The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Open For Trade Business

The James Ham Show – Sacramento Kings Open For Trade Business

Um, we welcome in James Ham here. It’s the other one KC on KFM West Sacramento. KRX QHD2 Sacramento ESPN 1320 always live on the free Odyssey app. Hammer got Kings basketball going on tonight. Jesse brought up uh tomorrow night. Yeah, tomorrow against Denver at the Golden One Center. Um, we had a conversation. I’m not I’m not trying to start a fight. I promise. We just did a little research earlier. Bring it on, Willie. I asked Jake what’s he looking for when he watches Kings games this year. And the first thing he said was Keegan. And that’s that’s that’s fine. That’s that’s kind of a regular response. And you know, then comes Keegan being aggressive. And maybe that’ll be better when Demar and and Zack are gone. And and maybe plays need to be schemed for him instead of him just getting leftovers. We did some research, man, and we found one stretch in Keegan’s career where he was really aggressive with his shot, and it was his second season. His second season, I believe he had three games where he shot 20 times or more. And I’m pretty positive those are the only three times he’s ever done it. generally the most amount of shots he takes in a game is 17. And I don’t know what like you’re look when you’re if you’re looking for a primary score or if you’re looking for just a guy to be more aggressive as this team starts to develop. Like what exactly are we looking for when we talk about Keegan Murray’s development? Well, I I mean I I think it’s like I I don’t always concern myself with how many shots a player takes. Like sure, the more shots the better, right? But I’ve never looked at Keegan as like a 25 to 30 point per game scorer. I think he can get to 18 to 20, but I I think it will be in a situation a lot like uh Cam Johnson, you know, where like Cam Johnson averaged 19 a game last year because there’s no one else between him and Cam Thomas that were scoring for that team. And I know that that isn’t like super awesome for everybody to hear that, you know, like 18 to 20 is kind of like the cap that I see for him, but I I still see that he can get there. Like I mean, what’s he averaging 15 a game right now? I haven’t looked at like 15 plus. Um like I would like to see him shoot more. I’d like to see him get more of an opportunity. Um, and and I know sometimes you got to go take that opportunity yourself, but this isn’t a heavy heavy volume score. Like that’s that’s not how I’ve ever looked at Keegan. You know, like a lot of guards are heavy volume scorers, but outside of that, you know, the elite small forwards that are just straight up scoring forwards, sometimes they’re averaging that many shots per game. But I don’t see him even as like a Demar de Rozan 17 to 20 shots per game guy even in like a perfect scenario. And that’s I don’t think that’s a knock on somebody. I just think that that’s a style of player that he is. And like look, he’s also he’s not an ISO player. He’s a player who needs movement, who needs the team around him moving. And whatever we’re calling this offense right now, um it’s not it for any of these players. I mean, it just I mean, you can’t watch it and and think that it’s actually functioning properly or like a standard offense would. So, slightly confused with with what they’re running and how it it brings out the best in anybody because I don’t think it does. Yeah, we just kind of did that exercise because I mean the thought process people have said, “Oh man, just get Zack and Demar out of here and then he can shoot the way he wants to.” and this field goal attempt and lack of aggression. This predates Zach and Lamar. This this isn’t um or Demar, excuse me. This isn’t necessarily a byproduct of them being on the team. I think it’s more so of who Keegan has shown himself to be. It’s still a good a really good NBA player, but for a winning team, if you want Keegan to be part of a a winning team, just getting rid of Zack Lavine and Demard Rosen and letting him shoot 20 25 times, like that’s I don’t think that’s the player he is. And I I not sure why people keep asking him to be that. Yeah, I’m kind of with you, Kenny. Like I mean I don’t think he needs to shoot that many times. I would like to see him shoot 14 15 times a game for sure and because I think the Kings would be better if he did especially if he finds his rhythm from three. But as of right now like look this this team doesn’t share the ball very well. Uh it’s a big- time meme me offense and it depends on one night to the next who that person is. Um, as soon as you know, Zack Lavine shows up, Demard, I mean, uh, Malik Monk disappears. And it it’s just like one thing after another with this group the entire season. And to be honest, it’s because they’re relying on individual playmaking as opposed to any sort of offensive scheme. And I again, I don’t get it. Um I I don’t think it maximizes any one of these players. Um outside of maybe Demar who just looks the same no matter what. Um it’s tough. It’s a tough watch. And and I also, you know, like if we’re talking about when Zack and Demar are gone, like Zack and Demar leave, if you’re not replacing them with, you know, if you’re just taking back expiring contracts, like this team is going to win like 20 games a year for a couple of years. like you have to have talent and I I’ve never once said that Demar D Rozan and and Zack Lavine aren’t talented players that they’re not good NBA players. Um I actually like offensively I’ve been on the you know super impressed when Zack Lavine decides to play the way that he’s supposed to play and and take over games and stuff. But um like overall like this is just a weird collection of players and a weird offensive team and it leads to really really poor defense on the same at at the same time. So numbers don’t always tell tell the whole story, but as we stand right now since Keegan Murray has come back um or I take this back for the season, Keegan Murray is second um on the team in field goal attempts per game. one below Zack Lavine. Zack is at 15. Keegan Murray’s at 14 for this season. For this season, uh and and that that I’m just the last nine games. Just the last nine games. Tomorrow’s at 13. Those are to me those you I mean they’re they’re part of a story you can feel how you want to. The problem is 26.4. Yes. That’s the problem. Like now now Keegan’s Keegan’s seasons of being a bad three-pointer three-point shooter are far outweighing the seasons where he’s a good three-point shooter. And it’s like it it like I don’t anyone who says they know who Keegan Murray is or anyone who says they know what Keegan Murray can be is lying. Whether it’s James Ham, Kenny Carowway, or Scott Perry, you do not know. This man has shown us a little bit of everything. And I don’t I mean it wasn’t it wasn’t that long ago. It was a couple games ago. He scored 20 something points and it’s like oh oh was out. It’s like oh all right boy let’s go. Kings lose. No one cares. Give me that Keegan Murray. He ain’t seen anything close to that since nothing. Yeah. I mean he’s had a couple of 20 point games. Yeah. Yeah. No, I get it. It’s super frustrating, but like this team is not functioning well at all as a group and like it’s not it’s not a great place to be for any of them. Um, you know, you’re you’re hoping that he grows and that he figures out ways to to improve, but again, like one of the things I’ll I’ll say like if Keegan is ever going to get to 20 points per game, he’s got to average more than one or two free throw attempts per game. He needs to he needs to attack the rim. He needs to have the ball in his hands. enough that he can attack the rim. And you know, sometimes it happens, other times it doesn’t. Um, but it just feels like there’s no consistency at all. Like again, how is it that Malik Monk, you know, shot 19 times a game, like three games ago, in the last two games, he shot like five times. Like it’s just you you if you’re coaching this team, like Kenny, you brought up that he’s got the second most field goal attempts on the team. He’s got the second most, but you know, it’s 15 and 13.9, but then 13.2 and 13.1 and 11.9 and 11.5 and 10.8. That’s too many people shooting 11 times per game. It just is like most good teams have three or four guys that are around that number and then the rest of them, you know, you six, seven, eight shots per game. This team has way too many guys who try to take over and try to think that they can save the day and then none of them can. And it’s like very unfortunate to watch most nights because even we get to the fourth quarter of the game the other night where you know it was right there for the taking. They they fought all the way back and then it’s just one guy takes a shot, a different guy takes a shot, different guy takes a shot. you know, Russ forces a couple of balls uh and hits them and so you’re watching sort of this weird thing play out and I just don’t know how it’s conducive to winning. Yeah, I understand. Um one thing I can say I’m No, go ahead. One thing I will say about uh Keegan Murray um since at least this year um because I feel like it’s I say this year because I feel like it’s an improvement is he’s averaging almost eight rebounds a night. You know, the last couple of games when he hasn’t scored the ball very well. Uh I think in both games he’s had 11 rebounds in those games. So, if he could find a way to get more consistent with his shooting and maintain his ability to rebound the way he has the last really since he’s all year long, like he’s been a good rebounder all year. That’s a that’s to me that’s a sign of improvement in his game. Um, being a consistent rebounder. Yeah, I agree. I I think like what we saw last season from him where a good portion of the year he was around eight rebounds a game and then he finished right around seven. um he is showing that he’s a much better rebounder than I thought he would. He would be at the NBA level. I’d also point out that like he really should be playing small forward and and if he were playing small forward and you had a reasonable rebounding power forward, um you would actually have the best one of the best rebounding teams in the league, if not the best rebounding team in the league. Um, but again, it’s it’s just really tough because we haven’t seen Domomas and Keegan play together and that’s your number one, your number two rebound. That is kind of crazy. They have not played together one single time this season. True. 24 games into the season and they haven’t touched the court together and they’re not going to be doing that anytime soon. Yeah, it’s it’s super it’s super tough. Well, I don’t know anytime soon. Oh, yeah. I guess that’s probably not true. I mean, there’s there’s what? There’s a there’s a game tomorrow. There’s a game Sunday. That’s got to be close to the time frame, right, Hammer? We’re over the three-w weekek mark. Yeah, it was supposed to be three to four weeks and we passed the three week three week mark a couple of days ago. I I don’t know. U I I know that we saw Doas on on the road trip, which is a good sign, you know, like he was there in Miami, if I’m not mistaken, uh for that game in Indiana. I believe he was there, too. So, that’s good. He was there. He was there just to tell Doug that Dennis is questionable. Yeah. Well, that’s a whole I I think in Houston I think in Houston there was footage of him going through stuff before games. Who? Dennis. No, Sabonis. Dennis, you know, I did see I saw Dennis before Houston for sure. Um but Sabonis, he it wasn’t like he was sprinting going crazy, but he’s on the floor. He’s rehabbing with with the team, you know, basketball wise. So hopefully that means he’s close. Yeah, Dennis has been like during the home games he’s gone out on on the court every single game and it looked like he might play and then, you know, sure enough we get the announcement that he’s not playing. Um, so yeah, I to me it’s kind of weird. I I have no I’ I’ve never seen a a player be questionable for almost three weeks straight. That’s just that’s not something that that typically happens. Yeah. Kind of odd. Kind of odd. Kind of odd. If there is any question about what Doug’s intentions are with this basketball team, go back and look at that Pacers game again. He played Russell Westbrook 40 minutes. He he played the starters so many minutes because they were the ones who cut the deficit, kind of got got that thing going again and, you know, took that four-point lead. And like I admitted, my dumb ass. I thought the Kings going to they’re okay. I don’t know how people are going to feel about it, but they’re going to win this game because I kept thinking Indiana’s not very good by design or otherwise. They’re not very good right now. Kings, man, they did everything they had to do. Good for them. This is a hell of a win for them or this will be a hell of a win for them. And the they the Pacers said not so fast and kind of blew him out the rest of the way. Like an 110 run that was just like, well, all right. Damn. But he played I mean I I I I know Russ played 40 in that one. I think Zach played you 38 39 40 somewhere in that vicinity. Doug’s coaching to win these games and if it’s the with with the vets he’s going to do it. It’s if it’s with the young guys he’s going to do it. He’s going to put what he thinks is the best lineup in that game out there to win him a basketball game. Yeah. And I’ll say too, like one of the issues I have right now with Russ is that, you know, the reason why he’s playing so many minutes is because Dennis isn’t there. And you you sent Devin uh Carter back home to go play in the G-League before that game. That happened before the Indiana game. They shipped him back out after the Miami game. So on Sunday, I think he flew home. And that in itself is a strange thing that I haven’t seen a lot of. Um, and then, you know, again, he played last night in the G- League, Devin Carter did, and then he’ll probably play tonight in the G-League. Uh, Nick Clifford won’t, and Nick Clifford, like expected, is going to be back in in Kings uniform tomorrow. Um, and you know, it’s always possible that Devin Carter will be too, although I wouldn’t expect him to play just because he you don’t want to play backtoback nights. Um, but uh, yeah, I mean, like, look, I agree with you, coach. I Doug is coaching like as if he’s coaching for his life, which he should be. You know, he should be out there trying to get every win he can. And I know there are a lot of people don’t like that idea, but you know, I also like I talked to Kyle earlier and I I wanted to get your guys’ take on it. It’s kind of a bummer like watching like trade season coming up and looking at the Kings as just straight up a seller because you know there are a bunch of players out there that are really good who are available all of a sudden and you know you’re looking at New Orleans with Trey Murphy and um and who’s the other dude that they have they put up on the block basically not Zion but uh well Zion’s available too u but oh Herb Jones Herb Jones. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s like, man, we could like reassemble something here. Um, you know, like I I would still be willing to venture down a road and say, “Hey, look, it’s a bad 25 30 game start, but what if you could add pieces and try to turn the thing around and and not just maybe you’re going to miss this year, but what if you were able to go get a couple of younger guys that you know, 26, 27, reset your your age of your team, give up some picks, which I know makes people uncomfortable, but you know, can you give up a Spurs 2027 a Minnesota pick down the road and go back in and and see if that would be enough to maybe get a couple of those guys out of New Orleans who’s looking to bail on their season because like I don’t think like the way that this thing has turned so quickly I I just still don’t feel like it has to be that way, you know? Like I I I understand that this is like the way they’ve started off is bad and that like recovering this season is virtually impossible, but you know, if you can keep your 2026 first round pick and you can go get the forwards that you need to make your team better, it it does seem to me like there are ways in which you could keep a couple of players on this team and reload as opposed to just completely, you know, going with the three to fiveear plan which is, you know, again, if Scott Perry’s here for a 5-year plan, I would be absolutely shocked. Like, if you can survive a 5-year plan, because it’s fine to say it right now, but we all know that the longer you get into a 10-year, the more impatient VCron DVA gets. And again, it’s it’s nice to think that way, but you need to figure out a way to get better quick. And you know, I’m I’m not saying like all this, you know, like just go for broke here, but you know, Sam Sam told us that that Scott’s telling people it’s going to take time. And and he didn’t tell us he’s not allowed to do that, but he told the world, right? And and with that, James, I’ll ask you a a question that might be difficult to answer. We don’t have that, whatever, but I’ll ask it anyway to you because you’re the man. When will we ever see the Kings be buyers again? If if the report is correct, like three to five years, they want to tear this down like everybody wants them to and everything. We look at the Pelicans. We look at the Wizards. When the last time the Wizards were buyers, you know what I mean? If we’re going through that blueprint, when are they ever going to be buyers in the next five to seven years? Yeah. Well, that’s the argument that I made with Kyle. I mean, what you have here is is a franchise that there are only three ways to improve your team. Free agency, trade, and draft. And you don’t get to participate in one of those. You get to participate in trades and you but your trades are always different, right? It’s not like they’ve got a Paul George to go trade for somebody because they didn’t, you know, they can’t sign those guys as free agents. Like there’s no way to get free agents to sign here. And you can say, “Oh, Dennis Shruder or the last time that, you know, Scott was here, he got Zebo and and you know, uh, what was it? Zebo, George Hill, and Vince Carter. But that’s not enough. that’s that’s not changing your franchise. Those are status quo players at their age at that point. Um and then you know George Hill was a nice addition until he got here and then he wasn’t. So like if if you can only improve through the draft and through trades, number one, you have to have things to trade and they don’t have that outside of draft picks. And number two that if you’re giving up your draft picks, then you don’t have anything there either. And you know the draft is a complete crapshoot. If if I’m trying to choose between, you know, a 2027 Spurs pick, which is going to probably be in the 20s, and a 2030, you know, Minnesota pick that you don’t know where it might be, but you know, it there’s a good chance it’s going to be in the 20s, like why would you not take a stab at at like trying to reset things as opposed to just a complete tearown? Because a complete tear down is is not only is it tough because of the contracts that you have, but it’s tough because there’s nothing that says that the Kings are going to get a top tier player out of the 2026 NBA draft. Nothing is guaranteed. And that’s a really tough 2027, okay? Two years from now, you might get a player that will be ready to be a star in two to three years. That’s tough. The guys at the top end of this year’s draft are all freshman. They’re all 18, 19 years old. That’s it. Like, you can’t expect them to walk in the door and save the franchise. We’re in year three of Victor Womenyama and he still hasn’t saved their franchise. They’re playing really well without him right now. But again, that took other acquisitions. It’s just a really really difficult thing to ask a fan base to wait around again and show patience again when you’re the team who who literally has ADD like and James the interesting thing that you you mentioned is you said there’s three ways to get better as a franchise and free agent trades draft we eliminate free agency here in Sacramento at least on that super high degree essentially if you know some of the things that we’re talking about is true. They’re eliminating two of them. They’re eliminating the trade possibility cuz they don’t want to trade any assets to go get a project or somebody they want to take a draft on. So in this case, you’re putting almost all your eggs in maybe the riskiest basket. Like that the draft might be the riskiest basket because you don’t know who these kids are. If you traded for I’ll say Trey Young because he’s I think the shest bet is you know what type of player he is. You know his talent level on the NBA uh on the NBA level. I think I know AJ Deons’s talent level on NBA. I I have a good idea. I don’t know. But you’re eliminating the free agency and the trade aspect and putting all your eggs in the draft basket. That’s risky. That’s risky. Yeah. Yeah, that’s all I’m saying. Like look, I there are a lot of ways to build the team, but most of those ways, I mean, first of all, we can’t really look at the Pistons. The Pistons lacked in lucked into the top pick in the draft and a good draft where the top pick ended up being a a really, really, really good player. But again, it took three years. It took three years for Kate Cunningham to be a winning player. So now, or maybe year four, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it took forever. But like how do you how do you build a team and like it’s it’s an art form but it’s not easy and there’s so many pitfalls. It’s crazy. We got to go to break. Sorry. You talk about look at James professional over there. You talk about luck. That was the same draft where the Kings were one pingpong ball away from the number one pick. Yeah. We’ll come back. Damn. We’ll come back uh more with our insider from the insiders. It’s James Ham here. We deal with KC on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. You guys, we didn’t say that. No, we didn’t say that at all. That’s what I heard. We’re just saying if they don’t want to trade any assets or they don’t want to take a risk on some of these guys, um we don’t see them making big-time trades if that’s their philosophy. Well, that and and someone said, “Hey, just trade up for uh Devonsa, whatever his name is.” like no one’s giving up that pick and and you’re talking about giving up probably three first round picks to go from three to one or from five to one and you can’t afford to do that either. But hey, go look at the contracts of Trey Murphy and Herb Jones and if New Orleans wants to dump contracts and you can package again uh you know you could do something crazy like uh Dario Sarich and um uh Demar De Rozan and throw in Devin Devin Carter and then throw in two first round picks, they might listen because especially if you can give up other teams first round picks because a King’s first round picks are always worth a lot more than everybody else’s picks. And if you’re looking at multiple offers and one of them includes a King’s first per round pick, maybe you do give up one of your own first round picks in the future and you could land forwards and and that could you know not your three forward like rotation of Trey Murphy, Keegan Murray and Herb Jones. Maybe you start Herb Jones at the two. Like there are ways to do this that you don’t have to just blow the the whole entire thing up. I agree. And I get somebody says they’re not number one guys. Okay. Like name a number one guy that’s going to come to Sacramento and hey okay let’s say you do that deal. Then let’s say you call the Hawks and say hey Zack Lavine for Trey Murphy. What do you say? Let’s do it. Let’s do it. So, yeah. I I don’t know. I just think that there are plenty of ways to make this team better. And like I get you’re off to a horrible start. I get that Zach that um that Scott Perry wants to put his own stamp on this thing, but I also think that there is a ton um there are ton of ways to, you know, to get this thing going the right way without having to go through five years of hell with no guarantee that that five years are going to do anything. Yeah. um securing the Carter the uh Sabonis rumors for the Bulls have been there for like maybe two or three weeks and it’s it’s hinged mostly off the idea that the general manager of the Bulls is Lithuanian. I mean, to be honest with you, like whether they’re interested or not, I I don’t know. But you’re going to take back Vousvich? And again, that’s a team that’s no good. They were good and then now they’re not again. Oh no, we suck again. We’re back in. back here with James Ham and I have bad news for everybody. We solved absolutely nothing during that commercial break. World peace. We got it. Well, more likely to solve that than any issue the Sacramento Kings have. And and that was the, you know, James, you said something there at the end of just a, you know, kind of a dialogue we were having during the commercial break. It’s like, man, you gotta hope that there’s some way to, you know, to get this thing set up where you don’t have to go through five years of hell. And I think that’s a point that Kenny and I Kenny and I have tried to make, you know, dating back to the off seasonason for those who didn’t like this team, you know, talking about like maybe like is there another way where you don’t have to strip this thing down, excuse me, be Washington, be the Utah Jazz, be a team of that level of an epess and and just find a way to kind of make, you know, you talked about um uh Trey Murphy and Herb Jones a minute ago. Is there a way to facilitate deals where you get some of these bigger contracts off, but you bring those guys in here and maybe you have like a little bit more of a competent basketball team that cost you a little bit less and you’re still able to do something through the draft or you’re able to do something, you know, in some sort of other trade and and be able to put something together where you don’t have a product that is just ass. And the consensus was always, “No, dummy. We can’t. There is only one way to do this and we need to strip everything down and start completely over. Well, James, as he pointed out at the end of the Yeah, it’ be there’s no guarantee that’s going to work. Like, you can go through this process and it’s going to be painful, but there is no guarantee it’s going to work. And in two years, three years, four years, whatever, we’re like, it’s happening. Um, what’s his name? Um, John Travolta. Pulp fiction. This is visual. Sorry. Very visual. Yeah. It’s a meme though. Everybody can envision the John Travolta meme where he’s looking around. Kenny’s visual memes are always a hit. Yeah, they’re always great. Do the John Lynch one. Please don’t. Please don’t do the John Lynch one. Please don’t. That won’t work. Yeah, there there there has to be a way for this team to to reset, but reset doesn’t mean destroy everything that you have and start over. And again, I there are a lot of ways to get this thing right. And the fact that you don’t have a point guard to build around is a huge issue. I get it. But I also look at other ways in which you know, you know, what’s it going to cost you? I I I don’t know. It it could be steep. It could. But like Joe Dumars and Scott Perry have a really close relationship. Make the phone call. Like why not see if you can improve your team? If if he’s a seller, like I I don’t like the Kings are a seller, but they’re a seller where like you walk up to somebody’s yard sale and they have a whole bunch of just crap on the tables everywhere, but then they have their garage door open and you see some really cool stuff in there. You’re like, “Hey, is that stuff for sale?” No, that’s mine. It’s like bunch of crap on that. Well, you know what I the the yard sales you look you drive by slowly you’re like nope going to keep driving there I don’t need a bunch of clothes or 70s day you obviously have never been to an SGA yard sale them SGAA yard sales that they showed on starting five are a little wild well that and I also I don’t live in the Roseville Rockland metropolitan area where you might get some good yard sales okay you know I’m just saying I’m just saying good point you live on a hill with a lake in a backyard and an armed security guard who when I show up to your Christmas party will casually put their their hand on their holster like who are you here to see? Uh I’m here to see uh James and and and Mrs. Ham. What’s your name? All right, you got level two clearance. Don’t get excited. It’s out of 10. Keep it moving. That’s right. I have to tell you something that was happening in the studio. 98 Rock was off the air for like three minutes. Oh. And I got so close to like getting up and just somebody do something. You could have told me. I would have told somebody cuz we can see like all of the stations in front of us and their their status of being live on the all of that. And like it went off and normally it just happens for a couple seconds, 10 sec, whatever. Yeah. And I and like Abe is right there, but he looks like flustered. So I’m like, “Okay, he knows.” So, and then I’m looking this way. No engineer is walking and I’m like, “Oh my god, will someone do something?” It’s not even my radio station and I’m sick to my stomach. Somebody fix this. Minutes is like three hours. Seth wasn’t he wasn’t going um he wasn’t like going to the studio and he wasn’t doing anything. You know why? Because Seth is wearing a quarter zip today. That’s when you do that. Really? When you do that thing, I don’t believe it. How do you even know he’s in a quarter zip? his his beard locks at a quarter zip. That’s a good point. That’s a great point. How would you even know Seth is in a quarter zip? That’s right. The sleeves. The sleeves. Oh, excuse me. Uh sweater. Uh vest. Oh. Oh. Oh. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got you. Yeah. I can’t I can’t visualize that either. I just worry that Abe broke another chair and he’s just laying there in the studio. No. No. Abe was right in front of me. I assumed something was going wrong and people were coming to help. Then I realized no one like no one has poked their head around the corner like, “All right, it’s been a minute. It’s been two minutes. All right, man. I’m about to I’m about to get up and walk down the hall. I can’t I can’t take this. I’ve been doing this too long to see a station off the air.” Yeah. Watching the Kings play basketball. Something’s going wrong and I need someone to fix it. You’re yelling time out at the screen. Time out. Just throw him. I know. I know when I know when Doug’s calling. It’s not even one of those. Sorry, visual again. It’s the pissed-off. Yeah. Yeah. I I’ve started to think Doug doesn’t actually call timeouts anymore. He just walks onto the floor and the ref knows app. That’s one of those Doug Christie timeouts. That’s right. Just give it to coach right here. Called it with like the squeak of his shoes or something. Not good. Not good, man. Not good. Uh, and they’ll play the Denver Nuggets at the Golden One Center tomorrow for the 14th time uh this year. And it’ll be the first time that Maxine Rainol starts against Denver. He played fine. He played I mean, all things considered, he played okay. Yeah. Uh, the last time they played Denver and and he took on Joic and and in uh Yonas Valenunas. I agree. Yeah, I missed whatever question you may have asked cuz I froze for 30 seconds. What? But you didn’t froze. No, he did. Oh, he it’s when he was No, that’s when the freeze broke. He was looking off to the side and I was trying to downplay it. It didn’t dawn on me that James can’t hear what I’m saying when he freezes. Was it an official? Was it a 5-second? You know, I don’t think it was. I think we were more in the 3se secondond variety and Seth just walked by in his bubble vest. And now I get it. Now I get it. That’s why nothing was being done. Um are not effective. Hammer wardrobe. Yeah, Hammer. I I mentioned Maxine Rolo is going to have his work cut out for him tomorrow night at the Golden One Center with uh uh JV and and and Joic on the other end of that five position. Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, this is a game where, you know, it’s just about learning and becoming better every time you step on the court. And I I think Max is doing that. and I really like what I’m seeing from him. But at the same time, like you have to have real realistic expectations that is it’s a huge front line and you know it’s not just that you’re dealing with like a four-time MVP. It’s that once he steps off the court maybe three time what is he a three or four once he steps off the court though you have like just the ultimate bruiser behind him. And so that’s what this is about for for Max. It’s about learning and and getting better. Um, you know, and using the skill set that you have to to combat what they’re doing, you know, like Yonas Valentunis doesn’t want to go out in the perimeter and guard him, and neither does uh does Jokic. So, get him in pick and roll actions. Do what they were uh like him and Russ are trying to develop this chemistry as a pick and roll duo. And again, I I think for right now, Max is u he’s a little all over the board. you know, he he’s just sloppy with everything that you that he’s doing. And I don’t even think it’s like his numbers aren’t inefficient, but his use of energy is inefficient. You know, it’s kind of like when you you you I don’t know if you ever noticed this, but if you ever watch like people run a marathon, they don’t hammer their arms like a sprinter because you burn all your energy, right? You’re supposed to keep your arms cool and and along your sides and and it’s the same thing like you Max is just wasting all this energy by being too all over the place and frantic and eventually he’ll calm down. And I think we’re seeing like he’s getting better and better and better every game. Um, but it’s also why you shouldn’t be relying on a second round pick in his rookie season to play 30 plus minutes a night. And you have to because he gives you the best option at this point. And I did not think I would say that. Um, but like he gives you he’s a much better option right now than Drew Eubanks and that’s just the reality of the situation. Yeah, I agree with you. Um, what you think is going on with Malik Monk? Um, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t like that he didn’t play in the second half. Um because unless he got hurt, uh that tends to make me believe that maybe he said something at halftime that someone didn’t like. And um I’m not quite sure what’s going on there, but I I think um everybody handles losing differently. And you know, like when you’re you’re coaching Kenny, you know, like some kids get in the car and they’re just crying the whole way home. Some kids are angry and they don’t want to talk to anybody. Some kids act like nothing happened and they just, you know, something bad just happened to somebody else and they’re ready to go stop at McDonald’s on the way home. And you just never know. Um but like the more I hear like Malik doesn’t like losing and doesn’t like losing in this way. And um that can you know again he’s a live wire. We all know that. He wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes that’s not okay. Sometimes that can be a little over the top and you know like I I don’t think he’s doing some of the things that we heard with Demarcus Cousins like you know screaming and yelling at Jimmer Fredet at halftime of a of a preseason game or anything. Um, but I I do think that um like sometimes Malik doesn’t have an off button and that might be part of what’s going on right now. And it could just be that he’s not hitting his shots at all and he’s going through one of those Malik stretches where, you know, you you can’t leave him out there if if he’s not going to be making the shots. Yeah. I wonder if everything Hammer just said tells the story on how the front office feels about Malik Monk. Yeah, because the fan base adores him. He seems to I mean the last couple of games have been really tough, but he gives it feels like 100% energy out there. Like he there is a reason this fan base feels the way that they do about him. Uh he can be a shot maker. He just seems like a guy you want to have on your basketball team. And man, I mean, Scott Perry hadn’t even had the inauguration yet before it was like, “Oh, I don’t think he wants him here.” Like, he he seemed to be he I was going to say he seemed to be over the idea of Malik Monk Quake. He was never in on the idea of Malik Monk, it felt like. And I wonder if it’s because of all of the reasons that Hammer just laid out right there. Yeah. I I mean, we’re gonna have to wait and see how it all plays out in the end, but you know, like being around Malik enough. Um, you know, and I think we all have that friend who’s just always on and a huge personality and when things are good, that’s that’s awesome. They’re super fun. They’re the life of the party. When things are bad, sometimes they aren’t the life of the party. Sometimes it gets a little too much. And so, um, again, I I think it’s it’s probably more about losing and and all that stuff, but also like frustration should be high with this team. Like the last thing you should be is ambivalent to winning, you know, is just giving in and saying, “Oh, we’re six and 18. We just got to, you know, we just got to get through the next 58 games or whatever it is.” I mean, I just could you even imagine just like, man, we got to coast this thing in. And it’s like almost there, guys. You got 120 miles to go and you have a 16th of a tank. You’re not coasting in. That’s not happening. Yeah. It’s going to get uglier if if they don’t make changes and if they don’t snap out of whatever funk they’re in. You know what I was thinking about the other day as he was having um a fantastic game, having another triple double, adding one to the total. Do you think uh Russell Westbrook stays here the whole year? You think he ends up getting traded? No, I don’t. I I think he stays here the whole year. Yeah. I I mean, like, look, and if if he wants to be this guy for a couple of years here, okay, especially if you know, you do make a move and Malik Monk is on the way out the door. Um, I’d also say like look, I players hear all the stuff that’s out there. Maybe that’s part of the monk situation, too, that he knows that things are about to fire up again. And you know, December 15th’s just around the corner and we see these reports that are so pointed. It’s like the Kings are going to listen on Demar De Rozan and Zack Lavine and Demanis Sabonis and Keon Ellis. Notice that Malik Monk’s name wasn’t in there. Um, yeah, I I think he knows that his name is in there and that he saw the same thing we saw this off season and he does love it in Sacramento. He loves golfing. Um, you know, he’s got a baby here and, you know, you think that this might be somewhere that he would settle down and just be here for a long time. And I I think with players, it gets really frustrating when that might not be the case, when you might have to uproot your family and go somewhere else. You know, I’ve seen players come through who, you know, they get traded at the deadline and they don’t get to see their kids for like 45, 50 days because there’s no way to get them to where you are and you’re staying in a hotel and you know, it’s just too much. And it like these things, they wear on players and you know, I’ve told you guys a couple of times just about how you know, like a player like Marcus Thornton used to just wear it so bad like come trade season. Well, trade season’s already here for this team and they know it. This isn’t, you know, waiting until the last week of January and getting a little nervous because things might be happening. Like, this team all knows that like they have bright like orange stickers on them that say their price tag. And that’s just it’s not fun to be part of of that to be, you know, feeling like at any moment that you you know, some of these guys own houses here. You know, some of these guys have like established roots here. You know, that some of these guys are the pizza guy and have television commercials. Like, it’s it’s tough. It’s it’s a tough world they live in. And I know we all look at it from the outside. Um, but really a lot of times they’re like they’re like a goldfish that, you know, someone just keeps tapping on the glass and it’s it’s not fun to be the one inside that’s like, “Man, would you stop? like just stop trying to get my attention because it’s like it’s really loud in this in this fishbowl. It seems Hammer with that line of thinking and it’s perfectly fair and I think you’re 100% right. It’s going to get worse. Like it’s Hammer, it’s December 10th. Like two months away. Just wait till they trade some of your friends and then you’re still stuck there and you’re like uh oh no, it’s going to get worse. Yeah, not easy, man. It’s tough. That’s tough. But like that that’s the thing I think that I feel like we’re going to be analyzing freaking body language and and engagement levels. Me and LeBron. Well, we’re gonna be doing that with Drew Eubanks. Well, I don’t know that that’s true. I don’t know that I’m gonna be evaluating the B. Boy, Drew Eubanks just he didn’t look really into it today. I don’t know. One thing I did notice the other day that I was not a fan of and then they kind of corrected it was when the when the Kings were making that run, I believe in the third quarter. I I I think this is how it went down. Don’t quote me, but I didn’t see the bench up. I did not see that. And that bothered me. Like they’re making a run. they’re trying to come back and they’d go back on the other side and everybody just kind of sitting down. Later, I think more in the fourth quarter, I saw the bench up like and they were still standing after like a rust fade or something like that and I felt a little better about it. But, um, I don’t know, it’s just one of those things I I try to look at to see if everybody’s engaged as a team, you know what I’m saying? And I didn’t see that a lot uh on Monday night. Yeah, that’s interesting. Um, you know, again, when it it’s a season like this where it’s like, oh no, here we go again. Um, I guess sometimes you can lose that that sort of energy. And, you know, a couple years ago it was Mason Jones coming, you know, jumping off the bench and going crazy all the time. Sometimes you need that. You need just a rah guy that’s sitting there that like everyone else is like, “Okay, well, he’s up. He’s clapping. We probably should be too because if not, television cameras are going to catch us over here sulking while our teammates are playing way better than we did. Um, so it’s a it’s a tough world. Again, you’re in a fishbowl. Um, but uh yeah, I I don’t know. Like you should always be cheering on your teammates no matter what. Unless they’re all on Tankathon looking at the the draft odds and saying, “No, don’t do it. We need help.” I think there might have been some doing that, but I think a lot of them were in Pacers uniforms. Yeah. And they go to talk about we need help and that person next to him like we we mean we you ain’t going to be here, fool. You’re talking about we need help. You need help. James, stop. It’s not me. It’s you. Go ahead. I need you to stop being a Scrooge. Come on, man. It’s the Lakers and the Spurs tonight. That’s That’s a good one. Yeah, that’s a little NBA cup action. Come on, Hammer. I mean, maybe I’ll watch it. I mean, is is womenyama playing? No. No, it was it was ruled out yesterday. Castle’s playing. Dylan Harper’s playing. Say not box office. NBA cup is on the line. Well, not on the line, but you know, the chance to get to Vegas. Trip to Vegas is on the line. Yeah. No, these are the quarters. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that’s right. The semis are there. That’s right. been over this 15 freaking times. The semis are still in Las Vegas this year. All right, we’re locking. That’s fine. Like Okay. I I just, you know, I want the I want the I want the days off back. That’s what I want. Like, give them the days off back. That way we’re not dealing with crappy basketball because half the the players are hurt. Like sweetie, the Kings have had god knows how many days off and I don’t know how great their basket Well, I mean they they played pretty well versus Miami, so give them that. Look, there’s a there’s a gang of teams with the same schedule and they find a way to win. Yeah. Okay. Not like us, Kenny. They not like us. James, tap in and watch LeBron’s body language. That’s what Kenny’s watching for. He’s watching to see if LeBron high-fives Luca at any point during the game. Does he say anything the entire time? Does he look in Luca’s direction at any point during the game? Does he shoulder bump JJ Reic on the way to a timeout? Possibly. He just found a new podcast partner. I find that hilarious. He’s like, “Oh, JJ’s done.” All right, Steve. What you doing, man? Drink wine and talk basketball. Yeah. Yeah. Talk to Steph Curry. That’s uh that’s Well, that would be a good pod. Yeah, that is a pod, right? LeBron Steph. Yeah, Steph. They said they got Steph sick. That’s Oh, that’s right. Yeah, that’s right. Bad Wine got him sick. Did Did they also get Kaminga sick? Just wondering. Ask him for a friend. I don’t know. I don’t know. Steve Kerr got him. Steve Kurt. Yeah, Steve Kerick. Sick. Yeah, that’s it. Steve Kerr is sick of Jonathan Kaminga. I think everyone associated with the Golden State Warriors is sick of Jonathan Kaminga except one. Look, and vice versa. Yeah, facts. He don’t want to be there. Facts. He didn’t want to be there this summer. He’s gonna call Hey, I got COVID, guys. I can’t make it in. I got co It’s a bad one, too. Just going to drive up to Sacramento and watch their game. Is that okay? Oh, that that’d be a strong passive aggressive move. That would be a strong sit next to VC. That is that is I remember seven Kyrie was in Sacramento for a game one time was like isn’t he sitting there on the sidelines like what is he doing here? He wanted to come play. All right, that’s it. Uh it’s OKC in Phoenix tonight. Lakers and Spurs as well. We’ll talk about it all tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. with the insiders here on Sacramento Sports Leader ESPN 1320. Bamos, Michigan. Go blue. Go back, baby.

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