New Kings general manager Monte McNair will be bringing an impressive resume to Sacramento, per Kyle Ramos of Kings.com. McNair served in various capacities with the Rockets for over a decade, mostly recently as vice president of basketball operations under general manager Daryl Morey.
McNair puts a special emphasis on using analytics in his player assessments, thanks in large part to his tenure with Houston. Ramos cites McNair’s discussion of this very topic at various MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conferences. “Organizationally, it helps to have that philosophy where it’s like ‘Hey, we’re going to try stuff until it works’ and you can look across other sports to see what they’ve done to innovate,” McNair said at the 2020 Sloan Conference.
There’s more out of the NBA’s Pacific Division:
- Energetic Memphis big man Precious Achiuwa could be a great fit for the Kings with the No. 12 pick in this year’s NBA draft, writes James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area.
- Andrew Greif of the LA Times examines what went wrong for the Clippers‘ ignominious early playoff exit. An executive who spoke with Greif opined that Los Angeles will remain vulnerable without a play-making point guard. “Running it back is great, but the Clippers are beatable,” the executive told Greif. “They need a point guard. They’ve got to get one. They need better chemistry. They’ve got to do a better job scheming and adjusting.”
- Suns rookie forward Cameron Johnson, the No. 11 pick in the 2019 draft, detailed his experiences on the NBA’s restart campus with Gina Mizell of Valley Tales. He also reflected on what it means to ascend to the next level of basketball talent. “When you get [to the NBA], now everybody kind of has to play their role, but we still all push to get better in every category,” Johnson said. “For me, it’s a lot of ballhandling, shooting off the dribble, understanding defenses from an offensive perspective and how to attack them.”
Clippers need Dragic
At 35 Dragic is better and more mature than Chris Paul
Kings need to trade for Harden, otherwise they will not make playoffs next 5 years
For now Dragic is the best player in the East
Very good skillset and unstoppable
I’m not sure dragic is the right man for the job. He’s more of a combo guard who can do it all. He’s the perfect third guard Off the Bench who can run the point in a pinch but can score the ball as well. Is he really a drive and kick and playmaking guard at this age?
And I’m sure the Rockets are just going to give away Harden to the Kings for a fraction of his actual value like OKC did, right?
Kings can offer Hield Fox Parker and picks for Harden
Uh, why would the Kings do that? What would SAC be left w/? Barnes, Bagley & Giles? It’s not like adding Harden would make them contenders… SAC needs to try to dump Barnes’ salary, keep their picks, & build w/ youth.
Plus, how does that trade make any sense for HOU? Parker is a bust. Hield & Fox are solid players, but HOU is stuck w/ Westbrook’s untradeable contract, so what’s HOU going to do, run a 3 guard offense w/ Buddy, Russ, & Fox?
Rockets can find a 3-way trade that sends Russ to 3rd team and get Horford as well as 3 young players
Westbrook’s contract is basically untradeable, unless HOU is taking on something just as bad…
Why on earth would HOU take SAC’s dross & scrubs for Harden? Makes no sense, dude!
Kings are in a good spot with Hield and Barnes as potential trade pieces that could bring back some decent assets. Barnes is a target for a more veteran team looking for a 3rd option. Hield is more of a wild card and could be an option for a team looking for a younger 3rd or 4th option.
Lately, I’m wondering if a trade with Detroit with Hield, Bagley, Holmes going to Detroit for Griffin, Kennard and possibly a protected 1st or a couple of 2nd rd picks works for both sides.
Sacramento has been impatient in the past with letting younger teams develop, so adding a known player in Griffin may intrigue them. For Detroit, they are so devoid of talent that moving Griffin for young talent is a must.