Kings officially lose 2025 first round pick, Doug Christie builds coaching staff

Kings officially lose 2025 first round pick, Doug Christie builds coaching staff

[Music] Welcome to the Kings Beat podcast. I’m James Hammy, Kings and Side for ESPN 1320 and the Kings Beat. Uh we are of course a Blue Wire podcast brought to you by Underdog Fantasy Sports. Uh again, we are joined by KCI3s, Sean Cunningham. What’s going on? Hi. Oh, nothing much. Uh, I’m literally counting the days down to my yearly annual music festival that becomes my favorite thing in the world. Um, bottle rock in Napa. Be there all three days. I cannot cannot cannot wait. And I feel it’s like senoritis maybe a little bit because, you know, summer is kind of here. I think we’re going to have triple digits in like 10 days, something like that. Oh, no. Yeah. I can’t wait. Right as it gets to triple digits, that’s when I head to Napa for the festival. That sounds gross. Um, of course, bad there. We are also joined by Brendan Nudes from the Kings Poles podcast. Brendan, how are you? I am doing well. Nothing all too special on my end. You know, enjoyed a fun, hectic day of basketball yesterday, I guess. Um, still get a little bit of the juices flowing with the draft lottery and Celtics unfortunate situation with Tatum at the end there. I think has potential dominoes leaguewide on what could sort of happen with their team and so nothing too crazy. Back home from SoCal. Have been for a little while and enjoying offseason a little bit I guess for the moment. Can I just say you look like you’ve aged like three maybe four years. The hair is growing a little. We’re we’re trying something new. We’re at like the weird in between still. I don’t know what to do with it, but I just know I’m letting it grow. It just hit me. You know what he looks like? He looks like m Mr. Beast. That’s crazy. He looks like Mr. Beast. What is Mr. Beast? Mr. Beast is a dude who gives money away on the internet all the time. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, I know that. I will not be giving money away. He was at All-Star. Yes, he’s at Allar. But the way So I don’t know a damn thing about wrestling these days. I mean, I’ll hear a couple names and of course if The Rock po popped up or John Cena or something like that, I’d know who they are, but I thought the you were talking about like a wrestler. No, not talking about a wrestler. I don’t think I have that look. No, not at all. Not at all. Uh, all right. Welcome in. Uh, we are doing a live show here. Um, we also, just so you know, it’s game on. Like, it’s it’s it’s time to have a drink. Uh, we are in the offseason. Oh. Oh, podcast candles. See, I’ve matched your podcast. Oh, wow. Did you see Did you see the message on Brendan’s uh candle? We’ve been over this. We’ve been over this. Have we? This is my podcast candle. Didn’t somebody give you that? Yes. A Kings Beat fan. Yeah, we could say that. All right. Or just a a Brennan Nunez fan that knew you had a podcast. Yeah. I didn’t get the gift. No, you didn’t do something that deserve it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year long. Clark Brandon has no idea that jelly month of the month club. I did finish Severance, by the way, and that was so ridiculously good. I would not give spoilers, but I love stuff like that that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I was all about it. Oh, do you? And I think I’m gonna watch White Lotus. There you go. All three. Have you watched any? No. Oh my goodness. Well, like for for those that watch White Lotus, I’m not going to give away any spoilers, but the fact that that Gary Greg Hold on, careful. I I already know what you’re going down. You’re about to You’re like, I’m not going to do this, but I’m going to do this. No, no. That Gary Greg, does everyone know if you’ve watched White Lotus is Uncle Rico? Yeah, that is crazy. That is crazy. Uncle Rico. Yeah. Um, you know who Uncle Rico is? Yeah. Throw a ball over those mountains. Yeah. Okay. Well, he does not look like Uncle Rico anymore. Uh, certainly doesn’t have the hair that Uncle Rico had. Do you like that movie? Napoleon Dynamite. Yeah. I I thoroughly enjoyed it the first time. Uh maybe maybe twice. It’s got some great oneliners that I repeat all the time. Like get your own thoughts, Todd. Um yeah, good part. Sean clearly does not like the movie. It’s not that I don’t like it. I think it gets a lot of uh a claim for just being okay. I think I don’t I don’t know. Well, I liked it. I I liked I I like the premise. It was odd. It was very odd to me. Of course, it’s odd. Yeah. But you’re you’re somebody who keeps telling everybody to watch Licorice Pizza, which literally is like Thomas Anderson, what are you talking about? Now, look, I will say like it wasn’t quite like Wes Anderson odd. And I know that’s an acquired taste by a lot of people, but for me it almost kind of feels like a a similar kind of dynamic there because I don’t like all of Wes Anderson movies, but um he’s brilliant, obviously. So, but it’s a little bit of an acquired taste, I guess. All right. Um well, let’s just get to the the business side. Um thanks for tuning in to the King Speed podcast. Uh we have squandered um 5 minutes and 18 seconds of your time just talking about absolutely nothing which is typical for us. Uh usually we drag this out for like 7 to 9 minutes before we we actually jump into the show. Uh jump on board with the king’s feet. If you’re watching here on YouTube, give us a thumbs up if you don’t mind. That’d be greatly appreciated. Uh subscribe to the channel. Uh do all that stuff. Uh jump on board of the Kingspeed. Go to the kingspeed.com. Become a subscriber. become a premium subscriber. We will do an author record with the Kingp virtual happy hour or a regular happy hour or a meet and greet in the coming weeks. We just got to get through like this weird little stretch. Um because I’ve got a lot of stuff going on. I I have a I have a birthday to celebrate this week and then next week. And it’s kind of a kind of a big birthday. So, I’ve been keeping it lowkey, but uh yeah, it’s one of those deals. So, a little bit busy. And I’ve said this before, but my wife and I share the same birthday. So, we both have May May 15th birthday. So, yeah, I I can’t forget. Also, the cool thing is that people who bring your wife gifts, they have to bring you a gift, too. So, I Yeah, it works out. Um, anyway, we will definitely uh figure out a time to get together in the very very near future. Uh, we also I I did design a new king. Well, I did not careful with that tilt. Get that pan down. Yeah, there we go. Uh, our guy, uh, Jim over at Brick House Industries, of course, came up with the new hoodie. If you’re interested in new hoodie, just, uh, send me a message and I’ll and I’ll send out a link to the um to the Shopify um thing. I don’t know, whatever it is, the the store. Um, cool. Let’s get into it. Um, we got a a bunch of crazy stuff going on with the uh Sacramento Kings. Uh, for it being the offseason, it’s been relatively busy. Um, we did have a player workout last week, which Sean went to. Um, we also had, uh, Doug Christie officially announced since the last time we had a podcast. Uh, we also had, let’s see, on top of that, we had Mike Woodson named as the associate head coach. And lastly, we had the Kings lose their 2025 uh draft pick, first round pick um as part of the Kevin Herder trade uh because they did not move up in the uh the NBA draft lottery yesterday. Um the NBA draft lottery. Yep. Go ahead. And an assistant general manager. Oh, and an assistant general manager, BJ Armstrong. No, good catch. Been here in a while. Yeah. Yeah, that we do have a lot of stuff to talk about. Um, the one thing I was going to bring up before we jump into all the other crazy stuff and sort of our thoughts on um, the Kings building out their coaching staff, building out their front office and all that stuff. Um, did you guys see the Zack Low uh, like statement that the Kings missed um, the top pick by one number again? Yeah, I did not. What was the other time this happened? Cade the Cade draft maybe? No, it’s Wimyama. Oh, I’m pretty sure. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was two years ago. Um I believe they had a lottery. No, they didn’t have a lottery pick in that year. Uh that’s the year they made the playoffs. Um so it was year It was a year before that. So am I but I didn’t see that statement, so I’m glad you mentioned it. But so am I to take that information and say that the Kings were closer to the first round pick than either the Jazz or the Washington Wizards or the potential? Well, I guess I put the Hornets aside, but is is that what that’s to be uh I believe they all had equal odds except the Jazz with how the first three balls had played out because there’s four four balls that are pulled for each selection. They go in correct order from first to last and the first three combination numbers left it where there were multiple instances where it could be the Jazz and then one instance of a handful of other teams where Sacramento was one. Gotcha. So, even being one number off, it doesn’t necessarily change the Okay, I think I know what you said. Yeah, I get it. Yes. Meaning, if they would have everything would have stayed the same, the only thing that would have changed would have been Kings in number one and the Mavericks out. Yeah. Yes. The Mavericks would have been the 11th pick. And this doesn’t have anything to do with um with the way the the whole like end of the season worked out with standings. So again, I know this is going to be a point of contention for a bunch of Kings fans, uh, because I see it online all the time. The Kings went for a win on the last game of the season. That win put them at 40 wins. If they would have sat at 39 wins, they would have tied with the Bulls and the Mavs. And then it would have been a couple of coin flips to see who got the 11th, the 12th, and the 13th pick. And it is possible, like weirdly possible that the Kings could have moved up um and could have been the 11th spot and then could have actually been the the one that that moved into the number one spot. But again, that’s could have, should have, would have. Who knows? Like everything changes. It’s like the butterfly effect. And even like I I hate to say this like there’s a possibility that the the coin toss could have gone like um like the Bulls, the Kings and the Mavericks and the Mavericks being the 13th pick and the the Kings being the 12th pick and everyone would have been excited because they got to keep their pick and then somehow the Mavericks could have jumped all the way to number one from number 13 and pushed the Kings back to the 13 spot where they would have lost their pick again. So, like there’s a bunch of ways that that could have gone really well for the Kings, but also really poorly. And so, at the end of the day, you try to win basketball games. That’s always been my Yeah, it’s it’s so funny how much attention gets put on whether or not to tank, improve your odds at the number one pick, percentages, ping pong balls. It it there’s so much that’s out of your control as we lose Brendan Nunees, who has hopped out of this our podcast for a moment. Yeah. Yeah. Where did Brandon go? I don’t know. Um, but there’s so much that’s so that’s beyond your control. And it and and it also reminds me too. It’s like how many times, James, you probably get this. You know, you talk to people, what do you think happens in the lottery? H how is anyone supposed to answer that question? It is something that’s beyond your control. It’s not even in the team’s control. Like, I can understand if someone comes up to you, hey, who do you think wins in the Pacers Cavaliers series? And you might be able to pontificate on a prediction there, but how do you predict something that is completely out of anyone’s control other than your win loss record contributing to your percentage in possibly winning the lottery. So I I I I you just you just play the games, right? You just play the games. You do what you do. And and look, I think there’s in my mind it I think I had tweeted something. I mean, the worst the team with the worst record never wins the first never wins the lottery. Yeah, Brendan, I I’m gonna hit you with this, Brendan. Um, welcome back since you Yeah, Wi-Fi didn’t like me. Just got angry and left us. Um, I I kind of feel like the basketball gods I I don’t I don’t like that it’s Dallas that moved up, but I do like that the Hornets, who I think the Hornets didn’t tank. They’re just really bad. So, like that I’m okay with them being four. Um, but I really like that Utah and and Washington and even the Pelicans are like 567. Like to me that’s that’s like I don’t want to say it’s like karmic justice, but um to me it’s a pretty big like I prefer that they they didn’t move up in the draft because especially the Jazz. I what the Jazz did was just gross. It’s just egregious like tanking every game possible. So where are you at on this Brendan? Yeah, I mean I don’t have extremely strong opinions on on tanking in general. If anything, I tend to side more on I I think there’s a reason that some of these teams do it. And it’s kind of unfortunate in my mind for Charlotte, Utah, Washington, all who had tied for the best odds with 14% to sit there 456 because now I feel like next question is how long are these teams going to be bad for or where do they go from here? you know, like it’s it’s obviously helpful for Dallas, San Antonio, but I think those teams already had a little bit of a direction. I guess Dallas, you could say, had more questions after a insane season than ended with Kyrie getting injured towards the end there. I think actually in Sacramento or against Sacramento, if I’m remembering that correctly. Um, but those teams kind of got screwed in this whole process, you know, and um, I think there’s a top three that people like in the draft, which take that for what you will. Those things always end up having some sort of flaws obviously, but I just kind of felt bad for Charlotte, Utah, and Washington really. Like I don’t know how long this process is going to take for some of these teams. And to Sean’s point about, you know, maybe tanking not working or something along those lines you were kind of just saying, um, I I think about the new draft law draft lottery odds specifically like Atlanta jumped up last year. Um, and sort of the effects that we’re continuing to see of these new odds that are are so much so leveled out. Do you guys have any thoughts though on the the idea of, you know, everybody’s now saying, “Oh, this is rigged and you can go to every time somebody trades a star to LA, the Chris Paul and the New Orleans gets a pick. Uh, New Orleans trades AD, they get a pick. This Luca thing, I personally probably choose to just not even acknowledge much of it if it is rigged. As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather not even know and because it would take away a lot from me. So, I just don’t even personally give it much thought because I don’t think we’ll ever know and I’d rather choose to believe that it’s not even if that’s a question, I guess. Where are you guys stand? I haven’t been around it longer. I think it’s interesting that um like this is always going to be discussed because you know it goes all the way back to the first lottery when Patrick Ewing went to the New York Knicks and there’s this conspiracy theory about a frozen envelope because it literally ended up being like there are like 12 envelopes or whatever it was at that time and somebody randomly chose an envelope and whoever was in that envelope got the first pick in the draft and that of was a huge draft because Patrick Ewing was everything. He was the talk of college basketball at Georgetown, just a superstar. Everyone knew he was going to be great. And he goes number one to the Knicks, which just ends up being like this huge thing. And there’s again the there’s a the conspiracy theory of the frozen envelope. I think it’s really interesting that uh what is it? Rick Weltz is um he was the Warriors CEO or or you know like whatever like the business side for like a decade and he stepped aside. He just took the job with Dallas in in January um before the Luca trade and so he’s actually there in Dallas now. He was the one who actually ran the draft for the for the NBA in 1985, which has always been the conspiracy theorist draft. And now we have another conspiracy theorist draft in 2025, literally 40 years later, where he’s there and somehow gets the number one pick. But outside of that, like look, I I think it’s just a lottery. Like it’s it’s a giant wall of numbers. And uh does it help the NBA that uh Cooper Flag is going to a major market that um is ready made for him to drop in and be really good and he’s not going to go win 13 games a year or 14 games a year for the first two years and maybe get wasted as a talent? Yeah, it helps the NBA. Um but I also think rebuilding teams helps too. Victor Wmanyama went to San Antonio the year before, you know, I mean two years before. It’s just a I don’t know. It’s it’s one of those things. Look, I’m not going to say that the NBA lottery system has never been rigged. I don’t think that’s the conversation, but I think the league has made great strides in being transparent and making great efforts to make it to where it can’t be rigged. And this is a multibillion dollar entity that is the NBA teams. uh and having in having integrity and having um uh having everything on the up and up is highly necessary for the success long-term success of the league. Um you have to be credible and this having a representative from every team to watch how the process goes. You’ve got media that’s able to watch how the process goes and they stay sequestered in a room and then that envelope and all those things go into um those envelopes go into a room where now the general public sees but those people still remain sequestered. They all get to view it and uh I’ve never been one of those people. Um, but I know very many people that have and it’s I think it’s impossible to do at this stage in life or nearly imposs impossible to do. Uh, back in the day when frozen envelopes I there might be something there, but I think that’s why we we have the system that we do now at this point. I think they should air the actual pulling of the numbers. Like I don’t know if you guys caught the hockey lottery at all, but I thought that was super well done. as they’re pulling numbers, they’re putting live numbers up of what the likelihoods are based on the first couple shown and they put it on YouTube after, but I would say just air it live. I don’t know that. I mean, if you’ve ever watched it, it’s not the most entertaining. It’s not, but I think it’s kind of confusing. I mean, the way the sequences go, it’s a little confusing for the average person. I think I mean, I don’t know. I’m fine with the way it is. Yeah. I think it’s interesting. And I’ll say this, like there is a way for them still to cheat. Like they can weight the ping-pong balls differently and and so basically, you know, make it so the heavier uh or lighter balls will go into the hopper. Um and so you could potentially change the outcome. Excuse me. Cough button. was I couldn’t get to the the pause with the the mute button. But at the same time, um like look, I think it’s it would be extremely complicated to come up with a six-digit number that actually changed the outcome of the draft. And I maybe maybe we are being naive, but at the same time, like there are journalists in the room like I know Zacklo uh like I think he was there. I I do know like Jake Fischer was there in the room. So, I think that there are people who are overseeing and making sure that at least from the outside it looks legit. Um, and it’s just random, you know, like realistically it’s just a random generator and like somebody got lucky. Now, I it does look fishy. I’m going to say that. And it looks strange. I think it looks really strange that the Spurs are number two and I think it looks really really strange that Philadelphia is number three. especially if if Philadelphia fell out of the top six, they lost their pick to OKC, right? Um, so yeah, so it’s it’s it’s uh it is what it is. You know, at the end of the day, this is we just have to forge forward because Cooper Flag is now going to the Dallas Mavericks. I think the biggest uh conversation that we can have about that is that the Dallas Mavericks just got way better. the San Antonio Spurs have potential to get way better because the top, you know, picks number two and three. Um, both Ruters guys, there’s a, you know, combo guard and a point guard/shooting guard and a really nice small forward both at that that two-3 spot. I think like San Antonio might be looking at themselves a little funny at this point and wondering what exactly is their uh their move is because um if you’re the second pick and the second pick ends up being a a point guard and you have Stefon Castle and you have Dear Fox that you may or may not want to pay. Um that is a really interesting situation. I think a lot of people instantly jump to the hey look you can go and and sign I mean trade the the number two pick and maybe come away with a Kevin Durant maybe come away with a Giannis Antumbo maybe you know like go get a superstar to go with your already developing team but I also look at that team and go there’s also a possibility that you could build a really really high-end uh young team around Castle and Wimyama and Vel and, you know, the number two pick in this year’s draft. And so I I think it’s going to be intriguing and and I also I if I’m the Spurs, I’m I’m not just like going out and handing De’Arren Fox a massive contract this summer um without at least having some conversations about some other moves that I might make, including the potential to trade De’arren Fox to go get one of those players, maybe with the number two pick to potentially go get a superstar. So, I I think it’s interesting um that that the way the lottery fell really kind of adds a new wrinkle for, you know, a guy that was here in Sacramento for eight years, seven and a half years. Yeah. And I mean, I think the West in general just comes away looking even stronger from all this. Obviously, Dallas, San Antonio, like you just mentioned, but also the East teams didn’t get much better. We two of those top three um were Eastern Conference teams that ended up falling. Obviously, Charlotte 4, Washington there at six. Um, there’s the Giannis conversation. Is he going to come to the West Coast? Is Trey going to come to the West? And just, you know, year after year, it seems like the West Coast is getting deeper, more competitive, and it’s going to be really hard to keep up for a team like the Kings that are kind of floating in the middle right now, trying to establish a new identity, whatever that may mean in year one. Yeah. Um, let’s get to the other aspect of this with with all these teams moving up. Uh the Kings did not and that of course means that their pick goes to the Atlanta Hawks to complete the Kevin Herder trade. Um we can get into whether the Kevin Herder trade looks as looks successful or not. Um you know like after the the general conversation, but um for me this is I I don’t know if it’s a horrible thing. you know, the Kings now, like on July 1st, they get access to every pick from 2026 until 2032. And when you add in that they have the the Spurs 2027 unprotected pick, the the Minnesota Timberwolves 2031 unprotected pick, the Kings actually walk into the the true offseason, not the draft, but you know, July 1st, the calendar reset for the NBA with nine future first round draft picks. Um, and I I kind of feel like this is a moment where you know what you have and and Scott Perry gets a he doesn’t get to draft someone this year in the first round unless he makes a trade, but he does have like a refresh button where now everything all the cupboard is stocked, right? Your second round pick status is a little weird. When the Kings gave up the pick uh to Atlanta, that did mean that they got back their 26 and 27 second round picks. So now they at least have a 25, 26, 27 second round pick. They have a 32 second round pick, but their 28, 29, 30, and 31 second round picks are all gone. And the only draft pick that they have that has any sort of incumbrance is the 2031, which is a pick swap with the Spurs. And sure, the Spurs could be great by then. Spurs, the Spurs could also be bad by then. We don’t know. Like that’s that’s plenty enough time for Victor Womenyama to not want to be in San Antonio anymore and force his way out for you know some of the other players they have to either work out or not work out. I’m not convinced that that’s like the biggest deal of all time. It would have been nice to get that back in the Fox trade but where are you guys at with that? The idea that like Scott Scott Perry now has like a clean slate to work with. I mean technically so did Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox once they I mean no one was like 3.8% chance and I know obviously the Mavs just won the lottery but I think they were already operating as if things are they’re not going to have a pick and they’re moving forward. So absolutely to your point Scott Perry takes over he gets he gets the cupboard’s full he’s got options for sure. um to say that it’s not a bad thing I agree with. But it’s also the reality is they they they traded the pick. you don’t have those those handlebars on on yourself going forward, you know, and it it we’ve talked about this before, James, where even when they made that pick swap deal way back when, um to me, it’s almost I I almost feel like it’s better just to rip the band-aid off in a lot of different situations as opposed to be kind of have those handlebars as you go forward because it really kind of prevents total fluidity and being able to accomplish a move that you might want to do. So, um, yeah, I I I think it’s fine. I mean, certainly like you can argue whether or not you make those type of moves. Um, if it’s good for your organization going forward, if it’s bad for your organization going forward, obviously they felt that a a first round pick was of value for Kevin Herder. Um, and they they wanted the player uh to put them in a position to be able to compete. And I know you said you’d get to that point later, so I almost jumped the gun, but my point is is I I I think people had already been at peace with not having a pick this year. And to be honest, like if anyone wasn’t, like I just don’t see anyone I just don’t think it’s the the the end all beall. Um I I would also argue that short of making a trade, which you can still go out and do, um because again, you have the cabinets full. Um, I don’t see how a draft pick slated right around the 13th where they are. Um, let’s just say they did get in and, you know, had their pick, didn’t have these restrictions. I don’t see that type of player really helping this Kings team next year based on where they’re currently at. Um, certainly there are exceptions. I mean, you look last year and just people that were taken right around uh that number, you’ve got you’ve have success stories, but I think it’s more likely than not that that player wouldn’t necessarily fit this type of uh play right away um situation that the Kings are in right now. Yeah, I think that depends obviously on like what the Kings are trying to do in the near future as well. Um but freeing up those assets certainly is is not a bad thing. I think the better outcome obviously would have been jumping into the top four. Um, but I I think that they have a clean slate clean slate draft assetwise, but there is still a lot of contracts that kind of need to be worked out on this team and and top end players where it’s like, all right, we don’t really know about the fit of all this based on how last year played out. Like you mentioned that 2031 swap that’s owed to the Spurs. That’s from the Demar Rosen deal. And, you know, there’s a world where they did that for a one-year rental of Demard Rosen really if he ends up getting moved this off season. So I think it’s good to have those assets especially considering that it feels like there are moves that need to be done and maybe it’s not as simple as hey you know what can we get for Demard Rozen it’s can we add something to demar roan potentially and try to go go and uh work that way so some flexibility in that way to throw in sweeteners but I still think there’s a lot of questions that need to be sorted out on the top of this roster. Yeah. Oh yeah yeah I mean I think there are so many questions with this roster. I mean, they don’t have a point guard and and realistically, if they’re moving forward with a with Demar De Rozan as their starting small forward, I I think that’s a huge issue as well. So, I mean, for me, right, as of right now, they need either a another starting power forward or small forward and being able to move Keegan Murray. And then on top of that, they need a point guard like just straight up. So, um, yeah, like I I I don’t want to like rehash all of that’s happened this year because it feels like we always get into that, but um I do think it’s a good thing because look like as of as of right now, like when you know what you have to work with, right? And like look, the Kings, Monty McNair, West Wilcox, they were reluctant to give up an unprotected pick in like the Cam Johnson deal. They were willing to make trade a trade with the Nets, but they weren’t willing to give up two first round picks and they were also very leerary on giving up an unprotected first round pick. Now, the Kings actually they have like seven years of their own picks, but the two picks that they do own are unprotected. And so those picks you don’t look at in the same way. Maybe you do, but there’s a way in which the Kings could go trade three first round picks, which if you’re giving up three first round picks, and you could even do three unprotected first round picks, that is massive. That’s a lot. That’s a lot to go get a a star level player. Two of those picks could not even be yours. you could just give up one of your own picks to and go out there and try to, you know, rebuild your roster with a massive massive trade opportunity. Uh oh. Saw it too, Sean. Oh, somebody sayy said little kid with a fake beard. And Sean also said my beard looks fake before we pressed record. I I do think he looks like Mr. Beast. I’m just going to keep saying it. Yeah, you might change my look with that comment. We’ll see why it is. I don’t know why it is that you like just today you got to look the long hair underneath the hat. It’s hilarious. So I mean wheezy wheezy80 got he was the Come on. That’s fantastic. Yeah. Whezzy works for us at ESPN 1320. So Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So um so there is a way the Kings could really really improve this summer. My problem is that they have to make probably two moves in order to do that. And I don’t know that they have the assets to fully make two moves. And so you don’t think so? I mean, maybe, but I I mean, I’m not I’m not really giving up everything in my in my cupboard to go make two moves unless there’s some really good stuff out there. I think what and James you know this stuff better than me but uh I I think in addition to having that draft capital having the exceptions that they that they were able to pick up I mean they have four four trade exceptions one is massive 16.8 eight. I can break it down really quick. Please do. So, the Kings, they do they have four trade exceptions. Um, well, I think realistically they have three. Uh, there’s two small ones or or three small ones. Like Da’Von Mitchell’s trade exception is like 500,000 bucks because that’s what they gave up. They gave up his player salary for uh Jaylen McDaniels. Am I Which McDaniels did the Kings get? Yeah, Jaylen. Okay. No. Well, well, not only that, but they gave up a second round pick to give him away. We don’t need to rehash that ridiculously stupid move. That was one of the stupidest moves I’ve ever seen in the NBA. Like, James, your blood pressure. Like, seriously, why are you just like Come on. Come on. You just you’re falling into your own trap. I just like I don’t understand like the incompetence of that trade. Like, like I don’t care what Wes Will Cox or anyone else wants to say. That was with the stupidest trade I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Like it’s a $4 million salary. Okay. Okay. Come on. Worst case scenario, stretch provision the thing. Just break it up to three. Okay. Let me get back to um focus, James. Focus. Yeah. Let’s get Let’s get James. Let’s get Look how red you just turned. Just get rattled just like angry like Yeah. I I get angry because like the the problems that they made were so self-created. I just so stupid. Okay, back to the exceptions. the exceptions, right? So, they have a $6.3 million trade exception for Sasha Vzenov. The problem is that expires on 628. So, if they’re going to make a move on draft night like either to take their second round pick like so, let me just give you a scenario. If they go out and they they look around and there’s someone who’s dangling a five or $6 million player, they could give up a second round pick and take on that contract with no problems using Sasha Visenkov’s trade exception and not give up anything, right? Then on top of that, they have other they have a $5.8 million trade exception for Chris Dwarte. Now, Dwarte was traded after the calendar year shifted, the NBA calendar year. So, as of it’s good until July 8th. So, that’s actually a really interesting trade exception as well. And then the third massive trade exception is Kevin Hurders. and Kevin Herder, the the Kings in the De’arren Fox deal, they were able to work it out where Fox goes to San Antonio, the Kings get um get Zack Lavine, and then however Oh, and Zack Collins went that’s who went to uh Trey Jones. Yeah, Chicago, right? And Trey Jones. Well, the Kings were able to get a full trade exception at 16.8 million for Kevin Herder’s trade. So, and the other thing is that trade exception is good all the way until right before the trade deadline. So, they can use that at any time. And the the crazy thing about trade exceptions is if as long as you haven’t done something silly or incompetent like hard cap yourself by trading for a player that has to be signed and trade when you’re over the luxury over the the salary cap. Then you can add a player. You can be at the luxury tax and then go add a 1617 million player. Well, it caps at 16.8. whatever the luxury whatever the the uh the exception is is the maximum dollar you can take back. You can’t combine them. You can’t you can you can add them to a trade and make a larger trade that somehow creates a another exception, but they can go trade for a $16 million player in January or December and take that salary back without having technically to give anything out. And so it really does work in the uh in the King’s favor. So they have some assets there that and they they also have 4.7, right? That Bobby Marks had a 4.7 uh exception. Um it’s possible they have a 4.7 and that could if they have a 4.7 that is the Jaylen McDaniels. Um uh so they got the 16.8 8 uh 6.3, 5.9, 4.7. So, four total trade exceptions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and then they’ve got some smaller ones as well. Well, yeah. They got the the veteran minimum, the second round, the bannual, and the non- tax mid-level. Well, they have the the bianual, which is a little I think it’s going to be over 5 million this year, and then the mid level is, I think, up to 14 million this year. and those now can be used to to uh acquire players via trade. Now, Secure Nagley here in the chat, he says the same thing that uh our friend Rory used to say all the time and RIP Rory uh that um VC isn’t going to go into the salary cap into the luxury tax. There is a a possibility that they’ll go into the luxury tax, but like the team has to be good. They gota be good. They haven’t been good enough. Well, they were good enough at 48 wins that they could have gone in the luxury tax at the trade deadline there. And they were good enough the next year where you’re like, “Okay, turn red again.” No. Could you find a better piece and upgrade your roster and and get back into more of a playoff contention uh in year two? I mean, it just depends what ownership’s definition of good enough is. Right. Right. Right. Well, yeah. I I mean their part of their definition is Zack Lavine is good enough. So I I don’t know that we should be respecting their decision- making at all at this point. But just saying argue that mic drop right there, right? James is he’s saucy tonight, man. Sorry. That’s what happens. You got the wine in there. He turns red. He gets going. I haven’t even like I’m not even the half glass head. God, look how big that that glass is. Big glass of wine. Yep. I made spaghetti tonight. I’m not getting to eat that spaghetti. It’s sitting in the other room, but I I needed to crack open a nice bottle of red to go with it. You know, I could probably go the rest of my life without having spaghetti again. Really? Yeah, man. When I was a kid, like that’s that welfare food that they you know, you just eat that a lot because it’s cheap and they, you know, I just couldn’t couldn’t do it. When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot of money either. And so I would never touch baloney ever again. And on top of that, um I couldn’t eat like drumsticks and and um like I I couldn’t eat just chicken for a long time cuz that’s all we ate. We ate that and like hamburger patties with macaroni and cheese. Yeah. So being poor socks all the time. That was me. Poor kids. Yeah. Yeah. Um anyway, now we have the the exceptions broken down at least a little bit. The kings so people understand trade exceptions. They’re good for one year from the date of the the original trade. And it it’s basically what makes a trade a simultaneous trade or non-simultaneous trade. If the trade ends and there are no exceptions, then it’s a non-simultaneous trade. No, then it’s a simultaneous trade. If there are exceptions, which we’ve talked about in the past, which are like coupons, right, that you can go use for players down the road, then it’s a a non-simultaneous trade. Um, which leads us to the discussion about Kevin Herurder because to be honest with you, we can sit here and complain about like how bad Kevin Herurder played in year two and and then how bad he was for the six the half a season he was here in Sacramento last year, but the the Herder trade in a way like it hurts a little bit because you just lost a draft pick, but you also have this trade exception. So on his way out the door, he he can be a gift, right, that you can you can go out and cash in this massive coupon um at any time between now and like, you know, February 7th or whatever, 6, whatever the trade deadline is this year. So I I I don’t know that the Kevin Herder trade was a bad trade. I I just I don’t feel that way because he helped you win 48 games. He was the third leading scorer on the the original Beam team. And you know, the fact that he lost his way in year two and year three. Yeah, it’s a bummer. But you also, you gambled on a 24 year old starting level shooting guard, a 6’7 shooting guard, and he played really well in year one. Like, where are you guys at with the Kevin Herder trade when you look at the totality of it? It cost you a first round pick, but at the same time, what you gave up initially was was nothing. It was players that you weren’t going to keep. I think it was Mo Harkas and Justin Holiday, maybe. Yeah, I think that’s what it was. um something like that. Uh but where are you guys at with like the overall Kevin Herder experience and and did the Kings lose in that trade or No, I mean I I think it was fine. I I think that they got a good year out of him um and sometime on top of that. I would say that under last year’s circumstances, there’s not very many players on the team that did perform exceptionally well. Now, Herder was obviously more on the low side of that than I think most people on the roster, but I guess you also have to factor in the fact that they they did include that pick swap you mentioned earlier, but they went and used his salary to go get Demar Rosen. So, do we factor in whatever you get from Demard Rosen in a deal into these conversations, the um taxpayer or the exception that you mentioned already? And so, I mean, I I think that Kevin Harter was a really valuable part of the identity of that team that they had that one year. I don’t really know how much to put into their one year of success. I I don’t think it’s fair to to blame it on Herder the way that it all sort of tumbled down. That’s for sure. And again, I mean, the pace, spacing, that off seasonason where they brought in Herder, Malik, and Keegan Murray, the spacing was just all of a sudden so different around De’aran Fox and Deon Bonus. And I think that’s why they had as much success as they did setting the league record for offensive rating. Uh Kevin was probably one of the best players at playing with pace on a night-to-ight basis in the half court in the open court. Um and so, you know, he didn’t perform towards the end of his contract, but I think it was a pretty crap circumstances for him not to just absolve him of any blame in this process, but I think they kind of got what they wanted. Yeah, I I I agree with most of that. Like I how many times do you get to various points in the year and fans are always saying they need to do something. They just need to do something. Go get something. Like that was their version of doing something. Trying to add to a team that desperately needed some shooting around two talented pieces. And like it or not, he was fantastic in Atlanta for the most part. you know, uh, playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, playing with a very high-profile point guard, um, you know, having playoff success, and you looked every bit of that player in that first year. Uh, I always joke, but it’s it’s kind of halfkitting. Like the three-point shootout totally changed what we knew of Kevin Herder. Um, where where he absolutely was terrible in that competition. And I I think I don’t know. I I mean, I don’t know how you dissect the problems of Kevin Herder and where it went wrong, but I will say like I don’t think they gave up. I I thought at the time it was a good trade. Uh I liked what they were doing. I liked the aggressiveness in it. And you know, hindsight’s 2020 and I think we lost Brendan again, but hindsight’s 2020. You don’t have a crystal ball. You have to kind of make it work uh to try to build around your team. And at the time, I thought that was the type of move that that they needed. And I did I thought it was um a bit of a risk, but honestly I with the protections like kind of thought that you know that that pick would based on the way they played that first year would have gone to Atlanta a lot sooner than it did. So um yeah man, I’m with you. Um I like I agree with you guys. Like I I don’t think the Kevin Herder trade was was a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. And like look um like just going to point out that the Kings had what the 13th pick in last year’s draft, right? That went and they drafted Deon Carter. Yep. Um that’s kind of the level of player you get for the 13th pick in the draft. Now I like that’s not always the case. I’ll say Donovan Mitchell was the 13th pick. Bam Adabio was the 14th pick in the 2017 NBA draft. I mean, there was a point where in the I want to say 1996 draft where the 13th, 14th, and 15th pick were Kobe Bryant, Pesia Stoyakovich, and Steve Nash. Like, so like the 13th pick can have value. Giannis Antumbo was like the 14th, 15th pick. Um, there have been great players drafted in that area, but at the same time, like wasn’t Yorgos Papianis the 13th pick in the draft? and and we can say oof like oh my gosh that’s horrible good lord but the next pick was like wasn’t good either and the pick after that wasn’t good either like none of the players taken right I think it was like Denzel Valentine or someone was taking like the next pick like you I guess another way to look at the herder thing is would you do it again knowing what you know actually Sean would you do it again for a player of the same type of value as Kevin Hernard? Yeah, because that’s the question, right? Because let’s be honest, like I guess it depends on I guess value might be different to all three of us, but I guess you have to look at a collection of players and in in this fantasy world, say you could have your pick of the lot for the same trade. Um, and who who might that be? I mean, I think that right now you’re seeing a front office come in, talk about building an identity and shaping a roster how they want. And I feel like that’s exactly what Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox came into, and that was a big part of what I just mentioned, drafting Keegan, signing Malik, and trading for Kevin. They came in and and Kevin was, like I mentioned, part of setting that culture. So, yeah, I think you do kind of do the same thing over again, but maybe for a different type of guy, even if they’re a similar caliber. Yeah. And that’s where I would like I I think the Kings should probably like this off seasonason very specifically. I think you hope that they’ll be able to swing for the fences and get one really really good player that improves the roster, but then you have to have that second trade that brings in a player of Kevin Herder’s caliber. And I don’t know how you pull both of those trades off. There’s a possibility you can pull it off. There’s also a possibility you can’t. But like I kind of look at like there’s superstars, there’s stars, there’s all stars. We’ll group those three way up here. Then there’s the like near allstar level players which like I think a prime example is like Tobias Harris like never was an all-star. Jamal Murray never an all-star. Mike Connelly Jr. I think has one all-star appearance. And then you have the level right below that which is NBA average to right above NBA average. And I think that’s where you find Kevin Herder. It’s where you find Harrison Barnes. It’s where you find Malik Bunk. It’s where you find like a lot of really good value players that like if you’re sitting here and you’re the Kings and you’re you’re looking at draft picks and you’re like, “Okay, it like last year’s draft.” If you’re sitting at number 13, you have no idea what you’re going to get from the 13th pick in the draft. But you do know that the 13th pick in the draft typically has enough value that you can get a player of Kevin Herder or Bobby Portoris or maybe even like Nas Reed if you added a little bit more like there’s isn’t there talk about a Caruso even last year for 13. Yeah, that’s exactly like that type of player that’s an impact player, but you also know who they are and what they are. And there’s like an understanding that you’re giving up potential, but what you’re getting back is like what you know, you’re getting back productivity versus potential. And so, I’m okay with that, right? And I would be okay if the Kings did it again. Like again, I I think they’re in a position where like they have a bunch of ways to improve the roster right now. And you know, they can they can trade Demard Rosen. We heard Jake Fischer like say the quiet thing out loud that the Kings are going to um go out there and and look to um shop Demard Rosen at at uh during the offseason. Um but you have to look at D Rozan in like I think there are three different ways you can look at D Rozan. You can look at him as like a straight like talent swap and I think he his contract and his play is sort of equal, right? He he’s not a negative asset at this point. Um he’s not a positive asset. So I don’t think you can go trade Demard Rosen for like a couple of first round picks or something. But I do think there is a way in which you can go trade Demard Rosen and get better fit pieces for him for a team that just needs a score. There’s also a way in which you can take Demar Rosen and bail on him and try to get, you know, maybe back into the this the late first round of this year’s draft. And then there’s the other way where you can take Demar Rosen salary and either trade him for a comparable player or start adding in additional salary and additional picks and he’s the like the vehicle to go get you a player, right? And so I I think the Kings have options with Demar and the fact that he averaged 22 points a game is great. Like I I brought this up on the insiders today and again this is we I like to say this, Kyle likes to say it, but this is not reporting but like do you think that the Miami Heat would consider Demar Rosen for Duncan Robinson and Haime Hawz? And your initial thing is oh there’s no way they’re going to trade Haime Hawkeyes. Then go look and he averaged 20 minutes a game and he was almost out of the rotation at the end of the year. Yeah, he did hardly play in the playoffs. Um I mean I think something like that like is there a Wiggins swap in there? Um that would that benefit the Kings? Um Demar has about two years 50 million left on his deal. The last year is only 10 mil of the 25 about 25.7 guaranteed there. Um with some stipulations based on if you were to make an all-star game or things like that it could get a little bit higher. Um, but I was trying to outline like what teams could potentially be interested in D Rozan just totally from the outside and it’s tough. I mean, you just saw how he didn’t fit seamlessly into the Kings. Um, like Miami, you mentioned, James, is Detroit somebody that’s looking for another creator? If I’m Detroit, that’s not the direction I’m trying to go in personally. Um, and then you have the weird like talent swaps you’re talking about like is Denver trying to shake something up uh with MPJ? is, you know, is there a world where you attach assets and like get in Kevin Durant conversations? I think that may be a little bit too sweet for what we’re talking about here. But a complicated part of it to me is Demar is a very unique player in today’s NBA. He’s a mid-range guy. He knocked down uh he shot 49% from mid-range on cleaning the glass, which has a garbage time filter this year. That’s tied for the best he has in his career. like he he still does that at an extremely elite level and put up 22 points a game, but he’s a very unique player in today’s NBA. And I think that just makes it tough for all right, what teams would actively pursue him. There’s two teams in the West that in my opinion and I think yeah, in my opinion would be the best landing spots for somebody like D Rozan. Um and one unlikely that also kind of fits that same thing. one of which I’ll go with the first two I think is kind of the best fits for him. The the Clippers who were interested in before the season started and I still think that that would be a pathway there. Um obviously not knowing who they would get back entirely but I think that’s a good fit depending upon what Phoenix does. I think that could be another landing spot. And then the holy you know what idea would be possibly the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I think in watching some of the things that they do, um, certainly there’s not a whole lot of room that they need to improve, but I think in a in a series like this against the, you know, the Denver Nuggets going on right now, you can certainly see where he might be able to help. I’ll also say the playoffs, if people have been watching, the game has slowed down so much than the regular season. How many games are under a 100 point scoring? and I watch it and you think about it from the Kings perspective, it’s like, hey, this is probably when Demar Rosen would be the most useful on your team is during the postseason. Now, that’s not to say I still think there are all the fit questions and it probably makes sense to move on, but he has value and you move on from Mar Rozan, you kind of need another guy that is able to create in your halfcourt offense, which is just a total question mark right now. Okay. I like I I think that we’re in for a really wild summer, but we mentioned Demar on top of Dear just going to like you got Valenunis at roughly 11 million that has a um I think there’s a team option for the final year. So he’s two years left but only one year is guaranteed. Um you’ve got the Devin Carter situation which is about six million bucks that you may or may not want to move on from. Um, but then on top of that, I think it doesn’t take long before we start getting to like Malik Monk. And I’m I’m wondering where you guys are at with this because like I I think there’s a way like again if let’s just say just crazy talk here, but let’s say John Morant becomes available, right? You can get there with Demar De Rozan and um like Devin Carter and maybe one more like regular contract. You can also throw in Valenunis there and then you get the phone hung up on you. Well, no, that’s just Hey, that No, no, that’s the basics that I’m talking after that you’re giving up three or four first round picks like No, no. Yeah. Yeah. This is about pick likely. Yeah. Well, I mean, you got two unprotected that aren’t yours, so why not? Um, but you understand what I’m saying. Like, there is a way in which, you know, like if you’re going to go after a guy like Jaw or if you’re going to go after if you’re going to go big game hunt, and I bring up Jaw because again, Jaw to me is it can be a nightmare. Um, just like as a personality and just a nonsense, like I don’t like the nonsense that that Jaw brings. Uh there’s also the fact that he gets hurt all the time because he plays like a reckless abandoned style. I appreciate the the player that he is and I think he’s extremely talented and I would love to watch him play on a nightly basis. Um but there’s also like the the other side of him that just doesn’t make any sense to me. But like that’s the type of player that like I mean the Kings don’t have a point guard at all and I don’t think anything should be off off the table at this point, right? Are you guys of the same? Like I don’t I’m not saying, “Hey, go trade Malik Monk.” But when I look at the Kings roster and I and I look at Devin Carter and I look at Keon Ellis and I look at Zack Lavine and I look at Malik Monk, they all play the same exact position. They’re different players, but they play the same exact position. And the pathway forward is for one or two of those guys to not be there anymore and for you to be able to fill out both a shooting guard position and a small forward position. So, you got to give up something to get something. And I I think that that’s a little, you know, that’s like the reality of the situation. But like where are you guys at with like the other players not named um not named Demard Rosen and how attached are you? or are you kind of the uh the like again the opinion that like hey all bets are off at this point there there’s in my mind there’s not really a guy that’s untouchable and just being real like this team is not good enough and if you’re getting somebody like John Morant they’re all available in my mind yeah I mean I think it’s that simple I think Domos I think Malik um and also there’s the aspect of those guys probably have a little bit more league quite value. Dom I think is a little questionable based on how teamtote team they may feel about his contributions at that number salary. Um but like you said, you got to give something to get something and you have clear holes on this team and a bench scorer is kind of a luxury when you have all these holes in your starting lineup that need to be fitted out as well. So, I mean, you clearly need a point guard, and if you got a valuable guy sitting on your bench that is going to lock in a what you trust to be a starting point guard or a starting three, four, whatever it may be, then I I think you absolutely have to consider that. Yeah. I I mean, like, look, I I think at this point like all bets are off. Like I I think that the Kings can still build around Domos. They can still build around Domos and Keon and Keegan and and then like try to adjust the other positions. I don’t think they can move on from Zack Lavine. I don’t think anyone’s taken his contract. Um, but at least this year, I think next year you can maybe find a taker for his contract. Um, and then, you know, you kind of grow from there. I also like I wouldn’t be shocked if the Kings do something crazy like extend Zack Lavine this summer. Um, just because that’s who they are, right? So, um, yeah, I think it’s going to get interesting. Which would mean Oh, do we lose him? Just damn it. Hanging on every word. And what an unfortunate freeze frame. That’s a tough one right there. Um, boy, he’s he’s got to figure out his Wi-Fi. It’s like, I mean, obviously I I I I do wonder how much of a And I know that, you know, Giannis Tennakumbo has has had a lot of attention this week. Oh, okay. Go ahead. A whole I never even lost you guys somehow. I heard you. I was looking fine on my end the whole time. Did you hear what I said about you? I did. Yeah. Unfortunate freeze apparently. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But no, please continue. No, you were going. You’re about to say What was I talking about? Well, he thinks of it. I’ll Oh. Uh, for the Lavine extension, it would require him uh declining his player option, right? Yeah. I’m not I’m not building a player extension off his 49 million bucks, right? If he wants to take 40 million and do like a three-year 120, like I would at least listen. I would also be a little leerary on that. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. What I was what I was getting to there was um a lot of talk about someone like Giannis and and then the the messaging that’s kind of around his quote unquote availability if you are to believe those those rumors about basically wanting to get to a tax-free income taxfree state. Um, certainly that’s some of the things that you always hear about. Sometimes it’s not really totally said out loud. I guess this one’s kind of been publicly reported on at least, but it will be interesting to see any of those big names that you might be going big game hunting and how many times that how many times you run into that and uh a player not wanting to play in a state like California where taxes income tax exists. Yeah. I mean, California is a beautiful state and I love California and I don’t want to live anywhere else, but the taxes here are brutal. I mean, you’re basically looking at income tax of like like over 9% add in addition to your federal taxes. And that’s where, you know, like a guy like Yiannis is looking at like the sheer volume of money he’s just giving away to state and local tax. Um, we’ll have to see. Like I I don’t think that uh but it’s also it’s not as cut and dry in that as that because you have to pay income tax in every city that you play in. I know that sounds weird, but like NBA players, they have to have a really good accountant and they have to pay tax because when they play a game in Chicago or Texas or or Miami or New York, they have to have somebody who who does their taxes and they pay income tax in all of those those states. games. Yeah, it’s same thing for all prof professional gig, you know, all these professional athletes. I mean, you encounter it all the time, but that’s it is interesting. I mean, it’s it’s almost like you wonder if the league has to step in and end up doing something because it it is such a player friendly league. The players run everything. You know, I almost would admire a team that just says, you know what, no, we’re we’re the ones that’s going to control your fate. we have your essentially your rights and we’re gonna trade it to wherever the hell we want to trade it to. Um, and then you know that kind of goes back to the Kawi Leonard thing in San Antonio and how that thing all played out before he went to Toronto and ultimately won a championship there. Um, you know, I I feel like there would be an instance where you you have too many players who control. Well, obviously Darren Fox just did that to make his way to San Antonio, but um if Giannis is going to try to handp pick where he plays, if I’m the Bucks, I don’t necessarily have to play along. I want to trade him to where I’m going to get the best value. No, that’s always the case. And that’s that’s where I’m at with players. And he’s already extended. So, it’s not like, you know, you have a player who may or may not choose to resign like in the Dear Fox situation where he has he’s extension eligible. he’s going to resign with the Spurs and publicly says that’s the only place I will go if I’m traded. I am currently ducking over to watch the score. It is currently 92 to 87 Denver over OKC. OKC just hit a three, I believe. 9287. Lud just hit a three. This is a great series. Easily the best series of the second round. Other ones were kind of disappointing. Uh first games were great. like all the road teams winning those first few. Um, shout out Tyrese, by the way, putting 31 in an elimination game for a guy that I never thought would be a self-creator in the way that he’s become. He’s been hit two game-winning shots in this postseason already. Um, hopped up on the scorers table for the first one and a step back triple for the other one. Like, I just never imagined that this guy was going to be making these type of shots. Um, and being a number one on a team that’s gone to the Eastern Conference Finals two years in a row. So, um, yeah. He was a big shot He was a [ __ ] big shot taker and a big shot maker. Whoa, that was close. Yeah. No, he was he was a big shot maker in his first year with the Kings. You’re like, “Oh, look at that.” Like, whoa. Like gutsy. So, I get like I I I really love Tyrese Hallebertton as a player, but I like still like the the hindsight. And we’ve got, you know, again, somebody in the chat who just like is uh is being an a-hole and so like super full of himself. Gordon Hoe. Like I I agree with somebody who said, “Why you being such a hoe, Gordon?” Um yeah. Like to me, like the the Hallebertton discussion versus like what the Kings gave up, what they got, all that stuff. Like I really like what Indiana did after the Tyrese Hallebertton trade. If the Kings would have continued to build out their roster and gone out and got a player like I don’t know an all-star uh like Pascal Seakum to go with the other players that they had, the Kings would probably still be playing today, but they’re not because they stopped doing anything once they Oh, here we go again. made those trades. So, I mean, no, you’re right though. Andrew, even the smaller pieces, Andrew Nemhard, um, yeah, Aaron Nesmith, you know, like guys that definitely make a difference. And I think that again, Tyrese Ceiling, I I think was starting to become more clear than maybe what it was pre-draft by the time they traded him. But, uh, um, threw me off a little bit, but I think that, you know, it it’s it looks really bad from the Kings perspective right now. And you were mentioning Tyrese Hallebertton and if if I know him, he would have followed up your praise of things you didn’t expect him to do to ask about how you thought his defense was. It was It was It was all right. It was all right. It was fun. They’re still picking on him. They’re still picking on him. Just saying. Yeah. I I just can’t believe they ran over the Cavs. I’m I’m bummed out that that’s what the Cavs look like in the playoffs. Top seat in the East, man. That was I mean, my goodness. I mean, they always talk about playing your best basketball getting when you when you’re just heading in there. I think that was the case for the Pacers. Um, I don’t know if it was quite this good, but it’s all about matchups, you know? I mean, look at the Thunder. The Thunder had been heading tails above better than anybody in the West having doubledigit lead. And then here’s the the Nuggets, you know, kind of holding their own. You got a two- two series. Yeah. I mean, like, in all honesty, I think people underestimate the the greatness of Nicoolola Joic and everyone built their teams to defend the Boston Celtics, which is what you should do, right? And what the Kings were allergic to. Like, the Kings are built to defend Jokic like no other team in the league. It’s like, hey, look, we got Sabonis and then Valenunis. Like, we can throw different looks at Jokic. the rest of the league. Like I I love what the Knicks did. Like what they’re doing in Boston, what they did to Boston is crazy. I feel bad for the Jason Tatum injury, but it doesn’t matter. The Knicks are the better team in that series no matter what. But they were specifically built to stop Tatum and Brown. Like they went out and got OG Anobi. They went out and got Mico Bridges. And those guys have done their jobs and they’re they’ve been incredible. Well, what is Mitchell Robinson going to defend Joic if they make it to the finals? Like that’s trouble. Like I Namias Kada might be like the Boston Celtics best opportunity to slow Nicole Joic. Like uh like none of these teams are built to sl that’s where it’s it’s like I I think Denver’s got a really good shot here. What do you think? What do you guys think of I mean Brendan’s obviously the the the Celtic grew up the Celtics fan like with Tatum going down and you heard these whispers and reports about how the Celtics like are going to have to basically not blow it up but certainly trim right and that that you maybe it’s a Jaylen Brown. I at the time I didn’t think that would be certainly a Holiday might be involved maybe a Porzingis but in looking at them now with this injury what do you do? I mean I think that you hope that Jaylen is a little excited about getting to spread his wigs a little bit more. Those his only his solo minutes without Tatum in this postseason especially against the Knicks were not the cleanest I will say. Um, but I I think that you do kind of have to trim it down a little bit and just rework a little bit of what’s going on here. Like, uh, you mentioned some of the names, but I would say two of the three of Drew Holiday, Kristoff Sporzingis, and then probably Derek White. And, you know, Derek White, I think obviously extremely valuable player, but most value out of all those guys, too, if you’re if you’re trying to look at it from that perspective. Um, but I think you kind of have to trim some of those sort of guys and see what Tatum’s process looks like and then be back at it the year after. He’s almost James I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt, but I don’t know if you’d agree. I He almost Derrick White to me especially with given the Tatum injury. him and Jaylen Brown are almost non-starters in terms of parting ways with one of those guys unless you’re getting I mean depends on what you’re getting of course but that’s how my mind would work in terms of the way they build around just trying to survive you know same you get rid of Drew and and KP KP for sure I would say but that’s a harder one to get off of Drew is old and he’s owed a bunch of money and right he’s the he’s the easy one right there I feel well he’s the easy one but in theory I mean we’re talking about a guy who’s almost 35 years old and on top of that like Drew Holiday is owed a ton of money and like I’m not sure that you can just go out and easily move him. You know, he’s owed 32.4 million next year, 34.8 million the next year, and 37.2 million as a player option in 2728. And we’re talking 36, 37, and 38. Who’s taking that contract? James is saying if he’s the Kings, he’s passing on Drew Holiday. I mean, I I really Drew Holiday. Oh, you can’t hear me. Oh, now I can. Oh, I heard him. I heard Brennan. Brennan’s living in some I don’t know what is going on. James type internet. Yeah, it’s not good. Yeah. I mean, for me, like I’m not sure that you can move off of Drew Holiday. Like, not just simple, not easy. I mean, you got $100 million owed. Like, I I mean, sure, like, if the Kings could swap out, you know, if you want to make a a crazy deal and and take on one of their other contracts and move Zack Lavine for for Drew Holiday, okay. Or if you’re going to trade, you know, Demar De Rozan for Drew Holiday, that might make sense, too, because at least he gives you a couple of years. But I don’t know what Drew Holiday looks like on on what could be a marginal team at this point in his career, you know. So, I feel bad for Boston losing um yeah, losing Jason Tatum, but at the same time, I think there has to be something said about, hey, how about you stop shooting 63s a game? Like, that doesn’t make any sense. And you keep doing it and then you get in the playoffs and you go cold for two games and you’re down 200 in a series. Well, they did win a championship last year. I was gonna say, Mike, they won a championship last year, but not shooting that many threes. No, they they got the number up and I think they were an interesting test for I guess sort of leaning heavily into that logic. But I there were definitely instances where it’s like, all right, you should probably drive at this point, but the 25 from 100 to start the first two games was I do feel like there’s an aspect of you were getting okay looks and kind of missing shots as well. Okay, so they shot 48.2 threes per game at only 36.8%. 48.2 threes per game. Let’s see what they shot last year when they won 64 games and they won the title. Last year, bong, they shot 42.6. You’re literally looking at an additional six threes a game. Like I don’t think that’s sustainable for anybody because then you’re fully stuck at like hey if you go cold you’re in trouble. I mean taking away the the Tatum and Brown drives and like their their ISO play. Uh I’m not sure that that was a great move. So anyway, um let’s get to let’s get to some of the the basics. Um what are you guys thoughts on Mike Woodson as the associate head coach for the Sacramento Kings? The Kings have not built out the rest of their staff yet. There’s some other like Bobby Jackson might be joining the staff or probably is joining the staff, but we don’t have any com uh confirmation yet on that. But Mike Woodson is the associate head coach. What do you guys uh what are your overall thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean you guys may uh have more experience with Mike throughout the years um than I have, having it been none, obviously. Um, but I think just from looking into him a bit, I’m interested to see um, what the offense looks like. Seems to be an offensive oriented guy that you bring in alongside Doug, associate head coach. Um, and you know, can you get some of that free flowing offense that that Scott Perry was talking about? Obviously a lot of experience I think is great to have next to Doug as well. Um, and also seems like a fun locker room guy. I don’t know if you guys remember, like I heard Mike Bby recently tell a story about Mike Woodson shaving his eyebrows off and they weren’t exactly sure why it happened. It may have been an accident, but then he comes in with uh like Velcro looking eyebrows that he decided to put on his face. Um so random little story, but I think that he seems like a fun guy in general. Um, but more importantly, a crap ton of NBA experience and gets to come in and and lead an offense and compliment Doug with all the experience that he has while Doug is getting accustomed to this role. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I it seems like a move that whether it was going to be an assistant or a head coach, I just kind of anticipated Mike Woodson being a member of the Kings again after being, you know, a guy who has ties to the 85 team, the first team in Sacramento. Um he’s interviewed for a head coaching position before. Um he’s he’s certainly been a journeyman in terms of the coaching ranks. He’s never out of a job. Everyone always hires him. I mean, he’s he always ends up somewhere. I think the college uh uh him spending time with Indiana, I think, is somewhat interesting, although people might push back on the the lack of success that they had there. Um, but I feel like I it’s an interesting way from a guy who’s had NBA head coaching experience at two places, both with what, New York and Atlanta, to then be this life this this longtime NBA assistant and then to take over to go into the college ranks. This guy’s always coaching, always finding jobs, always um people thinking highly of him. Um, I’m interested to see the whole staff in in its entirety and when it gets completed. Uh, I do I would think that that hopefully Doug Christie can add another uh person that has head coaching experience. That would be if I was a GM and wanting to see Doug truly thrive, I would want to see another uh NBA level head coach um to to to put with him. But at the end of the day, I mean, it’s it’s Doug’s staff and whatever he’s going to be uh most comfortable with. So, um Mike Woodson’s here. I think um that that’s a good start and uh you know we we’ll we’ll see where it goes but the guy just has there’s not many situations he hasn’t been in so to have that guy sitting next to you is going to be a pretty good resource in my opinion. I totally agree. Um you know again Doug needs to hire two or three guys well one or two guys that have head coaching experience and he got one of them and they don’t have like a long-standing relationship. They know each other but not like super close. But that doesn’t mean anything. Like I think Doug will learn to rely on him very quickly. He’s 67 years old. It’s not like he’s a guy who’s looking to steal the head coaching job away from Doug or anything else. Um but I I think what we saw towards the end of the season was Doug Christie like worn to a nub. Like there wasn’t a lot left of him in the last like five games of the season. he he didn’t know how and he didn’t have the trust to hand off a whole bunch of stuff to his assistants and that’s because it wasn’t his staff. And so I think Mike Woodson getting Mike in early um having Mike help with the draft process, you know, bringing players in, working them out, all that stuff. I think that’s a big deal. um he’s just gonna help Doug have some structure. And I think it’s a good thing that Mike forced Doug to to be the summer league coach last year because Doug kind of got a a taste for what it looks like to be the head coach. But then he got a 51 game like test drive and I think Woodson is a perfect guy because he’s a little bit defensive-minded. He does have some ties to Sacramento as a player, not as a coach, but as a player. Um, and then on top of that, he’s got a bunch of ties to Scott Perry. And I don’t look at the Scott Perry, Doug Christie, Mike Woodson, like pairing as like adversarial. I think they’re all there to help each other. And that’s one thing that I that I’ve taken away from talking to Scott Perry in the past and and talking to Scott Perry like in the recent, you know, like you know, when he had his post when he had his press conference and everything else, like his motivations are pretty pure. Like he’s here to win. He’s not here for a bunch of nonsense. And that’s that’s not always the case with some of these guys. So I I like it. Uh, we do know so far just like I don’t know how many assistant Doug assistant coaches Doug is Doug is going to have, but um Lando Barbosa it looks like will be back. Uh, Dip uh Dip I don’t know how to say his last name. Um, he’ll be back. Um, Jimmy Alc from what I know is back. Uh yeah, he was in the he was in the gym the other day during the the pregame work pre or the pre-draft workout. And you’re talking about Depes Mystery. Yeah, Depeesh Mystery. There we go. Yeah, which everyone calls Dip. And then Yeah. Stefan, um I think that’s his name. Uh I’m not sure his last name. Um who was new to the staff this last year. Um, so gone are uh Jim Moran who went to go join uh the staff in at of uh Luke Locks at Florida Florida State and all of us had like a well at least Sean and I spending time in the pregame locker room. We had a a pretty good relationship with Jim. Just a really good dude. Um so I I think he’ll be missed a little bit. Um Ricky Foyce is like a super fun guy and he’s not going to be around. Um, I don’t know who else is gone um from last year’s staff. Oh, Robbie. Joah Williams. Robbie Williams. Uh, Robbie Lemons. I I kind of think that Robbie Williams is Robbie Lemons is one of those guys that they’re going to miss. Like I I liked Robbie and I’m kind of surprised he’s not going to be back on the staff. Um, he was kind of a bridge between analytics and and the uh the coaching staff. That’s the question that Bryce brought up. He was asking about uh the descript giving a description of uh Robbie and that’s who he’s referring to. Yeah, Bryce. That’s Robbie Lemons is who you’re talking about. Just so we we pulled this up and Stanford. Yeah. Yeah. Stanford grad. Super bright. Bryce got in this picture right there. That looked like a uh neat little beverage. The liquor that 1320 pushes. What am I? Uh, it’s that rum, I believe. Oh, um, yeah. Yeah. Uh, McQueen and the Violet Fog. H. Yeah, I have some of that sitting right over there on the shelf, which I’m not drinking tonight. Um, clearly just a red wine night for me. Um, yeah. So, that’s the coaching staff. Um, on top of that, uh, BJ Armstrong was brought in. Uh BJ Armstrong spent after he retired from the Bulls, uh he went right into the front office with Jerry Krauss uh for Chicago for a couple of years and then he’s been a player agent for like the last I don’t know 20 years, 19 years, something like that, 2006, I think. I I I like that signing as well. Um, you know, BJ Armstrong is a guy that everyone knows from the uh the great run of the Bulls during the ‘9s and um having ties around the league is is huge. And it’s another guy who first of all like had a podcast with Scott Perry. Um I’m kind of regretting that I didn’t dump YouTube and have a podcast with Scott Perry so I could be on this staff. You think they should keep the pod going? Yeah, I think so too. Just like go ahead and you know, Mrs. Ham with the refill. There you go. There you go. There we go. Yeah. So, um, what are you guys thoughts on BJ Armstrong? I’m sure Sean, you got some thoughts. Yeah. I mean, look, it’s it’s funny. I I’ve seen some people who are like criticizing his client list. Like, as if that’s supposed to say how good he is, like he doesn’t have the the strongest client list when he was an agent. And that is just crazy. like um there there’s no correlation from one to the other. One is is he has a ton of relationships. He knows how uh obviously the X’s and O’s of a salary cap, the numbers, the figures, knows how contracts work. Um but also like having that that agent relationship coming from a team like Wasserman where he’s got so many people uh other agents around him that are going to continue on to be agents. um those are people you’re going to be I mean Washerman is one of the biggest one in the game you know in terms of uh sports agencies. So um having those relationships is going to be huge. Having a familiarity with Scott is going to be huge. I’m curious to see how that front office gets put together. Do they add another assistant GM? I mean Scott Scott Perry had three at one point. Vlatt had one or between Vlatt and Scott they had three at one point. I don’t I think they had four. Four. Yeah. Yeah, I’m trying to remember. Well, yeah, with Brandon Williams gone and, you know, Mike Bratz gone. Yeah, Mike Bratz, uh, Ken Catella, Catella, PA. Yeah, they had a lot of assistant GMs. But I but I believe in any one time there was like just, you know, the most they had at one time I think was three. But the interesting part too is just they’re going to keep obviously Phil Jabor, uh Paul Johnson, some of these other names that you’ll hear a lot over the over the summer and and hold overs and obviously Alvin Gentry as well. I think that institutional knowledge for Scott Perry and BJ Armstrong is going to be incredibly valuable as they navigate these new waters. Obviously, Scott Perry is very familiar already with the Kings and VCron Diva and some of the other members within the ownership group, but it’s it’s all in in my mind having a collaboration between two things. You know, you don’t come in here and maybe clean house. I might, but somebody else comes in and says, I need to keep a lot of key figures around because they know how things work here. They know how certain processes are. They’re familiar. They’re thought of highly from other people. And I think that just helps make things a little bit more um fluid. And I’m looking forward to seeing how this staff gets put together. I’m curious to see what they do with the analytic staff because obviously you’re coming from a very analytic heavy um regime to this one that I would anticipate would be um analy an analytic heavy as well. Um but that remains to be seen. So, a lot of question marks and uh a lot of uh curiosity as to what the the the weeks and months ahead look like. But I can tell you going into the one pre-draft workout that we’ve had, and certainly there’ll be more along the way as the combine is this week, but um you look around the gym and there was a good combination of I have no idea who the hell that is to oh, there’s Jimmy Alip, there’s a a few familiar faces over here. So, um yeah, going to be fun. Um, all right. It looks like, uh, Oklahoma City Thunder made a comeback and are going to beat the Denver Nuggets to take a 3-2 lead in that series. Jokic has 4415 and five and just hit one of the most insane fadeaway triples from the top of the key and it did not matter. It’s tragic. What a series though. He’s pretty good. He’s pretty good. It’s a great series, man. Whoever wins that is probably gonna win the chip. Minnesota’s pretty good. I I’m I am not impressed over Minnesota. Minnesota is barely beating a horrible uh Golden State Warriors team. That’s fair. I I would also take either of Denver or OKC over them, but I think that Minnesota will put up a fight. Okay. I I think it’s whoever wins this is five. It’s five with Minnesota. I don’t like I don’t like Minnesota against OKC. I kind of like Minnesota and the familiarity with Denver more so, but with OKC, I just I don’t like that matchup for them. Do you? I did not expect Julius Randall to be this good in the playoffs. I Julius Randall alone, I’m always a fan of him. Same. Yeah, I I did not expect him to be this impactful and like seriously go out there and be the second best guy on a team like that. So I I mean what he’s been able to do uh to take away um to to like occupy Draymond Green is crazy. Like and he’s just rolling over Draymond. This is wild. So good for has also been his crazy usual self and blaming the entire world except himself. Those comments were a little crazy to me. But what do you think of the coaching in that in that series by the way? in one one coach has players and the other one has Yeah. When Pat Spencer is getting run and I’m like, “Hey, this looks kind of good.” Then we’re probably not in a great spot. Yeah. Yeah. When your only hope is to turn to Kaminga and uh Brandon PJsky who looks just like the younger brother from So I Married to Axe Murder. Um heed pants now. That’s right. Thank you, Sean. Brennan will never get that, but um yeah. So, okay. So, we covered the coaching staff, we covered the front office changes. Um, let’s just get to the business of basketball. Um, Jesus, like, no, I’m not super prepared for the business of B basketball because we kind of covered every topic throughout business this episode. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I I guess will you be paying attention to the combine at all, even though the Kings don’t have a first round pick? I mean, of course. Yeah, got to hand size means everything, Sean. Um, whatever that means. Uh, no, I think um big gloves. Yep. No, let’s let’s talk about like like inside basketball here. Um, how refreshing was it, Sean, uh, to see pre-draft workouts in Sacramento? Uh, yeah, it was it was great. It was it it shows a team doing their due diligence. Um, I think that they they’re they’re doing the right thing. I mean, that’s the Yeah, kudos to this regime and and open them up and um can’t put anything in video form or or even picture form to show people, but at least we have something to talk about with these guys. And it it certainly helps in the in what lies ahead for not only the draft but summer league free agency training camp invites um uh G-League. Uh they’re all kind of interconnected. And I think something like this, you know, you think about those undrafted free agents, you think of the Keon Ellis’s, you think about even second round picks that may or may not have worked out and um worked out in terms of being successful or not, but certainly had worked out or maybe didn’t with Sacramento. So, um the it’s part of the story. It’s part of the journey. And it’s also helps show that that that they’re leaving no stone unturned in terms of um h also leaving a good impression with your organization because you bring them through a workout. How many times we hear about all the time, guys, when we’re talking to players, you know, yeah, they may have come through and maybe you didn’t draft them, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get them later on in your organization as a free agent or a trade. Um, and you just think about it. Zack Lavine worked out for the Kings. Stephen Adams worked out for the Kings. Russell Westbrook worked out for the Kings. Damen Lillard, you can go down the line. And I know people use that as a punchline often. Steph Curry, Clayton Tomlin, Leonard. I mean, it’s not it shouldn’t be a p it shouldn’t be a punch line. Like that’s that’s not the way anyone should look at it at all. It’s leaving a impression on these people that you might be able to get later on down the road. So, um I think if you’re worried about the the the trolls and and the the haters or even the punchline that could be out there that you missed on a draft, you drafted someone like Thomas Robinson, you’re worried about the wrong thing, Brandon. Yeah, I don’t have much else to add. I mean, I haven’t gotten to experience draft uh draft workouts, pre-draft workouts since I’ve been covering the team. And yeah, I’m interested to to see sort of what that looks like. get a I mean, even from our side, just get a feel from these guys and and a better understanding of of the league in general for wherever they may may end up down the line. But I’m excited to have that access and sort of see how this goes. And, you know, one of those things that I can’t help but be curious. All right. Is this is this a Scott Perry thing? You know, well, to that point too, James, sorry to interrupt. Like, you get a lot of local guys that come through. I mean, Darian Williams is one of them, and he’s a guy who, you know, has a connection even to Mike Woodson, for example. So, or excuse me, not him. He doesn’t have a connection to Mike Woodson. One of the players in the in that workout had a play had a connection to Mike Woodson hadn’t played had played in Indiana. So, um played with Isaac Jones right at Washington State. Yeah. So, I mean there’s just these people have stories. One kid, like I said, Darren Williams from Sacramento um before, you know, going on to college and and obviously he rose people he becomes kind of a household name and people got to know who he is, especially in the tournament. So, yeah, I mean, these are these are important stories. Okay, so here’s my thought on on pre-draft workouts. Number one, I get we went through a pandemic and they shifted during the pandemic to Zoom, right? And the NBA supported the Zoom and we would get like, hey, there’s going to be um here’s a list of like 30 players uh jump on a Zoom and they’re going to be for the next three days. you guys jump on when you want to interview somebody. Okay. When before that, there was this this thing where the Kings would hold pre-draft workouts all the time, and they bring in six players every time. And it’s usually like uh a couple of point guards, a couple of small forwards, and a couple of centers. And then a couple of shooting guards, a couple of small forwards, and a couple of power forwards. Like they mixed it up, right? They tried to match players. I think famously years ago, uh, Tobias Harris, like everywhere he went matched up against Tyler Honeyut. RIP Tyler Honeyut. Um, and and they were like the small forward combo, they kept getting matched up and Tobias Harris outweighed Tyler Honeyut by like almost 60 pounds. It was ridiculous. But pre-draft workout is cool because what Sean said, there are local ties. There are reasons for us to go out to the arena and sit there and run cameras and interview young prospects and players that you may never play for you. But there’s always going to be a possibility that down the road that you’re in the middle of some big trade and you need to match salaries and you’re like, “Hey, you know, we’ve got a choice. You can take two one of these two players.” And the Kings are like, “Hey, we we had a pre-draft workout with a guy like Lou Dort, who we thought the world of in a pre-draft workout, but we didn’t take him because we didn’t take him in the second round and we just made a mistake.” But okay, why don’t we’ll take him as opposed to some other guy that you’ve never met, you’ve never like had a conversation with, watched at the combine, interviewed, all that stuff. The other thing is I don’t understand free publicity. why you would turn down free publicity. This is the dog days of summer. And I don’t know if anyone noticed, but the Golden State Warriors are still playing basketball. like your instate rival that’s 90 miles down the road is out there playing in the playoffs and you want to turn the faucet off to local reporters coming in and writing stories about you or putting your your building and players and your coaching staff coaching uh like on the six o’clock news or the 11 o’clock news. Like I just don’t get it. It’s It’s so shortsighted and it goes right there just like put in a giant bundle um with the second the the use of second round picks like the Monte and West like regime. They made so many basic mistakes that were dumb. And I know they don’t want to hear that but come on man. This the wine talking and the wine gets going. Why do you cut off something so basic as a pre-draft workout? There was a like I I I’ve said this a couple of times on on the air, but when like you remember the Kyle Guy draft, right, which is like 2019, the Kings held 99 workouts and didn’t have a first well 99 prospects came through Sacramento and they didn’t have they didn’t have a first round pick. No, they took two. They took Justin James and they took Kyle Guy, you know, and and then I think they squandered a pick on the last pick or whatever. Um, but that’s what this is about. It’s about learning the league. It’s about learning the players in the league. And if you don’t know the players, like there’s a potential for that player to be a legitimate player for you down the road like a Keon Ellis or an Isaac Jones that you they go undrafted, but you didn’t do your homework and you didn’t not only that, but you don’t open your doors to the media. It’s just to me it’s so shortsighted. The crazy part to me is, and not to, you know, pile on, I just playing devil’s advocate, one would say, “Oh, the cloak of having that that cloak up and not having access in there. You don’t know who’s coming and going.” It’s it’s it’s like one of those those paranoid coaches who just think that that no one’s seen their plays before. You know what I mean? Like, oh, you can’t come to pract can’t see just see all the trade secrets. It’s like, oh, you mean the ones you literally put on tape? Like we you see these like they’re especially for basketball. It’s just kind of it’s kind of wild that way to me. You I anyone you have in your gym you should want people to know about like absolutely you’re doing your due diligence. Otherwise you like oh they must not be what do they do over there? It adds more questions. You know transparency is a good thing. You don’t have to give it all away but certainly have somebody in your gym before a draft before a draft like what what could go wrong? Yeah. And and also like I I know Brennan you could probably name them like during the Monte and West regime. We have like name the second round pick that’s actually worked out at all. Like Jamaias Ramsey, Robert Woodard, um Nimi Nimi Nimi is probably the Colby. Yeah. Uh Jaylen Slawson. Wasn’t Jayen. Like the Kings have found better success in undrafted free agent market than they have in actual second round picks and that’s great because somebody there is doing a did a really good job and I don’t know if they’re around or not. Uh Sean, have you heard anything about Phil Jabbor? No, you don’t have to laugh at me. Sean, I’m sorry. Some of the comments get me. Andrew, well done. Uh Kittinden, I think is your last name. That’s fantastic. Go ahead. Andrew Kittinden. We don’t have to pin it. We don’t have highlight. You should pin it. That’s a really good one. Especially the specific type of pencil. That was incredible. Well done, Andrew. For the audio listener, how many eyebrow pencils did Brendan use to draw his beard on his face? Got it. What What was the question, James? I apologize. I’m just saying like all all of this uh like like why are you hiding these guys? Like why not? Like because Yeah, but there are season tickets that are sold in May. I don’t know if it’s fear, if it’s paranoia. It’s just it’s operating laziness. Laziness maybe. I don’t know. I I can’t answer that. But at any rate, onward ever forward, we know that the pre-draft workouts are back. They don’t have a first round pick. They own number 42. Uh we’ll see what 42. But you can easily, but that’s the thing. You can easily, you got a whole trove of things that you can trade now. you can easily get back into the draft, get into the first round if you so choose. We’ll see what happens, but anything can happen and that’s why you have to be prepared. That’s right. All right. Um, let’s get to final thoughts. Um, what do you got first, Brennan Dunes? I’m going to go shave my beard instantly right after this. Um, no, don’t let them bully you. They I won’t I won’t. I think they’re hilarious. Keep them coming. Um, it’s a Velcro beard now according according to someone over here. Felipe, shout out. Um, no, I mean, I’m gonna go typical Brendan. Final thoughts. I don’t really have much. Uh, shout out to Buddy Heield. Nine threes and 33 points in game seven. Watching that, like, what the hell is going on right now? Uh, Buddy’s whole playoffs, actually. He was phenomenal. And I will say back and forth. What do you mean game seven? Was it not game seven against uh last round Houston? Oh, last Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Um, God, get it together, Sean. Sorry. No, I’m I’m in the focus of the Timberwolves now. I can’t even remember what happened to this. Fair enough. Houston. Um, but yeah, I mean, a little crazy. And I think that the back and forth between Jimmy, Buddy, and really the whole Warriors team and Buddy is I accidentally muted myself. Wow. No, you did not. We heard every word of that. Just heard that. Yeah. Um, that was a very bad moment from you there. Um, yeah. just a little crazy to me to see um Buddy doing what he’s doing and it’s a prime example of, you know, find a guy that will fit into the right system and and all the, you know, shots that I think have more truth to them than than maybe most people uh than than how they may come off that they’re taking at Buddy Healed. I think it stands out like their culture, I guess, that they have. And when everybody if Buddy feels a type of way about something, he goes to somebody else in the or they’re probably telling him the same thing that everybody else is. Um, and I think it’s just an example of a a culture really helping a guy. And obviously, credit to Buddy in the process, too. Well, that and Buddy has been uh the last couple of games has been horrible. Like, let’s be honest. Like, he turned the ball over four times and hit two in the last game. No, two games in a row he’s been he’s been pretty pretty bad. Um, Sean, what do you got for final thoughts? Uh, I’m kind of I don’t know. I’ve had a lot. Somebody had asked uh in the chat earlier why I cut you off on your your rant about uh the the I forget I forget second. No, that was that’s another one. But um in terms of the Sasha Vizenkov deal and I was like I just don’t want James to you know lose his mind. We’ve we’ve heard these stories before. It’s like ah we can we can get on beyond that. So it’s really the McDaniels trade that like sticks with me. This is why I did it. Like, this is why I brought it up. I think you wrote about it pretty well, right? I I don’t know. Like, when when you’re looking around and you’re you’re wondering why don’t I have any second round picks and then you squander so many of them and you’re like, boy, I would really like to go get Jake Laavia, but they’re asking for a second round pick, but my dumbass doesn’t have one. Oh my goodness. Yeah. There you go. How many you got now? There’s quite a few now, right? No, there’s not. It’s like four. Well, they’re missing their 28, 29, 30, and 31. They do have their 25. Well, they have the Bulls 25, their own 26 and 27 because those were held out and they couldn’t trade them. And then they have a 32 and the two Charlotte ones, right? The first will take them. No, they’re all gone already. The Charlotte. Yeah, they use those for Valenunis. Oh, that’s right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it cost you your best player and your point guard. Yeah, go get those second round picks. Which, by the way, if they would have waited to trade De’Arren, uh, you know, there’s no way of knowing this, but it’s very curious to just think like what would San Antonio do in their current position? Are they interested in De’Aran still at this point, what his assets look like? And it’s kind of a interesting other timeline. I’m intrigued to see if they trade De’arren this off season. And wouldn’t it be like a swift kick in the nuts if they get way more trade him back to sack? If they get way more for Dear Fox uh this off season than what uh the Kings trade trade him back to sack and he signs an extension. Okay, final thoughts. Final thoughts from James. Um Nick Kurt just hit his first Major League Baseball home run. I like that. So, shout out to the A’s uh like soon to be star first baseman. Once by the way, once he hit his first one, he’s going to start hitting him non-stop. He you know who it looks like? He looks like Adam Dunn. Like he’s just a big dude. It’s kind of funny cuz uh that’s actually Mark Kat used that same kind of uh uh Yeah. Yeah. comparison. I think he said a more athletic Adam Dunn. Um Okay. But yeah, he’s a big dude, man. It was kind of fun this past weekend seeing the Yankees in town, uh, Aaron Judge, you know, and how big he is and, you know, just see these massive baseball players you’re not used to seeing. See, it’s like either you get these baseball players that are massive or just really short and there’s not a whole lot of in between sometimes. Yeah. Like how was the Yankees experience? Because I know like it was like all the coverage was pretty Yankees centric from everyone. Yeah. Well, it had to be. The games were too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean it was two to one. The A’s kicked the crap out of them on Saturday. Saturday was a was a really fun experience because they came back and you know Kat made a big point of talking about how hard the the clubhouse took that first game and and you know wanting to show that they were better than that and then same kind of result happens on Sunday. Um Luis Severino having some problems in Sacramento for sure getting adjusted. He’s had problems since he got here. He’s better on the road. I think that’s the problem. You keep talking about it. It’s going to keep happening. He’s always asked about it. you know, people are going to ask, but my favorite was when the Mets came into town. He’s like, “Actually, I wanted to stay there for less money, but they wouldn’t give it to me.” He’s been saying a lot of things. I hate when that happens. Um, yeah. No, I mean I mean, look, just completely objectively going in there just to cover baseball and see Major League Baseball in Sacramento still great. I mean, it is a interesting experience to to be sure. I mean, there’s a I think fans will will definitely enjoy it because the ball sure gets out of the yard and uh it’s it’s going to be very hitter friendly, but um yeah, man, it was it was fun. I mean, there was a ton of Yankee fans. Aaron Judge playing back in the hometown for, you know, the first time as a major leager is is pretty special when you’re arguably the best player in baseball, certainly the best in the American League. And um God, he left town hitting 409. That’s just that’s wild. That’s crazy. Yeah, he’s he’s so good right now. It’s it’s absolutely off the charts. Like he leads the league in hits, runs, home runs, RBI, uh batting average, OPS, um slugging percentage. Like you name it, he leads the league. It’s wild. But hey, like I’m excited to see Jacob Wilson who tonight has two home runs and who’s batting like almost 370 as a as a rookie. Super like the A’s have a bunch of talent and they’re crushing the Dodgers. They’re up nine to one right now. Absolutely destroying the Dodgers. Love to see it. Yeah, I’m gonna run them around my house like doing the lawn mower like like whatever. Kurt Gibson. Yeah, there we go. Um, okay. Uh, let’s see. Do we have anything else to cover? I I want to get to before we get out of here. Um, there are two. Uh, Benjamin asked a quick question. John Sacramento. Any chance? What do you guys got? I would. Yeah. I mean, if I’m the Kings, I’d be all for it, but if I’m the Memphis Grizzlies, I’m probably not trading him to any team in the West, and I’m probably not trading him at all. Brendan? Yeah. I mean, it’s all price dependent obviously, but I definitely think it’s something the Kings should entertain. Um, and if Memphis doesn’t go in that direction, like say if there’s a world where Jiren Jackson is on the table, I think that’s something they should look at as well. Um, James favorite player. Yeah, I would say I think Yeah, I’m not a fan of him, but perfect fit. perfect fit next to Domos. He is He’s one of those rare fours that stretch the floor and protect the paint and who averages five rebounds a game, which is fine because he got the best rebounder in the game. There you go. Like, yeah, it’s okay that he’s a horrible rebounder. Um, but he does block shots. He does hit threes, although it looks like he’s a trebuche out there. Funnily enough, that sounds exactly like Miles Turner, but uh Yeah. No, it’s true. Um I I just think the Kings well at one point had guards that probably would have been more advantageous. Not now. U and then the other one is uh what triggers a trade exception. A trade exception uh Diaz man racing um is basically when you match up salaries. Uh, so a trade is never just like very seldom is it one player for one player and equal salary. So anytime So if you trade a $25 million player for an $18 million player, the team that sends out the $18 million player basically create it creates a $7 million trade exception, which is the equivalent of a coupon like that. We’ve talked about this that you can use at a later date. They’re only good for one year, but then you can use that and it’s the NBA has like two different types of trades. A simultane simultaneous and a non-simultaneous trade. A simultaneaneous trade happens all at one time. A non-simultaneous trade happens over like the course of like a a season and and a trade can keep extending out. So you could trade So say you create that $7 million trade exception. You could trade that that $7 million trade exception um for a $4 million player and then the other team now creates a $3 million trade exception. I can’t look at Sean when I’m reading comments, man. I just gonna crack me up. So, it’s not. All right. Uh, last would I Someone asked, would I trade Monk for Jaw? Yeah. Is this straight up? Absolutely. Yeah, that’s kind of a no-brainer. Well, yeah, that and throw in Demar De Rozan to match salaries and two first round picks. Kuminga to Sacramento. Probably not. What is Dude, Kaminga, talk about just totally screwing yourself. I mean, he he didn’t help himself in all the years leading up to it, too. But going into a contract year and then not getting played in the postseason is just so tough. And then he does get played and did all right, I guess. But well, when he does get played, he looks like 23-year-old uh Demard Rosen, right? It’s just like all iso ball and he’s very good at what he does. It’s just that’s not their style of play. And that’s not to say that Kaminga is a bad player. It’s just it’s kind of like DaVon Mitchell. Like you fit really well in the East Coast and East, you know, Eastern Conference. You don’t fit really well in the West. Like it’s just really tough player. I don’t know. He might be a bad player, but he can score a bucket. Definitely can. Definitely can. Yeah. Um Okay. Yes. I am ready for Bottle Rock. Somebody who had asked. Can’t wait. started the show by saying I am in my it’s senioritis. I can’t wait to get to Bottle Rock. Okay, this is the section of the show where James continues to try to close and Shawn just keeps reading comments. I’m going to ask like Sean like bottle rock but like at the same time like you’ve been there before like it’s always I guess it’s always a little bit different, right? No. No. Well, yes, the lineup’s always different but you have to understand I don’t care what the lineup is. Napa in Memorial Day at that time of year for this time of year. Uh based on every I look forward to this. This is my favorite thing every single year. It is just vibes. It is just a completely I don’t I do not care who’s No, I cannot dance for Devon asking me questions. I cannot dance. I would never dance. I would never I do that. You ever see Hitch? I do that little live in my right in my lane. That’s what I do. Uh just nod the head. Uh no, I I cannot I can’t wait. It’s just if you’ve never been, it’s uh it you’ll you’ll get it. It’s bougie Coachella. It’s not like grimy dirty stuff. It’s not like that. It’s not like you’re camping. It’s literally just you go hang out. It’s so much fun. Weren’t there Kings guys out there last year? Yeah, they had uh Domas and Kevin Herder out there on the culinary stage. Dom might be back there. He’s got his wine. Um you know, I I I would kind of expect to see some sort of Donna Sabonis representation. And I do I mean Serena Williams going to be on the culinary stage. Um there’s a you know Ken Griffy Jr. is going to be at the culinary stage. So yeah, if you’re into the whole food stuff, someone mentioned uh Chef Morioto. Oh, look at Brendan wearing the Oh, yeah. Griffy Jr. shirt. I need to head out there and check out Coachella. I mean, check out Bottle Rock. Bottle Rock. Yeah. Fantastic. All right. I mean, it’s so close, too. I mean, it seems like it’d be fun. I sleep in my own bed every single night. Take a shuttle down there. take a shuttle back. Great. Okay. So, last question on this, Sean. Um, like how do you have senioritis when you just started your your new job? No, because it’s uh Yes, because I didn’t get like a vacation in between really. I got a few days off, which was nice, but uh yeah, you end up stepping right into it’s not because of the work. It’s just for me, NBA season’s kind of coming to the end. It’s the kind of the kickstart of summer for me. So, uh, I get to take an extended break and I do it at Bottle Rock. So, senior senior I see senioritis because I’m just looking forward to it so much. The Ace just got another homer. Um, yeah, look at that. Who is that right? Someone didn’t like my I don’t like the Dodgers and Doohar. It’s 10 to one. There it is. There it is. Um, all right. Uh, that’s going to do it for this edition of the Kingspeed podcast. Uh we are of course brought to you by Bluewire and uh Underdog Fantasy. If you want to jump on board with Underdog, uh use a promo code Kingsbeat, all one word. Uh we’re going to continue all the way through summer. We’re going to keep doing this. Uh that’s kind of the way it goes. Um we’re a little like sporadic, erratic, I don’t know how you want to like, but mostly it’s because we all have a lot going on and we’re trying to match schedules and everything else. So, thanks for tuning in. Uh, hit the thumbs up button if you don’t mind. Um, this is almost a two-hour podcast. I blame Sean. Um, yeah, I’m blaming you this time. It’s usually Sean. This one might have been you. You kept disappearing. I did as well. Brendan, you disappeared like four times. I don’t know. On my end, it only happened twice. So, we’ll see. Yeah. I don’t know. And then and then of course Sean kept taking questions from the audience. So, which is what you should do during a live show. These people have questions. Well, thanks for tuning in everyone. My vacation time. What the hell does my uh No, the you go from one company, they pay you out. You have to start all over again. I think Devon is debating changing jobs. Yeah, he’s really looking into it. Yeah. It’s not great. It’s not great. No, they don’t roll over. No, unless you’re going within company, like if you know Ford owns the dealership and you go from one dealership to the next. Okay, look at it. Yeah, that’s one way to look at it. All right. Uh that’s going to do it for this edition of the Kings podcast. Thanks for tuning in again. Hit the thumbs up on the way out the door. Subscribe to the channel. Uh we’ll be back next week. We’ll have another crazy show where we discuss probably um a couple of draft prospects that may or may not ever be in Sacramento and maybe some new assistant coaches. Um so for KC3s Sean Cunningham and Brandon Unes from the Kings Pulse podcast if that still exists. I am James Ham Kings Decider for ESPN 1320 and the Kings Beat. See you soon.

KCRA 3’s Sean Cunningham, Brenden Nunes from the Kings Pulse Podcast and The Kings Beat’s James Ham join forces for coverage of the Sacramento Kings.

Topics include Doug Christie adding to his coaching staff, Scott Perry bringing in BJ Armstrong, Kings lose their pick to the Hawks, what does the Kevin Huerter trade look like with hindsight and another episode of The Business of Basketball.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure! Big shoutout to Paul Jinkerson (@paulitition) for creating a new intro and outro for the podcast and to Brenden for creating our new overlay for the podcast.

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