Hood is terrible in terms of advanced stats, and became unplayable to the Cavs and has no upside at his age
Hezonja is still moderately young with a good body
But I obviously don’t think SF is a priority with two solid wings in Buddy/Bogdan and JJ still having some game
We might be going after a luxury center. Dallas/Atlanta may be our only competition with cap space and need. Dallas is reportedly looking at Jordan/Cousins
Hopefully Buddy/Bogdan’s visit with Capella was more than coincidence
The Kings ignoring the massive hole at SF and using all their cap space on yet another big man would go down as one of the most KANGZ moves in the history of KANGZ moves.
He tries and he's smart but yeah foot speed is slow and from what I have watched he's average (no idea what stats indicate) don't really have much more than that he's not as good defensively as other slow three men like Anderson/Ingles that's for sure.Very interesting. Do you have any insights on his defense?
The Kings ignoring the massive hole at SF and using all their cap space on yet another big man would go down as one of the most KANGZ moves in the history of KANGZ moves.
Sam Amico @AmicoHoops
#Bucks restricted free agent Jabari Parker garnering interest from #Kings
http://amicohoops.net/kings-interested-in-parker-hezonja/
NBC Sports California has confirmed that Sacramento is interested in Parker, but the money has to be right. It will be a balancing act between trying to woo a player, paying enough so the Bucks don’t match and keeping the team’s salary flexibility long-term
NBC Sports California has confirmed that Sacramento is interested in Hezonja if the money is right.
I have an inkling that the Kings would be interested in LeBron James and Paul George "at the right price"OK, I came here to laugh at bizarro Sam Amick now having his own minions creating "rumors" based on speculation in a James Ham article (annoyingly offered in slideshow form)... BUT, it turns out, Ham was reporting that the Kings are interested:
Weirdly, Ham uses nearly the exact same language for Hezonja:
I have an inkling that the Kings would be interested in LeBron James and Paul George "at the right price"
He's pretty good but I'd rather have Mario then Hood before Bjelica.You forgot the best available (RFA) stretch 4 - Nemanja Bjelica.
Not sure about Mario. Two organizations have already quit developping him. He reminds me of Darko Milicic in that respect. From outside you see great potential, inconsistency when he actually plays and see organizations cooling down on him. When Darko stopped playing, he admitted he was parting a lot and even going to practice drunk. It doesn't mean the same applies to Mario, but so far it similar enough to cause a concern.
The Kings ignoring the massive hole at SF and using all their cap space on yet another big man would go down as one of the most KANGZ moves in the history of KANGZ moves.
Sam Amico @AmicoHoops
#Bucks restricted free agent Jabari Parker garnering interest from #Kings
http://amicohoops.net/kings-interested-in-parker-hezonja/
Amico is crap their source is nbc sports
Mario was on his way to unadulterated bust until mid December when he went from DNP-CD to capable role player. If he had like 4-6 weeks of productivity to end the season I would be suspicious but I don't think you can be be pretty good (14 PER) for 40-50 games by accident. At first I wanted to liken him to Ben, a guy with a pretty shot and athleticism but never put it together, but Ben never had a stretch of productivity like Mario. Ben has been 9 PER player hitting double digits of 11 PER once in 5 seasons. I don't think Mario is destined for stardom, but his career is on the upswing and its time to buy his stock. He had a brutal shooting stretch in April when he made only 23% of his threes. There's no reason he cannot be a 38-39% three point shooter next season. He has the size to get clean looks and he can attack closeouts. This is what you want. A guy with the ability to drive or threat to drive so he can get clean looks. With reps and increasing confidence, 40% accuracy becomes viable. Defensively he's not great. He tends to over-help and leave his man. This is correctable.
Kings should swing for the fences this year. Even if they strike out. There is a chance they can get a restricted high profile player or 2: Capela, Gordon, Parker, Randle, Mcdermott, Hood, Anderson, etc.
I hope we sign him more now just to pee you off.Hezonja sucks. Just the type of player Vlade will overpay to sign with the KIngs 12mi/48 over 4. Hezonja will always be mediocre. Defensivey, he's terrible. 80 out of 86 for his position,. Please bring stats not guessing. His defense will never improve much. He's not athletic, not fast, and soft. KIngs signing him would be typical. He's not a starter in this league. But, on the Kings he would be. What makes you think based on what metric, that a change of environment is going to make Hezonja a good player. The same metric that people believe Willie Cauley Stein is going to turn the corner this year. Please.
Ben did though.Mario was on his way to unadulterated bust until mid December when he went from DNP-CD to capable role player. If he had like 4-6 weeks of productivity to end the season I would be suspicious but I don't think you can be be pretty good (14 PER) for 40-50 games by accident. At first I wanted to liken him to Ben, a guy with a pretty shot and athleticism but never put it together, but Ben never had a stretch of productivity like Mario. Ben has been 9 PER player hitting double digits of 11 PER once in 5 seasons. I don't think Mario is destined for stardom, but his career is on the upswing and its time to buy his stock. He had a brutal shooting stretch in April when he made only 23% of his threes. There's no reason he cannot be a 38-39% three point shooter next season. He has the size to get clean looks and he can attack closeouts. This is what you want. A guy with the ability to drive or threat to drive so he can get clean looks. With reps and increasing confidence, 40% accuracy becomes viable. Defensively he's not great. He tends to over-help and leave his man. This is correctable.
Marc Stein
✔@TheSteinLine
Just to clarify on Kevin Durant: Friday's deadline compels Durant to opt IN on his $26.3 million for next season if he chooses, but league sources say he has already informed the Warriors that he will let the deadline pass quietly so he can become a free agent July 1
Look how Ben PER has flatlined for five seasons. PER: 8/10/9/10/10. His lack of improvement is alarming. The Grizzlies thought when they extracted Ben from a dysfunctional situation he would blossom. Wrong. His career average PER of 10 over five season is because he is below average shooter (53% TS) doesn't do anything else above average and does most everything below average (rebounds, assists, blocks and steals). By contrast, Mario has showed reason for hope. His PERs are 9 / 7 / 14 over three seasons. He logged a 14 PER despite wasting the first two months. He needs to get better than 54.4% TS which was career high. Subtract his woeful shooting in April and he's 56% TS and 38-39% on threes. He can get to this level. The difference between him and Ben is he can cleaner looks at the rim with his height. He also has more range. He is more aggressive going to the rim and drawing fouls. He has a better assist to turnover and rebound rate. Being better than Ben, of course, is not saying much. But Mario showed legitimate progress in make or break year (Year 3). Ben did not do nearly as much in his third year, his fourth year or his fifth year. If you do a comparison over smaller time frame then you may not see this differentiation as clearly. But if you do more macro analysis the contrast is clear.Ben did though.
Look at his stats from Feb-April http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2578213/year/2017/ben-mclemore
Compare it to Hezonja's http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2995706/mario-hezonja VERY SIMILAR! Month by month comparison:
Ben: 13.1pts 2.7rebs 1.3asts 45.5/51.8/88.2
Mario: 15.5pts 5rebs 1.5asts 46.2/40.4/85.3
Ben: 9.2pts 2.9rebs 1.0asts 41.3/25/73.1
Mario: 9.9pts 4.2rebs 38.5/22.6/83.3
Ben: 14pts 4.7rebs 0.7asts 50/52.4/68.2
Mario: 13.9pts 5.3rebs 2.6asts 42.5/42.1/81.3
fools gold? or legit?
No time to check statistics, bud Darko did have maybe 1/2 season long good productive period with Timberwolves. They both have ability. Darko was just lazy, unprofessional. We will see about Mario, but I don't know if I would take chances, probably not if more consistent player is available, either this or the next season.Mario was on his way to unadulterated bust until mid December when he went from DNP-CD to capable role player. If he had like 4-6 weeks of productivity to end the season I would be suspicious but I don't think you can be be pretty good (14 PER) for 40-50 games by accident. At first I wanted to liken him to Ben, a guy with a pretty shot and athleticism but never put it together, but Ben never had a stretch of productivity like Mario. Ben has been 9 PER player hitting double digits of 11 PER once in 5 seasons. I don't think Mario is destined for stardom, but his career is on the upswing and its time to buy his stock. He had a brutal shooting stretch in April when he made only 23% of his threes. There's no reason he cannot be a 38-39% three point shooter next season. He has the size to get clean looks and he can attack closeouts. This is what you want. A guy with the ability to drive or threat to drive so he can get clean looks. With reps and increasing confidence, 40% accuracy becomes viable. Defensively he's not great. He tends to over-help and leave his man. This is correctable.
No time to check statistics, bud Darko did have maybe 1/2 season long good productive period with Timberwolves. They both have ability. Darko was just lazy, unprofessional. We will see about Mario, but I don't know if I would take chances, probably not if more consistent player is available, either this or the next season.
The Kings have ‘two’ good wings as is in Buddy/Bogdan, neither are bench players.
I’ve got more faith in JJ than I do WCS if it goes that route
Admittedly, if they believe Giles is a center, and his health can be counted on, and his talent dictates he’s starting C potential the need decreases (but those are three ifs and I’m going by what we factually had to go on to end last season)
But, in terms of building the team, I don’t pay attention to anything outside of Bagley/Giles at this juncture, the rest can be moved and I think will/would be (though some hope for Skal)
Those guys are both shooting guards. If you're going to play them at SF, it's best to give them backup minutes at the position so you can get a real full sized SF starting. You're going to lose a lot of games with Buddy/Bogdan starting at the 3. I don't mind doing it this year to get them minutes on the court but for a playoff push you'll need a real SF out there for 30mpg or so.
We are stacked with big men so I don't understand the point of giving out a max contract to another big man who is at best the 3rd best player on a playoff squad. We would just be piling on another big man to the huge crop of big men we have, while plugging the hole at the 3 with shooting guards and making the Giles pick nearly a complete waste to boot. Not only that but now Bagley must become a good 3 point shooter or else he is a complete bust because you aren't winning with 2 non shooting big men and a more than likely non shooting PG on the court together. The move doesn't make any sense to me.
Well, Ham's piece goes on (if you're willing to suffer through the slides -- gotta get those clicks!) to say that the Kings like Gordon but see him more as a power forward who they aren't likely to pursue after drafting Bagley, and their interest in other options like Hood, McDermott, Barton and Anderson is unconfirmed. So, there is a little something to distinguish Parker and Hezonja at the moment.