How good is our starting lineup??

R

ramyajagarlamudi

Prospect
This is my projection:

PG - Tyreke Evans
SG - Marcus Thornton
SF - John Salmons
PF - Demarcus Cousins
C - Chuck Hayes

It looks a lot brighter than last years starting lineup. Here's hoping for the 8th seed this year.
 
I will wait until tomorrow, because I think there might be one more potential change to our starting lineup.
 
startingtohurt said:
wouldn't jj hickson start at pf and cousins at center?
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You would think so! Like I have been saying, Hayes in a nice player to have on the bench but a starter on a good team he is not. Looking the line up in the opening post, I think our starting line up after the all-star last year was better than this proposed one despite an upgrade at SF.
 
That seemed like the projected lineup before the Kings signed Hayes. Paul Westphal likes veteran leadership on the floor, and John Salmons wouldn't be able to carry that by himself. The problem with starting Hickson (besides his average defensive skills) is that he isn't the Kings' prized piece, that's Demarcus Cousins. Putting Cousins on the floor at center would expose him to foul trouble, which he had a problem with his whole rookie year. Although Chuck Hayes doesn't have the height or span to give the Kings the same interior presence Dalembert did, he has amazing on-ball defensive skills that Hickson lacks. Check out the video below of Chuck Hayes guarding Amare Stoudemire. Big men who are guarded by Hayes have an average FG percentage of 37%. This leaves Cousins to fresher on offense and able to carry out the low post scoring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6f5Uyu6Dv4

Not the best frontcourt, but I give the man respect. He is a bull and knows how to play D
 
Being realistic.. that line is average imo. I think Hayes and Salmons should be part of the bench squad.. If thats our starting 5 for the season i cant see us making the playoffs.

if we really want to make a run it should look something like this

Okafor/Hayes/Whiteside
Cousins/Hickson/Hayes
AK47/Salmons/Greene
Thornton/Salmons/Jimmer
Reke/Jimmer/ Vet PG (Billups, Bogues, frick i dont care someone who can pass)

Im pretty sure we have the capspace, picks, prospects, tradeable assets (Thompson,Greene,Garcia) to get some defensive players like Emeka or AK47.. its just is our GM actually willing to make some moves that will set us apart from mediocrity...

Im tired of this team sucking. every. single. year. I love the Kings. But its tiring watching this **** every year. I'm more excited about watching the maple leafs then the kings these days and i dont even watch hockey?...

Petrie neeeds to man up and get moves like this done. Or im sure im not the only one thats going to be calling for a new GM.
 
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ramyajagarlamudi said:
That seemed like the projected lineup before the Kings signed Hayes. Paul Westphal likes veteran leadership on the floor, and John Salmons wouldn't be able to carry that by himself. The problem with starting Hickson (besides his average defensive skills) is that he isn't the Kings' prized piece, that's Demarcus Cousins. Putting Cousins on the floor at center would expose him to foul trouble, which he had a problem with his whole rookie year. Although Chuck Hayes doesn't have the height or span to give the Kings the same interior presence Dalembert did, he has amazing on-ball defensive skills that Hickson lacks. Check out the video below of Chuck Hayes guarding Amare Stoudemire. Big men who are guarded by Hayes have an average FG percentage of 37%. This leaves Cousins to fresher on offense and able to carry out the low post scoring.
Click to expand...

I think Cousins would be more likely to get into foul trouble at PF than center. There are a lot more talented PFs around the league than centers IMO. Cousins biggest problems on defense last season (and picking up fouls) usually involved him trying to reach in on quick PFs or rotating too late on help defense (getting a cheap foul). He improved in both areas at the season progressed as those are common problems for most rookies.

I really like the defense and toughness that Hayes brings, but don't think he should be starting over either JT or Hickson. I would rather bring him off the bench to help slow down whatever big man is going off against us.
 
PG: Evans/Jimmer
SG: Thorton/Jimmer/Garcia
SF: AK/Salmons/Garcia/Green
PF: JJ/JT/Chuck
C: Cousins/Chuck/JT

Whiteside, Isiah, and Honeycutt may have potential, but counting on them as rotation players is a recipe for disaster.

That's a pretty good looking lineup there assuming the AK rumors are true. JT and Chuck are actually a pretty good interchangable C/PF backup platoon. Very mediocre starters, but decent bigs off the bench.
 
If we actually do end up with AK, then if you bring AK in at the 3, then you have a better chance of playing Hickson as the starting PF.
Between AK, Hickson, and Cousins, you should be able to find a favorable defensive match-up most nights.
Who knows, if Hickson can bring his athleticism to the defensive side of the floor, then it could be the makings of a great team.

Also, by starting Hickson it will give provide time to evaluate him to see what we have. Then at the trade deadline make a decison on Hickson, depending on the results.
 
My opinion:

Current Roster:

DeMarcus Cousins / Jason Thompson / Whiteside
Chuck Hayes / J.J. Hickson
John Salmons / Donte Greene / Tyler Honeycutt
Marcus Thornton / Francisco Garcia
Tyreke Evans / Jimmer Fredette / Isaiah Thomas

No AK/With Dalembert

Samuel Dalembert / Jason Thompson / Hassan Whiteside
DeMarcus Cousins / Chuck Hayes / J.J. Hickson
John Salmons / Donte Greene
Marcus Thornton / Francisco Garcia
Tyreke Evans / Jimmer Fredette

The Kings need Donte Greene's size at the three so I'm forced to put him in the rotation.
 
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I'm definitely excited to see what we can do with the new guys.

Not getting over the top though, because a lot of the excitement is based on Reke and Cousins improving massively on their previous years. Always difficult.
 
Taking a look at AK stats show he has fallen off in most areas the past 4-yr especially BLKS. + he'll be 31 in Feb and hasn't played as many as 70 games past 3 yr. Also he indicated pref to return to Russia with multi-year deal. Interesting possibility tho' if price is right.

Update 12/10 9am See that AK47 is currently active on CSKA Moscow having just played a game. Seems unlikely he is headed to USA at this late hour unless some miracle is hiding from us all.
 
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cuad said:
My opinion:

Current Roster:

DeMarcus Cousins / Jason Thompson / Whiteside
Chuck Hayes / J.J. Hickson
John Salmons / Francisco Garcia
Marcus Thornton
Tyreke Evans / Jimmer Fredette

With AK:

DeMarcus Cousins / Jason Thompson / Whiteside
Andrei Kirilenko / Chuck Hayes / J.J. Hickson
John Salmons / Francisco Garcia
Marcus Thornton
Tyreke Evans / Jimmer Fredette
Click to expand...

You're just being silly about Hickson. He was brought in as an up and comer same way Throton was. He's obviously in our plans in a big way this season.

Let's just assume we get AK47, which would make this overall a really nice FA period for us. Not perfect because we lost the interior shotblocker. But strong and with the perfect SF pickup to cover for the loss of shotblocking up front.

Then the depth is:

Cousins/Thompson
Hickson/Hayes (or vice versa to give free up shots for the Big Three)
AK47/Salmons (or vice versa)
Thornton/Cisco
Reke/Jimmer

with Donte, Whiteside, Honeycutt and Thomas (maybe) as a long, interesting group fo defensive youngsters who unfortunately just won't get time.
 
ramyajagarlamudi said:
This is my projection:

PG - Tyreke Evans
SG - Marcus Thornton
SF - John Salmons
PF - Demarcus Cousins
C - Chuck Hayes

It looks a lot brighter than last years starting lineup. Here's hoping for the 8th seed this year.
Click to expand...

God I hope Hayes doesn't start at C. He's a bench guy. The only reason he started in Houston is because of injury problems. WTF is GP thinking?
 
How is Hickson defensively? I feel like we need a defensive center to contend for a playoff spot. But i'm quick to dis-regard JJ's defensive abilities.. didnt see alot of him in Cleveland.
 
OptimusRhyme said:
How is Hickson defensively? I feel like we need a defensive center to contend for a playoff spot. But i'm quick to dis-regard JJ's defensive abilities.. didnt see alot of him in Cleveland.
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Last season his defense fell off. Probably because he tried to make up for the loss of Lebron offensively. The year before he was OK defensively. Not great, but lets remember he's still young. He's a very good athlete, so he has the ability to become a good defender. That doesn't mean he will. He needs a coach that will demand he put in the effort on the defensive side of the ball. So far, all I've heard out of the Kings coaching staff is lip service.

There are plenty of ways to improve your defense, but all of them require a greater effort, and for the most part I've haven't seen it. Defense is all about team defense, and that requires all five players to bust their butts. To try and rely on one superman shotblocker to save the day never works. But it does work if everyone else does their job.
 
It takes a certain kind of coach to bring out the energy for team defense and we don't have that coach.
 
WHY on earth would you start Hayes at C with Cousins at PF??

You got to go with Cousins at C and Hickson at PF..

Over the last 31 games Hickson averages 17.4ppg 11.3rpg .8bpg 1.5apg.. You don't bench those kind of numbers.

C- Cousins
PF- Hickson
SF- AK47 or Salmons
SG- Thorton
PG- Evans

Every single one of those guys are capable of averaging 17+ ppg is they wanted to.
 
It makes me sad to think that no matter who we pick up Westfail will screw it up and not demand defense either. Imagine Evans, Thornton, AK47, Hickson, and Cousins starting with a Tom T. as coach?
 
est.1999 said:
It makes me sad to think that no matter who we pick up Westfail will screw it up and not demand defense either. Imagine Evans, Thornton, AK47, Hickson, and Cousins starting with a Tom T. as coach?
Click to expand...

I feel your pain. The major piece missing from this team is a coach.
 
Why is Westphal already speaking off a done deal starting lineup of...

PG - Evans
SG - Thornton
C - Cousins
PF - Hayes
SF - Salmons

Isn't training camp to have open competition for starting positions? I don't like to see them annointed beforehand even if several spots are sure bets. Maybe he feels it's such a short sprint to start of the season it's worth carving in stone - but he can and likely will make some changes later.
 
PurpleHaze said:
Why is Westphal already speaking off a done deal starting lineup of...

PG - Evans
SG - Thornton
C - Cousins
PF - Hayes
SF - Salmons

Isn't training camp to have open competition for starting positions? I don't like to see them annointed beforehand even if several spots are sure bets. Maybe he feels it's such a short sprint to start of the season it's worth carving in stone - but he can and likely will make some changes later.
Click to expand...

Perhaps he's just going from one extreme to the other. I would love for him to settle on a lineup and give it a chance before he changes it again and again and ...................
 
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