Chances of Landing a Superstar in 2010?

Mitch Richmond

Mitch Richmond

G-League
I see a lot of talk from Kings fans that in 2010 we'll be able to throw money around in that free agent class and be able to sign a big star. I'm as die hard of a fan as they get, but I just don't see the Kings being able to lure any of these stars away from the other teams with major cap dollars that summer (NY, Miami, Dallas, etc to name a few). I think our only option will be acquiring a star via trade, free agency just looks like a dead end for us. Does anyone agree with this, or am I just too down on our free agent chances?
 
I agree. There is no way to get a superstar unless they are married, have some sort of west coast connection and if PHO and LA are cap tied.

Why wait till 2010? I don't think Petrie is thinking about 2010 either. I'm sure he knows he has the magic combination of Talented Players, Expiring Contracts and Cap Space that would get him a pretty damn good player.
 
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The thing is I don't think many of the superstar free agents will leave their teams anyways. What are the chances really for a team to lure Wade from MIA? I think Lebron will most likely stay put or go to NY. I don't think he would leave CAVS for any other team anyways.

What I mean is we weren't expecting to be able sign Lebron, Wade or Bosh even before other teams freeing up space. We will probably need to get someone through a trade giving up some young talent and expiring. We got CWebb through trade so I think it can happen again.
 
GeraldWallace#3 said:
Maybe we could land Candace Parker.
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lmao. Who would be ideal in your minds to acquire via trade though? It seems like good big men are almost impossible to acquire via trade (Webber was a gift, it's highly unlikely we'll ever be able to pull something like that off again). To me we'd have to steal someone from a team thinking about blowing up its core and starting over... in Geoff we trust.
 
A lot of it depends on what the team looks like in 2010. There's another whole season after this one and another draft. If the team looks similar to what Portland looks like now, then it could be attractive to a lot of free agents.

I'm always amazed how people who chose to live in Sacramento, continue to sell it short when it comes to free agents. Hey, I've been to New York. Its like Disneyland for adults. Its a great place to visit, but you couldn't pay me to live there.

Players are attracted to teams that are competitive. Especially young and competitive. Throw in a rich contract, a great organization, and a beautiful fair weather town, and whats not to like. I honestly don't think its a problem.
 
^^^ esp considering Sactown's proximity to the Bay, Reno/Tahoe, and a short plane ride from LA, it's not that bad. I think the biggest stigma was pre-99 when the Kings had a reputation as perennial loser. Adelman and Petrie turned that around, Petrie and the Maloofs are still here, as well as a solid talent base. I'd say its possible to lure a FA here, but the way GP has been working I'm not sure that he'll try.
 
It is always forgotten that capspace is not just for signing free agents. It also means that you don't have to match salaries in a trade.

Hypothetical situation: Danny Granger wants out of Indiana? Have capspace? You now have room to take on his contract without matching, sending off a few young players on rookie deals and a pick or two. Don't have capspace? You're stuck trying to come up with a combination of contracts that 1) Works under the CBA, 2) Works for Indiana, 3) Works for the Kings. And if you don't have big contracts tied to players you are willing to give up, you're up the creek.
 
Mitch Richmond said:
I see a lot of talk from Kings fans that in 2010 we'll be able to throw money around in that free agent class and be able to sign a big star. I'm as die hard of a fan as they get, but I just don't see the Kings being able to lure any of these stars away from the other teams with major cap dollars that summer (NY, Miami, Dallas, etc to name a few). I think our only option will be acquiring a star via trade, free agency just looks like a dead end for us. Does anyone agree with this, or am I just too down on our free agent chances?
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Totally! First the CBA limits the max money we can offer. A percentage of the Salary Cap somewhere around $21M. The players current team doesn't have that restriction and therefore can pay more.

All the Super Stars are already millionaires, and everytime one of them is asked they always say that what they want is a CHAMPIONSHIP. So, their going to go to a contender or stay put and take the money. Small market or not, their not coming to a Lotttery team.

That being said, GP said in today's Bee, that the cap room does give him some advantages when making trades similar to the one that brought Weber here. Some team might not be able to sign all their stars, and might we willing to do a sign and trade, but not the Super Stars.
 
I agree that Sactown is a nice place, but through a player and agent's eyes, they see it as a small market, which equates to less national media exposure & lucrative advertising contracts. If those aren't their main focus of where to play, then hopefully we will have a chance of landing someone with potential superstar status.

I think it will also help our chances if we open a few more "soul food" restaurants & remove a few farm animals (ok, cows) in the fields near the Sacto airport to entice those Webber-like players (we can always put them safely back after they sign with us!). ;)
 
Seems to me that the past 10 or 50 or so NBA championships have been won by teams that built from within (Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, MJ Bulls in recent memory) with mostly the draft and no one that I can remember outside of the Heat in 06, have bought a championship by getting a star or superstar player. So we in Kings land should give up that fantasy once and for all.

Petrie builds teams like he did in 96-02. The Kings have drafted great the past 5 years (OK, I'll give you Douby). And are truly into a rebuilding mode experimenting with lineups, personnel and plans. Theus seems to be out of a defensive oriented mode which is a bigger problem than worrying about fantasy players 2 years down the road. The last game showed they can play defense for at least a quarter or so.

So lets find a real diamond in the rough like GP did with CWebb in 98 or Peja in 96 to build on what we have now.
 
2010 is not looking good. Teams with actual attractions, whether it be locale or recent history (Detroit) are all cleaing room for that year. Meanwhile the biggest free agent that ever decided to sign with the Kings was Vlade Divac.

Having major caproom in a summer is only useful if you are one of the few teams that do. If every team does, then it is just a popularity contest, and one that Sacramento is not going to win. The whole "great place to raise a family" thing is not an argument that applies to multimillionaire 20-somethings.

This is also why an outside shot at accelerating things and clearing cap room for THIS summer (losing Brad, John KT and maybe Mikki, although he's half price if we cut him after the year) has some potential. We won't sign a superstar this summer either...because there aren't any. But as one of the few teams clearing up for 2009 rather than 2010, we'd be in a good positon to get what there is is to be gotten, as well as to make a trade with another team still chasing their own 2010 LeBron dream.
 
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Bricklayer said:
2010 is not looking good. Teams with actual attractions, whether it be locale or recent history (Detroit) are all cleaing room for that year. Meanwhile the biggest free agent that ever decided to sign with the Kings was Vlade Divac.

Having major caproom in a summer is only useful if you are one of the few teams that do. If every team does, then it is just a popularity contest, and one that Sacramento is not going to win. The whole "great place to raise a family" thing is not an argument that applies to multimillionaire 20-somethings.

This is also why an outside shot at accelerating things and clearing cap room for THIS summer (losing Brad, John KT and maybe Mikki, although he's half price if we cut him after the year) has some potential. We won't sign a superstar this summer either...because there aren't any. But as one of the few teams clearing up for 2009 rather than 2010, we'd be in a good positon to get what there is is to be gotten, as well as to make a trade with another team still chasing their own 2010 LeBron dream.
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I am actually going to go ahead and agree with Brick here. 2010 FA is going to be a mad house. Plenty of teams are clearing cap space and their fans are expecting LBJ, Wade, Bosh etc. I say go for 2009. A quick glance brings up only AI and JO as superstars, I'll pass on both. AI might be interesting though. Otherwise only a few big names. GP would most likely be the only player.

http://www.sportscity.com/nba/2009-nba-free-agents
 
CruzDude said:
Seems to me that the past 10 or 50 or so NBA championships have been won by teams that built from within (Lakers, Spurs, Pistons, MJ Bulls in recent memory) with mostly the draft and no one that I can remember outside of the Heat in 06, have bought a championship by getting a star or superstar player. So we in Kings land should give up that fantasy once and for all.
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Um, Shaq via free agency (only max FA to ever win a title), Kobe via trade. Come to think about it, what players on their teams were drafted besides Fisher?

Pistons signed Billups as a cast off, traded for Sheed, big Ben and Rip.

Another plus on the Kings side for free agents is the Palms. It may not be the home city, but the ties are there for extra endorsement contracts.
 
Section 101 said:
Um, Shaq via free agency (only max FA to ever win a title), Kobe via trade. Come to think about it, what players on their teams were drafted besides Fisher?

Pistons signed Billups as a cast off, traded for Sheed, big Ben and Rip.

Another plus on the Kings side for free agents is the Palms. It may not be the home city, but the ties are there for extra endorsement contracts.
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The Lakers have never played by the same rules as anybody else -- they don't count.

Of course Detroit remains the once in 30 years exception that everyone tried desperately to grab hold of -- it was a freak occurrence.

As a rule you draft Magic or Bird or Zeke, or Hakeem or Jordan/Pippen or Admiral/Duncan or Wade or Pierce, and then maybe get lucky in trade to add a second guy, or use the lure of playing wiht the guy you drafted to lure a 2nd guy via free agency. Trying to get a guy to just come and join you as your new #1 without a player of similar stature already in place is very tough. Maybe if you're the Lakers you can get somebody to betray their franchise. Maybe. If they are a large, dim and disloyal. New York has long been convinced they could do that too, but it has never been proven. Everybody else? Really clinging to the rare exception. Even the teams losing in the Finals are usually built around drafted superstars. LeBron, A.I., Dirk, Miller, Stockton/Malone, Payton/Kemp, Shaq, Ewing, Drexler, KJ (that was Barkley's year, but KJ was the superstar in residence), Magic, Brid, Hakeem/Sampson etc. Again, there are rare exceptions, and its what we have to cling to -- we have no choice. But most of the few exceptions you are going to run into have been the result of the recent weakness of the Eastern Conference letting teams into the finals who would never make it under normal cirumstances (Kidd in NJ, the Detroit phenomenon etc.).

Again, what we pulled off wiht Webber was very very rare. A far lower percentage play than drafting that guy. And of course it didn't actually result in a title.
 
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This conversation has reminded me of something that I read recently:

An NHL executive recently stated that due to the worldwide economic downturn that their salary cap may end up going down quite a bit over the next 2 years. The way the NHL's cap is set up is very similar to the NBA's. Not much will change this season since most of the revenue has already been brought in. The salary cap for next year will likely be set around the same or possibly higher then this years since it is based on the previous years income. Where the big change will be is in the summer of 2010. That is when the league will calculate the BRI for the 09/10 season and if it comes up short of the estimates then the players may lose all the money that is put in escrow for them and possibly even have money left to pay back to the owners the following season.

Who will this effect the most? Since the salary cap will likely go down the Free Agent class of 2010 and the teams positioning themselves to make a run for them will be the hardest hit. Chances are that the teams with cap room will not have as much room as they had planned which may make it harder for teams to lure away the young stars. Players such as Lebron, Wade, and Bosh signed shorter extensions in order to hit the FA market as early as they could and capitalize with a massive contract but they may end up with less options then they hoped for. Is their eagerness to get the big contract going to come back to bite them in the ***? Will any of them be willing to take less money in that situation to be on the right team? And could this do damage to teams hopes of signing a big name FA in the summer of 2010?
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Not really sure how realistic the above scenario actually is, but seems another possible reason to go after 2009 FA.
 
Yes, Sactown has a great proximity to many nice things. It sure beats Indy, Memphis, Twin Cities and others. I am not sure if that is the real selling point though.

I think that GP and the Maloofs have to say "not only could you win a championship here, but we are also talking about exposure as the lead man in our new TV show Rebuilding the Kingdom and we can set you up with really hot chicks in the penthouse of the Palms.:D
 
Don't think we will be major players in 2010.. We do have decent owners who I think will try to lure someone with Vegas as a bait.

If I had to guess I would have to say we get someone in 2009 from the 2005 draft that is expiring like a Channing Frye or a Charlie Villanueva type talent. Not trying to say we should go after those two, but I don't think either will be extended be their respective teams (unless they already signed extention which I didn't see?). But I can see us going after the players who were in the 2005 draft which would be FAs.
 
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