The main issue here is....

[kupman]

coaching. This is just my opinion of course. However, the more I watch this team and the more I think about it, the more I believe this team stinks because the new coaching staff is unable to get this team together.

It actually seems pretty clear cut to me. We basically have the same personnel as last year. Martin has been able to fill-in for Bonzi better than expected and we now have Salmons coming off the bench. So really, the personnel talent level has changed very little, perhaps has even improved a bit. However, performance has chnaged significantly.

Using this personnel last year, we went 25-11 shortly after the arrival of Ron. That record sounds pretty nice right about now. We had a nice playoff showing, taking the Spurs to 6 games without the home court advantage. We accomplished this with a team that was just getting to know each other.

However, we all wanted more. This includes the fans and the Maloofs. We still suffered emotionally from not winning a title just a few years ago. It was the belief that while RA was a good coach he good not give us the title we yearned for. He could not do it in Portland. He could not do it here. As a result, the Kings gambled and went in a differnt direction. They went for the young guy - the diamond in the rough if you will. I believe that the success of Avery Johnson had at least something to do with this mind set. Therefore, the gamble and now the loss.

The RA days look real nice at this point. Many would like to think that improving or changing personnel will get us back there. I do not. I think that this team actually has good personnel - not great, but pretty darn good. It is just that everyone on the team (with the exception of Kmart) has underachieved. Furthermore, this team continues to get worse and worse as the season progresses. I place this on coaching.

If you give us Oden or Durant (the current holy grails) I think we still stink. Heck, give us both and I think we still stink. Trades?.... same issue. Miller for Yao = we stink; Artest for Garnett = we stink. I just have not seen that the coaching can get the team together and that will exist with whomever we have on the team. If our talent is so bad, how can RA get this team to be one of the top 10 teams by th end of last season? Bottmom line is that while personnel has remianed very consistent, performance has been night and day. Again, I place this on coaching.

I am giving Muss and his staff a chance. He deserves that. However, at this point his tenure has been a colossal failure despite having a talented cast of players.

 

[Ryle]

Do we have to rehash this again?? I'm not a big fan of Muss as a coach(I'm more annoyed with his choice of asst. coaches more than anything) but prior to Ron's arrival this team was as bad as we are now. We then had Bonzi come back who was playing for a contract and Ron who was playing to redeem himself. If not for Bonzi's performance against the Spurs we would have been swept and Ron has now reverted back to being Ron. If Adelman were still the coach we would be in the same boat.

 

[nbrans]

This team needs to stink, so whatever Musselman is doing is working. This draft is an opportunity that only comes along once every five years at best. We may still stink with Durant or Oden, but we'd at least be on our way to something positive, with a young superstar on our side. We can figure out the coaching situation after we have a superstar.

My biggest fear is that we'll win too many games.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It actually seems pretty clear cut to me. We basically have the same personnel as last year. Martin has been able to fill-in for Bonzi better than expected and we now have Salmons coming off the bench. So really, the personnel talent level has changed very little, perhaps has even improved a bit. However, performance has chnaged significantly.

On the surface it seems like this is true but its kind of ignoring the way the season played out last year and focusing on the end result. First off we stank well into January last year. Martin is a nice player when it comes to scoring but we got SO much more than scoring from Bonzi. He was a huge part of the inside game which is completely gone with this team. Plus we've had more players hurting all season - most notably Artest who was the kick in the pants we needed that changed last season from where we are now to a "successful" one where we still lost in the first round of the playoffs.

I'm not exactly thrilled with the coaching but I'd still like the season to play out, get a nice pick and hopefully sign a complimentary player or two or maybe make a big trade and see what happens if we put a team on the floor with an actual NBA quality frontcourt next season. I'd like to see some changes in the assistant coaching - I'd like to see a "wise old man" like Coachie brought in along with another experienced assistant.

 

[Roman]

I pointed out this team's problem from the beginning of the season:
1) The coach has no guts and has no control over the team.
* the team will never establish an identity.
* there's no punishment for stupidity on the court.
* He's also very inconsistant, but that's a lessor problem.

2) The "Big 3" aren't all that big.
* Bibby and Miller may combine to be the worst defending duo in basketball. When you have a PG that plays like a matador and a center that runs away from contact, you're in trouble. People want to blame the PF position, but that isn't nearly the glaring hole that our C position is.
* Mike Bibby is a terrible PG. Period. He's a great scorer (when the offense is geared to get him good looks), but he's a terrible PG and an even worse leader.
* Brad Miller isn't really that special. His besty abilities force us to play an inverted offense. His greatest asset is that he's a good passer ... except he's not all that good. He doesn't "create" with the ball, he just has to wait.
* Ron Artest is a great defender and a average to marginally below average offensive player .. yet he's one of our primary pieces in our sets (either that or he just refuses to let go of the ball).

 

[most_casual_observer]

I pointed out this team's problem from the beginning of the season:
1) The coach has no guts and has no control over the team.
* the team will never establish an identity.
* there's no punishment for stupidity on the court.
* He's also very inconsistant, but that's a lessor problem.

2) The "Big 3" aren't all that big.
* Bibby and Miller may combine to be the worst defending duo in basketball. When you have a PG that plays like a matador and a center that runs away from contact, you're in trouble. People want to blame the PF position, but that isn't nearly the glaring hole that our C position is.
* Mike Bibby is a terrible PG. Period. He's a great scorer (when the offense is geared to get him good looks), but he's a terrible PG and an even worse leader.
* Brad Miller isn't really that special. His besty abilities force us to play an inverted offense. His greatest asset is that he's a good passer ... except he's not all that good. He doesn't "create" with the ball, he just has to wait.
* Ron Artest is a great defender and a average to marginally below average offensive player .. yet he's one of our primary pieces in our sets (either that or he just refuses to let go of the ball).

Bibby really plays more like a Toreador (I wish he had more Matador in him), but it's a small point. Good post overall.

 

[Roman]

Bibby really plays more like a Toreador (I wish he had more Matador in him), but it's a small point.

Sure, sure ... bring semantics and fact into my argument. You'll ruin everything! Foiled again!

Good post overall.

Thanks.

 

[Vlade4GM]

anyone still worried about getting 70 cents on the dollar for artest, miller, and bibby?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

anyone still worried about getting 70 cents on the dollar for artest, miller, and bibby?

I still think I'd keep Artest. I never thought we'd get anywhere near equal trade value on the other two but I'm ready to let them go for prospects at this point although I doubt we'd even get that for Miller.

 

[NikateeN]

During the Piston game last night my buddy turns to me and says "are these even plays? it looks like Muss just tells em to go out there and do anything", the more i looked the more i noticed how nothing was organised on the court with the Kings.

Another thing, Muss needs to be a major a**hole, plain and simple, you look at all the successfull coaches in the past and none of them are "nice guys" when it comes down to business.

 

[Vlade4GM]

I still think I'd keep Artest. I never thought we'd get anywhere near equal trade value on the other two but I'm ready to let them go for prospects at this point although I doubt we'd even get that for Miller.

keeping artest makes no sense, he won't accept being part of a rebuilding effort. it's just not in his character and he's our most valuable chip even though that's still not really saying much. i don't want to run the risk of winning too many games this year, it's too important.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

keeping artest makes no sense, he won't accept being part of a rebuilding effort. it's just not in his character and he's our most valuable chip even though that's still not really saying much. i don't want to run the risk of winning too many games this year, it's too important.

Artest still has another year on his contract - IF we get a huge draft pick and make a good trade or free agent signing we can turn things around next year and he would be key in that. If our offseason is a bust I'd be willing to trade Artest before the start of the season though. The others should be moved first.

 

[Vlade4GM]

Artest still has another year on his contract - IF we get a huge draft pick and make a good trade or free agent signing we can turn things around next year and he would be key in that. If our offseason is a bust I'd be willing to trade Artest before the start of the season though. The others should be moved first.

the chances of us getting durant or oden are not that great as is and even if we do i really don't see us being that competitive still. i don't think artest sticks around either way once he's a free agent. we might as well trade him now and make sure he doesn't cost us any losses.