twslam07
All-Star
I've been happy with Rondo's play thus far, and I would be happy to see him in a Kings uniform next season. Having said that, I do sometimes think that our potential might be capped with him due to his shooting and average defense. If we're going to move forward with a frontcourt of Cousins, Cauley-Stein, & Gay, we really need defense and shooting from both guard spots.
If we aren't able to retain Rondo, I would really like to see us go after Teague. Atlanta really likes Schroder, and he has made it known that he'd like to start next year. I don't think Atlanta would be holding onto him too tightly. There's two trades I would explore in the offseason:
Trade 1
Hawks Get: Darren Collison & Ben McLemore
Kings Get: Jeff Teague
Hawks get a solid backup to Schroder, obtain a young asset, and keep their young, talented PG happy by allowing him to start. Kings upgrade their starting PG spot while maintaining their cap space (~$26 mil).
With the cap room we have, I would suggest going after a starting 3 and D SG. I would go after Batum, Bazemore, & C. Lee in that order. Then I would target a decent backup PG (Augustin, Bayless, Chalmers, or N. Cole).
PG - Teague (32 min)/Cole (16 min)/Curry
SG - Batum (28 min)/Belinelli (20 min)/Anderson
SF - Gay (17 min)/Casspi (25 min)/Batum (6 min)
PF - Cauley-Stein (24 min)/Gay (17 min)/Cousins (7 min)/Acy
C - Cousins (28 min)/Koufos (20 min)
Cousins - 35 min
Gay - 34 min
Batum - 34 min
Teague - 32 min
Casspi - 25 min
Cauley-Stein - 24 min
Belinelli - 20 min
Koufos - 20 min
Cole - 16 min
Trade 2
Hawks Get: Darren Collison, Ben McLemore, & Doug McDermott
Kings Get: Jeff Teague & Taj Gibson
Bulls Get: Rudy Gay
Hawks get a solid backup to Schroder, obtain a couple of young assets, and keep their young, talented PG happy by allowing him to start. Bulls get a good scoring wing for Gibson (rumored that the Bulls are/were interested in this sort of trade). Kings upgrade their starting PG and acquire a starting caliber PF that compliments Cousins well. We'd also have around $30 mil in cap space.
You'd have to go out and get two wings with the cap space you have to round out the roster. SF options would be Batum, Parson, & Barnes and SG options would be Batum, Bazemore, & Lee. You could either spend a lot of the cap on a guy like Batum and then try to bring Lee in on a lower level deal (20 mil & 10 mil) or you could sign two mid-level guys like Bazemore & Barnes for around $15 mil each. Lee is getting up there (31 next year), so it might make sense to acquire a duo of Bazemore/Barnes especially since their ages fall in line with the age of our core players (28 - Teague, 27 - Bazemore, 30 - Belinelli, 24 - Barnes, 28 - Casspi, 31 - Gibson, 23 - Cauley-Stein, 26 - Cousins, 27 - Koufos). Lastly, sign a decent backup PG.
PG - Teague (32 min)/Cole (16 min)/Curry
SG - Bazemore (28 min)/Belinelli (20 min)/Anderson
SF - Barnes (23 min)/Casspi (25 min)
PF - Gibson (24 min)/Cauley-Stein (20 min)/Barnes (4 min)/Acy
C - Cousins (35 min)/Koufos (13 min)
Cousins - 35 min
Teague - 32 min
Bazemore - 28 min
Barnes - 27 min
Casspi - 25 min
Gibson - 24 min
Belinelli - 20 min
Cauley-Stein - 20 min
Cole - 16 min
Koufos - 13 min
I like this team a lot. Yeah it doesn't have that prototypical #2 option, but the roster is filled with defenders, shooters, and scorers. Everyone in the starting lineup would be good to great defenders (Teague is underrated in my opinion, and Bazemore, Barnes, & Gibson are all solid defenders). Then you have Cole, Cauley-Stein, & Koufos off the bench who are all good defenders as well. This team would be able to matchup with anyone defensively and be able to beat teams with their defense alone.
The offense would good as well. Cousins is still the go-to option, but now you have a 40% 3pt shooting PG, 43% 3pt shooting SG, 38% 3pt shooting SF, and a PF who shoots 46% from 16-22ft. Defenses would be absolutely punished if they try and double Cousins. Not to mention, Teague is a pretty talented scorer himself and can break down the defense and get into the lane. Everyone except Cousins has a positive AST/TO ratio in the starting unit which leads me to think that this unit would take good care of the ball. This team doesn't really have any ball stoppers either. They would play great team basketball and play very unselfishly. Then off the bench you have both Belinelli & Casspi being able to put up points in a hurry while still maintaining spacing for Cousins. They could even try out a Teague/Bazemore/Casspi/Barnes/Cousins rotation. Barnes does a decent job at guarding PFs and now you have three 40%+ 3pt shooters and one 38% 3pt shooter around Cousins. That floor spacing would excellent while still maintaining a good defensive lineup.
There are a few drawbacks to this trade...
1. How will Cousins feel if Rondo is not retained or we decided to go after someone else?
2. How will Cousins feel about moving Gay?
3. Cousins would be the only returning player from last year in the starting lineup (chemistry issues?)
4. Teague & Gibson will both be expiring in the following season
...but I would be pretty excited to see that type of roster around Cousins.
If we aren't able to retain Rondo, I would really like to see us go after Teague. Atlanta really likes Schroder, and he has made it known that he'd like to start next year. I don't think Atlanta would be holding onto him too tightly. There's two trades I would explore in the offseason:
Trade 1
Hawks Get: Darren Collison & Ben McLemore
Kings Get: Jeff Teague
Hawks get a solid backup to Schroder, obtain a young asset, and keep their young, talented PG happy by allowing him to start. Kings upgrade their starting PG spot while maintaining their cap space (~$26 mil).
With the cap room we have, I would suggest going after a starting 3 and D SG. I would go after Batum, Bazemore, & C. Lee in that order. Then I would target a decent backup PG (Augustin, Bayless, Chalmers, or N. Cole).
PG - Teague (32 min)/Cole (16 min)/Curry
SG - Batum (28 min)/Belinelli (20 min)/Anderson
SF - Gay (17 min)/Casspi (25 min)/Batum (6 min)
PF - Cauley-Stein (24 min)/Gay (17 min)/Cousins (7 min)/Acy
C - Cousins (28 min)/Koufos (20 min)
Cousins - 35 min
Gay - 34 min
Batum - 34 min
Teague - 32 min
Casspi - 25 min
Cauley-Stein - 24 min
Belinelli - 20 min
Koufos - 20 min
Cole - 16 min
Trade 2
Hawks Get: Darren Collison, Ben McLemore, & Doug McDermott
Kings Get: Jeff Teague & Taj Gibson
Bulls Get: Rudy Gay
Hawks get a solid backup to Schroder, obtain a couple of young assets, and keep their young, talented PG happy by allowing him to start. Bulls get a good scoring wing for Gibson (rumored that the Bulls are/were interested in this sort of trade). Kings upgrade their starting PG and acquire a starting caliber PF that compliments Cousins well. We'd also have around $30 mil in cap space.
You'd have to go out and get two wings with the cap space you have to round out the roster. SF options would be Batum, Parson, & Barnes and SG options would be Batum, Bazemore, & Lee. You could either spend a lot of the cap on a guy like Batum and then try to bring Lee in on a lower level deal (20 mil & 10 mil) or you could sign two mid-level guys like Bazemore & Barnes for around $15 mil each. Lee is getting up there (31 next year), so it might make sense to acquire a duo of Bazemore/Barnes especially since their ages fall in line with the age of our core players (28 - Teague, 27 - Bazemore, 30 - Belinelli, 24 - Barnes, 28 - Casspi, 31 - Gibson, 23 - Cauley-Stein, 26 - Cousins, 27 - Koufos). Lastly, sign a decent backup PG.
PG - Teague (32 min)/Cole (16 min)/Curry
SG - Bazemore (28 min)/Belinelli (20 min)/Anderson
SF - Barnes (23 min)/Casspi (25 min)
PF - Gibson (24 min)/Cauley-Stein (20 min)/Barnes (4 min)/Acy
C - Cousins (35 min)/Koufos (13 min)
Cousins - 35 min
Teague - 32 min
Bazemore - 28 min
Barnes - 27 min
Casspi - 25 min
Gibson - 24 min
Belinelli - 20 min
Cauley-Stein - 20 min
Cole - 16 min
Koufos - 13 min
I like this team a lot. Yeah it doesn't have that prototypical #2 option, but the roster is filled with defenders, shooters, and scorers. Everyone in the starting lineup would be good to great defenders (Teague is underrated in my opinion, and Bazemore, Barnes, & Gibson are all solid defenders). Then you have Cole, Cauley-Stein, & Koufos off the bench who are all good defenders as well. This team would be able to matchup with anyone defensively and be able to beat teams with their defense alone.
The offense would good as well. Cousins is still the go-to option, but now you have a 40% 3pt shooting PG, 43% 3pt shooting SG, 38% 3pt shooting SF, and a PF who shoots 46% from 16-22ft. Defenses would be absolutely punished if they try and double Cousins. Not to mention, Teague is a pretty talented scorer himself and can break down the defense and get into the lane. Everyone except Cousins has a positive AST/TO ratio in the starting unit which leads me to think that this unit would take good care of the ball. This team doesn't really have any ball stoppers either. They would play great team basketball and play very unselfishly. Then off the bench you have both Belinelli & Casspi being able to put up points in a hurry while still maintaining spacing for Cousins. They could even try out a Teague/Bazemore/Casspi/Barnes/Cousins rotation. Barnes does a decent job at guarding PFs and now you have three 40%+ 3pt shooters and one 38% 3pt shooter around Cousins. That floor spacing would excellent while still maintaining a good defensive lineup.
There are a few drawbacks to this trade...
1. How will Cousins feel if Rondo is not retained or we decided to go after someone else?
2. How will Cousins feel about moving Gay?
3. Cousins would be the only returning player from last year in the starting lineup (chemistry issues?)
4. Teague & Gibson will both be expiring in the following season
...but I would be pretty excited to see that type of roster around Cousins.
