Deuce Mason, NBC Sports – Kings Need To Find Minutes For the Young Players
20 and I’ve got my main man. When I say my main man, I mean my main man, Dave Deuce Mason in the building from the Deuce and Mo podcast. What’s good? Once again, the budget was I didn’t have the budget to get Mo have the budget to get mo, you know, the tariffs are hitting and everything. It’s just getting crazy right now. So, you know, I could only afford one and I went with my man Deuce. Dude, I hopefully Damian’s not going to be upset. He hit me up last week. He’s like, “Hey, can I Did you know about this, Jesse?” No, I didn’t. But this is like so perfect, dude. Just Yeah. Just don’t even It’s fine. I’m like, it’s gonna be so pissed, but it’s gonna be hilarious. I’m literally leaving to go out of town today. I can’t. I’m out. I said I could do it next week or the week after. I’m glad I said that. I’m glad I said that because if I just and did not reference next week or the week after, he’s looking at me funny today. No. So, no, you’ve made the list. the the people that have come on the show when DLO is out it is um Dr. Luke Wood it is Dusty Baker and now it’s Deuce Mason. Hey Dusty Baker was on accident too. That one was hilarious in studio. Yeah. Oh yeah. Dusty was in studio pulled up a chair you know behind everything was good. Yeah. Yeah man. Wasn’t even scheduled to be on the show either. It was just hey Dusty. Do you want to talk for a little bit? Sure. Yes sure. Come on through. It’s it’s rough. Now the the whole thing is when Damian isn’t here we get the guests, you know, the guests come through. Now it’s not because of him. It just it just happens. When I’m not here, news breaks, right? Christian McCaffrey became a 49er while I was stuck in LaGuardia airport on my way to Jamaica. So it it’s a give and take. It’s a give and take. I’m going to be back, man. I’ve missed you. Yeah, man. Yeah, we were talking about um I want to bring the conversation on during the break onto the radio. We were kind of just talking about the Kings. Last time I talked to to Duce in person um was at the playing game and that was just that was that was one of you’ve seen probably all the games here in in in Golden One Center. That was one of the biggest disasters in that building’s history. That that might be a bottom five moment in that building and it may be number one. Well, so we’ve got that. We’ve got uh Puke Walton in in that game. That being a good thing, right? That was Well, yeah, I guess. But that that was a low low. That was a low low. I’m also not like a conspiracy theory guy except in this case. Where what happened to Pew Guy? No, he’s not been seen since. You would think, hey, he’s the Bartman of like where did he go? Hey, that’s a good question. Where is F? He’s literally the Steve Bartman of of Kings uh fans. Yeah. He all over the floor, all over himself, not to be seen again. So, I don’t know, man. I’m not trying to start stuff here, but hopefully he still industry plant. He was He was potentially industry plant. Yeah. Or he he took a dark turn. Hopefully everything’s okay. I hope he didn’t take a dark turn. Um we got the playing game. We got Puke Walton. We’ve got, you know, this was bad. This was this was bad, but I would not put game seven of that first round series on there. I wouldn’t I would not There’s been lower moments. There probably has. I mean, we’ve seen a lot of bad moments over the years, but game seven just hurt so bad because again, it was another game where you were just out of it. It seemed like at halftime it was over. And it and the Kings got it to six at the end of the third quarter. Did they really? got it to six and then right before the end of the uh Terrence Davis fouled Clay for a four-point play and that was with like six seconds to go in the third and that was all she wrote. That was it was it. Uh it feels like that but it feels like that game was a 20-point game the whole time but I think it was a one-point game at the half and like I said it was six until the four-point play at the end of the third. So ah hit us up on the chatty house. Call in when Deuce is gone. Let us know the bottom five moments in in Golden Monter history. That’s what we’re doing on top moments to make me feel good. I’m I’m coming in here. It’s like we’re talking about the playin. Somehow we’re talking about the ultimate the death of puke guy and now we’re going over bottom five moments at G1. Top moment at Golden One Center. Uh game game one playoffs. Top second game two playoffs. Is game one the number one moment? I think it has to be. Although that playin game victory over the Warriors, that was fire. That was I’ll put that at I’ll put that at three. I think game one’s got to be the the best. Yeah, game one was insane. The the scene outside the arena and before the game and after the game was I think you might have had to work. I don’t know if you went out like right after game one was over, but we we’ve just we told the guys like, “Hey, can we just slide out real quick and be in in the Doco area?” Uh, right after the the the buzzer sounded. Oh my goodness. It was a party. It was an absolute party. But they have like another like 1500 watching outside the Golden One Center. And that was the creme de creme of of the Golden One Center. Although game two when Draymond stomps a bonus. Oh. Oh my goodness. That building. We always we all me and and DLO, we try to describe the energy in the building. At that moment, I was I really thought something might pop off like Draymond going in the stands and and like it that moment when he’s standing up there yelling and it got it got it got kind of kind of testy uh coming from the stands with him. That was just a crazy moment. I I knew it was bad. Gman started taking off his headset and like undoing his oh suit and stuff. He was ready to throw down. I say Gman was about to go here and give him an old one two. No, that was crazy. But to win that game, too, was that was that might have been Well, no, I was going to say that might have been the last great moment, but you’re right. The playing game the following year beating the Warriors was was pretty dope, too. They’ve had some as as grim as Oh, like the last six, seven months have been for Kings fans and the feeling of it. There’s been some really good moments in the last two years. I don’t want to be like super optimistic guy like when they’re struggling, but there’s there’s been some some damn good moments in the last two two and a half seasons. Oh, for sure. I mean, it just um it sucks that it went away so fast. That’s probably the biggest thing, right? Like it it felt like it was turning the corner and going up and like, “Oh, cool. We’re going to be relevant here the next five, six years at least and have some fun and felt like it lasted a year and a half, you know, that was about that’s fact. Uh, how do you feel about this team right now though? Like today, you know, Shruder being signed, Ne Clifford, what he did in the summer seeing Renol. Um, do you do you think that this team looks like uh Demard Rosen’s going to be back? So, some people are hit or miss with that. I’m on the hit side. Like I like I like Demard Roen. Um but how do you feel about this team today? Uh this Kings team today. I think if we lived in a basketball utopia, you could make a serious case like, hey, they could be just as good, if not slightly better this coming season. They’re not going to have coaching drama. They’re not going to have the Dear Fox thing hanging over them. They have a point guard now. Okay. Like you could kind of see it. But it’s also just weird. It’s a weird group. I mean, you bring back pretty much the same starting five plus Shruder. And I like Shruder. I think I think Kings fans are going to like him, too. I mean, I I I think he he could be a little bit of an ass on the court. You know, he’ll pick you up full court. He talks a lot of smack. I love that about him. But I what I’m looking at this team, I’m going, okay, well, how how we getting Keegan Murray more looks this year. And some of it’s on Keegan. He’s got to go get it, too. But like some of it is like he needs more opportunity. He can’t just be the fourth and fifth option out there. I’m trying to see what this guy can be going forward. You’re about to potentially give him a contract extension. I love what he does defensively. I thought he showed signs in the open floor last year of lowering that shoulder and just bowling, you know, guys right to the basket and dunking. Like that was fun to see, but I want to see more opportunity for him. You know, Keon Ellis, I’m sure he’s going at like I’m I could make some money this year. I want more opportunity to show you what I can do. And I’m looking going where is that opportunity come coming from? Like even Shruder, he he still to me is like a score first guy. Although I think he’s good at kind of picking his spots. Like in Brooklyn last year they asked him to score a little more. He did that. He could he could play different types of roles. And I like the fact that he’s going to push the pace. He’s going to get you in your stuff. And I think someone like Lavine could thrive off of that. Um I I just I I I just look at what else they have and I’m going okay how do you get Keegan opportunity Keon I want Nick to play. I mean he’s old enough to play right? Yes. Yeah. How are you getting these players minutes with the roster that you have right now and opportunity? That’s kind of my question. Yeah. I think I think the minutes there’s only so many minutes to go around. Um and then you’ve got guys like Sabonis D Rozan Lavine. Um, even Keegan, they’re going to play upwards of 30 minutes a night at least. So, and and then Monk is going to, if he’s still here, he’s going to get his minutes as well. So, that’s when it gets a little testy. I want to follow up on something you said about Trud and get your opinion on this. We were talking during the handoff about the point guard situation and James uh was talking about, you know, make it a competition and he was breaking down some of the the the numbers about how Monk and Shruder are kind of the same type of player. And I see it. I see it. I I don’t necessarily agree because I don’t necessarily agree because I think the mentality is a little different between the two, but numbers wise, it’s close. And I I see the resemblance, but here’s how I broke it down. I said, “This team needs a point guard. They need a starting point guard to set the table for others.” And while Shruder isn’t Chris Paul, here’s how I look at it. If Chris Paul goes into a game and says, “For the first seven minutes of this game, I’m getting everybody involved.” That’s what Chris Paul does. That’s like the creme de la creme of table setter and organizer. Shruder might say, “For the first four minutes of this game, I’m going to get everybody else involved.” Malik Monk would say, “For the first minute and a half, I’m going to get everybody involved.” Right? And then, you know, and that that’s the difference. And so I think Shruder is a little bit more of a traditional table setter than they had after Fox left last year. And I think that might be where Keegan gets more looks or the Rosen gets a little more comfortable and others feel a little bit more involved in the offense because you got a little bit more of a natural point guard at the helm with Dennis Shruder as opposed to Malik Monk who uh he’s a finisher to me. You know, I I don’t necessarily want him to be a table setter. I want him to be a finisher. What you think about that? Yeah, I mean I think for Malik like I I just I like him off the bench and I I know there are moments last year in the last couple years we all talking about like hey maybe you should you know start over whatever. I I like him being that guy that provides a spark and he could still play 30 minutes in a game off the bench if you need to. I mean I still like Malik Monk. It seems like you know people might be a little more down on him right now. Um but he’s a guy that is really nice in that pick and roll game with Sabonis and then like he’s the ultimate confidence guy. like he’s going to come in, you could be down 12, he’s going to go come in firing, attacking, attacking the rim, getting in the paint, knocking down threes. He’s an energy guy and I love that. And for Shruder, I just think defensively he’s better, you know, like I I just think he plays with a little more physicality. Uh he could pick you up the whole, you know, 94 feet, which that’s not something, you know, Malik’s necessarily doing. Um it it’s just it’s just such an interesting team too because I’m also trying to figure out like okay what’s the buyin from everybody is everyone like happy to be there like you know the vibes seem good at summer league with the young guys and I I see why they like all these young guys they do a lot of things that you need in today’s game but like is Lavine totally like bought into everything? Is Demar totally bought in or are these guys like one foot out too because they know the Kings have been talking right? Um, I just want the complete buy and I think the best teams share the ball, they move the ball, they cut. I I just that’s all I want to see this year. And if that means it’s that starting five that we just talked about doing it, cool. If they’re all bought in or if it’s the young guys that are doing it, I just want to see whoever is bought into doing that be out there playing minutes. You know, watching Indiana, I know they’re the two teams that made it to the finals, but like no one looks at the Pacers and go, man, they just got star power everywhere. a really damn good player at Tyrese Halle Seakum too. But these are, you know what I mean? Like the the surrounding pieces were just bought into the style of play. They’re getting the ball up and down the floor. They’re moving non-stop. They’re athletic. They’re switchable. They could shoot. They could attack. The versatility matters in today’s game. And I I don’t know that the Kings obviously have addressed all those things in this off seasonason. And I think, you know, Scott walks into a situation where it’s like, good luck trying to figure out how to navigate this roster right now when people aren’t lining up to trade for your assets. They know you have to make a move. Unfortunately, you’re asking a fan base to be patient a little bit. When you know, like you’ve asked them to be patience patient for like the better part of the last 25 years. We got my main man Deuce Mason from the Deuce and Mos Mo podcast. We are too poor to afford uh Mo. Um the the the streets are saying it takes six figures to even text her to ask her. You know what I mean? Dude, she’s hard to get a hold of, man. Man, hey, get get paid. Get your money, Mo. You you deserve it. You doing your thing now. She’s You know, she’s different. We can only afford one. We We got We got dudes today who told uh Damian last week, I will not go on your show. So, I’m glad that we got him got him here this morning. Um, you guys did you guys went to summer league, right? Yeah. Yeah. How how was everything? I know you guys were around the Kings talking to to some of the guys and saw some of those rookies. It seemed like the vibes were up like you just mentioned. Uh, but how was it firsthand out there? First of all, I don’t know how you guys don’t go to summer league. Like that’s that’s what I said about why we couldn’t get Mo. That’s why we Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. I love summer league. It’s ba basketball all day long and you just sit and watch games, go between the gyms. It’s it’s amazing. Um I think the first thing, you know, I I have to check myself, Kenny. You know, I get high and low sometimes. And I bet you when once we get, you know, two weeks out from King season, I’m going to be walking around go, dude, I don’t know, man. They’re buying here. You just never know. Why can’t they be better? Why can’t they win 45 games? Um but like I’m watching, you know, the first couple of games of Summer League and I’m going, “Dude, Reo, are you kidding me? the steel of all steels. And then I have to check myself. Go. He was going up against Kyler Kelly. Do you know who Kyler Kelly is? No, it’s okay. And that’s okay. I’m not trying to take shots at Maxi Marina. I like his game, but I for myself, I have to temper my expectations. You know, it’s I like what I see from him. Does he have the shooting ability? A little inconsistent from beyond the arc during the summer league. Small sample size, but I love the fact that the guy’s talking non-stop. He’s got great size. guys can put the ball on the floor, attack like, okay, I see it. And that’s that’s encouraging. Um, with Clifford, I just go, uh, I mean, I was really high after the first couple of games. I’m going, oh my god, how is this guy not a top five pick? Um, I like his game. He just has a good all-around game. I think the thing that was kind of striking in person is he’s bigger than I feel like he’s bigger than he’s listed. That’s what I thought, too. They He’s listed at 66, right? I thought 65. Okay, maybe that’s right. I don’t know. He’s 67 68. Yeah, that’s what it looks like to me on TV. I haven’t seen him up close, but he looks I agree with you. He looks taller than what he’s listed. And I’m really excited about his ability to pass the ball. Like he’s a good setup guy. Um it it’s it’s hard to evaluate summer league sometimes, but it feels like he just does a lot of things well. And when you’re picking what the 24th pick is when they got him, like yeah, that’s a no-brainer to me. Um, and then I thought even from his shooting and the turnaround jumper, some of the footwork, it was really impressive. So, those two guys I really liked. Isaac, you know, he kind of played how I expected him to play. Like, hey, this is your second goound here. You got experience in the NBA last year in the GLeague. Like, go to summer league and and do your thing. And so, hopefully that evolves into something where he could be a rotational guy. Does he start replacing Trey Lyle’s minutes next year? Can Isaac prove to knock down threes? Um I I like what I saw from him, too. So, um it’ll be interesting to see kind of how the rotation looks like going in the next year. There was one guy you didn’t mention. You were being nice. There’s one guy that you didn’t mention. I did not mention Carter. This is so bad. I was thinking Dylan Cardwell. I’m not even getting to Devin Carter. Yeah. I mean, what can we say about Devin Carter? I mean, I I don’t know. Like, he has moments where, oh, he could he could score a little bit, but I was looking forward to seeing him come in similar to Isaac Jones and go, “Hey, I know you didn’t get summer league last year in training camp, but you popped off in the G- League. You had some moments in the NBA like I’m interested to see what you worked on this summer.” And I actually left with more questions than anything about him. um even defensively I’m like okay like I I just I felt like he was a better defender even at times last year and I didn’t see the same thing in the summer league and then from the you know shooting perspective just offensively you know they don’t really guard him um I think he thinks too much about a shot like just let it fly dude you’re open let it fly I know it takes it a while like his release takes a while um but it it it just felt like he wasn’t decisive he doesn’t look like a point guard at all To me, he’s like an offg guard. Can he be impactful as a defender in this league because of his, you know, 68 and 3/4 wingspan? Sure. And his physical play, but I I I don’t know. I I try not to be a body language guy, Casey, but I’m like, he just looks tired out there sometimes. I’m like, I need you out there being relentless. I need you flying around, being physical, blocking shots. Um, and we didn’t see enough of that from him. So, I don’t know. Um, I would say, yeah, I would say overall like his summer league was disappointing. He had good moments, right? He had the games where he’s knocking down shots, but I think for him to establish himself in this Kings rotation, it’s like you’re going to do it defensively. You’re you’re locking guys down, you’re communicating, you’re rebounding, getting that ball out and like getting stuff going for this team. And, uh, I thought it was inconsistent in the summer league. No, I had the same thought uh, with Devin Carter. I I I gave away I believe he’s an NBA player for sure. I think it’s a guy that that’s going to be in the league. He can do some things, but in this situation in Sacramento where they’re looking for a point guard, you’re fighting for minutes with with Keon and Malik potentially. Um I I just I don’t know. We talked about Nick Clifford and how he looks taller than the 66 listing. Devin Carter, I think, is listed as 6’2, maybe 6’3. He looks shorter than that on the floor. You know what I mean? He looks like 6’1, 6 foot or something like that. And there was just, like you said, there was just more questions than answers after watching him play. And I really think he needs to be in a situation where he can just go out there and work on the things that he’s best at. Right now, his best attribute is on the defensive end and picking his spots on the offensive end. And I don’t know if the Kings are in a position to allow him to do that. And that’s what makes it a little murky for his time here in Sacramento. But it seems like he’d be like the perfect guy for them if he plays to his potential, right? Yeah. Just because of his size and his defensive ability, you you would think that would be a guy that could find a spot. But you know you know what the problem is though? They’ve got a guy that does everything that you’re looking for him to do better than him and Keon Ellis. So how does he play over Keon Ellis? Yeah. You know what I mean? And Keon is more consistent as a shooter, can create a little bit off the bounce on the offensive end. So, they’ve already got somebody filling that role. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see if they make any other moves this off season. And I I know usually you get the summer league and it’s like, oh, all the moves are done. They’ve got 15 guys on the roster. But you’ve got Terrence Davis who’s on like a non-g guaranteed deal. There’s been enough noise about Sarich maybe going back overseas. Like, I don’t know. You It makes you wonder if there could be something closer to camp. I mean, last year we saw a crazy trade right before camp with Cat, you know, getting traded to the Knicks for Denzo and Randall. So, you never know. Um, it’s just been such a weird free agency. I think it’s like it’s so not it’s not what it used to be at all, right? Like it’s used to be, oh dude, right when that midnight strikes because it used to be late at night, here come the alerts. Oh my god, this guy this guy signed. Well, no. All these guys are getting extensions with their teams. Um, restricted free agency is like nothing at the moment because no teams have cap space. It’s just kind of bizarre. And I I I hope they have a move or two left before camp, but if not, maybe closer deadline because I do think they need to open up opportunities for some of these younger guys on the team. I agree. I agree. Uh, D, before we let you go, man, um, I was talking to James about it yesterday and now summer league is over and it’s like officially NBA offseason. officially like nothing going on with the NBA. Obviously, you and Mo do a fantastic job with the entire league, you know, covering the entire league, but now you got a little chance to just chill out a little bit. I know Mo’s got her uh Valky’s responsibilities and you do some stuff as well, but you going you gonna chill out a little bit. You going have a trip I have a trip planned for August, but see you in Cabo. Cabo de going to Ireland and then Austria. I think for the combo. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh so doing that for a couple of weeks, but uh other than that, then I come back and I’m doing like the final 10 Valkyries games on the radio. Nice. Great. Um the playoff I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t really recognize this until I think I don’t know if you were on the game. They had one of those camp games. So the Valkyries are on like CBS 13 as like this is their market. Is that how that goes? They’re on CBS 13 sometimes and then also on uh what’s the station Good Day Sacramento’s on? It used to be CW Kmax now. Yeah, just Kmax. Okay. Um those two and then it’s like KPIX in the Bay. Yeah. Okay. I know you’re an AC person still, dude. You got to get your visa. Aces for life, man. You know, we got to work on some things. We needed to get to the uh to the to the break and figure some things out. I think a big second half push is on the way. You need to you need to go to a game at Chase because let me just tell you, let me tell you, we clown Chase Center for being the dental office. The vibe for Warriors games. I’ve been there. I felt it. It is completely different for the Valkyries. It looks like it. I want to go,000 legit sold out. And then like the fans are actually engaged. It’s not like these, you know, the rich Silicon Valley Warriors fans that just kind of sit there and, you know, miss half. No, I’m gonna check it out. When they when they first got the team, you know, I was bitter because the Monarchs aren’t sure coming back probably. So, I was I ain’t going. But, I’ve gotten off that. I’m going to go to the Valk. I know some people over there working for the Valkyries that are good people. They tell me to come on through. So, I’m I’mma come through. But, you know, I’m I’m trying to see my aces. You know, aces for life over here, big dog. Well, last time they were here, they got clapped. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that, dog. I like that duce. Man, I appreciate you, man. I hit you from LA. I hit you yesterday evening, man. And you was like, say less, man. So, I appreciate you pulling. Yeah, of course, man. Happy birthday, dude. Thanks for having me. I appreciate you,
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