Some Respectful Suggestions to Theus

[Entity]

It's early, but settle on a rotation. Figure out who you want as your big minute players and stick with them; live and die with them. You're digging yourself into a hole that will be hard to get out of by not trusting guys. You want to build camaraderie, but having guys compete with each other for minutes won't do that. Players are more likely to sabotage each other and look for their own when minutes are distrubuted they way it has. Pick your A team, and get everyone else to support them. Pulling guys and sitting them for long stretches for minor mistakes and because there not gifted enough creates bad moral. And get Brad and Kenny's jumpers more involved, please.

Its hard to settle on a rotation when you have 2 starters and 2 reserves 3 if you count Justin that should be in the rotation. So lets not get on Theus for the rotation. i challenge anybody to lose their #1 draft pick their starting pg and sf and their best defender, shot blocker, and rebounder right before the season begins. Then you sign a pg to fill in and he is injured and can't play for a week or so. Right now you just have to ride the storm out and hope for the best but, you can't settle when you have 4 players that wouldn't break the roatation on a contending team. SAR, KT, Moore, and Greene.

 

[supamari0]

If Theus likes post offensive game, why the Kings FO didn't try to acquire Luis Scola from the Spurs this summer ? Could be a win-win trade, fact that we got a bag of cheetos for him from Houston, and now many analysts predict Rox championship based on that fateful trade, LOL. Scola is weak defensively, but atleast he can score in the paint if given the opportunity, and a decent rebounder. Most importantly, he plays with fire & pride -ala Manu, Nocioni, and Oberto.

The Kings didnt have a disgruntled European player that wanted out of his contract. Spanoulis was practically a trade exception and the Spurs needed cap space to sign Udoka and stay under the tax line.

 

[CruzDude]

Watching SAR appears he is playing in pain. (I'm in pain watching him..... and KT). His movements are not smooth, the quickness is gone, he isn't banging. I wonder if he is 75% even now and that is 50% for most players.

KT is embarrassing. He appears totally intimidated under the bucket, unable to make basic layups and tip ins. He was even intimidated when he was all alone under the bucket missing that lonely layup.

The team doesn't move without the ball, too much dribbling and not enough passing. They get beat in assists by the same margin they do in rebounds.

But what are the solutions?? I think Artest and Hawes may be. Ron Ron can rebound like crazy when he wants and Hawes can a bit but can really work around the basket for down low scoring.

There aren't any rebounders out there waiting to come to the Kings. One who slipped under the radar and was the 6th overall pick in the NBDL draft was Nick Caner-Medley. A 6-8 and 245 guy who can shoot the 3 all day and can bang and rebound. He led the ACC in 3 pt shooting his senior year.

 

[tyrant]

my suggestion. stop signing other teams' garbage. its not even like theyre expiring contracts. kenny thomas will be a king for the rest of our lives. some of us will be deceased, some of us will be old and gray; kenny thomas will still be a king. the world will come to an end, judgement day will arrive, kenny thomas will be the last man alive and guess what; he'll still be a sacramento king. unless we buy him out and dump his ridiculous contract.

 

[Kingster]

Watching SAR appears he is playing in pain. (I'm in pain watching him..... and KT). His movements are not smooth, the quickness is gone, he isn't banging. I wonder if he is 75% even now and that is 50% for most players.

KT is embarrassing. He appears totally intimidated under the bucket, unable to make basic layups and tip ins. He was even intimidated when he was all alone under the bucket missing that lonely layup.

The team doesn't move without the ball, too much dribbling and not enough passing. They get beat in assists by the same margin they do in rebounds.

But what are the solutions?? I think Artest and Hawes may be. Ron Ron can rebound like crazy when he wants and Hawes can a bit but can really work around the basket for down low scoring.

There aren't any rebounders out there waiting to come to the Kings. One who slipped under the radar and was the 6th overall pick in the NBDL draft was Nick Caner-Medley. A 6-8 and 245 guy who can shoot the 3 all day and can bang and rebound. He led the ACC in 3 pt shooting his senior year.

Artest will certainly help. But they are going to have to play him at the 4 because they need Garcia or Salmons on the floor at the same time. Theus already has said he sees Artest at the 4 and Martin at the 3 (??????????). I wonder how long Artest will tolerate playing the 4. Martin at the 3 seems absurd to me. Theus said last night that he can't do anything with the Xs and Os to better the offense, but I didn't see nearly enough good shots for Martin. I was expecting to see Martin come off a lot of double screens. Didn't see it. He's their best scorer. Theus has got to get him up to 25+ pts per game with a good field goal percentage in order to have any shot at winning.

 

[kingsfan101]

The Kings didnt have a disgruntled European player that wanted out of his contract. Spanoulis was practically a trade exception and the Spurs needed cap space to sign Udoka and stay under the tax line.

We did have a number of expirings last year, which they might have been interested in. While a team might be reluctant to trade guys while they are making a championship run, guys like Butler and Beno rarely left the Spurs bench.

From some of the comments at last year's trade deadline and later, I felt that the management wanted to let those contracts expire, and rebuild. Before the season however, someone had a change in heart, and decided to give this group one more chance.

 

[dude12]

The most glaring problem right now is the lack of offense. If we can knock down some buckets then our rebounding problem becomes less glaring. We are missing shots and can't get an offensive board for nothing. Put those 2 together and I'm not sure how we are going to win. I actually think the defense has been fairly solid....team defense that is. Not saying its great but its been ok.

 

[tyrant]

The most glaring problem right now is the lack of offense. If we can knock down some buckets then our rebounding problem becomes less glaring. We are missing shots and can't get an offensive board for nothing. Put those 2 together and I'm not sure how we are going to win. I actually think the defense has been fairly solid....team defense that is. Not saying its great but its been ok.

a fair point. just because the power forward position is currently the anchor of these teams today does not mean that we have to play that. our pf's suck and there is nothing we can do about it. i would just hope that the ball stays in martin and millers hands. im not about killing the confidence of our other players, but nothing else is working.

 

[VF21]

There aren't any rebounders out there waiting to come to the Kings. One who slipped under the radar and was the 6th overall pick in the NBDL draft was Nick Caner-Medley. A 6-8 and 245 guy who can shoot the 3 all day and can bang and rebound. He led the ACC in 3 pt shooting his senior year.

Caner-Medley was in training camp for the Kings, remember? And he did exactly jack, diddly and squat as far as banging and rebounding go. He was released partially to keep Watkins which I think was a GOOD decision.

 

[Bricklayer]

Notes to Reggie:

1) scrap the attempts at post offense until Hawes gets back and/or Reef gets healthy (if ever)

2) get Miller up top, give him the ball, let him initialize. There's your PG. He's nearly worthless otherwise.

3) seriously consider moving Brad to PF -- I've now seen new skinnier Brad. He's quicker, but he's now a 90lb weakling. Get him out of the pivot. With the added quickness he may be able to play some PF. Of course that means the guys next to him have to be Hawes when he comes back (and him you can post), Justin if he isn't in jail, and maybe some spot minutes from Moore. Kenny and Reef are out. Try to give Watkins a few, but he may just be the 12th man.

4) Start Douby. Quincy is not a PG. Was nothing short of a ballhog last night. But its not about that. Its about trying to put another credible offensive threat out there next to Kevin to free him up. Kevin's not good enough to matter in the face of this level of attention. And they haven't even started double teaming hiim yet. Beno...eh...we'll see. Certainly needs to be the backup if not the starter.

5) When Ron comes back you are screwed because you have no choice but to turn the team over to him. Kevin is not a leader. Hasn't been a shred of that in these first two games. When Ron comes back, he takes over the team, that simple. Get used to it.

6) do not play Ron at PF, much as you might be tempted. Ron is as wimpy a PF as the guys we hav e. Undersized, crappy rebounder. Why take one of the few advanatges you have (Ron's strength at SF) adn trun it into a disadvanatge by forcing him to play against the big boys?

7) Cisco as energy 6th man. Now when ron comes abck don't know what you do. We still have too many players at those positions (Kevin, Ron, Salmons, Cisco).

8) Greene no longer starts. In fact he is a spot player only when you need to try to chill an opposing PG who is getting hot.

9) Make phone calls to Geoff 5 times a day telling him to get off his *** and do something. Be persistent. Chances are you'll wake him up form more thna one nap. Do not be shocked, dismayed, or upset if that "doing something" involves trading vets for more kids. That was always part of the job description. Or at least the hoped for job description. You're just going to have to deal.

 

[VF21]

Artest will certainly help. But they are going to have to play him at the 4 because they need Garcia or Salmons on the floor at the same time. Theus already has said he sees Artest at the 4 and Martin at the 3 (??????????). I wonder how long Artest will tolerate playing the 4. Martin at the 3 seems absurd to me. Theus said last night that he can't do anything with the Xs and Os to better the offense, but I didn't see nearly enough good shots for Martin. I was expecting to see Martin come off a lot of double screens. Didn't see it. He's their best scorer. Theus has got to get him up to 25+ pts per game with a good field goal percentage in order to have any shot at winning.

I like Artest at the 4 and I don't think Ron will have a problem with it. By the end of the season, we're gonna see some really unusual lineups and assignments. Reggie is going to have to pull a LOT of rabbits out of his hat.

 

[JoMama]

Notes to Reggie:

9) Make phone calls to Geoff 5 times a day telling him to get off his *** and do something. Be persistent. Chances are you'll wake him up form more thna one nap. Do not be shocked, dismayed, or upset if that "doing something" involves trading vets for more kids. That was always part of the job description. Or at least the hoped for job description. You're just going to have to deal.

This one is monumental. Didn't I hear Kings radio last night talking about how great Brad Miller would fit in as the 4th option with the Boston Celtics? Anybody have Petrie's cell phone number?

 

[AriesMar27]

This one is monumental. Didn't I hear Kings radio last night talking about how great Brad Miller would fit in as the 4th option with the Boston Celtics? Anybody have Petrie's cell phone number?

the celtics dont have any more tradeable players to match millers salary... they used them all up getting allen and kg... i wonder if the lakers would trade kwame and filler for miller... maybe kwame/sasha...

the nuggets might be a good trade partner if you are okay with nene... or a combo of hunter/najera/atkins... but both kwame and sasha are expiring contracts... how sweet would that be? this team sucks now anyways...

 

[supamari0]

We did have a number of expirings last year, which they might have been interested in. While a team might be reluctant to trade guys while they are making a championship run, guys like Butler and Beno rarely left the Spurs bench.

From some of the comments at last year's trade deadline and later, I felt that the management wanted to let those contracts expire, and rebuild. Before the season however, someone had a change in heart, and decided to give this group one more chance.

Expirings were no good to San Antonio. Spanoulis was one better, an expiring that wanted out. Meaning who would create no impact on the cap this year. A greek team bought out his contract so San Antonio basically traded Scola for free cap space, not an expiring. That gave them the room to sign Udoka.

Unless the Kings had a trade exception, they couldn't match that deal.

 

[Bricklayer]

Expirings were no good to San Antonio. Spanoulis was one better, an expiring that wanted out. Meaning who would create no impact on the cap this year. A greek team bought out his contract so San Antonio basically traded Scola for free cap space, not an expiring. That gave them the room to sign Udoka.

Unless the Kings had a trade exception, they couldn't match that deal.

Think he was referrign to back around the trade deadline last year, when we had several expirings set to clear off in a couple of months (i.e. by the end of last season). Of course do not know if the Spurs were looking to trade that early. Could they though have really objected to getting back a classy vet like Corliss Williamson for a few months and one more shot at the title while unloading stuff they did not want for the future? Who knows.

 

[fnordius]

4) Start Douby. Quincy is not a PG. Was nothing short of a ballhog last night. But its not about that. Its about trying to put another credible offensive threat out there next to Kevin to free him up. Kevin's not good enough to matter in the face of this level of attention. And they haven't even started double teaming hiim yet.

I'm thinking the same as you on everything but this. Salmons and Garcia are both minor offensive threats, but they are still threats. Douby, so far, is shooting worse than every non-PF except for Greene. And his overall numbers are very close to Moore's. Salmons, or even Miller, are much better at handing out assists (only KT, Watkins and Orien Greene have worse assist/TO ratios than Douby), so the only thing Douby would seem to be good for is as a quick little defender. But Garcia's acceptable at that, and has been showing a much better overall game. 13.5 - 6 - 2.5 on 48% shooting, as opposed to Douby's 6 - 2.5 - 1.5 on 35% shooting.

Of course speedy guys like Devin Harris are going to give us big problems, but I don't think that Douby can handle them much better than Garcia would. Most teams can kill us at PG as easily as they can at PF.

I just hope that Beno Udrih is feeling very motivated, because choices like these look pretty terrible whichever way you lean.

 

[kingsfan101]

Think he was referrign to back around the trade deadline last year, when we had several expirings set to clear off in a couple of months (i.e. by the end of last season). Of course do not know if the Spurs were looking to trade that early. Could they though have really objected to getting back a classy vet like Corliss Williamson for a few months and one more shot at the title while unloading stuff they did not want for the future? Who knows.

Yes, the reference was to the trade deadline last year, and true, we don't know if the Spurs were thinking along those lines then or not.

I would be very surprised if it wasn't in their thought process though. Successful organizations think long term, and Spurs would surely have been considering their finances for the current and future years in Feb. Would they have taken our offer? Don't know. However, given that they basically gave away plenty of stuff that would have interested us, they might have preferred helping us, currently on the fringes of the league, rather than strengthening a division rival who they might face in the playoffs.

 

[sono]

Dear Coach Theus,
...snip...
Back to Thomas. I can't stand him. No, I mean I REALLY can't stand him. I'd almost pay to have him sit on the bench. Can you help me out here?

Hahaha getting paid extra to warm the bench? ... here plenty of posters would willingly bubble wrap his belongings and drop him off at the airport for nothing if he leaves. He's one lucky man .

 

[supamari0]

Yes, the reference was to the trade deadline last year, and true, we don't know if the Spurs were thinking along those lines then or not.

I would be very surprised if it wasn't in their thought process though. Successful organizations think long term, and Spurs would surely have been considering their finances for the current and future years in Feb. Would they have taken our offer? Don't know. However, given that they basically gave away plenty of stuff that would have interested us, they might have preferred helping us, currently on the fringes of the league, rather than strengthening a division rival who they might face in the playoffs.

They were demanding draft picks at the time. In fact, our GM was ready to trade our first round pick to SA for Scola if Aaron Brooks was taken off of the board. Plus Cleveland really wanted Scola too and would have gotten him if the Bibby trade had worked out. (SA would have been a 3rd team in that trade)

The reason Houston got Scola was because Tau offered him a contract extension and SA either had to move him or lose his rights for another 5 years due to the new contract. And after 5 years, he'd be too old to really play in the NBA and be really productive, so they basically sold him for anything they could get and Houston was the only team able to give them instant cap relief.

It was just a unique circumstance that allowed that trade to happen. Sacramento had no chance unless they were offering draft picks.

 

[Gary]

agreed with whoever said we should buy out KT

One thing I want to know is what the hell happened to the KT of 3 years ago fresh faced with the Kings getting about 15ppg and 9rpg? That's the KT I wish we had this year.

KT has probably regressed the worst of any player I have ever seen outside of one that was injured.

 

[Jerichoholic]

One thing I want to know is what the hell happened to the KT of 3 years ago fresh faced with the Kings getting about 15ppg and 9rpg? That's the KT I wish we had this year.

KT has probably regressed the worst of any player I have ever seen outside of one that was injured.

It's is wierd how badly he's fallen. I imagine he has packed it in and just wants to collect his money but at the same time his ego is so huge that he feels entitled to start and get big minutes at the same time. I'm not sure how he justifies that but we've heard plenty of his quotes in the past that seems to point that way.

At this point I would be very happy starting Artest at PF, I think it would be a good fit for this team when he comes back. Miller will play the high post while Artest can play the low post. Artest's steady defense should work wonders as he can guard most PF in this league. I still feel that Garcia would be a better fit at SF than Salmons because a defensive playmaker like Christie was would be a good complement to Artest's style. Garcia fits that bill more than Salmons.

 

[Kingster]

I'm thinking the same as you on everything but this. Salmons and Garcia are both minor offensive threats, but they are still threats. Douby, so far, is shooting worse than every non-PF except for Greene. And his overall numbers are very close to Moore's. Salmons, or even Miller, are much better at handing out assists (only KT, Watkins and Orien Greene have worse assist/TO ratios than Douby), so the only thing Douby would seem to be good for is as a quick little defender. But Garcia's acceptable at that, and has been showing a much better overall game. 13.5 - 6 - 2.5 on 48% shooting, as opposed to Douby's 6 - 2.5 - 1.5 on 35% shooting.

Of course speedy guys like Devin Harris are going to give us big problems, but I don't think that Douby can handle them much better than Garcia would. Most teams can kill us at PG as easily as they can at PF.

I just hope that Beno Udrih is feeling very motivated, because choices like these look pretty terrible whichever way you lean.

I think it's way too early to make judgements about Douby. The Kings are lousy. He's only in his second year. He's shown flashes of improvement. I'd like to see him continue to get a lot of pt so he has the opportunity to improve. Douby could look a lot better at the end of this year than at the beginning. On the other hand, Greene should never get off the bench.

 

[bench_blob]

I think we should upload a video of KT missing that WIDE OPEN LAYUP OFF THE GLASS in the first quarter, and just loop it over and over.

And then send it to Reggie and the King's organiztion.


Man that was horrible.....

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I would LOVE to see this on LOOP, does anyone have it??!!! I laughed my a** off when I saw at live, I would bust a gut if I saw it on automatic rewind.

 

[fnordius]

I think it's way too early to make judgements about Douby. The Kings are lousy. He's only in his second year.

I didn't mean to suggest that Douby will always suck, he'll probably be playing a lot better by the time we have Udrih, Artest, Williams and Bibby activated. That just isn't much consolation now, when we're desperately in need of a PG who can do better than 35% shooting and 1 assist per game.

 

[kingsfan101]

They were demanding draft picks at the time. In fact, our GM was ready to trade our first round pick to SA for Scola if Aaron Brooks was taken off of the board. Plus Cleveland really wanted Scola too and would have gotten him if the Bibby trade had worked out. (SA would have been a 3rd team in that trade)

The reason Houston got Scola was because Tau offered him a contract extension and SA either had to move him or lose his rights for another 5 years due to the new contract. And after 5 years, he'd be too old to really play in the NBA and be really productive, so they basically sold him for anything they could get and Houston was the only team able to give them instant cap relief.

It was just a unique circumstance that allowed that trade to happen. Sacramento had no chance unless they were offering draft picks.

Wasn't aware of this. Thanks for the info.

 

[VF21]

Suggestion to Reggie Theus:

KEEP giving the minutes to the guys with the hustle!!!

 

[TheFifthMookie]

Miki Moore did one thing on offense tonight that he can do - he hit one outside shot. He's Miller lite.

Now that was funny!

Mikki Moore = Light Beer, film at 11.