Sactown Royalty

you do know that Batum is a restricted free agent right?

Yesm, but this is good news for us

“When Batum becomes a restricted free agent, we’ll look at the other 29 teams before we talk to the Blazers,” Batum’s agent Bouna Ndiaye told CSNNW.com. “The Blazers had their chance.”

http://www.csnnw.com/pages/landingblazers?No-extension-for-Nicolas-Batum=1&blockID=638648&feedID=5212

Don't know why the link didn't work

honestly it all comes down to if they resign Wallace

if they don’t they’re going to retain Batum unless they get an offer they can’t refuse

I'll take either or

Give me Wallace or Batum and I’d be very happy

You do know that the Maloofs still own the team, right?

section214 - January 26, 2012 reply

^This

FTW.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Sooo we should just give up then?

^This

FTW.

Fort Worth Texas??

JK

John Kennedy?

WTF

Carl - January 27, 2012 reply

Where's The Fun?

SMH

darooster - January 27, 2012 reply

If this trends continues

With no change? At some point, yes. And I’ve loved the Kings for well over a decade. But they’re turning into the Chicago cubs of the nba.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

More like the Pirates of the NBA.

ugh. I thought the same thing.

MichaelMack - January 26, 2012 reply

Even as someone who personally kind of (don't kill me guys) sorta understands how the Maloofs went about things the way they did last year

and just looking at them as just owners of a team and not taking anything personally … holy crap.

Wow. Peaches tearing an asshole right now.

Love it.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Whose is he tearing?

The Kings

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

oh god no

bad visuals bad bad bad awful visuals

Exhibit G - January 26, 2012 reply

Haha

This^ I love archer!

Czar Nickoli - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Peaches IS the asshole

If he is ripping the PLAYERS, I am quite sure that he is doing so to demonstrate his slavic devotion to GP and the Maloofs so as to make it clear to them that he is ready, willing and able to continue fellating them so long as they continue to keep him on the payroll.

Yeah...

Unfortunately my jubilation was premature. Unfortunate that he always shows his colors as a corporate stooge. But he wouldn’t be peaches, would he?

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

No, there is no quick fix.

The future success or faliure of this franchise depends on the development of Tyreke and DeMarcus. Just like OKC’s did with Durant and Westbrook. Just like Chicago with Rose and to a lesser extent Noah. Just like Orlando’s did with Howard. Just like Portland’s did with Roy and Aldridge.

I know we’re all impatient and want Geoff to trade for a star now. But our best chance of having stars on this team any time soon is if Tyreke and DeMarcus can live up to their potential.

StevenG - January 26, 2012 reply

Just like the Bulls with Brand, Artest, Crawford, and Fizer

sorry had to do it

Actually this can turn into kind of a fun game thinking of the reboots that didn’t exactly work out quite as planned

If Artest had been sane this would have been a solid core.

Brand & Artest at their peaks were very, very good players. And Crawford as the 6th man off the bench?

Hennesy is a hell of a drink

How about Jermaine Oneal, Artest, and Captain Jack with the Pacers

Could have been great before “The Incident” happened.

They were a contender that year

The “Malace at the Palace” killed those hopes.

Aykis16 - January 26, 2012 reply

Ironic?

I'm not saying championships, but...

That team had Brand, Artest, Crawford and Brad Miller. You couldn’t have a darn competitive team with those 4 at their respective peaks? Especially since they had the 4th pick (they took Eddy Curry), but add other lottery picks that year like JRich, Battier or Joe Johnson to the team and that’s a darn good team.

PG – ?
SG – JRich/Joe Johnson
SF – Artest
PF – Brand
C – Brad Miller
6th man – Jamal Crawford

Sadly, the Bulls thought Brand had peaked and traded him after a terrible 15 win season with Tim Floyd. Boy did they feel foolish. Good thing people have learned not to advocate trading potential stars in their very early 20s because they go through struggles adjusting to the league.

Wasn't Brand just coming of his ROY season?

No his second season. They traded him before his third year for Tyson Chandler.

They thought Chandler & Curry was the front line of the future.

The best thing about reading his Wiki page

Is the part that mentions before the Clippers gave him a 6 year deal, Sterling’s biggest contract was a 5 year, $15 mil deal they gave to the Polish Rifle.

Still remember when he let LO go right before that. Clips fans were devastated.

I grew up watching those Clippers teams, and I was shocked when that happened

I loved watching Cherokee Parks routinly out-play Olowakandi.

Now if Wally wanted a fail team earlier

Kandi, Miles and Q-Rich would have worked really well!

Yes!

Don’t forget Maggetti and Boykins

Nevermind, looks like he was traded his third season

I would agree but I don’t think that Tyreke can develop here unless there is a coach with FO backing who can force him to play something other than the AAU-style basketball he grew up playing. Unless there are consequences for this behavior, I don’t expect to see development (of his huge potential talent). I don’t see anything close to that here in Sac. He is featured on TV as our franchise player, which tells me this is the direction from the FO. He plays nearly the entire game, regardless of performance or effort.

Agree with everything except

although I criticize Reke here a lot, it’s not really his fault. Square pegs, round holes. Absolutely he would flourish elsewhere where less was asked of him.

to be honest

I don’t even want him to trade for a star. Just someone who compliments what we have, ill be more than happy wit a trade that nets us Hinrich, Mo Williams, Paul Millsap and to a lesser extent Corey Brewer, Shawn Marion types.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

A trade for a decent PG would be great. This team needs players who know roles. Not a bunch of dudes who do the same nothingness

Yeah let's trade Tyreke for Kirk Hinrich

Unbelievable. Do you remember our 17 win team? We had traditional players then that all complemented eachother & they were one of the worst teams ever. Is that what you want? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills with some of the “trade Tyreke” talk. It’s dumbfounding to me.

No one on this team is untouchable but some of the guys that are being thrown out there are just mind-boggling to me. Rajon Rondo? Ok I get that. Mo Williams? Are you kidding me?

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

With you man. Definitely understand the frustration. But feel like some people are letting emotional response effect better judgement.

Agreed.

There are quite a few players Reke could be traded that would be an upgrade. Many of those are not being mentioned. In fact, the only one who is is Rondo.

Don't know about quite a few, but defintley a few

I wouldn’t trade him for Rondo though. I think it would make us better in the short term, but not the long term.

I know I value Evans higher than some others here though.

Rondo right now>Reke's ceiling imo.

Also, it seems to be a PG-driven league right now.

Well we may have to agree to disagree on ceilings.

But not sure where PG-driven league comes from. We haven’t had a champion led by a pure PG for awhile.

Look at the recent & current good teams though.

Many have good or great PG’s. Also, I don’t think a pure PG is needed. Just 1 who’s a better distributor than Reke. Or the Kings need to become like the Webber/Vlade teams, w/everyone passing.

Would love the latter, as to the former we'll see.

I don’t mind pairing Evans with a PG, but Evans will be the primary ball handler in the backcourt, so pairing him with a ball dominant PG would be a mistake IMHO.

Alternatively,

more consistent shooters & more consistently good distribution from Reke (like what was going on w/the Ind. & SA games) would work.

I've been pretty happy with his distribution recently

He still has room to grow & learn to do it better. He will never be a pure PG, but that’s fine with me.

Better vets and shooters will definitely help. Team needs that badly.

Who mentioned anything about trading Reke for Hinrich or Mo Williams???

Those players in my opinion can be had for some of our spare parts. Those players would compliment Reke and are vets who can help his growth, help direct the team on the court. The Hawks lost Horford for the year and need some bigs, Jeff Teague is the starter so they have an 8 million $ backup pg they can trade for a big to fill in for now. The Clippers have like 5 pgs, their best wing is Caron Butler, they can use a 2 guard, wing depth, and backup bigs, we have all that.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

That makes sense.

I think this was easy to misread:

I don’t even want him to trade for a star. Just someone who compliments what we have

Made it sound like you wanted to trade Evans for someone who complemented the rest of the team.

Well I would entertain the idea of trading Reke

But if that were to happen I would expect them to finally come out the winner of a trade, MT23 was the only legit trade we’ve made in the last 5 years. Reke has lots of value still, he can still improve and become a very good player in the league.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I meant come out the winner

As in getting a borderline star who has as much value as Reke or maybe even more.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

My bad

I thought that’s what you meant. With all the Tyreke hate here I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did say that.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Grant is hot today, lol

I love it when even Peaches is disgusted.

deadenddude - January 26, 2012 reply

Yup

This is awesome. He’s so pissed right now.

Haha prize pack for best tweet? Nice.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Grant being pissed has never led to awesome things

Maybe not

I never usually like it, but at least he’s calling that game for what it was. Shit.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

If that's just it then nevermind

Lol he was awarding

Best comment on twitter involving the Kings sucking.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

I am sure Bobby Jackson would agree with you

Absolutely can't listen to Grant

Or that Fitz guy from the Bay. Tools.

I thought yesterday's (Thurday) show was good

The 20 or so minutes that I heard was about how bad the Kings are and how we can’t afford to have our best players and starters have bad games and if they do have bad games then our supporting players aren’t good enough to carry the team.

He blasted someone for saying Thorton was the reason we got blown out vs Denver.

He singled out Thompson as one of the hardest workers who constantly practices and I got the impression he was saying Tyreke isn’t that hard of a worker (he compared the work ethics).

The Olé Kings

I like it!

deadenddude - January 26, 2012 reply

Can this thread please not be filled with running commentary about Grant's show?

Exhibit G - January 26, 2012 reply

No worries

Just figured it would tie in since the subjects are the same, essentially.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Oh Boy!

section214 - January 26, 2012 reply

Agree

Long time Kings fan since probable 1987 and been reading STR for about 5 years now. I have been sticking up for my team for years now and well be in the years to come. I truthfully not to happy with GP well him and the owners of course. GP’s best decision the last couple years was drafting Demarcus Cousins , he alone is the only player i wouldn’t trade on this roster for being a 2nd year big man this years numbers say it all. I would trade Evans in heart beat for a real point guard. I love Evans but honestly his best year as a pro maybe his rookie year, he still has the potential to change this I just not sure if this type of team make up will ever get him to his potential. Whats funny to me is that i truthfully believe players like jennings and lawson are going to have much better overall careers in this league. I would love to see a true point guard and shot blocker to be teamed up with Cousins. We will eventually get a decent wing player sometime lol, but for now I can honestly say I’m not opposed to moving the roster around long as we keep Cousins. I’ll stick with me team through thick and thin the brighter days are gonna come.

Exilen - January 26, 2012 reply

The way Tyreke (And Thornton, Salmons, Outlaw, etc)

are playing is awful. It’s how Reke has played since his rookie year, which is OK when everyone on your team is bad. But now we’ve got some guys that can finish like Jimmer (from 3) or Cousins inside but Reke still drives into the teeth for a terrible play way too much. He certainly isn’t the only culprit. The entire team does it.

Been waiting for Tyreke to improve upon this style of play for a while and there still isn’t an iota of hope. I totally agree with trading anyone outside of Cousins.

I’d gut the roster outside of Cousins and hope for the best. Rebuild fail.

lodisacfan - January 26, 2012 reply

Tyreke grew up (?) playing AAU basketball, followed by high school basketball, and then spent an abbreviated time in the NCAA. Throughout his entire life, he has been fawned over for the talent he actually is. But his emotional maturity is wanting to say the least. So what we have is a petulant man who apparently believes that his purpose is to be the flashy ball hog that served him so well in his youth. When coaches order him to pass the ball or play defense, he goes through the motions. But he will never embrace these tasks, as they are beneath him.

Unless he has a Phil Jackson-type coach who is fully supported by the front office, he will never live up to his full potential, which, in my opinion, is something along the lines of a Kobe Bryant. Here in Sacto, he is revered by the FO, Napear, little buddy Reynolds, and most coaches as “our man.” Something tells me that he will never be parented and disciplined in order to realize his vast potential as a player as long as he is wearing a Kings uniform. I ain’t mad at him, but this is what I fear to be the case as far as he is concerned.

I think I've seen you posit this before

Do you have any actual facts for Reke’s personal character traits that you’ve listed? Emotional maturity is wanting? Petulant man? That he thinks certain tasks are beneath him?

It all sounds rather personal in your analysis of Reke.

And probably 90% of the players in the NBA were coddled through their prep careers. Not sure what that really has to do with anything.

otis29 - January 26, 2012 reply

This is an opinion board isn’t it?

Am I allowed to find out if your opinion has any substantive facts?

otis29 - January 26, 2012 reply

From what I can tell as a fan

Reke seems like a pretty good kid. But even a “take charge” veteran floor leader would have his hands full with this team. But it would be a first step.

agree with both opinions

reke seems like a cool cat and really good kid, but players of his caliber have grown up being “the man” and taking over for a team when they aren’t playing well. That’s what we’ve been seeing with him for the past 2+ years and I don’t blame him, I blame ineffective coaching and the organization for creating the environment where he feels that’s still his job.

You can’t blame a player for continuing to do what they’ve always been encouraged to do.

mtmoore55 - January 26, 2012 reply

No. We post 75% facts. 90% of which are made up.

I care not for Reke's maturity or whatever

I think he is the kind of player that, at least right now, needs to play 1 on 1 basketball. In no way was that loss fully his fault last night. But as I watched our “offense” over and over last night play the kind of ball where he dribbles back and forth and 4 guys stand on the side watching I started going a little crazy.

We can’t have a team like that! It will never ever work. Even if he had a jumper we’d still be like the Lakers when they weren’t making the playoffs right after Shaq left.

lodisacfan - January 26, 2012 reply

Take out

the comments about the character traits (which are unknown) but everything else is correct.

caseycheesecake - January 26, 2012 reply

What separates Reke from any other NBA player in that regard?

Is it on Tyreke to change his game?

Or is it on the GM(who drafted him at #4) to build a team that fits his style play? If GP wasn’t prepared to do that he should have drafted a more traditional player like Jrue Holiday or Ty Lawson.

Tyreke is the type of talent who needs a GM that knows how to build a team that fits him. If GP wasn’t prepared to do that he should have never drafted him.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I was thinking about Holiday for the Kings pick

And Reke has a much much higher ceiling – but I do wonder how this team would look with Holiday running things.

So yeah handcuffed or not a lot of this is on GP.

Yeah, and to be fair to Tyreke

He’s coming off an offseason where he couldn’t go anywhere near an NBA coach. Ultimately it’s up to the players themselves to improve themselves whether that requires outside help or not (see: Kevin Martin), but it’s not as if this organization is providing anything.

Unless you're teaming Reke with Vlade/Miller or Christie/Whoever

You’re asking too much of the young man. And then we impatient Kings fans will criticize his performance. I know. I know.

I wouldn't go that far

Reke is supposed to BE the centerpiece if "The Blueprint’ is to be believed, he shouldn’t be the one who needs perfect surroundings in order to thrive.

Everyone needs good surroundings to thrive

Otherwise you’re just a guy who puts up numbers on a bad team. I have no doubts Tyreke can hog his way to 20-5-5 again if that’s what you want. I honestly believe he wants to win. So he’s trying to alter his game which makes him not look as good on the stat sheet. When his teammates don’t hit their shots he tries to do it himself. With no other players being a real threat the other team can just pack the paint.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

DMC & Thornton (when he's not injured)

aren’t threats?

Are they shooting well?

No sir.

tomroadrunner - January 27, 2012 reply

Not to point out the obvious, but Rubio would be nice on this team.

We built a team with a bunch of weapons and no one to set them up. If we could do the draft over, I would take Rubio. Why take Tyreke and force him to be a PG when you can have Rubio who is already a PG. Personally I think that the issue with Tyreke is that we are trying to get a low basketball IQ player (who is very skilled physically) to run our team and if thats the path we want to go, then this is the basketball we have to watch until he can learn the system.

I have a bad feeling about this

Cousins is going to be a force and he’s showing steady, marked improvement on the court. JT has been a nice surprise, showing a go-to move (which, inexplicably, is a left-handed floater, but I’ll take it), good hustle, and some more coordination. Jimmer is showing some steady adaptation to the size and speed of the NBA and I think he’s going to be fine. It took Steph Curry some time to adjust too.

Everyone else? Geesh.

Evans is a particular concern. He hasn’t. gotten. better. since he came into the league. Last year all the talk was about his plantar fascitis and injuries, but what’s the excuse this year? He doesn’t lean back as much on his jump shot but the result is pretty much the same, he’s not an improved decisionmaker, and he still has to pound the ball to get anything going. He has no left hand, he has no jump shot, and the league has figured out how to defend him. I just don’t see some vast transformation into a superstar happening any time soon.

Hayes and Thornton are glorified 6th men and have been at their best playing 20-25 minutes a game against second strings.

I won’t even get into the SF position.

I don’t see a nucleus of anything promising, I see mismatched parts. The bright spot is that there is a ton of cap flexibility and yet another good draft pick coming in the offseason. But this team is a long way off from promising.

Amen

Agree about Evans. He is the biggest worry, for sure.

The Kings have so many bad things going on, but Evans was the 4th pick, and suppossed to be a talent to build around. As we’ve all said, stars are not coming to Sac any other way but the draft. So Reke is quickly becoming a semi-wasted pick. No improvement or understanding how to play team ball. He does not get it. And he won’t unless, perhaps, the Kings get a PG or Jackson type coach.

Sad. Maloofs need to get lost, but won’t. Petrie needs to wake up, but won’t. And how can these players still make the same mistakes, over and over?

Only small hope would to get a PG with Evans trade, and draft a stud...and pray.

One crazy question - Any way Wiz takes Evans and others (Jimmer/MT) for Wall? Doubt it

caseycheesecake - January 26, 2012 reply

Wall is the only player on that team that is untradeable.

This sounds right

Other than DMC, I’m not seeing any potential franchise level players, unless Evans starts making some quantum leaps.

Evans is drifting (albeit slowly) toward cut-our-losses-with-this-guy waters instead of i wish we could extend this guy right now!!! waters, which is disturbing, since it was hoped he would become a franchise cornerstone.

As for Jimmer, his strength is perimeter scoring. I’m very unsure of how he will develop as any type of facilitator. His worst moments that I’ve seen have come from him attempting to do things off the dribble. I think at best he’ll be an average defender.

At this point I’m open to some audition type minutes for guys like whiteside and honeycutt, say 8-10 minutes a game for now. some commodities are known (like that our 3 spot is a desolate wasteland), so let’s see who can do what as we attempt to escape this quagmire.

outrider - January 26, 2012 reply

The worst part

Is that Cousins can play awesome with just about anybody.

Evans can play by himself on just about any team. But I don’t see him as a playmaker and dear god, imagine if we had a real point guard instead…life would be grand.

lodisacfan - January 26, 2012 reply

Your 1st 2 sentences are correct.

But even w/a real PG, the Kings have too many flaws to even make the playoffs as an 8th seed.

Dont care about making the playoffs

Life would be grand == Playing competitive basketball

lodisacfan - January 27, 2012 reply

So this is rock bottom (I hope)

Where we don’t care about winning, but just being competitive when we lose. Sad, but true. I just hope we don’t find a way to get worse. 30 point blowouts are bad, but we have room to throw in a few 40 point blowouts and maybe break the record for lowest scoring game (I think the Bulls have the record scoring in the high 40’s).

I actually think GP did some things good this off season, and one terrible thing that casts a huge shadow over everything else.

I think Hayes, Jimmer, Thornton (as a 6th man) and IT can be great players to work around Cousins and Tyreke. They have had very little time to mesh together because of Hayes’ and Thornton’s injuries.

prowseinthehouse - January 26, 2012 reply

So how do rank the JJ/Casspi trade?

Or the Outlaw signing?

Okay so 2 terrible things (the protected pick)

But the actual player trade should pan out a bit.

JJ and Outlaw are decent role players, and we only gave up one role player in the process (Casspi). Once Hayes comes back, Hickson goes back to 4th big (~15mpg) and Outlaw can get whatever scrap minutes he gets at SF instead of PF.

If I think about it though, if GP would have kept Casspi instead of Hickson, would GP have pulled the trigger on both Dalembert and Hayes?

Your statement might lose some credibility

If you list Outlaw as a decent roleplayer. He’s been flat out awful.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

I think its ok to list Outlaw

If you look at it as us sending out Casspi and receiving JJ and Outlaw. Outlaw and Casspi are simmilar crappy SF’s so I almost think they are a wash.

Casspi is much better than Outlaw

Not sure how they are a wash.

Casspi’s finding his sea legs in Cleveland after an awful start, and just based on his stats versus Hickson’s, it’s pretty clear Cleveland got the better of that deal (to this point). And if Casspi gets his 3P% back to his career averages, it’s going to look even worse.

This years Casspi isn't great and Outlaw is still wearing a cast

At this point, I feel that they are both average-below average SF’s in the NBA and will both end up as career back ups. Outlaw’s been awful, but I’m not ready to give him the Salmons treatment until he is healthy. I’m no NBA player, but I’m sure it’s hard shooting with a cast on your hand. I look to his time on Portland as an indicator of where he could be when healthy (10 points a game in around 20 min).

I just think a few years from now, Casspi and Outlaw will be similar in terms of value and production and neither will be a star. Neither deserves to start on a good team either.

http://bkref.com/tiny/V6rPk

Hard to explain Outlaw's season last year though

Quite frankly, it’s probably one of the worst seasons you can find for a guy in recent history who played that amount of minutes (link compares the two player’s seasons last year):

And this season:

http://bkref.com/tiny/YYvpJ

If anything, Outlaw’s experience and Casspi’s inexperience should at least keep them in the same ballpark, but that’s not the case.

Full disclosure – I’m still a big believer in Casspi. He may not end up being great, but I think he’ll be a very good player with a long NBA career.

really curious where his career takes him

Interesting to see his assist % this season

Not sure if that’s a small sample size aberration, or if he’s found a bit of a niche as a distributor.

Or is playing in an offensive system instead of a PW system

exactly

MichaelMack - January 27, 2012 reply

I’m hoping Outlaw’s struggles in NJ were due to him starting and being a key piece for the Nets; maybe is just more comfortable as a career backup. I’m trying to stay positive on him until we can see him as a healthy backup SF, but if this continues after the cast comes off, I’ll be right there bashing Outlaw with everyone else.

he made a lot of last second shots in Portland that got him noticed

and his body and athleticism did the rest but he never quite put it to use.

Sounds like another SF we have that got noticed in Summer League with 40+ points and freak athleticism.

Let’s just hope we don’t give Donte a crazy contract

I'll always believe we gave up on Casspi too early

I’d take him over any of our other 3s any day of the week.

outrider - January 27, 2012 reply

we did

but he questioned PW, and was put in the dog house.

MichaelMack - January 27, 2012 reply

Complete aside

but Casspi has actually started playing a little better recently

Here’s a pretty cool dunk from the other night.

I miss Omri.

Loved his tenacity on the court.

Aykis16 - January 27, 2012 reply

I miss winning.

section214 - January 27, 2012 reply

From what I saw during the Lebron days

JJ has more potential than Casspi. Outlaw, I don’t know . . .

JJ sucks. Omri suchk. Outlaw sucks....and all will continue.

Yeah JJ should not be shooting jump shots. Not his game at all.

JJ's game is cutting to the rim as catching a pass for a dunk

Too bad we have no one who can consistantly set him up.

One?

Several I can think of this year, many in the last few years

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Petrie lost my support when he allowed Westhphal to seemingly take over.

WP seemed to push for Salmons, and Petrie obliged. Worst still was WP’s handling (abuse) of Cuz. Screw Westphal. The only good thing Petrie has done as of late was fire WP, if he was in fact in charge of that.

I haven't sunk that low yet

Maybe it’s having stuck by the Kings since they first came here, or maybe it’s just low expectations in the first place. I definitely hoped we would be doing better than this. But as annoying as it is to hear it, we have a team that has not played together much with a new coach, no off season, and a really brutal schedule.

I am definitely seeing things I like, even in loses. First and foremost, Cousins is a beast. He is. Even the stupid announcers on other teams are spending more time talking about how skilled he is and less about him being a head case. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about him, this is a guy who would start on any NBA team. I fully expect him to be an all star within the next two years. And he only has one full year under his belt.

Second, I am very happy with how IT and JImmer are coming along. Remember they would just be finishing their preseasons normally right now and yet they are being thrown into significant minutes for a system they don’t know very well. The fact that they aren’t turning the ball over 5-7 times a game is a miracle in and of itself. They look good.

Third. Maybe Evans isn’t the Wade or LeBron a lot of people have hoped for. So what? Was there a Wade or LeBron we passed on in the draft? Rubio and Curry look pretty good, but neither one of them is a sure thing either.

Add to this that MT hasn’t been playing up to his old self, Hayes has been injured, Hickson is still adjusting to a new system, and combine that with our nasty schedule and you start to see why so many of us were warning not to start projecting playoff appearances this year.

We are a little off of where we should be. But we have shown some signs of things to come. the Lakers game, the first quarter of the San Antonio game. They were absolutely brilliant. Near the end of the first quarter the SA announcers were comparing our Kings to the Prime Time Lakers.

Maybe Salmons will keep playing like crap. Maybe Evans won’t ever repeat his rookie year. Maybe MT is a bust and last year was a fluke. Maybe we should have chosen player X, Y, or Z over Jiimmer.

One of two of those might be true. But all of them? I highly doubt that. My guess is that we are going to see further growth from Cousins, Jimmer, and IT. We will see Hickson start to fit into our system and relax a little. Evans actually looks pretty good when Jimmer or IT is bringing up the ball. He gets more assists when he is not playing point than when he is. I think salmons is a black hole who is unhappy to be here and showing it. So that is a definite strike. But I have full confidence that MT will come back strong.

Even the biggest critic has to admit we have some nice pieces. They just have just haven’t gelled yet. Jeez, the Wizards drafted Wall, had Flip for a coach, and they are sucking as bad as we are. The thing to do is lower your expectations, relax, and enjoy they players for what they are. As much as I hated the second quarter last night, I thoroughly enjoyed the first quarter. We were playing one of the best teams in the west with a ton of veterans toe-to-toe. That we couldn’t keep it up says more about our inexperience than our skill set.

Chill my friends, it’s going to get better. .

Cousins is the real deal.

One untradeable asset is a start right?

Dang straight! :)

What Id like to see

Every single half court possession, force Demarcus to run down to the block and let him operate down there. Repeat.

chenp22 - January 26, 2012 reply

Very well said.

You kind of touched on a third rail there

Salmons does almost look like a player who doesn’t want to be here.

I think that's exactly what it is

He was not super happy here the first time. We traded him away in what many people would consider to be a dump. Then we turn around and bring him back. He is not my favorite player by a long shot. But he is not as bad as he has been playing. There is definitely something wrong and the easiest guess is that he is unhappy being on a team like the Kings at this point in his career.

Yep.

Maybe someone will want him for their playoff run. He better start auditioning for that PRONTO!

I wish

My guess is that unless he turns things around he is almost completely untradeable.

But even then

Did anyone really expect him to be a major part of our success two or three years from now when we are playoff ready. In my opinion, Salmons at this point is only a speed bump.

I certainly didn't want him back.

But then I thought well maybe he’s matured as a floor leader hahahahahahahahaha

Cousins is a beast, and looks good, but the remainder? And Jimmer and IT are improving.

I like your positive outlook, but I can easily see MT playing as he is, because that’s who he is. MT may make shots, but he’s a ballhog, non-distributor on a team that has too many of those. So, he’s a wrong piece, unless he’s a 6th man. Reke may improve if a PG is grown or gotten, but can Reke understand how to fit in? Doubt it, but 50/50 at best. Salmons is terrible for this team for the same reasons MT is.

Ultimately, the reason for the frustration and disbelief this team will get rolling is that the organization is a mess. And believe me, as any Redskin or Raider fan can attest, until the organization is straightened out, winning is rare. Ineptitude is the norm.

Yeah new ownership is the key

Until then I would settle for some scrappers who play as a TEAM.

it all starts from the top

but yeah, teams come from great coaching that the players buy into…hard to buy into a coach that is constantly on the hot seat. The Kings need a coach to come in and tell the Maloofs, GP, the players, and US to STFU and follow him to the promised land. Maybe Sloan is that guy, but we aren’t going anywhere without someone to lead this thing anywhere but down, down, down…

mtmoore55 - January 26, 2012 reply

Bring Back Brockman!!!

He was great to watch during blowouts. I’ll never forget the 35 point comback when we put in Brockman and Udoka

He's not a PG

No doubt about that. But look at his stats from last season with the Kings. 21 pts a game, 3.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 18.2 PER. And that wasn’t for a game or two. That was 27 games. last season he was the hero around here. What has changed that he should suddenly be the goat? Like everyone else he is adapting to starting with two new players on the team and no off season. maybe he even came in a little out of shape. Who knows? But what we DO know is what he did for us last year. What he does that as a starting 2 or off the bench, I’m fine with those numbers. It was just like watching Jimmer struggle with his outside shot. You know based on experience it won’t last.

Agreed

MT would best serve as a sixth man. He could shot all he wants and be an offensive boost. Salmons must go for a real team player veteran.

coltsfan37 - January 26, 2012 reply

Is there a best post of the season?

You my friend, may have just written it.

ThomasGQ - January 26, 2012 reply

Thanks.

I may not have the rose-colored glasses you seem to have been prescribed...

I do agree with your overall assessment of the players. Rec’d

cowboyron96@yahoo.com - January 26, 2012 reply

One more fact#No Arena=No Kings#march 1

Most fans aren't going to be able to control their emotions as well as you do.

One thing that makes it easier for me, is the knowledge that only 3 players on the Nuggets have been on the team since before 2010. 2010 That means that they have learned to play as a team both offensively and defensively at a very high level, in a very short period of time.

Certainly, we don’t have a George Karl and haven’t really had a decent coach for a long time, but we seem to be in better hands now. I like the fact that we have a head coach that seems to know how to handle two dynamic guards. That gives me hope for Jimmer and Tyreke.

We already have some very good reserves who just happen to be starting, so add a starting 3 & 4 in the next year, and I’m certain the growth will be extraordinary.

HighTops - January 26, 2012 reply

I like the enthusiam, but I cannot get on board with everything said here

I agree that Cousins is a beast…he should be the center piece for the Kings, he has the most potential and skill.

I do not agree with the comments on IT and Jimmer though. They are coming along but the fact that they are getting so much playing time is a red flag and it shows how this team lacks talent. Put these two players on any middle of the pack/up and coming team in the NBA and try to convince me that they would be getting significant minutes, because I don’t see it happening. I love IT’s energy but he lacks the outside shot and size to be competitive and Jimmer’s defense and a lack of stength is going to be a liability everytime he is on the court.

Bringing in Salmons, Chuck, and Travis were underwhelming moves indicative of how GP doesn’t have the allure that he once did to make sound basketball decisions. I do not understand his love of the undersized power forwards (Kenny Thomas, Carl Landry and now Chuck Hayes).

On another note, I am glad that you enjoyed the first quarter, but if you are satisfied with just one quarter of competitive basketball then I am afraid that your standards and expectations are just too low.

I work in a commisioned base industry and if I gave up on my job I would be shown the door very quickly. I can understand if we don’t have the talent or the skill but the fact that we routinely get blow out and give up huge runs to the opposition say to me that this team is just not trying.

khoganso - January 27, 2012 reply

Good points.

Slam_Dunk - January 27, 2012 reply

You are assuming we are a middle of the pack team

I am not. I think we are a .300 to maybe .400 team

You miss my point entirely on the Denver first quarter. Did you seriously think I was saying I didn’t care about the game as a whole? I’m pretty sure I made it clear that is not the case. What I am pointing out is that if we have the lent to compete with a team like Denver for one quarter, we can gain the consistency. You, inexperienced tams play inconsistently. That’s just what they do. Where you see the team giving up, I see the team losing composure.

As far as Salmons and Outlaw, those obviously have not worked. I’m not even close to throwing Hayes under the guys with those two slugs. In fact I believe by the end of the season, he will be a fan favorite here.

I know we are not a middle of the pack team

You are missing my point. I am saying that the only reason they are getting the opportunity to play is because we are a bottom of the pack team. So, I don’t really care how they are progressing when we continue to lose games by 30 points. They are playing because they are the only option we have at the moment and that speaks volumes to the lack of ability to bring in actual talent.

And, you are missing my point regarding what I said about giving up. Do I think they are not hustling? No. What I am saying is they are giving up on the system. What I see is us coming out in the first quarter and running something that looks like an offense. There is passing, there is cutting, there is ball movement. Once a team gets a run on us…that diappears. I am saying that they give up on the system. They revert to playing one on one ball instead of passing and trusting teamates. They are taking 3 point shots with suffiecient time on the 24 clock. They are letting their man blow right by them on defense. The evidence is there, just look at the lack of assists. Pure chaotic hustle has worked against the Bucks and Pacers but on a nightly basis if we abandon the system and just rely on hustle we will continue to lose. I apologize if my previous statement was not clear but I did mean that we are not trying and not trusting in the offensive system.

Finally, I love Chuck’s heart, I love Chuck’s defense, and I do think he will be a fan favorite because of these two attributes. But John Brockman was a fan favorite too and just because someone is loved by the fans doesn’t mean they have the talent to take us where we want to go. Chuck was a great pickup, but he is too undersized and lacks offensive ability to be a starting power forward. He should be coming off the bench.

khoganso - January 27, 2012 reply

I guess my point is that

Since we are a crappy team, and have been for a while, it’s nice to see that IT and Jimmer are coming along well. It would suck even worse to be a crappy team and having all of our rookies sucking right along with us. Hopefully by the time we get to an easier part of the schedule, the rooks and the rest of the team will be playing well together.

Are you talking about Reke?

MT I think(?)

Yep

Sorry should have been clearer. I am frustrated with Evans, but I am confident MT will come back around.

Love MT

No, he’s not the problem.

Got it. MT will start hitting his shots, but he is too selfish. Unless he plays the Vinnie Johnson roll.

Last year, when MT arrived, they needed him to jack it up and score. Reke was injured/off. It’s obvious now why NO gave up on MT, even though he looked awesome (from afar) after his rookie year. He’s all one on one. Kings have a few more scorers this year, and MT just sucks up possessions. Kills ball movement. I hope, somehow, you are correct about MT.

Use

The reply button so we can tell what comment you are responding to. To be honest, I don’t mind a 2 guard who is a little selfish. It shows me he wants to score. My biggest issue with Jimmer early this season was that he was not taking the shots he should have. If Thornton was averaging 20+ points a game this year, like he was last year, nobody would be complaining about him being a ball hog. And honestly 3.5 assists per game is not point guard numbers, but it’s decent. Finally, ball hog playing comes back to coaching. I fully anticipate that Smart is going to tell players what he wants from them and hold them to it. I’m already seeing some changes in Donte since Smart took over.

20+ pts from Thornton on 19 shots is no different than having Reke dominate the ball.

More than anything else, the Kings need to play like a team and take high percentage shots. That isn’t Marcus’ game. He has more sub 40% FG games than Plus 40. It’s that inconsistency and dominating style that hurts this teams development.

I see him coming off the bench with the coach saying protect the lead, where he isn’t under pressure to score 20. Or being told we need him to score to get back in the game. But, in the end of the 4th quarter, I want 5 players working to get the best shot on every possession. We lose too many games because we scored in single digits in the final 6 minutes of the 4th.

I’m not sure Smart is doing much of anything different with Donte since he’s still willing to put up a 3 anytime he catches the ball. It’s Smarts decision to play Donte at the 4 that has had the biggest impact on his game. It’s allowing him to rebound around the basket and get into the paint with his limited ball handling skills. But, Smarts efforts to get the whole team passing and running the fast break has increase Donte’s FG% and value.

I like him off the bench too

Instant offense. Can shoot more freely. If he is on, can finish games. Hopefully he becomes a slightly better passer. Would love to see him BoJax type role. Think that is what he is built for. Had to start to begin the year due to lack of options. Could see Jimmer and him switching roles by this time next season.

And MT is not the problem, he is an example of the overall problem with the Kings.

A bunch of pieces acquired that don’t fit, or flat out stink.

Yeah but every team needs a shooting guard who's good enough to be a little bit of a chucker

I see MT pick up a couple nice assists a game. He’s young, I like his motor . . .

And if he were more consistent in his FG% he'd fit fine, but he's not

he’s had 2 game where he shot below 30% and was still chucking them up. He’s shot below 40% in over half of his games. Maybe the injury hurt him more than he let out, but it’s still his responsibility to know he’s not in top shape and throttle back.

On the bright side we now have a Head Coach who knows guards, and 3 of our top 4 talents are guards.

U agree for this season

But I’m looking at what he did for us in 27 games last season, averaging over 45% and being the main offensive threat for many of those games. Today’s MT I don’t like. Last year’s MT, I do. I am confident he will get back.

Last years MT doesn't help this team become a playoff team.

at least not as a starter. Yes, without Tyreke, Thornton filled a need. But, Tyreke is back so Thornton needs to take a back seat and be more selective in his shot selection. Thornton only does one thing better than Tyreke and that is take the 3pt shot. And, if he were the main scorer coming off the bench or our 3pt specialist with the starters, I’d be fine with that.

Thornton was the offense in last seasons 27 games, but this season he’s the #3 threat behind Tyreke and Cuz. And, the sooner he excepts that role the better this team will be. It’s time he stops trying to be the #1 threat and becomes less selfish.

True

MT fits. He fits perfect.

As a 6th man. I always look at MT as a Jamal Crawford type. Jamal Crawford had his best year as a 6th man. Maybe not his best numbers but his best year as in the way he helped his team win.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Guys, has anybody thought that they just maybe tired?

I mean, the schedule are ridiculous, and it affects all the players. Ever wondered a basketball team without much practice time, its like practicing on a real game and thats what we are seeing right now. Nobody should be blamed for this but the League itself. Rest is needed and practice time is important “And I Do Mean Practice” Yes I’m talking about practice MR.Iverson.

Had that same feeling

when Orlando scored 56 against a Rondoless and Allenless Celtics.

ThomasGQ - January 26, 2012 reply

Somewhat agree

The kings are definitely at a disadvantage in a grueling season. Many players are new, new coach, no defined roles. All this is bad, but it also makes for being very inefficient, mentally and physically. And the last thing you want to be in a tough compressed season is inefficient.

coltsfan37 - January 26, 2012 reply

At this point, I would take Iverson

He wouldn’t help our future at all, but at least it would give me a reason to watch these blowouts. No time for practice? Iverson will show us the way.

Tired not an excuse. Every other team has the same situation and most are doing fine.

This team is young, and when you have a young team they still haven't figure out how to

take care of their bodies, and if you are tired you do not perform to the best of your abilities, right?

You have a future in Public Relations, young man.

I hope that is snark.

Don’t know how to take care if their bodies? This is the nba. If you’re a professional athletes and you can’t take care of yourself, you’re a moron.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

Excuse typos.

Autocorrect.

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

so, do you have a clue on why are they performing poorly?

and why are they playing sluggish last night? You tell me.

I don't

But neither do you, do don’t presume to know as such. As an athlete, which I DO know, and as a former collegiate athlete, a HUGE emphasis is placed on taking care of yourself. Taking care of your body so that you can perform at peak efficiency.

“You build a Volkswagon, you drive a Volkswagon. You build a Porsche, drive a Porsche”.

Basic tenets of sports. And if you’re a professional, getting paid millions, you better damn know those principles.

Surely you remember being 21

Imagine you’re a 21 year old sports star millionaire. Every 21 year old is a moron, money and fame will make most 21 year olds bigger morons.

coltsfan37 - January 26, 2012 reply

Actually I don't remember being 21, it was a heck of a year. Toga! Toga! Toga!

Toga Toga!

Good times but I probably needed a vet to kick my ass – Toga! Petrie, come on man . . . Toga! Petrie we’re good! Toga!

Or, were you being sarcastic???

The Crown Royal Gentleman - January 26, 2012 reply

No I wasn't.

Of course, I didn’t type anything to begin with. But that nothing that I did type (how to type “nothing,” I don’t know) wasn’t sarcastic.

Sorry. It seems I suffered from reply fail. Must have not hit reply....

The ammont of Reke-Scapegoating here is making me sick.

yep! unbelievable.

seems like sac fans would let him go just to see him become a better player elsewhere

jadams12 - January 26, 2012 reply

Would it really matter if we could get a PG of near equal value?

Unless he can find his inner Jason Kidd, I don’t see him having a bright future on this team as currently constructed. If we could get a real PG to run our team, then I think our PG would benefit from our weapons and Tyreke may end up on a team where he can just score.

I’m not saying dump Tyreke for anyone, but I wouldn’t hold on to him because he may be better somewhere else. Just don’t dump him for no one like we did with Hawes; trade with purpose for a player that is in our future. If we dumped Tyreke like we did Hawes, I would probably have to jump off the Tower bridge.

I find it comical

Tyreke is still the best player on this team, therefore he gets the blame by the sheeples. I like that he “hasn’t improved”, sorry, you’re either blind or just ignorant. Tyreke has improved his game and is becoming a pretty good ball distributor. Tyreke is one of the few players on the team, that when his shot isn’t going in, can contribute elsewhere on the floor, which wasn’t the case in his earlier years.

I think the problem is people are holding Tyreke to some absurd expectation levels. He started off so dominate people for some reason think he’s the next Lebron James and now that he is showing that, sorry, he isn’t Lebron, they want his head.

Tyreke is the last player on the team I’m worried about.

Well, I'm a notorious Evans backer

But it would be hard for me to say “I’m not worried about him” with a straight face.

Many seem to have forgotten just how dominant he was at times during his rookie season. It’s hard for me to believe that player is gone, and never to return.

However, I think some of the complaints of his play are merited. Why hasn’t he improved his left hand? Will he ever seem to become really engaged with his team or what’s happening around him? Will he start making his jump shot? Will he start giving effort at all times on the court?

Obviously, the secondary question is whether he’ll be able to rectify these issues while with such a dysfunctional franchise.

Ultimately, I think he can become a great player, but it might not be in Sacramento. The fact that his coaches to this point haven’t figured out how to harness that talent for the betterment of the team isn’t surprising, considering who’s been running the show the last few seasons.

Teams didn't build their offense around Tyreke his rookie season

They have now. They have essentially said, Tyreke is not going to score and someone else is going to have to beat us. The problem is, we don’t have anyone else that can dominate like Evans can. Cousins has shown signs of it, but isn’t consistent enough for other teams to worry about it. Not to mention we lack consistency of even being able to get it Cousins in a spot he can dominate.

I think Evans ball movement has improved under Smart, the whole team has. I like what Smart has said about Evans and I think(hope?) it will continue to translate on to the court. Evans shot I think will eventually come around, he is now releasing from the same spot every shot and is shooting a little(barely) more straight up and down on most shots

We don't even have anyone that can consistently hit the open shot that Evans creates for them.

Which makes it so they can continue to collapse on Evans. He will at times have 3 defenders on him, he’ll dish to one of our wings and they’ll clank the jumper. Until the outside starts hitting those shots consistently, the defense will continue to cut off Tyreke and it will be impossible for him to get to the rim.

No, I agree with much of what you say

I’m just saying that I still do worry about him and his development.

In my defense

I did say he was the last player that I worry about. Not that I don’t worry. As in, I have more faith he will develop, than say a Marcus Thornton or Cousins(maturity, I know he’ll develop skill wise).

Yep, I think we're in the same place HL

Marcus Thorton

He is exactly who most thought he would be. His issue is that he should be a 6th man, but we don’t have anyone good enough to start over him. I think more people would like Thorton if his job was just to come in off the bench and score at will.

This

I agree

The Kings have too many guards and not enough bigs. They play lousy defense, are a terrible passing team, and don’t move the ball or look for one another well. They need to make some tough decisions. If they’re going to keep Jimmer give him the ball, make him the PG, let him go through his growing pains and hope to get Steve Nash. Otherwise if you can’t live with his defense and learning curve at PG then trade him. We can’t keep both Thornton and Evans, there are not enough basketballs. Both are talented but flawed badly. Thornton’s a gunner and looks for nobody, Tyreke thinks he can beat the other team by himself. Cousins is talented but immature. Tough tough decisions but for now you are all correct, this team stinks. I’m from NY and a Jimmer fan, he’s from my hometown so I’m slanted in my comments about him. Glad I’m a Giants and Yankee fan I don’t think I could stand to be a Kings fan. I do give Kings fans credit, they seem incredibly loyal and supportive of their team no matter how bad they are.

bankers hours - January 26, 2012 reply

So...

You’re a jimmer fan, but not a kings fan… Why are you on a board with kings fans again?

HarveySpecter - January 26, 2012 via Android app reply

So he can tell us the kings suck

And the only way their going to get better is to trade Tyreke or Thorton, and pin all our hopes that Jimmer turns into Steve Nash.

Actually that's a great take

“Tyreke thinks he can beat the other team by himself” points to something he’s gonna have to overcome. But most of us were still figuring it out in our early twenties . . . for the love of God bring in a vet! NOW! Not next year not in 2020 NOW ! ! !

I thought he made some good points....can't believe how insecure u guys appear

He said too many guards….. Correct
Jimmer may not be Nashlike …. Let’s find out…. If lack of defense + progress is too slow trade him
Thorton/Reke not enough basketballs…..true
But blasting the guy for saying he’s from jimmers town + not aKings fan
Sounds like you have inferiority complex

Pdidd - January 26, 2012 reply

No...

I just asked a simple question. No blasting, simply asking why he’s frequenting a forum of Kings fans, if you read his statement. Trust me, the “insecurity” argument is one of unintelligent people, or trolls.

I think he was responding more to where Crocoduck took it

Ohhhh.

Well, my mistake if that’s the case.

I wouldn't say I was blasting the guy, but ok

Great idea though. Throw a rookie into the fire right away, and if he struggles on defense or progresses to slow just trade him.

Crocoduck - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

If Jimmer isn't Steve Nash, and progress 'too slow', trade him?

I can’t agree that this is a ‘good point’ unless ‘too slow’ means he shows no potential to contribute to an eventual playoff team. Wait… too late. He’s already shown enough in my eyes to be worth keeping. If he really fails to develop at all from this point (a virtual impossibility), he’s not going to be worth much in a trade anyway.We know he can hit threes, and that type of player can usually find a decent role, even off the bench. The Kings have the right to develop him slowly and not play him 35 minutes a game. Get over it.

Steevo - January 27, 2012 reply

Yet he says 'We' when referring to keeping MT and TE... Odd. And slightly annoying.

Steevo - January 27, 2012 reply

Boo this man

Giants suck

Get your Torches and pitchforks

Widowwolf - January 28, 2012 reply

Hoping for the best

As fans we just wanna get out of this rebuilding period. I can only be optimistic for this franchise’s future . I just want peace and tranquility for this team and that starts with W’s.

Exilen - January 26, 2012 reply

There may not be any easy answers to turn things around.

Places to begin:

1. Identify the holes we need to fill (PG, small forward)
2. Identify our weakest players to trade (Outlaw, Salmons)
3. Identify players to fill our needs
4. Look for potential replacements for FO
5. Other

1. Probably also C/PF

2. They aren’t tradeable (I think that’s literally true for Outlaw)
3. Agreed.
4. Probably true, but who’s better than Petrie & willing to come here?
5. Like new owners?

Regarding:

2. How about if your pair them with some moola?
4. I don’t know, but just putting that out there.
5. Well, sure new owners, that would be nice.

Moola might work for Salmons,

but it’d easier to amnesty him (unless the Magoofs are too cheap to do that). As for Outlaw, I believe any amnestied player that’s claimed can’t be traded, though I’m not sure about that.

What would be the advantage to amnesty a player, if you can trade him?

I just don't know if Salmons is tradable.

As I said it’d probably be easier to amnesty him. I don’t know if there’s a GM foolish enough (except maybe Kahn) to trade for him.

Petrie traded for Salmons

Therefore:
1) Fire Petrie.
2) Wait until he get hired somewhere else.
3) Offer him Salmons
4) Done deal

mrosado - January 26, 2012 reply

There are easy answers just not quick ones.

You need talent to trade for talent. Too many people including the Kings front office felt that all their cap space would bring in new talent. But, with the new CBA came exemptions, and amnesties, and delays in implementing changes. No one was forced into giving up talent for cap space to avoid Luxury tax penalties, so that’s what we ended up with instead of Talent. This is going to change.

But for now the only way we acquire talent with which to trade, is to develop the talent we have. So, the first thing isn’t to find our holes but to find the players we now have that have a higher ceiling than they are showing right now. Take those players and develop them, then decide which ones work well together and which ones can be traded for a player of need.

For all the complaints about GP and the FO, I think it wasn’t a coincidence that they fired most of the old assistants and brought in Smart and Jackson. Two coaches that know how to coach guards.

It is my true belief, that Jimmer, Tyreke, & Thornton will benefit greatly under the new coaching staff. DeMarcus, JJ, JT, Donte, and Honeycutt should all benefit from the coaching of Alex English. The rest are past their prime or are already at their ceiling. I expect big minutes from that core down the end of the season. And, as they develop, the team will improve and their values in trades will increase.

Agree completely

Don't really have much to say other than point out the obvious

At the beginning of this year, for a good 3 months, we had no idea if we were ever gonna see this team play again and if we were ever gonna see basketball in this town. I’m just happy they’re still here and I know not one loss or losing streak would hurt as much as this organization leaving town.

I won’t be able to use this excuse forever so I’ll use it while I can… probably until we get this new ESC done

edm7 - January 26, 2012 reply

With all the Tyreke bashing it's pretty obvious to me what his problem is

Tyreke misses Beno. He played his best basketball next to Beno. You trade away Martin because he didn’t fit with Tyreke & you replace him with a player EXACTLY LIKE MARTIN AND TRADE BENO AWAY.

Beno wasn’t my favorite player. I’m not even sad to see him gone but not replacing him was just another huge mistake made by GP. If Martin didn’t fit & Beno wasn’t good enough you should have told Houston to include Lowry or Brooks in the trade or no deal.

Martin was worth Lowry back then(when Lowry wasn’t as great as he is now) & he was definitely worth Brooks so WTF? Really? What the hell is this organization doing here? What are they trying to build? Stop blaming Tyreke & start blaming GP for not putting the right pieces together.

Trade Beno? Fine but you better get a back-court player that can play with your franchise guard or you’re just creating a mess. This is what we have, a big ass mess. It’s not any one player’s fault(no not even John Salmons or Travis Outlaw) this is the architect of the team’s fault, the owner’s fault, or both.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

We have a player exactly like Kevin Martin?

Where are we hiding him?

Aykis16 - January 26, 2012 reply

I think he means Kenyon

not the skills though,

I was going to ask that

Last I checked, K-Mart was doing things like scoring 27 by halftime at Houston. We don’t have anyone remotely like him right now.

A scoring 2 guard who really doesn't do anything else

I don’t know why I had to explain that

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Whoa I completely forgot about Aaron Brooks

He’s in China right now and when his season ends he’ll be a restricted free agent. The Suns have his rights, no way they match.

Geoff Petrie probably has February 15th circled with a big effing heart.

Trying to picture how Brooks & Batum would make this team look......

I mean

Brooks/Evans/Batum/Hayes/Cousins with IT/Jimmer/Thornton/JT off the bench could possibly run the Nuggets off the floor. That’s some speed.

We would have outside shooting for Cuz and Evans too. D at all positions.

Could use a shot blocker. And back court D would be atrocious outside of Evans (Brooks, Jimmer, Thornton)… yikes. But we would run.

Still, I would love to see us add a couple of more mature players to the mix. Batum is fine, but we need some leadership and BBall IQ here at some point. Can’t just keep adding youngsters can you?

Is that even a real possibility? With the lottery pick? $? Or just dreams/wishes?

BTW

Geoff Petrie probably has February 15th circled with a big effing heart.

This made me laugh my tail off.

BurningFeathers - January 26, 2012 reply

“Our good players aren’t good enough.”

“Can’t believe you said that. Clearly, our bad players are too terrible.”

You’re both right. Suck on that, straw men.

The Kings

are the youngest team and have one of the lowest payrolls in the league The FA we signed are not helping much; Hayes (has been hurt) and Salmons (is playing awful). We got screwed in the Omri deal….so yeah I kinda expect us to not win many games in the West. What I would do to have Omri back at SF…at least he played with heart. Salmons gets torched by every SF out there, so I am not sure why Omri was so bad on defense. At least Cousins and Jimmer have been fun to watch the last week.

F3RRi3R - January 26, 2012 reply

I meant Outlaw as the FA

Salmons was in the Beno trade, which we got screwed again.

F3RRi3R - January 26, 2012 reply

You mean we screwed ourselves. No one put a gun to Petrie's head to make that trade.

To be fair we don't know that. Would actually explain both moves.

VirginiaKingsFan - January 26, 2012 reply

BTW, Game 7 Kings v. T-Wolves in the 2004 Playoffs on NBA TV right now…

Burn an effigy of Anthony Peeler for me.

caseycheesecake - January 26, 2012 reply

…watched that game last night and forgot with Peeler out and BJax long since out, we gave Rodney Buford(!) some critical minutes in that game…

VirginiaKingsFan - January 27, 2012 reply

That's the one where Webber misses the 3 at the end right?

VirginiaKingsFan - January 27, 2012 reply

Yes. Also, Vlade’s last game in a Kings uniform. Just a mere 8 years ago that was the team that had the best record in the NBA before Weber was inserted back into the line-up returning from injury and things went south….

How do you feel about that?

I think he had to do it and hope for the best. We weren’t going to win it all with Miller/Vlade starting.

He had to punch KG

I wish I could see if we would have won if Peeler played

Maybe we can in Heaven.

Winning is fun, losing is a dismal existence.

I don’t have much to add to the wisdom of Aykis or SB or you others but I will add that there is a good deal of darkness and the light will shine again. Why? Because eventually for all teams it, it does.
Example: Is there a worse franchise than the Clippers? No, there is not. They lucked into Blake Griffin and have been smart and lucky enough to make other things happen, particularly, Chris Paul and Chauncy Billups. They acquired Caron Butler. Now, this year, finally, they have a team
The Wolves? Kevin Love is developing, they lucked into Rubio becoming a very nice looking rookie and that is because they lucked into Rick Adelman.
The Memphis Grizzlies? Rudy Gay by draft, Marc Gasol by lucky return on a trade, Z-Bo because they needed to add salary, Mike Conley is still developing but coming along nicely and they added some pieces and a solid but unspectacular coach in Hollins.

The point is that the NBA is cyclical and even a broken clock is right twice a day. The Kings will build up because they will acquire talent through the draft, through opportunity that works and because of time and cycles. IT won’t happen this year, it will start to accelerate next year and in two years, promise will start to appear. That is 6 seasons of sewage but it will happen, Maloofs or not. Deep Six-ing the Maloofs will help but it won’t be enough. The Kings need talent and talent takes luck and that luck is fast tracked with money and skill. The Kings don’t have money or skill in the FO, so you have to wait for luck to kick in.

Waiting takes patience and the Patience Preacher will tell you that it is going to take time. It ain’t easy, it’s Kings basketball. Let’s heed the words of edm7 – today, let’s big picture this mess and rejoice that as of today, The Kings are in Sacramento, and that is the brightest spot in sight (sorry DMC, you are the next brightest and you are a beast).

The other thing I will add

The way for the players to weather the cold and slush of losing is to be a family type of team. I don’t think Keith Smart can be said to be an instant success but he will keep these players together better than Coach Westphal and that means that the beastly DMC will not truly ask for a trade despite the losses.Growing together will build a winning team faster than shuffling the deck as often as the Assinine Trade Thread would like.

Group hug

One of my favorite stories

is Tom Tolbert (understandably) whining about playing for the Clips – even Sterling is rewarded every decade or two – the KIngs are due! ! ! Look out world! ! !

Wait, wasn't everything Westphal's fault?

Isn’t everything lollipops and handjobs now that the bad man is gone? I can’t believe that so many people got me to believe that t firing Westphal would solve our biggest problems.

Youth? Lack of talent in comparison to other NBA teams? A GM quite possibly past his prime? A GM hamstrung by penny-pinching ownership, which in addition to being largely incompetent in business matters, would prefer to move to a suburban shithole like Anaheim?

Keith Smart has another two weeks, and then they need to put Alex English’s youngest child in charge.

Couldn't agree more

Keith Smart has another two weeks, and then they need to put Alex English’s youngest child in charge.

Let's start with Olde English first

import it from New Mexico

I always wondered what a $6,000 bottle of malt liquor looked like.

Westphal was "a" problem not "thee" problem

Everyone associated with this team not named Reke, Cuz, Jerry, Bobby, & possibly Smart are the problem. We need to clean house.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I don't know that I'd absolutely exempt Evans and Cousins from any blame.

Evans has problems, and so does Cousins. If they were already the players we expect them to be, the team would play a lot like the one we hope they’ll be.

I don't

Just like I don’t think Deron Williams is completely without blame for how terrible Jersey is, but you can’t throw 1 or 2 good(but not great yet) players out there with a band of scrubs & expect them to shit out a winner. It just doesn’t work that way.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I guess the key is, I wasn't one of the crazy dreamers that expected that to happen.

It’s a team of less-than-average talent, owned by inept cheapskates. That ain’t a recipe for success.

PW wasted 2yrs not develping his young players or any resemblance of team play

So, now we’re only giving Smart 3 weeks to do what Westphal couldn’t accomplish in years.

There is youth, and maybe a poor mix of complimentary talent, but there is talent. All we have to do is develop it and mold them into a team. Even good player doesn’t come into the NBA, and turn it upside down. Well, maybe a couple every decade.

Our players have talent. They just need to be taught how to use it properly. Something no one ever accused Westphal of being able to do. Especially if they saw any of the Pepperdine teams he coached.

I can’t believe that so many people got me to believe that t firing Westphal would solve our biggest problems.

Clearly, you read what you wanted to read.

Yep

This

PW was a big problem. Don’t recall people saying he was the only problem and the team would be fixed with 5-6 practices.

I don't think Kings have had 5-6 full practices yet with Smart, so the jury is still out lol

Problem is, Kings have to practice in real game situations

Wonderchild - January 27, 2012 reply

Agree.

Kind of goes back to SB’s fan post though. Games have been so difficult, it makes instilling new concepts harder.

Kind of like learning a new video game. If you take someone fairly new to Madden, teach them concepts and then put the game on All Madden, they are just going to get crushed and frustrated. It’s easier to see progress and get some momentum on Pro and then turn the levels up.

So far Smart’s had 1 Rookie-level game (Raptors), 2 Pro games (Wolves, Bucks) and a bunch of All Pro and All Madden games.

I think this is part of why games get out of hand. We start with the concepts and have had some pretty good first quarters, but as soon as the other team starts pulling away, you can see the Kings panic and fall back on bad habits and devolve into chaos.

Rec'd for the Madden reference

Clearly

I’m going to be rich when I invent a sarcasm font.

andy sims - January 27, 2012 reply

Clearly, I realized it was sarcasm

Thus, my response.

Arial Sarcasm

Slam_Dunk - January 27, 2012 reply

I think

We would be foolish to trade Evans. He’s not shooting well, and hasn’t most of his NBA career, but hes starting to distribute more, and growing into to his role.

We need to build around our core (Evans, DMC, possibly MT and who knows, end of season maybe JIMMer, IT etc).

If we keep trading away good skilled players like Evans, 2 things will happen. They will torch us on their new teams as we watch another player traded florish elswhere (Martin, Gerald Wallace, Artest or whatever his name is these days, Hedo etc), in a system that does work for them, and we will undercut ourselves to trade them off (trade them for peanuts). 2nd thing would be, we will still be stuck in the same hole, rebuilding, getting nowhere, complaining about everyone and everything Kings related, with no clear vision.

I think it’s essential to keep our core and find pieces that match them, and to give our core clear roles.

Slikk_J - January 26, 2012 reply

I agree

But if you can trade him for someone who is as good and compliments this team better i think you pull the trigger. That does not mean trade him for decent role players. But I’m fine with keeping him and finding other ways to fill this teams needs. but the organization sucks so who knows if that will ever happen

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

+1

I don’t want to see them give Tyreke away, but if it brought someone back like Paul Milsap I’d be all for it. Problem is GP would probably trade him for Lamar Odom or something

Not exactly sure how Milsap fits the team better

He’s a better player today. But a Evans for Milsap swap would leave us with a Jimmer/Thornton/IT back court. And would give us Cousins, Hayes, JT, JJ, Milsap in the front court.

That’s a big imbalance. Don’t get me wrong a Cuz-Milsap front court would be nice, but I guess I am missing how the trade rounds out our roster.

Agree

I proposed a trade in the Assinine thread It was Reke/Salmons/JT/ for Millsap/Harris/Alec Burks draft pick. They have GSs top 7 protected and their own this yr. I think its fair and works for both teams. Millsap is a STUD but I don’t trust just Jimmer and Isaiah at pg yet.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I'd rather roll the dice with Evans- Cuz for now

Depending on how the season plays out and who we land in the draft, it could be revisited.

This.

Slam_Dunk - January 27, 2012 reply

Well if that trade happend

It would have to be followed with a couple other trades and hopefully the signing of at least 1 RFA this year that played a wing.

Same could happen with younger Evans

Screw you and your good points!

elSAVinator - January 27, 2012 reply

you made me

Reeeaaalllyy want Millsap now. Thanks

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Why would we trade Tyreke for a player that fits this team better

When this team sucks ass? I just don’t get it. How about trading away this team full of scrubs for players that fit with Tyreke & Cuz? Doesn’t that make more sense?

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

read your first sentence homie

we would trade for a player that fits better- because he fits better.

Then what?

Then you have a scrub team that “fits”. We had that a few years ago. They won 17 games.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

haha

You’re right about that… I don’t know what to do, Cuz is the only player on this team that should not be on the block. With that said Reke is the only other player who actually has good value on this team, so if they were to capitalize on a trade he would have to go. I’m not calling for his departure from this team but its just something to consider if you’re getting back very good value. This rebuilding effort can drag another 5 years if we were to scrap the team and build around Reke and Cuz,

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I think

Petrie prolonged the rebuilding effort enough already with the Outlaw and Salmons pickups. IDIOT move…that’s 11 mil tied up for at least 3 more years in 3rd string players.. who don’t FIT.

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Everyone has a price

My point is we will not get equal talent for Tyreke so why would we look to get rid of him? If we could get everyone’s dream PG then fine, but that’s not going to happen. You don’t trade a possible franchise guard(whatever guard he may be) for a journeyman player just because it might make your scrubs look slightly better than they really are.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Millsap is the prize in that deal, that man is as much of a star as Tyreke is

Harris might be a decent pickup, Alec Burks is a nice rookie with good potential, an extra draft pick in this loaded draft along with ours is great value.. I like Tyreke but I don’t think he becomes a franchise guard, if you do then I hope your right. I just don’t see how you don’t think that is great value for Reke and scrubs

Chent - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

I love Milsap

I just think with Utah’s glut of big men he could be had for cheaper than Tyreke. Maybe I’m wrong I don’t know

Allbenji - January 27, 2012 via mobile reply

OK

Now I understand what you mean, that makes sense. They would probably try to sell high with him though with the way he’s playing. But yea if I was Geoff I would make a move fast for a vet pg that doesn’t involve Cousins, Reke, Jimmer. If he doesn’t this team is going to continue to look bad because there’s no direction on the court, and fans are going to continue to think Evans isn’t capable of being a lead guard.

Chent - January 27, 2012 via mobile reply

Damn

I just looked up Millsap’s stats for this year, he’s beastin it right now. See we should have tried to get him before the season but we have broke ass owners.

Allbenji - January 27, 2012 via mobile reply

what core

we need a pg- sf- and some interior D. I dont know what the shit petrie is doing. He has to be watching this. This is not working, we are losing by 20-30 points 75% of the time. I truly believes he has no plan. The problem is we can’t amnesty salmons or garcia for financial reasons. At least Garcia will be a valuable trade chip in the offseason. Next year is the final year of his contract. I dont know, we don’t have alot of trade chips really. DMC should be untouchable imo. Tyreke is probably our best assest as far as trades go. If someone was willing to take on salmons contract we would have to include tyreke, but we would need a pg in return, and there just aren’t many of them available. in other words were FUCKED

How about trading

Hickson or Thompson

to Atlanta for

Kirk Hinrich

Al Horford is likely to miss the rest of the season

Jimmered. - January 26, 2012 reply

I wouldn't mind taking on Hinrich's partial year salary for a conditional second rounder

I do think hit veteran presence could help, but I wouldn’t want to give up JT or JJ to get him.

JT is playing really well.

And too early to give up on JJ. Don’t think he’s a sunk cost. Wouldn’t want to lose him just to rent Hinrich for 1/2 a year.

hinrich is a good defender also.

Tyreke and Thornton dont work that well in the backcourt together. They are both the same type of player. score first pass second. Although tyreke has been trying a little harder latelty to be a dustributor, so i applaud him for that.

how many years has jj and jt been in the league

4 years I think, they are what they are. They are role players. they are not mysteriously going to become all stars. In my opinion jt is better.

Ok, Hinrich is an old deteriorating player who will be gone after the season

You don’t trade a 25 year old rotation player or 23 year old with potential for that. Now for 25 year old Hinrich would be a different story.

lonelykingsfaninPH - January 26, 2012 reply

last night I was thinking of Kings trading Evans for John Wall. Maybe I was impatient but this team badly needs a PG.

i wish

washington wouldn’t do that. We probably have to throw in a 1st rounder

Yuck

no, Washington would probably require we take Blatche

No thank you.

Wonderchild - January 27, 2012 reply

Having a "true" PG like Wall has certainly been beneficial for Washington right?

VirginiaKingsFan - January 27, 2012 reply

One of the interesting stat lines of the early season – John Wall 0-8 from three-point range – for the entire season.

You guys are looking through a pile of keys for a lock that can't be opened

I dunno if I'm the only one thats noticed...

Both Jimmer and Isiah are older than Tyreke Evans, yet so many of you ( not majority but its still disgusting the amount) want to give up on Evans.. We have 2 future franchise players both barely 22 and 21. Take after the timberwolves and trust your young players to learn improve and RESIGN!!!

Simple take

But brilliant. Well done.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Thanks

I feel like im crazy for thinking his yourh has something to do with his struggles

And people say it's his 3rd year

But it’s his 3rd year under a crap organization. Could you imagine if Tyreke had been drafted by an organization like the Spurs? We would all be talking about how we wished we had a player like him.

Allbenji - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Completely agree

And We HAVE a player like him. plantar fasciitis has practically ended antonio gates dominance over all TE in the NFL. Its not safe to say tyreke has a serious second year, and this shortened season is a joke only the Thunder and Heat look like serious contenders

I have noticed!

It’s hard to watch this team suck with the tightened up turbo season we are watching, but I have thought this myself: This core is WAY young – but they wont be forever! They are getting good, disciplined advice now (thanks Coach Smart) and trying to BE a TEAM for the first time – as opposed to being just some players on the floor.

Obviously some of our players are bad or poor fits here now that Westphal is gone. But just as obviously (to me at least) is that Evans is JUST LATELY starting to try and really learn the point guard position! He is developing sight-lines, seeing the court, driving then dishing, and keeping his ongoing experiments with an outside shot to a reasonable quantity. Jimmer has been in the NBA for about 12 seconds of an unstable whirlwind first season but he will get his feet and his rhythm that is starting to show just a little now…

This will take more time people. But the core WILL be good under this coach within 2 years is my guess. This whole weird season is just a crazy long training camp for these kids! Next year (if they keep the core 3 together) the game will have slowed a lot for them and the season will seem easy after this one, especially for Fredette.

ideazero - January 26, 2012 reply

Thank you!

I havent given up on Thornton yet either for the best reason, the man is CLUTCH! Agree with the crazy long training camp bit. Our loses look bad but its because they are trying to learn to play NBA basketball against teams that already know how

I like MT23

as a bench spark. He IS clutch – and he would still get end game minutes for sure. But he doesn’t pass well or often, sadly – I just think is is a better role for him on this team.

Yeah we are a college team almost this year. I am just looking for team cohesion to form both strategically and emotionally as they plow through this crazy season. There isn’t enough experience to expect consistency! But there is enough WILL and DESIRE to keep coming back to try again to do it right on another night. That’s all I can ask of the players right now. Oh, and hit a few shots would be nice – y’know, for the fans, during this learning process ;)

ideazero - January 26, 2012 reply

We'll find the role thats best for MT23 soon enough.

Just hope its by the end of the season, got my tickets to the last home game of the year against the Fakers!!

lonelykingsfaninPH - January 27, 2012 reply

How about Derrick Rose?

Tyreke might be the best closer we've had

While I reluctantly agree that Tyreke=NaPG, I still think that he’s the best that we’ve had when it comes to giving the ball to someone at the end of the game when we need a basket or a foul.

jblanken_coyote - January 27, 2012 reply

You must've checked his ID.

Shizzo - January 30, 2012 reply

Terrible losses, hard schedule. Still only one game behind 50% team

The King’s schedule has been very hard, but that does not excuse these terrible blow out losses. Still, a 50% team would now be about 7 and 12 playing the King’s schedule. If the Kings win two games in a row they will have a record equal to that of a 50% team.
Let’s hope Jimmer keeps improving his shooting, or Hayes is a plus as a big man or Tyreke begins to shoot well.
Above all, let’s give Keith Smart a chance.

Carlji - January 26, 2012 reply

What is this 50% you speak of?

I think you need to check your math.

rmgordon4 - January 26, 2012 reply

I believe Carlji is talking about the median record, not the mean.

Wonderchild - January 27, 2012 reply

We're a half game behind having half as many wins as losses.

That makes us a half game behind 33% not 50%.

In an 82 game season, we’d be on pace for 26 wins.

That said I agree we’ve had a rough schedule. I don’t know how much value people place on these stats, but here’s ESPN’s Relative Percent Index and Strength of Schedule stats.

According to those, the Kings have the fifth toughest schedule in the league so far and should be 2-17 (0.111) right now. They should have the worst record in the league right now, but somehow they have four wins that they shouldn’t have. Also they’re tied for the most games played (tied with a lot of other teams) after playing 37% of those games under a different coach without a whole lot of time for the new coach to put a huge stamp on the team. 11 games on the road compared to 8 at home so they’ve spent a lot of that time that could have gone towards practice on traveling. Small sample sizes, I know, but I don’t think there’s any denying that the Kings have had a brutal schedule to start the season.

We have wins against the 12-7 Spurs, the 12-5 Pacers, and the 11-8 Lakers. As awful as the team seems to be in all these blowouts we’ve been racking up, they’ve managed to show a few times that they’re not an awful team. They just play awful sometimes. More often than not. I guess some people don’t believe there’s a difference, but I do believe this team is better than they’ve been showing. I think they’re going to get a chance to show that more when they get some rest and some practice and some more home games (and maybe some of those sub 0.500 Eastern Conference teams).

Make no mistake, I’m not saying we’re a good team, but I think this team is going to improve over the course of this season. And I don’t think that’s optimism as much as it is patience.

jveezy - January 27, 2012 reply

Oh jveezy, Thank you!!!

Hey HarveySpecter, I hope youre reading this. Same as im pointing out earlier.

KINGKENJI - January 27, 2012 reply

on NBA 2k12 theres a reason that tyrekes overall rating jumps by 4 when you turn him into a shooting guard from a point guard and by 6 when he becomes a small forward. In highschool/college playing the point was okay for him but he has EVOLVED not this year but last year and should have been the SG,.but because of thornton we force him to play the point. We need tyreke at the 2. if we’re going to be trading anyone it shouldn’t be tyreke or cousins.

CousinsEvansDUO - January 26, 2012 reply

Smartass comment down below

meant to go here

on NBA 2k12 theres a reason that tyrekes overall rating jumps by 4 when you turn him into a shooting guard from a point guard and by 6 when he becomes a small forward.

Yes, and the reason is that, according to the development team that created the video game, the overall rating formulas are position specific, weighting attributes that are more relevant for that type of player. For example, passing and speed are weighted more for point guards, where rebounding and shot blocking are factored heavily for centers.

So yeah, it’s because of software decisions made in the production of a video game for children.

Now if only we can get Tyreke to practice his passing in 2 on 2 drills maybe we can bump up his passing by 2 points … it’s all starting to make sense.

On a side note

the last 3 weeks, it sure appears like Tyreke has been working on his 2 on 2 passing drills.

chenp22 - January 27, 2012 reply

Tyreke needs to turn off "autosave"

so he can restart and get nothing but GOLD when he practices.

Do you guys remember

When heartbreak for Kings Fans meant being knocked out of the playoffs?

No.

Rickyflip - January 27, 2012 reply

What are these playoffs you sepak of?

Aykis16 - January 27, 2012 reply

by the way

shocked you didn’t pick up gooden yesterday in our fantasy league

I considered a few options

Including bringing Favors back. Instead I went with Ed Davis, who will also see extensive playing time with Bargnani out indefinitely. Plus he’s a PF/C so I get two positions. Gooden’s more of a scorer and I don’t need points (which I wasn’t getting many from Bogut anyway)

Aykis16 - January 27, 2012 reply

You just said you don't need points so neither here nor there

but Kleiza is going to be racking up some impressive 3s and point totals. There are a ton of options right now actually.

Speaking of

Any players you recommend that are more likely to be in FA that produce decent stats in steals/blocks/3s at the moment? I need to gain ground in my league in those categories, since I’m sitting in second and have a lot of points.

HarveySpecter - January 27, 2012 reply

need to kind mention who is a free agent in your league or post a link

and doubt there is anyone out there for all 3 of those (Paul George though if you are lucky and need one player who can contribute on all of those)

wallywagon11 - January 28, 2012 reply

Stupid Denver Nuggets

Also, someone needs to figure out what the f**k is wrong with Salmons.

Some thoughts:

1. Jimmer and IT and any rookie have it rough this season with the lockout, pretty much no preseason then these guys in particular trying to learn a system then having their coach fired and having to learn another one. That’s on top of the NBA life, having to find a house, living on their own for the first time, etc, etc.
2. Need a true NBA starter quality SF.
3. For Evans, he is a slasher, not a jump shooter. In addition Cousins is a great low post option. The problem is teams pack the paint for lack of a consistent perimeter attack. Jimmer could help that if he keeps shooting well, and IT can hit the three but needs more consistency.

Skeptical Dawg - January 26, 2012 reply

1. Rubio seems to be doing just fine, though I’ll admit that he is the exception.

Carl - January 27, 2012 reply

Rubio was also a professional in a pretty darn good league

Time to bring in Whiteside

Play him 8-12 minutes per game for about 12 games. See how he plays among NBA big men. If he’s not ready still, send him back to Reno. If he is ready, reap the rewards.

Whiteside + Cousins could be the best defensive tandem in the NBA.

swooshrc - January 27, 2012 reply

Or

They could both foul out in the 1st quarter.

We may as well give Hassan some burn against NBA level opponents. It’s not like he’ll hurt our playoff chances, right?

Rickyflip - January 27, 2012 reply

Yes please

When we get blown out by 30, why not put in Whiteside to get the feel of the NBA game. Down 30 and allowing 92 points in the paint say to me that Whiteside is at least worth a try.

Maybe he hasn't earned the opportunity?

And the franchise doesn’t want to reward him for something he hasn’t earned?

Hard to say with this franchise, though. Not like they push the correct buttons very often these days.