Rudy Gay Plans To Opt Out (ESPN)
- Thread starter Capt. Factorial
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I was relatively ambivalent about Rudy opting in or opting out.
On the one hand, he's going to likely miss a chunk of the season and odds are that he'll be around 70% as effective as he was before with a good chance of injuring himself again. And the biggest issue is that I just don't think Gay plays a winning brand of basketball, something that is exacerbated by the way the game has changed over the last few years.
On the other hand, he's a good veteran for the young players to be around and at the very least would be an ending contract for trade purposes. And I shouldn't think this way, but there's also a part of me that feels like Rudy's contract would help limit the Kings ability to make terrible FA signings.
But now he's out and it's full speed ahead for the rebuild. Vlade & co now have an extra $14 million to help reshape this roster however they'd like.
This is a make or break offseason for this front office.
On the one hand, he's going to likely miss a chunk of the season and odds are that he'll be around 70% as effective as he was before with a good chance of injuring himself again. And the biggest issue is that I just don't think Gay plays a winning brand of basketball, something that is exacerbated by the way the game has changed over the last few years.
On the other hand, he's a good veteran for the young players to be around and at the very least would be an ending contract for trade purposes. And I shouldn't think this way, but there's also a part of me that feels like Rudy's contract would help limit the Kings ability to make terrible FA signings.
But now he's out and it's full speed ahead for the rebuild. Vlade & co now have an extra $14 million to help reshape this roster however they'd like.
This is a make or break offseason for this front office.
Yeah, I'm not exactly celebrating that Rudy is opting out either. On a 1 year expiring deal he would have been around to help mentor the kids, filled in as our stopgap SF if we don't get one in the draft (or even if we do and want to bring them along slowly) and we could have flipped him at the deadline for a second round pick or something. It's not like the cap space is going to matter at this point. It actually might have been better for us if he opted in. But what this does for us is help to clean the slate a year earlier and allow us the option of absorbing bad contracts to acquire assets.
I also don't see the free agent market bringing in anything worthwhile. Best-case really is that we find another Garrett Temple but then you're also taking minutes away from a prospect and giving them to a role-player and those guys are all going to want 3+ years of job security if they're good enough to demand it. Cap space won't really matter for us again until we need to re-sign our first round picks or we're one or two pieces away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
I also don't see the free agent market bringing in anything worthwhile. Best-case really is that we find another Garrett Temple but then you're also taking minutes away from a prospect and giving them to a role-player and those guys are all going to want 3+ years of job security if they're good enough to demand it. Cap space won't really matter for us again until we need to re-sign our first round picks or we're one or two pieces away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
I wish Rudy all the luck in the world. I think his rehab must be going very well for him to decide to walk away from that much money.
Thanks, Rudy, for not being a total arse when you came to the Kings and quickly saw the coach you liked fired and the whole front office turn into a crapstorm. I appreciate your loyalty.
Thanks, Rudy, for not being a total arse when you came to the Kings and quickly saw the coach you liked fired and the whole front office turn into a crapstorm. I appreciate your loyalty.
If this team really is banking on ball movement type offense with increased pace, Rudy Gay is an ill fit. It's a win win situation that he opted out. There really is enough vet presence from Temple, AT, and Koufos to help mentor the young guys and a head coach and staff who won't allow the young guys to play the wrong way.
They probably SHOULD save capspace for next season. Or use it to take on bad contracts from other teams in exchange for a draft pick or a promising young player.
I'm not saying Vlade & co need to fully "fix" the team this offseason. But they DO need to move in the right direction.
Having a good draft and make smart signings can set the team up for future success.
Having a bad draft and poor/dumb signings likely means Divac will be out as GM sooner than later.
I'm not saying Vlade & co need to fully "fix" the team this offseason. But they DO need to move in the right direction.
Having a good draft and make smart signings can set the team up for future success.
Having a bad draft and poor/dumb signings likely means Divac will be out as GM sooner than later.
Haven't had any catastrophic signings yet, by Vlade. Couple misses, Barnes, Bellinelli. Drafting has been excellent. I have a lot more confidence in Vlade than Vivek, and hopefully he'll act with prudence and caution. Ultimately I think that's what trading Cousins was about: moving away from a high risk player and moving towards an "anti-fragile" team model.
For me the Bellinelli signing was a success. Vlade manufactured a first round draft pick when he traded Marco away. IMO trading Marco for the pick that became Malachi Richardson is a direct result of the Philly trade. Koufos is the other asset still producing from that deal.
Matt Barnes played a hard nosed brand of basketball while a King. Not much in the stat department but other teams players he was checking knew he was there. I thought he played good defense and had his teammates backs. There is value in that.
Matt Barnes played a hard nosed brand of basketball while a King. Not much in the stat department but other teams players he was checking knew he was there. I thought he played good defense and had his teammates backs. There is value in that.
Exactly.
I overstated my point to induce a response like this, to prove that Vlade is indeed a fantastic GM.
These were his "worst" moves.
Vlade has been nothing but a success since he got here. Of course the jury is still out on the Cousins trade, but his other moves have been good to great.
Edit: Turning Belinelli into Malachi is his most underrated move. Basically he made a potential future borderline all-star appear out of a magic hat. Malachi is very much the real deal, and has a long future in this league as a solid rotation player if not starter on a competitive team. I see him as our future starting 2 guard, and if we keep Ben, Ben being our 6th/7th man, flash scoring off the bench. Malachi is too smart and complete of a player to come off the bench, where as I think Ben would thrive with that lower pressure role, as long as his minutes were consistent.
I overstated my point to induce a response like this, to prove that Vlade is indeed a fantastic GM.
These were his "worst" moves.
Vlade has been nothing but a success since he got here. Of course the jury is still out on the Cousins trade, but his other moves have been good to great.
Edit: Turning Belinelli into Malachi is his most underrated move. Basically he made a potential future borderline all-star appear out of a magic hat. Malachi is very much the real deal, and has a long future in this league as a solid rotation player if not starter on a competitive team. I see him as our future starting 2 guard, and if we keep Ben, Ben being our 6th/7th man, flash scoring off the bench. Malachi is too smart and complete of a player to come off the bench, where as I think Ben would thrive with that lower pressure role, as long as his minutes were consistent.
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I see this off season as one of the most important in a long time, but I don't see it as a make or break off season. It's an off season where he have to show progress, and look like a functional organization. Any significant free agents that we might be able to sign, we'll probably have to overpay. The trick is to find hidden value that's not being recognized by a players team. Do you think Oklahoma would have traded Harden for what they did, it they knew what he was capable of? They saw him as a certain kind of player, but Houston him in a different light. Not saying it's easy to do, but it is a way to steal a future star. In a sense, that's how we got Webber.
As I said, the trick going forward is to remain patient. Don't get desperate and sign a Deng to huge 4 year contract. Sometimes the best deal is no deal. I want to win as much as anyone, but I want it done right this time. That said, I'm not opposed to hitting a home run and making a quantum leap.
As I said, the trick going forward is to remain patient. Don't get desperate and sign a Deng to huge 4 year contract. Sometimes the best deal is no deal. I want to win as much as anyone, but I want it done right this time. That said, I'm not opposed to hitting a home run and making a quantum leap.
Well we would have his Bird rights, but in all likely hood, we'll relinquish those rights to get rid of the cap hold. At which point he becomes a totally free unrestricted freeagent. However, if we wanted to do a sign an trade, we could offer Gay more than any other team. Of course he would have to agree to sign, and then the other team would have to agree to make a trade. Personally, I'd just let him walk, and move on.
I'm not 100% sure that we'll relinquish Rudy's cap hold. Looks like we're going to have about $57M in cap holds (a lot, to be sure) but $16M of that is Tyreke, and I'm pretty sure THAT cap hold is the first to go. That would leave us with about $41M in cap holds, with Rudy being at about $20M. That should leave us some room to work, and given that another $10M of that is for McLemore, there are other ways to get rid of that hold money, if we need it (e.g., for Bogdanovic). But we probably sit back and see if anybody offers anything, unless we really need that cap space (or we actually turn around and sign him ourselves!)
We will never know if another GM would have done a better or worse job with the given situation. We are truly starting a different era with Rudy likely leaving. We are in pretty good shape for a rebuild, seemingly by design of this front office. Let's hope a successful plan comes to fruition moving forward.
You really think he gave 100% every night? One of the main reasons I am happy we are most likely finally parting ways with Rudy is because of the effort he gave. Sure when it came to offense he pulled out all of the stops, but he rarely ever tried on the defensive end and he was a horrible motivator for the team. He reminded me of Jay Cutler in that he never really cared if the team was winning or losing. That's what I like so much about Garrett Temple. He really seems to care about the outcome of the game and having the back of all of his team mates. I never really got that impression from Rudy Gay.
We had MASSIVE culture and front office drama when he was first hired. Had no coach. And did not have the feel for even how to start addressing it, and what the personnel issues were.
We have been rebuilding. The right way. Building a culture first. Look at the pieces now. Massive change, and massive improvement in personel, massive capspace, and a great crop of younger players.
You can't act too quick. You have to figure out which direction of many you 1) want to go in and 2) can go in
George Karl was our coach bro. GEORGE KARL. Joerger was on exactly nobody's radar, yet he is the perfect coach for us. Vivek hadn't been sufficiently put in his place. There was also in-fighting in the FO, which we never really knew the full extent of. We had 5 years of failed drafting so no young players, except Cousins. You don't "put a winner" next to that.
We weren't winning anything with that.
As an organization we are light years ahead of where we were.
We have been rebuilding. The right way. Building a culture first. Look at the pieces now. Massive change, and massive improvement in personel, massive capspace, and a great crop of younger players.
You can't act too quick. You have to figure out which direction of many you 1) want to go in and 2) can go in
George Karl was our coach bro. GEORGE KARL. Joerger was on exactly nobody's radar, yet he is the perfect coach for us. Vivek hadn't been sufficiently put in his place. There was also in-fighting in the FO, which we never really knew the full extent of. We had 5 years of failed drafting so no young players, except Cousins. You don't "put a winner" next to that.
We weren't winning anything with that.
As an organization we are light years ahead of where we were.
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I do not like flip he did with the direction (build around Cuz first, then full rebuild), but do not agree with the waste comment above
Last offseason he drafted three guys that are valuable parts of the rebuild, got rights for another one. How can that be "wasted" time?
Year ago there was no coach that would be able to be part of the rebuild, now there is.
Even the trade that looks very foolish now (Philly), was giving away draft pick that will be lost in two years (i.e. does not set us back at all yet).
What was he supposed to do to speed this rebuild up by two years?
Last offseason he drafted three guys that are valuable parts of the rebuild, got rights for another one. How can that be "wasted" time?
Year ago there was no coach that would be able to be part of the rebuild, now there is.
Even the trade that looks very foolish now (Philly), was giving away draft pick that will be lost in two years (i.e. does not set us back at all yet).
What was he supposed to do to speed this rebuild up by two years?