Welcome Domantas Sabonis
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
ok, but Kings twitter this morning before I left for work was really nasty, most was directed at Fox but a lot of talk like we traded LeBron or Steph for Sabonis. I'm not sure why people think we'd have gotten a really good player in return for scraps. I don't think this parallels the Rock for Webb deal but it is a small for big, and even in this new modern NBA I think size matters when the skill is there. The main difference is that unskilled bigs no longer have a place in the league.
I fell asleep on the couch and missed the game as well as the 'zona game (which hilariously bumped a Sounders champions league match to much fanfare on my feed as well) and woke up to some pretty epic meltdowns. But this team is finally poised to be good next season, at this point I'm taking every loss well if it comes with a heaping of questionable coaching and lineup experimentation as it will only help our chances of getting a good pick. Chicago was supposed to contend for playoffs when they made their move for Vuc and backslid afterwards and they seem to be doing fine now. Why anyone can't see the obvious rebalancing of the roster and the talent upgrade is beyond me. I even saw one poster say we traded two starters for one. My perspective is we traded one starting quality player for another and we also got DDV in a separate deal which leaves us with 4/5 a starting lineup for next year.
that said I am fairly new to Kings twitter outside of CD and still learning who is who.
that said I am fairly new to Kings twitter outside of CD and still learning who is who.
Chicago reference is on point.They did not improve all that much record wise after Vucevic trade because they clearly needed more pieces.Sabonis is better than Vuc so maybe Kings can improve next season as well even if they get less impactful player than Demar.The starting five needs improvement(Holiday and Harkless can not be starters on a solid play off team) so hopefully it will get addressed just like Bulls did.
I'd like to think we have a massive rise to respectability coming soon and getting Sabonis is a great start but in terms of the Chicago comparison, their success has more to do with them signing this season's MVP as a free agent in the off-season than bringing in Vuc at last year's trade deadline. DeRozan has been a fine player for awhile but he's also the type of player where we would have said you're probably in trouble if he's your best player -- until this season when he inexplicably ascended to super stardom in his age 32 season. That's a serendipitous series of events that's probably not repeatable.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't try though. I think the primary goal from here on out should be to find that All Star wing to solidify the core. If we draft well, continue to seek out and develop young players like Terence Davis and Chimezie Metu, and keep the contract situation under control we can hunt for a trade at next year's deadline and if nothing is available target a wing with a max contract in the 2023 or 2024 off-season. The important thing is to keep developing players up and down the roster so that when opportunities come up to snag a DeRozan level player we actually have pieces to offer that other teams might want. The coaching hire comes first though and is almost as important as this year's draft in determining whether this rebuild has legs or not.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't try though. I think the primary goal from here on out should be to find that All Star wing to solidify the core. If we draft well, continue to seek out and develop young players like Terence Davis and Chimezie Metu, and keep the contract situation under control we can hunt for a trade at next year's deadline and if nothing is available target a wing with a max contract in the 2023 or 2024 off-season. The important thing is to keep developing players up and down the roster so that when opportunities come up to snag a DeRozan level player we actually have pieces to offer that other teams might want. The coaching hire comes first though and is almost as important as this year's draft in determining whether this rebuild has legs or not.
No shock there. We traded our two best perimeter shooters for him. But the Sabonis and Fox core gives the team a clear agenda in free agency and the draft. They’ll need shooters and lots of them. Kings would be good if everybody else outside of those two and Barnes wasn’t feast or famine offensively, but most nights the Kings can’t expect good production out of 2 starter slots and the bench.
Davion and Donte will be good going forward. Donte’s inconsistent play might be good for now so the Kings can retain him relatively cheap…everybody else outside of those 5 need to be replaced in the off-season for fits. Kings upgraded enough that they can go into the off-season looking for fits rather than figuring out how to build an identity in the draft and free agency
Davion and Donte will be good going forward. Donte’s inconsistent play might be good for now so the Kings can retain him relatively cheap…everybody else outside of those 5 need to be replaced in the off-season for fits. Kings upgraded enough that they can go into the off-season looking for fits rather than figuring out how to build an identity in the draft and free agency
Donte is definitely a roller coaster. I go from completely befuddled why he isn’t starting in place of Holiday, to screaming at the TV after another careless pass or deep three brick. Hoping he can start to pull it together on a consistent basis (I feel like he’s probably had 1.5 great games since the trade).