What has to happen to move forward next year

[SacTownKid]

They did invest a lot of time with Metu, even late in the season, only to not have any interest in playing him in the playoffs. His play never really changed, so I'm not sure what they were looking for there with him. Seemed to create doubt going into the post season at that position, with only a "last minute" decision that Len would get a chance. He should have been given more look a lot earlier in the season, so they could figure out which direction to go with the rotations at the 5. Can't let this happen again

It was indeed strange. Same with Edwards although Edwards was key late in the season on defense. Metu should never have been the backup C anyway. Not unless they were willing to run pick and roll with him him because he and Lyles were a huge dent in those defensive stats when played together.

 

[KainLear]

It also helps we have quality coaching that can give him an offseason assignment to fit the role they plan to use him in.

We clearly need wing defense that isn't an offensive liability. He has proven he can shoot better than others we put in that role, so I have some hope. But if not, he was a gift to us.

I think Kessler Edwards and Keon Ellis could be diamonds in the rough for us in the future since both displayed a relatively higher percentage in their 3 points shooting.

 

[KainLear]

It was indeed strange. Same with Edwards although Edwards was key late in the season on defense. Metu should never have been the backup C anyway. Not unless they were willing to run pick and roll with him him because he and Lyles were a huge dent in those defensive stats when played together.

I wonder how our rebounding would've been if we do more "Lyles/Metu/Keegan" kind of front-court rotation.

 

[KF8]

Not sure how realistic some of these guys are, but looking at the 2023 free agents some of these guys could help the Kings tremendously.

Brook lopez
Naz Reid
Jerami Grant
Kyle Kuzma
Josh Hart
Kelly Oubre
Dillion Brooks
Jakob Poeltl
Mason Plumlee
Grant Williams
Joe Ingles
Dennis Schroder

 

[TaxMan]

Good point. Forgot he probably couldn't see super well in the eye he got punched in and the fact he lost a contact in game 6 after that LOL. I've never been a contact person, but if you have a massive puffy/black eye, can you still put a contact in that eye? Thinking about game 7

It’s worth putting in perspective just what a warrior domas has been all season. 50% of the league prolly doesn’t play through the broken finger in the regular season. People also seemed to just laugh off the impact of the ‘stomp’ as just another weenie euro trying to win an acting job and the the team playing games with his X-rays and questionable game status, but maybe, just maybe he was actually pretty seriously hurt. Just because he played through it doesn’t mean it didn’t impact his play. His black eye is an issue nobody can deny.

Before I write off this team as never winning a championship with Domas as center, I for one certainly want to see him fail in a fair fight. It’s crazy how people ***** and moan about game management and fragile players like Anthony Davis sitting all the time with injuries, but then pile on one of the toughest guys in the nba who left it all out there, all season long without complaints.

 

[206Fan]

I wonder how our rebounding would've been if we do more "Lyles/Metu/Keegan" kind of front-court rotation.

Thoughts on Lyles as our starting PF next season?

 

[KainLear]

Thoughts on Lyles as our starting PF next season?

If we put Keegan at the 3 in this lineup, I don't mind that.

HB could take Lyles current role, energy off the bench.

 

[SacTownKid]

Cameron Johnson is a restricted free agent who would be a good option if we can find a way to pry him away from the Nets.

We could always explore a trade, but that means a lot of moving part

A big question still hovers though, what does this team look like without Fox and Sabonis creating all the shots? That's still not addressing the issues with this team finding offense or playmaking come serious time. The Kings even though Fox got hurt at the worst time and Sabonis was injured most of the season had HUGE luck when it came to that. There is a direct connection between Monk filling the gap in scoring or someone like TD getting all those game 7 minutes. Cam Johnson is 43rd percentile on iso, Barnes is 93rd. Both had a middling freq % though. Barnes has a FT freq of 30. Johnson is at 6.7. My fear is Kuz is a target. Talk about all numbers, little substance. This team has it's big two for better or worse, now Monte has to find out how to make life a little easier for them.

 

[KainLear]

Not sure how realistic some of these guys are, but looking at the 2023 free agents some of these guys could help the Kings tremendously.

Brook lopez
Naz Reid
Jerami Grant
Kyle Kuzma
Josh Hart
Kelly Oubre
Dillion Brooks
Jakob Poeltl
Mason Plumlee
Grant Williams
Joe Ingles
Dennis Schroder

The bold names are the ones who wouldn't slow us down (since it is obvious that our pace and relentlessness are our best weapons), and the bold underlined ones are tall wings/bigs. Among them, I would only want to look at Naz Reid and Jerami Grant. I know some of you really like Kuzma, I'm not a fan of his effort, similar thing with Oubre. To me, they are taller versions of Monk/TD, could heat up quickly (I think both Oubre and Kuz are pretty consistent offensively) but could also create chaos that hurts us back.

 

[SacTownKid]

I wonder how our rebounding would've been if we do more "Lyles/Metu/Keegan" kind of front-court rotation.

Who is to say. IF Brown was interested in running pick and roll with Metu I think he could have gotten Looney a few fouls here and there and took him off the floor. They let Sabonis get hammered all series after the complaints started on the Warriors side.

 

[sactowndog]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652798409794019328

 

[KainLear]

Who is to say. IF Brown was interested in running pick and roll with Metu I think he could have gotten Looney a few fouls here and there and took him off the floor. They let Sabonis get hammered all series after the complaints started on the Warriors side.

I mean, I can kinda understand to a certain degree. They say among sports coaches, in a ride-or-die scenario, your best bet is always to ride with your stars and live with the result. As they are the only ones who could have posed such an impact that they win the game for you by themselves.

I'd still wonder if Brown could've temporary use the bench to keep it from bleeding.

 

[LPKingsFan]

If they were concerned about his shooting enough that he couldn’t see the floor as Curry got hot an elimination game, offensive improvement from Mitchell has to be on the list. I have no doubt he’ll work on it, too.

 

[The_Jamal]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652798409794019328

Watch the Kings the whole season KOC. Was Domas ever this bad in a 7 game stretch? No.

Health and possibly his worst match-up in terms of a team designed to slow him down and that's been slowing down elite bigs for a decade. I'll trust the All-NBA season was more real than what we saw in this playoff series.

Maybe that changes next year if he's healthy in the playoffs and continues to struggle. But to put that on him now... silly and impatient.

 

[SLAB]

They did invest a lot of time with Metu, even late in the season, only to not have any interest in playing him in the playoffs. His play never really changed, so I'm not sure what they were looking for there with him. Seemed to create doubt going into the post season at that position, with only a "last minute" decision that Len would get a chance. He should have been given more look a lot earlier in the season, so they could figure out which direction to go with the rotations at the 5. Can't let this happen again

Metu was absolutely unplayable at the end of the season. He had him moments, but regressed hard the last month … there’s no way he was justifying minutes in this series.

 

[SacTownKid]

I mean, I can kinda understand to a certain degree. They say among sports coaches, in a ride-or-die scenario, your best bet is always to ride with your stars and live with the result. As they are the only ones who could have posed such an impact that they win the game for you by themselves.

I'd still wonder if Brown could've temporary use the bench to keep it from bleeding.

Maybe, but Metu types are a temporary fix anyway. When they actually work. Looney would be just as tough a matchup for Metu as anyone if Metu was expected to fill the C role. Two PF's is a no no. Proven, done and dusted time to move on, haha. It was either he or Lyles in the end and Lyles won out. As he should have.

 

[The_Jamal]

Thoughts on Lyles as our starting PF next season?

60.7% TS
.304 FTr
13.7 TRB%
7.0 AST %
12.2% TOV
18.1% USG

63.2% TS
.522 FTr
7.9% TRB
6.3% Ast
8.1% TOV
17.1% USG

It's worth a discussion, absolutely. Especially if we start to factor in playoff performance... Oh my Barnes was bad. He's the #1 guy I'm looking at now that should have been a difference maker and was a main factor why we lost this series.

Lyles: +16.9 On/Off (holy crap)
Barnes: -28.3 On/Off (Even bigger holy crap. Game 7 stuff isn't updated yet, but I'm almost wondering if this is a mistake somehow.)

 

[KainLear]

Metu was absolutely unplayable at the end of the season. He had him moments, but regressed hard the last month … there’s no way he was justifying minutes in this series.

Yeah, Metu is hard to be trusted in the Playoffs. I don't anticipate seeing him around too much longer if we are to make some changes this off-season.

Just from memories this season, I think Metu did a good, celebratory-worthy thing about as often as when HGiiizzle was with us and we over-celebrated things he did because we love him... haha

 

[reptilexcq2]

Sign the following players:

Brook lopez
Naz Reid
Jerami Grant

Remove the following players:
Barnes
Davis
Metu
Holm
Len

 

[miltonap]

Jerami Grant should fit the bill for what we need no?

I'm not convinced that Barnes is an answer here despite his leadership role and professionalism.

I think for what he makes we need more.

I also think Harrison is not going to get any better on defense at this point since he's getting older.

Him missing shots was very disappointing and him missing free throws was also very disappointing and that extends to the regular season.

I understand Grant is a tenacious player that can defend and score right?

The thing I don't know about him is his attitude.

This team has done a good job of putting together a group that's drama free and united, I know Grant has had some issues on past teams (I think) so that may need to be taken into consideration as well.

Can't have toxicity in that locker room.

Basketball wise though it should work right?

Maybe we can just leave it as that.

Perhaps let Barnes walk (or sign him to a short lesser deal), sign Grant, get a solid draft pick, and run it back.

Play Len at backup C, have Domas work on his shooting and non bully-ball game all off-season (post surgery recovery obviously), have Davion fix his shot which is still inconsistent, keep integrating Edwards into that 3+D role, and maybe see what we have in Queta?

I think I'd be cool with that

 

[The_Jamal]

I just don't see it with Grant. He's 29, so you're paying for his 29-33 age seasons (Assuming a deal is somewhere in the range of 4-80 for him) and he's just another flavor of Barnes imo. Good-Great starter but I don't think he's someone putting this team over the top and certainly not someone who's any sort of massive upgrade over Barnes.

I'd rather go gamble on one of the younger guys (Williams, Cam Johnson, Naz, PJW) and see if you can unlock any more of a ceiling in one of them. Go try and unlock a potential star rather than paying for past production (Barnes/Grant/Kuzma?)

 

[KF8]

I see a lot of people advocating for Jerami Grant, but I highly doubt that we could afford him. I think he rejected a 28mil a year extension from the blazers because he wanted max? He's probably not going to get max, but it wouldn't surprise me if it comes close at around 35 to 40mil a year.

 

[miltonap]

I just don't see it with Grant. He's 29, so you're paying for his 29-33 age seasons (Assuming a deal is somewhere in the range of 4-80 for him) and he's just another flavor of Barnes imo. Good-Great starter but I don't think he's someone putting this team over the top and certainly not someone who's any sort of massive upgrade over Barnes.

I'd rather go gamble on one of the younger guys (Williams, Cam Johnson, Naz, PJW) and see if you can unlock any more of a ceiling in one of them.

Good insight, didn't realize Grant was that old.

I do think either Harrison needs to walk though or we sign him to a lesser shorter deal.

I think it's either or, I think paying him a good amount for a longer deal would be a massive mistake

 

[KF8]

I just don't see it with Grant. He's 29, so you're paying for his 29-33 age seasons (Assuming a deal is somewhere in the range of 4-80 for him) and he's just another flavor of Barnes imo. Good-Great starter but I don't think he's someone putting this team over the top and certainly not someone who's any sort of massive upgrade over Barnes.

I'd rather go gamble on one of the younger guys (Williams, Cam Johnson, Naz, PJW) and see if you can unlock any more of a ceiling in one of them. Go try and unlock a potential star rather than paying for past production (Barnes/Grant/Kuzma?)

If you can get kuzma or grant at 20 mil a year you do it. That is such a steal at that price. Unfortunately they won't come that cheap.

 

[SacTownKid]

I see a lot of people advocating for Jerami Grant, but I highly doubt that we could afford him. I think he rejected a 28mil a year extension from the blazers because he wanted max? He's probably not going to get max, but it wouldn't surprise me if it comes close at around 35 to 40mil a year.

Not without getting out of the Holmes deal. Look a lot of things could happen in very short order. It's been a long time since the league shifted like it did at the deadline and that might lead to the kind of transformational draft night people have been expecting for a few seasons now. Dame is the biggest domino. Are the Blazers sticking it out? Or finally tapping out? Toronto has been leaking things that they might finally be open for business. The Wiz need to pick direction and finally Beal might be ready to go. The Bulls are on the verge of a bust up. I'm not sure FA is going to be much when you look at the teams with space this summer. Which one of those teams go all in. Maybe the Jazz? Do the Thunder make a big splash now with Chet ready to go next year? Next year is just going to be tougher. The Kings have to stay aggressive. If teams like the Pels or Thunder blow up it will just change the difficulty to harder.

 

[SacTownKid]

I just don't see it with Grant. He's 29, so you're paying for his 29-33 age seasons (Assuming a deal is somewhere in the range of 4-80 for him) and he's just another flavor of Barnes imo. Good-Great starter but I don't think he's someone putting this team over the top and certainly not someone who's any sort of massive upgrade over Barnes.

I'd rather go gamble on one of the younger guys (Williams, Cam Johnson, Naz, PJW) and see if you can unlock any more of a ceiling in one of them. Go try and unlock a potential star rather than paying for past production (Barnes/Grant/Kuzma?)

If you want to make a jump 29-33 is usually the prime years you look at. Grant would have a much better off the dribble game than anyone other than Fox even though the metrics aren't all that great with him. He passes the eyes test though. He'd help but yeah, max? Oof, that's an overpay but if you're competing it's better to overpay than slightly underpay on something that doesn't connect the dots you need to connect.

 

[The_Jamal]

I see a lot of people advocating for Jerami Grant, but I highly doubt that we could afford him. I think he rejected a 28mil a year extension from the blazers because he wanted max? He's probably not going to get max, but it wouldn't surprise me if it comes close at around 35 to 40mil a year.

Oof, even worse. I pity whatever poor soul team pays that tag.

 

[KF8]

What does everyone think of Brook Lopez? I was surprised to see that he was only making 13 million a year. A big who could shoot the 3 and provide good defense with shot blocking. He may have reinvented his game and revived his career, but at the same time he's 35. Maybe too old for the Kings and the style that they play.

 

[The_Jamal]

What does everyone think of Brook Lopez? I was surprised to see that he was only making 13 million a year. A big who could shoot the 3 and provide good defense with shot blocking. He may have reinvented his game and revived his career, but at the same time he's 35. Maybe too old for the Kings and the style that they play.

I love Brook, but he's not leaving MIL. They have no other avenue to improve their team so they'll pay whatever he wants to keep him.

 

[The_Jamal]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652796060883116033

I mean... yeah.

Before the playoffs, I'd have given us like a 85-90% chance to resign Barnes and want to resign Barnes. He was so bad, I'm not even sure if it's 50-50 anymore or if he's even on our list to keep.