Is this a playoff quality roster next season?

[rainmaker]

This was going to come up sooner or later. Yes, we are very young, very inexperienced. But we just changed the entire dynamic of this team over the course of a week. We now have one of the biggest frontlines in the league, with a lot of depth. We should win 10 more games than last year based on our rebounding and a years development from our young guys alone. And thats the bare minimum IMO.

Given our size, depth, maturation of young players like Omri, Donte, and JT, as well as a Tyreke who will hopefully have a better jumper, a better understanding of how to run a team, and a year under his belt, is challenging for the playoffs next year out of the question?

I know this might be a little early for this question, but it's something to talk about. Just looking at what Petrie did to our frontline over the past week makes this a legit question in my mind. Will we make it? Who knows. Too early to tell. Lets say I'm cautiously optomistic.

 

[SacKings7]

Based on talent? Yeah maybe. But the young guys, especially Greene, need to start kicking it into gear. All the guys need to develop chemistry together too. That takes a while

 

[Chupacabra]

The only reason i doubt it is because we have a combination of alot of young players and multiple new pieces. I would be very surprised if the Kings dont make the playoffs in the 2011-2012 season...if there is any playoffs. The defensive potential of our team is outragious. I could see the Kings making the playoffs next year if they have the philosophy of sending every player to the glass on every missed shot.

 

[hammystyle]

This was going to come up sooner or later. Yes, we are very young, very inexperienced. But we just changed the entire dynamic of this team over the course of a week. We are now have one of the biggest frontlines in the league, with a lot of depth. We should win 10 more games than last year based on our rebounding and a years development alone.

Given our size, depth, maturation of young players like Omri, Donte, and JT, as well as a Tyreke who will hopefully have a better jumper, and ayear under his belt, is challenging for the playoffs next year out of the question?

I know this might be a little early for this question, but it's something to talk about. Just looking at what Petrie did to our frontline over the past week makes this a legit question in my mind. Will we make it? Who knows. Too early to tell. Lets say I'm cautiously optomistic.

It didn't happen in a vacuum is the thing. Here were the 8 teams from last year, LAL, Dal, Pho, Den, Uth, Por, SA, and OKC. No, some of those teams like Pho, Uth, and SA are losing major pieces and or showing their age. On the other hand, NO gets Chris Paul back, Houston gets Yao back, and Memphis is a year better, though Gay could leave too.

That said, I think I have us pegged at about .500 or better. In fact I'll call it at 44-38. And generally, I'm not what you would call a Kings optimist. It really depends on how it all comes together obviously, but just on paper, we have a really strong deep lineup. Our weaknesses are now strengths. And our strengths from last year should be better. We should have solid defense, inside outside scoring and rebounding. What else is there?

Of course 44-38 would not have gotten us to the playoffs in the west last year. So there you go. But should be a fun year nonetheless.

 

[Entity]

The only reason i doubt it is because we have a combination of alot of young players and multiple new pieces. I would be very surprised if the Kings dont make the playoffs in the 2011-2012 season...if there is any playoffs. The defensive potential of our team is outragious. I could see the Kings making the playoffs next year if they have the philosophy of sending every player to the glass on every missed shot.

Yeah it depends how quickly this team comes together. just think from opening day last year we have 3 new starters.

last year

Evans and he was a rookie
Martin
Nocionni
Thompson
Hawes

This year

Evans
?
?
?
?

so its a whole new team

 

[rhythmless]

Just like all star selections, it's not about you or your team as much as it is about how you stack up against another.

Lakers
Nugs
Portland
Mavs
Jazz
Thunder

Those 6 are given. Barring horrendous injury (which many of them faced last year anyways), these will be in the playoffs. We are not better than these guys. Period.

Spurs
Houston
Hornets

Age/Injuries have knocked down these once formidable teams. Yao is coming back, the Spurs are always resilient, and NO has a gamechanger in CP3.

Memphis
Clips

Can Memphis replicate their run?
The Clips almost put in 30 wins WITHOUT Blake Griffin.

Where do you see us stacking up? Obviously the top 6 are out. The next 3? I'd say Spurs and Rockets have more talent (now) and will definitely get more wins. Depending on what the FO does in NO, we could definitely match them. Leapfrogging Memphis and Clips is a crapshoot b/c they have talent as well. But for argument's sake let's give the Kings their due.

I still do not see them cracking that top 8.

Fight for 9th spot is my ceiling for this team next season. It's not that we don't have the right pieces in place or that we won't be competitive. But when you bring up league issues, such as playoff standings and all star selections, the landscape is much more telling.

 

[ElRey]

the offseason is not over yet and we may make more moves, so its hard to say. The current team is very young and talented, and we'll probably win more games. But the West is very tough. If we were in the East, I'd say yes. Young teams usually need at least 1 year together before they really gel (ie Oklahoma). But that's ok, that means we'll get one more lottery pick to stack talent. any up and coming SGs next year?

 

[mac]

Yeah it depends how quickly this team comes together. just think from opening day last year we have 3 new starters.

last year

Evans and he was a rookie
Martin
Nocionni
Thompson
Hawes

This year

Evans
?
?
?
?

so its a whole new team

Wasn't our starting line up Evans Martin Mason May JT?

 

[swisshh]

It would be very hard to jump to 50 wins next year in the West, and you pretty much need that level of success to get in. I think 40 wins is a great improvement to reach next year and then the team can be ready to make waves the following year.

I see this season as the season to see what pieces are the team identity pieces: which SF is best, if the rookies can reach potential, who are the leaders and who are the role players.

 

[Vlade4GM]

No, but if Cousins turns out as well as we expect him to, then it shouldn't be as long as we once feared.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Yeah it depends how quickly this team comes together. just think from opening day last year we have 3 new starters.

last year

Evans and he was a rookie
Martin
Nocionni
Thompson
Hawes

This year

Evans
?
?
?
?

so its a whole new team

Relative to the opening day lineup, sure, it's a new team. But if you look at the minutes distribution from last year, it breaks down like this:

Players definitely back as of now played 64% of our minutes last year (Evans, Beno, JT, Casspi, Greene, Landry, Cisco)
Players possibly coming back played 8% of our minutes last year (Brockman, Udoka)
Players that are gone played 28% of our minutes last year (Martin, Hawes, Noc, Sergio, May, KT, Mason, Dorsey, Temple, Armstrong, McGuire)

As of now, we've really only added three guys: Dalembert, Cousins, and Whiteside (who may not play much, we'll see), and if they somehow manage to play 5000 minutes between them that's about 25% of the minutes - something like 75% of our minutes will be played by guys who were here last year. Basically, we've rebooted the C, but the other four positions will be basically the same as the end of last year, except Nocioni is gone.

I fully expect that we're going to get better (most of our returning guys are still very young) but I wouldn't really call us a whole new team.

 

[Prince_XY]

It will still be a long way to go, unless we miraculously are able to sign LBJ or Wade.

Or maybe another strange thing happens like Evans, Greene, Thompson and Cousins suddenly have precocious development?

 

[Gary]

Not a playoff team next season. Well at least not with what we have. We could add some pieces with out cap space and go from there though.

Morrow I believe would be a great fit here.. MAYBE Rudy Gay too.. But I kind of have a feeling Petrie might go after Nate Robinson or someone like that and spend about 5-7mil a year.

I wouldn't mind Jason Williams, or Marcus Williams.

 

[UK_King]

I really don't think we should be worrying about playoff spots next season.

If it happens... great, we're ahead of schedule.

We just need to improve the win count a bit and try and be a whole lot more solid against some of the so called bigger teams.

 

[Bricklayer]

Not yet unless the conference dramatically weakens and 45 wins will get you a #8. And that would still ba a real longshot.

We're just too young. Now the advantage of being young is we are getting better as we sit here typing. If we had done nothing at all this summer we would have come back stronger just from the natural improvement of all of our young players. But while we will be better, and likely MUCH better, that's still not good enough in the West. If we win 35 that's a nice 10 game improvement, and nowhere near the playoffs. If we win 40 that's a big 15 game improvement, and still nowhere near the playoffs. We basically have to make one fo the biggest percentage jumps in history -- double our win total to 50 wtih +25 wins, and that's just highly unlikely. Even if Cousions wants tlo come in and average 20-10 its unlikely.

2011-12 should be the year, if the idiots don't blow up the league fighting over their megamillions

 

[NewArena]

I haven't read all of the comments yet, but i really think we will probably miss the playoffs, but not by much at all. We will be probably be about 2 to 4 games out by the time the season ends in my opinion.

But who knows? This offseason has just begun, and a lot of things can happen, although i think our summer will be relatively quiet from this point on. One advantage that no one is really mentioning is the fact that we are finally going into the next season with the same exact coaching staff.

That will surely pay dividends for our young players who are still trying to put it all together. Especially Donte and Casspi. One thing i DO know?

ARCO WILL BE ROCKIN with energy this coming season!

 

[Rug King]

As excited as I am about the upcoming season, I don't see the Kings making the playoffs. To go from 25 wins to 40 wins would be a major step up the rankings but still wouldn't get us into the playoffs.
It's going to be fun watching this new team and seeing who they add in free agency and who knows, these guys could make a serious run at the 8th spot. That would be fun.

Go Kings!

 

[Purple Reign]

Opening Night Roster

STARTERS
PG/SG - Evans
PG/SG - Beno
SF - Greene
PF - Landry
C - Dalembert

Bench Rotation
PG -
SG - Garcia
SF - Caspi
PF - Thompson
C- Cousins

10, 11, 12 Men
C -Whiteside
PF - Brockman

There are roster spots to be had. IMHO, the only way the Kings make a run at the Playoffs in '11 is to find in Free Agency a starting, High Quality traditional IMPACT 2 guard and move Beno to your number 3 guard.

Here are some realistic players out there that can be had if the Price is Right:

J.J. Redick
Tony Allen
Anthony Morrow
Ronnie Brewer

I would love to have any of these four to be the Kings Starting Shooting Guard.

 

[Bricklayer]

There are roster spots to be had. IMHO, the only way the Kings make a run at the Playoffs in '11 is to find in Free Agency a starting, High Quality traditional IMPACT 2 guard and move Beno to your number 3 guard.

Here are some realistic players out there that can be had if the Price is Right:

J.J. Redick
Tony Allen
Anthony Morrow
Ronnie Brewer

I would love to have any of these four to be the Kings Starting Shooting Guard.

First, I think much of the unbalance is solved simply by Cisco being the starting SG, and wham, there is Beno as the #3 guard.

Secondly while 3 of the 4 guys on that list are interesting (I'll pass on the short white college all Star thanks), 2 fo them can't shoot (Brewer/Allen) which makes them awkward fits next to Reke in the starting lineup, although I do like their defense. And while they might develop some, I do have to wonder, how significantly better are those guys than Cisco/Beno? Not bad guys to have, but subbing out Cisco and replacing him with Tony Allen will change the flavor of the team, but I'm not sure how many extra wins it represents.

I'm not necessarily anti picking one of them up -- I have always liked Brewer's and Allen's defense in particular -- but I do think expecting such a move to give us a huge boost might be a bit much, at least from what we've seen from those guys to date in their careers.

P.S. I had not really considered allen in the "we need a vet" thread, but there's a thoguht too. Not truly a vet, but an elite defender, with championship experience. Could bring him in and let him tell war stories of the playoffs etc., and help really establish a defensive tone.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I was really down on JJ in another thread made about possibly signing him, and while I wouldnt sign him, If Geoff does I'd certainly understand it.

Now that the draft is over, we have a better idea of the type of players we need.

He outplayed Ray Allen in the Boston series. He's one of the best shooters in the league. ( So is Morrow, who I also like, but we have more players are Morrows position than we do JJ's ).

Its clear we need shooters, JJ is a terrific one, and he plays a position of need. Another plus is his excellent FT shooting. Yea, most of the time its not a huge deal, but as we saw in the finals with Sasha, having a automatic FT shooter on the bench can help in certain situations.

His defense isnt bad either. I'd say its better than Udrihs. He really gave Allen problems for the second straight year in the playoffs.

He could also fit the veteran need role. As much as we all hate Duke, he is a winner. He had success in Orlando, and does seem to have leadership qualities.

 

[Kaiz]

Casspi should be s starter and Donte should come off the bench.
with big C that can pass out balls and may cause a double team, Casspi can reach 50% from down town.

Donte miss tons of shots, he must work on his jump shot.

We must remember that Casspi gave a 10pts and 4.5 rebounds in his first year. he should get much better.

Checking the +/- of Casspi in any combination shows that it's vital that he will get max minutes as possible. he brings defense, (as well as donte), fightness, aggression, passion, and he shots great from 3.

I expect Casspi and Tyreke to be better than last year, and with DMC Dlambert we can reach 40+ wins this year.


I also think that Beno should be a starter as well with Tyreke, we saw the outcome of this two. ig GP is going to land us a better effective SG that he should compete with Beno and Cisco.

mmm... I'm truly excited from this coming year.
Let's go Kings!

 

[Megalodon]

Casspi should be s starter and Donte should come off the bench.
with big C that can pass out balls and may cause a double team, Casspi can reach 50% from down town.

Donte miss tons of shots, he must work on his jump shot.

We must remember that Casspi gave a 10pts and 4.5 rebounds in his first year. he should get much better.

Checking the +/- of Casspi in any combination shows that it's vital that he will get max minutes as possible. he brings defense, (as well as donte), fightness, aggression, passion, and he shots great from 3.

I expect Casspi and Tyreke to be better than last year, and with DMC Dlambert we can reach 40+ wins this year.


I also think that Beno should be a starter as well with Tyreke, we saw the outcome of this two. ig GP is going to land us a better effective SG that he should compete with Beno and Cisco.

mmm... I'm truly excited from this coming year.
Let's go Kings!

I also kinda think Casspi is underrated here next to Donte because of Donte's potential. I think what Casspi was doing at the beginning of last year until he just flat out looked exhausted ... was amazing. He will be coming into the year better conditioned and ready for the rigors of the NBA.

 

[captain bill]

I was really down on JJ in another thread made about possibly signing him, and while I wouldnt sign him, If Geoff does I'd certainly understand it.

Now that the draft is over, we have a better idea of the type of players we need.

He outplayed Ray Allen in the Boston series. He's one of the best shooters in the league. ( So is Morrow, who I also like, but we have more players are Morrows position than we do JJ's ).

Its clear we need shooters, JJ is a terrific one, and he plays a position of need. Another plus is his excellent FT shooting. Yea, most of the time its not a huge deal, but as we saw in the finals with Sasha, having a automatic FT shooter on the bench can help in certain situations.

His defense isnt bad either. I'd say its better than Udrihs. He really gave Allen problems for the second straight year in the playoffs.

He could also fit the veteran need role. As much as we all hate Duke, he is a winner. He had success in Orlando, and does seem to have leadership qualities.

Yeah, he looked like a bust his first few years, but he's really improved a lot of late. I think he has a lot of what we need- a good shooter who will bring some energy but knows his role and plays within it. He'd fit much better than a guy like Gay or other high-volume scorers people have been suggesting.

As to the thread topic: no, Kings don't make the playoffs this year. I'm guessing mid-to-high 30s for win totals, considering (1) that it takes a while for bigs to have an impact and (2) we'll probably get hot for parts of the season, then ice cold for others. I don't think we break .500 til '11-'12, then we start being serious in the PO picture after that.

 

[Kingstime]

I thought even before the draft and the trade that this team was gonna be closer this year based off of last year. I dont see much improvement in the bottom half of the west and because of the salary cap some west teams might even get weaker. If the rooks can give us more defensively and just dunk the ball when reke drops it off we will get more wins.

Also if we can go into our known road traps and come out with some ws in the early season you just might be surprised at where we are sitting come march. Gp upgraded our biggest weakness in get Dally and Cousins ts unbelievable thinking about that it was frustrating watching the layup line at our basket. Just the thought of that problem being gone makes me believe that having quicker expectations from this team isnt as far fetched as it was last year.

 

[Peter_Gibbons]

Just like all star selections, it's not about you or your team as much as it is about how you stack up against another.

Lakers
Nugs
Portland
Mavs
Jazz
Thunder

Those 6 are given. Barring horrendous injury (which many of them faced last year anyways), these will be in the playoffs. We are not better than these guys. Period.

With the Jazz, you never know. If they lose Boozer and don't fine a legit replacement, they may not make it. Okur is on the downhill and AK is just AK. I know they have Millsap but using him to replace Boozer makes their bench weak.

Thunder are the new young power, but with young teams there is always the chance of their regressing.

It may sound crazy but even for the Nuggets, you never know. Their team is very thin and they had stretches where there were playing below 500 even last yr. This team is a do or die type of team. Highly combustible.

 

[bajaden]

Not a playoff team next season. Well at least not with what we have. We could add some pieces with out cap space and go from there though.

Morrow I believe would be a great fit here.. MAYBE Rudy Gay too.. But I kind of have a feeling Petrie might go after Nate Robinson or someone like that and spend about 5-7mil a year.

I wouldn't mind Jason Williams, or Marcus Williams.

First off, please no Nate Robinson. OK, I doubt Petrie is going to sign anyone to more than a one year contract with the new CBA looming. Unless a no brainer comes along. And that would probably involve a trade moving one of our SF's. Cisco leaps to mind. Or just absorbing the contract with our cap space. Even in that event, I'd bet my money on an expiring contract from a team trying to clear space at the last moment.

I know that doesn't sound very sexy, but I do think its the prudent way to go right now. There are guys like McGuire out there that can be had for chump change on one year contracts.

Now if you have a chance to pick up someone like Anthony Morrow, then I would be willing to go for a longer than one year deal. As long as the price is right. If Randle doesn't have an agreement with Washington yet, then I think he'd be a great pick up. I still wish they'd take a look at Torrance. Not sure why he wasn't drafted. I think he's a pretty good player with great size for a pt guard.

 

[Uncia03]

I remember early last year when we were winning some games and had those two back-to-back close games with Cleveland and the Lakers. It was an extremely young team which was playing with grit and tenacity.

We of course fell off the map, especially due to our inability to win games on the road. We went 7-34 on the road last year, and a lot of those games were close with 6 minutes left in the game.

I felt at the time that if we'd been able to pick up a defensive anchor in the post, that we'd have the ability to push for that 8th seed. Okafor was talked about a lot, then later Sammy was bantered around.

As to our chances to push for a playoff spot in the upcoming year, I think that it's a possibility. We were smart enough last year to work hard to get the 3rd worst record in the NBA, but we definitely were not the 3rd worst team.

A number of things would have to happen for the Kings to make such a huge leap.

1.) Tyreke develops a jumpshot
2.) Cousins dominates in the post
3.) Kings play and execute a physically brutal inside-outside game with Cousins/Tyreke
4.) Donte makes another jump in his game, becoming a more consistent shooter and better rebounding
5.) Casspi doesn't run out of gas and shoots through the season as he did the 1st half of last season
6.) JT continues to play next season as he ended last season
7.) Cousins/Sammy/JT/Whiteside provide the interior defense needed to win
8.) Westphal continues to develop this young team, and works hard to ease Whiteside into becoming a legit NBA player

If those things take place, and we begin to win the majority of the games that we were close in, especially on the road, then it wouldn't be shocking to be looking at that 8th seed.

I think that the Kings would need some help with having some of the other 'locks' perhaps struggle for one reason or another.

All in all, I'm just hoping to see more of the same that we saw from the team last season. I want to see tenacity, grit, and hopefully the desire to physically beat-down and overwhelm their opponents. If they do that, I'll be fine with where-ever they end up in the standings.

 

[Kingster]

Yeah, he looked like a bust his first few years, but he's really improved a lot of late. I think he has a lot of what we need- a good shooter who will bring some energy but knows his role and plays within it. He'd fit much better than a guy like Gay or other high-volume scorers people have been suggesting.

As to the thread topic: no, Kings don't make the playoffs this year. I'm guessing mid-to-high 30s for win totals, considering (1) that it takes a while for bigs to have an impact and (2) we'll probably get hot for parts of the season, then ice cold for others. I don't think we break .500 til '11-'12, then we start being serious in the PO picture after that.

He's also an incredibly hard worker and good guy. The more of those you have on your team, the better.

 

[NME]

We're at least a year away from serious playoff contention, but when we do make that leap I think it may be a bigger jump than just squeaking into the last slot or two.

There's just no way we jump from the 3rd worst record to what's necessary to making the playoffs in the West in the space of one offseason. Unless Cousins comes out with a rookie year like Shaq's.

 

[Merdiesel]

How many more games would we have won if just having Dalembert in there instead of Hawes last year?..

We had virtually no starting center last year. Aboslutely zero presence in the paint defensively.
JT played out of position, causing him to foul his way out of every game, Hawes sucked and do I even need to mention Sean May...

Other then playing Golden State, nearly every other team out matched us. Totally new team heading into next season, I do believe we have a shot at the playoffs this year.