The Pieces Are There!!!

Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#1
#1
Now I know that many people may not agree with me and that's fine, but after three games with the new look Kings, even withouth Peja, it's apparent to me that the pieces are there for the Kings to be a very good team when everybody is healthy and when they have had some time to practice and gel together. Now I know that three games isn't much, but if you have seen Thomas, Williamson and Skinner at all before the trade and it's being confirmed now, then you know that they will definitely help this team. Skinner has in all honesty looked phenominal in his short time with the Kings and this is after being on the IL almost all year. Thomas has shown that he has a lot of offensive upside, but more importantly he has gotten double digit rebounds in each of his three games. Remember, he did average a double-double last season. Lastly, Corliss has been up and down, but he brings an aggresiveness and low post presence that this team has lacked for some time now. Put those three in the mix with Mike, Cat, Brad, Peja, Bobby, Mo, Darius and the Kings will be more than just fine. They may not win it all this year, but IMO they are set up for a longer run of success with the addition of the three new guys than they were before the trade. Three games isn't much, but so far I like what I see and I think I'll even like it more in a few weeks.
 
Crackerman

Crackerman

G-League
#3
#3
I agree as well. Once we have our starting line up healthy we are going to be a hard team to beat. Skinner, WOW he was great tonight. Ostertag, sorry but Skinner just secured your spot for you on the bench for the rest of the season.
 
R

royalroots

Prospect
#4
#4
definantly true, it just hurts to watch sometimes when we are short handed...and wonder what the next game could bring. I can't wait to see a team at full health, full rest, and full practice...it should ease all our pains.
 
Rockmeister

Rockmeister

All-Star
#5
#5
Crackerman said:
I agree as well. Once we have our starting line up healthy we are going to be a hard team to beat. Skinner, WOW he was great tonight. Ostertag, sorry but Skinner just secured your spot for you on the bench for the rest of the season.
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I agree, Skinner was good tonight, however, it was just one game. I'm going to wait a few more games and see if he keeps it up. I wouldn't exactly say the pieces are there because its just too early to tell. What? We've had these guys for only a couple of games. Let's see how everyone bounces back after a loss like tonight (eventhough they shouldn't have lost in the first place) and see how they play in a back-to-back game. I'm just not convinced yet.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#6
#6
I will admit to being a lot less stressed about this trade than I was in the beginning. Starting Skinner at the 5 and putting Brad back in the 4 might be interesting, to say the least.

We just got a lot different, that's for sure, and nobody in the West is going to be expecting what we're going to be bringing.

GO KINGS!!!
 
iheartBrad

iheartBrad

All-Star
#7
#7
after thinking about that (Brad at PF/Brian at C) i must say im feelin the idea...we could at least try that right? What do we really have to lose...i mean today we played without so many major pieces why not try that combo...it may be very interesting to see...maybe it could be the winning combo? who knows...::shrugs::

over the next couple of weeks teams are gonna have a hard time trying to prepare for us though...heh
 
Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#8
#8
VF21 said:
I will admit to being a lot less stressed about this trade than I was in the beginning. Starting Skinner at the 5 and putting Brad back in the 4 might be interesting, to say the least.

We just got a lot different, that's for sure, and nobody in the West is going to be expecting what we're going to be bringing.

GO KINGS!!!
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VF-
I thought the same thing tonight about potentially starting Skinner at the 5 and Brad at the 4...that would be interesting to say the least. However, I really think that RA will end up putting Thomas at the 4 with Skinner spelling Brad and even our PF and then moving Brad to the 4 when that happens.
 
Gregorius

Gregorius

G-League
#10
#10
Can't wait for us to be healthy again and have a game on TV that I can watch. I wanna see Peja stroking those 3's, Mike hitting all sorts of crazy clutch shots and dishing out the ball, Brad hitting his sweet midranger, and see what the new guys bring to the mix, they sound awesome so far.
 
Kev.in

Kev.in

Starter
#12
#12
I hope we have enough time to get our starting lineup healthy and get everyone enough experience playing with eachother so that the offensive ugliness is out of the way when the playoffs roll around. I don't know how good the team will be, but I'm anxious and excited to find out.
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#13
#13
Sorry kids I can't get behind the idea of starting 6'9" Skinner at Center and moving 7'0" Miller to forward. Besides the size descrepencies Miller is slow, not a great outside defender and defiantly no match for fater forwrds. Skiner is relitivly quick. If you wnat a to make a case for starting Skinner at PF I might entertain the thought. But lets get real here. Skinner has shown good play in 3 games, and has clearly made a great case for use off the bench but I am still not sold on starting him, infact his energetic play may be more suited for extended min from the bench. Obviously RA is sold on the guy he started him over Tag, of course givne Tag's play lately Im not sure RA would Start Tag over Martin at the 5.
 
DoughDole

DoughDole

G-League
#15
#15
M10Bibby said:
i think that the kings are goin to have alot of different an unique line up....and they just may have some fun changin things up
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I agree that the Kings have some options and it'll probably be best to explore them on how they match up with their opponent's frontcourt. For example against bigger, post-oriented bigs like SA I think putting Skinner and Brad out there is better, since Duncan would have too much of a size advantage over Thomas. Against smaller, athletic bigs like Phoenix though, I like Thomas vs. Marion. The thing is, through the years Adelman has shown he doesn't like to switch things up and would rather have the same starting 5, but I can't really blame him because our starting 5 has always been one of the best out there so it was a no-brainer. It'll be interesting to see how Adelman chooses the starting 5 now, since over the past week all 3 guys have made their cases that they should be the ones to start.
 
Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#16
#16
Although with the depth on the team now there is a lot more options I still think that RA will put Thomas as the starting power forward, but will mix and match with Brad, Darius, Peja, Thomas, Skinner and Corliss on the front line throughout each game.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#17
#17
I don't think there was ever a question that we had the potential to be a good team -- heck, if we're healthy you could have had Webb blow out his knee and be forced to retire with us getting nothing back and we're still a 50 win team.

But that's not the goal, or at least it hasn't been unless we really truly have given up. Memories can be short sometimes, but we are less than 2 years removed from being the FAVORITES to win the NBA title (has it really been that short a length of time?), and that was to be our gold standard, our quest.

Yes we can be good with these new guys. Heck we could be good without them. We can be very good with them. But a championship team? No. Nope. That depends on greatness. And these guys don't have it. For us to ever reach that caliber again either Mike or Peja has to emerge as an playoff stud capable of facing down the HOF players you have to beat to win a title, or we have to make more moves in order to find somebody who can. Nobody has ever roleplayered their way to a title.

And to tell you the truth I resent these missed years -- since the death of the Lakers mini-dynasty there has been a vaccum wherein a good but not great team could have snuck in and won a title. But how much longer that vaccum will remain open is very much open to question. Already this might well be the best Spurs team to date, and I am very afraid of what a certain 20 yr old in Cleveland might develop into. This has been a window when we could have gotten by without being all-time great. But these droughts never last long, and somewhere soon there will be another dynasty arising, and then we will either have to find a great one ourselves or forever be the bridesmaid.
 
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KingKong

KingKong

Starter
#19
#19
Bricklayer said:
I don't think there was ever a question that we had the potential to be a good team -- heck, if we're healthy you could have had Webb blow out his knee and be forced to retire with us getting nothing back and we're still a 50 win team.

But that's not the goal, or at least it hasn't been unless we really truly have given up. Memories can be short sometimes, but we are less than 2 years removed from being the FAVORITES to win the NBA title (has it really been that short a length of time?), and that was to be our gold standard, our quest.

Yes we can be good with these new guys. Heck we could be good without them. We can be very good with them. But a championship team? No. Nope. That depends on greatness. And these guys don't have it. For us to ever reach that caliber again either Mike or Peja has to emerge as an playoff stud capable of facing down the HOF players you have to beat to win a title, or we have to make more moves in order to find somebody who can. Nobody has ever roleplayered their way to a title.

And to tell you the turth I resent these missed years -- since the death of the Lakers mini-dynasty their has been a vaccum wherein a good but not great team could have snuck in and won a title. But how much longer that vaccum will remain open is very much open to question. Already this might well be the best Spurs team to date, and I am very afraid of what a certain 20 yr old in Cleveland might develop into. This has been a window when we could have gotten by without being all-time great. But these droughts never last long, and somewhere soon there will be another dynasty arising, and then we will either have to find a great one or forever be the bridesmaid.
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I agree to a certain extent Brick. I'm not sure we are championship team yet but I'm gonna give them more than 3 games before I really put that down in writing. The Pistons weren't considered a championship either this time last year or till they actually won. The difference though is that they play defense and made some key aquisitions during the season that put them over the top. These new aquistions for us, may just be what puts us over the top. Well here's hoping anyway.

Oh yeah and a little bit of good fortune and health doesn't hurt either.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#20
#20
AleksandarN said:
<cough>detriot<cough>
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No, not even them. And as I've mentioned before there are a freaky champion.

Actually what I should have said is you CAN actually have roleplayers on a championship team, but not just middling players. Detroit had several guys on the team who played roles, but they were just about the best in the league at those roles (defense). Ditto with a guy like Bowen on San Antonio. They are not just randomly mediocre. They are actually GREAT at one aspect fo the game, and an aspect which has always been a formula for championship success, and have been selected because of it.

You need greatness to win a title, and even Detroit, one of the weakest of champions, had greatness in one part of the game.
 
Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#21
#21
Bricklayer said:
Yes we can be good with these new guys. Heck we could be good without them. We can be very good with them. But a championship team? No. Nope. That depends on greatness. And these guys don't have it. For us to ever reach that caliber again either Mike or Peja has to emerge as an playoff stud capable of facing down the HOF players you have to beat to win a title, or we have to make more moves in order to find somebody who can. Nobody has ever roleplayered their way to a title.
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With all due respect I kindly disagree. You have no idea if this team can EVER win a title. However, I do agree that Mike and/or Pedja has to become a playoff stud, but Mike has already proven that he can and IMO I think that Pedja can too. Last year at this time who would have ever thought that the Detroit Pistons would win the NBA title without a proven superstar or even a proven playoff star?
 
AleksandarN

AleksandarN

Starter
#22
#22
Bricklayer said:
No, not even them. And as I've mentioned before there are a freaky champion.

Actually what I should have said is you CAN actually have roleplayers on a championship team, but not just middling players. Detroit had several guys on the team who played roles, but they were just about the best in the league at those roles (defense). Ditto with a guy like Bowen on San Antonio. They are not just randomly mediocre. They are actually GREAT at one aspect fo the game, and an aspect which has always been a formula for championship success, and have been selected because of it.

You need greatness to win a title, and even Detroit, one of the weakest of champions, had greatness in one part of the game.
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So did we it was offense.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#23
#23
Diabeticwonder said:
With all due respect I kindly disagree. You have no idea if this team can EVER win a title. However, I do agree that Mike and/or Pedja has to become a playoff stud, but Mike has already proven that he can and IMO I think that Pedja can too. Last year at this time who would have ever thought that the Detroit Pistons would win the NBA title without a proven superstar or even a proven playoff star?
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If you are banking on all the teams ahead of us getting injured, and then our finals opponent collapsing in a cancerous heap, you've placed your hopes on a very slim thread indeed.
 
Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#24
#24
Bricklayer said:
If you are banking on all the teams ahead of us getting injured, and then our finals opponent collapsing in a cancerous heap, you've placed your hopes on a very slim thread indeed.
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Do I think that the Kings will win a title this year? No, but can they win one with the nucleus of guys they have in the next few years? I believe they can.
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#27
#27
Bricklayer said:
I don't think there was ever a question that we had the potential to be a good team -- heck, if we're healthy you could have had Webb blow out his knee and be forced to retire with us getting nothing back and we're still a 50 win team.

But that's not the goal, or at least it hasn't been unless we really truly have given up. Memories can be short sometimes, but we are less than 2 years removed from being the FAVORITES to win the NBA title (has it really been that short a length of time?), and that was to be our gold standard, our quest.

Yes we can be good with these new guys. Heck we could be good without them. We can be very good with them. But a championship team? No. Nope. That depends on greatness. And these guys don't have it. For us to ever reach that caliber again either Mike or Peja has to emerge as an playoff stud capable of facing down the HOF players you have to beat to win a title, or we have to make more moves in order to find somebody who can. Nobody has ever roleplayered their way to a title.

And to tell you the truth I resent these missed years -- since the death of the Lakers mini-dynasty there has been a vaccum wherein a good but not great team could have snuck in and won a title. But how much longer that vaccum will remain open is very much open to question. Already this might well be the best Spurs team to date, and I am very afraid of what a certain 20 yr old in Cleveland might develop into. This has been a window when we could have gotten by without being all-time great. But these droughts never last long, and somewhere soon there will be another dynasty arising, and then we will either have to find a great one ourselves or forever be the bridesmaid.
Click to expand...
Wow that was distressingly astute, blunt and probably dead spot on... I think for peace of mind will opt for cautioned optimisim. I see this as a stop gap team now. GP and the ownership gave up the hope for a championship this season after watching their collection of stars under perform. The curent palyers ought to know that they are essentialy playing for roser spots for next season. GP will do what he does best. Trade contracts to to consoladate tallent in top notch starting 5 and worable bench. The optmisim comes with three new palyers who are in many ways getting a second chance to reestablish their careers (Sacramento home of the second chance) AND it comes with the hope that one or two of our high profile starters will step up their game, sieze the opertunity to become a HOF kind of player. I think Pedja has the tallent, Brad could as well, both Bibby and Cat are both tallented, ambitious, and have the best opertunity to take that next step... Things could be worse.
 
VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#28
#28
Stopgap team.

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

There's no doubt in my mind there's a lot more going on in Petrie's mind. This wasn't the end; it was the first real move. The pawn has been brought forward in the classic opening gambit.

Now, he's thinking about 5 moves ahead and I'm still staring at the pawn.

;)
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#29
#29
AleksandarN said:
But if you recall in 2002 our defense was great.
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Oh yes, and in 2003 too. Those were the two years when we were right there. In fact I think there is a very good chance we win it in '03 if the Chucky Brown curse had not scuttled us with injuries (both all season long and of coure the franchise turner to Webb). We had the combo right, and I think in '03 that Webb may have jsut been great enough and determined enough (that was the year he first started hitting big shots) to take the lead and make it happen in front of a ridiculous supporting cast as deep as any team in a decade.

We had our chance. We lost it due to injury and timing.
 
PixelPusher

PixelPusher

Starter
#30
#30
Bricklayer said:
No, not even them. And as I've mentioned before there are a freaky champion.

Actually what I should have said is you CAN actually have roleplayers on a championship team, but not just middling players. Detroit had several guys on the team who played roles, but they were just about the best in the league at those roles (defense). Ditto with a guy like Bowen on San Antonio. They are not just randomly mediocre. They are actually GREAT at one aspect fo the game, and an aspect which has always been a formula for championship success, and have been selected because of it.

You need greatness to win a title, and even Detroit, one of the weakest of champions, had greatness in one part of the game.
Click to expand...
so...does this mean Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace are roleplayers?
 
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