Our Remaining Schedule, George Karl's History, And the Fate of Our Draft Pick

[Jerichoholic]

I think I've finally altered my opinion on this as well, as fun as the draft is and as much hope as it brings, it hasn't helped much, and the loss of ability to trade our pick I believe has greatly affected our chances to make quality trades. I know we can trade picks in later years, but teams really aren't looking for that, teams that trade for picks want them now. They don't want them later and they don't want to wait until draft day because trades can easily fall through and they need more planning. This obligation has to go away.

Also our team is a very delicate one, swings of winning and losing really affect them and morale is so important right now. They need to go into the offseason with the belief that they can go far next year, a few changes here and there and maybe they're a playoff team, they need to think that, they need to play for something. I think it would be a horrible thing if this team gets off to a bad start with Karl, morale could drop quickly and they could lose faith in Karl before the season even ends, just like they did with Corbin.

 

[IfAt1st]

I think you will find that George Karl is about as far from a company man as you are likely to hire. Perhaps a major reason why there was reluctance to hire him. He's his own company. he hasn't coached a team to a losing record in 2 decades. Doubt he intends to start now.

Wanna bet?

Nothing tangible - just a friendly wager.

I bet George Karl will play the company man through at least the end of the year.
He will be saying the right things, doing the right things (not every single roster minute exactly like the FO might want, but for the most part playing along).
Further, I wager the Kings will not have a .500 record in their remaining games.
Karl will wait until next year to be hyper-focused on winning. Demarcus put it the way I see it in the Grantland interview with Bill Simmons:
"The rest of this year is a head-start for next year."

 

[GQ_Gabriel]

I can finally say I agree with you.

I just want to see this team win some games. If it takes finally losing that draft pick in exchange for ending this season on a high note, I'll take it. And finally maybe can make appealing trade packages and continue building on that momentum.

I won't be disappointed by any means if we keep the pick, but at this point I'd rather lose it and get it over with.

This franchise should be desperate to lose the losing mentality that has plagued us for years now.

Losing is NEVER okay. Great franchises do not settle for losing, or settling for a draft pick, that way of thinking will pound you into mediocrity or worse and keep you there.

I

 

[sdballer]

This franchise should be desperate to lose the losing mentality that has plagued us for years now.

Losing is NEVER okay. Great franchises do not settle for losing, or settling for a draft pick, that way of thinking will pound you into mediocrity or worse and keep you there.

I

Not sure the franchises that went into full rebuild mode in order to get superstar draft picks would agree. There is absolutely a strategic reason/way to lose but we are past that point.

 

[Bricklayer]

This franchise should be desperate to lose the losing mentality that has plagued us for years now.

Losing is NEVER okay. Great franchises do not settle for losing, or settling for a draft pick, that way of thinking will pound you into mediocrity or worse and keep you there.

I

The reason its not on the table though is we already have our Duncan.

 

[kupman]

I was so over draft pick position many years ago. I spend zero time thinking about it. Even if we got a #1 pick, I would not celebrate because we would have no idea what it actually means.

 

[GQ_Gabriel]

Not sure the franchises that went into full rebuild mode in order to get superstar draft picks would agree. There is absolutely a strategic reason/way to lose but we are past that point.

That's exactly the point, there are strategic reasons to lose in certain cases. The Sacramento Kings do not fall into any of those cases. A draft pick, no matter how high (barring a Lebron James protigy), is not going to turn this team around. Acquiring better players, surrounding your core players with talent and a good bench will do that. We've now got a great coach in our hands, the new chapter starts here.

 

[One and Done]

I'd like to keep the pick. It's an asset. An asset that we don't necessarily need to use for a new player, but one that we can use in a trade. Outside of Rudy, DMC and Collison, we don't have much in terms of assets that other teams would want.

If the team could find a way to play well and keep the pick, I'm all for it.

 

[rainmaker]

We need as much positive momentum as possible as we've been a train wreck of late. Need to start building, need Rudy and Cuz to get that feeling of success and gain confidence in Karl, need to take advantage of this essentially being preparation for a playoff run next year, an extended training camp so to speak, need to get fan excitement back, need the players to start believing there's some hope with this organization going forward.

I expect roughly a .500 record from here on out, possible slightly above .500. Another factor is how many games we get on national tv next year will be largely dependent on how we do the rest of the season. Play well, play spoiler, get some attention for Karl and Boogie fitting together, it'll get attention and could be the difference between getting 2-3 games on ESPN/TNT or 5-7 games on TNT/ESPN. Success from here on out will also factor into free agency this summer and how attractive coming and playing for Karl and with Cuz could be.

Weigh that against another unknown in the draft and the losing required to keep the pick. F the pick. If we play out the stretch well that will set us up to acquire a key veteran or two which would help this team more. We need to make the playoffs next year, there are no excuses not to. It's playoffs or bust, not developing another rookie. Whether it's next weekend, next month, next Oct, all that matters from this point on is winning. Win, win, win. That's it. That's all anyone should be concerned with. BTW, the more Karl wins, the more Karl can put PDA in his place this summer.

 

[John Galt]

Wanna bet?

Nothing tangible - just a friendly wager.

I bet George Karl will play the company man through at least the end of the year.
He will be saying the right things, doing the right things (not every single roster minute exactly like the FO might want, but for the most part playing along).
Further, I wager the Kings will not have a .500 record in their remaining games.
Karl will wait until next year to be hyper-focused on winning. Demarcus put it the way I see it in the Grantland interview with Bill Simmons:
"The rest of this year is a head-start for next year."

I'll take that action. I bet 15 wins for Karl this year. Winner gets to assign the losers avatar for the entire off-season (no nudity or profanity - and it can change during TDOS. Winner emails avatar pic to loser - loser uploads it. Deal??

 

[hrdboild]

A draft pick, no matter how high (barring a Lebron James protigy), is not going to turn this team around.

Acquiring better players, surrounding your core players with talent and a good bench will do that.

Is that not the entire purpose of the draft?

If we play out the stretch well that will set us up to acquire a key veteran or two which would help this team more.

Who?! As much as the draft has become a broken record, so has this idea that we're somehow going to find an impact veteran who wants to play in Sacramento. The last (and only) time that happened was Vlade Divac signing with us 15 years ago. Everybody here thinks this roster needs more talent. Realistically, how are we going to make that happen? The class of players you can potentially acquire from other teams goes up about 3 levels if you have a top 10 pick you can throw into the mix and it goes up about 10 levels if it turns out to be a top 3 pick. Barring injuries, this is probably the last top 10 pick we'll ever have in the DeMarcus Cousins era. I think we should make it count.

 

[HndsmCelt]

I'll take that action. I bet 15 wins for Karl this year. Winner gets to assign the losers avatar for the entire off-season (no nudity or profanity - and it can change during TDOS. Winner emails avatar pic to loser - loser uploads it. Deal??

Dude take the bait.. I would love to see John Galt with a Karl Marx avatar Too bad I think he is right on this one...

 

[IfAt1st]

I'll take that action. I bet 15 wins for Karl this year. Winner gets to assign the losers avatar for the entire off-season

Thanks for the offer - but I'd prefer just a friendly wager - no in-your-face avatar shenanigans - just a test of our predictive capabilities.
And I'm waiting for Brickmaster to reply to the bet first.

 

[Kingster]

Even with an outstanding coach at the helm, playing .500 ball from now until end of the season is a huge hurdle. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy watching Karl work, regardless of whether they play .300 ball for the rest of the season, or .500. The #1 pick doesn't concern me nearly as much as laying Karl's foundation for next year.

 

[GQ_Gabriel]

Is that not the entire purpose of the draft?



Who?! As much as the draft has become a broken record, so has this idea that we're somehow going to find an impact veteran who wants to play in Sacramento. The last (and only) time that happened was Vlade Divac signing with us 15 years ago. Everybody here thinks this roster needs more talent. Realistically, how are we going to make that happen? The class of players you can potentially acquire from other teams goes up about 3 levels if you have a top 10 pick you can throw into the mix and it goes up about 10 levels if it turns out to be a top 3 pick. Barring injuries, this is probably the last top 10 pick we'll ever have in the DeMarcus Cousins era. I think we should make it count.

So let me ask you, do you think this franchise can afford to wait another x years for a POTENTIAL draft pick to pan out and make an impact? The support for this franchise will grow EXPONENTIALLY if we make WINNING NOW our priority as opposed to being satisfied with mediocrity or a good draft pick. Our goal is to have this team make the playoffs and compete on a consistent basis while playing in our brand new arena. Proven players in this league are going to help this team, and if you really believe the draft is our savior, ultimately that makes you accept losing and that's exactly the mentality we cannot have as an organization.

 

[Glenn]

So let me ask you, do you think this franchise can afford to wait another x years for a POTENTIAL draft pick to pan out and make an impact? The support for this franchise will grow EXPONENTIALLY if we make WINNING NOW our priority as opposed to being satisfied with mediocrity or a good draft pick. Our goal is to have this team make the playoffs and compete on a consistent basis while playing in our brand new arena. Proven players in this league are going to help this team, and if you really believe the draft is our savior, ultimately that makes you accept losing and that's exactly the mentality we cannot have as an organization.

Gee, I agree.

 

[NewArena]

im definitely tired of relying on the draft

 

[kingsboi]

I've voiced my opinion on how I want to have the draft pick this year and I still stand by it. We need talent and if they don't want to keep it...it's a valuable trade asset to have. It also depends how quickly the players pick up on what Karl wants to do and start playing team defense again hopefully...with all that said, I don't see the Kings winning more than 12 games the rest of the way.

 

[Glenn]

im definitely tired of relying on the draft

No crap!!!!!!!!

 

[IfAt1st]

im definitely tired of relying on the draft

Interesting how much of a consensus there is this year on not wanting to rely on the draft.
For years, I've been saying the Kings should be trading the pick for a seasoned reliable vet, and the consensus here was definitely to keep the pick and build through the draft, a la OKC.

Nice to see the majority of the board finally gets it - a few years too late...

 

[King Baller]

Somewhere out there is a good Vet who wants a job. Someone like Darren Collison who wants to play for the Kings. Someone who wants to play for Coach Karl. If PDA can hang onto the Starting 5 and Staukas then bring in a starting level SG and PF so the Kings can be eight deep that would be pretty cool.

 

[The Hammer]

Win.

Lose the pick.

Lins are a thing of the past as of when Karl was hired. Simple as that.

I think we beat the Lakers twice to end the season and seal the loss of the pick and we go out on a high note against our old rivals, and with optimism for the future. I think we win 16 of 30 remaining games. No way Karl is going to coach sub .500 ball with this group. Schedule schmedule. Team is unified now. Kings get hot. Basketball is back.

 

[GQ_Gabriel]

Win.

Lose the pick.

Lins are a thing of the past as of when Karl was hired. Simple as that.

I think we beat the Lakers twice to end the season and seal the loss of the pick and we go out on a high note against our old rivals, and with optimism for the future. I think we win 16 of 30 remaining games. No way Karl is going to coach sub .500 ball with this group. Schedule schmedule. Team is unified now. Kings get hot. Basketball is back.

I love it.

 

[Section 101]

4) our first round draft pick this year has a condition on it, we keep it if we have one of the 10 worst records in the league. the Chicago Bulls get it if our record is 11th worst or better.

Wrong, we lose the pick if the draft pick is 11 or higher. So even if we have the 10th worst record and someone behind us jumps up to top 3 then we lose the pick. Also, if we are 11 or higher we keep the pick if in the top 3.

 

[Bricklayer]

Wrong, we lose the pick if the draft pick is 11 or higher. So even if we have the 10th worst record and someone behind us jumps up to top 3 then we lose the pick. Also, if we are 11 or higher we keep the pick if in the top 3.

What's your source? Mine had it at #10 this year, but that's certainly not something I was sure of beforehand.

 

[Livinthedream]

I think we've learned from recent history that you can't rely on an "NBA ready now" guy. Or even a high pick with tons of upside. Cleveland gave away their top pick to win this year.

So if your goal is to win, then start winning now. If Karl gets this group of guys to play .500 ball after the disaster of a season they've had to this point, how is that a bad thing? It would prove again that there is talent to work with. It becomes about putting together the right type of role players. Players that you know what they are going to bring. Lottery picks aren't necessary for that. But would help is the ability to actually trade a 1st round pick for a vet. Something we can't do until we actually win some games.

 

[lawlman91]

What do you guys think about having the bench play a lot of minutes and developing them? The bench as a whole isn't that good right now, so by playing them, we simultaneously: 1) develop the bench, 2) increase our chances of getting the draft pick. Of course, the starters need their minutes; but its up to the coach to find a good balance.

 

[The Hammer]

I love it.

Thanks Pete.

 

[Spike]

What do you guys think about having the bench play a lot of minutes and developing them? The bench as a whole isn't that good right now, so by playing them, we simultaneously: 1) develop the bench, 2) increase our chances of getting the draft pick. Of course, the starters need their minutes; but its up to the coach to find a good balance.

Honestly, other than Nik and Ray, who really needs minutes to develop? Most players are vets who are what they are.

DWill is an ending contract - I'd be surprised if Karl gets much out of him. I'm predicting a return to the dog house. Not even going to qualify that with a "I hope I'm wrong".

He could get Sessions to not play like crap, but, overall, this bench is pretty bad.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

What's your source? Mine had it at #10 this year, but that's certainly not something I was sure of beforehand.

It wasn't the 10 (keep) 11 (lose) cutoff, he was correcting you on, but rather that the results of the lottery could affect draft pick position independent of record (to some extent). It was a very Capt.esque nit he was picking. (I would say Slimesque as well, but he's less interested in draft stuff so he wouldn't necessarily pick it.)