[Game] Kings @ Suns - 3/15/17 - 7PT/10ET

Its nice that they win, but they need to think better of going any kind of streaks..... finally PapaG is getting a few minutes....that only took the whole season.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Two firsts and a recent lotto pick on a rookie deal seems fair for a top 5 player which Cousins has been this year. We've been discussing it all season and that seems to be the consensus. Most people would have been happy with Jaylen Brown and Brooklyn's next two lotto picks. Vlade probably could have gotten something like that if he opened up the bidding league-wide but it sounds like he was targeting either Ingram or Hield and wasn't considering other offers so that obviously eliminated any chance of a bidding war getting us more value. Waiting until after the lottery may have resulted in a better trade or it may have resulted in teams getting cold-feet about giving up 4 years of an elite prospect and a future pick for 1 guaranteed year of DeMarcus. It's hard to say really. It could have been worse though! At least he wasn't traded to the GD Lakers!

If we end up with an additional top 10 pick this year, a good prospect at the top of the second round, and Buddy Hield becomes a solid starting SG it doesn't look like a bad package deal in the end. And you have to figure that tanking the rest of the season to keep our top-10 protected pick by trading DeMarcus in February was a consideration as well. We got blind-sided with that trade after months of assurances that DeMarcus was here for the long haul, but as time has passed and rational analysis starts to overtake raw emotion again it's looking like a better decision than it seemed like at the time. The top 3 protection on the New Orleans pick really sucks though and our inability to secure a future pick to mitigate the risk isn't great either. But we were really up against a wall there. There just weren't enough bullets left in the gun to rebuild around DeMarcus. Now our timeline has been extended and expectations lowered and we actually have some young assets to work with.

The only thing that really sucks about it for me is that DeMarcus was as loyal as any NBA player is ever going to be to our team and our city and he was rewarded with a local paper and play-by-play man that bad-mouthed him any chance they could get and a GM/owner who talked up loyalty and family and then jettisoned him without so much as a friendly handshake and a "thanks for your services". The people who write these storylines are going to say that DeMarcus failed Sacramento and I really don't see any angle where that's remotely true. Winning with DeMarcus is the only thing that would have shut them up so it feels to me like the bad guys were rewarded for their pettiness, but life often doesn't turn out the way we would like. There's still a chance for him to forge his own happy ending elsewhere and for us to do the same with a new group of faces here.
My thoughts exactly.
 
I don't think the trade we got proves that DeMarcus' value was in the tank either. That's a storyline we were sold to make the trade look better but really it came down to teams just weren't given time to put together competitive offers. Vlade wanted a deal over the weekend, he had a short list of potential targets, and the perennial trade-suckers in the New Orleans front-office got wise to it and lowered their offer to see who blinked first. If there's one valid criticism I would level at Vlade its that in his tenure to date he's made a habit of blinking first and it's not a reputation he should be courting if he wants to keep this job for awhile.
This is spot on and something those arguing against simply aren't willing to acknowledge. Some of the rumors I've read suggest that many GM's didn't even know he was available in trade and had they known they likely would have made a competitive offer. Who knows what the net result would have been, but limiting your options certainly hurts trade value.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
This is spot on and something those arguing against simply aren't willing to acknowledge. Some of the rumors I've read suggest that many GM's didn't even know he was available in trade and had they known they likely would have made a competitive offer. Who knows what the net result would have been, but limiting your options certainly hurts trade value.
"Trade us Ingram, Russell, and your next couple of first round picks."

"No."

*fgoes to media* "I tried guys but Boogie's value was in the tank."
 
If the Kings end up with essentially the 2016 #6, the 2017 #8 pick and a second rounder, I wonder how far off that is from the proper haul? Kevin Love might be an example off the top of my head. He was an All-star player in his prime who had not made it to the playoffs and was traded for a #1. Not saying Love is as good as Cuz but he also had less baggage. What do we think the Kings should have gotten in return? One more 1st? Legitimate question.
I thought based on talent Cousins was worth Boston's 2017 pick swap with a Brooklyn (pretty much guaranteed top 4 pick), Brooklyn's 2018 pick, Jaylen Brown, Amir Johnson (for cap reasons) and another young player or two - Rozier and/or the rights to Zizek.

Turns out Boston wasn't interested at all.
 
I hope the resting players isn't due to the FO believing that's the only way our youth will get minutes....

I still don't believe Joerger is handling the roster to develop. Would Papa play if a Tolliver was there? Galloway? Why isn't Ben playing?
 
Also not to be that guy but our last two wins haven't exactly come against the Guy laden State Warriors
We beat the teams on our level and will probably lose to any team above the bottom ten in the league, thats what we should expect. For some reason with Cousins we would probably lose one of these last two games, beat OKC and get blown out on a back to back in SA. 2-2 over the stretch the hair pulling way. We'll be 2-2 the "yeah that was expected" way.
 
His extra effort was noticeable. I recall at least 3 occasions when he really fought for the rebound or loose ball. If that becomes a consistent thing, we're all in for a treat.
Willie showed a little nasty streak at times going for the ball. That time he inadvertently knocked Chriss to the floor while grabbing the ball was especially satisfying:)
 
I'm happy to see the kids get a W, great to see Skal and Willy play well, always nice to see the Kings win. But, I'm sorry, I can't be excited about it. The moment we traded Boogie, we decided this season was over. Now for me it's all about the best draft position we can get, and unfortunately every win hurts our draft position.
 
Skal was of course the star in this game and I was really impressed with him, but I was more surprised by Papagiannis. He wasn't great but his defense and aggressiveness in general was awesome to me. He wasn't scared or nervous as he seemed in the Magic game and I'm confident his scoring touch will come. If he continues taking steps I can really dig our PF/C crew of Koufos, WCS, Skal and Papagiannis. The length and size problems that they present in addition to their mobility has incredible potential.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
They're shutting down Bledsoe and prying Brandon Knight off the scrap heap, the tank is fully on now! It's fun watching the Kings win with the young guns but this is probably the right time for us to adopt our best tanking pose as well. The Cousins trade will feel like a waste if we hustle our way down to the 8th spot or 9th spot and just miss on an elite SF or PG again.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
They're shutting down Bledsoe and prying Brandon Knight off the scrap heap, the tank is fully on now! It's fun watching the Kings win with the young guns but this is probably the right time for us to adopt our best tanking pose as well. The Cousins trade will feel like a waste if we hustle our way down to the 8th spot or 9th spot and just miss on an elite SF or PG again.
If we lose our pick, it would be incredibly stupid on the organizations part.......would be a major eff up on Vlade's part by not dumping the expirings.
 
It's considered that Jeannie Buss may have ousted her brother and Kupchak over the offer, so maybe just Ingram
The rumor in So Cal was that Vlade asked for Ingram and Russel, the Lakers refused to include Ingram in a DMC trade, thus the Kings traded DMC to N.O. for Buddy and a 1st round pick.

Jeannie Buss was so pissed that her brother refused the trade and was too attached to players that he picked, so she fired him.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
I hope the resting players isn't due to the FO believing that's the only way our youth will get minutes....

I still don't believe Joerger is handling the roster to develop. Would Papa play if a Tolliver was there? Galloway? Why isn't Ben playing?
People talk about Cuz's departure opening things up for Skal.

But one has to wonder if he'd still get these opportunities to play if Joerger's mancrush, Barnes, was still on the team?!

As for Ben? I think Hield punched his ticket out of town. Mali was showing that he belonged, and we might get Bogdan next season. The Ben era is over.
 
Man, I am so pumped about this team's future. Been really looking forward to watching the games. Hasn't been that way for years.
I feel the same way...
The rumor in So Cal was that Vlade asked for Ingram and Russel, the Lakers refused to include Ingram in a DMC trade, thus the Kings traded DMC to N.O. for Buddy and a 1st round pick.

Jeannie Buss was so pissed that her brother refused the trade and was too attached to players that he picked, so she fired him.
I'm not a Russell fan. Would've been very excited about Ingram for sure but I really like Buddy too and think he has a ton of upside. We'll see...
 
If we lose our pick, it would be incredibly stupid on the organizations part.......would be a major eff up on Vlade's part by not dumping the expirings.
Yes, the Kings need to lose more and keep their pick.

But, if you watch the games closely, the Vets on expiring contracts are the ones actually getting us the Lins!!! ;)

When the Kids are in, we are competing great and staying in the games. But, when Joeger puts in heavy Vets minutes at the end of games, the Kings ultimately lose down the stretch!!! :rolleyes:
 
I've been hard on Willie for the last few games. Time to give some credit again. Very good game, although he was out of control sometimes. Somehow Willie gets me excited and frustrated at the same time. :rolleyes:

I like Papa G. When you come into your second NBA game as a 19 year old, there is nothing better, than to focus on basketball fundamentals. He moves his feet well, protects the rim, isn't afraid of contact, uses his body to box people out. Yes he looks confused on offense and sometimes got into peoples ways or didn't roll to the basket and earned a Joerger tirade that way, but hey the fundamentals are already in place.

And Skal might have read 206's comments about him and Chriss and decided it's time to show up big time. ;)
Loved it - most of the time poised and under control, aggressive at the same time and the skills seem to be there, also has his fundamentals down, which speaks for our coaching staff.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
I've been hard on Willie for the last few games. Time to give some credit again. Very good game, although he was out of control sometimes. Somehow Willie gets me excited and frustrated at the same time. :rolleyes:

I like Papa G. When you come into your second NBA game as a 19 year old, there is nothing better, than to focus on basketball fundamentals. He moves his feet well, protects the rim, isn't afraid of contact, uses his body to box people out. Yes he looks confused on offense and sometimes got into peoples ways or didn't roll to the basket and earned a Joerger tirade that way, but hey the fundamentals are already in place.

And Skal might have read 206's comments about him and Chriss and decided it's time to show up big time. ;)
Loved it - most of the time poised and under control, aggressive at the same time and the skills seem to be there, also has his fundamentals down, which speaks for our coaching staff.
Your comment about WCS leads me to make a similar comment about Papa G. He looked less lost and - as you pointed out - he seems to be comfortable with the basics. I'm still not sure what all Vlade saw but I'll admit there's more potential there than I first thought,
 
Your comment about WCS leads me to make a similar comment about Papa G. He looked less lost and - as you pointed out - he seems to be comfortable with the basics. I'm still not sure what all Vlade saw but I'll admit there's more potential there than I first thought,
A lot of people either ignored it or discredited it, maybe because they were upset at the pick but there were reports that Boston was looking at picking him a couple of picks later.
 
Couple things I liked about this game other than the obvious.

WCS went really hard after some of those rebounds. It seems like he wants to be "the guy" now that Cousins is gone and I'm wondering if he's feeling the competition with Skal there. Seemed like some extra effort there that we haven't seen from him in a while. Knocking Chriss over for that rebound was awesome.

Papa looked a lot less lost out there. Made a good impact defensively with the 3 blocks and altered other shots. He could barely block a shot in summer league and now he's averaging 2.6 in the D League and carrying that over to the NBA. Very nice improvement. Was still out of position a lot and made some goofy plays but he at least just looked lost some of the time instead of most of the time. He has good tools offensively so his shots not falling is of no concern. Hopefully next game we see him in position most the time instead of half the time. I think the guy has shown he can improve his game with good coaching and practice.