The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Vision For Building This Team

The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Vision For Building This Team

uh Hammer, we’re um all of this really started because we were talking about look who’s talking. Yeah. Sean Travolta and Kirsty Alley and Bruce. Of course. Yeah. I don’t know how your Kings conversation starts, but um uh I mean obviously we’re watching Tyrese Hallebertton succeed in the in the in the Eastern Conference Finals. for watching the Indiana Pacers, you know, do what they did this year and and and last year and really trying to uh even further pick apart why we are where we are with the Sacramento Kings. And, you know, we we’ve talked about De’aran at length and you know, the the pairing of De’ar and Dom and and Hammer. I feel like it always just traces back to the Sacramento Kings make the playoffs, they attempt to get OG and Anobi that falls short. for whatever reason it falls short and then they wind up just sitting on their hands and running it back into that second season and then Mike tries to wipe out their identity and start over. Yeah. I I don’t know if it’s so much that Mike tried to wipe out their identity as he he tried to push them towards the team they were in the last half of the season before and in the playoffs and they just didn’t take to it. you know, like it it’s one thing I I I don’t know. It it to me like the first season of of you know, the beam team, I I guess we call it um it felt like they were they were overachievers, right? And so we expected them to continue to overachieve. And the fact is that they were overachievers that decided to put their mind to something and then in year two um there more of their true colors showed up. And like to me the biggest thing that is what Kenny, you know, like there isn’t a huge difference between a good team and a bad team in the NBA. There’s a big difference between a great team and a good team and a great team and a bad team. But the difference between a good team and a bad team I I don’t really think is that is that big of a margin. Um but I also don’t know that fixing the Kings is just like you know there this isn’t like just wave a magic wand and you can fix it all. And so I think you were closer to where you wanted to be before the trade deadline and now you’re further away. And that’s where you’re going to have to see if you know what Scott Perry’s got in his bag here because I think there’s a lot of work to do right now. And and it’s not easy work and the work that needs to be done. A lot of teams need the same work and you got to figure out like where do you find a point guard for this team? Like finding a forward just always seems so silly and rudimentary and like why can you not just sign a forward? Like they’re everywhere, you know? why can’t you just trade for one? But going out and finding like a leader of your team and and a point guard is is way different to me. And that, you know, it’s like you don’t just switch the head of the snake, right? That’s just not the way it works. So, we’ll have to see. We’ll have to see what Scott’s got in his back. Yeah, for sure. Um, one of the things that we had talked about today is I I came up with, you know, this scenario. I didn’t come up with a scenario. I saw it about how the Cavs are not looking at Jared Allen and Daryus Garland as being untouchable, right? They look at Moy and Donovan that way, but they’re willing to entertain conversations about the other two. And it got me thinking about like how how could you get I was thinking point guard. How could you get Darius Garland if you’re the Kings and I came up with D Rozan and then I was like well I don’t want to give up Lavine or Sabonis. If I could give up one of Keon and Devin Carter along with D Rozan. Do you think that will get it done? And then I thought about D Rozan and Keon. We like them both. Won them around. Definitely want Keon around. But aren’t they a little redundant as players? Like, shouldn’t you be able to use one of them to get something that you really need like a point guard? Well, I don’t know. Okay. So, yeah, I I definitely think I mean, Demar played small forward for the Kings all last year. Like, he didn’t play a minute in the back court. And I see people throw him into like a shooting guard discussion. He hasn’t been a shooting guard in 10 years. like that dude, that dude can’t defend the three, let alone the four, let alone the two. You know, a lot of times he’s he’s pushed over to the four. That’s where he was in Chicago, where he played defensively, played against fours most of the time. Um, I I don’t think that they’re redundant, but I do think that the Kings are so overloaded at the shooting guard position that it just makes life really difficult. You know, first of all, it’s not the most difficult position in the league to fill. um you know that clearly is is point guard and usually it’s also center. Like it’s not easy to find these guys. Um but uh the shooting guard position is and the just have so much money locked up in that position. We’re talking about like 47 million for for Lavine, another 20 million for for Monk. So maybe even like 21 million this year. So, we’re at 68 million right there. And I don’t know if you guys saw, we talked about it earlier on the insiders with me and Jesse. Um, Kevin Pelton put Keon Ellis as the 10th like best free agent this off season. 10th. And you know that means you’re probably have to pay him 10. You’re probably going to have to pay him 12 million. So, all of a sudden, we’re at like 80 million at at one position. And I don’t know how a team survives like that because we saw Malik Monk as a starting point guard and that didn’t work. Um, we we saw, you know, Keon Ellis as a starting shooting guard and that worked. But also, you know, I I think you’ve got to give, you know, Zack Lavine is your your $48 million man. He’s starting. So, I don’t know how to improve the team as of right now because you know the you could play all three of those guys and just go one, two, and three with them. Um, but then you’re going to have to add a bunch of depth and and I still don’t think that Malik Monk is a true point guard. So, that’s where like this quandry comes with this team. How do you fix it? How do you fix it moving forward? And you know, I know Kenny, you love Lavine, but like my only answer would be can Lavine play the three and then can you use Tamar to go get a player that can play the one? Because if not, I just see you just keep adding pieces at the shooting guard position. Devin Carter plays a two, you know, like you don’t have a way to fix this thing. So J, maybe I I think in the chat they said I misspoke. I’m looking at Demar being in a trade and why wouldn’t you use one of Keon or Devin to go Oh, Keon or Devin. Oh yeah. Like I look at them in the in a Demar trade. You put one of those guys in there, say to get a Darius Garland and because I feel like Keon or and Devin, you can debate about who’s a better player today or who will be a better player, but they do a lot of the same things. So why are we keeping both of them around when we need a point guard? No, I’m with you. I just don’t think that there there’s a tremendous amount of value in Devin Carter at this point. And I’m not giving up Keon. So I I I get what you’re saying. Like those are two players that play the same position and they are redundant. And like the one thing I’ll always point to with with Keon, Keon knows exactly who he is and plays to his strengths. Devin Carter is the opposite. He does not know who he is and he does not play to any strengths. And that may come with, you know, a couple of years of figuring out that, you know, you’re not 1 A, you’re not 1B, you’re not 2B, you’re not you’re like number eight if you’re lucky, right? And you’ve got to work your way up from there. Where Keon just walks in the door and understands like if he’s starting and it doesn’t matter who’s with him, he’s the fifth the fifth option in the starting lineup and he gets it and he doesn’t try to do too much. And so, yeah, if you can trade Devin Carter as part of any package, I I would probably do that just because he’s not a point guard, you know, and and until you get a point guard for this team, it’s really tough to tell the direction of the team. Like, do you get a plotting point guard? Do you get a speed point guard? Like, what kind of point guard are you going to go get? Are you going to get a big- time scoring point guard? Are you going to tr get a true point guard? Like, and I know we’re talking about like, wait, but you got to start figuring that out. Do you get a guy who plays defense? Do you get a guy who doesn’t play defense at the point guard? Because all of that matters because the players around them change, you know, and that’s that’s one of the bigger problems. like your identity as a basketball team outside of like probably one team in the league, which is Denver Nuggets, is is dictated by your point guard and and what he can do for you. So that’s where you you almost have to start. And and I I would say this, Kenny, like the point is whatever it takes to get that point guard, that’s what it takes. And if it takes Devin or it takes Keon or it takes Devin and Keon, if it takes Devin and Keon and a first round pick or three first round picks, that’s where you kind of have to go. And like, you know, again, I I’m a big time Keon Ellis guy, but like you’re in a hole here and you have to find your identity and you need as much to go get that identity piece as possible. and and hopefully they they can find a team that’s in a spot where they’re ready to move a different direction and kind of take advantage of that. When do you attempt to establish that identity? Because it feels like you would want Doug and Scott Perry to sit down and figure out what do we want this team to be? You want the front office and the coaching staff to sit down and say, “What are we building towards? What are your strengths as a coach? How can we what type of players do you need to be successful in this league? Do you have that conversation now when you haven’t approached free agency and all of that stuff where you’re like, “Okay, okay, this was our idea. This we can’t get any players that fit this.” Like, we tried we tried to sign soand so, but he signed with this team. uh we tried to trade for such and such, but they got swooped up by San Antonio because everybody wants to go play in San Antonio all of a sudden. It’s the beautiful Riverwalk. Like when do you have the discussion about especially when you’re you’re so beared that when do you have the discussion about what identity you’re actually trying to establish? I think they’ve already had that discussion. And I think they have, you know, like like a whole room. They have a conference room there that’s filled with whiteboards and they probably have like eight different scenarios. Like this is if we’re able to add player X, this is the other players that we need to add to go with them. You know, I I don’t think like Doug as a player and as a person, I think he’s pretty straightforward. like he he would like defensiveminded players that multi-positional players, guys that can shoot. Um, you know, it doesn’t have to be like the cream of the crop, but you do have to have really good players in order to, you know, to make it to the Eastern Conference, Western Conference Finals like we’re seeing these teams right now. Um, so like I I think the conversation started as soon as Scott walked in the door and as soon as he sat down with Doug and said, “What’s your vision for this team? This is my vision for the team. Can we be on the same page? Okay, I’m going to hire you as a coach.” That’s, you know, from then on it’s uh a lot of conversations and like let’s not fool ourselves just because there aren’t um, you know, you can’t sit there and call a free agent today. You can call other teams. you can be working on trades this entire time. Like the Kings already have a a rough sketch of what it is that they’re going to be. Now, whether they can accomplish that, whether they can, you know, again, just because you’re talking to somebody and you think you have a deal that’s close, that doesn’t mean that they’re not talking to somebody else and have a deal that’s closer. But you you’ve got to figure out your design for what you’re doing very quickly. And, you know, again, I think uh I think Doug has to be a big part of that. uh because it is him who is ultimate responsible ultimately responsible on the court but also he should have input you know he should he should be able to say hey like here’s a handful of players that I I’ve either worked with before or I know or I really like as players um maybe we should like look at some of these options. I just think that this is totally different. Like when we’re talking about last off season or last trade deadline and guys like John Collins or Cam Johnson, we have all these names Kyle Kosma that are just like in our brains that we’ve been attaching to the Kings forever. Well, the dude who’s running the team is totally different and he’s gonna have different ideas about who he wants. And that’s where you you have to shift gears a little bit because, you know, you see rumors like it’s unsubstantiated rumor from somebody that I have no idea who he is, but like the RJ Barrett thing from what was it Friday or this weekend? um where you know the Kings might be interested in RJ Barrett or you’re looking at Julius Randall in the playoffs and you’re like okay he’s got a he’s entering the final year of a deal he’s got a player option for 31 million bucks next year Scott Perry is the guy who brought him into New York is he somebody that you would look at you know is Domos part of the picture we’re just going to have to wait and see and you know have as many conversations as possible with people around the team to try to figure out what direction they’re going to go because it gets kind of an open book here. I think the only guy I think I know will be on the team next year is Zack Lavine. And that’s because I don’t think you can trade his his $95 million owed or $96 million owed over the next two years. Now, that could change, you know, a year from now or six months from now, but um that’s the one guy I would point to and say if I were guessing, he’s on the team. Everybody else, I think it’s up in the air. I um you know, we thought about it. I’ve thought about it. We’ve talked about it just in this 19 minutes here and it is it’s clear they have I’m with James. They have to go get the point guard. That that is the heart and soul of everything that you’re trying to do. You have to go get and I think didn’t was it Scott or Doug who mentioned the point guard in their press conference? Didn’t one of them? Scott did. Scott. Scott. They know that. Yeah, they know that. I would be shocked if I’d be floored if they came out of this summer without a starting point guard. Not somebody that they’re going to try out or, you know, no disrespect, but like Mason Jones, let’s give him a shot. Like, no. I think they are going to go point guard hunting, and that’s I think that’s where they start. They’ll figure everything else out along the way. But I I as we talk about it and thinking about it and thinking about the things that are said, they are going to go point guard hunting as soon as they can if they haven’t already. Yeah. And you know, we talked about it earlier, too, just like the team that we’re seeing right now. I mean, it could look 100% different. like we have no idea what it’s going to look like. But I always go back to like for comparisons to the original great Kings team, the the team assembled during the lockout in 1998 and became really good from 99 to 2006. Um, you know, like you you have to put the right ingredients in and I think going out and signing Blade Devots was a stroke of genius. Trading for Chris Weber was absolutely amazing. You know, getting Pia Soyakovich to come over from overseas was spectacular, but the engine, the thing that made that thing so incredible right off the bat was Jason Williams, who was, you know, an unheralded college prospect who had been kicked off his college team. And like he steps on the floor and instantly that is who you were. You were that exciting brand of craziness. And like that’s it’s almost like where you have to start. And so many times this team has started the wrong way. You know, they tried to make Tyreek Evans into a point guard. That wasn’t really a thing. They’ve tried to, you know, they they had the Isaiah Thomas era, which that just they just botched that. They they allowed somebody with, you know, who’s not very good at their job to make decisions about basketball players and whether they’re good players or not. But then it just became like this perpetual cycle of like guys who just weren’t good enough. And so yeah, if you’ve got to throw three first round picks to go get John Morant or to go get, you know, again, LaMelo Ball or or one of these point guards that could come available, a Trey Young, like that’s going to be the guy who establishes who you are right off the bat and who you have to put next to him. So, you know, again, it’s one thing to land one of those guys, but you want to put him in starting backcourt with with Zack Lavine. You’re going to give up 130 points a night, 140 points tonight. Now, that’s where Keon Ellis comes into play. Like, how do you piece this thing together the right way? And and again, I don’t have any solution. Like, I hate to be someone who points out a bunch of problems and then doesn’t have a solution, but we we won’t know the cost or who’s available until the things start moving. I would just say that like all of the the things that we talk about, there’s probably like three out there that we aren’t talking about, that we are not thinking about that are potential that are available for the Kings that could happen and would stun everybody and like wow, I didn’t see that one coming. And that it’s funny, it goes back into that conversation about like what type of team do you want to build? Like it seems to start with what kind of point guard do you want to acquire? James, you mentioned the, you know, the Drew Holiday type. Okay, you got a defensive guy who could score for you a little bit, but he is primarily a defensive point guard. Or you can go Trey Young, right, who is not known as being a defensive point guard. He’s a completely different type of point guard. He led the league in assists last year. He could be a scorer. He could be a score first guy. He could pass the ball a lot. And it seems like whatever conversation Scott Perry and Doug may have had, they both have to be willing to adjust on the fly with like, okay, I know this is what we talked about, you know, when I got here back in, you know, April, but we’re going to make a, you know, we were able to land, you know, this player who plays this way and this player who plays this way. We’re going to have to adjust our thinking and we’ll try to build, you know, we’ve got some scoring guys here. We’ll try to get you some, you know, smaller defensive pieces to help fill out this roster. But we were able to, you know, acquire guys. You know, if this was a draft board, we had them graded really high. You know, they come in here and maybe they play a little bit different of a style than we thought, but we could get them going with Domas and the guys that are here. It seems like Scott Perry and Doug Christie are probably going to have to adjust a lot over the course of the next three months based on what that front office is actually able to pull off. No, I totally agree. And even Damen, like you’re not able to like this is who I am offensively. You cannot say that until you know who you’ve got. You know, it’s one thing to say, “Hey, we want to run the ball. We want to run the ball.” Well, if Cory Joseph is the only point guard you can get, you’re not running the ball. I hate to tell you, you know, like you’ve got to look at this and like find pieces. Um, but you also have to be, you know, adaptable. And I think that’s one good thing about Doug. he doesn’t have like years of established like this is who we are. Like if he wants to run the Princeton offense, okay, that’s great. Um, now you need to go find more passers. Like you got one of them. You you got, you know, the equivalent of of probably Chris Weber as far as a passer. Now you need to go find the Vladi Devots. Um, like that if you’re going to try to design your team before you know what your team is, that’s going to be really really difficult. I I’d say like the second like you can have principles, you can have ideas, you can have standards, but what type of style of play you’re going to play, I don’t think we have any idea what that’s going to look like unless they just really really rely on the combination of, you know, Keegan Murray, uh, Demon Sabonis, and Zack Lavine and say, “Hey, this is it. Now everybody else has to fit that style.” and and I don’t know if they’re ready to do that yet. All right, we got a few we actually got a lot more to talk about. I want to ask you about Jake Larab and what his contract situation is and then I want some answers about the California Classic, James, and I expect you to be the one to give us answers. Yeah. Regarding the California Classic, cuz this show started off a little hotter than we intended. Cool down quickly, but started off a little hotter than we intended talking about the California Classic. So we’ll dive into all of that. Is James Ham, our insider from the insiders here with dealing with Casey on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 clear. What’s up, James? What’s happening? That’s the NFL. Who is that guy? Isn’t that the NFL Network guy? Oh yeah. Yeah, everybody. Uh RP, I don’t disagree. Lavine is not a number one option. He’s never been uh he’s miscast as a player. Um like but he’s gonna be one of your top scoring options. like he can’t be your best player at all. Oh no. What is Brian Cavette talking about about this? Well, you’re a movie guy. Face Off. The Nick Cage John Travolta movie. Obviously, the classic. Oh, yeah. Of course. Um I It was fun. You know, you got to remember it’s precgi or like real CG CGI. Like it’s kind of they’re both maniacal. Yeah, Rust August. Too late in Zack Lavine’s career to make him a point guard. Well, last time we’ll see this guy this year. Anthony Edwards. Um, Johnny G. Off the top of my head, best year of 90s for movies. Man, I don’t know. I don’t associate movies with specific ears, but I did work at a video store in I want to say 94. The entirety of 1994 I worked at a video store. So that was a good year. I think movies that came out on video like The Firm. That was right after Jurassic Park. I don’t know. It’s a long time ago. Raising Arizona is amazing. Are we now going through the best Nicholas Cage movies? No, that was last week. Oh, no. We had a we just broke down like the the great years in movies and Hollywood was just on fire from like 88 to 98. Like feels like that was a the golden era cinema. Uh someone said, “What video store did I work at?” Um I worked at a video store called Video Stop in Cedar Ridge. It was a small independent. It was run by uh it was owned by this woman and her son was my manager and still to this day the worst boss I’ve ever had. She was she was horrible. RIP. But she was not a good boss. Shout out Hollywood Video. I know Casey don’t know nothing about that. You crazy Hollywood Video right there on form. Bro, you were a blockbuster guy. H you were a blockbuster guy. Was better. But Hollywood did it thing. Hollywood did it thing. Don’t do that. Map one. We did not have an adult section cuz you asked. Yeah, I actually almost bought a video store when I was young. That would have been a mistake. See, you guys are coming up with some good Nicholas Cage boobies. Snake eyes. Uh, National Treasure 1 and two 8 mm. I like Nick H. He’s He’s crazy. Tron Boy, I remember when Netflix used to deliver the DVDs to the house and everything. See, I was when I worked at video store way before uh DVDs or Blu-rays. So, you yell at people for not rewinding their movies. I didn’t really care. I just sat there and used a rewinder and but other people We’re coming back. Hammer, here’s a fun trivia question. I actually need to make sure I got this right. Yes, I do. Okay. Does anybody remember? Because of course we’ve been talking about movies all day. Does anybody remember what Netflix changed their name to for a split second that caused a near catastrophic stock collapse? I don’t. Yes, sir. Oh, they changed their name to Quickster. Okay. When they were a DVD company, they changed it to Quickster. And a stock that was making you money upon money upon money died painfully. So bad that our person called and said, “Don’t panic. Just don’t. We’re not gonna sell it. We’re just going to hold on to it and we’re going to we’re going to we’re going to just ride this thing out. Oh my gosh. It was a catastrophic failure and they immediately changed it back, but the damage had been done. It took I don’t want to I don’t want to like be like dramatic. I don’t know if it was years or a year. It took a long time for Netflix to go back to being what Netflix was after that. Why? Why did it go so bad? Clear. I I don’t know. I don’t know. People hated the name. People thought it was something like different. So they they’re like No, no, no. But what I think is people thought there was a change coming to the service. So they sold. They were like, “If if this isn’t what we think, we’re out.” And they sold. John Bull in the chat. Oh lord. What’s John Bull doing? like, you know, maybe we don’t want to know. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what John Bull said in the chat. No. All right, sir. All right. Come on, John Bull. Streaming only. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. People were unsure of the names, so they sold like well they thought that whenever you you you made a change to a name that had just started to be established. So people thought from what I remember I’d have to like research this again and look it up. But from what I remember in the moment, people thought the service was changing and they were like, “Well, I’m out then.” That’s crazy. I’m like your financial advisor. All right, let’s just see what’s going on here. Why would I sell? That’s what they did. It’s Kenny’s Wall Street voice right there. It is Kenny’s Wall Street voice. How’d that go again? Yeah. Sounds like a broker. Sounds like a broker. Uh uh Hammer, what is I don’t even remember. Oh, we were asking if uh Jesse knew what Hollywood Video was and then he reminded everybody that he remembered when Netflix delivered DVDs. Um, Hammer, can you remind us the status of Jake Laravia’s off seasonason? Yeah, Jake Laavia is an unrestricted free agent. He can sign with any team for any amount that he wants up to the limit for his rookie scale contract. um except for the Kings, he can only sign a a a starting salary of 5.1 5.2 million with the Kings. Every other team in the league can pay him more than that. Um and the Kings do not have the right of first refusal. They don’t have the right to match any offer because he’s unrestricted. So basically, he’s just a dude who’s out there that can go get whatever money he wants and can go to the highest bidder. Um, I do know he enjoyed his time here in Sacramento. Uh, I talked about I talked with him quite a few times about just the way he was embraced here. And you know, the first I think two minutes of Jake Larabia’s Sacramento Kings career could mean a lot to the to the Kings cuz he had like eight points and like his first two minutes and he got a steal, he had a three, he got a rebound, got a breakaway and the fans just like gave Jake Larabia a standing ovation. He never ever felt like he was appreciated at all in Memphis and it he did not have a good experience in Memphis. So, he’s not running back to Memphis. That’s not a thing. But, uh he is also very cognizant of the fact that, you know, there are teams around the league that don’t have state income tax and there are teams that do. Um he was born in California, uh but he spent, I think, most of his time in Indiana as a kid. And so like look, I I think he’s going to be one of those players that uh goes and tests the free agent market. Um I think the Kings will probably or at least I I wouldn’t be shocked if the Kings put an offer in around like the maximum that they can pay him like give him a two-year deal with worth like 10.7 million bucks with the second year being a player option. And then if you can get him, the weird thing about his contract is if you can get him to play out this next season as a king, then you have his full Larry Bird rights back next summer. So it’s it’s strictly because Memphis didn’t pick up his fourth year option on his rookie scale deal. And when that happens, it caps you at the dollar amount that you would have made on that fourth year. Right? That’s what the 5.15.2 million dollars is. Um, so he again he can go wherever, but it’s gonna really depend on, you know, if he if he felt like he was part of what was happening here, but also like look, what do the Kings think of him? You know, what does Scott Perry think of him? Uh what does Doug Christie think of him? Because this isn’t like just a like an automatic, oh, Jake Larabia is coming back or or we got to have Jake Laabia back. like it’s a whole new front office, a whole new coaching staff, and they’re gonna want some input on this as well. Do you do you think he he gets out of the price range for the Sacramento Kings? No, I don’t. Like, again, I think he’s fun. I think he’s athletic. I I think he brings a lot to the table. Um, but I also look at his injury history and just the fact that he kind of spun his tires in Memphis and even though he was having a really good season on a playoff team, they traded him mid-season for a second round pick. Um, which again, you know, they were limited in their ability to retain him. Um, but they bailed on that limited opportunity to retain him. And I mean, he was playing really well for Memphis when they let him go. Uh they also had a bunch of players they wanted to give more time to. But still I I think that that’s one of those deals where um you know like I he’s probably going to get I mean I I would guess like there would be a threeyear $12 million offer on the table for him or a 2year 10. Like I don’t think he’s going to get a lot more than that. He might even have to play for the league minimum for a year. Um, and if that’s the case, you you’d have a much better shot at retaining him in Sacramento because if he comes back even for the year at a minimum, that would put him that would give him his Larry Bird rights back and then there’s always an opportunity for your team to go over the cap to sign you back. Okay, that’s the breakdown we needed. Now, I need a breakdown of why the California Classic is back at the Chase Center and why aren’t the Sacramento Kings a part of it? Yeah, it’s kind of an interesting situation. So, you know, we saw it this morning the Golden State Warriors came out with like the schedule, right, for who’s going to be there and the Kings aren’t on it. Um, and I didn’t instantly think, oh, well, that means it’s done in Sacramento. Although, I had heard I had heard murmurss that it was um, like they weren’t there was a good chance they weren’t going to do it this year. Um, but like look, the Kings don’t have any young players. I know. I know that that sounds kind of strange, but they don’t. They, you know, you’re not going to send Keon Ellis out there. You’re not going to send Keegan Murray. you might send Devin Carter, but then again, Devin Carter’s got a history of shoulder injuries and you might not want to throw him out there. Maybe Las Vegas summer league works for him. Um, from what I’ve heard though, it it just came down to the Warriors, the the NBA, the Kings, the Warriors, they all kind of had a conversation and said, “Hey, we don’t need it in two places.” Uh, the Warriors had already progressed pretty far and like, “Hey, we’re going to do this thing.” and they’d already uh had a bunch of confirmations on teams that were going to be there and the Kings just felt like, okay, we’re we just don’t need it this year. We don’t have um enough young players. We don’t have a first round draft pick. Uh you know, they do have a second round draft pick in this year’s draft, but you know, we don’t even know if they’ll take that. Um and so for them, you know, again, you you even bring up Jake Larabia, like you don’t even have a 23-year-old Jake Larabia to throw on that team. So, it would be like Isaac Jones and maybe Isaiah Crawford. That would be your summer league team and then try to build out a squad from there. The Kings are still going to have a Las Vegas summer league team. Um, but from what I know, the intention is for uh the Cow Classic to be in San Francisco this year and next year for the Cow Classic to be back in Sacramento and the Kings to field a team for that. they just didn’t feel like they they had the uh I don’t know, not just the pieces in place, but also they’re undergoing a massive restructuring of their front office because they brought in a whole new front office. And it was just one thing that that they just didn’t need to dive into and and really, you know, put all of their eggs into here in the summer. They’ve got to figure out ways to get this team better right now. And having a new GM step in and say, “Okay, how do I manage this whole mess here?” Um, it just wasn’t in the cards. I I know one of the things we do is we we talk about how irritated we get with the Warriors. I promise you this isn’t that. But the Warriors looking to start their own California Classic or take over the reigns of the California Classic and saying, “Hey, we’re we’re pretty far along in this. We’re going to do this thing.” And then to halfass it by not allowing the public to be there on one of the days is ridiculous. That’s ridiculous. Yeah, that stood out to me, James. Your verbiage of that. Like, did the Warriors just do this on their own? No. Okay. So, I I think there was a point where the Kings and Warriors discussed it and decided that they were going to go back and forth, right? That This is stupid. It’s absolutely idiotic. It was. But then the the one year that we’re talking about, so last year they had their doors open the whole time, but the the year that you’re talking about where they didn’t allow fans in the one day, it was coming off the pandemic, number one. Number two, it uh they had they won the championship. And so basically, they decided to take this thing on and not not thinking that they were going to be a championship team. And then they kept playing and playing and playing and playing. And then the guys who have to do all the groundwork on PR and media relations staff and all that stuff, they got stuck with the the Warriors making it all the way to mid June playing basketball still and then you had the draft and then you had free agency and then oh by the way here’s another. So, not only did you just work like nine months straight, but we’re going to need you to do these other things, like an entire basketball tournament, and it became like uh like overwhelming for for their staff. So, that year was a mess for sure. Um, but even last year where they did like the split squad thing where the Kings sent a team down to San Francisco and they had a team here and the Warriors, you know, had one team. That was weird. It just didn’t none of it made any sense. They need to get on the same page and and work one specific thing. And realize that summer league basketball in Sacramento fits a lot better than it does in San Francisco. like the like the turnout is better, the pricing is better, it’s more familyfriendly, and I I think even people in the Bay Area will drive up for for a California Classic where people here are like, “Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to go sit in the city and figure out parking and all that stuff uh to go to a game.” So, James, I’m I’m I remember what you’re talking I’m talking I didn’t know this until you Damian showed me Sean’s tweet from earlier today. I’m talking about this year. They’re closing the doors on the third day. Wow. Wow. I mean, I guess I guess everybody missed that part. That’s ridiculous. This is James. This tell the Golden State. Tell it like it is. This is stupid. Oh yeah. I I mean like look, this should have been a kings forever. Like I don’t know why. That’s it right there. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, it should have been a king and then we went through a global pandemic. Like, it wasn’t just like super easy like, hey, we’re doing this thing. It’s like, you know, it’s expensive to do. It’s not just, and we talked about this earlier. It’s not just like opening your doors and and allowing a bunch of fans in. Like, you got to bring in a full staff. You got to have all your security, all your concessions, all that stuff. You an NBA franchise, you can afford it. No, I I get that. I get that. But they’re also it’s an NBA franchise that does a lot of other things uh like concerts and everything else. And the other thing that kills me about the event, it’s always because of where the draft is and when free agency starts, it’s always always right around like the 4th of July and that’s just it’s too much going on at one time. So yeah, I I don’t know. like it. All I know is they intend to try to get it back together next year. And the Kings are still going to Vegas. They’re still going to have their summer league in Vegas. I don’t care. I’m not. We’ve been trying. I’m not We’re We’re not even putting that out there this year. We’ve been trying for five damn years to go to Las Vegas. I’m not even trying this year. I’m taking the Fourth of July off. Y’all leave Leave me alone. Well, what’s a Friday? The weekend. Oh, all right. I’ll be I’ll be on the water. I gotta be honest. Ain’t no cutting. I’ll be in West Sacramento that weekend. I’ll tell you that. Uh who’s that again? The Giants. Yeah. Bamos Gantes. Wow. Against Sacramento. They lost again. Why do you hate Sacramento so much? Uh I love Sacramento. Don’t You’re not You’re not fooling everybody with that Kings hat. We know what We know what time it is. I had to have got your Marberry jersey for tomorrow or what are we what are we wearing tomorrow? No, I don’t you know I don’t know. I just I don’t know what I’m wearing tomorrow. I don’t know. We already established this that uh Kenny is a sack athletic supporter. I am athletic supporter. Sack athletic. That’s that is tough. Yeah. So, we’re just walking around referring to ourselves as an athletic supporter. Yeah. All right, man. James sophomoric attempt at a joke, too. That was pretty good. That’s a good one. Of course, James is the most childish one here. James, we’re trying to do a professional radio show. Can you grow up? I don’t know how you guys work over there on the Insiders, but this is a serious sports show. Yep. I just remember that time we were talking about um San Antonio. We did not talk very much about the River Walk. We talked about what else it’s known for and and it wasn’t the Alamo. No, I don’t know. Was that whatever? Yeah, it was you. You guys were discussing it. I wasn’t. I was just sitting here laughing. What else is San Antonio known for? You got some tacos. Oh, yeah. Yeah, dog. Yeah. Yeah. You got some special tacos over there. Yeah. James, what are those tacos called, James? Oh, I’m not saying what those tacos are called. I’m You guys go ahead and just talk about it amongst yourself. I don’t get it either. I’m scared to look. Is that a term for something? First thing. What? Oh, we can just move on. Let me I’m just so confused. Like, it’s just a taco, right? As far as I know, it’s just a taco. All right, let me let me let me let me type urban dictionary. Let’s see if there Nope. Uh, yep. Never mind. Yep. Close that. Got it. What do you got there? Nope. Nope. Work computer. Nope. Nope. Didn’t I didn’t know that. So, let’s just keep it moving. Yeah, I heard I hadn’t heard that. I don’t know what culture is that, but it is not mine. Urban. Oh, no. Is not I have not heard one rapper use that term. This is news to me. Maybe it’ll be on Drake’s next album. I don’t I don’t I don’t really know. Wow, James. James, do you enjoy watching Tyrese and the Pacers or is it Does it does it sting you a little bit? No, I fully enjoy it. Like, like, look, you make trades and Tyrese was a joy to have around. He was a joy to have around during like one of the darkest times in Kings uh history. you know, it wasn’t just that the losing, but it was the pandemic. And I I think for most of his time here, he didn’t even get to see fans in the stands. His first year was like no fans in the stands. And you know, like losing by 45 when there’s no fans and then having to go talk to media, that wasn’t fun. But I found him engaging and cool and like his witty banter with Brendan Nunez was fun. Like there was so much to Tai that right away you understood that he got it. And I was looking forward to an era where we got to cover Tai on a daily basis. Um, but I also I look at the trade and you know, as somebody who covered uh like 12 straight years of losing basketball, it was fun to see Sabonis lead that team to the playoffs in the first year. And, you know, again, you gave up a couple years in age and all that stuff, but the reason why the Kings are where they are today is not because of that trade. The reason they are where they are today is because they built something and then they didn’t stick to the plan and they didn’t keep building and they let it they let it die on the vine. And that’s on them. That’s on that’s on Bonnie and Wes. It has nothing to do with Demon Sabonis as a player. I still think he’s a phenomenal player. I do enjoy watching Tai become an NBA superstar because that’s what’s happening like right in front of us. Um, but like let’s be honest, does that happen in Sacramento? Maybe, maybe not. Like, do they ever put the team around him in Sacramento that would help him find success? Do they ever keep building around him? Do they do they have the player development? Would they stick to a coach and allow that coach to, you know, really be build a system? No. The answer is no. So, like, you know, Tai got out and and he’s finding his way and he’s been absolutely phenomenal. That’s a great way of putting it. Ty got out. Yeah, Ty got freed. But you can’t look at that like compare what it would look like with Tai and without because like that the team I was I’m of the belief it wouldn’t look different like it would look the same here because the the the failure was on the organization. Of course, I would have been stuck in the position that Keegan Murray is stuck in that Damonte. He would have been stuck in the position that everyone else is stuck in because the front office didn’t work enough to build around him. Well, not only that, but they did things that were counterintuitive. They did things that like set you back. Like if your one player that you’re focusing development on is Keegan Murray, why in year three when he’s supposed to take his his big ascension step, do you bring in a a 35-year-old guy who shoots the ball 17 times a game? Like that doesn’t make any sense. Like like it is completely counterintuitive. What they what they did here is it does not make any sense. And I I don’t care who’s to blame because there’s always going to be that down the road we’re going to hear this, oh well that wasn’t really his pickup. That wasn’t really his pickup. Well, at the end of the day, it’s on your resume, you know, and and that’s just the way it goes. So, if if you didn’t want to make a trade or you didn’t want to sign a guy, then don’t sign him. Tell the tell the owner that, hey, I’m like, hey, that’s not going to work. I’m a basketball guy. That’s not going to work. And they didn’t do that. They made trades that didn’t make any sense and have now put the the the team in a really really bad situation that somebody else has to try to fix on the fly. Hallebertton plays as well as he as he does. And Mike Brown comes to training camp and says, “I think he needs to be more like Gary Payeyton.” No. No. He would have let him be like Steph. That was a shot. That was a shot. Yeah. No, he he would have changed everything. And now in all honesty, and I agree with what I heard earlier, part of this also goes to the credit of Rick Carlile. Yeah. Because he allowed that team to be that team. Yeah. That’s what he allowed them to be who they are. Didn’t try to change them. Didn’t tell them they weren’t necessarily good enough with what they were doing. Just to improve on what they’re doing. And that’s a testament to him as a coach. and his front office went out and got pass. The end. Well, I wasn’t sure that that lineup was going to work, but they they were patient with Matin as well. Um they they they uh resigned Miles Turner. Like they did a handful of things. They went and got Aaron Nith. They did a handful of things that, you know, you felt like you had the steak. You just put you put some seasoning on it that that set that joint off. Um maybe it was Cajun ribeye. Who knows, could be an NBA champion here pretty soon. Uh, great stuff as always, James. We’ll be tapped in with you and Jesse while Kyle Matson is on vacation beginning at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. Hope you are, too. We’re headed over to 1025. We’ll see you over there for those who want to join us. If not, again, we’ll see you tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the insiders and Sacramento sports leader ESPN 1320. or vamos. Look who’s

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