Kings trade Tyrese and Buddy for Sabonis and Holiday and Lamb
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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There is always a post-trade energy/chemistry in a new group (not to rain on anyone's parade). Let's hope we can build on it rather than have it fizzle out as it often does.
I've held off on commenting on this trade as it just hurts so much to lose Hali. Plus I believe the best choice was to tear it down and keep him. However, we all knew that was never going to happen with Vivek. So with that in mind, the trade is about as big a win as you can hope for, if you're going for win-now. I believe Padrino made a couple posts much more articulately than I ever could. But getting a big as talented as Sabonis (the best player in the deal as of this moment), along with some complimentary pieces, is a very nice haul and not at all common in the NBA landscape unless you include a truckload of picks. We essentially "just" gave up Hali (still hurts to type).
Next season and beyond is where we'll really see if this pays off. We need to improve significantly and retain Sabonis long term in order for this to be a win when all the smoke clears. So far I am trusting Monte. I think he has earned that trust after the deadline.
I've held off on commenting on this trade as it just hurts so much to lose Hali. Plus I believe the best choice was to tear it down and keep him. However, we all knew that was never going to happen with Vivek. So with that in mind, the trade is about as big a win as you can hope for, if you're going for win-now. I believe Padrino made a couple posts much more articulately than I ever could. But getting a big as talented as Sabonis (the best player in the deal as of this moment), along with some complimentary pieces, is a very nice haul and not at all common in the NBA landscape unless you include a truckload of picks. We essentially "just" gave up Hali (still hurts to type).
Next season and beyond is where we'll really see if this pays off. We need to improve significantly and retain Sabonis long term in order for this to be a win when all the smoke clears. So far I am trusting Monte. I think he has earned that trust after the deadline.
Gentry did nothing, that was all instinctual playing by Sabonis. He’s been stuck in half court sets his whole career and never been in a free flowing offense. Pundits and us couch GMs didn’t know he could run or dribble the way he did. I know it’s been only one game but I think this style may have unlocked Sabonis’s true potential
The general knock on Alvin Gentry has always been that while he's a great offensive coach, he's quite possibly the worst defensive coach in league history (he somehow had a team featuring AD and Jrue at the bottom of the defensive rankings every season).
Players absolutely seem to love playing for him (I seem to remember AD even specifying that his issue wasn't with Gentry when he was burning all his bridges in NO) and his offenses are always generally free-flowing variations of the Suns 7 seconds or less offense that then got adapted into the Warriors high post system under Kerr. The thing is that Gentry has never had a big with the court vision of Sabonis before. AD, while a better passer than he gets credit for, is general not great with the offense flowing through him and Zion was a rookie. The half season before Boogie blew out his Achilles though, Gentry had him putting up 25/13/5.5. They also had the fastest pace in the league, which in hindsight probably helped cause Boogie's injury and is probably unsustainable for a team running out two seven footers at once.
Alvin's a smart offensive coach and I have no doubt that he'll be able to adjust his style to Sabonis, who finally gets to play in an offense that isn't coached by Nate McMillan or uptight sycophants obsessed with running systems that don't fit their personnel.
I just hope that Monte adding solid defensive players is enough to keep us from being absolutely horrible on that end for the rest of the year.
Players absolutely seem to love playing for him (I seem to remember AD even specifying that his issue wasn't with Gentry when he was burning all his bridges in NO) and his offenses are always generally free-flowing variations of the Suns 7 seconds or less offense that then got adapted into the Warriors high post system under Kerr. The thing is that Gentry has never had a big with the court vision of Sabonis before. AD, while a better passer than he gets credit for, is general not great with the offense flowing through him and Zion was a rookie. The half season before Boogie blew out his Achilles though, Gentry had him putting up 25/13/5.5. They also had the fastest pace in the league, which in hindsight probably helped cause Boogie's injury and is probably unsustainable for a team running out two seven footers at once.
Alvin's a smart offensive coach and I have no doubt that he'll be able to adjust his style to Sabonis, who finally gets to play in an offense that isn't coached by Nate McMillan or uptight sycophants obsessed with running systems that don't fit their personnel.
I just hope that Monte adding solid defensive players is enough to keep us from being absolutely horrible on that end for the rest of the year.
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you have to think the offense he runs has something to do with the poor defense (maybe pace wears guys out). I wonder how much defenses are really set by the assistant coaches and have always wondered why we don’t have dedicated defensive coordinators like the NFL. We supposedly have unofficial ones if Genrys defenses are always bad with different assistants you have to wonder
I don't think it can be overstated enough how hard it is to be a good defensive team when you have major players in your rotation that are dumb/lazy defenders. It seems like you can have a bad defender in Fox, paired with 4 solid/good defenders and stand a chance. However, you pair fox with Buddy, and all of a sudden there is only so much the rest of the team can do to make up for their lapses. Add in a Bagley and you have a disaster.
Sabonis is not great, but at least he's a solid tree trunk that can be physical and end defensive stops with a rebound. I'd consider Barnes an average defender at the 4. So then you pair those three with solid/above average defenders at the 2/3 and I think you have the makings of a competent defensive unit. Between Mitchell, Donte, Holiday, Harkless, it feels like they can at least fill out those spots with above average (if not great) defenders.
Sabonis is not great, but at least he's a solid tree trunk that can be physical and end defensive stops with a rebound. I'd consider Barnes an average defender at the 4. So then you pair those three with solid/above average defenders at the 2/3 and I think you have the makings of a competent defensive unit. Between Mitchell, Donte, Holiday, Harkless, it feels like they can at least fill out those spots with above average (if not great) defenders.