Sacramento Kings 2018-19 Season Watch Thread

[Moranis]

Season half over and the Kings are 20-21. Really impressive for them.

The positive for us is that in the West, that still puts them in the lottery.

The other good news is that they've lost 5 of their last 6 and maybe this is the tumble a lot of us have been expecting. This is the part of a long NBA season where one might expect a young team to start losing some focus. Hopefully that's what we see and the pick winds up in the top 8.

we can hope especially with the loss to the Suns.  That was the one game they've lost where you question the loss a bit.

Especially since Booker didn’t play for the Suns.

I haven't watched many Suns games, but in some ways they are better without Booker's ball dominance and terrible defense (I know they are still slightly better with him in statistically, but just a feel watching games).

[Moranis]

We need the kings to keep losing because I’m starting to doubt that Grizzlies pick will convey, its top 8 protected and they’re looking real bad.

Grizzlies pick is right where we want it, rolling over would be fantastic in my opinion but if we do get it this year we need it to be top ten we have so many picks another teens pick does little to move the needle.

If that Griz pick rolls over I think all of a sudden it becomes more than a throw in to an AD deal but becomes a pretty big asset, maybe one that allows us to substitute Tatum with a Brown and Williams, especially if the Kings pick could get into the 10 area. Depends if the Pelicans have interest in a 5 year full rebuild or if they want a quick reshuffle and try to make the playoffs in 2-3.

I’d rather trade Tatum than Brown plus Williams.

I feel like Williams becomes pretty expendable if we got Davis. This means its trading Jaylen or Tatum from our perspective. So even though I consider myself the leader of the Jaylen brown fan club, I would still rather move Jaylen if we got to keep Tatum.

I would not be so glib.  Williams has great upside especially on the defensive end.  Especially as Horford gets older. And it's not like we will have a shortage of scoring, with Kyrie and Davis getting 45-50/Per Game, you still have Horford, Hayward, Brown and bench filler to supplement.  I'm not as high on Tatum's upside as others here. I frankly still think the jury is out as to who will be a better overall player in the NBA long term, Tatum or Brown. Brown's biggest drawback is his poor free throw shooting. I could see Danny wanting to hold onto Williams, the way he insisted on keeping Rondo during the KG trade with Minn.

I think Tatum will be better, but from a roster construction standpoint it in many ways would make more sense to keep the SG/SF rather than the SF/PF.

[smokeablount]

The Kings last 30 games or so, starting in February, are mostly really tough.  Even watching them and being convinced they're a solid team, they could end up with only 8-12 wins from February until the end.

That's what I keep telling myself in order to stay positive... after giving up on the Lakers pick last season in November.

[tazzmaniac]

It'll be interesting to see what the Kings do before the trade deadline.  Without their pick, they won't be tanking and making the playoffs would be big for them.  Being a young team, taking on vets with big long-term contracts (e.g. Love) probably doesn't make sense for them.   They have 4 very desirable expiring contracts:  Z-Bo (11.7M), Shumpert (11M), Koufos (8.7M) and McLemore (5.5M) for teams looking to reduce their salary tax or dump a longer term contract.  They'll have more than 50M in cap space next offseason with only Willie Cauley-Stein as a restricted free agent to re-sign.  However their chances of signing good free agent(s) is low and they'd most likely overpay for mediocre free agents. 

[mef730]

kings have a 6 game road trip coming up through the east coast. Games against Toronto, Detroit, Clippers and Brooklyn. I think I will finally make my decision on where they will end up after that road trip. In the mean time would really like them to lose at least one of their three upcoming home games. This sun game was a bonus.

I think that they could easily lose two of them.

Mike

[celticsclay]

It'll be interesting to see what the Kings do before the trade deadline.  Without their pick, they won't be tanking and making the playoffs would be big for them.  Being a young team, taking on vets with big long-term contracts (e.g. Love) probably doesn't make sense for them.   They have 4 very desirable expiring contracts:  Z-Bo (11.7M), Shumpert (11M), Koufos (8.7M) and McLemore (5.5M) for teams looking to reduce their salary tax or dump a longer term contract.  They'll have more than 50M in cap space next offseason with only Willie Cauley-Stein as a restricted free agent to re-sign.  However their chances of signing good free agent(s) is low and they'd most likely overpay for mediocre free agents.

Unfortunately for them, it is speculated (nice read on the ringer today) it may be one of the lighter trading deadlines ever because of how jumbled the standings are and just about every team being in competition for a playoff spot (probably every team outside of phoenix thinks they could still make it in the west, 11 teams probably still think they could in the east). So in addition to less sellers, more buyers. I am not sure they get excited about too many people on the trading block right now either. Kanter, Jr Smith? Courtney Lee? Maybe there will be a surprise guy traded but hard to see big impact players.

[Roy H.]

Adrian Wojnarowski
✔
@wojespn
 New York and Sacramento discussing an Enes Kanter-Zach Randolph trade of expiring contracts, but nothing close yet, league sources tell ESPN. Kings would want to send out more expirings in a deal. A third team could be helpful.

[Big333223]

Adrian Wojnarowski
✔
@wojespn
 New York and Sacramento discussing an Enes Kanter-Zach Randolph trade of expiring contracts, but nothing close yet, league sources tell ESPN. Kings would want to send out more expirings in a deal. A third team could be helpful.

lol

The Kings don't have enough centers in their rotation, they have to upgrade.

[tazzmaniac]

It'll be interesting to see what the Kings do before the trade deadline.  Without their pick, they won't be tanking and making the playoffs would be big for them.  Being a young team, taking on vets with big long-term contracts (e.g. Love) probably doesn't make sense for them.   They have 4 very desirable expiring contracts:  Z-Bo (11.7M), Shumpert (11M), Koufos (8.7M) and McLemore (5.5M) for teams looking to reduce their salary tax or dump a longer term contract.  They'll have more than 50M in cap space next offseason with only Willie Cauley-Stein as a restricted free agent to re-sign.  However their chances of signing good free agent(s) is low and they'd most likely overpay for mediocre free agents.

Unfortunately for them, it is speculated (nice read on the ringer today) it may be one of the lighter trading deadlines ever because of how jumbled the standings are and just about every team being in competition for a playoff spot (probably every team outside of phoenix thinks they could still make it in the west, 11 teams probably still think they could in the east). So in addition to less sellers, more buyers. I am not sure they get excited about too many people on the trading block right now either. Kanter, Jr Smith? Courtney Lee? Maybe there will be a surprise guy traded but hard to see big impact players.

I agree but even if a big impact player becomes available the Kings don't really have the assets to go after him. 
I'm thinking more of a modest player on a "not good" contract (e.g. Porter).   Porter has been coming off the bench the last 4 games although that may be because he's coming back from injury.  Would the Wizards give him up in a salary dump?   They also have Mahinmi's bad contract.  Would the Wizards do Porter, Mahinmi and a modestly protected 1st (e.g. top 3 protected 2019, top 1 protected 2020+) for expirings?   They could get under the tax line for this season and freeing up 43M could make them a player in the offseason. 

[tazzmaniac]

Adrian Wojnarowski
✔
@wojespn
 New York and Sacramento discussing an Enes Kanter-Zach Randolph trade of expiring contracts, but nothing close yet, league sources tell ESPN. Kings would want to send out more expirings in a deal. A third team could be helpful.

That seems like a dumb use of expirings for the Kings.  They need wings not bigs.  They are the 2nd fastest team in pace.  Several weeks ago, there was contention between the coach and front office that Bagley wasn't getting enough playing time.  So Kanter doesn't seem like a good fit and its doubtful that he moves the needle on making the playoffs.  At the very least they should wait until closer to the trade deadline to see if anything better comes along. 

[CelticsElite]

Good day for pick

This  can jump from 12 to 10 if:
- dallas wins their next game and
-either NO win or Sac lose their next games


Jumps to 9 if all of the above happen and:
-memphis wins their next game

[smokeablount]

I predict Sacramento finishes with 32-35 wins.

I’d be happy if they finished 12th in the West, but they could be 13th behind Memphis and Phoenix if everything breaks right.

The question is, how many of the East lottery teams will be worse?

All of them??

[trickybilly]

I predict Sacramento finishes with 32-35 wins.

I’d be happy if they finished 12th in the West, but they could be 13th behind Memphis and Phoenix if everything breaks right.

The question is, how many of the East lottery teams will be worse?

All of them??

Feels like the dogfight for Zion is going to start any second.

[rondofan1255]

I predict Sacramento finishes with 32-35 wins.

I’d be happy if they finished 12th in the West, but they could be 13th behind Memphis and Phoenix if everything breaks right.

I recently predicted 18th pick (#8 seed) in the prediction thread 

[RodyTur10]

Adrian Wojnarowski
✔
@wojespn
 New York and Sacramento discussing an Enes Kanter-Zach Randolph trade of expiring contracts, but nothing close yet, league sources tell ESPN. Kings would want to send out more expirings in a deal. A third team could be helpful.

That seems like a dumb use of expirings for the Kings.  They need wings not bigs.  They are the 2nd fastest team in pace.  Several weeks ago, there was contention between the coach and front office that Bagley wasn't getting enough playing time.  So Kanter doesn't seem like a good fit and its doubtful that he moves the needle on making the playoffs.  At the very least they should wait until closer to the trade deadline to see if anything better comes along.

I don't understand why a trade for Porter hasn't been made yet. Apparently the Wizards weren't keen on offloading Wall, so to get cap relief it's obviously Porter who'll need to go. Sacramento has the expirings and could maybe give up a small asset for him. For Sacramento it's an expensive contract, but it's unlikely that someone better will sign with them and Porter fits with their team and time window.