Can Kings owners afford to get Kings to next level and the Playoffs?

[CruzDude]

The Kings are some $14M under an expected salary cap for 2012/13, assuming they do not sign or extend Donte Green, due $2.5M this year. Isaiah, Hassan and Tyler are all signed for coming 2 years. Everyone else is signed thru 2013/14.

To get to the playoffs this year, or even near, will require the addition of two pro-active veterans, at least one of whom needs to be a starter, preferably a PG. To get to the next level will require probably double the amount of wins, from 22 to 44. Not sure thats ever been done but the Kings did lose some dozen or more games in the last 5 minutes of games in which they led half way through the 4th. I think in 8 of those they led in the last 2 minutes and lost.

A pro-active veteran player (obviously not Salmons or Outlaw) needs to use their experience to help the team play smarter. That will cost a bunch of money up to the salary cap as they also need to sign their 1st round pick and maybe a couple of FA or second rounders.

In the past 3-4 months there has been no "warm and fuzzy" feeling that the owners have such discretionary money to spend. In fact quite the opposite with many indications, mostly from the bungled arena deal, that they just don't have much funds any more.

Question is then, what is the one thing the owners must do to land a credible veteran who can help the Kings to the next level and set the tempo that the Kings are a viable team capable of getting to the next level? We all realize that takes money. A lot of money. But how much to rebuild credibility of the team, the franchise and their ownership so that the vets they need will even consider coming to Sacramento?

And lets not argue for Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol, Carmelo or any such marque players who only want to go to a contender. A Chauncey Billups would do. Or a Jason Kidd or Steve Nash. There are only so many contenders but more vets than possible slots. What do the owners have to do to make Sacramento attractive enough to give us all hope?

 

[sactownfan]

signing vets???

The Maloofs can't afford that $6.00 Carls Jr burger they ate on the commercial.

Its a sad time to be a Kings fan... as someone that lives in So Cal and is a fan of the Kings its been said i don't care about sacramento. But seriously what the Maloofs have done and what their about to do is despicable. Losing all your money and going broke makes people to crazy things. But its just not right what they did to Sacramento.

Anyway i don't see them spending any money... the need to sell the team and signing players to long contracts isn't going to help them on that front.

 

[Glenn]

signing vets???

The Maloofs can't afford that $6.00 Carls Jr burger they ate on the commercial.

Its a sad time to be a Kings fan... as someone that lives in So Cal and is a fan of the Kings its been said i don't care about sacramento. But seriously what the Maloofs have done and what their about to do is despicable. Losing all your money and going broke makes people to crazy things. But its just not right what they did to Sacramento.

Anyway i don't see them spending any money... the need to sell the team and signing players to long contracts isn't going to help them on that front.

Holy Hannah, Clyde! We agree! It is what they are doing to the city that is despicable. And CruzDude, this has got to be one of the least intellectually stimulating threads in the last month? I DO appreciate a place to vent and for that, I thank you.

 

[kingjatt]

at this point i will be happy to just retain JT. they are not signing anybody or going over the salary floor.

 

[NoBonus]

I think this sums up my feelings about the Kings upcoming, mafool funded season:

 

[Mass]

Simple answer: no, they can't.

BTW, we don't need to double our wins to get to 44. Yes, this year we won 22 games, but it was a 66 games season. Which means our 22 wins are more or less like 27 in a regular 82 games season. We need 15 more wins. Can we do it? Impossible to say right now, we need to wait for the draft and free agency.

 

[BMiller52]

lol No.

 

[CruzDude]

Simple answer: no, they can't.

BTW, we don't need to double our wins to get to 44. Yes, this year we won 22 games, but it was a 66 games season. Which means our 22 wins are more or less like 27 in a regular 82 games season. We need 15 more wins. Can we do it? Impossible to say right now, we need to wait for the draft and free agency.

Good point. 15 more wins at this years rate woule be major progress. Be careful tho, you might be getting a tiny bit intelluctual about this and make sense. Question still is, will they, or can they, step up to go a long way to get to the next level this summer?

 

[VF21]

Good point. 15 more wins at this years rate woule be major progress. Be careful tho, you might be getting a tiny bit intelluctual about this and make sense. Question still is, will they, or can they, step up to go a long way to get to the next level this summer?

Two entirely different questions, my friend.

1. CAN they step up?
2. Will they step up?

 

[kingjatt]

Two entirely different questions, my friend.

1. CAN they step up?
2. Will they step up?

Two questions one anwser, No.

 

[ParniValjak]

NO! Plain and simple and unfortunately disheartening!

 

[rainmaker]

Maloofs, spending money and playoffs?

 

[Section 101]

Here's the deal. If they actually made the playoffs then yes. The playoffs are a big money maker for owners. They dont have player salaries and they split proceeds with the opponent. Plus more TV revenues.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Problem is .. we not only need to spend NEW money, but we are also totally wasting OLD money.

The glut of money being spent on our garbage SF core is killing us. If that money was spent smarter, with the young talent we have now, I think we'd have a shot.

 

[Gary]

It's really disheartening that we are talking about whether our owners will sign a free agent if given a chance to, rather than which free agents we would like to sign because we have a lot of capspace.

It sucks having crappy owners. It really takes a lot of fun out of things when you know that even if you had cap space the owners wouldn't do anything with it because they cannot afford to.

 

[JB_kings]

Recall all those times we suspected some players only played hard enough to get a contract and then they only thing they put effort into was cashing paychecks? Well here we have an example of some owners who are just going to sit back and cash checks... of course all us fans are writing the checks they will be cashing. They really do appreciate you all supporting their family!

 

[Big Cuz 15]

They said theyre goin to spend every penny of the capspace before they were denied samueli monies. Weve seen how wasteful theyve spent it. Salmons, garcia, outlaw, donte. We could afford a carmelo.at that price of crap weve amassed there.

 

[Mass]

The only way we can have a chance to make the playoff is by developing our players, not hoping in free agency or in the magoof spending money. "IF" Cousins has a breakout season, a season that sends him to the all star game, and "IF" Tyreke finally gets a jump shot and starts to show us what we hope he can be, then maybe we could have a shot. Maybe.

The problem here is not just that the magoof are not spending money, they are wasting what they are spending. I'm sure we copuld have an elite SF with the money we throw at Salmons and Garcia. But it is what it is, I just hope they sell the team ASAP.

 

[Sac.1989]

Yep i agree. If were lucky in this draft and somehow land/acquire MKG and Henson then we have a chance of pushing for the 8th seed. We'd most likely fall short with the overall picture being our inability to spend and develop our youth.

Ive come to the realisation that acquiring FAs wont happen and so my biggest concern right now is a coaching staff and system which makes the most of what we have currently and the youth we will get in this draft.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

at this point i will be happy to just retain JT. they are not signing anybody or going over the salary floor.

This^^^

 

[HndsmCelt]

Ok lets be honest the kids have not lost ALL of daddy's money YET, but they have most of it tied up in Wells Fargo (loosing value) and the Kings (not gaining value) So the question is will/can they take some 10 mill or so out of WF to pump up the Kings? Well that depends. If they want to keep the team and increase revenues from it they might bu look for targeted expenditures based on ticket and merchandise sales (This is/was the rational behind picking Jimmer) If their plan was to move the team then sell it they may be stuck in which case they will need to treat the team like a property flip, make visible improvements that enhance value OR sell as is. Honestly I am not ure that investing 10 mill or so to get the team up to speed will enhance the value by the 20 mill or so you would want to see on an investment return. I guess there is a third option, that despite being hated by fans, ridiculed in the press and alienated by the NBA/Owners they could choose to remain the owners and stay in Sac making an profit from merchandise and NBA profit sharing, or pony up to make the team the exciting contenders they could be. It will cost 10-20 mill more in payroll and who knows how much more revenue it will generate.
So can they yes... barely
will they? very very doubtful

 

[lwc]

Ok lets be honest the kids have not lost ALL of daddy's money YET, but they have most of it tied up in Wells Fargo (loosing value) and the Kings (not gaining value) So the question is will/can they take some 10 mill or so out of WF to pump up the Kings? Well that depends. If they want to keep the team and increase revenues from it they might bu look for targeted expenditures based on ticket and merchandise sales (This is/was the rational behind picking Jimmer) If their plan was to move the team then sell it they may be stuck in which case they will need to treat the team like a property flip, make visible improvements that enhance value OR sell as is. Honestly I am not ure that investing 10 mill or so to get the team up to speed will enhance the value by the 20 mill or so you would want to see on an investment return. I guess there is a third option, that despite being hated by fans, ridiculed in the press and alienated by the NBA/Owners they could choose to remain the owners and stay in Sac making an profit from merchandise and NBA profit sharing, or pony up to make the team the exciting contenders they could be. It will cost 10-20 mill more in payroll and who knows how much more revenue it will generate.
So can they yes... barely
will they? very very doubtful

Well said.

 

[kingjatt]

Ok lets be honest the kids have not lost ALL of daddy's money YET, but they have most of it tied up in Wells Fargo (loosing value) and the Kings (not gaining value) So the question is will/can they take some 10 mill or so out of WF to pump up the Kings? Well that depends. If they want to keep the team and increase revenues from it they might bu look for targeted expenditures based on ticket and merchandise sales (This is/was the rational behind picking Jimmer) If their plan was to move the team then sell it they may be stuck in which case they will need to treat the team like a property flip, make visible improvements that enhance value OR sell as is. Honestly I am not ure that investing 10 mill or so to get the team up to speed will enhance the value by the 20 mill or so you would want to see on an investment return. I guess there is a third option, that despite being hated by fans, ridiculed in the press and alienated by the NBA/Owners they could choose to remain the owners and stay in Sac making an profit from merchandise and NBA profit sharing, or pony up to make the team the exciting contenders they could be. It will cost 10-20 mill more in payroll and who knows how much more revenue it will generate.
So can they yes... barely
will they? very very doubtful

Im pretty sure the WF stock is in a trust that cant be accessed yet or the goofs would have pulled it to try and save their precious Palms. Im pretty confident that they have no money beyond league revenue sharing, which is much more than the previous CBA, and whatever little profit they made off the team last year(if that didnt go towards making payments on their debt load).

and unlike in real estate where you can increase value beyond amount invested to improve the property an NBA franchise is more valueable to a potential buyer if it has a low payroll and very few long term deals (less liabilities on the books) so that a new ownership can put their own stamp on it.

That means if the want to increase/stay put on the value of the franchise they will stay at the minimum with the least amount of years commited to players. so to revise your anwsers
can they?....no.
will they? no.

 

[Prince_XY]

I would rather have the Maloofs refrain from spending more money until such time we have a new GM. I think Petrie will not spend the money wisely just like what happened in the past.

IMO, there were too many opportunities wasted and too many mistakes committed by our lazy and burned-out GM that letting him spend more money equals wasted money. The same poorly constructed product on the floor is what we will have under Petrie. Dead weight contracts of Salmons, Outlaw, Hayes, Shareef, Kenny T, over-paying Garcia, etc. etc. and we let go of clear talents that could have had help the team like Dalembert, Wells, etc., etc.

Change the GM first so we can have a better organization and we can go in the right direction.

 

[CruzDude]

I would rather have the Maloofs refrain from spending more money until such time we have a new GM. I think Petrie will not spend the money wisely just like what happened in the past.

IMO, there were too many opportunities wasted and too many mistakes committed by our lazy and burned-out GM that letting him spend more money equals wasted money. The same poorly constructed product on the floor is what we will have under Petrie. Dead weight contracts of Salmons, Outlaw, Hayes, Shareef, Kenny T, over-paying Garcia, etc. etc. and we let go of clear talents that could have had help the team like Dalembert, Wells, etc., etc.

Change the GM first so we can have a better organization and we can go in the right direction.

I'm afraid I have to disagree. Petrie has been excellent to the extent he has been allowed by the owners. I give you JT, Tyreke, Cuz and Isaiah the last 4 years. Jimmer we have yet to see what he can do. Same for Honeycutt and Whiteside but their upside is big time. That took guts and vision and knowledge. No, Petrie is not the issue. Having money and spending it are the two issues.

If the Kings get 2 more rookies this year, even an elite SF or big, who will be their veteran mentors to have the regular season and playoff experience to help them all to the next level? The elite players all shy away from Sactown for obvious reasons. But the Kings core of players are better than most in the lower half of the league. How many times have we all drawn a parallel between our present day Kings and Oklahoma City 3-4 years ago? A good starting core but virtually no bench. This year makes or breaks the Maloofs IMHO. A really good vet at the 1 and 3 and bench improvement is the immediate need toward winning 15 more games this coming year. If Outlaw decides to keep his motor running and use his talents, no reason he can't be starting SF bringing 15+ pts/game and some hops on the board. Plus a good veteran PG who can help win the last 3-4 minutes of a game while IT and Jimmer see what they are made of and if they are whats needed.

Spending some $$$ for those things will increase the team value, maybe win 15 or more games next year and set them up for a buyer to really take the team and organization to the next level. Kinda like what the Maloofs did in 1998!

 

[pshn80]

Don't know the answer. The Maloofs' great fortune has greatly eroded. Seems like the Kings may be the only active investment they are currently managing.

How much money do they need to spend to improve the team in the places Petrie identified? Outside shooter and a defensive big shot blocker. They have a good chance of getting one in the draft. It will cost some bucks to get the other. Especially when we don't have as much to offer in tradeable player quality. Has to fit and that could be hard.

It would seem suicidal for owners and the league to not have and use the bucks to make a key transaction to solve this. It could be hard fit-wise, maybe harder to find and do a deal than to pay for it. Sure makes it all iffy in any event. In the next 30 days I expect will get some good clues.