James Ham

Anyways.

We got a ton of Kings to get into the Kings open their season tonight at the Clippers, but James ham doing double duty today.

He was in the morning with Jesse on the jump, and now he's going to jump in with me.

We're going to dive into all of the King storylines going into this season.

Who do we think is going to start at the four? And then just in general, how are we assessing the Kings to open this season? Because we talked injuries.

We've talked about some of the turmoil they've undergone.

How do we assess, A, who's playing well, the coaching staff, the front office? How are we going to manage all of that as the Kings open their season tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome? We'll talk about that with James Hamm next.

This is D-Lo in the afternoon.

Anyways.

We got a ton of Kings to get into the Kings open their season tonight at the Clippers, but James Ham doing double duty today.

He was in the morning with Jesse on the jump, and now he's going to jump in with me.

We're going to dive into all the King storylines going into this season.

Who do we think is going to start at the four? And then just in general, how are we assessing the Kings to open this season? Because we talked injuries.

We've talked about some of the turmoil they've undergone.

How do we assess, A, who's playing well, the coaching staff, the front office? How are we going to manage all of that as the Kings open their season tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Intuit Dome? We'll talk about that with James Hamm next.

This is D-Lo in the afternoon.

He said, with Walter Clayton Jr. off the board, do the Kings have anyone else they're eyeing for a backup point guard? James didn't really name names, but the options are thin.

super thin super thin i just even kevin porter jr i'm out like that i just don't i don't want any part of that no no thank you um and then you you're right back to your cameron payne's you're right back to your your uh alfred payton's uh and then sam said sorry season on the brink with simmons injury he hadn't played for a year this ship is a wreck that's sort of what i was saying yesterday the fact that the ben simmons injury and james ham brought it up a a hundred times like the j the ben simmons injury really took the wind out of their sails and it's like that's an issue the fact that so much of this offseason and the positivity of this offseason was and it was great it was a really good story like i'm not trying to deny that but the fact that oh you removed the ben simmons puzzle piece and now oh my god it's a wreck like yeah that's kind of the issue

kings were putting a lot of pressure on ben a

lot of faith in ben sim

I ...

There's a bigger picture concern that jumped out to me with the Ben Simmons injury, and something that James Ham, our Kings insider, said with DLo in the afternoon yesterday, where it feels like you take the Ben Simmons piece out of this puzzle and you realize that it was a really big piece of whatever this puzzle this was for the Kings this season.

And that's, that's a, that's a pretty significant concern for me, and we'll, we'll, we'll dive into why over the next few hours here on ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Center.

Chris Biderman from the Candlestick Chronicles podcast, he is gonna join me in studio next coming up at 4:00.

I think I nailed the read.

I think I nailed the ID, which is not something I am always... 'Cause I don't us- I don't say it all the time.

I have always been in a scenario where on my shows, whether it was The Insider with our guy James Ham or, or On the Jump with, with Jesse Tapia, where that legal ID just plays-

Mm

Uh, we do appreciate you so very much.

Wanna thank James Ham for filling in with Jesse Tapia in the morning on The Jump.

He did so today.

He will also be on The Jump tomorrow from 7:00 to 9:00 AM, so tap in.

Kings season opener, uh, James Ham in the morning, and then of course he'll join me as he does, uh, every Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 as we get ready for the Kings season opener tomorrow.

And that's where I wanna go next.

Um, so the Kings open their season tomorrow.

[laughs] But I think right now it's, it's just a little tough for me to continue trying to walk forward and go like, "Wait, hang on.

Uh, and I wanna talk about some more of the fallout from the Ben Simmons injury 'cause we've, we've looked at that injury a lot and kinda what it means for the Kings this year, and we'll, we'll talk X's and O's and lineups and, and all that, but there's a, there's a bigger picture...

I, there's a bigger picture concern that jumped out to me with the Ben Simmons injury, and something that James Ham, our Kings insider, said with DLo in the afternoon yesterday, where it feels like you take the Ben Simmons piece out of this puzzle and you realize that it was a really big piece of whatever this puzzle this was for the Kings this season.

And that's, that's a, that's a pretty significant concern for me, and we'll, we'll, we'll dive into why over the next few hours here on ESPN 1320 Sacramento Sports Center.

Chris Behrmann from the Candlestick Chronicles podcast.

I think I nailed the read.

I think I nailed the ID, which is not something I am always... 'Cause I don't us- I don't say it all the time.

I have always been in a scenario where, on my shows, whether it was The Insider with our guy James Ham or, or On The Jump with, with Jesse Tapia, where that legal ID just plays-

Mm

But if your goal is to win the Super Bowl, you're gonna need more stability at receiver, obviously.

Um, so how they manage that, whether it's just, "Hey, let's just get guys back healthy.

Let's get Deebo back in a few weeks.

Let's get DeMarcus Robinson back after the bye.

If they're gonna contend, it's that.

But the number two thing was they need somebody who's on a rookie contract to be worth a damn.

They need somebody on a rookie contract to go make a play, and two weeks in a row we've had several of those guys, um, coming up with the biggest plays of the game.

Malik Mustafa, Ramello Hite, Jaden Dugger.