twslam07
All-Star
The Kings have a lot of work ahead of them in these upcoming months. I think this is the offseason to make up our mind on who do we want to be our core players who will play together for years to come. I’ll admit that I am a little biased when it comes to picking youth over experience, but maybe someone can bring in their ideas that are more geared towards experience to balance my idea.
The first thing I would do would be to trade for Corey Brewer. I like this kid a lot. He has the athleticism, length, and height to be a lockdown defender. He’s also a decent rebounder and passer for his position. On the Kings, his main focus would be defense which would allow him to put more energy on that side of the court. He has the range to hit 3pts, but his shot is still inconsistent. He has been making progress with his shot but it might take another year or two for him to really hone it in.
My idea for the trade would include something like Casspi, pick 35, and next years 2nd round pick for Brewer. This would give Dallas 2 million in cap relief, a young SF, and 2 picks to use towards the future.
The second move I would do would be to draft Leonard. In some ways, Leonard is similar to Brewer. Leonard is a well balanced player who can make a lot of things happen on the court. He’s got athleticism, height, length, high motor, decent shot, and adequate ball handling skills. He has the potential to be a great defender in the NBA, but not as good as Brewers potential. His shot has shown improvement, but it is still inconsistent.
This one-two punch of Brewer and Leonard will be great when matched up against the better scoring SFs in the NBA.
After the draft, I would then resign our best shooter, Thornton. He proved how valuable he was late last season and how clutch he is as well. He definitely fits nicely next to Tyreke . I hope we can sign him to somewhere in the 6-7 million range.
Next on the list would be to find someone who would be a great fit next to Cousins. Dalembert has shown that he can work with Cousins, but I am really intrigued by Jordan. He is a lot like Dalembert. Same weight (250), height (6’11”), and wingspan (7’6”). Defense and rebounding is definitely both guys specialty. These are Dalembert’s and Jordan’s stats expanded out over 36 minutes per game last season to show more similarities:
Dalembert: 47.3 – FG% 73 – FT% 12.2 – REB 1.2 – AST .7 – STL 2.2 – BLK 2.5 – TO 12 – PTS
Jordan: 68.6 – FG% 45.2 – FT% 10.1 – REB .7 – AST .7 – STL 2.5 – BLK 1.8 – TO 10 – PTS
Dalembert is known for being great at guarding the faster power forwards that the Kings have to face because he is a lot more athletic than Cousins. Jordan is also a very athletic center who is capable of guarding quicker big men as well.
Considering I tend to gravitate towards youth I think I would rather go for Jordan. If we can get him for around the same amount we got for Thornton (6-7 million), then I would be happy. I might be willing to give him 8 million a year, but even I am cringing a little as I type that. I’m fine with Dalembert though. He will definitely get the job done for us right now, but when our Tyreke, Thornton, and Cousins begin to enter their primes how effective will Dalembert be? That argument alone is what pushes me towards wanting Jordan over Dalembert.
Lastly I would pick up the options for Pooh, Taylor, and Jackson.
If this offseason went according to my plan then our roster would look like this:
PG – Evans, Udrih, Jeter
SG – Thornton, Garcia, Taylor
SF – Brewer, Leonard, Greene
PF – Cousins, Thompson, Jackson
C – Jordan (/Dalembert), Whiteside
I think this team would possibly be the youngest team in the league, but we would be able to blossom and reach their primes in unison.
Also I think our bench (Udrih, Garcia, Leonard, and Thompson) would be very deep and strong going forward.
Lastly, I checked what everyone’s salaries would be in the 2011-2012 (and for the free agents and drafted players I estimated. Thornton = 7 mil, Jordan = 7 mil, and Leonard = 2.8 mil). The Kings total payroll for the 2011-2012 season would be around 49 million leaving them with 9 million under the current salary cap.
One more thing that is also good about these moves is it leaves us with our 1st round pick next year in a supposedly “stronger” draft. If we hit the injury bug and our team struggles again next year we will have another top pick to draft a great young player or to trade away for some veteran talent. If our team does well and succeeds this year, we can use the pick to fill in a missing piece if we have one.
What do you guys think?
The first thing I would do would be to trade for Corey Brewer. I like this kid a lot. He has the athleticism, length, and height to be a lockdown defender. He’s also a decent rebounder and passer for his position. On the Kings, his main focus would be defense which would allow him to put more energy on that side of the court. He has the range to hit 3pts, but his shot is still inconsistent. He has been making progress with his shot but it might take another year or two for him to really hone it in.
My idea for the trade would include something like Casspi, pick 35, and next years 2nd round pick for Brewer. This would give Dallas 2 million in cap relief, a young SF, and 2 picks to use towards the future.
The second move I would do would be to draft Leonard. In some ways, Leonard is similar to Brewer. Leonard is a well balanced player who can make a lot of things happen on the court. He’s got athleticism, height, length, high motor, decent shot, and adequate ball handling skills. He has the potential to be a great defender in the NBA, but not as good as Brewers potential. His shot has shown improvement, but it is still inconsistent.
This one-two punch of Brewer and Leonard will be great when matched up against the better scoring SFs in the NBA.
After the draft, I would then resign our best shooter, Thornton. He proved how valuable he was late last season and how clutch he is as well. He definitely fits nicely next to Tyreke . I hope we can sign him to somewhere in the 6-7 million range.
Next on the list would be to find someone who would be a great fit next to Cousins. Dalembert has shown that he can work with Cousins, but I am really intrigued by Jordan. He is a lot like Dalembert. Same weight (250), height (6’11”), and wingspan (7’6”). Defense and rebounding is definitely both guys specialty. These are Dalembert’s and Jordan’s stats expanded out over 36 minutes per game last season to show more similarities:
Dalembert: 47.3 – FG% 73 – FT% 12.2 – REB 1.2 – AST .7 – STL 2.2 – BLK 2.5 – TO 12 – PTS
Jordan: 68.6 – FG% 45.2 – FT% 10.1 – REB .7 – AST .7 – STL 2.5 – BLK 1.8 – TO 10 – PTS
Dalembert is known for being great at guarding the faster power forwards that the Kings have to face because he is a lot more athletic than Cousins. Jordan is also a very athletic center who is capable of guarding quicker big men as well.
Considering I tend to gravitate towards youth I think I would rather go for Jordan. If we can get him for around the same amount we got for Thornton (6-7 million), then I would be happy. I might be willing to give him 8 million a year, but even I am cringing a little as I type that. I’m fine with Dalembert though. He will definitely get the job done for us right now, but when our Tyreke, Thornton, and Cousins begin to enter their primes how effective will Dalembert be? That argument alone is what pushes me towards wanting Jordan over Dalembert.
Lastly I would pick up the options for Pooh, Taylor, and Jackson.
If this offseason went according to my plan then our roster would look like this:
PG – Evans, Udrih, Jeter
SG – Thornton, Garcia, Taylor
SF – Brewer, Leonard, Greene
PF – Cousins, Thompson, Jackson
C – Jordan (/Dalembert), Whiteside
I think this team would possibly be the youngest team in the league, but we would be able to blossom and reach their primes in unison.
Also I think our bench (Udrih, Garcia, Leonard, and Thompson) would be very deep and strong going forward.
Lastly, I checked what everyone’s salaries would be in the 2011-2012 (and for the free agents and drafted players I estimated. Thornton = 7 mil, Jordan = 7 mil, and Leonard = 2.8 mil). The Kings total payroll for the 2011-2012 season would be around 49 million leaving them with 9 million under the current salary cap.
One more thing that is also good about these moves is it leaves us with our 1st round pick next year in a supposedly “stronger” draft. If we hit the injury bug and our team struggles again next year we will have another top pick to draft a great young player or to trade away for some veteran talent. If our team does well and succeeds this year, we can use the pick to fill in a missing piece if we have one.
What do you guys think?
