Rondo a darkhorse for Kings???

[Capt. Factorial]

I would take a short term Rondo deal over Lawson.

I agree. Lawson will cost us assets - likely a good deal of them. Rondo would be only cap space, and with his exit from Dallas it might be a pretty cheap one-year "make-good" contract as people are suggesting. He'll probably want to get his stock back up in order to cash in on a big payday next year when the cap jumps. It's a risk-reward thing, and I don't know if it's the best we can do with our cap space, and I don't know if we'd just be better off sticking with Darren, but any way you look at it I prefer it to Lawson.

 

[VF21]

This story is nothing new but the rumor is clearly picking up steam:
http://www.ibtimes.com/rajon-rondo-likely-sign-kings-report-1956052

Let's be honest here. The only reason it's picking up steam is because FANS keep talking about it, which leads more bloggers to write about it.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I agree. Lawson will cost us assets - likely a good deal of them. Rondo would be only cap space, and with his exit from Dallas it might be a pretty cheap one-year "make-good" contract as people are suggesting. He'll probably want to get his stock back up in order to cash in on a big payday next year when the cap jumps. It's a risk-reward thing, and I don't know if it's the best we can do with our cap space, and I don't know if we'd just be better off sticking with Darren, but any way you look at it I prefer it to Lawson.

My thoughts exactly.

Despite my reservations on how Rondo looked in Dallas, signing Rondo gives the Kings a potential point guard upgrade while allowing them to keep all of their assets. Collison moves to the bench. 6th pick is kept or traded elsewhere. Stauskas stays. etc.

Lawson is a steadier player considering Rondo's most recent antics, but that trade off is hard to justify. If you can get Rondo and keep everything else, it's worth looking at.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I'd rather chase Matthews.

But if no one else decent wants to come to town, we are not able to make other moves....and Rondo says hey let's do a 1 year, could be good for both of us. I don't mind.

 

[ockingsfan]

I'd rather chase Matthews.

But if no one else decent wants to come to town, we are not able to make other moves....and Rondo says hey let's do a 1 year, could be good for both of us. I don't mind.

If Rondo comes it would probably be a 2 year deal, with the second year a player option.

Probably something like a 2 year $20 million contract, with the 2nd year a player option, so he can opt out and cash in on 2017 free agency or be protected if he flames out.

Either way, if he did sign, it is only salary cap money, not having to give up assets is nice.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Let's be honest here. The only reason it's picking up steam is because FANS keep talking about it, which leads more bloggers to write about it.

Absolutely, on the other hand when enough people chatter about what to them seems obvious sometimes people making decisions take a second look at the thing that seems obvious to others... that is pretty much how we got Karl.

 

[Iced Espresso]

If Rondo comes it would probably be a 2 year deal, with the second year a player option.

Probably something like a 2 year $20 million contract, with the 2nd year a player option, so he can opt out and cash in on 2017 free agency or be protected if he flames out.

Either way, if he did sign, it is only salary cap money, not having to give up assets is nice.

If he plays well enough he opts out. 10 million gamble with a skyrocketing cap next season. I guess I would get Rudy and Cousins together & talk about cap options with agents, and the 3 parties make the call together if I'm GM.

 

[206Fan]

Guys, I'm excited for this. I know Rondo has literally nowhere else to go, but he is good friends with Rudy. I hope we give him a small minor 1year deal so we can still go after FAs. What if we get a* go ahead by Matthews for something like a 13million year deal? I'd be willing to trade back with our 1st just to get rid of Landry.

Bright things ahead guys!

 

[Iced Espresso]

Guys, I'm excited for this. I know Rondo has literally nowhere else to go, but he is good friends with Rudy. I hope we give him a small minor 1year deal so we can still go after FAs. What if we go ahead by Matthews for something like a 13million year deal? I'd be willing to trade back with our 1st just to get rid of Landry.

Bright things ahead guys!

I don't think you need to move our pick to get out of the Landry deal.

Charlotte was high on Stauskas, and they are low on Stephenson. Stephenson has a team option next season. They may take Nik and Landry straight up and just stretch Landry if they can't move him themselves with the cap increase coming.

Depends on what you think of Nik I suppose.

 

[hrdboild]

I'm not sure what happened in the last month and a half to change people's minds, but in general it seemed like most were against the idea when I brought it up before and now it's getting some positive reactions. I agree it's probably a 2 year deal with a player option -- not without some risk, but he's the biggest name we're likely to have a shot at this off-season and he's young enough and (potentially) good enough to lead a legit multi-year playoff run provided he gets along well with Cousins, Gay, and Karl. The way I see it, all 4 of them should have extra motivation to make it work -- Rondo to repair his reputation, Cousins and Gay to make the playoffs, Karl to continue his phenomenal stretch of 21 straight seasons of .500 or better basketball which preceded the 30 injury plagued games he coached this year.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I'm not sure what happened in the last month and a half to change people's minds, but in general it seemed like most were against the idea when I brought it up before and now it's getting some positive reactions. I agree it's probably a 2 year deal with a player option -- not without some risk, but he's the biggest name we're likely to have a shot at this off-season and he's young enough and (potentially) good enough to lead a legit multi-year playoff run provided he gets along well with Cousins, Gay, and Karl. The way I see it, all 4 of them should have extra motivation to make it work -- Rondo to repair his reputation, Cousins and Gay to make the playoffs, Karl to continue his phenomenal stretch of 21 straight seasons of .500 or better basketball which preceded the 30 injury plagued games he coached this year.

Ok let's say you are able to get Matthews or Rondo, what do you feel is the better option?

 

[rainmaker]

I am very open to the idea depending on the cost of course. People often get carried away with players most recent form. Sometimes players just don't fit in well with certain teams. Rondo is one of those. He was a bad fit with Dallas and had a falling out with the team, in particular with the coach.

Now Rondo has not lost his talent, nor his ability to be a nightly triple double threat. The one downside here is that he does not address the need for shooters especially if we draft WCS as we hope. The spacing would be terrible BUT with Rondo and WCS, the defense would get a significant boost.

As I've said before, in theory I'm not completely against the Rondo idea. Dallas was just a terrible fit based on system and coach. Carlisle made an enormous mistake not turning over the offense to Rondo. You simply can't go after a PG like that and then slow it down and call out every player from the sideline. It was such mismanagement that Carlisle's coaching acumen took quite a hit IMO. He's a control freak. Had the same issue previously with Kidd. When you go after Rondo, it's lost on me how coach failed to recognize Rondo's biggest asset is having the ball, patrolling against the defense and creating looks for others based on what he sees. He could fit better here.

At the same time, his inability to shoot or even his FTs is quite a red flag. He's also lost a step on both ends, doesn't get into the paint as much as he used to. Then there's the head strong issue where both he and Karl would likely butt heads. That could be fine, or not. We don't know. But one of my biggest current issues is him flat out quiting on the Mavs in the playoffs. Issues with the coach is one thing but you've got to have more respect for your teammates. If we were to sign him to a one or two year deal, what happens if he and Karl go south? Does he quit on us? Valid concern. If he wants to come here though and wants to play with Rudy/Cuz and give it a go under Karl, I'd listen.

I'd still prefer a DC/Mudiay PG combo. I'd still prefer trying to get our hands on Jrue Holiday or Bledsoe. But beggars can't be choosers. If we're intent on a PG upgrade I'd consider taking a flier on him. I'd also prefer him to Lawson. But as with many of our issues, one player isn't going to solve them. Whether it's successful or not depends a fair amount on the other moves we make this summer. Get Rondo and you sure as **** better get some more off the ball shooters. If the idea would be to run out a Rondo/Rudy/Cuz core, then you better get more fitting pieces around them. Our SG simply needs to be a reliant 3pt shooter. Our PF simply needs to be a good enough shooter to keep the defense honest and prevent his man from playing off him.

Rondo
Matthews
Rudy
WCS
Cuz

Have WCS spend all summer with a shooting coach and make him a respectable spot up shooter and that's a pretty good lineup. However if WCS can't shoot, we're going to have some problems. And as much as I like defense, spacing on the offensive end is quite important in today's game and would also be important in creating space to allow Rondo to get into the paint. If defenders are sagging off and clogging the paint, it makes Rondo's job that much tougher. It all fits together. We need more pieces which help one another rather than work against one another. Can't have Rondo/WCS out there not being guarded. That just makes Cuz's job that much tougher. The 2nd defender coming to help on him can come from either the weakside or from the top off Rondo.

 

[MizzouKing]

I say DO IT...but only if we can get Josh Smith and Royce White in the package.

 

[hrdboild]

Ok let's say you are able to get Matthews or Rondo, what do you feel is the better option?

This off-season? Rondo. Not because I don't like Wesley Matthews -- mainly because Achilles injuries are not to be underestimated. I would hesitate to commit any substantial amount of money on Wesley Matthews this off-season because there's really no guarantee he'll ever be the same player again. And even if he does eventually make a full recovery, he's unlikely to return to his pre-injury level of performance in year 1 or even year 2 of recovery. McLemore might be a better option given the circumstances.

Data for 18 basketball players with Achilles tendon repair over a 23-year period (1988-2011) were obtained from injury reports, press releases, and player profiles.

At the time of injury, the average age was 29.7 years, average BMI was 25.6, and average playing experience was 7.6 years. Seven players never returned to play an NBA game, whereas 11 players returned to play 1 season, with 8 of those players returning for ≥2 seasons. Players who returned missed an average of 55.9 games. The PER was reduced by 4.57 (P = .003) in the first season and by 4.38 (P = .010) in the second season. When compared with controls, players demonstrated a significant decline in the PER the first season (P = .038) and second season (P = .081) after their return.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Hope there is no substance to these rumors

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Hope there is no substance to these rumors

I think we should be totally clear here. This is not a sourced rumor. This is speculation. A Boston-based writer speculated that the Kings could be interested in Rondo based on prior interest in years past. I wouldn't treat it as anything more than a talking point. We've heard for a while that the Kings have had interest in Rondo - the only thing the Boston writer really did was give us an explicit excuse to talk about it.

 

[funkykingston]

Rondo
Matthews
Rudy
WCS
Cuz

The Kings MIGHT have the caproom to get Rondo OR Matthews. Certainly not both.

Not without trading away say Landry and McLemore and not taking any salary back in return.

 

[SacKings384]

I'd take him on a 1 year $5-$8 million deal. If he's still a problem child he won't make enough for us to worry about kicking him out.

 

[Merdiesel]

Doug Christie was on KHTK this morning and brought up the relationship between Gary Payton and Coach Karl and thought that Rondo and Coach could possible form a similar bond. This intrigues me as well.

 

[hrdboild]

Doug Christie was on KHTK this morning and brought up the relationship between Gary Payton and Coach Karl and thought that Rondo and Coach could possible form a similar bond. This intrigues me as well.

Doug Christie is a smart man. I hope Vlade pulls him into the front office in some capacity or consults with him on personnel decisions because I always appreciate his well-considered opinions.

also...

 

[rhythmless]

The Kings MIGHT have the caproom to get Rondo OR Matthews. Certainly not both.

Not without trading away say Landry and McLemore and not taking any salary back in return.

If we go by Hoopshype numbers, the Kings DEFINITELY have caproom to get Rondo or Matthews. With a stretch on Landry, it should be enough for both. Should we pay them that much? That's another story, but cap wise I disagree with your assessment.

 

[LPKingsFan]

If we go by Hoopshype numbers, the Kings DEFINITELY have caproom to get Rondo or Matthews. With a stretch on Landry, it should be enough for both. Should we pay them that much? That's another story, but cap wise I disagree with your assessment.

Is the math that the OP did in this thread wrong? Or do you think the Kings could sign both for under $14 million?

http://kingsfans.com/threads/which-big-name-free-agent-to-target.60439/

 

[sdballer]

Unless these guys are signing for around 5m each, we can't get both.

In other words, we can't get both

 

[dude12]

Rondo - meh

 

[ockingsfan]

I'd take him on a 1 year $5-$8 million deal. If he's still a problem child he won't make enough for us to worry about kicking him out.

We are not getting Rondo for $5-8 million. For equal money, he is going to the Lakers.

We will need to vastly overpay, for him to consider us.

We will probably need to offer somewhere in the range of 2 years $20-24mil, with second year a player option for him to come.

 

[sdballer]

We are not getting Rondo for $5-8 million. For equal money, he is going to the Lakers.

We will need to vastly overpay, for him to consider us.

We will probably need to offer somewhere in the range of 2 years $20-24mil, with second year a player option for him to come.

Giant pass. We'd have used more than our available dollars and still not address shooting or defense

 

[kingsfan1984]

I agree. Lawson will cost us assets - likely a good deal of them. Rondo would be only cap space, and with his exit from Dallas it might be a pretty cheap one-year "make-good" contract as people are suggesting. He'll probably want to get his stock back up in order to cash in on a big payday next year when the cap jumps. It's a risk-reward thing, and I don't know if it's the best we can do with our cap space, and I don't know if we'd just be better off sticking with Darren, but any way you look at it I prefer it to Lawson.

I hope hope hope that on draft day we don't see a Kings pick to Denver for Lawson sign flash accross the sccreen. I don't get the high value people put on him and Faried. At their salaries you are not getting anyone else and those two have glaring flaws to their games that I I just don't see anyway it gets us better than competing for the 8th seed. I would much much rather take a short term deal of Rondo that doesnt handicap us than overvalued worn tires Lawson.

 

[kingsfan1984]

Now a trade of Nik or Ben for Lawson I'd be ok with but not our pick...to me the prospect available to us this year is more than what Nik and Ben are currently.

 

[206Fan]

Is the math that the OP did in this thread wrong? Or do you think the Kings could sign both for under $14 million?

http://kingsfans.com/threads/which-big-name-free-agent-to-target.60439/

Just from my own calculations we have almost $56million locked up next year guaranteed including the cap hold for the 6th pick and Wayne Ellingtom. This is excluding unguaranteed contracts in Moreland and Stockton.
The cap is expected to rise to $67.1 million, so we'd have around $11.1million in free agency. Let's say we get rid of Landry, his contract is $6.5million. We'd then have $17.6million for cap space.

17.6million excluding Landry and unguarnteed contracts.


Can anyone correct me on my math? I know it's not the exact number, but it's somewhere there.

We can certainly get both Matthews and Rondo if we structure their contract weirdl. For ex: we can offer Wesley Matthews a 2 year $26million deal, but have it structured like $10million his 1st year, then $16million his 2nd year. We'd have 7.6 million for Rondo..I personally hope we don't give him thst much, but it would work cap wise I believe.

 

[randymoss1881]

If we go by Hoopshype numbers, the Kings DEFINITELY have caproom to get Rondo or Matthews. With a stretch on Landry, it should be enough for both. Should we pay them that much? That's another story, but cap wise I disagree with your assessment.

Exactly you pick Carrol/Matthews/ Green over Rondo. Even if it works offensively rondos deffense is a joke. He talked big game about he was gonna finally try on defense when he was delt to Dallas but was terrible there too. Just say no.