What's up with our roster? Are we set or not?

[KingsCitizen]

Here's how I see things out:

C - DMC/JT
PF - Landry/PPat/Hayes
SF - LMAM/Salmons/Outlaw
SG - Thornton/McLemore/Jimmer
PG - Vasquez/IT/McCallum

IMO, we're gonna suck bad on 'D' down low if go to war with this roster. Unless Malone, give DMC and JT some sort of "all-star defense" pill.

I'd like to call up Washington for Jimmer for Seraphin trade just put some big body up front who can block shot. This is because PPat could slide to SF from time to time as well as the "Fish" at SG could still make sense.

 

[KingMilz]

Serpahine is actually a fairly serious talent no chance Washington gives him up for garbage like Jimmer, Kevin Seraphin imo has a chance to be a above average PF/C with playing time. I would love to trade for another SF who can defend and shoot cause what's behind LMAM is hard to look at even on paper.

 

[jalfa]

Okafor's out for a few months with a herniated C4 cervical disk. they're not giving away any of their bigs right now. probably not even Vesely.

 

[Glenn]

We don't have anyone to use as trade bait that can return a serious talent. At one point we had a serious amount of cash and could have used it on defense, anyone on defense, but preferably a big. We flushed that opportunity down the drain when we acquired Landry. I wish we could make some moves but we have no one of value to move. Trade Jimmer? Many on this forum doubt if he has much of an NBA career ahead of him. Who would want him enough to give us anyone of value? The only move of significance that we made in the off season is a coaching change and at that, we got a rookie so there are no guarantees.

Now I presume someone will write that there are no guarantees. Spare me. I think my point is clear. Malone may be as good as any and better than most. That's the guess. I personally think we have been down the road of having inexperienced head coaches far too many times.

I think this team took a step back and I can't decipher any particular goal.

Nome of the options in the poll fit my analysis.

 

[pshn80]

I answer the question both " yes" and "no" and I think the Kings do also. I think they are and have been looking for trade opportunities. So it can happen anytime from now until the end of the season.

 

[Jkbiker]

Don't forget our 15th contract Trent Lockett !!!!

 

[TyFreak Evans]

I interpret this question two ways.

First, the OP may be asking if we are set for this season, which I don't think we are. I think we will still actively seek pieces to shuffle around and fit into our puzzle. This season can be seen as somewhat of an audition process to showcase talent for Malone and D'Alessandro. As well as Vivek and the rest of the ownership group.

Second, the OP may be asking if we are set for long term success, which, obviously, we are not. We are a young team. We need veteran pieces to help along the way. Cousins is a solid center piece, and while I have been highly critical of his personality in the past, I am willing to wait it out and give the guy a chance to prove himself while surrounded with a winning culture.

What we fans need to collectively come to realize and accept, and most on this board have done a phenomenal job in doing so, is that this team is not gonna be rebuilt overnight, nor should we expect it to be built overnight. It is going to take a team effort, and it is going to take some time. This has to be one of the most exciting times in quite a while to be a Kings fan. I can't wait to see what the team shapes up to be like. I am willing to take this wild, bumpy, and at times frustrating ride. Because I am confident that, at the end of the day, I will have a smile on my face.

 

[ninjabiscuit]

I keep wondering if the reason that we aren't making big moves to help Cousins is that the front office isn't sure whether or not they're keeping him after this season.

 

[bajaden]

Serpahine is actually a fairly serious talent no chance Washington gives him up for garbage like Jimmer, Kevin Seraphin imo has a chance to be a above average PF/C with playing time. I would love to trade for another SF who can defend and shoot cause what's behind LMAM is hard to look at even on paper.

Believe it or not, the Wiz aren't as high on Seraphin as you might think. He's been a big disappointment for them so far. I watched him in summer league three times, and in two of the games he flat out sucked. He's a lot like Thabeet! No BBIQ...Good defender right at the basket, but gets lost in team defense, and totally lost on offense. Thats why he isn't getting major minutes. Personally I'm tired of players with no BBIQ. So the Wiz can keep him as far as I'm concerned.

 

[bajaden]

I think the front office wants to bring everyone into camp, play some exhibition games, and see what they have before making any other changes. Its also possible that they might have some moves on hold for various reasons. Example: Lets say that for the hell of it they have a deal to trade for Granger. I don't think its out of the question that they would want to see Granger play in the exhibition season before approving such a deal, considering he's coming off an injury. That's just one example of many I could think of for nothing happening right now. Plus, D'Alessandro has been in europe for the last couple of weeks watching the FIBA games.

I think they'll announce the signing of Cousins to an extension sometime in the first week of training camp. Just a gut feeling on my part. I know they like to have press conferences for all these things, and since Cuz is a big deal, what better time than right before the start of the season. I'm curious when they'll release their training camp roster.

 

[One and Done]

There's definitely a lot of flaws with this roster, but PDA and company have a lot of damage to undo, so I'll be patient.

Offensively, three-point shooting will be a weakness at times (at the 1 and 3) and our lineup still has a lack of average-to-strong defensive players, especially at the 1 and 4/5. Thank the heavens we finally got a pass-first PG, our first since Jason Williams (unless you count Sergio Rodriguez), so at least this year we'll see a lot less of the my turn/your turn offense that's been a staple for the last six. More enjoyable losses, hurrah!

At this point, training camp fodder won't make any difference on our W/L record, so I'm holding out for trades. We have three 4's who all have different skills but talent-wise are about on the same level (fringe starters). As much as I love the LR pickup, we still don't have a starting-quality "3". I think we have a lot of quality assets that'd parlay into a good trade for draft picks + veteran talent (Thornton, JT, PPat and Hayes would all be valuable assets off the bench for a playoff team). I'm already anticipating an active trade deadline!

 

[King Baller]

I think we have a lot of quality assets that'd parlay into a good trade for draft picks + veteran talent (Thornton, JT, PPat and Hayes would all be valuable assets off the bench for a playoff team). I'm already anticipating an active trade deadline!

I think you can add IT and Johnny Salmons to your list. IT is player value at low cost and Johnny is an expiring contract(well 1 Million only guaranteed next year). We all still want a big time defender for the front line and a 3 and D at the SF spot.

KB

 

[Hadlowe]

One thing that a lot of people are missing is the advantage that our expiring contracts give us around the deadline. There are going to be some cusp playoff teams that will be looking to move assets around the trade deadline when it appears that they can't compete in order to free up cap space for the 2014 offseason. Jimmer, Salmons, and PPat are $13 million worth of expiring contracts which could be used to bring back a pretty good player.

At this point, I doubt anyone on the Kings roster is suiting up in a different jersey any time soon. We are stuck with a team that has one starting-caliber player and 14 bench players.

 

[Hadlowe]

There's definitely a lot of flaws with this roster, but PDA and company have a lot of damage to undo, so I'll be patient.

Offensively, three-point shooting will be a weakness at times (at the 1 and 3) and our lineup still has a lack of average-to-strong defensive players, especially at the 1 and 4/5. Thank the heavens we finally got a pass-first PG, our first since Jason Williams (unless you count Sergio Rodriguez), so at least this year we'll see a lot less of the my turn/your turn offense that's been a staple for the last six. More enjoyable losses, hurrah!

At this point, training camp fodder won't make any difference on our W/L record, so I'm holding out for trades. We have three 4's who all have different skills but talent-wise are about on the same level (fringe starters). As much as I love the LR pickup, we still don't have a starting-quality "3". I think we have a lot of quality assets that'd parlay into a good trade for draft picks + veteran talent (Thornton, JT, PPat and Hayes would all be valuable assets off the bench for a playoff team). I'm already anticipating an active trade deadline!

I'm of a mixed mind on pass-first point guards. The NBA is different than it was when Stockton, Magic, and even a young Jason Kidd or Steve Nash was the motor that drove the offense. The no hand check rule makes it easier for point guards to penetrate, meaning more shot attempts at the rim. To compensate, weakside rotation has become mandatory to protect against the pick and roll just destroying your team. This means that the open man is going to be two passes away, which requires teams to move the ball as a unit. That passing team concept breaks down for the Kings once the ball moves to Landry in the post or Thornton anywhere on the court.

It's less of a problem with philosophy than it is with personnel.

 

[KingMilz]

Seeing how Linas Kleiza played at EuroBasket he would have been nice @ the 3 shame he signed with a Euro Club...sigh

 

[bajaden]

I'm of a mixed mind on pass-first point guards. The NBA is different than it was when Stockton, Magic, and even a young Jason Kidd or Steve Nash was the motor that drove the offense. The no hand check rule makes it easier for point guards to penetrate, meaning more shot attempts at the rim. To compensate, weakside rotation has become mandatory to protect against the pick and roll just destroying your team. This means that the open man is going to be two passes away, which requires teams to move the ball as a unit. That passing team concept breaks down for the Kings once the ball moves to Landry in the post or Thornton anywhere on the court.

It's less of a problem with philosophy than it is with personnel.

That's for the coach to fix. He has the power of the bench and minutes. You want to play, you do as I say!. They say they want to build the team around Cousins. Well if that's truly the case, there's a need for a pass first PG. Someone that can get him easy baskets. He'll ultimately score more points, and be more efficient doing it. There are a lot of problems with this team, and you can't fix all of them at once. In some cases you have to bite your lip on one side of the ball because of what someone does on the other side of the ball.

To my mind, this will be a sort of a band aid year. Temporary for some players if you will. At seasons end, I sincerely doubt that they'll retain all of Fredette, Vasquez, I. Thomas, and McCallum. I think two of those four are gone, unless they believe that they can acquire someone of need for Thornton, and that Fredette can fill his role to some extent. As to which two they'll keep, I think it might come down to money. Not that they don't want to spend it, but because of capspace. In that regard, I think McCallum is a shoe in. They obviously like him and see him as part of the future. I don't expect that to change unless he just fails miserably. I think they let Fredette walk if they can't include him in a trade. After that, its a toss up, and probably depends on who impresses them the most this season.

 

[Hadlowe]

Seeing how Linas Kleiza played at EuroBasket he would have been nice @ the 3 shame he signed with a Euro Club...sigh

Kleiza is an undersized stretch four. He is slower than PPat and has some big injury question marks. In other words, he is perfectly suited for the European game.

 

[HndsmCelt]

The poll needs a third option... "Ready or not here we come"

 

[KingMilz]

Kleiza is an undersized stretch four. He is slower than PPat and has some big injury question marks. In other words, he is perfectly suited for the European game.

How is he slower than Patterson? The guy is a 3 man not a stretch 4, he played the 3 in Denver largely, Kleiza is more athletic than Patterson as well with more all around skills he's a big/slower 3 not a PF......

 

[jalfa]

One thing that a lot of people are missing is the advantage that our expiring contracts give us around the deadline. There are going to be some cusp playoff teams that will be looking to move assets around the trade deadline when it appears that they can't compete in order to free up cap space for the 2014 offseason. Jimmer, Salmons, and PPat are $13 million worth of expiring contracts which could be used to bring back a pretty good player.

At this point, I doubt anyone on the Kings roster is suiting up in a different jersey any time soon. We are stuck with a team that has one starting-caliber player and 14 bench players.

there's not much of an advantage to expirings anymore, though. just look at how many expirings have been dealt since the new cba has been in effect and what they've fetched. it's fairly unlikely that the Kings would get much for those guys.

 

[KingMilz]

I was just thinking we could have signed Drew Gooden who is a free agent (amnestied from Bucks) for like 1/2 the price of Landry to give us similar production and more size while saving the money we spent on Landry on a SF and bringing pretty much everything Landry brings if we were in need of a PF.

 

[VF21]

I was just thinking we could have signed Drew Gooden who is a free agent (amnestied from Bucks) for like 1/2 the price of Landry to give us similar production and more size while saving the money we spent on Landry on a SF and bringing pretty much everything Landry brings if we were in need of a PF.

Drew Gooden does not come close to the apparent "character" requirement the Kings are looking for.

 

[The_Jamal]

I was just thinking we could have signed Drew Gooden who is a free agent (amnestied from Bucks) for like 1/2 the price of Landry to give us similar production and more size while saving the money we spent on Landry on a SF and bringing pretty much everything Landry brings if we were in need of a PF.

I don't understand your obsession with quite frankly, extremely terrible players. I've seen you reference, Gooden, Petro, Kleiza, etc this offseason. None of those guys should be on any NBA roster

 

[KingMilz]

I don't understand your obsession with quite frankly, extremely terrible players. I've seen you reference, Gooden, Petro, Kleiza, etc this offseason. None of those guys should be on any NBA roster

I don't see how Gooden is terrible only reason he didn't play last season was due to the Bucks going with a youth movement and I really don't think any of our SF's are overall better players then Kleiza (we have 3-4 players on our roster who shouldn't be in the NBA). As far as Petro yeap I even said in a post he is awful but he's 7 foot and can block the odd shot.

 

[whozit]

I don't see how Gooden is terrible only reason he didn't play last season was due to the Bucks going with a youth movement and I really don't think any of our SF's are overall better players then Kleiza (we have 3-4 players on our roster who shouldn't be in the NBA). As far as Petro yeap I even said in a post he is awful but he's 7 foot and can block the odd shot.

For all the angst there has been about Landry, he at least wants to be here. Gooden did not. I don't remember all the details, but I recall even the last regime let him go/sent him down the road.

 

[randymoss1881]

Anyone who thinks gooden is a viable pick up hasn't seen him play. He's a poor mans jj hickson

 

[Hadlowe]

Anyone who thinks gooden is a viable pick up hasn't seen him play. He's a poor mans jj hickson

Which is sad considering that JJ Hickson is also a poor man's JJ Hickson

 

[bajaden]

Which is sad considering that JJ Hickson is also a poor man's JJ Hickson

Somehow that seems redundant!

 

[King Baller]

The poor mans JJ Hickson in the guy who played for the Kings. When he moved to Portland he became JJ Hickson again

 

[Mass]

Sam Amico (not Amick...) reported that the Nuggets could be interested in Jimmer...

http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981960004

Ok, give us Gallinari and you can have Jimmer!

I know it's just a rumor, but I haven't seen it posted here.