Unless the Kings draft a Shooting Guard, the most important position in FA will be the SG.
For the Shooting Guard position, I think Gearld Henderson would be a nice pick up and potential long term starter at the Shooting Guard for the Kings.
The Kings should be targeting for Shooting Guard (in this order):
1) Courtney Lee (eases the Joerger transition)
2) Gearld Henderson
3) Aaron Afflalo
in Free Agency, IF they do not draft one at #8.
For the Shooting Guard position, I think Gearld Henderson would be a nice pick up and potential long term starter at the Shooting Guard for the Kings.
The Kings should be targeting for Shooting Guard (in this order):
1) Courtney Lee (eases the Joerger transition)
2) Gearld Henderson
3) Aaron Afflalo
in Free Agency, IF they do not draft one at #8.
1) Courtney Lee was passing up open 3s this season, and while he has solid percentages from outside, it's on just 3.3 attempts per 36 minutes, so '3' part of '3&D' is suspect. Kings can live with just respectable shooter as long as 'D' part is very good. But Lee turns 31 before the season starts, so decline in athleticism is about to hit. Plus Hornets (48 win team) have his Bird rights, and with some cap gymnastics: dumping Hawes/Lamb with pick #22 and renouncing Al Jefferson, they can squeeze cap holds of their core plus Lin's new deal under the cap.
2) Gerald Henderson is 28.5 y.o. and 7-year veteran, so there's no hidden potential, and he's just average on both sides of the floor. Solid backup, but starting guard?
3) Arron Afflalo is the same age as Lee, and is an average at best defender. Biggest problem is ever since Orlando stint he thinks he should be a scorer, rather than a role player.
Out of all 3 only Lee deserves real attention, and he will be the hardest to get.
Solomon Hill makes much more sense as his current team can't offer him good deal, and he's not likely to be someone else's top priority. He gives Kings same qualities, that Lee does: low-key role player, who defends, makes open shots and occasional drives/cuts here and there, runs transition, but Hill is younger (will only be 29 y.o. in 4 years) and a bigger body, so he can pick up forwards on D, and averages 2 more rebounds per 36 minutes than Lee.
Lance Stephenson makes no sense in the starting lineup due to lack of shooting, but if you put him between Curry/Collison, Casspi and, say, Teletovic with Koufos anchoring the defense, Kings might even put whole bench unit on the floor and not be run over. Not only Joerger, but core Grizzlies players asked their FO not to waive Lance in February, so with Conley saying, that he wants to see Memphis acquiring good players, not letting them go, it's not clear, whether Grizzlies will dump Lance. At the same time Stephenson said only a few days ago, that he would like to play out last year of his contract, so his agent certainly doesn't see serious money for Lance even on this crazy market, which means, Memphis might still waive him, and deadline for that is early in July, when teams are generally more optimistic about their chances to sign players, than subsequent future shows. Orlando, who almost got him at the trade deadline, were going to dump him immediately.
Lance and his delusions of grandeur are certainly a sizable risk, and coming off the bench for Grizzlies, he found himself in perfect situation being the undisputed leader of a band of scrubs, but still Joerger seems to have some rapport with Stephenson, plus 1.5 seasons of failure on 2 teams as a starter and then relative success off the bench likely shifted his expectations closer to reality.
Last edited: