The Kings own the second-worst record in the league and free agent signee George Hill isn’t happy with the team’s level of success. He sent out an emotional tweet after a recent loss to the Bucks, though he shoulders the blame for Sacramento’s woes.
“The way that we started the game, down 14-0, just didn’t sit well with me,” Hill said (via Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee). “I’m one of the leaders here, so that affected me. I felt like I let my team down.”
Sacramento’s roster is full of inexperienced players, and inconsistent play has been a staple of the team’s season so far. Hill’s never encountered this type of situation at the professional level and he acknowledged that it can be challenging.
“I think on every team I’ve been with, we’ve had that cohesiveness and a lot of veterans that played multiple years in the league, so it was easy to kind of fill in,” Hill said. “I feel like here we’re so young it’s kind of difficult to figure out what’s going to be my direction, what’s going to be my style of play, what’s this guy’s role or my role. We’re still trying to learn those things.”
Here’s more from Sacramento:
- Hill added that many of his teammates are “still babies” professionally and he knows he was brought in to help them develop, Jones writes in the same piece. “Right now we’re just trying to teach the young guys and mentor them,” Hill said. “In the long run, our whole job is try to build this for them to take over and have the keys. It’s not about me, (Vince Carter), (Garrett Temple) or any of us. It’s about how can we develop the young guys to the best of our ability.”
- Willie Cauley-Stein, who will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension after the season, has thrived since being relegated to the bench, Nate Wolf of NBAMath explains. Wolf notes that the success is driven by the team splitting Cauley-Stein and $24MM addition Zach Randolph.
- Currently, Cauley-Stein is sidelined with a back injury, and head coach Dave Joerger said earlier this week that the team will “use caution” when it comes to bringing him back (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of ABC10). That comment suggests that the young center’s absence may extend beyond the Kings’ two-game road trip.
Kins led Cavs until 4th quarter, but lost. So has everyone else during the Cavs 13 game winning streak. Cavs start slow and win every game in 4th quarter.
That’s when “Fourth” Korver, “Second Unit” Wade, “Second Life” Smith, and “Still here” Frye, are most likely to be in, and James gets serious.
MJordan used to wait until the 4th to turn it on also. In quarters 1-3, if you saw someone doing it like Jordan, it was actually Pippen.
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In actual Kings observations… Are we sure WCStein is even improving?
The Kings knew when they drafted WCStein from Kentucky he couldn’t play offense. The Wildcats couldn’t play Stein his freshman year because he couldn’t hit a layup!
Korver is hitting the bleep out of the 3’s in the 4th.
Wade plays best when he’s not on court with LeBron. Like Kyrie, he likes to run the offense.
Do you think Ohio State should have gotten invited over Alabama? I saw Alabama is Las Vegas favorite to win it.
The Cavs suffer when Frye is in lineup. It’s true he never leaves the 3 point line.
I’m hoping Wade is enough to keep LeBron here. Wade has me liking Cavs again.
I would rather a two-loss team get in than a third team from the same region! I would actually pick USC, if they’re not still paying recruits.
Is Reggie Bush still not allowed on campus?
I think the SEC is still better than the Big Ten, but with new better coaches in Big Ten, it is catching up!