Post-Mortem: 2021-22 Sacramento Kings

[madmaxmedia]

I think Vivek bought too many De’Aaron Fox NFT’s to give up on him now…

In all seriousness, I do wonder what his involvement is in their roster decisions.

[pillwenney]

The only optimism I really have is that Fox looked better than ever offensively after the Sabonis trade, and given the small sample, think it's at least fair to say the jury is still out on it.

I don't hate Gentry, but if we could get someone like Atkinson, I would be very into that.

But yeah, the overarching problem is the rot at the very top. The only hope within the scope of that is that sometimes teams are good despite terrible owners, but man, Vivek makes it really hard. Our fanbase has just had really rotten luck that way.

[LoveMyRaps]

No hope for this franchise as long as Vivek is there.

[Sothron]

this is the "you need a new owner" issue that the Knicks also have. When you owner interferes constantly with your team it is a mess to deal with.

Looking at it through a normal lens the talent isn't bad. Sabonis and Fox looked really good playing together. Another PF or C would be good to get in the draft or trade to put next to Sabonis.

[Van_Trump]

I repeatedly praised how the Kings got the steal of the draft in Haliburton.

Last off season and early this year I repeatedly declared that the Kings could trade ANYONE EXCEPT Haliburton. He was the last player I would trade.

I thought Hali was a guy to build a franchise around. Now it will happen in Indiana.

[Bobbymcgee]

Gotta rebuild around Sabonis and Fox. Not sure what they do with Barnes. Coming up on the last year of his contract. Hopefully the Holmes issue resolves itself. That was pretty ugly.

[Sactowndog]

The Kings had one job: to make the playoffs, because they have been grossly incompetent for many seasons. I deeply sympathize with Kings fans. The team owes Sacramento a better performance. Most of the Kings fans I know are somewhat past the change or keep the GM or Coach questions. Alvin Gentry was better than Luke Walton, but Luke Walton was worse than a slow painful death. Why are these the options?

I could also argue that the Kings are better now than when the season started. The team seemed motivated to get rid of two players: Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley. Hield, who came back in the Cousins trade, was unhappy with his role on the team, and the Kings were not prepared to offer the disappointing Bagley any new deal.

The main trade of the season was the Feb 8 deal that brought Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and Domantas Sabonis (and a 2023 SRP) to the Kings in exchange for Tristan Thompson, Buddy Hield, and Tyrese Haliburton. Lamb is an expring. Holiday and Sabonis are arguably solid contracts. Tyrese Haliburton, however, (though his defense needs some work) is an excellent player, who in a bigger role with the Pacers, got 17.2/4.1/9.5 with those 9.5 assists 3 times as much as the turnovers (3.2). 3-pt shooting of 42.6% on 5.5 attempts per game. Even so, I can’t call it a bad trade. It’s maybe one the Kings FO couldn’t win though.

The Kings also traded Vanja Marinković and Marvin Bagley for Josh Jackson, Trey Lyles, and Donte DiVincenzo. These are all expirings, but there is a $3M option on Trey Lyles. The Kings should take it.

1. Take the $3m option on Trey Lyles.
2. Free Agents:

i. Jeremy Lamb (pass)
ii. Josh Jackson (pass)
iii. Donte DiVincenzo (professional player, but not good enough for mle, offer a minimum deal)
iv. Damian Jones (offer biannual exception, $4m)

3. Kings have a $4m trade exception & a $1.6m trade exception. They also have a non-taxpayer mid-level exception (about $10.2m).

These are the remaining playuers.

De'Aaron Fox ($30m). PG.
Davion Mitchell ($5m). PG.

Justin Holiday ($6m). SG.
Terence Davis ($4m). SG.

Maurice Harkless ($5m). SF.
Harrison Barnes ($18m). SF.

Domantas Sabonis ($20m). PF/C.
Richaun Holmes ($11m). PF/C.
Alex Len ($4m). C.
Chimezie Metu (C) ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)

Trey Lyles: (PF) $2.6m team option. (again... take the ption)

Draft:

Top 7 pick.
#37 & #50.

---------
Kings should target best player available, but they desperately need help at shooting guard and more presence in the front court. Not necessarily a ball-first player either. Fox is one of the highest usage players in the NBA (14th in USG%). He just needs more options. If the Kings have lottery luck and get Banchero or Holmgren, everything gets a lot better. Bennedict Manthurin (a high-usage shooting guard) would also be a good choice if the Kings end up drafting after #5.

Couple corrections…..

Dante is a restricted free agent. They should offer the qualifying offer 6M and decide if they want to match. He provides a decent catch and shoot option at the 3.

The Kings problems are at the wing. Part of their issue is they drafted Haliburton and Mitchell both of whom need the ball in their hands to be effective and yet they have Fox. They are now one of the worst shooting teams in the league as neither Fox nor Sabonis stretch the floor. They desperately need 3 and D types.

The need a 6’6 GF type with around a 7’ wingspan. Griffin, Sharpe, or Mathurin would all suffice. The Kings desperately need Sharpe to declare for the draft. Depending on where they land, they might consider trading Mitchell (stuck behind Fox) and their pick to try to move up.

[Upperclass]

This is a cleanhouse team. Keep Sabonis, Mitchell, Dante.. and move on from everyone else

[Madhouse]

The only hope is getting Wembanyama in 23 honestly. I see no hope for this current roster to make the playoffs in the near future.

[timO]

The Kings had one job: to make the playoffs, because they have been grossly incompetent for many seasons. I deeply sympathize with Kings fans. The team owes Sacramento a better performance. Most of the Kings fans I know are somewhat past the change or keep the GM or Coach questions. Alvin Gentry was better than Luke Walton, but Luke Walton was worse than a slow painful death. Why are these the options?

I could also argue that the Kings are better now than when the season started. The team seemed motivated to get rid of two players: Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley. Hield, who came back in the Cousins trade, was unhappy with his role on the team, and the Kings were not prepared to offer the disappointing Bagley any new deal.

The main trade of the season was the Feb 8 deal that brought Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and Domantas Sabonis (and a 2023 SRP) to the Kings in exchange for Tristan Thompson, Buddy Hield, and Tyrese Haliburton. Lamb is an expring. Holiday and Sabonis are arguably solid contracts. Tyrese Haliburton, however, (though his defense needs some work) is an excellent player, who in a bigger role with the Pacers, got 17.2/4.1/9.5 with those 9.5 assists 3 times as much as the turnovers (3.2). 3-pt shooting of 42.6% on 5.5 attempts per game. Even so, I can’t call it a bad trade. It’s maybe one the Kings FO couldn’t win though.

The Kings also traded Vanja Marinković and Marvin Bagley for Josh Jackson, Trey Lyles, and Donte DiVincenzo. These are all expirings, but there is a $3M option on Trey Lyles. The Kings should take it.

1. Take the $3m option on Trey Lyles.
2. Free Agents:

i. Jeremy Lamb (pass)
ii. Josh Jackson (pass)
iii. Donte DiVincenzo (professional player, but not good enough for mle, offer a minimum deal)
iv. Damian Jones (offer biannual exception, $4m)

3. Kings have a $4m trade exception & a $1.6m trade exception. They also have a non-taxpayer mid-level exception (about $10.2m).

These are the remaining playuers.

De'Aaron Fox ($30m). PG.
Davion Mitchell ($5m). PG.

Justin Holiday ($6m). SG.
Terence Davis ($4m). SG.

Maurice Harkless ($5m). SF.
Harrison Barnes ($18m). SF.

Domantas Sabonis ($20m). PF/C.
Richaun Holmes ($11m). PF/C.
Alex Len ($4m). C.
Chimezie Metu (C) ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)

Trey Lyles: (PF) $2.6m team option. (again... take the ption)

Draft:

Top 7 pick.
#37 & #50.

---------
Kings should target best player available, but they desperately need help at shooting guard and more presence in the front court. Not necessarily a ball-first player either. Fox is one of the highest usage players in the NBA (14th in USG%). He just needs more options. If the Kings have lottery luck and get Banchero or Holmgren, everything gets a lot better. Bennedict Manthurin (a high-usage shooting guard) would also be a good choice if the Kings end up drafting after #5.

Couple corrections…..

Dante is a restricted free agent. They should offer the qualifying offer 6M and decide if they want to match. He provides a decent catch and shoot option at the 3.

The Kings problems are at the wing. Part of their issue is they drafted Haliburton and Mitchell both of whom need the ball in their hands to be effective and yet they have Fox. They are now one of the worst shooting teams in the league as neither Fox nor Sabonis stretch the floor. They desperately need 3 and D types.

The need a 6’6 GF type with around a 7’ wingspan. Griffin, Sharpe, or Mathurin would all suffice. The Kings desperately need Sharpe to declare for the draft. Depending on where they land, they might consider trading Mitchell (stuck behind Fox) and their pick to try to move up.

Im ok with giving divincenzo the RFA, and maybe match or sign him to a friendly deal type like 18/3

Kings had that wing in Hield and still were bad.

They need to improve bench and land a future star with the pick this or next year.

[LightTheBeam]

I'm fine with the Hali trade. Even when he was in Sac I didn't think he was a guy you build around. Great piece in the puzzle, but not the guy you build around. Sabonis might not be that player either, but hes dominant inside and Fox has improved immensely as the on ball guy again with an elite option to dump to.

Keep GM - I think we need to give Monte another 1-2 years. I wasn't a huge fan of his prior to this deadline, but he showed me enough here to stick around.

Hire new Coach - Retaining Gentry shouldn't even be considered. Looking at Snyder, Stotts, JVG. Coaching is the biggest piece to this team this off-season. They absolutely have to nail this. Kings coaching carousel has been beyond pathetic.

Ideally get a new best player, but that feels unlikely. Still need a few guys who are actual quality NBA players that can give us 20-30mpg.

1. Id bring back DDV. Hes probably an 8th man, and tends to play a bit out of control. But I like his energy and defense. Not overpaying and I honestly like Davis enough to let him walk if push comes to shove.

2. Trade some combo of Holmes/Holiday/Len/Harkless + 2nds or future 1sts for a forward (Washington, Morris, Kuzma)

3. Draft BPA at #7 if we don't get lotto luck. Ideally Griffin or Mathurin

4. Use MLE on 1 of Porter, Anderson, Covington

Coach: Terry Stotts

Sabonis/Jones
Washington/Otto Porter Jr/Lyles
Barnes/Holiday
Bennedict/DDV/Davis
Fox/Mitchell

Id feel pretty comfortable going into a full season with this roster.

[PlatinumState]

I think Vivek bought too many De’Aaron Fox NFT’s to give up on him now…

In all seriousness, I do wonder what his involvement is in their roster decisions.

Id say he has final say. Problem is hes probably surrounded by yes men who are afraid to tell him hes making a bad decision. He probably even came up with the genius idea to trade Haliburton

[madmaxmedia]

I repeatedly praised how the Kings got the steal of the draft in Haliburton.

Last off season and early this year I repeatedly declared that the Kings could trade ANYONE EXCEPT Haliburton. He was the last player I would trade.

I thought Hali was a guy to build a franchise around. Now it will happen in Indiana.

‘INDFanSinceHali’ has a nice ring to it…

[Doctor MJ]

Fire the GM for the Haliburton trade alone. If you're to fire Gentry you'll need to have a good candidate in mind rather than making a coaching change just to make a coaching change. They're stuck in a lottery treadmill and really they need some lucky ping pong balls already, for being in the lottery every year over these last 15 years it's shocking how few times they've gotten to move up, Bagley was the only one in that stretch and talk about botching that one.

I appreciate your logic, but Gentry has to go.

It would be one thing if Gentry was the guy they hired to be head coach, but he's just the guy they put in charge during the interim between firing one coach and the off-season. A guy in that position, if he's going to get actually signed to a head coaching contract, needs to impress. All the more true when you acquire Sabonis.

As big of a mistake as the Kings likely made in trading away Halliburton - and as many big mistakes as they've made since Vivek got there - now they need to hire someone with the explicit goal of finding the best plan for building around what Sabonis (and Fox I assume) are thought to offer.

Also, while firing the GM for the move makes sense, it's unlikely that the move was made without Vivek being involved, and this GM actually comes with good training on another NBA team which means he's better than Vivek can expect to get by just taking another swing at things - given his track record.

Obviously if I'm Vivek and if I feel my GM put all his credibility on the line to sell me on trading away Halliburton that's perhaps different, but the whole "we have to get to the playoffs right now!" thing is coming from Vivek, and this move as foolish as it was, was about the only plausible way to get there. Meaning, there wasn't a market for Fox, so if you don't have the patience to build around Halliburton and just eat the Fox deal as an albatross, your only "right now" option was probably to trade Halliburton. If you're a GM who is told "Make a big move now or you're fired!", you probably make that deal too.

[gom]

If you're a GM who is told "Make a big move now or you're fired!", you probably make that deal too.

Ironically, though, McNair will probably get fired anyhow.

[falcolombardi]

i dont follow kings, how good/how much potential do fox and haliburton have?

reading you guys it seems like haliburton has much higher ceiling than fox?

[iBall101]

They can make the play-in next year, if Sabonis stays healthy and their team for the most part.

[TheMartian]

I repeatedly praised how the Kings got the steal of the draft in Haliburton.

Last off season and early this year I repeatedly declared that the Kings could trade ANYONE EXCEPT Haliburton. He was the last player I would trade.

I thought Hali was a guy to build a franchise around. Now it will happen in Indiana.

Wanted Hali in that draft for the Celtics. Sacramento took him two spots before and just traded him away.

[Doctor MJ]

If you're a GM who is told "Make a big move now or you're fired!", you probably make that deal too.

Ironically, though, McNair will probably get fired anyhow.

I'm sure he will if he sticks around long enough, but I doubt the hook is so quick to come this off-season. I would guess that the Kings will build to next season around Sabonis/Fox, including hiring a new coach, and that McNair will not get fired before '22-23 begins.

[Doctor MJ]

i dont follow kings, how good/how much potential do fox and haliburton have?

reading you guys it seems like haliburton has much higher ceiling than fox?

Fox is in his 5th year now, on a max deal, and has continually been a volume scorer on below league-average efficiency who isn't a great passer and generally has a negative On/Off. I don't think it was so much that Haliburton was perceived to have a higher ceiling than Fox was once perceived, but it seems likely that it was a mistake to treat Fox as a franchise player, and it isn't so clear cut how to use him in another way.

By contrast, Haliburton is a guy who works just fine around greater talent due to his intelligence and general lack of entitlement to his game, and also happens to still be on a rookie deal.

All of this made Halliburton the much more valuable trade asset, which was why Indiana wanted him instead of Fox.

ftr, while I'm not optimistic about Fox's future, I will say that I completely get seeing him as having more potential than Halliburton even now, it's just that if I'm trying to build my franchise for the long-term, I'd much rather have a commitment to Halliburton at his place in his career than to Fox in his.