Sam Amick on NBA Playoffs, what the Kings are adding with B.J. Armstrong and Mike Woodson

Sam Amick on NBA Playoffs, what the Kings are adding with B.J. Armstrong and Mike Woodson

Ross on Sack Town Sports. You’re on You’re on You’re on camera, Sam. Joining us right now. Jason Ross is doing the middays today. So, we’ll we’ll have him uh join us for a little cross talk. I We have him on Streamyard. Sam from the athletics. Special time. Special time this week. Uh 9:00 a.m. special brought to you by Jessie Luben. Camera comes on. Sam is just Sam’s jealous. He’s He’s Yeah, Sam, you’re looking like I’m about to look in about an hour. Good morning. At least I didn’t have the Homer Simpson hand in the pants, man. This uh this 9:00 a.m. slot, Dave. I know we love our 8 a.m. slot. This Yeah, you gave me a little taste of it. This is uh I was early. I was on time. I’m on camera. Look, I’m I’m just gonna peel the curtain back, man. There. I’m gonna You know what? This is going to be one of them rare times. You and I are buddies off the air as well. I feel like I can do this where I’m going to I like to call this a this is a complicult. Uh it’s a compliment and an insult at the same time. So your uh your uh visits with us are by far the most aggregated are by far the most uh viewed uh interviews on the entire station. That’s no insult to any other guest on the station, including our very own on the morning show, but yours are the most by far these conversations are the biggest hitters. And we actually have research, Samuel, that shows that the 8 to 9:00 a.m. hour, that is our that’s our core audience, right? So, yes, you can have your agent contact me during the week and say, “I’m traveling. I have to do I have to move my times. I have to do all of this.” But, you know, that’s why they have us at 8. I know it’s tough. It’s Hey, it’s I got to get up at 8, too, buddy. I’m not happy about it, but All right, fair enough. You know, you’re that good, Sam. I love So, how are you going to smash the Kings today? Your thoughts? Wow. Trigger alert. We’re not There’s 29 teams in the NBA. I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s so much inside baseball going on right now. There is inside baseball since you you added a word to the lexicon, you know, complaint. Uh I will although this is actually probably straight insult. I love that you go inside baseball on a text message that I sent to you that again you did not respond to. So, text. And for the listening audience, it’s funny. I’m gonna shout out, it’s been a while. Neighbor John, who I was just texting with. I think we’re going to lunch today. Uh John likes to give me a hard time like, “Are you and Dave really friends?” because he never actually shows up on the block. So, there’s that. And and now what I will add to it is I don’t know if we are really friends because I can’t even get a response to a text message. Um, but yes, I I I have been advised that let’s stop talking kings. Let’s talk about everybody else. I don’t I don’t I don’t The first text I didn’t respond to during the week that was that was that was that was when you were asking if uh we could push things back. You text me uh Wednesday at 7:07 and then um uh I think I got back Oh, no. I’m sorry. I apologize. You text me Tuesday at 11:22 asking if we could do Friday. I followed up with you Wednesday at 7:03 saying, “My bad, dude. That’s cool. Then yesterday, uh, you I won’t read the text, but you sent me a text at I won’t read the text. You sent me a text at 252. Now, here’s the thing. Tuesday 11:22, then the followup was at 2:52. This is the God’s honest truth. The worst times to text me are between 11 and 3 during the week because that is that is nap area. Sleepy time. That is sleepy time. So what happens is is I wake up, I’m now I don’t sleep the all four hours, but sometimes I I take a nap, right? You know, get to sleep at 11:30. Sometimes I can’t get to sleep until 2:00. But I try to take a nap. I wake up, tons of texts, I get distracted. It’s my my fault. I think we should do the whole I think we should do the whole interview we should do the whole interview about this. That way we won’t get aggregated. Um today is Doug Christiey’s birthday. Uh he turns 55. Yep. Double nickel Jason Williams. And uh we were talking earlier today about what to get Doug for his birthday if you could from a basketball standpoint. He of course has Mike Woodson. Uh he has Scott Perry. He has BJ Armstrong. uh and uh names rumored amongst others, Bobby Jackson, Darius, a few others. Nothing’s been done yet as far as I know, unless you have different information. But I is is as we talk about the Kings, is is there a legit concern that, you know, Doug will get the staff he wants and needs, whether that’s X and O veteran guys perhaps like Mike Woodson. And any any color you can give us on Mike’s background, Mike’s uh head coaching, uh him coming in, any of that would be appreciated as well. But is that really the thing now is getting getting Doug the coaching staff he he not only wants but needs? Yeah, I mean obviously with Woodson with Woody, you you had, you know, a veteran voice. He’s been out of the league for a bit, you know, was at Indiana. Um I don’t have clarity on the different relationship connected tissue there. Um, but you know, that’s a guy who’s a longtime head coach and and who’s the old head on the staff. Uh, and that’s typically some version of that is the formula when you have a more inexperienced head coach like Doug. Um, you know, the BJ Armstrong edition is fascinating. Um, you know, I I know BJ fairly well from his agent days and, you know, storied member of of those Bulls championship teams and a guy who’s been pretty prominent in the media space. um you know pretty vocal about the uh the league itself even recently you know kind of weighing in on the way the game is played and it’s funny because he and Scott have this in common where for better or worse you have you know recent stuff in the public domain where you can learn about how they see the game and how they see different players and you know BJ’s done long podcast interviews so you know pretty uh front-facing guy uh smart guy and an interesting hire there Um, the rest of the staff, I mean, yeah, the Bobby rumors, I haven’t looked into that stuff in in a several days. Uh, in full transparency, I looked into the Bobby thing four or five days ago and and essentially it was like you said, like not done, but you know, we’ll see that happens. Um, but yeah, I mean, they’re building it out and you are breaking our rule of not talking kings. You just went right down this road. I said bashing. We’re not mad. We’re just talking. Um, and when when it comes to somebody, I thought was fascinating. You had the Scott Perry thing. Uh, and and you mentioned his podcast and that was his comments on Zack Lavine. You had BJ Armstrong, who I I thought was a little bit off in his assessment of Keegan Murray, but that’s an opinion, but I loved his assessment of the team. It echoed what we’ve been saying for since the beginning of the year that it it’s like a fantasy basketball team. There’s a lot of talent on it, but it’s just a complete mish mash that doesn’t seem to fit together. Um, but I want to ask you because this is one you’re far more of an insider than I am and this is a part of the game you have a ton more insight than I do. Uh, I I saw a couple conversations amongst fans on different sites and things where when BJ Armstrong was hired as the assistant GM uh being a former agent, they looked at his client list and you know, no disrespect to any of his clients, but just not incredibly impressive. You’re not talking about a list of all stars. Is it a bit is it shortsighted when thing I I understand where they’re coming from. They want to, you know, somebody in the front office has tons of connections and tons of great players. I understand the thought process, but is it a lot deeper than just, hey, who was on this guy’s agent roster and how good were they? Uh, I mean, I would probably say both sides of that. There’s, you know, it’s fair to say if, uh, who’s a good example. I mean, like when Leon Rose got hired by the Knicks, you know, you were confident that that you were kind of opening the door to to the entire CIA uh client list, you know what I mean? He he was the top of CA when he made that move. So, somewhat fair, I think, to look at the client list, but then also BJ’s been doing it for 20 plus years. Um, it’s funny, Draymond’s in the news today. you know, BJ was Draymond’s first agent. Um, and so, you know, that’s natural part of the business where you have some guys and and then they go another direction. Um, you know, he’s a guy who’s been a prominent agent at Wasserman for a very long time and that’s a that’s a power agency in a place that uh even if his you know, certain guys weren’t on his individual personal list, you know, you’re you’re part of that group and you’re part of the team. So, I mean, I get it. Um, you know, relationship wise though, it’s a lifetime in the league and he has stayed close to people around the league. Uh, can’t pretend to know his role at Dex in intimate detail, but you know, he’s he is not somebody who just disappeared uh for 20 years after his playing career and and is is coming back. He’s been in this for a minute. So, let me let me go off the beaten path and feel free to pull me back on. So, you know, when you look at uh BJ Armstrong’s client list, you know, he had Derrick Rose, Bismac, Biombo, Larry Drew, Isaiah Collier, Josh Jackson, Pujet or former king, etc. Not not names, you know, with the exception of Rose and this was later in his career, I believe, not doesn’t jump out, but you mentioned uh and rightfully so that that BJ was part of the Wasman agency, which is a power agency in the NBA. Also, I believe is the agency that represents Damonte Sabonis. So, okay. So rather than look at this client list, is it also fair at least on the positive side? See, we’re doing positive King right now on the positive side that um that is it is it fair to say, okay, BJ Armstrong may not have, you know, Durant, LeBron, and and whoever as his his clients, but I would say I would imagine equally as important as relationship with the players, the relationship with the agency and with the agents themselves. So, when you’re maneuvering back and forth as a member of the front office that you’re calling the agents directly instead of, “Hey, Bill, it’s BJ. Nice to meet you.” It’s, “Hey, Bill, let’s go have drinks at uh, you know, your sister’s house this weekend. By the way, I need to talk to you about this guy. I’m dramatizing.” But is that far off from reality? No, no, no. I think that’s important. I mean, first of all, as a baseline commentary, and I’m not trying to disparage the position at all, but he’s an assistant. You know what I mean? Like, right. So, if you’re going to if you’re going to like have this level of scrutiny and critique for BJ getting this job, then let’s pull out the list of all the assistant GMs in the league and and see if fans have anything to say about all those different guys who are mostly anonymous when it comes to the league at large. Um, the Asian thing you’re hitting on is fair and accurate and it I think probably fits in nicely with, you know, as you remember when Scott Perry had that three-month run Yeah. with the Kings before his ability to at that time to connect with agents relating to the draft was one of the wins of his tenure because the Kings, you know, reputation at that point was so bad that you had prominent draft picks or guys that were projecting to be lottery picks, you know, not wanting to work out for Sacramento kind of, you know, treating them as a place that they were not going to prioritize. Scott had gotten some of that to uh to improve and I think BJ has the ability as well relationship wise to to connect with these agents that that he’s obviously known for a long time. Sam A joining us. Um yeah, it’s interesting when you when you look at that whole thing and what’s to come as well this summer, how it’s all set up. Now we move on to uh Wolves Warriors last night. A very positive segment. Good job. it. I thought it was I thought it was very very very positive. Uh moving on moving on to the Warriors Wolves. Uh Wolves win. Big story afterwards. Draymond Green. Uh I’m paraphrasing, but that you know upset that there’s an agenda uh portraying him as an angry black man. Now Sam, you say do what you want. I said very early on in all the times I’ve covered this, I said, “Look, I’m not touching the color part of that. I I just think it’s silly for a guy that looks like me to try to say yay or nay on what somebody who’s walked in uh shoes that I’ve never walked in can and can’t deal with. But to the other part of it, the angry man part of it, um you know, golly, it sure seems like Draymond has cultivated that that image that it is deserved. and fans, myself included, feel like Draymond Green has given more leeway with referees than anybody else in the league. From a national standpoint, from a non-biased standpoint, do you do you think that’s an accurate statement? You had cut out a tiny bit. You said more leeway than anybody else in the league. Yeah, more leeway. I feel and I think a lot of fans feel like Draymond Green has more leeway than anyone else in the league when it comes to addressing the referees. Now, is that just Kings fan uh biased opinion or or do you think that’s a fairly shared opinion nationally? I think it’s kind of ebbed and flowed. I mean, years ago there was a stretch where it did seem like because of his reputation, you know, if he breathed wrong, it was another tech. Um lately, yeah, I think it’s gone the other way. You know, I forget which game it was not too long ago when the officiating crew, you know, did a a fascinating job of like whistle gymnastics, if that makes sense. To flagrant versus technical. Yeah. Yeah. Like not get not throwing them out. Yeah. That was rock. I actually ran into a ref recently that I had a fascinating discussion with uh you know, I mean, we’ll call it on background because no names attached, but about dealing with Draymond. And I thought it was really interesting because the first thing they highlighted is is how smart he is. Um, and you know, but obviously he’s fiery as well. the the one thing if you didn’t include this context that you know you got to make sure you share on this particular situation is that I don’t you know I don’t know all the details but there you know there is the uh the accusation that he was called a racial slur by the crowd and there’s a video of him on the exercise bike trying to stay warm during the game and the logistics are not they’re just unfortunate because the bike is like 6 in from the crowd. And there, you know, there is a viral tweet going around that he was called something that uh that is going to, you know, a is completely unacceptable and unfortunate and b is going to play a part in the message he chose to share after the game. So, I don’t know that this is just a basketball discussion. It seems like it’s not. So to focus on the basketball, you know, like yeah, he’s he’s back in that bad habit of um even when the foul is on the other guy, he is like spazzing out, you know what I mean? And and that that part he can’t really argue with. Like, you know, the other night, um the details are escaping me, but it’s like you get fouled, but then it’s the extra of flailing the arm. He had a Yeah. He he had a leg flail, you know, recently that was very similar to when he kicked Stephen Adams in the crotch years ago. So like yeah, I think court stuff. I mean, my goodness, even he is the one when, you know, they won game seven against Houston, who I I thought it was fantastic. I was there and he just kind of bured his soul talking about Steve Kerr uh you know getting across to him the importance of him keeping his cool and how important he was to the team and and all that stuff like so he has been really open about you know self-monitoring all this stuff. Uh it but I think the fan component is is why it put him in a dark place understandably last night. Here’s that quote after the Rockets game. I poured it way too much last game. So I spent the last two days embarrassed. I just what I gave to the game, what I gave to the world. I was embarrassed. And so I’ve been dying since the last game ended to get out on the floor and prove who I am. One thing about this league, you’re never done proving who you are until you’re done. So I I assume that’s what you’re referring to. That’s Yeah. So, well, I mean just more a little more context real quick. That morning at shoot around and I was there like Steve Kerr and Draymond were having a conversation and I’m looking at it from 50 feet away and I’m literally telling a fellow media member like man look at how engaged Draymond is. He was just like staring into Steve’s eyes listening to every word that came out of his mouth. So, they really and we learned later they had connected on a pretty deep level about that topic. Um, so yeah, you know, it’s unfortunate to go from that moment of self-standing and positivity uh to what happened last night. Sam Amit joining us from the athletic. It’s very interesting to go even deeper into that too, you know, because there is the basketball side and I think he’s cultivated that. I think he’s a borderline, if not completely dirty player at times and has cultivated that image. He’s also uh the image of on the court. Uh he’s also won multiple championships. He’s part of the glue that holds that that dynasty together. He’s incredibly intelligent player. But then there’s the other side like you you alluded to the the possible slur being dropped from uh the fan base uh while he was on the bike. The things on social media and god knows where else by the way. Oh, thank God. And should never and should not be let back in. Um and it’s it’s interesting because you’re going to have people hear that and say, “Dude, that’s like four people. What are you talking about?” Or whatever. And I will never know what it’s like to be called a racial slur. and neither will you. Um, but I’m just trying to think of something certainly not comparable, but that would trigger me. If somebody said something about my kids, um, I would be instantly triggered. And it doesn’t matter if it’s five people or it’s 5,000 people. It’s below the belt. There’s no there’s no room for it. And we don’t see it’s an interesting position. And I know a lot of people, including myself, want to not stand in front of Draymond Green because of our basketball feelings, but from a human point of view, like a lot of times, and you’ve heard stories about this, Sam, far more than I, but I’ve heard stories about the things that they see, the things they deal with, the things that we don’t know about that that get put in front of them, whether it’s live or whether it’s on the internet or sent to their house or yelled at them from a car. And if they talk about it and publicize it, so many times they’re looked at as complainers or they’re soft or they’re sensitive or you get paid millions of dollars to play a kids game. What are you doing? If they don’t, who can blame these people as human beings for seething on it and having it come out at different moments? So, it is a very interesting other side you do bring up to that. And as I said, it’s it it’d be silly for me to opine against what he’s saying because I haven’t walked in his shoes, but it’s certainly a lot deeper than basketball on the floor, obviously. No, I mean, I that’s all well said. I mean, I’ll add a little bit of a macro backdrop and this is a pet peeve of mine in these playoffs. I’m going to come off like I’m, you know, 77, not 47, but um I’m really tired of hearing the fans yell fu insert game here. Yeah. and it’s my it’s the only part of the playoffs that I’ve just not enjoyed. Um, you know, I’m I mean I’m not G-rated. Uh, but like that stuff and that energy sucks, you know. And it’s funny when I was in OKC, um, you know, credit, not to go down this road, like the Bible belt or whatever you want to call it, I was like, at least like that that crowd is it’s, you know, they they’re they’re literally chanting free throw merchant at Nicola Yogen, which I thought was hilarious. Like, yeah, let’s do more of that. Yes. Um and and but if you’re Draymond and now as time has marched on, yeah, you have this reputation, but now you also have like not only kids, but you have kids that are old enough to hear all this stuff. Like the guy’s got a family. Um where you know the part of me that does empathize as a dad is like even though part of it like damn like if if 18,000 people were chanting f you Sam, you know, right? um like that that’s part of the energy that he receives all the time. And then just generally speaking, yeah, and maybe some of it deserved, but I don’t think on that, you know, level. Um these playoff games, Dave, like d I forgot how intense they are. And I mean, like, so I sat in OKC. It was it was so much fun. I got a good seat. U you know, media a lot of times. Sometimes it’s the top of the lower concourse, sometimes it’s in the corner. OKC has a handful of seats that if you get lucky, and I wrote about this, like you can sit literally like the old days in Sacramento, you know, courtside. Yeah. And so, as much fun as it was to watch the game from that space, it was also this reminder of the incredible intensity. So, if you, you know, the other night it was positive. It was just a basketball game and and I enjoyed it, but I’ve had times in the past, not to make it about me, like I got into it with a fan one time probably a decade ago where I was on deadline trying to do my thing. This person figured out that I was based somewhat in the bay and they turned me, they basically started yelling at me like I was a Warriors fan. Wow. And and like literally now we’re like nose tonose courtside where like this happened and the intensity is the thing that sticks with me. Um because these players are trying to do their jobs and then obviously at different times getting triggered by inappropriate things that are getting thrown their way. I think there’s a billion ways to get at a player, especially we had a as we uh we got to sign off here, but we had one of our listeners um that was chanting at Draymond Green uh at the the uh playin game last year. He was chanting repeatedly turkey sausage at Draymond Green. And the thought behind that when we asked him was that Draymond orders a uh a breakfast sandwich usually three, four times a week from a a little takeaway place uh in the Bay. And this guy happened to know the takeaway place. And the lady that makes the sandwiches there said Draymond would call and order and then he’d be late to pick them up. So he would always take away these cold turkey sausage sandwiches. And so this guy was chanting turkey sausage and getting to Draymond because who the hell is going to know that type of reference. I’m here for that. I’m here for chanting turkey sausage at Draymond Green when nobody knows what the hell you’re talking about. But when you start saying f you or you know your kids or your family or god forbid something racial or it’s that’s getting clever. You know what I came up with? I think if you you pick your least favorite player, find out what shows they’re binging, and then scream like spoiler alerts during the game. He was alive. He was dead the whole time. We might have to do that for the first Warriors game. That’s awesome. Good job, S. More clever people. That look what a wonderful insightful de depthfilled creative actually that might cause a fist fight in the stands. Hey, I’m watching that too. Just the whole segment on the first day of the American Pope and look what we did. Positivity, baby. Shy Town, stand up. That’s right. Appreciate you, brother. Have a great weekend. I’ll do better on the text line and we’ll talk to you soon. the text line. That’s all I gota I’m part of the text line. Our text line now. Our personal text line. Say hi to the family. All right. Thanks, buddy. Bye. That’s Sam A of The Athletic. We’re way late for a break. When we come back, what to watch. Uh we’re going to go streaking. We’re going to do celebrity birthdays. Jason Ross is going to join us. Friday fun and game shortly thereafter. We’re at the fun part of the show. Don’t go away. We’re right back. You never know what you might hear when listening.

On this Friday edition of The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross, The Athletic’s Sam Amick joined the show to discuss how the Sacramento Kings (front office and coaching) staff is being shaped up.

And, of course, they also dive into the NBA postseason as a whole, including Draymond Green’s interesting night and postgame comments.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and subscribe!

#nba #sacramentokings #kingsnba #nba #nbaplayoffs #draymondgreen #draymond

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