Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Head Coach: Paul Westphal (2nd year)
Offseason Moves: Traded C Spencer Hawes and SF Andres Nocioni for C Samuel Dalembert and PF Darnell Jackson; Drafted C DeMarcus Cousins (5th overall); Drafted C Hassan Whiteside (33rd overall); signed free agent SG Antoine Wright; signed free agent PG Pooh Jeter
Training Camp Invites: G Luther Head (5yrs); F Marcus Landry (1yr); F/C Conner Atchley (R); SG Joe Crawford (1yr); G/F J.R. Giddens (2yrs); G Donald Sloan (R); PF Darnell Jackson (2yrs) also has a non-guaranteed contract and so is essentially an invite who must make the team.
Dance Team
: HereLikely Starters: The Kings enter this season with essentially one starting postion wrapped up, and then four two man battles at each of SG (Beno/Cisco), SF (Omri/Donte), PF (Landry/Thompson) and C (Dalembert/Cousins). The battles up front may also result in pairings of Dalembert and Cousins or Thompson/Landry out there together. So your guess is (nearly) as good as mine. In fact go ahead and take it at this thread: Here
A guess?:
C- Dalembert
PF- Landry
SF- Casspi
SG- Udrih
PG- Evans
or...
C- Cousins
PF- Thomspon
SF- Greene
SG- Garcia
PG- Evans
or...
Frontcourt
C - 6'11" Samuel Dalembert -- veteran shotblocker/rebounder type that the Kings have been looking for for years. Limited offensively.
F/C - 6'11" DeMarcus Cousins -- #5 pick in the draft, extremely offensively talented center with major potential on the boards. Defense, maturity are questions.
F/C - 6'11" Jason Thompson -- 3rd year pro is a strong rebounder and hustle player with decent offensive skills. Did not improve much from yr 1 to yr 2.
F/C - 7'0" Hassan Whiteside -- skinny super shotblocker out of college who slipped to the Kings in the 2nd round. Improving strength without losing mobility will be key.
F - 6'7" Carl Landry -- tough and energetic offensive player, very good both in the post and with the jumper. The runt of this frontcourt litter and struggles on the glass.
F - 6'11" Donte Greene -- rangy and versatile athlete can play 3 positions, shoot the three, and dunk with authority. Emerging defender. Must stay focused and work on consistency.
F - 6'9" Omri Casspi -- fierce competitor with versatile offensive game is able to score from any point on the floor. Quickly wore down and tailed off the 2nd half of last season.
Hopes for massive improvement this season largely rest with the Kings massive new frontline. Featuring five players 6'11" or taller (at 6'9" Casspi is barely average on this team), its the biggest and most talented frontcourt the Kings have had since the '02-03 championship caliber squad with Vlade, Webber, Keon, Pollard, Funderburke, Hedo and Peja.
Perhaps just as importantly as the frontline's size, is its willingness to use it. Gone is the apparent focus on skill and finesse, and in its place are a group of players specializing in the traditional core big man traits of post play, rebounding, and shotblocking. For long suffering Kings fans accustomed to watching their teams get pounded inside annually, it could be quite the change.
Kings Annual Ranks In Reb Differential and Blocks
01-02: 13th Reb / 21st Blk
02-03: 21st Reb / 10th Blk
03-04: 24th Reb / 25th Blk
04-05: 25th Reb / 24th Blk
05-06: 22nd Reb / 26th Blk
06-07: 28th Reb / 28th Blk
07-08: 23rd Reb / 24th Blk
08-09: 29th Reb / 24th Blk
09-10: 15th Reb / 23rd Blk
Which is another way of saying this franchise has perennially sucked on the inside. Last season was the first time in eight years that the Kings outrebounded their opponents (by 0.6rebs/gm). If that feat can be duplicated, and if the Kings can become an above average shotblocking team for the first time in 8 years as well, it can be the foundation for a major leap forward.
Notes:
--The Kings have not had a double figure rebounder since Brad Miller in 2003-04. There are three players with that potential on the current roster with Dalembert (3rd in the league in rebs/min last season), Cousins (2nd in NCAA in reb/min) and Thompson.
-- The Kings have not had a player average as many as 1.5 blocks a game since Brian Skinner did it for 27 games in 2005-06 after coming over in trade. No King has done it for a full season since Keon Clark in 2002-03. Dalembert and Whiteside look to be the most potent shotblockers to wear purple since that era, with Dalembert 56th on the NBA's all time shotblocking list, and Whiteside leading college basketball last season at 5.4blks/gm.
-- Last season after coming over in trade Carl Landry (for 25 games) became the first Kings frontcourt player to average more than 15ppg since Chris Webber was traded in 2003-04 (Miller also averaged 15+ that season). Landry and Cousins both have that sort of ability on the current roster.
Backcourt
G - 6'5" Tyreke Evans -- big physical combo guard with nearly unstoppable to the basket game. Has been working on a shaky jumper all offseason, and must continue to improve as a playmaker.
G - 6'3" Beno Udrih -- talented offensive PG with the size to play some SG is coming off a career year. Lack of defense has always been an issue the other way.
PG - 5'11" Pooh Jeter -- diminutive change of pace PG honed his game in Europe and has added a jumper to his quickness. As one of the smallest players in the league, defense will always be a question.
G/F - 6'7" Francisco Garcia -- feisty long range bomber can set people up and competes on D. Often plays out of control, and recovery from last season's major injury will be key.
G/F - 6'7' Antoine Wright -- aggressive man defense specialist. Struggles with his shot and lacks punch offensively.
The Kings backcourt can basically be broken down into two groups this season; 1) Tyreke; and 2) whoever the Kings decide to play next to Tyreke. The latter group is, perhaps intentionally, various, with distinct portfolios and advantages and disadvantages. Beno Udrih's advantages are his ability to create and veteran saavy, his disadvantages are his defense and his presence allowing teams to guard him with their PGs and switch their best wing defenders onto Tyreke. Antoine Wright's advantages are forming the best possible defensive backcourt pairing, his disadvantages are forming the worst possible shooting pairing. Cisco might represent a happy medium, if he is recovered from his injury. Camp invite Luther Head maybe should be included here too, as a solid NBA vet who can play either guard spot and shoot. If he's healthy, he could make the team. Donte Greene had some success at SG last season, but with the extra depth this year its doubtful he sees much time.
Records of 09-10 Backcourt Pairings
Reke/Beno = 12-19
Reke/Martin = 3-17
Reke/Greene = 6-10
Reke/Casspi = 2-0
Reke/Udoka = 0-2
Reke/Cisco = 0-1
No Reke = 2-8
Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe
Competition for the Playoffs
Not Catching Them
Lakers -- are out of reach.
Utah -- made a nice save when it scored Al Jefferson to replace Boozer.
Portland -- barring the final revolt against McMillan's draconian regime, cannot possibly be more injured than they were last year, and still managed 50+.
Thunder -- may stagnate, but they are a team on the way up, not down.
Dallas -- may or may not be title contenders, but too much veteran talent to be caught by a team of kids
Cracks in the Foundation
Denver -- on the verge of losing Melo and perhaps blowing up the team
Phoenix -- lost Amare and replaced him with a pack of SFs, Nash is going to be 37 and has to slow down someday
Houston -- Lots of talent. Incredibly fragile talent.
San Antonio -- slowly replacing the gray hairs with youngsters, but four straight years of declining win totals and only 50 last year
First Shot At Any Openings
New Orleans -- CP3 is back
Memphis -- pretty much same team as last year, unclear how much upside that approach has
The Direct Competitors
Clippers -- continue to stack up talent, never seems to matter
Golden State -- Nellie is out, and are threatening to start an actual NBA-like Lee/Biedrins frontline. Should be more conventional, and maybe more dangerous.
Minnesota -- Kahn may be doing a better job of accumulating young talent than he is given credit for. But its all very random and not ready to win.
Prognosis
The team is too young to make major noise without several of the veteran squads ahead of it crumbling. Even a huge jump of +20 wins would still have left the Kings out of the playoffs last season. Oklahoma City showed it is possible for a young team to make a jump that huge with its +27win single season jump. But they were also a year further ahead in their rebuild than the Kings (it was Durant and Green's 3rd year, Westbrook's 2nd). Barring Reke deciding to absolutely explode into an MVP caliber 27 7 and 7 guy in his second year, and Cousins coming in and playing like a seasoned veteran, chances are the Kings jump this season will not be so dramatic. Another young team of recent vintage may be the more likely pattern -- the Blazers won +11 games in Roy and Aldridge's rookie seasons, +9 in their sophomore years, and +13 in their third years to make the playoffs. Look for the Kings to make a +10 to +12 type improvement, to be in the playoff conversation for a while (especially if they use a soft early schedule to sprint off to a fast start and garner national attention), but then to most likely do the young team fade down the stretch. 2011-12 should be their year. If the owners/players even allow there to be a 2011-12.
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