Kings interim head coach Doug Christie picked up his first win on Monday, as Sacramento took advantage of a Dallas team missing its top two scorers and snapped a six-game losing streak, registering its first home win since December 8. Christie has been an assistant coach in Sacramento since 2021, so his players were happy to see him get his first official victory as a head coach, writes Eric He of The Associated Press.
“We’ve spent three summers now with him,” Sabonis said. “He works his butt off and just to see him installing what he believes in the guys, and the guys reacting that quickly to it is awesome.”
As Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee details, Christie got emotional ahead of the game when asked by CBS Sacramento’s Jake Gadon what he wanted to say to Kings fans as the team attempts to turn its season around.
“I love you, first, because this is an incredible fan base, but I would say more than anything, know that we are here to put a product out on the floor that makes you proud,” Christie responded. “… I think everyone understands who I am and what I’m trying to do, so I don’t need to reiterate that, but first and foremost, there’s steps to that process, and the first step is that when they walk in the doors and they leave the doors, they know that team played their f—ing a– off.”
Given that multiple reports in the wake of Mike Brown‘s dismissal indicated that Kings players had grown weary of the coach’s public criticism of the team, one post-game remark Christie made while discussing the team’s need to perform better in “clutch” situations was especially noteworthy.
“When it comes to that point, what are you willing to do?” Christie said, according to He. “I know what I’m willing to do for you, and I’m going to support them in any way I can. Because it’ll always be my fault. It’ll never be their fault. They go do their job. I’m here to take the bullets.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Lakers newcomers Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton have been given the go-ahead to debut for their new team on Tuesday vs. Cleveland, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who reports that the physicals for the four players involved in this week’s Lakers/Cavaliers swap are complete. As Jovan Buha of The Athletic relays, Finney-Smith said on Tuesday that he knew the odds were “high” that he’d be traded the season and added that he’s excited to play for the “big bros” in Los Angeles after being the “little brother” to the Knicks in Brooklyn.
- The MRI on Brandin Podziemski‘s abdominal strain came back clean, according to Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. Kerr told reporters – including Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link) – that the guard is considered day-to-day after getting injured on Saturday and sitting out Monday’s game.
- With their loss to Cleveland on Monday, the Warriors have now dropped 13 of 17 games and are back to .500 after starting the season 12-3. Star guard Stephen Curry referred to the team as “very average” at the moment, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes, noting that several of Golden State’s offensive weapons – including Buddy Hield and Dennis Schröder – are going through shooting slumps at the same time. During the Warriors’ 12-3 start, they had the NBA’s sixth-best offensive rating (115.7); in their past 17 games, that number has plummeted to 106.1, ahead of only Charlotte and Washington.
Curry summed up the warriors team which they are average team. Problem is so many players under performing even Curry is under performing. Looks like age is catching up on Curry. Kerr is starting to lose it by sticking to the same game plan and not adjusting his rotations. If you are not going to play certain players trade them. they can probably get something for Anderson or Looney. January will be the month to see if they can compete or should sell. the schedule will be a lot easier so if they continue to struggle time to sell.
He said “mid”, he called us “mid” – its SO over, hahaha
But for real: Buddy is unplayable right now. Moody however, looks like a star in the making. Hm. I wonder why Lerr decided to play Podz over Moody at SG for 1.5 years even though Moody has a ring and is ready now and Podz is 21 and has no offensive or defensive profile to speak of at all and should be in the g league developing his profiles??? Maybe its because Steve is a totally incompetent egomaniac and relentlessly goes to low percentage smallball that only works 20% of the time!!
MY PLAN
Keep: Steph, Dray, Trayce, Moses.
Listen on offers for Kuminga but only move him for a superstar.
Put everyone else on the trade table. My dream of like 20 teams doing a massive multi-teamer at the deadline inches closer and closer.
Prioritize trading for Cam Johnson and one of Nikola Vuc/Jonas Val. Johnson and Kuminga as the primary wings will bring the scoring we need, as will a scoring big who can also defend at the rim.
Wiggins, Looney, GP2, Slomo, Dennis and Buddy make a massive amount of money, they can bring in any number of upgrades. There are better players available in their roles out there. This is fact. Find them, now.
Dub Nation gotta let GP2 and Wiggins go, both were never supposed to be big players on this team, they are “justa guy”s. They arent elite, yet make big money. Podz also isnt ready for this league, he is still so young so he’s a stash guy, do NOT use him like Kerr uses him and he can develop properly instead of doing cardio with no scoring from SG.
Fire Steve Kerr and replace him with Mike Brown. Kings never gave him a chance and have zero players who play defense. He is still a good coach. Free Curry from Kerr’s idiotic and incompetent HC.
What happened to Kerr happens to a lot of successful coaches got too comfortable using the same offensive plays and defensive plays. Teams adjust to the style and Kerr is not adjusting. Just like how teams adjusted to Warriors double team the best offensive player. leaving the 3 pt line open. Small ball line up doesn’t work anymore he needs to drop it.
They cheat a little too much when it comes to that on any guy thats not a Loony type that just wont shoot a 3pt no matter how open. I think you can cheat off those guys, but if you make it to easy then bad shooters find rhythm and burn you.
A month ago, people were complaining that Kerr was using to many players. One player after another has had slumps. Just continual adjustments to get players going…It is a deep draft. So, not making the playoffs might not be such a bad thing.
Moody has been a star in the making ever since he was drafted.
What happened to “thanks to the Schroeder trade, dubs are Top 4 on the west” and “Schroeder > Melton” bandwaggon “Davey J” has been feeding us? Now he wants to trade half the team coz they are Top 4.
Keep on dreaming “Davey J”. Keep feeding us with your copium takes that you keep on eating after every week.
Also Mike Brown will not be coaching for a while. He is paid 20m + the next 2 or 3 seasons without having to work the sidelines.
ONLY Davey J said they were a top 4 team with DS. Seems like you are are obsessed with everything he says. Just ignore him like many fans that only see their team through rose color glasses.
@arc89
Just calling out the troll with copium takes
It’s actually not that deep of a draft. It has some great looking players at the top but falls off a cliff real fast. It’s basically the opposite of the 2024 draft that had basically no high end guys but tons of depth/role player types.
That’s not what I read. Who is saying differently?
> not making the playoffs might not be such a bad thing.
.
It’s always a bad thing for GSW (unless it comes with a very high pick) because, in our case, losing reduces gate revenues disproportionately, which, in turn, prohibits the team from going deep into the luxury tax.
GSW has seen 2 consecutive seasons of attrition in season ticket renewals and a decline in gate for the first time since 2013. That is a huge concern for ownership given Steph’s imminent departure.
You can read about it in Forbes or HBS. The business model:
Huge gate —> can pay luxury tax —> can buy better players —> can make playoffs —> huge gate
A mid-first draft pick doesn’t move the needle enough to justify missing the playoffs.
If the warriors wanted to do a real gamble trade Wiggins, Kuminga, and the 1st round pick to Pelicans for Zion. Warriors may throw away this year but get Zion with Curry and Green and rebuild for 1 last year with some free agents. Pelicans are getting tired of the often injured Zion. Big gamble but could pull it off if they can get Zion healthy.
arc89 , the price for Zion is way, way less than that, prolly no more than a late first and filler.
The risk of Zion is that he literally destroys your franchise as an unavailable player on a max contract.
I mean Steph may be bothered by his knee. He certainly doesnt seem to have the same burst in his drives he usually does.
I honestly dont know why DS is still getting min. He is -29/100 which is f***ing insane. He is short on every shot no matter where its from and hasnt driven for layups hardly at all. I mean how much longer do you keep letting this dude shooting terrible from everywhere lose you games. Him and Heald should just be benched until they show they deserve min. Theyre both sooooo trash on defense that if they arent making shots they shouldnt play…
I would much rather Anderson get min since I know if his shots not falling he will still do everything else right. I wonder if he is injured or something since there are matchups like Luka where he has barely played and historically was very good defending.
The bench is not that good. I saw a terrible bench team last night with only two player playing aggressive in Kuminga and Moody. Saw a lot of standing around waiting. Somebody needs to tell Watters to move not stand in the corner.
Waters just hasnt been consistent at all from 3pt so he doesnt bring much if hes not at least hitting 38% 3pt. They really need to just put Kuminga in with dray at the 5 in the starting lineup except in special cases where the matchup dictates it. I would play Heild 10 and DS 15 off the bench until they earn more min. The number of times Heild commits dumb fouls where hes trying to show hes trying but hes already beat and he just gives them an and 1 and puts them in the bonus is staggering…
The Warriors have two main problems; no outside shooting and turnovers. Their offensive rating has dropped 20 spots from the beginning of the season. Teams double Curry and sag off the rest. It is hard to drive to the hoop with two defenders in front of you. In the playoff game against Houston, the Warriors turned the ball over 20 times which led to 30 Rockets points. And they lost by one point.
Stop saying Kerr doesn’t like big men. The facts aren’t on your side.
Giants74, No, turnovers are NOT one of the Warriors t I’ll p 2 problem.
1. The Warriors turn the ball over less than the average team, ranking 13th of 30 teams, at 14.3 ppg. Best is 11.7 and worst is 18 per game.
2. Turnovera are bad, but don’t strongly correlate with the Warriors’s success, as you claim. For example, the Warriors won a Chip in 2021-22 while leading the league in turnovers. That’s because the motion offense generates both high assist and high turnovers.
Steph ain’t Batman anymore. He’s averaging lowest PPG since 2012. Lowest FG% of career and lowest 2FG% since 2012.
Sure he’s getting double-teamed and has no shooters to help, but he showed us this in the Olympics. Was it worth it having no off-season? Age is also probably a factor, he is 36 FFS. Signs of decline are bubbling to the surface.
He had a horrible December 40/36% on 21.5 pts.
Kerr seems to have lost his mojo. 18+ different starting lineups this year. Kyle Andersen doesn’t play because Lindy Waters is better than him?
Not sure why watters is playing when he brings no offense to the court.
If Waters shoots like he did in OKC, the Warriors would be better.
The Waters fetish (17 minutes per game!) should have ended 15 games ago. No contending NBA team is giving this many minutes to such a poor player. It has cost us 3-4 games already.
Reduce the rotation, and give the minutes to Wiggins, Kuminga, and Moody.
(Don’t be fooled by Waters’ numbers in OKC, they are mostly from garbage time.)
^ this
Umm…They started out the season reducing Curry’s minutes…I guess you weren’t here for the beginning of the Warriors season. The initial lineup had Wiggins at the 2. JK was the 3. And Draymond at his usual spot. Anderson is/was Draymond’s backup. The season started with JK cold and Waters, and Heild, hot. JK to the bench and Melton starting. Melton gets injured, in comes Waters. Waters was 40% shooter from 3pt in OKC. He has gone cold. Podz is another guy who has gone cold.
Waters is a g-league player at best. Waters started the season hot? what, the first 3 games – when he went 13/19? He’s shooting 34.8% on the season now, so he’s gone 35/119 for 29% since then. That is not guy that deserves any minutes.
And are you really citing his 38 games last season as quality shooting? What a strong sample size.
Elbow, well said. Waters is a nice piece to have as a 13-14 man on the bench. Make him a rotation player means burning W’s.
He has been dealing with a knee injury that seems to have slowed him down both laterally and on the burst for drives. I honestly wish they had just sat him 5 games to get it fully healthy and brought him back right than try to manage it and lose 15. Like some of everyone shooting like s*** is just bad timing for slumps, but some is that this team needs a fully functional Steph to make the lineup work since nobody else has any gravity besides Kuminga when the floor is spread right.
Oh and I would make all these f***ers shoot FT for like 3 straight days for like 12 hrs a day…
Chapman, I hope Steph can get healthy, but he’s 37. LeBron has changed people’s expectations on aging, but it’s unreasonable to think the rest of the NBA, including Steph, has stopped normal aging.
Realistically, Steph (and Draymond) should not be expected to play more than 60 games at 30 mins per game. That’s less than 1/2 our total minutes, and why we need to be planning increasingly to optimize other players.
You cant be limiting Steph and Draymonds minutes if the recipient is Waters. Youd need to have a better set of players around them to have this running in the first place.
Umm…Waters is in his 4th season,l. I did say he went cold. Name someone who can shoot better than him.
and he only shot above 40% in those 38 games last year on 1 make out 2.2 attempts, he’s much closer to a 36% 3FG than that mirage he displayed last year. Which isn’t really good enough when he provides nothing else of value. Why are you defending Waters like he’s a family member? He’s simply not a 3 & D guy despite Kerr claiming he’s been the best player since training camp. That’s laughable.
How about Moody or Anderson, Podz had a good December from 3FG.
Defending Waters? I don’t know how you get that idea. I’m just pointing out issues people miss. Moody has a painful knee. Podz has abdominal muscle problems. Anderson isn’t a reliable 3 point shooter.
Giants74, the point is that Waters should never see the floor. Waters’ 17 minutes per game should have been spread across:
– Wiggins, who’s playing 6 mins under his career average, and shooting 43% from deep:
– Moody, who’s shooting 37% from deep, and is vastly superior defensively (which is not saying much)
– Kuminga, who has played only 26 miutes per game.
Statistically, if Waters had never played this season and his minutes we’d have won 3 more games. No other contending team is playing such a huge negative. Coaching malpractice.
If Watters plays over Moody the rest of the year its time to throw in the towel.