Updated Lineup

[jtt]

OK,
Time for updated lineup with more certainty with recent signings.

Starting:
PG: Beno
SG: Tyreke
SF: Donte
PF: Dally
C: Cousins
2 shooters (Beno, Donte), 2 rebounders (Dally, Cousins), 1 shotblocker (Dally), 2 playmakers (Tyreke, Cousins)


Backup:
PG: Jeter
SG: Garcia
SF: Omri
PF: Landry/Thompson
C: JT/Whiteside
2 shooters (Garcia, Omri), 2 rebounders (JT, Whiteside), 1 shotblocker (Whiteside), 2 playmakers (Jeter, Landry)

If we play a small team like Warriors, you go with Landry and Thompson. If we play bigger teams like LA then we go with JT and Whiteside for backup.
These lineups give us the best balance on the court at all times and put the best players in the starting lineup with good size.

 

[ParniValjak]

This is just way too funny. So when we play the Lakers, Landry registers DNP - CD?!

Are you kidding me?! The same Carl Landry that has been our 2nd best player last year?! The same Carl Landry who has shown that he can be a match up nightmare for opponents despite his size?!

Oh believe me Landry WILL play and will end up playing some big minutes for us.

 

[Fear the Putin]

I'm glad we the fans don't coach

 

[SacKings384]

Dalembert at PF?! Seriously? No way Cousins is starting either. He looked AWFUL in the last 3 games. His conditioning was terrible, his attitude was awful, and his game outright sucked. He's got incredible skill and talent but it needs to be honed right. He has to earn that starting position.

My starting lineup:
Beno
Evans
Greene
JT
Dalembert

Bring Landry, Cisco, Cousins, Whiteside and Omri off the bench for significant minutes.

 

[jtt]

Dalembert at PF?! Seriously? No way Cousins is starting either. He looked AWFUL in the last 3 games. His conditioning was terrible, his attitude was awful, and his game outright sucked. He's got incredible skill and talent but it needs to be honed right. He has to earn that starting position.

My starting lineup:
Beno
Evans
Greene
JT
Dalembert

Bring Landry, Cisco, Cousins, Whiteside and Omri off the bench for significant minutes.

Everybody was so high on Cousins until the last couple of games. He still won SL player. He will be in better shape when season starts and he won't have to play every day for 6 days in a row. He's still our best option for scoring down low and rebounding.
We always need a shotblocker on the court so I stuck SD in for PF since Cousins is too heavy for PF position. With JT and SD we don't really have strong post scoring presence and there will not be any double team. Cousins commands double team and that opens up for our shooters or Evans cutting in the lane.

 

[jtt]

Dalembert at PF?! Seriously? No way Cousins is starting either. He looked AWFUL in the last 3 games. His conditioning was terrible, his attitude was awful, and his game outright sucked. He's got incredible skill and talent but it needs to be honed right. He has to earn that starting position.

My starting lineup:
Beno
Evans
Greene
JT
Dalembert

Bring Landry, Cisco, Cousins, Whiteside and Omri off the bench for significant minutes.

This looks like the same team as last year with SD as the difference. Well I doubt that SD will make much of difference and so with this lineup, we will end up with a slightly better record on the optimistic side.

 

[jtt]

This is just way too funny. So when we play the Lakers, Landry registers DNP - CD?!

Are you kidding me?! The same Carl Landry that has been our 2nd best player last year?! The same Carl Landry who has shown that he can be a match up nightmare for opponents despite his size?!

Oh believe me Landry WILL play and will end up playing some big minutes for us.

And Landry becomes a matchup nightmare for us on the defensive end against opposing PF.

 

[cuad]

OK,
Time for updated lineup with more certainty with recent signings.

Starting:
PG: Beno
SG: Tyreke
SF: Donte
PF: Dally
C: Cousins
2 shooters (Beno, Donte), 2 rebounders (Dally, Cousins), 1 shotblocker (Dally), 2 playmakers (Tyreke, Cousins)


Backup:
PG: Jeter
SG: Garcia
SF: Omri
PF: Landry/Thompson
C: JT/Whiteside
2 shooters (Garcia, Omri), 2 rebounders (JT, Whiteside), 1 shotblocker (Whiteside), 2 playmakers (Jeter, Landry)

If we play a small team like Warriors, you go with Landry and Thompson. If we play bigger teams like LA then we go with JT and Whiteside for backup.
These lineups give us the best balance on the court at all times and put the best players in the starting lineup with good size.

I agree with your lineups 100%. Also in the Rockets series against the Lakers, there were nights when Carl Landry would barely see 15 minutes of playing time.

The one problem with Dalembert guarding the other team's 4, is that occasionally he's going to have to step out on the pick and roll (or maybe the other team has a stretch 4), which he can do, BUT if he's out there, then he's not in position to block any shots....

 

[Bricklayer]

This whole Carl thing has gotten foolish. Its just confusing wishes and reality after a while, and I'm not even clear on why it should be wished.

The facts are that we traded a valuable asset to get Carl, we really liked Carl both as a player and person and treated him as a #2 option after he came over. We started him over Jason/Spencer, and we played him 37 min a game like a borderline star starter. People expecting all that love to suddenly evaporate and us to start DNPing him or giving him 12min a night off the bench or whatever are just kidding themselves. We have the same GM, same owners, same exact coaching staff that gushed about how valuable he was last year. He's clearly going to get a major chunk of our minutes and may very well end up starting. I have mixed feelings about that, but not so mixed that I start constructing fantasy scenarios where he's our 10th man (and no BTW I can't tell you who will be -- the minutes crunch up front is so severe that there's no obvious solution).

 

[Boogie-havoc]

I already said my starting lineup for the season a while ago, and i'm sticking by it.

Beno
Reke
Donte
Landry
Dalembert

 

[EuroKing]

Here is my starting lineup:
Evans
Garcia
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

 

[DocHolliday]

We're forgetting Donald Sloan. He was signed to a 1 year deal correct?

 

[Gtronic]

Here is my starting lineup:
Evans
Garcia
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

Ditto

 

[Warhawk]

Here is my starting lineup:
Evans
Garcia
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

I think this is closer to reality than playing Sam at 4 and starting Beno.

Evans will play the point and I think Garcia will start at 2. Not sure on Casspi/Donte starting but both will get decent minutes, so it doesn't really matter. I think Sam will start at Center. Landry will *probably* start at PF. I think the coach will start the vets, at least early in the season. Also, starting Sam and Landry will probably (at least marginally) keep their trade value higher if that becomes an issue near the deadline. You never know.

Right now, before any training camp, this is my guess for the starting 5 at the beginning of the season. I can see other combinations starting later in the season, but I think this group will start the first game (barring injury, of course).

I have the feeling we might try to platoon players more this season and run as much as possible. With Beno, Donte (or Casspi), Cousins, and JT as the major players coming off the bench, that's not bad.

 

[keflanag]

Sloan's deal is not guaranteed. Unless he blows people away in training camp he will be cut before the season starts.

 

[jtt]

Emphasis on Defense

There is renewed emphasis on defense and rebounding from GM down to coaching staff. This is why I think that Landry will not start. 6.5 rebounds for 37.6 minutes as power forward will lose a lot of games for us. You simply cannot have a puny Power Forward who cannot rebound in the western Conference and expect to win games.
He's not exactly a good defender either. I've watched guys shoot over him all night long.
I think the organization is tired of losing and are trying to change philosophy and you can see it in the draft with us picking 2 centers who can block and rebound. You also saw us picking up Wright as another good perimeter defender. Landry can score but that's about it. Look what we did with the last guy who can score but can't play defense (KMart). If you look at Championship teams in the last decade you will see teams with lock down defense like Celtics, Spurs, Pistons, and Lakers and rebound. Even if your shot is off, you can still win with defense and rebounding.

 

[pshn80]

Here is my starting lineup:
Evans
Garcia
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

That's the first game starting lineup I posted yesterday. It is the lineup I think they will choose. Dalembert is a legitimate starter and is it until Cousins proves he can do it better. Landry will be started until he proves he can't do it. He has so far. Cousins is not ready, Whiteside is not ready. Thompson is a proven quantity and will get more chance to get better. We were and are all waiting for Garcia to regain his physical health and start - a potential great match with Evans starting at pg. Our ideal then to have Beno back up both. It worked last year but was limited by Garcia's condition. Naturally, that is the combo we want to start off with this season. Casspi, Greene - a crap shoot. Neither of them are there yet. Casspi's head is ahead of Greene's. How people perform in what combos in training camp and preseason games can and will effect anybody's guess at opening night lineup.

 

[DocHolliday]

There is renewed emphasis on defense and rebounding from GM down to coaching staff. This is why I think that Landry will not start. 6.5 rebounds for 37.6 minutes as power forward will lose a lot of games for us. You simply cannot have a puny Power Forward who cannot rebound in the western Conference and expect to win games.
He's not exactly a good defender either. I've watched guys shoot over him all night long.
I think the organization is tired of losing and are trying to change philosophy and you can see it in the draft with us picking 2 centers who can block and rebound. You also saw us picking up Wright as another good perimeter defender. Landry can score but that's about it. Look what we did with the last guy who can score but can't play defense (KMart). If you look at Championship teams in the last decade you will see teams with lock down defense like Celtics, Spurs, Pistons, and Lakers and rebound. Even if your shot is off, you can still win with defense and rebounding.

You're forgetting that you CAN have an undersized Forward when you actually have a Defensive presence in the middle standing right next to him. We have to in Dalembert and Cousins. It won't be like having Hawes or Thompson as center standing next to him.

Bibby was a horrible defender one a team that had the best defense in the league one year. How did that happen? Better defenders around him were able to pick up his slack. When you have better defenders around Landry, and better rebounders, his numbers would be fine. Defense and rebounding are great and something we desperately need, but you still have to score points to win. Landry is a good offensive presence

 

[CruzDude]

Agree with SacKings384 with proviso that Omri could start due to higher hustle and better rebounding. Then the backups:

Jeter behind Beno
Garcia behind Tyreke
Greene/Omri sorta interchangeable
JT and Whiteside behind Landry, maybe some of Jackson
DMC behind Dallembert until he can demo taking the 5 spot major minutes but won't happen quickly maybe after all-star break or even later. Kid has a LOT to learn.

 

[The Hammer]

Dalembert at PF?! Seriously? No way Cousins is starting either. He looked AWFUL in the last 3 games. His conditioning was terrible, his attitude was awful, and his game outright sucked. He's got incredible skill and talent but it needs to be honed right. He has to earn that starting position.

My starting lineup:
Beno
Evans
Greene
JT
Dalembert

Bring Landry, Cisco, Cousins, Whiteside and Omri off the bench for significant minutes.

Funny how the guy can look awful for the last three games and still be named rookie of the month ain't it? That's because he KILLED it the first three games, and he was playing a crazy 6 games in 7 days. Of course his conditioning needs to improve, but I believe he will start. .

I also believe there's a good chance Landry will start beside him.

Isn't it interesting how many different starting line ups people are throwing out there this year? It's crazy. This is a sign that we actually have some real talent. I personally think that even the coaching staff has no clue who will be starting at this point, but here's my best guess, at this point, of who we will trot out on opening night:

Evans
Garcia
Greene
Landry
Cousins

I like our guard situation with Garcia healthy. Really do. Beno can back up both. Garcia preserves the matchup advantage, and can defend and shoot the three. Jeter seems like a nice little pg spark plug off the bench when needed.

The front line is a little more fluid and harder to guess. I could easily see Dally starting for the first few games. I could also easily see Cousins and Dally starting together to just give us monster interior defense. If Dally does start, I still see Landry starting at 4.

I think Greene gets the nod because of defense, and a little bit of tenure.

I love what Beno's game has become, but I don't ever see him starting (barring an injury to one of the above) just for the simple fact of us wanting to preserve the mismatches and for the sheer tall line-up/intimidation factor when we walk out there. We could very easily and legitimately walk out there on opening night with:

6'6"
6'7"
7' (Donte)
7' (Dally)
6'11" (Cuz)

That pretty much dictates what the other team can do against you. You've got the other teams coaches totally preoccupied with game planning against all that height.

That line up could work. You just leaving Dally out of most of the offense and let him crash for clean ups. On defense, and we've talked about this, and I consent that it would not be ideal against some teams, but it would work agianst most teams, you just put Cousins on the bigger of their two front line dudes, and you let Dally sag just a tad, but you've got three very good perimeter defenders that can rotate and pick up the slack out beyond 15 feet, and bother any of the quicker PFs, and better shooting PFs.

You gotta admit, that is a pretty intimidating line up.

 

[Kingstime]

Carl Landry is his short stint wit the kings has proven to be a highly skilled hardworker and for that reason alone i see coach westphal looking at him like he looks at reke in terms of our bigs. Meaning he will start and log heavy minutes. I see no problem with him starting at the 4 since we have Dally while we wait for our young bigs to develop.

 

[rainmaker]

My starting 5 hasn't changed since prior to summer league.

Tyreke
Beno
Greene
JT
Cousins

The Bench

Jeter
Cisco/Wright
Casspi
Landry/Whiteside(spot mins)
Dalembert

I have wanted Cousins to start at center since the moment we drafted him. Much more talent and versatility than Dalembert. Throw him into the fire just like we did with Tyreke. IMO, JT fits better next to Dalembert than Landry. Bring Carl off the bench in his natural 6th man role. But I like the idea from day 1 of Cousins going against other starting centers, and us taking advantage of our depth at thaat position. When he gets winded, gets in foul trouble, or is struggling defensively, bring in Dalembert. I see them pretty much splitting the mins 50/50 at center this season. But I want Cousins to gain experience immediatly going up against starters.

 

[bajaden]

This whole Carl thing has gotten foolish. Its just confusing wishes and reality after a while, and I'm not even clear on why it should be wished.

The facts are that we traded a valuable asset to get Carl, we really liked Carl both as a player and person and treated him as a #2 option after he came over. We started him over Jason/Spencer, and we played him 37 min a game like a borderline star starter. People expecting all that love to suddenly evaporate and us to start DNPing him or giving him 12min a night off the bench or whatever are just kidding themselves. We have the same GM, same owners, same exact coaching staff that gushed about how valuable he was last year. He's clearly going to get a major chunk of our minutes and may very well end up starting. I have mixed feelings about that, but not so mixed that I start constructing fantasy scenarios where he's our 10th man (and no BTW I can't tell you who will be -- the minutes crunch up front is so severe that there's no obvious solution).

First off, your wasting your breath. Well intentioned though you may be. As far as minutes go. They'll be distributed between Dalembert, Cousins, Thompson and Landry, and in no particular order. The odd man out will be Whiteside. The Kings consider him to be a long term project and want to bring him along slowly. I'm not saying he won't get minutes here and there, but they'll mostly be garbage minutes, or emergency minutes due to injury or foul trouble.

I know some will cry foul, but I think the Kings are doing the right thing. Whiteside just isn't strong enough right now. If you could see Whiteside and Cousins standing next to each other in person, the size difference is startling. And I'm not talking about height. Of course Cousins looked bigger than almost all the players at his position. He's a very wide body.

If I had to venture a guess at who will start at the PF position, I would guess Landry. He's not necessarily my choice, but I'm OK with it. But to think he's the 10th man on the bench is pure lunacy.

 

[bajaden]

We're forgetting Donald Sloan. He was signed to a 1 year deal correct?

Its unguaranteed. He got some up front money to sign. I doubt he'll make the team..

 

[Jkbiker]

C Sammy/Cousins til second half of season then reverse
PF Landry/JT or JT/Landry depending on size of starting opposing PF
SF Greene/Casspi
SG Garcia/Beno
PG Reke/Beno

Cousins/Omri,Jt/Beno now that bench has some serious scoring capabilities -Woot

Gonna be a 9 man rotation

10th man Whiteside
11th Man Wright
12th man Jeter
13th man - Who knows Sloan and Jackson will be gone

 

[Bricklayer]

My starting odds:

PG -- Tyreke 100%
SG -- Cisco 60%/Beno 40%
SF -- Donte 50%/Casspi 50%
PF -- Landry 40%/Thompson 30%/Dalembert 30%
C -- Dalembert 55%/Cousins 45%

 

[Boogie-havoc]

Whats with Dalembert at the 4 with so many people?

 

[Bricklayer]

Whats with Dalembert at the 4 with so many people?

If Cousins gets the start at center its a legitimate possibility. Westphal said he'd experiment with it during a summer league interview, and we didn't pick Dalembert up by accident -- before we got lucky in the draft we nabbed him on purpose to toughen up our team defensively, which is kind of the next step for a young team. Hard to do that from the bench, so I'm sure we're going to at least take a look at having his shotblocking out there even with Cousins on the floor.

 

[est.1999]

It's funny how we still have people that want Evans at the 2. Yet they plug in Beno at the 1. What makes Beno more of a 1? Because he's shorter?

 

[Boogie-havoc]

If Cousins gets the start at center its a legitimate possibility. Westphal said he'd experiment with it during a summer league interview, and we didn't pick Dalembert up by accident -- before we got lucky in the draft we nabbed him on purpose to toughen up our team defensively, which is kind of the next step for a young team. Hard to do that from the bench, so I'm sure we're going to at least take a look at having his shotblocking out there even with Cousins on the floor.

What I mean is that it's more reasonable atleast to me that Cousins will be a PF if him and Dally are on the floor.