LIVE REACTION: Kings sign Russell Westbrook

LIVE REACTION: Kings sign Russell Westbrook

I guess we’re getting the phone version. Making her That’s a bummer. Making I mean, we still enjoy talking. We still enjoy talking. The chat lines let down. That’s They’re freaking They’re having a riot. Joining us right now, the analyst for your Sacramento Kings and our dear friend, the busiest girl in the world, the one, the only Katie Lauren Christensen. Good morning. Good morning. I just love how we use our full government name. Do you want me to go that route? No. David? No. Okay. Okay. Do you even Hey, hold on. Do you even know my middle name? Yes, you do. Was it start with Yes. Was it? Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. Let’s relax. Um uh Hey, how do you feel about you? We were trying to figure it out. I think you might be our only guest that is not that is not actually on camera now. We’ve switched them all. How do you feel about uh being on camera this year in the future? I am adamantly against it. How do you really feel? I told you. Well, but the thing is as someone that’s on camera all the time, right? No. And I get that. Here’s the thing, though. I I because trust me with our other guests, too, like you just got to throw a hat on. You don’t have to get all gussied up. No Dave, I mean, you shouldn’t be on camera either. I’d agree with you. No, she’s When you’re right, you’re right. I’m the last guy that Katie should be on camera a 100,000 billion times more than me. So, we got a little switcheroo here. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’m so sorry to disappoint. No, it’s not. I’m really not. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I don’t want to look adamantly against it. Uh before we get into the meat and potatoes, uh for for those uh listening that that don’t talk to you in the offseason, uh highlights, low lightss, uh how was the how was the offseason for you, Katie? It was good. It went really fast. It went really fast. Um more like fun stuff in the family. You know, we had our our normal trips to our family ranch, but The Hubs was on another season of Survivor, so we’re excited for that to come out in February. So, it’s been it’s been entertaining, adventurous, and uh it went too quickly. What was the biggest home project you took on this summer? Oh gosh. You know what? I don’t I don’t really I I painted my kids bathroom and decorated that and redid their bathroom. That’s probably the biggest one. Okay. Did you um Did you repair or replace or restore any antique furniture? No. No, I did not. You know what? All the projects came uh at home on the ranch. We painted a barn that hasn’t been painted in 40 years. Wow. And so we had to do a bunch of repairs to that. You know, it’s it’s a big one. So we had to, you know, we rented a one of those lifts and we repaired a whole side of that uh barn. We had to replace it and, you know, do the foundation. So that’s probably the biggest project. and you know got my dad’s we have few houses on our property and we put a couple little units up on Airbnb so that was an adventure. So yeah, that’s that’s about what I did. Pretty busy. And then I I guess lastly uh because uh we we got to update on the whole clan. I know you got the kiddos, but uh what if any survivor fallout has there been since we last talked? No fallout. No not a bad way. I just mean you know whatever. But a second season. Yes. a second season. So, he was asked to be on season 50, which is a awesome deal, like really cool. And so, there will be a lot of uh stuff to look forward to that. Um Yeah. And that’s about all I can say. Can you tell us anything like who wins details about everything? Just all of that? No one’s listening. Yeah, no one’s listening. Yeah, certainly. I’ll I’ll divulge that information for you. and then, you know, get, you know, packed away to jail or something. I’m sure that’d be funny. But then you can be on camera. Oh, yeah. You have you have a collect call. Uh, all right. So, as our calls generally go, uh, with the exception of the beam team here, uh, I generally run, uh, negative. Uh, you and Jason run, uh, I won’t say positive. He’s a professional and asks real questions and you ask about uh you know what food I’m looking forward to eating the most. No. Uh no, I’m going to ask you a king’s question. Oh wow. Um so what are some things I can look forward to this season because I’m having trouble finding some. Help me out. Well, you know, I think I think one of the big things for me is just obviously there’s a lot of change this year. you have a entirely new front office. You got a lot of new staff, including a new coaching staff. Um, obviously I think every year you go in kind of excited about the rookies and and I’m really excited, you know, obviously with what we’ve seen in preseason and summer league and um, you know, I’m I’m super excited to to see Doug’s imprint on this team and I’m, you know, have been to practices during training camp and it’s it’s there’s a huge difference and I’m kind of a defensive oriented person. Like don’t get me wrong, I love offense and I love, you know, watching, you know, kind of fast-paced play uh in the NBA like beam team. Obviously, when that, you know, happened a couple years ago, that was, you know, incredibly entertaining and exciting. Um, but as we’re seeing like more and more teams in the NBA are realizing that, you know, defense has to factor in in a much larger scale. And with what I’ve seen at practices, it’s like they’re doing things that I just I’ I’ve never seen in NBA practices, which is awesome because I’ve said it on the broadcast, you know, teen times of just, you know, I think everyone has this preconception that at this level everyone you should know defense. You should be able, you know, like why can’t they do that? Why aren’t they doing that correctly? And why are these breakdowns happening? But I’ve said, you know, over and over that defense, just like offense, is something that you have to drill. Like, you have to put in the time. And I think especially when you, you know, there are some teams that have, you know, multiple kind of defensive-minded stoppers, right? Um, but when you have a team that that’s not the general makeup of just a bunch of, you know, defensive stalwarts, if you will, uh, it it’s super super important um, from a team perspective to to drill it and to really really work that skill so that as a team as the five guys out there on the floor, um, it puts you in a much better position. And we’re seeing that. And you know, obviously Bobby Jackson uh and Doug have a a long friendship and relationship and they’re kind of the same mindset when it comes to defense. And I think one of the things that Doug has done tremendously well um you know, watching practices is he really lets his assistants like put their imprint on a team. Not all head coaches are that way and Bobby is is doing a fantastic job um with you know the defense and the drills and preparing these guys, holding these guys accountable and you know that’s all at at Doug’s behest. So it’s that’s something that I personally am looking forward to and I just want to put a little bit of a you know uh you know warning on there like you can’t no one’s ever going to be perfect all the time. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I think the groundwork is being laid in a really fantastic way. Yeah, Katie, on that note, I’m thinking about that where obviously I know Doug has addressed it and talked about it. So whether it’s the point of Come on, Jason, I’m sorry. I apologize. We have breaking news right now. Chris, are you in there? We got breaking news. Uh, perfect timing here. And uh, not much of a when it breaks, we have it first. It’s Sack Town Sports breaking news. Sean Senia has just announced the Sacramento Kings have signed ninetime NBA all-star Russell Westbrook. Jeff Schwarz of Excel Sports Management has told that to ESPN. He will enter his 18th season. Shams adds Westbrook and the Kings maintain communication all off season as Sacramento search for point guard depth. He has bonds with Sabonis D Rozan and Zack Lavine history with BJ Armstrong on the agency side and a shared respect for Scott Perry and Doug Christie. Wow. There you go. Well, welcome in Katie Christensen because honestly, if the Kings needed anything, they needed more depth in the back court. Russell Westbrook, your newest Sacramento Kings. Jason, your thoughts. Well, I’ll let Katie react to that. Katie, your thoughts. Yeah, analyze. Analyze. Analyze. Um, I had a feeling that that might be happening. Obviously, it’s something that we heard throughout the off season as a possibility, but you know, I think the injury to to Keegan Murray is is even more incentive to shore up some depth um in some areas where you can grab a guy like Russell Westbrook. Listen, I think he’s one of the most unfairly like portrayed players in the league because, you know, to to average a triple double. I think if memory serves from all of my prep over the years, it’s like what two years he averaged a triple double in this league. Yeah. Like he’s not he’s not a schle. Um, and you know, his time in Denver, I I really felt there was a true resurgence of his game just because he was being used correctly. Um, so I’m excited. I I had a feeling that this might be coming. Um, and it’s just, you know, kismmet that it happens while we’re on air. Yeah. Yeah. How about that? Well, I look, I I’m curious like obviously it’s it’s still, you know, we have a game tonight. We’re going to be broadcasting that. That’ll be our first TV broadcast tonight um from Golden One. I’m sure you know I I highly doubt that he would be a part of that. Um but uh obviously ready for season opener a week from today. My goodness. Yeah. I mean that’s that’s crazy. I mean to think about that. So there’s a lot to digest here. Let’s kind of stick with this part with him. I mean is the breaking news of signing Westbrook. Uh obviously Katie, they signed Shruder to be the point guard. There’s a lot of other guards that can handle the ball, can maybe facilitate or be decision makers, but obviously the Kings felt there was a need to get someone that has played that position uh a lot more than a Keon or a Carter or Malik. So what do you think his his impact will be as kind of that that backup veteran point guard? Yeah, I mean I think you nailed it just in the sense of a veteran presence, right? um his experience, he’s a high motor guy, someone that will commit himself to the defensive end. Um and one thing I do know about Doug, and I think this really helps uh in a large degree, and I and I don’t want to like I don’t want to portray that it’s a necessity and that coaches that haven’t, you know, played at this level don’t, you know, garner the same amount of respect. But it’s just a different form of respect um when you’re playing for a guy that has has gone through what you’re going through. And you know, it kind of takes me back and I know we’ve talked about this uh the story we were in Boston last year and um we had talked about it on the broadcast that Demar De Rozan like played a whole like highlight reel of Doug Christie playing defense when he was um in the league. And the whole point of him doing that was like, listen guys, he’s not asking us to do anything that he hasn’t done himself. And so that gets me back to like the respect that is uh garnered from a former player that is a head coach in this league. Um, and I think that Russell Westbrook is a guy that obviously is going to to relate to that. Um, Doug’s going to demand a lot from everybody. He’s going to hold everybody accountable. And I think that not only what he can do on on the on the floor, but I think that his voice is going to be an important one uh in the King’s locker room because we just don’t have a lot of guys that are those vocal types. Like Malik is a very vocal guy, but it’s it’s based in kind of directness and humor. Um and so you need a variance in the type of voices that you’re getting in the locker room. And I think that that is one thing that that Russ definitely will bring is a voice that is respected in the locker room. Katie Christensen joining us. It’s interesting. The Kings are massively overweight in the back court. I don’t mean weight. I mean, you know, they’ve got a now a ton of guards and, you know, ones and twos. The front court is uh lacking in depth, especially with Keegan out for a couple of months at least. Uh there the the the things you know about Russ is he will bring fire. He will bring intensity. He’s a walking icon, especially to the younger players. I mean, literally a walking legend, living legend role. Well, he’s a guard that can rebound, and that hurts with Keegan out for sure. Yeah. No, for sure. And and I will say I will add this on the other end. Uh since he left Oklahoma City, this will now be his sixth team uh in six seasons uh last year uh for uh the the Denver Nuggets. Um he averaged, where are you here? 13 points. Uh, and I think it’s important to, uh, add the minutes here. Um, he played I’m looking at totals. Give me a second. Uh, here we go. Uh, in 28 minutes a game, uh, he averaged, uh, 13 points, six boards, uh, or excuse me, five boards, six assists, one and a half steals, a half a block on splits of 4532, uh, and 66. So, look, we’re not talking about, you know, your your daddy’s Russ Westbrook here. Obviously, he’s on the tail end, and this is the the Jerry Rice on the Broncos phase of his career, but this is going to be an important voice in the locker room, and it will give Doug Christie and Scott Perry the veteran point guard leadership they’ve been looking for, uh, along with Dennis Shruder. Yeah, Dave, you’re right. Is there a question? Um, I’m okay. No, I’ll ask it. You’re right. That was kind of a stupid lead in. um cuz I was running through. Um but does this move make sense for the Kings ultimately? I think it does. Okay. Again, I I think it does because Scott Perry and his front office is in an interesting position, right? He’s coming in with a team that is is basically been put together by his predecessor. uh he was I think the with the picks that they had, you know, in the draft, they did a phenomenal job um with the talent that they got. And this isn’t an overnight thing, and I’m sure fans love hearing that. But I think that that is refreshing in the sense that I I have sat down and and met with Scott Perry one-on-one, which by the way has never happened in my history in this league. never sat down one-on-one with a general manager and just been able to talk and get a feel for, you know, kind of their philosophy, where they’re going, um, how they intend on building a team, coaching staff, all of that. And so I think the thing that is important when you’re in a situation like the Sacramento Kings, um it’s tough for a general manager to come in and not feel like they just have to make all these massive changes because, you know, they want to put their stamp on it. I don’t think that because of the market that the Kings are in that they’re ever at the luxury of doing that. And so I think that, you know, when you look at signing a guy like Russ, um that’s an indication of of saying, okay, like we have an idea, uh but we also have our hands tied to a certain extent because this is happening on October 15th. We had an injury that happened during preseason that impacts us. There’s there’s nothing that he has done this off season that screams to me um reactionary move. Does that make sense? Yes. like every they’ve been talking to Russ all summer. This is something that they had on their radar and there’s intent and a plan behind it. So, you know, this kind of ties in Katie to what Dave and I have been talking about with the injury to Keegan that to address that. I feel like me just looking at the roster that some of their best players are backcourt players. So now you could add Russell Westbrook to that along with Monk and all the other guys that they have there. But to fill in that void while Keegan is out, do you think they’ll lean going smaller or some of the bigger options that they have that maybe aren’t as proven as those backcourt guy? Like where do you think they’ll go um to fill the void of Keegan Murray while he’s out? I mean, I feel like they have option to to go small obviously and I think the one good thing about Russ is he’s of the of that back court. He’s probably the most versatile in terms of uh being able to play the other side of the floor. He’s a big guard. He’s strong. He has the experience in the NBA and he’s defensive-minded. So, I think that you could you could play small with him and, you know, have options, have some success there. Um, but, you know, when you’re in Doug’s situation, I think there’s going to be a little bit of exploration in terms of um kind of do you go small, can you go big? um where is that most beneficial for you? What’s the circumstance in terms of you know the lineup you’re playing against, the team you’re playing with, their style? Um but it it’s important to have options and there’s at this point, you know, in the in the season, you know, it’s not you we would say it’s still off season, you know, in the sense that we haven’t started the regular season yet, but there’s not a lot of options to be like, oh, we’re just going to go grab a power forward that it’s not available. So, I think this is probably the best case scenario in terms of being able to give you some options and some versatility even though you’re you’re, you know, leaning heavy in the back court. As Katie Christensen, we will be talking to her each and every Wednesday. Uh, you know, depending on travel and all that other stuff as she joins us via phone and hey, you know what? We’re just happy to have her. We already have people in the chat wanting to rent your Airbnb, Katie. So, uh, look out look out from there. We’ll we’ll help do that. We just get 10%. Okay. Yeah, sure, Dave. I will definitely uh get you in on that for sure. She super meant that, too. All right, that’s Katie, analyst for Sacramento Kings. We’ll see you next week. Talk to you soon. All right. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Wow. Wow. How about that? I’m just glad it finally happened between that and Kaminga. Yeah. Well, I will say this, like if you’re looking at, you know, you can make the list of positives and negatives. I would say by far on the positive side of this one. Yeah. I mean, the one thing I think has been said about Russell Westbrook when he was beginning his career to his prime to where he is now, the guy is absolutely relentless. Like he is going to be competitive. He is going to battle. He is going to play hard. Now there’s other n there’s questions all over this like is there I don’t know if the need fits this team. It’s another older like there’s there’s lots of things. You can find positives, you can find negatives. We It’s not a surprise because this is something that has been rumored and now comes to fruition. It doesn’t necessarily fill the void of of the front court like Katie had said, but you know, obviously there aren’t a lot of power forwards that they see out there right now, but um he will compete. He will push um Shruder. He’ll push the rest of the guys. Just hopefully you get a good good version of him. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I I It’s not a youthful direction. I’m here for it, man. This team’s a platypus. Yeah. Let’s just Let’s just slap everything together. Uh the the one thing Katie said, I I we didn’t have time. And I I I would love for her to help me on this. I I don’t know where you get that he’s a defensive plus. Westbrook. Yeah. Um he might have been at one point. I don’t know that I don’t know that I feel that now. No, I think he’s I’d have to watch him more. Yeah, I always feel like when I watching him, it’s about his offense right now. 100%. Um, yeah. And he can rebound, which let’s be honest, that helps with defense. But I think it’s the there’s an effort level and if there’s look, if there’s an ask to continue to guard fullourt. Yes. Um, and that’s a demand. Well, I think there’s another guy that will do it in sparing, you know, spared minutes, but he needs to do that. I just don’t know how much a 36-year-old in this outpost is going to pick up front to back. Maybe he will. I know he expressed interest in being here. Last year, for example, his offensive box plus minus was minus0.9. That was a career low. Uh compared to 8.7, for example, uh in 1617, his defensive box plus minus was minus0.2. He’s actually been in a negative the last two years offensively. Uh his value of a replacement player was 0.5 if you want to get nerdy. Hey man, listen, screw it. You got two vets in the back court now. Yeah, the stats you actually read for him from Denver were honestly they were better than I thought they would be. When you read them for per minute, I was like, “Oh, I wouldn’t have guessed they were.” I mean, they weren’t amazing, but I know he was a bench player for Well, and the fact of the matter is with him coming off the bench and uh even getting uh where is it? 20 uh 24 minutes. Yeah, I think it was 24 minutes a game something like no 28 27.9 minutes a game for Denver. Yeah. Finished seventh in the six man of the year. uh category the last two seasons. All right, we’ll take a break. Uh when we come back, we’ll take your phone calls. Russell Westbrook is a Sacramento king. 1 8009201 1140. Your thoughts on that. Alan Styles will have all your coverage between 10 and 2, followed by Whitey and I have no idea. And uh what’s on deck? Brought to you by Trex Decking and Railing coming up next. San Francisco 49ers play on Sack Town Sports 11:40. 49ers. Every game on your number one sports station. Don’t miss the action on your local sports leader. Satown sports 11:40. Wesley Financial Group is not a law firm and Chuck McDow definitely not

Carmichael Dave, Jason Ross and Sacramento Kings TV analyst Kayte Christensen react to the news that Sacramento has signed nine-time NBA All-Star guard Russell Westbrook for the 2025-26 season.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and subscribe!
#nba #sacramentokings #russellwestbrook #malikmonk #demarderozan

Subscribe at: https://www.youtube.com/c/Sports1140KHTK/?sub_confirmation=1
Find Sactown Sports 1140 online: https://t.co/K0vdSg5o1w
Listen live to Sactown Sports 1140: https://player.listenlive.co/55401
Like Sactown Sports 1140 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SactownSports
Like Sactown Sports 1140 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sactown1140
Follow Sactown Sports 1140 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sactown1140
App download Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bonneville.khtk&hl=en_US&gl=US
App download iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sports-1140-khtk/id1314735220