I sure hope your wrong on that one. This roster needs a shakeup in the worst way. Blow the thing up and we may all end up Coach Smart fans because he has a roster he can work with and not a bunch of "shoot-first" clones. We need a leader on this team in the worst way. I like Salmons but I'm not sure the team follows and respects him like they would someone with a little more playoff experience and clout.
I think we'd all agree that this roster is imbalanced and ill formed and could use veteran leadership.
The problem is that the Kings lack the chips to make any big deals.
Not only are Evans and Cousins presumably the core of this team but they are not guys that you could get equal trade value for. Cousins is full of red flags and lacks the length & athleticism to be a dominant post player or anchor defender and Tyreke is in a contract year while being incredibly inconsistent and not developing his shot since he entered the league. Teams would love to have them for pennies on the dollar but I can't see the Kings getting anything close to actual value.
Thornton has a defined role as a scorer and could be a piece that a playoff team targets to bolster their second unit and is possibly the best trade chip the Kings have. His contract is on the high side for a bench player though and I think we have a higher sense of his worth in Sacramento than the rest of the league does. I don't see him bringing back a stud player in return but he could net something. Of course it would thin out the bench as only Salmons and Garcia would be left as backup SGs.
I don't think anyone in the league would offer anything of value for Salmons, Outlaw or Hayes. Especially Outlaw who I think could only be traded if the Kings dealt Tyreke or Cousins and forced the other team to take him.
Thompson has value as a versatile and efficient big man but again, I don't think he'd net a lot in return and I like what he provides our team.
IT is an undersized backup PG playing with a relatively small contract. I could see a team asking for him as a throw in to a larger deal but he's not much of a trade piece himself.
Fredette seems to be on an upswing, has a useful skill in his outside shooting and probably still has some marketing appeal. But individually what's the most you think he could realistically bring back in a trade?
We got James Johnson for a 2nd round pick which says something about his trade value. Even if it increased slightly due to his minutes for us it still won't be very high.
Thomas Robinson has been a disappointment thus far but teams that liked him in the draft might still be intrigued. But again, not a lot of trade value and I doubt the team is ready to give up on him unless it was a pretty significant deal.
Brooks might have a bit of value. He's played at a high level in the past, has a very manageable contract and is signed just through this year with a player option for next.
I hope there are moves in the works (other than the Maloofs potentially filing for relocation) but it would be Petrie's best work ever to convert the pieces he has into something significantly better. I'd love to see it but I'm not holding my breath.
