Kings get high marks for 2 NBA draft steals – June 27: The Insiders + D-Lo & KC
then later this I figured it out
you got me say something
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there we go all right here we go got a show to do see if I remember how to do this all right you got it Kyle
i hope so that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson no Joe Brazil today Jesse Top is going to be out for DLO and KC so I’m doing double duty running the board producing shows so I’m in studio I if if you’re you’re a longtime listener to the program I’m in studio one this is where we did this show for the first what year or so
this is how we did this setup where I’m in studio one you’re in studio two and we’re talking to each other through glass until they they gave us probably a year and a half until until we got Joe and now Joe does all the production stuff as you can see I’m moving my hands and hitting the microphone because I’m so unfamiliar with the setup in here but I know how to do this i’m going to try and remember how to do this as we go uh we’re going to talk about the Sacramento Kings draft we’re going to talk about um what’s next for the Sacramento Kings we’re going to talk about expectations for this year uh we’re also going to talk to the uh to Neat Clifford’s head coach the head coach at Colorado State men’s basketball uh Ali Faroke Manesh
is going to join us at 11:45 we’ll get his insight into Nick Clifford now uh Coach Farok Minesh was the uh was an assistant coach for the last seven years with Colorado State and he was a a big piece of Nick Clifford’s development even though he wasn’t the head coach he’s now the head coach
yeah yeah
he wasn’t the head coach while Nick Clifford was there but he was a big he was a big part of Nick Clifford’s development during his two years at Colorado State so really interested to talk to him at 11:45 and and get his insights into into what the Kings are getting with their first round pick
sounds good
that’s what we got coming up
awesome and I’m going to try and remember how to how to operate this program so if there are some hiccups we really appreciate you guys bearing with us on ESPN 1320 a.m and 98.5 FMHD2 everybody on YouTube and Twitch youtube.com/ ESPN1320 twitch.tv/ ESPN1320 uh please hit us up in the chatty house there we’d love to hear from you here love to hear your thoughts on the Sacramento Kings draft because I think what we’re getting right now is uh a ton of optimism which which typically rains this time of year late June but uh I I think when you when you start stacking up what the Kings did with the 24th overall pick after trading up into the first round and then what they did with the 42nd overall pick i think it’s important to with with all draft analysis not just the Kings not just the NBA but with all draft analysis to go okay there’s there’s a difference between hey this is what this player is and what he’s going to be and the impact he’s going to have you can project in that in that sense but from what we knew and the projections from various draft analysts and insiders and experts the Sacramento Kings walked away with great value with their two selections at positions or at play not necessarily positions but like play uh player profiles player types
that they just didn’t have so I think for now you get a thumbs up if you’re Scott Perry on the Kings draft at least you get one from me which is a which is a big deal i know Scott’s been waiting
so I I don’t do player uh I don’t do draft day trade uh grades it’s something that I I refuse to do i also I don’t like grades at all um but the general consensus around the NBA uh with draft experts with people who are in the know is uh they’re giving Scott an A to an A+ on his uh two-day draft hall and I think we should include not just a two-day draft hall but then what they were able to do uh with un unrestricted free agents undrafted free agents in uh on draft nights so there’s a lot to unpack here but for me when you’re looking at uh when you’re looking at Nick as a player who should go 14 15 16 he drops to 24 it cost you some protected stuff for sure uh to move up and so you’re already looking though at like basically a plus eight as far as like
Yeah
where where your pick was selected versus where he was projected on the consensus big board as they were yeah on the consensus big board and then you get to the next pick and they go out at 42 and draft uh Maxine Rainard uh Reol
Rainol
as I’ve been working on it all
okay you’ve been working
the first the first video I watched because I’m I look
full disclosure I’m not locked into Stanford basketball of course not
i’m not locked into late first round picks like I I just especially a 7 foot2 center like it just wasn’t we were looking at wings and point guards and all that jazz so didn’t do a ton on on Maxim Granlow when when uh before the draft
no no no
so last night I’m going through and I’m just trying to watch and and catch up and and see what And the first video I click on was one of those guys who just like because the first thing was how do I pronounce this guy’s name
yeah yeah
because Ray Nod is like the the I think anglicized ver not anglicized what’s the word I’m looking for uh is just the like English version of that the uncouthe white guy version of trying to say it
sure sure but I’m like I don’t think that’s right and so the first one I watched the first video I watched was like today we’re going to take a look at Stanford Center Maximo like oh my god okay I can do that yeah yeah
so anyways uh that was my that was my first venture into watching him play well I I think the the big thing to like keep tracking as far as where he was projected he was projected to go around like 23 24 25 some had him as low as like 28
mhm
so when you get him at 42 now you’re looking at like again a plus 17
as far as where you got him versus where he was projected and that’s tremendous in a 60man draft to get a guy 17 picks behind where he was supposed to go
that that could be real value and what we’re looking at you you said it like he might not be a player that anyone had circled and said “Hey this is a guy that I love.” But especially if you if you didn’t have a pick and you were hoping maybe to get into the late first round everyone knows they need length and athleticism everyone knows they need a point guard
but this is a stretch five
and and a guy that might be able to play alongside Demonosonis for stretches
uh but who can space the floor shot 34.7% from three that’s not great but I I think the uh the video shows that he’s a much better shooter than the actual percentage yeah and and so I I think there’s potential for him to be much better at the NBA level especially standing in the corner shooting a three-point shot uh without defenders close enough to stop a 7 foot one guy shooting a three
yeah and and it’s so I’ve been I’ve been struggling with this a little bit because there’s there’s two separate roads I think you you go down when you start talking draft picks
specifically the 24th and the 42nd pick in the NBA draft because there’s a very real chance that we’re looking back on this in 2027 and going like oh what a disaster that first draft was for Scott Perry
yeah i could and that’s that’s I think an important thing to to remember is that we’re talking the 24th pick in the NBA draft’s like a mid-sec round pick in the NFL the 42nd pick is like a late third round pick in the NFL like if you you you hope to hit
but if you miss it’s not it’s not going to completely torpedo everything you’re doing uh but I loved this swing like we we talked a lot about Nick Clifford yesterday and I and I and I really like that selection a lot but the the thing I like so much about Randol is that I we talked about the ceiling with Nick Clifford
and how man you know what he feels like more of a high floor than a high ceiling guy whereas Rando’s the opposite
if you miss on the 42nd pick so what like the take the home run swing Mhm and so you you found a guy who was falling for whatever reason maybe he doesn’t move his feet great in space like maybe he’s just I know he averaged almost a block and a half a game but from what I understand that was a lot of just kind of standing near the rim i don’t know if he’s going to be great in defending in space and maybe that just keeps him from ever being an effective NBA player we don’t know but if you if you miss it’s not the end of the world and I think the ceiling is so high there where man you know what if he can survive just survive defensively if he can develop a a reliable three-point shot as a legitimate sevenfooter if he can be effective on the glass like th those are the things where all of a sudden you go “Okay this is where the value is this is this is how he affects a team.” It’s not just a throwaway pick it’s not oh they drafted some 6-4 scoring guard uh who are a dime a dozen in the G- League and that’s probably what this guy’s going to be uh they they didn’t just throw away a pick like that like you see the vision for each thing well yeah that and you also see a what is close to a finished product like he can get better at certain aspects of the game and when he gets with a pro coaching staff I and a pro like training staff I I think they’re going to do really good work to improve some of his his deficiencies he’s got to get stronger because that’s where I think the like in the key getting pushed around a little bit like he’s a shot blocker but I think he’s better on the perimeter than he is down low
and that’s something like I think he’s solid at closeouts he moves his feet well he moves his feet well on pick and roll
uh where he really struggles is I I think he just kind of gets pushed around a little bit
sure
um so you’re going to have to work with him to get stronger
uh but this is a guy who averaged 20 and 10 at the college level 1.4 blocks he had 25 double doubles on the season
you know if we look at him and you look at uh and you look at what Nick was able to accomplish Nick Clifford again another guy who averaged you know close to a double double a game uh the Kings def uh rebounding wise if these guys get on the court they are going to be a better rebounding team than they were last year they’ve already addressed some of that need
and so I’m intrigued by them but when you talk about like the guys we shouldn’t be putting all the eggs in a basket of the 42nd pick just like you shouldn’t be putting all your eggs in the basket of a 24th 25th pick in the first round
yes
right these are guys that may or may not make your rotation at some point during their career
right um but there was a situation two years ago where Trace Jackson Davis who basically has the same exact stats he’s 20 and 10 guy coming out of the the draft
and the Kings passed on him not once this is again a guy who was supposed to go in the 20s they passed on him like in the early second round and then he they passed on him again in the in the late second round and then he goes three picks later and I think it brings us to like you can’t pass on talent that that is proven talent like there are always going to be upside guys and you want to go chase up upside guys for sure but when you’re a team that needs to sort of fill up the your roster and you have specific deficiencies
like this is a guy I’m not saying he’s going to step in right away and and be Demonoson’s backup
sure
but it might give you a little bit of leeway to potentially move on from Valenunis if you have to in a trade
um and and to move on from a guy like Trey Lyles who has been your stretch four stretch five for the last couple of years mhm
um you you’re able to do it on a much much cheaper contract
uh this so you’re hoping to find value here with a player hopefully that can play
yeah that’s and that’s I think like you go back
I you go back a couple years ago when they brought in all the centers right
mhm
uh where they brought in uh was it Nerland Noel and Javale McGee and I think there’s another guy I’m forgetting well there was another Kada was on the That’s right and they just bring all these guys in and they’re like “Ah we got to kind of figure it out.” Well now you have a a player who even if Ray No spends the entire year in the G- League
which we talked about yesterday I don’t I don’t think necessarily the the G- League is the best place to to develop big men just because if you can play if you’re going to be an effective big man you’re in the NBA
so we may see Raino go down to Stockton and average 35 and 15 and it’s like “All right well this is dumb.” Yeah
like get get him out of there it’s it’s pointless but I think that at least gives you even if he’s even if he doesn’t play this year even if he plays zero NBA minutes this year
can you have him in your program where over the next couple of years you are able to to trade Yon Jonas Valenunis because you feel good about what’s happening developmentally with Reno
yeah or uh over when when Valenunz is a free agent it’s not all of a sudden scrambling to bring in a bunch of randos with Alex Len to try and figure out who’s going to be the backup center uh it just I I I love the the ethos of what just laughing because Justin Case has been behind you with his buddy and and the chat has been ridiculous this entire time uh because basically it’s two guys that look like very similar and they’re they’re
that’s two King of the Hill characters uh just in case one of the most spectacular uh disc jockeyies that there are
an all-time good guy
an all-time good guy
and it and if dude it the the way he’s talking to that person the person he’s speaking to also an all-time good guy
yeah yeah
or a person who’s spending a lot of money on just in Case’s radio station one of the two
yeah that’s very possible
it might be both i’m I’m really surprised there aren’t tall boys in their hands right now at this point
oh a thousand% although hey just in case is definitely like yellowbelly course guy he’s a Coors banquet he’s not a Coors like guy yeah I feel really good about that take
yeah I absolutely adore Just in case spectacular 9690 Eagle
uh shout out um no but I I I think just the the thing that I like so much about this draft because I am hesitant to be like “Wow home run draft for the Kings nate Clifford Maxim Reno look at all this value holy crap the the Kings are going to win 50 games
like you can’t do that because we don’t know you don’t know if Ace Bailey is going to be good you don’t know if if if we don’t know if Cooper Flag’s going to be good right like we have a good idea we we the the projection is strong but maybe Cooper Flag gets into the league and it’s just like oh he’s Nick Batum like he really good player for a long time had a really good career but man he’s not like
there was a lot of buzz about this guy and he was just a just a good player not a not an not an all-timer right so so we just don’t we don’t know but I I think the important thing to me about this draft is that Scott Perry attacked it in the way that the Kings needed to attack a draft they need just look at the roster regardless of who’s getting traded who’s not you need a player like Nick Clifford on your roster mhm
whether it’s Nick Clifford or a different draft prospect or or an undrafted guy or a a a player in a trade you just needed more guys like that so you get him in your building again whether he’s good or not don’t know but frankly right now I don’t care we don’t know if any draft pick’s going to be good ronald the same thing you know what hey don’t really have like a sevenfooter that can handle it and put the ball on the deck a little bit and shoot it
like he’s got just kind of a rare skill set let’s
let’s get him in the building there’s no overlap there’s there might be a little overlap with with Clifford with with maybe Keon Ellis or with with Keegan Murray but that’s fine that’s the kind of overlap you want yep
it’s not just redundant skill sets so that’s that’s the important thing to me and I think when you’re grading that’s what you can grade now what’s the theoretical fit what’s the projected fit it’s like they don’t do they didn’t get a 6’2 if they had gotten Jace Richardson from Michigan State who I think is terrific yep but if they had gotten Jace Richardson we would have been sitting here going “Okay he’s a really nice prospect but how does he fit where does he play whose minutes does he take with Clifford and and I think with Rainol you you see if they develop into NBA players you see where they fit and you see how they could help the Kings.” We’ll continue talking about this uh how the Kings draft prospects fit how they changed the expectations for the Kings this year and we want to hear from you in the chatty house at youtube.com/ ESPN1320 and twitch.tv/espn1320 you can also hit us on the Oakrove Kia talk line 916909-1320 that’s 91691320 that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson we’re the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube back in a second here on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports Center there’s a lot going on behind Kyle today okay I think we’re good all right i don’t know how to put in holiday holiday holiday time did you work a holiday
no but we’re supposed to get paid for it aren’t we mhm i don’t know that’s wrong sorry guys I’m on like quadruple duty today so I’m gonna I said duty something’s wrong all right Kyle I’ll be back in two seconds tight we back we’re back he’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madel we’re the Insider sponsored by Jiffy Loop no we’ll do it old school we’ll just do it live there it is because apparently my buttons don’t work over here anymore goodness me that’s funny
all right we’re the Insiders let’s try this again we’re the Insiders that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson we’re sponsored by Jify Loop we’re hanging out with you until noon talking KingsNBA draft we’d love to hear from you at the chatty house at youtube.com ESPN1320 and twitch.tv espn1320 uh we’re also on the Elkrove Kia talk line 916909320 9169091320 if you would like to join the program so the the Kings made a couple other interesting additions last night that I think continue to drive home the the type of player that Scott Perry and Doug Christie are trying to bring in
oh yeah because there’s a there is a I think a common thread like a mindset that’s different about every single player they brought in like Nate Clifford just kind of a dog who does a little bit of everything maxim Reno same thing like there’s just a little bit of edge to his game uh who’s the the undrafted cat the center from from Auburn that they brought in
yeah Dylan Cardwell
yeah Dylan i was reading about him last night and saw him described as an a-hole on the court like all right man cool
no that that’s good
i’m in
yeah he just plays with a crazy force
and he’s like slightly mean-spirited and we’re talking about a 6’9 and a half guy with a 7 foot wingspan 7 plus wingspan who can jump out of the gym and is known as he he weighs 260 he’s like an enforcer and the Kings just don’t have that guy like when you look at a guy in the NBA draft who number one is a fifthear senior uh but number two averages five points and five rebounds you’re like “Okay like look this isn’t a pro prospect what are we doing here?” And then you watch the footage and he’s an elite elite you know above the rim finisher
great defensive player played at Auburn played alongside Johnny Broom which is probably why his stats look so bad um because they’re too similar as far as player types and Johnny Broom is just a better offensive player
so but you’re looking at a player that like the Kings just don’t have you know how many times have I said they need a uh a player like Amantress Herald or they need a guy like um Brandon Clark
mhm
the Kings haven’t had that guy
nope
and
an energy big as it were
yeah and and Exactly an energy big and when you look at uh what uh what Dylan Cardwell sort of projects as
he might never play in the NBA
sure uh but the fact that the Kings were aggressive jumped all over him with a two-way contract he’s already in the system he’s on the team he’s a two-way contract
and now you get to see what you have a defensive-minded guy that you just again you just didn’t have you You’re talking about hey look you know the stretch five position or uh you know neat Clifford and and what he brings to the table you didn’t really have that jack of all trades like wing well this is another player type that the Kings didn’t have they didn’t have a a a rim runner slash defensive mind a shot blocker slash a guy that will go up and get a lob anywhere near the rim that Malik Monk could play with
and now all of a sudden you do and again he’s going to have to prove that he’s an NBA player but
look at like the reports on him go in and look he’s 22 years old he graduated from college two years ago
that’s so crazy smart kid mhm
uh he’s been not only like he’s a student athlete but he’s a student leader
uh at Auburn he’s a very very smart well put together guy
who plays mean
and there is clearly a type that that Scott Perry is looking for and like realistically he’s looking for more Doug Christies
he you know his head coach is a representative of who he wants as a team mhm
and you know we hear Scott talk about like the types of players like the high character the high motor the like physicality like not punch somebody in the face but punch somebody in the face type player
yeah yeah
he he always is describing like who Doug Christie was as a player to a te and that’s what you’re trying to like sort of filter through and give Doug some some types of players that he just flat out hasn’t had
that Mike Brown didn’t have either
and and for that matter Luke Walton didn’t have and I mean-spirited guys who go out and play hard and make you feel them the entire game
you know how when you play uh the Miami Heat and you just go you know what no matter what their record is it’s just going to suck like playing against the Heat sucks playing against the Memphis Grizzlies like God it’s just gonna
Yeah
it’s going to be annoying it’s going to be hard no matter how good or bad they are that’s the kind of team the Kings want to have and I I think there’s a there’s an important thing here because we we talked about this a lot going into going into the off seasonason and I think this this persists going into free agency to me this year year one I know they want to be competitive they’re not tearing it down they’re not rebuilding they’re not doing that but but year one to me of the Scott Perry Doug Christie era has to be about finding those players finding the right type of players starting to instill a mindset and starting to instill like okay hey just very clearly this is the culture if you can’t hang with that you can’t play here and that’s fine for year one
uh I I I think this is a focus for now i think at some point like the players have to be good enough
that’s that’s that’s something that’s going to matter at some point like I’m I’m fine right now with going “Hey as long as the mindset’s good as long as they’re going to go out there and play 100% and and and dive for loose balls and grab rebounds and create extra possessions uh hustle defensively and be be this hard-nosed kind of tough team like that’s all that’s all great for now uh and it’s and it’s part of why I said like it matters less to me that that Nick Clifford is good or that Maxim Renault is good.” like that i Okay that would be that would be awesome if they were but I I just like that the Kings very much prioritized and they didn’t force the point guard thing they didn’t go “Okay we’re moving up to the draft we need to get a point guard who is it?” Yeah
like where like no you didn’t need to do that get the best guy available who fits what you what you’re looking for i just I like I said I I don’t want I don’t want to crown Scott Perry as as executive of the year because of the 24th and 42nd picks in the draft but I I have a hard time uh coming up with with a ton of criticism right now uh as much as I would like to be able to kind of uh have a have a discussion about the pros and cons here uh I think when you map out what they’re looking for
it’s kind of like it’s it reminds you of the 49ers off seasonason the 49ers and and John Lynch said this on the on the 49ers talk podcast like the plan this all went according to plan we had a plan and we executed it the way we wanted to execute it that was a bunch of players leaving a bunch of veterans leaving they’re going to bring in some some lowcost veterans to to impact the the roster in these ways but then it’s going to be a big influx of young guys and we’re going to try now whether that works or not no clue but they had a plan and they executed it well that’s how I’m viewing the Kings draft i don’t want to say they’re off season yet but but their draft it’s just really difficult for me to go like “Oh man they they messed that up big time.” Like no you still need a point guard yeah but overall I it gets I think they did the right thing i think they had a plan and they executed well that and I think when you’re looking at the point guard position specifically if you’re talking about getting a point guard at number 25 uh the chance of him becoming the player that you know a starting level point guard is very slim um that is it’s just the way the the game works like top tier point guards
go in the top end of the draft they go in the top 10
right because it’s the most important position so you can find really nice backup point guards can find guys who might be able to be rotational players but of this draft there are like maybe four or five of those guys from let’s say pick 15 to pick 30 of all of them maybe two of them work out
mhm
and so when you’re looking at wings you can get a much higher percentage of of players working out and of becoming who you think that they should be mhm
and uh and so I like the fact that like look you’re probably not going to find the right value at the point guard position at 25 but you can find the right value at the at the wing and you can find the right value as a stretch five not a starting center
a stretch five who might be able to come off the bench and give you something maybe develops into something better uh I and to speak to what you’re saying too it’s like there’s an identity that they’re they’re reaching out for that they’re they’re searching for right and I I had like talked to somebody within the walls last night and their response to you know hey solid draft uh was now they just have to come in realize the potential and play well
like that’s it like but you got the right type of player now that’s what you have that now that’s where the Kings are at they’re like “Okay well it’s nice and all we did fine.” Mhm
but we need them to come in and play well we need them to realize their potential like it doesn’t matter what everyone thinks on draft night it doesn’t matter what they look like as college players what truly matters is when they step on the floor
and they start doing the work are they going to do the work are they going to do the work to get better are they going to put in the time are they the right type of person to change the culture the to help you know further the culture of of the Sacramento Kings yeah and that’s what Scott’s looking for was looking to put his own stamp on the player types that they’re bringing in
and it’s the right type of player in my opinion
you just they’re they’re both they’re both guys who and I think uh Cardwell fits into this too i think I think those are players who if they went to to Oklahoma City or if they went to Indiana or if they went to Miami or if they went to Memphis you would be like man that’s just that’s a really good addition by that team
yeah it’s just the more you can do things like that uh where you would be jealous if another team did it i know that sounds silly but it’s just kind of how how I choose to to view this point of the offseason or the this point of the the team building process i want to stick on on the insiders here that’s James Ham i’m comats and we’re we’re sponsored by Jiffy Loop i want to stick on the the the undrafted guys for for just a second because if uh Cardwell is on a two-way deal
he’s on a two-way deal yep what isaac Jones got a standard contract isaac Jones was elevated to a standard contract on the main roster now his second year this year is non-g guaranteed so the Kings could or could not keep him but again he fits this mold this type of player that we’re talking about the hard nose on the court fights gives you everything that he has when he’s playing and he has potential to continue can continue to expand his game um we saw him get better as a shot blocker we saw his three-point shot go down um a really a young player to the game a player a guy who like
was working in a like a warehouse somewhere and someone said “Hey uh you want to join this junior college team with me?” And three years later he’s in the NBA right so there’s going to be he of course played high school basketball but that’s a type of player that you know might fit your what what you’re looking for the mold um but he’s no longer on a two-way isaiah Crawford uh is another guy who was on a two-way contract last season um he’s a restricted free agent for the Kings but he does not have a secondyear two-way i would assume that the Kings are at least kicking the tires on bringing him back because again the same exact type of player
so they could bring him back on a two-way though
yeah yeah you can be a two-way player for up to three years um usually like a player like Isaiah I would say if he’s going to sign with the Kings it would be on a two-way i don’t think he’s going to get a regular roster spot but then if he signs on a two-way you’d always have the potential to bring him up onto your main roster uh you get 50 games with the two-way contract right
but also there’s a point where after the trade deadline usually if someone’s growing and and figuring out you usually convert them in the second year like they did with Keon Ellis like they’ve done with other players uh even like Isaac Jones um so as of right now the Kings only have one player on a on a two-way contract and uh and that of course is Dylan Cardwell um or they intend to sign him to a two-way contract and then you have Isaiah Crawford so that could be a second but their third two-way last season was Mason Jones and Mason Jones has aged out cannot be a two-way
of the two-way contract i don’t even know how Mason Jones was a two-way contract last year to be honest um just looking at like his years of service in the NBA
he’s like been in the NBA before
yeah he Yeah but you’re only allowed like four years right
right actually you’re allowed three years of 2A and then there’s an injury exception the the Harry Giles rule basically
and Mason Jones really didn’t fit into that so I don’t know how they were able to get him on a 2-way either way it’s great that he was on a two-way but he cannot be on a two-way this year
and so Mason Jones is going to have to make a decision and the Kings are going to have to make a decision on whether they want him in their program still and if they do it’s going to have to be as
he’s on the roster
as a rostered player uh and you know and it’s not just the Kings he can’t sign a two-way with it’s anybody and so his like he just went from making you know 650,000 or whatever a two-way contract is to a you know 2-way I mean a a G-League contract is like 42,000 bucks that’s not great
um so I I don’t know again uh the Kings have some openings here and that’s why the next guy that they brought in U which is Isaac I don’t know how do we say this
no
no Gonzalez sure
um right
uh this is like he’s a kid who skipped the high school the the college uh world and went straight to the G-League
right
and um is a defensive like menace like at the point guard position like this dude is long he is athletic um man a little bit like he like body style reminded me of Dante Exom just not as tall
um but like the length and and physicality uh like a big-time steel guy just like a guy who picks up the dribble 3/4 court and and just make someone’s night like really crappy
mhm
so they sign him to an exhibit 10 contract which is a
What does that mean
it’s a It’s a called a summer contract in the NBA okay okay um but an exhibit 10 basically means that he can be with the Kings uh summer league he can be with the Kings through training camp um he can be with them until you know they get to the end of the cuts
at uh the
at training camp and then they’ll have to make a decision but what it does do is it covers him like it gives him a little bit of upfront money and then it gives him um you know some basics like insurance in case something happens in the gym allows the Kings to have him in the gym and working out like this summer and you you’ll see what you have you know again super raw offensively
but somebody who you know maybe even like a Mati a smaller version of Matis
Styel
um like really interesting defensive prospect
and like they’re going to have to work with him and see if they can develop a three-point shot and develop some rudimentary other skills
yeah he shot 27% from three last year
yeah yeah that’s it’s not great but I mean like any player who’s coming out who’s going to play guard in the NBA he’s got to be able to shoot way higher than that
and so you’re hoping that you know there’s a possibility of giving him a shot but he’s going to have to earn that and that’s what the exhibit 10 is that basically what I was told um he’s competing for a two-way spot he’s competing for a spot with the Stockton Kings um there could be a point during the during training camp where the Kings might sign him to a regular roster spot and then wave him but give him a bonus and if he goes to the G-League he’ll get that bonus and that can be 150 it can be you know whatever uh 150,000 it it can be something that makes that $42,000 uh G-League money look much much bigger and more comfortable to at least live on for a year or two while you’re trying to assess who he is as a player fascinating the the way NBA contract stuff works is uh is pretty wild uh real quick some some NBA news today before we before we step aside momentarily messiah Jiri is out in Toronto
absolutely weird really odd one it felt like they were pretty locked in with him and and h having a plan and executing said plan mhm but to to get rid of your president of basketball operations I think was his his title the day after the draft
and three days before free agency four days 5 days whatever it is
maybe he just maybe he hasn’t been involved like I I don’t know i’m not in Toronto but it it from from where we sit in Sacramento a few thousand miles away that’s kind of wild to me that they just punted Messiaui and it it it matters less for for the the Kings from like because who cares but there was all that that smoke around the the Kings and Raptors making a a trade and the Raptors interest in Malik Monk and trying to get rid of Emanuel quickly or or RJ Barrett or at least trying to get off their contract now that’s all in flux you have no idea what what the Raptors are going to do internally and whether there’s going to be a dramatic change whether they’re still enamored with Malik Monk i I I have no idea but I think you got to pause all Toronto Raptors related things if you’re the Kings right now
yeah it’s it’s tough because that’s a team that you’re really looking at to to work with and hey maybe it’s because they swung and missed on the Kevin Durant thing maybe it’s that they got involved on the Kevin Durant thing i’m not sure what happened there it just seems really strange because this is a guy who brought you a championship and made savvy moves to get you that championship and and it was a one-time thing but that one time thing was because he took a big time gamble on Kawhi Leonard yeah and it paid off and and he got you a ring and so for him to be out is is kind of is kind of crazy although that was what 2019
so I guess it’s been a few years
it’s been like six years
yeah just kind of just I’m I’m interested to see where that came from yeah and whether the the Raptors are still interested in making a deal with with the Kings for for Malik Monk or anyone else anyways that’s James i’m Kyle we’re the insiders we’re sponsored by Jiffy Lube we got to talk about Ace Bailey because Ace Bailey is supposed to be going to Utah today ace Bailey is not going to Utah today talk about what that means next he’s James Ham i’m comat and we’re the insider sponsored by Jiffy Loop this is ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports Center what’s going on everybody um I’m trying to find there’s some chatter okay so we according to Shams the Rockets intend to sign their their free agents uh Jan Tate Aaron Holiday and Jeff Green on new contracts to bring them all back for next season that’s intriguing um I haven’t seen any other players signing with the Kings but maybe I’m wrong um I also like the shams breaking on Messiah Yuiri is really strange because they literally have the Sacramento Kings logo in the background of the picture which is just odd um Bull is not getting resigned yeah i I haven’t seen the Sharif Abdul Raheem uh that his son is signing with the Kings but I mean that’s that’s possible i don’t know who had it i haven’t you know again we got a radio show to do uh Jose there is nothing on this yet no absolutely nothing um um is this a question uh is Devin Carter a player type Scott Perry’s looking for defensive minded rebounder uh high athletic yeah yeah i I mean on paper but uh you know players aren’t aren’t paper and so um like sure maybe uh but also there are other intangibles that that the Kings and Scott Perry and you know their franchise is looking for um and like look he might be here he might be part of what they’re building and but uh Aldron J I think the Kings will sign um Maxim to a regular contract but I think they’ll give him the second round exception contract that they gave Kobby Jones yeah I did explain the Exhibit 10 contract an exhibit 10 is is basically it’s it’s what they call a summer contract um so like that just means that um you know they’re covered like to come and work in your building and um you know again it comes with some some uh some money not a ton um and if you give too much of an exhibit 10 guarantee then they’re not eligible to be waved and then go straight to the G-League uh team i don’t know mr fletcher I’m very disappointed with the neat Clifford pick so redundant uh you not see three of our best players are two guards however Maxim is good uh they look at at Meek as a small forward which is the position he played a lot in college um he can play the two and he can play the three and he can defend multiple positions am I in on Westbrook um I mean if it happens it happens i mean not like at this point in his career I I think the problem that you have is that without an identity you open the door for for Russell Westbrook like kind of take takeover and I’m not sure that I’m game for all that um okay i don’t know john Chvich uh pro but Providence Jabari Abdul Raheem will join the Sacramento Kings in the summer league i’m told god I remember him as a little kid hanging out and welcome back into the Insiders that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson are sponsored by Jiffy Lube so 49ers news
oh before we get back to the Kings yeah typically news about an NFL team on June 27th is never good and that’s the case here deodor Lenor this is according to TMZ deodor Lenor and another man named Marcus Cunningham uh they were approached by law enforcement down in LA when they noticed the car was double parked and blocking traffic the officers saw a gun in the car that uh according to report according to TMZ belonged to Cunningham um Cunningham threw his car keys to Lenor and then Lenor didn’t give the keys to the police officer so he has been arrested for resisting a peace officer he was released Friday morning and he’ll appear in court next month
h nice
okay
just what the 49ers needed their best quarterback getting arrested in June
yeah that’s not great
not the end that not the end of the world i don’t think there will probably be punishment from the league for this or anything but man that’s tough
did I ever tell you we went through a stretch for like for like five years where our fantasy football league if you had a player arrested it was a $10 fine i love that
yeah it was it was pretty spectacular but then it got a little expensive for a couple of guys so we had to
Well price of doing business brother you know the rules hey I I have a question for you while we’re talking about the NFL we’ll get back to the to the NBA draft because we got to get to this Ace Bailey stuff yeah but if with with the Odyssey Fantasy League uh do we just do a team together again this year
oh heck yeah i think so okay i had a lot of fun with that so uh that’ll be great i can’t wait to draft Christian Kirk again
we’re not drafting Christian Kirk this year but that’s okay okay very good i just wanted to to clear that up before we before we moved on all right uh Ace Bailey according to Brian Winhorse is not traveling to Utah with Utah’s other draft pick Walter Clayton Jr bailey according to Windhorse is expected to show up Monday when summer league practices begin i’m torn on this because I think this is largely a non-story
okay
if Bailey is not there on Monday I let’s talk about it but I think if Bailey had if Ace Bailey had just gone through the draft process interviewed with teams worked out for teams done the normal thing got drafted fifth by the Jazz and he wasn’t going to show up till Monday I don’t think it’s a story i I I don’t think anybody’s reporting anything on this but Ace Bailey and his representation I want to emphasize his representation have put him in this position now
yes where he was supposed to be a top three pick he was a consensus top three guy all the way up until the draft process and then there’s a bunch of teams he won’t work out for cancels his workout with the Sixers and then you hear “Oh he’s trying he wants to play on the East Coast but somewhere between Boston in Atlanta or New York and Atlanta or whatever it was he wants to play in this really specific corridor and if possible he’d really like to play for the Washington Wizards.” H there was just all this and and then the questions started arising about man how good of a prospect is he really he’s super talented but is he a winning type of player all this stuff and then and then he goes fifth to the Jazz and now Ace Bailey anything he does that’s outside the scope of what we consider the norm it’s going to be a story where people go “Oh my god what a disaster for Danny A and the Jazz he’s going to be under a microscope for the rest of his career maybe.” Okay so so here first of all like there are like AAU guys and and like high school coaches and stuff that like are known to like prey on on young players to get them under their wing so then that way they can be their agent this is it’s a horrible mistake by Ace Bailey to have when you’re a top three pick to have somebody who does not have a client list that does not have a track record of success as as a agent in the NBA right but this is an 18-year-old kid who has no idea what he’s doing and I don’t know what his parents are doing either
but it’s very possible that you know like in these situations a lot of time you get money up front
mhm
from some of these agent guys to like hold your place i mean what do we one of the uh is it Tatis we were talking about that Tatis signed as a 17-year-old some weird contract with a with an agent that or some sort of firm that gave them 10% of all of his future earnings forever and ever amen and so now he’s suing because number one he is underage but number two um like he’s now like long past those people and they keep taking his 10%
like so there are people who are are just not good at this right
they’re predatory they are this is a predatory situation and so here’s my hope my hope first of all Ace Bailey said everything right on draft night about the Jazz and about going there and all that stuff his agent then turns around and was asked a question and becomes a punk about it again
uh his agent again he has no other clients it’s Omar Cooper his son Share Cooper lasted in the NBA about three minutes probably because of this exact thing he was drafted he slid all the way to the late second round was supposed to be a late first round pick late second round was out of the league after playing like 13 games for the Atlanta Hawks in 2001 he his son is 24 and out of the NBA
there are players that are in this draft
that are older than his kid who’s already out of the NBA
who was drafted in like 20201 so I mean 2020 2021 sorry so here’s my hope my hope is that Ace Bailey shows up that Ace Bailey gets in Utah gets under the wings of the Utah Jazz Danny A and that group uh Will Hardy and all that stuff but the real thing here is that some of the veterans on this team step in pull him aside and as players say “Hey let me introduce you to my real agent let me introduce you to somebody who has your best wishes right your best uh like they want you to succeed
not get you in all this crazy trouble that’s happening right now for you
and I I can almost guarantee there is no way this guy is going to be an uh is going to be his agent for the next five years
he or his manager or whatever the hell he is no they’ll bail on him so quick once he gets into an NBA uh like system he’ll bail on him quick and he’ll be you know someone will introduce him to Rich Ball they’ll introduce him to Mark Bartlestein or or Bill Duffy one of these guys that are really good at their job and the problem that they that Cooper has here the agent has is he tried to swing like where Ace Bailey was going to go
mhm
and that’s impossible because he doesn’t have another client right okay
so when Jeff Schwarz says “Hey I don’t want someone to go to Sacramento.” It’s because Jeff Schwarz has like six other clients that the Sacramento Kings might be interested in or already in the building or and he might need to work out a contract extension he’s like “Hey we’re not going to work out that i’m just throwing Jeff Schwarz name out there like or any of these agents they can say “Hey look my guy’s not going to sign there.”
Right there’s a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this
and refusing workouts and then two days before the draft going “Yeah hey he only wants to play for this select group of teams.” Yeah
like no that’s not the right that’s not the quote unquote I I don’t think you should do that at all but that’s not the quote unquote right way to do it no and the way that Ace Bailey’s representation has gone about representing him has put him in this place where maybe he’s showing up on Monday because he’s 18 years old and having a difficult time saying goodbye to his family
yep maybe maybe there was uh something weird maybe he’s trying to arrange his living situation and something came up and they or or he with his with his move something came up and he’s got to show up Monday it could be a a the long list of things that just have nothing to do with anything maybe he’s got a dog sit i don’t know
but his his representation was put put him in this spot where him not going today and going Monday when practice starts instead is this huge thing and oh my god he doesn’t want to go to Utah but Sean Stran has said it on the Pat McAfee show today like the logic is and reality is he’s gonna play for the Jazz
of course he is
like this isn’t and and I think there’s it’s it’s being painted especially through the power of aggregation
and that telephone game that goes from Ace Bailey is going to show up Monday or is expected to show up Monday to he could show up Monday to he doesn’t want to play that like it just becomes this this this gross misrepresentation of what’s happening
yeah and I I feel for him but this is where his representation has gotten him so I’m rooting so hard for Ace Bailey to get to Utah have an awesome career get real representation and have this be a footnote have this be a cautionary tale for future young NBA players going through the draft process i totally agree i I just feel like there’s there’s so many of these cautionary tales and so few times does it actually work out for the player and and they just
they just get burned to the ground in these situations and and I get it you know you should be embracing uh wherever you go you you just got selected into the top five of the NBA draft he should have gone to Philly
yep the fact that his agent told some of these teams in the top five not to draft him multiple teams in the top five not to draft him what are you talking about you know the difference between a top three pick and a top seven pick it’s tens of millions of dollars
yes it’s so much money
a lot of money
why are you listening to someone who’s saying “Hey we’re going to flush your money down the toilet.” And also you’re now going to Utah where there’s no direction there’s no foundation instead of going to Philly where at least there’s at least there’s Tyrese Maxi Paul George is there health you know TBD Joel Embiid is there health TBD like it’s an organization that like has some standards well I I agree and I think Utah has taken a beating especially because they are the the prime example of what tanking is and all that stuff
but they still have a good coach they still have a good front office they still have like the right basketball type of situation
and players have like Sacramento players have gone there and stayed there for years and end up loving it and being part of the community
right
just Vernon Maxwell also exists well then there’s Vernon Mackel who does not like Utah at all and chooses every moment to make fun of him yeah yeah so it’s a tough look but I think he’ll get through this and I the quicker he’s able to to get around actual NBA players and they’re able to say “Hey look man you are making some colossal mistakes and we need to help you
because a team can’t do that a team the NBA cannot do that go and tell him who his representation is
because if he they push him to somebody else and that somebody else does something nefarious then they’re on the hook
for anything that they promoted to him and so they’re not allowed to
so I I’m really hoping that the players step in here and say hey look like this is a good spot for you but also
this is what a good agent does not what it and what we’re seeing right now from you is not what a good agent does
yep absolutely all right Nick Clifford’s college coach Ali Farerok Manesh is going to join us i hope I’m pronouncing that correctly i’ll make sure to confirm with him before we have him on but uh he’s going to join us at 11:45 really excited to get his insights on Nick Clifford but there’s a player available for trade that doesn’t solve the King’s biggest problem but it helps one of their major problems we’ll tell you who it is next that’s James Ham i’m comat and we’re the insiders sponsored by Jify Lube this is ESPN 1320 and that is Sacramento Sports Center maybe I’m just hearing what’s in your room oh there we go there we go yeah what’s going on everybody yeah it’s just tough because I I I think one of the bigger things is it shows the immaturity of uh of Ace Bailey and like he’s supposed to be immature he’s 18 years old 18 or 19 I don’t know he’s he’s a baby a and he’s also like if you’ve seen interviews with him he’s very young and and like again we talk about this all the time with like the co kid stuff like he’s just like a super young kid uh you know a little bit naive in the world and to me this is it’s crappy that this is where he’s at i mean Utah will provide him an unlimited opportunity to uh to be a star like there’s there’s really I mean Lori Marin might not be there for a long time we’ll see um but you know John Collins is on on a one-year deal now and he might be traded like like there is a wide openen avenue for him to uh get a ton of touches and be one of the the the true like stars of that team uh let’s see what do we got we got all kinds of weird stuff going on here anything else happening uh Andrew Sterling there hasn’t been any murmurss in the Larabia front um but I I would say this um I asked Jake Larabia about this during the season about why it is that Memphis ends up with a bunch of players like him and and maybe we’ll we can discuss this on the Hour number two that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson hanging out with you until noon sponsored by Jify Lube hanging out with you till noon then we’ll hand it off to DLO and Casey and they will take you up to four o’clock right here on Sacramento’s Sports Leader we’ve been talking a ton about the NBA drafting we will continue to do so nick Clifford the number 24 overall pick for Sacramento his college coach Ali Faruk Manesh is going to join us at 11:45 farukq Manesh is now the head coach at Colorado State but he was an assistant that helped re was was a key part of of Nick Clifford’s development over his two years at Colorado State so really excited to get his perspective on uh one of the newest members of the Sacramento Kings but I think spinning it forward now we we’ve kind of assessed what the draft class looks like how uh Rolo and how how Clifford could could impact the the Kings roster what’s the next step now i know they still need a point guard still got to figure out the point guard thing yeah we got it
okay the the first thing that has to happen here um again free agency opens on on Monday right it opens on the 30th that’s when things are going to go crazy
uh we’re going to start hearing all kinds of things going on and you know who the Kings are chasing who they might land all that stuff but before that happens
they have to make a decision on Keon Ellis and so that’s
Oh yeah that’s coming up Sunday
that’s on Sunday that’s going to be the first step here um and for me uh it’s a huge huge decision um because what you hope is that they’re able to figure out a way to take care of Keon without eating up all their cap space and and sort of move forward with him as a player uh they have two options they can pick up his player option at 2 million a little over two million bucks for for this coming season
uh and then try to work out a long-term deal with him or just let him work out the season at 2 million bucks they uh but at the end of that he would be an unrestricted free agent if they decline his option he becomes a restricted free agent this summer then he’s open to any team but the Kings have the right to match any offer to him so that would be step two uh and of course there’s only one team in the league which who caps that’s the Brooklyn Nets uh which of course Jordie Fernandez is there and probably absolutely adors Keon Ellis because they were here together um and then but there’s also all of these teams with uh mid-level exceptions of 14 million bucks so you run the risk of Keon getting a much bigger contract and also like shrinking this window you have to go negotiate with other people right yeah
um so that’s going to be uh one of the things that has to happen between now and and the next time we see everybody here um we we talked to you on the radio on Monday uh we will by by Sunday afternoon know what’s happening with Keon and maybe sooner um that’s going to be the first thing and secondly like we were talking about a little bit at the break uh about Jake Laabia jake Larabia becomes he’s an unrestricted free agent he’ll drop into the un the free agent pool on Monday uh the Kings will have an opportunity uh they already have I think an opportunity to open a window right now to negotiate with him um whether they’re going to land on a contract with him or not I don’t know um and that’s because like look he was acquired last season by the previous regime and while he’s young and he’s 6’8 and he provides you know a lot of what the Kings are looking for you know he’s that that bigger 34 that they kind of need uh whether it’s off the bench or whatever
um we don’t know how that’s going to work out uh the Kings are limited to a $5.1 million offer that they can extend to him uh and that’s they can go like a multi-year deal or they can do a two-year deal like a little over 10 million bucks with a player option for year two if they do something like that and he opts out he gets his Larry Bird rights back and then he can sign for whatever
um but uh they’re going to have to address that situation sooner rather than later and um and the other thing I was going to bring up is like we keep talking about this type of player that the Kings are bringing in right
uh this this you know physical defensive minded you know uh glue Yeah glue guys and good culture guys right um I asked Jake Larabia about this during the season because
this is the type of player that the Memphis Grizzlies always have a ton of
right so we talk about you know teams that you want to go get a free agent from Miami Heat
uh you want to get a free agent from uh Memphis because they had this culture uh there’s the San Antonio Spurs were the team for years yeah and the Kings were a pipeline like they kept they they got a you know Garrett Temple they a Trey Lyles a Chzi Metu these guys that you bring in because they played for the the San Antonio Spurs and you know their standards there are extremely high
um but I asked Jacobia like hey like is it something that they do there once you get off you know the team plane off the plane and you’re like hey I’m I’m now a Memphis Grizzlies and they’re like okay here’s your handbook on how to be tough and how to be an NBA player yeah
he’s like no no no he’s like this is who I was before right he’s like I think they look for players like me and they accumulate players like me
and that was really it was interesting to hear but also
that’s what Scott Perry’s doing right now
yeah he’s trying to find guys that play hard that don’t give up on on any play that that give you second third efforts that are tough that that don’t mind pushing back
and are physical and uh and that’s it’s reminds us of the Memphis Grizzlies
but again I think it’s sort of a a unique look into the way that the the Grizzlies might search for these types of players and how the Kings might be a team who’s now mirroring some of that in their approach to finding players so with all that in mind you have changed my mind about Cam Whitmore oh yeah
so Cam Whitmore according to Kelly Iiko of The Athletic is being shopped by the Houston Rockets not a surprise cam Whitmore a super talented young player who couldn’t get off the end of the bench for Houston i think he spent time in the G-League at one point last year
oh yeah he’s torn up the G- League a couple of times
yeah so but just the kind of player that that you and I went man switchable defensively great athleticism just kind of fits the archetype of of a player the Kings don’t have but the more you talked about just now the kind of player Sacramento is looking for if they are looking for just to to continue using this name the Jake Laravia type the glue guy type the one who’s not going to go give you 25 a night but he’s going to give you
six seven points going to grab a couple of rebounds going to get you a steal just gonna maybe maybe uh do all the things that like outside of the box score that affect winning just the the little things on the margins
yep i think if Cam Whitmore was doing those things don’t you think he would have played for the Rockets last year a Rockets team that lost in seven to the Golden State Warriors in part because they didn’t have enough offensive creativity in the half court they they could have used Cam Whitmore but he didn’t play because the Rockets are accumulate taran types uh Fred Van Vleet types uh Amen Thompson is is the peak of of that archetype of player they had a bunch of these guys and I I I feel like he would have found his way into the regular rotation if he was the kind of player that Scott Perry and and and Doug Christie are looking for and I just don’t think he is i don’t know when I watch Cam Whitmore play he plays with the physicality that the Kings like so desperately need he’s a dude who does not mind running over somebody at all like there he is a beast of a player mhm um but the problem that I see with him and we’re talking 67 230 like this is a that’s a big dude
right so but the problem that I’ve seen with that team specifically is an overaccumulation of top tier talent of top tier free of top tier draft picks i mean look at they they traded Jaylen Green who was what the second pick in the draft or the third pick in the draft jabari Smith Jr second pick in the draft a man Thompson uh top tier what fourth pick in the draft Reed Shepard fourth pick in the draft tory Een 16th pick in the draft like you can’t play all your young players at one time you bring in a Fred Van Vleet to to help you know be the adult in the room you bring in Dylan Brooks who I don’t think is an adult in the room but he’s still a mature player sure
um and that’s what he’s competing against he’s competing against Tari E who is a top a higher pick against Jabari Smith who’s a higher pick against Jaylen Green who’s a higher pick against Dylan Brooks who has you know the the reputation around the league as like a physical defensive player against Jeff Green who you know like just keeps playing it doesn’t matter how old he is i think he’s like 47 at this point
he played for the Sonics
oh yeah yeah he definitely played for the Sonics
um but is that right
i Yeah he Oh no he for sure played for the Sonics he He was a a maybe Yeah yeah yeah he did yeah yeah are we certain
yeah i’m almost positive all right yeah he did in the 2007208 season their final season in Seattle was Yeah the 2002 2007 2008 season
i was in high school bro
he’s still playing
i’m 34
he’s still playing that’s crazy
but uh but I’m not out on Cam Whitmore what I what I get with him is he’s lost in the shuffle i Okay and maybe this would be maybe this would be worth calling somebody from Houston and getting getting their thoughts but the fact that this isn’t a player who who just should have played more minutes this is a guy who I don’t think played in the playoffs at all uh yeah he got two minutes of garbage time in game two and a couple minutes of garbage time in games five and six he was not a factor in there he played uh late in the season after they’d punted he played 32 minutes 38 minutes 18 minutes but prior to that a minute a minute here’s 12 minutes in a blowout win dnp 13 minutes in a blowout win bunch of DMPS like this is the the concern here is less about oh he couldn’t or or the the issue for me i don’t think it’s oh he couldn’t crack this rotation there’s just too many good players i just don’t think he was he was either the play style or there was there was some deficiency that he didn’t fit that mold for the Rockets because I think if he did I think he would have played at least a little this is a dude who didn’t play at all no I I get that but Jun Tate didn’t play hardly at all either
you know and and he’s going back there and and look they just brought in Kevin Durant like who how are you going to play a guy like Cam Whitmore the one thing I’d point out too Kyle is Cam Whitmore can’t walk into a bar and order a drink for another like week and a half
that’s so crazy
i mean he’s he’s 20 years old 354 days
so like look when we talk about underutilized talent hiding in on other NBA rosters that could walk into your building and be a star
Cam Whitmore is on a short list i mean we’re talking about a guy who in his rookie season averaged you know
247 and one per 36 one and a half but he averaged 12.3 in 18 minutes a night in 47 games
i mean he walked in the door and could play and this is a guy who was supposed to go in the top five of the draft and fell on draft night so sure there might be some issues here but as far as like the type of player um the physicality the strength that he plays with I would gamble on a guy like uh Cam Whitmore and not only would I gamble on him I I would gamble on him and potentially use him as a starter moving forward um because I do think he’s one of those under underutilized players around the league now you might get him in your building in his play style is just totally wrong that’s I think that’s I think because because you wrote I’m all in was your
Oh yeah i’ve always been I love more as a prospect that is a that is a steady take you’ve had
i I I’m of the belief that if you’re going to be allin where you’re going to give up like real assets in this deal there has to be there has to be some assurance on your side that he is that type of player because what you can’t have is you’re giving up a first round pick or a future first for for Cam Whitmore you’re getting him in your building and then he’s sitting on the end of your bench instead no I get that but I also I don’t look at Cam Whitmore as a player who is going to cost you that at all like I like you’re looking at a player who’s in his second season and he’s already like they’re they’re shopping him like it’s just like when you go buy a car the second you walk off the lot you just lost you know 30% of your investment
you’re so far upside down and that’s the same thing you have him in your building for two years because he hasn’t been able to break through
but again breakthrough against Aman Thompson and Jabari Smith and Dylan Brooks and Taan Tate and just I wonder if the argument you’re making is what every NBA front office will be talking themselves into
oh I think so which is which is where I don’t think you’re you’re going to go like “Yeah hey here’s a couple sec.” And the Kings don’t even have second round picks to give away
no they don’t have a bunch of them they they definitely could give up a second round pick in next year’s draft and and maybe land a player like that but also like maybe it’s a place where you look at a guy like Devin Carter and say “Hey he doesn’t fit what we’re doing fully
but would you guys like a combo guard that that plays defense and maybe like fits better with your system?” And maybe it’d be something like where you can make a complete swap like that and Houston because of their acquisitions they’re probably a team who’s looking at a big tax bill even if it’s like going from you know maybe they take on a player like Devin Carter maybe they don’t
but I would at least call because this is a type of player again you’re looking around the league and saying “Okay how many underutilized players are there that might be able to be impactful for me?”
And he’s one of them that just jumps out
all right that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson i’m going to ruin everybody’s corn flakes next
oh
this is the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube we’ll keep talking Kings and then Colorado State head coach Ali Faroke Manesh he coached Nick Clifford during his two years at Colorado State he’s going to join us on the Insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube on ESPN 1320 at Sacramento Sports Center yeah I get what you’re I I believe you’re talking about the Cam Whitmore situation um I just don’t know that like there are too many young guys there i I just don’t know that there’s a a you know I think there is a reason why he’s not playing and I and of course you know like your best players are going to play um but every time he does step on the court he’s just awesome and you know it could be personality issues it could be a lot of different reasons but like I’m willing to go out on a limb and and try on a guy like that and we’re talking about a guy who’s got two years left on his rookie scale contract if he works out he works out if he doesn’t you can move off of him really quick yeah the Michael the the Kings aren’t giving up Keon for Cam Whitmore i just can’t What is Manny asking i I don’t know uh yeah I agree load uh Lotus Prime uh NBA Guru show i have no idea if Sabonis is staying for sure and I don’t know if Demar is going to get traded and I don’t know if Carter’s going to get traded um I don’t I don’t run the team uh I just know that the kings have lots of options oh I’m back uh thanks Stephen Castinetta i think that there are trades out there chris Cook I think there there are definitely trades out there james Ham is there i’m Comm we’re the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube we’re hanging out with you till noon ali Faroke Manesh will be joining us at 11:45 who the heck is that well he coached Nick Clifford at Colorado State faro Mesh is now the head men’s basketball coach for the Rams but he was an assistant on that staff for several years um including during the time when they were bringing Nick Clifford over from the University of Colorado and then he helped oversaw uh oversee his development that made him a first round pick in this year’s NBA draft for the Sacramento Kings um it’s been a lot of sunshine a lot of rainbows the the Kings front office you know kind of figuring things out in terms of types of player they need and and you just you love the archetype of of Maxim Reno and you like what what Meek Clifford could bring to to Sacramento what are the expectations though for these two picks because the optimism says “Oh my god the Kings are winning 50 games.” I don’t think that’s necessarily the case because while while optimism reigns this time of year and I I don’t I don’t begrudge that i think every every team is is probably super psyched with what they’re doing right now
um I just I don’t like nothing has happened yet that makes me go “Wow the Kings have really won the offseason they’ve hit it out of the park they’re gonna I still feel like this is a team that’s going to sit between like 40 and 44 wins depending on how the ball bounces
yeah as of today and to be honest with you that might be a little high as well like I don’t know that I have them winning that many games at this point
um like look this is where the real work begins right you know the draft is like
it’s truly the first avenue of of like building your team during the offseason it’s the first thing that happens there are trades that have gone on before the draft but this is a moment where you’ve got to like look at what you’re doing as far as uh you know you’ve got you’ve checked boxes you added depth right the teams in the league that are the best this season Oklahoma City Indiana they had so much depth it was crazy i mean when you lost you know Tyresese Hallebertton in a playoff game and you you you know shift Nemhard over to that position and and then you bring TJ McConnell off the bench and then all of a sudden you got Benedict Matan backfilling and you got like all of these players that like that team was so deep yeah
and they could not withstand the loss of their best player or their their superstar player um but again it’s the same thing with OKC like they just had so much depth you have to start somewhere and for me
that’s where I mean the Kings only had eight players they only have eight players walking until yesterday that’s all they have left on the roster that are of guaranteed contracts
right and so like what happens next is you know it’s going to be free agency it’s going to be trades like this weekend there could be trades
the first couple of days of free agency there could be trades the but the free agency is starting on Monday you got a $14.1 million trade exception you got a by annual exception um those are things that you can go out and actually improve your team and and start building something uh it’s just going to depend on like how aggressive the Kings are and they like so far they’ve been extremely aggressive to get their name in on a bunch of things
um but you also got to be able to close some deals and and that’s the deal i think this team specifically they need a trade like as soon as possible
i agree
in order to set up their free agency
that that that is what I keep coming back to
because I keep going all right well who’s worth trading for are you making a deal for for John Morant is he available seems like the Celtics are keen to hold on to Derrick White but is there is there a move you can make that that gets them off of Derrick White or is there is there picks you can involve or players you can involve that that get you it I keep coming back to that because when you start going okay free agents it’s Dennis Shruder Tus Jones is a name we’ve heard thrown around maybe you take a gamble on Trey Jones maybe you really like Trey Jones as a was he 24 25
yeah guy in his mid20s who still has some some some growth left in his development maybe you want to take a gamble there and you feel you feel good about that but either way you probably need multiple players playing point guard and if it’s two guys that are submidle players I I come back to it doesn’t move the needle winning-wise for me at least not not not to the point that you’re going okay top this is now a top six type of contender yeah you might again win a game or two extra
mhm
but you’re talking about winning a game or two extra from a team that won 40 last year
it is largely the same so I don’t think I real quick the the I don’t think the answer is going to be via free agency you there will be some signings there will be some additions but if the Kings are going to move out of this tier of team that they’re in where they’re just kind of uh they’re making the playoffs depends on the play in and they’re making the playin depends on the Suns and the Blazers
like that’s that’s a space you don’t want to be in if they’re going to get out of that tier uh there there has to be a trade in here i don’t think they’re getting there via free agency
no I would agree with you um and that’s just like first of all Sacramento’s never been a hot bed for free agents
um and when you go into a season and you don’t have a bunch of money they don’t have natural cap space they they are not a cap space team no there’s only one of them the Nets are the only cap space team
there’s that is the one team that can absorb salary
yeah and that’s where like we’ve we’ve talked about this a little bit but the Kings are playing in this area where they’re over the over the salary cap but under the luxury tax right so there’s this window that they can play in and it’s a big window it’s you know it’s a it’s a lot of money but at the end of the day like you’ve got to be able to you know manage that that that space in such a delicate way because we talk about hey you love to see the Kings go out and get um you know a player like even if it’s Dennis Rutder just so you know you have a point guard right
yeah yeah yeah
right and like maybe him and Malik Monk can man the position and you’ll be fine
sure right so you got to go out and get one of those players but if you decide to go spend that 14 million bucks on one player but you also have the situation with Keon Ellis where it’s either 2 million or it’s probably closer to 10 mhm
well now you add those two things that’s 24 million bucks between what you paid Kon and what you paid
Dennis Shruder
and you’re looking at like being over the luxury tax or being right around the luxury tax like this team has to like the biggest way they’re going to improve for me is is always going to be via trade
and then once you get done with that um it’s going to be okay like how can we improve on the margins is there a Jake Larivia is there like a a couple of players like that because again your mid-level it can go to multiple players
like you can break that up into multiple contracts
and so like the Kings should have the ability to make improvements
it’s just I don’t think anyone is out They’re thinking like the Kings aren’t going to go out and sign a LeBron James and and everything’s going to change right
no like the the path forward you know again we always talk about the three ways i think Jeff Petri said it this is something Scott Moo tweeted out the other day jeff Petri always said the three ways to improve a team the draft free agency and trades and the draft is the the biggest gamble of the three
yeah yeah
and that’s where the Kings are like they they’ve got some good depth that they just added whether those guys play a ton in their first year or not I’m going to say Nick Clifford is probably going to play
16 to 20 minutes a night
i think he’s going to play i feel good about Nick Clifford
i think so too uh but it really does depend on who else is on this team
and and how you create space for him because you know if you you have a 35 minute per game small forward that leaves 13 minutes per game at that position and you know does Keegan Murray play some of that position like it gets it gets a little complicated pretty quickly
yeah man i I I’m trying really really hard to not overreact and to not not fall into this like oh my god everything is awful because ideally Doug Christie and Scott Perry a new era of Kings basketball is going to change you don’t want to be uh I forget if it was Damen or Kenny who’s like I’m not going to be Oh no it was it was actually it was Jesse when we were talking about the Ace Bailey thing
yeah if the Kings make some crazy trade up into the early lottery and Ace Bailey falls to him do you take him and Jesse’s like you can’t be beholden to what you used to do you have to let that go you have to act on now
mhm
but everything you just laid out points to what what I perceive to largely be inaction you needed to pick a path you either needed to be a team that was going to be the the ESPN 2026 NBA mock draft that just came out mhm
kings are picking fifth
in that mock draft
and so I don’t I don’t know that they’re going to be that bad though and that’s the problem if they’re picking fifth fine but I think they’re too good to pick fifth barring lottery luck
right i think they’re too good to go into the lottery with the fifth pick which is a problem but I don’t think they’re good enough to be a very serious playoff contender and so you’re just existing in this purgatory that we talk about
no I I’m with you but I want to see what this team looks like next Friday absolutely absolutely
you know I want to see what this team looks like a week and a half two weeks from now because that’s where we’re going to see
like where the real substantive changes could come and if they don’t
then it’s like okay we start assessing what exactly this is going to look like and and it probably won’t be super
super rosy like again you drafted Nate Clifford that might mean that you don’t go out and even try to sign Jake Larivia or maybe you look at Jake Laia as as a four and you you know maybe he does work within your system but you know if you’re you already have Demard Rosen you’re not going to keep adding and adding and adding to the small forward position
um you know if you’ve got Zack Lavine at the at the two you know again we all think oh you just trade that guy or give that guy like sometimes it just doesn’t materialize I mean
right you can try
yeah I mean the the Oklahoma City Thunder built their entire you know dynasty soon to be dynasty on other teams not wanting players and and and then them accepting draft picks and salary
to just absorb more assets right mhm
well the Kings don’t have those assets they they they’re not flush with assets although I will say that the one other thing is that on Monday uh on Tuesday July 1st they’re all of a sudden going to have an extra first round pick to deal with
and an extra second
and and an extra second they they’ll get their access to their 2032 uh draft capital
and and again that might not seem like that much to people but the Kings still walk into this with nine first round picks you can say “Oh well the 2017 2027 Spurs pick is all tied up now that 1 through 16.” It’s like okay it is but it’s it’s protected 1 through 16 you can still trade the one through 16 protection
to somebody else so like there are
Okay I was going to ask that so I’m glad you brought that up because I was thinking about that today so you could theoretically
Mhm
so you have a 2027 first that is top 16 protected if that doesn’t convey it becomes their two 2027 second round picks
yep
so you could theoretically trade that 2027 first to let’s just I’m just to Memphis
yep
you could send that to Memphis and say “Hey this is you get this if it’s 1 through 16.”
Yep
if you don’t could it then also convey to the two 207 seconds because it’s going to convey either way so those two seconds are going to be available
yeah you could probably put that kind of uh that kind of switch into it yes because I mean there are if you look there are
that has less to do with like the Kings team building and more just the minations of these deals
yeah because there there are second round picks out there that have like there you only get the pick if it’s pick 31 through 38 and then the next protection is 39 through 46 mhm
and then like if the pick falls in the back end of the draft 47 through 60 it goes to a different team they break it up like there are crazy protections on second round picks that go like that convey for specific reasons i think like in all honesty you could even have uh the 2016 the 2027 Spurs pick you could trade it and say it’s it’s 1 through 16 protected and if it doesn’t convey we’ll give you our own 2028 pick
jesus
yeah so like the the way that those picks are are established like it it can get complicated for sure
um but like I I like the fact that that it’s not their pick that’s being held up
right
that it’s somebody else’s pick yeah and that’s the other thing it doesn’t matter how well the Kings do in 2027 for that pick to convey or not it only matters what the San Antonio Spurs do
yeah because it belongs to the Spurs right yeah yeah so and I think that’s like people are like “Oh well you know like are the Kings going to be good or not?” That doesn’t matter like it’s it’s whether the Spurs are going to be good or not
yeah uh Mitch in New Jersey has been hanging on the line mitch what are your thoughts on Cam Whitmore mitch you’re on the kids talk line what’s up hey how’s it going what’s going man what’s happening
yeah um did we get two second round picks because I like our second round center better than the first pick of course we had to give out more assets in the future but with um Ace Bailey if anybody’s height that might have cost him
does that make it uh could it be easier to betain him from from Utah or even John Collins because they had three and one picks from last year and they had two this year so they’re getting better and maybe they have less leverage if Ace B doesn’t want to play it because he you know he’s a Hall of Famer already you know especially at one year at Ruckers
anyway you have a nice weekend thanks for taking my call
thanks Mitch yeah uh John Collins opted into his $26.2 million player option for this year
not a shock
uh not a shock at all would I be totally surprised if the Kings made a run at John Collins again not really no
I I would not be surprised at all and you know again um just like again this isn’t something that like I’m saying is going to happen but like say you were to to move a player like Demar De Rozan for John Collins
um John Collins like slides into the starting power forward spot it helps you it allows you to move Keegan Murray back to the three
and then now you have like a lot of depth and creativeness that you can do uh shot blocker three-point shooter you know big- time scorer good very good rebounder John Collins um but I I don’t know if that’s gonna happen or not like uh the Kings have flirted with the John Collins idea uh through like multiple regimes at this point um like they almost acquired him when he was with the Hawks
uh and then they kicked the tires on him big time last year but again it was a player that Mike Brown didn’t necessarily want and that doesn’t mean that they can’t trade for him mike would have coached the guy but it was like “Hey this isn’t fitting what we’re trying to do.” Um he might fit what Doug’s trying to do or Doug might not have the same opinion on on Collins that that Mike did and so
to me to me the John Collins thing
yep
it’s like do you don’t watch Love Island USA right
no
no all right fine i was going to make a hooded joke but it’s you’re not I don’t want to have to explain it so if if you watch the show you’ll understand the the hood of joke I was going to make so anyways um I’m out unless it’s like the last thing they exhaust i would like to see them explore every go check out go do the see if Cam Whitmore is available for cheap go try and find a point guard if it whatever assets you’re going to use in a John Collins trade see if those are better used or see if those could be used on like I said a point guard on a uh on a on a on a I guess he would he would be a four but but on a player maybe a younger player on a longer contract see if there’s a another fit out there because the John Collins thing a you don’t know what version of John Collins you’re going to get um B he’s now on a on a one-year expiring which which I know you don’t hate but also I think you’re trying to build something kind of a little more long-term here
mhm so I I think you you you don’t want to go to John Collins first and be like “Hey this is our big offseason acquisition if you land there okay.”
Yeah yeah
i just think there’s there’s other things they should be looking for first
well of course they should be looking for starting point guard first yes
yeah yeah i mean that’s like front and center you need a starting point guard but like look John Collins is 27 he’ll be 28 in September um and John Collins was spectacular last season he averaged 19 points
8.2 rebounds he shot 39.9% from three um you know again he he can block shots he averaged a block a game even though he’s playing 30 minutes uh I’m not worried about the fact that he only played 40 games he didn’t play 40 games because he played for a team that didn’t want to win
he was healthy for many more
yeah he was he was healthy for a lot more than that does does does the whole uh losing thing come up for you at all with this because you’re you if typically when we bring up a player who’s on a losing team you you do the thing where you go “Oh well that somebody has to score somebody has to do this somebody has to do that team.”
Yeah yeah yeah
does that factor in at all
i mean it should factor in a little bit but at the same time like John Collins is like he played on a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals in Atlanta
that’s true
right and um like he he’s my bigger concern is um like is he a starter is he is he a coming off the bench and doing crazy things for you guy
um is he a guy is he a high basketball IQ player
and that’s always going to be the question uh especially for a player who the second he’s signed anywhere he’s always on the trade block
and you know again you you don’t have to make it a one-year thing you can you can trade for John Collins and extend him um you know give him another two years and see how that works out for you
uh but I I do always have that like in the back of my mind man this dude you know he signed a big time contract extension with uh Atlanta and the second he signed it they were trying to trade him
yeah and and I guess I get people trying to like give like hold the value of their players and all that stuff and you know you thought you could just move the contract and stuff but um yeah I I don’t know it it’s not the worst thing if they lay this but it should be pretty low on their list of priorities like you said
yeah yeah go look for something else maybe first i don’t know i’m okay like
would you rather Hey very quickly just to get all the way into the throwback machine would you rather have John Collins or Cam Johnson
let’s just get back to last year’s trade deadline uh Cam Johnson because he’s a better defender smarter player but but maybe like
that’s interesting
all right he’s James Ham i’m Kyle Adsen nick Clifford’s college coach or one of his college coaches Ali Faroke Manesh who’s now the head coach at Colorado State he was not the head coach while Nick Clifford was there but worked very closely with Nick during his two-year tenure with the Rams really excited to get his insights on Nick Clifford the player because I don’t know that there is a better person to ask about a player
than the guy that coached him for two years
uh coach Faro Manesh going to join us next from Colorado State that’s James Ham i’m commen the insiders sponsored by Jiffy Lube this is ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Theater what’s happening everybody that’s interesting dennis Schroeder and and uh let’s see dennis Sher and Cam Johnson reuniting in Sacramento i mean I like I don’t know i I think a bigger question like if I’m if I were asking would you rather have Demar De Rozan or would you rather have John Collins and I my answer might be absolutely ludicrous but I would rather have John Collins because I I just think he fits his system better uh Lotus Prime i don’t know what the next move they’re going to make they’re I mean they’re trying their best to land a point guard um but I don’t know yeah John Collins is younger than Cam Johnson see what else we got in there i agree with this i agree with this um but uh what if I John Collins can also play a small ball five so what if he went John Collins Keegan Murray and uh Nick Clifford in a small ball lineup i don’t know okay cool okay here we go all right let’s get right to it here on the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube he’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson and joining us now Coach Ali Faroke Manesh he has been with Colorado State for the last I believe seven years is seven years now coach you’ve been in uh that you’ve been at Fort Collins
yeah seven years going on eight now so it’s Yeah long time
well congratulations on the recent promotion to the to the head coaching job there that’s uh that’s outstanding for you i’m really happy for you but I I I I want to get to Nick Clifford we only got a few minutes with you here uh but I want to get to Nick Clifford who you coached over over his two years at Colorado State with the Rams uh what what type of player are the Kings getting with Nick Clifford and obviously I think the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about Nick is his versatility um he truly is a two-way player and I think he showed that all both years with us to be honest um and then the the scoring and the shooting and the playmaking really picked up in his second year but I mean he’s always been an elite rebounder i think from a guard position like he’s he’s on the Josh Hart type level of rebounding um from a comparison standpoint to be honest it’s kind of ironic but I’ve always kind of because I grew up watching the Kings with in the Mike Bibby era and whatnot um and Doug Christie comes to mind in some ways um and I think so it’s kind of ironic but I I love the way he competes on the defensive end of the floor but I think in the last what he added to his game is the shot making off the dribble off the move off the catch and shoot and then his secondary playmaking skills there’s not a lot of guys that you can say are are true wings defensively that also can make plays for others on the end other end of the floor too you know coach when you’re looking at his development again it’s not like he was being squandered in Colorado but when he came to you guys he just took this massive leap what has he done off the court that makes you feel like he’s going to continue this uh this sort of I don’t know aggressive ascension that he has uh since since joining Colorado State yeah I I don’t want to say he changed the way he worked when he got to us but I think he he morphed his thinking and his mentality of the way he worked um we became way more intentional with what he was doing in his development um because everyone gets in the gym and like he was always going to get better because he loved being in the gym but the intentionality that he had with his work in terms of his shooting right away when he first got here we were working on his feet and his balance and then his one motion and then the next thing we wanted to work on was him playing off two feet better and so once he progressed in that area then the next year when he came back it was his shooting off the dribble and then obviously his ball handling too because we thought he’d become more of a playmaker in that year too for us and um all each one of those things was very specific and I think you could see that progression happen through those two years here and um it all led to this and it doesn’t always work out that way with when you have someone that’s willing to work buy into the work um and then the humility that he has um because there’s a lot of guys you tell them what they need to work on and they don’t want to hear it and he was very accepting of what we thought we needed to work on right away and um it was fun to see that progression happen for him that fast and Um it it’s cool to now say that we got four guys that are going to be on NBA rosters this coming season
talking with Colorado State men’s basketball coach Ali Faro Manesh now uh Nick could have come out last year in the draft but he chose to go back to school uh there in Fort Collins what was it uh what what was a the reason you think he went back and b uh what were some of the things you think he improved with that extra year in college yeah honestly you just don’t want to go back to school that was the biggest thing uh I mean you’ve been you’ve been in school up to that four years you’ve graduated already like it was kind of that was one of the biggest things to him and then it got to the point it was like you know everyone says “Bet on yourself.” And that I took that more as bet on yourself to come back to college to improve your stock
and he had basically six months seven months with us at that point from the time he got here in June to the end of that season so we thought if we had another nine months to work on his game that he would change completely because he made that much progress in essentially seven months what would he look like with another nine months with us and so specifically right away it was the shooting off the bounce and the ball handling because we thought he had Isaiah Stevens the year before that set him up for a lot of plays and this year we thought he was going to have to make plays for himself and for others more and that showed up I mean in a completely different atmosphere than I think anybody thought which I thought was ironic he came out trying to come out the year before and he only was looked at as a 3 and D wing then this year now we had teams calling us and being like was he like a secondary point guard type player and it’s like no one even talked to me about that a year ago so it’s a huge credit to him um just buying into that work and and also having the humility to understand like yeah I’m not good enough in these areas yet i need to improve um and he did like I he made double the amount of threes he made the year before and the year before that he made double the amount of threes that he made previously his entire career at Colorado so the the level of growth and development over the 20 months was something that that’s what we pride ourselves on but that doesn’t happen with a lot of kids either you know the one of the the stats that jump out on the on his box score for me is his free throw attempts jump from 2.3 to five from his fourth to fifth season um and you know again before that he’d capped out at like 1.5 free throw attempts that shows me that number one he’s got the ball in his hands more but also number two he’s being more physical going to the basket is that something that you guys were able to work with him uh sort of the development of the off the dribble game and and getting to the basket drawing contact absolutely it’s funny it’s funny you say that because that was one of the key things that we thought we need to develop if you want to be a true scorer that doesn’t mean just making shots like the best scorers in the world get to the free throw line i mean Sha Gil just Alexander right foul merchant so you look at all those guys like the best scorers get to the foul line when they’re not making shots they’re still scoring four to five points a game just at the foul line and he did a tremendous job of not only getting the line but also converting once he got to the line um so no you’re 100 it’s funny you point that out because that’s we made a sheet prior to the season and that was one of the four things that we we needed to work on and grow in and that’s what he did i mean he went from 12 points a game if you just add the free throws right there he’s already at 15 to 16 and then obviously you add some more scoring and playmaking at the rim he got to 19 20 points a game
ali Faro Maneshi’s the head coach of Colorado State he he helped coach Nick Clifford during his two years there what type of what type of guy is he is he quiet is he a vocal leader what what Tell me about him as a as a person that he’s the most elite teammate you’re ever going to have and I think there’s the one thing that I can point to the story that always comes to mind to me is so he’s at Colorado before obviously Colorado Colorado State don’t like each other
so that year his first year with us we beat Colorado at home so they really don’t like us now but then his best from some of his best friend Tristan Dilva who’s now with the Orlando Magic they’re having senior night in Colorado and we’re off we I think we had like a two-day break or something well he decides to drive up from Fort Collins to Boulder which is about a 354 minute drive on Tristan’s senior night was for Tristan Dilva’s senior night i don’t know too many guys that would do that in general but much less you’re going into you’re going into enemy territory at the same time and I think that just speaks volumes to the type of teammate he is as well you’re not only getting an elite basketball player but the type of teammate that you want not only with the other guys in your locker room but also in the community
that’s outstanding coach thank you so much for your time man uh know you’re super busy this time of year so uh really appreciate you uh hopping on with us telling us about Nick Clifford and and best of luck at the with the head job there at Colorado State
no I appreciate guys you got some new sack sack town fans now
absolutely thank you so much coach thank you
Coach Ali Faro Manesh
really good
really good shout out understood the assignment the the thing that this is so cheesy and and cliche but the teammate thing is my favorite part of that
oh yeah
like all the stuff about oh he worked and and he was had the humility to know what he needed to work on and he’s really hard worker okay like that’s all great but the stuff about being a good teammate is not even for like a locker room and hey he’s got vibes guy but that to me says he’s not the type of player who’s going to come in and go okay well hey I’ve been working on my my ball handling and my scoring so that’s what I’m going to do here like no it seems seems like the kind of person who’s just going to hey whatever’s good for the team
yeah and and I’m going to point out too like staying in college now like the the five years that he played
um I’ve talked about this a bunch about you know again this is a kid who is what a 2000 uh a 2002 birth year which means he lost the last half of his senior year his first two years at Colorado most of his classes were via Zoom they you know they might have had some inerson stuff but probably not you know he’s playing in an empty gym part of his his college career like all of these things happen but developing at the NBA level is so incredibly difficult developing at the college level you can take a player during one off season and and have him go from a guy who barely gets to the free throw line at 2.3 times per game and double that to five and the player I’m going to point to right now is Keegan Murray like Keegan Murray does not get to the foul throw at the free throw line nearly enough for not even close
for his size and for his athleticism and everything else now part of that’s because the Kings put him in the corner a lot and have him shooting um but a lot of it is also just because he hasn’t figured it out
and you know working with a guy like Demar De Rozan can help you figure that out but um this kid was able to go back to college stay in and then really really create a different style of player for himself he he was a 3 and D guy now he’s a jack of all trades guy he’s you know the Swiss Army knife of the first round
and and some of this uh is like it’s really impressive like the stats you’re looking at the fact that you know his
his third year in college he’s averaging 3.9 rebounds a game and by his senior year he’s averaging 9.6 including 8.1 defensive rebounds a game
that’s so crazy you know a guy who again averaged point4 assists 1.3 and 1.5 in his first three years in college averaged 4.4 in his final year okay that like you got better
you didn’t just stick around in college and and drink more beer and have more fun
you got better as a basketball player and you made yourself into a completely different style of player going into the NBA draft yeah there’s and and what that does is okay that might lower his ceiling because we’ve found out more about who he is as a player there’s less guesswork involved but you raise your floor really substantially
if you can come into the NBA be pesky defender guy be able to create a little bit for yourself off the dribble but largely just hang out knock down a three when the ball comes to you uh and and go rebound like how many times have we been like “Man Keegan Murray being a more consistent rebounder would be a big deal.” Got Harrison Barnes can you go get me eight rebounds one game Harrison like we’ve been we’ve been wanting this type of player and Devin Carter to to to his credit was that right off the bat just came into the league knew how to rebound
yep
and so if you can just if you can do those little things those little things that affect winning I think it’ll go a long way for Nick Clifford and the Sacramento Kings all right that’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson dlo and KC are next we’re done for the week we’ll be back with you on Monday though when uh we’ll have some free agency for you
no free agency starts Monday at 3
it starts Monday it’s going to go
starts Monday at 3 but we’ll have some uh legal negotiating window stuff for you because that opens on Sunday
okay
the legal negotiating window the 30th at Sunday
i think Monday’s the 30th
monday’s the 30th monday
that’s when the legal negotiating window opens here we go anyways uh we’re going to be done now as you can tell DLO and Casey next for James Ham i’m Kyle Madson we’re the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube this is ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Center drink water be nice people appreciate you Chatty House
thanks everybody hit the thumbs up for us if you don’t mind please bye friends what’s up everybody what’s good baby what the do boy they tapped in for the insiders today hey uh you got me um I know it’s going to be Got me oh I know it’s going to be uh tough um but if you cut that interview with the coach I’ll reair it um so yeah just throwing that out there video yeah video okay excellent we’ll load it into StreamYard and play it yeah yeah yeah we got them screaming d we got them screaming d we your number one spy we your number one spot for some sports huh got the city going crazy when we work huh we too but we ain’t two we in first huh and when you need the real we search huh d we your number one spot
yes sir yes sir baby we welcome in here one more time for Friday it’s already 90° outside man this summer weather is hitting welcome in here to the Friday June 27th edition of DO and Casey i’m Damian Boing
the ultimate needle mover in Dawn Bone himself
we skeleton crew today cuz no Kenny Careway acknowledge me
no Jesse Tapia
what are you doing with him
we are truly live from the worst slums of Sacramento
my man Kyle Matson over here working uh double shift trying to do 50 things all at once so we appreciate you brother um and we appreciate you so much for tapping in here uh YouTube.com ESPN1320 twitch.tv/ ESPN1320 shout out to everybody listening on the radio 13:20 a.m or 98.5 FM HD2 where the signal is crystal clear over there uh Kyle’s doing all of his post show work he’s going to join me he’ll obviously be with me throughout the day uh but he’s going to join me here coming up in about 15 minutes to talk some things Kings uh that went on over the last couple of days and what might be ahead here in the next couple of days that’s all on the way of course it’s Friday okay our man Eddie Gonzalez is going to be with us in the 2:00 hour uh we’ve got quite a few things to talk about man last night just kind of came and went almost exactly as we predicted uh it was a quiet night one around the league there was a lot of movement um there were a ton of trades over the last two days which I always find I always think it’s interesting i said this yesterday it it felt like it might have been a couple of days ago it might have been leading into the draft rather than after the first day but it it felt like for a solid year maybe even longer we were talking about this class we were talking about we were talking about this draft class we were talking about how many players would be available we were talking about you know how deep these picks might get and then by the time it actually rolled around obviously it was the Cooper Flag sweepstakes but it was also you know Ace Bailey which is kind of a weird situation we could talk about that dylan Harper all of these different guys who you kind of knew by name all throughout the college year but it it felt like it truly it truly lacked the cache that the draft was built up to be in the year prior we go through 10 picks without a single trade on the first night and then all of a sudden we get 10 trades over the next 20 i don’t even know how many we got last night and it’s funny if you watch you know the buy the book writeups if you watch the buy the book bottom lines or the buy the book uh draft synopsis you’ll see uh you know pick I’ll just make up a scenario 42 Sacramento Kings via the Golden State Warriors via the Milwaukee Bucks via the Houston Rockets what i don’t care who made the pick kings made the pick all right fine keep it moving but we have to have this like complete detail on how this particular team got to that pick i get that there were a lot of trades last night and second round picks are being thrown around all over the place and we saw the Sacramento Kings make their selection a big man that got some people talking 71 French pro prospect went to Stanford um Maxine Rena this is he’s got one of those last names james I I I had to ask James like how do you say it and he said it and because I didn’t practice it I’m probably gonna say it wrong but I believe it’s Maxine Reno
yeah it’s close it’s close
that’s good enough
what is it it’s Well that you’re you’re doing it right without doing like an accent
okay which makes it sound like you’re like making fun of the accent but it’s not okay
the video I watched of a French guy saying it was like Maximo but that’s crazy so just Reo I think
i just knew I just knew the The last letter was silent
yeah so you got to be careful how you talk on this show but I I I knew that the last letter was silent and I was like “Okay
you you got this.” And
I’ve seen Reno and
Nope no it’s definitely not
it is definitely not uh but he’s a 71 center who can step away from the rim and shoot a little bit i was listening to Matt George this morning uh reading up on you know some of the different writeups san Vini being one of them i know James talking about this early san Vini one of the best uh you know writeups when it comes to college players his offensive skill set is really good he was projected uh by many to be a again projection is whatever uh we’ve learned projection especially through the NFL draft means absolutely nothing but point being he was projected to go in the first round and when you read about my why he might have fell uh to the second round it has to do with his defense uh his defense is a little sketchy at best uh and I don’t know if that means I don’t know if that means he’s just bad defensively uh I don’t know if that means he he he’s not quick to pick up on on defensive schemes it it seems like it seems like schematically working on the offensive and learning on the offensive and learning different offensive schemes is easier for so many different guys and part of that could be it’s just no matter what level of basketball you’re in or you’re at you’re taught to like move a certain way you’re taught to move without the ball you’re taught to you know run towards the pass run away from the pass taught to go over the screen under the screen depending on who your coach is over the screen under the screen depending on the philosophy and it seems like so many guys can pick up on that pretty well but you hear so often about guys struggling to play defense defensive schemes sometimes are so much more intricate we heard the line here in Sacramento over and over and over again over the last couple of years about moving on a string we heard that uh we heard that I don’t think we heard it as much in the finals but we definitely heard it in the in the Western Conference Finals oklahoma City’s defense moving on a string it means they’re all moving in sync and sometimes guys struggle moving in sync with their teammates and that’s why we’ve always been careful at least I have always tried to be careful about when I criticize a player defensively i was actually taught this from a professional basketball player don’t be so quick to think you know what a player did wrong because you don’t know what the other four people on the floor were supposed to do we saw that a ton i’m not trying to be funny i’m not trying to get my jokes off but we saw it a ton when Buddy Heield was here specifically in regards to Harrison Barnes people would be hyper critical of Harrison Barnes when he was playing exactly the type of defense he was supposed to but he was supposed to make a move but he made the move the wrong way but he made the move too late and you could always see it over and over again you could see the look on Harrison Barnes’s face when it’s like all right like that that I I I and and not that Harrison Barnes is thinking this cuz he’s certainly not when you sit in the the film room that that’s on Buddy Heield for those that don’t know what Buddy He is supposed to do everyone thinks Harrison Barnes is letting players get by him and it just seems to be a more difficult thing to to pick up now listening to Scott Perry’s philosophies on a basketball team listening to him uh talk about enhancing the identity of this roster listening to him yesterday talk about what he expects the identity of this roster to be it’s like okay this kid might not be the best defender right now but clearly based on those I’m going to call them principles that might not be the exact word that should be but let’s call them principles that Scott Perry laid out for the Sacramento Kings he expects Maxine Reno to be able to play defensively he expects him to be able to keep up what Doug Christie is going to want to do defensively now let’s hit the pause button right there he is a second round pick now the the position in which he played certainly got people’s attention because there’s a number of things you can do here i think a lot of us expect Trey Lyles to be gone and Trey was a big who could stretch the floor he was a big who was more comfortable stretching the floor than Damonte Sabonis was of course he rarely played the five prominently played the four but now you have a situation where if you wanted to use a true big potentially a rim protector who could pull out to the three-point line a little bit yo maybe you have that option i know a lot of people immediately think hey what does this mean for Yonas Valenunis i I I caution everybody to hold up on that because again he’s a second round pick this brother might play in Stockton he uh he he could certainly be on the main roster uh but he could also be there as you know the the the last guy on the bench and there’s nothing wrong with that but I’m saying let’s not be too quick to try to dissect what this looks like but of course that’s what we do man it’s the off season when we get back here Monday it’s the start of free agency when we get back here Monday things are going to be happening now whether they’re happening with the Sacramento Kings remains to be seen there’s a lot of really good reporting from my friend Matt George about what the market looks like for some of these Sacramento Kings players particularly Malik Monk who we have talked about extensively over the course of the last couple of days particularly since the draft particularly since Nick was drafted it was like huh now we started to it was probably earlier this week maybe late last week well we started to you know pose the question like do do you need Malik Monk and Demar De Rozan if you move one you have to keep the other right and I think for so long the idea was well the Sacramento Kings are moving Demar D Rozan because you know he doesn’t fit all right he’s a balls stopper all right cool so you got to keep Malik in that situation then you start to listen a little closer then you start to get into these text exchanges and you’re like man are we Then you just start to look at the surface of this basketball team and you have to ask the question are we are are we sure Demar De Rozan doesn’t work here now I think we know Demardo Rosen doesn’t work with the roster as it’s currently constructed but everyone’s of the belief that this roster has to change right so if the roster changes does Demard Rozan make more sense if Demar De Rozan winds up making more sense for the Sacramento Kings does that make Malik Monk more expandable and the real tough question is does Malik Monk have a market don’t get it twisted i’m not a pizza guy but I’m a Malik Monk guy if Malik Monk plays in Sacramento next year I’m going to root for him i’m going to cheer for him i’m a fan of Malik Monk malik Monk plays somewhere else I’m going to root for him i’m going to cheer for him because I’m a fan of Malik Monk i like the way he plays um I like his vibe i like his energy i like what he brings to the team i like what he brings to the city i like I love how much the fan base adores him but at the same time it’s like I don’t know if you need both of them i think you can move Malik but the harsh reality might be as Matt George was reporting last night there might not be a robust market for him and I can co-sign that a little bit because I know last year we got ourselves into a tizzy about what was going to happen when Malik Monk became a free agent money dried up dog those aren’t my words those are his it wasn’t there for him all of those offers that we thought might be there they weren’t we’re going to talk a lot more about Malik we’re going to talk a lot more about the draft we’re going to talk a lot more about free agency coming up we’ll take a look around the rest of the NBA as well the phone lines will be open for you all day as you can see Casey’s not here my man Kyle Matson’s going to join me here in just a couple of minutes we’re so happy you tapped in sacramento sports leader ESPN 1320 i hear you Eric B i hear you i hear you i hear you Mr 49er i hear you too my brother i think the idea that Deamar De Rozan somehow slowed down Keegan Murray is the biggest load of [ __ ] that this fan base has told itself for the last several months i’m I’m We’re going to get back to that we’re I’m I’mma start this mr 49 I’m going to bring you into the show here in just a little bit i’mma bring you into the show because I’m I’m I’m going to need that one we’re gonna use that can’t use the word [ __ ] but I’m I’mma use that tweet what else we got in here what else y’all talking about uh did I miss hearing something yes sir can you How long is it that’s the first question wow how long okay perfect so with an 8 minute video what I’d like you to do is uh download it and load it into StreamYard um media assets ad clip yep and I’ll fire it from there thank you so much uh uh sorry okay um yeah no uh no there haven’t been reports that Malik is gone i think some people who cover the team and and and some people who are just trying to do a radio show have heard maybe maybe Malik isn’t um maybe Malik isn’t in their their plans maybe maybe they’re exploring options for Malik Monk i I by no means think that you know it’s a he has I don’t think it’s a he has to be gone type situation i think they’re we’re hoping to balance out their roster a little bit by using him rather than using Demard Roen but I if you ask me to bet on the first player being traded I would have bet it was Malik that’s gonna you We’re gonna we’re going to talk a lot about that this hour so I’m going to I’m going to start at two y’all going to have to help me uh rock this show today without KC don’t want to bother Kyle too much while the man’s trying to work in my thought on Demar being moved has everything to do with the timeline fit on Encor okay Chris all right man y’all cooking today uh y’all cooking today oh man great meeting you too man appreciate you no it was awesome i appreciate you thank you so much uh that was that was terrific that was terrific really great to meet you man appreciate you guys i appreciate you for pulling up appreciate everybody who pulled up i see Patrick let me start right there yep back in here uh no KC today no Jesse Tapia but I do have uh my main man Kyle Matson here with me who I’m going to uh pull away from all of his post show work for the insiders uh he’s going to be here for the next four hours but I’m going to make him spend the next 30 minutes here talking to me uh about some things going on uh with the Sacramento Kings i’m not one of those people i try not to be one of those people who get overly excited about the draft and draft picks uh I think we have conditioned ourselves to like go watch highlights and
highlights are just that like they’re highlights like you’re normally watching the best part of
looks great in his highlights
yeah you you know it’s it’s a it’s a little harder to find you know programs or accounts that give you a full breakdown of a player’s game the good and the bad but I certainly enjoyed watching Nate Clifford and some of the different highlights i did try to uh spend some time on Synergy last night and watching maybe what might be a more complete picture of him and looking for shortcomings on the defensive end looking like just looking for the way that he moves up and down the floor but overall man he’s a he’s a
I like his game and I’m trying to kind of end it at that and say “Yeah I see why he fits with this team i see why Scott Perry had him on a short list of players that he was willing in willing to move into the first round for
yeah I think the excitement is is warranted because a it feels like the vibes have been down for so long
anything to bring the vibes up is is going to be a big one
and Nunes is going to do that nunes is almost always going to do that
yeah and Nunes with in in the scope of the Kings got a couple of steals based on consensus mock drafts or consensus big boards or whatever
but it feels like every good thing for the Kings recently has come with like a but well kind of or or a well but
Mhm
exact Lavine oh really exciting player but does he does he really fit the Kings are kind of becoming the Bulls it’s like oh the Demar D Roza D Rozan signing okay but like does he really fit with the offense like it’s all it’s been all these things what we’re seeing now is hey Nick Clifford and Maxim Moreno maybe they’re good maybe they’re not there’s just no but there’s like here’s how he fits there doesn’t need to be a trade for him to fit
right
he doesn’t there doesn’t need to to be uh he doesn’t need to be particularly like adept at scoring necessarily out the gate like can he do these little things on the margins i think there’s there’s a reason for optimism here because it doesn’t involve like okay but there’s overlap how does he fit what’s next
and I think that’s great i think that’s I think that’s why there’s so much like positivity and optimism around around the two picks
it it feels like they drafted a player who can come in and play like the player he is
yes
rather than hey we’re gonna need you to
All right man we’re going to need you to do something a little bit different right and and I wonder there is so much talk about Keegan Murray
and I think uh Keegan showed himself to be a solid defender and then it became like hey man you’re the primary defender on this team now like you’re the guy and people have tried to blame 50 different things on why his shooting percentages were different from his rookie year uh why things seem to have kind of tapered off a little bit for Keegan and I think part of it is his responsibilities for the NBA team he was drafted to completely changed
yeah yeah i think that that makes a lot of sense i I I also feel like just what you said there about he doesn’t have to change his game to contribute he can just be the player he is
i think it’s kind of funny because I think Devin Carter is the same way but he’s 6 foot three or whatever
mhm and so there’s there’s that overlap positionally with Keon Ellis with Malik Monk with uh Zack Lavine to to a different extent uh I feel like the reason I’m so high on Nick Clifford is because there there’s not that there’s not the concern about size there’s not a concern about
about scoring ability or whatever it is there’s just like oh it’s a 3 and D wing that’s amazing they’ve needed one of the It’s a 3 and D wing that can like move his feet they’ve needed one of those for like a decade and a half
right and so just just that that Scott Perry whether Nick Clifford is good or not is almost secondary for me right now the fact that Scott Perry went “Oh hey we need one of those guys there’s one of those guys
we’re going to make the We’re going to actually give up assets to move up to go get that guy.” Yeah
like hey
wow what a concept and and and that’s the that’s the thing where I think so many rookies young players kind of get they get stuck and it’s that they get drafted to teams who they’re drafting a player that they’re trying to mold into something else that they aren’t
and like so many more you know I I I I still believe that this is true more teams in the NFL ruin quarterbacks than help them like there are more quarterbacks I think that are drafted to wrong team that
Got it yeah
it’s hard for me to believe Josh Rosen is this bad right like Josh Rosen coming out of college like a Now I always thought Now it could I could be wrong
but I always thought Josh Rosen was a good quarterback maybe he wasn’t great but man he’s he’s going to have a a good NFL career he’s going to have a fine NFL career better than out of the league in three years
that right and you wind up in a Cardinal situation where you know your GM turnover you’ve got coach turnover oh now we’re moving him and I I can’t even I think he went to the Dolphins i can’t remember where he went after that
that sounds right
but it was just like okay he’s going from one bad franchise to another it’s the the Sam Darnold thing i think Sam Darnold is a lot closer to the quarterback that uh people saw him as like with the San Francisco 49ers and and and you know the the what he did after that with Minnesota versus what he was with the New York Jets the Jets have a long track record of destroying NFL quarterbacks and I feel like that that happens in the league i feel like that happens in the NBA where teams Charlotte
they’re a bad basketball team that can’t develop i wonder how many times it’s happened here where you have players who get here and they’re asked to be something that they’re not
there or and this could very much be the case you’re asked to be more than you are
and it’s just it’s
you’ve got to do it quick you’ve got you have to do it now
you can’t grow into it you’ve got to do it now and you just wind up with you know these these young men who are like I’m I’m trying and then they become journeyman players who are you know playing overseas in four years
i think there’s a little bit of risk of that here where with Ray and with with Clifford because James and I were talking about this a little bit and maybe we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves but the Kings are still a 40-ish win team right now
okay and to for me and the only way I think that’s going to change substantially we were talking about this at the end of the show uh at the end of the insiders like they have to make a trade and a substantial one if they’re going to impact their their wins and losses in any kind of significant way uh my my biggest concern here and while it’s a thumbs up for the draft that’s awesome that that you know Scott Perry swung a trade up into the first round and all that uh and got a couple of steals got good value presumably if this is the extent of their moves along with Tus Jones and another point guard it’s like that’s not enough man now all of a sudden you’re asking Nate Clifford to maybe be something more than he is
maybe now you’re relying a little bit more on Maxim Reno than you anticipated so let let me ask you to elaborate on that for it’s not enough to what
to be better
than you were last year
yeah because I’ I I’ve been I’ve been of the opinion I don’t know where you land on this i’ve been of the opinion you either have to be significantly worse in service of gathering assets and getting better
over the next give yourself a window to get better over the next two or three years sure or you need
which I don’t feel like that scenario is possible by the way yeah I don’t think
just because of the way that this team is made up i don’t think that’s even remotely possible
yeah you would I don’t think they have the tradable contracts uh they just Yeah that’s a that’s a difficult So I think they’re they’re rightly going all right well hey we just got to kind of push chips in here
what can Can we build the right team around Zack Lavine uh Damon Sabonis and and and Keegan Murray and Demard Rosen can we build the right team can can we do that and get them to the playoffs
can we just do that
uh it feels right now like they’re in the middle of those two lanes
let’s go back uh how long is a year 52 weeks let’s go back 53 weeks ago right before uh Demar D Rozan signed okay in fact let’s go back 51 let’s let’s go back to after Demar D Rozan like right after the 4th of July I’m on with you in Mexico we’re talking about Demar De Rozan signing with the Kings you thought what about this basketball team on that day
i was cautiously optimistic uh I probably had my purple glasses on a little bit
okay
in saying like oh and you know I’m reading people smarter than me telling me how Demar Rosen’s going to fit and how awesome it’s going to be so it’s like all right like they we asked them to get better i don’t I didn’t think I I think my exact thought at the time was they didn’t get better in the way I thought they needed to but they’ve at least insulated themselves from Malik Monk goes down and all of a sudden they can’t score the basketball
okay
that was kind of my my thought it felt like the roster was better and that turned out to be the wrong not to be the case because Okay so the so the I think you I think you might have just answered the next part of this though
okay did Did the Sacramento Kings underachieve or did we overestimate them
the second one
we overestimated them
yeah I think so
i disagree a little bit now I I’m I’m It was my question so I’m allowed to cop out of it it’s kind of in the middle sick
right again it’s my question
um they won 40 games last year i won’t do Kenny’s 55 but
I had 51 was my number
so we’ll go 50 like if we met in the middle and this is a 45 46 win basketball team it’s essentially the same thing they were the year prior now that’s going to draw emotion as well
uh because that wasn’t the goal the goal wasn’t to be a 45 46 win team that ultimately didn’t make it to the playoffs mhm
which brings me back to if we pull back our expectations while also recognizing the chaotic nature of the season and the thought that maybe they underachieved a little bit because I’m not going to change my tune of what I said when the De’Arren Fox trade happened they went to get Zack Lavine because I think they thought it was a wash they thought “Okay maybe it’s it’s not perfect but Zack can do a lot of the things De’Aran can do on the offensive end if we can just survive the second part of the season with that we’ll we’ll finish what we were going to finish at if Dearon Fox was here.” Of course you had dug yourself into that hole in December uh Doug Christie you know and and and those guys have kind of drugged themselves out of it and now it was like “Okay what what now how is this going to transpire the rest of the way?” So I’m going to maintain that same thought it’s close to a wash because Zack Lavine is not the defender that Dearan Fox is
so if we go to that 45 slot if we go to that 45 point maybe these marginal maybe these marginal improvements will help a little bit more than we recognize yeah um
because if you’re without without the Mike Brown firing without the De’Aran Fox trade stuff with all of without all of that stuff maybe you can just land on yo let’s play prof let’s play basketball let’s lock in there’s not like yo we’re here let’s do this maybe maybe that helps put the team in a bit of a different space
i hope so i’m super
That might be wishful thinking i understand they just like I I I did the I did the hope thing last year i’m out i’m done so
yeah I understood
and again I’m saying this all too on June 27th there may be a trade coming
sure that dramatically changes how everybody feels about the direction of the Kings
i don’t I personally don’t believe that the players they have fit together well enough to be substantially better than 40 to 45 wins i think it’s a it’s a collection of talent that uh what’s the phrase the the whole is greater than the sum of the parts i think it’s that but backwards the sum of the parts is greater
greater than the whole it’s greater than the entire picture the big picture
it just doesn’t feel appropriate
no it doesn’t that’s my bad uh but no it feels like the opposite of that phrase because the Kings individually have a lot of really good players i just don’t know that they’re maximizing those players in a way that that gets them where we think that collection of talent could be and I I think it was evidenced in some of their late season games where yeah they had all the turmoil but they had gotten they had been past it for a while and then they go into Washington and lose or they they uh they play a home playin game against a Dallas Mavericks team that had an equally traumatic year that maybe even some would argue more traumatic year and got mollywapped at home
yeah like those are the kinds of things where I’m I just I have a really hard time going like “Yeah hey I’m only” and I was in on the Kings last year
and I just I can’t I can’t get there this year i’d love to be proven wrong but I don’t look at their roster construction and go “Yeah Nick Clifford and Maxim Reno are the are the substantial changes they they need.” Maybe yeah I’m I’m I I started I I think I started feeling like this uh before the draft maybe it was either Tuesday or Wednesday i didn’t think the Kings and I had heard you know all of the reports on the air on your show Matt George you know all of the different people who have been you know you know all Jake Fischer
uh you know I have had extensive conversations with James with the with the microphone off like it it was clear there was the opportunity for them to move into the first round but somewhere around like Tuesday I was I don’t think they’re doing that and I think that’s the approach I’m just taking to this off seasonason is I’m not expecting them to do anything if you know I I I’ve really started to kind of wrap my brain around the idea that Malik Monk isn’t back here next year but you know talking with Matt like listening to Matt’s podcast following up on a few things like I thought I really absolutely thought there was a deal to be made for him with Toronto
and by all outward appearance that might not be the case and I I don’t think you move a player like Malik Monk just for the sake of moving him just because like he’s still a really good player he is a valuable asset to this fan base uh he is a guy who will keep your fan base engaged but I I I’m just kind of of the belief like yeah maybe there’s a free agent signing or two they’ll probably be of the Dennis Shruder variety obviously I would be thrilled if it was Russell Westbrook but I think most people would be very underwhelmed if it was Russell Westbrook would you buy a jersey uh a Russell Westbrook Kings jersey no no i don’t own No there’s I don’t own one single jersey
well I own one it’s a Kobe Bryant autograph jersey but that’s the only one
it’s 2029 russell Westbrook played a year for the Kings and it was most likely meh he is retired and he’s going to go to the Hall of Fame
y
uh your concerts at the park you’re going to concerts in the park
it’s 94 degrees outside that Russell Westbrook jersey is hanging in your closet
why is it there
in your closet
yeah did you buy it for me
maybe okay thank you
it might be in the cart right now
in in advance thank you yeah yeah yeah
uh it’s in You’re not wearing it
i might
i You’re wearing it i might You’re wearing it
you’re going to see that you’re going to have some shoes with some purple in them you’re like
I might wear it yeah I might wear it i always thought if I got a Russell Westbrook jersey it would be the white Oklahoma City one
i always thought those were clean that actually that I’m I’m I That’s the jersey I picture him in man you’re you are reading my mind that I saw something i was as I was getting my haircut as I’ve outlined on this show uh my brother Ricardo for whatever reason he chooses Fox Sports over ESPN pretty regularly on the TVs in the shop
i got some questions for Ricardo
yeah and so that show with with AO and Shady and and uh I think it’s uh
Don’t Speak speak now
i’m not sure what it’s called
i think I’m naming Taylor Swift it’s those three football three football players um the question was when you think about Kevin Durant’s career what what what jersey do you see him in mhm
and I I think I had my answer and I was like wait is that the right answer what is your answer
uh Golden State that was the same thing I thought which is I I don’t know if that’s
my lasting I have I have two lasting images of Kevin Durant one him stepping up to the three-point line uh in LeBron’s face
oh my god yeah
uh in the finals uh to hit a dagger and kind of say like that was that was a very onc court I’m the best player in the world right now moment and so that’s why and the other one is his toe on the line in Brooklyn
oh man
that’s those are my two uh lasting Kevin Durant
but what’s crazy is he went to an NBA finals with the Thunder
mhm
he was up 3-1 on the Warriors like I I there were two 3-1 comebacks in that postseason
um
to to me to me the way
he won an MVP i thought the first 3-1 comeback was even more impressive when you factor in Steph Curry’s injury i think that’s a that’s a call back to last week uh I was just joking um no the thing with when Kevin Durant got treated the way he got treated by Oklahoma City when he went back there
i don’t get I’m not picturing him in an Oklahoma City jersey
i got you okay
the Phoenix thing was a disaster
brooklyn went way sideways he’s going to go
I mean he was out for a year in Brooklyn
right he’s he’s probably gonna finish his career with two titles and those were both he was the MVP of both of those in Golden State so
yeah it’s it’s I I that was that was absolutely my first thought i said it’s the Golden State Warriors and I was like that
I I don’t think there was a right or wrong answer but I immediately thought that’s the wrong answer it has to be Oklahoma City but it’s not i think about stupid ass Kevin Durant in his face like uh uh doing the the the meme bit and then I think about the the video that Legends put out the other day then I think about the shot on LeBron James and it’s like man he was the best player on a team that had one of the greatest players ever on it
and that’s just how and I don’t know I feel like I’m on an island with that i don’t think that will get mentioned in either of their career breakdowns
mhm
but KD is just like he’s he was he he is such a he’s been such an incredible he’s been such an incredible basketball player his run at Oklahoma City was amazing but that stretch with Golden State just sticks out and I I’m sure it’s because of the titles and yeah you know playing playing that deep into the into the playoffs
that was a Golden State team that was ascending and obviously Steph Curry is was going on his early in his path to becoming one of the 10 or 15 best players ever and then they won 73 games and then Kevin Durant just joined them and I know we don’t want to because nostalgia is such a strong has such a strong pull when it comes to things like sports and how we how we view sports and and and past teams and athletes the 2017 Warriors are are are might be the best NBA team of all time and that’s because of Kevin Durant
and Steph Curry is my favorite athlete ever i have defended Draymond Green to the ends of the earth klay Thompson is is amazing those are they’re all going to the Hall of Fame the Warriors are going to be good whether Kevin Durant join them or not but Kevin Durant joining them put them into this echelon of oh good like really really good team championship team to oh it’s the 96 Bulls it’s some Celtics team when there were four teams in the league and and the the 17 Warriors the 1718 Warriors like that that it put them into that echelon and that to me is why Kevin Durant is the gets the Warrior Jersey is okay this this got a little out of hand sorry if you were ranking the greatest players of all time
Mhm
is Kevin Durant above Steph Curry
no okay just I and I say I I need this to be I like Kevin Durant so much kevin Durant is one of my favorite players ever i just like the person i I I love his game he’s he’s might be the best scoreer we’ve ever seen certainly certainly one of the best I I I’ve ever watched
uh but I think when you start factoring that in the the ring thing is such a substantial part of it okay alternate universe
okay
it’s KD on that Warriors team and not Steph is the results Are the results the same i don’t know like I don’t
And it’s Steph that comes over from Oklahoma City and Draymond tells him to get lost because they won without him and you you
Oh and and KD has four rings now and Steph doesn’t
well I’m asking can that Golden State Warriors team would that Warriors team have
I think it implodes
really yeah i don’t think enough credit goes
I know where you’re going i know exactly where you’re going go ahead this sounds so stupid i don’t think people talk about enough Yeah how good of a teammate Steph Curry is
no you’re No no no you’re 100% right
but I think that’s
You have to manage egos when you’re He’s He’s so good he He’s probably If you were ranking the top 15 players of all time Steph is in the list mhm
if you were ranking the ones that were lacking an ego Steph’s probably number one
yeah yeah sure
cuz there’s no way it’s Jordan there’s no way it’s LeBron there’s no way it’s Magic like you can run the Larry Bird give me a break all Kareem Shaq all not even close steph is very much a
It’s cool
oh he’s public
which is what what it’s what makes it’s what makes to me at least what he did at the Olympics so special mhm
casey posted a reel that looked like it was shot from the stands the other day on Instagram and the thing I kept watching as he was hitting threes on this side of the floor was you’ve got LeBron you know on the floor but then you got you know Tai you got Ant-Man you’ve got the best basketball players on earth
going right acting like little kids
yeah like and and and Steph is having that moment where it’s like I’m the one
i’m I don’t have to say that
they’re saying it for me i’m the one you might be on to something with that that’s a good call thanks
it might even float you’re You’re good at this
you You should do this every day
well
now you’re gonna tell me to go to break because it’s time to go to break
i am waiting for you i am doing short sentences because I need you to go you are uh also producing the show today uh my man Kyle Matson he’s he’s he’s not going anywhere he’s got other work to do he’s making sure that this show stays on the air uh all day but big thanks to our man Kyle Matson from the Insiders you’re actually going to hear more from Kyle Matson and James Ham later i’ll explain why when we get back here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 guys I need a second i sincerely apologize i drank this entire bottle of water already so give me one second i’ll be right back right right back my bad my bad my bad man Seth back there seth making sure everything working the way it’s supposed to hey what is uh Can you give me coach’s name i know it was it was something that I probably can’t pronounce okay nope no crap shoot i was ready hey real quick um what was uh Nick’s coach’s name ali Faroke Manesh ali Faroke Manesh i got that ali Faro Manesh
ali first name faroke Manesh last name
ali Faroke Manesh you and James talked to him earlier uh for those uh you on the inside of course you can catch it i always get so like weird by doing this we live in such an ondemand society if you missed the interview you can go to YouTube you can watch it you can go to the podcast you can hear it but there’s a radio part of me that still lives where it’s like we’re going to run the interview back like that’s obviously extremely important content so at some point today I haven’t figured out when we’re going to uh we’re going to run that so if you missed it you can hear it here during the show the radio part of my brain is still so prominent then when you said send it so we can reair it I said audio or video yeah right right
you want the audio file no they very much want the video file and uh we’ll run the whole thing back and of course uh you know running the video back encompasses the audio for uh you know everybody listening on the radio and stream and all of that good stuff so we’ll have that coming up for you at some point today again I I don’t know exactly when um I didn’t write it into the show because I I wasn’t you know sometimes stuff happens coaches get busy they can’t make it things happen so uh but those guys talked to uh Ali Farooq Man at the end of their show and so uh we’re going to bring that content to you here we’re going to bring that conversation to you here uh coming up later on today just got a note from Matt George matt George was like “Hey if you need me man I’m willing to I’m willing to jump on.” Uh and so he’s going to he’s going to jump on and join us and I’m glad he is uh because he’s been doing some he’s been doing some really good reporting lately obviously we talked to him yesterday uh but he knows I’m riding solo today so he was like “Hey just hit me up if you need me.” And I “Hey man jump on we talking Kings uh we talking NBA.” And you know I’ve really started to be of the thought that Malik Monk isn’t going to be back with the Sacramento Kings and it and it really I think my my thinking on that it that all started with my thought that Demar De Rozan might be like I really started to kind of get stuck on the idea of and I think it started like truth be told I think it started when that picture was posted with Demar Zack uh DC and uh I think it was Mason Jones was the other guy in the picture it was either Masonic Jones or Isaac Jones no no shade to either uh I I I don’t remember which one it was but when I saw that I thought and it’s not unusual like NBA players different team like they work out all the time like it’s not as it’s not as you know this this big thing where Warriors I mean we saw Steph and uh De’aran and DaVon train together right it’s not as crazy as some fans might think it is and even though he’s a former player Doug’s the coach and that’s where it was like something about this feels like something now could it be something small could it be something serious i’m not sure but I thought it was something now again this is just me this these are just opinions these are just thoughts this is not reporting this is not sharing anything this is just a thought and I posed the question one day on this show was that like if Demar is here does it make sense to have Malik Monk here and I might have even framed it as if Demar isn’t here doesn’t it make more sense for Malik Monk to be here and then I just started kind of working through this thought where it’s like yo what if they tried to move Malik like they you know we we’ve we’ve kind of run the gamut with him where he’s the sixman a potential sixman of the year um you know many will argue I think we will all argue he should have won the award that year then it’s like Malik needs to start malik needs to start and then he starts and maybe it doesn’t really go so well but he’s not playing alongside with Dear Fox he’s playing in place of dear Fox who was traded and then I think he got sick or and I always like I don’t think he was hurt i think he got sick and Doug just very quietly moved him to the bench he was I’ll never forget the night he was announced in the starting lineup but didn’t actually start because I guess the message just didn’t get conveyed properly and Doug never started him again and it became you know I don’t know if that had affect an effect on Malik Monk or not but it was like he never I don’t know it just felt like it just felt like that vibe from Malik was never there just what we were so used to from the two years prior it just felt like it wasn’t there with him last year and that doesn’t mean you have to move on from him that doesn’t mean oh man it’s shoot well it was a good two year it doesn’t mean any of that it just means I’m starting to look at this situation a little bit differently and I I started to recognize okay Malik’s a scorer he’s a guy who could do a lot of different things on the floor he could score a lot of different ways he’d be a pretty valuable asset to a number of different teams let me bring Matt George in of uh Locked on Kings and of course ABC10 uh Matt kind enough to come hang out with me simply because uh I’m alone and Kyle has a lot of other work to do uh Matt thanks for uh one listening thanks for jumping on and thanks for all your your great reporting over the last couple of days uh on the Sacramento Kings we’ll get to the second round of the draft here uh in a few minutes but obviously you heard I’m talking about Malik Monk and some of the things you reported last night and how I think you and I were of the thought and maybe even the understanding that hey there’s a good chance Malik is on the move and you told us last night that yeah that might be a little bit more harder in execution than it is in theory yeah I I I think it’s it’s less of a conversation of well I should put it this way i think it’s more of a conversation of preference at this point i don’t think it would be accurate to say Scott Perry is trying to get rid of Malik Monk i don’t think that’s true i think Scott Perry would prefer to keep others on this roster over Malik Monk and as we all can assess somebody’s got to go or something’s got to change
feels like it yeah
right and and it seems it just seems like as of now Malik is the is the most likely guy to to be that change or to facilitate that change wish how with however like you alluded to like it takes two to tango right and this is surprising for me to hear and I think it’s surprising for some people maybe even in the Kings organization to understand because we’ve seen how effective of a player Malik Monk has been over the last three seasons in Sacramento Sacramento last season had probably I think we could say his worst season out of the three but he arguably had five different roles over the course of last season and honestly last season was the worst season for a lot of of Kings players you could put Keegan Murray in there you could put Kevin Herder in there you could put even De’arren Fox in there to some extent right uh Deont Sabonis even in some ways so I do believe Malik Monk has value and if that value means you have to keep him on your basketball team short term then to me you do it even if that means you’re more running it back than anything else but yeah I’m I’m surprised to hear and I think again other people in Sacramento might be surprised to hear that
there might not be as much interest in Malik Monk in the market as you would think for a player that should have won six man of the year two years in a row
but yeah again things change also very very quickly right some team might strike out in free agency and suddenly hey now now we’re a little more willing with Malik i mean the Toronto Raptors just completely turned their front office on their head today so maybe now Toronto Raptors are more interested in Malik Monk i’ve heard that rumor
great point
who knows
maybe Messiah Majiri was fired because he wouldn’t trade for Malik Monk
that has to be it
we’re on to something that’s it it’s not Kevin Durant
so I’m going to Right of course it’s not i’m going to um say I’m gonna I’m gonna ask you what I think a lot of Kings fans are screaming at their radio or their their computer screens right now or phone screens when you say and and I think this has long been the belief well someone’s got to go right i think most people that have worked under the assumption yes someone has to go demar De Rozan will not be back with the Sacramento Kings
mhm and again in theory that might have been everybody’s thought but in execution maybe that actually isn’t reality
i think that’s that’s becoming more clear now what I don’t know but I think it’s a fair conversation point to have too is if we’re talking about the three meaning Demar Malik and Lavine if the answer might be if Perry had his preference of who to move on from it might it might be Lavine like he might but because of Lavine’s contract situation and I’m not reporting that by anything i’m just speculating uh because of Lavine’s contract situation you’re kind of stuck at this point so he’s kind of put to the side of this conversation when in reality I guess he he he could be a part of it um I think like I think we have to look at what’s most important to Scott Perry right now and I’ll ask the question to you and ask the question to listeners out there what’s more important to Scott Perry winning basketball games next season or establishing his culture what’s more important
uh my guess is establishing his culture
so if Demar D Rozan fits that culture and Demar Rozan also I think next season will help the Sacramento Kings win basketball games i don’t think it’s going to be a a lot of them to be honest with you or or it’s not going to be enough to firmly plant the Kings in the playoff conversation but I think Demar D Rozan fits the identity and the culture that uh Scott Perry is trying to establish and build here in Sacramento and to some extent Doug Christie too he might fit that more than Malik does and that might be why he’s the preference he’s a veteran he’s someone that you don’t think Nick uh Clifford is going to be very excited to play with nick Clifford apparently I learned this today Nick Clifford has a Joker tattoo because his alter ego on the court is Joker well Demard Rosen has a fat Joker tattoo on his shoulder and I know James and and Kyle spoke with uh uh co I’m I don’t want to butcher his last name
i’m gonna No it’s I had it I had it earlier
i have to look at it to say it phonetically or say it the right way
we’ll just say coach yeah co I mean and I I did an interview with him on Locked on Kings too and he told me about that Joker thing he also told me like I told Nick when he was drafted Dear is the first guy you got to talk to like Dear is the guy that you have to like get get him to take you under his wing so that might be more valuable to have in your organization right now for Scott Perry who is looking more long-term than next season than Malik Monk at this point
and that’s that’s understandable yeah I I I I think you posed a a a really great great question right there about what would Scott Perry prefer next year um winning basketball games or establishing his culture uh I’m sure ideally he’d like to do both which is why the position this team is in is so interesting because there aren’t very many ways you know there’s the you know there’s the blow it up and restart and tank crowd where like in in in theory well in theory that’s a disaster like I hate that idea and it works for very very few teams
ask the Jazz
exactly
and the Wizards
but it’s also like it it’s you don’t really have the assets to pull that off and I think if if Malik Monk hasn’t taught us anything it should at least teach us maybe we overvalue our players a little bit and I think that has long been the case uh not just with Sacramento Kings fans but fans in general of a particular sports franchise you’re trying to trade your G-League prospect for a starter just for reasons known to only you in your head and knowing that might not be a market for Malik Monk or at least not a strong market for Malik Monk i don’t know what the market is for Damonte Sabonis either and that’s really the only way because of what you laid out with Zack Lavine there a few minutes ago that’s probably the only way that you could even begin the process of grabbing assets and all of that moving forward but I’m not sure that you could do that with Damont Sabonis because I don’t think Damonte Sabonis’ contract is looked at favorably to the type of talent that he is
no yeah i I don’t think Sabonis’ contract I don’t know if it’s going to be looked at the same way the league looks at Lavine’s contract but I think we’re you’re closer to that than you are to a a good deal right like I think I think the the general consensus around the league is Deamont Sabonis is a
in a very very very good basketball player he is one of the best centers in the NBA but you are paying a man superstar money max money who’s doesn’t have a first or sometimes even second instinct to go out and score the basketball for you and is limited on how you I have a banner flying in front of my camera is limited on how you can build around him like you have to build around Deonta Sabonis very specifically now I still think Demand Sabonis is a fantastic basketball player i do think you can absolutely win with Deont Sabonis on your roster and I’ve gotten indications that maybe Scott Perry does feel the same way like I I think I think Scott Perry really likes Demar and really likes Domomas and I think he feels that sure he can win basketball games with them but I think he feels that they are going to help at at the very least especially for 36-year-old Demar De Rozan set the foundation and the identity of what the expectation here in is in Sacramento so that when Demar is gone whether it’s him retiring as a Sacramento king or being traded at the trade deadline line or signing a new deal somewhere else or whatever by that time whoever is still here Nick Clifford Keegan Murray those guys know the established expectation know the identity and kind of take the torch and that and will carry that on i think Scott looks at Demar specifically and maybe even Dom as guys that will establish that culture here in Sacramento and I think that’s what he values right now over everything else and all signs in the draft point to him targeting guys that that seem we believe to fit this culture that Perry’s trying to build that seems to be number one priority and he and Doug are on the same page in that it’s interesting uh thinking back to when Scott spoke to us for the first time one of the one of the many things that he acknowledged in that press conference was uh and I think they I think he did the same when him and Doug did that joint press conference together we need a point guard
like I know it you know it everybody in that locker room knows it we need a point guard and you know the draft has come and gone and a point guard wasn’t attained there’s Dennis Schruder rumors out there there’s Russell Westbrook rumors out there i have my feelings about the Russ one but it certainly appears that the Kings are going to address this point guard position through free agency or they’re trying to work uh a trade with someone somewhere to bring someone in here to run this offense and we’re talking the Kings need a starting point guard this year and the Kings don’t have a tremendous amount of cap space they’re certainly not worried about the Second Apron or anything like that like a lot of teams are right now
but they do have room for the mid-level exception they do have a little bit of wiggle room and if you’re Scott Perry and again you’re looking at next season as cover your ears dowo like a gap year or a year that you’re just kind of you got to get through it like we can’t really make the massive moves we want to make next year is valuable for establishing our culture but whether we win basketball games or lose back basketball games that second to establishing a a foundation and a culture here in Sacramento if you’re looking at it that way and you can go out and get a guy like Shruder who can hold it down like I I I would look at a Dennis Shruder signing and I know this isn’t going to excite Kings fans but I look at it the same way as like a a Ty Lawson or a Darren Collison or a George Hill like guys that are just
I like Dennis Rud more than all three of those yeah yes as a player but I look at and it’s not so much player comp they hold it down because we got young De’Arren Fox here at that point and George Hill is supposed to help hold down that spot till young De’ar Fox is ready there’s not young point guard ready to take over as of right now hopefully Perry will address that at some point but you if you need to buy yourself a year before you can really make some moves or even 6 to9 months before the trade deadline and you can bring in Schroeder for a year or two especially if the second year is like partially guaranteed or whatever you can work out and it’s a reasonable deal and you don’t have to trade away a future first round pick for a player that kind of sort of fits that like that makes sense to me and I think that makes sense to Scott Perry it’s not the most appealing it’s not the most exciting but like I I this this sounds weird i don’t think Scott Perry’s operating to sell tickets right now scott Perry’s operating operating to start building towards a team that won’t have to worry about selling tickets because they’re in the playoffs every single year
yeah and the thing with the thing with Dennis Shruder is like obviously I would love Russell Westbrook to be here russ has been my favorite player for 10 years he’ll like no like if he came to Sacramento he’d still be my like favorite player i probably wouldn’t even cover him objectively like I love watching that dude play basketball uh I love what he does off the floor but I’ve been pretty you know I go back to to to the day he opted out of his his final year with uh Denver i think it was like three and some change that told me a very very specific story he has a team lined up like it is his
it is his agent’s job i know we all think free agency starts on Monday but we’re all smart enough to know it started months ago
sure
and Russell Westbrook opted out of I believe Russell Westbrook opted out of his deal because there is a team lined up who wants him to be their point guard the way Russell Westbrook’s name was mentioned with Sacramento was far too passive
agreed shruder’s name is much louder even if it is you know Sacramento or Detroit even if that really is like the thing the the the noise and the the smoke surrounding Dennis Shruder uh is a lot more prominent than anything around Russell Westbrook which continues to lead me to believe on on Monday Shams is going to tweet Russell Westbrook has signed with someone really close to you know whether it’s 3:00 or 12:00 whenever free agency officially started i think he has his place and I do not think it’s Sacramento it’s just too passive the the the reporting and the mentioning is just too passive for it to be Sacramento
yeah i I I interpreted it the same way you did it’s mentioned as an option the same way if you were to pull up a list of available free agents and then list them by point guard you’d go “Okay there’s D’Angelo Russell okay there’s Russell Westbrook okay there’s Dennis Shruder.” Like it’s an option and it’s someone that the Kings probably looked at and went “H that’s okay.” Like but that’s that probably all it is and I I agree with you the same way like Russell Westbrook doesn’t leave that kind of money on the table even if he’s not super happy in Denver russ doesn’t leave that kind of money on the table to go into the unknown and negotiate deals on June 27th with free agency opening three days away like Russ he’s he knows what he is and the league knows what he is so
and if he if he wants to continue to play basketball like he has to have this team lined up otherwise if he if he opts in that tells me his options are limited and he loses all control over what happens next he could be traded um the trade could lead to a buyout denver and and then he just kind of loses control of everything so it’ll be interesting to see how that that that transpires both with Russell Westbrook in the market and whatever winds up happening here in Sacramento whether it’s Dennis Shruder or someone else but it it’s it’s still and and this is this is where what you were telling me yesterday was so frustrating because it seems to add up that this point guard is a stop gap it’s like okay we don’t have you know you talked about the George Hills and the and the and the Nick Collison’s and so on or Darren Collison and Well there’s De’Arren well there’s no De’Arren there’s no there’s We don’t even have DaVon
no there’s you know you I don’t think you want Keon running that position so you’re just kind of like “All right man.” But in reality having a stop gap point guard alongside a player in Zack Lavine who probably won’t be here either the second half I’m I’m guessing it’s going to start the second half of next season that he’s not here or at best or worse depending on where you are with Zack Lavine that off season um you’re going to have Scott Perry is going to have another roster turning turnover coming up in about two years that one will probably be significantly more drastic than the one he’s experiencing right now
yeah and we’re looking at two off seasons from now zack Lavine and Demard Rozan are no longer on your books if they’re even still here right and Demand Sabonis I think would be down to two years left on his deal now those two years are expensive right he’s got an appreciating contract so we we’re talking $50 million territory now for Demand Sabonis and maybe you can’t move that so maybe you are stuck with Sabonis at that point hopefully you’ve had two years of culture establishment and gathering talent to where if if Nate Clifford fits okay Nate Clifford is still on this team and then if the Kings add another rookie maybe a lottery pick in next year’s the 2026 NBA draft maybe that’s when they go and get their point guard or maybe at the deadline this year Darius Garland suddenly is available or or point guard of the future does become available right just it’s time i think Scott Perry has the luxury of time at this point and while I’ve been you I mean you’ve heard DLo I’ve been calling for something to be excited about again scott’s doing a pretty good job with getting me excited about summer league basketball i’m very intrigued to watch these these four young men that that the Kings have brought in over the last 36 to 48 hours i’m very excited to see them play in Vegas i’m even more mad the California Classic isn’t here but like I mean that’s just a start and next season’s I don’t think going to be very appealing i don’t think next season’s going to be a lot of fun i think the Kings will be just mid but if Scott Perry has to make it like get get through one season like that to to build on top of it then I don’t I understand that now he has to deliver we can’t be having these same conversations going into season two so like training camp in 2026 can’t be well here we go again like he’s if this season’s gonna he only gets one right you only get one gap year you’re not going to spread it out two or three years unless you’re totally rebuilding and like we say like we pretty much know here in Sacramento that’s not really an option that’s not really a path and I don’t think Perry’s interested in that at all either
and the truth is like the that unless Scott puts the right pieces in place right now that rebuild that everyone’s asking for probably is coming up
yeah it’s just a few years away he has to have the pieces in place now to avoid that which I’m certain is something he wants to do but he did
very openly in front of all of us discuss building a sustainable winner not a team that makes the playoffs for one year and then falls off the face of the earth he talked about building a sustainable winner and a team that can be good for a long time and you know the the the the the process for that starts it’s it’s well it started yesterday
or two days ago it started with the drafting of of Nick Clifford and then uh it takes us into the second round Matt which is where we’ll go right now obviously this is the other part of what you’ve been covering both for Locked on Kings and ABC 10 over the last couple of days um it felt like a a pretty quiet second round obviously there were a lot of there was a lot of in draft movement uh around the league but the Sacramento Kings uh were slotted there at 42 they selected at 42 and they got a big sevenfooter uh out of Stanford from by way of uh uh I think it was was it France
yeah Paris
paris france that’s got a lot of it’s got it’s got people wondering what might be ahead for this Kings roster
yeah I’m working on my French and uh I I’m I’m working on the pronunciation maxim Reo I I was mistakenly pronouncing the D last night well okay
yeah no I got you yeah see it was Yeah it was No come on like come on i can I can see it let me Let me go ahead sorry man it’s It’s just part of the
Oh man come on even Kyle Madson calling it on me oh man
oh well
I got caught myself earlier i nearly said the same thing and I just I caught myself at the very end and said “Last letter well I’ll take the L uh but yes I was pronunciating it like a uh like an American that doesn’t know French and uh so I’m I’m still learning uh the Reo or Reolo or however they say it um but I mean I’m excited about him and I I what I I don’t know if I broke it but what I learned yesterday and I think we’re we’re hearing more about in a lot of chatter around the league about like the second round has really turned less into a team picking a player and more a player picking a team
sure
right because in the first round especially in the lottery where you go you want to get picked as high as possible because you get a fat paycheck right the difference between the second overall pick and the eighth overall pick financially is massive and a lottery pick compared to a pick like 24 is massive
but in the second round like if you’re a second rounder what you’re hoping for is a real opportunity a real shot to then become the player that everybody goes five years later how the heck did he go to the second round what are what was everybody thinking you want your opportunity to prove that so that’s where you see a lot of teams now teams of course will still try and trade up to get specific guys that they like but from from what I’m hearing and what I believe in the case of um of Renault is he and his camp preferred Sacramento
mhm now I don’t have specifics as to why but it’s really easy to speculate and I drew very similar comparisons to Keon Ellis keon Ellis was an undrafted free agent but Keon Ellis chose to sign for the Sacramento Kings he and his agent were brilliant and things have worked out wonderfully for him because he looked at the Sacramento Kings at that time and saw two things need and opportunity
the Kings desperately needed 3 and D guard play they had none of it at the time outside of De’Arren Fox and his three was still inconsistent and so he looks at that and goes “My game the Kings need more of that.” And then opportunity is like I’m gonna get big minutes at um in summer league right away and I’m gonna have the opportunity in training camp to play my way into something and and lo and behold the Kings have kind of become the picturesque organization for two-way talent because from Namas Kada to Keon Ellis to Isaac Jones last year like if you’re a two-way player in Sacramento you’re going to get opportunity so I don’t I don’t know if Reo is going to be a two-way player but the reason why I draw comparisons is he looks at Sacramento and says they need rim protection and they need a big that can space the floor i check both of those boxes now he needs to get better defensively he needs to get stronger more physical it sounds like his footwork isn’t great but I think the reason why Reo fell to 42 is because he wanted to go to Sacramento because he recognizes the opportunity here in Sacramento of course the Kings are like “Hell yeah we need a player like you we’re going to take a flyer it’s the 42nd pick.” So I mean that’s I think that’s a big deal and and I’m I’m excited to see what he can be and yes I do think I’m going to not going to go as far as to say Jonas Valenunis pack your bags because the 42nd pick is here to take your job but if the the door is now creaked open or at least there’s a potential now for the Kings to move on from Valenunis and feel like they at least have something there
it’s not like Alex Lint
sure i I had a I had an alternate theory to that um I I want to No I we’ll just go with this i had an alternate theory to the Valenunis thing and maybe it’s not Valenunis because I know that was that was a lot of people’s first thought it’s like okay what does this mean you’re gonna keep all these different pigs on but the Sacramento Kings almost certainly are losing Trey Lyles
yes
and I know that it’s not a a position for position comp but one thing that you laid out right there and it was actually you that told me this was a guy who was slotted this was this was a guy who was projected in many drafts and um breakdowns of players big boards all of that different stuff he could be a first round pick
yeah high 20s
yeah and and and a big big reason for that is because what he could do offensively the 7-1 being a rim protector but being able to stretch out to the three-point line well if you have the the idea has always been a big who can stretch out to the three-point line trey LS by default has had to play that treas has played that kind of you know at at at that four position but now you got a guy who at 7-1 could probably do multiple different things with either Valenunis or Damontis Sabonis out there on the floor and not clog the paint um in and and be able to be a threat both inside and outside and instead of a Valenunis replacement who maybe it does open the market for him a little bit should Scott Perry choose to take that route if he doesn’t well now you have a guy who is bigger than Trey Laus can potentially shoot the way that Trey Laus does and can complete a can create a very different type of dynamic out on the floor if he’s playing alongside Damonte Sabonis
yeah I think that’s a great theory and a great point by you too because I I mean I do believe Trey L is gone and it’s not because I know anything about how Scott Perry feels about Trey L i just remember think about why and when Trey L ressigned and signed that two-year extension remember it was after the playoff year and he takes the podium in his end of the year press conference his exit interview says I want to be back here right because the Kings are building something the beam team is born i feel like I found a home over the two years since then that he was here one he was never really consistent enough poor guy got banged up left and right just with these little injuries and things like that that made him miss time in training camp and he just he was inconsistent on the court his role was inconsistent and his health was inconsistent and it kind of resulted in it being kind of a meh two years and also over the course of those two years the guys that we know we believe he was close with are are gone like especially De’arren Fox i know Trey Law had a good relationship with De’arren Fox so I think it’s the writing’s on the wall for the Kings are going to move in a different direction trey is going to move in a different direction i wish him the best of luck cuz I love Trey a lot i think Trey’s a fantastic guy um so yeah it would make a lot of sense that
that banner is beating your ass for the people that are watching the show this banner is about fed up with Matt George and all of his stupid podcast
it is a I have the fan on and it’s blowing in the wind and it’s a really nerdy Lord of the Rings banner that I’m very proud of so I’m course it is
I’m not taking it down um
nor should you
yeah I embrace who I am look it’s really great too when I have like a a college level coach from Colorado State and they think they’re doing an interview with a TV personality and they and they see Dungeons and Dragons books and a Lord of the Rings painting i’m like where the hell am I
i didn’t even think of that that’s That’s actually pretty funny
i I cover the cake my man My man uh Ali Farooq Manesh is his name coach uh Farukq Manesh logs on he’s like “Oh sorry man i must have the wrong link i I don’t know what this is
welcome welcome to D and D anonymous um regardless uh I think I think your theory makes a lot of sense the reason why I think Yonas Valenunis though um could be there as well what did I No what did I do
oh you’ve been you’ve been thrown out for that one buddy
what did I do
that was crazy dnd Anonymous is tough man
no d No you y’all need to grow up y’all need to grow up dnd is
Oh you’re just now learning this y’all need to grow up that’s wrong that’s wrong the You don’t own
Hey Dungeons and Dragons guy
no no matt what’s your Do you want What’s your Well what’s your favorite D and D book um
never
never be ashamed of of your D and D books Matt i hate this show
i know
i hate this show i know i know i Well I’m talking Kings basketball children
yes you are you’re doing a great job too i’ll say I think Yonis Valenunis potentially has a lot of value around the league because there are a handful of teams in two including two teams in the Pacific division one in Golden State one in LA that are desperately looking for a starting center and the Kings have two of them and Yonas Valenunis is on a pretty I would say really good contract and is a starting caliber center that even if he’s a placeholder for a year or two I think he’s he’s really really good and I think the Kings can leverage that so I I I do think that Jonas Valenunis will be floated out there teams will be interested and maybe Scott Perry will be interested in trying to turn that into value if he can and having uh Reo I think opens up the door to that it makes it a little more possible or reasonable than it was 12 hours ago
yeah no definitely and I think the idea that I I was I was going to say Valenunis who absolutely is a starting center but that a big is so coveted by a team like the Golden State Warriors by a team uh like the Los Angeles Lakers we saw the Phoenix make that trade for um Charlotte was it Mark Williams
mark Williams we we we saw them phoenix somehow I think has gotten worse over the last couple of days like I think their cap number has gone up like what you guys are they are struggling so bad right now
i think I saw that they’re facing a $126 million tax bill i think I saw that i have to double check that’s like just Yeah just $126 million in taxes that you have to pay on top of your salary that’s crazy
to be awful
yeah to be bad yeah they got Rashir Fleming who we determined on the insiders is the best player in this year’s class
oh very good he’s 6’9 with the wingspan goes goes up every time we talk about it he’s now 6’9 9 foot7 wingspan okay pretty incredible no I heard it was 98 but that’s fine
oh you know 97 and a half whatever yeah shoots 87% from three on 14 attempts a game
wow is that with his
And blocks nine shots a Is that with his shoes on or off
both
wow
same height
wow
wow
kyle I’ve also heard his second jump is incredible
god damn it matt just ruined it for everybody
just imagine like he doesn’t get the rebound at first he goes right back up
matt got Matt got way that hit way too close to home man it was all fun in games till Matt Till Matt made it personal
remember that dunk in the California Classic that was great huh oh literally his career highlight when we all thought he made it oh I remember I almost got kicked out of the media section
oh man we’re champs
that was one of the crazy experience craziest experiences ever refresh my memory that was the first California Classic right
that was his Yes the first California Classic first game first bucket california Classic first one against the Lakers the arena is sold out
sold out upper bowl
not not scaled to sell out there’s 17,000 people i swear to God I’m I know if I search my phone I’ll find it the crowd is chanting in July beat LA beat LA beat LA and Marvin has that dunk and it’s like oh my god we are the greatest professional sports franchise to ever exist
that starting lineup for that game was De’arren Fox Frank Mason Harry Giles of course Marvin and I can’t remember who the fifth was but I mean talking like all Kings future team
car Samson I don’t know but it was like it was the super team just young remember the comment the super team just young that’s what it was and we’re like and man I still go back and watch that there are two guilty pleasure highlights with the Kings that are terrible but I go back and enjoy them it’s that highlight and watching like Frank Mason going crazy and Harry Giles going crazy and the crowd going crazy
and then do you remember when Jimmer randomly caught fire inside of Arco Arena and hit like four threes in a row and the bench went nuts i go back and watch that highlight all the time it’s a terrible It’s a terrible like pick and terrible time in Kings history but that moment was like this is fun
it just
It just speaks to how great like Kings fans are because there was that moment at the California Classic and then I think this was at the CL it was DaVon Mitchell davon Mitchell just handcuffed someone and it was a top draft pick i can’t remember who it was just handcuffed him at half court stole the crowd lost they hadn’t seen defense in eight years and they saw DaVon Mitchell do that and erupted uh like like uh like Kevin Herder had just hit that three to to take the lead against Utah it’s not the same thing but that was the same summer league because when they went to Vegas that DaVon Mitchell like just like locked down Peyton Pritchard and that was all anybody was talking about was like look what DaVon Mitchell did to Pton Pritchard
was that after Payton had like 82 in a in a in a in a whatever game it was he scored like 82 or something goes back to summer league and Davon Mitchell shuts him down
that was awesome
it was so great and it’s not gonna happen this year because the Kings rolled over and said “We don’t want the classic.”
The Cali Classic literally peaked day one
i know that i know
it peaked day one
i don’t know the Demar De Rozan moment was pretty dope
that was cool but the the arena was half full at that point i mean we got we got the closest that the Golden One Center’s first playoff game was a summer league game against the Lakers
real
with a Marvin Baggley dunk like that that’s what it was we’ve had I mean there have been some man I can’t believe they folded the way they did the Keegan Murray uh summer uh California Classic was crazy too
i can’t speak to that cuz I was on a cruise ship watching that game losing my mind on a cruise ship by myself so I but I can’t even imagine what that arena was like
rich guy stuff there from Matt George thanks for thanks for jumping on Matt
spending the Fourth of July on a cruise ship is not rich
it actually sounds miserable we’ll come back thanks again to our man Matt George for joining us here uh on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 great stuff man thanks for uh thanks for jumping on and helping me some time anytime brother anytime kyle I I I was doing my interview with with coach pretty or just before you guys did your interview so I didn’t hear it but I’m excited to hear it because he was he was super good on the pod so I don’t know how good was he great for you
he was great yeah he was great did he tell you the Joker stuff uh no
oh damn no that was like my favorite part he just was telling me about his I guess
his Joker alter ego but all right
appreciate you man um thanks as always see See you guys
all right Matt George octon kicks oh it was book night good call Maui Strong it was book night yeah that’s exactly who it was that’s who
I forgot that dude existed
yeah right
hey
I kept thinking Kaminga i was like it wasn’t Kaminga like it was against Charlotte who was it
in retrospect uh super not impressive that he locked up James Book Knight
no
not at all
but remember it was the first time we had seen defense in 10 years
oh yeah and James Booknight was a high pick
oh yeah
so a big deal at the time for sure yeah you know they can they can say whatever they want to man uh we’ll we can uh reset at 43 and get caught back up um dumping the California Classic was whack or or not doing it this year or what whatever whatever they said it’s whack man i I’m not suggesting it’s it’s easy or or anything like that um it’s just whack that they they let it go let’s see uh yes Rust Dog and thank you for putting that in the stream because I forgot Jesse’s not here so I got to send the link out um but yeah uh Eddie’s with us at about 45 minutes or so uh well welcome over Frank appreciate you being here appreciate you being here michigan Macro County is going good um yeah it’s it’s it’s going good uh I feel like I’m seeing some results the the the results aren’t what I expected but it’s like okay this is working uh big thanks again to my man Matt George uh for jumping on hanging out matt’s done a great job matt always does a great job covering the Kings but he’s done a particularly great job covering uh the last couple of days of the draft uh as well as discussing some of the things that might be happening behind the scenes here uh of uh the Sacramento Kings as we head into the first day of free agency on Monday they really stretched out this season to where the NBA finals ended over the weekend we got a day or two to talk about it we went right into the NBA draft we got today to react to it and then we are back here uh on Monday with what will almost be uh for certain a solid three four five days of just signing after signing after signing of course it was the 4th of July or or at least that time frame when the news regarding uh Demar De Rozan started to cook a little bit thanks to a an appearance from Mark Spears on ESPN and I remember we tapped in uh regarding Demar pretty quickly and we were told “Yeah we we we we we can’t get anywhere on this one we’re working on something else.” And then Mark Spears said it so I followed back up with a couple of different people and both of them were like “Yeah there’s there’s something going here.” And then it just became this this you know wild goose chase to figure out wait like how like what is the validity to this Demar Rose and the Sacramento Kings thing uh that Mark Spears uh talked about on on on NBA today and man that led to the moment where you know Kendrick Lamar hits at the Golden One Center and Demar De Rozan walks out because he had been uh signing his contract uh in the back with a VC ran Diva and the rest of the front office back there so um those were certainly better times for the Sacramento Kings and it led to one of the tumultuous most tumultuous seasons in recent memory which is saying something given how disastrous this franchise has been for the better part of its 40 years of existence but having Mike Brown fired who was the coach of the year two years ago who just signed a contract extension the prior summer then the De’aran Fox situation which depending on what you choose to believe is directly related to the Mike Brown situation and everything that encompasses i think that’s one of the difficulties too about the De’Aran Fox trade is when you bring in a player like Zack Lavine zack Lavine is a he’s a he’s a he’s a player who has the ball in his hands a lot he’s the player who has been the focal point of the offense on a team that he’s on many times and it’s a it’s a tough acclamation so in addition to everything else that’s going on you got DC first time head coach with the interim title on trying to figure out how to be a head coach and you’ve got all of these other things going on by the way coach star player represented by the same agency you’ve got to navigate those waters as well and just uh you know you couldn’t have told me a a year ago 350 days ago 360 days ago whatever it was that the season would wind up going the way that it did uh after all that excitement surrounding the Demar De Rozan signing and that was coming off uh you know there had been rumors just the Lori marketing rumor which just would not die danny A has to be the worst executive in the league to deal with like he is the most man I’m not a Danny H fan i’ll just leave it at that like I Danny said says some very interesting things uh to people I know in the past and it’s like all right bro like there is there might not be a more arrogant general manager in the league than Danny A or president or whatever his title is there might not be a more arrogant person at his position than Danny A and the whole Lori marketing thing was so laughable because we said from jump all of these teams chasing you’re dealing with Danny A we see this year after year after year he’s not trading him there’s going to be all of these stupid discussions he’s going to lead you on there are people asking about Lori Markin and now talking about well what is Utah even going to do who cares i’m not dealing with Danny A danny Ang will deal with the people that he likes and that’s it he’ll deal with Rob Pelanka he’ll maybe deal with a handful of other guys and he’ll just deal with his buddies and that’s it he’s not trading Lori Mark man i see Aldren Jay Brad Stevens is a way better general manager that is 100% accurate brad Stevens says nothing absolutely nothing everybody’s speculating on what Boston is going to do everybody’s speculating on who’s going to be available who’s going to be traded brad Stevens just goes out there and makes deals we got to get We got to get under the apron all right I know what I have to do got to move Drew Holiday got to move Christophs Porzingis i I I had prepared that day that that Porzingis story broke i think that was Tuesday because we were talking to Jason Jones that day that story broke I had just prepared uh a segment for the next day about how whoever acquired him like you would have to have one of the most extensive physicals in NBA history we don’t know what’s wrong with this person his coach in the playoffs was just casually saying “Yeah he can’t really breathe.” What bro played 12 he can’t breathe have y’all bothered to get this checked out
and not even he’s having trouble breathing not he’s had some shortness of breath he goes “No you can’t breathe.” Whoa
oh yeah like
what and he just got traded and maybe and you know this is the thing when you have expiring contracts especially expiring contracts of that value you know you have teams that absorb salary you have teams that could just take players on you have like all you know whatever but I would think you’d at least want them to play for you now in some cases maybe the team doesn’t care I would have think it was Atlanta right because it was Atlanta Brooklyn I think Atlanta at least cares yeah know we want them to play there’s Obviously the trade isn’t final it can’t be final um Monday isn’t the start of free agency it’s the start of legal tampering the new league year doesn’t start I think for seven days after that that’s when that trade and all the other ones will become final
forget Atlanta wanting Chris Porzingis to play i think they just want him to be able to breathe maybe oh
that’d be great
that’d be a really good start as someone who doesn’t know Kristoff Sporzingis or met him
it’d be wonderful if he could breathe
love that for him
i’d be really happy if my man could exist with oxygen and the idea that you just trade a 30 some odd million dollar player with or at least agree to trade a third like cuz aren’t you at least asking hey you know Joe said he can’t breathe right do you guys have a Oh no no he’s fine and trust us it’s good it’s fine
no it’s good
all right great i had just prepared a segment about how this would have to be the most extensive physical in recent NBA because I don’t know how you could potentially make this deal without watching and monitoring him run
and breathe and Brad Stevens said “No not really just going to trade him to Atlanta work Brooklyn into this somehow and I’m going to shed $180 million in two days.” And for for Atlanta I think the the just to put a cap on that uh Terren man had three years left on his deal and he has not been playing well uh he has three years left at 15.5 million 15.5 million and 16 million
so Atlanta gets that off their books and they get Porzingis expiring
and that clears the money next year
and they and and and never ever ever having a clue what Atlanta is doing maybe that’s all they care about
just get the money off of the books and move from there but again never any idea what Atlanta’s doing
i don’t understand that basketball team nor the way it’s run
i think they passed the torch to the Pelicans in this draft with that trade
that’s a good call i saw I saw a report that Atlanta got the guy at 23 that they were going to take at 13 and got an unprotected first round pick next year from either Milwaukee or New Orleans to move back the 10 spots that’s crazy
i would like to take this moment to remind Kings fans as bad as it might have been with Monty McNair remember Joe Dumar wanted that job and remember Joe Dumar left the Sacramento Kings organization because VCC Ranadiva refused to put him in charge of the front office look at New Orleans right now and as bad as it might be just know we’re not that it could definitely be worse
it And that seems crazy it seems crazy that it could be worse but it in fact could but could it be better and I’m talking about SGA did SGA have one of the greatest seasons in NBA history we’ve posed that question a couple of times this time uh we’ve done the research on that we’ll bring that to you uh some thoughts on some of the best seasons uh we’ve ever seen plus I brought this up a couple of days ago didn’t really get to dive into it there’s articles now being written about Luca Donuch and how serious he’s taking this off season uh and the shape that he is in right now and as usual NBA Twitter and such are making jokes and like “Hey get your jokes off i’m fine with that.” But what is he supposed to do we’ll get to all of that and much more as dealing with KC without KC continues here uh plus Eddie Gonzalez in about 30 minutes on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 yeah I sent it to him thank you i did yeah yes sir yes sir yes sir 13th round no man you know you don’t want no 13th round with me i talk about stuff that happened four decades ago that’s about That’s about all I could bring you with any sort of level of intelligence with boxing early 90s is probably the latest n mid 90s mid 90s oh Zabbo is it really i didn’t know that show was to Well I don’t know i I I’ll be honest man i’m not paying attention i have no clue what’s going on oh Smackdown is on right now is that Is that what you’re talking about Z okay sky River Casino is the place to play with 2100 of the newest slot machines and over 80 table games sky is the limit at Sky River Casino make sure you stop in uh in July and check out some of their brunches that they got going on they got a new threecourse cuisine uh over at SR Prime of course they got 32 Brew Street what was jumping off big thanks again to everybody who came out to 32 Brew Street last Friday what a terrific event uh that was and we are approaching uh Sky Rivers’s birthday they celebrate in August i think we’re going on three years of Sky River Casino uh so that’s always a massive uh massive month uh so if you haven’t been out there to visit make sure you do and if you have uh go visit them again man because they got some exciting things going on right now some even more exciting things going on July and August is going to pop off uh in a major major way so I’m excited to be a part of all of the things that they got jumping off over the course of the next couple of months also uh we’re going to be out at the Crest Theater tomorrow or at least I am wake up Call Live will be taking place so proud of that crew for what they’ve been able to pull off for this show uh tickets are still available i think they’re $20 um text live to 916991065 uh for the link to buy tickets uh they’re essentially going to do a 2-hour version of their radio show uh live on stage it’s going to be uncensored it’s going to be really really interactive and there was a lot of pressure on them to make this event really really successful and this is I’m obviously really proud of it because this is this is Katie’s baby and man they have the the venue is sold like crazy there’s sponsors all over the place man this is this is uh become a massive event so if you want to be a part of it it’s going to be an incredibly uh entertaining show text live uh libe to 91691065 uh for your chance to uh be a part of the wakeup call live tomorrow
i have some news okay
uh not to step on that wonderful promotion of the wake up call um it’s fantastic radio show uh Ace Bailey
will report to the Jazz on Saturday the team announced okay he was originally not doing this yeah he was going to show up on Monday when practice started but now he’s going to be there Saturday uh quote “This is via Yahoo Sports but it’s but it’s from the Jazz we’ve had good communication with Ace Bailey and his representatives uh we feel good about everything ace and his family are coming to Utah tomorrow ace Bailey 18 years old
18 years old ace Bailey desperately needs new representation
so bad
there is a a certain level of “Hey my client’s not going to work out for you hey my player’s not going to go to your team hey don’t draft him hey this isn’t what we’re doing.” When you are an established agent you don’t pull that card very many times by the way it’s not something that you regularly just throw on the table every draft it’s not something you ever throw on the table when you’ve got one goddamn client and whoever this guy is who has been making Ace Bailey’s life miserable for the last three months has one client and he’s done everything he possibly could to establish his start in the NBA it’s tough man i heard you and Hammer talking a little bit about this earlier on the insiders and it is such a I think you I don’t know if you or Hammer use the term predatory but that’s exactly what this is i don’t know the nature of the relationship between Ace Bailey and his agent but I know when you have highlevel basketball players like this when you have now you can’t like I can’t just walk into the NBA and go I’m an agent because uh such and such player at SAK State chose me to be his representation that’s not how it works there is a aggressive uh there are aggressive steps that you have to take uh to be an agent in the NBA you have to get certified by the NBA players association you have to be um essentially approved by the NBA players association and by all accounts I don’t think this dude is and so he needs to make a change he desperately desperately uh needs to make a change and the fact that he’s showing up in Utah because what’s done is done now like you whether you wanted to go to Utah or not and by the way I don’t blame you for not wanting to go but if you wanted to go to Utah or not you are yo put that behind you kid you’ve got a career to establish you’ve got money to make and if you have to do it in Utah yo you have to do it in Utah go look that’s this is a great first Go show up on you said Saturday uh get ready for for summer league practice on Monday and let’s go simple as that i’m glad Ace Bailey is uh is showing up in Utah i I don’t I I I don’t want to see these uh these young brothers derailed by stupid decisions that they’re making here at 18 or or or 19 yeah and salute to again this is what James and I were talking about earlier i have no idea why he was going to show up Monday maybe it was a problem with movers maybe he was having a hard time saying goodbye to his family maybe they they were trying to move his family to Utah and they were having trouble with who I or maybe it was he was trying to get traded i don’t know
mhm
but salute to Well a I hope everything’s okay with him and his family
sure um or but B if he was like “No I’m gonna wait i’m gonna wait i don’t want to go i’ll show up Monday.” Salute to whoever got through to him to be like “No you go Saturday.” If you’re to report Saturday you’ll go Saturday
cuz that just I I think that undoes so much of the consternation it gets Okay hey here’s photos of of Walter Clayton Jr in his jazz uh showing up to the Jazz facility ace Bailey not there expected to show up Monday um it just it it takes him out of the news cycle for a couple of days yeah
you get started on the right foot and you can hopefully put all this pre-draft stuff in the rear view
yeah and that’s good for everybody um and this season was good to Shay Gildress Alexander it was great for Shay Gildress Alexander as he and the Oklahoma City Thunder approach the finals and it’s crazy to think here we are on Friday the finals just ended a couple of days ago like we’re talking about free agency getting underway on Monday we’ve gone through two rounds of the draft we’ve been speculating on players and trades we’ve had trades we’ve had major trades the season just ended on Sunday and as the Thunder got closer and closer to the NBA finals the SGA having the opportunity to join Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal uh as the only players in league history who have won uh the MVP the scoring title the finals MVP in the NBA championship and that is you know that is very you know rarified air kind of the uh the the the the one that really does a lot of separating in terms of guys who have had that accomplishment is the scoring title and it started I I I think we we got somewhere we got somewhere maybe in the middle of the NBA finals maybe it was even the beginning of the NBA finals where I started to realize I just didn’t appreciate the Thunder in Shay Gildas Alexander the way that I should have through the through the bulk of the season obviously the Thunder were incredible maybe they were a little boring but they were certainly uh you know the the best team in the league year round one of the few teams that didn’t have any you know ups and downs the the Indiana started slow for you know the the the first two months of the season really took off when the calendar switched to 2025 uh you had Boston that was up and down a little bit throughout the season milwaukee was a disaster when the season started uh New York was up and down minnesota is always up and down the the Warriors had like three distinctively different seasons the one that started the one in the middle where it looked like it was all over and Steph was despondent after the Kings kicked their ass then they went and acquired Jimmy Butler they beat the Sacramento Kings a couple of times ran through the league right into the playoffs and it’s like that’s all within one season denver up and down just team after team after team all over the place this last year except for one and it was the Oklahoma City Thunder and maybe it was because they were just consistently good and I expected them to be consistently good that’s what they were last year i didn’t really sink my teeth into anything that they were doing it’s like no they’re good they’re going to be there yo look at the Warriors though man I think the Warriors I think the Warriors could win a championship oh look of course I didn’t even mention the Los Angeles Lakers acquire Luca Donic during the season and we talk about a vibe switch they had it it’s like okay yo they look like they could do something lebron gets hurt team falls off a little bit then there’s questions about whether the team is even good with LeBron James on the floor all of this happened within one singular season man that’s without even mentioning the Kings kings were terrible to start go through that brutal fivegame losing streak that leads to Mike Brown’s firing which turns into the six-game losing streak because they lost the first game of Doug Christiey’s coaching career in in Los Angeles they come back they win the next seven i think they win 10 of 11 or something like that and then it gets murky all of this happens in one single season why OKC is just truckugging along playing ball doing their thing sga going 30 plus points per game still being a solid defender having one of the most unique offensive games in the entire league and now that it’s all over and his season and this this this this basketball team’s championship is in the rearview mirror you start to ask yourself is that the greatest season we ever seen is that one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen i was I I have brought this up before and I will bring it up now because it’s far more relevant than any time I brought it up before in my basketball fandom and and and I can think I can even stretch this into my lifetime lebron James 2012 2013 is the most phenomenal season I’ve ever seen i’m cheating a little bit but work with me at the end of the 2012 season LeBron James is winning an NBA championship he’s winning an NBA MVP he’s going to London and winning a gold medal he’s coming back to the NBA as the most dominant player in the league winning another MVP and another NBA championship the greatest season I’ve ever seen stretch it out the greatest 12 months of basketball I have ever seen i know Jordan’s 1996 is brought up a lot i always think about Jordan’s 88 i was like seven when that happened and wasn’t exactly locked in the way that I am now but I am very familiar as I think we all are with Jordan’s 88 35 points per game MVP defensive player of the year by the way it’s like his fourth year in the league doesn’t win a championship doesn’t even approach a championship which is really a a big distinction between that season and the seasons of LeBron James Sha Gil Jose Alexander and some of these other guys we’re going to talk about but again 35 points per game the MVP the defensive player of the year that doesn’t even include probably the most famous dunk contest in history but you go to 96 that’s where you throw in the NBA championship that’s that’s the season where Mike is and Shaq and SGA are in that company because that year Jordan wins the scoring title at 30.4 points per game that’s the season that Michael Jordan wins the MVP and then of course wins the finals in 1996 i mentioned the 88 season that’s always going to be on the list cuz I’ll always have such fond memories of growing up hearing about that 88 season but again he didn’t win the title i’ll ask you Kyle Matson resident Steph Curry uh enthusiast does 2016 for Steph the unanimous MVP year does that belong on this list
no because they lost a title that’s a 73 win basketball team
yeah it sure is
a unanimous MVP uhhuh shot like 45% from three or something yeah he made 402 threes I think it was you wouldn’t put that on this list mike didn’t win in 88 yeah no it probably I Yeah it I I think it maybe belongs on the list but if we’re putting them in order it goes down a ways
okay
uh just because I think that was what stamped staff as like a oh this guy’s going to be an all-time it wasn’t “Oh hey he’s a nice he’s a he’s a good player he’s an MVP.” I think that was the That was the season that really stamped it and the 4003 is crazy
he Wow i didn’t He led the league in scoring that year
30.1 points per game he just lost to a Kyrie Irving three one basket and six minutes of play and I think and I think this speaks a little bit to why I was hesitant to put that that Steph season there
is Shay Gilchus Alexander every night in the finals was 30 plus
or or 28 plus whatever whatever it was i think he averaged 30 for in the finals
mhm
we were going through this the other day i think it was last Friday on DLO and Casey steph I think in that in that finals against the Cavs had like an 11 yeah
there’s a 17 in there
but there’s also like a 40 and a
Yeah yeah no he was he had some ups and downs for sure but I think that’s why I hesitate a little bit it’s just because he got he was he was hurt but they got to the finals and he just wasn’t that level that Steph Curry season if if we don’t want to say it’s one of the greatest we’ve ever seen it’s one of the most memorable seasons I can remember
it felt like a turning point in the NBA
sure it felt like something
like whatever happened that season whether it was a turning point or whatever we want to label it as it felt seismic
like everything in the NBA that year was Steph Curry
everything
uh from the unanim and then of course you have the unanimous MVP this is all while timeline matching up yeah they lost the This is all while Kobe’s retiring yeah because the the Warriors 73rd win they were 72-9
yep going into the final game of the year they played Memphis at home and it was the same trying to pick okay are you going to watch the Warriors win 73 you’re going to watch Kobe’s last game and the Warriors ran away with it with with their game and so
there was a there was a an an amazing moment for those who were quick enough
mhm the Lakers went to commercial if you flipped during that commercial break you caught the final 10 seconds of the Warriors winning game number seven like the like the the actual final buzzer
of the the the Warrior Warriors 73rd win you saw whatever it was and there really was no pomp and circumstance to it
it was just they did it and it’s like “All right great
go win a title.” Now
flip back i’m going to go watch which is
Man this is Oh this is tough this is tough there’s circumstances involved prior I I had maintained since 2016 Kobe’s final game was the most fun I had ever had watching a basketball game
watching Kobe score 60 begging for him to shoot the ball booing D’Angelo Russell when he was the first Laker to shoot the ball that wasn’t Kobe Bryant like that just and and not caring whether he just wanting to see Kobe go crazy uh that final night the rush to like realizing yo Kobe’s going to go 40 50 60 watching everyone’s reaction the only game that I think changed that was Steph Curry in the Olympics watching that game here with this audience with our people just throwing the entire show out the window and reacting to what we were watching and watching him
bring that team back was against um
Serbia serbia was just the most amazing it it I think it beats Kobe’s last game by a photo finish
yeah man that was so so for me that night again Warriors guy i was texting with a buddy of mine and he was like “I’m locking into Kobe’s game tonight.” This buddy of mine is a Kings fan former Sacramento media guy actually and he’s like “I’m locking into” And I was like “That’s that’s weak.” I was like “He’s he’s been around forever.” Uh the Warriors 73 win thing it’s going to be historic kobe against the Jazz who cares there was a By halftime of the Warriors game I was locked in to the Lakers doing the same thing as you
just I want nothing to do with anyone else in this game except Kobe
and that watching the end of that yeah
and I think I did flip over for the last two minutes of the Warriors game whatever it was but then you had to you had to get back to to freaking Kobe right
uh it was just it was it was a really cool moment uh but that Olympics for me one sitting here for that Serbia game because remember that was the first quarter that Steph went crazy because Serbia was just putting it on the US and Steph started rolling and kept them within I think they were down eight or something after the first but they could have been down 20 and Steph just kind of kept him afloat in that game and then hit a couple of big threes late as well
that was really fun getting to watch that with you guys but being for the gold medal game closing out France
oh yeah
is my all-time favorite sports memory
it Nothing’s ever going to pass that
yeah closing out France was amazing
just the Well and just the crowd and and I I thought Noah Eagle and Dwayne Wade were outstanding you got Carmelo Anthony freaking out on the sideline it was a really cool thing to get to experience like with everyone like everybody got like hey this joy that I feel watching this player play all the homies are in
everybody’s loving this yeah
that was dope that was really cool i cried when I watched the documentary
yeah i I never went back to it man i really I I I have to go finish it
yeah you do
so I’m bad one
why are you out
no I’m not out i’m bad with TV watching so the only reason I saw the the starting five was because like I saw I watched all episodes of the starting five in one day because that was the two days after I got back from Disneyland and thought I was going to die i didn’t leave the bed
i stayed in bed the entire day and just watched the entire starting five series that’s really the only way I can watch things because between games and just life like I and and and you know my schedule is much different than it used to be
i just don’t I started it and it wasn’t bad i remember there was one episode where I don’t remember if it was about Serbia or France where I was like I don’t want to watch this no it wasn’t it was about Canada
no the Canada ones are a thousand i was like I don’t want to watch this dylan Brooks is the only player in that entire documentary that didn’t alter my opinion of them at all he’s just bor he’s just a he’s just a big thumbs down for me man just a thumbs down of a person
okay
and Shay is just Shay’s great but Shay is not an exciting personality
no he’s not and that was that was one of the struggles with the NBA playoffs is it was really difficult to latch on to SGA he you you just like you it’s
Steph like Steph is magnetic and he’s going to draw a reaction of either love or hate
and I think at this point in Steph’s career I don’t I don’t think it was always this case but at this point in Steph’s career I think it’s prominently it’s mostly love like especially since the Olympics like I think everybody loves and appreciates Steph Curry i don’t think SGA draws any any type of emotion from anybody anger overdrawing foul
sure yeah he might frustrate people in that regard because he has a go-to move similar to James Harden having a go-to move that the entire league fan base seems to hate
mhm
and it just made it just made like really latching on to to SGA difficult but none of that should take away from the fact he had one of the most extraordinary seasons we’ve ever seen and I would probably put I would put Steph’s 2016 on that list
yeah I think so
title you know title or not if if I were to build out a list I’d put Shaq’s 2000 i live through that
shaq that’s like I I I have I have my frustrations with Shaquille O’Neal i hate the way the end of his career went i hate the way he talks about bigs in the league today
mhm
but he was the most dominant professional athlete next to perhaps Mike Tyson in the late 80s that I saw yeah
at that time like there was no one in the league like Shaquille O’Neal and he showed that in 2000
yeah um I saw uh Brian Winhurst a few days ago had a list of of seasons that he thought were the best ever and Jordan 96 uh was at the top of his list he had Kareem 71 in there i’m I think it would be totally disingenuous for me to say Kareem 71 is one of the greatest i wasn’t around for it i’ll trust history the numbers say it was phenomenal uh bronze 13 2013 uh which is number one on my list then he has SGA and then Shaquille O’Neal’s 2000
i think LeBron’s 2013 was the I don’t and this might have been what you said earlier i was doing some other stuff but I don’t know if it’s the best season from like a statistical standpoint or how it’s going to stack
that was the highest level basketball I’ve ever watched
that’s it that’s that’s almost exactly the way I phrase it like
he was just unfreaking believable but I admittedly cheated because I’m including the fact that he won an MVP won a title won the gold medal
started the next season won the MVP
and won the title like it it’s it’s it’s not a singular season it’s a stretch of 12 months
that to me is just absolutely untouchable and the only guy that can approach it is Jordan who beat the Blazers
mhm
went and and was a part of the first dream team in Barcelona came back beat Phoenix didn’t win the MVP that year charles Barkley got it and you know continued to just be the most dominant player in the I think that was the year God I feel like he averaged like 40 in that playoffs he averaged something absurd maybe it was 38
tell me anything about Michael Jordan i don’t
It was either 38 or It was just some absolutely absurd number against Phoenix in that six game series uh where John Paxton hits that three and they win
yes
but I don’t I don’t know how much we’ll talk I have another thought on the Oklahoma City Thunder by the way i don’t know that Well I think we can get to it today eddie Gonzalez is going to join us in just a few minutes but it really centers on this on Wednesday the Kings made a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder to get back into the first round insert team name making a trade with the Oklahoma City on draft day is going to be a phrase you have to hear a lot moving forward and this is how I’ll I’ll preface this and if we get to it today great did the Golden State Warriors set the blueprint for how not to do a two timeline thing or did the Golden State Warriors prove you can’t do a twotimeline thing
everyone believes that the Oklahoma City Thunder are destined for a dynasty sam Prey’s next moves are going to determine that whether this team is readyade or not they’re going to have contracts coming up now you’ve got aprons you have to deal with at some point this isn’t going to be a young cute team anymore this is going to be a veteran team and trying to incorporate 18 and 19 year olds into a championship situation to this point in the NBA has not worked there aren’t a lot of examples admittedly but there’s one glaring one and it failed miserably we’ll talk more about that eddie Gonzalez joins us next we’ll get his reaction to the Kevin Durant trade finally being complete uh and what he expects next uh as the NBA free agency gets underway uh on Monday that’s coming up here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 good stuff man thanks for that hey do you know the other thing about the 2016 staff season that sticks out to me
yeah you got a weird echo though or a weird sound what is that
that might be my speakers
oh okay sorry go ahead yeah yeah
um
nope
really
but it doesn’t matter go ahead we’re not on the air so it doesn’t matter
it matters to me
is it this do I need to no it’s not that go ahead
uh okay i’ll just keep talking am I I’m now I’m paranoid that I have something on that’s not supposed to be on
oh yeah you did you had the mic on i got it you had I got it you’re good there we go
okay yep
now we’re all set um Okay so yeah cuz I was feeding to you and Okay got it the other funny thing about the 2016 season and I think this is uh a real black eye on the league the block by James and Kyrie’s three they’re wearing those stupid sleeve jerseys
yes and then Steph I’m actually wearing the the double bang shirt today that moment yeah I said it
um that moment is they’re wearing the sleeve jerseys
and also if you’ll remember that was the year that ESPN did the light up three-point arc because three-pointers were starting to become much higher volume and so they went “We need to let everybody know when it’s a three-pointer.” So the three-point line is going to light up so when you go watch very subtle uh when you go watch highlights of the Steph Curry OKC game where Steph hit the like half court shot to win it um not quite half court but you get it uh hit the logo shot to win it the three-point line lines lights up for every single three-point attempt
mhm
including his one from like almost half court which kills me
oh that’s amazing
and so like Oh thank you for letting us know that that’s going to be worth three points if it goes down
that’s amazing i don’t think I’ I don’t think I I’ve watched that highlight a million times i don’t think I
That video is in by the way the interview okay i meant to tell you that a long time ago
thank you uh I think I I think I’m going to run that um I think I’m going to run that at 3:15 okay
yeah I think that’s my plan right now that’s a That’s a That’s a fun highlight that’s such a fun highlight even as someone who loves Oh that’s great i That’s terrific
are you watching it right now yeah yeah that is terrific i remember this game so vividly
yeah dude the go to the last shot and the watch the three-point no no I’m watching it it goes red
so funny that’s terrific so is Inis Cancer’s response oh just the hands up just like Oh here we go here we go coming back okay all right i think Eddie Gonzalez is going to join us here in just a couple of minutes perhaps maybe if not we shall just continue to vibe uh because it’s been a busy week uh in the NBA really started i talked about how the NBA finals ended on Sunday but this off season really began on Saturday uh when the Kevin Durant trade uh became final kevin Durant of course headed to Houston and many many many people including uh my partner Kenny Carowway think that the uh Houston Rockets now kind of shoot up to title contention and I think I’m with that i know one thing leading into the Kevin Durant sweep stakes that I absolutely didn’t believe that the Houston Rockets could just kind of sit still i didn’t think that was going to work for them i didn’t think they would uh I didn’t think that they would I kind of thought they had hit their ceiling and it not that they couldn’t have you know what were they 50 wins last year i I could have absolutely have seen them win 48 to 50 games again last year i could have seen them lose in the first or second round again like I just didn’t they weren’t going to be a championship team to me they weren’t going to be a team that grew together like there was there was nothing about Houston that was like “Oh you know one more year together and they might be able to do this.” I didn’t think that was going to be the case and I thought unlike San Antonio this was a move that they desperately had to make not desperately but this was a move that they definitely had to make and we’ll welcome in our man Eddie Gonzalez cuz he was a part of all of it uh Eddie appreciate you brother as always um it’s been a big week for you man um the move that we have been waiting for uh finally happened kevin Durant headed to Houston and I just laid out Eddie it Houston of the teams that we heard about Miami I feel like KD goes there they’re treading water they’re not further along they’re not they’re just not a championship contender san Antonio didn’t have to do anything if he landed there good for them they could be real uh passive with their offer in if Phoenix took it cool the team that had to do something to compete with the top of the conference in my opinion was Houston and for me this matchup is this this pairing with Kevin Durant and the Rockets is perfect
yeah i mean I think that’s what it all came down to at the end of the day it’s who wanted him the most who needed him the most i think the Wolves were up there on that list uh I think the Raptors were up there on that list mhm
i think the the Cleveland Cavaliers out there were up there on that list as some of the reports have said but at the end of the day it was the Rockets it was the Rockets who looked and said “We’re the two seed.” And what do we need really bad we need a shooter on the outside on the perimeter who can who can be our best scoreer uh maybe some veteran uh knowhow and savvy and and and a guy who can defend and and who who who is that exact guy as KD i I think this what it all came down to i know from Kevin’s end uh you know he was looking for a home he was looking for somebody somewhere he can end his career he can sail off into the sunset but he also wants to be competitive and play important games for the rest of his career
so it was a great match uh you know it wasn’t always the choice it wasn’t always the the bright idea for the end of Kevin’s career but the circumstances laid out to that point and what they ended up having to give up made it even per more perfect move you know you yes you you you lose who could be a young star in Jaylen Green you lose Dylan Brooks who was a defensive force for that team but you know Kevin’s now getting all of Dylan’s minutes and and you you’ve you’ve almost replaced Jaylen anyway you don’t like how he finished the season how he finished the the Warrior series you got Reed Shepard waiting in the wings it’s just a natural transition for this team um there becomes a time when you when you go from a young upstart team to like a big boy serious team now we want to win games we’ve added
I think we watched the Oklahoma City Thunder do that with Isaiah Hartstein
and Alex Caruso this past offseason it was like “Okay it’s time for that leap.” Uh I always say in Sacramento lore I remember I remember on Sacramento radio saying you go from uh Jason Williams to Mike Bby when you’re ready to be a serious team and I love Jay Will i love White players of all time but you do make that transition kind of in your trajectory towards competing i think the Pacers did the same thing when they went and got Pascal Seakum and on and on and on and this feels like that move for the Rockets and that move for Kevin as well so I I asked my man Kyle this uh a few minutes ago not even thinking oh I got I got to ask Eddie this i I saw this question earlier and like I answered it and convinced myself my answer was wrong there’s no right or wrong answer to this but when you think about Kevin Durant the basketball player what jersey is he wearing i asked him so I think I thought you were talking numbers but I think numbers plays a part of it too because I asked him what number you gonna wear but I I think that’s the thing with Kevin he’s he’s this new age star right like I think LeBron kind of set the standard here but these guys are taking control of their own careers
they’re not letting the old standards of what they’re supposed to do dictate what their careers are
and they’re living this the way they want i I think we’re going to see this with other guys i know we got Jokic and you feel like he’ll never leave but you had Luca and you feel like he’d never leave he didn’t get to dictate that and and the same for Giannis who seems to be dictating his situation right now so what jersey is Kevin wearing
whatever your favorite version of Kevin was
the stats say he might have been the best when he was a net he obviously won the most when he was a Warrior and you see those championship runs and you see him in the finals hitting big shots you also see young KD on the Thunder maybe even on the Sonics and that’s just again kind of the new age version of what a superstar is and then there’s a lot of guys who fit that mold i think there’s a lot of guys who will surprise us in the coming years and fit that mold as well these guys are taking control of their careers the CBA is kind of dictating that you move around a little bit now
and the stigma is a little gone and I say it’s all the way gone people are always going to hold you to that old guard and that old standard and they’re going to complain but I’ll tell you this from talking to players
just around the league the idea of you know being able to forge your own path to move around as you see fit we we’ve all been there you turn 27 you’re a whole different person than you were at 21 you have different goals you have different interests you have different businesses you have different things like that they’re pulling you in all these other directions and and the ability to hop around freely i think a lot of guys covet that and and will use that going forward
and I think KD and LeBron really set because I’m my belief has always been you know my next chapter doesn’t happen if LeBron doesn’t take his talents to South Beach right that was kind of the start of like oh no star players can do this and yeah maybe there’ll be blowback or maybe there’ll be this and Kevin Durant certainly experienced it but that is um that is a kind of a brand new thing to the league and it certainly happened in the past but it felt like it happened in the rarest situations you know there’s the famous moment where Magic Johnson requested a trade and the Lakers bent over no no no no what do you want okay fired like we’ll do we’ll do whatever like you know I don’t know that teams are as as as willing to do that anymore you mentioned the Raptors a second ago you know the Raptors had a big day today do you think that had anything to do with falling short on KD
yeah I mean the noise I heard from Msai when he was chasing Kevin was he’s on his way out he’s taking one last swing for the fences he’s gonna do what he can
you know they wanted Giannis
they wanted Kevin they they they wanted everybody and Messiah in large part is built on what he did to put help put together that Nuggets team obviously and then the Kawhai tread and you know ever since then the moves have been a little shaky a little bit hit and miss he’s been really aggressive uh but I absolutely think yeah if he lands Kevin he’s probably lands himself another year to to to operate this team and to figure out and to make it as good as good as they can funny enough like I think the team’s gonna be pretty good next year you know I know I saw Bill Simmons and Kenzie Perkins arguing about this and going back and forth
uh a six seed in the East isn’t going to be so crazy for that team they were hurt all year they have some good young players that they like they have some talent and sometimes a team with a bunch of talent like that that’s going to play hard they win regular season games yeah are they going to win a title next year no but can Brandon Ingram Scotty Barnes uh RJ Barrett Emanuel Quickley Jakob Purle uh can can a team with that level of guy win 45 games and make the playoffs yeah yeah this this is the world of the playin like that’s going to be a decent team in a in a not so great conference uh but you know be doing it without Messiah Jerry
and it and it you know the conference is is crazy Eddie because since we the last time we talked to you like not only did I mean the Thunder have won the title since the last time we talked to you kevin Durant has been traded we lost Tyrese Hallebertton too he’s not dead we lost him for the season like Tai joined Tatum joined Dame you talk about the Eastern Conference man i like you’ve those are three top Eastern Conference teams that are going into next season without you know if not their biggest stars certainly one of their most prominent stars on three of those teams
and look at what the Celtics did in the in room as well you know getting rid of Drew Drew Holiday getting rid of Chris Porzingis and even if you like Anthony Simons there’s a downgrade here somewhere they they’ve they’ve allowed themselves to be a lesser team you know I went from last week yelling at Miami Heat fans saying “Yo the East is going to be fine next year you know the the Celtics will be competitive i think the Hawks will be better i think the Magic will be better they just got Desmond Payne i think the Raptors will be better the you know on and on to like again now we’ve lost the Finals team we’ve lost the number two seed uh and and so yeah there is a little bit of disjointedness out in the East and and no clarity in what we’re going to have we also could lose Giannis to another conference in the coming weeks and months so there’s a lot of opportunity out there out east it’s it’s tough what happened to Tyrese obviously uh but that conference looks to be wide open and it makes the Magic being aggressive look even smarter looking back you know yeah they gave up a lot for Desmond Bane but that could be a top four seat they have a home court next year and they could we watch what just happened with the Pacers you get the right matchups you you you you have the right continuity you’re coached well enough you can win three playoff series in the East and make it to the finals and then from there I mean it looked like the Pacers were on the way to at least being close in that game and they really were still even after losing Tyrese you know get to June and see what happens i think a lot of teams in the East a lot of these young teams will feel that way
and with so many like it feels like there’s journeyman point guards that are on the market obviously the Sacramento Kings are desperately looking for one uh when free agency begins on Monday but Russell Westbrook is out there um you know Taius Jones there’s a handful of other guys that are out there and I wonder if someone like Indiana was like “Yo looking at where Boston is at haven’t even mentioned the fact the New York Knicks don’t even have a basketball coach right now they just went through a draft that I guess they didn’t even have a pick but like we just we’re we’re we’re approaching free agency and they don’t have a head coach then you’ve got the Tyrese Hallebertton injury you’ve got the the Jason Tatum injury you got the Dame Lillard injury you know in addition to Sacramento you know coveting a point guard i wonder how many of those teams are like “Yo let’s just throw some money at Russell Westbrook to try to get us through the year.” You know Dennis Shruder is a name that’s been mentioned in in Sacramento i know he’s he likes being in Detroit but I wonder if any of those teams are like “Yo if we just get a a guy to fill a spot that that where we lost our guy we could wind up being at the top of the conference again just by default.”
Yeah I think we’re going to see a lot of aggression from from the Eastern Conference and and you should you know again some of these young upstart teams I think the Hawks adding KP you know you hope for some growth your young players you just had the number one overall pick and I I quietly Risha got better throughout the season as rookies do and then like maybe he’s not a mega star but he’s a talent who’s going to help Trey Young um I’m very curious about the bottom half of that conference and and and and where that goes i’m big on the Magic uh I’m big on the Pistons those are two teams I think will obviously be better the Knicks you know they didn’t get KD and there’s a lot of conversation about whether they were in on him or not but they seem to be pretty flexible on some of their guys who could be on the way out because what they may have to pay Muel Bridges but they already paid OGI but they may have to pay Mitchell Robinson so there may be a lot of flexibility out there a lot of opportunity as well and as far as the point guard situation I mean I heard in no uncertain terms a few days ago the Kings are getting Dennis Shruder i ain’t details and then a little bit backed off of that but you know I expect the Kings to be aggressive too you keep hearing Demar De Rozan noise you keep hearing all this stuff they’re
the Kings historically have been aggressive it’s just like you know are they shooting at the right place and that always you know is hit or miss for them and And
you know what
you know what the loudest noise around Demar is right now is that he’s not going anywhere mhm
and I you know I I I think so when when we started hearing rumblings that maybe Dear wasn’t going anywhere I started to think well someone’s got to go it’s not Zack Lavine it’s probably going to wind up being Malik Monk of course they get this kid Nick Crawford who could play you know at the at the uh Nick Clifford who could play at the two and the three and then again it’s just further like yeah I I don’t I don’t know where Malik Monk fixed then at the same time it appears Malik doesn’t have much of a market so I don’t know if you have to pivot back to Demar De Rozan because he might have a slightly more robust market to make a trade but man it’s uh like Scott Perry definitely have his he might have assets to move but the value might not be there for his assets he’s got his work cut out for him yeah it’s tough because you watch these guys every day and you see how they can help the right team but the the Kings have the type of assets that just aren’t valued in the current league a dribbleheavy shoot first shooting guard who is a point guard size like Malik Monk yeah that’s not the biggest value in the league you’re not going to overpay a Jordan Clarkson right now you’re not going to do that for that type of player and the same thing for Demar De Rozan a guy who lives in the mid-range a guy who isn’t the greatest defensive player a guy who basically just is a scorer i know he’s capable of doing other things and I know he’s a great clutch player but this is the perception of these players around the league and it’s like yeah that’s not the most valuable guy that we’re giving first round assets for and then we you know his obviously then with his contract and it’s like I’m not necessarily signing up for that and that’s what puts the Kings in a tough place they built this team to be the team that’s around De’ar and Fox and Dom Sabonis and then once you remove one of those pegs all these guys look a little different a little less valuable and that’s frustrating because you want to continue to build i hate to be that guy but I’ve thought for a while it might be rebuild time but they’re just anti-rebuild and have been for a long time and and and look a rebuild is not fun for anybody and I’m captain like yo you don’t rebuild you just keep trying to get better but a team like this where they’ve taken a bunch of swings and then you’ve traded away your best or most market or whatever you want to call the Aaron Fox that’s the beginning of that it’s it’s supposed to be especially because you didn’t get a ton of premium assets on the way back for him either
and that’s the that’s the problem like if if you were contemplating a rebuild you’ve already screwed screwed up because De’aran might have been and I’m saying might because I really don’t know what De’ar’s value is across the league but he was probably certainly your best asset to to if you were going that route of kind of starting over he was your best asset now you’ve handcuffed yourself i like Zack Lavine but I’m also I also recognize what that contract is you’ve handcuffed yourself there a little bit and for my money he doesn’t even have the worst contract on the on on the team that’s the Montes Sabonis like I do not believe this league thinks very highly of Damont Sabonis and if the Kings attempted to shop him and I don’t think that they are but if the Kings attempted to shop him I think I think they would be hit with a nasty dose of reality with what that 40 plus million dollars per year the next handful of years really looks like
yeah you don’t have this asset on your team that’s going to get you four first round picks right
desmond Bane or even a KD on with his a
Well to be clear I didn’t think Desmond Bane was going to get you four first round picks
right
but but if you’re willing to pay for it that’s the value of it
well it goes back to the point too that type of player a a great shooter in this league an active defender and a scorer and not just a great shooter a threepoint shooter if Demar De Rozan shot threes and made them at the volume of Desmond Bane he probably would be much more valuable and and that’s what it was and then also a team that just needs that the Magic needed that player really bad and so that’s what you’re looking at with Dome like who needs a back to the basket big that’s going to kind of be the center of your offense isn’t going to necessarily be switchable on defense i think has improved and is holding his own is a great rebounder but like what team needs that right now and is going to pay multiple first round picks two three first round picks that that you want to kind of replenish your coffers and be a better team in the future that team doesn’t really exist right now and and I think that was the issue with Kevin when you’re trading Kevin like you’re looking at exactly what that not the player is but the situation what team needs that guy at that age at that price with that like uh you know hanging thread of his contract but also has multiple assets to get that done because you have to swap $54 million
and there weren’t a lot of teams and and and that’s why I think the Rockets package it into being less because they weren’t competing against too many people and so I don’t need four first round picks i need one and some seconds and players that you can play now because that’s what the Suns want now is guys that are actually going to play today what do the Kings want in a Domas trade i mean they probably want multiple picks and a starter but who’s lining up multiple picks and that salary number to get Dom right now who who does Dom put over the top not because he’s not a great player just where does he fit and I don’t think he has that fit right now yeah like everyone’s thing with Domas is oh you’ve gota you’ve got to put the right guys around him well like then clearly like Domas isn’t a guy that you he seems to be an extremely difficult guy to build around because if you miss on one player it seems to throw the whole thing off like you have to have the perfect player like I got excited yesterday they drafted this 7 foot one kid uh in the second round who can shoot threes where it’s like okay maybe in a situation if this kid really winds up working out in the NBA you could put him on the floor with Damont Sabonis and now you have a 7 foot one guy who could protect the rim or stretch the floor by dropping out to the three and leaving Dom there in the middle to to to do what he does around the basket and it just feels like you need very specific skill sets around Damonte Sabonis which I think is tough not only for the Sacramento Kings to navigate but as you pointed out every other team in the league
yeah and and and that’s exactly it you’re you’re if you’re keeping them you need specific guys around him and you don’t necessarily have the assets to acquire those guys right now if you’re sending them out that’s what the other team is going to be looking at the same situation if I’m the Wizards or whomever like whomever the trade partners or say like a fringe contender if I’m the Grizzlies well I need this this and this to surround him with that’s not gonna work it’s not It’s a little too expensive for me too and And that’s just I think what they’re what they’re looking at so they’re in a tough situation they’re in that middling situation it could end up being a competitive team this year i thought they had some great runs last year but honestly it’s like you either need to hit a home run or you need to like understand it’s not your day and and begin to build back up and and they don’t necessarily have the tools to do either one of those things right now which is a frustrating place to be
yeah were you surprised like there was a lot of like in draft movement but there weren’t really any fireworks in the draft were you surprised by that
i don’t want to brag i don’t want to bag on the Brooklyn Nets because every time I do I get yelled at online i cannot believe they took all five of those
no one can believe they took
I cannot believe that and and and not that they’ll pile on here
but I thought the point of gathering all those picks was to move up and maybe they couldn’t maybe nobody was just into three picks in the 20s and then the 19 like maybe they just weren’t that and then it felt like a lot of those picks were reaches on top of that but even if trade out trade back trade back into next year and they did neither nor I I I couldn’t believe that you’re not going to play all those players next year like you already have a roster as it is that shocked me the lack of like bigname player trades i I think the thing there is the guys who may be on the move you don’t necessarily need picks around them to make it happen you can do future picks you can do stuff like that so like a lot of people are talking about Trey Young who I don’t think is on the move even the Memphis guys who Memphis has kind of outwardly said no uh you don’t need that i never saw the Sixers trading out of of their pick and attaching that with Paul George unless there was a superstar involved uh so it was tricky but I thought we were going to get more kind of like fringe moves than we got i thought the Nets were going to be more active for absolute sure i thought the Suns might do the Bradley Bill thing finally or or or some of their fringe guys as well they made some moves and they got active but not the moves I thought but I’m with you i thought it was gonna be more fireworks we got a lot of talk and then we got the the Pelicans who uh you know set the blogs on fire by trading away next year’s pick which which is crazy but you know they if they really like their queen then that’s what you do it for but uh I know Joe Joe Dumar’s history so I’m not necessarily jumping to defend him either
yeah did Did Phoenix get worse like like I like you talk about you got to have like an objective somewhere you know whether rebuild do this it feels like they just added a bunch of more money to their cap after uh moving 52 million of Kevin Durant a couple days earlier i I don’t I don’t I I can like see the scenario right now where they win more games next year where they finish 500 where they’re technically a better team and it’s like look at what Kevin did to this team he broke them last year and now they’re better i can just see it right now i know how this goes but I I don’t know that they confuse me because of the timeline they’re on deon Booker’s 28 years old they’ve talked about wanting to compete then you you draft you know three guys that you’re planning on playing it seems like and so you have that along with Ryan Dunn you you have all these 21 22 23 year old guys and then you your your number 10 pick is 18 years old uh and then you go get Mark Williams who’s 23 years old so you got younger and it’s like by the time three of these five guys are active contributors to your team by the time the Duke kid is the center you want him to be like Devin Booker might be 31 he might be a Detroit Piston by then so it just confused me in that sense i thought there would be a little bit more now to this and you can say that’s what Dylan Brooks is and what Jaylen Green is but Jaylen Green is 22 like you know Dylan Brooks is is is about Booker’s age but it’s just a confusing shift of timelines i think they got more deep i think they added some stuff I wish they would have had where they had Kevin which is a center rotation which is some some rangy forwards uh but in this in this Western Conference I I in in this Western Conference where the Dallas Mavericks missed the playoffs this year I I I I just don’t see it but maybe there’s more moves to be had it seems like they’re trying to pray Bradley Trey Bradley Bill but I don’t expect a big return for him either
i don’t expect that
but I be competitive like they’ll be a decent team next year and I’m gonna laugh at Kevin when everybody starts saying it’s his fault
i need I need as a good friend would I need two things next year jordy to play all five rookies at once and then I need Phoenix to play Jaylen Dylan Brad and and Book all on the floor at at this I just just guards as far as the eye can see out there for Phoenix
yeah look they were running three guard lineups a ton last year and Kevin was playing the center now they have four centers on their roster uh you know and maybe they trade uh Nick but they they they have I want to see the four center lineup that’s what I want to see duke kid i want to see Nuke Richards nick Richards i I I I want to see Mark Williams like giving up real assets multiple first round picks to get the Hornets 2042 center rotation that seems kind of crazy like but I do remember the Phoenix Suns center rotation before that as well so who knows where this goes
uh any predictions for Monday
mon Monday start agency
oh um I don’t know i’m not expecting too many big trades
yeah you have a prediction for tomorrow cena and uh Punk
bro I don’t know man i’m seeing these clips come out of Sa I saw that clip of Punk this morning in Saudi Arabia i I was
I like Punk but I’m like “Bro you’re such a [ __ ] for that.” Like you’re so whack like he had this big stance about these Saudi Arabia shows yeah
he walks out and they’re booing him and he’s like
“Oh no it wasn’t about Saudi Arabia.” It’s like “Oh bro it was tough it was tough to watch.” I like Punk but man that was tough to watch and prediction is I assume Cena wins
yeah l Cena wins uh that’s a that’s a that’s a whole other combo
but that’s what you get when you grandstand the way he did and it’s like
it’s tough man because
he might go home one day he might relax
yeah i was going to say I’m sure he didn’t anticipate that bag being in his in the dropped in front of him the way it was
company man it’s crazy yeah yeah that was a hell of a line too from Cena he said “You’re Mr tko.” It’s like “Oh that’s tough.”
Yeah my critique is Cena is a better actor than he wrestler now so that that promo was perfect for that we have in the ring now but
yeah he did that he did that appreciate you Eddie as always thank you my brother
talk soon yes sir yes sir that’s a man Eddie Gonzalez right there uh we’ll come back if you missed uh the insiders uh conversation with Nick Clifford’s coach at Colorado State Ali Farukq Manesh uh we’re going to have that coming up for you in about 30 minutes do not go anywhere steel and KC brought to you by Sky River Casino and Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 great work everybody great work great work uh no Russ not today man not today Russ right on Saurin happy birthday brother have a great weekend have a great great weekend what else let me get back to something y’all had some comments in here I wanted to get to h all right I’m going to save these for the 3:00 hour let’s see what do I got what do I got left i have a few things planned oh right on Mark happy birthday to you too brother hey Manny how was uh Wuang last night i did not get an opport it looked packed which is dope cuz I wasn’t sure to be honest so glad that show jumped off can’t decide what to do here uh shout out to everybody uh over on YouTube hit the thumbs up and all that stuff before you go oh I’m with you B Perry i’m ready for that clips album to drop oh that’s good Manny that’s good i hate that I missed it that’s one I really wanted to check out all right a couple of pieces of business to uh 102 i know I’ve been bad with this all day man but if you want to get in on the phone lines please do uh obviously Casey isn’t here uh Kyle working his second show of the day uh big thanks to Kyle Matson i don’t know if you and I have done a show together you know since we might have been down south but
just you and me
yeah no you I’ve filled in for
I’m Okay yeah yeah
i think I filled in
probably when you were at 957
yeah but I don’t know if I did a whole show i know I did whole shows with Kenny i don’t know if I did whole shows with you though
okay
all right
i have no idea
well that’s cool we were like man Jesse’s gone joe’s gone casey’s gone all right we gonna keep moving
this station has four full-time employees not including Charlie and three of them are gone today
that’s correct that’s correct
two of them I guess no way
yeah that’s it’s
that’s fine we got it
we got it that’s what we do it’s good it’s been a great week nothing has gone wrong this week whatsoever absolutely nothing uh 91691320 that’s what I said I was bad about man if you want to tap in and talk about anything the Kings are doing anything that’s happening around the league please do that’s the Elkrove Kia talk line a big sh again big shout out to my man Colt there at Elkrove Kia going to come in and see you boy looking at that that EV9 man we on the way 916909 1320 if you missed Kyle Matson and James Ham the insiders uh talked to Nick Clifford’s coach at Colorado State Al Farooq Mesh earlier in the day don’t worry we’re going to have that conversation uh in its entirety coming up in about 30 minutes or so right about 3:15 uh we’ll run that conversation back for you so uh hang tight it’s on the way lots of inight insightful stuff from uh Nick Clifford’s coach uh at Colorado State a couple of things around the league before we dive back into the Kings because there is still very much a Keegan Murray conversation uh that needs to be had we started the conversation earlier it centered more around like Demar De Rozan and Malik Monk and you know who might be here who might not be here and there seems to be this belief that Demar De Rozan’s very existence in Sacramento affects uh Keegan Murray and I take exception to that for a variety of different reasons i’m going to tell you why uh coming up in just a couple of minutes there are a couple of things I mentioned earlier uh I do want to touch on or we’ll never get back to them i mentioned the articles i think they were over in the athletic that are and it was probably article versus articles but still it’s going to wind up on social media and it’s going to start getting some run and it’s going to get aggregated and it was about Luca Donuch and it was about Luca Donuch you know taking this off season seriously you know being in shape i don’t think there were any pictures attached to it it was just a write up about what his approach is to the offseason of course there have been pictures of Luca Donuch out that have made their way to social media and it’s one of those “Uh oh look at Luca he’s losing weight.” And of course with that we we all remember the saga of Ben Simmons hitting three-pointers during the summer we you know we we can all attach to a player needs to work on this particular attribute then they work on that particular attribute during the summer and then they constantly get made fun of on social media so I ask you the question everyone said I mean even Magic Magic Johnson was talking about Luca Donuch needs to be in shape luca Donuch ain’t done nothing but get traded to the Los Angeles Lakers he didn’t even have the opportunity to even have a off season yet before Magic Johnson is on national television with Stephen A smith yelling about how Luca Donuch needs to be in shape hey hey come on man this is the Los Angeles Lakers made a slight calculated mistake by bringing up Shaquille O’Neal whose career in Los Angeles ended because wait for it he wasn’t in shape so Luca needs to get in shape luca approaches this off season by going to get in shape reporter who covers the Los Angeles Lakers writes about how what you asked for in Luka getting in shape is happening and yet the internet still makes fun of him nba Twitter still caps on him for this and it’s like yo what is it that you want him to do it’s no different than Ben Simmons shooting threes during the off season you want Ben Simmons to shoot more you want him to develop a jumper he does it it winds up getting shot on video it makes its way to the internet and then it becomes a punchline but these guys are literally doing what their fan bases or in some cases their teammates their legends their executives their whatever their people associated with their franchise are telling them to do and no one buys it no one takes it seriously luka like like I people say “Yo Luca did this last year.” No he didn’t he No he didn’t luca wasn’t in shape last off season in fact wasn’t Luca’s Didn’t Luca’s cal injury like start in October or maybe that was a hamstring injury that was in October oh I’m sorry it wasn’t an injury my mistake that’s when Nico Harrison took him told him “Hey hey man you need to go get in shape.” And then gave him like 11 days off or something like that that big fabricated story that dropped after Luca was traded come on man what What What are we doing luca is doing what everyone has asked them to do i’m not getting hype saying “Oh watch out for Luca Donis this about to go crazy watch out for Luca he about to be this oh the league is about to be unleashed watch out.” Yeah no man ain’t I’m not doing that i’m just looking at a a dude who y’all told to go get in shape he went and got in shape good for Luca Donic hopefully it leads to nothing but uh no success for the Los Angeles Lakers and I asked Eddie this a second ago and I actually really agree with Eddie when we look at some of the biggest stories right now again just within the last week six days we saw Kevin Durant being traded that was virtually an allseason thing uh we expected to happen we saw the Boston Celtics shed like $180 million in salary another thing that had long been speculated about what was going to happen we saw Tyrese Hallebertton Terry Achilles we saw Shay Gil Gildris Alexander cap off one of the most phenomenal seasons in NBA history and we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder complete one of the most incredible turnarounds we’ve seen for a professional sports franchise by winning the NBA championship all of that has happened within the last six days but what’s going to be the biggest and of man didn’t even mention Cooper Flag was drafted we just had the NBA draft we have the Ace Bailey situation dylan Harper winds up uh in San Antonio takes a FaceTime and and and and Victor Womenyama’s on the other end and he goes “Hey my name is Vic.” It was like it was both humorous and charming at the same time but I ask you this what’s the biggest story one week from right now because there is no championship to be won there is no draft to be had we’re talking about free agency and we’re talking about the trade market what’s the biggest story one week from now one week from today I think it’s the 4th of July what are we talking about at the barbecue what are we talking about when the fireworks are going off what are basketball fans clamoring for what are Kings fans clamoring for as a week from today I think we’ll be a week away from summer league all of the executives will be in Las Vegas and the truth is I don’t know what it’s going to be but I don’t expect it to be anything major we have long tal like this the the the Giannis thing is getting difficult it’s getting difficult to make heads or tails of what’s going on with Giannis Ando and not not what Giannis wants but the way Giannis is being reported because now it’s like a battle of insiders and you don’t know exactly what the truth is you’re you’re you’re you’re you’re these these these multiple insiders are I’m sure they’re all reporting what they’re getting from people but they’re getting people talking to them in different camps and so everybody’s trying to get their story out and one story was Giannis is closely monitoring you know the draft and free agency and there’s constant it feels like and this is again this is where it’s difficult i don’t want to pile on Jiannisandanda Dumbo because I don’t even know if any of this is true but it feels like there’s a like he’s kind of like the the the one foot in one foot out like ah he’s thinking about oh oh there’s going to be this big meeting between the Bucks and Giannis’s people oh he’s monitoring this and he’s monitoring that if if if that’s true this is all like the a Giannis asking out it’s just inevitable it’s not even an if anymore it’s just a when and in that case the Bucks would be foolish to not inquire about trading him now they’re waiting for him to ask out now I don’t know what the the Milwaukee Bucks think they can accomplish with Dame Lillard on the shelf for an entire season which is why I think this King’s search for a point guard is so intriguing the Celtics they seemed at least seemed to have landed their guy who will take Jason Tatum’s place next year in Anthony Simons the Bucks in Indiana are in different situations different situations than than than Boston indiana is you know once you remove this season remove the fact that they lost high on a on a on a on a night that they were competing for the NBA championship you look at all of those teams are in the Eastern Conference all of those those players that we referenced those those teams are in the Eastern Conference so doesn’t doesn’t a player like Dennis Rutder become more attractive for those two teams for a single season doesn’t a player like Russell Westbrook become more attractive for those two teams for a single season i see a lot of Kings fans talking about Colin Ston doesn’t acquiring Colin Ston again you’re talking about a single season hell maybe keep them around for two that way Tai isn’t under too much pressure when he gets back maybe you know not you you can obviously he’ll he’ll he’ll have time he’ll have next off season to to to really prepare and that should you know knock off some of the rust it’s not like like Kyrie is tough for me like the the Dallas situation is tough for me because I I don’t you know landing Cooper flag Anthony Davis it’s why I propose like maybe you have to trade Anthony Davis this off season because you’re you’re essenti you one you’re always hoping and praying that he stays healthy but you you’ve lost Kyrie and I know he’s not out for the entire year but the idea that Kyrie just steps on the floor after tearing his ACL and it’s back to Kyrie That’s a ton of pressure on him that might set unrealist unrealistic expectations for your franchise the best thing you can hope for I think if you’re Dallas is that Cooper Flag emerges in his rookie year as that dude then you’ve got Kyrie coming along the following season or maybe halfway through the season and guiding along whatever the end of this looks like for Dallas and you know leading them into something that could potentially be special it’s just hard for me to buy in and this is where I keep getting hung up on the idea of trading Anthony Davis he’s still a solid defensive player and Nico Harrison for better or worse has stuck to that line about defense you’re not going to acquire a player and I’m not even talking about Anthony Davis’s skill set you’re not going to acquire a player who can do a fraction of what Anthony Davis can do on the defensive end in a trade for him so do you just cross your fingers and ride this out and that’s the other concern if in fact this season is if this upcoming season for Dallas is about Cooper Flag then you’re hoping Anthony maybe you hope for the best between Cooper Flag Anthony Davis and a late arriving Kyrie Irving but if not you’re you’re a year further into Anthony Davis where I know everyone’s going to be anxious about Anthony Davis being healthy year after year regardless of it’s this year the year after the other the year year after that any year Anthony Davis is playing the fan base that he’s playing for is going to be anxious about his availability and I I and I I I keep looking at Dallas like are they going to do something over the course of the next couple of days that gets everybody’s attention and they too much like Indiana much like Milwaukee and much like the Sacramento Kings are in the point guard game and so I know I I kind of wonder I James said something I think it was yesterday two days ago where he was like when the Dennis Shruder report uh when Mark Stein first reported that the Kings were were really interested in Dennis Shruder it was like yeah like Kings fans were like uh so underwhelming but then when he winds up resigning with Detroit Kings fans are going to be like we couldn’t even get Dennis Shruder And there’s a very real possibility that you could run through a long list of point guards that wind up going elsewhere i’ll say this until it’s announced on Monday i believe Russell Westbrook opted out of his deal with Denver because he knew exactly where he was going his agent knew exactly where he was going now he opted out long enough ago where I don’t believe that’s Indiana it might be Milwaukee or it could be someone I haven’t mentioned and I’m not even thinking of it absolutely could be Yeah why couldn’t it be Dallas Westbrook there with Kyrie out for a chunk of the season russ is there kyrie doesn’t have to rush back into playing 30 minutes a night when he returns you can ease him into it if I don’t think they will be but if Dallas is in playoff position you allow him to ramp up for the playoffs again i don’t think Dallas is going to be in playoff position unless Anthony Davis is very healthy and plays incredible and Cooper Flag is Cooper Flag needs no transition to the NBA he’s just great right out the gate that’s to me that’s the way it works
i guess Jason Kidd was saying today he spoke with the media and I guess he kept talking about Cooper Flag playing point guard so I kind of wonder if that’s the plan if they think he’s just going to be that good out the gate i’m skeptical i think that’s where Russell Westbrook could fit really nice
yeah don’t love that idea
i don’t I don’t I don’t hate it as a as a developmental thing if you if you’ve got Cooper flag
that how you want him to start his career though is playing in that position
probably not but if that’s why that’s where I think a Russell Westbrook fits great there
yeah not only do you need Kyrie Irving probably needs a full year right to to come back
100% so you get Russell Westbrook in there and it’s the same it’s the same philosophy as as the Blazers bringing in Drew Holiday at least for me if you’re looking for Cooper Flag to develop as a point guard okay hey here’s a Hall of Famer
sure who’s good at a little bit of everything i don’t I don’t hate that idea at all okay all right so we’re on to something and I think you can look around the league and see or at least look around the league at the teams that have injured guards and realize this is this is going to be a like I don’t know if he will given what’s happened the last few weeks like I think Russ played I 3 million I think for his uh time in the league that’s a I think that’s a vet minimum russ has an opportunity to get a couple bucks this year you know some of these other point guards who you just think might be you know one year rentals here one year rentals here like these guys have an opportunity to get a couple of bucks and the thing that I think really worked out for us it it like I’m I’m I I think I was the one who said during that Oklahoma City Thunder series is this this series goes as Russell Westbrook goes and that wasn’t about you know where Russ is at in his career that is about where the Denver Nuggets were they had no depth and they needed one other guy to be great and when Russell Westbrook was great they won games in in the playoffs russ was really good throughout the season that’s the other thing like that can get frustrating is don’t minimize you know Russell Westbrook’s year last year to the last you know that last series against Oklahoma City that Denver Nuggets team went on their biggest run when when Russell Westbrook wound up being in the starting lineup and he seamlessly transitioned back to coming off of the bench russ was really really good last year in his role russ was great in his role last year the question will be whether it’s with Sacramento is he asked to play a different role is he asked to play the starting starting point guard whether it’s with Indiana whether it’s with Dallas as Kyle and I were just talking about right there whether it’s with Milwaukee is he asked to be the starting guard in the case of Indiana Milwaukee and Dallas he absolutely would be asked to be the starting point guard at least for a year what would he be asked for in Sacramento but I maintain what I’ve been saying all along it might have changed with the Tyrese Hallebertton injury but I think Dame already I think uh Russ already knows what team he’s going to which is why I lend a little bit more validity to the Dennis Shruder stuff dennis Shruder might very well wind up a Sacramento king but that’s not going to be a massive story it’ll be a story here but we’ve I mean Sham Shirani the most prominent insider uh in in in the game friends with our man Eddie Gonzalez who was who was with us you know a few minutes ago Eddie was like “I’m not sure i don’t really expect anything crazy maybe maybe there’ll be some trades out there but I don’t think anything crazy this has been four months of yo this could be the craziest off season ever.” Well KD has moved i don’t think Giannis is being traded this off seasonason i don’t think Trey is being traded i don’t think LaMelo is being traded i didn’t see the Desmond Bane thing happening but the only thing that was really seismic about the Desmond Bane trade was the return it wasn’t “Oh my god Desmond Bane was traded.” It was “Oh my god there were first four first round picks involved in this Desmond Bane trade.” I said it when it happened if you think you’re a Desmond Bane away hey salute get it done go make that move you think you have to make they did it indiana did it seakum was their guy they made that move they paid that money we wondered would Trey be that guy for Sacramento make that move pay that money very very clear crystal clear he is not i’m not even sure that he was actually available i mean we heard rumblings that Atlanta would entertain moving him that Atlanta and Sacramento were engaged in trade conversations but how engaged were they and how far did those conversations go up i have no idea and I don’t think he’s being traded i don’t think LaMelo Ball is being traded the biggest name that might be traded and I’m not even sold on this yet given the state of this franchise at the moment is Mikuel Bridges is the front office sold on Mikuel Bridges uh ability to help that basketball team new York just needs to run it back player-wise obviously they can’t run it back fully anymore because they fired Tom Thibido and have yet to hire anyone in his place but roster-wise yo that team is good enough there’s enough on that team to do it again but if someone gets moved is it Muel but all of this talk about the crazy off season ahead and the Stars and Derek White and Jaylen Brown and getting under aprons and I don’t think any of it is happening i think Miami is just going to continue to make mid moves and be mid you know who I think is the most interesting player to watch on Monday is Jonathan Kaminga i think everything Golden State does next centers on Jonathan Kaminga and I think it centers on the market for Jonathan Kaminga i think someone a general manager team whatever will absolutely go all in on Jonathan Kaminga but what does that look like i have no idea he might be the biggest story a week from now the Golden State Warriors might be the biggest story a week from now because they Kenny and I were talking about this a couple of days ago the Golden State Warriors no matter how good you think Jonathan Kaminga is or if you you just don’t think he fits on the Golden State Warrior whatever it may be the Warriors are about one thing right now and it’s number five for Steph Curry get Steph it isn’t even about getting the Golden State Warriors a championship it’s about get Steph Curry one more ring that five puts him in company with Kobe Bryant Tim Duncan and more importantly I believe in the mind of the Golden State Warriors it separates him from LeBron James and I think you can acquire enough with the Jonathan Kaminga move where the Golden State Warriors could be frustratingly good next year we’ll come back if you missed the insiders conversation with uh Ali Farooq Man he is the head coach of Colorado State he is Nick Clifford’s coach you will hear from him in case he return here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320 what is going on in the chat i had to turn away i was like what are y’all doing
three times a show i just closed the chat entirely
got to do it gota do it
not because it’s bad but it’s like I’m going to just keep scrolling up until I find out what’s going on and then I’m not listening to James and then it’s a bad show
yeah yeah no I got you i’ve stopped trying to figure out what’s going on in there just stopped y’all do it i appreciate you Gwy Cube thanks Russ appreciate you man
these solo shows are taxing
is there anything worse than when you’re like “Man this conversation we’re having is awesome like we’re having a really good conversation wonder what the chat’s saying.” And then you look over and it is nothing to do with anything they’re talking about
yeah it’s tough it’s tough yeah it’s tough
it’s very humbling very humbling
i thought you know I thought for what it was what I just did was was good and then I looked over and I’m like I [ __ ] there nope this is dog [ __ ] they’re not even listening yeah no the chat can be the most wonderful thing in the world and it can be the most uh demoralizing thing in the world but then you got Ash who says “You’re holding it down respect.” Appreciate you Ash thank you brother uh oh Michigan it’s all good baby man you good you good yeah it’s it’s facts bro facts young what up boy mhm yeah your guys’ um shorts are killing it yeah your guys’ shorts are killing it youtube shorts very good thank you yes I need to get those on um Instagram i need to I I should say I need to do a better job of getting those on Instagram yeah for sure man i’m down it’s a good idea good idea good idea yeah yeah I did that too i I don’t even archive him to be honest i delete them yeah um another big fan by the way the person you were talking to another fan yeah I don’t think he has the ability i I I don’t think I I’ve I’ve I’ve we’ve only had a we’ve only had what I would deem a a really upsetting conversation once in two years and it was uh it was just a a miscommunication but it caused a lot of problems and I was really upset i know that’s hard to believe that I’d get really upset but it h it it happened most Yeah most people can’t most people can’t no it’s all good sky River Casino is the place to play with 2100 of the newest slot machines and over 80 table games sky is the limit at Sky River Casino uh we have got a lot more to talk about you know I I I I mentioned this and I’m I’m I’m not sure because I I want to play uh the insiders uh had the opportunity today to talk to Al Farooq Mesh the head coach of Colorado State where of course Nick Clifford played and I want to run that conversation for you in its entirety here uh in just a heartbeat but I mentioned earlier that what we saw from Oklahoma City and Sacramento on Wednesday night is probably going to have to be the norm for Oklahoma City to a certain degree moving forward like everyone is very aware of the treasure trove of picks uh that that organization has the treasure trove of assets that that organization has and you know it’s this idea you know the draft and the number of draft picks doesn’t seem to really be about the players you can acquire through the draft anymore it seems to be who’s willing to trade a player to you to get a bunch of those draft picks and obviously the Thunder made a deal with Sacramento it was far from seismic but they did trade out of this particular draft now they’re in on another one know those picks uh could wind up being a first could wind up being multiple seconds most likely uh it it’s it’s it’s a it’s a first round pick but they got out of this draft and that’s the what I think we’re going to have to see from Oklahoma City more moving forward is find teams they can’t draft all of these players it’s Casey’s old thing i’d never do a deal with Oklahoma City the Kings had a player that they wanted in Clifford oklahoma City was right there they knew they could make a deal with them they did just that but when you look at the idea of acquiring players even one like what would a player uh for the Oklahoma City Thunder have done this year like this upcoming season I should say this is a team that just won the NBA champion you’re going to try to incorporate an 18-year-old a 19year-old into a championship winning team you got multiple first round picks next season so you didn’t make anyone this year all right perfect you got your squad out there now you’ve got guys like Cadet JDub SGA now now they start stop being the you know cute young team and now they’re now they start becoming the veteran team and then you try to incorporate these young players now who are in a championship situation because of the way Sam Prey has run this organization the second they step on the floor does any of this sound familiar this is exactly what went on with the Golden State Warriors now we can argue about whether the Golden State Warriors handled it properly and that’s certainly very much a big part of this discussion did the we we got the the the famous two timeline line and I was absolutely of the belief that the Golden State Warriors had two timelines and I was absolutely of the belief that the Golden State Warriors were going to be near the top of the Western Conference for years to come but something happened along the way that team won an NBA championship and I think you can make the argument and this is not shade whatsoever they probably weren’t supposed to win that one that was like but they did it like they went out and won of their four easily the most unlikely NBA championship that they have probably one of the most unlikely championship if you just take the team within that season in recent memory and then it started to become yo we can keep doing this and that two timeline thing got put on hold why because those young players hadn’t developed yet and I don’t know how you develop young players on a team that is expected to win a championship the second they step on the floor like Cooper Flag is not expected to win a championship next year there is a certain now I know everyone wants to win a championship but if you’re a rookie stepping on the floor with Chad Homegrren SJA the team that is getting their rings you’re watching that basketball team get their rings their first night in the your first night uh in regular season NBA action yo that’s pressure when you start hearing things like yay cades SGA solidify himself as as one of the greats like this is could this be a a a a true dynasty in the NBA yo there is pressure for these young guys now I don’t know if a two timeline thing doesn’t work i don’t know if the two timeline thing was just messed up by the Golden State Warriors i just don’t know how you develop young players while trying to win an NBA championship at the same time and that’s where using your assets to acquire other players of the same timeline matters that’s why finding guys who fit what SGA JDub Chat all they’re doing i think we’re about a half a season away from speculating on Chad Homegrrim’s future with the Oklahoma City Thunder and this is what Draymond was talking about we’re not we’re not there yet but each passing year we’re starting to approach it but this is what this is what Draymond was talking about and this is where and we you know give the devil their due this is where he was right the new collective bargaining agreement makes it extremely difficult for teams like Oklahoma City Thunder that hit on the draft the Golden State Warriors built their team from primarily from within clay I don’t think is in not in Golden State anymore because he’s not good anymore because he’s not the Klay Thompson of old we know how much Joe Lacob loves nostalgia it’s because they recognized we’re probably not gonna win a title with this group anymore now we’ve got not just taxes because Joe Leob was at I I’ll credit Joe Leica for this for eternity he said if we have a championship I’ll pay the taxes i will pay for us if it means we’re winning a championship if we’re not we’ve got to make some changes then these aprons get put into play that changed the game first apron second apron a complete game changer because it’s not just tax penalties that go along with this it’s the ability to add and improve i should say it’s the inability to add players and improve that affects you the most i think it was uh Boston’s owner that was talking about that during the sale process of the Boston Celtics it’s not the money everyone’s talking about uh get under the apron the money the money the money no you’ve got to get under the apron or you can’t make a move as a basketball team and so Oklahoma City’s trade with Sacramento on Wednesday I think was a sign of what’s to come for Oklahoma City they’ve got all of these draft picks and whether they trade him on draft night or they trade him for uh a star that wants to come in and join the franchise which that will be one of the really interesting things to watch because Oklahoma City is universally and I’m not talking about the basketball team I’m talking about the city is almost universally considered the boringest city in the NBA like teams have movie nights on the road in Oklahoma City that’s not a that’s not shade that’s a shoot i’ve I’ve heard it i’ve gotten reports from them like that is a real thing and it seems to always happen in Oklahoma City some teams do it in Sacramento true story but they’re really good they play a certain level of basketball and they have the assets to acquire anyone in the league they want assuming that team out there would do business with them that includes Janna de Kmpo so what the Oklahoma City Thunder did with the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night I think is the first step in something we see a lot over the next three to four years in some way shape or form with Oklahoma City trading those picks of course that pick was used to draft Nick Clifford Colorado State 66 wing coached by Al Farooq Man who talked with the insiders earlier today and here’s that conversation that you heard on ESPN 1320 all right let’s get right to it here on the insider sponsored by Jiffy Lube he’s James Ham i’m Kyle Madson and joining us now Coach Ali Faroke Manesh he has been with Colorado State for the last I believe seven years is seven years now coach you’ve been in uh that you’ve been at Fort Collins
yeah seven years going on eight now so it’s Yeah long time
well congratulations on the recent promotion to the to the head coaching job there that’s uh that’s outstanding for you i’m really happy for you but I I I I want to get to Nick Clifford we only got a few minutes with you here uh but I want to get to Nick Clifford who you coached over over his two years at Colorado State with the Rams uh what what type of player are the Kings getting with Nick Clifford and obviously I think the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about Nick is his versatility um he truly is a two-way player and I think he showed that all both years with us to be honest um and then the the scoring and the shooting and the playmaking really picked up in his second year but I mean he’s always been an elite rebounder i think from a guard position like he’s he’s on the Josh Hart type level of rebounding um from a comparison standpoint to be honest it’s kind of ironic but I’ve always kind of because I grew up watching the Kings with the in the Mike Bibby era and whatnot um and Doug Christie comes to mind in some ways um and I think so it’s kind of ironic but I I love the way he competes on the defensive end of the floor but I think in the last what he added to his game is the shot making off the dribble off the move off the catch and shoot and then his secondary playmaking skills there’s not a lot of guys that you can say are are true wings defensively that also can make plays for others on the other end of the floor too you know coach when you’re looking at his development again it’s not like he was being squandered in Colorado but when he came to you guys he just took this massive leap what has he done off the court that makes you feel like he’s going to continue this uh this sort of I don’t know aggressive ascension that he has uh since since joining Colorado State yeah I I don’t want to say he changed the way he worked when he got to us but I think he he morphed his thinking and his mentality of the way he worked um we became way more intentional with what he was doing in his development um because everyone gets in the gym and like he was always going to get better because he loved being in the gym but the intentionality that he had with his work in terms of his shooting right away when he first got here we were working on his feet and his balance and then his one motion and then the next thing we wanted to work on was him playing off two feet better and so once he progressed in that area then the next year when he came back it was his shooting off the dribble and then obviously his ball handling too because we thought he’d become more of a playmaker in that year too for us and um all each one of those things was very specific and I think you could see that progression happen through those two years here and um it all led to this and it doesn’t always work out that way when you have someone that’s willing to work buy into the work um and then the humility that he has um because a lot of guys you tell them what they need to work on and they don’t want to hear it and he was very accepting of what we thought we needed to work on right away and um it was fun to see that progression happen for him that fast and um it’s cool to now say that we got four guys that are going to be on NBA rosters this coming season
talking with Colorado State men’s basketball coach Ali Faroke Manesh now uh Nick could have come out last year in the draft but he chose to go back to school uh there in Fort Collins what was it uh what what was a the reason you think he went back and b uh what were some of the things you think he improved with that extra year in college yeah honestly you just don’t want to go back to school that was the biggest thing uh because I mean you’ve been you’ve been in school up to that four years you’ve graduated already like it was kind of that was one of the biggest things to him and then it got to the point it was like you know everyone says “Bet on yourself.” And that I took that more as bet on yourself to come back to college to improve your stock
and he had basically six months seven months with us at that point from the time he got here in June to the end of that season so we thought if we had another nine months to work on his game that he would change completely because he made that much progress in essentially seven months what would he look like with another nine months with us and so specifically right away it was the shooting off the bounce and the ball handling because we thought he had Isaiah Stevens the year before that set him up for a lot of plays and this year we thought he was going to have to make plays for himself and for others more and that showed up I mean in a completely different atmosphere than I think anybody thought which I thought was ironic he came out trying to come out the year before and he only was looked at as a 3 and D wing then this year now we had teams calling us and being like was he like a secondary point guard type player and it’s like no one even talked to me about that a year ago so it’s a huge credit to him um just buying into that work and and also having the humility to understand like yeah I’m not good enough in these areas yet i need to improve um and he did like I he made double the amount of threes he made the year before and the year before that he made double the amount of threes that he made previously his entire career at Colorado so the the level of growth and development over 20 months was something that that’s what we pride ourselves on but that doesn’t happen with a lot of kids either you know the one of the the stats that jump out on the on his box score for me is his free throw attempts jumped from 2.3 to five from his fourth to fifth season um and you know again before that he’d capped out at like 1.5 free throw attempts that shows me that number one he’s got the ball in his hands more but also number two he’s being more physical going to the basket is that something that you guys were able to work with him sort of the development of the off the dribble game and and getting to the basket drawing contact absolutely it’s funny it’s funny you say that because that was one of the key things that we thought we need to develop if you want to be a true scorer that doesn’t mean just making shots like the best scorers in the world get to the free throw line i mean Sha Gil just Alexander right foul merchant so you look at all those guys like the best scorers get to the foul line when they’re not making shots they’re still scoring four to five points a game just at the foul line and he did a tremendous job of not only getting the line but also converting once he got to the line um so no you’re 100 it’s funny you point that out because that’s we made a sheet prior to the season and that was one of the four things that we we needed to work on and grow in and that’s what he did i mean he went from 12 points a game if you just add the free throws right there he’s already at 15 to 16 and then obviously you add some more scoring and playmaking at the rim he got to 19 20 points a game
ali Faro Maneshi’s the head coach of Colorado State he he helped coach Nick Clifford during his two years there what type of what type of guy is he is he quiet is he a vocal leader what what Tell me about him as a as a person that he’s the most elite teammate you’re ever going to have and I think there’s the one thing that I can point to the story that always comes to mind to me is so he’s at Colorado before obviously Colorado Car State don’t like each other so that year his first year with us we beat Colorado at home so they really don’t like us now but then his best from some of his best friend Tristan Dilbo who’s now with the Orlando Magic they’re having senior night in Colorado and we’re off we I think we had like a two-day break or something well he decides to drive up from Fort Collins to Boulder which is about a 354 minute drive on Tristan’s senior night was for Tristan Dilva’s senior night i don’t know too many guys that would do that in general but much less you’re going into you’re going into enemy territory at the same time and I think that just speaks volumes to the type of teammate he is as well you’re not only getting an elite basketball player but the type of teammate that you want not only with the other guys in your locker room but also in the community
that’s outstanding coach thank you so much for your time man uh know you’re super busy this time of year so uh really appreciate you great stuff from the insiders right there uh from earlier today on ESPN 1320 talking to Ali Farukq Mesh the head coach of Colorado State basketball of course Nick Clifford’s uh head coach
i really appreciate you cutting that off before I stumbled my way through the outro that was super nice of you i got you i got you sometimes you know the the two most difficult things in the game in this game can often be saying hello and saying goodbye thousand percent dude this happens to Kenny and I on KSFM all of the time where we’ll we’ll we’ll be conveying a message about the Tai dollar sign concert right and then we can’t find the exit and it’s just like all right just go to commercial stupid and you just can’t find your way to get out and I always say starting the conversation and ending the conversation can often be the two most difficult things and so that’s perfectly fine
perfectly fine it was a great conversation anything stand out to you in the conversation you guys had yeah I I I think the the part about him being an elite teammate that bodess well for me
sure because regardless of regardless of how his game translates whether Nick Clifford is uh an all-star or a 15 minutes a night role player he’s going to do wherever whatever his role winds up being I think he’s going to do it well in service of the team
i that if that’s where his mindset really is like I’m going to do everything I can uh for my teammates for my brothers who are going to they need me to play this role or that role i’ll do that uh to the to the best of my ability that that matters a lot to me yeah and and and I think that’s that’s a great characteristic to have when we don’t know exactly what his role is going to be next year like we
Exactly
we can guess we can speculate man we don’t know what this team is going to look like Tuesday afternoon much less what it’s going to look like uh when these guys take the floor for camp here in a few months
yeah the the opposite version of this is a guy like Jonathan Kaminga who has all the talent in the world but the Warriors needed him to play a certain role
like hey do these things and he went no I’m better than that I would like to do different things I would like to impact the game in this way
and I think so I think that that ability to go I’m going to play this role this is going to be my role moving forward or or the team needs me to do this on this night they need me to do something else another night oh I’m gonna start this night and play 35 minutes i I I I think the ability to recognize that is is a is a skill that not every player has
absolutely yeah absolutely and this is a team that’s in flux right now like it’s a team where I mean Nick doesn’t know Dom doesn’t know Malik doesn’t know we don’t know uh exactly where this team is going what direction they’re going what they’re doing and maybe we’ll get some answers on Monday i don’t expect everything to be figured out on Monday uh I expect a a slow trickle of signings i’m not sure if there’s you know trades for this team to be made i don’t expect Trey Lyles to be back i I I wonder if both of these draft picks that the Sacramento Kings made you know of course they signed some you know some guys uh some undrafted free agents and you know there have been exhibit 10s throughout the day two ways throughout the day like the Kings took part in that as well i I don’t know how much of that will have an impact on on on Sacramento this year but of course one story line we are following is the Keon Ellis one who was a G-League player he was he was an undrafted free agent he was a uh he was a he was a guy you know on those exhibit 10 and G-League contracts and and all of that different stuff so it’ll be a fascinating few weeks uh to see what direction that the Sacramento Kings go and uh I I go back and look at some of these comments in the chatty house young Sav asked “Did I miss hearing something do there been reports of of Malik being gone?” And I I don’t know that there are reports that Malik is gone i think there’s conversations about who doesn’t fit on this basketball team and so many people for so many weeks months have thought well the answer is Demar De Rozan demar De Rozan doesn’t fit and I don’t know that that’s I’m not going to argue with anyone he’s a ball stopper he doesn’t shoot threes or he doesn’t shoot enough threes or he doesn’t in that regard you’re maybe you’re right i mean Marshall Harris joined us uh multiple times uh this past season and Marshall Harris Chicago he’s watched Demar De Rozan many times he walked in and said “How y’all like the ball stopper?” It’s not new to Sacramento it’s kind of what has been labeled the Demar Roen and the one thing that bothers me and there were a couple of these uh let’s make sure we get to them i’m going to start with my man Mr 49er he said “We need more ball movement so Murray can get more touches.” Uh and the rest of the team uh Demar De Rozan slows down too much of course these comments are courtesy of the Chatty House over on YouTube.com 1320 twitch.tv/espn TV/ ESPN1320 uh and on Twitter as well just make sure you’re following us at ESPN1320 the idea that Demar De Rozan or any other player in a Sacramento Kings uniform is hindering the development of Keegan Murray is laughable to me i don’t know why Keegan isn’t shooting the percentage of threes or is hitting the percentage of threes that he did uh as his rookie in his rookie year i think Kenny and I looked this up uh a couple of weeks ago and I’m more than happy uh to do it again it wouldn’t be the first time I looked up the same stat a billion times but I believe the year-over-year number was less than two shots per game uh it’s less than two but we’ll call it two shots keegan Murray in 2023 2024 averaged 12.7 uh field goal attempts 2024 2025 he averaged 10.8 so in this world we’ve created for ourselves Demar De Rozan kept Demar D Rozan single-handedly kept Keegan Murray from shooting the ball on average two more times per game i do find it fascinating how everyone is clamoring for Keegan Murray to shoot the ball more and willing to blame Demar De Rozan as the reason that Keegan Murray isn’t shooting the ball more when I infamously asked Damont Sabonis to shoot the ball one or two more times per game I was killed for it i was told I hated Deonte Sabonis domas has man you talk about the picture of consistency 12.5 12.1 13.5 11.9 13 12.8 bro is what he is those are Damonte Sabonis’ shot attempts per game he averaged 19 points per game at 12.8 8 shots you go back a little more it’s even more impressive as he averaged 11.9 shots 19.1 points per game domos is efficient but again 19 points on 12 shots keegan Murray last year was 12 points on 10 shots the year before he was 15 points on 12 shots okay the person who has stopped Keegan Murray i don’t so I I want I want to be I want to be nice for a second because I don’t believe that there’s anyone who is hindering Keegan Murray from being what he was his second year his first year from being great from being whatever like I don’t believe there’s any Sacramento king that is doing that but I do wonder if his role on the defensive end has changed that a little bit how many times did we see shots come up short last year really you could look that over the last you know couple of years feel like we saw it pretty regularly maybe it’s what Mike Brown was asking him to do maybe part of last year wasn’t just Demar De Rozan but it was the switch from Mike Brown to Doug Christie maybe not just Demar De Rozan and switch from Mike Brown to Doug Christie maybe it was the loss of Dearron Fox which is why I keep going back to It’s why I keep going back to the same thought that maybe there were extenduating circumstances last season that led this team to underachieve again there is a a level of maybe we over maybe we overvalued this team a little bit or maybe not even a little bit maybe a lot after the Demar De Rozan trade maybe the idea of 50 wins was a little bit too ambitious and of course this is a different basketball team to start the year than it was last year last year Dear Fox started on this basketball team so we we know that that’s not happening now the flip side to that is Zack Lavine is here for the full year too i do i mean and I know people don’t like to acknowledge the human side of professional athletes all the time zack Lavine and his wife had a baby like what a couple of days before he was traded here and they all moved from Chicago to Sacramento like I think he was living at the Sawyer or whatever hotel they stay at for I assume the entire season like there was a human aspect to to what Zack Lavine was dealing with last year sure this all started with Keegan and Murray yo Uncle Kee that was the nickname the kids De’aran that was his dog like they were together there’s a human aspect of all of this that I think factored into last year did it did it affect him i have no idea but whether it did or it didn’t it can’t anymore because this season can’t be tied to anything that happened last year mike’s not here de’arren’s not here let’s move forward with this group and figure out what it looks like i had a I I I wrote this down in my notes and I’ve been hesitant to say it all day but I do think you know Matt George was talking about uh yesterday and and he even mentioned it today you know there is a a possibility of you know Scott Perry might look at this as a as a gap year which is such a stupid ass term i hate it but I know what Matt means just like I knew what it meant when Sam Amik said you know said it you know two years ago or whatever it was three years ago but the only thing that might scare off Sacramento Kings fans more than the term gap year is the phrase run it back because when I look and wonder is trading Demar De Rozan the right thing i don’t I don’t I don’t know that it is i don’t know that you can really trade Zack Lavine maybe you can i don’t I don’t know i don’t think you’re trading Damonte Sabonis as Matt George told us I don’t think there’s a market for Malik Monk you got Nick maybe you got Maxine the big French kid who they took yesterday may maybe he’s a part of the the main roster at the at the jump despite the fact he was a second round pick don’t expect Trey to be back we know a point guard is coming in but the the point guards that have been reference referenced with Dennis Rutder being the loudest is they’re they’re guys who you’d be like “Oh that’d be a cool acquisition as a backup point guard.” Now I don’t know if the plan is if Dennis Rutder winds up here for him to be the starting point guard i don’t know if Russell Westbrook winding up here has a plan to be the starting point guard but we know that a point guard needs to come into play and we’re wondering if fans are going to be underwhelmed by that selection so the big change that fans might have been hoping for it might not be coming my man Brian in the chat is saying “Do you talking yourself into running it back?” No no no no no no don’t misunderstand what I’m saying i’m not talking myself into running it back i’m telling you there’s a very real possibility this team might have to run it back there and it and it’s not it’s not that Scott Perry is sitting on his hands it’s not that he’s not getting something done it’s that and I’m of this belief you don’t have to trade Malik Monk just to trade him just to say you did something you don’t have to trade Demar De Rozan if you don’t like the deal if you don’t think it makes your team better there might not be a deal for the Sacramento Kings to make
that will dramatically improve this team or even moderately improve this team
yeah I think my only real concern would be if Scott Perry looks at the Demanis Sabonis Zack Lavine Demard Rosen trio and goes “Yeah this is it.” That would concern me a little because I don’t think that trio is it what if I understood but what if he said “Man this is it for now.”
Yeah no and I think that’s what’s happening so I I I think that like Malik Monk you said like you don’t think there’s a market out there for him i think the Kings are in a weird spot where they have players whose value is at its highest for Sacramento but those players also don’t work that well together
sure is that like Dom in in a vacuum is one of the best centers in the league but I I think Matt hit the nail on the head he’s a really tough player to build around you got to Okay he’s got this huge contract you got to give up assets for him and if you’re the Kings you’re not just going to give away Deanna Simonus right
you’re not just going to give away Demard Rozan so it’s a it’s a I I I am of the belief and this is not I I am not a Kings apologist i am not a Scott Perry apologist i think the the what’s the like the downthe-middle view of this
is that Scott Perry is in a n impossible spot he has been dealt a terrible hand because of the way this roster and their assets were managed over the last 12 to 18 months it’s just an imp it’s a if there’s no deal out there’s no deal out there
right and this is this is where the thing goes back to dear this is all
Yeah the De’aran thing has to be said in complete hindsight because when the deal was done I thought wherever the Kings were going with De’aran I think they I think they were going to the same place with Zack Lavine i don’t think it was any different the problem is now
bro the problem is what we’re living right now is you know in in in hindsight you you you think in the moment we absolutely thought this this this team could potentially do something but like if De’aran doesn’t want to be here the effect that has on the locker room the the one foot out you know for your your point guard and your team leader this is a bad bad look we have to end this immediately i don’t believe for nothing De’arren had a lick worth of leverage he can talk like he does and he can act like he does but there was it all right there was there was at least a team out there that would have been like “Oh no we’ll try it.” Like if he if he leaves he leaves but this whole no one look yo people can talk about winning all they want to
mhm we’ve said this repeatedly if De’Arren had been an allNBA player he’s going nowhere
right
he’s here he could talk about Mike Brown and all of this he knew in December when Mike Brown was fired and in the middle of January when all of this started he knew he was not an AllNBA player and that Super Duper Max was out of the question
yep
he knew that so that’s gone so you can get to San Antonio and not really lose any money great because of because of that
perfect you trade him anywhere you want to this whole idea that he’s not going to sign here he’s not going to sign here rich Cob can Rich Paul can puff his chest out because no one’s called his bluff before but it’s very simple look we’re going to We want you here we want you here long term if you leave salute you leave you’re taking no money with you because we’re not doing any sort of sign and trade you’re just effing leaving
mhm but no one pulls those punk cards anymore so this whole idea that Fox had all the leverage he was going to end up in San Antonio kc says it all the time he would have s signed in San Antonio anyways fine sign in San Antonio for $50 million less but it wasn’t it you would be like everyone oh Jaylen Brunson took a pay cut the reason Jaylen Brunson’s pay cut was such a big story is because no one does it
mhm and that Kawaii is one of the very few guys who was like “No I’m leaving.”
Right
i’m just leaving i’ve won the title this is great i’m just leaving it does not happen even Paul George Paul George stayed in Oklahoma City to in fact salute Paul George build him a statue he stayed in Oklahoma City signed that contract decided he wanted to go to LA because Kawhai was going there and now Oklahoma City is NBA champions but the point was they took a gamble and he stayed when he decided he wanted to leave OKC had all of the leverage
and can you and I know this is this is a a butterfly effect kind of thing because if De’Arren doesn’t go to the Spurs the record’s different they don’t jump up to two but let’s pretend everything’s the same let’s pretend the Kings held on to De’ar until the summer do you think the Spurs still try and acquire Dear Fox with the number two pick
absolutely not no chance
okay so now you have so much more talking about leverage m
if you’re the Kings now you go “Hey the Spurs don’t want you dog.” Yep
so here we go open bidding
yep
and the what you’re getting back for Dear Fox probably looks a little bit something like what you’re getting back from from the Desmond Bane trade
there was absolutely ah I don’t know if it’s that
I don’t know if it’s but but that was my other thing
i just I just meant you’re getting more than you got
i I hear you one the biggest loser of the lottery was the Sacramento Kings because of that
yes because of San Antonio moving up to number two and everybody presuming that they knew who number two was which it was it was Dylan Harper the other thing ties into what we’ve talked about a couple of times with Malik and a couple of other players i do not know what De’Arren’s value was around the league i have no idea like I don’t know orlando looked at Desmond Bane and said “We need a tough
defender who can score we need a a what we essentially need is a really really good two-way player.” Specifically a guy who can shoot
right de’arren is also a really good two-way player when he’s engaged on the defensive end it’s not all of the time it’s a lot but he’s he is good on the defensive end but I don’t know who goes Orlando thinks they’re a Desmond Bane away from competing in the East
i don’t know who goes we’re a De’Arren Fox away from competing in insert conference here i don’t know who feels that way
and the idea that there would have been this robust market for De’Arren Fox come this off seasonason i don’t know that that’s true but your point that you just made a second ago is the most valid one he would have had a it they would have gotten a better trade package now than they did then
yep we are done for the day you are done for the day you’ve had a very long day i appreciate you
yeah i got some stuff to cut but
almost done more close to done than you
well you’d be surprised how inaccurate that statement is
oh no
big shout out to our man Kyle Matson uh for working the insiders and Casey here today we will be back Monday you don’t want to miss Monday’s show nba free agency starts we’ll be on top of it all we hope you’ll tap in beginning at 10 a.m on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 13:20 good stuff guys appreciate you uh as always uh Filthy Mcnasty thanks man uh thank you thanks David uh we’re gonna sign off hey look who’s here odyssey’s number one sports fan in the building
i guarantee you this man had no clue what he was listening to
not one
he was probably looking for something else and was like “Oh that’s let me see what he’s doing.” And then immediately tuned me out but that’s cool just knowing he was here is a big deal
who do you think this might be a fun summer game to play okay who is the What’s the le like least most obscure NBA player that Complex could name oh
do we think Complex could name a non-allar
no I don’t
a non king
no I don’t know that Complex could name someone outside of Devin Booker only because he DJed parties for him which is crazy i I don’t I don’t think he I don’t I I No I just don’t think there’s a player
like if we put photo of Michael Jordan he’s got that
sure
photo LeBron James
yep
he’s got that
shay Gilis Alexander
no no absolutely not like he’s very He’s not even SGA is the most obscure player we can get
like no he would not know who Shay Gildress Alexander is he he he would absolutely not know
complex the best i believe he would know who Magic Johnson is and he I think he would know like Shaq Kobe
Steph Curry
I
he works enough in San Francisco i think he’d know Oh he would definitely know who Steph Curry is i don’t know if he’d know who Draymond Green was and I don’t want to Hey by the way you got out at exactly on the dot the right time
oh that’s that’s really well done i’m very proud of myself
uh no it’s not does he know who Steph Curry is it’s like could he name if I showed you a photo of Steph i think he would i definitely think he would i just didn’t want to super insult
he talks He talks with Matt Nihagen enough to know
yeah that’s I would pay to watch that conversation
matt Naggan complex
yes look complex
you know what’s funny i’ve never had a conversation with Matt Nagen before
really
never i’ve never talked to him
guys
we’ve we’ve text a couple of times or email but I’ve never talked to him before guys I got a number on Neat Clifford’s cousin’s third grade teacher
oh yeah
i’m gonna get him on
no I think it’d be good uh
all right y’all we’re gonna end the stream and get out of here man have a great Bye everybody
weekend love you
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