After Wednesday night’ embarrassment, it is apparent that changes need to be made before the start of next season and hopefully, before the draft.
Vlade lost the support of the fan base long ago and it’s amazing that he has yet to lose support from owner Vivek Ranadive. Passing on Doncic, firing Joerger and hiring Walton, and giving Barnes an oversized contract are just a few of the blunders the general manager has made in the past two seasons.
It’s time for him to go. He is running this franchise further into the ground, something most thought wasn’t possible. His exit needs to be made before the draft so that he can’t mess up another pick for the organization.
For the coaching, I’m not sure what to think of Luke Walton anymore. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt for the season thus far, but after Wednesday’s abomination, it’s hard to make excuses for the coach.
Granted, injuries have barred the Kings for the majority of the season, but even with Fox and Bagley back the team has still struggled.
Walton has turned an up-tempo team into a half court team and we have seen the negative effects this has had.
Fans can also sniff a bit of a double standard in their coach. Walton put his foot down quickly when Dedmon struggled, yet he has not told Buddy to stop jacking up poor looking shots.
I do blame Buddy for his poor performance this season, but at the same time Walton needs to intervene and tell him to stop shooting the ball so much.
I am not sure how Walton is in the locker room, but I can imagine with all this losing, it isn’t filled with cheer.
I can’t imagine the Kings will fire the coach after one season, but after looking at the list of coaches the Kings have had since their last playoff run, crazier things have happened.
Player wise, the franchise is in a tough spot. The pessimistic approach is to get rid of everyone expect Fox and Holmes, but that isn’t realistic and it washes away what this team showed they were capable of from last season.
I know Buddy has been far from the player we saw last year, but I know that the sharpshooting two guard is still alive somewhere deep in the Bahamian.
His defense needs to step up big time as well. Most players easily get around Buddy for an easy layup and he has proven to be a liability on the defensive end.
I still have faith in Buddy Buckets, but if things don’t turn around by next season, it may be time to move him if possible.
Same thing goes for Marvin Bagley. The big man has talent, regardless if it will ever match up to Luka’s. But if he continues riding injury train next season, then the Kings can only wait around for so long for him to stay healthy.
Bogi is the other piece to what was once a young, promising core. He has proven to be better than Buddy this year, although I don’t think he has more upside, but his stint in Sacramento could be coming to an end.
The Kings have said they want to keep him this summer, but it will likely come at a hefty price for a sixth man. On top of that, Bogi has expressed in the past that he doesn’t always want to come off the bench, and this could effect his decision to stay in Sacramento in the future.
For the rest of the players, excluding Holmes and Fox, get rid of who you can for draft picks or more young talent.
The team is built to win around the five players mentioned above and everyone else is expendable.
Just when fans thought Sacramento would take the next step towards making the playoffs, they head in the opposite direction of possibly another start to the world’s longest rebuild.
There is still hope for the core members of this team as they possess the ability to push this team to the next level, but for that to happen, changes need to be made in Sacramento.
