The Sacramento Kings Have Lost Their Identity | Locked On Kings
Matt George reacts to the Sacramento Kings loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Malik Monk returned, Keon Ellis started, and the Kings still ran into the same problems, especially on offense.
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The Sacramento Kings Have Lost Their Identity
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50 Comments
I love DeRozen but his game style is not a good fit and here is why. When he has the ball the other players stop cutting, the ball stops or slows down, and when he finally goes to work the players look confused as to where they are supposed to be. I’ve also seen at times when he drives he gets crowded by our own guys. I think Monk should start and DeRozen and Keon should come off the bench. We need to run and move the ball then when the bench comes in we slow it down and play DeRozen’s style just to switch it back up when the starters come back in. That would help with keeping the other team off their rhythm as well. We should be much better, this is very disappointing. I appreciate your time Mat and your dedication to your work.
I hate the refs. They completely took us out of the third quarter. It was ridiculous. Then the wheels fell off. The refs make the NBA difficult to watch.
Fox is super talented but he’s not a winning PG we’ve seen it so often with these John Wall type players it’s time he turn into a Journey man
First the Kings Owner needs to have Coach Brown and Monte come to his office. He needs to ask them this simple question, why does my team have $40 million dollars plus of shooting guard sitting on the bench at the start of games? If we are not going to start Kevin, lets start Malik! Second question, Coach Brown and Monte, why do the NBA TV Broadcast team know the biggest issue with this team, and you all don’t? Apparently there is a conflict between the “King Offense” and “Demar Derozen Offense”. Coach Brown and Monte the “King Offense” was must see TV! This current offense is not! Third question, Coach Brown look up the word Insanity, Coach Brown are you insane? Yes or No? Coach Brown, Malik is not a BENCH PLAYER! You are the only coach earth that would not start Fox and Malik. Coach Brown, Fox and Malik are an elite back court! Malik never plays 30 minutes. Coach Brown, trying to guard & protect the paint because Sabonis is not a rim protector, is allowing teams to kills us from the 3 point line. “YES! Sabonis is a power forward not a NBA center” Coach Brown, try playing Alex Len, Alex is the only rim protector on this team. Alex playing may help our overall defense and keep our guards and Keegan out of foul trouble. Coach Brown, let us try more non Demar lineups, Why? The King Offense works! Yes! Coach Brown, fans love the KING Offense. Coach Brown the last two games Demar has taken more shots than Fox. And we have loss badly. When Demar was hurt, Fox played like an all NBA player and the offense look better! Did Harrison Barnes ever take more shots than Fox? NO! Coach Brown and Monte, Demar taking a lot of 2 point shots worked in the 80’s and 90’s not 2024! Coach Brown, this team needs more Fox, Malik, Sabonis, Keegan, Huerter, Trey Lyles, Alex Len, and less Demar. SMH! It is a sad day, when the NBA TV BROADCAST team can see the biggest issue on your team, and the Coach and GM can not! SMH!
Get rid of keegan and Kevin
The two has done nothing for the team
Refereeing is totally abused in the league to condition aggressiveness and change the course of games in favor of some teams. Is so simple to manipulate, couple of systematic calls here and there at some crucial plays, a little of imbalance with the criteria, and bomb, you totally messed up the game plan and pace of that team. I will say all those cold downs I saw came after very specific calls against the kings. I'm not a kings die hard fan or anythin like that, I'm actually from Europe, so there no bias here.
When I look at the OKC roster vs the kings roster with the king’s experienced veterans and 3 all stars I am wondering why it is a lock that okc is better? Even Keegan should be playing better than Williams. He was better in college, drafted higher, a little older… I don’t feel like this team is hitting their potential. If it is a mentality thing then maybe we need a reset and some trades. I feel like it should be working, but it’s not.
It’s almost time to hit the panic button !!!
''We'' did not sign Queta to stay with McGee- Now we have nothing.
'How about some transactions like Davion Mitchell, Sasha, and multiple others actually… ?
I would go with Fox, Monk, Lyles/Jones, Keegan, and Sabonis with this roster. For me, it would be the more balanced start,
Anyway…we need to get some chances. Otherwise, 40 wins would be really good number of wins to us.
Same old kings breaking our hearts for 40 years now😊
Damn these comments 👀💀
But the time Harrison Barnes is doing better than all of the Kings starters that’s how you know it’s a coaching issue. Went to a new team but better coaching and play style all around and not playing max minutes every night.
It is about time to fire Brown and Christie. I have been a fan of the kings since they move to Sacramento. am now 75 yrs old and was very hopeful that this year they will make the playoffs . I might resign to be hopeful and the kings are an iinferior team and can only manage to have a decent season but will not go beyond that. In the game last night the kings played well until the end of the third quarter. Then they lose their composure and committed all kinds of mistakes. Last night game was Sabonis fault as he stopped playing defense. And thunders score every time they had the ball. Another frustrating DEJAVU..
Matt is echoing everything i said since presason TDLR kings has loss its identity acquiring Demar and loosjng both HB and Davion
Soooo what do we do?
Almost like trading for a 35 year old derozan might not have been a good idea. They have to slow down for derozan to be effective.
Not even getting into the fact that the Sabonis experience is progressing as to be expected. 😉
As a thunder fan I think the kings are really good. But I see a lack of defenders for you guys. You guys need some more gritty defenders out there.
When the Derozan trade happened I said it barely moved the needle, and here we are. Why anyone expected help from a dude who doesn't play defense, whose special skills are redundant with Fox's, and whose tendencies will disrupt the existing offensive system … and who's 35 … is beyond me.
(lot of comments from Brown critics … did he ask them to give him a closing lineup with 4 bad defenders in it?)
The offense does not flow because you have two different type stars. Overall they play much better in a pass & move offense. Everyone has to learn to play in that system like they did 2 years ago. This is coaching emphasis changed. Demar great but got to figure it out with Fox. One shrinks if the other doing good. The ball movement helps the non stars.
This Sacramento team is not that "complicated", have not "lost their identity". Opposing teams have figured them out that's why Sacramento is struggling.
Offensively, opposing teams just keep it simple by attacking the basket since there are no bigs, no length to alter shots, if help comes, kick it out for wide open 3s.
Defensively, opposing teams just keep it simple by switching everything, no need to run around or run after players, to neutralize them DHOs. Sacramento can DHOs all they want, IT WILL NOT WORK EFFECTIVELY if defense just plainly switch, that neutralizes those outside shots (see how the Thunders did it in the 2nd half). So, the only recourse is DeRozan's going solo, Fox going solo, Sabonis going solo. Unfortunately for Sacramento, their solo efforts are not very good from beyond the arc so the lane is crowded (see Thunders ganging up, clogging the paint.
For Sacramento, with a struggling offense, they really have to find their identity on the defensive end, buckle down, hard knocks and all. Unfortunately, pretty much all their players are very, very nice guys. Even when losing, all smiles. That is Sacramento's identity.
I seen this happening after the 2022 season monte didn't address our needs & ran it back in 2023 i said dont do that not a good idea but got hated on monte continues to give away draft picks & draft mainly guards not what we need then he signs DeRozan which i was good with even though the fit concerned me because it wasn't what we actually needed on this roster i dont know man I'm just frustrated
Lets not be silly Mike brown is coaching bad rn his line up and rotations are not good plus he messed up the identity with making everyone a defense first when they are all offensive weapons lol and Derozan is good but is not good fit.
Maybe start Monk ?
Grant Napear cursed the Kings. We are doomed.
The Kings' defense needs to change. For now on, no one should be allowed to leave their man to help in the paint. You should give up 2 points in the paint instead of giving them wide-open 3-pointers. For 3 straight years the Kings have left players wide open for 3 pointers because they are helping in the paint. STOP leaving your man wide open on the 3 point line.
This is the NBA. Any team can beat you on any night….if they are sufficiently motivated.
We know the beam motivates visitors to do their best. Both DeRozan and McDermott admitted that fact when they arrived with us.
We are not a powerful enough team to deal with a extra-motivated opponent every night.
We need to pull the plug on the beam and give our team a better chance to win.
Will it be too late to make trades if there are any to retool the roster in Jan/Feb? I am afraid it will be too difficult to climb back to at least a sixth seed if no trades are made now.
Fox is a scorer only with no ball handling ability to get other players involved,when he tries it’s turnover after turnover.Sabonis is your only big reluctant to even try and intimidate anyone from trying to drive to the basket.But that’s alright if you had a legitimate big playing alongside him.On defense defend the rim and rebound,on offense shoot from the outside so Sabonis can play inside.McNair has no idea how to construct a Team.Blame is on McNair ⌛️
Trade demar for cam thomas?
We have everything we need we just aren't playing to our strengths. Start Lin at Center play Sabonis at PF Keeg off the bench for DeRozan. We really don't have much size. Long story short Kings gon have to start kicking a**…
Sounds like a coaching and a GM problem to me.
This team is maybe a play-in only. Please team figure it out, run and gun like two yrs ago. Hustle defend paint keep body on three point shooters. Go Kings keep fighting.
Wait if Barnes doing better than Kings players. What does this say??? Coaching or players, defensive scheme????
They seem to have something against not starting Monk and I dont think we will ever have a answer to why.
No bench, can't hit any wide open 3s, and can't stop teams hitting their 3s. Those are the 3 main problems. MB and MM deserve equal blame for bad coaching/bad roster decisions.
It’s Mike Brown. He’s an idiot. Doesn’t have good rotations, calls no good plays, want the kings to shoot 100000000 3s when OBVIOUSLY thats not working and didn’t work last season. All he wants the kings to do is push the paint and kick out to the perimeter. So damn predictable. They do that over and over and miss 3s over and over while the other teams is gaining the lead more and more. He needs to be a high school coach..that is where he’s IQ is.
if they are unstoppable like you said, why they did not win a championship?
king of pretenders now!
It’s getting hard to watch again Matt, Locked On is once again a place of healing
I don't see any reason for talking playoffs. Kings would never get past #1 Golden State Warriors. Warriors have the older wiser players and a roster of very young very talented shooters.
I've always wondered how they could be so bad with home field advantage, but now I have an idea! Us complaining about the refs helps them lose their composure during games. Either way, the way they ref the Kings is getting ridiculous as cousin said.
Why can't they start Monk as SG? Mike Brown should do that!
It’s gotta be ran threw Fox not DeMar
Blow it up. I'm tired of Monte just getting more mid range shooters as the main pieces and lame defenders n expecting a defense coach to do something with that. Back to being the joke of the NBA
Kevon Huerter has scored 20 pts during the 4 game losing streak. Total.
When are we going to talk about passing? Hard to catch and shoot from anywhere on the floor if you receive a terrible pass. I think that is a huge problem.
its hard to not get mad about the losses, but I really think the guys are still getting used to Derozan
The issue I think is we are too small and not fast enough, The warriors are small but they are wicked fast and move the ball constantly. We have the fastest player in Fox, but got some slower guys like Heurter and Demar. Really Demar should be our starting shooting guard and we should start trading for serious wings to help Keegan and Sabonis. Why is our shooting guard Heurter taller than our small forward? We should have 6 foot 8 and 6foot 10 guys at the three and 4 to help get rebounds. We didnt have anybody out there to stop the thunder or even the nets big guys
this roster made ben simmons look decent is all im saying lol
The NBA is scripted sports entertainment. The NBA creates different story lines to generate interest such as the Damian Lillard saga in Milwaukee and now the Kings suddenly falling flat. The Kings have been the NBA's "red-headed step child" for decades. Don't forget how the League threw the Kings franchise under the bus in the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the Lakers by cheating for the Lakers. The games are scripted just like the NFL. I've watched Kings games where players numerous times miss shots on purpose and throw ridiculous passes or let opposing players waltz to the basket. In particular it's Fox who'll brick free throws and miss shots badly on purpose either to lose the game or so the team doesn't cover the point spread. And what about Murray doing a 180 after his first two excellent seasons. A great shooter like him doesn't just forget how to shoot. He's been AWOL this season because he's being told to stand down. The League is as rigged as WWE.