00:00The Lakers after their second back-to-back of this season, day off yesterday, back in action
00:05against a Kings team that is 1-6. They picked up their first victory of this year on Monday
00:12on the road against the Dallas Mavericks. So Fish, as we get ready to break down this game
00:17between the Lakers and the Kings, what should we know about this version of Sacramento?
00:24I mean, there's a couple familiar names, but I mean, they're basically kind of back in a
00:29position where they're starting over. After Mike Brown's departure, I think there's kind
00:38of been a loss of identity with the team, and so they're kind of searching again. Doug Christie's
00:47in a really tough spot. He's the head coach there. It's tough to be the coach of a team
00:54that is knowingly resetting or rebuilding or denying the fact that they are actually resetting
01:04or rebuilding. Tough.
01:05Either situation is tough. And so, you know, they're still pro basketball players. Like,
01:13you still have to show up and play the game and be professional. That's one thing I will
01:17give this Lakers team a lot of credit for. I think over the last couple of years, there's
01:22very few nights where they are going to disrespect the game or their coaching staff by not bringing
01:29their hard hats. Maybe they don't perform well, but he is not going to let them get away with
01:36just going through the motions and being unprofessional about their approach. So my guess tonight is,
01:42you know, they might hang 150 points on the Kings. Like, it'll be that much of an intent
01:50to, like, still build on the early season success. That's my guess.
01:55Hmm. When you see a team like the Kings, like, you as a former head coach and you've been in
02:02the
02:02front office, you know, obviously a player for all those years, you see a team that, like, seemingly
02:06is like a rudderless ship right now. Pardon the expression, because obviously they're trying to win.
02:11They're trying to grow. They're trying to build. But seeing where this is, an organization that
02:15seemingly hasn't had much of an identity over maybe, like, the last 15, 20 years,
02:20except for that, like, two-year span, that light-the-beam years that were kind of excited
02:25in 2021, 2022. Like, how do you rebuild something that just, frankly, has almost, like, never existed,
02:33especially when you've got the Warriors not far away and not to mention the Lakers down the
02:37five freeway? It's just, it seems like an insurmountable hill that they can even create
02:41a fandom. I have friends from Sacramento. They're all Golden State Warriors fans just because they've
02:47had no reason to believe in the Kings. Yeah, it's a good question. I think, I mean, not being in
02:53the
02:53building there, you know, it's hard to completely put a finger on it, but it really comes, you know,
03:00down to the people and not just, you know, the players on the court or, you know, specifically
03:07who the head coach is. I mean, just from top to bottom, you know, an organizational alignment,
03:15you know, I think an ownership group that is invested in the team and wants the team to be
03:22successful, but is also really invested in, like, doing whatever it takes to hire great people and
03:30then allowing them to do their jobs at a really high level and establish that vision that you have
03:36for your team as an owner. And so, I feel like the Kings have, you know, just struggled for a
03:43really
03:43long time to kind of create that alignment where ownership, front office, you know, head coach,
03:52staff, like every single person in the organization feels bought in and tied and connected to one
04:00common shared purpose and vision. And so, you know, and when you've lost as much as they have
04:09over the years, year in and year out, that sometimes kind of seeps into the fabric of
04:15everything. And, you know, I think they've tried to bridge, and I thought Mike Brown did a phenomenal
04:23job helping them bridge what could have been more reset, rebuilding type years. But now, I think
04:32they're, like, fully in it. For sure. You know, where, like, you have to start over all the way from
04:37the bottom. And, you know, maybe you win 15 games all year, but you have to start, you know, building
04:46draft assets, draft capital, developing young players. But then, and maybe Doug Christie is that
04:52guy. You also have to hire a coach that can build and grow with this process. Because the Kings have
04:59also changed coaches multiple times in recent years. So then, when you're trying to build culture
05:05and standards and expectations, but you keep changing the voice that's responsible for delivering
05:10those messages and maintaining those standards, you know, it becomes difficult for the players to
05:16really understand what it is they're supposed to be buying into. And to your point, some familiar faces
05:20and names on this team. Zach Levine is still there. He had 23 in the Kings' first one of the
05:26year in
05:26Dallas on Monday made five threes. DeMontis Sabonis is still there doing DeMontis Sabonis things. He is
05:33averaging 15 points per game, 14.6 rebounds per game. That is best in the NBA and nearly seven
05:39assists per game as well. The new face is what they are trying to build around. It was the seventh
05:45overall pick this past June in the 2026 NBA draft. Darius Acuff Jr. And Fish, this guy basically has the
05:52highest usage rate already, even seven games into his rookie campaign for Sacramento. He is averaging
05:5826 points per game, top 10 in the NBA. He is shooting the basketball at a 40.6% clip.
06:04He has
06:05taken at least 20 field goal tries in all seven games so far this year for the Kings. He has
06:11scored
06:12at least 33 in three of the seven this season. The Kings also play fast. They have the fifth fastest
06:18tempo in all of the association, which I think would benefit a Laker team that we have seen
06:24start fast and continue scoring on a torrid pace on this Wednesday night in Sacramento.
06:30Yeah, Darius Acuff Jr. is, yeah, I mean, you're talking about talent off the charts. Young guard
06:37reminds you of a, like a, not as explosive as Russell Westbrook was as, as a young player,
06:43um, but, but skilled and talented and competitive in, in similar ways, really skilled offensively.
06:51And he's kind of like that rookie, the rookie quarterback you take with your number one draft
06:56pick. And then you just let him go. Yeah. You slang that thing and throw the ball 45 times and
07:02he's
07:02going to throw some interceptions and it's not going to look great, but you're, you're just basically
07:07trying to go ahead and, and just throw them into the deep end and let him figure a lot of
07:11stuff out
07:12on his own while he's out there. Um, and then hopefully over the next few years, you know,
07:20whether through the draft or through the right additional, you know, free, uh, veteran guys
07:25that can come in and maybe, you know, kind of show them the way on some things, but, um, he's
07:30a good,
07:31he's a good player. Uh, you know, the, the Kings, you have to play fast when you're a young team,
07:38cause you're just, you're not going to be able to run a lot of offense. That's going to be successful.
07:41Like they, they just, they don't have the offensive firepower to, you know, run sets and
07:46actions that are going to disguise things, you know, in terms of the defense, like it's going
07:51to all be pretty clear and obvious what they're trying to do, uh, based on the way their team
07:56is constructed. And so, yeah, they're going to have to play fast score and transition before
08:01the Lakers defense can get set. But these are, these are the types of games that like, when
08:06you know, you're going to win by 30 and you just, you don't bring the focus to start the
08:11game the right way. And so then you turn the ball over early and it's just kind of sloppy
08:17and yeah, you're up by 12 at the half, but you really should be up by 25 at the half.
08:22And so the Lakers just have to be real. This is a professional basketball game tonight where
08:26you just go up to Sacramento, like a surgeon, take them apart, put them back together, slide
08:32them out and keep it pushing. Do they still light the beam in Sacramento if they win at
08:36the Golden 1 Center? No, because they don't win. I don't think so. They have to win to
08:40light it, buddy. Not like the old days at Arco Arena, huh? Nah, there was no lighting the
08:44beam then either. I mean, at least when we were there. Those were good games. Good games
08:48between the Kings and the Lakers back in the day. We'll see if that will be the case tonight.
