Kings

Kings’ Domantas Sabonis Says Determined Mike Brown ‘Has Erased Everything We Did Last Year’

October 27, 2023

For Kings coach Mike Brown, good is definitely not good enough.

Sacramento won the Pacific Division … earned the third seed in the Western Conference … and made its first playoff appearance in 17 incredibly long years.

But Brown doesn’t seem to care about any of that. After all, last season now too is a part of the history books. If you remember, the Kings lost in the first round to the more experienced Warriors in seven games.

So this season, it’s a whole new approach for the Kings and their reigning NBA Coach of the Year.

“I feel like he’s erased everything we did last year from his memory, from our memory,” big man Domantas Sabonis said, via Anthony Slater and Sam Amick of The Athletic. “He only brings up that we lost against the Warriors. He’s definitely pushing us harder, and I love it. It’s fair. That happens usually (where) guys get complacent or think, ‘Oh, whatever we did last year.’ But if we don’t do all the little details, nothing’s going to change, you know?”

Things went well in Game 1, with the Kings racing past the Jazz on the road. It set an early tone on who is truly the up-and-coming potential contenders in the West.

But for Brown, the Kings were just good last season. Starting this year, he expects a whole lot more.

“A lot of times if you are good, you get too comfortable,” Brown said, via Slater and Amick. “And if you get too comfortable, and you’re OK with the position that you’re in, it makes it extremely hard to be great. So for us, we’ve got to win the day every single day. And we’ve got to be OK with open and honest communication with each other. We’ve gotta be OK with the mental and physical stress that it takes to just be a little bit better. You’ve got to be OK being uncomfortable so it helps us prepare for a deep playoff run.”