Offseason shaping up as a mini-rebuild...and I like it.

[Hallama]

Petrie's rebuild just didn't work. Which sucks, because now the Kings need to do another mini-rebuild and from the moves (and non-moves) they've made, it sure looks like that's what Pete'D is up to. Only questionable signing in that scenario would be Landry, which doesn't make much sense.

I think the Kings were aggressive and tried to put together a playoff caliber team, but when they pulled the Iggy offer and Calderon went in another direction (and who knows how much they really went after Monta) Pete'D went with Plan B.

The good news is Cousins is a great place to start a mini-rebuild, and they have enough vets that other teams would be interested in next offseason.

I think the Kings will give Ben McLemore all the time he needs to develop this season, extend Cousins, and play out the season.

2014 Draft: I think everybody is tired of tanking, but if there is a year to "develop the youth" this would be it. 2014 is shaping up to be a great draft, and if the Kings can finish between 6-9th in the lotto, there will be a quality player there to take. I doubt they can do worse with teams like Phoenix and the '6'ers tanking, Bobcats being bad even when they try, and the Pelicans with Tyreke...(kidding!). The pick is top 12 protected to the Cavs, so I don't think that will be a problem with this roster.

Next offseason I think is where we see Pete'D hit the gas pedal with nice pieces in Cousins, McLemore, and their lotto pick. Cap space shouldn't be too difficult to create if they hold onto Salmons and buy him out ($1 million) with a couple small trades.

 

[Dreadnought]

I'd have to agree. I'm a firm believer of the 2014 draft. If there was any season for us to be bad, let it be this one. The Carl Landry signing still makes no sense to me, but I still don't see us getting into the playoffs for at least another 2 years, and not even really contending. So for now, I'm happy to have a system where young guys can just straight up develop and get better.

 

[TyFreak Evans]

I'd have to agree. I'm a firm believer of the 2014 draft. If there was any season for us to be bad, let it be this one. The Carl Landry signing still makes no sense to me, but I still don't see us getting into the playoffs for at least another 2 years, and not even really contending. So for now, I'm happy to have a system where young guys can just straight up develop and get better.

Co-signed.

 

[Kingsfan23]

I think we might have done enough draft wise, coaching wise, culture wise, potential improvement from within wise to probably not get a real good pick for this stacked 2014 draft but that's ok, we are trying to develop a mentality of winning. Didn't like the landry signing either, and it appears few did. Just not a rebuilding move.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Personally I would have preferred we shore up the 3 with a starter defender/shot blocker. I am not happy about the Landery pick up I think we could have done better than Vasquez so I can't say I am too happy. The picks were better than expected so maybe we can call it a wash.

 

[Spike]

Personally I would have preferred we shore up the 3 with a starter defender/shot blocker. I am not happy about the Landery pick up I think we could have done better than Vasquez so I can't say I am too happy. The picks were better than expected so maybe we can call it a wash.

I dig.

 

[captain bill]

I'm also starting to come back around... I hated (and still hate) the Iggy move, I would've loved to see him in a Kings uni but also get that his contract could handcuff the franchise for a while (I also think he's a better fit for the W's so whatevs)... still don't like the offer-pulling thing, maybe that's more common, maybe it's an agent thing, who knows, but I think it will be forgotten in a few months.

Landry is one of those meh moves but I can see him as a culture guy- maybe he likes Sac and took a paycut to play here? If he's serious about wanting to work hard for a rebuild that might be the kind of presence we need in the locker room.

Anyways yeah I'm already looking forward to the 2014 draft and seeing what Malone's system can do. I get the feeling some of the frustration of this offseason (myself included) will be tempered in the future by the fact that we have been ACTIVE and we're not gonna see the finished product here for at least another year.

 

[Spike]

Focusing on the positive:
If the goal this offseason was to bring in hard-working character guys, then, so far, they did that.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I like a lot of the pieces we have compiled. I like Evans MORE than those pieces, but this is what we have now. I don't hate it.

I DO hate how they fit together in my head, which is to say they still don't fit. I want more moves to further balance out what we have here.

 

[Livinthedream]

It's not just a good draft year next year, it's a good free agency year. Teams will be trying to make space to sign big name players. Good trade deals will be there for the picking.

 

[Entity]

It's not just a good draft year next year, it's a good free agency year. Teams will be trying to make space to sign big name players. Good trade deals will be there for the picking.

exactly why i wish we could do a thornton, Hayes, trade for some enders. thats 13 mil next year.

 

[Kingster]

Petrie's rebuild just didn't work. Which sucks, because now the Kings need to do another mini-rebuild and from the moves (and non-moves) they've made, it sure looks like that's what Pete'D is up to. Only questionable signing in that scenario would be Landry, which doesn't make much sense.

I think the Kings were aggressive and tried to put together a playoff caliber team, but when they pulled the Iggy offer and Calderon went in another direction (and who knows how much they really went after Monta) Pete'D went with Plan B.

The good news is Cousins is a great place to start a mini-rebuild, and they have enough vets that other teams would be interested in next offseason.

I think the Kings will give Ben McLemore all the time he needs to develop this season, extend Cousins, and play out the season.

2014 Draft: I think everybody is tired of tanking, but if there is a year to "develop the youth" this would be it. 2014 is shaping up to be a great draft, and if the Kings can finish between 6-9th in the lotto, there will be a quality player there to take. I doubt they can do worse with teams like Phoenix and the '6'ers tanking, Bobcats being bad even when they try, and the Pelicans with Tyreke...(kidding!). The pick is top 12 protected to the Cavs, so I don't think that will be a problem with this roster.

Next offseason I think is where we see Pete'D hit the gas pedal with nice pieces in Cousins, McLemore, and their lotto pick. Cap space shouldn't be too difficult to create if they hold onto Salmons and buy him out ($1 million) with a couple small trades.

I do think next year is the gas pedal. It may be with Cousins or without; that depends on Cousins. The FO never did give any indication that they were going to be in the playoff in Year 1. They always talked about two years or so to see meaningful progress.

 

[Bricklayer]

You had just better give Cousins that max extension this summer. An untrained monkey could have turned this thing around by now, and the odds of Cousins eye not wandering to the far more accomplished franchises that will come a knocking go down dramatically if you are going to play the loser again. Let alone if things go poorly, Mac does not impress etc.

Wrap up the big guy and take a dive and you'll kill the momentum in the fanbase, but at least you can maintain hope for the future amongst the 2 or 3 of us still watching by season's end. Don't, and you threaten to inaugurate the "new era" with another 4 or 5 years of losing while you try to get "your" guy rather than working with what you have.

 

[gunks]

Dont like.

Reke trade sucked.
Landry sucks and so does signing him.
Going after Monta sucked.
Botching the Iggy and Calderon deals sucked (although its unfair to pin that all on the FO).


As I see it, we're going to be just good enough to lose our pick in a stacked draft to Cleveland (thanks GP), but we wont be close to making the Playoffs...

Actually, scratch that...We lost Reke, picked up a system player, and signed yet another one dimensional black hole...Wiggins here we come!

 

[roasthawg]

You had just better give Cousins that max extension this summer. An untrained monkey could have turned this thing around by now, and the odds of Cousins eye not wandering to the far more accomplished franchises that will come a knocking go down dramatically if you are going to play the loser again. Let alone if things go poorly, Mac does not impress etc.

Wrap up the big guy and take a dive and you'll kill the momentum in the fanbase, but at least you can maintain hope for the future amongst the 2 or 3 of us still watching by season's end. Don't, and you threaten to inaugurate the "new era" with another 4 or 5 years of losing while you try to get "your" guy rather than working with what you have.

What if Cousin's turns out to be an Al Jefferson type... tons of promise but never takes the leap to the next step? If that happens did we hurt ourselves or help ourselves by giving him a max deal? I prefer to wait until the season is over... he'll be an rfa correct?

 

[Bricklayer]

What if Cousin's turns out to be an Al Jefferson type... tons of promise but never takes the leap to the next step? If that happens did we hurt ourselves or help ourselves by giving him a max deal? I prefer to wait until the season is over... he'll be an rfa correct?

People who keep saying this just don't understand what they are watching.

And Al Jefferson, and especially DeMarcus Cousins, will always be moveable in a world without bigs. There is no downside, and hesitiating is just cowardice at a certain point.

And as mentioned, DeMarcus Cousins will never be a true rfa, because you cannot force DeMarcus Cousins to do anything he doesn't want to do without him ripping your franchise to shreds from the inside out. Once you lose him mentally, he is lost to you. You do your work early with him. You bring your wife flowers just because you think she'd like them, you fix the garden gate. You don't ignore her until she's having an affair then try to refuse to sign the divorce papers.

 

[roasthawg]

People who keep saying this just don't understand what they are watching.

And Al Jefferson, and especially DeMarcus Cousins, will always be moveable in a world without bigs. There is no downside, and hesitiating is just cowardice at a certain point.

And as mentioned, DeMarcus Cousins will never be a true rfa, because you cannot force DeMarcus Cousins to do anything he doesn't want to do without him ripping your franchise to shreds from the inside out. Once you lose him mentally, he is lost to you. You do your work early with him. You bring your wife flowers just because you think she'd like them, you fix the garden gate. You don't ignore her until she's having an affair then try to refuse to sign the divorce papers.

Oh wow. you might be Cousins' biggest fan!!! Lol, he's a good talent with all-star upside. He's never gonna be mvp or anything like that though... can he ever be as good as say a healthy Kevin Love? He's limited defensively and inefficient offensively... I think he can improve the shooting percentages, improve the turnovers, improve the attitude, but not sure about the defense. I love Demarcus... just not IN love with him I guess. We'll see... in this f.o. I trust!

 

[allrightythen]

Good topic.

While I'm not at all thrilled with the moves made this off season I'm pretty optimistic moving forward. Mostly I didn't like moving Tyreke Evans the way we did. Seems like we gave him up for a player with a much lower ceiling. He does seem like a better fit so he should help in certain areas. I don't really understand the Carl Landry deal but he's a good guy and plays hard. What I find the most puzzling is that they talked so much about defense with the Malone hiring and the two biggest acquisitions are not good defenders. Hopefully the team-defense improves enough to cover their weaknesses and the team communicates well enough to improve in that area.

I had the thought when the off season started that the new FO would have a hard time finding trades that actually improved the team as I believe the previous coaching staff did a lot towards suppressing the value of many of our players. I think the current staff discovered that the trade market wasn't great for the Kings and changed directions after free agency got started with the plan of either rebuilding some of that trade value during the season, or just letting some of those contracts run down. Doesn't hurt that 2014 is rumored to be a much stronger draft then this year although I doubt they really think too much about that.

Finally what we learned this off season is that Sacramento kind of rocks. This city rallied incredibly strong behind amazing leadership and accomplished the unthinkable (at least if you followed the national media coverage). Ranadive mentioned shortly after acquiring the Kings that the passion of the fans in Sacramento was one of the big factors that got him involved. It's definitely been on full display this Off Season. First to keep the Kings in Sac, then in supporting them through ticket sales, now through how intense the off season discussion has been. Kingsfans is a prime example of how crazy passionate Kings fans are and a reason Vivek wanted the team. Maybe we can get a little impatient at times, maybe we know better than the FO at times. Where ever the truth lies this is what makes people like Chris Granger want to come work here (I'm sure Vivek's eye for talent had nothing to do with it ), and what makes Arco such a fun place to watch or play basketball. Its really fun to see Kings fans let their fandom shine after the last several years of whatever it was we went through.

I might hate some of the moves made so far, but this has still been a pretty crazy exciting off season and I'm still pumped for the season to start.

 

[Glenn]

I'd like to know what people are waiting for from DMC. From day 1 the FO says they want to build the team around him. Why the doubts with everyone else? He'll miss a few games and so do other players. Guys like Grant Hill miss seasons. Sam Bowie and Bill Walton were other big guys who missed a lot. Yes, he will lose his temper but he won't miss as much time as these other guys. Are you waiting for him to grow up? I can almost guarantee you that he won't grow up by the end of next year. It hardly seems possible unless the team really starts winning.

Even if he doesn't grow up, some team will offer him a max salary. Some will do it thinking that Sacramento is a toxic environment. You can bet on it. It's inevitable. Do we want to match the offer or be pro-active and show the guy our faith in him? As we will match a max offer, why not offer him the max? We are not going to find someone who matches his skills and even if such a person exists, he is not going to sign with the Kings. We were lucky to get him so let's not screw up and lose him like we did Tyreke. Now with Tyreke, there is room for argument but a small media team that thinks they can give up any of their own talent is a team that will continue to look at the next year's draft and plan how we can get the best player. Then what? Keep the drafted for four years and let him go?

It's crazy. We have everything to gain and everything to lose and it is our choice. We have a building block that is ultra-talented. Is there another guy like DMC we should tank for? This is very frustrating and I'll let bricklayer fight the valiant fight. I don't post as much as I should so I presume people ignore my occasional bleetings but, dang it, extend him by the beginning of the season and send him, the players, and the rest of the league the message of what we think of him. The most crucial part of that last sentence is to let him know his value to us. It's a major yet essential pat on the back.

 

[roasthawg]

^NBA contracts are guaranteed... why risk $80mil a year early? I'm all for a max deal now as it would be nice to know it's DMC and MLM going forward... but I can also understand waiting it out as well.

 

[rainmaker]

Problem with a rebuild is we didn't need a rebuild, we just need 2-3 smart player acquisitions. We had a Reke/MLM/Cuz trio. We had cap space and trade assets although I don't know of how much value. Get a role playing SF, all we needed with a Reke/MLM/Cuz trio is a role playing, defensive SF who can hit the corner 3, and a tall dude who can block some shots which aren't that hard to come by(not Carl freaking Landry). The best are, but Aldrich who had an impact wasn't. Then, you go from there.

So sorry, but no, I am not happy about any kind of a rebuild. I'm even less happy at the thought of Cuz coming to his senses, seeing this FO has thrown away a great opportunity and decides, hey, there's more competent FO's and more competitive teams I can play for. And you can argue growing pains, patience, gaining experience, whatever the case may be with our FO, but none of that helps Cuz in the here and now and as a player you can be anything but patient, especially when three years of your career have already been wasted under the Maloof/Smart regime. As a player, you don't need to wait for your FO to mature, to gain experience and the preaching of patience to turn things around. Not at all. Why do that when there's a number of playoff teams with proven track records who'd want a guy like Cuz now, next summer or years from now?

 

[Hallama]

You had just better give Cousins that max extension this summer. An untrained monkey could have turned this thing around by now, and the odds of Cousins eye not wandering to the far more accomplished franchises that will come a knocking go down dramatically if you are going to play the loser again. Let alone if things go poorly, Mac does not impress etc.

Wrap up the big guy and take a dive and you'll kill the momentum in the fanbase, but at least you can maintain hope for the future amongst the 2 or 3 of us still watching by season's end. Don't, and you threaten to inaugurate the "new era" with another 4 or 5 years of losing while you try to get "your" guy rather than working with what you have.

Exactly, this is the key right now. Extend him. Let it all fall out after. Hopefully for the best.

 

[est.1999]

exactly why i wish we could do a thornton, Hayes, trade for some enders. thats 13 mil next year.

We saw what cap space can get you in sactown: virtually nothing. The point in teams trying to clear their cap for next season should be for us to try and acquire some quality players for our Enders from other teams trying to get under the cap.

 

[Hallama]

Problem with a rebuild is we didn't need a rebuild, we just need 2-3 smart player acquisitions. We had a Reke/MLM/Cuz trio. We had cap space and trade assets although I don't know of how much value. Get a role playing SF, all we needed with a Reke/MLM/Cuz trio is a role playing, defensive SF who can hit the corner 3, and a tall dude who can block some shots which aren't that hard to come by(not Carl freaking Landry). The best are, but Aldrich who had an impact wasn't. Then, you go from there.

So sorry, but no, I am not happy about any kind of a rebuild. I'm even less happy at the thought of Cuz coming to his senses, seeing this FO has thrown away a great opportunity and decides, hey, there's more competent FO's and more competitive teams I can play for. And you can argue growing pains, patience, gaining experience, whatever the case may be with our FO, but none of that helps Cuz in the here and now and as a player you can be anything but patient, especially when three years of your career have already been wasted under the Maloof/Smart regime. As a player, you don't need to wait for your FO to mature, to gain experience and the preaching of patience to turn things around. Not at all. Why do that when there's a number of playoff teams with proven track records who'd want a guy like Cuz now, next summer or years from now?

We're all sick of "rebuilds". Been too long. But with a new regime with a fresh outlook, it might be the smarter choice. Look at the WC next season; Warriors, OKC, SA (maybe one more year window?), Houston, Memphis, Clippers...what's the point going for the playoffs? Lakers, Portland, even Dallas are better for the 8th seed. Why go for the playoffs and lose a lotto pick in the best draft in 10 years. One more season rebuild.

Then the gas pedal. I think this is Pete'D's plan, and I can't blame him. Extending Cousins now is the key though. He has to buy into the plan for the next few seasons...so...

 

[rainmaker]

We're all sick of "rebuilds". Been too long. But with a new regime with a fresh outlook, it might be the smarter choice. Look at the WC next season; Warriors, OKC, SA (maybe one more year window?), Houston, Memphis, Clippers...what's the point going for the playoffs? Lakers, Portland, even Dallas are better for the 8th seed. Why go for the playoffs and lose a lotto pick in the best draft in 10 years. One more season rebuild.

Then the gas pedal. I think this is Pete'D's plan, and I can't blame him. Extending Cousins now is the key though. He has to buy into the plan for the next few seasons...so...

The only reason we're even discussing a rebuild and needing next year's pick is because we lost a star talent in Reke and didn't replace it. That's why we need a top pick next year, to fix the mistake. So I fail to see how losing a star talent, not replacing said star talent and then needing a top pick next year to replace that talent is somehow a smart plan. IMO it's a plan produced by a considerable error. It's arguably damage control.

And adding guys like Vasquez/Landry and other moves to acquire decent talent will probably make us just good enough that Cle gets our pick. That's not smart either. We shouldn't care about next year's pick. Shouldn't even be talking about it. We should have a Reke/MLM/Cuz trio and made/make 2-3 acquisitions for fitting role players, then gunned for the playoffs. Kings want excitement, there's your excitement, not the Wiggins sweepstakes.

I personally would prefer thinking about our young nucleus smashing whatever team sucks bad enough to get Wiggins when we face them in 14-15.

 

[Section 101]

^NBA contracts are guaranteed... why risk $80mil a year early? I'm all for a max deal now as it would be nice to know it's DMC and MLM going forward... but I can also understand waiting it out as well.

It makes no difference money wise as his extension would not take effect till next year. His salary is set for this year.

 

[kingsnation]

1) Reke leaving still hurts and he has yet to be replaced, even marginally.

2) Mbah a Moute is a major standout for me. W/o that trade, I'd be extremely disappointed.

3) If we can trade any combo of MT, Jimmer and Hayes before the season starts, the offseason would be a success, IMO.

 

[roasthawg]

It makes no difference money wise as his extension would not take effect till next year. His salary is set for this year.

It's guaranteed upon signing though no? Say he blows out his knee this year... we're still on the hook for $80mil right??

 

[KingsFanGER]

The agent of Demarcus Cousins knows, that his client will get a max contract next year. Why should he sign with the Kings early? I bet he will wait how this team looks throughout the season and will figure out, which teams are interested in his services too. Lakers, Boston are both in rebuilding mode and might be possible locations for Cousins next year. Can the Kings compete with those two shiny, big market teams?
Cousins stated in various interviews he feels, that he has no time to lose. He wants everything now - he wants to win and develop into one of the stars in the league. How do you convince someone like him, that he has to wait another 1-3 years before the team starts winning and he can compete in the playoffs? This will be difficult to say the least.

 

[Mojo]

It's guaranteed upon signing though no? Say he blows out his knee this year... we're still on the hook for $80mil right??

It would be $58 Million, but yes, I believe so.