All the New Kings Introduction -- Mini Scouting Reports

[Bricklayer]

For all of you who's heads are still spinning after yesterday's whirlwind of activity, I wanted to produce a little introduction to all the new faces that will be crowding the Kings sidelines for the next few months. Limited insight -- just an overview/introduction to the new short term Kings:

Calvin Booth
Pos: C
Hgt: 6'11"
Wgt: 230
Age: 32
Years Pro: 9
Contract: 1yr $1.1mil (ending)
Career Stats: 12.3min 3.3pts 2.8reb 0.4ast 0.3stl 0.9blk 0.5TO
08-09 Stats: 1game 1minute 1rebound -- yes that's $1.1 mil per minute
A career long journeyman off the deep bench, in recent years he hasn't even been that, reduced to 12th man spot duty/spare big man status. In his youth used to be able to block a shot but not much else. Nowadays is likely on his last contract, and we may well be his eighth and final team. be surprised if he ever sees the floor, or is even active these last couple of months. But with Natt you never know. If nothing else his notorious sex appeal will give something for the ladies to look at over on our bench.

Drew Gooden
Pos: PF/C
Hgt: 6'10"
Wgt: 250
Age: 27
Years Pro: 6
Contract: 1yr $7.1mil (ending)
Career Stats: 28.5min 12.1pts 8.0reb 1.2ast 0.8stl 0.6blk 1.7TO
08-09 Stats: 29.6min 13.1pts 8.6reb 1.4ast 0.8stl 0.4blk 1.9TO
The poster child for frontcourt mediocrity in the NBA -- not sucktatude, just mediocrity. We are his 5th team in 6 years, and his production has always been very consistent wherever he's gone. Right on the border between a starter and a bencher, he's 12 and 8 personified, and could pose a threat to our young bigs' minutes if he gets healthy. Rarely passes, cannot block a shot, and is prone to odd (read poor) decisionmaking, but he is a good rebounder, and should roughly replace Brad's production. In recent years has been infected by an odd and disturbing alien growth that hangs down from his chin like beard dreadlocks, which replaced an earlier single hair patch grown on the back of his bald noggin to apparently cover up one of those Neo-like brian implants from the Matrix.

Cedric Simmons
Pos: PF/C
Hgt: 6'9"
Wgt: 235
Age: 23
Years Pro: 2
Contract: 1yr $1.7mil (ending)
Career Stats: 10.0min 2.4pts 2.0reb 0.2ast 0.2stl 0.4blk 0.4TO
08-09 Stats: 5.5min 2.5pts 1.1reb 0.2ast 0.1stl 0.4blk 0.0TO
A late lottery pick by the Hornets a few years back, Simmons is largely a flop so far. He would project out as a defensive/rebounding big with limited offensive skills, but like many guys who are big in college and suddenly undersized in the pros, it just has not translated. Been strictly a 12th man/garbagetime guy in his short career and would have to really surprise in these final months to be back next year.

Ike Diogu
Pos: PF
Hgt: 6'8"
Wgt: 250
Age: 25
Years Pro: 3
Contract: 1yr $2.9mil (ending)
Career Stats: 12.3min 5.9pts 3.0reb 0.4ast 0.2stl 0.3blk 1.0TO
08-09 Stats: 3.8min 1.4pts 0.9reb 0.0ast 0.1stl 0.1blk 0.3TO
Contrary to what you may have read, we did not actually trade Shelden away, we merely shortened his forehead and gave him a new uniform. Diogu is another stubby failed late lottery big. Built like Shelden, he's short, groundbound, but powerful. More offensive minded than our last stubby groundbound guy, his calling card would be a post game where he uses his strength and long arms to get shots off. Everything else is mediocre, and he has the same problems that Shelden did with being too short to guard the power guys, and too slow to guard the quicker guys. He has had his fans over his short career, and probably has a better chance than does Simmons at impressing enough to earn a new contract.

 

[Bricklayer]

Andres Nocioni
Pos: SF/PF
Hgt: 6'7"
Wgt: 225
Age: 29
Years Pro: 4
Contract: 4yrs $29.0mil
Career Stats: 25.2min 11.7pts 5.0reb 1.3ast 0.4stl 0.4blk 1.6TO
08-09 Stats: 24.1min 10.4pts 4.2reb 1.1ast 0.5stl 0.3blk 1.4TO
One of the better players we brought over in the dealing spree, Nocioni is a notoriously scrappy tweener forward who has always been caught between SF and PF, starter and bencher, in his 4 years in the league. He can muscle weaker SFs, and likes to bomb threes against bigger guys. He will fight on defense, but can be a major hack, and is limited physically, being slow against SFs and small against PFs. He's not above getting a little dirty if the situation calls for it, or sometimes when it doesn't, and he's a notorious flopper, which means he should get along with Kevin and Cisco as we try to become the team opposing fans hate the most. He and Cisco should combine for good energy at the SF spot if nothing else. Biggest drawback for Noc is a big ole ugly contract that was the only longterm deal we took back in all our trading yesterday.

Rashad McCants
Pos: SG
Hgt: 6'4"
Wgt: 215
Age: 24
Years Pro: 3
Contract: 1yr $2.6mil (ending)
Career Stats: 20.3min 9.9pts 2.0reb 1.3ast 0.7stl 0.2blk 1.5TO
08-09 Stats: 18.7min 9.1pts 1.9reb 0.9ast 0.8stl 0.2blk 1.3TO
McCants might have the most raw talent potential of any of the players we brough back in all the trades. A bit undersized for the shooting guard, he can be an explosive scorer and potent shooter, and last year averaged nearly 15ppg for the Wolves. He can also be a good defender when he wants to be, which is rarely, and he has always been streaky and highly erratic, both on the court and off, where his maturity has often been questioned. Its worth noting that he and Cisco have some history so maybe we can be the first NBA team to have a bench clearing brawl against ourselves. These last couple of months can probably be seen as an extended tryout for Rashad, and if he does well he probably has a better chance to stick than any of the other new guys.

Will Solomon
Pos: PG
Hgt: 6'1"
Wgt: 185
Age: 30
Years Pro: 1
Contract: 1yr $0.7mil (ending)
Career Stats: 14.0min 5.1pts 1.1reb 2.1ast 0.5stl 0.1blk 1.2TO
08-09 Stats: 13.9min 4.9pts 1.1reb 3.2ast 0.5stl 0.1blk 1.3TO
And if Diogu is our new Shelden, Will Solomon is our new Bobby Brown. Another shoot first little PG who went overseas before returning the NBA, Solomon is older, and as his surname might indicate, probably wiser than Bobby. He's not the purest of points, but he has a solid grasp of how to run a team. He has also looked to be just terribly mediocre, has struggled to connect from outside, and at 30 years old, is no spring chicken or young prospect. Probably just here for the final two months.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Ike Diogu
Pos: PF
Hgt: 6'8"
Wgt: 250
Age: 25
Years Pro: 3
Contract: 1yr $2.9mil (ending)
Career Stats: 12.3min 5.9pts 3.0reb 0.4ast 0.2stl 0.3blk 1.0TO
08-09 Stats: 3.8min 1.4pts 0.9reb 0.0ast 0.1stl 0.1blk 0.3TO
Contrary to what you may have read, we did not actually trade Shelden away, we merely shortened his forehead and gave him a new uniform. Diogu is another stubby failed late lottery big. Built like Shelden, he's short, groundbound, but powerful. More offensive minded than our last stubby groundbound guy, his calling card would be a post game where he uses his strength and long arms to get shots off. Everything else is mediocre, and he has the same problems that Shelden did with being too short to guard the power guys, and too slow to guard the quicker guys. He has had his fans over his short career, and probably has a better chance than does Simmons have impressing enough to earn a new contract.

LMAO shortened forehead

 

[One and Done]

Nice analysis, Brick.

I can see Diogu and McCants staying next season if they play well. Just hope we don't overpay either of them should they exceed expectations...one year contract w/ team option 2nd year ideally.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

I'm interested to see if Simmons will get any PT. I really liked him in college at NC St., he was a monster on the defensive end. I wonder if Natt/Maloofs will let him play? He reminds me of an Anthony Bonner type of player, given the time. We'll have to hopefully see what he can do here.

 

[6th]

Another great informative thread, Brick. These type threads are invaluable to the casual/semi-casual basketball fan. THANKS!!

 

['89 Kings Fan]

Does anyone know what the odds are on Gooden being bought out? The last thing this team needs is him stealing minutes from Hawes and Thompson. I also don't want his Alien Parasite infecting someone else on this team.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Does anyone know what the odds are on Gooden being bought out? The last thing this team needs is him stealing minutes from Hawes and Thompson. I also don't want his Alien Parasite infecting someone else on this team.

Basically zero.

And with the illustrious names of Ike Diogu, Cedric Simmons, Kenny Thomas and Calvin Booth filling out our frontcourt for the rest of the year, Hawes and Thompson should get on the order of 30 minutes a game even when Gooden is healthy. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Yeah, Drew will more than likely get released on March 1st anyway, so I wouldnt worry about him getting any PT. Hawes and JT's minutes are safe.

 

[kennadog]

Its Worth Noting That He And Cisco Have Some History So Maybe We Can Be The First Nba Team To Have A Bench Clearing Brawl Against Ourselves.

Funny!

 

[Rockmeister]

Thanks Brick!

 

[KingKong]

Drew Gooden
In recent years has been infected by an odd and disturbing alien growth that hangs down from his chin like beard dreadlocks, which replaced an earlier single hair patch grown on the back of his bald noggin to apparently cover up one of those Neo-like brian implants from the Matrix.

This cracked me up. Great analysis!

 

[MizzouKing]

Great post

Thanks Brick, this is very helpful for us non-local visual types (NLVT's? ).


MK

 

[syadap]

It would be nice if Ike still plays like he was in 05-06 season....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3MyU_NCyu0

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

Great writeups. Again, I'm higher on Ike than many are, but I'll just use this thread to assemble my takes on these players:

Rashad McCants:

It's a good trade for the reason that we're getting a young and talented player. Think a younger version of Cuttino Mobley here. The guy has got a bunch of scoring options, but shows little semblance of passing ability. I think he can play D well at spurts, but it's really on and off--he needs a good mentor here, but I don't think he'll get that with us. So another scorer off the bench--which is good because we needed one after losing Salmons, and this one is only 24 years old.

I'm not sure if McCants is a player conducive to winning (it's really, really questionable at this point with his game/attitude), but it's worth taking a shot given that we need the scoring punch, we need another guard, and he's young enough to be part of this nucleus. The good thing is that we could choose not to resign him if things don't mesh well after the year, so we'll ese about that. But by far, the most "name" player we have gotten from any of the trades. Will get minutes for us right away off the bench as well.

He's not a bust, actually. I mean, he was a scorer out of college only, and he has scored here in the league (13 ppg last year, one of the better scorers for the TWolves' pathetic offense last year). The problem is when people develop further expectations of him--that he needs to pass, that he needs to make good decisions, that he needs to play better D. Those are all within the realm of possibility for him, but so far it has yet to sink in as his ego and immaturity have all but gotten in the way and pissed people off (apparently pissed the TWolves front office off). But the scoring is there already--I guess the next best thing for him, assuming that he doesn't grow a brain, is for him to average 20 ppg by jacking up tons of shots and becoming a 6'4" version of John Salmons, but I think that would make him even more polarizing. So we should really egg him on to just grow a brain and develop an all-around game that would certainly help us and help him in the long run as free agency occurs.

I heard Rashad McCants might be in the mix to come here, and while that's not a lifesaving move, it's not a totally bad move either. I would take the risk of trading Douby and Williams for him. I think that McCants', while he does have a loser's game--undersized shotjacker who wavers on defense, makes bad decisions, and is a black hole--can actually bring some scoring punch off the bench for us backing up KMart; BJax is too old to continue any sort of scoring binges, and BBrown has been a huge disappointment. I think Petrie sees a little bit of Cat Mobley in him. Besides, he's only 24, and even though he duplicates many of the aspects of what's bad on our team (undersized, screws D, only goes for one-on-one O), I think the near future we can parlay him into better assets, much like we are doing with Salmons right now.

Willie Solomon:

Well, we did need a point guard to the worst degree (we only had Beno, and he's only an average "point guard", before the trade with Toronto and Boston) and although Will Solomon is a converted point guard who still shows signs of his shooting guard days, he's still a better option than what Bobby Brown was giving us pre-trade deadline.

Talentwise + potential-wise, O'Bryant trumps him, but Solomon does not appear to be trash--he's currently 13th in the league in assist ratio (way better than Udrih who is 46th among all players) although man, the guy is equally as turnover prone as Beno Udrih. His usage rate in Toronto has been higher than Udrih's, so it appears to be that he'll help you in passing, but hurt you with some turnovers spattered along the way. He doesn't appear to be a good shooter either--enough to keep defenders honest maybe, but doesn't really display much of a three point shot. Nondescript defense. So best asset seems to be passing ability, with poor to decent shooting and turnovers. And he's going on 30. But he's on a cheap contract, we sorely need a stopgap PG, and he can be an okay one. But just don't expect him to be resigned next year.

Earlier response to potential Patrick O'Bryant to Kings trade:
Kind of wish that we got Patrick O'Bryant instead of Willie Solomon in that deal, because of this reason. Solomon is extremely average and full of flaws, but O'Bryant actually is tall (7'0"), has potential and has shown two-way and inside-outside scoring abilities. We did need a point guard, but...it's hard to pass up height which we are sorely in need of, and the point guard we got wasn't that good.

Drew Gooden:

Drew Gooden won't be here after this year--he's a career journeyman who will always find a place in the league as a scrapper with semi-decent offensive skills, but that always translates better into playoff teams than for rebuilding teams. At least he's an expiring contract, and he's better than KT and Mikki Moore and much younger, but as another big man with potential who may interfere with our young player's minutes--I have some doubts. But it was right to trade for him in this scenario.

I have to wonder if Gooden has to play some center now--he certainly has the weight to be capable with non-thick set centers, but he's not much of a shotblocker and sometimes spaces out. But he's just a stopgap option, and hearing some injury about him?--not sure if he's going to play much.

Andres Nocioni:

Not only that, Nocioni's production isn't even on par with John's or even Brad's--he's already 29, probably peaked as a 11-13 ppg, 4 rpg type guy--and his game doesn't really help a rebuilding team. He's pretty unique in that he combines the combination of scrap scoring, scrap defense and three point range, but he brings the black hole lack of passing we don't need, is ridiculously manicly foul prone (can't emphasize this more), and is a bit of a tweener depending on who you ask. He's better than KT, that's for sure, with more skills and more heart, and gives us some much needed defense, but here's where expectations come into play--because we lost two of our better scorers, if we expect him to recover some of John's 18 ppg he probably can't do that. He's a little too out of control for my tastes as well--sort of like Ginobili, but definitely not as talented.

My earlier response to potential Nocioni to Celtics trade:

We have no use for Nocioni, and he would be a good fit for the Celtics (another rugged defender of sorts who can shoot threes--Posey?). As for us, I'm a little skeptical of doing taking back in more players than we traded out again, but talentwise we should jump on this.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

Cedric Simmons:

Cedric Simmons is only 22 but seems like he's been on a lot of teams already; clearly no one saw potential in him, but here's a case where one man's trash may be another man's treasure. He was a lottery pick, and had a solid foundation of shotblocking skills coming out of college, but he appears to be pretty raw. We're already investing in Hawes and Thompson, so it's hard to see where Simmons fits in now that even Diogu is on our team (and Diogu is clearly more talented). I think Williams, by virtue of having been on our team longer, will probably pry the remaining minutes anyway, so I don't expect us to pick up Simmons' option, sadly for him. At least it's a promising young player, but we're loaded at his position.

Assuming Gooden stays injured and Booth stays washed up, we're left playing 6'9" lean guy Cedric Simmons as our backup center now.

Ike Diogu:

Diogu really intrigues me here--I can't believe Michael Ruffin was traded straight up for him, because the talent disparity is pretty big. I recall when Diogu was given some chances at GS and he put up stellar offensive games--I remember a 13-15 shooting night against Detroit several years back--and he has some rebounding talent as well. Undersized bigs--Carl Landry, Brandon Bass, Leon Powe, Millsap, Maxiell--are en vogue in the league, and I think Diogu can fit right in and replenish some of the offense we lost when Salmons and Miller gone. In fact, of the four players we traded for, he might be the best offensive player of the bunch--he's got a great feel for scoring around the basket, has a mid range J, and can hit free throws. I wonder how we're going to partition minutes for him, with Thompson and Hawes in front, but with Miller I expect him to get 15-20 good minutes off the bench and hopefully show some scoring prowess. Mikki's getting less time anyways, and I expect Shelden Williams and Donte Greene to retain the rest of the minutes.

Thoughts about the team:

We've been smoked talentwise in our last three major trades (the Webber trade, the Bibby trade, and now this Miller/Salmons trade), and while it's understandable given that we've been trending towards rebuilding ever since the start of the first trade, what is unacceptable here is that we didn't even get any promising young players and/or draft picks in return. We took on Chicago's possibly worst contract (Nocioni's deal goes up until 2012)--even John has fewer years and less $$$, and Miller has far fewer years, so suffice to say we took on the worst contract in this deal.

I think the problem here is that we're not trading for the present...instead, we seem to be looking at the past resumes of the vets (Nocioni averaged 23 and 10 in the '05-'06 playoffs, Gooden has been to the NBA Finals as a starter with the Cavs) because their current seasons seem to be nondescript. Both have already peaked, and are best fit for playoff teams, and not for us.

Not only that, the youth we are trading for have been tested and tried by many other teams (Diogu's 3rd team with us, and Simmons's 4th) and at some point their potential has to be exhausted, despite their age--they are what I call "end of the bench potential players"--players who can't get minutes and rely on their "potential" and cheap contracts to stick in the league. I like Diogu so maybe I shouldn't be too harsh, but when we were unable to trade for "productive potential" in Nate Robinson, Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah, therein lies the problem.

I wish Geoff aggressively swung a move for real talent who can be with us for the long term, rather than assembling a group of busts, has-beens, undersized big men and average veterans. It might be interesting to see if there's any diamond in the rough players (that's what we thought we had with Beno at least...) but it's not a conducive way of assembling a playoff team. I know we're trying to clear salary for the long run, but it's best to assemble talent along the way instead of what seems to be on the losing end of trades time after time.

A concern here is that we lost our backup "PG"--Bobby Brown--and our best passer on the team--Brad Miller. In return, we got no one, essentially, with good passing skills--Nocioni has little court vision, McCants is pure selfishness--so I wouldn't be too surprised if we became last in the league in assists here. We have no point guard, and McCants is not one. Hopefully we can pick someone off the waiver wire, or make another trade in these two hours remaining.

Anyway, we now really have a glut at the big man positions--with Hawes, Thompson, Gooden, Diogu, Moore, Williams, Greene, KT and Simmons, we have nine players who can play either PF or C, but only one of them (Hawes) is over 7 feet. Realistically, I can see Thompson and Hawes averaging over over 30 minutes per night now, especially with Gooden injured, and Diogu can pick up another 20 between PF and C, while Williams and Moore split the remaining 16 depending on Natt's desire for playing older players or giving younger players a chance. I don't think Simmons stands much of a chance. (If Gooden comes back, give all of Diogu's minutes to Gooden, and Diogu and Moore probably split the remaining 16 instead).

As for Greene, I hope this means the start of his development at SF. Unless Natt develops a fetish for Nocioni, which is possible given his wayward logic, we should solely concentrate on making Greene a pure shooter who can stretch the defense, and also advocate him as a cutter or player who can get offensive rebounds in his spare time. By moving Salmons, only Nocioni and Garcia are adept at playing small forward on this team, and I don't think Nocioni has quite the primacy that Salmons has. So Greene may get minutes here.

If there's one thing I'm forgetting to mention, I am simply bewildered, and quite frankly amazed, at the frequency at which Petrie picks up those undersized big men. Ike Diogu a 6'8" PF with limited athleticism, Cedric Simmons very average 6'9" PF/C, Nocioni a 6'7" SF/PF, and Drew Gooden a 6'10" PF/C (he will be forced to play center for us if he makes it onto the court). Combine this with 6'7" PF KT, 6'9" C/PF Williams, and man, that, is one gigantic group of undersized tweener bigs with limited or horribly average athleticism. Truly amazing. And let's not forget the days of Shareef and Corliss just a while back too.


Actually in three positions, having McCants, Nocioni/Garcia, and Gooden off the bench brings solid scoring and defensive punch. Of course, with Gooden injured, look for Diogu to strut any game he has and be productive particularly offensively.

Center and point guard, particularly at the backup positions, appears to be pretty weak. Solomon is no one's idea of a starter, and is very average even as a backup. I guess Jackson can spell him there, but he can't really initiate an offense. For center, with Gooden injured, I presume that now with this roster Simmons may actually see some playing time--I don't think he'll do as well as Diogu, but it's worth seeing what he can bring, even though he's 6'9" and playing center and I think he'll be manhandled and in foul trouble constantly. Clearing Mikki Moore and Shelden Williams got rid of some of the glut here, but because Diogu and Simmons haven't played in a long time, it's questionable what they can bring. But they will get playing time.

So overall, I like Diogu, Gooden is sort of "bleh", Nocioni's current state+potential+contract is horrible, and Simmons will unfortunately never get much of a chance. I sort of wish we could get rid of Beno in another deal and taken on Hinrich instead of Nocioni, because Hinrich is an upgrade even though he's past the age of players we should really covet. I'm a little surprised how we didn't pull off Tyrus Thomas and/or Joakim Noah from a trade like this (I'd rather take an athletic freak over Diogu) or Thabo Sefolosha (although with Garcia around it's a little understandable, but I like him). Chicago really upgraded here, trading little of consequence to really become a playoff team, but we couldn't even pry away one of their better young players or first round picks, and had to take on the worst contract. So I think we could've done better, even though we finally moved two of our better players who had to go.

By the way, this is a good thread to look back on to see which players have met expectations, and which have not.

 

[Superman]

Yeah, Drew will more than likely get released on March 1st anyway, so I wouldnt worry about him getting any PT. Hawes and JT's minutes are safe.

I mentioned it in another thread, but it never got answered. Why don't we release Gooden right now? He doesn't do anything for us, and we have to pay his salary either way. Might as well cut ties right away and let him get on with his career. Who cares where he lands? I don't.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I mentioned it in another thread, but it never got answered. Why don't we release Gooden right now? He doesn't do anything for us, and we have to pay his salary either way.

Um, he plays PF and C?

I don't understand why so many people think we're going to release Gooden. Our front line is pretty thin as it is (and desperately thin while he's hurt). While we may not have any interest in resigning him next year, releasing Gooden now seems like a very improbable scenario.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

Um, he plays PF and C?

I don't understand why so many people think we're going to release Gooden. Our front line is pretty thin as it is (and desperately thin while he's hurt). While we may not have any interest in resigning him next year, releasing Gooden now seems like a very improbable scenario.

I don't know the salary ramifications of how much $$$ we can potentially save by cutting Gooden at some point this season, and he's currently injured, but I would just keep him as some level of insurance because our backup centers (Calvin Booth, Cedric Simmons unfortunately by default) are either washed up or unproven.