We will be 90m below the first apron next year 🤔

With LaVine + Hunter and maybe DeRozans contract assuming it doesn’t get stretched. We will be at the 120m line and 45M ish below the salary cap.

Enough money to pay Duren what he wants…assuming Scott is still desperate for him.

Both u/deuceandmo on pre & post game coverage?!

Keep doing what y’all do best 💜

My favorite would be either Kris or Hendricks

Rn we’re looking at around 74M expiring next year. While being 90m below the First Apron.

If we’re able to flip Monk for another expiring (e.g. Klay Thompson and then we waive him for the year and not spread his contract out + Mavs have too many wings and Klay doesn’t want to be there anymore) we will clear 17m. Which would give us more space to force these players out.

Hopefully a potential lineup would look like
Acuff Wallace Keegan ??? Maxime

Wallace is the exact defensive guard you need playing next to Acuff.

Darn. With the Lou Dort trade, Dallas was able to get in on it and pick up Risacher. I kept hoping the Kings would make a play for him as the perfect buy low wing in a crowded Atlanta rotation. I think if he was given 20-25 consistent minutes he would be a solid role player to grow with Acuff and a much needed perimeter defender. He is still very young with a lot of potential. Also hoping we can still land Duren without giving up any picks or move a package with Sabonis to PHX for a play at Green and Williams. With Raynaud and Cardwell we have enough depth at C to cover for the 20 or so games Williams will probably miss every year. I do appreciate Perry’s patience and not making moves for the sake of making moves and over paying.

Under the radar promotion, Saagar is now leading pro personnel and GM of Stockton. He survived the Monte firing (they are pretty close), and I think he’s still infusing analytics into player development. Hopefully he recognizes Mogbo needs to be a rotational player on the kings and has Scott Perry’s ear. Mogbo stood out more than our second year players in SL.

Not a very good stat, but I think he played well..

I can see his function on the court, will be just keep moving, setting screen, and moving, setting screen, and cut....(it will be much better if he can make those open 3)

But having a player that willing to move without the ball, he can be a useful piece, and being benefited from playing with Domas...

This organization has had their eyes on this player for a while...and now they got em. That man is De'Andre Hunter.

He's coming off a pretty bad season in Cleveland and then got hurt as soon as he got here at the deadline. But I don't think Hunter became a pumpkin overnight.

I think Hunter is the kind of player who kinda needs to be allowed to play his game to succeed. He's been a strong C&S guy but is also a good midrange scorer. Efficient pull up. Has a turnaround and step back from 3. He's nothing special around the rim/as a driver but he historically has a good floater he uses a lot. He was known for the effectiveness of his floater in the past but he's not a great overall finisher.

This Kings team does not have a ton of perimeter creation. We all know Zach is better off when he's taking fewer dribbles, Keegan is still limited in this department...the kids really aren't there yet. Malik is capable. Acuff too but of course he's a rookie. With this group, I think Hunter will be given freedom to kinda play into his strengths and I expect him to score quite a bit, think he'll take advantage of secondary actions and he'll take advantage on the weakside attacking individual matchups off Domas+Acuff and Domas+Zach actions. He's the kind of secondary creator that can shoot this team has really needed for years. What do you all think the outlook is this season on De'Andre Hunter?

Starting off with the big ones, I believe that could work

Acuff Keegan Hunter Precious Sabonis
Acuff Keegan Hunter Precious Maxime
Acuff Keegan Karaban Hunter Cardwell

Some lineups I believe could work to an extent

Acuff Keegan Hunter Sabonis Cardwell
Acuff Keegan Hunter Maxime Sabonis
Acuff Keegan Karaban Precious Maxime

These 6 are my favorite jumbo lineups I'd wanna see next season.

The first 3 are cool cause precious adds size to the 4 to cover the big guys in case Maxime and Sabonis can't. While getting floor spacing from Acuff + Keegan + Hunter. The third one with Cardwell at the 5 adds rim protection with 3 straight sizeable shooters on the floor to help Acuff and Cardwell play a 2-man game.

The next 3 are iffy lineups
Too much size could make us slow when playing the 5's at the 4 position. But it would be really interesting to see. My favorite of those 3 is Sabonis with Cardwell next to him because last season in 73 minutes together they had a 107.1 offensive rating (yikes), but a 100.0 defensive rating, which is nice to see, so I would really want to see more of it with more shooters this time.

My 2 year old got ahold of the Matt Barnes one that’s why it’s wonky

For the 2-3 sickos who want to discuss this game

Our reign lasted One Day

I know you guys liked our chat with Precious the other day...We just dropped a couple more conversations from Vegas including a chat with all 3 of the rookies and another one with Maxime Raynaud.

Think you'll enjoy this...let me know what you think!

-Deuce

The Kangz rebuild would be progressing swimmingly if Nique Clifford could be penciled in at starting SG, thirsty and hungry, ready and able, to offer sturdy defense, a deep ball, and secondary playmaking. Nique fits the prototype, looks the part, with basketball tattoo et all, then the game starts, and ‘womp, womp’ goes the choir. We need a young buck aside Darius to produce around 14 PPG, 4 RPG, 2 APG on 58 percent true shooting, a switchable physical defender less fouling, to help us to rise from the ashes, bring some excitement and fun, exceed thirty-five wins, and erase the embarrassment of a 60-loss season. Nique is supposed to be that dude. The GM would sleep more soundly if he felt in his bones with an earnest conviction, he found that dude in 2025 draft. Nique is not him. He is a depressing amalgamation of Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas and Justin Jackson, who regressed in his first summer league to his second, looking more like a G League desperado than a first round pick.

The Kangz have a problem at starting SG that could be resolved beautifully if Nique did not suck. Lavine was told there are no more minutes guaranteed for you, you are effectively persona non grata, go find another team that wants you at a 3-year 90-million-dollar contract, then you can opt out of your 49 million expiring and we will facilitate your exodus. Lavine found no takers, so he opted in. Lavine is not committed to helping his team win. He is committed to collecting a paycheck. When his contract expires, he is going to be like Westbrook, having to resort to minimum deals to stay in the league. This is why it was to his advantage to secure a ‘larger bag’ but the league collectively said, “nah, no thanks bro, we’re good”.  

We are past the point of rehabbing his value and moving him at the deadline, and Zach is past the point of blending harmoniously with any of our key cogs, including Keegan, Darius and Domas. Lavine does not play well in pick and roll and he’s not a spot shooter. Lavine needs to break sets to get his rhythm even though he is not a plus shot creator. ‘Does not play well with others’ is the tag line to his career, and the Kangz were the last team in the NBA to realize this. Any minutes Lavine gets next season are minutes wasted and only a coach without the fortitude to proceed accordingly is a joke. Unfortunately, our head coach is a bit of joke.

Malik is not the same magnitude of a problem as Lavine, and to his credit he boosted his three-point accuracy from 32 to 39 percent over the last two seasons, but he is a problem, nonetheless. While capable of nifty dimes, he is capable of chucking it into the third row or past the feet of a guarded teammate. Malik is a SG in a PG body. Asking Malik to check Stephon Castle, Ajay Mitchell or Austin Reaves is futile. It is like asking Cardwell to make a free throw.

Of the current options to start a SG, Malik might be the best, because he spaces the floor, runs the floor, can spot shoot, drive and kick, but he’s not a capable starter. As a starter, he will cause your team defense to break every other possession with whiffs, blow-byes allowed, and feigned interest. Put Malik in high pick and roll and world is your oyster, so says the opponent. You cannot win consistently with Malik playing significant minutes. You can only hope the opponent is having an off night.

Emanuel Sharp is impressive as a defender because he only has a 6’3’ wingspan. Like Davion, he had to learn to play physical without getting whistled, to anticipate, to move his feet, be a proverbial brick wall, get to spots early, because he cannot rely on long ass arms. Lavine hates contact. Malik is less averse, wants to play tough at heart, but his size and strength limitations, and intermittent interest, dictate outcomes. I believe Emanuel has at least 20-pounds on Malik, even though Emanuel has leaned down since the NBA draft combine.

When Nique tries to defend physically he gets whistled. When he tries to play positionally, he gets torched. He has no clue what he is doing. There may be psychological damage as result of the frequency with which Nique gets lit up like a Christmas tree.  Once the confidence goes, all hope is gone. Nique ought to spend a portion of the off season watching collegiate tape of Emanuel, a sad commentary on his defensive prowess, or lack thereof, but would unlikely help. Despite the canyon wide variance in their prospects, it would be unfair to thrust Emanuel into the starting SG role despite having many attributes for that position. Second round picks need be nurtured, not thrown to the wolves. Emanuel will ideally have the career arc of another second rounder and budding star, Ajay Mitchell, whose role increased commensurate with his comfort and experience level, starting against backups.

Keegan has NO problem defending 2s. He can get hung up on a screen or two, but his positionality and instincts are All-NBA defense caliber. But we should not be running him ragged defensively to further drag down his three-point shooting. He’s going to end up switched onto guards, regardless, but it is not optimal to start him there when SF is his natural position. A starting lineup of Acuff, Keegan, Hunter, Max and Domas is tempting, because I hate the alternatives at SG, and I would like to see if a Max-Domas pairing could work. But we need to see Keegan emerge as a potential star as much as Darius and asking him to play the SG is not the way to facilitate that emergence.

If I am the coach of this team, I am not playing Zach one minute.  What is the frigging point, besides masochistic tendencies? He can say the right things and pretend to have the right attitude and right mindset. I could pretend to muster a pleasant team-first demeanor too in exchange for 50 million. We have already been down that road and now it is up to the coach, our stupid ass, braindead placeholder of a coach, Tony Robbins fueled, who thinks he can lead a bunch of stiffs to a Top 10 defense, or ‘love on’ on a bricklayer enough to transform him into a three-point star. Zach is his next reclamation project, the preferred option rooted in rainbows, dandelions, and cowardice.

If the impossible is somehow realized, that is, Zach is paid to watch games from his couch, that leaves us with Nique, Emanuel, Malik and Keegan as possible SG starters. What to do, what to do? Cue Jeopardy music or the foreboding doom track from the slasher film just before the poor sucker gets it.

PG – Darius

SG – Malik

SF – Keegan

PF – Hunter

C – Domas

This is my projected starting lineup, which you may shocked to hear, since I have been wanting Malik off this team for three years, before our failed attempt to send him to Golden State for Kuminga.  It is based on the premise that filling out our starting lineup with Malik and Hunter gives our three best players (talents) – Keegan, Domas and Darius – the best opportunity to maximize their respective skill sets relative to the underwhelming options at SG.

Malik is a placeholder, awarded the starting nod in my hypothetical decision maker role by default because Nique is a conspicuous lightweight and colossal phony. What should be his to take he can nary see with a high-powered telescope, let alone grasp, barring divine intervention and exponential improvement statistically akin to a winning lottery ticket.

I have been called ‘a hater’ when I said McGee, Huerter (Red Diva), Willie Cauley Stein and other bums I care not recall cannot play, while the Homers and blind fanatics entertained their delusions. Nique is the next in a line of underachievers that compromise our rebuild and the otherwise prudent moves by our golly GM. I have watched too much basketball to not be able to tell when a rose is a rose, a scrub is a scrub, and the best laid plans amount to a new tombstone in the Kangz graveyard. RIP Clifford’s NBA career.

Off a Chinese back? These dudes are weird. Who picked up this chick on Vegas boulevard to call the game? Lmaooooo