Are you sure we are going to make the playoffs?

[Bibby_Is_Clutch]

Just wondering because were dropping... and were dropping fast. I hope we can snap back but who knows. Denver, Houston, Memphis.... all eyeing the opportunity to take the 5th seed.

Do you think we will make the playoffs?

 

[SacTownKid]

If we don't I will eat my hat.

 

[SacTownKid]

If we don't I will eat my hat.

And I don't like the taste of head lice.

 

[Bricklayer]

Yes -- wrong question.

The much maligned Webb-led crew got off to a hot enough start that falling out of the playoffs entirely is unlikely. Now which seed will we get? 5,6,7 all have decent arguments to be made for them.

P.S. as an aside, if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio and be stuck with a mid-round pick.

 

[Bballkingsrock]

Uh, of course. Really weird question to ask. there is no doubt about it. The Kings are just on a bad run and have not gotten any practices wiht the new guys. It just takes time!!

 

[SIR HENRY 8]

this is crunch time for some teams to make a run for a spot in POs,KINGS will need to do the same.I think we'll go .500 rest of the season,don't see a problem.

 

[Bibby_Is_Clutch]

Only reason im asking is because some teams behind us in the standings are HOT and our spot wont last if we keep this play up. Im not worried, I think well make the playoffs but Im not sure we can if we keep playing like this.

 

[SIR HENRY 8]

P.S. as an aside, if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio and be stuck with a mid-round pick.

Thats a good point Brick,something to ponder,but I don't think we'll drop that far,but ya never know.

 

[Lamar_Odom]

Interesting question. The Kings are only a few games in the L column from the 8th spot.

 

[Twix]

Yeah, we can make if you ask me. We have a better shot than the Lakers.

 

[Heuge]

Interesting question. The Kings are only a few games in the L column from the 8th spot.

A few being 4. Not really an interesting question. More like a no brainer.

 

[Variant]

We need to start stringing together a few wins. Once you start losing it can really pick up momentum...

Although a draft pick wouldn't be bad eh?

 

[Twix]

Yeah, we can make if you ask me. We have a better shot than the Lakers.

Also add Nuggets and Wolves to that list.

IMO, not a good time to ask this question. Maybe at the end of this month and if the Kings still aren't doing well, then I'll start worrying.

 

[Lamar_Odom]

The Kings are 6-10 since February, on a 2-game losing skid. They could go 1-4 in their next 5 games. At the beginning of this year, nobody ever thought that the question of this thread would pop for the Kings. At least not this year. The Lakers, yes, but not the Kings. This trade by Petrie will be the most questionable move of his career as a GM for the Kings. But then again, he got the Kings to this point - he might still have a few tricks up his sleeve. He might just know what he's doing... But rebuilding is tough.

 

[SacTownKid]

The Kings are 6-8 since February. They could go 1-4 in their next 5 games. At the beginning of this year, nobody ever thought that the question of this thread would pop for the Kings. At least not this year. The Lakers, yes, but not the Kings. This trade by Petrie will be the most questionable move of his career as a GM for the Kings. But then again, he got the Kings to this point - he might still have a few tricks up his sleeve. He might just know what he's doing... But rebuilding is tough.

I really don't think it is as much of a rebuilding as everyone thinks. We still have a solid core of fairly young guys in Brad, Peja, and Bibby. We didn't pull a Lakers move and dump the most dominant player as well as everybody else. Sacramento is more of a remodeling than a rebuilding. We need a little work done on the foundation, we don't need a brand new house.

 

[Lamar_Odom]

It might be semantics with you but working on the foundation sounds like rebuilding to me.

 

[SLAB]

This team is going to make the playoffs...100% guarenteed.

After a bad stretch it always seems as if the apocalypse is coming, well, this time it's not.

We have practiced ONCE as this new form Kings. The Kings have only had what? Not alot of practices since Cats been here! 8 of our next 10 are at home, which means practice, which means improvment, which means winning again.

AND take into effect that Brad has been injured, Peja had been injured, Darius had been injured. There are reasons other than "The Trade" why this team has been stinking it up latley.

At the end of this 10 game stretch, we will definatly not be dicussing this anymore. I uarentee it.

 

[SacTownKid]

It might be semantics with you but working on the foundation sounds like rebuilding to me.

It is semantics.

 

[Gtronic]

Well said SLAB

 

[Bricklayer]

There is absolutely no question this is rebuilding -- we've turned over 75% of the roster inside 2 years. But at the moment its an attempt to rebuild on the fly with veterans while keeping a playoff team in the field rather than tearing it all down and building with true youth.

We'll see how this is handled in the offseason -- Petrie's pattern has always been careful to the point of too careful -- a full scale rebuild may not be what he's best suited for. But the potential is clearly there now. 75% of the current roster could be turned over again without a significant blow to continuity.

 

[Evenstar]

oui

the kings will make the playoffs

 

[Vlad]

Yes -- wrong question.

The much maligned Webb-led crew got off to a hot enough start that falling out of the playoffs entirely is unlikely. Now which seed will we get? 5,6,7 all have decent arguments to be made for them.

P.S. as an aside, if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio and be stuck with a mid-round pick.

wow, what has happened to brick? If I had a choice between the lottery and facing the Spurs in Round 1, I'd take on the Spurs every time.

 

[Bricklayer]

wow, what has happened to brick? If I had a choice between the lottery and facing the Spurs in Round 1, I'd take on the Spurs every time.

Big picture -- a LOT of teams over the years have got sucked into the mediocre trap over the years. Too scared to get bad enough to help themselves, so stuck in a boring never never land where they never matter in the least. If we sink to #8, then its not working at all and the Spurs would almost surely clean our clock. That's pointless. And dumb too when you could lose one or two more games + get into the lottery -- given the weakness of the East teams you're probably guaranteed of a draft pick 4-5 higher than you would have gotten otherwise, and if you get lucky you have a shot to get yourself a young stud who could be a star in the league.

Nothing wrong with losing to win in the long run (in fact that is the whole way the Spurs got good themselves -- a perennial contender in the 90's suddenly dives into the lottery and emerges with Tim Duncan). And the same strategy was in fact what Geoff himself just got done doing with Webb. The difference being that we had a hope in the playoffs before the Webb trade, wheras if we're a below-.500 team from here to the end of the season and meet the Spurs in Rnd 1 we really won't.

Squeaking into the playoffs and getting smacked does us no good at all at this point -- this isn't the 90's Kings trying to prove we're actually an NBA franchise. If we can't realistically contend this year (and falling apart and slipping to #8 would certainly indicate that to me), better off taking a shot at a player that could keep us contending for a long long time in the future.

 

[Gargamel]

P.S. as an aside, if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio...

Sounds just like something I've said before.

 

[EmKingsFan4]

Yes -- wrong question.

The much maligned Webb-led crew got off to a hot enough start that falling out of the playoffs entirely is unlikely. Now which seed will we get? 5,6,7 all have decent arguments to be made for them.

P.S. as an aside, if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio and be stuck with a mid-round pick.

You know after losing some of our core players this season...you are right, rather than making playoffs this season I'd rather tank it and get some good picks. Even if by some miracle of god we manage to make the Finals and win the ring, it wouldn't feel the same to watch a kings team win when half of the players on it I have no emotional investment in.

 

[4cwebb]

Nothing wrong with losing to win in the long run (in fact that is the whole way the Spurs got good themselves -- a perennial contender in the 90's suddenly dives into the lottery and emerges with Tim Duncan). And the same strategy was in fact what Geoff himself just got done doing with Webb. The difference being that we had a hope in the playoffs before the Webb trade, wheras if we're a below-.500 team from here to the end of the season and meet the Spurs in Rnd 1 we really won't.

To truly follow this strategy, the team should have traded CWebb at the beginning of the season, but the remaining team still wouldn't have been as bad as that Spurs team that was playing without David Robinson for the entire season (if I recall correctly).

 

[Bricklayer]

To truly follow this strategy, the team should have traded CWebb at the beginning of the season, but the remaining team still wouldn't have been as bad as that Spurs team that was playing without David Robinson for the entire season (if I recall correctly).

No, Ailene Voison's shrill bleating aside, its clear to me this all wasn't the plan, or at least not the only plan. We came back from the summer with the same squad, and it seems clear now that they really were being given one more chance, or at least one more half chance, but were on double secret probation -- they had to prove themselves to earn their last shot. If they had dominated and been right up there with Phoenix and San Antonio, I doubt we make any moves at all until the summer, and they get their one more shot. But as we struggled, and Doug in particular was clearly fading, well a decision was made on the fly. And then when we hit the skids going into the All Star break, that sealed Webb's fate as well. Part of why it is frustrating is because it clearly WASN'T all planned, and so instead of a cold calculation which got us the best possible return for breaking up the team, it feels like we gave up/panicked and took whatever we could get.

Could still work out if we cash in our mismatched pieces over the summer, but quite clearly this is not the way you'd go about it if you were drawing up a grand rebuilding plan on the chalkboard.

P.S. BTW, the odds of the best team in the lottery getting one of the Top 3 picks is pretty miniscule (about 3%), but the guarantee of the 14th pick (rather than #18 or #19 or so if you make the playoffs) still gets you a much better shot to land a real contributor. BUt in any case, I don;t really think we are going to sink to #8, so point probably moot. If we play reasonably well and go into the playoffs as a #5 or #6 seed, well, just fight the good fight, see if you can steal a round to keep morale up, and mission accomplished.

 

[Zyphen]

Sounds just like something I've said before.

You know it's a tough day in King's history when a Laker fan can emphasize. (not a slam on Gargamel, just ironic)

I think we built up too much of a cushion not to make the playoffs. But like the Lakers, we'll be just so much fodder for the actual contenders.

 

[Diehard Jim]

if we actually fell all the way to 8th, I'm not entirely sure I wouldn't PREFER to lose another game or two and end up in the lottery with a remote chance at getting a super-high young stud pick rather than go into a pointless #8/#1 matchup vs. San Antonio and be stuck with a mid-round pick.

I am in the same position and bricklayer, I would almost rather see the kings get a chance at the lottery which they will not win, (unless stern has some plans to try and keep the kings in sacramento by letting them win the lottery)

 

[WhyNotUs?]

without question the Kings will make the playoff's and equally without question will be dismissed in the first round in 4-6 games regardless of opponent. The team, as is currently configured, simply does not have the talent. Practice time would simply make them a more cohesive mediocre team. More strongly said than Brick has intimated, but I suspect we would agree on that assessment. A training camp and pre-season in the fall with this group would not excite me for our chances next year either. Having said that, it would seem to me the only drama left is #16. Does he nut-up or fold up like a lawn chair in the playoffs? I say that not to bag on Peja, but he is the one big question mark among the "keepers". Even if we go down in a sweep (something I believe is entirely possible), the drama will be to see if he will step it up and give it an entire fight.