Free Agency Thread - 2018
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The reality is that we have a lot of money coming off the books after this next season (which dude12 pointed out), and this is type of player that is willing to sign with us. People throwing out Capela as a target ... do you honestly think Capela is going to sign with the Kings? Most of the best free agent players want no part of Sacramento, which is why we are left with George Hill and Zach LaVine. I'm just happy that LaVine is way better (or at least more exciting) than Hill, so I'm cool if the Bulls don't match.
You're one of my favorite posters but I wish you would delve deeper into LaVine other than just pointing to his counting numbers.
Remember, LaVine put up those numbers in 37mpg (which he will not be getting this year). His advanced metrics are bad. He's a low level player like Wiggins who has managed to fool some people, like our GM, into thinking he's a good player but people that know stats know that he doesn't add much to your team in the way of winning and he definitely isn't going to be worth this contract.
He doesn't make his teammates better like you keep claiming. His per36 assist numbers during his career year are 2.9. Buddy Hield's were 2.8 last year. Bogdan's 4.3. LaVine is not a good passer for a combo guard. He is a solid shooter and slasher but he isn't a guy that swings the ball around and adds to ball movement. Even the biggest ball hogs in the game like Carmelo get similar assist numbers.
He doesn't rebound. Neither does Fox, Bogie, JJ, Temple, Skal or WCS. We still don't know what Giles and Bagley can do on the boards because they were so inconsistent the last 3 games. By all accounts they should be able to make up for the rebounding disadvantage if they play a lot of minutes but that might not be the case. LaVine's career year per36 rebounding numbers would be the lowest on the Kings team currently.
He doesn't play defense. People try to say well his defensive metrics are bad because he was playing with other bad defenders. Well what do you think is going to happen when he gets here? It's just as bad in Sacramento. His defensive metrics would have him as the worst defender on the team. You could maybe squint and see it working if the Kings had drafted JJJ and had JJJ and Giles protecting the paint but the revolving door that is LaVine's defense is exactly why he's not a good player and it has not improved at all since he came into the league. But you don't see that in any of his highlight reels.
Hopefully Chicago is dumber than Vlade is so they can save us from ourselves.
Remember, LaVine put up those numbers in 37mpg (which he will not be getting this year). His advanced metrics are bad. He's a low level player like Wiggins who has managed to fool some people, like our GM, into thinking he's a good player but people that know stats know that he doesn't add much to your team in the way of winning and he definitely isn't going to be worth this contract.
He doesn't make his teammates better like you keep claiming. His per36 assist numbers during his career year are 2.9. Buddy Hield's were 2.8 last year. Bogdan's 4.3. LaVine is not a good passer for a combo guard. He is a solid shooter and slasher but he isn't a guy that swings the ball around and adds to ball movement. Even the biggest ball hogs in the game like Carmelo get similar assist numbers.
He doesn't rebound. Neither does Fox, Bogie, JJ, Temple, Skal or WCS. We still don't know what Giles and Bagley can do on the boards because they were so inconsistent the last 3 games. By all accounts they should be able to make up for the rebounding disadvantage if they play a lot of minutes but that might not be the case. LaVine's career year per36 rebounding numbers would be the lowest on the Kings team currently.
He doesn't play defense. People try to say well his defensive metrics are bad because he was playing with other bad defenders. Well what do you think is going to happen when he gets here? It's just as bad in Sacramento. His defensive metrics would have him as the worst defender on the team. You could maybe squint and see it working if the Kings had drafted JJJ and had JJJ and Giles protecting the paint but the revolving door that is LaVine's defense is exactly why he's not a good player and it has not improved at all since he came into the league. But you don't see that in any of his highlight reels.
Hopefully Chicago is dumber than Vlade is so they can save us from ourselves.
And you’re telling me the Hornets are? I’m an optimist like you and in support of Vlade but enough is enough. You’re not convincing me Charlotte is a more attractive destination than Sacramento at this point in time after the horrid season they just had and an uncertainty looming over the direction of the team and it’s core.
I've only pointed out his 18.9ppg year to show how much scoring potential he actually has. Many people completely miss that mark. Why not use his career per36 asts numbers? LaVine is a very good passer for a combo guard.
Career per36 assists: 4.0
Career asts%: 18.6
Career usg%: 23.2
So his overall career numbers suggest that he actually is a good passer for a combo guard.
Also, Carmelo's per36 asts are at 3.0, while his usg is at 30.9. So Carmelo doesn't get similar assists numbers when you compare the career numbers.
I agree with these concerns. However I don't think LaVine should be crucified for his poor rebounding purely because you don't expect SGs to be very good rebounders to begin with. If the Kings are terrible on the boards (which they are), that's at the fault of our PFs and Cs, not our backcourt. I'm not going to excuse his rebounding because I do agree that it's poor, but 1 plausible explanation for his low rebounding numbers could be because he's a transition-push player. He's the first one down the court as soon as his team rebounds the ball.
Defense is the biggest concern with LaVine. I heavily agree with this. I was very hard on Hezonja for this very thing, but I softened up once I realized that the Kings aren't going to be winning anything next year. I'm not going to excuse his defense. He's pee poor on that end. Fox was pretty bad in his rookie year, Bogs will struggle against SFs, and Bagley looks like a liability. His defense is very bad and it'll contribute to our already bad defensive team. My only hope is that he can improve his defensive instincts under Joerger. Defense is the biggest problem I have with him. It's a risk the Kings are willing to take. He's got McLemore syndome. Great athlete, but extremely poor defensive instincts. Can he improve overall? I'm not sure.
At the end of the day, I think it's clear that the Kings are "gambling" on the offensive backcourt of Fox-LaVine. They love his offensive potential. We saw his scoring potential last year. He fits the run and gun system the Kings are trying to implement. Career stats show that he's a better passer than doubters are willing to give him credit for.
We're a Sacramento Kings team that'll never be able to attract the top tier FAs. We'll always have to overpay for guys to even consider us. LaVine is a player who actually fits our age frame and direction. I don't see anything wrong with the signing. Yes we already have Bogs and Buddy, but it seems like we're ready to die on the hill of Bogs at SF...
Career per36 assists: 4.0
Career asts%: 18.6
Career usg%: 23.2
So his overall career numbers suggest that he actually is a good passer for a combo guard.
Also, Carmelo's per36 asts are at 3.0, while his usg is at 30.9. So Carmelo doesn't get similar assists numbers when you compare the career numbers.
I agree with these concerns. However I don't think LaVine should be crucified for his poor rebounding purely because you don't expect SGs to be very good rebounders to begin with. If the Kings are terrible on the boards (which they are), that's at the fault of our PFs and Cs, not our backcourt. I'm not going to excuse his rebounding because I do agree that it's poor, but 1 plausible explanation for his low rebounding numbers could be because he's a transition-push player. He's the first one down the court as soon as his team rebounds the ball.
Defense is the biggest concern with LaVine. I heavily agree with this. I was very hard on Hezonja for this very thing, but I softened up once I realized that the Kings aren't going to be winning anything next year. I'm not going to excuse his defense. He's pee poor on that end. Fox was pretty bad in his rookie year, Bogs will struggle against SFs, and Bagley looks like a liability. His defense is very bad and it'll contribute to our already bad defensive team. My only hope is that he can improve his defensive instincts under Joerger. Defense is the biggest problem I have with him. It's a risk the Kings are willing to take. He's got McLemore syndome. Great athlete, but extremely poor defensive instincts. Can he improve overall? I'm not sure.
At the end of the day, I think it's clear that the Kings are "gambling" on the offensive backcourt of Fox-LaVine. They love his offensive potential. We saw his scoring potential last year. He fits the run and gun system the Kings are trying to implement. Career stats show that he's a better passer than doubters are willing to give him credit for.
We're a Sacramento Kings team that'll never be able to attract the top tier FAs. We'll always have to overpay for guys to even consider us. LaVine is a player who actually fits our age frame and direction. I don't see anything wrong with the signing. Yes we already have Bogs and Buddy, but it seems like we're ready to die on the hill of Bogs at SF...
He's just a really solid team basketball player who is actually full-sized for the 3, rebounds well, passes well, really knows the game. Good defender, though not athletic enough to be amazing.
Great teams can really use glue guys as well as all-stars. Our glory years team had a glue guy (some similarities, some differences) in Christie. Anderson is a guy who can be your 4th/5th option but still help the team a lot. Sure, he won't help us get out and run, but you have to pay a lot more to get *everything* you want in one player.
Great teams can really use glue guys as well as all-stars. Our glory years team had a glue guy (some similarities, some differences) in Christie. Anderson is a guy who can be your 4th/5th option but still help the team a lot. Sure, he won't help us get out and run, but you have to pay a lot more to get *everything* you want in one player.
Vlade already has one of the worst trades made in the last few years and now he is going for the worst contract at the moment.
Lavine thread is filled with deeper analysis of his pee poor advanced metrics and only response from pro Lavine people has been "VORP and DORK stats are meaningless" plus a link to his highlight dunk. Im not going to get too much into it right now but when you look at those metrics, you can see how bad the players are he is ranked with in there.
This is an unbelievably stupid contract offer. This is exactly how and why bad franchises stay bad. Nowadays you have so much different data and film to evaluate how valuable a player really is. I cant believe this franchise just came to a conclusion that Zach Lavine is worth 4/80mil especially in this market and when we just traded our franchise player for two players that play the same position as Lavine and has a lot of the same strenghts and weaknesses as him.
Lavine thread is filled with deeper analysis of his pee poor advanced metrics and only response from pro Lavine people has been "VORP and DORK stats are meaningless" plus a link to his highlight dunk. Im not going to get too much into it right now but when you look at those metrics, you can see how bad the players are he is ranked with in there.
This is an unbelievably stupid contract offer. This is exactly how and why bad franchises stay bad. Nowadays you have so much different data and film to evaluate how valuable a player really is. I cant believe this franchise just came to a conclusion that Zach Lavine is worth 4/80mil especially in this market and when we just traded our franchise player for two players that play the same position as Lavine and has a lot of the same strenghts and weaknesses as him.
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Charlotte is in a state that doesn't have horrific tax rates. North Carolina went to a flat income tax rate of 5.75% several years ago. It's also a team with a former Spurs assistant coach (James Borrego) at the helm and, according to several tweets I saw, it has Nicolas Batum with whom Tony Parker is close friends. The tax aspect cannot be over-emphasized. The cost of living in California AND the tax bite would be horrific, especially coming from Texas. It doesn't get mentioned a lot, but it is definitely a consideration for a lot of players.
I'm not trying to crucify him for his rebounding but the problem is that the Kings main options at SF would be LaVine, Bogie and Jackson. All poor rebounders for the position. It's one of the many reasons why I don't like playing guys out of position because the weaknesses have to be made up elsewhere and the Kings don't have the kind of roster that makes up for weaknesses at any position.
I get why you like him but he's had 4 years to improve his defense and it's just been stagnant at god awful the entire time. Basically no improvement at all. If it was trending toward just below average, I might be ok with it but that's not the case here.
The offensive potential is something I agree can possibly work if Fox's shot develops but I don't think the defense would ever work with this group.
I get why you like him but he's had 4 years to improve his defense and it's just been stagnant at god awful the entire time. Basically no improvement at all. If it was trending toward just below average, I might be ok with it but that's not the case here.
The offensive potential is something I agree can possibly work if Fox's shot develops but I don't think the defense would ever work with this group.
You know who’s next.
They obviously want to spend this cap to get better now. Vlade/Joerger are on hot seat and want quick improvement. They also know only they and Atlanta are the only cap teams left and we may not get this type of competition again with such few teams with cap space.
I assume they will move on to the next big names, and I certainly hope it’s not Parker
They obviously want to spend this cap to get better now. Vlade/Joerger are on hot seat and want quick improvement. They also know only they and Atlanta are the only cap teams left and we may not get this type of competition again with such few teams with cap space.
I assume they will move on to the next big names, and I certainly hope it’s not Parker
There's this weird sense with the Kings moves that makes it seem like they think they need scorers. Bagley was an offensive big. Not a defensive guy at all. Lavine is a scorer as well.
Yet the offensive problems were system and pace. Buddy shot a high % but got fewer looks than any other shooter in his range. They could increase volume of threes and increase points. Stop wasting 10-15 seconds of clock every trip down. It doesn't matter if you add another shooter if there's still congestion and pace issues.
Yet the offensive problems were system and pace. Buddy shot a high % but got fewer looks than any other shooter in his range. They could increase volume of threes and increase points. Stop wasting 10-15 seconds of clock every trip down. It doesn't matter if you add another shooter if there's still congestion and pace issues.