What is the expection for next year?

#1
Since it looks like this season is clearly over, what is the expectation for next year? How many wins? And when should we start to expect to make the playoffs?
 
#3
Tough to make a prediction without seeing our draft and FA (plus potential trades).

But, assuming we draft in the top five and select a SF/PF/C there, and don’t make a FA signing of note, then I say we should win around 30-35 games. WCS/Buddy/Jackson/Mason/Bogdanović are all going to be a little older than typical second and third tear players, and, therefore, hopefully more developed. I expect any of the projected top five picks to at least make somewhat of a positive impact in terms of winning next season.

I see the real jump coming in the 2019-20 season, where we hopefully play close to .500 basketball and at least push for Playoffs.
 
#4
Really can't say. Depends on who we draft and free agency. I addition, What Giles turns out to be. I think the team really need a strong rebounder.

Whether it's drafting Ayton, Bagley, or Bamba. Free Agents: Dedmon, Noel, Capela, and Nurkic all look tempting as well.
Of Course a starting 3 is important. Maybe, drafting Doncic or Porter? Kyle Anderson and Hood are options in Free agency.

The only positions the Kings are truly set is in the back court.

Here is a lineup of wishes: Listing both options with Free Agency and Draft.

Fox/Mason
Bogdan/Hield
Doncic, Porter, Hood, Anderson/Jackson
Randle, Gordon, Bagley/Skal
Capela, Nurkic, Ayton/WCS

There's is too much that can happen between now and next season. Team could win 32 games, maybe they could win 50. If Fox takes the leap and the team signs a couple of young talented free agents. For example, If the Kings can sign Capela and Gordon, all of a sudden this team looks really good.
 
#6
I stand more along the lines of where @Bosnian Diehard is standing. But, I can also see something like what @KingsSelecao just outlined in their post above.

For me, personally, I don't have any expectations at this point in time. It's too early to tell. Come back to me and ask me once this season concludes, we get through the draft, and free agency completes. There are waaaaaay too many chess pieces that need to fall in place throughout both the draft and free agency that will dictate where this team will be heading next season or even the season after that.

We're only approaching All-Star Weekend, so I think your question would better be served after game 82 concludes.
 
#7
Finish top 3 and I’ll be pessimistic and say we fall in the lottery to 4.
-Draft Porter
-Sign Jabari Parker

Fox-mason
Bogdan-Hield
Porter-JJ
Parker-Skal
WCS-Giles

We’d have enough scoring with that lineup as well as flexibility. Finishing anywhere from 9-12 would be fine building to a playoff birth and Fox 3rd year where he takes a massive leap. Fox, Porter, and Parker would all be able to put 20 on a given night
 
#8
too soon. Not knowing draft, summer moves nor Giles value no way to know.

I will be happy if at the end of the following 2018/19 season most of the kids are noticeably better than this season and I can see us in the playoff fight the season after.
 
#9
I will try to be a wildly optimistic. If the team can sign a couple good young free agents, a couple of the youngsters take the next, and this team could compete for a playoff spot next year. Their are a number of good young free agents that fit this team.
 
#10
Finish top 3 and I’ll be pessimistic and say we fall in the lottery to 4.
-Draft Porter
-Sign Jabari Parker

Fox-mason
Bogdan-Hield
Porter-JJ
Parker-Skal
WCS-Giles

We’d have enough scoring with that lineup as well as flexibility. Finishing anywhere from 9-12 would be fine building to a playoff birth and Fox 3rd year where he takes a massive leap. Fox, Porter, and Parker would all be able to put 20 on a given night

I am not high on WCS. If he can't average at least 10 boards a night, he's not a starting center in this league. Capela is 2 years younger and averages twice as many rebounds.
Unless, WCS turns a corner in these next 28 games, he coming off the bench next year. Skal is still a project. Giles is an unknown.
Kings need bigs who can rebound. They don't have one. What's sad? Enes Kanter outrebounds WCS. Not that's ridiculous.
 
#11
I am not high on WCS. If he can't average at least 10 boards a night, he's not a starting center in this league. Capela is 2 years younger and averages twice as many rebounds.
Unless, WCS turns a corner in these next 28 games, he coming off the bench next year. Skal is still a project. Giles is an unknown.
Kings need bigs who can rebound. They don't have one. What's sad? Enes Kanter outrebounds WCS. Not that's ridiculous.
Capela lives in the paint, Willie does not.
 

Warhawk

The cake is a lie.
Staff member
#13
I'm going to hold off on any expectations(especially in terms of wins and losses) until the rookies finish their first NBA season and I know who we draft and who we add in free agency. It seems a little premature to set expectations without those data points.
You obviously don't pay attention to some of the posters here. They like to speculate on how many NBA MVP awards a current 10-year-old prep in Modesto is going to win, exactly what draft pick we will get in the 2021 NBA draft (because, you know, Vlade is inept I guess), how a massive 10-team trade is going to land their favorite player and 3 first round picks in our laps, etc., etc. Best to just ignore the silliness. They just like to get WAY ahead of themselves and unnecessarily complicate things for whatever reason. I don't get it.
 
#14
You obviously don't pay attention to some of the posters here. They like to speculate on how many NBA MVP awards a current 10-year-old prep in Modesto is going to win, exactly what draft pick we will get in the 2021 NBA draft (because, you know, Vlade is inept I guess), how a massive 10-team trade is going to land their favorite player and 3 first round picks in our laps, etc., etc. Best to just ignore the silliness. They just like to get WAY ahead of themselves and unnecessarily complicate things for whatever reason. I don't get it.
And you never will get it. I agree with you; I try not to waste my time with them. All I do is state my opinion, and then step back.
 
#16
You obviously don't pay attention to some of the posters here. They like to speculate on how many NBA MVP awards a current 10-year-old prep in Modesto is going to win, exactly what draft pick we will get in the 2021 NBA draft (because, you know, Vlade is inept I guess), how a massive 10-team trade is going to land their favorite player and 3 first round picks in our laps, etc., etc. Best to just ignore the silliness. They just like to get WAY ahead of themselves and unnecessarily complicate things for whatever reason. I don't get it.
Oooh oooh ohhh. I know the answer to this one!
 
#17
They also play at a much faster pace which produces more shots.
More WCS Apologists. Sorry, if you play center and can't rebound, you're not very good. WCS cannot hit the 3, never post's anyone up, cannot spread the floor, is not consistent defensively and puts up identical numbers to Jason Thompson. Look at their stats the first 3 years in the league. They might be different style players, but their numbers look the same to me. So, you tell me what team, other than Sac would start WCS? Truly, I can't think of 1. Overvaluing WCS is just that. He's not that good. 20 other centers in the league can put up his numbers or better. If they don't, they are much better defensively and have other positive intangibles.
 
#18
WCS is Better than
Pachulia, Thompson, , Adams, Noel, NOguiera, the Lopez Twins, and Kanter. I have him ranked about 23.

Whos' Better: Cousins, Davis, Gobert, Both Gasol, KAT, Horford, Jordan, Whiteside, JOkic, Embiid, Turner, Howard, Drummond, Capela, Gortat,
 
#19
I am not high on WCS. If he can't average at least 10 boards a night, he's not a starting center in this league. Capela is 2 years younger and averages twice as many rebounds.
Unless, WCS turns a corner in these next 28 games, he coming off the bench next year. Skal is still a project. Giles is an unknown.
Kings need bigs who can rebound. They don't have one. What's sad? Enes Kanter outrebounds WCS. Not that's ridiculous.
Yep, should have kept Papa, camped his big hind end down in the paint for 36 minutes a game and just like like those behemoths of yesteryear he would have got you your 15 rebounds a game you're so obsessed with.

Now I agree Willie needs to rebound better out of his area, but no competent coaching staff in the modern NBA is going to plant a player with Willie's mobility and athleticism down under the basket like one of your centers of yesteryear.

If Willie lived under the basket he'd probably average a dozen or more rebounds a game along with 2 or 3 blocks a game and you'd be satisfied (no you wouldn't you find something else to pick at). But like it or not, that is not the direction the modern NBA is headed and Joerger is not foolish enough to play him that way.

Actually over a 22 game span from the time he returned from the back injury until his knee injury he was averaging a little over 9 rebounds PER36, not great but a definite move in the right direction.
 
#20
Since it looks like this season is clearly over, what is the expectation for next year? How many wins? And when should we start to expect to make the playoffs?
The season is not over. This season was never going to be about making the playoffs or even about wins, it is a tear down and a rebuild, a complete reboot. It is and has always been about player development, building a team from scratch. This development process will continue for the remaining games.

Next year is going to be more of the same, Kings have a young core that is showing progress but still has a way to go. Next year the Kings will have to integrate into the team a 1st round draft pick (hopefully in the top 5), a hopefully fully rehabilitated Giles, and possibly some FA signings. These new players will have to mesh with that core.

Hopefully, with a few more additions, 2 years from now, we will see a Kings team that is competitive every night and will be able to compete for a playoff spot.
 
#21
More WCS Apologists. Sorry, if you play center and can't rebound, you're not very good. WCS cannot hit the 3, never post's anyone up, cannot spread the floor, is not consistent defensively and puts up identical numbers to Jason Thompson. Look at their stats the first 3 years in the league. They might be different style players, but their numbers look the same to me. So, you tell me what team, other than Sac would start WCS? Truly, I can't think of 1. Overvaluing WCS is just that. He's not that good. 20 other centers in the league can put up his numbers or better. If they don't, they are much better defensively and have other positive intangibles.
Your first mistake is placing Willie as a 5. Not only has he mostly played the 4 this season, but Willie is unique. I know it is difficult for number crunchers to think outside the box, but Willie's value around the league is likely a lot higher than the sewer as some here like to bellow about.

1) Willie doesn't rebound X amount per game! - noted. This is the crutch of the Willie detractors. I get it. Willie should rebound more. However, he does not. I too would love for his rebound numbers to at least average 10.They don't. Does it bother me as a fan of his? Absolutely. Can I see why it might be so, due to his playstyle/usage as a 7 foot defensive swiss army knife? Yes. Not only is it harder to rebound when you are often guarding players at the 18ft area, but the 3 point bonanza that is todays game makes the mental aspect of rebounding that was tried and true for decades irrelevant. Angles and length of rebounding missed shots are long and out of whack.

2) Willie was supposed to be this defensive stalwart! - acknowledged. Frankly some of the most respected ( in my view) posters on this forum have spoken in Willie's defense about....his defense. Name one other 7 footer ( regardless of position he plays) that plays like he does on defense. As I stated, WCS is an extremely unique player. I have never seen someone his size and length handle being switched onto guards the way he does. 99% of the time it results in the guard passing, eating more seconds of the shot clock. When he is out of the paint, that means it is someone else's job to cover the big that inevitably is there waiting for the easy lob pass. Team needs to clean this up. Not Willie. He is doing exactly what coach Joerger is asking him to do given his unique mobility and physical measurements.

I have to say that I think some here just flat out don't like Willie as a person due to factors that have zero to do with basketball, and I for one would respect said people's opinion a lot more if they would just say so rather than either hiding behind false narratives, or banging their chests about cherry picked specifics. The league has changed, Willie is a low level taste of what 7 footers will have to become to be successful. I CAN NOT stand a lot of the stuff that comes out of Willie;s mouth, and the underlying implications of what he says ( The offensive aspirations). Which by the way, even though they seem a pipe dream, are more desirable than a player that is happy to coast once in the league. However, his ( up to now least ) visions of grandeur as to who he is as a player, don't ruffle my feathers. Then again, I do have thick skin.
 
#22
Easy answer.

My hope is that this season is the last season that I start thinking about the next season before even the all star break. How many times are we going to do this? How many times are we going to say to ourselves "let's wait and see what we get in the draft and free agency?" It's incredible. This is the first year ever that I have yet to watch a Kings game in the new year. I've seen this show before. Different cast same producer. It's getting real old. Our failures in the draft and inability to get any star player to come in free agency has kept us in the cellar for over a decade. The last time the Kings were in the playoffs, I didn't even have a permit to drive.

My expectation, however, is more of the same. Essentially, ineptitude, in all facets of the game and business.
 
#23
We will draft top 3 in this year's draft.

We are going to get our alpha scorer in this years draft.

We will out perform all expectations next year and make the playoffs as the #8 seed.

Anything less would be a huge disappointment. ;)
 
#24
Expectation? Be in the hunt for the 8th seed. This is what Vlade himself has essentially committed to, and we have been mucking around for long enough. How we get there is not my problem, if we've created cap space we darn well use it for good. We better draft well. No reason to lose next season with no pick.
 
#25
1. Fox / Mason
2. Bogdanovic / Buddy
3. Jackson / 2nd / Bruno?
4. Jaren Jackson / Skal
5. WCS / Giles

The west is opening up for us slowly but surely.
 
#26
The season is not over. This season was never going to be about making the playoffs or even about wins, it is a tear down and a rebuild, a complete reboot. It is and has always been about player development, building a team from scratch. This development process will continue for the remaining games.

Next year is going to be more of the same, Kings have a young core that is showing progress but still has a way to go. Next year the Kings will have to integrate into the team a 1st round draft pick (hopefully in the top 5), a hopefully fully rehabilitated Giles, and possibly some FA signings. These new players will have to mesh with that core.

Hopefully, with a few more additions, 2 years from now, we will see a Kings team that is competitive every night and will be able to compete for a playoff spot.
I have season tickets and the season is over for me. This season is unwatchable.
 
#28
Past performance is the best predictor of future performance.
In the last 10 years the Kings have struggled to get 30 wins. They have squandered draft choices consistently and traded away players that have fared better on other teams.
On the other hand I heard a commentator of some reputation suggest that if the Kings' were to acquire a certain draft pick from U of AZ, that he could imagine what would happen with "all of those good young players. " I think 30 wins would be really great.
 
#29
I have season tickets and the season is over for me. This season is unwatchable.
Aw, I am sorry you feel that way, especially as you have invested in season tickets. I am curious, though, after seeing the way the roster was constructed at the start of the season, what were your expectations for the season?
 
#30
Aw, I am sorry you feel that way, especially as you have invested in season tickets. I am curious, though, after seeing the way the roster was constructed at the start of the season, what were your expectations for the season?
That it would be exciting to watch the younger players compete, not Temple throwing up missed shots. Cousins years were ten times better than this year to watch.