It's just time to move on from the core. You hold Fox until you get the right value for him since he's signed long-term, but I'm totally on board shipping Barnes/Buddy/Holmes/Harkless/Len/TT/Bagley out the door at this point and firesaling this so we can head into next year with a top 5 pick and a new coach. Barnes is back into a pumpkin after his first 11 games all-star appearance. I love Holmes more than anyone on this board, but jesus, it's like you can pencil in a 16+ rebound game if the opposing C is a beefy boi. Hali has spent 90% of the season refusing to shoot/look for his offense, which makes his playmaking improvements basically null. Buddy I think has largely been one of the more consistently good Kings this year, which is a major problem in itself.
[Game] Kings vs. Sixers, 11/22/21 7pm Pacific 10pm Eastern
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
Yeah, people really need to pay attention and remember some of the knocks on Haliburton in college. When teams double him on pick and roll, switch, or even pressure he isn't capable of breaking it down or splitting it. He's going to dribble back out or swing the ball. It is what it is and him being as developed as he is, it's going to be a part of his game. And it's far from a career destroyer. It's up to a coaching staff to figure out the changes in gameplan when teams decide to take it away.
Monte didn’t make the the Buddy trade. I know someone in another org who claimed the trade would never happen and Monte was being played. They were correct.
Monte could have made the Fox/Simmons trade if he had any foresight and juevos. Monte has neither. If you have to wait until it’s obviously a good trade, you have no business being an NBA GM.
Monte could have made the Fox/Simmons trade if he had any foresight and juevos. Monte has neither. If you have to wait until it’s obviously a good trade, you have no business being an NBA GM.
Counterpoint: Wtf was he supposed to do? Vlade left him with a 100 million dollar core(before letting Bogi go) that won 39 games one time and just extended a bottom 3 coach to a big contract that had never sniffed the playoffs. If the goal was to try to win, he had no choice but to try to make Fox/Buddy/Barnes/Holmes work. And despite all the public posturing of his support for Walton, I'd be more than willing to bet he was forced to keep Walton on to save money. He just never made sense as a coach for an analytics guy like Monte.
He's hit a home-run on the fringes. Two strong late lotto first round picks that can be foundational pieces. Bevy of developmental prospects that actually have a chance to turn into something. I guess you can fault him for not making a major splash move yet, but that's also the exact thing that got us into this mess with Vlade over and over again.
We'll see what happens going forward, but I was totally on board with the McNair plan to try and win games up until this point. It was about as good as you could do with the assets/options given. But going forward, if he's a good GM, he needs to recognize that this core is broken and it's time for a reset which can be quickly expedited with veterans that can bring back FRP value
He's hit a home-run on the fringes. Two strong late lotto first round picks that can be foundational pieces. Bevy of developmental prospects that actually have a chance to turn into something. I guess you can fault him for not making a major splash move yet, but that's also the exact thing that got us into this mess with Vlade over and over again.
We'll see what happens going forward, but I was totally on board with the McNair plan to try and win games up until this point. It was about as good as you could do with the assets/options given. But going forward, if he's a good GM, he needs to recognize that this core is broken and it's time for a reset which can be quickly expedited with veterans that can bring back FRP value
I will say that's the main reason he can't be a full time PG, and why just giving him the ball all the time won't work. He doesn't have the handles nor the explosiveness, similar to Lonzo. Davion is kind of the same way; I think he may look a little smoother with the ball, but he doesn't even have half the skillset, offensive IQ or general creativity of Haliburton.
"Make Hali the primary ballhandler" is about as simplistic a take as "firing the head coach will magically cure all".
"Make Hali the primary ballhandler" is about as simplistic a take as "firing the head coach will magically cure all".
