The James Ham Show – The Sacramento Kings Need Everyone Bought In

The James Ham Show – The Sacramento Kings Need Everyone Bought In

James Ham from the inside. Is you a Padre supporter? No. No, not at all. No, but we do know he’s an athletic supporter. No, we Well, the ATTH is not that I’m ath supporter. Ammer, what’s up, man? Oh, I just went for a walk. I was scurrying back trying to make it back in time. It’s a little warm outside. We’re glad warm here. We’re glad that you’re here. Yeah, definitely did because it was chilly this morning. Um, let’s start. Let’s let’s let’s let’s go back uh let’s go back to the handoff here for a minute because I mentioned something to you and I’m curious and I’ll press the button for you. Comingo watch. I I’m I’m curious if this because you you we have talked about rightfully so. I think unrestricted free agency a lot. Obviously, the Kings are directly tied to Jonathan Kaminga, but you also got the situation with Josh Giddy. You got the situation uh with Quinton Grimes. you have you have situations out there unlike ones that I think we’ve seen uh in the past especially for quality basketball players along this line and one thing that you’ve been adamant about about these um qualifying offers playing on the qualifying offers is there might not be money out there for these guys next year again I don’t have the specifics on dollar figures so that probably does play into account here but Bobby Mark said you know as as it looks Right now, I think it was a third a third of NBA teams will have cap space next year. Now, cap space could mean $15 million. It could be $2 million, but it’s still cap space. And once you, and James, you could correct me, once you get under that luxury tax, it becomes a little bit easier to kind of maneuver around and it’s easier to shed smaller salaries to bring in a bigger one and so on and so forth. Does that change your mind at all on specifically Jonathan Kaminga, but you know, overall where these restricted free agents are right now in this very weird NBA off season. Okay. Well, let’s just clarify one thing. A third of the league is 10 teams. So, that’s not a lot of teams. Two now. What’s that? I think there’s two now, right? So, like 10 is Yeah. Yeah. Well, 10 is better than two for free agency. But the problem is that there’s going to be restrictive free agents next season as well. There’s going to be Keegan Murray’s entire class and who who gets extensions and who doesn’t. What happens with Jaden Ivy? What happens with um you know again Benedict Mathan? Like there’s a whole bunch of players from Dyson Daniels from that class that are going to be free agents and you don’t know what it is that they’re going to they’re going to get either. And then on top of that, there’s a regular free agent class. So, we can talk about 10 teams having cash, but it might not be 10 teams with 25 million bucks. It might be a handful of teams with 5 million, uh, a couple of teams with 12 million and and then a couple of teams with 20, 30 million. So, it could be that that it’s a better situation. But again, for Kaminga, here’s the problem he’s running into. he’s not wanted where in Golden State and so if if he signs a qualifying offer um it’s a risk because you know if he gets hurt or whatever it it could really go sideways, right? Um but there’s actually maybe even a bigger concern and that’s that the Warriors just go, “Okay, fine. We can’t trade you. We can’t do anything with you. we’re just going to leave you here and you don’t get to play or or if you do get to play, you get to play 12 minutes a game and we don’t care about your future. We don’t care about what you’re trying to build for yourself. We don’t care about the player you think you can be. We’re trying to win games for us and we’re trying to win games for a a group of players that want to be here and want to be part of our franchise moving forward. And if you’re not part of that, then that’s fine. you can go into next summer as a 23 going on 24 year old but without a real resume or at least a resume with a resume with holes all over it. I don’t think that’s the worst situation for Jonathan Kaminga though because no one’s going to fault him if he doesn’t play. No one’s going to fault him for it. No. Like if Steve’s not playing him, they’re not going to go, “Oh god, man. We going to sign this guy who didn’t play.” No, they’re going to go like Steve was being vindictive. The Warriors were being vindictive. They didn’t play him. Well, yeah, but that doesn’t matter because if he doesn’t have a body of work to show somebody, he’s still an unknown. Like, we’re talking about Jonathan Kamingo as if he’s like the end all beall for the Kings. No, we can talk ourselves into it because there’s there’s enough talent there that it might work out, but there’s also a very good possibility that he’s just another Marvin Bagley caliber player. a player who gets to a certain point, doesn’t progress, doesn’t ever accept a role, and ends up, you know, struggling to get minimum scale contracts once he hits 25 years old. And we want to say, “Oh, there’s no way.” Yeah, there is a way. It’s It’s literally happening today to Marvin Baggley. He is making a league minimum, but Marvin never showed the flashes that Jonathan Kaminga showed. Like, there was never ever a market for Marvin Bagley. He averaged 14 and seven his first three years in the league. And the reason why he didn’t do more than that was because he was always hurt and no one but that that’s the thing though like that like that was a that’s a big part of his story. It’s like this kid can’t stay healthy. Kamiga that’s the same thing. Kamiga’s missed a bunch of games. Like I I’m not saying it’s complete apples to apples but it’s not far off. And like look, the the key to him is you’re going to take a gamble on him because you think that there’s untapped potential and you think that he’s been misused, but all of that is is is just, you know, pie in the sky. Like he could easily just cap out as as a guy like again Jabari Parker, a guy who puts up stats but it never impacts winning. And so that’s the problem that you know there is an unknown and if he keeps extending this out again and again where he’s playing on qualifying offers or he’s not playing on a real deal then you run into the point where he he just is what he is and that’s what you have to be concerned with. But when when would you get to that point? Like if he signed a qualifying offer and played with the Warriors, he’d be a free agent next year and he’d probably be signing some type of three fouryear deal on the on the mid level. Like that’s that’s probably what we’re talking about. So at that point, he would have made money. He would have signed a contract and he would have probably had an opportunity to show how he could what he could do, right? Um Marvin is where he is today because he went to other franchises and proved he couldn’t play. Like he went to three other franchises and proved that he couldn’t play. So I don’t think like the the cautionary tale of Marvin Bagley now playing for the minimum. Kaminga is not at that spot if he stays with the Warriors and looks to sign next year. He’s not at that point yet. Is he a year away from it? No, he’s gonna he’d sign a deal. That like that that would be my thinking. He’s he plays on the qualifying offer. He becomes a free agent, unrestricted free agent, and he signs a four-year deal for 40 for $60 million next year. Yeah, but there there’s nothing that says that that’s going to happen for him. Again, we’re talking about hypotheticals here, but like, you know, Marvin Baggley got traded to Detroit, you know, averaged 12 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. you know, he he’s played in the league. He’s bounced from Marvin Baggley just turned 26, you know, in March. Like, and we’re talking about the last couple of years, he’s been a non-factor in the league despite the fact that he’s making money. Teams are not throwing money down a well anymore. The the aprons put, you know, either you’re in the league or you’re not, or you’re hanging on by a thread. And that’s where, you know, Kaminga could put himself in a in a weird situation. And again, like, let’s just be honest. If he’s going into next season and let’s say all four of these guys, Quinton Grimes and Josh Giddy and and Cam Thompson, uh Cam Thomas. Cam Thomas. Yeah. They all go into rest, they go into unrestricted free agency next year as a group of four. Kaminga is not the top of that class. He might be the second player that comes off the board of those group of that group of free agents, but he’s not the top. And who do you think is? Oh, Getty by Getty by far. Oh, Getty. You’re right. You’re right. You’re right. Yeah. Yeah. Getty. And then you get to the point where is it Grimes or is it Cam Thomas or is it Jonathan Kaminga and we start looking at these guys and then you compare them to the new crop of restrictive free agents and then the standard crop of just everyday uh average free agents. He’ll be lucky next off season if he does not sign right now or get traded right now. If he doesn’t sign that 220, he he will be lucky if he gets the mid-level exception. And that’s fine. I just don’t think he’s at where Marvin at Baggley is today. That’s not where Kaminga is. Marvin Bagley. James, by the way, sound like Mike Dunl and Joe Lake right here. Like, hey pal, this is your future. You need to sign this two-year deal. No, I’m just being honest. Marvin Bagley sign and it’s a different time, different climate. I understand that. But Marvin Bagley signed a three-year $37 million deal with the Pistons. That’s where Kaminga’s at. He’s not at league minimum time yet. He is at he’s going to get another contract and then maybe the mid-level like I said that’s four four years $14 million a year or something like that. Like he’s he’ll he’ll get that even if he just sat out a year. Marvin Bagley was unplayable his last years in uh Sacramento and then when he got to Detroit and he still got a three-year $37 million deal. He might get that, he might not. Like because again we’re looking at, you know, look at the trajectory of when Baggley got that money. It’s the same exact time and and maybe he gets the threeear 13 that you’re talking about. It’s possible, but it’s also possible that teams are just like, “Hey, look, man.” Like, we don’t know what you are, and you need to prove it. And just, you know, especially if if he’s limited to, you know, 12, 15 minutes a game this season in in uh Golden State and gets a bunch of DMP CDs. I would say this, I’ll look at it in another’s perspective. If the Kings could sign Jonathan Kaminga for four years at $14 million a year and they refuse to do it because they don’t know who he is, that would be stupid. That would be dumb. That is a risk worth taking for a franchise like the Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards. If you could get a guy like that at $14 million a year who potentially could be a 20 point per game scorer for you. We don’t know if that’s who he is or not, but potentially at 22 years old, 23 years old, that would be dumb not to do it. Okay. I I’m just telling you like I like you at five years in to your NBA career, you typically are who you are. And that’s what we’re talking about. He’s he’s at the end of his uh at his fourth year right now. He’s going into his fifth NBA season. If he averages 6.8 points and three rebounds per game this season, that’s not who he is, though. He He put up 15 a night last year on spotty play on a team on a team that was willing to to play him. And if he’s on a $7.8 8 million qualifying offer that they can’t trade. What is their motivation to play him? But we’re but we’re here. We’re alive. We’re in this situation. We know they didn’t not play him because he’s not good at basketball. They didn’t play him because they got into a pissing contest and they wanted to prove a point. We know. No, they didn’t play him because he wouldn’t listen and wouldn’t follow their directions and wouldn’t fit into the scheme that they have as a team. That’s why they wouldn’t play him. Like there’s there’s not like a big gray area here. Like he wants to be a star. They don’t want him to be a star. They want him to be Aaron Gordon. He doesn’t want to be Aaron Gordon. And so we have this major butdding of heads and a coach that isn’t going to play that game. Yeah. But that doesn’t mean they’re right though either. That doesn’t mean the way they’re going about it or their outlook on it is right. I agree with you. I agree with So, you should be able to, not you, but just people looking at it, be able to look at the situation for what it is. Just because the Warriors didn’t play him because they wanted him to play a certain way, that doesn’t mean they were right. That doesn’t mean they handled it right. That doesn’t mean their uh role that they wanted for him was right. And just saying like, “Oh, they didn’t play him. That’s I don’t even know who he is.” They could be dead wrong. They could miss out on this whole situation. But Kenny, five years into a career, you you don’t usually go, “Okay, everyone else was wrong and this kid is right and we’re going to give him the opportunity.” Sometimes you get that opportunity and you get this second contract, but a lot of times you don’t. And and that’s where he’s heading. Like again, if you I I think that if I were his agent, I would probably try to try to play for the qualifying offer or at least hold out as long as I can saying I’m going to do that so you can get sent somewhere else. But like look, man, you’re five years in the NBA and you won’t you still won’t accept a role that your role is usually called left out. That’s what your role is after that. Yeah, Kings. Kings, that would not be a good decision if he was that cheap and they said no. Yeah. So, so they can keep playing Isaac Jones. Like, what? Well, that would be a guy who will play a role. Who cares if you’re winning 30 games? But this team needs more than a guy to play a role. You need a guy to play. And I think that’s the the thing with Jonathan Kaminga is there’s a belief he can play basketball. Maybe Steve Kerr wanted him to play a certain way and it didn’t work out. Maybe he didn’t want to play. Maybe he just didn’t like him. Maybe it was an attitude. Whatever. There’s going to be someone who’s going to view him differently. Whether it’s Phoenix, whether it’s Sacramento, whether it’s one of a handful of other teams, there’s going to be someone that builds views this young man differently. And I think that’s one of the biggest notes. James, you brought it up a couple of times, but I think maybe you’ve you’ve dismissed its importance a little bit. His age is a really important factor in this conversation. The fact that like he’s certainly, you know, maybe to a certain degree an unknown, but unknowns in the NBA might be a little bit scary, but a young unknown, boy, fan bases and teams, they love those. Like, oh, cuz in our system, he’s going to do this or that, or with our coach, he’s going to do this or that, or the ability to play 30, 35, 40 minutes a game for the first time in his career, he’s going to be able to do this. It’s all hypothetical, of course. It’s all just these mental gymnastics, but it’s going to wind up, at least in my opinion, creating a market for him. Just like Josh Giddy. Josh Giddy, it’s it’s different. He he I think is probably more of a proven commodity, but he’s also a he is a a very specific type of player. And it’s like, we’re going to play a certain way, and this guy fits that perfectly. Josh Giddy doesn’t fit what every team wants to do, but man, he’ll fit what a lot of teams want to do and they’ll go all in on that. Well, I’d say the same about Kaminga. Like again, if he doesn’t want to fit what the Warriors are doing and he if he doesn’t shoot the three ball and he doesn’t shoot it effectively at all and and he gets lost in his coverages and his rotations, like there it’s not like we’re talking about a perfect player here. I I am willing like what Kenny said, I am willing to to take a gamble if I’m the Kings right now on him because you’re buying low. And you know, even that the Kings are talking about a three-year deal. Like you’ll know who he is by the end of three years without any question. And and you also have the need for someone who’s super talented, but it it doesn’t mean that he ever reaches his potential. I mean, I can go through every single draft and show you 20 players who didn’t reach their potential. Like in the first round, like that’s not a hard task to do at all. So, I mean, again, he’s had four years in the league. And has he scored? Yeah, he scored 16 points a game, but on a team that was again with the eight seed and surrounded by two Hall of Famers. So, I I don’t know what he looks like with the Sacramento Kings, but I think the other thing I would bring up, we heard Miami was somewhat interested. We heard the Kings and we heard Phoenix. That’s it. Like, there are a lot of other teams out there that should be thinking, “Hey, this kid’s got a ton of potential.” And they’re not. I mean, the Brooklyn Nets aren’t even pulling the trigger when they have cap space. they can just go sign him and they’re not doing it. So, I think there is like there is like a real moment here where he’s going to have to assess what he means to the league and how he fits in the league. And, you know, that 2-year $45 million deal, this is what the Warriors are banking on that at the end of the day, they’re going to they’re going to go, “Okay, look, I’d rather you you play for 20 than play for eight.” And even if it’s a one-year deal realistically and you’ve got to move on from the Warriors next summer, at least you made 20 million bucks and you could put that in your bank account. Like anything else after this, we have no idea what you’re going to make and what you what you won’t make. And they’re going to limit him for who you’re going to play for for the next couple of years. Well, he probably already should have. With all due respect, like he probably should have. Not because the guy is doing a bad job. It’s because he has no power. He he has nothing to hold over these basketball teams. Yeah, we’ve had this conversation repeatedly like this this is this is the De’arren Fox, Chris Gaston situation. This is where an agent is really really important. It’s like look man, take care of my guy and we’ve got business in the future. Aaron Turner, what do we say? His second biggest client was Terry Roier. All right, man. He’s got one client he’s trying to, you know, get off of this qualifying offer and one client he’s trying to keep out of jail. Yep. No, no NBA team is swayed by that. I mean, it’s tough, right? Just just saying it. And I’m sorry to my man, but like this is this is where the Jeff Schwarz, the Bill Duffy’s, the the uh the the Rich Pauls come into play. Oh, I totally agree. I I mean, that’s that’s what’s so tough. These guys get roped into, you know, agents when they’re young. Uh they think that they have some sort of commitment. They they sign contracts even when they’re not allowed to sign contracts that don’t make any sense and they take money. That’s the other thing they do. You know, I think we learned with uh the Malik Beasley like that big story on Malik Beasley. That was one of the most intriguing things I’ve ever read where there’s a like a venture capitalist firm out there that is like lent $250 million to players with on future earnings. That’s just crazy talk. like and these are predatory lenders like and a lot of these guys they they exactly what they are yeah they get involved with with uh with agents that you know again you want to look good for the draft so what do they do that’s freeze that’s an official freeze that’s a freeze I’m back I’m back Are we sure that was five I it was not 5 seconds he kicked out at two yeah he kicked down to two and and three/4ers. That’s right. The referee rolled over. He’s He’s super We had Super Cena. He’s super James Ham. I did the kickup. That’s very nice. Very nice. Very nice. Yeah. I mean, like, look, I the the league is in a weird place with a lot of these guys. So, certainly with agents, it it’s just a mess. But, you know, there there are people again was I think right before I cut out, I was saying like like the guys get they want to go to the draft, right? They want to be part of draft festivities, but they want to look good. They don’t want to be some dude wearing something off the rack for Men’s Warehouse. Shout out Men’s Warehouse if you want to sponsor the show. Um, but you know what I’m saying? It’s it’s like you you got to go out there and you got to look good and you got to wear jewelry and you got to wear a big watch and big eye big earrings and everything and so you’re already into your agent for 30,000 bucks that you don’t have any money and you know so you have these ties to these guys that are shelling out money you know flying you around the country to go from one workout to the next in pre-draft workouts and and so you feel like you owe them and So you get stuck and man I like there are so many players making mistakes with agents and you know again I think there is a way to have an agent that isn’t like a power broker agent but he’s got to have additional clients and if he doesn’t have additional clients it just takes away one of the avenues for leverage in the leak. Okay, let’s um instead of diving into another uh part of this conversation, let’s step out now. We’ll come back. Uh James Ham is with us here till the top of the hour. We’ll talk more basketball. We’ll talk more Kings basketball. By the way, you brought up Cam Thomas a minute ago as one of these unrestricted free agents or excuse me, restricted free agents. There’s reports again for wherever they were. There’s reports that he’s looking for 30 to 40 per. Cam, come on. Yeah. So am I. Yeah, that come on Cam. That That’s a rough go for my man. He used Tyler Hero or his team is using Tyler Herro, Emanuel Quickley, and I think Jaylen Green as comps for him. Might as well just run Jesus Christ, man. Cam’s a great Cam Cam Cam’s a good scorer, but that’s tough. Uh that’s tough. We’ll talk more NBA basketball with our insiders. From the insiders, it’s James Ham here with Da Mccasece on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. Oh man, that’s good stuff. I thought Getty was really good for Chicago last year. The difference that I see with the Getty situation, uh 146, 8.1 rebound, uh 8.1 rebound, 7.2 2 assists. Damn, he’s a great rebounder. Um, and he shot 37.8% from three. Like, those are all high quality numbers. Um, the difference is with him is that the Bulls actually want him back and and I don’t think the Nets want Cam Thomas back. I think they want their cap space for next summer. Giddy played really really well in Chicago. His issue is he is what’s worse than a chair on defense cone. Zack Lavine. Ain’t nobody as bad as Giddy. Yes, there are. Not not not Zack Lavine. I know that much. Giddy is awful. He is terrible on defense and it’s not even close. Zack Lavine had to help him out. This what I be talking about though. This what I be talking about. We can’t selectively decide when we care about defense. But we talking about Trey Young don’t play a lick of defense and that’s a negative. Josh Giddy don’t play no damn defense. We can’t overlook it. I don’t know what Johnny G’s talking about. How do we feel about taking away hard earned W’s? Oh, well, how about that? Just wins. How about just wins? Ignore Johnny G. Just wins. That’s pretty funny. Bruce uh Bruce Bruce 210. I think Kaminga is like in a trade. It’s a no-brainer. It like I agree taking a gamble on a 22 year old, but every year that we get away from that, it becomes less and less of a gamble. I mean, like I I don’t know. Again, if he’s coming out of his fifth NBA career and he’s not and you have no idea what he is, you’re not spending 60 million bucks or, you know, the offers are going to go down. How much time do we have? Minute 45. Hammer, I’ll be right back. Okay. You know this this notion that Zack Lavine is a horrible defender. I don’t know where that came from. Maybe not Jimmy Butler, but once again, I’m not sure where that came from. You don’t want me to say who’s a sorry ass offender. Say it. I want you to say it. You don’t want me to say who a sorry ass offender is. I want you to say it. Stop being a little Come on. Say it. Does Ryan What does his name rhyme with? Who could you be talking about? I don’t know, man. Does it name with Nomas? Does it rhyme with Nas? No. I was just talking about Roberto Durant. That’s it. No, I’m not choosing violence, man. I’m just That’s no fun. We’re back. Casey is right about something. We do pick and choose when we talk about defense and the player that we talk about defense uh with. Um I’m convinced. I don’t even know what a good defender is anymore. I’m convinced I don’t even know basketball. Y’all got Boston stinking next year. That’s not true. Not true at all. That’s fine. See, look, even James says Boston’s not going to be good. I don’t know ball. I don’t know ball. He said top eight. That’s playoffs. I mean, it’s playing. Yeah, that’s good. That’s That’s good for them. That’s top end playing, too. Y’all really think that that was Boston? Excuse me. Was Detroit real? Yeah, I think like you’re we’re sold on Detroit for sure. I don’t know if they’re going to like go to another level, but I think they’ll at least be what they were last year. I’m a little I’m a little bit with James here. Is James is kind of sh like cool. It was fun. Y’all run. Let me see. I’ll do this one more time. They’ll be top six. I think this year top six. Yeah, I feel Why do you keep this missing that like that’s not a big deal? They made top six last year. But that’s what I’m saying. You You think that’s them again? Especially in that conference. They can do that. Well, see, and that’s the thing. Indiana’s down. Y’all hate Boston, which is a wild turn of events. They didn’t lost their whole team except for Jaylen Brown. Yeah, like Jason Tatum did a lot of playmaking for that team. Kristophs Porzingis was nearly dead most of the season. Tatum being out is obviously problematic. Drew being out as well. Drew Holiday was nowhere near what he was before. Like, he took a huge step back. Yeah, he wasn’t. But he’s still a guy I’m comfortable having on the floor. Yeah. Like Is he great? H am I comfortable with him? Yes, I’d be comfortable with pass the ball, Drew. Man, this this heel turn on Drew Holidayiday. Not even a heel turn. He had like his worst offensive season since his rookie year. I think he definitely did. So, okay, let’s let’s look at these. We’re already here. Let’s look at these top six teams real quick. Where’s Milwaukee? Milwaukee’s in there. Long as Yiannis is around the And and who’s I always Miles Turner. Miles Turner. That’ll be tough. Yeah, but no more medals. What? With me as a coach. Oh, real quick. Final happy birthday, Doc. Go ahead. Wish dealer happy birthday. Thank you. Well, Jesse, I’m glad you finally called me. I thought you were going to forget. You know, it’s almost like the show was up 3-1. You know how things go. But I wanted to make sure, you know, I told the whole story. Uncalled for. Absolutely uncalled for. I wanted to make sure I took the time and said happy birthday to my good friend Damen Barley aka DLO. Um, we go way back and this guy, he does know the whole story. He really does. He knows how I threw oranges at the basket and I had to wear my warm-up jacket to to Kroger. Like a quick little corner store. There we go. Ultimate warrior Jerry Jones and Doc Rivers wishing you happy birthday. What a day for me, man. This is your life. What a day for me. Thank god Dwayne didn’t show up today. Yeah, we couldn’t we couldn’t get him today. Thank God. Thank God the day isn’t over yet. Yeah. Well, James has got a point. James, we asked a question earlier and this is more specific to the Sacramento Kings and less about free agency and cap dollars and all of that. We we you and I think too are in agreement like this the the individuals on this basketball team are pretty good and the issue I think with this team and the way a lot of people evaluate it including us is how the collective work together and I’m of the belief that this this team is going to have a really solid mental approach heading into this this season. You know camp all the right things are going to be said. I think they’re going to be rocking with Doug Christie. Uh I think a lot of questions that we have right now are going to be answered. And I and I and I wonder if if you know I think it’s possible maybe Sacramento gets off to a a decent start. Maybe one where we’re not we’re not curling up in a ball and crying. Not maybe not one where we’re you know having a parade down the street, but hey, okay, this not so bad. But I asked the question like if this team is able to create stability. Actually, Jesse asked the question, if the team is able to create like stability to start the season, how quickly or perhaps how easily could it break? And I use the scenario of like they get out to a 8 and3 start, but then all of a sudden, you know, you blink your eyes and maybe they’re nine and 10 or 10 and 10. And you, you know, that that that last few games record doesn’t look as hot as it did, you know, the first 11. And then all of a sudden, you got guys who are like, well, I was playing a certain way to start this. now we’re not winning, so I’m just going to take over and do what I do.” And I asked like, “How confident would you be that this team would be able to hold it together through moments like that?” Um, I think that’s going to be the question because I think we all look at this season as like a holding pattern and you’re waiting for the next shoe to drop, right? So if they don’t get the deal done now with Kaminga or they don’t they don’t trade Malik Monk now or they don’t you know whatever they they get done they don’t get done that doesn’t mean that we all think that this is going to be the same team that finishes the season. So I think that’s where you start to run into problems. You you run into problems because you walk into a season with you know half of your roster looking over their shoulder and that’s not a really good way. you know, they’re not looking over their shoulder like I’m about to get pulled from a game. They’re looking over their shoulder like am I going to be here very much longer? Do I really need to invest in what’s happening here? And that’s going to to me like this has happened multiple times over the course of time that I’ve covered this team where you walk into seasons and you know the coaches is talking about all in and you know is everybody two feet in and you’re like okay we’re two feet in but like your general manager isn’t two feet in with me. So what does that mean? And so I think that that sets the stage for what could be a chaotic season and that’s when bad things typically happen when chaos, you know, comes through and starts knocking on the door. And I hope that that doesn’t happen. I hope that Doug gets an opportunity to coach his team, but I also hope that if they’re going to make a move, they make it now and they don’t make it, you know, if there’s a great move that improves your your team long term in February, sure, that’s fine. you know, even if you’re winning at that point, but you’re you’re being realistic about who you are as a team and there’s a deal that could potentially yield you a whole bunch more down the road, go ahead and make that deal. But the biggest problem going into a season is that I I don’t think hope always springs eternal like this is you always have that feeling like, okay, this team is not it’s not that they they don’t have individual talent. It’s that they’re they’re a collection of players. that are have price tags on them, you know, and they’re not a team. And that’s going to be the biggest thing for Doug. How do you make that how do you turn them into a team and then turn them into a team that believes in each other so much that you can withstand the loss of a player here or there? And, you know, we’ll have to see if they’ve got that in them. Do you think that uh what what’s the more likely scenario in your opinion with how you’ve seen these things go down where they start off like Damian said eight and three moves five of six and they find a way to band together and rebound from that or they start off three and eight and they find a way to band together from that like like whi which one is more plausible like if if they’re at three and eight, are they just out completely at that point in your in your opinion? Um, it’s usually really tough to claw back, especially like I’ve seen parts of their schedule, their November stuff, and you know, they’re they start the season at Phoenix, uh, a home against Utah, a home against the Lakers, but then they’ve got at OKC and at Chicago back to back. Um, then they’ve got at Milwaukee, they’ve got at Denver, they’ve got Golden State, they’ve got OKC again. They play OKC three times and I think the first 12 games. Why does that keep happening? Yeah. Why do the teams keep playing a a team three times in the first like it was the Warriors? Was it the Lakers last year? Yeah, Lakers. They played the Lakers real early and now it’s the Thunder. Yeah. So, in the first 15 games, they play OKC three times, they play Minnesota twice, they play Denver, they play the Lakers, they play Golden State, they play Milwaukee. Like, I think that opening night against Phoenix, Phoenix isn’t that good. Uh Utah isn’t that good. The Lakers, you know, they’re a better team than you. Uh then you got OKC, you’ve got the you’ve got the Bulls. I think you can beat the Bulls. Um, I don’t think you’re going to beat OKC. I I think Milwaukee is still better team than the Kings, although that’s a possible win. Just depends on how their team really starts playing early in the season. But at Denver, Golden State, OKC, Minnesota, Denver, Atlanta, Minnesota again, Spurs, OKC, like that’s a tough schedule. And and you finish out the month, man, in the month of November, they play Minnesota three times and play Denver three times. like like those are top tier Western Conference teams. They’re, you know, top five seeds probably. So, um I don’t know. Like I I think that there’s a better chance that this team starts, let’s say five and and 10 or six and uh six and nine, then they do start nine and six or or 10 and five. So like, and it’s a lot of it because of the schedule, but that also means that you’re going to run into a patch of games somewhere along the way where you do have like an easy group of games where you you might have an opportunity to claw back. Like look, I’ve got a lot of faith in Doug’s ability to to rally the troops to keep the group together. Um, but at the end of the day, like talent wins out in the NBA. And not only talent, but cohesion and the right fits at positions. And I think the the team walks into this season as, you know, like like a team under construction, like a team that’s not not fully complete. And we know that because they’re still trying to make a move right now to go out and get Jonathan Kaminga and to try to get Russell Westbrook. I mean that those are substantial moves no matter what. And that means that substantial players are leaving. And so like look, I I don’t think that they’re convinced that this is the the team they want to walk into the season with. So why should we be convinced that this is the se the the team that that they believe is going to be a winner? But we’ll see. We got to might not have a choice. They might not have a choice. And in that case, you got to make you got to figure it out, right? Yeah. Right. You know, we just got to Kings fans got to hope that the players don’t have the same outlook as um you know, seemingly everybody, right? That’s me. That’s me. As that Kerin James Ham, right? And if and if if you do if you do have those you got to get those players out. If you get like you have to get the the people if I’m Doug Christie the people that walk into it with a defeated attitude already. I’m calling Scott. Get them out of here. Bro, this is not how you build a franchise. This is not I need I need people who are tough- minded, who are ready to fight through tough times. And if there’s people in that locker room that want things handed to them or want an easy way out, get them out. Get them out of here. Like because it’s not going to be easy the whole time. I need people that are ready to grind, ready to to push through some tough times. And that’s that’s what maybe this season about. Who who can you um who you can go into battle with? Who you know through tough times you guys these are the type of guys that are going to stick together. not splinter off. So maybe that’s what this season is as far as trying to build um this identity. Anybody that’s not ready to go through anything tough and get them out of here, they drag down around them. I I can I can see a way in which though a team doesn’t splinter and is still really bad. Like that’s still a possibility. I mean, just because they they don’t sit there and talk trash about each other to the media or like we don’t see anonymous reports about this player being unhappy or that player being unhappy, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to win games. And so we have to be realistic about like if there are structural issues with a team that that limits their ability to win, you know, that’s where I like I don’t want to say I think it’s okay for a player to be like, “Hey, you know, I really would like a different teammate.” Um, but because a lot of the times, you know, players, they know the game as well or better than anyone else. And they’re looking around like, “Hey, look, I’m all in. I’m here. I’m I’m taking my money and and I’m going to show up to practice every day. I’m going to fight and I’m going to try to win games. But, you know, there’s something about like trying to win a one-legged asskicking contest. Just doesn’t happen. You know, like once again, they can go. They can go. I need I need I’d rather lose. I need people that are delusional enough to think they can win a onelegged ass kicking contest. That’s what I need in the building. I need What if you go through 15 of them and then you bring in another 15 and they all have the same exact idea that there is no way this team is going to win. Like I get what you’re saying. I I get what you’re saying. I don’t I don’t need to deal with those people. But even if it’s not winning, it’s competing. That’s it. Like if like I’d rather lose with a bunch of undertalented guys who are trying to compete than lose with guys who are just like whatever. It’s not my fault, right? Like and I and I think you’ve outlined I think we’ve outlined this before but specifically you Casey is there’s a lot of it’s not my fault that has gone on in this organization for so long. And uh what’s Monty has made his mistakes, Wes has made his mistakes. Febec has made his mistakes. Mike has made his mistakes. Luke has made his mistakes. A lot of players have made mistakes along the way, too. A lot of them. And I think so many people lean on the dysfunction of this organization. Dear did it for a minute when he left. Oh, everyone says the same thing, but I’m the problem. Like, all right. So, we’re all we’re all leaning on this. And there there could be there could be grains of truth. There could be glaciers of truth to the dysfunction that is in this organization. That shouldn’t stop you from competing as a professional basketball player. Yeah. And that’s what I hope we’re not facing. And taking accountability and finding ways to improve, finding ways to get over the mountain top. Like we’ve always said, there’s always a built-in excuse here in Sacramento. And these people use it like you just mentioned. And I need to find the people that aren’t like I don’t I don’t I need more Doug Christies. Yeah. Yeah, Doug Christie will not look at Sacramento and say, “I just can’t get it done here. Nobody can get it done here.” He’s going to try to figure out a way to get it done. Coaches quit on them left and right last year. That’s fine. I’ll find a way to get it done. It’s my job. This This organization needs more Doug Christies. That roster needs more Doug Christies. Unless we got one, funny enough, you know who I think it is? It’s Keon. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Keon gonna fight every day. Yeah, every single day in practice, in games, like he gonna fight. I agree with you. No, I’m with you. Um, but also like as a player, like Doug played alongside Chris Weber and Flatty Devots and Mike Bby and Pio Storyakovich and Scott Pard and Bobby Jackson and Lawrence Thunderberg and like that’s a team. That’s a team. It’s not it’s not a collection of individuals. And I think that’s the biggest task that’s in front of Doug. How do you turn a group of players that like realistically there are a bunch of holes in the their ability not as individuals as much as there is as a collective of players. There are holes in the ability of the team. How do you take that team and and lead them? And like look, I I’ll point out like Jordy Fernandez last season did an incredible job early in the year of getting the Brooklyn Nets winning games. And then there came a point where the management said, “Hey, look, you do understand we don’t want to win games, right? We need more talent and we’re playing for drafts position and all that. So, I’m going need you to back off.” So, I I think there is a way in which coaches can lead a group of players, but you got to have 100% buy in and 100% buyin from some veteran players. We’re not talking about young guys like Brooklyn had that are a bunch of guys who are just fighting to stay in the league because Brooklyn didn’t want to spend any money and and had to sign a bunch of dudes. you’re talking about, you know, high-end guys, at least one guy who’s going in the Hall of Fame, you know, a couple other guys who have been multi-time allstars. Like, it’s different to get buyin from veterans. And if they’re all in and they’re willing to, you know, run through a brick wall for Doug, then yeah, they got a shot. But trying to run through a brick wall for 82 games isn’t always easy. ES especially when you got you know rumors and everything else floating around about who’s going to be there and who’s not at any given time and so it just makes it makes it difficult. Hammer at some point you do need some cohesion like like doing you know doing the kind of push through for 82 games is tough. At some point you’re going to have together splint you’re going to have to come together. You’re going to you know splinter apart. Well, you need some wins, but Right. If you’re if you get some wins under your belt, Yeah. that can help you through the tough times. Exactly. And that that actually that was the impetus of the entire conversation we’ve had today about can they sustain those losses because it just it takes a few. Can you can you get a couple to kind of pull this thing back together? The Kings got them when Doug took over. You know, James, we were talking about, you know, digging out of that that that hole you’re in or ditch that you’re in. They were able to do that when when Doug took over and they won, I think it was seven straight and 10 of 11 or nine of 11 or something along those lines. Obviously, you want to avoid the need to do those. That way, if you’re able to win six or seven in a row, maybe you’re five, six, seven, eight, nine games over 500 versus, okay, we pulled back even. Let’s see what we could do next. And you hope at some point the team can do that. Yeah. Yeah. That to me is the biggest unknown question is can they play because you are asking and I don’t disagree with anyone who says you’re asking a you know to to James’ you know analogy earlier a point earlier when talking about Doug and the guys that he played with. You’re you’re asking a you know guys it’s it’s like a bunch of we talked about this yesterday. It’s the real world Kings edition. you’re asking guys from a bunch of different walks of life, all right, get on this basketball court. You know, in in in that case, it’s go make us an entertaining TV show. Go win us some basketball games. You’ve got to find a way to do it. And guys have to find a way to um maybe put certain aspects of their personality or their game aside because it’s the betterment for the team. And that’s what we’re hoping we see. 100%. Or we just see a better roster by the time camp gets here. would help too. Don’t think that’s going to happen. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don’t end the show. Don’t end. I’m here. I’m here. The heck on, Jesse. You know I wasn’t going to let it happen. You know I wasn’t going to let it happen. You know I wasn’t going to let DLo’s birthday. Like main man DLO. You know I wasn’t going to let it happen. Wow. Without the final boss coming. They told me six weeks ago. Six weeks. Six weeks. They told me when your birthday was, big dog. And I made sure. I made sure I was here. I made sure that I talked to Karach. I made sure I talked to Pamela Love. I made sure I talked to Bill. I was here and it’s all because my guy, his birthday, his birthday is right here. August 13th, final boss. Happy birthday, DLo. Wow, what a surprise. Dwayne, I’m gonna paraphrase something. No, no, no. Come here. Come here, Dwayne. I want to paraphrase something you once said to mankind. There’s four minutes left in the show. You stupid son of a I thought about that mid impression, too. I had to make sure. We got a hell of time, too. A perfect walkoff. What are we supposed to do now? I had to make sure. We’re not even at two minutes left of the show. Like, wait. I was waiting for I was waiting for the had to make sure we got it in. I was waiting for Kenny to start going. You are listening in KFM West Sacramento KRXQ HD2 Sacramento ESPN 1320 Sacramento sports leader. That’s what I was waiting for. What the hell? What the hell? Give me Give me that damn microphone. Give me the microphone. I don’t know what’s going on. I didn’t invite Shaq. You caused all of this. I don’t understand how Belo can have a birthday in Sacramento. Don’t worry about how sark you are. You ain’t never had a birthday you don’t know. I’m here and I just want to wish my man DL happy birthday. You ain’t never had a birthday you don’t know. All right. Happy birthday, D. Make sure you come to SAK State. A matter of fact, Shack State. It took you four hours, but you got me. It took four hours, but you got me. Paid off. You ain’t never had a birthday. Is hilarious. I’m sorry. Happy birthday to my dog, man. Happy birthday, DLO, man. Come on. Airorns, before we get out of here, man. I’m not on that. I’m on the KSFM screen. Summer Walker, before we get out of here, Summer. I think here I got this button. Hey. Hey. Hey. Happy birthday. No, thank you. No, stop it. Stop it. Thank you. That extended, man. A standing ovation. And we managed to kill There it is. We managed to kill the two and a half minutes that Kenny tricked off by doing his impression too early. Thanks to Shaq. There we go. We made it. James, uh, thank you for being with us and I apologize. It happens. We appreciate all of you. Scooter asking, “Did DLO get a contract for his birthday?” No. Did they even say happy birthday? No. Didn’t even Didn’t even say that. Did they? No. No. They’re trying to avoid me at all cost. You know who did? Jason Ross. Wish me happy birthday, though. Shout out 13 Ross. Yeah, Jason Ross. Wish me happy birthday, though. That there’s a good man. We’ll see you. Maybe not all of us, but we’ll see you tomorrow at 10 am with the insiders here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320.

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