Early Playoff predictions

Will the Kings make the Playoffs this year?


  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
#66
This is all dependent on Bagley and Fox making leaps. The front office obviously believes in these guys based on the free agency moves they made. I think they win 50 games and get in. I believe De’aaron Fox makes a huge jump again this season.
I think the team’s goal should be to get to 50 wins this season. If they fall a few games short, i.e. 48 or 49, they should still get into the playoffs.

46 or 47 wins might not get you in the playoffs next year in the West. :eek:
 
#71
As a talent yeah, but aren’t the Morris twins both knuckleheads? Aka, not Vlade guys?
Yeah, also not sure what roll Morris is willing to play. At least with Ariza we know he's willing to fill the 2nd unit position.
I understand Beverly passed on a 3 year 50 mil offer from the Kings, perhaps not interested in a backup roll.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#72
Yeah, also not sure what roll Morris is willing to play. At least with Ariza we know he's willing to fill the 2nd unit position.
I understand Beverly passed on a 3 year 50 mil offer from the Kings, perhaps not interested in a backup roll.
Man, isn’t he sitting pretty now for sticking with his team? I’ve said it elsewhere, I can’t hate on him at all’s
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#73
I also have a strange feeling that Vlade is still open to a trade and is working the phones or at least listening

We’ll see
Who would we trade? And for what? Who would you want coming that would send fox buddy Barnes or Bagley to the bench or to another team? If any of those guys plus bogi or Giles gets traded anything less than a all star would pee everybody in here off. And to get an all star it would take 2 Off them plus Bjelica
 
#74
Guaranteed Playoffs
1. Nuggets, don't care how people feel about them. They were #2 seed last year and don't get the respect they deserve with Jokic, Murray, and more.
2. Clippers, they added Kawhi and PG13 while losing nothing of significance.
3. Jazz, added Conley and Bogdanovic to the core of Mitchell, Gobert, and Ingles.
4. Rockets, lots of dysfunction going on, but come on. They have James Harden. He could carry the 2008 Kings' team to the playoffs.

Most likely Playoffs
5. Warriors, baring any injuries to Steph, they're in, but their roster is horrible. FA isn't done yet with solid role players left, but look at the Warriors squad for next year without Klay for 1/2 the season. It's kinda rough. Can they survive without Klay?
PG: Curry/Bowman
SG: Russell/Poole
SF: McKinnie/Robinson III
PF: Green/Paschall
C: WCS/Looney

6. Lakers, everyone hates them, but they have LeBron, AD, Kuzma, Cousins, Green, and Rondo.

Playoff Bubbles
7. Blazers, they lost some serious depth this year with the loss of Nurkic(injury), Harkless, Aminu, and Kanter. We always count them out every year, but Damian Lillard is a magician. This could finally be the year they don't make the playoffs! Foreals this time? I don't like their PFs at all. Collins is a natural C, albeit lacking the strength. Tolliver is a solid backup 4, but does nothing aside from fire 3s. SG/SF rotation is pretty good, but I don't see a starting caliber SF. I think they need Nurkic back, but Whiteside has no problem holding down the fort.

PG: Lillard/Simmons
SG: McCollum/Bazemore
SF: Hood/Hezonja/Little
PF: Collins/Tolliver
C: Whiteside/Labissiere

8th Seed Race!!!!
8. Spurs, old as heck.. I feel like this is the year we can finally count them out.. but who knows?

9. Thunder, yes they lose PG13, but they add SGA and Gallo. OKC might want to blow it up and rebuild though.

10. Kings, Kings significantly upgraded their bench by adding Joseph, Ariza, and Holmes. However, is that enough? Success also rides heavily on the consistency and development of Fox, Bagley, and even Buddy. Lack of experience and the new HC change could make things difficult.

11. Pelicans, sleeper team right here. They have a good roster on paper, but will it translate to wins? I think they lack the experience to make a playoff push, but just look at their roster below. I know Lonzo and Holiday will be starting together, but decided to go ahead and show the talent they have at all positions.

PG: Holiday/Lonzo/NAW
SG: Redick/Hart/Moore/Jackson
SF: Ingram/Miller
PF: Zion/Favors/Bertans
C: Hayes, Okafor, and Wood.
 
#75
They signed lebron last year and it was supposedly WCF for them; didn't happen that way in the end. The Kings, who many predicted would be at the bottom of the west, finished ahead of the 7akers, who many predicted would be in the WCF. I call repeat.
TBH, the Lakers are one lengthy LeBron injury away from missing the playoffs or having an early playoff exit.

Anthony Davis has proven year after year he can’t carry a team deep into the playoffs by himself.
 
#77
In order for the Kings to make the playoffs they need:
  1. Fox to develop into our franchise player, NOT a franchise PG. They need him to be our go-to scorer. You can't have passive Fox who sits and waits for Buddy to get hot. They need Fox to take control and realize that it's HIS team. Not a Mike Conley or Jeff Teague, but a Damian Lillard. An in your face PG who's not afraid to put the team on his back and score. I realize this is asking a lot from him, but it'll be his 3rd year. Ok, maybe he doesn't need to be Damian Lillard, but something like 20ppg+ would be fine. Definitely possible considering it's only 3pt more than his 17ppg last year.
  2. Bagley to steadily improve his all-around game with emphasis to his 3pt shot. We don't need him to be better than Luka, we just need him to be better than rookie Bagley. To be able to be our 3rd option on offense when we need a bucket. We don't want a ball-stopper either.
  3. Hield continues his consistent play. Looking for 18ppg on a consistent game to game basis. Consistency is what Buddy needs. Just make his shots and we'll be fine. 2nd or 3rd offensive option to compliment Fox.
  4. Bench play to step up and play consistently. NO Ramon Sessions nor JJ Hickson type BS from our free agents. Aka players who suddenly forget how to bounce a basketball as soon as they reach Sacramento.
  5. Coaching, all comes down to Luke Walton. With Joerger we won 39 games. Walton needs to win more than that because this is a much deeper team than Joerger was dealt.
 
#80
This is all dependent on Bagley and Fox making leaps. The front office obviously believes in these guys based on the free agency moves they made. I think they win 50 games and get in. I believe De’aaron Fox makes a huge jump again this season.
Bagley is going to make a HUGE leap this year and it wouldn't surprise me if he's a 20/10 guy. I just worry about whether or not he can stay healthy!

As it stands now, we have Fox 18/8, Hield 20/4 and Bags 20/10. Barnes will probably be 17/5 and Dedmon will probably be close to 12/6. That's one hell of a starting lineup. Then you have Bjelica and Bogs, Holmes, Giles and Joseph coming off the bench with Ariza? Yikes man..

We have one hell of a scary roster. It wouldn't be surprising if we missed the playoffs and it wouldn't surprise me if we were a top 4 team in the west.
 
#81
TBH, the Lakers are one lengthy LeBron injury away from missing the playoffs or having an early playoff exit.

Anthony Davis has proven year after year he can’t carry a team deep into the playoffs by himself.
LeBron showed last year that he's getting older and not the same player. Maybe missing the playoffs re-energized him, but he's also got a million non-basketball distractions going full time now that he's in LA and preparing for post NBA life. He's got more miles on him than Kobe did at this point so the idea that he is good to go for a full season is a question mark for me.

AD almost certainly will miss a chunk of the season too.

Boogie and Rondo are not the same players they were 3-4 years ago.

I just see this as a team with a very narrow window. Yes, they should make the playoffs, but I would not be shocked if they finish 10th or 11th either.
 
#82
Bagley is going to make a HUGE leap this year and it wouldn't surprise me if he's a 20/10 guy. I just worry about whether or not he can stay healthy!

As it stands now, we have Fox 18/8, Hield 20/4 and Bags 20/10. Barnes will probably be 17/5 and Dedmon will probably be close to 12/6. That's one hell of a starting lineup. Then you have Bjelica and Bogs, Holmes, Giles and Joseph coming off the bench with Ariza? Yikes man..

We have one hell of a scary roster. It wouldn't be surprising if we missed the playoffs and it wouldn't surprise me if we were a top 4 team in the west.
I’ve been pretty pessimistic about this organization for a long time (can you blame me lol) but I really believe in those kids turning it around. De’aaron Fox has made me a believer that this team is going to be good really soon.
 
#84
Guaranteed Playoffs
1. Nuggets, don't care how people feel about them. They were #2 seed last year and don't get the respect they deserve with Jokic, Murray, and more.
2. Clippers, they added Kawhi and PG13 while losing nothing of significance.
3. Jazz, added Conley and Bogdanovic to the core of Mitchell, Gobert, and Ingles.
4. Rockets, lots of dysfunction going on, but come on. They have James Harden. He could carry the 2008 Kings' team to the playoffs.

Most likely Playoffs
5. Warriors, baring any injuries to Steph, they're in, but their roster is horrible. FA isn't done yet with solid role players left, but look at the Warriors squad for next year without Klay for 1/2 the season. It's kinda rough. Can they survive without Klay?
PG: Curry/Bowman
SG: Russell/Poole
SF: McKinnie/Robinson III
PF: Green/Paschall
C: WCS/Looney

6. Lakers, everyone hates them, but they have LeBron, AD, Kuzma, Cousins, Green, and Rondo.

Playoff Bubbles
7. Blazers, they lost some serious depth this year with the loss of Nurkic(injury), Harkless, Aminu, and Kanter. We always count them out every year, but Damian Lillard is a magician. This could finally be the year they don't make the playoffs! Foreals this time? I don't like their PFs at all. Collins is a natural C, albeit lacking the strength. Tolliver is a solid backup 4, but does nothing aside from fire 3s. SG/SF rotation is pretty good, but I don't see a starting caliber SF. I think they need Nurkic back, but Whiteside has no problem holding down the fort.

PG: Lillard/Simmons
SG: McCollum/Bazemore
SF: Hood/Hezonja/Little
PF: Collins/Tolliver
C: Whiteside/Labissiere

8th Seed Race!!!!
8. Spurs, old as heck.. I feel like this is the year we can finally count them out.. but who knows?

9. Thunder, yes they lose PG13, but they add SGA and Gallo. OKC might want to blow it up and rebuild though.

10. Kings, Kings significantly upgraded their bench by adding Joseph, Ariza, and Holmes. However, is that enough? Success also rides heavily on the consistency and development of Fox, Bagley, and even Buddy. Lack of experience and the new HC change could make things difficult.

11. Pelicans, sleeper team right here. They have a good roster on paper, but will it translate to wins? I think they lack the experience to make a playoff push, but just look at their roster below. I know Lonzo and Holiday will be starting together, but decided to go ahead and show the talent they have at all positions.

PG: Holiday/Lonzo/NAW
SG: Redick/Hart/Moore/Jackson
SF: Ingram/Miller
PF: Zion/Favors/Bertans
C: Hayes, Okafor, and Wood.

Love your post. Agree 100 percent especially with the Blazers. It will be interesting if Stotts
Can get Whiteside to ball out every night.

Kings have some challenges: Fox and Bagley have to make a major leap.
But, the team also will have another coach, another system of play.
 
#85
Bagley is going to make a HUGE leap this year and it wouldn't surprise me if he's a 20/10 guy. I just worry about whether or not he can stay healthy!

This right here.

Folks....Bagley is going to be a BEAST next year. Absolutely unstoppable. No matter who you put on him he has an advantage.

Glue your hair to your head, tape your teeth to your gums, your about to be BLOWN AWAY
 
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#86
If Bagley makes a leap (which I think is a reasonable expectation) and Fox and Buddy continue their trajectories, Barnes is fully integrated into a system that utilizes his strengths and Bogi and Giles settle into realistic expectation, this team makes a big leap even before factoring in the additions.
I think this is what many are not factoring in in this thread. The whole point is that our young guys have to get better, and much better. That's exactly how a team builds through the draft. You don't claim to build through the draft on one hand and then the next second say oh we didn't get star free agents so we aren't going to be much better. Whether it works or not is a different story and hopefully it will. Nuggets were in pretty much the same situation as us two years ago, haven't done all that much and now people are treating them as a lock for the playoffs.
 
#87
Playoff Predictions? I don't know, not sure how the new players will play. Hield played the most consistently throughout last season, so I'd expect him to play similarly, but for other players I'd be guessing to an extent. And at this point I'd guess no for playoffs because of the uncertainty of new players meshing or not .
 
#88
I don’t know if the Kings make the playoffs next season. But they should be playing way better basketball in Sacramento than we have seen in a long time.
Way better basketball relative to last year or 2 years ago? And a team could be playing good basketball and missing the playoffs. Last year was a tough year to make the playoffs The Clippers @ #8 had 48 wins. That's higher than average - which would probably be 43 or 44. I don't think this upcoming Kings team is worth 48 wins....maybe 43/44 on the high end. I think the general opinion of some on here end of last season was Vlade is on the hot-seat this upcoming year for the team making the Playoffs. I think that is likely. The coaching change is another question make too.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#89
Way better basketball relative to last year or 2 years ago? And a team could be playing good basketball and missing the playoffs. Last year was a tough year to make the playoffs The Clippers @ #8 had 48 wins. That's higher than average - which would probably be 43 or 44. I don't think this upcoming Kings team is worth 48 wins....maybe 43/44 on the high end. I think the general opinion of some on here end of last season was Vlade is on the hot-seat this upcoming year for the team making the Playoffs. I think that is likely. The coaching change is another question make too.
The Kings won 39 games last season with a worse roster than this season and Dave Joerger coaching the team post-ASG like he was trying to get fired (refusing to not start a small lineup, WCS: point center, sticking with Bogi up until his confidence was so shot that he had no choice but to bench him, randomly benching Bjeli for some reason, the last game of the season). 43/44 is probably the floor next year barring unforeseen health issues.
 
#90
As a talent yeah, but aren’t the Morris twins both knuckleheads? Aka, not Vlade guys?
The other who was on Wizards last year was the biggest knucklehead, Marcus is not that bad, Boston fans loved him there last season also he was put in bad situation in Phoenix where all the shenanigans with him and his brother happened and his reputation took a hit.