macadocious
Starter
I've had some thoughts and analysis, just wanted to get them down.
Fox: Will be on the outside looking in on the AS game, but not by much. Pretty much exceeded even my loftiest of expectations so far this year. Truly the player who makes the Kings go. It's an entirely different team when he's not on the floor. His shooting is better than expectation, except the FT's. He needs to be high 70's low 80s. I think as good as he's been offensively, he's been even better defensively. Kid straight gets after it.
Buddy: Shooting and scoring a hair over expectation. Playmaking above expiation, except overall ball handling: below expectation. His defense and rebounding have been stellar for 2 guard spot. He just need to tighten his handle and his pressure decision making. Still suspect.
WCS: I like what I see so far, I think he will earn an extension above 10MM in annual salary, and he may get a huge RFA offer which I don't know if the Kings would match. I still see some old Willie in there and my concern is his long term motivation. Hopefully he can move in the Tyson Chandler direction and not the Eddie Curry direction in regards to ongoing effort.
Bjelica: Way above expectation so far (sans last nights game). His defense has been solid on the interior. Even last game his offense was awful but he had a block and 4 steals. If he can shoot in the 40s from 3 and play efficiently 25-28MPG we are going to be flirting with 30+ wins.
Shumpert: Surprise surprise. Still a chucker, but playing decent defense and fitting in as a 4th or 5th offensive option in most lineups pretty well. Hopefully he has regenerated some trade value and it's good to hear that the team really loves him as a person.
Bagley: Honestly, better at everything he does than I thought he would be. 3p shooting, rebounding, defense, etc. I think Joerger and company are really smart limiting his minutes and not throwing him out there for 35 a night. Especially at this pace, his rookie wall would be hit by game 20 if they did that. I still don't know if he was the 100% correct pick, but I'm all on board with the Bagley train right now. Kid was born in 1999 and should be a Freshman this year.
Bogi: N/A - Just cant wait to see him back in full game shape with this crew.
Giles: Ugh. Not what I was expecting. I though he would struggle offensively but be able to play some good D. Games way too fast for him right now. Hopefully he can figure that out with some short stints here and there, but Joerger is right not to be playing him.
Skal: I don't think he's going to figure it out. I think he's a step too slow mentally. His reaction to things is just behind enough that his athleticism can't make up for it. I don't know if that's correctable. I was the leader of the Skal fan club 2 years ago.
Mason: Honestly, better than I expected, but he's still a chucker who tries to hero ball end of quarters too much. Much like Willie, if he played within himself, he'd be much better.
Yogi: Not sure what is going on there. Thought he'd be giving 18-20 MPG and he's just not. His defense has been solid when playing too! This one is TBD still.
JJ: Ew. Like the kid, but he just doesn't do anything to make a difference on the court. He's almost unplayable. I didn't like his game in college and didn't like the pick.
KK: He's like Popeye. He is what he is and that's all he is. But that's good for us right now. Would like to only see him 8-12 MPG though.
Williams: I want to see more!
Gabirel: Unkown, but seems tough
Ben: ( I legit forgot he was on the team ) sorry Ben
Z-Bo: So I want to elaborate here on Joerger and Vlade and what I think is happening.
I don't want to re-litigatge all the mistakes (and there have been plenty!) But I think the off season following the Boogie trade was different. Vlade handled the Boogie trade badly. It was a bad look, but I don't know how you trade a guy like that without looking bad. I think the FO along w/ Joerger had all these picks and said these guys are young and we want Mentors. We are going to overpay because we are Sac. And they realized they needed to be more upfront with players (sounds like maybe Scot Perry wasn't as much?) but with Temple getting traded so he could play. VC not being re-signed so he could play. Z-Bo flat out being told he wasn't going to play, but seemingly in a good way, these guys are building a rapport with players and hopefully agents. The narrative has begun to change. We aren't being bad mouthed as much. As much as I agree when Napear says "who cares what the national media says" - it does matter. It matters because agents and players care about the stuff.
I think it's changing. I like what I see. I don't think we are a playoff team this year, but soon. We need to get a starting caliber SF and grow off that.
I'll try and remember to revisit this every 10-15 games and see where we are at.
Fox: Will be on the outside looking in on the AS game, but not by much. Pretty much exceeded even my loftiest of expectations so far this year. Truly the player who makes the Kings go. It's an entirely different team when he's not on the floor. His shooting is better than expectation, except the FT's. He needs to be high 70's low 80s. I think as good as he's been offensively, he's been even better defensively. Kid straight gets after it.
Buddy: Shooting and scoring a hair over expectation. Playmaking above expiation, except overall ball handling: below expectation. His defense and rebounding have been stellar for 2 guard spot. He just need to tighten his handle and his pressure decision making. Still suspect.
WCS: I like what I see so far, I think he will earn an extension above 10MM in annual salary, and he may get a huge RFA offer which I don't know if the Kings would match. I still see some old Willie in there and my concern is his long term motivation. Hopefully he can move in the Tyson Chandler direction and not the Eddie Curry direction in regards to ongoing effort.
Bjelica: Way above expectation so far (sans last nights game). His defense has been solid on the interior. Even last game his offense was awful but he had a block and 4 steals. If he can shoot in the 40s from 3 and play efficiently 25-28MPG we are going to be flirting with 30+ wins.
Shumpert: Surprise surprise. Still a chucker, but playing decent defense and fitting in as a 4th or 5th offensive option in most lineups pretty well. Hopefully he has regenerated some trade value and it's good to hear that the team really loves him as a person.
Bagley: Honestly, better at everything he does than I thought he would be. 3p shooting, rebounding, defense, etc. I think Joerger and company are really smart limiting his minutes and not throwing him out there for 35 a night. Especially at this pace, his rookie wall would be hit by game 20 if they did that. I still don't know if he was the 100% correct pick, but I'm all on board with the Bagley train right now. Kid was born in 1999 and should be a Freshman this year.
Bogi: N/A - Just cant wait to see him back in full game shape with this crew.
Giles: Ugh. Not what I was expecting. I though he would struggle offensively but be able to play some good D. Games way too fast for him right now. Hopefully he can figure that out with some short stints here and there, but Joerger is right not to be playing him.
Skal: I don't think he's going to figure it out. I think he's a step too slow mentally. His reaction to things is just behind enough that his athleticism can't make up for it. I don't know if that's correctable. I was the leader of the Skal fan club 2 years ago.
Mason: Honestly, better than I expected, but he's still a chucker who tries to hero ball end of quarters too much. Much like Willie, if he played within himself, he'd be much better.
Yogi: Not sure what is going on there. Thought he'd be giving 18-20 MPG and he's just not. His defense has been solid when playing too! This one is TBD still.
JJ: Ew. Like the kid, but he just doesn't do anything to make a difference on the court. He's almost unplayable. I didn't like his game in college and didn't like the pick.
KK: He's like Popeye. He is what he is and that's all he is. But that's good for us right now. Would like to only see him 8-12 MPG though.
Williams: I want to see more!
Gabirel: Unkown, but seems tough
Ben: ( I legit forgot he was on the team ) sorry Ben
Z-Bo: So I want to elaborate here on Joerger and Vlade and what I think is happening.
I don't want to re-litigatge all the mistakes (and there have been plenty!) But I think the off season following the Boogie trade was different. Vlade handled the Boogie trade badly. It was a bad look, but I don't know how you trade a guy like that without looking bad. I think the FO along w/ Joerger had all these picks and said these guys are young and we want Mentors. We are going to overpay because we are Sac. And they realized they needed to be more upfront with players (sounds like maybe Scot Perry wasn't as much?) but with Temple getting traded so he could play. VC not being re-signed so he could play. Z-Bo flat out being told he wasn't going to play, but seemingly in a good way, these guys are building a rapport with players and hopefully agents. The narrative has begun to change. We aren't being bad mouthed as much. As much as I agree when Napear says "who cares what the national media says" - it does matter. It matters because agents and players care about the stuff.
I think it's changing. I like what I see. I don't think we are a playoff team this year, but soon. We need to get a starting caliber SF and grow off that.
I'll try and remember to revisit this every 10-15 games and see where we are at.
