Kings and free agency - part 4
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i thought room exception is given after a team reached the salary cap. Since casspi signed before we reached the cap, I'd assume we used our cap space. That's why most assumed casspi would be one of the lasts to sign along with whoever gets vet minimum since I believe those can be sign after also. But I'm sure the capt or another can correct me if I'm wrong.
I wasn't sure if there was any technicality about a player signing a contract vs. the Kings processing that contract through the league. It just seems very odd that they would make a deal for the exact amount (to the very last dollar) as the Room Exception and not execute it that way.
If it does count against cap as of today, that's poor management of the cap on Vlade's part.
If it does count against cap as of today, that's poor management of the cap on Vlade's part.
Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
Free agent Josh Smith has reached agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell RealGM.
Free agent Josh Smith has reached agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell RealGM.
Clippers could be very, very good this year if Stephenson hits and Smith accepts his role. They need another decent big on a veteran minimum deal and they should be set.
PG - Paul/Stephenson/Rivers
SG - Reddick/Crawford/Wilcox
SF - Pierce/Johnson/Hamilton
PF - Griffin/Smith/Dawson
C - Jordan/Aldrich
I feel like a lot of people underrate Aldrich around here. He's a very solid 4th big off the bench. Griffin/Jordan/Smith/Aldrich has the potential to be one of the best frontcourts in this league. Package that with Paul, Reddick, Pierce, Stephenson, Crawford, & Johnson and you have a very deep team. Stephenson/Crawford/Johnson/Smith/Aldrich could be a hell of a bench (and the Clippers' bench play was their weakness last year).
The sad thing is that a lot of people are going to be putting this Clippers team up on a pedestal this year while people still wonder what Sacramento is doing. However, if you look closely, our teams might not be that far off.
Starters:
Paul vs. Rondo - Obviously Paul is better, but if Rondo returns to his Boston form, he'll be on a level very close to where Paul is. Both ultimately are very good passers and know how to run an effective offense.
Reddick vs. McLemore - Reddick is better right now, but I think McLemore has more potential as a defender and should hopefully take another step in the right direction this year as our 3 and D SG. Both Reddick and McLemore play that off-the-ball, floor spacer role.
Pierce vs. Gay - Gay is better, but both have always been considered scorers.
Griffin vs. Cousins - Cousins is better offensively and defensively but both play a similar role as a go-to scorer.
Jordan vs. Koufos - Jordan is better, but Koufos is underrated and should be a very good defensive center/rim protector similar to what Jordan does for his team.
Bench:
Stephenson vs. Collison - both have the ability of being sixth men. However, Stephenson's attitude and antics make him a question mark. Edge to Collison.
Crawford vs. Belinelli - Crawford is better but they play different roles on their team. Belinelli will still be a valuable piece off the bench.
Johnson vs. Casspi - Casspi is better, but Johnson is a better defender. Casspi's scoring, shooting, and energy make him a more attractive bench option.
Smith vs. Moreland - big swing to Smith, but Smith always has that question mark about willing to sacrifice for the team. On such a talented team like the Clippers, he will be fine. I still expect the Kings to bring in another PF so it's possible that this talent gap is closer by the end of FA.
Aldrich vs. Cauley-Stein - I'd have to tip my cap to Cauley-Stein. Cauley-Stein has the ability to be one of the best defenders in this league. It's not to say Aldrich isn't a good defender, but Cauley-Stein's physical tools defensive ability, and ability to run the floor should make him more effective than Aldrich.
We both have our question marks (Stephenson antics, Smith accepting role, Paul & Jordan relationship vs. Cousins & Karl relationship, Rondos antics, Cauley-Stein's readiness). I would say ours are bigger question marks, but we do seem to be in somewhat situations.
Bottom line, I'm looking forward to all 4 of these games this season (and maybe we can add 4 more wins to this match-up come playoff time).
PG - Paul/Stephenson/Rivers
SG - Reddick/Crawford/Wilcox
SF - Pierce/Johnson/Hamilton
PF - Griffin/Smith/Dawson
C - Jordan/Aldrich
I feel like a lot of people underrate Aldrich around here. He's a very solid 4th big off the bench. Griffin/Jordan/Smith/Aldrich has the potential to be one of the best frontcourts in this league. Package that with Paul, Reddick, Pierce, Stephenson, Crawford, & Johnson and you have a very deep team. Stephenson/Crawford/Johnson/Smith/Aldrich could be a hell of a bench (and the Clippers' bench play was their weakness last year).
The sad thing is that a lot of people are going to be putting this Clippers team up on a pedestal this year while people still wonder what Sacramento is doing. However, if you look closely, our teams might not be that far off.
Starters:
Paul vs. Rondo - Obviously Paul is better, but if Rondo returns to his Boston form, he'll be on a level very close to where Paul is. Both ultimately are very good passers and know how to run an effective offense.
Reddick vs. McLemore - Reddick is better right now, but I think McLemore has more potential as a defender and should hopefully take another step in the right direction this year as our 3 and D SG. Both Reddick and McLemore play that off-the-ball, floor spacer role.
Pierce vs. Gay - Gay is better, but both have always been considered scorers.
Griffin vs. Cousins - Cousins is better offensively and defensively but both play a similar role as a go-to scorer.
Jordan vs. Koufos - Jordan is better, but Koufos is underrated and should be a very good defensive center/rim protector similar to what Jordan does for his team.
Bench:
Stephenson vs. Collison - both have the ability of being sixth men. However, Stephenson's attitude and antics make him a question mark. Edge to Collison.
Crawford vs. Belinelli - Crawford is better but they play different roles on their team. Belinelli will still be a valuable piece off the bench.
Johnson vs. Casspi - Casspi is better, but Johnson is a better defender. Casspi's scoring, shooting, and energy make him a more attractive bench option.
Smith vs. Moreland - big swing to Smith, but Smith always has that question mark about willing to sacrifice for the team. On such a talented team like the Clippers, he will be fine. I still expect the Kings to bring in another PF so it's possible that this talent gap is closer by the end of FA.
Aldrich vs. Cauley-Stein - I'd have to tip my cap to Cauley-Stein. Cauley-Stein has the ability to be one of the best defenders in this league. It's not to say Aldrich isn't a good defender, but Cauley-Stein's physical tools defensive ability, and ability to run the floor should make him more effective than Aldrich.
We both have our question marks (Stephenson antics, Smith accepting role, Paul & Jordan relationship vs. Cousins & Karl relationship, Rondos antics, Cauley-Stein's readiness). I would say ours are bigger question marks, but we do seem to be in somewhat situations.
Bottom line, I'm looking forward to all 4 of these games this season (and maybe we can add 4 more wins to this match-up come playoff time).
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Aldrich was a guy I very much wanted to see the Kings sign. I think he's been underrated for quite a while now.
I think it's funny that the Kings keep getting lambasted by the national media for the Cousins/Karl drama and for bringing aboard Rondo when the Clips seem to get a free pass for gambling on Stephenson and Josh Smith, not to mention whatever issues exist between CP3 and DJ. That and counting on Paul Pierce for a full season at the end of his career.
Sacramento's gamble on Rondo is (IMO) a lot more acceptable for a team that has been in lottery purgatory for eons whereas the Clippers gamble is a lot riskier considering they were a championship contender last season.
I think it's funny that the Kings keep getting lambasted by the national media for the Cousins/Karl drama and for bringing aboard Rondo when the Clips seem to get a free pass for gambling on Stephenson and Josh Smith, not to mention whatever issues exist between CP3 and DJ. That and counting on Paul Pierce for a full season at the end of his career.
Sacramento's gamble on Rondo is (IMO) a lot more acceptable for a team that has been in lottery purgatory for eons whereas the Clippers gamble is a lot riskier considering they were a championship contender last season.
I think it's just the same stupid small-market bias. The Clippers have more fans than the Kings do, so the Kings get ripped more often, simply because it's safer for the national media people to do. Same reason these completely unfounded tweets get put out there. You aren't going to see Wojnarowski sling completely made-up dirt on the Clippers, I don't think.
Per @bobbymarks42 on twitter, the Kings would had 4.4 million left in cap space if they'd used used room MLE on Casspi. Now, Casspi's contract goes into their remaining cap space, along with Anderson and Bulter contract, which eats up the remaining cap space and Kings only have 2.8 million dollar room MLE left to use.
I don't know if that's right, but if so and based upon Luc's well known injury history, the Kings just lost 1.6 million dollars of cap space based upon the timing of the contracts.
I don't know if that's right, but if so and based upon Luc's well known injury history, the Kings just lost 1.6 million dollars of cap space based upon the timing of the contracts.
Actually more I think about this, the more this annoys me unless we turn around and ink Luc to a 1yr min contract with a team option 2nd year or something. Just escape the 2nd yer guaranteed money.
Guy played 69 games last year. There's just nothing left out there that's superior, and we have no caproom to do anything cute like absorb a salary. Hence dropping Luc becomes pointless. If we drop Luc, and sign Acy instead, am I going to feel better about that? No. Arthur is there, but he's a very very minor figure, and immensely injury prone himself. We might just have room to do an absorb the salary move to take Steve Novak from the Thunder, but Novak is absolutely terrible and has been stealing money for years.
Just in general unless we have some nifty plan with what to do with our free roster spot, I'm not going to be happy with this one. A veteran defensive specialist available for spot minutes in 50 games >> various talentless scrubs who might barely play 50 games of mop up work even if healthy. Shareef was an utter mistake because we signed him to a longterm deal to be our starter. Signing a guy to a small 2yr deal to be a 10th-12th man spot defender is not nearly the risk.
Guy played 69 games last year. There's just nothing left out there that's superior, and we have no caproom to do anything cute like absorb a salary. Hence dropping Luc becomes pointless. If we drop Luc, and sign Acy instead, am I going to feel better about that? No. Arthur is there, but he's a very very minor figure, and immensely injury prone himself. We might just have room to do an absorb the salary move to take Steve Novak from the Thunder, but Novak is absolutely terrible and has been stealing money for years.
Just in general unless we have some nifty plan with what to do with our free roster spot, I'm not going to be happy with this one. A veteran defensive specialist available for spot minutes in 50 games >> various talentless scrubs who might barely play 50 games of mop up work even if healthy. Shareef was an utter mistake because we signed him to a longterm deal to be our starter. Signing a guy to a small 2yr deal to be a 10th-12th man spot defender is not nearly the risk.
Barnes and Hedo are two of the 3 I was asking for weeks ago - I think the Kings could really use them both.
And why are we even thinking of still having Stockton on the team next year?
He was a D-league call-up that we did a favor for by signing to a contract - IMO, he in no way deserves almost a million dollars to sit on the bench. There are proven vets out there that can be gotten with that money.
And why are we even thinking of still having Stockton on the team next year?
He was a D-league call-up that we did a favor for by signing to a contract - IMO, he in no way deserves almost a million dollars to sit on the bench. There are proven vets out there that can be gotten with that money.
Yes, and all the op said was this was a piece stating bright crap about the kings future. Wtf makes this different than anybody else's? Hmm maybe if Woj reported crap like that, it would be relevant to post. But since it's not Woj, posting it seems like a waste of time to people.
Come on man. The person I replied to obviously implied as one of the reasons why that piece was crap and irrelevant because the author was 18. If age was not a factor why mention it? Hmm?
Come on man. The person I replied to obviously implied as one of the reasons why that piece was crap and irrelevant because the author was 18. If age was not a factor why mention it? Hmm?
I agree with Brick on trying to re-ink Luc for maybe 1 year guaranteed only and sort of team option on succeeding years. So I still hope the voiding is more on the contract clause and not really on our faith on the player. I mean, the guy played the most minutes again last year season after like 6 or 7 years. That alone would tell me his health concerns has already minimal.
If the injury is really serious, here's few players I would suggest for the Kings to look at.
(1) Andray Blatche - has not played in the NBA last season but actually played nicely in FIBA. For some weird reason he got qualified to play for Philippines in World Championship and actually played nicely as sort of stretch big during the tournament. He got no serious injury and seems to fairing well with his supposed "attitude issue".
(2) Nate Robinson - ideal spark plug 3rd PG. Question is, does Sac even interest him?
(3) The beard bros (Evans and Acy) - well Acy's perimeter shot has been steady in New York and his stints here. So might be worth a call. But if Moute is gone, we might as well bring old Reggie back. He is Cuz good friend and seems to still get good ties with the team (Ben, Rudy, DMC, and Acy are all playing on Reggies charity game on July 18). With Kosta and Trill here, we should no longer see any of the beard bro playing C if this roster, if they return.
(4) Tayshaun Prince - If the real Prince (Moute) is gone, this other Prince could still be good some limited minutes grind.
(5) Sergio Rodriguez - Older and wiser spanish chocolate
If the injury is really serious, here's few players I would suggest for the Kings to look at.
(1) Andray Blatche - has not played in the NBA last season but actually played nicely in FIBA. For some weird reason he got qualified to play for Philippines in World Championship and actually played nicely as sort of stretch big during the tournament. He got no serious injury and seems to fairing well with his supposed "attitude issue".
(2) Nate Robinson - ideal spark plug 3rd PG. Question is, does Sac even interest him?
(3) The beard bros (Evans and Acy) - well Acy's perimeter shot has been steady in New York and his stints here. So might be worth a call. But if Moute is gone, we might as well bring old Reggie back. He is Cuz good friend and seems to still get good ties with the team (Ben, Rudy, DMC, and Acy are all playing on Reggies charity game on July 18). With Kosta and Trill here, we should no longer see any of the beard bro playing C if this roster, if they return.
(4) Tayshaun Prince - If the real Prince (Moute) is gone, this other Prince could still be good some limited minutes grind.
(5) Sergio Rodriguez - Older and wiser spanish chocolate
