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Welcome in to your morning cup of Kings. With the All-Star break still in full force, Mark Jones, Kings television voice and long time ESPN play-by-play announcer joined Locked On Kings to discuss the current state of the Kings.
Here are some of the transcribed highlights from the 30 minute conversation:
🏀 Jones on the state of the Kings: Yeah, I mean, there's been a bunch of circumstances, a confluence of circumstances that created this maelstrom that have resulted in 12 wins. And the guys still go out and play hard. I see it, I see it. I see it in formulation and practices and walkthrough, and it's just not happening on the court because, you know, like that Jazz game before the All-Star break I'm looking out on the floor and I'm like, I know these 5 guys have never played together in an NBA game. I mean, you had Devin Carter, you had [Dylan] Cardwell, you had [DeMar] DeRozan, and you know, [Drew] Eubanks. I mean, it's been that kind of real funky year. And I think the guys have reconciled, and the coaching staff, in their mind that — let's just have segments where the young guys can develop and show improvement from game to game, from possession to possession. And the season is being graded on how Max [Raynaud], how Nique [Clifford], how Dylan [Cardwell], Keegan [Murray], when he gets back, [Devin] Carter, when he's in there, how they improve.
🏀 Jones on Tanking: Yeah, I hate to be an alarmist, but I think we do have a problem. I was a little bit stuck in denial, but when you have teams sitting your best players in the fourth quarter of winnable games, if I'm a fan of that team in the arena or at home watching, I'm incensed because that's not what this is supposed to be all about, you know. Herm Edwards says, “you play to win the game,” and that hasn't been the case for some teams this year at some points. I don't know how you fix it. I really don't, because there's always going to be a team or a way to figure out how to game the system. And I just think that they're gonna have to look at it, the competition committee, and figure out a way to disincentivize losing. But I mean, I'm old enough to remember when it was just, hey, the team with the worst record, second worst, third worst with no weighted percentages and no caveats and no, you know, top 4 and the person who's the worst record can draft no worse than, 4th or 5th. I mean, like, there was none of that. I remember when it was just the worst record. So it's still evolving and, you know, I've heard different solutions about trying to make a determination at midseason as to where teams will draft based to where you— what your record is at midseason, so that that disincentivizes tanking to the finish line. But I haven't thought it through yet to the point where there's probably a way to, cheat code that too.
🏀 Jones on AJ Dybantsa: Yeah, great kid. I mean, has all of the variables to be an NBA All-Star and a franchise-altering type of player. I mean, 6'9", wingspan is 7-foot-plus. I mean, and I think the part that in my visit with him that really I enjoyed was a 5,000-watt smile, you know. And, and vibes are something that, you know, you can watch a guy work out and evaluate his ball handling, shooting, how he runs ball screen offense. Can he make the skip pass to the corner? Can he read the low man? All that stuff. But, when you sit down with a prospect and evaluate, the fabric of his character, man, he's got it. He's got it. And his dad Ace, had a chance to speak with him too. And just a great story of a loving, doting, supportive dad who's been at his son's side the entire way. I watched AJ play. I told him this. I watched him play in the FIBA 19 and Under Championship a couple summers ago when he won the Most Outstanding Player Award, and he was dominant. I mean, he was dominant against, you know, the international stars from France and Serbia. There was nobody close in terms of talent to him. So, he's got it all, man. And, and I told him he'd like Sacramento, straight up. I told him he'd like Sacramento because of the wonderful fans that we have with the Kings. I told him there's, there's not a more passionate fan base that he's going to be embraced by than the people at Golden 1 Center.
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