One aspect of the "we want a jazz director for a head coach" spiel that just absolutely doesn't sit well with me is that NONE of the guys on this team have shown that they have the discipline to to improvise, freelance and play the sort of faced paced, free flowing offense that Ranadive and D'Alessandro are touting.
Collison is a speedster and a willing passer but he hasn't shown himself to be the type of player for that sort of system. He's not a consistent outside shooter or great off the catch and shoot and he isn't a guy who you can rely on to break down the defense and kick the ball out effectively.
McLemore is actually looking like a promising NBA player after a terrible rookie season. But he's still not a good ballhandler, still not able to cleanly handle passes when he cuts to the basket and in general seems to function best when he has a clear idea of what his role is and what he should do.
Gay has shown himself capable to be a plus passer and a smooth offensive player all around but we've seen that when he gets to call his own number that he's likely to put the scoring load on his own shoulders and revert to chucking ways.
Jason Thompson has seemingly lost most of his offensive skills of late. He CAN make the post entry pass from the high post pretty well and he used to be able to hit the 12-15 foot jumper but lately he's shown himself best suited to be a grinder on the glass and the defensive end.
Boogie certainly has the skillset to be a Vlade/Webber type big. His offensive versatility, rebounding and underutilized passing are ideal for it. But he's also still refining his shot selection and learning to trust his teammates. In time I think he'd flourish but for now I think Malone's structure was benefitting him.
As for the bench, Landry has never been a willing passer (and must for this type of scheme), Casspi has succeeded this season by relentlessly attacking the basket, Williams & Hollins lack the BBIQ and consistency for this type of scheme, and McCallum is also not an incredibly creative offensive player or consistent shooter. About the only bench player who IS cut out for that system is Stauskas and it remains to be seen if he'll come around. I think he will, but it remains to be seen what his ceiling is or how long he'll take to be a dependable piece instead of a liability.
So by my estimation, the team has at most TWO or two and a half guys that are ideal for the system that the GM wants to run and he's the one that put the roster together.
I think a large part of this issue all along has been that D'Alessandro and Ranadive have looked to the Warriors and Nuggets as their idealized version of basketball when (1) neither of those teams had accomplished anything when they were part of the organization and (2) neither one had anything close to Boogie. And I also think they've concerned themselves too much with the national narrative and mistaken that for the feelings of Kings fans. When the GM says that "everyone" was against them extending Cousins, trading for Gay, letting Thomas walk etc the reality is that (at least from my vantage point) Kings fans largely cheered, were cautiously optimistic and split down the middle on those moves respectively.
From where I sit what Kings fans want is a team that plays hard, maximizes their abilities and fights each night.
We had that.
Malone wasn't perfect and I disagreed vocally with a lot of his substitution patterns, end of game play calls etc but he was improving the team and they were battling for him. And to fire him without having a plan in place to replace him because the front office had "lost patience" with him is a terrible excuse in my mind.
Personally any patience I had for D'Alessandro is gone. Put up or shut up Pete. Anything less than the 40 wins this season and we should be calling for your head.
