“RUN IT BACK!” / Monte needs to fix this.
- Thread starter SLAB
- Start date
The season was so segmented as well obviously so it's hard to truly judge based on things that weren't consistent in the first place. One thing that was pretty consistent is that as the year went along it seemed like Brown was tossing the small 3 and 4 guard combos quicker and quicker as they started to falter.
Cement your cap with an overload of G's, watch Brown push them to the end of the bench next year instead of Sasha/Edwards, and Monte will have very few options to do anything about that for the duration of this core most likely. The issue is simple, nice shiny objects at the end of your rotation in the end don't do you much good other than making it look good on paper. The Kings had needs on defense last season and eventually Keon got a chance along with Davion. Shocker, the Kings started to be able to have a chance in games that they scored less than 124 points in. It's a push and pull thing right now. How do they find that little bit of offense they're now missing?
Warriors
Most expensive roster in NBA. 2nd apron of luxury tax. No 1st round pick this year. Klay coming off 43mil this year wants multiple years and I suspect min $20 mil per. Draymond is 34 and signed $77mil , Steph is 36 owed 115 mil. Wiggins locked up for $85 mil more. Wishful thinking in finding someone to win a championship with this roster. Where are the chips?
Most expensive roster in NBA. 2nd apron of luxury tax. No 1st round pick this year. Klay coming off 43mil this year wants multiple years and I suspect min $20 mil per. Draymond is 34 and signed $77mil , Steph is 36 owed 115 mil. Wiggins locked up for $85 mil more. Wishful thinking in finding someone to win a championship with this roster. Where are the chips?
Let's not twist what Ainge did in Boston and might do in Utah (unlikely, imho) with what Presti did, which was provide the Hinkie process blueprint, now on version 3.0.
Either way, all of those models would at this point basically be cashing in Fox and Domas for picks and starting over where we were in 2017, something I don't think this fan base would find acceptable.
Either way, all of those models would at this point basically be cashing in Fox and Domas for picks and starting over where we were in 2017, something I don't think this fan base would find acceptable.
They have options to reduce their cap significantly just by waiving CP3 though. Winning a championship for both the Warriors and Kings right now looks like an uphill climb. The Kings obviously have more time to see how things shake out which is good though. The thing is Kings fans would be just fine with a 2nd round showing, the Warriors are championship or bust? Well, I think maybe the Kings need to put their money where their mouth is and think the same way. Brown said contention prior to this season. Well, your call now Monte.
They're gonna have to create creative this offseason. Honestly replacing Barnes w/ a more athletic Trey Lyles sort of guy would go a LONG ways. It's hard to improve elsewhere really unless they're gonna move on from key pieces. A guy like John Collins is intriguing to me; I'd think salaries kinda match with him & Barnes. Collins isn't known as a defender but offers way more size and versatility next to Sabonis and also would be a very intriguing small ball 5 option perhaps even next to Lyles. Monk-Collins pick & roll would be a thing of beauty. If you keep Len, Len's most productive season in Atlanta was next to Collins too ... Kings had injuries this year but were fortunate Sabonis wasn't injured at all; they've got to get another big that can play the 4 & the 5 in case of injury.
Also for the love of God, if they keep Len - explore the Len & Sabonis tandem a bit. This comes down to coaching, and a lack thereof that it wasn't used at all. Yes we know Len & Sabonis are inconsistent shooters but the Kings literally run the most dribble hand offs in the league. If no one's covering 1 of them on the perimeter, you can do a dribble hand off to free up a shooter. There are a lot of possibilities but the fact they weren't explored this season - even when the size of that tandem would have helped during several games - is a flaw of the coaching staff.
Also for the love of God, if they keep Len - explore the Len & Sabonis tandem a bit. This comes down to coaching, and a lack thereof that it wasn't used at all. Yes we know Len & Sabonis are inconsistent shooters but the Kings literally run the most dribble hand offs in the league. If no one's covering 1 of them on the perimeter, you can do a dribble hand off to free up a shooter. There are a lot of possibilities but the fact they weren't explored this season - even when the size of that tandem would have helped during several games - is a flaw of the coaching staff.
There’s also not really anywhere to flip them to at this point since pretty much all of the teams actually trying to win have already moved all their assets for pieces as is aside from like the Thunder (who sat on their assets so long that there’s not quite as much value in them as they used to have) and Magic.
Monte needs to realize that trying to emulate the Warriors blue print without having world class shooters like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson is only going to get you so far and in the Kings case its the #9 seed and out of the playoffs this year.
I think Monte needs to revamp his whole approach to building this team. Without world class shooters like Curry and Klay on the team, depending on your team to out pass and out shoot other teams is not a blue print for success. Your success would be dependent on good shooting nights by all your players in every game and that's not going to happen. We have seen how fast the Kings shooting can go cold and they can't dig themselves out of those holes.
Monte needs to get longer, bigger and more athletic this off season. They need to stop relying on "spraying 3s" all game and start taking the ball to the hole and getting players that has the size and length to defend big wings. This team is TOO SOFT, if their shot isn't falling, they get smashed in the mouth, they typically fold. The Kings don't have that extra gear and toughness to play bully ball and take the ball to the hole to break out of scoring slumps. They keep settling for the low percentage jumper and things just snowball so much that they constantly find themselves in 15-20 points holes before trying to dig themselves out of it in the last 6 minutes of games. And we have witness this time and time again, they always fall short and lose these games.
If I were Monte, I'm looking for size, length and athleticism in the draft and in trade/free agency. I'm making every player not named Fox, Sabonis and Keegan (and Keon to an extent) available in trade. I'm making priority #1 to re-sign Monk as he is the one player I have no question about his swagger and confidence. We need more players with Monk's toughness, aggressivness and swagger and we absolutley need to re-sign him! Monte needs to get aggressive and make some moves to get bigger and longer. Another season with essentially the same roster is going to have the same results as this year.
I think Monte needs to revamp his whole approach to building this team. Without world class shooters like Curry and Klay on the team, depending on your team to out pass and out shoot other teams is not a blue print for success. Your success would be dependent on good shooting nights by all your players in every game and that's not going to happen. We have seen how fast the Kings shooting can go cold and they can't dig themselves out of those holes.
Monte needs to get longer, bigger and more athletic this off season. They need to stop relying on "spraying 3s" all game and start taking the ball to the hole and getting players that has the size and length to defend big wings. This team is TOO SOFT, if their shot isn't falling, they get smashed in the mouth, they typically fold. The Kings don't have that extra gear and toughness to play bully ball and take the ball to the hole to break out of scoring slumps. They keep settling for the low percentage jumper and things just snowball so much that they constantly find themselves in 15-20 points holes before trying to dig themselves out of it in the last 6 minutes of games. And we have witness this time and time again, they always fall short and lose these games.
If I were Monte, I'm looking for size, length and athleticism in the draft and in trade/free agency. I'm making every player not named Fox, Sabonis and Keegan (and Keon to an extent) available in trade. I'm making priority #1 to re-sign Monk as he is the one player I have no question about his swagger and confidence. We need more players with Monk's toughness, aggressivness and swagger and we absolutley need to re-sign him! Monte needs to get aggressive and make some moves to get bigger and longer. Another season with essentially the same roster is going to have the same results as this year.
I think the fear of someone taking Sabonis is drastically overstated. In a large number of corners of the league coaches don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with Sabonis. He doesn’t protect the rim and he can’t make a shot past 10 ft in the play-offs. It’s one reason the coaches didn’t name him an all-star.
the bigger problem is his contract could prove to be a real problem which is why Monte needs to keep his picks and hit on one or two.
the bigger problem is his contract could prove to be a real problem which is why Monte needs to keep his picks and hit on one or two.
Wasn’t sure which thread the Ringer’s post mortem should go in, but this has quotes from Monte, so why not here? I’ve drifted away from their content the last several months, but this is by the usually solid Howard Beck:
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/4/22/24137192/sacramento-kings-trades-rumors-nba-offseason
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/4/22/24137192/sacramento-kings-trades-rumors-nba-offseason
Ain’t nothing wrong with running it through Sabonis. Just need much better help at the 2, 3, and entire bench. Plus Keegan taking a massive leap. Really solid 3&D role player won’t be enough. Needs to be an All-Star.
There’s a roadmap. It’s just going to be hard to get there. Need good luck and creativity from Monte.
There’s a roadmap. It’s just going to be hard to get there. Need good luck and creativity from Monte.
I understand the title of the thread, and also Monte used that language, but both are disingenuous.
They didn't choose to run it back. They didn't choose to not make deadline moves.
They chose not to overpay for something, to be patient in this process, and not to hamstring a team that will always have a thinner margin to improve than most teams.
I think we will see more aggression this offseason than we have in the past. I don't know what that ultimately looks like. There is no way the FO thinks this is a high-level playoff team as constructed. Hell, 1/3 of the team was on the trade block during the season. But they weren't going to give them away.
They didn't choose to run it back. They didn't choose to not make deadline moves.
They chose not to overpay for something, to be patient in this process, and not to hamstring a team that will always have a thinner margin to improve than most teams.
I think we will see more aggression this offseason than we have in the past. I don't know what that ultimately looks like. There is no way the FO thinks this is a high-level playoff team as constructed. Hell, 1/3 of the team was on the trade block during the season. But they weren't going to give them away.
