Is our future REALLY bright?

The Maloofs are not spending very much for this team and shouldn't be since most are still in their first three years in the league. What can you expect. The answer is just what you're getting. Nothing has changed. This is where we are. And it's fun just because they are so new and without experience. We haven't had any idea and the answer will be a time coming. We win two games and we're gonna win 35. We lose two games and we're nothing but dirt. Everybody on the team is bad at one time or another. Everybody is brimming with promise on some ocassions. Just hang in there ...... or as someone suggested above ...... just give up being a Kings fan. If you are just realizing that the Kings aren't very good now, where have you been?
 
Taking tonight and the past several weeks as an example, that assumption's looking pretty damn good. It's been a long time since I've seen an NBA player airball as many shots as Omri has and his shot selection has been questionable at the best. Couple that with Martin-esque defense and several brainfarts a game and it's easy to see how we can consider him overrated (especially when the All_Star weekend guys were gushing about him a bit)

Well, I remember at least one player who airballed 4 shots late in a playoff game in his rookie year...

But seriously, I think Omri is battling with some serious mental issues. Perhaps it's just a regular case of the rookie wall, but I suspect it has a lot to do with the pressure of "representing a country" and the uncertainty with regards to what his role will be on this team. The media attention may be causing him to lose focus to some extent.


There are two sides to Omri's mentality. On one hand, he is very focused on becoming a great basketball player and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. On the other hand, sometimes he forgets that he is not the only one out there trying to make it, and focuses on himself too much instead of supporting his teammates. I didn't like some of the interviews he gave to the Israeli media in which he pretty much blasted everyone from his past. If he really believes that everyone was just trying to hold him back he is going to have some major issues going forward.

This coming summer will be crucial to Omri's future. He needs to work on the things that will take him to the next level, and especially the mental aspect. If he goes back to being focused on getting better every day, then he has a chance to be a major NBA star. If he lets his mental weaknesses take him over, and retains that sense of entitlement that's been raising it's head lately, then he is going to struggle hard.
 
This seems an interesting topic. Here are my rankings.

Defense, boxing out your man, patience, court vision, spacing, taking high-percentage shots and making the game easier for teammates (setting picks, getting to open spots) are the traits I consider the main elements of BBall IQ. Also being in control and not making stupid mistakes (Cisco and Donte have improved in these areas immensely).

1. Ime Udoka - above avg IQ offense/high IQ defense
2. Beno Udrih - high IQ offense/avg IQ defense
3. Francisco Garcia - above avg IQ offense/above avg IQ defense
4. Jon Brockman - avg IQ offense/high IQ defense
5. Spencer Hawes - high IQ offense/ avg IQ defense
6. Donte Greene - slightly above avg IQ offense/defense
7. Tyreke Evans - avg IQ offense/above avg IQ defense
8. Omri Casspi - above avg IQ offense/avg IQ defense
9. Andres Nocioni - above avg IQ offense/avg IQ defense
10. Jason Thompson - avg IQ offense/avg IQ defense

Carl Landry(probably 5th or 6th from what I've seen so far), Sean May, Dorsey, McGuire - I honestly have not seen enough play out of these guys to rank them fairly.


I stopped reading after I saw you gave JT an average basketball IQ. He is nothing short of awful in the IQ department on both offense and defense.
 
I stopped reading after I saw you gave JT an average basketball IQ. He is nothing short of awful in the IQ department on both offense and defense.

Too bad you read like 95% of the post before you got to that point.
 
Omri is a ROOKIE. Say it with me.....'ROOKIE'.

Did he get some of your expectations so high that he can now be considered overrated? Im not sure about what some of you expect him to do. Spencer, JT and the rest of our pathetic frontcourt is the main issue here.

Are they young? Yes, but some of the things that they cant do, (like defense and consistent rebounding) can not be taught. Once we make some changes to this frontcourt in the offseason, i think that is when our future will seem a lot more 'Bright'.

Although i dont understand how you can say the future isn't pretty bright to begin with.
 
it will never be easy....

who said it was easy to have a bright future?

we have to accept that we must struggle before the future is bright.

so all this woes, problems, disappointments all come with the price for greatness

look on the bright side of things

1. we didnt get troy murphy
2. we cleared capspace and got a servicable big in landry and dorsey
3. 2 of our rookies are going to be lock in the nba first team
4. our front court consists of 21 year old hawes, 6foot11 jason thompson, and 6foot11 donte greene
5. we are not the nets
6. we are getting a new arena
7. the kings are being noticed once more


there are so many good things going for this team and to think that we will forever be in that perpetual realm of suckage is absurd. the kings are going to reclaim their throne and start their utmost dominance. not now, but in the future. i say 2 to 3 years from now
 
Omri is a ROOKIE. Say it with me.....'ROOKIE'.

Did he get some of your expectations so high that he can now be considered overrated? Im not sure about what some of you expect him to do. Spencer, JT and the rest of our pathetic frontcourt is the main issue here.


Are they young? Yes, but some of the things that they cant do, (like defense and consistent rebounding) can not be taught. Once we make some changes to this frontcourt in the offseason, i think that is when our future will seem a lot more 'Bright'.

Although i dont understand how you can say the future isn't pretty bright to begin with.



I am personally a passionate Casspi fan but still see all quite realistic right now.

He is for me right now simply a good role player nothing else.
By saying overrated i mean it mainly from the press point of view.
He is not as far and as good as many say and would like him to be-he still needs to learn a lot to become an important player in this organisation and generally in the NBA.

I am of course aware that he is a ROOKIE "I repeat with you, ROOKIE" and am convinced that he has a lot of potential but right now i really think that people should stop telling him how good he is and let this kid develop his game.
He simply needs time.

And yes I do believe in a bright future but maybe in a more realistic way;)!
GO KINGS!
 
Right now = Not bright, with the potential to be bright
2-4 Years = Bright with room for improvement
5-6 Years= Possible Playoff Run

It all depends on future moves and acquisitions. As of right now, our team is not competitive and will continue to struggle.

With the lottery pick, salary cap, and growth of the young rooks, we'll be in Oklahoma City or Portland territory in 2-4 years (assuming the right moves are made and the right personnel remain).

Glory won't come again for some time, but after a few seasons of band-aids and a few seasons of cellar dwelling, we are finally on our way.
 
Too bad you read like 95% of the post before you got to that point.

I could have read 1% of the post. Anything that has the words "average" and "IQ" next to Jason Thompson's name not accurate information.
 
Guys still don't get it...
rookies + new players + new coach + changing line up + young + inexperienced = inconsistentcy, lack of chemistry and losing lots of game.

Goal is to build a team..not win a playoff this year. I expect more next year but this year is going as plan. The comeback was targeted in 2010 season and it's going as plan.

As for overrated on any of our rookies...
You can only rate them by their potentials..Omri potential hasn't changed much. Evans potential to be a star is still there. Donte just prove his potential still exist. To judge them on how they play now is not a fair evaluation of what they can do.
 
At this point it's hard to be excited about the future. Westphal's appeal, for me at least, is completely gone. He'll get only a handful more wins than Natt/Theus, who didn't have Tyreke and Casspi and Brockman. Our team, right now, just isn't good. They're bad at basketball collectively. We have NO defense, no big men, no one who can finish assists from Tyreke. I mean, the dude would have crazy numbers if his teammates could make shots. What, really, is there on the the horizon?
 
At this point it's hard to be excited about the future. Westphal's appeal, for me at least, is completely gone. He'll get only a handful more wins than Natt/Theus, who didn't have Tyreke and Casspi and Brockman. Our team, right now, just isn't good. They're bad at basketball collectively. We have NO defense, no big men, no one who can finish assists from Tyreke. I mean, the dude would have crazy numbers if his teammates could make shots. What, really, is there on the the horizon?


Very short-sighted view point. Especially comparing the coaches.

You base on the wins or lost for a rebuilding team..you lose objectiveness.
You base what we have now is what we will continue to have then you lack foresight.
When all you can see is the bad part of the team then that is all you will ever see.
 
Let's see. We got: the best player of the 2009 NBA draft. Two dynamic SFs with bright futures in Donte and Omri. A 21 year old center who is 7 feet tall. A 6'11" PF who plays his heart out every game. Tons of cap space coming up after this season. Almost no bad contracts. A team chock-full of toughness. And a high lottery pick coming in 2010.

Yeah, I'd say the future is looking pretty darn good.:)

This.

Fans are dumb. Sorry. But we are. Actually you are. I am smart. But anyway, fans are dumb. Rather horrendously focused on the here and now and ofttimes unable to see the forest for the trees. And that's more or less a universal.

This franchise has one of the best setups for the future of any franchise in the league. Its gotten itslef loaded with all the assets you look for in a rebuild. Its got a budding superstar to build around. A whole swath of other young players who are at the very least rotation level players, and in several cases potential stars. Its got cap room. It has another high pick coming. With the Kevin trade it shed the last of its huge contracts. Its ONLY real detriment is the series of MLE deals that Geoff kept on signing that have resulted in the Beno/Cisco/Noc deals. That will continue to be a minor annoyance, but as 2 of those three players at least could have decent roles on the team, its far from any sort of killer. Otherwise we've got loads of young talent on cheap deals. Its a perfect situation to build from either with youth or by making a splashy trade.
 
At this point it's hard to be excited about the future. Westphal's appeal, for me at least, is completely gone. He'll get only a handful more wins than Natt/Theus, who didn't have Tyreke and Casspi and Brockman. Our team, right now, just isn't good. They're bad at basketball collectively. We have NO defense, no big men, no one who can finish assists from Tyreke. I mean, the dude would have crazy numbers if his teammates could make shots. What, really, is there on the the horizon?


Revolving door coaching has always proved to be effective... :rolleyes:
 
This.

Fans are dumb. Sorry. But we are. Actually you are. I am smart. But anyway, fans are dumb. Rather horrendously focused on the here and now and ofttimes unable to see the forest for the trees. And that's more or less a universal.

This franchise has one of the best setups for the future of any franchise in the league. Its gotten itslef loaded with all the assets you look for in a rebuild. Its got a budding superstar to build around. A whole swath of other young players who are at the very least rotation level players, and in several cases potential stars. Its got cap room. It has another high pick coming. With the Kevin trade it shed the last of its huge contracts. Its ONLY real detriment is the series of MLE deals that Geoff kept on signing that have resulted in the Beno/Cisco/Noc deals. That will continue to be a minor annoyance, but as 2 of those three players at least could have decent roles on the team, its far from any sort of killer. Otherwise we've got loads of young talent on cheap deals. Its a perfect situation to build from either with youth or by making a splashy trade.

I blame the video game generation. They expect instant payback on every move and get frustrated because real life has no cheat codes to get to the next level.
 
I blame the video game generation. They expect instant payback on every move and get frustrated because real life has no cheat codes to get to the next level.
Not to mention playing fast and loose with expressions like "starting quality" player, as if every starting PF and C in the league is an All-Star caliber player, except for the guys we got. I get the sense that people who say things like that don't watch other teams very often unless they're playing the Kings, because they don't seem to be aware of how staggeringly mediocre the average "starting quality" player is in the NBA.
 
Very short-sighted view point. Especially comparing the coaches.

You base on the wins or lost for a rebuilding team..you lose objectiveness.
You base what we have now is what we will continue to have then you lack foresight.
When all you can see is the bad part of the team then that is all you will ever see.

Then why don't you enlighten me as to all the goodness I'm evidently overlooking?
 
Not to mention playing fast and loose with expressions like "starting quality" player, as if every starting PF and C in the league is an All-Star caliber player, except for the guys we got. I get the sense that people who say things like that don't watch other teams very often unless they're playing the Kings, because they don't seem to be aware of how staggeringly mediocre the average "starting quality" player is in the NBA.
That's why I say that if we had 5 "starting quality" players we would be contending for an upper level playoff result. I believe we had two such on the team and traded one. What I'm saying is that we don't have that quality yet as evidenced by our won/lost record. The young guys are growing before our eyes but they have quite a ways to go yet. Go Kings.
 
That's why I say that if we had 5 "starting quality" players we would be contending for an upper level playoff result. I believe we had two such on the team and traded one. What I'm saying is that we don't have that quality yet as evidenced by our won/lost record. The young guys are growing before our eyes but they have quite a ways to go yet. Go Kings.
And my rebuttal to that is, if you think that Thompson and Hawes are not "starting quality" players, you must not be aware of how many players are starting who are not as good as they are.
 
And my rebuttal to that is, if you think that Thompson and Hawes are not "starting quality" players, you must not be aware of how many players are starting who are not as good as they are.
Your right, I'm not. They each show promise but have a long way to go and I am planning to enjoy the ride.
 
I'm not sure what people want here. You have a 20 year old player that has the upside of being a real star player. Not just Kings fans who are biased think this. Also have some nice young talent that can grow along with him in Casspi, Greene and possibly some other guys. There are no boat anchor contracts or problem veterans. They have another lottery pick and the ability to add a quality free agent if the chance comes.

I know this doesn't mean all the stars align and it will all happen. But it means there is room for growth. For most people, this would be a good time to have fun watching it come togther. Not wanting coaches fired for losing some games when it's clear to most people that they could use a lot of prcatice to get new guys on the same page. Not to mention young players who need all they can get too.

Another thing, I just don't get all the crapping on Tyreke because he isn't Magic Johnson in barely over half way through his rookie season at 20 years old. I'm pretty sure he might just get better if he plays a bit more.
 
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Its gonna take alot of patience to watch this thing we have brewing build up. Look at the Thunder aka the former Sonics, they were bad for the past 3 or 4 seasons. In the process of being bad they have had some great drafts. But in one draft they got their star and a valuable 2nd or 3rd option. 3 years later they are challenging for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

We are on track people on a nice track, hell depending on how much Tyrekes games improves this off season it might even be quicker. What this really needs though is a good veteran guy to round up all these youngins. If there was a time machine I'd love for them to sign up a vet presence like an older Alonzo Mourning for our bigs to teach them some things.

Tyreke,Omri and Donte if given time to develop could be a scary threesome for the NBA to deal with in a few years. The powers in the west are changing, the Lakers are gonna still dominate but that's really where it ends.

The Suns window is closed, Mavs refuse to let theirs close either, Spurs are watching their sun set. New Orleans and Utah have the two top pgs but around them are either aging pieces or pieces they won't be able to resign.

in 2 years the top 8 in the West will be full of teams that have had great drafts in the past few years and believe it or not this Kings team if left alone to gel WILL be one of them.
 
I know I'm going to get a lot of heat for asking this, but with the current core of players that we are building around at the moment, is our future really that bright?

It think how far we go in the future will entirely depend on our coach. In the beginning of the season it seemed Westphal was getting great performances out of his players. He even got Kenny Thomas to contribute. Then something happened after those overtime loses and he seemed to start flaying around like someone on an XBOX trying find the perfect combination of players, but instead creating an terribly chaotic situation. If he can create a stable environment for a young players to thrive in, then yes the future is bright. Or it could be this:

Larry Brown broke a record in 2005-06... No, his 23 victories weren't the worst in Knicks history, but he used an NBA record 42 different starting line-ups. He started 16 different players and 29 of those lineups were used only once. And you were wondering why his players weren't happy with him...

So far we have started 15 different players and used 25 different lineups. With 26 games to go the record is still in play.
 
It think how far we go in the future will entirely depend on our coach. In the beginning of the season it seemed Westphal was getting great performances out of his players. He even got Kenny Thomas to contribute. Then something happened after those overtime loses and he seemed to start flaying around like someone on an XBOX trying find the perfect combination of players, but instead creating an terribly chaotic situation. If he can create a stable environment for a young players to thrive in, then yes the future is bright. Or it could be this:



So far we have started 15 different players and used 25 different lineups. With 26 games to go the record is still in play.


Ugh. I have been concerned about Westphal's musical chairs lineups for a while, but did you have to go and raise the spectre of that Larry Brown season?
 
I think the lineups would be more set if Westphal knew what he was getting from the 4 and 5 night in and night out. Tyreke and Cassipi have been set as starters for pretty much alot of the season lately, so he knows what to expect from those two, I see Donte settling into being guranteed with those 2 eventually as well, or atleast Westphal knowing what to expect from at the 2,3 and 4.
 
In terms of players, it's getting there. It so happens that our best players are our younger players--Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi, and Donte Greene--and to me those three should be untouchable. Tyreke's numbers are great and his impact will eventually catch up/maybe exceed those numbers--that's already half the battle. Casspi can become a super role player in due time methinks, and Donte has the impact of a starter. Joey Dorsey is a guy I'm also intrigued with.

The rest are iffy and perhaps expendable. We really have to be careful with Landry I think in particular--he's a low level starter in terms of impact, and when he's a free agent we can't overpay him. He's a good guy for 18-8 every night, but if his impact is middling, it's not worth it at the end.

Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes, in my mind, can be had at the right price. The Bobcats have had interest in Thompson, so hopefully we can maximize his value while he's still young and parlay him into better players/assets. Hawes can go too, especially if we get a physical intimidating brute in the upcoming draft--but even if that isn't the case, his impact isn't up to par. Garcia and Udrih are in the same boat, but are both toxic contracts so we're stuck with these two role players. Nocioni is probably the worst--super terrible impact, toxic contract--his value has completely sunk.

So our future is okay. Our best players are young players, which is always a good sign, and we have guys like Thompson/Hawes who we can parlay into better players if need be. And that high draft pick, if we get a good player (Wall/Turner!) should only help us. It is held down, though, by the toxic contracts our vets possess (Udrih, Garc, Noc). And our coach--Paul Westphal--showed very good flashes of strong coaching earlier in the season, so I'd think he's solidified his coaching gig with us.

ETA--What makes things tough is that we play in the super competitive West. Because our players are still young, none of them yet possess that high level, all-star/superstar level impact that's necessary to carry a team. The barometer is that if we don't have such an all star, we should have at least 2 guys having an impact between a starter and all star and a bunch of regular starters to make the playoffs. We fulfill the first part (Evans, Casspi), but only have 1 other starter (Greene). That's why we're far from a playoff team, but in the future, as our young players grow into their roles, we will see natural improvements.
 
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This.

Fans are dumb. Sorry. But we are. Actually you are. I am smart. But anyway, fans are dumb. Rather horrendously focused on the here and now and ofttimes unable to see the forest for the trees. And that's more or less a universal.

This franchise has one of the best setups for the future of any franchise in the league. Its gotten itslef loaded with all the assets you look for in a rebuild. Its got a budding superstar to build around. A whole swath of other young players who are at the very least rotation level players, and in several cases potential stars. Its got cap room. It has another high pick coming. With the Kevin trade it shed the last of its huge contracts. Its ONLY real detriment is the series of MLE deals that Geoff kept on signing that have resulted in the Beno/Cisco/Noc deals. That will continue to be a minor annoyance, but as 2 of those three players at least could have decent roles on the team, its far from any sort of killer. Otherwise we've got loads of young talent on cheap deals. Its a perfect situation to build from either with youth or by making a splashy trade.

How right you are. This time.:rolleyes:
 
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