of bottom dweller status again.

What’s new?

[BoogieTime]

Personally I’ve been content with Fox. I’ve long accepted he’s not going to be a 1a mvp type guard a la Trae or even what Morant may get to. As long as he has a solid peripheral all star type career, he and Hali can have us seeing playoff basketball for a lot of years.

In the preseason I was scared he was falling short of that trajectory

[City of Trees]

I picked a hell of a night to upgrade my internet. Did we burn down the joint or what?

[nolang1]

Personally I’ve been content with Fox. I’ve long accepted he’s not going to be a 1a mvp type guard a la Trae or even what Morant may get to. As long as he has a solid peripheral all star type career, he and Hali can have us seeing playoff basketball for a lot of years.

In the preseason I was scared he was falling short of that trajectory

I'm more scared about his 2nd year being a fluke rather than a sign his shooting was on an upward trajectory than about anything that happened in the preseason. If he's a low 30s three-point shooter as a lead ball handler, peripheral all-star is going to be generous. There just have not been many player development success stories the last 10+ years out of Sacramento.

[SmellingColors]

There is 2-3 years worth of data that backs up the fact the Kings are a terrible team.

Walton is the tank commander. Whiteside is better than at least half the Kings roster but still doesn’t play.

I wanted give Bagley a chance but this guy is a bust. Never should been drafted at 2. He has shown ZERO improvement since his rookie year. No right hand, still predicable, offensive inefficient black hole, defensive IQ/instincts are bad. Doesn’t even set screens correctly.

Buddy is a microwave 6th man. That’s his ceiling. It’s not bad but he isn’t a 82 game starter level player that can play consistently well. When he is off, dude is useless.

Barnes is ok but should be seen as a stop gap for something better.

Holmes has been able to hide behind some of the other narratives surrounding the Kings but he hasn’t really been all that great either. Whiteside is like 10x better than him but for some reason WS spends more time on the bench for reasons we don’t know lol

CoJo is only a rotational level player. Not a starter, or the 6th, 7th or 8th best player. Dude is like a 9 or 10th level player on a decent team. Doesn’t really do much when he doesn’t impacts the game — which is basically every game.

Fox can talk the talk as much as he can through his IG, Twitter or after game pressers but can’t really prove it on a nightly basis. He is a good player but more of a sidekick to a Batman. Kind of like a CJ McCollum level player. Which is not bad but for that price tag? Hmm I’m starting to think that huge contract will hurt sooner than later imo

This team is horribly flawed and doesn’t even top out as a playoff team.

I would have blown this team up already.

Another year of bottom dweller status again.

What’s new?

I agree with all of this. I don't get why Whiteside doesn't get more minutes. Only thing I can think is they want to get Bagley playing time and Holmes is coasting off his success last year, but neither deserve more minutes than Whiteside. Especially yesterday.

That said, we need a talent infusion - a wing that can light it up offensively and does so consistently that can replace Barnes at the 3. Hopefully that player will be had in this draft, but knowing the Kings, we'll get ourselves out of playoff contention and then win a bunch of meaningless games towards the end of the season and lose draft position.

At this point the only thing that excites me this year is seeing Haliburton develop. He can't come back fast enough.

[kb02]

Here's a re-post of mine from kingsfans.com. I tend to post there more than here, but like both sites equally. Anyway...

Some Truths and Opinions:

1. Kings miss Haliburton. He's our best player.

2. Bagley has struggled. It's not because he's still essentially a rookie or because of rust. It's because he's playing against starters and the league now has two full years of film on him. If we can see his faults, opponents can certainly see and exploit them. Exhibit #1: see the the two charging fouls against Draymond. Exhibit #2: see the strips against Bags in Houston. Exhibit #3: see opponents jumping Bags left hand when he brings the ball up after a rebound (because he can't cross, use his right hand effectively, pause, jab with his handle)...

3. McNair needs to choose a direction now. I know the plan was for this year to be a development year, but it's going to be a treadmill year. Why? Haliburton is already running at his floor, which is Doug Christie. While Bags is running at his floor, which, after 3 years, is starting to look like Kenny Thomas. Trade for assets that will allow the Kings to make the playoffs this year or blow it up and go get that third cornerstone.

4. Did Buddy lose sleep last night over those tweets? His shots weren't just off, dude looked like he was running in sand. Is he hurt?

5. Fire Walton. Trade Bagley. Trade Buddy. The sooner, the better.

6. Players that I want on the Kings next year: Lu Dort and/or Lonzo Ball. Maybe John Collins. And a top 2 pick if the Kings tank.

[SacKingZZZ]

Personally I’ve been content with Fox. I’ve long accepted he’s not going to be a 1a mvp type guard a la Trae or even what Morant may get to. As long as he has a solid peripheral all star type career, he and Hali can have us seeing playoff basketball for a lot of years.

In the preseason I was scared he was falling short of that trajectory

On the contrary I see Fox as still succeeding with a coach that has no clue whatsoever as to how to make use of the talent he has. Fox is quite literally fighting 2 entire teams in the paint for space and he's looked really good regardless. Now they need to let someone coach who can make life a little easier for him by spreading the floor and giving him clear and open driving lanes.