How different will the 2015-16 Kings roster be?

[hrdboild]

How much cap space will we have over the summer? Is it possible that we could go after two of the mid tier free agents (Afflalo and Amir) and still re sign guys like Casspi and Miller?

PPG.....RPG......APG.....SPG....BPG....FG%.....3P%.....FT%
11.0.......2.8.........1.2.......0.4.......0.1......429.....405.....829
11.7........2.9.........1.5.......0.8......0.2......431.....361......826

One of these players is Aaron Afflalo after the trade to Portland (where he is starting at SG on a playoff bound team) and one of them is Ben McLemore. Additionally, Afflalo will be 30 next season when his new contract begins and McLemore will be 22. There aren't really any clear upgrades at SG that we can afford so replacing Ben would require a cap breaking deal for Jimmy Butler or a trade of some kind. Well, there is Wesley Matthews but he might miss half the season or more recovering from a torn achilles.

 

[Livinthedream]

I think Ben is a career 3&D player, but there's just so many of those out there right now.. All Ben is going to do for us is shoot open 3s. There are about 1000 other guys who can do that for our team... SG is the most replaceable position in the NBA considering how weak it is right now. Ben is the protocol SG who's inconsistent. If he's not having a good shooting night, he's not contributing anywhere else.

Nik on the other hand is more versatile. He's not the defender Ben is, but let's be honest...Ben is the one whos give up a lot of career nights..But he is already the better offensive player. He can shoot 3s and create offense. He's aggressive. He's not passive like Ben. His skill sets are wider and he's not the typical protocol SG. I think he has a better chance of reaching his potential too. He's already more impressive than Ben the same time this year.

So much wrong with this. This is the same Ben who was in the starting lineup that was shutting teams down at the beginning of the season. One of the highest rated starting 5 in the league. You're falling into the trap of blaming one guy for all of our teams woes. It's not Ben giving up career highs to the other teams player. It's the teams overall lack of defensive focus period.

Stauskus is NOT more impressive at this time then Ben was at the same period in their career. The numbers aren't better. The results aren't better. Even though Stauskus is older, has more college experience and supposedly has a better skill set and is more advanced. That is just pure bull that you're throwing out there. I will give you one reason for Nik's apparent turnaround at the end of the season. Andre Miller. A guy who looks to pass to the open man at the right time. That is it. Nothing, more, nothing less. It's the same reason for Derrick Williams resurgence. EVERYONE from the bench is better with Miller.

Saying that Ben is just a 3 and D guy or has low bbiq (such a vague term) is lazy analysis. Ben is actually not a 3 & D guy, which is why he does not play well when he hangs out in the corner and gets a wide open shot 3 or 4 times a game. He needs to be involved in the offense from start to finish. Ben is the 4th option when the team is healthy in that starting lineup. He's better suited to have plays run for him, so he gets lost in the shuffle when the ball doesn't come his way. That doesn't mean he has low bbiq, or that he's a bust or any of that. It means that he needs to be in the flow of the game. And when he's in the flow, he far outshines anything Stauskus has done to date.

I defend Ben, not because he's my favorite player, but because he has the most ridiculous, unsubstantiated stuff thrown at him and someone has to call people on it. SG is not our main issue. Our team would instantly be better with a better PG. One who actually runs an offense. For all the numbers Collison puts up, all he does when he comes down the court is dump it to Cousins or Gay if he doesn't shoot himself. Gay is a black hole. Our PF position is unremarkable.

What our team needs is chemistry and trust. There is talent there. If I were to make my first choice to trade anyone, it would be Gay. He would bring back more talent than Ben or Nik and it would free the offense up with no Gay syphoning shots away from the rest of the team. (See Houston game and Cuz's triple double). Get a real PG. Get a PF/C who contributes nightly.

 

[Gilles]

How much cap space will we have over the summer? Is it possible that we could go after two of the mid tier free agents (Afflalo and Amir) and still re sign guys like Casspi and Miller?

If Kings get to pick 6th, maximum cap space available looks to be just under $10 million.
Kings have a way to increase it: Landry is owed $13 million over the next two years. Simply waiving and stretching his contract turns this obligation into 5 year long with $2.6 million per. That increases available cap space by $3.4 million ($3.9 million difference in Landry's salary minus additional rookie minimum salary cap hold of $525,000) for the next two years, which is all that matters really. Kings must take all the shortcuts this off-season and be in win now mode not only to keep Cousins satisfied, but also to be in a better position to attract another difference maker with massive cap space in 2016 - a lot of teams will have money, so team dynamics will matter a lot for 2016 FAs. When cap is expected to jump to $105 million in the summer of 2017 and will likely grow further from there, $2.6 million more on the books become rather insignificant. The only reason not to do it is to exchange Landry for a guy on a smaller deal, and then waive and stretch that contract - I assume, you can't get a useful player with a contract better than Carl's, so if the deal is smaller the new guy should be as big part of the future as Carl is.
As far as Afflalo goes I'm not sure he opts out, because there will be a lot of loose money in the summer 2016, so it makes a lot of sense to take one year deal in case of opting out. Will he find such a deal for more money than his option?
I think, Kings should be able to retain Miller for $1.8 million - value of a veteran minimum for his number of years of experience.
What is Casspi value? He signed for a vet minimum last summer, so Kings don't have Bird rights for Omri. They will still have so called Room Exception, which gives the ability to sign two year contract, starting at $2.8 million with 7.5% increase for the second year. Don't think Omri played himself into bigger contract, and he might even have to settle for another one year minimum.

 

[206Fan]

So much wrong with this. This is the same Ben who was in the starting lineup that was shutting teams down at the beginning of the season. One of the highest rated starting 5 in the league. You're falling into the trap of blaming one guy for all of our teams woes. It's not Ben giving up career highs to the other teams player. It's the teams overall lack of defensive focus period.

Stauskus is NOT more impressive at this time then Ben was at the same period in their career. The numbers aren't better. The results aren't better. Even though Stauskus is older, has more college experience and supposedly has a better skill set and is more advanced. That is just pure bull that you're throwing out there. I will give you one reason for Nik's apparent turnaround at the end of the season. Andre Miller. A guy who looks to pass to the open man at the right time. That is it. Nothing, more, nothing less. It's the same reason for Derrick Williams resurgence. EVERYONE from the bench is better with Miller.

Saying that Ben is just a 3 and D guy or has low bbiq (such a vague term) is lazy analysis. Ben is actually not a 3 & D guy, which is why he does not play well when he hangs out in the corner and gets a wide open shot 3 or 4 times a game. He needs to be involved in the offense from start to finish. Ben is the 4th option when the team is healthy in that starting lineup. He's better suited to have plays run for him, so he gets lost in the shuffle when the ball doesn't come his way. That doesn't mean he has low bbiq, or that he's a bust or any of that. It means that he needs to be in the flow of the game. And when he's in the flow, he far outshines anything Stauskus has done to date.

I defend Ben, not because he's my favorite player, but because he has the most ridiculous, unsubstantiated stuff thrown at him and someone has to call people on it. SG is not our main issue. Our team would instantly be better with a better PG. One who actually runs an offense. For all the numbers Collison puts up, all he does when he comes down the court is dump it to Cousins or Gay if he doesn't shoot himself. Gay is a black hole. Our PF position is unremarkable.

What our team needs is chemistry and trust. There is talent there. If I were to make my first choice to trade anyone, it would be Gay. He would bring back more talent than Ben or Nik and it would free the offense up with no Gay syphoning shots away from the rest of the team. (See Houston game and Cuz's triple double). Get a real PG. Get a PF/C who contributes nightly.

Ben received starter minutes last year. Nik has a limited role off the bench.
So Ben played good defense for a stretch of 5 games and all of a sudden he's a great defender? Why will you nitpick a few games and ignore the remainder results? I did not blame Ben for all of our defensive woes..

"Saying that Ben is just a 3 and D guy or has low bbiq is lazy analysis" That's what he EXACTLY is at this point. However, he's not a good defender yet.
Ben is the 4th scoring option because he's not good enough to be the 3rd scoring option.. The Kings are not going to force him into a role where he's not comfortable. We are trying to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Ben attempts 4.7 3's a game at .361%.

Gay is not a block hole on our offense. He's currently averaging 3.7apg... I do agree with the fact that we have a problem in incorporating all of ours guys. I also agree that if we had a better passing PG, everyone would be better.

SG IS a main issue on this team. I don't see how you can't see that...... Ben is the MOST inconsistent player on the team. He has stretches in games where he's lights out in the 1st half then disappears the rest of the game. He has games where he scores 14pts, then 8 or 9 for the next few games.
Our SGs combine for less than a fifth of our offense almost every game.
Look at these stats... It's of our defense vs SGs. http://www.rotowire.com/daily/nba/defense-vspos.htm?pos=SG
It's for Fan duel, but it highlights how much we give up to opposing SGs. It's alarming.
We probably have the LEAST productive pair of SGs in the NBA.


Ben is one of my favorite, but frustrating player on the team. He's struggling a lot. The only reason why Ben has a high ceiling than Nik is because of his athleticism and tools. It's still unknown on who is the better shooter, but Nik is the better ball handler, passer, attacker, agresor, and he does have a higher bball iq.. That's not to say Ben's bball iq is low.

My original argument was that there are a hundred 3 & D players out there. There are many other plays that the Kings could bring in and give us what Ben is giving us right now. You bring in a DL, and he'll be able to knock down open 3s and defend some. The SG position is at it's lowest right now. It's basically filled with guys who can't handle the ball, but are good 3pt shooters and nice defenders. I believe SG is the most replaceable position. Ben is the protocol SG for the NBA right now. The reason why we don't go with some random DL player is because Ben has a HUGE upside. He has a ton of potential.

On the other hand, Nik is another young SG who ISN'T today's protocol SG. His ability to handle the ball and pass is better than most. He offers a different skill set to the table vs the rest of he SGs. It's why if I had to trade one of our SGs, I'd trade Ben. SGs like Ben are much more common in the NBA. Actually, SGs like Ben are the standard of the NBA. (Thompson, Matthews, Reddick, Beal, Gordon, Korver, Green, and etc). (Thompson is more than a 3&D guy, but a nice chunk of his offense comes from catch and shootingr)

 

[Livinthedream]

Ben received starter minutes last year. Nik has a limited role off the bench.
So Ben played good defense for a stretch of 5 games and all of a sudden he's a great defender? Why will you nitpick a few games and ignore the remainder results? I did not blame Ben for all of our defensive woes..

"Saying that Ben is just a 3 and D guy or has low bbiq is lazy analysis" That's what he EXACTLY is at this point. However, he's not a good defender yet.
Ben is the 4th scoring option because he's not good enough to be the 3rd scoring option.. The Kings are not going to force him into a role where he's not comfortable. We are trying to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. Ben attempts 4.7 3's a game at .361%.

Gay is not a block hole on our offense. He's currently averaging 3.7apg... I do agree with the fact that we have a problem in incorporating all of ours guys. I also agree that if we had a better passing PG, everyone would be better.

SG IS a main issue on this team. I don't see how you can't see that...... Ben is the MOST inconsistent player on the team. He has stretches in games where he's lights out in the 1st half then disappears the rest of the game. He has games where he scores 14pts, then 8 or 9 for the next few games.
Our SGs combine for less than a fifth of our offense almost every game.
Look at these stats... It's of our defense vs SGs. http://www.rotowire.com/daily/nba/defense-vspos.htm?pos=SG
It's for Fan duel, but it highlights how much we give up to opposing SGs. It's alarming.
We probably have the LEAST productive pair of SGs in the NBA.


Ben is one of my favorite, but frustrating player on the team. He's struggling a lot. The only reason why Ben has a high ceiling than Nik is because of his athleticism and tools. It's still unknown on who is the better shooter, but Nik is the better ball handler, passer, attacker, agresor, and he does have a higher bball iq.. That's not to say Ben's bball iq is low.

My original argument was that there are a hundred 3 & D players out there. There are many other plays that the Kings could bring in and give us what Ben is giving us right now. You bring in a DL, and he'll be able to knock down open 3s and defend some. The SG position is at it's lowest right now. It's basically filled with guys who can't handle the ball, but are good 3pt shooters and nice defenders. I believe SG is the most replaceable position. Ben is the protocol SG for the NBA right now. The reason why we don't go with some random DL player is because Ben has a HUGE upside. He has a ton of potential.

On the other hand, Nik is another young SG who ISN'T today's protocol SG. His ability to handle the ball and pass is better than most. He offers a different skill set to the table vs the rest of he SGs. It's why if I had to trade one of our SGs, I'd trade Ben. SGs like Ben are much more common in the NBA. Actually, SGs like Ben are the standard of the NBA. (Thompson, Matthews, Reddick, Beal, Gordon, Korver, Green, and etc). (Thompson is more than a 3&D guy, but a nice chunk of his offense comes from catch and shootingr)

I know exactly what our SG situation is. It's our youngest position. I worry more about the vets underperforming than two 21 year olds in a unstable franchise.

The only consistent players we have are Cuz and Gay. Period. Ben may be more frustrating because he shows flashes of something special, but he is no more inconsistent than anyone else outside of the two I stated.

Gay averages a decent number of assists because the ball is in his hands so often. Isaiah Thomas gets a lot of assists in the same fashion for example.

People keep talking about this amazing skill set of Nik. This same skill set that people kept telling me about another guy the Kings drafted but washed out. The exact same thing. Again, what you have seen from Nik recently is the result of Miller. When Nik is left in with the starters, he starts to fade into the background just like Ben. Except he can't play D. Again, no matter how many minutes Ben has gotten, he's been playing with teammates (starters) that don't share. So I could argue that Nik has been more fortunate than Ben in who he's paired with and his place as a scoring option with the second unit.

There are a hundred 3 & D players out there and their numbers are a wash when you compare them to Ben. So no, I'm not as concerned about SG as I am about PG and PF.

 

[206Fan]

I know exactly what our SG situation is. It's our youngest position. I worry more about the vets underperforming than two 21 year olds in a unstable franchise.

The only consistent players we have are Cuz and Gay. Period. Ben may be more frustrating because he shows flashes of something special, but he is no more inconsistent than anyone else outside of the two I stated.

Gay averages a decent number of assists because the ball is in his hands so often. Isaiah Thomas gets a lot of assists in the same fashion for example.

People keep talking about this amazing skill set of Nik. This same skill set that people kept telling me about another guy the Kings drafted but washed out. The exact same thing. Again, what you have seen from Nik recently is the result of Miller. When Nik is left in with the starters, he starts to fade into the background just like Ben. Except he can't play D. Again, no matter how many minutes Ben has gotten, he's been playing with teammates (starters) that don't share. So I could argue that Nik has been more fortunate than Ben in who he's paired with and his place as a scoring option with the second unit.

There are a hundred 3 & D players out there and their numbers are a wash when you compare them to Ben. So no, I'm not as concerned about SG as I am about PG and PF.

I'm one of the few here who believe we should improve the PG position. I think at SG we have two nice young guys, but both are going through bumps and struggles. PF is the meh position. We have too many PFs and not enough talent.. I think we have 12 million wrapped up in Landry and JT.

I think for 2016, we can simply solve the SG problem by adding a vet to the team. (Hopefully it's simple). We might have a shot at Wesley Matthews if Portland is worried about his injury.

For PG, the only real way we can improve it is in the draft or trading. I think Dunn and Grant would be intriguing prospects at where we're drafting, but I don't think they're good enough to the point where we'd take a PG with our draft pick. Another trade possibility that could be likely is Jrue Holiday. They're playing well without him, and he's only played 37 games this season. He only played 34 last season. He could be a player that NO feels comfortable dealing because they're worried about his injury, or they're content about their team without him. I think we should roll the dice on him if given the chance.

PF is where it gets iffy. We aren't going to attract many PFs in FA. Amir Johnson is the only one that I think would actually come here, even though I feel like he's regressed this year. We'd need to trade for a PF. People still float around the idea of trading for Gibson, but I don't think it's all that likely. I also think Gibson is going to be on the decline soon. He's a late boomer. There are a number of PFs that we could trade for out there, but it would have to include one of our SGs and maybe our draft pick.

I think the Kings can improve in a lot of places this offseason.

I really hope that we can get a vet SG.

 

[The Truth Hurts]

Sign Deandre Jordan And Aaron Affalo. That and a few minor tweaks to the bench would make us a playoff team if healthy

 

[Amit149]

Sign Deandre Jordan And Aaron Affalo. That and a few minor tweaks to the bench would make us a playoff team if healthy

The Truth Hurts- here is the hard Truth, it ain't gonna happen.

On a more serious note- I actually don't like the fit between Jordan and Cousins, especially since Jordan is gonna cost big money. About Afflalo he is not half the defender you remember him being and there are more than a few wigs I rather get before him.

 

[Prince_XY]

and it's unacceptable to me that the "pure shooters" they've drafted two years in a row aren't able to provide that threat with any measure of consistency.

I think this misfire on Ben and Nik is not the FO's fault. It should be on the players (and coaches/trainers for failing to develop them) who are not able to live-up to their roles.

Apparently, a lot of fans like you felt the need for "shooters". The FO obliged and actually drafted a very promising shooter in Ben, but he was failing misserably, so they got another one in Nik. Unfortunately, both were lazy or lagging in their development. We have to remember, these two players are known for being good shooters in College and also projected to become good shooters in the NBA. Now, Ben and Nik are misfiring and I don't think that is the FO's fault. That should be more of Nik and Ben' fault (or even the coaches/trainers's fault who failed to develop them). I guess what I am saying is - I don't think we should put the blame on the "outsiders" (the FO/Vivek) on this one. Let us stop blaming the "outsiders" because believe it or not, they share with us that common goal which is to WIN. They are not here to ruin the Sacramento Kings.

 

[Prince_XY]

We've lived through two rough seasons of growing pains and we're going to either reap the rewards of that development time soon, or move one of them and find a veteran who can shoot. Personally, I'd hang on to both of them unless I've got a can't miss trade for a defensive PF in my sights and need an extra asset to make it happen.

I'll also go this way.

Hang on to both of them, or package one of them with either Landry or JT to get a veteran defensive big or a SG who can contribute now (Lance Stephenson).

 

[randymoss1881]

I'll also go this way.

Hang on to both of them, or package one of them with either Landry or JT to get a veteran defensive big or a SG who can contribute now (Lance Stephenson).

**** no. Dudes shooting 16% from 3