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Good game by Richaun Holmes in Kings loss to Blazers

 

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The Kings fell to the Trail Blazers 127-116 in Portland yesterday, but a bright spot for Sacramento was the play of big-man Richaun Holmes.

Here’s the Sacramento Bee:

The Kings (8-12) were playing without guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, who joined point guard De’Aaron Fox and forward Marvin Bagley III on the injured list. Bogdanovic was held out with a right knee contusion, but his left hamstring injury was improving, the team said. He is listed as day-to-day.

C.J. McCollum scored 33 points, Hassan Whiteside turned in a monster performance and Carmelo Anthony had another big game for the Blazers (9-13). Damian Lillard had 24 points and 10 assists. Whiteside put up 22 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots. Anthony finished with 20 points.

Richaun Holmes had a career-high 28 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings, who have lost 12 in a row in Portland since posting their last win there on Dec. 8, 2012. Buddy Hield scored 23 points. Nemanja Bjelica had 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Holmes shot 11 of 14 as the starting center in this game.

The Kings are now 8-12 for the season. They’ve only had Marvin Bagley in action for one game, and De’Aaron Fox for nine. Neither player is ready to return just yet.

Update on 2016 Iman Shumpert legal situation

The Sacramento Bee has an update on Iman Shumpert’s legal situation stemming back to 2016:

The Sacramento Kings’ Iman Shumpert will get probation but no jail time for his 2016 arrest in Georgia. The charges were DUI due to drugs, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, and failure to maintain a lane, the Fayette County Superior Court said.

The point guard entered a plea of no contest to all the misdemeanor charges, court records show.

Shumpert is having a decent season after being fairly quiet in 2017-18 with the Cavs.

Kings having most successful season in a long time

Look. Different teams have different expectations. One example are the Spurs, who made the playoffs every season for many years. Then, for another example, let’s look at the Kings, who aren’t in the playoffs very often. And it’ll be tough this year as well, but they’re in the competition. They’re winning more than losing. Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting:

The Kings (18-15) will have a .500 record on Christmas Day for the first time since the 2004-05 season. They will visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday and play host to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday before returning to Los Angeles to face the Lakers again Sunday.

Sacramento moved into seventh place in the Western Conference, one game behind the Lakers, Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers, who were tied for fourth.

“We’re in the race,” Willie Cauley-Stein said.

It’s true and it’s remarkable, considering this is a young team — thought to be in the early stages of another rebuild 12 years after its last playoff appearance — that was projected to win fewer than 30 games.

The Kings are being led this season by Buddy Hield (20.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg), De’Aaron Fox (18.1 ppg, 7.5 apg), Bogdan Bogdanovic (15.1 ppg, 3.9 apg) and Willie Cauley-Stein (13.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg).

Full article

Kings exercise options on Buddy Hield, Justin Jackson, De`Aaron Fox, Harry Giles and Skal Labissiere

The Sacramento Kings exercised team options on Buddy Hield, Justin Jackson, De’Aaron Fox, Harry Giles and Skal Labissiere today.

In his second season out of Kentucky, Fox is averaging a team-leading 17.6 points and 6.6 assists to accompany 4.8 rebounds and 1.42 steals through five regular season contests. As a rookie in 2017-18, he posted 11.6 points, 4.4 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.10 steals in 73 games (61 starts).

Giles has appeared in five games as a rookie this season, posting 3.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 13.2 minutes per contest. The Duke product was originally selected 20th overall by Sacramento in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Acquired by Sacramento in February of 2017, Hield has averaged 14.0 points (.457 FG%, .432 3pt%, .852 FT%), 4.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.96 steals in 110 games with the Kings. The former Naismith Collegiate Player of the Year and sixth pick in the 2016 NBA Draft earned First Team All-Rookie honors after posting 16.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 82 games in 2016-17.

Jackson has posted 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.87 steals per game to start his second NBA campaign after being selected 15th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. The former ACC Player of the Year appeared in 68 contests as a rookie last season, making 41 starts.

Currently in his third NBA season out of Kentucky, Labissiere has accrued averages of 8.5 points (.466 FG%, .355 3pt%, .766 FT%), 4.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 96 games (41 starts).

Iman Shumpert scores 26, Kings beat Thunder

Many of you forgot about Iman Shumpert. Like, sure, you remember that he exists as a person and that he plays basketball. But how recent are your memories of him on the court? And did you know what team he’s on right now? Some of you did. Most did not.

Well. He’s on the Kings. And scored a team-high 26 points last night, in a win against the Thunder who did have Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Steven Adams playing, so yes they actually really were the Thunder. Shumpert shot 9-of-13, including 4-of-7 threes, for 26 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Nice line.

Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting:

Shumpert scored a team-high 26 points in leading the Kings to a 131-120 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to spoil the home opener at Chesapeake Energy Arena and the first game this season for All-Star guard Russell Westbrook.

At 6-foot-5, one of Shumpert’s roles was to defend the Thunder’s Paul George, a five-time All-Star who stands four inches taller, but instead showed out on offense early. He made his first three 3-point shots and in nine first-quarter minutes led all scorers with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Shumpert’s scoring “gave us some confidence,” coach Dave Joerger said. “Also, to be able to stay in front of Paul George is a tough task. … It was a big key for the game.”

De’Aaron Fox said Shumpert has been excited to play. The second-year guard was happy to have a veteran who brings it on both sides of the floor.

“He’s been around the block, he’s won a championship,” Fox said. “He knows what he’s doing when he’s out there. He’s one of our vocal leaders.”

Fox finished with 22 points and 10 assists while playing a season-high 42 minutes.

Kings sign Troy Williams to two-way contract

The Sacramento Kings have signed forward Troy Williams to a two-way contract.

In two NBA seasons, Williams has accrued averages of 6.2 points (.449 FG%, .290 3pt%, .661 FT%), 2.6 rebounds, .8 assists and 16.9 minutes per game in 51 played games with three teams; Memphis (2016-17), Houston (2016-18), and New York (2017-18).

An undrafted product out of the University of Indiana, Williams has appeared in 52 games and 32 starts in two seasons in the NBA G League and has averaged 16.7 points (.462 FG%, .332 3pt%, .742 FT%), 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 25.0 minutes per game for Iowa (2016-17) and Rio Grande Valley (2016-18). In 19 games during the 2017-18 season with Rio Grande, Williams accrued career-highs in points (19.8), field goal percentage (.462), three-point percentage (.333), rebounds (6.1), assists (2.2), steals (1.9), and minutes (29.0).

Kings scoring big, but so are opponents

In Kings Game 1 this season the team lost 123-117 to the Jazz. Willie Cauley-Stein led the team with 23 points, De’Aaron Fox scored 21, Buddy Hield 19 and Nemanja Bjelica 18. In Kings Game 2 this season, the squad lost 149-129 to the Pelicans. Cauley-Stein scored 20, Marvin Bagley had 19 off the bench, Fox scored 18, and Frank Mason off the bench had 18 as well. Here’s the Sacramento Bee with more:

The Kings’ plan to play at a high pace is showing on the scoreboard in the early going.

Sacramento is averaging 123 points and has shot better than 50 percent in both regular-season games. However, their opponents are also scoring at a high level while shooting with accuracy…

Kings guard De’Aaron Fox said the team’s offense isn’t an issue and the high number of points being scored against them is a result of faster play, which has also led to a lot of fouls. Sacramento was whistled 26 times Friday, just one more than New Orleans.

“With pushing the pace, that means both teams are going to get more possessions,” Fox said. “Right now, we are getting a lot of fouls and putting the team on the free-throw line a lot. That’s definitely affecting our defense.”

The speed of the game also suits what the Pelicans want to do, coach Alvin Gentry said.

“I think we’ve got to lock in a little more defensively, but I want us to play at that pace,” he said. “More so than anything, I think we did a good job of finding the hot hand. When (Nikola Mirotic) got going, we ran a lot of good stuff with him.”

Kings waive Kalin Lucas and Cameron Reynolds

The Sacramento Kings have waived guards Kalin Lucas and Cameron Reynolds.

Reynolds appeared in four preseason contests for Sacramento, totaling 11 points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal in 36 minutes. The Tulane product also spent the 2018 California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues as a member of the Kings roster.

Lucas posted 3.0 points and 2.5 assists in 9.0 minutes per contest in four exhibition games with the Kings.

The Kings roster now stands at 16, including one two-way player.