What the hell happend to this team?

[ParniValjak]

What happened to this team?!

Poor decisions after poor decision after more poor decisions. You can't keep making the same mistakes over and over again and expecting a different outcome...its called insanity!

This team is in desperate need of a trade and fast. I sound like a broken record but at the end of last season we were 4 moves away from being a play off team. Now we are further back than we were at the start of last season.

 

[SacTownKid]

Hate to say it, but the OP is 100% correct and so are the others in this thread who don't think we have a lot of potential with this group. I've been saying this all since last summer. Yes, we've had bad coaching, bad trades, bad owners, etc. but the bottom line is the players on this roster just aren't any good! Sure we have DMC and Reke but like others have said, it's highly suspect that they will become All-Star type players. The rest of the team is pure GARBAGE right now. Hopefully Jimmer develops but Greene, JT, Salmons, Thornton (he's better than the rest of this group), Outlaw, Cisco, are terrible.

Cousins should be on talent. It really is surreal to me, people are already starting to underappreciate having a stud 21 year old C that has shown at various points that he can absolutely hang with any of the big names you want to bring up. I'm totally stunned to be honest. Yeah, lets just trade them all, heck they must just plain suck right? Worked with Spencer Hawes huh. Yeah, no.

 

[SacTownKid]

I hope so, because you can't get much worse.

Oh yeah you can, and we have seen it on display for most of the season pre coaching change. NOBODY was producing, at least now some of the better players on this team are getting some footing and are finding a flow. It's all about stages and steps. The next step is to put in a real half court system, ditch the half assed pick and roll crap, give your role players a role, and start using your franchise guys to their strengths.

 

[SacTownKid]

I point everyone's attention to my pre-season thread, asking who on this Kings roster is a reliable NBA starter...

hmmm... looks like I did know something about the NBA, after all.

Were you one of the ones that thought the youngest team in the league was going to jump out of the gate and straight into contention? Talent wise it may have been possible but it still leaves the reality of a lot of empty pages yet to be written in a potentially great book.

 

[SacTownKid]

The coach said it right in the post game conference, "This isn't a team, we're just pieces playing a game".

Now it's the coaches job to realize how to use those pieces to turn them into a team. My advice would be to stick to an 8 man rotation and build around the passing of Cousins and Hayes, while teaching Tyreke how to play off the ball.

 

[SacTownKid]

What happened to this team?!

Poor decisions after poor decision after more poor decisions. You can't keep making the same mistakes over and over again and expecting the same outcome...its called insanity!

This team is in desperate need of a trade and fast. I sound like a broken record but at the end of last season we were 4 moves away from being a play off team. Now we are further back than we were at the start of last season.

Could help but not an answer to a much bigger overall problem. Unless you're trading for an entire team well entrenched in their own system it won't matter much. This is a team in need of a solid half court set, no more, no less. Smart knows this, I'm interested to see how he uses the next few days.

 

[rainmaker]

Cousins should be on talent. It really is surreal to me, people are already starting to underappreciate having a stud 21 year old C that has shown at various points that he can absolutely hang with any of the big names you want to bring up. I'm totally stunned to be honest. Yeah, lets just trade them all, heck they must just plain suck right? Worked with Spencer Hawes huh. Yeah, no.

It is quite odd, isn't it? I mean, Cousins should be a junior in college, and on top of that, big men are known to take longer to mature in the NBA game. Guys like Cousins don't come around often. At 21, you can make the case he's both a top 5 rebounder, and one of the top 5 centers in the league talent wise. He's second in the league in double doubles.He's doubled his block rate since last year. He's only going to improve. It's scary how good he could be. This is a guy who could have a few 30/20 games when it's all said and done.

 

[ParniValjak]

Could help but not an answer to a much bigger overall problem. Unless you're trading for an entire team well entrenched in their own system it won't matter much. This is a team in need of a solid half court set, no more, no less. Smart knows this, I'm interested to see how he uses the next few days.

Part of it is system. The other part that is just as important is the type of players on the roster. Half the roster just does not fit. Plain and simple! There is not much more that can be said about it. Salmon was always a long shot to fit in with the team. As many of us have said, he is a good defender on a guard but on taller SF he is not up to it. He is shot, weak and needs the ball to be effective!

Secondly, JJ Hickson....nice to pick up but you traded for him as Dalembert's replacement. Thats a defensive role player with length for a short athletic PF that needs the ball to be effective. You replace steady veteran presence and leadership of Beno with a couple of inconsistent rookies.

It was one bad move after the other. I sound like a broken record but our team was a MUCH Better constructed team at the end of last season than we are right here and right now. We might have more individual talent now but in reality it does not and never was going to fit. The problem with that is that we have used up a fair chunk of our capspace to get here. Because the pieces don't fit, they are not playing well at all and as a result some of those contracts are fast becoming unmoveable.

Six months ago, Salmon's contract was barely moveable, now its one of the worst contracts in the league and it won't end in the near future. You trade for Hickson who is just NOT a great fit next to Cousins and on top of that, you trade your 1st round pick?! Serious!

We need to move the players that just don't and never will fit before they become even more unmoveable but knowing Petrie and Maloofs' tight *** approach, we will sit on this mess until we dig ourselves into a hole where we will become the new Clippers just as Clippers are becoming good.

 

[Prime13]

This team doesn't care, that's the biggest problem. They just sit there and watch the other team laugh and have a dunkfest on their heads every night. This was the most Points in the Paint by a team in the history of the NBA since they've been keeping the stat. Did you see one hard foul by the Kings......Nope! Just a bunch of punks who were pouting around on the court while fans were left speechless drinking flat 10 dollar beers.

 

[SacTownKid]

It is quite odd, isn't it? I mean, Cousins should be a junior in college, and on top of that, big men are known to take longer to mature in the NBA game. Guys like Cousins don't come around often. At 21, you can make the case he's both a top 5 rebounder, and one of the top 5 centers in the league talent wise. He's second in the league in double doubles.He's doubled his block rate since last year. He's only going to improve. It's scary how good he could be. This is a guy who could have a few 30/20 games when it's all said and done.

C's with the kind of offensive potential that he has almost don't come around EVER. I'm majorly disappointed they don't have a system in place to utilize the passing we saw last year. What a waste of talent.

And for all those that knock him for his "lift". Patrick Ewing didn't have much lift either, worked just fine for him. Truth is, when you have a 9'5" standing reach and a soft touch, you don't need much lift. Cousins reminds me of Ewing in a lot of ways. More uniquely skilled on offense and not nearly the shotblocker but similar in some aspects of the game. Character could be an issue yes, but that's why it's important to put the right people and environment around him. He's not somebody you have to babysit off the floor, that would be another story entirely.

 

[SacTownKid]

Part of it is system. The other part that is just as important is the type of players on the roster. Half the roster just does not fit. Plain and simple! There is not much more that can be said about it. Salmon was always a long shot to fit in with the team. As many of us have said, he is a good defender on a guard but on taller SF he is not up to it. He is shot, weak and needs the ball to be effective!

Secondly, JJ Hickson....nice to pick up but you traded for him as Dalembert's replacement. Thats a defensive role player with length for a short athletic PF that needs the ball to be effective. You replace steady veteran presence and leadership of Beno with a couple of inconsistent rookies.

It was one bad move after the other. I sound like a broken record but our team was a MUCH Better constructed team at the end of last season than we are right here and right now. We might have more individual talent now but in reality it does not and never was going to fit. The problem with that is that we have used up a fair chunk of our capspace to get here. Because the pieces don't fit, they are not playing well at all and as a result some of those contracts are fast becoming unmoveable.

Six months ago, Salmon's contract was barely moveable, now its one of the worst contracts in the league and it won't end in the near future. You trade for Hickson who is just NOT a great fit next to Cousins and on top of that, you trade your 1st round pick?! Serious!

We need to move the players that just don't and never will fit before they become even more unmoveable but knowing Petrie and Maloofs' tight *** approach, we will sit on this mess until we dig ourselves into a hole where we will become the new Clippers just as Clippers are becoming good.

Bad fit doesn't account for the results you're seeing here and this team isn't much different than the team at the end of last year, unless you think losing Sam Dalembert destroys your offense too, haha. If you go through the entire bench and each and every piece looks just as lost that is a pretty clear sign of what is indeed going on. When they all flop it's as clear as day what the main culprit is, and the truth is effort and hustle only get you so far and will never makeup for lack of identity and game plan. If it's a question of a guy or two not buying in you don't struggle this badly to produce the kind of meager numbers this team is producing. I know exactly what's happening and how I would fix it. I hope Smart is seeing some of the same things I have and a few others have as well.

 

[Prime13]

Bad fit doesn't account for the results you're seeing here and this team isn't much different than the team at the end of last year, unless you think losing Sam Dalembert destroys your offense too, haha. If you go through the entire bench and each and every piece looks just as lost that is a pretty clear sign of what is indeed going on. When they all flop it's as clear as day what the main culprit is, and the truth is effort and hustle only get you so far and will never makeup for lack of identity and game plan. If it's a question of a guy or two not buying in you don't struggle this badly to produce the kind of meager numbers this team is producing. I know exactly what's happening and how I would fix it. I hope Smart is seeing some of the same things I have and a few others have as well.

Dalembert would probably be a big offensive threat with all the bricks these guys fling up.....in all seriousness, I have no idea what fans are seeing on the court when they say Dalembert wouldn't make a difference on this team. Him and DMC were starting to coexist at the end of last year once Dalembert finally got in shape

 

[PurpleHaze]

Were you one of the ones that thought the youngest team in the league was going to jump out of the gate and straight into contention? Talent wise it may have been possible but it still leaves the reality of a lot of empty pages yet to be written in a potentially great book.

Not really responding to your post but taking it bit farther.

Just being young or even youngest team in NBA can't be an excuse, easy cop out, every single time for dismal, sloppy failure. But I understand why they try and make the poor little kiddie excuse. What are they gonna say, "we stink, we brick everything, we can't play D, and we top it off by only playing hard for half a quarter each game."

1976-77 Portland Trailblazers with Bill Walton at age 24 and bunch of similar aged team mates won NBA championship that season in six games over Philadelphia 76ers led by 26-year-old Julius Dr J Erving. Walton led miracle Blazers team average age that title year was 24, among youngest in league and at a time when virtually ALL players entering NBA had 4 years college entering pros at around 22.

Looking at what NBA has become, it's just another reason in todays pro sports enviornment I like college basketball better overall than expensive, spoiled product NBA has put out on the floor for viewing and entertainment "pleasure." Just my 2 cents.

 

[SacTownKid]

Dalembert would probably be a big offensive threat with all the bricks these guys fling up.....in all seriousness, I have no idea what fans are seeing on the court when they say Dalembert wouldn't make a difference on this team. Him and DMC were starting to coexist at the end of last year once Dalembert finally got in shape

This teams biggest flaw is on offense and has been from day one this year. I don't care if you are the crappiest defensive team of all time, putting up 90 points and getting 15 assists on a good night won't cut it, especially if you're a "running" team. If everything were the same about this team in terms of the circumstances related to how they are playing and they way they are playing and this team went out and put down an offer for Daly at 10 million a year, oh boy, this board would have jumped off of that cliff already. It's a time like this that I am glad they didn't box it in and bury themselves because moves may need to be made, it won't fix this issue by itself, but as time goes on it will be clearer and clearer as to what direction you should move in relation to personnel.

 

[SacTownKid]

Not really responding to your post but taking it bit farther.

Just being young or even youngest team in NBA can't be an excuse, easy cop out, every single time for dismal, sloppy failure. But I understand why they try and make the poor little kiddie excuse. What are they gonna say, "we stink, we brick everything, we can't play D, and we top it off by only playing hard for half a quarter each game."

1976-77 Portland Trailblazers with Bill Walton at age 24 and bunch of similar aged team mates won NBA championship that season in six games over Philadelphia 76ers led by 26-year-old Julius Dr J Erving. Walton led miracle Blazers team average age that title year was 24, among youngest in league and at a time when virtually ALL players entering NBA had 4 years college entering pros at around 22.

Looking at what NBA has become, it's just another reason in todays pro sports enviornment I like college basketball better overall than expensive, spoiled product NBA has put out on the floor for viewing and entertainment "pleasure." Just my 2 cents.

Ok, and delving deeper into modern NBA, how about calling it "experience" instead of age? Look at all the teams built around a 21 year old who left shcool after his freshmen year and 22 year old who had done the same and check their records. Honestly, you don't think Demarcus Cousins will be a much different player at 24 than 21? My guess is he is just entering his initial prime at that point. When players come in young if they develop properly it leaves more years open to being "prime" years. By 26 Cousins should be easily top 3 at his position if he works hard and stays focused and prepped to take his team over the hump if the combined talent and system are in place to do so.

 

[rainmaker]

This teams biggest flaw is on offense and has been from day one this year. I don't care if you are the crappiest defensive team of all time, putting up 90 points and getting 15 assists on a good night won't cut it, especially if you're a "running" team. If everything were the same about this team in terms of the circumstances related to how they are playing and they way they are playing and this team went out and put down an offer for Daly at 10 million a year, oh boy, this board would have jumped off of that cliff already. It's a time like this that I am glad they didn't box it in and bury themselves because moves may need to be made, it won't fix this issue by itself, but as time goes on it will be clearer and clearer as to what direction you should move in relation to personnel.

When you give up 92 points in the paint, and are ranked 3rd to last in opponent fg% defense is a huge problem. Of course we ourselves are shooting an NBA worst fg%. Basically, some of the time, or the majority of the time, we play as the worst team in the league on both ends.

Quite depressing.

 

[ParniValjak]

Bad fit doesn't account for the results you're seeing here and this team isn't much different than the team at the end of last year, unless you think losing Sam Dalembert destroys your offense too, haha. If you go through the entire bench and each and every piece looks just as lost that is a pretty clear sign of what is indeed going on. When they all flop it's as clear as day what the main culprit is, and the truth is effort and hustle only get you so far and will never makeup for lack of identity and game plan. If it's a question of a guy or two not buying in you don't struggle this badly to produce the kind of meager numbers this team is producing. I know exactly what's happening and how I would fix it. I hope Smart is seeing some of the same things I have and a few others have as well.

No but with Dalembert manning the middle I am pretty sure we wouldn't have given up 92 points in paint either...oh and how can people possibly claim we are better defensively....we are one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

And yes players like Dalembert would help the offense because they would stay out of the way and play within it. The problem here is that Cousins, Thornton, Reke, Salmons, Hickson, Outlaw and even Jimmer and Thomas are primarily scorers or looking to score. There is one ball and more than half the roster are shot hungry. When do you see Hickson, Salmons and Outlaw pass the ball?! They would have to be some of the biggest black holes in the league.

I can guarantee you if you throw in 2 very good role players (read not scorers or shot hungry players) into the starting five and another couple into the 2nd unit and the offense is not a problem. The offence cannot be built around having so many players looking for their own shot. Its their natural tendency and you can't turn that off over night.

 

[jpsls]

When you give up 92 points in the paint, and ranked 3rd to last in opponent fg% defense is a huge problem. Of course we ourselves are shooting an NBA worst fg%. Basically, some of the time, or the majority of the time, we play as the worst team in the league on both ends.

Quite depressing.

Agreed. When your center best defensive asset is taking charges and you put him next to a 6'6 PF, you're asking for trouble. The offense is terrible, but this team consistently allows teams to shoot 55% against them.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Ok, and delving deeper into modern NBA, how about calling it "experience" instead of age? Look at all the teams built around a 21 year old who left shcool after his freshmen year and 22 year old who had done the same and check their records. Honestly, you don't think Demarcus Cousins will be a much different player at 24 than 21? My guess is he is just entering his initial prime at that point. When players come in young if they develop properly it leaves more years open to being "prime" years. By 26 Cousins should be easily top 3 at his position if he works hard and stays focused and prepped to take his team over the hump if the combined talent and system are in place to do so.

Good, I agree. Do you think we have much of a prayer ever seeing that fully developed Cousins on the hoped for rising Kings? Or for that matter a "better, "more experienced," Reke after his rookie contract? It seems if one and certainly if both leave which could happen, Kings are back to yet another endless rebuilding cycle. Depressing, wouldn't ya say?

 

[Prince_XY]

We made poor decisions as a franchise. We hired the wrong coach and kept him too long. We made a lot of poor trades and signings yet still seemed to find a combination that was working at the end of last year. Instead of building on it, we went f'd it up and brought in mismatched parts that not only didn't address the old weaknesses, it also created new ones.

In summary, our front office sucked and even as a fan for over 20 years, I still struggle to see how to resolve this mess with our current challenges.

What happened to this team?!

Poor decisions after poor decision after more poor decisions. You can't keep making the same mistakes over and over again and expecting the same outcome...its called insanity!

Poor team construction.

Petrie's best times are way behind him.

This franchise is not going anywhere with the kind of GM it has. Petrie is going to make the Maloofs' Sacramento Kings business sink. We need a new GM who will right the ship. I hope the Maloofs will soon realize that they have to replace Petrie before any further damage is done. The Maloofs are going to lose the Kings with Petrie managing the team.

 

[ParniValjak]

This franchise is not going anywhere with the kind of GM it has. Petrie is going to make the Maloofs' Sacramento Kings business sink. We need a new GM who will right the ship. I hope the Maloofs will soon realize that they have to replace Petrie before any further damage is done. The Maloofs are going to lose the Kings with Petrie managing the team.

I don't think Maloofs have enough money to give GM free reign. Now sure, that doesn't excuse some of the bone head moves that we did make but most of them might have been driven by the almighty $$$$$!

The players we have acquired do have the talent....its just not going to mesh. So we could argue that we have more pure talent for the same money but the problem is, that the talent just does not fit well. Simple as that.

 

[SacTownKid]

Good, I agree. Do you think we have much of a prayer ever seeing that fully developed Cousins on the hoped for rising Kings? Or for that matter a "better, "more experienced," Reke after his rookie contract? It seems if one and certainly if both leave which could happen, Kings are back to yet another endless rebuilding cycle. Depressing, wouldn't ya say?

Well, that's the name of the game. The hope is that your on the incline and that uptick will entice said players into staying around. I'm not too worried about retaining Cousins, Evans or whoever in the near future since rarely do guys coming off of rookie deals pass up that first big payday if it's being dangled in front of their face. I also feel that this team will be on an incline when that time comes around. Now I can't say that Evans and Cousins will both be here because it may be clear that it makes more sense to move in another direction in relation to one or other, but I'm not worried, nor have I lost all faith in the Kings GM, or even the owners for that matter. Depends on the direction they want to take the usage of their current players I guess.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

I think Petries had a long enough time to turn this team around.
I'm starting to think we need a new GM..

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Maybe we really are not that good and the other teams are better? Im proud to say we got blown out by the grizzlies cuz they are a much better team. If were gettin whooped on by the wiz, we got issues

I could never be proud to say they got blown out by a team just because that team is better. And especially not when they've been blown out TWICE by that same team and are getting blown out on a regular basis by lots of other teams as well. That's pathetic and there's no excuse for it. I've never seen a Kings team that was as embarrassing as this one. These guys give up 20 to 2 runs in a matter of minutes. Have some freaking pride. Hack someone at the rim if that's what it takes to stop the nightly lay-up drill. It makes me sick to watch these guys jogging back on defense with their heads down when they're down double digits in the second quarter. At least put up a fight. They're getting paid millions and they're mailing it in. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can accept sucking if you just don't have enough talent to compete, not much you can do about that. I can't accept sucking that seems to come from a lack of effort, stupidity, etc. No excuse for that at the NBA level.

 

[KevinSalvadori]

I think Petries had a long enough time to turn this team around.
I'm starting to think we need a new GM..

The thing that bothers me the most is that I don't see a "vision" anymore like I did in times past. There is no discernible "starting 5" on this roster, no visible playing style, and the pieces are largely redundant and don't fit. We need a major shake up with this roster, and need to commit, once and for all, to building around Reke AND DMC, or pick one.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

The thing that bothers me the most is that I don't see a "vision" anymore like I did in times past. There is no discernible "starting 5" on this roster, no visible playing style, and the pieces are largely redundant and don't fit. We need a major shake up with this roster, and need to commit, once and for all, to building around Reke AND DMC, or pick one.

Good point. The Miller/Bibby/Artest/Martin team may not have been anything to write home about but at least they had solidified starters and weren't a complete embarrassment.

 

[ESP47]

As soon as Demarcus becomes a free agent, he's gone.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

As soon as Demarcus becomes a free agent, he's gone.

So you don't believe his "Stick by your team" talk? I think he was being sincere but by the time he's a FA he'll probably be so tired of losing that he'll be on the first plane out of town, and i won't even blame him.

 

[Hadlowe]

I think Petries had a long enough time to turn this team around.
I'm starting to think we need a new GM..

I'm thinking that Petrie is hogtied by the financial constraints the Maloofs have put on him. Yes, the moves in offseason have ranged from "meh" to disaster, but I don't know that another GM would have done any better without a bit more financial bargaining space.

 

[Spike]

Perhaps they are simply playing the way a young team with a 2nd year head coach can play.

Away with your logic!

Also, note that Fredette alone had more college experience than Evans, Cousins, and Greene combined. Not for nothing, but we have the youngest of the young in critical positions on our team.