The Kings decided to tweak the roster rather than make major changes this offseason after finally reaching the postseason in the spring. They acquired Chris Duarte in a trade and re-signed Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles. They also signed EuroLeague star Sasha Vezenkov.
Kings coach Mike Brown is excited to have his core group back and is eager to see how they respond to the newfound respect they’ve gained after snapping the franchise’s long playoff drought.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we can handle the pressure,” the Kings coach said. “It’s flipped now. We’re no longer hunting people; people are hunting us. And there are expectations, so how do we handle that? I believe our guys are ready for it, and with the fans that we have here and the juice they brought last year – let’s go. Let’s get it. I’m excited for Sasha, I’m excited for Chris Duarte, I’m excited about our young guys. It’s good to have the new guys, but I’m more excited about having our guys to be able to run it back and give them the opportunity to grow as a nucleus than anything else.”
We have more from the Western Conference:
- The Grizzlies allowed Dillon Brooks in free agency and traded Tyus Jones. So what have they lost? Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal explores that topic. The Grizzlies have become known for their flashy style and trash talking and Brooks was a major reason for that. Jones was a locker room leader and led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio in each of his four seasons with the club.
- Trail Blazers fans want the Damian Lillard saga to be resolved soon. In a poll conducted by Jason Quick of The Athletic, 80.4% want the front office to take the best offer for their longtime All-Star and prioritize the team ahead of Lillard. However, the high-scoring guard was voted as the franchise’s greatest player (51.9%), ahead of Clyde Drexler and Bill Walton.
- Anthony Edwards (United States), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Rudy Gobert (France), Kyle Anderson (China), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Canada) and draft-and-stash prospect Matteo Spagnolo (Italy) are participating in the World Cup, while Luka Garza played for Bosnia and Herzegovina in a pre-qualifying Olympic tournament. That should give those Timberwolves players a head start to the NBA season, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Alexander-Walker agrees with the notion. “I want to use it to propel me for the season,” he said.
Clyde has the honor of greatest Blazer regardless of what some 20 year old fans say.
There is no saga with Lillard, other than getting shafted for value.
I doubt any Portland fan will look back in 5 years, and say “boy I’m glad we took a terrible offer for Lillard, so that drama would stop”.
I honestly don’t care about the drama, and would rather see Lillard stay, and be unhappy than trade him for chump change.
Lots of us stay in Bad jobs until we can find a new one. This is not a big deal for normal people, so my compassion for Lillards’ wants, and desires is limited.
As a Heat fan, I agree, and will continue to say they should keep him
Their number 1 priority should be finding a way to move Simons, as it was heading into the offseason
Also, its definitely Clyde. I dont think people realize how great he was b/c he played in an era where the best player played his position…Walton probably has a bigger argument if he stays healthy 1 of the years after the championship, even without longevity, b/c of the championship
I suppose it’s all in how you measure it. I’d pick Leroy Ellis, Shaler (the bus-man) Halimon, Stan McKenzie, Jim Barnett, Geoff Petrie, Rick Adelman, Ronnie Knight, Dale Schlueter, etc., etc. simply because I still have the ticket stub from attending 10-16-70.
I’m guessing it was a poll that only kids can get access to…