I'll tell you the final straw for Papa G. It was the game he played 3 minutes and got yanked. . He runs to the high post and Boggy throws him a simple chest pass and he wasn't even remotely ready for it. He flubbed it under no pressure. Joerger was disgusted yet unsurprised.
Papa G was out there going through the motions with no focus or no passion. That's inexcusable when you have accomplished nothing in the NBA.
Joerger's attitude was "well if you don't play then I won't play you". Can't argue with that!
Behind the scenes I think this was guy was not working hard enough and the Kings got sick of the apathy and self-entitlement and half-inspired work ethic. Yeah he dropped a few lbs but he needed to drop a lot more.
Look at a guy like Nikola Jokic or a guy like Marcin Gortat or even a guy like Koufos. These guys lean out to increase their mobility. They get down to 10% body fat. They are gym warriors who don't feed their face with fast food and carbs. They chow on salmon and sirloin not sloppy joes.
Fans are acting like the sky is falling over the moves today. I am not feeling that way at all. I don't want a guy with questionable work ethic on my team. Good riddens! When you are slow to begin with you need every edge you can get. Papa G needed to carry less weight to get from Point A to Point B. He wasn't quick enough off his feet. He wasn't quick enough to defend out on the perimeter. He had great size and soft hands. He was 2-3 inches taller than Boogie! And he bit of a touch.
But he was more mechanical than advertised. He needed to give 120% in the gym and with his diet not 80% effort. He needed to transform from the Pillsbury Doughboy faster and sooner. The progress was not there. He needed the eye of the tiger not two eyes on the cheeseburger.
Simultaneously the league changed since Papa G was drafted 2 years ago with more emphasis on versatile bigs who can step away. It was already changing when he was drafted and this change has only accelerated since then. Vlade did not anticipate this change.
Five years ago, 10 years ago Papa G had a place in the NBA as a banger in the paint. Bangers in the paint don't survive nowadays unless they can move with some agility and fluidity. Otherwise they will be consistently late and exposed in pick and rolls.
Would I have rather seen the Kings cut loose Vince Carter? Yeah, but I also don't believe in holding out false hope and living in denial. I defer to the Kings training staff and access to data we are not witness to. They are far from unimpeachable in this regard but if Papa G was a tireless worker he would still be on the team.
It comes down to this: Should the Kings front office continue to delude themselves or acknowledge the mistake(s) and move on? The answer is obvious.
This is the ray of hope I offer and what I say to the fans bummed out and sickened and verging on revolt about the casting off Hill for cap space and 2nd round pick and basically two recent 1st round pick relegated to unmitigated bust status:
We can still be a good team with a fairly crummy GM!
I have been saying for awhile Vlade can stumble onto success in spite of himself. It is just instead of the most direct route to competency and respectability we take the scenic route and veer off into a ditch or two along the way.
I am not disappointed in the events of today because I already knew George Hill was a disappointment and an impediment to Mason and Fox and Boggy getting 48 minutes at PG with no minutes to spare at SG with Boggy and Buddy.
Where was Hill going to pay without hindering our youth? And if he did play was he going to magically transform into a 17 PPG and fetch us a 1st round pick? No way! And no way in hell were the Kings getting that 1st pick from the Cavs for 30M owed to Hill over the next 1.5 years!
Look what the Lakers had to give: Larry Nance Jr and Clarkson, not world blazers by any mean but far more dynamic assets that the Cavs team needs to revive from the walking dead. The Kings couldn't compete with that offer unless they tossed in Skal and / or Frank.
The Hill trade was good to great move in this regard: I don't want a GM who makes a bad bet then doesn't fold his hand and instead bets more chips. I don't want a GM who compounds his mistake by refusing to admit he made a mistake out of ego and stubbornness.
It was not going to get better for Hill. He has a good chance in Cleveland and I like what they did what their roster. Adding Hill, Hood, Nance and Clarkson gives them shooting and live legs around Love and LeBron. I think they can be pretty formidable quickly.
Anyway it would not be prudent to hold out for a market for Hill that would never manifest. No one is super interested 31 year old PGs with bloated deal. It was only the special circumstances in Cleveland that presented this opportunity:
1. Threat of James walking
2. Isaiah being a shell of his former self
3. The expectations of that team to make it back to the Finals
The Kings absolutely needed to jump at the Cavs offer. No other team was going to take Hill unless they were giving back equally bad contract.
Hill made sense last offseason as a mentor and upgrade to Darren (same scoring, better defense) before we realized the passing wizardry in the half court by Boggy, and the readiness of Mason and Fox. Hill played up to his 20M contract perhaps 2-3 games over his entire tenure.
I think he was instrumental in our first win of the season in Dallas. That was the Hill that Vlade thought he was getting when he gave him 60M with 40M guaranteed. He didn't get that guy. Now whether this signing is lack of prudence or lack of fortune is up to debate.
Was Hill slowed by his bad toe? Was he hindered by the style and structure of Joerger? Ultimately it doesn't matter, because the sorry results spoke for themselves and circumstances around him changed.
It is a positive how expendable Hill became because his disposability was based significantly on the fact that we have three rookies (Boggy, Fox, Mason) who are going to be a big part of any future success the team has! Imagine if they stunk and we needed Hill because they were not ready for rotational minutes?
Minutes for Hill meant the ball would be out of Boggy's hands more in the half court, an inferior proposition, and there would not be 15-20 MPG for Mason nor 30 MPG for Fox.
It was a no-brainer to clear space and backcourt playing time and go after Julius Randle with a 4 year / 80 million this summer! No one is going to match that! Vlade screwed up not going after Jonathan Simmons last summer. I don't have faith or confidence he won't screw it up again. But he doesn't have to be a genius to target Randle as Plan A and throw a massive contract at him he can't refuse on Minute One and Day One of Free Agency!
If the Lakers are googly eyed for LeBron and Paul George they aren't going to want to tie up their cap space making qualifying offer to Randle.
We can get him now thanks to today's brilliant trades!
Signing Randle post-season is the best course of action as I previously detailed since to do a deal for Randle now would compromise our draft position unfavorably. Just like we didn't need a shrewd GM to pick De'Aaron at #5 we don't need a brilliant GM to recognize Randle is a perfect fit for our team. Nor will it take a genius to recognize Miles Bridges is a beast and we can probably get him with a Top 5-7 pick!
Lastly, Justin Jackson projects as a better player than Malachi and both of them were unlikely to stick long term.
You could argue that Malachi is the better defender but actually Jackson has been pretty astute with knowing where to be defense of late. He's not a physical defender but does a decent job getting through picks and keeping his man in front of him. Certainly Jackson is the more active off-the-ball player with a more dynamic scoring skillset.
So for the fans in a uproar I suggest that:
(1) We already knew Vlade was no-great-shakes when gave away the farm to Philly for cap space and traded Boogie for peanuts.
(2) Hill will hardly be missed.
(3) Papa G will hardly be missed.
(4) Malachi will hardly be missed.
(5) Hill cap strangle would prevent Vlade from another free agent swing this summer.
Yes he may swing and miss again. But at least he can take a swing! And yes this is confirmation that two recent 1st round draft picks were unqualified busts and Hill was an egregious overpay. But you cannot right your wrongs when you live in fantasyland. Let's live in reality. Let's get players who can play. Let's not keep around guys just because of where they were picked or how much they were paid.
