Prophetess
Gallifrayain
happy birthday!!!
Petrievision: 10 Reasons For Hope Amongst the Ashes
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
happy birthday!!!
Bravo!
I didn't know you were this close to sunset. Sorry if sometimes my posts have stressed you and made your BP a little bit high.
Anyways, here's to greet you a Happy Birthday and may you have many many more birthdays to come so you may finally see our Kings the NBA champions!
DesertFox
Starter
I enjoy your insights on young players. Here's to 71 more!
I actually think our team will be okay as long as Reke and Boogie are around and developing nicely. Slowly improving, but surely getting there.
I have a feeling the drafting of T-Rob, acquisition of JJ and Brooks, and resigning of JT are all okay moves that will eventually help the team. If only MT, IT, and Salmons play unselfish roles and if we can acquire "The Birdman" so we can be nastier in defense, I see the Kings hovering around the last playoff spot comes February.
Glenn
Hall of Famer
Does anyone fear that despite the acquisitions of decent ball players, Smart will be the weak link and ruin it all? I think it is possible but I also think we have improved enough and with the natural maturation of some of our youngsters that he won't be able to totally screw it up. The major problem is that maximun improvement is impossible with him and there were guys available. Sloan is still available which I find interesting. I wonder why he wasn't signed by some team. Does anyone know? How about Nate McMillan? My dream is that they are waiting for Smart to stumble. 
These are two Westren Conference coaches so who knows? I may be correct.
These are two Westren Conference coaches so who knows? I may be correct.
There's always a small percentage of people who post here who WANT to separate themselves from the rest of the membership. They make comments like "you KF people" because, at one time, they might have be part of one of the other Kings forums, several of which have turned to dust. I think you hit the nail on the head with your assessment of their motivation.
gunks
Hall of Famer
Does anyone fear that despite the acquisitions of decent ball players, Smart will be the weak link and ruin it all? I think it is possible but I also think we have improved enough and with the natural maturation of some of our youngsters that he won't be able to totally screw it up. The major problem is that maximun improvement is impossible with him and there were guys available. Sloan is still available which I find interesting. I wonder why he wasn't signed by some team. Does anyone know? How about Nate McMillan? My dream is that they are waiting for Smart to stumble.
Possible. The pathetic coaching the Magoofs have brought in over the years has really retarded the growth of our young players (especially Westphail, that guy set the rebuild back YEARS!). And we saw that last year with Reke at the 3. That was horrible.. Especially since we started seeing some results with Smart working with Reke at PG. We were .500 with the Reke/MT/Salmons/JT/Cuz lineup, and then Smart goes away from it for no reason (actually, because Salmons sucked), we drop down to cellar dweller status, and never return to a normal line up.
Ah well...Its hard to be optimistic but I'll try. Its Cousins' 3rd year, which is usually a breakout for bigs. Considering he was at 18/11 last season, I cant wait to see what his "breakout" will be!
And happy birthday Baja!
King Baller
All-Star
Happy belated Birthday Bajaden. I enjoy reading your posts. I will help you celebrate by having a Pacifco later today.
Go Kings,
KB
Chupacabra
Starter
Does anyone fear that despite the acquisitions of decent ball players, Smart will be the weak link and ruin it all? I think it is possible but I also think we have improved enough and with the natural maturation of some of our youngsters that he won't be able to totally screw it up. The major problem is that maximun improvement is impossible with him and there were guys available. Sloan is still available which I find interesting. I wonder why he wasn't signed by some team. Does anyone know? How about Nate McMillan? My dream is that they are waiting for Smart to stumble.
I totally agree. I dont even think the.current roster is the reason for the team being horrible. Its the lack of coaching ability. That don nelson system has been proven to be garbage. This team is just in need of structure. Is nate mcmillan currently employed?
Chupacabra
Starter
Furthermore i think that even if this team were to make the correct roster moves the team still wouldnt be very good. We need a different coach to light the fire.
Glenn
Hall of Famer
Nate is not employed as a coach. I'll add that I am not totally down on Smart because the fact he worked with TRob bumped him up a little in my estimation. The problem is that there are proven good coaches available and why are we dicking around with these experimental projects?
Do you really come out ahead financially but cutting costs at such a crucial position? People will fill the stands if the team wins. Heck, I'll bet they can ask for more money for the patches if the team is good enough to get on national TV. Winning makes money.
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I've been as hard on Coach Smart as anyone here, but I think if for no other reason than his work with Cousins that he's earned the right to see what he can do with a training camp and pre-season based on his focus and goals for the coming season.
And, if we're gonna be really honest, we might as well give him the benefit of the doubt because we all know the Maloofs aren't going to be spending the money to bring a seasoned NBA coach to Sacramento, even if they for some strange reason agreed to come.
Glenn
Hall of Famer
I know we all think no one wants to come to Sacramento but a coach might want to come. The good coaches probably can see that this team has a future and it might be fun to be the Kings coach. Who knows what an experienced coach could do? At the least he might insure that our young studs will want to stay. I don't think we should be so down on ourselves.
kupman
Starter
I am not confident that a coach that has established himself as "good" would want to sign-on with Maloofs and the mess they have made.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
Hey, no problem! You might get my pulse going a little faster at times, but thats probably a good thing since my knee's are shot, and I can't jog anymore. So I just might be more healthy thanks to you. There I go with that optimistism again....
bajaden
Hall of Famer
Thanks, and "Stay thirsty my friend"........
Chupacabra
Starter
I would gladly accept the Kings current overall status as long as Smart is on a short leash. This team has the talent to be decent. There have recently been some excellent posts on this board about rotations and although there is still a GAPING hole in terms of ability ( protecting the rim ) theres enough talent on this roster to win games. If it doesnt work out i think we have to point at the coach. What im most interested to see is consistency in rotations. Young players need consistency.
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Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
defense first.
The question is, who do you want at the other end of that leash? We've seen what happens when the Maloofs try to influence the coaching.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
Its my humble opinion, that when you hire a coach, you let him coach, and let the chips fall where they may. You certainly don't try to micro manage him. Let him coach, and judge him on the results. If you don't like the results, then fire him.
I agree but don't forget WP and his rotations and how they got better after we moved some players out so he had to play certain ones... His only other option being going super small but he didn't take it.... hmmm
bajaden
Hall of Famer
While thats giving him less options, its not telling him how to coach the team. I have no problem with that. In fact, thats a GM's job. To give his coach the best players to work with, and hopefully players that fit the style of play the GM prefers. Its the GM's job to create the vision he has, and then hopefully, hire a coach of like mind. Its then the coaches job to play the given players to their strengths. Which means, don't play Tyreke at SF, unless you have no other options.
I'm a huge fan of some type of motion offense. But to be honest, we haven't got the necessary pieces on the team to play that style effectively. At least not now! I like it, because its one of the most effective halfcourt offense's you can run, and you need a good halfcourt offense to win a championship. Lacking that, your stuck with pick and rolls, dribble drives and iso's. We don't run the pick and roll very effectively. We have several very good dribble drive players, but thats easily defended if you have nothing else. We died at the 3 pt line last season, shooting one of the worse percentages in the NBA. That puts a lot of pressure on our post game, while not bad, is still a work in progress.
In other words, we still have a lot of misfiting parts that don't blend together very well. I watched the Warriors in summer league, and that team has been transformed over the last year and a half. All of a sudden, small ball is gone, and all the parts are starting to match. They now have size at every position, and they have the look of a very good halfcourt team. If Bogut can stay healthy! Big if, but if he can, your looking at a playoff team. They didn't do this by chipping away around the edges, they did it by making major moves. One has to think that Jerry West has considerable influence.
I have no problem whatsoever with that opinion. I have real and substantial doubts, however, as to whether or not the current owners also subscribe to that philosophy.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
The main reason for hope: Father Time. They are one year older. The "they're young" excuse card has been played. They know how to play; it's just a question of whether they will sacrifice for the team and work to win. Also, it's not as if this team is less talented than last year. Brooks, Johnson, Robinson. They may not be All-Stars, but at the least a very weak bench got a lot stronger. It's time for players to start owning the results. And it's also time for them to start policing their own when they don't do what they're supposed to do on the court. Less tolerance of other's mistakes on the floor would be a good thing, imo. "You go your way and I'll go mine" doesn't work in basketball.
If they don't win this year, I'd expect more trades next year (and I don't think we've seen the end of it for this year). There's another sign of hope.
If they don't win this year, I'd expect more trades next year (and I don't think we've seen the end of it for this year). There's another sign of hope.
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Glenn
Hall of Famer
I would like a little more from Salmons, Outlaw, Jimmer, and maybe a few more, also. Our team collapsed last year.
I'm sure we all would. But after Cousins, Reke is still our guy. This coming season he cannot defer to Thornton or IT like we've seen him in the past. Now is the time for him to assert himself and become our next main guy.
Unfortunately in order for Reke to play his game he needs to have the ball in his hands (to break the defense and then either layup or pass out) but we have decided as a team that he isn't able to run plays at pg...(even if we didn't really have any plays practiced to run and heaven forbid someone call something from the sidelines.) So we brought in a PG to solidify the lineup with reke not at the 1 and it will make it harder for reke to play his game just by being on the floor and eating up ball time. It will be interesting to see if he can make a leap this year or if we let him go somewhere else next year to play in a more defined system.
In my mind this will likely be Smarts make or break year as a head coach in the NBA.
Edit:
In other words will we give reke an opportunity to play his game?
In my mind this will likely be Smarts make or break year as a head coach in the NBA.
Edit:
In other words will we give reke an opportunity to play his game?
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