Training Camp begins

[BoogieTime]

Davion is all over the place.. and not in a good way

[BoogieTime]

Monk has been rough on both sides

[euphorbus]

Murray looks a lot better than Okpala and Lyles.

[BoogieTime]

Keegan with some good looks. I see some of the appeal of Okpala, but not in place of Keegan starting

[euphorbus]

Monk has been rough on both sides.

He does not look comfortable at all right now. I would like to see him pass to Murray rather than Lyles. Also, they seem to have him playing point guard rather than shooting guard. That's a mistake.

[BoogieTime]

Give me a break Fox, picking up this first half annoying me much like he has the last many years

[BoogieTime]

Keegan is him. Its making up for a lot of the bad night, his solidness

[euphorbus]

OK, that's it. Keegan Murray needs to start.

[codydaze]

Keegan Murray is winning ROTY.

[euphorbus]

I expect the Kings to look pretty sharp with the starters but not with the backups.

I got that one backwards, all right. Murray with 16 points in 21 minutes, +19, 5 rebounds, two steals. All through three quarters. Both Len and Holmes are looking strong.

[BoogieTime]

I'll give my first impressions on the mostly subpar night, now that the scrubs are in

The Lakers are at home, and who knows how good they should be this year, but their first unit for the most part dictated play over our first unit

The good was Keegan/Huerter/Okpala and the bad was Fox/Domas/Mitchell/Barnes/Monk, a lot of the rest..

Keegan looks ready to play and challenge ROY this year. The good news is why I see Brown was tempted to start Okpala, he looks a real live body that could potentially form a role. Huerter looks like he will be a solid pro for the years of his contract

Fox/Domas weren't dictating anything. Fox was doing his low impact demeanor stick while missing shots and playing questionable defense until that late 2nd quarter stint and Domas had little impact. If this team is going to compete, Brown has his work cut out trying to get consistency out of Fox and utilizing Domas more profoundly as a mini Jokic out here. Barnes had a tough night and wasnt contributing. Monk still looks like a hot/cold bench gunner, after one game not seeing starter potential. Mitchell, I'm not going off one game but how I read his profile, the guy is going to be a average backup. I'm not going to say he was the wrong pick and admit my wrong call yet as there isnt yet anyone in back of him making noise, but he was strong that senior year in college mainly due to age. His defense isnt translating, its mediocre and his offense is average as well and his poor advanced stats last year and age aren't signaling starter or good role player so far.

[blind prophet]

There were times it seemed our defense was decent tonight. Few turnovers too, unless that got bad in the last 5 min I stopped watching.

[OxAndFox]

I'll give my first impressions on the mostly subpar night, now that the scrubs are in

The Lakers are at home, and who knows how good they should be this year, but their first unit for the most part dictated play over our first unit

The good was Keegan/Huerter/Okpala and the bad was Fox/Domas/Mitchell/Barnes/Monk, a lot of the rest..

Keegan looks ready to play and challenge ROY this year. The good news is why I see Brown was tempted to start Okpala, he looks a real live body that could potentially form a role. Huerter looks like he will be a solid pro for the years of his contract

Fox/Domas weren't dictating anything. Fox was doing his low impact demeanor stick while missing shots and playing questionable defense until that late 2nd quarter stint and Domas had little impact. If this team is going to compete, Brown has his work cut out trying to get consistency out of Fox and utilizing Domas more profoundly as a mini Jokic out here. Barnes had a tough night and wasnt contributing. Monk still looks like a hot/cold bench gunner, after one game not seeing starter potential. Mitchell, I'm not going off one game but how I read his profile, the guy is going to be a average backup. I'm not going to say he was the wrong pick and admit my wrong call yet as there isnt yet anyone in back of him making noise, but he was strong that senior year in college mainly due to age. His defense isnt translating, its mediocre and his offense is average as well and his poor advanced stats last year and age aren't signaling starter or good role player so far.

I would have to agree with this for the most part.

We all know this is pre season, but this was a disastrous game. Starters pretty much didn't look like NBA caliber players. Fox = TERRIBLE (why isn't he doing what RW did to him early in the 1st?). Huerter = Average. D wasn't good. Offense was solid enough. Barnes = needs to be better. Okpala = WTF is he doing in the starting line-up? This BETTER be (and I believe it is) Mike protecting Keegan in his 1st game and he will get the starts from here in. Sabonis = Average. For someone that has been playing a lot of organised ball, he wasn't great. If this is how the Kings offense looks like they're going to struggle. Everyone looked out of sync, couln't make easy plays and, would it hurt to hit a shot?

The bench bailed the Kings out, and perhaps that is the biggest positive out of the game, as we all know, the bench is going to be more than solid this season. I think the Kings can get a huge advantage over almost any other team not named Clippers.


I'm hoping these guys are just sore from training camp, but that doesn't explain why the bench did well.
Now, much of this could just be the staff is keeping some things up their sleeves, I sure hope so.

[CDM_Stats]

Keegan Murray is winning ROTY.

I really wish we could have gotten him, he reminds me of Brandon Roy but with knees

[BoogieTime]

Keegan Murray is winning ROTY.

I really wish we could have gotten him, he reminds me of Brandon Roy but with knees

not a comparison I would of thought of, but good vibes

[BoogieTime]

The Lakers starting unit has looked good in its other games, which is a slight positive for that negative display. Hopefully we come out better

[CDM_Stats]

Keegan Murray is winning ROTY.

I really wish we could have gotten him, he reminds me of Brandon Roy but with knees

not a comparison I would of thought of, but good vibes

haha not the same player, but I mean a late bloomer type that can step into the NBA and be a top 25-50 player on day 1. Keegan definitely less perimeter/handler than Roy. But like Roy, I think his assist numbers will go up in the NBA because he's a very smart player and the smart move with the Buckeyes was to take the shot himself. Wont always be that way in Sacramento

[euphorbus]

It looks like Kevin Huerter has won the starting two spot for the time being:

https://news.yahoo.com/kevin-huerter-likely-kings-starting-230726304.html

Personally, I would want to see if the Monk-Fox tandem can become Showtime II. The problem with having Monk as a starter is, besides defense, that the two dominant shooters are expected to be Sabonis and Fox. Monk would not have an opportunity to get in a rhythm if he has fewer shots every night. Still, at some point this season, the coach needs to try it out. I have not seen enough of Huerter to have a strong opinion on how he fits with the other starters yet.

[BoogieTime]

It looks like Kevin Huerter has won the starting two spot for the time being:

https://news.yahoo.com/kevin-huerter-likely-kings-starting-230726304.html

Personally, I would want to see if the Monk-Fox tandem can become Showtime II. The problem with having Monk as a starter is, besides defense, that the two dominant shooters are expected to be Sabonis and Fox. Monk would not have an opportunity to get in a rhythm if he has fewer shots every night. Still, at some point this season, the coach needs to try it out. I have not seen enough of Huerter to have a strong opinion on how he fits with the other starters yet.

from what I saw from one preseason game, I didn't see much competition between Huerter and Monk. Huerter looked a composed vet who was contributing two ways, and Malik a microwave gunner.

Huerter actually played more SF last year and was statistically better as a SF, so in future years he might slide to SF if Barnes isn't brought back, but I'd need to see a lot more from Malik to suggest he would be the answer than at starting SG

[OGSactownballer]

It looks like Kevin Huerter has won the starting two spot for the time being:

https://news.yahoo.com/kevin-huerter-likely-kings-starting-230726304.html

Personally, I would want to see if the Monk-Fox tandem can become Showtime II. The problem with having Monk as a starter is, besides defense, that the two dominant shooters are expected to be Sabonis and Fox. Monk would not have an opportunity to get in a rhythm if he has fewer shots every night. Still, at some point this season, the coach needs to try it out. I have not seen enough of Huerter to have a strong opinion on how he fits with the other starters yet.

Fox/Monk will only work for short spurts of high speed offense play in the pros.

With them together the backcourt is too small and it requires a 3/4/5 combo that is superior defensively (we have zero proof yet that we have that available) yet can still can open looks from three.

If you have a combo like Lowry/FVV it’s more workable both because even though small both are tough physical defenders that hold their man and the other three positions are very big and also superior defensively (with pretty much all combos that team used) to be able to get away with that.

While Huerter isn’t all NBA defense, he is a superior defender and shot maker who is 6’7”. So you also size up some to help out on top end bigger guys and with rebounding.

You also then have Monk’s superior offensive ability off the bench paired with Davion who can defend much bigger than his actual size so you can switch the assignment. You add either Richaun who is a mobile big that can defend off the switch outside or Len who makes more backstop (hopefully eventually that goes to Queta) and you can make that work.