Kings sign Mikki Moore!!!

[hammystyle]

Some people might diasgree on this being the most "indefensible" thins Petrie has ever done. Also, I not sure what "smilarly talented" player you might be referring to? Could you list a couple that are available at the league minimum......

I can't think of a single arguement for this signing. I might have disagreed with other Petrie moves, but I could always at least see the reasoning. I can not see that reason now, so I see it as his most "indefensible" move.

Mikki Moore has been a lifetime 12th person on the roster. One minor step above the type of guys that you sign for 10 day contracts at the minimum. He might be slightly better than those guys because of his experience, but they're pretty close. So basically whoever the best big men in the NBDL are who don't have a team affiliation. Those are the players he's "similarly talented" to. Justin Williams was an excellent example.

 

[kupman]

Forgive me if this has already been asked. There have been a ton posts on this signing (many of which I have read).

Is it possible with this signing means that the Kings are thinking of putting Brad at the 4 and running the offense through him while Moore and Hawes handle the 5 spot?

 

[Kingster]

I just got a question here! How many times in the last few years did we say "This is leading to another move. GP has something up his sleeve". Well if history says anything, there is nothing good coming after this. Moore is someone you would be OK with giving a 2 year $6-7 million deal as a big player thats useful to have on the roster. At MLE he is highly overpriced and he is guaranteed for 2 and a half years which seriously damages that summer of 2009 Free Agency target!!!

I'm with you. I'll believe that this move is a prelude to much bigger moves - KT, Miller, SAR - when I see it. Right now, "It is what it is" - another non sequiter from the front office.

 

[love_them_kings]

omfg

Because you just don't know if you can keep on signing guys to the MLE every reason right Geoff? Because a 3 year deal expiring in 09-10 for a 32 yr old vet makes perfect sense when you are theoretically trying to clear space for 08-09 right Geoff?

But hey:

1) has jumper? CHECK.
2) played career game against us? CHECK.


woot.

course if we signed everyone who had a career game against us we'd have a whole team of nobody's who only produced once a year

nonetheless, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt & see what he can do, even though this move just doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[kromeace]

Theres a reason Geoff has the job he has and we don't... nuff said.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Theres a reason Geoff has the job he has and we don't...

Yeah, he has friends in high places, and we don't...

 

[beb0p]

I don't know if this has been said, but we need a veteran 7-footer with athleticism and scoring ability... NOT to win games, but to school Spencer Hawes until the youngster gets it.

Moore is going to go at Hawes at every practice for the next 2.5 years. He's going to score on the youngster, block his shots, and maybe laugh in his face. Hawes is going to see up close and personal what kind of monster he's going to face down the road. Moore is going to take Hawes under his wing and show the 19-yr-old some tricks of the trade. Because it's sure as heck Brad, KT, or SAR is only going to give Hawes the wrong idea that other NBA big men can only shoot jumpers, can't make layups or don't play any defense.

I recall how Kevin Johnson once said going at Mark Price at every practice made him into the player he was. Hopefully, Hawes will learn how to defend those athletic bigs and what type of moves he can pull on an athletic 7-footer.

I consider this MLE signing a private tutoring fees for our future all-star center.

 

[Kingster]

Then once again like another member pointed out, you cant simply look at his stats and determine his value. That way, Bowen (Bruce that is) would be worthless in this league as well.

Hawes is not yet ready to contribute as he needs to develop a bit, physically wise. We cant just throw him into the starting/backup position and ask him to deliver.
Yet again, we dont know if Petrie completed this deal as the beginning of many deals to come for our big men. Say SAR and Kenny are gone.
Leaves us with Miller, Justin, and Hawes. Is that formidable enough for you?
No way for me.

I strongly disagree with that statement. If this team is rebuilding, Hawes should get significant minutes, which for me means 20+ a game. No ifs, ands, or butts. Rebuilding means playing the young guys for significant minutes. They don't develop by sitting on the bench. Having mediocre vets getting predominant minutes does nothing for the long term future of the team, nor of the development of the younger player. If you want desperately to compete for the 8th playoff spot, ruining your chance of gettting a star through the lottery, then sure, sign the mediocre vets like Miki; with great "luck" they might get you there. But if you don't, and you have a longer term goal of being a top tier team, it's a waste of time and money.

 

[Vlade4GM]

Even though I'm about 70% sure Mikki will be a piece of a trade coming up soon, I'm also going to be happy if I'm wrong.

The guy is athletic, has good heart, and does what we always wanted from a big (rebounds and putbacks).

Having Moore and J-Will in the line-up would be exciting as hell

Moore can't be traded until December and he's an average rebounder.

 

[Vlade4GM]

This move does open the door for Brad to be moved...perhaps to Orlando for their expiring contracts.

The door was already wide open.

 

[NBAGURU]

Wow...Kings signed a Sprewell look alike???

 

[Vlade4GM]

I don't know if this has been said, but we need a veteran 7-footer with athleticism and scoring ability... NOT to win games, but to school Spencer Hawes until the youngster gets it.

Moore is going to go at Hawes at every practice for the next 2.5 years. He's going to score on the youngster, block his shots, and maybe laugh in his face. Hawes is going to see up close and personal what kind of monster he's going to face down the road. Moore is going to take Hawes under his wing and show the 19-yr-old some tricks of the trade. Because it's sure as heck Brad, KT, or SAR is only going to give Hawes the wrong idea that other NBA big men can only shoot jumpers, can't make layups or don't play any defense.

I recall how Kevin Johnson once said going at Mark Price at every practice made him into the player he was. Hopefully, Hawes will learn how to defend those athletic bigs and what type of moves he can pull on an athletic 7-footer.

I consider this MLE signing a private tutoring fees for our future all-star center.

Um..Mikki Moore is a twig who is not any kind of elite defender or shot blocker and he is basically a jump shooting big. My money is on Hawes.

 

[beb0p]

Um..Mikki Moore is a twig who is not any kind of elite defender or shot blocker and he is basically a jump shooting big. My money is on Hawes.

I beg to differ. Moore has the athleticism that none of our other bigs have besides Justin. We can't let Brad Miller,SAR, and KT be the example for the kid.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I beg to differ. Moore has the athleticism that none of our other bigs have besides Justin. We can't let Brad Miller,SAR, and KT be the example for the kid.

Yea, athleticism he basically only uses on put backs. Also, he can't teach Hawes how to be athletic, it's not teachable. He also only weighs 220, my money is still on Hawes.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Yea, athleticism he basically only uses on put backs. Also, he can't teach Hawes how to be athletic, it's not teachable. He also only weighs 220, my money is still on Hawes.

im not sure about your other points, but i was just going to mention that mikki cant teach hawes how to be athletic..

 

[Starting Five]

Everyone relax..take a deep breath, my crystal ball tells me that there are going to be more moves made.

 

[beb0p]

Yea, athleticism he basically only uses on put backs. Also, he can't teach Hawes how to be athletic, it's not teachable. He also only weighs 220, my money is still on Hawes.

Who said Moore is going to teach Hawes how to be athletic?

I agree, some people needs to relax. The Bucks got Magloire to teach Bogut. The Blazer got Magloire to teach Aldridge. Moore is a useful bench guy who is not signed to longer term contract who can also shows the rookie center a thing or two. We all know Hawes is going to be a much better player than Moore down the road, but this is about a vet taking a rookie under his wing. Hawes is only going to benefit by going against Moore, Williams and Miller. It'll hopefully speed up his learing process.

 

[Vlade4GM]

Who said Moore is going to teach Hawes how to be athletic?

I agree, some people needs to relax. The Bucks got Magloire to teach Bogut. The Blazer got Magloire to teach Aldridge. We all know Hawes is going to be a much better player than Moore, but it's about a vet taking a rookie under his wing.

I hate this notion that since a player is a vet he's automatically a savy mentor. There is nothing Moore does that Hawes can benefit from, Hawes is already more skilled than Moore will ever be. Despite Moore being tall, long, and athletic he's an average rebounder and not much of a shot blocker, so what does he know about the areas where Hawes needs to improve on?

 

[Bricklayer]

Who said Moore is going to teach Hawes how to be athletic?

I agree, some people needs to relax. The Bucks got Magloire to teach Bogut. The Blazer got Magloire to teach Aldridge. We all know Hawes is going to be a much better player than Moore, but it's about a vet taking a rookie under his wing.

Look...highly unlikely in this case. People are considerably overstimating what Moore is. There is nothing he can really teach Spenser Hawes. Spenser is better than he is today. Spenser was probably better at 16 than Mikki is today. There is not a single skill that Mikki has that Hawes does not. Mikki has been a back bencher his entire career. Hence the feel good of his explosion last year. It was because "its Mikki Moore!" I can almost guarantee you that Spenser does not look up to Mikki Moore, let alone want to emulate him. He's a pure journeyman. This isn't Corliss with an NCAA title and NBA title and 6th man of the year award. This has been a guy just barely hanging on year after year. Minus his big finish last year, he could just as easily have been in Europe or the NBDL this year.

If there was a King who was going to teach Spencer anything it would be Brad or Reef, but even those are clearly marginal. Mikki might be a solid lockerroom guy to show the kids the good restaraunts around various cities, but not on the court.

Moore was brought here to play (and at that money he'd better) and provide length and maybe a little enthusiasm, as well as a career roelplayers hopefully low maintenance (as opposed to the KTs etc.).


P.S. BTW, I really doubt Magloire was brought in to tutor in either of those cases, and is not the sort of personality to be a mentor anyway. He was brought in to play, but kept on disappointing and got grumpy about it. Not much of a mentor.

 

[kupman]

Maybe Moore is meant to be nothing more than our replacement for Vitaly P. Is there any chance G.P was primarily impressed wit Moore's cheer leading skills?

Huh?......and 18 million dollar cheerleader. It would fit with the rest of the absurdity going on around the league right now.

 

[ParniValjak]

Its times like these I wish I was a 7 foot, athletic scrub. If I was, I would be very rich! $18 million rich!

 

[fnordius]

If all you want's a cheerleader, why MLE? You could pick up a Mark Madsen or equivalent for a bag of chips.

 

[jtt]

Mikki stats

Mikki's stats per game are not great. Has anyone done an analysis on his stats per minute? From all the highlights I've seen, I have not seen any post up moves. I see that Reggie is preparing to run the Pitino style offense (break off good defense). That means that SAR, Miller, Bibby are done. In that case Mikki will do fine. Pitino never had any use for post-ups. Pitino offense did require very prolific 3 point shooting to suceed. Well, it's time for Douby, Garcia, and Kmart to bring back 3 point touch they had in college. Douby and Garcia shot very well way beyond the arc in college. It would be wise for Pitino/oops Theus to commit to giving them more playing time. Look with PT did for Matt Barnes. The conundrum that Adelman always had was that he had so much pressure to win all the time and never got an opportunity to develop young players. Hope this changes with Theus. You got to be willing to lose to develop young talent. Sometimes you never suceed for a long time (Portland, Boston, Atlanta) but you got to try because if you can get the next Chris Webber and you got all of your young guys developed, you can flip into a winner.

 

[BMiller52]

From a Nets fan on RGM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA9OF7qvLxg&mode=related&search=

Moore isn't a center, he is a PF. He is too skinny/weak to play Center, but you got yourself one hell of a guy. The nicest player I have ever met and he will continue to work hard for you guys. He isn't one of those players who will stop working hard now, he will give it everything he has to play for you guys. He plays for the love of the game, not the money.

Get him open jumpers and he will make them, I remember right after we discovered he could shoot, he went cold so we were wondering why he was still shooting the ball. But he got so frustrated that he was missing his shots he and the shooting coach worked on his shot... he took 3,000 jump shots to get his rhythm and confidence back and after that he never lost his touch again during the season.

He is always out there working out before the game and is one of the last ones to leave the court, and when he leaves he will sign an autograph for anyone who wants it. It would sometimes take him 20 minutes to sign autographs because he loves his fans.

He is also a good offensive rebounder, don't expect much on defense but he will grab the offensive boards and loves to dunk so he always takes it up strong. He does have a problem with the no look passes that Kidd and Carter would dump to him a lot, half the time he would catch and dunk it, others he would bobble it and either lose the ball or end up with it but by than he was being guarded and would have to try to shoot over the defender or pass it out.

I haven't seen him shoot many contended jump shots, most of them were wide open looks, which he was automatic with. He is also an unselfish player with decent passing skills.

He is a good shot blocker, but wasn't really given a chance to block a lot of shots last season because of the defense the Nets ran.

Watch the video I posted, he is a great player and is a great character to add to a rebuilding team for the younger guys. He will become a fan favorite!

Sounds good, I feel a lot better about this signing now after all the facts have seemingly come out.

 

[Bricklayer]

From a Nets fan on RGM:


Sounds good, I feel a lot better about this signing now after all the facts have seemingly come out.

Not sure what all those facets are?

My concerns were/are:

1) takes minutes from kids -- NOT BEEN ADDRESSED
2) takes free agent cap room in 08-09 -- NOT BEEN ADDRESSED (because it does)
3) money could have been spent trying to woo Blatche, Johnson etc. -- NOT BEEN ADDRESSED
4) contractr is too big to trade him -- NOT BEEN ADDRESSED


I mean, in a season in which we all anticipate rebuilding, what does it really matter what Mikki feaking Moore does ON the court? That was never a problem/issue. The man is a pure roleplayer -- that being defined here as a guy who neither creates for himself or others but just fills in the gaps. And if the above listed concerns were not there, you shrug and go on. In a world where Mikki is signed to a $2million deal, ending at the end of next year, where Brad, Kenny and SAR are all gone and so Mikki is not directly stealing minutes from Justin/Spenser, and where we still had money to sepnd on other worthier players...hey, why not? In a world where we are a contender and Mikki was added as a 4th/5th big, you say, cool, depth! This isn't that world.

BTW, there is no particular magic/mystery to Mikki's game. The Nets fan is mostly on target. He's a pure bred roleplayer who has learned to just fit in to keep his NBA career trickling along. You never throw him the ball and ask him to score. But he has a spot up jumper, and he has athleticism. So if you have a creative player ala Kidd, Mikki can spot up and hit a midrange jumper, or he can slash to the hoop and take a pass for layup/dunk. He has no strength, so his man defense is lacking against strong/bulky guys. He does have length and mobility, so while he is not a shotblocker anymore despite the size, he can stay with guys and challenge shots. He is a lousy defensive rebounder and gets pushed out of the way by anybody with any heft, but his length and activity makes him effective on the offensive glass. Voila! Mikki Moore. P.S. As an aside, he will never shoot 60% again in his career, so let' just all skip the disappointment phase here. that was pure bred career/contract year with Jaosn Kidd factored in. But he keeps it simple and plays wihtin what he can do, so 50% is possible.

And all of the above...not the point. Concerns about Mikki aren't about Mikki. In a rebuilding year Mikki moore himself isn't relevant enough to worry about. But Justin is. Spenser is. Our cap room in 08-09 is.

 

[nbrans]

^I agree with all of that. The only notes of optimism I would sound are that

1) Moore is actually likeable, hardworking, etc. and could go a long way toward making the locker room a non-poisonous atmosphere. If he and Justin Williams were on the floor together we might not feel like ripping out our hair. It's pretty clear that we're still going to be bad at least 2009, so getting some people in who at least play with passion and are entertaining will help make that somewhat more bearable.

2) His contract will actually be a pretty good trade chip in the final year of his deal. For instance, if a team is over the luxury tax, we offer a quick and easy way for them to get under the tax level. They trade us their player making $6-$7 million, we trade them Moore, they cut him so his cap figure is $3 million and voila, they're no longer tax payers.

I'm not saying I agree at all with the signing (why in the world didn't we throw the same contracta t Amir Johnson??) but I'm trying to look on the bright side.

 

[gunks]

Yeah seriously (about the Amir Johnson thing)...Thought we were making a youth movement?



Dammit Petrie!

 

[Superman]

2) takes free agent cap room in 08-09 -- NOT BEEN ADDRESSED (because it does)

Someone clarify this for me. I thought it was a three deal with a team option after the second year. No?

If it is, then the cap room in 08-09 isn't affected one way or another with the Moore signing.

Where's NME when you need him?

 

[whozit]

Someone clarify this for me. I thought it was a three deal with a team option after the second year. No?

If it is, then the cap room in 08-09 isn't affected one way or another with the Moore signing.

Where's NME when you need him?

While I believe the third year is only partially guarenteed, there is no team option.

 

[VF21]

The phrasing is reportedly that IF he is still with the team in June, 2009 half of his salary for the remaining year is guaranteed.