Kings sign KZ Okpala to two year deal
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
Kings49ers
Bench
I love Wiggins so I’m not trying to belittle him, but Wiggins’ offense being categorized as good is a bit of stretch. It was…voluminous shall we say.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
And possibly Keon Ellis.
Noble
Bench
Mini Baby Wiggins...Lite??
Noble
Bench
Wow he really made things rough there for Dame
kingsfan101
Starter
Much as I love the idea, I hope Ellis and KZ don't see much time with the main team this season. Practice/G-league/garbage time is where I hope they get their reps.
I think with the starting lineup plus Richaun, Monk, and Mitchell there's more than enough scoring on this team already. I want Keon Ellis, KZ Okpala, and Neemias Queta all on the 15 man roster as soon as possible so they can practice regularly with the main squad and if they get rotation minutes too that's only going to help us. You don't get better on defense by hiring defensive specialists and then hiding them on the bench. They have to actually play in order to help us.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
My line of thinking as well. Especially for a developing team.
This drive and motivation to end “the streak” is understandable, but short-sighted.
Fans here always talk about “high/low ceiling” regarding a player’s potential —well, aiming for a 7-10 seed is the equivalent of a low ceiling.
It’s not “winning now”. It’s cannon fodder for a top 2 seed with little to no upside.
This org should be trying to build for the future best they can. Developing these young guys together seems like a good route to take, even if it means losing some games they might win with vets that aren’t going to be part of the future.
To be clear, I’m not talking about tanking. At all. Play to win at all times. But do it with the guys you are hoping develop into your winning future. If the likes of Ellis and KZ aren’t those guys … cool. But play the guys that are.
IMO that’s among the ways a sustainable winning culture is built.
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kingsfan101
Starter
For a young, developing team like ours, winning on the back of the young kids is good. Even if we are cannon fodder for the top seeds (if we get there, I'll be ecstatic), means that some kids have shown good improvement.
Most teams win by stars. They are helped by depth, but don't win due to it. Depth is particularly helpful during injuries, and for trades. However, if we are to win, and win consistently, we need to have couple of folks who are all-stars, or least always in discussion. We have two, who have shown potential, and hope that KM will be the third. If we make big leaps now, or in near future, we need to have two folks in conversation for all-stars, KM for ROY, and Davion for DPOY.
Fox, Davion, Monk, Huerter, Murray, Barnes, Sabonis are our top 7 guys. Richaun, Lyles, Metu, and TD are likely the next 4. That's an 11 deep rotation, and most successful teams typically play a tighter one. Over a long season, injuries, and sometimes matchups will dictate some changes. However, barring that, there isn't likely to be too much floor time for Keon, KZ, or Queta. I would be happier if they got their reps in G-league, with occasional calls to the main club if required.
Things can change over the season. If Queta starts showing more promise than Holmes, or if there is some trade, perhaps one or more of these guys can get an opening. We all would be happy if they did well. Overall though, I think that for the immediate, and short term (2-3 years horizon) good of the team, some of our players on the cusp of stardom have to take that leap, instead of our minimum guys breaking into the rotation.
Kings49ers
Bench
I’m assuming one of the two guys we just signed will see minutes as a defensive stopper nightly. Both have good size, length, athleticism and have shown the ability to guard multiple positions. I’m extremely pleased with these two signings as end of roster, yet needed ability players. Even if they weren’t the exact two guys I would have gone with I’m pretty pleased to see Monte and Mike have enough awareness to use 2/3 of the last spots on defensive minded guys who are experienced enough to be used yet also young enough to grow some.
It will be interesting to see what Coach Brown prioritizes in the rotation. We know the goal of the team is to win enough to make the playoffs next season. We should see a ton of Fox and Sabonis obviously but I wonder if Keegan will be given starter minutes right away or if he'll be expected to earn them. Monte invested a lot in Monk and Huerter to up our three point shooting prowess but guys like Davion, KZ, and Neemias fill equally important roles defensively. I would expect most of our recent head coaches to ignore defensive role players in favor of more proven scorers but in Coach Brown we have a coach who has built his reputation almost entirely on the defensive end. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a different kind of rotation than what we're used to. For instance, he'll have to prove that he can at least hit corner threes at a respectable rate to make this a viable solution for us long-term, but inserting KZ into the starting lineup to defend the other team's top wing would help establish the expectation that we're not just going to try and outscore everyone this year.
I'd be very surprised if KZ started, but I think we got him for him to be a key rotation piece every night. Brown obviously had input with the decision here and if he didn't believe in his defensive talent after his work with him in the Olympics, he wouldn't be here. We'll see the details of the contract, but a 2 year deal generally suggests you're more than just roster filler.
I think the Kings now have a pretty decent 9-man rotation with most slots covered:
Guards: Fox/Davion/Monk
Guard/Wing flex: Huerter
Wings: Barnes/Murray/KZ
Bigs: Sabonis/Holmes.
TD/Len/Lyles is pretty great as your 10-12 depth too.
I'd be more worried with KZ on last years roster, but with all the shooting we added, his offensive game shouldn't be nearly as big a deal to getting him on the floor. Lots of real creative lineup options this year
serbiangoat
Starter
Is this the Mo Harkless replacement? Is he better?
Ozymandias
All-Star
More offensive upside for sure.. Mo's a bit more mechanical looking and Kezie is smoother.. Both solid defenders but Mo was better at getting steals and blocks.
Mo was more ready to be plugged into the NBA game coming out of college, stronger for sure.. Kezie was more of your classic late-bloomer/project, he was a 5'10 PG at the start of highschool and then grew 10", he didnt have any d1 college offers til his junior year.
Agree completely. I think KZ is going to take that 9th man, 20 minute a game role, that we have been saying belongs to Lyles or Davis.
Fox (34), Mitchell (14)
Huerter (12), Monk (24), Mitchell (12)
Huerter (16) Barnes (20) KZ (12)
Murray (30) Barnes (10) KZ (8)
Sabonis (34) Holmes (14)
Fox-34
Sabonis- 34
Barnes-30
Murray-30
Huerter-28
Mitchell-26
Monk-24
KZ- 20
Holmes-14
Davis, Lyles, Len, 3rd PG as situational, injury, foul trouble, or change of pace guys at spots 10-13.
Metu, Moneke, Ellis, and Queta as deep bench/ Stockton development guys with really intribguing skill sets and athleticism.
Best roster in a long time. Loads of flexibility to mix and match. Plenty of firepower. You could even cobble together a halfway decent defensive pressure lineup of Mitchell/Davis/KZ/Barnes/Holmes if you wanted to go ultra defense and pressure for a few minutes. Or even Ellis and Queta.
Barnes is only here for one more season. He probably will be the starter most of this season (unless he gets traded) but projecting into the future, we need at least one designated stopper in the starting lineup and barring a significant roster addition that's either going to be Davion or KZ. With Mitchell as our only backup PG, he likely continues to come off the bench. Fox/Huerter/KZ/Murray/Sabonis is a balanced lineup that may not have top of the Western conference upside, but they could surprise people because of their defensive versatility. All KZ needs to do is shoot 37% or better on corner threes to take Harrison's role in the offense. Obviously Harrison can do a lot more but I think Murray already takes over most of his scoring opportunities in the post anyway.
You're probably right about the minutes distribution for this coming season but if I know Mike Brown, he'll want a defensive specialist in the starting lineup and until a better option comes along I think he's already planning on prepping KZ for that role.
Think this is pretty dang close. 20 KZ minutes feels a little rich though, I'd probably want him like 12-14 MPG role and get more Monk/Mitchell on the floor.
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