We desperately need a true 3 but I see this getting resolved mid-season. I feel like we've overhauled the roster a lot and when you are talking about adding a starting caliber talent and moving Holmes or Barnes or potentially both to acquire that, you need to see what you have first.
If this team experiences a renaissance under Brown and Barnes is a part of it, is he so quick to leave? I still feel like the best move for him if he's out the door is near the deadline to a team that needs him while we can hopefully get a roleplayer and perhaps a pick. It's very hard to imagine getting a better player back right now.
It seemed like when Sabonis arrived he took on a floor leader quality, but he was sidelined pretty quickly. Will be interesting to see what the dynamic is under Brown.
I definitely don't want to overpay, I don't know if he wants to sign a team friendly deal. That's Monte's job if he can make it happen. Can we extend him before the deadline? I definitely don't have a problem moving him for the right return. I think that is more likely to happen later than in the pre-season but I guess if a KD deal happens there might be opportunity to glom on as a third wheel.
I don’t know about way over paid. He basically just got handed Barnes’ contract from 3 years ago and he’s already just as productive as Barnes has ever been in his career, except Johnson is only 22 and likely will improve yet. If we could get a Barnes for Johnson swap without adding too much more I’d do it in a heart beat. I think Johnson’s defense can be improved a lot with sticking at a position for a while and his energy is infectious.
absolutely. Either the Kings start of lightning in a bottle and Barnes and Murray are on fire, or you start figuring out how to show off Barnes to ship him. I guess the real issue is what happens if this team starts off 12-8 or better and you're looking at a 50 win pace with those two. What then?
I keep wondering to myself (and will include Ellis as well) which guy is a 3 here, obviously nothing we have so far is ideal but we should find ways to make it work, at least we aren't trying to play "positionless basketball" with our PG and Cs anymore, since 2-4 in the modern NBA are the most flexible.
Agreed that the deal doesn’t make too much sense for the Spurs unless they truly do see potential in him to be a part of their future. I don’t think he’s ever done very well as a playmaker on offense, I remember last year him struggling a bit with his ISOs and if he was asked to be a main ball handler. He plays much better as an off ball shooter, with the athleticism and bounce to provide energy on offense, just like his second half numbers last year. His defense is where he can really grow as a player though. He’s still very young at 22 so that’s a possibility. That said with his age, I’d hope Barnes was a more proven commodity at 27 when the Kings got him than Johnson is at 22 with 3 years played. Kings don’t currently have anyone who brings his type of energy and enthusiastic style of play. For a young team, that’s important to have I feel. That alone makes a Barnes for Johnson swap worth it in my mind cause offensively statistically they’re the same player production wise. While Barnes arrow on defense is trending down, the bet would be on Johnson’s defensive arrow trending up.
Why would either team do that?
And Dirk.
