A Fresh Start | Sacramento Kings Preseason Preview

The NBA preseason is almost here, or well, it actually is here for some teams, but it is almost here for the Sacramento Kings. We are done with week one of training camp and are just a few days away from the Kings preseason opener. I believe it’s against the Raptors on the 8th. Then they play the Trailblazers on the 10th and then they finish it off against both LA teams. And with the first week of Sacramento Kings training camp coming to a close, we’ve only heard good things about this training camp. The vibes around the Sacramento Kings organization seem to be very good. And you can’t ask for any more than that. That is all you can ask for at this point is for the vibes to be good. Everyone to be talking positively about Scott Perry, about Doug Christie, about the other players on the team. That’s all you can ask for. Of course, we need to see that translate into the regular season. and and we’ll see, you know, if the Kings start to lose games in the regular season, does that positivity stay? But all we’ve heard about is the professionalism, the accountability, the strictness of the training camp being run by Doug Christie alongside of Scott Perry as well. And guys like Demar Sabonis and Demar D Rozan seem to absolutely love it. They always talk about last season as like the season that shall not be named with leadership that shall not be named. Like they won’t talk about it when they’re asked to elaborate about why this season’s training camp feels so much better and is and is more professional than last season’s. It’s like they won’t talk about it, but they also can’t stop talking about how much better this season is than last season. But they just they they won’t name names or anything like that. But we’ve heard that Doug Christie is running a strict training camp and that he’s really focusing on conditioning. He wants this Kings team to be one of the best condition teams in the entire NBA from day one. I really like that because I think the Kings need to play in a way where they just outrun other teams in transition. I think that’s something that fits the roster that the Kings have. At least for the most part it does. Drew Eubanks came in and said it was it has been one of the toughest training camps that he’s ever been a part of. And I do think that this is kind of common with a firstear head coach where they come in and everyone buys it. Everyone buys in to the strictness and to running hard. And it’s just a matter of whether Doug Christie can then kind of maintain that accountability and maintain the belief from the players. And the test will be if you start to lose some games, can you maintain that belief? Because obviously, you know, Mike Brown, he came in and it was kind of the same thing, right? Talking about his like military background and he was running a very strict training camp as well. But then eventually guys lost faith in that. And so Doug Christiey’s challenge is to keep the faith, keep guys believing in what he is doing. But for now, all you can ask for is everyone getting behind the the new leadership in the organization, everyone saying positive things, Doug Christie hyping up, Scott Perry saying the relationship that he’s had with Scott Perry is one that he’s never had within the King’s organization before with, you know, a front office. So, it has me feeling good about the Kings going into the season. And again, we’ll see how long that lasts. Sometimes with teams like this, especially with a first year head coach, sometimes it can last an entire season. Other times it doesn’t last nearly as long. And so, we just got to hope that it does last. And I think for the Kings this upcoming season, it’s just important that the Kings are able to maintain accountability and professionalism no matter whether they’re winning or losing. because I’m not sure the win loss record for the Kings coming into this season is what matters. What matters is really building that culture for the future. That’s what the Kings need because the Kings for so long just haven’t had that professional culture around the team. And so that’s really what they need to be building and maintaining. And so it’s a good start. But coming into the preseason now, the preseason I think it’s important to remember, especially for the veterans on this team, like the results do not matter at all. You can go 0 and4 and be completely fine. You can go 4-0 and once the NBA season actually starts, you can be absolutely terrible. The important things are the relationships and connections that are being developed, the lineup combinations that are being played, especially in like the first halves of maybe the first couple of games when usually the the coaching staff will pick a couple games that they’ll play like the real lineups for the first half. And so you it’s going to be interesting to see what those lineup combinations are to see how the Kings are really running their offense because you know Sabonis has talked about being in the dunker spot less being more of a a dribble handoff big again being more on the perimeter and trying to stretch defenses. Demar has talked about how the Kings just need to be reading the game more offensively, not trying to do things so fast. And so those are the types of things that you’re looking for in the preseason. And then the other main thing that you’re looking for in the pre in the preseason is young players competing and trying to earn their spots in the rotation. Because for a guy like Demard Rosen, I mean, let’s be honest, the preseason is just him like running around out there to get into shape and, you know, get back into the flow because these are just scrimmages just like training camp when you do 5v5 inner squad scrimmages. I mean, these just happen to be against a different team. there’s still just meaningless scrimmages where you’re just trying to get a feel for the game. Especially for a guy like Demard Rosen who’s 36 years old, like he doesn’t he doesn’t care about winning. He doesn’t need to be earning anything. It’s the young guys who do need to be earning their place. And so so far what we’ve seen in in training camp, the starting lineup is what you would expect. Dennis Shruder, Zack Lavine, Keegan Murray, Demard Rose, and Deon Sabonis. After that, we’ve seen a little bit of a mix and match. Like we’ve seen Malik Monk as the backup point guard like you would expect, but you’ve seen Devin Carter get some of those reps. You know, you’ve seen Dario Sar at the backup four. You’ve seen Isaac Jones at the backup four. You’ve seen the two-way guys come in and get some time. Isaiah Stevens get some time. Daquin Plowed in get some time as a fourman, which is interesting because I think he’s probably better as a two, maybe a three. He’s playing as a four because he does have some size to him. But I think the the really interesting thing is Devin Carter getting some of those backup point guard minutes. And I think like the the preseason is not important for anyone, but I think it’s most important for Devin Carter. I think he’s the guy who has the most to gain and also maybe the most to lose because he’s coming in. We know that the guard position is pretty stacked for the Kings. Off the bench, you have Monk and Keon Ellis. And then you also have Devin Carter behind those two. So, he’s in a tough spot coming into his second year, and we’ve seen him get some of those backup point guard uh minutes in training camp, but we’ve also seen at times him be with the two-way players. He needs to show that he is a level above or multiple levels above these two-way players, that he’s way above an Isaiah Stevens, that he’s way above a Dylan Cardwell or a Dayquin Plouded, that he’s above a Maxim Renault. and that he can even be better than Nick Clifford. He needs to separate himself from those guys, from the rookies, from the young guys in preeason to really earn himself any type of shot at minutes during the regular season because he’s probably going to be playing in that backup one role. So, he needs to show that he can be a steady ball handler. He doesn’t necessarily need to create a whole bunch offensively. I mean, it would be nice to see him getting to the rim and finishing or finding teammates, but that’s not even necessarily what we need him to do. He just needs to be a a point guard who can initiate the offense, not turn the ball over, and just get the team into their set. And then from there, he can play off ball. And off ball, it’s going to be important to see if he can knock down knock down those catch and shoot threes. We’ll see if his release is any different, if it’s any quicker. I’ve seen some people like we saw one game-winning three I think it was from him a clip in training camp and some people were like ooh that that release looks smoother and I’m like you know it’s it’s a one shot I don’t know if it would really was smoother like if it is then great then we’ll see it in the preseason if he’s improved and if he’s quick into that three-point shot that’s something that I’m really going to be looking for with him and then he’s got to be making an impact in transition right getting steals making a defenseive impact and then getting out and running. That’s something that the Kings want to do. That’s something that Doug Christie has very much said he wants defense first and then getting out in transition. That’s something that Devin Carter can do very well. And so if Doug Christie wants that to be the identity of the team, then guess what? Devin Carter’s got a great shot of getting into the rotation because that’s what he can do. So he really needs to show that in the preeason. another guy who I think could have an important at least semi-important preseason again because preseason is just it’s never that important and I think Isaac Jones is one of those guys who could earn a little bit of something during the preseason. You want to see him earning a spot over Adario Sar. I think no matter what you’re going to see him get run in the regular season. you’re going to see him get a chance, but the preseason is still a great spot for him to earn more minutes and to maybe earn the first shot at the backup four position. And I think he is going to be playing more the four, not the five. He’s got to be able to knock down some threes. There’s no doubt about that. He’s going to be playing in the corner a lot. But then the preseason is a great time for him to be able to understand the timings of the offense and build that chemistry with players of when he’s supposed to cut and get into that dunker spot. Cut in from the corner to the dunker spot, get those drop off passes, and be able to score at the rim. That’s what he can be really good at. So preseason is a great time to be able to develop those connections and timings within the offense. Another guy that I think could definitely earn some some minutes is Maxim Renault. The the backup front court spots are very open. So for Maxim Renault, Deonos Sabonis has already talked about how skilled he is talking about Renault throwing a behind the back left-handed pass. So he’s got obviously that skill and that flash to his game. We just also need to see the grit to his game. But I think he’s in a good spot because the Kings offense seems to be going more towards playing through the center on the perimeter. That’s what Sabonis has talked about. More dribble handoff game, more of the the five trying to stretch the defense and be be a three-point threat. That’s what Reyno can provide more than a guy like Drew Eubanks who he’s competing with. So, I think it’s a great position for Reo to be in. He can stretch the defense with his three-point shot. he can handle the ball and create. For him, the really important thing is going to be how he’s handling physicality. Can he be a gritty player? Can he move on the defensive end and make enough of an impact on the defensive end, maybe as a shot blocker to really be earning minutes at the NBA level. His conditioning is also going to be important. I think that’s something that he struggled with a little bit in summer league. He looked like he got gassed pretty easily. So, I’m sure training camp is doing great things for him in both the physicality department going up against Davis Sabonis among other centers and also the conditioning because again we’ve heard that Doug Christie is running a very strict training camp and the conditioning like Drew Eubank said is one of the toughest that he’s had. Then the other young guys like we got Neat Clifford of course I’m excited to see him in preseason. I don’t think preseason matters too much for him other than just like getting himself into a flow because I think he’s going to be a a part of the rotation. You know, maybe not permanently every single game right away, but I think he’ll pretty easily be part of the rotation early on in the season just because he is that backup wing that the Kings don’t really have. So, for him, it really is just getting into that flow and not so much like he needs to earn his spot. To some extent he does, of course, because he’s a rookie, but it’s not as important as a a Deon Carter or or a Maxim Renault, I don’t think. But the things I’m going to be looking for for Clifford, how does he handle ball pressure when he’s trying to handle the ball? Uh because his playmaking is a big part of his game. So, can he handle that defensive pressure? And then on the other side, can he be the guy that applies that ball pressure on the perimeter? because I think in summer league he struggled a little bit with guarding guys in the perimeter and getting blown by. And we saw with Keegan Murray, it took a full season for him to really learn how to guard on the perimeter. Keegan was a bad defender his rookie of year. Uh so we’ll see how long it takes Nick. And I think the preseason’s going to be an interesting time to be able to see how far along he already is in that development. But Nick’s been playing with the second unit. It seems like in training camp things get mixed around but I think generally he’s been playing with the second unit which is a good sign for him. Then we got the two-way guys Dylan Cardwell, Isaiah Stevens, Daquin Plowen. Like I mentioned uh Plowen was getting some run as a four which you know I I don’t that’s not his best spot I don’t think but if he can earn minutes there then good for him. He needs to be doing everything he can to earn minutes and he’s got some size. I think he’s like 67. So, you know, not the biggest, strongest guy, but I’m sure if he can get some minutes, any way he can get minutes, I’m sure he’s going to be happy with Isaiah Stevens. I am a fan of Isaiah Stevens as a ball handler, a good assist to turnover ratio guy, can be a steady ball handler. I don’t think he’ll get a lot of run uh with the Sacramento Kings, but I think he’s going to be a great Stockton Kings player. So, I’m sure he’ll get some run in the the preseason. and we’ll see what he’s all about. But Dylan Cardwell, I’m interested to see what we get from Dylan Cardwell in the preseason because I think he’s got an opportunity. If there is an injury or a trade in the Kings front court, could he sneak in and get some minutes as kind of a athletic defensive monster trying to block shots? Uh just being kind of a bowling ball on the defensive end, you could say. inhaling every defensive rebound that comes near him, just being a defensive beast. Uh that’s what we want to see from him. So, we’ll see if he, you know, gets into these preseason games, if he can really make an impact on the defensive end and hopefully show some touch offensively as well. I just wish we could combine Isaac Jones touch offensively with Dylan Cardwell’s like size and just defensive athleticism. If we could just combine those two players into one, oh, it would create such a great player. That’s pretty much it for for the young players. Uh, I’m very excited to see all these guys play in the preseason. I’m just excited to have Kings basketball back in my life right now. The vibes are great. Everyone’s well behaved. It’s like the first day of school, you know. No one’s no one’s misbehaving. Everyone’s being nice to each other. Kind of trying to feeling trying kind of trying to feel each other out. We’ll see if it lasts. You know, it never really does, but maybe maybe this is the year where we got put into the good class where everyone just, you know, gets along, is well behaved. Uh, you know, last year it was like we got put into the crazy class where people are getting suspended and expelled and it’s all horrible. But maybe we got lucky this year. Maybe we got a good teacher in in Doug Christie. There’s a new principal in Scott Perry. So, uh, you know, I’m I’m very excited for this season. So, that is it for this episode of the Roll Report. I will be back on the 8th to recap the first preseason game. Then on the 10th, uh, I’m going to be doing the live stream watch along against the Trailblazers, at least for the first half of that game because I think the it’s the first two preseason games that are just being live streamed. They’re not on the regular television channels. So, I thought, well, I’m just going to be watching it uh at my desk behind my computer anyways, so might as well just live stream it and uh and chat with you guys. So, hope to see you there and uh I will see you all in the next one. Peace.

Welcome to The Royal Report

In this episode of The Royal Report I discuss the news from the first week of training camp and what I will be watching in the upcoming preseason games.

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