Kings fans loudly expressed their displeasure Sunday night as the team suffered a 27-point blowout against Indiana that marked its fourth straight loss at home, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Amid pressure to shake up the roster, Sacramento matched its longest losing streak of the season and is in danger of slipping out of the playoff race at 13-17.
“You never want to get booed at home, but we probably deserve it,” Kevin Huerter said. “We just lost three in a row and then you get beat by 30 on your home court during Christmas time. (The fans) deserve better.”
The Kings were hoping to be contenders after adding DeMar DeRozan to an already impressive array of offensive talent. But DeRozan’s frustrating night — scoring just two points while shooting 1-of-7 from the field — has been emblematic of the season-long struggle to mesh everyone together. Malik Monk cited memories of his time with the Lakers when they missed the playoffs despite a talented roster.
“Not playing together, like we’ve been doing all season,” Monk said in explaining Sunday’s loss. “We’ll have a great half and then we’ll go back to one-pass shots, no-pass shots. We’ve just got to continue to move the ball.”
There’s more from Sacramento:
- The crowd started chanting for Keon Ellis after the Kings fell behind by 12 points early in the second half, and that’s one of the options coach Mike Brown will consider as he tries to reconfigure his rotation, Anderson adds. Brown told reporters that Ellis, Doug McDermott, Trey Lyles and Isaac Jones might get more playing time. “I’m going to keep searching it,” Brown said. “I was searching a little tonight. We hadn’t shot the ball well the last few games from the three-point line. We did three games ago when Doug got some good minutes. He helped space the floor and we ended up scoring 120-something points against Denver, so I gave him an opportunity tonight, but if somebody new steps in and gets an opportunity like Trey at the five and Doug on the floor, that probably means somebody is going to be out. Tonight, that was Isaac and Keon. Those guys have been playing for us as of late, but they were out tonight just because the minutes aren’t there.” The Kings have a +8.9 net rating in Ellis’ 564 minutes on the court this season and a -2.5 mark in the 891 minutes he hasn’t played.
- Brown stressed the need for togetherness throughout the organization following Saturday’s loss to the Lakers, Anderson states in a separate story. Citing a “bunker mentality,” he talked about the commitment that runs from ownership through the front office to the coaching staff. “It always has to be a collective effort,” Brown said. “One of the things I said when I first got the job here is we have to have an alignment vertically and horizontally. Not just during good times, not just when I first got here or when change happens, but you have to do it and it’s even more evident when you hit a little adversity. If that alignment is truly in place and people truly believe, then it’s easy to go through adversity.”
- De’Aaron Fox said the Kings needs to find the right mindset to turn their season around, Anderson adds in another piece. “You have to enjoy playing the game period, and you have to enjoy playing with each other,” he said, “and I think we have to find that sense of enjoyment.”
It’s Obvious, that the Kings Management doesn’t care, or they would have done something by now. They just want your money. there are several Players the Kings should be looking at, ie Kuzma, Grant, Capela, Kessler, Turner, etc !!
Kings managers don’t have good traders.
How about this
Kings get Draymond, Looney
Warriors get Sabonis
value for value
If nobody wants Huerter and DeRozan contracts you have to trade Sabonis or Murray
Fox is untouchable
I believe they held onto Murray for too long, he would have gotten them a better wing player instead of a 35 year old DeRozan who kills offenses with ISO ball.
Kings problem is defense. Why they went after a old offensive only player makes no sense. Brown was a defensive coach so why di he want another offensive player?
Brown was never a defensive coach. Where that perception came from will forever elude me. Young LeBron carried the defense with the Cavs during his first stint in Cleveland; the difference in defense when he was off the floor was titanic. The Lakers got much worse defensively when he coached them, despite extremely similar rosters to when Phill Jackson had them as a Top 5 defense the two prior years. And the Kings haven’t been even remotely a good defense with Brown at the helm.
I agree with the DeRozan signing being a dumb one, though. It made no sense at the time and that feeling has been borne out big time. Murray being shoved to the 4 where he’s not suited to play has hampered him, and DeRozan doesn’t fit the rest of the team structure either.
He was the defensive coach for both Warriors and Cavs. You can easily look articles on how he was a defensive coach.
He wasn’t for the Cavs. Maybe he was for the Warriors. But I watched almost all of those games. LeBron was the defense for those teams. Every single second he was off the floor, the defense went to s**t.
He was absolutely not for the Cavs. The defense when LeBron wasn’t on the floor was terrible for those teams. I watched most of those games. I remember it well. Every single second LeBron was on the bench was painful to watch. He’d have to come back into the game and go crazy just to keep it close sometimes.
The Warriors, sure. But not the Cavs.
If he was terrible coach how did he take his 2007 team to the finals? 2009 team had 2 all defensive team players.
Who would have thought that adding DeMar Derozan would reduce ball movement and lead to more one pass shots?
What Brown says and does are two very different things. Talks about defense and accountability, then ignores both.
In yesterday’s game, with the Pacers getting hot offensively late in the 3rd, what did Brown do? Did he bring in Ellis? Did he prioritize defense? No. He brought in Huerter and McDermott who proceeded to get destroyed defensively. And he kept them on the floor for an extended stretch. Guess what happened to that previously manageable deficit. This is basketball 101 we’re talking about.
It’s clear the players no longer have faith in him as head coach, nor should they. They aren’t stupid. The roster has its issues, but Brown’s rotations are bringing out the worst possible results. If management cares about the season, he’d be gone after the new year.
It’s weird that Brown all of a suddenly lost the locker room considering how good he’s been up there the past few years.
Either Fox is fed up and wants to pull a Lebron and bring his own Klutch Coach in or he’s trying to get traded to a team he wants.
My uninformed opinion is he’s a likeable guy who is good at motivating people, which he why he got off to a good start. But as the honeymoon phase ends and his struggles with the X’s and O’s of coaching become more apparent the players eventually recognize this and sour on him.
As the saying goes, the mark of a true person’s character is how they handle adversity and right now neither Brown nor the players look particularly good. Couple that with the poor roster construction and it’s a perfect storm of bad circumstances.
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Anybody else love to see Fox play with Wemby?
Then Kings die
Yeah full rebuild if Fox wants out. Spurs could add 5 or 6 1sts if they really wanted Fox. Not saying that will happen. Spurs would still have 1sts every yr and still multiple in some after parting with a crazy amount of picks. Throw in Jones and Johnson works on trade machine. Seeing how much San Antonio has improved with a near 40 yr old CP3 it’s definitely worth considering. I’d also be surprised if Sabonis wasn’t a Danny Ainge type guy. All of a sudden kings are loaded with draft picks for the rebuild. Fox would kill it with Wemby.
Great pairing
I dont see Sac moving him this year tho, things could heat up over the summer tho