Interesting thread
I love being a fantasy gm. Its nice to not focus on all this negativty surrounding the kings right now but instead look at a possible future. This is going to be a long post (as is our way to a contender)
On to my thoughts:
1) I decide to build around Cousins because he is our best player right now and we wouldn't get better if we trade him. All of the rest of the moves are made in order to maximize the strengths of Cousins and hide his weaknesses. Note: this has nothing to do with being pro-Cousins, I would do it exactly the same way with every franchise player. Ths is just how you do this.
2) I pick a coach that knows that defense is important and that we should play Cousins down low and build a motion offense around his post presence (not that hard). Cousins should score there and draw fouls, but a kick out to an open 3 is as valuable. I also choose someone as coach the players will respect and trust because he values loyalty. He doesnt necessarily has to be the greatest X and Os guy but a leader that can motivate and get them to play hard.
So I fire Karl and take a look at other options, for example Thibodeau, Larranaga, Tony Brown.. I don't like the other options available so this is a hard but important decision.
3) okay this is something I've been waiting for us to realize for years now: If Cousins is your centerpiece the PF becomes very important because he has to be guy that is going to protect him defensively and makes his life easier offensively. Ideally, you want somebody that is big enough to guard the opponents post big, mobile enough to guard stretch bigs and can hit 3s. Yeah right. Basically you want Serge Ibaka but there is no way we get him. So we have to use more than one player to accomplish this. We already have Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos so that leaves only a stretch 4 to bring in. I'm going with
Ryan Anderson here. He is a free agent this year and I think we can sign him because he is from the Sacramento area although we probably have to overpay a bit. He also gives us a good second option on offense and firepower of the bench once Cousins gets a rest.
4) Because I plan to sign Ryan Anderson we can get away with trading Rudy for bigger needs without our offense depending too much on Cousins. I'm looking for a wing that can guard 2s and 3s, is a good off'-ball defender and can hit a 3. This is tricky and we may not be getting full value here but I would trade Rudy to Phoenix for
P.J. Tucker and Miami's 2018 first round pick (+ salary filler). Tucker is one of the best defenders and toughest players out there and this is exactly what we lack so I decided to do this deal.
I then flip Miamis first rounder for a late first rounder this year and draft
Taurean Prince who is basically P.J. Tucker in young.
5) Honestly I don't know what to do with the PG position in fre agency. I don't know if Rondo wants to stay after I fired Karl and traded Rudy and I don't know if I want to and am able to pay him as much as he wants. So this a big ?. I do take a look at Lin, Chalmers, Cole in free agency though if Rondo leaves.
6) I resist to trade our shooting guards and I go one step further and try to extend Mclemore before October 31. I do not do this because I believe that either of them will be the answer but I think their value is so low right know that we would not get anything significant back and hope for improvement. And in the case of Mclemore, he played so little this year that I think we can get a good deal before he hits RFA the year after that and the cap baloons to 102 mil.
7) I think Curry and Butler opt out so I fill the remaing roster spots with vet leaders, for example Hinrich, Perkins etc.
Roster to start 2016/2017:
? / Collison / Hinrich
Mclemore / Belinelli/ J. Anderson
Tucker / Casspi / Prince
WCS / R. Anderson /Acy
Cousins / Koufos
Okay, obviously, this is not a championship caliber team. I think the SF, PF and C position are about as good as we could get and many players are returning so its not a complete overhaul. But our guard rotation is still nothing to write home about because who knows if Mclemore improves and Belinelli rebounds. But we have good balance, and our defense should be much improved. And on offense we should be able to get enough points to win.
So if all goes according to plan we reach 41-45 wins and get the 8th seed. We manage one season without drama and play up to our talent. This is about as good as one can hope for when considering the Karl drama.
The key is to stay patient because going in the 2017/2018 season we are in a good position to make further deals to elevate us to 45+ wins and maybe the 5th, 6th or 7th seed. We have cap space, good but expendable role players on good deals (Mclemore, Belinelli, Koufos) and picks that can be traded. We showed one year of stabilty and are now a up and coming team instead of the laughing stock of the NBA. So depending on the situation we could get that PG or SG that would take us to the next level either by free acency or trade. Factor in growth by WCS, Mclemore, Prince and Cousins and I like our chances.
