Playoffs R1 Discussion Thread - Kings vs Warriors

[BoogieTime]

Hi all, I wish you to knock off the Warriors and this idiot Green! Good job so far.

Vezenkov fan here. He'll win EL MVP this season. How do you feel about the likelihood to bring him over for next season ? He'll probably want a starting role and being the king(no pun intended) of the off ball play I can see him fit nicely with Sabonis and your style of play. I thought initially your FO may want to replace Barnes with him, but he's playing well and is a big part of your success. Not sure about Murray. What are his strengths and fit on the team? Would you consider moving him to the bench ? Bringing over Sasha will make your team deeper and even more dangerous.

Sasha won't get a starting role, particularly not out of the gate. Murray didn't as a #4 pick so Vezenkov won't. He likely won't start all season, but play starters minutes.

Noticed Murray played only 16 mins in each of the two playoff games, but his season stats are good, so I guess you will want to start and develop him. As long as promised some regular minutes I guess Vezenkov will be fine with it. He should be able to cover PF position and probably as a small ball C in the second unit can give you some of the stuff Sabonis provides. He's clearly a good rebounder after leading EU championship and finishing second in EL. Takes care of the ball, had a 7a game this season and is better outside shooter than Domantas, but obviously not on same level in the post.

I think he will have a role. I was never on the Giles hype train they tried to feed several years back but what Sasha is doing in Europe will translate into a solid stint in the nba, probably (haven't watched him too much, going by reports)

This is an addendum to would you make Keegan available, given that Sasha is likely (?) ready to come over here and better what Keegan has been showing in the near term at least and will be added to the roster this summer IMO. But I've been non plussed with Murray's toughness and non 3pt shooting game, relatively

Ofcourse neither may be a compliment to Sabonis defensively (haven't watched Vezenkov)

[sunsbg]

Sasha won't get a starting role, particularly not out of the gate. Murray didn't as a #4 pick so Vezenkov won't. He likely won't start all season, but play starters minutes.

Noticed Murray played only 16 mins in each of the two playoff games, but his season stats are good, so I guess you will want to start and develop him. As long as promised some regular minutes I guess Vezenkov will be fine with it. He should be able to cover PF position and probably as a small ball C in the second unit can give you some of the stuff Sabonis provides. He's clearly a good rebounder after leading EU championship and finishing second in EL. Takes care of the ball, had a 7a game this season and is better outside shooter than Domantas, but obviously not on same level in the post.

I think he will have a role. I was never on the Giles hype train they tried to feed several years back but what Sasha is doing in Europe will translate into a solid stint in the nba, probably (haven't watched him too much, going by reports)

This is an addendum to would you make Keegan available, given that Sasha is likely (?) ready to come over here and better what Keegan has been showing in the near term at least and will be added to the roster this summer IMO. But I've been non plussed with Murray's toughness and non 3pt shooting game, relatively

Ofcourse neither may be a compliment to Sabonis defensively (haven't watched Vezenkov)

Sounds like Murray is mainly a 3PT shooter(haven't watched him much) in which case Vezenkov is more versatile as one of his strengths is cutting to the basket. Probably not the greatest fit defensively with Sabonis as both are not great athletes. Sasha has improved on D though, uses his high BB IQ and moves his feet well, doesn't commit stupid fouls. Still defense is certainly a concern with more space and better athletes on an NBA floor.

[LightTheBeam]

Interesting to read the different crowds between reddit, realgm, Twitter.

Warriors fans on reddit believe it was the right decision and in most part are blaming Green for being an idiot.

Warriors fans on Twitter are straight up delusional thinking the league is rigged against them and that the suspension is 100% illegitimate.

RealGM seems to be split.

Either way, think he deserved more but surprised league even gave him a game. Kings been playing down when opponents missing key guys. Need to go out on Thursday and secure the series. 3-0 is a death blow.

[LightTheBeam]

Noticed Murray played only 16 mins in each of the two playoff games, but his season stats are good, so I guess you will want to start and develop him. As long as promised some regular minutes I guess Vezenkov will be fine with it. He should be able to cover PF position and probably as a small ball C in the second unit can give you some of the stuff Sabonis provides. He's clearly a good rebounder after leading EU championship and finishing second in EL. Takes care of the ball, had a 7a game this season and is better outside shooter than Domantas, but obviously not on same level in the post.

I think he will have a role. I was never on the Giles hype train they tried to feed several years back but what Sasha is doing in Europe will translate into a solid stint in the nba, probably (haven't watched him too much, going by reports)

This is an addendum to would you make Keegan available, given that Sasha is likely (?) ready to come over here and better what Keegan has been showing in the near term at least and will be added to the roster this summer IMO. But I've been non plussed with Murray's toughness and non 3pt shooting game, relatively

Ofcourse neither may be a compliment to Sabonis defensively (haven't watched Vezenkov)

Sounds like Murray is mainly a 3PT shooter(haven't watched him much) in which case Vezenkov is more versatile as one of his strengths is cutting to the basket. Probably not the greatest fit defensively with Sabonis as both are not great athletes. Sasha has improved on D though, uses his high BB IQ and moves his feet well, doesn't commit stupid fouls. Still defense is certainly a concern with more space and better athletes on an NBA floor.

Murray has tremendous BBIQ. As the season progressed he started doing more, like cutting to the basket for sabonis, driving to the rim, offensive rebound put backs, even a few coast to coasts. His defense also looked to improve as the year went on.

Some kings fans over judging his playoff performance. Rookies usually don't get a ton of minutes, mixed in with GS consistently playing 3 guards, and sacramento needing to run mitchell at curry, it's not a huge surprise his minutes are limited. If we are running 3 of Mitchell, Fox, Huerter, Monk basically the entire 2nd half with sabonis. That leaves one spot for lyles, Barnes, murray. One of those guys lacks the experience of the other 2.

Not seeing Sasha as any reasonable replacement to Murray. Hell we have zero clue how his game will translate and he will already be 28 coming in next year. History of those guys not panning out and heading back overseas to continue being a star. He may end up being a Lyles replacement if we can't afford him. My guess is he's not guaranteed any minutes until he gets here and shows what he's made of.

[sunsbg]

I think he will have a role. I was never on the Giles hype train they tried to feed several years back but what Sasha is doing in Europe will translate into a solid stint in the nba, probably (haven't watched him too much, going by reports)

This is an addendum to would you make Keegan available, given that Sasha is likely (?) ready to come over here and better what Keegan has been showing in the near term at least and will be added to the roster this summer IMO. But I've been non plussed with Murray's toughness and non 3pt shooting game, relatively

Ofcourse neither may be a compliment to Sabonis defensively (haven't watched Vezenkov)

Sounds like Murray is mainly a 3PT shooter(haven't watched him much) in which case Vezenkov is more versatile as one of his strengths is cutting to the basket. Probably not the greatest fit defensively with Sabonis as both are not great athletes. Sasha has improved on D though, uses his high BB IQ and moves his feet well, doesn't commit stupid fouls. Still defense is certainly a concern with more space and better athletes on an NBA floor.

Murray has tremendous BBIQ. As the season progressed he started doing more, like cutting to the basket for sabonis, driving to the rim, offensive rebound put backs, even a few coast to coasts. His defense also looked to improve as the year went on.

Some kings fans over judging his playoff performance. Rookies usually don't get a ton of minutes, mixed in with GS consistently playing 3 guards, and sacramento needing to run mitchell at curry, it's not a huge surprise his minutes are limited. If we are running 3 of Mitchell, Fox, Huerter, Monk basically the entire 2nd half with sabonis. That leaves one spot for lyles, Barnes, murray. One of those guys lacks the experience of the other 2.

Not seeing Sasha as any reasonable replacement to Murray. Hell we have zero clue how his game will translate and he will already be 28 coming in next year. History of those guys not panning out and heading back overseas to continue being a star. He may end up being a Lyles replacement if we can't afford him. My guess is he's not guaranteed any minutes until he gets here and shows what he's made of.

Fair enough, though I feel he's fine being a big fish in small pond. There were news about Kings FO having real interest and traveled to watch him live. EL playoffs start next week and there is a good chance his team reaches the final. If he wins a title and has a good showing I doubt he will want to join without any role guarantees. If Kings are not interested maybe trade his rights to another team for another asset.

In any case, wish you luck for the rest of the playoffs unless we meet in WCF.

[City of Trees]

Interesting to read the different crowds between reddit, realgm, Twitter.

Warriors fans on reddit believe it was the right decision and in most part are blaming Green for being an idiot.

Warriors fans on Twitter are straight up delusional thinking the league is rigged against them and that the suspension is 100% illegitimate.

RealGM seems to be split.

Either way, think he deserved more but surprised league even gave him a game. Kings been playing down when opponents missing key guys. Need to go out on Thursday and secure the series. 3-0 is a death blow.

yep on Dubnation twitter

[City of Trees]

It is funny that leading up talk was even with Sac's high scoring offense they would struggle against Golden State because the playoffs slow down and get physical. Fast forward to today now talk has changed to the Kings are too physical it's not fair.

[codydaze]

It is funny that leading up talk was even with Sac's high scoring offense they would struggle against Golden State because the playoffs slow down and get physical. Fast forward to today now talk has changed to the Kings are too physical it's not fair.

Or how Sabonis is all of a sudden a dirty player for grabbing Draymond's leg when he was standing still even though he's never been labeled as dirty his whole career. However Draymond, who has a laundry list of dirty plays, was justified in stomping out Sabo's chest.

[Lost in LA]

Luckily, the NBA disciplinary Committee saw it for what it was

[OxAndFox]

Interesting to read the different crowds between reddit, realgm, Twitter.

Warriors fans on reddit believe it was the right decision and in most part are blaming Green for being an idiot.

Warriors fans on Twitter are straight up delusional thinking the league is rigged against them and that the suspension is 100% illegitimate.

RealGM seems to be split.

Either way, think he deserved more but surprised league even gave him a game. Kings been playing down when opponents missing key guys. Need to go out on Thursday and secure the series. 3-0 is a death blow.

I wouldn't want him to be suspended. But the NBA should have put a 2-game suspended sentence in front of him along with a decent fine and issued a statement about player/fan interaction. Any more of the shenanigans and it's a two-game holiday. Then we would see if Kerr just stands there and allows him to act as he did.

[LightTheBeam]

Sounds like Murray is mainly a 3PT shooter(haven't watched him much) in which case Vezenkov is more versatile as one of his strengths is cutting to the basket. Probably not the greatest fit defensively with Sabonis as both are not great athletes. Sasha has improved on D though, uses his high BB IQ and moves his feet well, doesn't commit stupid fouls. Still defense is certainly a concern with more space and better athletes on an NBA floor.

Murray has tremendous BBIQ. As the season progressed he started doing more, like cutting to the basket for sabonis, driving to the rim, offensive rebound put backs, even a few coast to coasts. His defense also looked to improve as the year went on.

Some kings fans over judging his playoff performance. Rookies usually don't get a ton of minutes, mixed in with GS consistently playing 3 guards, and sacramento needing to run mitchell at curry, it's not a huge surprise his minutes are limited. If we are running 3 of Mitchell, Fox, Huerter, Monk basically the entire 2nd half with sabonis. That leaves one spot for lyles, Barnes, murray. One of those guys lacks the experience of the other 2.

Not seeing Sasha as any reasonable replacement to Murray. Hell we have zero clue how his game will translate and he will already be 28 coming in next year. History of those guys not panning out and heading back overseas to continue being a star. He may end up being a Lyles replacement if we can't afford him. My guess is he's not guaranteed any minutes until he gets here and shows what he's made of.

Fair enough, though I feel he's fine being a big fish in small pond. There were news about Kings FO having real interest and traveled to watch him live. EL playoffs start next week and there is a good chance his team reaches the final. If he wins a title and has a good showing I doubt he will want to join without any role guarantees. If Kings are not interested maybe trade his rights to another team for another asset.

In any case, wish you luck for the rest of the playoffs unless we meet in WCF.

There's a possibility that Sac can't afford to bring back Lyles. If that happens I think Sasha is given that role immediately.

Personally I like Lyles and what he's brought to the team. Wouldn't want to swap him out if I didn't have to.

Good luck to you guys as well!

[KF10]

I think the 1-game suspension is fair.

To me, Draymond antics with the fans after his stomp on Sabonis pushed the decision in suspending him. Adam Silver was there. He did not looked pleased with all of that while that was happening. It would have been a bad look for the NBA if they let Draymond play in game 3 imo.

[KF10]

I hope Keegan goes off in one of these games. Other than some high BBIQ actions, dude has been virtually a non-factor so far. I don’t think he has hit a shot yet.

[LightTheBeam]

Interesting to read the different crowds between reddit, realgm, Twitter.

Warriors fans on reddit believe it was the right decision and in most part are blaming Green for being an idiot.

Warriors fans on Twitter are straight up delusional thinking the league is rigged against them and that the suspension is 100% illegitimate.

RealGM seems to be split.

Either way, think he deserved more but surprised league even gave him a game. Kings been playing down when opponents missing key guys. Need to go out on Thursday and secure the series. 3-0 is a death blow.

I wouldn't want him to be suspended. But the NBA should have put a 2-game suspended sentence in front of him along with a decent fine and issued a statement about player/fan interaction. Any more of the shenanigans and it's a two-game holiday. Then we would see if Kerr just stands there and allows him to act as he did.

Kerr is the biggest schmuck in the NBA. Cannot stand that guy, absolutely terrible.

Guy says last year that Dillon Brooks broke the code. But he ignores Draymonds long history of being a dirty player and even punching a teammate in the face. When asked what he thought of the play "I didn't see it". Give me a break!!!

[City of Trees]

The Sabonis character assault by GSW is embarrassing. I know their game plan coming into the series was to neutralize the Kings offensive hub but this is taking it too far. I'm glad Looney stood up to the bay media to say Sabonis' play is normal bigman stuff.

[BoogieTime]

The Sabonis character assault by GSW is embarrassing. I know their game plan coming into the series was to neutralize the Kings offensive hub but this is taking it too far. I'm glad Looney stood up to the bay media to say Sabonis' play is normal bigman stuff.

I mean, if its intentional I don't see it as a character assault but rather smart gamesmanship. Getting Dray kicked out a nip and tuck second game and a possibly pivotal third game. Its kind of odd to that Sabonis was in the position of "holding" his leg. If there was anything behind the scenes of Brown or other ex Warriors coaches knowing Dray's personality/reaction to such antics, I'd say we have some extra intelligence on the bench

Dont know if it was intentional though

[BoogieTime]

Impartially I think the play was odd. From Sabonis falling down in a dramatic manner not befitting the play IMO. How he couldn't see he was wrapping his arms up around Dray's legs. How he reacted after the stomp and the scan after the game which IMO weren't befitting how hard the stomp was, and almost as if it were being "sold". If I had to guess, there would be above 50% that there were antics there from Sabonis but its hard to conclusively say. But that's part of the game in all sports. Mental cases like Dray are targeted for that reason, just as Sabonis thumb was probably targeted after he suffered the injury

[Sacramento_King]

The Sabonis slander reminds me of the old Lakers Kings matchups. Phil Jackson complaining the Kings are flopping and it is putting Shaq in foul trouble. Refs call the game differently and then Adelman countering with Shaq is dislodging players illegally and those are fouls and refs adjusting.
Gotta love playoff basketball!

[OxAndFox]

The Sabonis character assault by GSW is embarrassing. I know their game plan coming into the series was to neutralize the Kings offensive hub but this is taking it too far. I'm glad Looney stood up to the bay media to say Sabonis' play is normal bigman stuff.

I mean, if its intentional I don't see it as a character assault but rather smart gamesmanship. Getting Dray kicked out a nip and tuck second game and a possibly pivotal third game. Its kind of odd to that Sabonis was in the position of "holding" his leg. If there was anything behind the scenes of Brown or other ex Warriors coaches knowing Dray's personality/reaction to such antics, I'd say we have some extra intelligence on the bench

Dont know if it was intentional though

There's a difference between gamesmanship and calling a player dirty. You don't color a player with that term lightly. It's bush league from the Warriors organization and players.

In terms of the play itself, Boogie, get one of your friends to stand lightly on your chest and then get them to launch off you. See how you go. To me it's disgusting how hard people have gone at Sabonis, with NO benefit of the doubt. When has he done anything dirty? He doesn't have a reputation, and yet he is being crucified, all because the Warriors want to deflect from what Dray did.

[BoogieTime]

The Sabonis character assault by GSW is embarrassing. I know their game plan coming into the series was to neutralize the Kings offensive hub but this is taking it too far. I'm glad Looney stood up to the bay media to say Sabonis' play is normal bigman stuff.

I mean, if its intentional I don't see it as a character assault but rather smart gamesmanship. Getting Dray kicked out a nip and tuck second game and a possibly pivotal third game. Its kind of odd to that Sabonis was in the position of "holding" his leg. If there was anything behind the scenes of Brown or other ex Warriors coaches knowing Dray's personality/reaction to such antics, I'd say we have some extra intelligence on the bench

Dont know if it was intentional though

There's a difference between gamesmanship and calling a player dirty. You don't color a player with that term lightly. It's bush league from the Warriors organization and players.

In terms of the play itself, Boogie, get one of your friends to stand lightly on your chest and then get them to launch off you. See how you go. To me it's disgusting how hard people have gone at Sabonis, with NO benefit of the doubt. When has he done anything dirty? He doesn't have a reputation, and yet he is being crucified, all because the Warriors want to deflect from what Dray did.

Uhh, you don't know how much of his pressure was on his left leg (while Sabonis seems instantaneously reacting to it). There is a reason why Sabonis got a technical. Whether someone is "dirty" or not, gamesmanship like that happens in pro sports. And its quite hometown to just state Sabonis had no intentions on the play and dig your head in the sand without considering anything else.