State of the Kings Pre-trade Deadline Edition

Will Haliburton be our best player at some point?

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iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#1
#1
I thought it would be a good time to evaluate where we are and discuss the big decisions Monte has in the next month.

Fox- has improved this year and has shown flashes of being a legitimate star. Doesn't make as much of an impact on defense as I think he should. Still can't hit free throws (He must improve this by next season. Anything less than 75 percent is a total failure on his part)

Haliburton- His ascension continues as he gains more minutes and confidence. The tools are there for him to be an all star level player and he has the determination to do it.

Buddy- I don't see the team moving him, but I do think we need to transition him to a bench role. My guess is we let him start the remainder of the year but id like to see him slim down this offseason (more yoga less weights) and settle into the deadly sniper off the bench

Bagley- I like his progress the last couple weeks. He has a long way to go but we need to see heavy minutes out of him after the deadline. We have until next years trade deadline to decide whether we want to keep him or ship him off.

Holmes- I want to sign Rich to a contract extension. He isn't perfect, but I love his energy and efficiency. However, if Monte doesn't plan to re-sign him (and he should know by now) then we need to trade him.

Barnes- Love Harrison but he is the most logical to go. We would be selling high as he will probably never have more value.

DQJ- more minutes for him to figure out where he fits. He is a great depth piece by my view

Edit forgot Belly- who will Nemanja end up with? Philly or Miami seem the most interested?

Whiteside- Could make an argument that we should keep him and try to sign him to small deal this offseason. Seems like a good locker room guy and would be best suited for about 12 minutes a game sharing the floor with a bunch of guys that can score.

Woodard- the G league season is over fairly soon and I would expect we see him getting minutes after the deadline. I am not going to get too excited over his tape just yet

Walton- Will he be fired in or after season? That is really the only question at this point.

James/Guy/Ramsey/Metu- probably not a ton to discuss with these guys. I like Metu's potential but who knows if we will even see him again this season.
 
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iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#4
#4
yeh there is little question Belly gets traded. I actually hope its for a 2022 second rounder when we might have high schoolers eligible as well.
 
SLAB

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#5
#5
Hali will be the best player on the team, sooner rather than later.

And that’s not a shot a Fox. They’re going to make a kick*** backcourt for years to come. I just think Hali’s game is more translatable to being good every single night.

Bagley’s progressing... but I’m still not sold. Have to continue playing him as much as possible to see what we actually have.

Holmes is fine. I don’t love him as a starter next to Bags, who is more of the future than Holmes is. Hyper energy first big off the bench would be perfect. I’d very much prefer the guy starting next to Bagley to be a large legitimate paint protector.

I want Hassan to stay for the rest of his career on consecutive minimum/slightly more deals. Every team needs their vet. And this one can contribute a little. Even non-Whiteside fans (not me obvs) have to appreciate him telling Bags to pull his head out about his defense, and the fact that Bags listened is impressive and shows what the team thinks of our goofy giant.

DQJ is a legitimately intriguing prospect. And not in a “I’m going to squint very hard and pretend Troy Williams is good” kind of way, in a real kind of way.

Metu/Guy/Woodard/Ramsey can stick around to see if they’re actually good or not. I like the sounds of Woodard’s GLeague adventure, but can’t pretend I know anything more than the numbers. Metu seems to have skills as well.

Trade Buddy and Harrison and the rest. I’m all aboard the tank.

Cut CoNo.

Walton can continue to drive the tank and get fired after he gets us the #1 pick.

Jabari can stay.
 
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iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#7
#7
I am a little concerned about the reports of Boston being interested in Vucevic. A Walker/Brown/Tatum/Theis/Vucevic starting 5 is a contender in the east for sure. If I am Boston I would give up Pritchard Nesmith and 2 firsts for Vucevic. That would leave us with one less trade partner for Barnes.
 
gunks

gunks

Hall of Famer
#8
#8
I voted Fox because I still give him the higher ceiling as his shooting continues to improve, but Hali is a stud. That backcourt is gonna be a 50pt, 20 assist threat on a nightly basis soon. We’re in a real good spot with those two.

I don’t think that McNair has to be aggressive with moves this season. Vlade didn’t give him a lot to work with, so making moves to make moves might not be the way to go. I’m all for trading Buddy, that horrible contract could come back to haunt us when it’s time to re-sign core players, but I have serious doubts there’s a market for him.

I’m also down to keep Luke around through the end of the season. A lot of good coaches hit the market after the playoffs.

If tank commander Luke can get us a top 5 pick in what’s supposed to be a loaded draft (and if McNair doesn’t Vlade it up on draft night), this could be a really quick turnaround. That’s why I’d be hesitant to trade guys like HB and Holmes, who would absolutely be valuable players to keep around for a playoff push.

.... man, I kinda went after Vlade in this post. Oh well, it’s deserved haha
 
iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#10
#10
gunks said:
I voted Fox because I still give him the higher ceiling as his shooting continues to improve, but Hali is a stud. That backcourt is gonna be a 50pt, 20 assist threat on a nightly basis soon. We’re in a real good spot with those two.

I don’t think that McNair has to be aggressive with moves this season. Vlade didn’t give him a lot to work with, so making moves to make moves might not be the way to go. I’m all for trading Buddy, that horrible contract could come back to haunt us when it’s time to re-sign core players, but I have serious doubts there’s a market for him.

If tank commander Luke can get us a top 5 pick in what’s supposed to be a loaded draft (and if McNair doesn’t Vlade it up on draft night), this could be a really quick turnaround. That’s why I’d be hesitant to trade guys like HB and Holmes, who would absolutely be valuable players to keep around for a playoff push.

.... man, I kinda went after Vlade in this post. Oh well, it’s deserved haha
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I think the first bolded line might lead to a change with the players on the second bolded line. We can't have Barnes and Buddy making a combined 40+ million. I don't know what the market for Holmes will be but we might not have enough cash when Fox's contract kicks in. Then we have to plan for Bagley's contract if he progresses and we want to sign him. If we could move off Buddys contract, I would be inclined to keep Barnes.
 
iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#14
#14
as far as the Swipa/Rese's Passes debate

Fox has better handles, is a better scorer and a better creator (for himself)

Haliburton is the better facilitator, defender and shooter. Haliburton could end up elite in all 3 of his main skills. I also think he is a more natural leader and will grow into that role as he gets more experience. Fox has very good bbiq, I believe Haliburton has elite bbiq. I never thought I would say this, but Haliburton has a very good chance of being the best player on the team. We could have a Lillard/McCollum level back court tandem in our future.
 
iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

Hall of Famer
#15
#15
Think of these possible depth charts for next year

Fox/ Draft pick
Halburton/ Buddy
Draft pick/ DQJ
Bagley/ Woodard
Holmes/ Whiteside

or
Fox/ Free agent
Haliburton/ Buddy
Woodard/ DQJ
Bagley/ draft pick
Mobley/ Holmes

or
Fox/ Free agent
Haliburton/ Buddy
Wagner/ DQJ
Barnes/ Woodard
Bagley/ Whiteside
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#17
#17
Another issue with continuing this core... it's not even likely we can keep it together next season. If we keep Barnes and Buddy, we won't have the cap space to make Holmes a reasonable offer. Can only offer 8.75 mil in the first year. Would much rather have a couple young assets for Buddy/Barnes and Richaun locked up next year rather than lose him for nothing.
 
gunks

gunks

Hall of Famer
#18
#18
iowamcnabb said:
I think the first bolded line might lead to a change with the players on the second bolded line. We can't have Barnes and Buddy making a combined 40+ million. I don't know what the market for Holmes will be but we might not have enough cash when Fox's contract kicks in. Then we have to plan for Bagley's contract if he progresses and we want to sign him. If we could move off Buddys contract, I would be inclined to keep Barnes.
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Yeah good point! Moving Barnes is probably the best bet for clearing cap.

Maybe Buddy will up his value under a better coach next season. I do like that he’s worked on expanding his game while his shot has been doo doo. A more well rounded Buddy isn’t a bad player if he gets his percentages back up.
 
Albatros

Albatros

Starter
#19
#19
The way the team have stunk it up lately it gives them an excuse to blow things up. Move buddy and Barnes (will be sad to see him go) move all the dust from the bench and just give Halli and Fox as many minutes together as possible to develop chemistry.

Hopefully Fox can get behind being in a full rebuild.
 
SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#24
#24
There is even talk about Whiteside being a trade target. I think that indicates that the Kings are for sure open for business. I think Monte is putting most of this stuff out there. The issue is does he know the values here? haha.
 
Reverend

Reverend

Bench
#27
#27
SacTownKid said:
There is even talk about Whiteside being a trade target. I think that indicates that the Kings are for sure open for business. I think Monte is putting most of this stuff out there. The issue is does he know the values here? haha.
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I for one, would love to keep Whiteside around for now. I don’t think you need to play him big minutes but he can definitely contribute still in spurts and is a good vet presence to have on the team ala Shump x Scores days. Especially if we’re not seeing a return, I just don’t see any point in buying him out
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#28
#28
SacTownKid said:
If Monte wants to start some sort of reset then he should look at combining Barnes and Holmes together. I was thinking that might be a way for a team like the Celtics to really bite. A combo of those two might be able to put a team over the top.
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As much as I love Holmes... If you could get Nesmith, Bob Williams (Holmes 2.0) and their 1st? I think you seriously consider that deal. My preference is to clean Buddy/Barnes first and sign Holmes to a longer-term deal though.
 
W

Woot!

Starter
#29
#29
In my view, pushing this team to perennial-playoff level is about:
  1. Getting a third cornerstone to go with Fox and Halliburton
  2. Getting a good/great coach and coaching staff
  3. Getting the right complementary player pieces.
That's listed in approximate order of difficulty.

We actually have #3 in place now. (Love Metu, like Whiteside and DQJ, intrigued by Woodward.) HB is my favorite player. I'd MUCH rather trade Buddy, whose play this season is in addition-by-subtraction territory. But HB is a better player, has a shorter contract, and is likely to bring back more value.

I'd LOVE to keep him and Holmes in the longer-term mix. Not just because of my personal attachment. I see them both as integral members of a potential championship-caliber 8-man rotation, which ain't chickens**t. You don't get guys like that outta the vet min bargain bin at the tail end of free agency and you shouldn't trade them unless you feel VERY good about what's coming back - or simply as part of a *tank* strategy. That said, if moving HB, Holmes, Buddy, Marvin or anyone else besides Foxy and Ty gets you that 3rd cornerstone or very appreciably closer to it, you have to look at it.

And PLEASE get serious about the coaching staff. I'm not even saying Luke is a terrible coach, but fosho he's not very good. This team has EIGHT GUYS with less than 3 full years of experience. (Doesn't include Fox.) Gotta have a head coach and staff that can teach and socialize these guys into the NBA basics and find the right schemes for the talent. Probably need to take a chance on a hard-charging young guy, rather than a hoary re-tread, but gotta make a move by the offseason.
 
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