i was backpacking through the ansel adams wilderness in inyo national forest all last week with my wife and our dog, so i missed the majority of the free agency action across the nba. but now i'm caught up on current events, and you all had yourselves quite a time at kf.com without me!
i think the marco belinelli signing was smart and shrewd; he will undoubtedly help the kings' outside shooting problems, and he's a high-IQ player who's winning experience under gregg popovich can be nothing but an asset. and i absolutely
love the kosta koufos signing. he was a guy i had hoped the kings were targeting, and i'm very pleased they were able to land him. as long as demarcus cousins sticks around, he, WCS, and koufos will be an extremely formidable frontline rotation across the next few seasons. if WCS becomes the player i hope he'll become, it could easily be the strongest defensive frontline rotation in the west...
then there's the rajon rondo signing. i knew it was a possibility that he would sign here (even a likelihood, given rudy gay's friendship with rondo), though i'm not exactly the biggest fan of the move. i am glad that both camps were determined to ink a one-year deal, though. rondo's got a "make good" season coming up, and he's certainly going to want to prove that injuries and an unfortunate stint in dallas don't represent the end of his effectiveness. and if it doesn't work out for the kings, they can easily cut him loose next offseason. i'm just not sure how it
does work out for the kings. rondo will have to temper his ego considerably (perhaps a difficult task when playing for george karl/playing with demarcus cousins), he'll have to get real comfortable feeding big cuz in the post and finding the kings' shooters in space, and he'll have to reacquire some of his drive on the defensive end. all told, i'm not convinced that he's any kind of "upgrade" over darren collison, though i am happy that the kings now have a legitimate PG rotation infused with veteran talent...
elsewhere, i found the thompson/landry/stauskas trade rather perplexing at first, though i appreciate the urgency it communicates. i don't really have a problem with the kings unloading minimal contributors, even the developing stauskas, but i am made a bit nervous by the future draft picks involved. it's certainly a ballsy move that emphasizes the need for the team to improve immediately and make a run at the playoffs. and lastly, i wasn't surprised that wes matthews turned down the kings' offer, but it was encouraging to me that vlade had clearly targeted the right kinda player for this team. i like that he played the role of vladfather, making matthews an offer that he wouldn't have been able to refuse under more stable circumstances for this franchise; making such an offer was an acknowledgment that this franchise's reputation is in a broken state, but that vlade's going to try to do everything in his power to repair it...