The Path to Success

[twslam07]

This season has been disappointing to say the least. I don't think we should blow up the team (e.g. trade Cousins and Evans). I like what I have seen out of Evans this season so far and he looks like he has found a way to play with Cousins in the half court set. For that reason, along with many other, we should keep Cousins and Evans. For some of you, I am coming off as a broken record, but there have been some on this forum who have advocated cleaning house.

With that being said, I have constructed a plan that begins with what we should do this year all the way through to the 2014 season. I tried to make it as realistic as I could, but obviously a plan that lasts a couple years is going to have some assumptions here and there.

Our team still needs a PG who is a good ball handler, playmaker, 3pt shooter, and defender. We have Brooks who I would say is a good ball handler and 3pt shooter, but I would prefer someone who is a better playmaker and defender.

Our team still needs a SF who is unselfish and is a good 3pt shooter and defender. We have Salmons who is a good defender, but he is not unselfish and his 3pt shooting (especially his spot up 3pt shooting) has been erratic. On top of that, he is undersized for the position.

Our team still needs a PF who is athletic, big, and is a good shot-blocker, defender, rebounder, finisher, and jump shooter. We have Thompson who is athletic, big, and a good rebounder and jump shooter, but his defense and shot-blocking are not good enough for what we need out of that position.

So here we go...

2012 Season

The Kings should start this process off with a trade that involves the Pacers.

Pacers Get:
Jimmer Fredette
Marcus Thornton
Travis Outlaw
Thomas Robinson

Kings Get:
D.J. Augustin
Paul George
David West
Miles Plumlee

Why the Pacers do this trade:
In my opinion, the Pacers are stuck in that "make the playoffs, but never contend for a championship" mode. The Pacers have a lot of good pieces but they really only have one go-to scorer (Granger). In this trade, the Pacers get Thornton who can be another go-to scorer next to Granger. He is another guy who can average 18-20 PPG for them.

Pacers are giving up West and Augustin, but their contracts are expiring. There is no guarantee the Pacers bring them back. Augustin has played poorly thus far which doesn't warrant a resigning by the Pacers, and there has been questions whether West is in the Pacer's long term plans considering he is 32. The census on Pacer forums is that they would prefer to trade him this year and try to get some young pieces in return.

With that being said, the Pacers get Fredette who has shown nice improvements this year. He is shooting 46.3% from the floor and 41.7% from three. He is averagiing 21.6 PPG and 4.9 APG per 36 minutes. He would be a nice, young asset that would give them more production than Augustin has been giving them so far. Given Fredette's work ethic, it is not out of the question that he could wrestle the starting position away from Hill. For now, he would give us a nice scoring punch off the bench on a very affordable rookie contract.

In addition, the Pacers receive Robinson who would immediately become their PF of the future. He has good potential which is evident by being selected in the top 5 this year. His skills would compliment Hibbert very well. Hibbert would bring size, shot-blocking, defense, rebounding, and a post-up game. Robinson would bring athleticism, defense, rebounding, and a face-up game. They would be a very nice duo to build around.

The Pacers get some young assets to work with (Thornton - 25 years, Fredette - 23 years, Robinson - 21 years) and they all have significant time left on their contracts (Thornton - 3 years, Fredette - 4 years, Robinson - 5 years). I think this trade sets them up for the future, and leaves them in a good position.

Here is the Pacers rotation after the trade:

PG - Hill/Fredette/Hansbrough
SG - Thornton/Stephenson/Johnson
SF - Granger/Green/Young/Outlaw
PF - Robinson/Hansbrough/Pendergraph
C - Hibbert/Mahinmi

Why the Kings do this trade:
The Kings have a log jam at shooting guard right now. Two of the King's three best players (Cousins, Evans, Thornton) play the same position. We need to move Thornton so Evans can play all of his minutes at SG rather than having him play PG and SF to accommodate for Thornton's minutes at SG.

What the Kings really need is a SF who can play defense and hit the 3. George fits that perfectly. He would be our third option behind Cousins and Evans which will take the offensive pressure off of George and allow him to relax and let the game come to him again.

The Kings also get 2 expiring contracts in Augustin and West which they can let go at the end of the year which will give them more cap flexibility to extend Cousins and Evans as well as add any additional pieces we want.

Lastly, we get Plumlee who is a project. It is possible that he could eventually develop into an athletic, rebounding 4th big, but I don't really see any more potential than that.

Here is the Kings rotation after the trade:

PG - Brooks/Augustin/Thomas
SG - Evans/Salmons/Garcia
SF - George/Johnson/Honeycutt
PF - West/Thompson/Hayes
C - Cousins/Plumlee

2013 Offseason

The Kings have some decisions to make coming into the offseason. The biggest one would be extending Evans. From what I have seen so far from Evans, I think it would be a mistake if we didn't extend him. His jump shot seems to be coming along and he is playing excellent defense. In this situation, I am going to say we sign him to a max deal.

Now after signing Evans, we have Augustin, Thomas, Garcia, Honeycutt, Johnson, and West as possible players we could let go. I suggest we pick up the options on Thomas and Honeycutt and release everyone else.

I am going to assume that Brooks picks up his player option with us because of the amount of playing time he gets and that he has a starter's role on this team. That leaves us with this rotation:

PG - Brooks/Thomas
SG - Evans/Salmons
SF - George/Honeycutt
PF - Thompson/Hayes
C - Cousins/Plumlee

With the cap room we have, I think it would be wise to sign a backup SG, for when we release Salmons next year, and a backup SF, because Honeycutt will mostly likely need more time to develop. I would like to see us go after Reggie Williams or Jodie Meeks as a backup SG and Dorell Wright as a backup SF. We could probably get Williams or Meeks for around 2 mil a year and Wright for around 4 mil.

Considering how we have been playing so far, I'm guessing we will be in the top 5 or top 10 in the draft next year. There are many shot-blocking bigs to choose from this year. For this post, I am going to assume that we get the 5th pick once again and select Rudy Gobert. I will use Robinson's salary as a benchmark for how much we would be paying Gobert. This leaves us with a total payroll of around 56-57 mil.

This is what our roster would look like going into the 2013 season:

PG - Brooks/Thomas
SG - Evans/Williams/Salmons
SF - George/Wright/Honeycutt
PF - Thompson/Hayes
C - Cousins/Gobert/Plumlee

 

[twslam07]

2013 Season

Although we drafted a shot-blocker, I think it would be a good idea to add another if we could. I was a big fan of Dalembert during his time here. He is a free agent in the 2013 offseason so by now he would have signed with a team. Given he would be 32 by next season, I'm guessing he would be had for 4-6 mil a year. I suggest we try and make a trade for him close to the trade deadline in 2013. This is my proposal:

Team that signs Dalembert gets:
Tyler Honeycutt
Chuck Hayes
Miles Plumlee

Kings get:
Samuel Dalembert

I know this trade is going to have to depend on who signs Dalembert, but the premise is that they would get a good post big who is a couple years younger than Dalembert and two young assets with some potential. We could also go after Okafor, Kaman, Biedrins, Brand, or Pachulia if it doesn't work out with Dalembert.

After the trade, our team would look like this:

PG - Brooks/Thomas
SG - Evans/Williams/Salmons
SF - George/Wright
PF - Dalembert/Thompson
C - Cousins/Gobert

So as of now, it looks as if our big man and SF rotations are set for the future. All we need now is an upgrade at PG and we will be in good shape.

2014 Offseason

This offseason we will have Brooks, Thomas, Salmons, George, and Cousins as possible free agents. I recommend we release Brooks and Salmons and extend qualifying offers to Thomas, George, and Cousins. Now we would have 10-11 mil in cap room. We have to take into account Cousins, Thomas, and George's past salary into the payroll for the available cap space. This is why we only have 10-11 mil in cap space.

With this cap room, we should go after a PG. Fortunately, there is a PG who is an unrestricted free agent that most of us wanted for this season. I am talking about Lowry. He would be a terrific fit for this team. I think we would have a great shot at getting him for 10-11 mil a year. If we are unsuccessful, Chalmers will be an unrestricted free agent as well. He would be a good fit as well. He isn't as good as Lowry, but I think he could be a vital piece to our team.

Once we sign Lowry, we can then extend Cousins, George, and Thomas.

This will be the rotation going into the 2014 season:

PG - Lowry (34 min)/Thomas (14 min)
SG - Evans (37 min)/George (6 min)/Williams (5 min)
SF - George (28 min)/Wright (20 min)
PF - Dalembert (24 min)/Thompson (27 min)
C - Cousins (35 min)/Gobert (10 min)

Obviously, we'll have another draft pick added to this lineup and a few more veteran minimum contracts, but this will be the core roster for years to come.

Conclusions

The starting lineup has great size at each position (Lowry - 6'1", Evans - 6'5", George - 6'9", Dalembert - 6'11", Cousins - 6'11"), and each player has at least above average athleticism for their position. The defense would be outstanding. Lowry, Evans, and George are all great perimeter defenders, and Dalembert would be the shot-blocker who is mobile enough to guard the opposing teams best post player. The rebounding would be excellent. Lowry, Evans, George, Dalembert, and Cousins are all above average rebounders for their positions and the size of the team will make it hard for teams to get offensive rebounds on us. The passing and playmaking would be terrific as well. Lowry, Evans, George, and Cousins are all good playmakers who are capable of making a good pass and finding the open man. There is also two good 3pt shooters in the lineup who will help Evans and Cousins go to work. We have seen how successful Evans has been with the insertion of Salmons into the lineup. Upgrading Salmons to George should only make it better.

The bench is also very good as well. Thomas, Williams, and Wright are all very good 3pt shooters which will help spread the floor when they are in there with Evans and/or Cousins. Thompson and Gobert off the bench would give us one of the best big man rotations in the league. Thompson doesn't really have many weaknesses and can be a great 3rd big off the bench. Gobert oozes potential. He is 7'1" with a 7'9" wingspan and he is very athletic. Obviously, he needs to put on more weight (235 lbs) and get stronger, but he brings a lot of skills that we could use. Mainly being his shot-blocking. In addition, the only undersized player off our bench would be Thomas at 5'10".

Overall, I think this team has a legitimate shot at a title, and it has plenty of youth to make multiple runs deep into the playoffs. It would be a very refreshing team to watch considering the passing, shooting, defense, and rebounding.

 

[Bricklayer]

So much work, but unfortunately at the heart of it a deal the Pacers would never make in 1000 years.

 

[twslam07]

So much work, but unfortunately at the heart of it a deal the Pacers would never make in 1000 years.

Interesting. When I went on Pacer forums they actually seemed to like it. Obviously, Pacer forums do not constitute GM thoughts, but I consider our forum the closest to how our GM should think so I would extend that logic to Pacer forums as well.

 

[sidney]

We could have had Lowry and Dalembert here this past summer if we were willing to give up the Robinson pick. These are not bad ideas here but until Petrie is gone there is no way he goes on a two year plan to obtain what was there for the taking a couple of months ago.

 

[upinsmoke]

Path to success:

Sell you bastards, you know damn well mommy and co are very upset with you.

• Draft Leonard
• Re-sign or at least trade Dally
• Draft Barnes
• Dont sign Outlaw
• Dont trade Beno for Salmons
• Dont overpay for Hayes
• Dont trade away a Freakin 1st rounder for JJ Hickson who did not want to be here in the first place and to top it off was a FA.
• Dont overpay Cisco when nobody else was even coming close to offering him that kind of money.
• James Johnson

 

[Capt. Factorial]

• Dont trade away a Freakin 1st rounder for JJ Hickson who did not want to be here in the first place and to top it off was a FA.

Note that JJ was eligible for restricted free agency. Had he succeeded here, we could have made a qualifying offer and given ourselves the opportunity to match any contract.

 

[Gary]

I am going to get flack for this but we need to clean house. Keep the role players who know their roles, and get rid of the cry babies on the team and the players with no defined role. If it means trading Cousins and Evans then so be it.

I see all these trade ideas and to put it bluntly, I don't think adding any kind of marquee player to a core of Evans and Cousins will make us win any more games then we are right now.

This team is flawed and piling more and more players, even if they are decent players, on to a flawed core won't do a damn bit of good.

 

[mac]

I am going to get flack for this but we need to clean house. Keep the role players who know their roles, and get rid of the cry babies on the team and the players with no defined role. If it means trading Cousins and Evans then so be it.

I see all these trade ideas and to put it bluntly, I don't think adding any kind of marquee player to a core of Evans and Cousins will make us win any more games then we are right now.

This team is flawed and piling more and more players, even if they are decent players, on to a flawed core won't do a damn bit of good.

I don't see how you can pin the blame of players not having defined roles on the players themselves when the coach doesn't even believe in defining roles... Evans certainly hasn't been a crybaby at all. He's not the one who (in recent games) has played without energy on defense, given up easy points by getting T'd up or not getting back on D, nor did he outright complain about being moved around. He's finally settling into a role as SG with the ball in his hands more, playing good D and you want to trade him now?

 

[Gary]

I don't see how you can pin the blame of players not having defined roles on the players themselves when the coach doesn't even believe in defining roles... Evans certainly hasn't been a crybaby at all. He's not the one who (in recent games) has played without energy on defense, given up easy points by getting T'd up or not getting back on D, nor did he outright complain about being moved around. He's finally settling into a role as SG with the ball in his hands more, playing good D and you want to trade him now?

We need to get rid of the Coach and GM as well. But yes I would trade any player on this team including Evans. After seeing Evans now for 3 years and part of this year I have the opinion that the Kings will never win with him in this current system. Cousins too because frankly I am getting tired of him. You could win with Cousins but unless he grows up REAL fast he's expendable.

Why trade both of them, and fire the coach/GM? How much worse do you think this team could get? We are worse than every WC team and the 4th worst team in the league. I don't think you could get much lower than that. Other teams are a lot better than we are with less talented players. We have too many 1 on 1 players and too many players that just don't fit at all.

But basically my point to all of this is we aren't going to get worse with Cousins and Evans gone. We are already last in the WC and have only won 4 games on what's supposed to be our easiest part of the schedule. I would put the Kings even lower (2nd worst team in the league) based on our schedule compared to the two 4-14 teams in the EC. We could get better with those two gone though if we got decent players and the roleplayers that are on our team actually get to be the roleplayers. There are teams that are not as good as us on paper but play a lot better because the players know what they need to do to win.

What would you rather have? A flawed team where you keep piling players on and wonder why it doesn't work or grabbing the core (that has failed us for the last few years), trade them and start with position players and go from there? Let's face it, this team is more talented than last year but we are a worse team because we keep piling players onto a bad core. Until we get rid of that core we're never going to be good. That includes coach and GM.

I don't believe we will ever win with Evans and Cousins together but if we ever do then I would be the first to say that I was wrong, but nothing I have seen in the last 3 years leads me to believe this team will ever be any good trying to build a team around those two players as a core. That's why I am specifically naming those two players as the ones I would trade in a heartbeat if a decent deal came along. Not to mention Smart and Petrie would be history as well before a trade happens because I wouldn't want another one of those crappy Petrie trades for "moveable parts" or whatever he calls it..

 

[mac]

We need to get rid of the Coach and GM as well. But yes I would trade any player on this team including Evans. After seeing Evans now for 3 years and part of this year I have the opinion that the Kings will never win with him in this current system. Cousins too because frankly I am getting tired of him. You could win with Cousins but unless he grows up REAL fast he's expendable.

Why trade both of them, and fire the coach/GM? How much worse do you think this team could get? We are worst than every WC team and the 4th worst team in the league. I don't think you could get much lower than that. Other teams are a lot better than we are with less talented players. We have too many 1 on 1 players and too many players that just don't fit at all.

But basically my point to all of this is we aren't going to get worse with Cousins and Evans gone. We are already last in the WC and have only won 4 games on what's supposed to be our easiest part of the schedule. I would put the Kings even lower (2nd worst team in the league) based on our schedule compared to the two 4-14 teams in the EC.

What would you rather have? A flawed team where you keep piling players on and wonder why it doesn't work or grabbing the core (that has failed us for the last few years) and keep trying to build on that while giving them all contract extensions? Let's face it, this team is more talented than last year but we are a worse team because we keep piling players onto a bad core. Until we get rid of that core we're never going to be good. That includes coach and GM.

Question is - would we be better with Tyreke and Cousins gone in the long run? I totally understand what you mean, but maturity issues aside I do believe that Cousins and Evans can be a very good core if coached properly. I also think that trading them will only be taking a step back because you're not going to get anywhere near fair value for them. Other teams will know that we're clearing the house, and unless they are losing and really want Evans and Cousins they're not going to give up much. You trade those guys to good teams and they'll develop under a good coach and come back to make you regret it every time you play them. Trade them to losing teams and you just get the other team's junk or failed core - pretty much a lateral movement at best.

IMO a better process would be to first get rid of the coach. Bring in a good coach who knows what system he wants in place with Cousins and Evans, and if Petrie can't get him the pieces he wants then fire Petrie. If after a full year we still don't see hope with Cousins and Evans as our core then you trade them. But nobody is going to want guys like Garcia/Salmons/Outlaw other than as expiring contracts, so that limits your ability to clear the team as well.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

So much work, but unfortunately at the heart of it a deal the Pacers would never make in 1000 years.

Yup...and if our front office/owners were actually committed to making this team better HERE, we could have gotten Lowry this past offseason for our draft pick, which would have been smart I think. But alas...the powers that be wanted to see empty seats, so they signed a bunch of square pegs.

 

[Arkitect]

Question is - would we be better with Tyreke and Cousins gone in the long run? I totally understand what you mean, but maturity issues aside I do believe that Cousins and Evans can be a very good core if coached properly. I also think that trading them will only be taking a step back because you're not going to get anywhere near fair value for them. Other teams will know that we're clearing the house, and unless they are losing and really want Evans and Cousins they're not going to give up much. You trade those guys to good teams and they'll develop under a good coach and come back to make you regret it every time you play them. Trade them to losing teams and you just get the other team's junk or failed core - pretty much a lateral movement at best.

IMO a better process would be to first get rid of the coach. Bring in a good coach who knows what system he wants in place with Cousins and Evans, and if Petrie can't get him the pieces he wants then fire Petrie. If after a full year we still don't see hope with Cousins and Evans as our core then you trade them. But nobody is going to want guys like Garcia/Salmons/Outlaw other than as expiring contracts, so that limits your ability to clear the team as well.

I would agree with this but I do think we have enough decent players to get at least some talent back. If you keep Cuz and Reke, but trade MT, IT, Hayes, Jimmer, TRob, JT, you can get some talent back. I think you can get back 2-3 legitimate proven starters by packaging those guys in some way. If we had real owners we could take on some salary as well to help. I think we will be stuck with Salmons/Garcia/Outlaw. And Brooks and JJ will likely be gone after this season. While I have been a Petrie supporter for awhile, his utter failure to put together a team that makes any sense at all is on him. His management the summer before the lockout was particularly terrible and his trading of our first round draft pick to Cleveland is absolutely killing any ability we have to trade to help the team. In other words, he needs to go. Of course with all of that said, since we still have the Magoofs as owners any changes we make will be made on the cheap so I do not have much hope for much improvement even if moves are made. We need new owners or this team will never be competitive.

 

[Bricklayer]

Yup...and if our front office/owners were actually committed to making this team better HERE, we could have gotten Lowry this past offseason for our draft pick, which would have been smart I think. But alas...the powers that be wanted to see empty seats, so they signed a bunch of square pegs.

That's become such a byline around here, but I think people are just falling down the conspiracy theory trap when plain ole stupidity will do it. Thomas Robinson was ridiculously overhyped coming into the draft. And we almost never trade our pick, and when we did just the year before it turned out to be a disaster. So without any Maloof conspiracy at all we get:

-- ridiulously overhyped potential draftee with all the "maturity" etc. bullcrap to make him feel like a safe pick. Robinson v. Drummond is Wes Johnson v. Cousins.
-- general preference not to trade picks
-- pressure not to trade the pick because you just did last year and it flopped
-- pressure not to take a Damian Lillard because he looked a lot like Jimmer in college acheivements, and blowing 2 drafts in a row on top identical players who flopped wouold look terrible
-- lack of recognition of Drummond because Geoff Petrie has NEVER recognized Andre Drummond, or any other player of his ilk, being fascinated instead with "skill"
-- Coach Dumb in midst of love affair with his little IT. Ironically he has since developed a wandering eye.

You can get to our dumb decisions without ever needing to go the evil conspiracy route to madness. Some people are just dumb. Me? I would have had either Kyle Lowry or Andre Drummond on the team.

 

[Hadlowe]

That's become such a byline around here, but I think people are just falling down the conspiracy theory trap when plain ole stupidity will do it. Thomas Robinson was ridiculously overhyped coming into the draft. And we almost never trade our pick, and when we did just the year before it turned out to be a disaster. So without any Maloof conspiracy at all we get:

-- ridiulously overhyped potential draftee with all the "maturity" etc. bullcrap to make him feel like a safe pick. Robinson v. Drummond is Wes Johnson v. Cousins.
-- general preference not to trade picks
-- pressure not to trade the pick because you just did last year and it flopped
-- pressure not to take a Damian Lillard because he looked a lot like Jimmer in college acheivements, and blowing 2 drafts in a row on top identical players who flopped wouold look terrible
-- lack of recognition of Drummond because Geoff Petrie has NEVER recognized Andre Drummond, or any other player of his ilk, being fascinated instead with "skill"
-- Coach Dumb in midst of love affair with his little IT. Ironically he has since developed a wandering eye.

You can get to our dumb decisions without ever needing to go the evil conspiracy route to madness. Some people are just dumb. Me? I would have had either Kyle Lowry or Andre Drummond on the team.

I have a hard time taking Drummond over Barnes, even now. The organization's complete inability to develop incomplete players made Drummond all sorts of radioactive in a Kings uniform.

In any case, we seem to be making a hard run at Nerlens Noel at the moment, so have hope Kings fans.

 

[DesertFox]

While I haven't given up on T-Rob becoming a solid NBA player, it bugs me that this team could instead have Lowry AND a John Henson or Terrence Jones etc.