Is Sasha Vezenkov DONE in Sacramento? Will the Kings move on?

Is Sasha Vezenkov DONE in Sacramento? Will the Kings move on?

is Sasha’s time with the Kings coming to an end Morgan Reagan you know I think I would just for once this offseason like to open up my phone and be like oh a happy King story so Saturday morning having some coffee ah what’s going on on social media I’m a little tired from wine tasting let’s see what’s going on and I see everyone in King’s social media freaking out about Sasha zov a couple of reports out there none from an NBA reporter anybody locally but two conflicting reports the first one from Matteo andreani from bask inside.com he reported that Sasha venkov has been informed that he’s not in the Sacramento Kings plans for next season he says that Sasha’s priority is to stay in the NBA and that the Kings will try to trade him oh but then we had another report from Euro hoops. net the reporter mahalis stefanu you’re doing great tweeted Sasha venkov has informed Sacramento that he doesn’t intend to return for a second year of his contract for now it’s open whether he will continue his career in the NBA or he will decide to return to Europe oo okay all right I don’t know what to make of all of this um we have not heard anything else besides this Sasha vov did sign a 3year 20 million million dollar deal last offseason with the Sacramento Kings but essentially he’s going into the final year right because the third year is a team option yes but at this point these reports suggest that there’s obviously something going on between Sasha and the Kings and it hasn’t been reported by anyone else locally right everyone else has just been basically talking about these reports correct yes and look these these basketball reps may be awesome I’m not famili maybe this is the W and Shams of Europe I don’t know maybe it is but there’s been nothing else out there regarding that but also would it surprise anybody at all if Sasha was maybe not totally happy with his role in Sacramento considering the guy was a Euroleague MVP comes over to play in the NBA after the Kings courted him like crazy last year he’s coming to Sacrament like I’m on a playoff team I’ll I’ll play a decent role and his role was beyond consistent last year right his minutes were inconsistent he dealt with injuries and it felt like he never found a rhythm in the NBA yeah um I mean where where do you really go with this right like what do what do you want me to say it’s like he he wasn’t adding a lot to this squad necessarily but he also wasn’t didn’t have the trust from Mike Brown so like how long do you give this a go especially then when we talk on the other side of our Mouse and we talk about how you got to make sure you’re putting the right pieces around dear and sabonis in their Prime so I mean what what do you want me to say he’s a really nice guy I was really excited about what he could possibly do in the NBA when he first came here mostly because of how the team talked about him how how teammates talked about him I never felt like it was fake when they were like hyping him up like the way that they would talk about his shot and just how beautiful it was it’s like oh it’s pure they love what they see but that doesn’t mean all of the Instinct the feel the um conditioning is always just going to translate into the NBA and is it a Miss I mean right now you’re feeling like it I think it’s a significant Miss I mean look I was excited for him I thought I I thought this was going to be to me a no-brainer for the Kings like I was like dude bare minimum he’s going to be a good rotational player for this team because he’s able to shoot he moves well without the ball smart player I know there were questions about him defensively but I thought he even did some good things defensively of Team defensive Concepts could get his hand on the ball every once in a while but also he would get targeted some no doubt about it so he ends up playing 42 games with the Kings last year but he played a total of 511 minutes he averaged Five Points a game 2.3 rebounds and 12.2 minutes per game shot 44% from the field 37 a half% from threo range he had the two ankle injuries the first one kept him out a couple of weeks then he had that grade three one that kept him out seven weeks and it seemed like he was maybe turning the corner and then something like that would happen and that was a huge setback for him but my point is Guy played 51 minutes I don’t know like what you just said is so aurate I’m like is he a good player in the NBA I don’t know because I don’t feel like he got a legit shot I never felt like and it really felt like a lot of those guys in the back half the rotation they would they would be on such a short leash for sure by Mike Brown and that’s not to say like Sasha doesn’t have limitations but I’m like I’m left going I don’t know I I felt like he was good enough to help a team in the NBA and maybe I’m just missing something maybe he is just not good enough from an athletic standpoint and defensively to hang at this level but I just when he came in where you yell there not life in the building no but there was life in the building a little bit so I’m just I’m a little perplexed right now and maybe this is the reality is like look sometimes you make moves like this thinking it’s going to work out and it’s just not good for either side dudes this happens on every team in the NBA but here’s the issue when it’s an organization in a small market like the Sacramento Kings and a team that has seen so much trauma and bad basketball over so many years and then finally felt like they were going in the right direction when there’s misses it’s not like if it was if he was just the Miss of the Season it would be like H but it was the Miss of Sasha and then Harrison not living up to what what we were hoping that he could even be um after resigning a deal and then it was you know the the the entire te those moves you can go down the line yes so that’s why when you say like he brought life and something else to the building yes I think it’s it was also just as people that cover the Sacramento Kings and I think you could say this for a lot of our media within this Market was that like everyone saw this glimmer of hope because no one ultimately was watching Sasha venkov night in and night out but they had seen full games absolutely but you weren’t watching him night in and night out for seasons and Seasons being like this is the guy that is his game’s going to translate into the NBA oh my gosh this is going to be perfect but here’s the thing you also saw how hard they were going after him like they make the trade to acquire his rights come over yeah so my my point though that that what surprises me about it though why like I was just more surprised he didn’t get more of a legit shot legit run because dude they they sent Executives over Mike Brown went over they had a full court press on this guy and then it’s like okay he got a little bit of a chance how are you supposed to give this guy a shot when he’s also like suffering grade three ankle spring but there were opportunities before that where he was out of the rotation where like a man he makes one mistake it’s like he’s out and it’s like let this guy you said this you say this but like some coaches just have different standards of what the they want out there I understand that but we can also be critical of decisions coaches make at times and it felt like not just with Sasha that at times that those guys didn’t have the same leash and I’m not saying like hey man you could fight but sometimes as a player you need to fight through struggles he’s new to this league he’s got to figure it out like if he’s going to make it in the NBA it’s not because he makes one mistake and he sits on the bench and thinks about it some guys have to go out there and go all right let let me get another shot at this and see how I do how many times did Davon Mitchell have such a short leash especially throughout the beginning of the season and then he didn’t let it get to him and he kept fighting through fighting fighting through and kept seeing few different opportunities and then of course here arrives Keon Ellis and to take even more of his minutes but he never like hung his head if anything it just like what lit this fire under him to keep like finding that way to gain that trust to make sure that he was dominating in the minutes that he was receiving and what changed to though like if we’re going to play that going with daveon Mitchell we can talk about well he got more of a chance one he was hitting the shots for sure he started to hit shots more right but yeah within his opportunities sure but then Kevin herder got got hurt and Malik monk got hurt and when those two guys got hurt they need another guard to come in the handle like they almost forced to play him more as my point they they had to that’s always that is the NBA the NBA is so situational and it’s so like how are you going to grab that opportunity and sometimes your opportunity is five minutes in a game and if you don’t do every single little thing that a coach or a system might want you to do might be like we don’t have time for that and I think I don’t necessarily think that’s the right way to coach have I have definitely been coached like that and yes if anything it can really screw with your confidence and do so many other things to you but it can also try and Trigger and flick something and but guess what make you go guess what Morgan and we talked about this too with daveon when you’re playing two minutes and then hey Fox going back in that’s hard to get in a rhyth some of these guys need you need you need some time to cook a little bit and I didn’t feel like Sasha daveon too but Sasha at times didn’t get enough time to go out there and cook and I I think if you’re investing in him you put the time and resources into someone giving them more of a legit opportunity would have been nice to see and I’m not even saying it would have worked out but I’m left looking at this Sasha situation going I don’t know what to make of five 511 minutes yes some of that was due to injury acknowledge but there was also times he just wasn’t playing playing right now what we are witnessing in the postseason and now with the NBA Finals like I think with some of these players is Elite defense and not even just team defense just as individuals I mean you can go down the line of freaking Celtics roster you just pick one guy and you go oh he’s on ball defense and what crazy blah BL blah not everyone’s going to be a Drew holiday we get that but like I think the importance of being able to not be alive ability on one end or and then if you are wait but if you are a liability on one end or the other you better be goddamn Elite uh on something doing something just so great that like there’s no excuse to not have you out there it was going to be his shooting and then when it wasn’t his shooting and it wasn’t his offense necessarily even in his sliver of time that he was out there before any time he was injured it’s like okay we don’t have time for this I think looking back it had to do with the defense and the reality is like I’m sorry it screws with everything I understand that but like like kings didn’t you you knew what you were getting at Sasha you weren’t getting like some crazy Supreme athlete that was going to be able to defend multiple positions and you’re right that that the point you bring up about what we see in the playoffs players like Sasha end up getting played off the floor because because come playoff time they’re going at your weakest Defender okay they are going at him nonstop and so you have to have the ability to move laterally rebound contest shots and I think that’s what hurt him most this year is Mike Brown’s emphasis so much on like we have to be better defensively we have to take a step that he was not tolerating any missteps on that end I think when you trying to court the Euroleague MVP under 30 years old it’s a lowrisk situation especially with the contract that it is having the team option in the third year like I mean sometimes you’re going to swing and miss and I think there’s going to be so many people that come after me and go like but you can’t do it’s like okay I get it sorry that’s just reality like you’re it’s gonna happen and sometimes it can cost you your job if you’re someone in the front office and other times you also get a longer leash to be like ah it just didn’t work and so we got to make sure we’re making the right decisions and moves this next season yeah the reality is the deal that they signed with Sasha is not something that’s going to crush you for years to come and now we also have to acknowledge this as we talk we kind of reflect on Sasha’s year is reemphasizing like these are the reports that are out there I don’t know he could be on the roster next year and he might be and that’s the one report that was mentioned earlier was like oh he’s not going to come back for a year or two uh he’s under contract so yeah he’s going to be there if he’s not traded right um and so the Kings do have some options here I think one like he’s an expiring contract technically so there are teams who would look to trade for him and I think some people like well what’s his value I don’t know I mean I think you probably make him part of a larger trade package than anything otherwise I mean to me it’s like a second round pick and what I was will say as well and I and I think some like oh my God you’re so soft whatever you’re going to complain about I have no idea what you just said oh my God you’re so soft like someone’s going to say that about me when I say this like he’s such a nice guy and a good teammate and all the times that you just see this guy rooting everyone on even when he wasn’t getting play the Euroleague MVP not seeing the floor not getting his playing time cheering for people excited all the way around the world to come to Sacramento but like just as a teammate I’m saying just what he was doing on the sidelines and everything else and I just think like like if anything it was great actually or it is great to have have a player around that has that type of Personality um and it has the ability to remain professional and everything so uh wherever this ends up going with him I’m just glad that like we’ve experienced a good human in all of this that’s really sweet of you Morgan I know people are going to be oh my God how dare you say that so the options are pretty simple right they could trade him like if they if they’ve gotten to a point where it’s like you know we try this didn’t work out we’re going to look to find you a new home you could do that um waving him doesn’t make much sense right because although the final year is a team option you’re just going to eat that money that doesn’t seem realistic now they could do they could use a stretch provision which allows you in this circumstance You’ be able to wave Sasha and then stretch his money out over three years so you’d pay him like 2.2 million per year and it wouldn’t just it would help your cap situation whatever but I think why wouldn’t you just keep him on the though but I think I think if I’m not advocating for this the stretch provision I’m just telling you the options I would say if and we don’t know it’s true or not but like if the kings are like yeah we don’t really see you in our plan Sasha was like well yeah I don’t really like being here anyway then you do what’s right and you try to find a home for for him in the NBA and give him another chance sure and then he can decide after that he wants to go back after this season or not okay well I mean either way I I think in in some ways I think it’s look it’s the off season you see this come out about the Kings you want to shoot the and talk about it right at the same time I think it’s a little premature to talk about something like this when we’re not seeing other reports locally yeah come out as well I will I think we did a fair job talking about this I think the reality is we were just talking about his season as a whole and why we don’t think it maybe worked out like what what was the reason why he wasn’t playing why didn’t the reality is he’s probably not happy let beon would you would you be thrilled if you moved for this opportunity in the NBA and you’re not playing even if you’re a good teammate and a nice guy you would you would be a little bummed by it and you would be like man I want to play especially when like you said this Morgan the guy’s a Euro League MVP he wants to play’s a competitor he’s a he’s I want to play basketball that’s what Hees I make a joke about like doing a little money sign cuz I’m like and he makes money over there it’s it’s I guess that’s the thing I can’t ever imagine making millions of dollars so like I would yes I’d be smiling from ear to ear I would be like paying off my and like having a good life but as a professional basketball player and um being a competitor and seeing that money before yes I completely so that the point it’s not like we’re sitting here going hey it’s confirmed because Euro hoops. net and um what was the other bask inside.com bask inside.com said it I don’t know I mean I know nothing about those guys I know and I’m not freaking out I I was I coming across like I was freaking out about this no not at all how was I coming across well okay you weren’t coming across as anything but here’s my other question too I if we were to go down like rosters throughout the year could you point out what guys you were excited about and then didn’t turn out the way that you wanted them to turn out like throughout the years if you go back and watch me talk about Sasha on previous Clips oh I’m I look really stupid but based on the fact that it didn’t lead to anything this year I thought I thought it was going to be impactful B I was talking to people at Summer League last year around the league and I was like because they’re like oh how the Kings didn’t do anything I’m like dude just wait just what and they’re like what I’m like Sasha V zenov and they’re like what I’m like dude you’re League MVP you don’t know you don’t know the guy can shoot it lights out he he moves without the he’s perfect for this offense yeah it’s just it’s crazy to me because sometimes it’s like how many times we talk about college players in their games not translating into the NBA and all these things but it’s also situational for for so many different personalities players he’s going to get moved to San Antonio and be like some crucial for the Spurs and like oh my God and Wy are taking the team to the playoffs off can you believe that Sasha wemi like lob it’s amazing they don’t even need Sasha to play defense because wem’s protecting the rim Sasha wins the Three-Point Shootout or moves to Dallas they’ve got two EUR League MVPs no and then they get two then teams would have two guys that they could hunt out on defense come on get out um let us know in the comments what you think about this situation what do you think the king should do why do you think Sasha maybe didn’t live up to expectations I don’t know some people may have had a different expectations I think mine were a little high I even said it one point I was like Morgan I mean could he start in front of Harrison bards I I well well you said that because I acknowledge my bad takes but it it is but also it was what was being kind of pushed out there some do you think I get swayed by that I we sat here and watched him in the Euro League playoffs yeah yeah I mean I know swayed by his teammates saying he’s got a quick release that didn’t S I mean I got more excited I was excited before it was even official we were watching these games and I’m like dude I think it’ really help this team he’s got the size watching his games gave me like this oh hell yeah I’m excited for this player then hearing his teammates talk so highly about him his shot his game um the front office talk about him that those were the things that pushed me over the edge of like all right well if they’re seeing this at practice then it must be good and then like obviously not getting to witness everything that they might have saw at practice um yeah kind of sucked but you know here’s the other one last thing I’m going to add I can’t believe we been talking about this for this long this is like we’re ridiculous what it’s summer it’s fun no I just like he had a body of work overseas and so I think it’s not like he was this mystery man like we we got to watch him he wasn’t like a 20-year-old who oh man like I dribble like I think he can play basketball and I think he he could have a spot in the NBA like that’s not a ridiculous take um just didn’t work out here uh at this point at this point I don’t even think I think even that’s ridiculous say because what would be so funny is then if he comes back next year and then he’s like he’s like has a feel for the game he’s in the rotation I think the tough part though for Sacramento just like from a team building perspective is like how they just need they need more athleticism they need length and you’ve said it in these playoffs it’s like you see all these teams it’s like they’ve got multiple bodies they could throw around switchable Defenders and they need more consistency too like it’s just I mean having even having healthier bodies whether you’re B like a lot of these guys are banged up Luca porzingis playing out there banged up but they’re they’re they’re in there they are keeping an identity and consist to what the team wants to do to see success and so yeah it’s uh his now you’re watching a lot of you know playoffs and finals and stuff you’re like you see the great defensive teams all right Sasha on the perimeter scares me for sure as it should but as it should team defense wasn’t bad at times but but like how many times have I talked about this and again you have to like perspective one more thing you have to remember where the kings are defensively it’s not like they over over the years have been able to uh get this guy this guy this guy on defense and this long this guy whatever we’ve been able to talk about Mike Brown basically trying to cover up the flaws of some of the bad individual Defenders and I think as a coach he’s done a pretty good job and I’ll just say okay job of that there was times took a big jump defensively that’s what I’m saying like even even when Kevin herder was out there at times when he was being hunted getting taken to the basket you know it was sad whatever but then he’d have these moments where like his flaws could be covered up because the rest of the defense was rotating great and then talk about someone like Malik monk taking a leap with his defense even just being able to rotate be in the right spot and almost taking a charge and then obviously uh the addition of Keon Ellis being able to be in the rotation and add that you see the importance of that perimeter defense that pressure how important that is okay so for the people watching on YouTube Drop the comments below how are you’re feeling about this Sasha story what’s next for the Kings and also uh if you want to email or drop in the comments below you can email dusmo gmail.com or in the comments below we’re dropping a Kings mailbag this week send us your questions we appreciate you guys hit the Thumbs Up And subscribe do they tell you what they know deuce and Mo dece and mo de the that you know

Deuce and Mo discuss the conflicting reports from overseas about Sasha Vezenkov’s future with the Kings, they talk about his role last year, what his season was like and what could be next for him
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