2021 Kings versus Trailblazers

After going to dinner at Il Fornaio (sea bass piccata), Jack, Drew, Carmen, Sharon and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Portland Trailblazers NBA basketball game. Marvin Bagley made a clutch 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining and the Kings held off the Trailblazers to win by the score of 125 to 121.

Coming off the bench, Buddy Hield was high scorer for the Kings. He had 22 points on 6 for 15 from the field, 5 for 11 from 11 and 5 for 6 from the free throw line. De'Aaron Fox added 21 points.

Damian Lillard [PG] was the high scorer for the Blazers. He had 32 points on 7 for 18 from the field, 3 for 12 from three and 15 for 16 from the free throw line. Jusuf Nurkic [C] added 28 points.

Fox was ejected with 6:06 left after picking up back-to-back technical fouls on a night that included six technicals and two player ejections. Portland's Robert Covington was ejected in the first half for a hostile act after tossing his goggles near the feet of a referee.

Sharon and I connected with Snipes at halftime. He was there with Keith.

The Kings now have one win and one loss in games that I have seen in person during the 2021-2022 season.

2021 Kings versus 76ers

Drew and Jack went to the Sacramento Kings versus Philadelphia 76ers NBA Basketball game. Sharon got two tickets to a suite from her company. The Kings led by nine early in the fourth quarter, but were outscored 25-8 over the final 9:45 and lost by the score of 109 to 94.

De'Aaron Fox was the Kings high scorer. He had 23 points on 7 for 15 from the field, 1 for 4 from three and 8 for 10 from the free throw line.

Tyrese Maxey [PG] was the 76ers high scorer. He has 24 points on 8 for 22 from the field, 0 for 4 from three and 8 for 8 from the free throw line.

After Luke Walton was fired on Sunday, Alvin Gentry made his debut as interim Kings coach. Gentry most recently served as head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans (2015-20). He's also had head coaching stops with Miami, Detroit, the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix.

This is a very disappointing Kings team. Philadelphia played without Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris (left hip) and Seth Curry (back tightness). It is hard for me to see how the Kings can win 37 games; they would have to go 31 and 34 over the rest of the season. It seems likely that they are going to set the record for the longest playoff drought in NBA history.

A game log for the 2021-2022 season is here.

2018-2019 Sacramento Kings Over/Under Wins

In his annual NBA Over/Under podcast in October, Bill Simmons, Ryen Russell and Joe House all loved the over for the Kings. I ended up making a small bet on the under before the season started. It was not because I don't like the Kings team. It is just that the Western Conference is loaded this year. The Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, Jazz, Nuggets and Trailblazers all have two major stars. I just didn't believe that they could compete this season on the same level with these teams. Obviously, I didn't expect the injuries to Fox and Bagley...

The Sacramento Kings as Catastrophe

ESPN NBA season preview - 30 dramas to watch

If the NBA has taught us anything, it’s to expect drama—everywhere! So we paired each team with a TV drama, then the NBA Forecast panel ranked how central each subplot will be to this season.

This is particularly poignant because Sharon and I finished watching season one and season two of Catastrophe in the last month!

Simmons 2015 NBA Western Conference Over/Under Podcast

On the October 26, 2015 Bill Simmons Podcast [Episode 15], Joe House joined Bill Simmons to evaluate the NBA's Western Conference in Part 2 of their annual NBA over/under podcast. At the 22:30 point in the podcast, they talk about the Sacramento Kings.

The Sacramento Kings over/under for wins is 33. Both Simmons and House like the over?!? Their comments about the Kings include:

• The owner is out of his mind and gloriously incompetent.
• If you put enough crazy people on a basketball team, it is not going to go well. It's not. And there are some crazy people on this basketball team.

Watching the Kings in the season opener, I don't like the over!

2015 Kings versus Clippers

Larkin and I went to opening night of the 2015/16 NBA season to watch the Sacramento Kings versus the Los Angeles Clippers. Trailing by 10 points for most of the game, the Kings tied the game at 95 with 6:22 let in the game. As shown in the picture above, the Kings led 98 to 97 with 4:19 remaining… Paul Pierce made a couple of clutch shots down the stretch and the Clippers pulled away to win by the score of 111 to 104.

DeMarcus Cousins was the Kings leading scorer. He had 32 points going 10 for 21 from the field, 4 for 5 from three and 8 for 11 from the free throw line. Unfortunately, Cousins had 8 turnovers!

Blake Griffin looked good and was the Clippers leading scorer. He had 33 points on 14 for 20 from the field and 5 for 7 from the free throw line.

The Kings offense looked disjointed for most of the game; it looked like they had never played together. The line-up of Collison, Cousins, Gay, Casspi and Belinelli {a point guard, a big man and three perimeter shooters} pulled the Kings back into the game in the fourth period.

I listened to the Bill Simmons annual NBA over/under podcast on the way to the game. Simmons and House were bullish on the Kings. Watching the Kings offense in the first game, I am not… More about Simmons over/under podcast later this week.

Larkin and I wandered down and talked to Snipes at halftime. He was at the game with Craig in section 124, while Keith and one of his friends were sitting in their season tickets.

The Kings have 0 wins and 1 loss in games that I have seen in the 2015-2016 NBA season.

The NBA’s Furious 17: Capturing the Noncontenders’ State of Mind by Bill Simmons

The NBA’s Furious 17: Capturing the Noncontenders’ State of Mind

 Sacramento Kings (27-51)

 Tao of Dom: “I saw Linder about a week later. I had the wrench in my hand. I hit him. I didn’t mean to keep hitting him, but by the time I was done, I couldn’t lift my arm. He’s a janitor at an elementary school. He has to take the bus to work … and they banned me from the tracks for life.”

 The good news for Linder? He belatedly recovered from his head injuries and became Sacramento’s newest VP of personnel. Just kidding. I don’t mind the nucleus here: Boogie Cousins (a borderline first-team All-NBA center who couldn’t get it because his team stunk), Ben McLemore (blossomed in Year 2), Rudy Gay (shockingly solid this season), great and loyal fans, a top-eight lottery pick coming, Boogie a second time, and Boogie a third time. If you want to keep going, we have a great 30 for 30 coming about how Sacramento saved the Kings from going to Seattle. Oh, and the Maloofs are long gone. So it’s not all bad. Even if the Kings just endured the worst 13-year run of any NBA franchise.

The big question: When will the hilariously incompetent Vivek Ranadivé conquer New Owner Syndrome? When will he realize that you can’t keep changing coaches and front-office executives every six months like you’re replacing the oil in your car? When will he finally get the whole “You hire the front-office guy first, then HE hires the coach because they have to work together” sequence correct? Part of me hopes Vivek never figures it out; it’s just funnier this way. He’s gone through four coaches and roughly 42 different front-office guys already. He just turned basketball decision-making powers over to the well-liked Vlade Divac — someone who hadn’t been involved in the NBA, in any capacity, for 10 solid years. Who’s next after Vlade doesn’t work out? C-Webb? Bonzi Wells? The Christies? Lawrence Funderburke?

 Still, there’s a certain honor in rooting for the strangest, goofiest, most inexplicably incompetent franchise in basketball. When everything turns around, it makes the whole thing feel even sweeter. Trust me, I’m a Patriots fan. We stunk for the first 30-plus years of my life, then, all of a sudden, we didn’t. Keep your head up, Kings fans. And remember: At least you saved your team. Sure, you saved it and put it in the hands of someone who seems about as stable as Cookie from Empire. But at least you saved your team.

The Kings of Confusion

Post by Grantland.

2010-2011 Kings Season Wins Over/Under

In the 2008-2009 NBA season, the Sacramento Kings won 17 games. Last year, the Kings won 25 games. For the 2010-2011 season, Vegas has the over/under for Kings wins at 27.5.

On his two part October 19, 2010 podcast, Bill Simmons with his friend Joe House reviewed the over/under for every NBA team and predicted whether they would be over or under. Simmons was very pessimistic about the Kings. He pointed to the problem of trying to find minutes for a number of similar players, including Carl Laundry, DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson. Simmons also cited the issues surrounding the arena. He believes that arena problems create a general malaise for the Kings that negatively impacts the players, coaches, management and the fans.

Simmons and House are forecasting that the Kings will win less than 27.5 games in 2010-2011.

2008-2009 Kings Season Wins Over/Under

Sacramento Kings: John Hollinger's 2010-11 NBA Forecast

2010-11 NBA Forecast: Sacramento Kings - ESPN

Outlook

The Kings have an impressive young nucleus with Evans and Cousins, so if Sacramento can keep them on the straight and narrow, they could make rapid progress in future seasons. That said, I'm dubious of their ability to do so, and even if they do, I'm not sure they can put the finishing pieces on the squad.

...there doesn't seem to be any real overarching plan in Sacramento; they just throw stuff at the wall and enthusiastically pat themselves on the back when it works (at least, when they're not taking a nap). This year they'll likely applaud the impact of Cousins and Dalembert in the frontcourt and the continuing development of Evans and Casspi. Unfortunately, the Kings will be mediocre at best on the defensive end, and the lack of long-range shooting and backcourt depth will likely consign them to another below-par offensive year as well.

At least now there's hope. I don't expect it to translate into many more wins this season, but the Evans-Cousins combo is a genuinely exciting development. While a playoff berth seems out of reach, a more realistic goal would be to put some fans back in the seats and set Sacramento on course toward a new arena that can keep the team in town long-term. Acquiring two special talents in the past two drafts has made that achievement much more likely.

Prediction: 28-54, 4th in Pacific Division, 13th in Western Conference

John Hollinger's 2009-2010 NBA Forecast: Sacramento Kings

John Hollinger's 2008-2009 NBA Forecast: Sacramento Kings

John Hollinger's 2007-2008 NBA Forecast: Sacramento Kings

John Hollinger's 2006-2007 NBA Forecast: Sacramento Kings

NBA Power Rankings 2010-2011 Training Camp

The Sacramento Kings open training camp ranked as the second worst team in the league in Marc Stein's power rankings of NBA teams, ahead of only the Timberwolves. Last season, the Kings were ranked as the worst team in Stein's preseason power rankings.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings - National Basketball Association - ESPN

These very young Kings will definitely be bigger with Cousins and Dalembert, but don't bank on anything more than marginally better yet. Tyreke and Cousins, as a franchise duo, have some questions to answer.

NBA Rookie of the Year Forecast

NBA offseason: Rookie of the Year forecast - ESPN

DeMarcus Cousins

Based on talent alone, Cousins could easily be the favorite to win rookie of the year. Just look at his Kentucky stats -- he's an efficient double-double machine who dominated college opponents as a freshman.

Still, you can't blame our panel for hesitating to crown Cousins king of the rooks. Not when he's going up against two No. 1 picks for the honor. Not when he's dealing with maturity issues. Not when he's competing with Samuel Dalembert, Carl Landry and Jason Thompson for minutes in Sacramento. And not when he's battling the likes of Duncan, Gasol and Yao in the West when he does see the floor.

But if Cousins overcomes those obstacles and plays to his potential, Sacramento could very well be looking at back-to-back ROY winners (Kings point guard Tyreke Evans won the 2009-10 award). The last team to accomplish that feat was the Buffalo Braves (Bob McAdoo in 1973 and Ernie DiGregorio in 1974).

Report card time: Grading the NBA trades

While I agree that it was time to trade Kevin Martin, it seems to me that the Kings should have been able to get a little more for him than Carl Landry...

Report card time: Grading the trades - John Hollinger hands out trade-by-trade, team-by-team marks

New York trades Larry Hughes to Sacramento, and Jared Jeffries, Jordan Hill, a top-5 protected 2012 first-round pick and the right to swap first-rounders in 2011 to Houston (top-1 protected);

Houston sends Tracy McGrady to New York, and Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey to Sacramento; Sacramento sends Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong to Houston, and Sergio Rodriguez to New York.

View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine

KINGS:

We had been hearing for a while that the Kings weren't looking to trade Martin, but that belied the on-court reality that he and Tyreke Evans go together like peanut butter and onions. And once they pulled the trigger, the Kings got exactly what they were looking for: cap relief and a young, productive, inexpensive power forward in Landry.

More importantly, the deal positions Sacramento (stop me if you've heard this before) to be a major player in the free-agent market. As a result of deals in the past 48 hours, the Kings, Clippers, Wizards and Bulls all have positioned themselves to offer a maximum free-agent contract, while the Knicks now can offer two maximum deals. In the Kings' case, they probably will take a more piecemeal approach -- LeBron ain't coming to Sacto, folks. But if they can add a young point guard to build around with Evans, Omri Casspi, Landry, Thompson and Hawes, they should be in good position to turn things around.

Grade: B+

Tyreke Evans named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for December

NBA.com: Bucks' Jennings, Kings' Evans named Rookies of the Month

Evans leads all rookies in scoring (22.1 ppg), minutes played (37.9), free throws made (130) and attempted (167), and is second in assists (5.1) and steals (1.62). He helped orchestrate one of the biggest comebacks in NBA history, as the Kings overcame a 35-point deficit at Chicago on Dec. 21, by scoring nine of his 11 fourth quarter points in the final 2:13. Evans scored 20 or more points in eight games in December and has 17 20-point performances this season, tops among rookies.

2009 Kings versus Cavs

Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball game. For 48 entertaining minutes, the young Kings stayed right with LeBron James and the rest of the Cavs. The Kings even had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation. Ilgauskas hit three 3-pointers in overtime and the Cavs outscored the Kings 13 to 0 in overtime to win by the score of 117 to 104.

LeBron had a triple double. He had 34 points on 14 for 30 from the field, 1 for 4 from three and 5 for 7 from the line. James added 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Evans had 28 points on 11 for 25 from the field, 2 for 7 from three and 4 for 4 from the line. Tyreke added 3 rebounds and 5 assists.

Down the stretch, the Cavs switched LeBron on to Evans. Evans tried to go at LeBron several times, including the last play of the game, and came away with only one basket. Tyreke made one amazing move to get by James but then ended up air balling the shot. Evans went 1 for 8 in the fourth quarter and the overtime.

A couple of random comments...

All five of the Kings starters are 23 years old or younger! Evans is 20, Cassipi is 21, Hawes is 21, Green is 21 and Thompson is 23. All of the starters were selected in the first round of the NBA draft in the last three years.

Shaq towers over everyone on the court; he looks huge. Hawes covered him much of the night and is listed at 7' 1" and 245 pounds. Spencer looked tiny next to Shaq. Unfortunately, Shaq does not look very mobile or agile.

In 30 games this season, Ilgauskas had taken and made one other 3 point shot. He was 3 for 3 from 3 point range in the overtime. WTFO!?!

There was a nice crowd at Arco. The arena holds 17,500 and I would have guessed that the crowd was more than 15,500 fans. The box score shows the attendance was 16,407. Both of the other games that I have gone to this season had crowds of about 10,000. You could really tell the difference in the concourse before the game and during halftime.

Larkin and I saw LeBron James' first NBA game more than six years ago.

We saw Lew Gasper at the game. He was sitting about 10 rows behind us in the same section [with his dad?].

Have I said recently how much I enjoy watching this team?

Tyreke Evans

Tyreke Evans is on pace to join LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson as the only NBA players to average 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in their rookie seasons...

NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 6

Sharon and Jack went to the Kings versus Miami game on Sunday night.

The Kings remain at 16th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams.

NBA Basketball Power Rankings

Can't quibble with the 14-3 record posted by Alvin Gentry in November, but you could easily say Paul Westphal's 8-8 mark was also worthy of the season's first Western Conference coach of the month award.

Kings Tyreke Evans named Western Conference Rookie of the Month

KINGS TYREKE EVANS NAMED WESTERN CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER/NOVEMBER

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for games played from the start of the season (Oct. 27) through November. Evans is averaging 18.8 points (44.6 FG%, 32.3 3pt%, 79.0 FT%), 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.33 steals, and 36.1 minutes per game in starting all 15 games he has played in this season. He leads the Kings in assists and is second in scoring. Evans becomes only the third Kings player to be named Rookie of the Month, joining Brian Grant (January 1995) and Lionel Simmons (December 1990 and February 1991).

Thomas for Okafor plus NBA Power Rankings 2009-2010 Week 3

There was an article in Sunday's Sacramento Bee suggesting that the Kings have had discussions with New Orleans about a trade involving Thomas and Hornets center Emeka Okafor. I really don't like this idea. Okafor has five years and $62.5 million left on his contract, including this season. Thomas' $8.7 million contract expires at the end of this year.

I would prefer to see Petrie continue to build the Kings with young players. The Kings currently have six of their last seven first round picks on the roster, including:

• Kevin Martin - 26rd overall - 2004
• Francisco Garcia - 23rd overall - 2005
• Spencer Hawes - 10th overall - 2007
• Jason Thompson - 12th overall - 2008
• Omri Casspi - 23rd overall - 2009
• Tyreke Evans - 4th overall - 2009

They did not have a first round pick in 2003. Their 2006 first round pick was Quincy Douby (19th overall). I would be surprised if there was another team with even half of their own first round picks over the same period on the roster. I am going to do some research over the next week and see how many drafts pick each team still has on its roster.

I have started to enjoy watching the Kings again over the last couple of weeks and would like to see them stick with a youth movement. Currently, the Kings have the second youngest team in the league.

The Kings jumped six spots from 25th to 19th in Marc Stein's weekly power rankings of NBA teams, ahead of the Jazz, Bobcats, Warriors, 76ers, Wizards, Clippers, Hornets, Grizzlies, Nets, Knicks and Timberwolves!

NBA Basketball Power Rankings

Fitting that Houston was the victim when the Kings extended their miraculous, shocker-of-the-season start to 5-4. Sacramento's scrappy play without the injured Kevin Martin strikes us as very Rockets-esque.

2009 Kings versus Rockets

Jack had this first basketball practice of the season after school; it was an hour and a half of mostly conditioning. From there, he went to an hour long flag football practice; the team is playing in a tournament on Saturday. When the flag football practice was over, Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Houston Rockets NBA Basketball game.



After watching parts of the last three home wins on television, this is the first game that I have seen in person this season. I am pleasantly surprised to find this a very fun team to watch. Unlike the mishmash of players over the last three years, this is team built on a group of very young players. It is the second youngest team in the league.

In a very close game, the Kings beat the Rockets by a score of 109 to 100. Jason Thompson had a career-high 27 points and added 11 rebounds for the Sacramento Kings. Beno Udrih scored 22 points, while Tyreke Evans added 20 points.

Without Yao Ming, the Rockets are an undersized team. The Kings took advantage on the boards. At one point in the first half, Jack and I looked at the scoreboard and the Kings were outrebounding the Rockets by a total of 25 to 9. For the game, the Kings outrebounded the Rockets by 54 to 35.

For the Rockets, I was very impressed with Trevor Ariza. He had 28 points on 10 for 21 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the line. Ariza was very active defensively making 5 steals over the course of the game. I still do not understand why the Lakers did not try to resign him.