Tag: Iman Shumpert

James Ham: These Kings Are a “Breath of Fresh Air”

December 3, 2018 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Coach Dave Joerger has led the Sacramento Kings to a promising start to the season, but not one without drama. (Jrcla2/Wikimedia Commons)

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The Sacramento Kings are off to a strong beginning after most expected them to finish at or near the conference’s cellar. And second-year point guard De’Aaron Fox’s seismic leap is a huge reason why. James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California stops by to break down the Kings’ sizzling start, the organization’s coach-executive drama and where the Kings go from here as they aim to get back into the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.

Here are some particularly regal clips (*Due to dynamic advertising, time stamps may vary per listener):

11:39-12:14: “He [De’Aaron Fox] is incredibly talented. The way that he’s able to change speed and change direction in traffic while people are all around him, his handles, everything else is just next level. The Kings saw it the second he stepped foot on the practice floor before training camp. He lost one game of pickup in like two or three weeks leading up to training camp. He was just dominant. And they were like, ‘Holy cow. This is a different player, a completely different player.’”

13:56 -16:16: “The team is really designed around De’Aaron Fox. Previous years with the Kings that I’ve covered, it was always designed around DeMarcus Cousins…I think they had the wrong ingredients last year, and then they come into this offseason, and, really, they made three moves, but it’s really their two moves that they made that have made a huge impact. And that is the drafting of Marvin Bagley…and then the second is Nemanja Bjelica.”

Justin Rowan: LeBron James Is “More Comfortable in His Own Skin”

March 11, 2017 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Between injuries to J.R. Smith and Kevin Love and having to incorporate many new pieces, LeBron James and the Cavaliers have had a bumpier road this season than we’re used to seeing (Keith Allison/Flickr).

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Most listeners are aware that LeBron James has consistently guided his teams to NBA Finals appearances (six straight, to be exact), yet this season’s Cavaliers continue to be tested by a number of key injuries that threaten to derail their hopes of repeating as champions. Issues stemming from these injuries have resulted in the team’s recent mediocre play, as Eastern counterparts like the Wizards and Celtics angle for the No. 1 seed currently occupied by Cleveland. Justin Rowan of SB Nation’s Fear the Sword is here to break down those struggles and also illuminate how the Cavaliers can reasonably overcome them. In addition to LeBron James’ MVP case and the importance of the Kyle Korver acquisition, Justin speaks about Larry Sanders rumors, Tristan Thompson’s underrated contributions, J.R. Smith’s outsized role and more.

5:17-5:56: “[Larry Sanders is] definitely going to bring a lot of personality to the team, which can be a good thing. I think they have the right type of culture for that. They also have a history of dealing with players who have suffered with mental illness issues. Delonte West had some public issues with the Cavaliers and has talked recently about how LeBron is still a big part of his life and supporting him and helping him work through that. So having LeBron, who is familiar with having a teammate with those issues and what’s involved there, it could be a supportive situation for him.”

8:46-10:09: “It’s tough because…the extensive pre-game routine that [LeBron James] goes through, which is hours of physical preparation, if he doesn’t play at least 34 minutes, he views it as if he shouldn’t even have played at all. He views it as a waste for the all the preparation he goes through. Continue reading

Conrad Kaczmarek: “LeBron Controls As Much As He Wants to Control”

February 3, 2016 / Loren Chen / 0 Comments

Despite recent turmoil in the organization, LeBron James seems poised to reach his sixth straight NBA Finals appearance, second in a row with the Cavaliers (Keith Allison/Flickr).

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Nearly two weeks ago, the best team in the Eastern Conference fired its head coach. Conrad Kaczmarek, former editor of SB Nation’s Fear the Sword, makes an appearance to discuss the state of those Cleveland Cavaliers. Although they still boast the conference’s best record and are showcasing electric offense under newly named lead man Tyronn Lue, minor weaknesses are discussed. Also, Conrad explores the instrumental play of Matthew Dellavedova and Tristan Thompson as well as LeBron James’ impact on personnel decisions.

5:55-7:00: “Even though [LeBron James] is a monster in transition, his teams are never high-pace teams… I think the tendency for a lot of his teams is for them to slow it down, play in the half court, and let LeBron do his thing, which works great a lot of the time… I think there’s a lot being talked about with Tyronn Lue trying to push the pace and have them play at a faster pace, but the numbers don’t really bear that out in the first six games that they’ve played. They’re pretty much playing at the same pace if not a little bit slower at times.”

11:25-12:20: “When Kevin Love is not hitting the wide open shots that they’re getting him, they have a tendency to lose confidence in him pretty quickly… They have a tendency of doing that too much and getting away from Kevin, then he struggles to get into a rhythm later. So I think it’s definitely a process still – this core has not been around together for very long – but I think that’s the next big step: that when Kevin hits a little bit of a shooting slump, they need to resist the urge to go away from him… They need to keep it in the flow, keep running the same stuff and just trust that these are really good players… and the shots are going to fall eventually.”

Tag: Iman Shumpert

James Ham: These Kings Are a “Breath of Fresh Air”

Justin Rowan: LeBron James Is “More Comfortable in His Own Skin”

Conrad Kaczmarek: “LeBron Controls As Much As He Wants to Control”

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