[Grades] Grades v. Grizzlies 11/6/10

[mac]

That's assuming players like JT, Hassan, and Omri pan out and are vital pieces in a few years. Frankly, I'm a bit skeptical of that happening. I don't think any of them will ever be as good a player as Gay is. We don't even know if they'll be here then, any of them could feasibly be packaged as part of a trade before then. Given the option, I'd opt for locking up a trio of Evans/Gay/DMC for the long term if I could. Beno and Cisco are great role players but they aren't going to command top money and I suspect if they're resigned, it will be for considerably less than what they make now. All of this is doable, all it takes is a willingness to pay some luxury tax.

I did not mean that JT Hassan and Omri would be getting starter money. But we do need a bench you know...

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I did not mean that JT Hassan and Omri would be getting starter money. But we do need a bench you know...

Unless there's a hard cap, then nothing would prevent having Gay/Evans/DMC as starters and JT, Whiteside, Casspi, Beno, Cisco, as bench players. You have to remember how low the Kings current salary is, 30th in the leauge. They could sign Gay/Evans/DMC at a combined 60 million a year, spend 25 million filling out the rest of the roster, and still come in about 10 million less than The Lakers' or Magic's payroll.

 

[Asaf]

We have fundamental differences in how we approach and what we expect from discussions. I'm not trying to, nor do I expect to bring anyone around to my way of thinking. Similarly, I regard differing opinions as alternate points of view that I can understand, learn from, etc. but may not necessarily agree with insofar as them altering my own opinions. It's possible for people to understand where each other are coming from and still disagree. "Taken seriously" to me would just indicate that someone reads and considers what I've said. I don't really expect anything beyond that. Having said that, I believe that my opinion on The Kings and 2010 FA is based on facts and realistic assessments. I admit that Stoudamire was a long shot but don't think someone like Rudy Gay was a long shot. I think it's a fact that they would have had a shot at Rudy Gay and I think it's very probable that he would have significantly improved the team, not just in the near future, but long term as well. He's 24, just coming into his prime, plays a position The Kings are not very strong at (forward), and would rival Tyreke for the title of best player on the team. Gay is legit and If I was GM, I'd rather lock up Gay long term than take a gamble on players like Thompson, Whiteside, Casspi, or Greene to be the forward of The Kings future. Yeah I fully understand the risks involved with the new CBA, possible hard cap, etc. but I would still take the gamble if it meant being able to lock up Gay long term. A proven player is worth more to me than three or four with "potential".

That's the thing - Rudy Gay was not a long shot, he was IMPOSSIBLE to get even if he was GP's favorite player in the world. Gay was a restricted free agent, and the minute Memphis made him that offer he was unavailable to any other team. That's why I'm saying that your complaints are based on an unrealistic analysis - you keep bringing up players that were never a possibility for the Kings, no matter how much money we offered them.

 

[kingsfan101]

That's right. I don't know where I got the idea he was a FA signing. At any rate, the problem of FA not wanting to come here isn't anything to do with Sacramento or being a small market. It all has to do with perceptions about the organization and that reflects directly on the ownership/management, not the city.

Haven't followed the discussion from the beginning, so hopefully, am not talking some entirely unrelated.

As for Miller, for all practical purposes, it was a FA signing. We were over the cap, and couldn't sign him of course, and had to use two useful assets to get him. At that time though, I thought it was an excellent move. Hedo wasn't playing much behind Peja. We were looking for a championship, and Brad was an all star. Plus, we needed front court depth, since Webber was injured (that one still hurts).

Getting one, with our cap situation, without giving away any of the main guys, was a major coup. Brad too loved it, since he was coming as one of the main guys to a championship caliber team, made the all star team again, and he got a 7 year/80 million dollar deal. If I recall correctly, he had a similar offer from Utah, but preferred us, since we were a better team. Not sure about this though, and if he wanted the full 7 year deal, it was up to Indiana to decide where to send him.

 

[bajaden]

Unless there's a hard cap, then nothing would prevent having Gay/Evans/DMC as starters and JT, Whiteside, Casspi, Beno, Cisco, as bench players. You have to remember how low the Kings current salary is, 30th in the leauge. They could sign Gay/Evans/DMC at a combined 60 million a year, spend 25 million filling out the rest of the roster, and still come in about 10 million less than The Lakers' or Magic's payroll.

Your pretty good at spending other peoples money. Its not water you know. The Kings aren't in the same market as the Lakers or the Bulls or the Knicks where their TV revenues probably cover all their expenses before they even sell a ticket. Your problem in this discussion is that you just throw out ideas and things you think are facts without doing any research. You implied on another thread that the Kings made very little effort to resign Bonzi Wells, when in fact they offered him more money than anyone else and he refused. As a matter of fact, they fiddled around trying to resign Wells so long that they lost the chance to sign other available freeagents.

You said we should have done everything to sign Gay, when in fact he was a restricted freeagent and we had no chance to sign him. Do you know when Thompson and Greene's contracts are up? How about Tyreke and Casspi. Oh I forgot, we shouldn't worry about them because you don't think they'll pan out anyway. The Kings just spent the last three years ridding themselves of contracts so they could be under the cap, and have some financial flexability. But you want the Kings to throw caution to the wind and spend the money they have. Just because you have money in your pocket doesn't mean you have to spend it. Sometimes if you wait, you end up with a better deal.

When the Kings first moved to sacramento they got in trouble by doing just what your suggesting. The only difference is they did with trades. Trading away two starters and a first round pick for Derek Smith, who ended up with a bad knee and never panned out. Then it was Ralph Sampson, and on and on. Never any stability. The Kings were just a revolving door for players and became the laughing stock of the NBA. To be honest, I'm not sure who the Kings could have inticed to sign. At the end of next season all the rules change. Its more than likely that freeagents will be signed for less than they would now. If so, why not wait? Why spend 12 mil when you can have the product for 8 mil. Are you in that big a hurry?

 

[Entity]

Don't feel like reading back. But what genius thinks we could get Rudy Gay from Memphis??

 

[FaStRmAn]

If we are voting, I vote for Elisabetta Canalis ! WOW those eyes are alluring!! They just sort of suck you in...

As for the Kings, well this was not a good game. They came out punchless against a team that was certainly road weary. You could not tell by the way they dominated the Kings. But the way the Kings came out to play, even a road weary team would dominate them....and they did. It just seemed all night like the Kings were the road weary team, not the Griz. The defensive effort was pathetic once again. Even with Dalembert guarding the rim, the Griz found ways to score on the rest of the Kings starters. Of the starters, only Dalembert played any semblance of defense. Beno's defense is atrocious. He is starting to look like a major defensive liability early in the season. Reke did not have his usual defensive game. Omri was playing token defense at best. And Carl Landry didnt show up to the game. He was MIA the WHOLE game. He deserves an acting award for most time in a game pretending to play defense. He was utterly dominated by anyone he guarded. Carl was a bad matchup against anyone we put him on. This would have been a good game to sit Carl and play Greene. PW needs to get whatever he has stuck in his craw out and start playing Greene into shape. We need Donte to play and play well. This not playing Greene has gotten very old, and the coach needs to knock it off already! Sure Donte came into camp overweight and outta shape, but not playing him is punishing the rest of the team. It seems to me that Green not playing is getting on the nerves of the rest of the team too. I think if PW doesn't get this Donte thing resolved, it is gonna fester in the locker room. It appears that Green has earned his way into the doghouse for his inactivity during the summer. But PW needs to deal with it without hurting the rest of the team. Greene is a veteran on this club now, as young as he is, and the other players are starting to get peeved over this power struggle between Greene and PW. Sure hope they work out their little tiff and Greene comes in EARLY next game. He needs to be the first SF off the bench! He is our second best SF (some would say best sf) and so he needs playing time. Hope this is worked out by the next game...