Kings vs Raptors - Summer League Game 3

Not to nitpick, but out of these examples 1 never even made it to the finals and the other won 1 championship as an extremely good defensive team. I'd rather follow the example of the teams that have won multiple championships and have both backcourt and frontcourt stars that create for themselves.
Then there is only one Small Market example - The Spurs. The Spurs under performed the year prior to drafting Tim Duncan. This allowed David Robinson, Tim Duncan and a fair supporting cast to get the ball rolling in SA.

If I squint really hard I can see The Kings following the Spurs example using Cousins as the cornerstone.

KB
 
Then there is only one Small Market example - The Spurs. The Spurs under performed the year prior to drafting Tim Duncan. This allowed David Robinson, Tim Duncan and a fair supporting cast to get the ball rolling in SA.

If I squint really hard I can see The Kings following the Spurs example using Cousins as the cornerstone.

KB
I think Robinson playing 6 games the whole year had more to do with it than under performing.
 
If Malone is a defense-first kind of coach, I can see these two, (midget IT and shoot-and-nothing-else Jimmer) at the very end of the bench.

Nothing these two guys can give when you have Salmons (who we need to play a little bit of PG duties), especially with the smallish Thornton and McLemore as our primary SGs in this team.
People confuse defensive coach and playing defensive only players. The defensive coach will be working on team defense. It doesn't mean he wants to play defensive only players.
 
Don't forget Isaiah Thomas off the bench and to a lesser extent Jimmer.

If that is indeed the starting lineup then it isn't too hard to envision Thornton putting up 20-22 ppg as the #2 option on offense. If he does, and McLemore starts really rounding out a couple months in then Thornton becomes a fairly attractive trade piece at the deadline. A guy who can get hot and really fill it up and who at that point only has half a season before he's an easy to move ending contract could bring back a significant piece.
Yeah, I don't know why you'd want a rotation with only one point guard but five big men. Still think there's a move coming to clear out the PF logjam.

Edit: agree 100% on the Thornton value. There will be a window sometime midseason where he's no longer an expensive long-term deal, but not just a one-year rental, and his value should be relatively high. Hopefully M16 will be ready to take over by then.
 
If Malone is a defense-first kind of coach, I can see these two, (midget IT and shoot-and-nothing-else Jimmer) at the very end of the bench.

Nothing these two guys can give when you have Salmons (who we need to play a little bit of PG duties), especially with the smallish Thornton and McLemore as our primary SGs in this team.

Highly doubtful as it pertains to IT I don't buy into the blame he gets for the teams failures.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
Yeah, I don't know why you'd want a rotation with only one point guard but five big men. Still think there's a move coming to clear out the PF logjam.

Edit: agree 100% on the Thornton value. There will be a window sometime midseason where he's no longer an expensive long-term deal, but not just a one-year rental, and his value should be relatively high. Hopefully M16 will be ready to take over by then.
Patterson is an ending contract and will either be gone as a trade piece or simply let go next year to offset some of the huge increase Cousins will be getting. Thompson could be dealt, but considering he can back up both PF and C and is on a reasonable deal I don't see why. IMO he's an ideal 3rd big if the Kings ever upgrade the PF spot with a quality starter. To me Landry doesn't fit at all but we'll see.


Highly doubtful as it pertains to IT I don't buy into the blame he gets for the teams failures.
I've thought for quite a while that Thomas was best suited as a sparkplug/change of pace PG off the bench. I think he'll do well in that role this season. Even so he may be trade bait as well since he's an ending contract and will command significantly more next season than on his 2nd round rookie deal.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
That, and Tyreke is younger. And more talented.
PDA wanted no part of that question, so he just quickly dodged it and to say the rest of that interview was softball pitches is an understatement. Mosdt of it was about what a nice relationship he had with Toronto's GM.
 
PDA wanted no part of that question, so he just quickly dodged it and to say the rest of that interview was softball pitches is an understatement. Mosdt of it was about what a nice relationship he had with Toronto's GM.
Well, if you're PDA you don't come out and say he didn't like Tyreke's game going forward, at the price. He should've said "Tyreke is gone, get OVA' it..." ;)
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
On the surface I hate pretty much every move we've made this offseason. And frustrated by some of the moves we haven't made to clear out some pieces. That said, I'm hoping like crazy that I'm completely wrong on every count and things work out perfectly. Of course perfectly could mean a surprisingly good season or a terrible one that nets us Wiggins while keeping Cousins. Still, I'm trying to be as positive as I can going forward because I'd rather be wrong and have an improving Kings team than be right and be looking at a new GM and yet another rebuild in three years.

Vasquez is a lesser talent than Evans. Period.

But Vasquez will run the pick-and-roll with Cousins, something neither Evans or Thomas did. And he can deliver consistent and effective post entry passes, a skill this team has lacked since Doug Christie left. Thornton provides a secondary scorer that won't be ball dominant. Thomas and Landry should provide consistent bench scoring. Salmons coming off the bench (god willing) can give a versatile SG/SF who can be yanked quickly if he's giving us nothing or played bigger minutes if he's having one of his "every fortnight" type games. And McLemore can be brought along slowly and hopefully groomed for a starter's role right about the trade deadline when Thornton has maxed out his trade value and hopefully brings back the next piece.

Some solid signs of life but a bottom 10 finish (to keep our pick) and some lottery luck and just maybe things start seriously ticking upward for the Kings, ESPECIALLY if DMC takes a big step forward with his game this year.

I'd still rather have Evans/McLemore/Iguodala/Patterson/Cousins but that ship has sailed. So has drafting Kawhi Leonard and Andre Drummond. So I'm rooting for the team we have and mustering up all the optimism I have because it's a lot better than being frustrated and disappointed and expecting the team to be awful.
 
On the surface I hate pretty much every move we've made this offseason. And frustrated by some of the moves we haven't made to clear out some pieces. That said, I'm hoping like crazy that I'm completely wrong on every count and things work out perfectly. Of course perfectly could mean a surprisingly good season or a terrible one that nets us Wiggins while keeping Cousins. Still, I'm trying to be as positive as I can going forward because I'd rather be wrong and have an improving Kings team than be right and be looking at a new GM and yet another rebuild in three years.

Vasquez is a lesser talent than Evans. Period.

But Vasquez will run the pick-and-roll with Cousins, something neither Evans or Thomas did. And he can deliver consistent and effective post entry passes, a skill this team has lacked since Doug Christie left. Thornton provides a secondary scorer that won't be ball dominant. Thomas and Landry should provide consistent bench scoring. Salmons coming off the bench (god willing) can give a versatile SG/SF who can be yanked quickly if he's giving us nothing or played bigger minutes if he's having one of his "every fortnight" type games. And McLemore can be brought along slowly and hopefully groomed for a starter's role right about the trade deadline when Thornton has maxed out his trade value and hopefully brings back the next piece.

Some solid signs of life but a bottom 10 finish (to keep our pick) and some lottery luck and just maybe things start seriously ticking upward for the Kings, ESPECIALLY if DMC takes a big step forward with his game this year.

I'd still rather have Evans/McLemore/Iguodala/Patterson/Cousins but that ship has sailed. So has drafting Kawhi Leonard and Andre Drummond. So I'm rooting for the team we have and mustering up all the optimism I have because it's a lot better than being frustrated and disappointed and expecting the team to be awful.
+1, my feelings exactly. Well said sir. Does anyone have DirectTV? And is the info showing Kings vs T-Pups at 5PM PST? I am checking on my phone and it just says Summer league basketball.
 
I think Robinson playing 6 games the whole year had more to do with it than under performing.
Yup. They basically lucked into 2 franchise turning, once every 2 decade type (and i mean true once every 2 decade type players, not someone like DMC) players within a 10 year span. Right when one started nearing the end of his career after revitalizing the franchise, they just drafted another, paired them together for 2 titles and set the stage for a nearly 15 year dynasty, which is still going strong. Pretty crazy.
 
funkykingston;1001875[B said:
]On the surface I hate pretty much every move we've made this offseason. And frustrated by some of the moves we haven't made to clear out some pieces. That said, I'm hoping like crazy that I'm completely wrong on every count and things work out perfectly. Of course perfectly could mean a surprisingly good season or a terrible one that nets us Wiggins while keeping Cousins[/B]. Still, I'm trying to be as positive as I can going forward because I'd rather be wrong and have an improving Kings team than be right and be looking at a new GM and yet another rebuild in three years.

Vasquez is a lesser talent than Evans. Period.

But Vasquez will run the pick-and-roll with Cousins, something neither Evans or Thomas did. And he can deliver consistent and effective post entry passes, a skill this team has lacked since Doug Christie left. Thornton provides a secondary scorer that won't be ball dominant. Thomas and Landry should provide consistent bench scoring. Salmons coming off the bench (god willing) can give a versatile SG/SF who can be yanked quickly if he's giving us nothing or played bigger minutes if he's having one of his "every fortnight" type games. And McLemore can be brought along slowly and hopefully groomed for a starter's role right about the trade deadline when Thornton has maxed out his trade value and hopefully brings back the next piece.

Some solid signs of life but a bottom 10 finish (to keep our pick) and some lottery luck and just maybe things start seriously ticking upward for the Kings, ESPECIALLY if DMC takes a big step forward with his game this year.

I'd still rather have Evans/McLemore/Iguodala/Patterson/Cousins but that ship has sailed. So has drafting Kawhi Leonard and Andre Drummond. So I'm rooting for the team we have and mustering up all the optimism I have because it's a lot better than being frustrated and disappointed and expecting the team to be awful.
Good insightful post. The end will probable be between the two for better or worse.