[KINGS] Comments that don't warrant their own thread (Redux)

SLAB

Hall of Famer
You have to wonder if he will take another crack at the NBA. He is only 23
All Greek League 1st Team, Defensive Team, and Center of the Year!

AAAAAAAND, he won the Slam Dunk Contest the year before!

Max him.



On the real, I had a soft spot for PapaG. I think it was because he had that enforcer mentality. Dude wanted to scrap with anyone (especially if it was Dragan Bender)
 
All Greek League 1st Team, Defensive Team, and Center of the Year!

AAAAAAAND, he won the Slam Dunk Contest the year before!

Max him.



On the real, I had a soft spot for PapaG. I think it was because he had that enforcer mentality. Dude wanted to scrap with anyone (especially if it was Dragan Bender)
bring that man back
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Did Vlade quit on him too early?
Eh, getting cut/bounced around/back to Europe might have been the wake-up call he needed to get into premier shape. Who knows if it will ever translate to an NBA game for him. I’m all for 15th man fliers, though. If he wants to leave the luxurious life of being Greece’s best center for a two-way deal, IM IN!!!
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
I think the real takeaway is don't draft a young big. Get them for cheap on contract #2 (or 3 or 4).
There is a long list of counterexamples to this, ranging from Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid (and soon DeAndre Ayton) at the top of the draft to Nikola Jokic deep in the draft. Perhaps "don't draft a young non-marquee big" is the better rule?
 
It’s more of a problem of over drafting than anything else. Also, Papa G just may not be suited for the NBA - even if he has developed into a very good international player (to his credit).

I wish the Kings would give Jock Landale a chance. There are international bigs that the Kings should be looking at with the likely departure of Mr Holmes.
 
All Greek League 1st Team, Defensive Team, and Center of the Year!

AAAAAAAND, he won the Slam Dunk Contest the year before!

Max him.



On the real, I had a soft spot for PapaG. I think it was because he had that enforcer mentality. Dude wanted to scrap with anyone (especially if it was Dragan Bender)
I will never forget his summer league? 15 second post up back down from near the 3 point line for a missed hook shot. Epic.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
I will never forget his summer league? 15 second post up back down from near the 3 point line for a missed hook shot. Epic.
I’m pretty sure he’s the only guy I’ve ever seen get whistled for a back to the basket violation.
 
Perhaps a cautionary tale of giving up on young bigs too soon?
The true caution is one the Kings better be paying heed to in this upcoming draft when it comes to their backcourt, don't draft talent in the lottery if you have no way for them to fit into your roster or players you consider franchise core pieces blocking their path from day 1. Expecting big things from a young center when you had Cousins guaranteed to post 35 a night was not hopeful, it was ignorant and foolish. You could very well argue that it's the way to go regardless of that talents ability or potential i.e. Harden and the Thunder. That essentially did nothing for the Thunder at the end of the day since it brought no rings.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
There is a long list of counterexamples to this, ranging from Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid (and soon DeAndre Ayton) at the top of the draft to Nikola Jokic deep in the draft. Perhaps "don't draft a young non-marquee big" is the better rule?
Isn't KAT routinely cited as overpaid and trapping Minnesota in purgatory? Jokic was a second rounder. Embiid was worthy of his pick, but he didn't play for his first two years and the Sixers still haven't gotten past the second round. Sixers also drafted 2 other big men as part of the process that busted out.

I do love Ayton, he is definitely an exception but I would say the Suns are still Booker's team first and CP3 has been huge for their step up, but his draft class that was going to restore big men to greatness in the NBA, the two best players were the two not big men at the top of the class.

If the Suns do win it all this year, that would mean only he and AD have reached that tier for top big men, and AD only did it after forcing his way to LeBron and the Lakers.

My thinking is getting a second rounder or someone who played 3 seasons in the NCAA and is picked at the end of the first/early 2nd round and closer to ~25 is going to get more impact for the dollar and may not be under the pressure to succeed immediately the way high draft big men have. And you may not have to pay them big bucks until their third contract. Whereas a high lotto big man is going to be into 8 figures before their rookie deal ends and may not have grown into his body. No, I'm not thinking of a specific player there at all ...
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
So my takeaway is if we had not been cheated in 02 our 50 season title drought would still be good enough for 4th on the current list, but would also have had us secure in 1st at that time as well.

Longest droughts to resolve (actually most of these were time from founding to first title) - Cavs 1970-2016, Warriors 75-2015; Dallas 1980 - 2011, Raptors 1995-2019
And of course Miami who began play in 1988 have won 3 times since then.
Uggh.

Isn't it good to be a Kings fan.
 
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I know it's a different sport but we don't know true suffering until we recognize that Cubs fans had to wait a century for their title drought to end
2016 was the greatest moment of my life. Went to Chicago for the first 5 games. Watched game 2 in Cleveland, watched Game 4 in a bar in Wrigleyville. I will experience all those same feelings when the Kings breakthrough. The difference between now and 2002 is, I can actually afford to go to the games.
 
Thoughts from Bogi in free agency. Doesn’t sound like Monte handled it well. If the player is a restricted free agent you better be talking with them as they don’t have to sign. Seems like more Kings misplaced arrogance and continued front office incompetence......

Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was a restricted free agent last offseason, said the Kings told him they would match any offer and they saw his value as $15MM to $17MM a year, according to Kirschner.

He wound up getting $18MM from Atlanta and said he had no desire to return to Sacramento, calling it disrespectful that the Kings worked out a sign-and-trade with the Bucks without telling him.

“I remember talking with (coach) Luke (Walton) and (general manager) Monte (McNair), and they both told me how they wanted me,” Bogdanovic said. “I said, ‘OK, fine.’ They said they were going to wait for my offer because they couldn’t make a deal before going to the market. I’m talking with my guys from (Sacramento) and I wasn’t even looking at free agency. I was in Serbia and no one reached out to me. No one talked with me. No one asked me anything. I woke up, I saw it and then I didn’t know what to do. I called my agent and he told me to calm down because there was nothing they could do because I was a restricted free agent and they couldn’t do anything like that.”
 
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kingsboi

Hall of Famer
2016 was the greatest moment of my life. Went to Chicago for the first 5 games. Watched game 2 in Cleveland, watched Game 4 in a bar in Wrigleyville. I will experience all those same feelings when the Kings breakthrough. The difference between now and 2002 is, I can actually afford to go to the games.
I'd like to hold out hope that you, me and all the Kings faithful will be alive to witness anything relatively close of a NBA championship