Poor Sacramento.
After everyone got excited about Luke Walton just experimenting on Peyote and a 4 guard lineup, in a very stunning and shocking development, the Sacramento Kings are in chaos again. Ownership knows this team should be better ... and they are not.
Shocker.
Turns out that maybe playing four guards isn’t the best idea. The Kings who rolled out fast this year playing Fox, Haliburton, Hield and Davion Mitchell on the court at the same time, have discovered that when teams know the four guard offense is coming, they can counter it.
And because of it, once again Luke Walton is on the hot seat. So much so, Luke had to address his potential firing once again in a post-game presser.
Someone wrote, “still waiting for you to bring us the great times.”
Exacccccttttllllyy. This man has been in the oven for the last two years now. We know that the reason he still has a job is because of his contract status… and how cheap the Kings are as an organization. They simply do not want to pay his buyout clause which is structured so he gets a lump sum up front.
Then after Luke so eloquently avoided defending his job, the Kings went out and completely shit the bed against the Timberwolves. They now stand 6-9 and out of the playoff picture altogether.
How desperate is Luke?
So desperate that he took Marvin Bagley out of the mothballs and started him in an actual real NBA lineup for one of the first times this year. Bagley has now logged 29 minutes in the past two games after being DNP’d all but one game this year.
Of course Bagley thinks what’s going on in Sacramento is bullshit.
Another player, new to the Sacramento circus and who has a ring, also is tired of the bullshit.
Tristan Thompson, NBA Champion, is sick and tired of losing, which is interesting since he spent a whole lot of time down 10 with the Celtics last year.
Someone asked him whether Luke Walton needed to be a better vocal leader to inspire them to not go down HUGE and inspire the Kings to COMPETE…
What he responded was… DELICIOUS.
Was this a shot at Luke Walton? Because it kind of feels like a shot at not only Luke Walton but the rest of the team.
Thompson continued:
This is the NBA. No one’s going to feel sorry for you. C-Webb and Bibby ain’t coming through that door, so you’ve go to keep pushing each and every day, keep getting better in practice, keep watching the film, learn from the mistakes.
At least Tristan knows his Kings history, which let’s face it, really comes down to those two players and maybe Vlad-ie and White Chocolate, too.
As an aside the Kings were so good in the mid ‘90s I had a Kings jersey as a Blazer fan… can you imagine that now? No way.
The Kings are legit so dysfunctional that they have Tristan Thompson reminiscing about the good old days under Brad Stevens in Boston. At least Brad didn’t try to motivate anyone to do anything.
Is Luke Walton the problem? Well, there’s actually a better way to put this.
Is Luke Walton the answer?
No. No he is not. In any way, shape, or form. He might be the worst head coach of the past decade and he would 100% get fired if it meant not having to cut him a check. But knowing the Kings? He’ll skate by for as long as it takes the Kings to not have to hire another coach while paying him a buyout.
How is building around Fox and Haliburton and Holmes so damn difficult?
HINT: It shouldn’t be.
The fact it is as much a damning indictment of the Kings as anything.
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