Kings reach agreement w/Bjelica 3yrs/$20.5M
- Thread starter joemama
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Can he guard a guy like Kyle Anderson that so many wanted at the 3? Yes. Can he guard Otto Porter? Yes. Can he guard a guy like Josh Jackson. No. (But I think Bagley can). Then there are players that he might or might not be able to guard, Kuzma for example. Instead of asking whether he is a 3 or a 4 it is much more beneficial to ask what individual players he can guard or not, not artificial categories of 3s or 4s. It's matching up against individuals that counts, not typologies of individuals.
I can see why Divac likes him. He spreads the floor with his shooting. He exposes the floor with his passing. And he can take the ball off the dribble. On offense this is exactly what you want when you have players like Fox, Bagley and Giles. He's going to finish baskets and he's going to create baskets for others, not just with direct assists, but hockey assists. Notice how he hits KAT with the pass immediately upon KAT getting open? That's what the Kings need to do with Bagley and Giles. Without even seeing more of this guy, I bet he's a pretty darned good outlet passer also. Sign him!
I can see why Divac likes him. He spreads the floor with his shooting. He exposes the floor with his passing. And he can take the ball off the dribble. On offense this is exactly what you want when you have players like Fox, Bagley and Giles. He's going to finish baskets and he's going to create baskets for others, not just with direct assists, but hockey assists. Notice how he hits KAT with the pass immediately upon KAT getting open? That's what the Kings need to do with Bagley and Giles. Without even seeing more of this guy, I bet he's a pretty darned good outlet passer also. Sign him!
I can guarantee you that with or without this guy, Kings are still going to guarantee Boston a Top 3 pick next year. If he fit the timeline of the other Kings on the roster. Ok. I can see it.
But, the guy will be 31 at the beginning of the season. 31.
Might as well let Bogi and Jackson man the 3 spot.
Expiring contracts at the deadline are just like unused caproom in the summer. It allows the Kings to accept bloated contracts either for good players who are way overpaid (Wiggins, Otto Porter etc) or poor players that teams will attach extra assets to just to get them off the books (Ryan Anderson, Melo etc).
I tend to agree. Vlade is from Serbia. Bjelica is from Serbia. Gee, way to think outside the box. 
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Bjelica's game reminds me of Nikola Mirotic to a degree. But Mirotic is a capable starter and great complementary player to your star(s). Where was Bjelica to support KAT and Butler in this regard? Why did he not emerge more? Who stole his playing time? I wonder why he could not carve more of a role for himself in Minnesota? I'd rather give max dollars to Capela or wait for a better opportunity than this modest slug-like talent. This is NOT an inspired move. Its rooted in familiarity and bit of scraping from the bottom of the free agent barrel .
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Bjelica's game reminds me of Nikola Mirotic to a degree. But Mirotic is a capable starter and great complementary player to your star(s). Where was Bjelica to support KAT and Butler in this regard? Why did he not emerge more? Who stole his playing time? I wonder why he could not carve more of a role for himself in Minnesota? I'd rather give max dollars to Capela or wait for a better opportunity than this modest slug-like talent. This is NOT an inspired move. Its rooted in familiarity and bit of scraping from the bottom of the free agent barrel .
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Thibodeau is insane with the minutes for his starters.The only non-starter averaging more minutes was Jamal Crawford who averaged 20.7 to Bjelica's 20.5 minutes per game. They really did not use him right. He would basically stand in the corner open and watch Wiggins put up shots . In March when Butler went out he started and played 35 mins per game. 11/6.8/2.1 on 47/43/71 shooting. Nothing spectacular but decent. Still did not get much shots though.
After watching some tape, kind of reminds me of a bigger slightly poor mans version of Joe Ingles. Smart player that makes the simple, logical pass/play like Bogi. Defensively he would seem terrible if you just look at his body but he uses his length and smarts well to be solid against wings and 4's. Guards will go around him for sure. Seems like Thibs was not using him right, since he was mostly a stand in the corner guy. I like the IQ and synergy that he and Bogi would bring to a team full of young athletes. Plus if the Kings are trying to zag while the rest of the league is going small you can get away with him at the 3 in stretches. You can also have spread the floor lineups like Fox, Buddy, Bogi, Bejelicia and one of the athletic bigs as the dive man.
I believe this. If Thibs has proved anything in Minnesota, its that he's not as good as advertised. He rants like a madman on the sidelines and wears his team out. They tune him out. He yells so much he becomes irrelevant background noise. He also runs his starters into the ground and doesn't get the most from his bench. It is conceivable therefore Bjelica could be more with us but I am not overly excited by him. He's old and slow. He's also to his credit crafty and skilled. Okay fine. Let's do it. He's an upgrade as long as the cost is not exorbitant. If we are not getting Capela it is not the worst back up plan. I would rather give him 2/15 to him than Marcus Smart 4/50. We should have gotten Mario. That was the BETTER play to fit the collective age of our core. We needed to put the FULL COURT PRESS on Mario with Peja as the mentor to unleash his potential. That was the righteous Plan A and it was botched. Then we missed on LaVine and now we are scurrying for the free agent scraps. It is what is. Not good. Not great. The Kings are chasing respectable. Yippee.
It's a nice fit with our core guys. Smart player who can pass and handle a bit, awesome shooter, not a complete and total dunce defensively and on the glass. You can create a not terrible rotation if we cut/trade some guys away:
Fox
Buddy ||
Bogdan || Justin Jackson
Bagley || Bjelica
Giles || Skal
I like that core 8 a lot. Keep Shump and Koufos for emergency's off the bench. Buy-out ZBO, Trade WCS
Very cheesed we didn't go harder for FVV. Would look so nice running that second unit. But I think the best case now would be to go get Nwaba and sign a Devin Harris or Nelson as a vet back-up PG to compete with Mason.
Fox || Harris || Mason
Buddy || Nwaba || Shump
Bogdan || JJ
Bagley || Bjelica
Giles || Skal || Koufos
Not going to win a ton of games obviously, but I think that roster could get to 33 wins and there's obviously some great upside. Roster construction actually makes sense and there's complimentary talents to the core guys. Most importantly, no one leeching minutes from the guys we want playing.
Fox
Buddy ||
Bogdan || Justin Jackson
Bagley || Bjelica
Giles || Skal
I like that core 8 a lot. Keep Shump and Koufos for emergency's off the bench. Buy-out ZBO, Trade WCS
Very cheesed we didn't go harder for FVV. Would look so nice running that second unit. But I think the best case now would be to go get Nwaba and sign a Devin Harris or Nelson as a vet back-up PG to compete with Mason.
Fox || Harris || Mason
Buddy || Nwaba || Shump
Bogdan || JJ
Bagley || Bjelica
Giles || Skal || Koufos
Not going to win a ton of games obviously, but I think that roster could get to 33 wins and there's obviously some great upside. Roster construction actually makes sense and there's complimentary talents to the core guys. Most importantly, no one leeching minutes from the guys we want playing.
Yea indeed. But really, at his prime, Kukoc had great vision for passing at 6'10", good enough ball handling (I remember seeing him play point forward with the Bulls), adequate shooting everywhere (which was rare at the time to shoot 3 for someone as tall as he is), just an all around great role player. You can say he is not the most crucial piece for the Bulls championships, but he is for sure one of those must-have archetypes for any championship teams.
Exactly what I'm thinking you got 2 high IQ pass first guys who can space the floor (Bogi/Bjelly) with 3 athletic freaks who they can help in the half court and learn a thing or two about playing the right way. With GIles on it would give us 3 good passers which would be even better plus his attitude since most the team we got is to humble.
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