Potential Free agent/trade/sign tracker

[SacTownKid]

I’m pretty tired of the run it back narrative. We have really good evidence that Monte tried a few big swings, he just didn’t want pay the price being asked.

It wasn't the run it back per se it was the deep commitment to it and just stacking positions without having an out sooner than later contract wise or minutes for those players to produce. It was things like bringing back Lyles and bringing over Sasha when anyone could pretty much tell the potential issues having all those F's few of which actually provided answers or needs. Going from big swing to a 180 degree turn full on doesn't always work and we saw why and yes, how hard it was for Monte to get back out. It was the same thing when Vlade busted his cap that one summer on assumption as opposed to holding onto that cap the next season. That was the difference between adding someone like Harrison Barnes or not. Monte's price to pay if it doesn't work is draft capital from the looks of it and there is only so much of that to go around. Monte has now made his big swings, going all in at this point is an unnecessary gamble unless we're talking MVP level talent because who even knows for sure what this team is going to look like.

 

[SacTownKid]

The starting forwards will be Murray and DeRozan. Which of them would you move to the bench for Kuzma?

And if Kuzma has his usage dip below the Fox level he's at now, what's the value in that? I can somewhat agree maybe Kuz could be worth a future 1st if he's at his peak production but if athletic ability at F is needed beyond all because that's all he'd bring at that point, the first few months of the season will show it. The Kings needs might be entirely different going forward. On paper they still aren't the most athletic. The only legit athletes are probably Fox, Carter, and Monk, but will not having too much athletic ability be much of a hindrance? If the Kings can control the clock like they should be able to with Fox and DeMar it might not be. The Kings shouldn't be as reliant on pace as they once were.

 

[SacTownKid]

This would be my take. I thought it was a really smart play, especially considering the price some guys were going for in FA, to just bet on continuity with a 48 win team that took the defending champs to 7 games in their first season breaking a historic playoff drought. Add a few depth pieces (Duarte/Sasha) to beef up the back end rotation and see what happens. Just didn't work and that's okay because he correctly realized that this off-season and hard-pivoted with a big swing in DDR.

Thankfully Monte didn't grossly overpay for anything he did bring back. If he had signed Barnes to the going rate for a F like him and then watched his role change like it did last season and his play decline, the DeRozan move doesn't get done. You have Harrison Barnes on your roster until the completion of that contract unless they chose to feature him more and he rebuilt value. We have now seen the price for making moves that crush your cap that you want to correct. If you want back out you pay a big price asset wise. See what you have first then make changes.

 

[miltonap]

The starting forwards will be Murray and DeRozan. Which of them would you move to the bench for Kuzma?

Keegan

 

[funkykingston]

Keegan

Fair enough. I personally think Keegan is a better player than Kuzma now and will only continue to improve.

 

[miltonap]

Fair enough. I personally think Keegan is a better player than Kuzma now and will only continue to improve.

I think they're different.

In particular I think we need rebounding and I think with Keegan the starting lineup isn't quite good enough

 

[Jdbraver137]

Keegan

You aren’t moving derozan to the bench. I could see moving derozan to the 2.

 

[ESP47]

I think they're different.

In particular I think we need rebounding and I think with Keegan the starting lineup isn't quite good enough

I don't think Kuzma is a good enough rebounder to justify that. He averages a little more than Keegan per36 but he also doesn't play with Sabonis, who is the best rebounder in the game. They'd probably be closer to even if they both played equal minutes with Sabonis.

Getting Barnes out of the starting lineup will help the rebounding immensely. He was only averaging 3 per game as our PF

Think about the defense with Kuzma in the starting lineup. We'd be really bad on that end.

 

[iowamcnabb]

I don't think Kuzma is a good enough rebounder to justify that. He averages a little more than Keegan per36 but he also doesn't play with Sabonis, who is the best rebounder in the game. They'd probably be closer to even if they both played equal minutes with Sabonis.

Getting Barnes out of the starting lineup will help the rebounding immensely. He was only averaging 3 per game as our PF

Think about the defense with Kuzma in the starting lineup. We'd be really bad on that end.

aside from having the best rebounder like you mentioned we were also first in defensive rebounding rate. If anything we could use a little help on the offensive rebounding side. Those surplus offensive boards are often coming from guards on those long missed threes. (See New York who was first in offensive rebounding rate). Bringing in a guy like Carter in the second half of next season could be a big boost in that area.

 

[Caccia]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1816287378669187380

I checked out the Trade Machine. A trade for Cameron Johnson for Kevin Huerter and Jalen McDaniels is successful and works out to within $1 million. It has the potential to really shore up the bench and provide a good backup starter for the inevitable injuries during the season. Also, Huerter might not take to coming off the bench himself.

 

[funkykingston]

You aren’t moving derozan to the bench. I could see moving derozan to the 2.

Maybe for stretches, but for all his scoring and secondary playmaking, DeRozan will be the weakest defender in the starting five. I'd much rather have him take the lesser of the opposing forwards and let Keon primarily guard SGs.

 

[joemama]

Kessler Edwards signs 2-way with Dallas.
We done, done?

 

[SacTownKid]

I checked out the Trade Machine. A trade for Cameron Johnson for Kevin Huerter and Jalen McDaniels is successful and works out to within $1 million. It has the potential to really shore up the bench and provide a good backup starter for the inevitable injuries during the season. Also, Huerter might not take to coming off the bench himself.

The issue is still minutes relative to value going out or opportunity cost. How many minutes does Huerter play this season? Or Jalen? If you're giving value for a player they need to be a full time starter and since Johnson is a player largely based on production value wise he can't just slide into the possible combined minutes from Huerter and McDaniels and not lose value. Also having 40 million wrapped up in two bench players since even if someone starts but plays low minutes they are pretty much a bencher anyway it could be an issue if the Kings need to clear some cap at some point.

 

[Jones2006]

Kessler Edwards signs 2-way with Dallas.
We done, done?

Kessler Edwards getting a 2 way deal and not a basic contract has me questioning a bit my own basketball IQ ... This dude was solid last year in my opinion, did the little things that don't show up in box scores. Much better player, higher impact player than Chris Duarte or arguable Davion Mitchell but I guess 23 year old wings who are great athletes, seemingly high character, great defenders, improving shooters apparently aren't in demand.

Going from Edwards to McDaniels as your wing defender is a downgrade in my opinion or at the very least neutral, and I don't get it personally.

I definitely forsee him growing into a Derrick Jones Jr / Dorian Finney Smith role for the Mavs at some point, if he gets the reps.

 

[joemama]

He was shooting with confidence the last half of the season and I thought that was really all he was missing to his game.

McDaniels of last season was waaay worse than Edwards last season.

It's not like Edwards got consistent mins tho. I can't remember how many times he was put in for defense with seconds remaining in the quarter.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Kessler Edwards getting a 2 way deal and not a basic contract has me questioning a bit my own basketball IQ ... This dude was solid last year in my opinion, did the little things that don't show up in box scores. Much better player, higher impact player than Chris Duarte or arguable Davion Mitchell but I guess 23 year old wings who are great athletes, seemingly high character, great defenders, improving shooters apparently aren't in demand.

Going from Edwards to McDaniels as your wing defender is a downgrade in my opinion or at the very least neutral, and I don't get it personally.

I definitely forsee him growing into a Derrick Jones Jr / Dorian Finney Smith role for the Mavs at some point, if he gets the reps.

You get the feeling that sometimes they try different players, just to say they're making change. They did it with Alex Len. Then decided to bring him back and keep signing him. Maybe something like that will happen for Edwards

 

[SacTownKid]

Kessler Edwards getting a 2 way deal and not a basic contract has me questioning a bit my own basketball IQ ... This dude was solid last year in my opinion, did the little things that don't show up in box scores. Much better player, higher impact player than Chris Duarte or arguable Davion Mitchell but I guess 23 year old wings who are great athletes, seemingly high character, great defenders, improving shooters apparently aren't in demand.

Going from Edwards to McDaniels as your wing defender is a downgrade in my opinion or at the very least neutral, and I don't get it personally.

I definitely forsee him growing into a Derrick Jones Jr / Dorian Finney Smith role for the Mavs at some point, if he gets the reps.

Maybe but so far McDaniels has had a much better showing in the NBA than Edwards. With the Hornets McDaniels was actually starting to get a little buzz. harhar.

 

[The_Jamal]

Maybe but so far McDaniels has had a much better showing in the NBA than Edwards. With the Hornets McDaniels was actually starting to get a little buzz. harhar.

Yeah, I wanted us to go get mcdaniels last offseason. He put together a solid rotation player season for CHA, at a premium position we struggled with depth at. And then he put one of the worst seasons I've seen in a long time together last year sooo.

I liked Kessler and he was a good defensive end of bench option, but he just never put it together on the offensive end.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Maybe but so far McDaniels has had a much better showing in the NBA than Edwards. With the Hornets McDaniels was actually starting to get a little buzz. harhar.

Does McDaniels have any strength to his game that stands out? He's long for his position, but a lot of that is negated because he's so thin and light.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Does McDaniels have any strength to his game that stands out? He's long for his position, but a lot of that is negated because he's so thin and light.

With the coaching turnover it remains to be seen how effective the personal coaching will be but they’ve been pretty solid with internal development thus far under Brown, hopefully it pays off if he isn’t just August trade fodder.

 

[SacTownKid]

Does McDaniels have any strength to his game that stands out? He's long for his position, but a lot of that is negated because he's so thin and light.

Not really he's just solid which for a player in his position is probably what you actually want right now. If he can replicate what he did prior to last season he can spell someone if need be which would be his role. He's not great at any one thing but he's not necessarily terrible either.

 

[The_Jamal]

Does McDaniels have any strength to his game that stands out? He's long for his position, but a lot of that is negated because he's so thin and light.

He's his brother, but just... bad?

 

[Elektrik]

I checked out the Trade Machine. A trade for Cameron Johnson for Kevin Huerter and Jalen McDaniels is successful and works out to within $1 million. It has the potential to really shore up the bench and provide a good backup starter for the inevitable injuries during the season. Also, Huerter might not take to coming off the bench himself.

Jalen Mcdaniels cannot be traded until August 28.

 

[jiimbob]

I checked out the Trade Machine. A trade for Cameron Johnson for Kevin Huerter and Jalen McDaniels is successful and works out to within $1 million. It has the potential to really shore up the bench and provide a good backup starter for the inevitable injuries during the season. Also, Huerter might not take to coming off the bench himself.

I guess 25 million is no longer considered a huge price to pay for a non starter. Seems Johnson accepted his demotion to the bench in Brooklyn so if he’s happy enough doing the same in Sac then im happy with your trade idea. It would probably have to include a 2027 draft consideration.

 

[Caccia]

Jalen Mcdaniels cannot be traded until August 28.

Thanks for the reminder. As others have pointed out, however, he has not been introduced to the public, either, an odd omission.

 

[coolhandluke]

Thanks for the reminder. As others have pointed out, however, he has not been introduced to the public, either, an odd omission.

Not odd when you consider his sexual offense allegations. Not a fan of this pickup. Rather have Kessler instead. We lost a lot of defensive depth this offseason.

 

[iowamcnabb]

We lost a lot of defensive depth this offseason.

I’m not sure if that’s true. We lost Davion, Sasha, Duarte, Javale and Kessler. That’s basically 2 good defenders and then 3 that are either poor or do other things that negate any positive impact they may have.

We added Mclauglin who is a better defender than any player we lost and Carter who will likely be one of our best defenders when he returns. I’d say Mcdaniels and Orlando are about even with Kessler/Javale. Having said all that, I’m still hoping we can add one more prominent defense first forward either at the deadline or maybe next off season depending on how the year goes.

 

[Jdbraver137]

Not odd when you consider his sexual offense allegations. Not a fan of this pickup. Rather have Kessler instead. We lost a lot of defensive depth this offseason.

3rd string players do not impact a team greatly. The only player we lost that had significant playing time was javale. If we don’t upgrade in the top 8 I don’t see the defense improving much. Let’s stop pretending these end of bench players are crucially

 

[Tetsujin]

Not odd when you consider his sexual offense allegations. Not a fan of this pickup. Rather have Kessler instead. We lost a lot of defensive depth this offseason.

OUT
Davion (Strong point of attack defender, very limited in most other aspects)
Sasha (Tried hard on defense at least but was also pretty much guaranteed to get embarrassed at least twice a game)
HB (Solid against other slower old guys and at least tried to play defense but was largely our worst defender for the entire season)
Javale (Good for one or two ridiculous blocks a game. Too old to move laterally on that end anymore)
Duarte (solid team defender. Capable of guarding 1-3. Okay, this is actually a fairly respectable loss)
Kessler (Hypothetical defense player of the year that just could never really put it all together.)

IN
DDR (not a great defender but a solid, unspectacular defensive guy who can guard wings better than HB can at this point in their careers)
Carter (Strong defender/defensive playmaker. the best rebounding guard in college basketball.)
Robinson (solid "Heat Culture" guy who will bust his ass on defense even if the results aren't necessarily there.)
Mclaughlin (one of the better smaller defensive guards in the league. Not having the expectations of being a former lotto pick like Davion might even make him more valuable on that end.)
McDaniels (Long long forward. His brother but without any of his feel for the game whatsoever but still a capable defender or at the very least probably as capable of not getting completely roasted on defense as Duarte was)


What defensive depth did we lose this offseason exactly?

 

[Jones2006]

I think Kings did get worse defensively, but slightly. But if Ellis is in rotation all year, + Len too as backup defense still has potential to be as good as last season (even if regression from end of season defense)

Barnes is slightly a better defender than DeRozan it seems
Call Mitchell & McLaughlin a wash
Edwards to McDaniels prob a wash too
Everyone else doesn't really matter cause they don't expect to be in rotation much ...