Let’s cut Monte some slack

Patience is not a particular strong suit for this fanbase, and for good reason.

For 16 long years we watched and waited as the Sacramento Kings franchise toiled in the abyss, failing to grasp multiple lifelines (see our draft history from 2009-2018 if you dare) and at times facing actual extinction.  Recently though, the team has taken a turn for the better under the stewardship of General Manager Monte McNair and company.  The Kings added Domantas Sabonis in a blockbuster trade that sent out Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield, traded for Kevin Huerter, signed Malik Monk and drafted Keegan Murray.  Sacramento took the defending champions to seven games in their first ever playoff series and the fanbase was on cloud nine.

To say this last season didn’t nearly match the highs of the season before is an understatement. After a flurry of activity the year before, the Kings largely stood pat last offseason, re-signing Harrison Barnes and adding Sasha Vezenkov and JaVale McGee.  Sacramento’s first round draft pick was traded to Dallas to salary dump Richaun Holmes. Meanwhile, the Western Conference as a whole seemed to get a lot better, and that continued throughout the season.  While the Kings were still a good team, the competition was far stiffer and Sacramento was no longer a surprise.  The Kings had multiple inexplicable losses against bad teams, and when the trade deadline came, the Kings stayed quiet, not finding a deal that made sense.  To make matters worse, other teams in the West did make moves that made them significantly better: one of them, the Dallas Mavericks, ended up vaulting the Kings in the standings after trading for PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford, and even ended up all the way in the NBA Finals.  But worst of all, the Kings failed to make the playoffs, a sour note on an otherwise decent season record wise.

Success isn’t linear, but for the Kings to be once again left on the outside looking in was a tough pill to swallow.  This team showed last season that there are serious holes, especially in terms of length across the board.  That was one of the biggest reasons the Kings struggled so much against the team that eventually ended their season, the New Orleans Pelicans; New Orleans was able to matchup well with the Kings across the board, while the Kings didn’t really have an answer for the physicality & length the Pelicans brought to the table.  So this was always going to be a big offseason for Monte McNair to…