Updated Lineup

[midtowner]

I am scratching my head

Carl Landry is the second best player on the Kings right now. I say this because he averaged:

Situation G Min Pct Reb PPG

As Starter 29 37:12 51.7 6.5 17.8

It would be great if we had someone better than him starting at power forward, because Landry is also phenomenal off the bench. But we don't. I like JT. A lot. But Landry was way, way better than him last year. Whiteside's potential is off the charts, but he is not in the same class with Landry right now. Cousins. Oh my god. I can't believe he slipped to us. This may have saved the franchise (glimmer of hope the Kings stay in Sac). But he has done nothing in the NBA. He averaged around 25 minutes a game in 30ish games in college. There is no need to rush this guy into the starting line up (and no benefit in my opinion - the Rookie wall will hit him hard at some point regardless). Dalembert as a starter next to Landry basically negates his rebounding and shot-bothering deficiencies. Both dudes are proven NBA players (that finish strong) in the last years of their contracts. Why on earth would the Kings start any other players at the power positions?

I can't express how stoked I am about our last draft, but those dudes should be wearing pink backpacks and developing off-the bench (Cousins with rotation minutes and Whiteside in spot action + D League). I don't think their is any drama to this positional battle, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. The positional battles I can't figure out is the guard next to Reke and the Donte vs. Omri.

I am just stoked that there is actual competition on this roster.

Latrons

 

[OnYouLikeGlue]

That's bullcrap.. That's the one thing I was watching.. when they were on the floor together.. It was nowhere near 90%-10% lol on regards to what I mentioned about the trivial PG duties.. When the opposing team made a bucket who would take it up the court? Most of the time when both were in the game it was Beno.. Also, I said they were both combo guards so I don't care who starts where if people want to break it down to positions.. Whoever brings it up is no big deal, but I did see Beno as being the person that played best with Evans last season so I would like to have those two start in the back court.

I'm gonna have to agree with Viking on this one. When both were in the game together I remember Tyreke bringing the ball up the court at least 75% of the time if not more.

 

[jtt]

Cousins vs Landry to start

It looks like people agree on the front line for the most part with Donte and Dally to start but there seems to be variety of opinions about Landry or Cousins to start.
Let's break down what they bring and see if we can predict what PW will do.
Offense: Both good options for inside scoring
Defense: Cousins has edge due to size but small edge since he still has to get quicker
Rebound: Cousins has big edge
Running the floor on fast break: Landry
Selling tickets: Cousins
Whom Tyreke prefers: Cousins

I think that Cousins has overall advantage so I would predict he will start rather than Landry.
What people might overlook is that rebounding has big impact on defense. Lots of points last year were scored on put backs and offensive rebounds by our opponent. In addition, getting offensive rebound also stops fastbreak opportunities. Cousins will dramatically improve our team defense with his rebounding. He will be our best rebounder.

 

[rainmaker]

I don't like Cousins at the 4 at all. While a defensive lineup of Dally and Cousins is intriguing, I think you would be playing Cousins out of position from the start . I'd much rather have Dally spill Cousins whenever needed.

Starting Cousins would be a boost to his confidence from the start. The organization has been marketing both he and Tyreke as our future star duo. There will be an ROY campaign. The need to get fans in the seats has already been brought up, and rightfully so. That isn't something the Maloofs aren't thinking about. Not starting Cousins would be somewhat of a letdown to most casual Kings fans, given the excitement and hype that has been generated.

His talent speaks for itself. I think he'll be impressive in training camp and his versatility will really show once he becomes a little more familiar with everyone. I like the idea of him getting experience going against opposing starting center from the start. He'll get in foul trouble. He'll get fustrated, and struggle at times. But take advantage of having such a great defender in Dally backing him up, able to spill him whenever needed.

After what Tyreke did last year and all the excitement it generated, combined with the obvious talent of Cousins, I just don't see him starting on the bench. I like the idea of pairing JT with him. They would be a much better rebounding combination than any featuring Landry. IMO, it's an opportunity to both let JT develop playing next to a real center, and letting Landry go back the 6th man, which would be great coming off our bench. JT has the ability to become a pretty versatile pf in this league. Not an allstar, but a solid dble dble every night, and a good passer. IMO, JT is ready to step up and have a very good season for us, and this is a chance to see what he has and what we can expect from him going forward. I don't see Landry as a long term solution a pf. I want to see if JT can be a solid starting pf in this league.

 

[jtt]

Fluidity in lineup

I don't like Cousins at the 4 at all. While a defensive lineup of Dally and Cousins is intriguing, I think you would be playing Cousins out of position from the start . I'd much rather have Dally spill Cousins whenever needed.

Starting Cousins would be a boost to his confidence from the start. The organization has been marketing both he and Tyreke as our future star duo. There will be an ROY campaign. The need to get fans in the seats has already been brought up, and rightfully so. That isn't something the Maloofs aren't thinking about. Not starting Cousins would be somewhat of a letdown to most casual Kings fans, given the excitement and hype that has been generated.

His talent speaks for itself. I think he'll be impressive in training camp and his versatility will really show once he becomes a little more familiar with everyone. I like the idea of him getting experience going against opposing starting center from the start. He'll get in foul trouble. He'll get fustrated, and struggle at times. But take advantage of having such a great defender in Dally backing him up, able to spill him whenever needed.

After what Tyreke did last year and all the excitement it generated, combined with the obvious talent of Cousins, I just don't see him starting on the bench. I like the idea of pairing JT with him. They would be a much better rebounding combination than any featuring Landry. IMO, it's an opportunity to both let JT develop playing next to a real center, and letting Landry go back the 6th man, which would be great coming off our bench. JT has the ability to become a pretty versatile pf in this league. Not an allstar, but a solid dble dble every night, and a good passer. IMO, JT is ready to step up and have a very good season for us, and this is a chance to see what he has and what we can expect from him going forward. I don't see Landry as a long term solution a pf. I want to see if JT can be a solid starting pf in this league.

I think people are too focused on exact position. With the personnel we have we really are looking just 2 guards and 2 bigs. Cousins skills are fit for PF on offense and center on defense. He can shoot outside and post up and that makes him a PF on offense. Dally has typical size of PF at 6'11" and 250 lbs so he can guard PF on defense just fine and can play center on offense. The problem with JT and Cousins lineup is that we don't have a great interior defense which we sorely lacked last year. There's a reason why we picked up SD. We're trying to have real interior defense. SD must start then so I'm still convinced that SD and Cousins give us the best combo of defense, offense, and rebounding inside. JT has the size but he just lacks the footwork and explosiveness to block shots that SD has.

 

[Superman]

I think people are too focused on exact position. With the personnel we have we really are looking just 2 guards and 2 bigs. Cousins skills are fit for PF on offense and center on defense. He can shoot outside and post up and that makes him a PF on offense. Dally has typical size of PF at 6'11" and 250 lbs so he can guard PF on defense just fine and can play center on offense. The problem with JT and Cousins lineup is that we don't have a great interior defense which we sorely lacked last year. There's a reason why we picked up SD. We're trying to have real interior defense. SD must start then so I'm still convinced that SD and Cousins give us the best combo of defense, offense, and rebounding inside. JT has the size but he just lacks the footwork and explosiveness to block shots that SD has.

Westphal has said that he's committed to personnel groupings more than anything else. In other words, which lineups work best together, and give us the best matchups against the other team?

I stated a few weeks ago that I don't think Cousins will start to begin the season. I think we'll start Dalembert and Landry, but hopefully by the end of the season, we'll be starting Cousins and JT, assuming Dalembert isn't in our long-term plans.

 

[funkykingston]

This is an interesting topic to discuss, but considering Westphal's tendency to play musical chairs with starting spots I'm not sure there's much value in predicting the starting lineup for the Kings on opening day.

The only guaranteed starter on the team is Tyreke Evans.

The rest are up for discussion.

Who starts at the other guard spot?

Barring a (big) surprise signing, trade or injury this comes down to Beno or Garcia. Sure, PW might experiment with Greene at the 2 or even starting Jeter or Wright but Udrih and Cisco are the two real contenders. Personally, I like Garcia starting and Beno off the bench. Beno plays the role of sparkplug better, plays better with the ball in his hands (when Evans is out) and is streaky - good for a bench guy and bad for a starter. Garcia is a better defender and rebounder, preserves the size advantage in the backcourt and plays better when he isn't forcing things.

Who starts at SF?

Basically whoever steps up their game more. I'd love for it to be Greene because he has such potential, but I appreciate Casspi's fire and hard nosed play. Both are good bench guys, Donte because of his versatility and Omri because of his energy and desire to be a focal point offensively. This one is tough to call but in a perfect world this is the season Donte puts it all together and becomes the player we all hope he can.

Who starts at center?

Do you give minutes to the veteran player who can be the team's defensive anchor or to the rookie who shows tremendous promise as a rebounder and low post scorer? Earlier I said that I thought Dalembert should be the starter and Cousins earn his minutes as he improves his conditioning. I still think there's some validity to that and wouldn't mind if that were the case. But considering that the Kings aren't likely to be contending for a playoff spot this year and given DMC's early games in th summer league, I think I'd rather see him thrown into the fire. His gas tank runs dry pretty quickly at this point so there will still be plenty of minutes for Sammy.

So who starts at PF?

This question really depends on the answer to who starts at center. If it's DMC then I don't see Landry starting. His biggest strength duplicates Cousins and this would be the worst defensive pairing. So it's either Thompson or you start Dalembert alongside him. I'm not sold on starting Cousins and DMC but we'll see. But if it's Dalembert starting at center then I think Landry makes the most sense. In short, I think you'll see Westphal tinker with the frontcourt postions a LOT early on trying to hit on what works.

My personal preference for a starting lineup would be:

Evans
Garcia
Greene
Thompson
Cousins

This lineup gives our two young bigs starting roles to develop alongside one another, creates a big backcourt with a consummate role player in Garcia at the two and gives a very high energy bench of Landry, Udrih, Casspi and Dalembert. I like it a lot.

but I think it could very easily end up being:

Evans
Udrih
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

This lineup brings Cousins along more slowly, puts last year's second best player (Landry) in a starting role, establishes Sammy as the teams defensive anchor (something we've all clamored for), continues last year's successful pairing of Beno and Tyreke and gives a very versatile bench of Thompson, Greene and Cisco along with Cousins.

A lot of unanswered questions at this point. One danger of course is that Landry and Dalembert (two VERY solid pieces IMO) may leave for greener pastures (read: starting jobs) at seaon's end if the Kings have them coming off the bench. It will be interestig to see how Westphal handles the starting lineups this year. One thing is for certain, these sorts of issues (having too many potential starters) are good problems to have.

 

[bajaden]

Can we wait and see how things play out before passing judgement. JT's defense improved last season. He defended the pick and roll well and was the best isolation defender on the team. His man defense in the post was his main weakness, but that can be improved by, number one, having someone else to help in the post other than Spencer Hawes. Case in point. Thompson's defense in the post was better when he was on the floor with Landry. Its all about trust. I expect Thompson to improve againd this coming season. Rome wasn't built in a day folks, and players that work to get better do improve, whether the fans realize it or not.

Cousins blocked as many shots per minute in college as Favors did. And while I don't expect him to be a signature shotblocker, I do expect him to hole his own in that dept. in time. Chris Kaman averaged less than a block a game his first two years in the league and didn't break into the 2 plus blocks a game until his fifth year. Cousins was a good man defender in College, and once in shape, I expect him to be a good man defender in the NBA. I don't expect it to happen overnight, but it will happen. Case in point. In his meeting with Derrick Caractor in summer league, who was playing center instead of his natural position of PF, Cousins allowed Caractor to score twice down on the low block. First by giving up positon too quickly, and second by just being out quicked by Caractor. But Cousins is a quick learner. For those that didn't notice, Caractor didn't score another point in the paint against Cousins the rest of the game. Instead Caractor moved out to the top of the key or the wing and shot jumpers. He was still efffective, but not down low. Caractor did score two more baskets in the paint, but Cousins wasn't in the game for one of them and the other was off a turnover that turned into a fast break.

So I think we need to separate ability, from not being able to execute because of physical exhaustion. I'm not excusing his lack of effort the last three games, but I expected it. Lets make one thing perfectly clear. Cousins is not a PF. Nor can he successfully defend the other teams PF's away from the basket. He's a center, and in time he's going to be one of the best in the NBA. Plus the Kings want his butt down in the low post, not out on the perimeter chasing around the other teams PF. Dalembert is a center and Cousins is a center. One of them should back the other up. Thats the natural order of things. I can see them on the floor togther at times, but not starting together.

Dalembert may get the nod to start the season. But don't be surprised if Cousins doesn't win the starting position in short order. This team still needs some good PR, and Cousins starting, and having a shot at ROY is just the kind of PR the Maloof's are looking for, whether he wins it or not. It'll help put butts in the seats and that equals money in the pocket to a franchise that needs it. Don't kid yourself, they didn't liquidate half their assets for the fun of it. Attendance is down in Vegas. They need this team to be successful on the floor and at the box office.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

Without a doubt, most of the bigman minutes go to Cousins, Dalembert and Landry. Who starts where is a little trickier to pin down, but thats where its going to be.

I prefer Landry off the bench personally. He's a killer sixth man.

 

[Superman]

A lot of unanswered questions at this point. One danger of course is that Landry and Dalembert (two VERY solid pieces IMO) may leave for greener pastures (read: starting jobs) at seaon's end if the Kings have them coming off the bench. It will be interestig to see how Westphal handles the starting lineups this year. One thing is for certain, these sorts of issues (having too many potential starters) are good problems to have.

Are we sure that Landry wants to be a starter? Or are we saying that he'll want starter's money? Because I think it's apparent to everyone that he's better coming off the bench. Should be apparent to him as well. Otherwise, in 2014, he's Kenny Thomas. I'd love to keep Landry, but not as a starter.

As for Dalembert, judging from Brendan Haywood's contract, he'll require more than I think we should pay for him, especially if Cousins, JT and Whiteside pan out the way we hope they do. That's why I've been advocating trading him midseason, because I think he's gone after this year regardless. Unless we're willing to give him $50 million.

 

[funkykingston]

If Landry is content being a sixth man (and given that he had such success in that role with the Rockets I think he would be) then I think chances are good that the Kings could bring him back with a reasonable contract offer. But I do think Dalembert is likely a one year rental - especially if Cousins starts and he doesn't.

Dalembert wants to start, wants big minutes (he complained loudly last year in Philly about 25 mpg) and will want another payday. I see him as trade bait at the deadline or an expiring to create more capspace.

That being the case has changed my opinion on Cousins starting. If he's a key to the future and Dalembert is just a temp here in Sacramento then throw the kid into the fire and let him develop rather than giving more minutes to a guy who is not going to be around next season.

 

[vikinginferno]

Can we wait and see how things play out before passing judgement. JT's defense improved last season. He defended the pick and roll well and was the best isolation defender on the team. His man defense in the post was his main weakness, but that can be improved by, number one, having someone else to help in the post other than Spencer Hawes. Case in point. Thompson's defense in the post was better when he was on the floor with Landry. Its all about trust. I expect Thompson to improve againd this coming season. Rome wasn't built in a day folks, and players that work to get better do improve, whether the fans realize it or not.

Cousins blocked as many shots per minute in college as Favors did. And while I don't expect him to be a signature shotblocker, I do expect him to hole his own in that dept. in time. Chris Kaman averaged less than a block a game his first two years in the league and didn't break into the 2 plus blocks a game until his fifth year. Cousins was a good man defender in College, and once in shape, I expect him to be a good man defender in the NBA. I don't expect it to happen overnight, but it will happen. Case in point. In his meeting with Derrick Caractor in summer league, who was playing center instead of his natural position of PF, Cousins allowed Caractor to score twice down on the low block. First by giving up positon too quickly, and second by just being out quicked by Caractor. But Cousins is a quick learner. For those that didn't notice, Caractor didn't score another point in the paint against Cousins the rest of the game. Instead Caractor moved out to the top of the key or the wing and shot jumpers. He was still efffective, but not down low. Caractor did score two more baskets in the paint, but Cousins wasn't in the game for one of them and the other was off a turnover that turned into a fast break.

So I think we need to separate ability, from not being able to execute because of physical exhaustion. I'm not excusing his lack of effort the last three games, but I expected it. Lets make one thing perfectly clear. Cousins is not a PF. Nor can he successfully defend the other teams PF's away from the basket. He's a center, and in time he's going to be one of the best in the NBA. Plus the Kings want his butt down in the low post, not out on the perimeter chasing around the other teams PF. Dalembert is a center and Cousins is a center. One of them should back the other up. Thats the natural order of things. I can see them on the floor togther at times, but not starting together.

Dalembert may get the nod to start the season. But don't be surprised if Cousins doesn't win the starting position in short order. This team still needs some good PR, and Cousins starting, and having a shot at ROY is just the kind of PR the Maloof's are looking for, whether he wins it or not. It'll help put butts in the seats and that equals money in the pocket to a franchise that needs it. Don't kid yourself, they didn't liquidate half their assets for the fun of it. Attendance is down in Vegas. They need this team to be successful on the floor and at the box office.

Great post. I truly do not understand why people would want to start Dalembert at PF when we have a more talented player AT PF! Dalembert's shotblocking wouldn't make up for his lack of ability to guard most PFs as well as lack of an offensive game that can complement Cousins.

 

[jtt]

It's important to realize we're not a contender

I agree that PW will play musical chair but If you think about where we are as a team it makes it easier to see what we're likely to do with the lineup.
1.The fact is that we're not a contender and won't be for a couple of years.
2.The fact is we were terrible last season and it's going to require major changes to get us to be a contender.
Given those 2 facts, it makes sense to take your #5 pick and develop him as fast as possible. Every day that you don't start him is another day that you delay getting to be a contender. We are not out to win as many games as possible so we can have home court advantage in the playoff. So it doesn't make any sense at all to not start DMC right away. Starting Landry or JT over DMC is not going to help us win any more games now or significantly help us to become a contender.
So I think the lineup is going to be Tyreke, Donte and DMC as starters for sure and PW is likely to play musical chairs with the other guys until somebody steps up and can prove they can be relied on night in and night out to deliver regardless of opponent. Of course we want to win so PW is going to do his best to win but the higher priority is to develop guys with most potential and test drive the other guys (give them serious minutes off the bench) to figure out who we can trade away who we should keep to the become the contender team.

 

[Superman]

That being the case has changed my opinion on Cousins starting. If he's a key to the future and Dalembert is just a temp here in Sacramento then throw the kid into the fire and let him develop rather than giving more minutes to a guy who is not going to be around next season.

Because Cousins doesn't have the stamina to play starter's minutes for 80 games. After seeing how Omri fell off last season, and knowing that the transition to the pro game is rough, especially for a rookie, I'd like to see the staff ease Cousins into a starting role over the course of the season. The Lakers didn't really play Bynum at all in his first year because of that rough transition. It's not uncommon to see a rookie big man brought along slowly in his first year. He only played 23.5 minutes per game in less than 40 games last year. Don't want to burn him out and have him limited later in the season. We have the luxury of bringing him off the bench, and that's what I think we should do, at least for the first part of the season.

Also, IF we do plan on moving Dally, then we'll want to showcase him a bit before the deadline.

 

[funkykingston]

Because Cousins doesn't have the stamina to play starter's minutes for 80 games. After seeing how Omri fell off last season, and knowing that the transition to the pro game is rough, especially for a rookie, I'd like to see the staff ease Cousins into a starting role over the course of the season. The Lakers didn't really play Bynum at all in his first year because of that rough transition. It's not uncommon to see a rookie big man brought along slowly in his first year. He only played 23.5 minutes per game in less than 40 games last year. Don't want to burn him out and have him limited later in the season. We have the luxury of bringing him off the bench, and that's what I think we should do, at least for the first part of the season.

Also, IF we do plan on moving Dally, then we'll want to showcase him a bit before the deadline.

Good points. You could also make the argument that not handing Cousins a starting job would keep him hungry which is a good thing.

I think the biggest thing with me is finding out if Cousins can really be the cornerstone we hope he can. And part of that is certainly seeing how well he meshes with Tyreke. So I'd like to see him start as early as possible. That said, his conditioning won't let him play a ton of minutes so Dalembert will still likely average 24 mpg (more if Cousins misses any games due to injury) and can always be brought in when DMC falters.

And if he hits the rookie wall hard like Omri did then you can always start Dalembert later in the season and it will serve as yet another lesson in why good conditioning is vital in the NBA.

But I can see the case for starting or sitting Cousins to start the year.

As I mentioned earlier, one other advantage to starting Dalembert is that the Kings second best player last year (Landry) theoretically pairs perfectly with Sammy in the frontcourt. On the down side, you're starting the year with two bigs who very likely may not be Kings in 2011 and taking away minutes from the young bigs that you want to develop.

And I don't think the Kings need to showcase Dalembert. It might be the case that a contender looks at him as the missing piece to a playoff run but most likely he'd be attractive because he's an ending contract for team trying to dump a big contract and/or clear cap room.

It will be interesting to see how Westphal decides to handle starting jobs and minutes.

 

[NME]

Good points. You could also make the argument that not handing Cousins a starting job would keep him hungry which is a good thing.

Wait, I thought we wanted him NOT to be hungry!

Actually, if coming off the bench works as a motivational tool for him, I'm fine with it, but I'm not overly concerned about him getting tired out. If he hits the wall, so be it. If he gets into foul trouble, so be it. I have no problem with him hitting his limits and learning what it will take to succeed.

 

[funkykingston]

Wait, I thought we wanted him NOT to be hungry!

Actually, if coming off the bench works as a motivational tool for him, I'm fine with it, but I'm not overly concerned about him getting tired out. If he hits the wall, so be it. If he gets into foul trouble, so be it. I have no problem with him hitting his limits and learning what it will take to succeed.

That's pretty much my take on it. While I can understand the Laker's handling of Bynum, we aren't playoff contenders so I don't see any harm in letting Cousins get all the PT he can handle.

 

[NME]

That's pretty much my take on it. While I can understand the Laker's handling of Bynum, we aren't playoff contenders so I don't see any harm in letting Cousins get all the PT he can handle.

Also, when Bynum came into the league he was lacking some basic skills that Cousins already has.

 

[Chupacabra]

I agree that PW will play musical chair but If you think about where we are as a team it makes it easier to see what we're likely to do with the lineup.
1.The fact is that we're not a contender and won't be for a couple of years.
2.The fact is we were terrible last season and it's going to require major changes to get us to be a contender.
Given those 2 facts, it makes sense to take your #5 pick and develop him as fast as possible. Every day that you don't start him is another day that you delay getting to be a contender. We are not out to win as many games as possible so we can have home court advantage in the playoff. So it doesn't make any sense at all to not start DMC right away. Starting Landry or JT over DMC is not going to help us win any more games now or significantly help us to become a contender.
So I think the lineup is going to be Tyreke, Donte and DMC as starters for sure and PW is likely to play musical chairs with the other guys until somebody steps up and can prove they can be relied on night in and night out to deliver regardless of opponent. Of course we want to win so PW is going to do his best to win but the higher priority is to develop guys with most potential and test drive the other guys (give them serious minutes off the bench) to figure out who we can trade away who we should keep to the become the contender team.

Exactly. lol so start Cousins at center and choose whether you want to pair Thompson or Landry with him.

 

[funkykingston]

Also, when Bynum came into the league he was lacking some basic skills that Cousins already has.

True. Bynum was always viewed as a project. A big body with intriguing measurables & athletically gifts who oozed potential but who hadn't been playing basketball long and jumped straight from preps to pros and was raw in many ways. Cousins is not as athletic but is far more polished and has thus far demonstrated a higher basketball IQ. The biggest reasons not to start him are conditioning issues and the desire to have Dalembert anchor the defense. But I don't see him as a guy who needs to be brought along slowly. I saw enough in the first three summer league games (when he wasn't running on fumes) to believe that he's ready to start from day 1 and learn on the job.

Exactly. lol so start Cousins at center and choose whether you want to pair Thompson or Landry with him.

That's my take. Either you start Dalembert to play goalie or you start Cousins to get his career started in high gear. I don't see both of them as a viable starting tandem. But I've certainly been wrong before.

 

[Superman]

As I mentioned earlier, one other advantage to starting Dalembert is that the Kings second best player last year (Landry) theoretically pairs perfectly with Sammy in the frontcourt. On the down side, you're starting the year with two bigs who very likely may not be Kings in 2011 and taking away minutes from the young bigs that you want to develop.

JT is developing nicely, even with inconsistent minutes. If we're not starting Cousins, I'm sure we'll have a set role for him to play in the rotation, and he'll get his minutes consistently. I'd prefer to not have to start Landry, because he's better off the bench, but his scoring is necessary if we're starting Dalembert. Either way, the development of Cousins and JT wouldn't be drastically affected just because they're not starting.

And I don't think the Kings need to showcase Dalembert. It might be the case that a contender looks at him as the missing piece to a playoff run but most likely he'd be attractive because he's an ending contract for team trying to dump a big contract and/or clear cap room.

But there's a different value for a contender looking for a missing link to a title run, and a team that's just looking to dump some salary. I'd think that Dalembert's value would be the highest if he were playing starter's minutes in our rotation and performing a function that's necessary for any title contender.

 

[Superman]

Wait, I thought we wanted him NOT to be hungry!

Actually, if coming off the bench works as a motivational tool for him, I'm fine with it, but I'm not overly concerned about him getting tired out. If he hits the wall, so be it. If he gets into foul trouble, so be it. I have no problem with him hitting his limits and learning what it will take to succeed.

Foul trouble I don't care about. But I'd rather him NOT hit the wall, and be priming himself for serious minutes in the second half of the season, regardless of what the standings are or whether we keep Dally or not. I'd rather him be going up against the better big men in the NBA as the contenders are trying to get ready for the playoffs or secure positioning or whatever, than playing against those guys as they try to get in shape themselves. If I had to choose between him getting started slowly or ending slowly, I'd choose the former.

 

[Superman]

That's pretty much my take on it. While I can understand the Laker's handling of Bynum, we aren't playoff contenders so I don't see any harm in letting Cousins get all the PT he can handle.

The Lakers had just missed the playoffs (hence the 10th pick in the first round) and were bringing Phil back. They were a 34 win team that improved to 47 wins the next year and barely made the playoffs. Their playoff aspirations aren't the reason they benched Bynum. It was primarily because he wasn't ready.

Cousins is much more ready than Bynum was, but there's no sense in burning him out when we have a proven NBA veteran who can handle the position just fine. If we didn't have Dalembert, I'd be all for starting Cousins from Day One, but we don't have to. We can afford to bring him on slowly this season, and I'd say that's best for his long-term development. I'd rather see him finish strong than start strong.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Great question, and excellent thread. At this point, given everything we've invested in him, I can't see the team benching Landry, even if he is best suited for the 6th man role. Further, I don't think Landry and Cousins is the ideal pairing for PF/C, as either should be the go-to post player when he's on the court, and it makes sense to only have one playing at a given time. Finally, after seeing Cousins struggle in the final three summer league games, I'm still very excited about him but am realistic that he may not be ready to shine right off the bat. It just makes more sense to start Dalembert and Landry, and bring Cousins off the bench for now. Given that Dalembert's shotblocking and rebounding will be important to turning this team around defensively, and that he seems to be a perfect paring with Landry, makes that move all the more sensible in my mind.

As for the second guard spot, it's a tough call. Cisco has all the makings of the perfect guard to pair with Evans--he's a good shooter, solid passer and decent enough ball handler. He just needs to be consistent and cut down those silly mistakes. I could see the team go with Beno since it's proven he can work well with Tyreke, but I'd really like to see Cisco get a shot.

As for the SF spot, I'd go Greene but could go either way depending on how the guys are playing. I like Donte's defense and shooting in that first team, and Casspi's toughness and fire would make him a good sparkplug off the bench. Considering that Tyreke and Landry will be getting most of the touches in the first unit, it makes sense to have Casspi as a go-to guy with Cousins off the bench. I think that would even things out nicely:

1st unit:

Evans - 1st option, 20-25 ppg
Garcia- shooting/ballhandling guard, 10-12 ppg
Greene - defense/shooting/slashing forward, 10-15 ppg
Landry - 2nd option, 15-20 ppg
Dalembert - defensive anchor, 5-10 ppg

bench rotation:

Udrih - playmaking PG/SG, 10-15 ppg
Casspi - sparkplug SF, 10-15 ppg
Thompson - scrapper big man, 10-12 ppg
Cousins - go-to guy inside, 10-15 ppg

Obviously, you'll see guys from both units get a lot of time together, and you'll see Whiteside and the free agent guards get some spot minutes depending on injuries/blowouts/fouls/matchups, but I think the roles square out nicely with this setup.

 

[tjh_32]

Here is my starting lineup:
Evans
Garcia
Casspi
Landry
Dalembert

Agreed! Hopefully Garcia can play and shoot well, if not then Udrih can get most of those minutes. Also if Casspi doesn't play consistent then Donte can play those minutes. Landry and SD because of talent and experience, with JT and Boogie coming in quickly and possibly more minutes - depending on the game.

 

[funkykingston]

Cousins is much more ready than Bynum was, but there's no sense in burning him out when we have a proven NBA veteran who can handle the position just fine. If we didn't have Dalembert, I'd be all for starting Cousins from Day One, but we don't have to. We can afford to bring him on slowly this season, and I'd say that's best for his long-term development. I'd rather see him finish strong than start strong.

I'd say the Lakers were very much in "win now" mode Bynum's rookie season, mostly because they had a very disgruntled Kobe on their hands. But that's a completely different discussion.

Again, I can see the merits of both arguments and won't be upset at however Westphal chooses to play DMC.

I DO believe that starting Dalembert means that the Kings should also start Landry. It's just the most natural pairing. And if that's who starts the season then fine. As long as Cousins is getting plenty of minutes I'm okay with that. Giving Cousins as many minutes as he can handle and playing him alongside Tyreke from the beginning holds a lot of appeal to me. But making him earn a starting job and keeping him from burning out is a good strategy as well. Not to mention that as fans we've begged for a rebounding/shotblocking veteran big and to not start him for a rookie with a questionable gas tank is questionable.

But regardless of how the season starts, I would be upset if Cousins isn't the starter at center at season's end. Looking past this season, clearly we all envision DMC as our center of the future and most agree that Landry's ideal spot is as a sixth man and energy providing bench guy.

So regardless of how things start, I still maintain that the best possible lineup to finish the season would be:

Evans
Garcia
Greene
Thompson
Cousins

Because it means that the young bigs have proven themselves, that Greene has developed and that Garcia has shown to be a god backcourt mate to Tyreke. Most importantly it gives the Kings a VERY energetic bench core of Udrih, Landry and Casspi (and Dalembert if he isn't traded). That lineup to finish the season would make me very happy.

 

[pshn80]

We are not contenders. However, we need to 'contend' if we hope to win 35 games or more.

This is not a 'developmental league'. This is the 'big show'. We need to put our best team on the court. Dalembert is a good center, an experienced starter and he is our best player at the center position. Landry is our best power forward although his advantage over Thompson is not as great. Omri and Donte are close in what they offer. The one that has the best camp and practice games should get the edge in minutes and starts. The threesome of Evans, Udrih and Garcia share the game winning minutes at the guards positions. Someone expressed the desire to see how well Tyreke and Cousins mesh on the court. I think we all do. However, I think it most important to see how the team we field plays together and let the chips work their way in as best they can. Let's go win games.

 

[Superman]

So regardless of how things start, I still maintain that the best possible lineup to finish the season would be:

Evans
Garcia
Greene
Thompson
Cousins

Because it means that the young bigs have proven themselves, that Greene has developed and that Garcia has shown to be a god backcourt mate to Tyreke. Most importantly it gives the Kings a VERY energetic bench core of Udrih, Landry and Casspi (and Dalembert if he isn't traded). That lineup to finish the season would make me very happy.

That's a Blazers-esque lineup, with a better 6th man. That's exactly what I'm hoping for as well. And even if Dally is traded, we still have @YoungWhiteside on the bench to play the shotblocking/rebounding role. Hopefully he comes along as well.

 

[Gary]

I'm gonna have to agree with Viking on this one. When both were in the game together I remember Tyreke bringing the ball up the court at least 75% of the time if not more.

That's one of the things I was watching if you go dig up some game threads you will see the posts, but anyway.. It was 50-50 some of the times, and it was 70-30 others.. It was basically Beno bringing it up a bit past half court and dumping off to Evans most of the time so I can see how some would be confused.

The whole point to my post though is that I would rather see Beno starting with Evans. Two combo guards in the back court isn't a big deal if they play well together.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Grant Napear today said he thinks (or guesses) opening day Kings starting lineup will be:

Evans
Udrih
Dalembert
Garcia
Landry

I'm a bit surprised he has Garcia at SF over Greene and Casspi since that shortens Kings already thin backcourt rotation even more.