You haven't been a Kings fan very long if the words "flexibilty in trades" don't make you want to run for the hills. I'm tired of messing around with assets and trade chips -- we've been going nowhere for 5 years with that strategy. The sooner we get a team together that plays like a team and wins more games than they lose, the better for everybody involved. Salmons and Outlaw are overpaid relative to their production and their offensive inefficiency is hurting the team every time they're on the floor. We need a new SF and the backup minutes can go to Greene and Honeycutt. Keep Salmons and Outlaw on the bench for salary purposes and you have a burgeoning locker room problem. We don't need that, especially not on a young team trying to develop an identity. Cutting ties now is best. The Maloofs got their arena -- if they can't eat salary for the benefit of the team they have no business anywhere near an NBA sideline. Again, this is what I think we should do not what I think we will do. That would be a whole other list.
Keith Smart is better than Musselman, Westphal, and Natt. I don't know that he's better than Theus. I like the guy, but his relationship with Cousins is no reason to pass on an opportunity to hire a qualified coach with a proven track record of developing young players and instilling a team philosophy that gets results. I can understand wanting to keep this group together if they had a chance at improving substantially in time but I've watched this team all year -- under Westphal and under Smart. While the coaching change improved the team's attitude, I don't think another season of Keith Smart and the same players is transforming this into a playoff team. I don't think Thompson is going to get any better than he is right now. And Demarcus Cousins is not more important than the team itself.
You think we should pass on a hall-of-fame coach and one of the more respected young coaches in the league so Demarcus doesn't throw a fit, and then in the next paragraph you call Rondo an overpaid headcase. Based on what exactly? Rumors? He's signed for three more years and an average of 12 million per year, that's a relative bargain for an All Star. He's also second in the league in assists and one of the top 2 or 3 defenders at PG. And he's been a monster in the playoffs. I don't think he's the answer for this team, but if he actually is available for the right price, how can you not consider it? Webber was a headcase. Randolph was a headcase. Both of those guys helped turn bottom feeders into playoff teams. There are counter examples too of course, but Rondo has never choked, assaulted, or shot anybody. His on-court performance speaks for itself.
These guys aren't under valued by their fan bases, but by their organizations possibly. Utah didn't spend a top pick on Favors, they got him in a trade along with Devin Harris, Enes Kanter and another pick which is still TBD. They also have Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap producing at a high level while Favors gets backup minutes off the bench and they're scratching at a playoff run. Will they be patient enough to wait out his development? Thompson has shown flashes but he's still getting limited minutes off the bench, Bledsoe is buried on the Clippers depth chart and the Wizards were going nowhere and just brought in Nene at C for the next 4 years. None of these guys is available for free -- I never said that. What I was implying is that I think all of them are going to be really good even if their current production doesn't show it. And it's the job of any GM to identify guys like that and see if they can work a trade to get them before their production catches up with their talent and makes them unobtainable.
You said we couldn't get fair value for Thornton -- I would offer him to Utah, Washington, Cleveland, or LA for any of these guys and see if we couldn't build a trade around them that both teams like. They'd be getting a boost in production at a position they all need to improve at and we'd be swapping a somewhat redundant scoring guard for a young big or PG who would be able to play more minutes right away on our team. We could always bring Thornton off the bench, true. That idea was in the back of my mind. I didn't say that we need to trade Thornton, just that we should explore what we can get for him. You have to give something up to get something and we don't have a lot of assets that other teams are going to want. The ironic thing about Thornton's "small" salary is that it actually makes him easier to trade than guys like Whiteside or Thomas who have a ton of potential but their minimum salaries won't match with a veteran player.
Thompson at 6-7 million per year is a good deal for us, but is it a good idea to tie up a third of your salary cap with role players when you don't even know who all you big guns are going to be yet? Petrie has done just that consistently since we stopped making the playoffs and it's kept us out of the bidding for anyone who might actually deserve a max or near max contract. Okafor has two more years left which means his salary expires before it's time to re-sign Cousins. Thompson is going to be looking for at least 3 years. Okafor would be a temporary fill-in anyway. He's very low on the priority list. If we get a first round pick out of the deal as well that's one more young talent with a cheap 4 year deal which makes it a better overall move I think than re-upping Thompson and remaining status quo.
Oden has been talked about to death already -- but I'll answer this: Why am I willing to give him the same amount as Thompson? Because if Oden can play, he's already better than Thompson as soon as he steps on the court. If he can't play he's a sunk cost but he's not going to impede the development of younger players who might get better. Thompson/Cousins/Hayes is not a playoff front line. Does anyone really know what we have in Whiteside right now? I'd rather he be getting minutes from here out than Thompson. We know what Thompson is: He's a solid player, no more-no less. He'll get his points and rebounds but he's not making anyone think twice about driving in the paint and he's not exploding as a go-to scorer. Unless he's so cheap you can't say no, I'd prefer that we just move on.
I'm not panicking and gutting a winning team that's on the verge of really going somewhere. If you really think this team is one or two players away than I don't know what to tell you. I just don't see it. We have some very good young talent but a lot of it is redundant and/or not developing with the roles they've been forced into. So what I've done is identify the players that I think we could build a more complimentary roster around and see what I can get for everyone else. And also -- this is probably the most important change -- get them a veteran coach who'll stick to a long-term plan instead of trying to figure it out on the fly, and make them involved in the roster decision-making as soon as possible.
