Giving up on WCS after one year is crazy.
It's not crazy as much as it is seeing how he could fit with Cousins long term. It's pretty concerning to see how much Cauley-Stein has looked in the matter of a year. I wouldn't trade him at this very moment as it may just be rough patch/learning adjustment, but if he keeps doing what he's doing, it's definitely a red flag. Labissiere looked more impressive in his small stint to be honest. Small sample size, I know, but if Labissiere gets close to his potential, he's projected to be a better complement to Cousins (stretch ability, good defender/shotblocker, athletic, faceup game).
This is why the Kings suck! They keep rotating in new players every year and as a result never build any chemistry.
I probably harp on this point more than anyone on this forum. Chemistry is severely overlooked by the average fan, but you also have to consider the talent we do have, the talent we need to have to eventually become a top tier team, and the talent that we might lose for nothing. We can have all the chemistry in the world, but you're only going to get so far if you don't have the talent. We don't have the talent to be that good, so how are we going to acquire that talent? Are we going to break the trend and somehow sign a big time FA? Perhaps Bogdanovic, Richardson, Labissire, Cauley-Stein, & Papagiannis end up all being good to excellent players? I'm finding it difficult to see how we will be able to build a great team without acquiring more young talent that we can develop.
McLemore finally looks like he starting to get it, and so now you want to get rid of him.
Well, you could argue his value is higher now than it was at the beginning of the season, so yeah, what's wrong with wanting to cash in on that? He's looked like a competent bench player, and as Brick likes to point out, those types of players are easy to pickup in FA.
I like Bobby Portis, but he's basically a post player so I'm not sure how good a fit he is next to Cousins. Not saying it couldn't work, but he's not the type of PF you would look to put next to Cousins in today's NBA.
Saying he's "basically a post player" is doing him a disservice. Portis is very talented. He can score in the post, sure, but he can also faceup & take you off the dribble, get out in transition, & knock down threes. His offensive game looks very well polished right now.
Per 100 possessions this season, Portis is averaging 68.3% TS%, 30.8 pts, 18.3 rebs, & 2.5 asts. For reference, Cousins averages 58.6% TS%, 40.6 pts, 14.5 rebs, & 4.2 asts per 100 possessions. That is not too shabby.
Portis' size, strength, length, & athleticism would really allow him to guard any PF in the league. His motor is great and is always working hard when on the floor. He would be a great high energy big to pair with Cousins because not only can he stretch the floor for Cousins and defend quicker & stronger PFs, but he can also take advantage of teams that have at least one weak big man defender. For instance, if Orlando wanted to play Ibaka on Cousins and Vucevic on Portis, I think Portis would be able to exploit his matchup just as much as Cousins would. His 9'1" standing reach and 250 lb body would allow him to punish teams who want to play small against us all while having the ability to cover stretch 4s on the other end with his athleticism. Not to mention his rebounding is excellent and it would definitely help considering we are 27th in the league in rebounding right now.
Look, I know this is the player movement section, so were here to talk about trades etc. But we can't keep changing out half the team year after year and not give the players a chance to even get to know one another. It's one thing to trade a player, but to get rid of five players is exactly what we've done for the last few years. How's that working out for you? We can't criticize the team for lack of consistency, when we trade away half the team, and bring in a new coach and GM every year. Just my humble opinion...
I never criticized the team for a lack of consistency, but I know you weren't directing that at me specifically.
You mentioned the turnover of our roster. I think that is inevitable the way our contracts are setup regardless if we make a trade or not. Collison, Lawson, McLemore, Afflalo, Gay, Barnes, Casspi, & Tolliver could all be gone next season regardless of if we want to keep them and develop chemistry. Getting guys like Payne, Rozier, Portis, Porter, etc. allows us to be in control and begin to develop that chemistry knowing that we basically can keep them for 5-8 years.
