Mark Jones thinks the Kings are poised for a stretch run

Mark Jones thinks the Kings are poised for a stretch run

And I think one of the best play-by-play voices we’ve got going right now our friend Mark Jones joins us good morning brother how are you hey D what’s going on man just uh enjoying the the decompression time man and uh you know uh looking forward to um taking a little

Inventory over the next couple days and moving forward down the stretch stretch Run for the season you know everybody thinks that Allstar break is halfway when in truth it’s more like 2third so there’s not really that much of the race left but uh this is this is where it

Gets a lot of fun you know now are do you actually get some time off between now in the resumption of the Season or are you doing some you know major play-by-play things somewhere somehow you know what I this is a this is a rare

Year for one of the first times in my you know uh 33 years and and 20 what 20 something years doing the NBA for ESPN 33 years and all that I’ve actually had an all our weekend um off uh for only like the second time so uh just getting

A chance to spend a little time with uh my daughter and my wife and uh my daughter’s season is uh coming down the stretch run too at San Jose State and um uh so yeah this is this is exhale time just for a little bit you never really

Exhale right right you know like even even after even after my Wednesday night game uh in Cleveland I had Cleveland in Chicago for ESPN and uh early the next morning uh you know JB bicker staff and uh Luke Walton and the entire coaching staff of the Cavaliers is on my flight

Um heading somewhere nice and warm to Miami uh to detox for a few few days and uh even on a flight you know you’re talking basketball you’re talking placings you’re talking playoffs you’re talking players so yeah it never really stops for me man it’s it’s a

Lifestyle well and I hope you take this as a compliment I’m looking at our chat line right now and uh of course no disrespect to our friend and colleague here for me at uh at second toown Sports Kyle but a lot of people asking saying they and I think they’re right they’ve

They’ve heard a little bit less of you uh this season is is I know you probably don’t have it in front of you and you have other responsibilities but do you expect uh your visits to Sacramento to pick up uh in the okay definitely tell tell Kyle and uh Kings nation that um

During the second half of the Season you will get an abundance of Mark Jones I’m I’m uh my schedule is pretty backloaded this year for uh late February March April playoffs for when the games really count so um my my um you know I I’m I’m

About 100 games a year um you know over you know 70 for 70 for ESPN and um you know a bunch for um our Sacramento Kings uh you know for the first three years of was well over 50 so um had to scale it

Back a little bit uh just to uh take a breath and for longevity uh for health uh you know it’s uh you got to play the long game sometimes and spend a little time with my daughter who um is in her last year uh in school so you only get

One opportunity to I can’t miss another you know it’s a senior night this year right yeah and this year you there are too many birthdays and big games that I’ve missed over the years and this was the year that I said you know what this

Is the last dance here so I I got to be there for a few things and that’s what it’s come down to but yeah I’m looking forward to doing a lot of Kings games in March and April and um you know that’s that’s when I feel I’m kind of at my

Best too when the games really matter Mark Jones with us you know that my audience is getting tired of me talking about it I’m in a little bit of a different spot with you my daughter is 16 we have she’s a junior so we have a

Year and a half left of her at home and then my first one flies the CP my son’s a fresh so it’s funny how you have different benchmarks for the growth of your children and I think what it all comes down to Mark is it’s the inevitable March of us getting older

Losing uh our time with our children and then uh eventually I just have this I have this nightmare I wake up to in the middle of the night of me staring across at my wife across a TV tray eating a tuna fish sandwich at 2 in the afternoon

On a Wednesday and and not having my children around man that’s kind of like you must have a camera in my house that’s kind what it’s like I said we’re eating a chicken Caesar salad instead of tuna I’ll say this Dave like my wife and I have blessed with three kids and uh

Being an empty nester is overrated man you know it really is overrated and and you know I was blessed when uh the and um you know Stacy WG and and Joel Terry called in November of 2020 and uh offered me the job with the Kings because it gave me an opportunity to be

An hour and 20 down 80 and 680 from San Jose to be be closer to my daughter so that that worked out really well I want to ask you you we’ll get to the Kings here in a second and uh Mark’s got a Mark Mark’s interrupting a workout for us we appreciate

That hey it’s okay it’s okay for me to lose my Stinger this early you know you you you do it at a national level uh you uh you you you know whether it’s your days in Toronto and then rising up the ranks uh doing play byplay with us and obviously doing

It the highest to the high l lels and you know you know this from our private talks I I’m I think you guys are superheroes I always say it I I I think it it adds so much at when it’s at its best play-by-play to the game and also

You know and I would never ask you to comment or uh uh criticize any anybody else in the business it’s a small business but I will say this uh a lot was made about the Super Bowl call uh and I’ll ask you just kind of generally

You know as as as the audience knows uh I think the best play byplay voes Under understand the moment uh address the moment and then let the moment breathe uh if you will TV is different than radio nobody knows that better than you but how do you with so many partners

Whether it’s the you the great Doris Burke Katie Christensen so many others that you’ve worked with how how do you balance between wanting them to be them but also your understanding of the broadcast and that you’re the quarterback and and and being able to have that chemistry to let certain

Moments breathe and to not have your calls stepped on yeah that’s a that’s a tricky dance man it is a really tricky dance and a lot of it is built on uh chemistry uh history trust timing and you know I think both people in that tricky dance have to be understanding of

That moment and understand uh where you are individually in term terms of uh your level of Engagement and knowing that you need to step back a little bit I think the key is having enough moments prior to the big moment to know that hey one of those

Moments is on the way it’s coming we’ve reached the crescendo it’s the uh last possession of the basketball game or it’s the final drive of the Super Bowl let’s be really clean on this and it’s something that’s unspoken Dave I think to beon honest with you and you only get

That through working together you know and um it’s it’s hard it’s not easy I think you need to get in uh you know State time situation people on the floor who’s inbounding who the shooters are who you look for what plays they like to run knowing all that and being concise

And if you’re the analyst getting in getting out being clean and then boom when that big basket goes through or that touchdown catch is made on the final drive of the Super Bowl you lay out and let your director cut all the pictures and let it breathe you know

You’ve I think our viewers in Sacramento have heard me enough times when Keegan Murray hits his 123 or uh dearen fox makes another one of those plays and I’ll say golden one Center the microphone is yours right yep you know that that’s that’s for me like I got

Nothing to say I can’t embellish it right the sound is the story the picture is the story The teammates who are jumping uh dearen fox in Elation or Keegan Murray in celebration that’s the story what am i g to say you know there’s nothing really that an announcer

Can add to that moment and I think it’s always the Temptation the great temptation is to speak over it it’s natural to want to be as excited as and verbalize what you’re seeing but that comes on the first replay you know that’s always been my feel and um like I

Said it it can be tricky in in the biggest moments you know when I called the NBA Finals a few years ago Golden State and Boston you know there’s there’s a big rally with Steph Curry hitting his fourth three in a row and you just have to innately know that hey

On that fourth one lay out layout he’s hotter than fish greens time out you know what I mean yep how much of that is how much of that is ego discipline uh a lot of it to be honest with you a lot of it you know you you

Have to know that the game is the thing the game is always the thing right and um you know I think there are times where um play byplay announcers um will make the icing become the cake yeah if you know what I mean yes I do you don’t

Want the icing to be the whole cake you want the icing to stay the icing you know just enough of a Right Touch and uh and the analyst I think will have one or two quick coaching comments and then get out if at all uh the analyst especially

In football his time is the replay football is built for analysis it really is if you think about it right because you know a play less five six seconds and then you can get two three replays in before the next play you know uh so football in particular is built

For uh analysis you know John Madden maybe the best ever do it um was an expert at that and he was fantastic Dave at giving you the x’s and o’s in such an understandable manner right that was his whole appeal and being quiet I mean Pat Summerall right you barely heard him he

Was somewhat minimalist during his play byplay but every word he said counted you don’t want to be too verbose you know there are times where even in television silence is good because TV is such a powerful medium the the the pictures are going to speak for you you

Know you want your words to count you want to have an efficiency of your word so that when you do say something uh you’re actually saying something you’re not just it’s not just verbal diarrhea over the screen you know we were just talking about Vern lanquist and his

Iconic Masters call of the tiger chip and if you you read the um you read the transcript he literally says uh oh wow and then he follows it up with in your life and if you read that you’re like what what what is that but when you

Combine it with the moment and you combine it with that Gat sound out there it’s iconic yeah yeah I mean I I think about some of the big shots uh and some of the moments that that I’ve been able I think about uh Lebron in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Raptors

When he was with Cleveland and he makes this phenomenal 12- foot Runner off glass over ogn and Obi and it was right at the buzzer and my call was Cleveland that’s yours and then I didn’t say anything for another four minutes you know Q did his replays and that was

The gamewinner they won the series and you know and it’s all celebration shots and that’s where your entire production team uh has to being sync it’s more really it’s bigger than just the play-by-play and the analyst and the sideline reporter it’s the guys in the truck it’s the uh producer the director

Who really does his thing and shows his worth at that moment cutting the pictures you’re associate director who’s got replays ready to roll in uh it’s really chaotic in the truck at that moment but that’s where and how you earn your money you know what’s funny I’m

Sitting here I’m going I literally could talk talk to you for three and a half hours about the intricacies of play byplay and well let’s do it sometime man let’s do it honestly wouldn’t that that would just be fun to do a long form special edition just just going through

The prep everything that you do everything you work because you’re obviously an incredibly fascinating story in yourself I however um I will I will get rocks thrown at me if before uh you go to your your workout uh I don’t ask you about the look you got to pay

Attention to a ton of teams but I know that you always have an eye on Sacramento no matter where you are and I I asked the same question yesterday of somebody else if they’re if the Kings aren’t the biggest Enigma in the NBA in the first half as we say air quotes they

Got to be pretty close right Mark the the biggest in terms of just I don’t know what the hell they’re gonna do every night they’re gonna blow it they’re gonna get beat at home by Detroit by 15 and then they’re going to go three and0 they’re going to beat the Nuggets on the

Second night of a back toback third and four games I just I don’t know what the heck this team’s going to do man that’s why that’s why I never bet man that’s why I never bet they’re the swings are really uh you know amazing seismic at times with Sacramento and yeah that that

Wi in Denver you know speaks well to what they can do yeah um you know I was looking at some of the numbers this morning and uh we’re at 20th in defensive rating y I think that’s probably as low as Coach Brown wants to

Go um you know I think he’d prefer us up around you know 15 16 uh where we were a little bit earlier um but the biggest thing about the second half of the season is getting some momentum out of the All-Star break you always see where that that can be

Real pivotal and you know you wake up this morning and you look at the standings and the kings are in eighth place and a playing tournament team but not that far out of the top sits either behind Phoenix um here’s the thing it’s all about how you land the plane in that

First week of April right that that that when the regular season ends when you take inventory what does it all look like and if the Kings have a rested dearon Fox a refurbished and reborn dearen Fox it’s a whole new world because we saw what he did in the fourth

Quarter in Denver I think get a lot more of that facts in the second half of the season and sabonis is just going to keep stacking up his double doubles I mean he’s ridiculous right now I don’t even know what to say about that cat I mean is is 30 something consecutive double

Doubles everybody’s healthy yeah I know I know hey trust me These Guys these guys are H Hey listen de’arra and domas won’t say it but they are extremely happy to be in their warm climates right now right and getting some rest I I spoke to an NBA agent recently whose

Player is going to be an all-nba player this year and he was calling teams asking other teams not to take his guy so that he can have some time off you know that’s how it gets it’s an honor to be an NBA Allstar don’t get me wrong but

You know the rest is going to be important as it pertains to Sacramento um being able to show up the defense and I think last year in the playoffs Sacramento showed just how good they can be in their half court defense you know even though yeah we got sent home by

Golden State um the numbers were pretty good you know if you look back at them so you know it’s just about health especially those two guys and then you know it’s a better team than it was last year going into the playoffs and and down the stretch I think when you look

At the roster um uh there’s a lot more depth uh and Coach Brown has been able to call on guys and have them come in and produce um whether it’s Alex Len whether it’s McGee early whether it’s uh you know dwarte um who’s had some moments um you know I just think there’s

A good run left in this team not based on any kind of crazy science or data it feels that way but you can’t depend on science and data when like you said Dave a team can lose at home to Detroit and then yeah go on the road and beat the

Chance on the second night of a back to back well you saw it but you saw it personally last year not that last year means it’ll happen this year but you know we’re having mon mcir on at 9:30 for his his first visit since the trade deadline and he didn’t really you know

He did kessle or Edwards that that move last year there was nothing this year other than uh uh the Robin Lopez uh in and out and see you later Cashin so but but you saw it last year that that everyone was freaking out that everyone else around the team got better through

The trade deadline and guess what the Kings I I think had a top three record uh rest of the season so I guess that that’s what we’re hoping this year same thing continuity yeah yeah sometimes sometimes the answers are right in front of you you know you don’t need to go get

Something the answer is right in front of you and I I don’t have a problem with um you know you know people call it standing pth you can also say you’re investing in what you already have and you know there’s no better example of a franchise adding pieces over time to get

To where they are than the Denver Nuggets you know it wasn’t that long ago they were a six seed and still uh very much out of it you know and you know they they added some pieces and got to where they were and and uh there’s

No there’s no doubt that I you know I have total confidence in Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox being able to make the right decisions and and get this roster good enough to have a shot so uh chest legs aren what’s going on today what what are we doing today is uh cardio and

Core uh gonna do 30 minutes on the Versa climber um trying to get uh you know uh trying to get uh rid of some pounds that I two or three extra and um and then do some core because when you got four screws in your back and it gets chilly

Outside you start feeling it a little bit yeah what are you going to do you be on one of them big uh them big blowup what are those those big giant rubber balls where you have to like the B the Bosa balls yeah yeah yeah not Nick or

Joey Bosa Bosa balls though yeah you remember the story where Francisco Garcia X King was on one of those balls and it popped oh it exploded yeah yeah don’t I probably shouldn’t have brought that up before you back don’t think that I don’t think about that I make sure that it’s inflated and

It doesn’t have any holes in it I’m staring at it right now actually you better not betray me I don’t want to have to take any time off hey make sure you don’t have anything sharpen your pockets dude yeah I know I know Francisco well we appreciate you an

Extended visit uh and and and on short notice but we it’s been way too long and uh we we certainly look forward to uh coming back and visiting us in the second half for the stretch run my man the stretch run is going to be fun and

Uh you guys going to be tired of me by the time you hear how many appearances I get and I’ll be fine and it’s GNA be a fun finish Dave it really will we’ll see you down at Temple Coffee my brother you take care you got it you got it great

Bill all day see you brother later that’s uh that is Mark Jones H one of your voices on the sacrament Kings of course your other uh is our guy Kyle uh afternoons with YY Leon and also uh we’ll be uh we’ll be down for the

Stretch run as well as uh as will Katie and Gary and that whole crew so we’re looking forward to that but everybody getting some nice uh relaxing time off because honestly when you get to this point of the Season it doesn’t matter if you’re a player or a broadcaster one of

The biggest challenges you have is just you got to keep that same energy in and night out so I tell my broadcasting friends

Sacramento Kings TV play-by-play broadcaster Mark Jones joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Friday morning to share why he hasn’t called as many games this year–but will begin to call more over the final months of the season–and explain why he thinks this team has a good run left in the tank.

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0:00 Intro
2:00 Why hasn’t Mark been calling as many Kings games?
4:00 Dave and Mark talk about family
5:30 Mark talks about the importance of broadcast chemistry
13:20 Are the Kings the biggest enigma in the NBA?
15:15 Mark thinks rest during the break will help Fox & Sabonis
17:50 Thoughts on standing pat at the deadline