Finding the Sacramento Kings a Point Guard | Locked On Kings

Finding the Sacramento Kings a Point Guard | Locked On Kings

Arguably the biggest need for the Sacramento Kings this off season is a point guard. New general manager Scott Perry said it himself. But what names are out there, whether it’s in free agency or the trade market, that the Kings could realistically target? Alan Styles from Sacktown Sports 1140 joins me as we try and find the Kings a point guard right here on Locked on Kicks. You are Locked on Kings, your daily Sacramento Kings podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is that time. Time for another episode of Locked on Kings. Hello and welcome into Locked on Kings, your podcast hub for Sacramento Kings coverage all off season long. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. My name is Matt George. I have the privilege of being your host here. I’m a Sacramento sports anchor and reporter at ABC10 News. And one of the best things about Sacramento is there are so many amazing hosts and so many amazing content creators in this city that cover sports and cover the Sacramento Kings, including my guest on today’s show, Allan Styles. He has the show or his show, the Allen Styles show on Sacktown Sports 11:40 radio from 10:00 a.m. to 200 pm Monday through Friday. Uh, and Allan does a fantastic job over there discussing just the daily grind of not just what’s going on in sports, but this Sacramento Kings off seasonason. So, it’s been a while since I’ve had Allen Allen here on the show. Allan loves to throw out hypothetical trade ideas and loves to kind of play fantasy GM. So, I thought, let’s bring him in. Let’s play fantasy GM together. Let’s try and find the Sacramento Kings their new point guard because they have nobody. I mean, Devin Carter kind of, Malik Monk, kind of. We’re talking about hybrid guards here. The Kings need a point guard. They need a floor general. And Allan and I look at the trade market and look at free agency to try and find the Kings one. Allan Styles and Matt George teaming up to help find the Sacramento Kings a point guard because they went from a bunch of them to none of them. man Allen. It might not sting as much for you as it does for the Sacramento Kings, seeing what Tyrese Hallebertton is doing in Indiana. Plus, there’s pictures floating around of uh a shot from media day of De’aran Fox, uh DaVon Mitchell, and Tyrese Hallebertton all pictured together as the new core backcourt. Well, now the Kings have none of them. Yeah. We’re here to try and help them find a point guard. And before we dive into some names and how the Kings in theory could get these said names, if we’re talking like an archetype or a type of point guard that you say this is what the Sacramento Kings need, what type of point guard is is that to you? Yeah, I I really think it starts Madden. Thanks for having me on, by the way, when we’re doing this whole thing with the three and I’ve seen the picture. All respect, but no disrespect whatsoever. DaVon Mitchell in that conversation. C. Can we stop with that? It’s like, why are you there? But we’re glad you’re there. You know, that’s just Kings fans. And we had him, too. No, we watched DaVon for a long time now, but that’s a conversation for a different day. Culture. Trust trust your work. So, as far as the archetype, I do think that it has to be somebody. If you look at who the Kings have, right, Damonte Sabonis, he likes the ball in his hands, but he does need somebody to take some of the stress off of him. He’s not going to just have the ball all day long. So, to me, it is not going to be a Rajan Rondo type who doesn’t look at the basket at all. It’s got to be somebody that can get his own because I think that makes uh Damonte Sabonis more dangerous. Now, the easy answer that everybody’s probably uh wanting me to say just to kind of dive into it is a De’Aran Fox type. And I really don’t know that it is a De’arren Fox type. It is somebody that can touch the paint and and get the ball to Zack Lavine if Demar De Rozan’s still on the team. Demar D Rozan and of course Keegan Murray. But it it’s somebody that can get their shot when need be. And we got to stop with the grenades. I feel like even with De’aran on the team, there were just too many grenades where, you know, De’aran was weird because I don’t know if he was shoot first or pass first. It really depends on who you ask, but just somebody that can touch the paint that can establish themselves as a scorer and decide throughout the game really it’s going to be a me day or somebody else. And you know, I don’t I don’t their names out there and they all are kind of connected to the Kings. Either they were or they are going to be. So yeah, somebody that can touch the paint but also get their own and distribute the basketball. Good producing here by me. Allan, I don’t I I I didn’t ask you before we started recording if you had any names in free agency because of course we’re here’s the here’s the magic of having Allen Styles on your show and and those of you who listen to Allen Styles show on on Sackown Sports 1140, which you absolutely should from 10 to 2 know that Allen is a master of putting together these trade scenarios and trade situations, especially when he brings it to the dinner table before Sacramento game so everybody can react to it. I think I watched Gman roll his eyes, Gary Gerald roll his eyes like two or three times at some of Allen Styles trade suggestions. Gman, he gets it. He gets it. He He knows ball just like Allan knows ball. Before we get into Allen Styles major or massive fantastic trade proposals that and I’ve I’ve got a couple out there, at least a couple names to look at in trade markets, too. Were there any names in free agency that that caught your attention? There are a couple of them for me. The problem is with free agency, and we can set this out, right? Like the Kings don’t have a lot of space or have a lot of money, and they’re looking they’re not just looking for guard depth. They’re looking for a starting point guard. So, every hypothetical conversation that we would have about what about this player in three in free agency starts with the Kings making another move to free up the money to go and get a player in free agency. Yeah, I would say a lot of people are bringing up Dennis Shruder. That’s a name that comes up a lot and I’m not against it. Some people think Dennis Shruder might get resigned on a decentsized deal back to Detroit. I don’t know what Detroit is going to do in that situation. They have Kate Cunningham as their number one and he played alongside Kate Cunningham. So, I’d be interested in Dennis Shruder. Tyus Jones. I look, a lot of people can say Taius Jones doesn’t play defense, which he probably doesn’t, and that would fit in with the old Sacramento Kings, but he also I watched him, again, going back to the archetype, I watched him get his own a lot in Phoenix before Bradley Beal kind of returned into the fold and him, Grayson Allen. Grayson Allen’s not a point guard, but they just had no roles in Phoenix. So, I’m not completely ready to say no to Taius Jones. You would just again it turns into a situation where can you play Tyus Jones and Malik Monk at the same time just due to the defense. But I do like him offensively and think he’s underrated as a score. His brother, I don’t know that his brother is a free agent or not. I know the Bulls are probably going to move on from him, but Trey Jones and you know I I think a lot of people are doing the thing where I’m not going to sit here, Matt, and tell you I’ve watched a lot of Trey Jones, but point guards are in the Jones’s blood. They’re all point guards, so we should at least see, you know, what’s going on there. But I would say Taius Jones and Dennis Shruder, two guys that I would be interested in again if Malik M can’t start in this situation. And I think that’s also something to keep in mind because Malik during his end of season presser talked he didn’t talk about coming off the bench and being six-man. He talked about being a two guard. So those two guys I think Dennis Shruder he competes defensively for sure but I don’t know that you can play Ty Jones and Malik together and that would be my cause to pause but I’d be interested in both of them. Again financially I do not know specifically how this gets done. But does D’Angelo Russell do anything for you? No, he does not. He does not. I’ve look, when I was in the Bay, I was A lot of people forget that D’Angelo Russell was on the Warriors, and that was just a bad fit in general, but I don’t like the way D’Angelo Russell plays. Number one. Number two, you know, he had that crazy quote where what did he say? I I love playing free basketball. And maybe he didn’t mean it like I just get to chuck and nobody cares. But that’s how it came off. I don’t think he’s a fit for Doug Christie at all. I don’t know what type I saw somebody say the the Kings might bring back the Princeton offense and just try to, you know, make it new age. I don’t know what they’re going to do offensively, but D’Angelo Russell, he he he just honestly he reminds me of a I don’t know, a Walmart Teimu Sha Gilis Alexander. Like that’s who he wants to be. I’m cool. I go at my own pace. I’m never in a rush. and he can get you buckets and he can shoot, don’t get me wrong, but there’s never any urgency. I just don’t think that D’Angelo Russell would do it for me. And he probably would cost more than the other two guys. Oh, I imagine he absolutely would. All right, so let’s let’s dive into some some trades here and and any before we get into or actually well, it’s it’s less about here’s the framework of the deal. here’s how the deal gets got done specifically and it’s more about here are names for the Kings to potentially pursue to make calls about and and kind of a rough idea of how a deal would get done and you guys we’ll kind of bounce back and forth on just names that pop out but all right give me your give me your first one Allan like this is a name that in in the point guard market that the Kings should be at least making a phone call about I I want to say real quick okay this is probably the only podcast that you’re going to see where I’m gonna say three names And those names do not include John Morant or Trey Young. So I’m going tell you right now, okay? We can have those conversations, but I’m I’m I’m leveling up here, okay? And maybe not leveling up, but being as realistic as possible. Let’s start with number one. Number one, look, this is a guy who I’ve always really liked. I think he’s a dog defensively. He’s got great length. His problem is he can’t really shoot, number one. And number two, his problem is he’s coming off an Achilles, so he would not be ready for the start of the season, but I think you could get him at a good price because of that. No clue what the Pelicans are doing. Let’s see what Dejonte Murray has left. I was thinking about I was looking at Deonte. What’s funny is is people are looking at the Pelicans and looking at that to be a a fire sale, blow it up type situation. When you think Pelicans, I think everybody’s going to be monitoring what the heck they do with Zion. Uh, and then I’ve heard CJ McCollum be brought up and I know CJ spent some time running the point guard, but again, I think the Sacramento Kings need to get away from these hybrid. Is they are they a two, are they a one? Like you you you definitely need to go more the point guard route. I kind of feel like DeJonte Murray is still in that are they a two, are they a one category, but if you can get him because of you’re coming off the Achilles and you can buy low on a player like that, especially if the Pelicans are going full blowup mode, I don’t hate the idea of De Jonte Murray at all. The The problem is though, we can have this in any conversation about the Sacramento Kings is what is their motivation and what are they trying to do? Because I think we un we understand or we’re operating from the belief that the Kings are still trying to be competitive and are still trying to win basketball games right away. Mhm. Can they survive long enough without DeJonte Murray while he heals and gets ready and comes back? Because I don’t know exactly like ballpark-wise when he would return, right? Can they survive and tread wa water long enough for their point guard to arrive halfway through the season? Didn’t work with Devin Carter, of course, that’s a rookie, though. Wow. Like, so my I guess bouncing it back to you, like what do you think the Kings could afford to wait for him to come back if their motivation is to continue to be uh competitive? Because I would argue if their motivation isn’t to continue to be competitive, then why go out and trade for Deontay Murray in the first place? It’s a great point. It’s a great point, which is why I was higher on DeJonte Murray. The Achilles is really tough. And I, you know, I’ve been saying the same thing about the Celtics, man. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to the Celtics. We bring up the Achilles. If you really think about it, a lot of guys don’t go down with Achilles injuries. If you look at the percentages, every time we talk about Achilles, it’s three dudes. Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Kobe. That’s it. So, I don’t know what the Celtics are going to do. And and I only bring that up because as far as Dejonte Murray, we don’t know what he’s going to be. I thought he was intriguing. To me, that would be the Pelicans saying, “We don’t know what to do with DeJonte, and it’s a heck of a deal. Maybe you even get a lowlevel pick back in the process.” That would be the cell. So to your point, you’re, you know, you’re hybrid tank, you’re hybrid tanking. Maybe you get lucky. You’re just not telling VC that you might actually be tanking. Just nobody in the in the ownership organization knows it. So I do hear you on that. And and the only positive to your point would be, yeah, Devin Carter, let’s see what you can do. Another combo guy to me. My threshold, and it’s probably not completely completely fair, but my threshold for the creator versus combo, whatever. I look at DeJonte Murray, his career, he’s 5.4 assists. Last season, he only played 31 games, but he was a straightup point guard, and he did average 7.4. That was only 31 games, but, you know, he’s over that threshold of five. when I see, you know, certain other guys that we’re looking at like Zack Lavine is at four something, right? He had the ball a lot. So, he’s he’s closer to we’re getting warmer to a pure point guard than than a CJ McCullum or I would even say at this point a Devin Carter or Keon Ellis. Like I said at the top of the show, today’s episode of Locked On Kings is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlightw worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can’t miss moments. Whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live. With player props, performance trends, and same game parlays, fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big. which players are showing up at the biggest moments. 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Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Well, you brought up the Boston Celtics, which I think is intriguing because in addition to what are they going to do about Tatum’s injury is I think everybody even regardless of the injury, even if they won another title, I think everybody was kind of looking at the Celtics going this is probably the last year of this iteration and what does what what do the changes look like? Drew Holiday is a player that I have loved his entire career. Now, he’s only getting older and older. So you’re essentially if you’re trading for Drew Holiday, you’re acquiring a guy that in the very same in a similar conversation to Demard Rosen, like you’re you’re acquiring knowing I’m getting two, three years max out of a player like this. Uh and I don’t know what the cost would be. I think the Boston Celtics have some figuring out to do, but they’re also still, of course, in a championship window, so they’re not just giving Drew Holiday away. Yeah. Again, the question is, does Drew Holiday make sense? Drew Holidayiday is a win now move. Like Drew Drew was, I think, involved in the Portland Trailblazers uh trade. Um, and immediately was like, get me the heck out of here. Like, I I got to go to a place where I can contend. And Contenders wanted him because they see the value in him. Drew Holiday tomorrow makes the Sacramento Kings a significantly better basketball team, albeit very, very short term. M. So maybe that fits perfectly into this little window of hey, we’ve got Lavine under contract, we’ve got Sabonis under contract, let’s just try and win as much as possible now and then when all those guys run out, we can re-evaluate. I don’t know specifically how you get it done because I don’t know what you have that the Celtics really want for winning basketball. Maybe it’s like a Keon Ellis type, but the money doesn’t even come close to working there. But what do you think about like the Kings saying we’re going all in for like a true vet defensive lockdown point guard like Drew? Yeah, I was initially no on Drew Holiday simply because of the price tag. You know, they were kind of feeling themselves. The Celtics were during their run and they were just giving out money and they knew it was going to end eventually and it is ending now, right, in some capacity. My problem with Drew Holiday is even beyond the age and the injuries because he was injured this season as well. It’s also the ability I we just talked about Drew Holiday I think last week. If you look at how he joined the Celtics and what he was doing, it reminds me, don’t get mad at me, but I’m I’m going to bring up that team down 80. It reminds me of Draymond Green when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors. And if anybody remembers, Draymond Green wasn’t terrible at scoring. He could score the basketball that game seven. He what what did he had 25 something like that. and he got Kevin Durant, didn’t have to score anymore, and Draymond was never the same. Drew Holiday when he was with the Bucks, he could score. He was the he was the upgrade from Eric Bledo, right? So, he was that upgrade offensively. You look at his numbers and because Jason Tatum handles the basketball, Jaylen Brown as well, only with his right hand, you have the assist numbers going down for Drew Holiday the last couple seasons and you and Derek White as well. You have the assist numbers going down and you have the points going down. So Drew Holiday, what two years removed, less healthy and older. Now Drew, you were going to ask you to turn back the clock because we’re going to need him to score, right? This whole idea of moving on from Demar De Rozan, which I understand. We keep having this conversation and people aren’t talking enough about, okay, we can move on from Demard Rosen, but who’s going to score the basketball? Right. Right. I mean, so you bring in Drew Holiday and you know, the money is similar. So Drew Holiday goes somewhere or goes to the Kings. You have Demar heading somewhere else. What happens next, right? And and they’re good defensively, but I don’t know what they would be offensively. Well, in this scenario, too, the only way to realistically make this work because Drew’s paid he’s under contract for three more years, paid $32 million next season. So, I mean, he’s he’s an expensive he’s an expensive player. The only way that you get this done is the Celtics are okay with taking Demardo Rosen. And in order to make them be okay with taking Demard Rosen, there’s just not an there’s not a way this deal gets done without Keon Ellis being involved. There’s just not like to one make that little extra bit of money work and two give them something that they feel hit fits their culture that they can have control over for for long term. So, it’s not like this idea of you’re bringing Drew Holliday into Sacramento to help develop Keon El. No, Keon is going as part of this deal. Maybe right like maybe Drew helps develop Devin Carter, but like so that that’s what it’s costing you. Again, if you’re you’re trading with a championship caliber franchise, they’re not giving you any kind of talent for free. So Drew is costing you a lot. And again, you’re you’re really if you’re Scott Perry evaluating what the what am I doing this for? Which he should be asking that question for everybody. So all right, give me name number two. I know you got another one. Okay, name number two. This is a good one and I can’t take full credit for this because Whitey Gleon actually put me on to this player. This is going to cost you because he’s on a great contract and he’s still playing that. So that’s a problem. Oh, but Andrew Nemhard of the Pacers, if you could get Andrew Nemhard and I it’s going to cost you, right? Especially if they win the whole thing, then they’re not cuz he just signed an extension, right? So they have him locked in. If they win the whole thing, they’re not moving him. If they don’t win the whole thing, he’s still going to cost a pretty penny. But here’s a guy I’mma be honest with you, and like I said, Whitey kind of opened my eyes to it. When you look at taking a swing, who’s the ne I’m not saying he’s the next SGA, but who’s the next guy that needs an opportunity? I’m not saying he’s James Harden, but he’s got Tyrese Hallebertton there. He’s kind of the, you know, sec. I don’t know if he’s the, he’s not even the secondary guy. He’s more of the third or fourth or I don’t know. It depends on who that lineup is. They’re just ridiculous offensively. But you could sign Andrew Nehard up to be, hey, we are going to basically groom you and give you the runway to be the guy and in the process you should make the team better for Damonte Sabonis still on the squad. Zack Lavine still on the squad. I don’t even, like I said, I didn’t even cook up what it’s going to cost you and it’s going to cost you. But you’re basically saying I’m betting on a possible future star. It starts with Keegan, right? Like I would probably it has to start with Keegan like that. you you you’re you’re there’s nothing really else of value that financially makes sense for the Pacers that unless the Pacers like unless let’s say this this whether it’s the NBA finals or this this Eastern Conference Finals with the Knicks and all a sudden the Pacers really really struggle to score maybe you could try and sell them on the idea of here’s Demar Rozan for a couple years to help you help get you a bucket type thing but I mean you’re you’re that’s a really really tough sell and Malik Monk ain’t doing it even as much as I love Malik Monk Malik Monk ain’t doing it So, I what I like about what you said is bring them in, give them the keys. Like that that this is your opportunity to take this is your franchise now. You can take it from everybody. Like this is this is your opportunity to I just don’t know why the Pacers would ever ever ever especially now that they’ve gotten him under control for a bargain. He’s making $18 million next year. I know. I know. Man, I mean Keegan. And here’s the thing. You just said Keegan. That’s pro. I know it’s a wing driven league. That’s probably the position they’re not really tripping off of. They got Matin, they got N Smith. They don’t really need Keegan Murray on that squad. Would they take him? Sure. But we actually just would prefer to keep Andrew Nehard. So, I don’t know. Right. Is it I don’t know. To your point, you know, Demar De Rozan I I think that Demar Rozan is a bit undervalued. My issue with Demar Rosen, espec specifically on the Pacers, is that you ain’t slowing down that offense, bro. Like, they’re they’re not they don’t want that. They do not want that at all. So, you’re right. It would be some version of Okay, cool. We can just add another wing, Keegan. And, you know, uh I don’t think I I looked it up yesterday because N Smith was going off. He’s not I mean, Keegan is bigger than them, so Keegan would be a legit four, right? and maybe maybe you make a deal that way. Look, they’re probably not coming off him. It’s probably gonna, like I said, first round pick. I’m I’m talking the works. You’re this is if you think that Andrew Nehard is a diamond in the rough and, you know, for lack of a better term, being held back by the Pacers a little bit. What I like about that deal is that’s a that’s a player that you could see, okay, that’s Scott Perry building his new core. That’s Scott Perry building his future. He brings Andrew Ne Andrew Nehard. Again, I have no idea how in the world you would ever get the Pacers to say yes to it. But that’s the kind of piece that if I’m Scott Perry, that’s exactly who I’m hunting for, right? It just sucks that they’re still playing right now to make if they were a first round exit or even second round. Look, maybe if they had faced some healthy teams, they’d be out. I’m just kidding. I’m half kidding. But yeah, they’re still playing and they could they could go to the finals after that game la yesterday. And we just talked about it with the Celtics. get the vibes going and you get some, oh, it’s a revenge tour, whatever it is for the Pacers, they’re probably not going to move them. But, you know, if you make it worth everybody’s got a price, it’s just a matter of do you want to pay it? Well, what sticking with the Pacers, if if if Andrew Nehard is impossible, what if you tried to make a swing for TJ McConnell? Yeah, he’s been a guy that I’ve loved forever. He’s been a Kings Killer uh as well. Historically, career, a backup point guard, coming off the bench guy. But if you were to tell me, Matt, for the next season or two, TJ McCall McConnell is going to be your starting point guard while you figure some things out and Scott Perry gets his roster and his core put together. I would I would do flips in the street for for TJ McConnell on my basketball team. He only makes $10 million a year under contract for the next four years. So, I’ll do you one better. And so, this is a running joke on the show because everybody roasted me and maybe maybe you too at the dinner table. I’m sure I did. Okay. I I’ll take TJ McConnell, but I’m looking at this contract now. I’mma get my boy Matt. I’m bringing Obie Toppin home. Obie. I’m bringing Obie Toppin home. He’s making then 14. Then 15. TJ McConnell and Obie Topphen. I’m just saying. And people are going to roll their eyes. Allan, want to take a big swing. Look, you guys told me when I came to Sacramento, this is the king. So, you get what you you get what you get and like it. You want Andrew Nard. How about cool. So, we all do. But what you’re going to get is CJ McConnell and Obie Toppin. You’re going to like it. Well, I mean, I I personally don’t hate it, but then again, I asked the question, where the hell are the Sacramento Kings going? But again, you can ask that question for they need a point guard. They need a big wing. There you go. I don’t know how the Sacramento Kings possibly negotiate anything with the Pacers while the Pacers are dancing in the garden and Tyres Halbert is making choke signs. Yeah. All right. What’s your What’s your third and final name? Yeah. Going back to the Celtics, is he worth what he’s getting paid right now? I don’t know, but we’ll find out. This is a different version. I don’t think you’re betting on future star. You’re just betting on production. Give me Derek White. Give me Derek White. You know, he’s a guy who we don’t know if he’s is he a product of his environment. Would he be getting paid? What is he getting paid? 30 30 million something like that on 28.1 starting a new four-year deal. 28.1. Yeah. I I don’t know that he’s a $30 million player on a bad team, but we can find out. And, you know, he’s one of those guys. He’s more of a let me touch the paint. I don’t know. Again, I don’t know how much of a pure point guard he is. That’s my question. But at least he’s a shooter. He can pass the basketball. Let’s see if he passes my threshold. But I would at least I would at least look at Derek White. And I know, you know, a lot of teams are going to be looking at him. Yeah, he’s right there. So, he’s 4.2 for his career. He’s 4.8 last season. So, it’s a he’s really close to the threshold. I would at least take a swing because he defends and you talk about kind of raising somebody up through the ranks. You hold on to Devin Carter. You know, he can learn from Derek White as well. I’d be I’d be interested. Again, more comboy than pure point guard. But I really just didn’t want to come on here and people, you know, your loyal viewers and fans say, “Okay, here we go with Trey Young and John.” I’ve already done it. Yeah. So, I wanted to come up with some different people for you. No, I appreciate that because I I had Trey Young and John Morant like written down but kind of with like a smiley face kind of chaos next to it because yeah, it’s it’s it’s fun to talk about and I don’t think at least with Trey Young I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility. It’s just absurd like it would be a very Kang’s yolo type type move that they they would make. So Derek White for me, like if I’m arguing with myself, I’m saying, well, Derek White, one, he’s a product of environment. Two, he’s very successful as a shooter when he’s getting the ball from Tatum or somebody else, right? And then, but then I think, well, you’re pairing him with Zack Lavine. Not that Zack Lavine is a point guard necessarily, but Zach’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot, too. So, why can’t Derrick White play off ball with Zack Lavine in theory the same way he does with the Boston Celtics? But then we go back to the whole but you’re looking for a point guard. You’re looking for kind of a floor. It’s not just you don’t necessarily need a pure point guard in terms of like a Steve Nash or Chris Paul, but someone who can be your kind of floor general, an extension of Doug Christie on the floor. Is Derek White that? I don’t know. I don’t know how many how many of those guys are out there, right? And why would And why would like those guys are coveted. So why would a team want to give you that guy, especially for the the pieces that you’re willing to move from? you have bad contracts and old talent that you’re trying to move here. So, if you’re really trying to go that route then because I don’t even think I think Jar I wouldn’t do the John deal. Let me tell you that right now because Jesus scares me for a multitude of reasons. But if you’re really going to go down that route, all roads point to Trey Young. That’s it. Yeah. Yeah. It solves all your problems. Now again, you’re probably sending Malik to Atlanta. Not that I don’t know that Atlanta wants Malik, but you’re going to take Malik because we got to make this money work because you cannot play Trey again. You cannot play Trey Young and Malik together, right? You can’t. And he definitely can’t play Trey Young, Malik, and Zack Lavine together, right? Well, and you can’t play defense. So you will not play defense. That’s that’s that’s the Kings going to Doug Christie. Go, hey, we know what type of player you were, but f you. You’re not doing that anymore. And we just saw that. We just saw that. Yeah. All right. I’m going to throw two names out, but we don’t have to dive in too deep. These are kind of more jobber type guys, at least at this point in their career. And can you can you turn either one of them into a feasible starting point guard for at least a season or two while you you tread water? Gabe Vincent, Marcus Smart. Either of those two interest you? Marcus Smart. I just feel like I haven’t seen the brother play in a long time. Yeah, I am interested in Gabe Vincent. Now you know me. If we’re going Gabe Vincent, let’s find a way to get Ruy Hachimura on up here. I hate it here. He’s He’s He’s being misused out there. But no, I’m very interested in Gabe Vincent. He actually had a good end to the season. So I I don’t know. Who knows what the Lakers are doing. I saw their eyeing. It’s so crazy. It’s so crazy how you have a couple good seasons and now you’re on the Lakers uh you’re on the Lakers kind of uh radar because now I just saw Yoan Buha said the Lakers are maybe looking to get Tammani Kamar which is so weird to me because you have Jared Vanderbilt. I don’t really understand when he’s on the floor but so I don’t know what what the Lakers are attempting to do but Gabe Vincent I would definitely be in. I mean, we’re looking at these guys, Matt, really. They’re bridge quarterbacks. They’re bridge quarterbacks because the ownership doesn’t want to blow it up. And you also either don’t have enough assets or you don’t want to go into the luxury tax or you don’t want to give up enough assets. So, this is what you’re going to get and you’re going to fight for the top of the plane. And again, that’s no disrespect to Gabe Vincent. Maybe he plays, you know, I I’m of the mindset the Kings need to start doing the opposite. Okay. So if somebody’s coming off a bad season, that’s who you need to look at because it can’t get worse. So the Kings stay away from Malik Beasley. Stay away career season in Detroit. No, no, no. Contavious Caldwell Pope who played the worst season of his career and give me Gabe Vincent who was in and out of the lineup. That’s who the Kings need. So, you know, we need more uh upwards trajectories, not oh, they just had their best season and now there’s no way they’re going to sustain at that. So, I’m good with Gabe Vincent. He had a bit of a a down season with the Lakers. He was injured and then he got back into it. Yeah. He’s just never really worked there. No. No. I mean, I don’t know what to do. Obviously, he was a great story in Miami. 72 games, 1.4 assists in those games. his career. He only averages two, right? He shoots 35 from three. I mean, like you said, you’re taking him. He’s from Modesto. I didn’t know that. Yeah. Stockton zone. Yeah. There you go. You You’re taking him, but it’s also, you know, uh Devin Carter, Keon Ellis, you’re going to get a lot of time. Yeah. I I mean, to to put a bow on this, just talking through this, what’s what’s kind of set in for me is there’s going to be two routes. There’s either going to be the humongous swing for a Trey Young type, which is less likely, but still possible. The most likely route, what what’s probably more than likely going to happen, Allan, is that the Sacramento Kings are going to go out and try and and target a backup point guard or a a guy that’s kind of fringe backup to at best fringe starting point guard. and we’re all going to try and convince ourselves and they’re going to try and convince us that he can be the starter at least short term. Like that’s what’s going to happen. It’s going to be the it’s going to be the Raiders going out and getting Gardenner Mchu. Like that that is what the Kings are going to be doing this year at that point guard position, which means realistically we shouldn’t have super high of expectations for this team again if their point guard is once again going to be kind of fringe backup whatever the heck. Yeah, going to be. So, I mean that that’s just the reality of the position that they’re in. And and again, it speaks to kind of the the place of the franchise in general. You’re in this kind of state of limbo right now. Thankfully, Scott Perry has the or at least he feels he has the time to to ride it out and wait it out for fans and us who have to watch next season and can’t just get a fast forward button. Doesn’t sound too fun. No. Well, and I think the bottom line is it’s not necessarily about I think what Scott Perry has to try to convince ownership is that it’s not really about the result of the season. It’s about what are your goals of the season. What what are you trying to work your way towards, right? Because this whole thing has been and Boogie Cousin said it, it felt like they made the playoffs in 2023 and had no clue after. It’s like the the cat that chases the mouse chases the mouse for what was it 17 years and then catches the mouse and doesn’t even know what to do with the mouse, right? Or you know the guy that’s talking to a girl and the girl actually is paying attention. He’s like, “Oh, I didn’t expect that.” And had no clue what to do. So I think whether you make the playoffs or not, you have to just go into the season with intentions. Hey, our intention is to see if Keegan Murray is going to be a number two option. Our intention is to see if Devin Carter can be a point guard. So, they don’t I I think that Kings fans Kings fans best Kings in the world. Kings fans will support regardless, but it would be nice to know at least we’re not sucking for no reason, right? Like the And it doesn’t have to be the Wizards because that’s what I always say. It doesn’t have to be a a prime time tank where it’s just not watchable, right? Or unwatchable. It can be a hybrid tank where maybe we mess around because we’ve seen it across the league. Maybe we mess around and get an eight seed here or there, but while we’re doing that, we’re developing. These last couple years, they weren’t ever going to be good enough to win a championship. and they weren’t also developing anybody to uh be better or good enough to win a championship. So, I think Scott Perry’s main goal just has to be proving to them, hey, it’s not really about the end result. It’s about what are we trying to get out of this season regardless of the result. Well, we’ll see who the heck is the point guard or point guards on this roster when we actually get to training camp. Allan Styles will continue to cover it all season long on Sackdown Sports 11:40 from uh from 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock. So check that out over there. Allan, I appreciate you taking the time, my friend. Thank you so much as usual. And we’ll uh we’ll chat again soon again this offseason, I imagine. Sounds good, man. Thanks for having me on.

Matt George and SacTown Sports 1140 radio host Allen Stiles team up to try and find the Sacramento Kings a much-needed point guard, through either trade or free agency.

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Finding the Sacramento Kings a Point Guard
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