Inside the Kings, with GM Monte McNair: His journey, De’Aaron Fox’s struggles, ‘very special’ Davion Mitchell

SACRAMENTO — When the Sacramento Kings last made the NBA playoffs in 2006, their current general manager, Monte McNair, was finishing a humble football career at Princeton while nearing completion of his computer science degree. He was, by his own admission, the rare intersection of jock and geek.

But think about that timeline for a minute.

He hadn’t yet spent that year out of college working as a sports programmer and researcher for the analytics company, STATS LLC. He hadn’t logged those 13 years working with the Houston Rockets, learning under Daryl Morey as he worked his way up from a senior analyst position to vice president of basketball operations before being hired by the Kings in Sept. of 2020.

Back then, when that Kings team featuring the likes of Mike Bibby, Metta World Peace, Brad Miller and Kevin Martin was falling to San Antonio in the first round before this 15-year postseason drought followed, McNair was a young man whose playing days on the gridiron were coming to a close as he pondered life after college. Coaching football was still in the cards, as he remembers, even if his playing days were hardly prolific enough to warrant the use of the very analytics that would later become his forte.

“I had almost as many broken collarbones as I did receptions,” he jokes about his four-year football career. “I broke my collarbone twice and had four catches.”

That’s one catch per season, for the Sloan Conference folks at home who might be counting.

Yet while the 37-year-old McNair is hardly responsible for all of the Kings misery that came before he replaced Vlade Divac in Sept. of 2020, that league-long postseason drought is the undeniable focus of his current job. Breaking it this season, for him and for them, is nothing short of everything.

McNair and I spoke for more than an hour inside the Golden 1 Center on Monday about his path to this position, these first 15 months on the job and the road ahead that he sees as promising. The entire conversation can be heard here on the latest episode of “The Tampering” podcast, but the highlights relating to this current team can be found below. And given the fact that the drafting of Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell have represented McNair’s most impactful additions to date, it was quite fitting that we sat in the team’s draft room.

All in all, the McNair era has been one of slow progress and unexpected restraint. From the choice to forge a genuine partnership with a coach he didn’t hire in Luke Walton to the decision to keep building with so many core players he didn’t initially acquire rather than reach for a new star via trade, McNair’s approach has been the antithesis of what we typically see from a young executive.

There is no desperate attempt to put his so-called stamp on the program in the form of a splashy (and risky) move — a la Ben Simmons, at last we checked. Instead, with McNair vowing to keep a watchful eye for meaningful trades along the way, the hope is that patience and pragmatism eventually leads them all back to the postseason.

After falling to Phoenix on Monday night, the Kings (5-6) find themselves in the crowded mix of Western Conference mediocrity. Yet considering the strength of their schedule, it’s a manageable spot to be in at this early juncture.

Harrison Barnes is having a career year in his 10th season. Richaun Holmes, the 28-year-old center who re-signed on a four-year, $55 million deal in the summer and who our John Hollinger recently deemed the most underrated player in the NBA, has been very good. Buddy Hield and Haliburton have provided no shortage of quality moments.

Imagine what they might be able to do if De’Aaron Fox finds his rhythm again. The 23-year-old who signed a five-year, $163 million extension two months into McNair’s tenure has struggled mightily so far.

“One thing that’s really helped us is (that) we have very, very clear goal,” said McNair, who grew up in the Southern California town of Oak Park and was a three-sport athlete. “We want to get this organization back to the playoffs. We want to get back there (and) that helps (that) we have a singular focus.”

The deeper meaning of that last statement will likely be lost on many of the casual observers. But for much of the time since that last playoff berth, from the seven years under the Maloofs to the seven seasons under owner Vivek Ranadive, organizational synergy has hardly been a hallmark of this long-suffering franchise. To hear McNair tell it, the current group — from Ranadive to McNair, his front office group that includes chief strategy officer Joe Dumars, assistant general manager and former Atlanta Hawks general manager Wes Wilcox, and longtime assistant general manager Ken Catanella in addition to coach Luke Walton and his staff — is cohesive in the kind of way that should ultimately turn this torturous tide.

“The thing we are definitely all doing is rowing the boat in the same direction,” McNair said. “Now we want to row as fast as we can and as straight as we can. …But we are for sure rowing in the same direction, and that makes it a lot easier. We’ve got a great group. And so now, it’s just, ‘Can we do it?’”

McNair covered all of the most notable Kings topics in our chat…

Fox’s struggles are consuming the conversation among the fanbase at the moment, and with good reason. His offensive production has taken a massive dip from last season.

Scoring: 25.2 points per game last season to 18.6

Shooting: 47.7% overall last season to 39.3 this season; 32.2% from 3 to 20.4

There are factors at play here that are certainly worth mentioning, chief among them the fact that Haliburton starting means Fox must adjust to a backcourt mate who shares primary playmaking duties. Walton has praised Fox’s improved defense as well, noting how his effort on that end has been a major focal point. Still, Fox simply must find a way to return to his old form.

McNair: We’re all behind De’Aaron. He’s already had a couple great games recently. And you know, he’s still getting to his spots. He’s getting his shot profile, (and) all that stuff is largely what it was last year and they just haven’t found the bottom of that net as much this year. And you know, I don’t think we have any doubt that it’s going to get back there. We’ve seen him, Tyrese and Davion playing all combinations, all three together, all combinations of two of them together. Obviously, there’s a bit of a learning curve for new guys coming in, as well as a rookie like Davion coming into the league. But we’ve seen a lot of positive signs with all of those combinations. And all three of those guys are great players. They’re going to continue to figure it out. We have really no worries there and (they’re) really great complements to each other on the court and off. Their personalities as well as their games complement each other very well.

Mitchell, the 23-year-old who was taken ninth overall out of Baylor, was seen as a game-changer by the Kings because of his defensive prowess and his track record for success. He won a state title as a junior at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Ga., then won an NCAA championship at Baylor last season. Yet the choice was still met with significant criticism, in large part, because of Mitchell’s size (six feet tall) and the questions about how he would fit with Fox, Haliburton and Hield.

McNair: Davion is obviously a very special player, as you know — national champion, (and) he’s won really at every level. That was the number one thing that jumps out is just his winning pedigree, his competitiveness, his work ethic. Certainly, when you just look at the team we had and who we had drafted the year before and Tyrese and who we already had on the team with De’Aaron, and you say, ‘Why would you draft another point guard?’ (But) this is where we talk about being a best player available in the draft. And it’s a hard thing to do sometimes, but we truthfully sit here and try to (draft) best player available. And when Davion is sitting at the top of our board, we do not hesitate to draft him. And I’m of the belief that these guys are such talented players. And really, all three of those guys are such quality human beings. They want to win. They want to figure it out. …They’re pushing each other.

There was a time not so long ago when Hield’s frustration with the choice to make him a Sixth Man was evident. Yet this season, just three months after the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook deal with Washington derailed the Kings’ plans to send Hield their way in exchange for Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell, he’s playing some of the best basketball of his career (16.7 points per game; 40.3% from 3 on 10.8 attempts per game and 5.4 rebounds per contest).

McNair: The thing that I don’t know if people really appreciate about Buddy is how much he wants to win, how hard he works and how he plays every single night, almost regardless of (what’s happening). I mean, there was a game last year (where) he was like limping off the court and I guess he just tied a shoe tight and went right back out because he didn’t even go to the back. And then, of course (there’s) his shooting, right? …I’ll put them up there. There’s one other guy in the league who’s a pretty good shooter (clearly referencing Steph Curry). But Buddy is right there as one of the top two shooters in the league. His job is to let it fly, and he’s doing it.

And yeah, we had some (trade) conversations over the offseason. I don’t want to go into too much detail there, but (the approach was to) treat Buddy like the adult that he is and I think he appreciated that. He does the same with me. And I said, ‘Look, you know, obviously your name has been out there. But if it doesn’t work out, if nothing happens, you come back, you’re expected to let it fly.’ And he’s been doing that.

Speaking of players whose past frustrations have been widely known, we present Marvin Bagley III. The fourth-year forward who was taken second overall out of Duke in 2018 will forever be known in these parts as the Kings player not named Luka Doncic, but that draft mistake wasn’t of McNair’s doing. Divac was determined to build around Fox and feared that Doncic would force a change in that plan, and so he opted for the player he saw as a better fit in Bagley III while Dallas capitalized on the gaffe.

Fast forward three years, and this situation remains as uncomfortable as ever. And that was before Bagley III’s agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports, fired off that tweet calling the Kings’ handling of him “a case study in mismanagement” the day before their regular-season opener. Bagley, who is looking for a fresh start as he heads into restricted free agency next summer, has played in just one game for a total of 10 minutes so far this season.

McNair: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, obviously, Luke — Luke decides on playing time and his directive is to put the guys out there on the floor that night that he thinks is gonna do (the job). We’re gonna need all our guys at some point this year. Obviously, we talked about Davion and, you know, we’ve become a little more guard-heavy and that’s pushed some other guys down the roster, right? (That) has had some impact.

(You have) Tristan (Thompson) and Alex (Len) on the front line (in addition to Holmes). But Marvin has been putting in the work and staying ready. And just like we tell all our guys, when your number’s called, you go in, and you help us win. It’s a long season. We’re gonna need — we’ve (got) 17 guys now on the roster and we’re gonna need all of them at some point. And you know, Marvin as well as everybody else is going to be ready when they’re called.

I’m always in communication with our guys, whether it’s the summer, the season, and everything. And you know, we try to handle all that internally as best we can, and with (the) understanding that every player wants to play. Almost every player in the league wants to play more. You want that competitive spirit and the guys that want to help you win. It’s just that not everybody on that on any given night can get that. So we try to keep that dialogue going and make sure that our guys, you know, are in the position where when their number is called they’re ready to go.

So…what about Walton? After being hired by Ranadive and Divac in April of 2019, he has this season and next guaranteed on his deal ($11.5 million combined). By all accounts, he has developed a very strong rapport with the front office while showing signs of his own growth as a coach along the way. McNair talked at length about Walton’s willingness to address his own shortcomings as a strength in his development.

Still, the calculus isn’t complicated here: The Kings clearly plan on being in a team that contends for a playoff spot and — at minimum — one that gets into the play-in tournament with a chance to sneak into the postseason through that route. Anything less and we’ll surely be talking about Walton’s seat warming up again.

McNair: Obviously, coming in, (it was) probably hard for Luke — right? — to have somebody who didn’t hire him come in. And we talk about how we came in as an arranged marriage. But we’ve made it work and he’s been incredible to work with from the get-go. We both understand what the other’s going through. We work together. We talk every day to figure it out. And Luke’s done a great job with our players, getting them to believe in each other, putting them in positions to succeed, working with me and our group, working with the rest of his coaching staff. There’s a lot that goes into being a coach these days. And yeah, we felt like we had a lot of positive signs last year. Obviously, we didn’t get where we wanted to go, so we worked on adding depth and defense and Luke acknowledged that we need to be better, certainly on that end of the floor. And we’ve seen some good early returns this year. And so, you know, it’s just staying in that constant communication and hopefully seeing the results on the floor like we’ve seen this early going. You know, we all are trying to — like you said — row the boat in that direction. We’ve all got to get to the playoffs and finally reap that reward.