With 20 wins now what's Kings final record?

[PurpleHaze]

Currently ahead of Golden State and Minnesota in WC at 20-39 w/ 3 more wins than last years 17-65 debacle. One game above .500 at home but only 5-25 on the road.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

This road trip coming up can make us or break us.
I try not to remember the last 5 game road swing, but it still haunts me to this day.

 

[Bricklayer]

This road trip coming up can make us or break us.
I try not to remember the last 5 game road swing, but it still haunts me to this day.

Can make or break us for what?

We would actually do well to be "broken" here realistically. We got a couple of wins to restablish the effort and intensity, but too many of course begins to seriously threaten our June prospects. Just as long as they play hard.

 

[Superman]

Yeah, it looked like we were going to go 2-11 in February, after going 2-13 in January, and that would have been really upsetting. I didn't watch the game last night, but I did watch the Jazz game, and the effort was good to see. Spencer Hawes looked like someone gave him a pre-game fix, and even though Tyreke struggled in the first half, other guys stepped up and played hard, hit shots, and played good defense. Beno was the best player in the first half. Cisco hit a couple shots. Nocioni hit a couple of big threes. Sean May showed some range on a long jumper. The team I saw from Friday night can play better than 6-24 over a two month stretch. Sure, I want to get a high draft pick, but I don't want to see a team that can't find any rhythm and can't win a game every once in a while.

If we go 0-3 on this road trip, but are competitive, I'll be okay with that.

 

[bajaden]

There are some very good players at the top of this draft. But it is a fairly deep draft. As an example, I would say the Sean Elliot, one of the top players taken the year we had the top pick and took Ellison, probably wouldn't make the top ten this year. Maybe not the top fifteen. Shows you how bad that draft was.

Personally I perfer the top two or three. So play hard, but don't get too crazy with the wins.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I want the team to play hard. If they win, that's cool. If they don't, I don't care; I can wait on this team to develop.

I'm utterly indifferent to the draft, since I only pay token attention to college basketball. I'm not impressed with any of the draft prospects, but I also thought that last year's draft was going to be the worst since 1989, so don't go to Mister Slim for your NCAA hoops knowledge.

 

[Superman]

I want the team to play hard. If they win, that's cool. If they don't, I don't care; I can wait on this team to develop.

I agree. I just think that losing 80% of your games is poisonous, especially for a young team with a new coach.

 

[Grawlix]

I want the Kings to win, period. Tanking right now would hurt the team's confidence in themselves and Coach Westphal.

We are still guaranteed a lottery pick, with a chance to get into the top 3. The Kings need to make progress like the zombie Sonics, not wait for a miracle like the Knicks.

 

[venom_7]

We got a couple of wins to restablish the effort and intensity, but too many of course begins to seriously threaten our June prospects. Just as long as they play hard.

You know, screw that mentality. Win all you can, we will still be a lottery team when it is all said and done. I want these kids believing they can win in this league, and to me that is worth more than a high lottery pick. We have an excess of money going into the off-season, maybe we can buy a few picks off teams who won't want them (like Utah). No point in getting a bad record anymore. Plenty of bigs that satisfy the Kings needs around 8-14.

 

[kingsnation]

I agree. I just think that losing 80% of your games is poisonous, especially for a young team with a new coach.

I don't know though, I think sometimes people are putting too much importance (emphasis may be a better word) on winning right now. I see what you're saying but look at the Thunder last year: 23-59, young players, new coach. And now look what they've become.

I believe 1 or 2 pieces added this offseason could easily turn us into next year's Thunder.

BTW, I'm not in support of tanking. However, I feel you put your young players out there, have them learn to win and lose together now, and you will see the fruit of what they learned in 1 or 2 years. If you happen to lose, you lose while building for the future.

 

[Tetsujin]

I don't know though, I think sometimes people are putting too much importance (emphasis may be a better word) on winning right now. I see what you're saying but look at the Thunder last year: 23-59, young players, new coach. And now look what they've become.

I believe 1 or 2 pieces added this offseason could easily turn us into next year's Thunder.

BTW, I'm not in support of tanking. However, I feel you put your young players out there, have them learn to win and lose together now, and you will see the fruit of what they learned in 1 or 2 years. If you happen to lose, you lose while building for the future.

The Thunder were absolutely terrible in the first half of last season but then the last half of the season, they started to get their act together. That momentum absolutely carried over to this year.

I think we need to do the same.

 

[Bricklayer]

You know, screw that mentality. Win all you can, we will still be a lottery team when it is all said and done. I want these kids believing they can win in this league, and to me that is worth more than a high lottery pick. We have an excess of money going into the off-season, maybe we can buy a few picks off teams who won't want them (like Utah). No point in getting a bad record anymore. Plenty of bigs that satisfy the Kings needs around 8-14.

Uh no on that last point.

It is ALWAYS 100% of the time better to have the higher pick than the lower pick. You can take anyone you would have taken at #8 at #4, and fewer teams have the ability to steal the guy you want before he gets to you. Its a 100% slam dunk, and as we have seen with Reke, it absolutely can turn an entire franchise. We're on the way up, but we aren't there yet.

So tactically its a 100% slam dunk to have that higher pick. And all that can be argued is the countervailing value of winning some games. I think there definitely is. Finishing the season 0-22 would be crushing. We need some wins, some good games here and there to keep the team together and positive, maybe a nice spectacular upset (Lakers anyone?). But the wins do NOT in fact mean anything tangible for us at this point. Its all just morale and air. The draft pick, another talented kid -- that's tangible. Long after nobody even remembers how we finished this lost season, a star level talent could be adding wins and prestige to this franchise.

In a perfect world? Drop the in between games. Beat the bad teams to prove that you aren't at their level. Surprise a couple of great teams to get accolades/fun/confidence. And then have tough hard fought losses against the tweener teams who its neither particualrly prestigious to beat, no terribly demoralizing to lose to. Wrap it up in the high 20s in wins, 10+ game improvement. Its enough for morale. And its enough to give us a decent shot at one more top kid -- its likely the last one we will have for a long time, so we need to make it count.

The best argument against that BTW is that an amazing 16-6 closing charge or something of the ilk mght attract a big free agent. But that's far more speculative than anything draft related.

 

[Superman]

I don't know though, I think sometimes people are putting too much importance (emphasis may be a better word) on winning right now. I see what you're saying but look at the Thunder last year: 23-59, young players, new coach. And now look what they've become.

I believe 1 or 2 pieces added this offseason could easily turn us into next year's Thunder.

BTW, I'm not in support of tanking. However, I feel you put your young players out there, have them learn to win and lose together now, and you will see the fruit of what they learned in 1 or 2 years. If you happen to lose, you lose while building for the future.

I'm talking about being 6-24 over two months. That's a 16 win season, at that pace. Just incessant losing, leading to complaints about the coaches rotation, had a dissatisfied player that wound up getting traded, etc. The kinds of problems that you don't want to have on a young team with a new coach.

I think the worst thing that could happen at this point would be for us to start winning a bunch of games, because the last thing we want is for management/ownership to get it in their heads that this group as it's currently comprised is a playoff contender. I'm not saying that I want to see us finish with 35 wins. I just don't want to see a team that loses 4 out of every 5, has no chemistry, and doesn't believe in the coach.

 

[roasthawg]

We're gonna finish off very strongly... Reke is showing no signs of slowing down, Udrih is finally starting again like he should be, and Landry is just getting adjusted.

 

[DoDiGaG0]

We're gonna finish off very strongly... Reke is showing no signs of slowing down, Udrih is finally starting again like he should be, and Landry is just getting adjusted.

I would agree..but look at the teams were playing lol...

Id be happy if we won 5 games and finished with 25-57

 

[kgrichwine]

I'm sticking with my original estimate of 27 wins.

 

[cstorm]

Can make or break us for what?

We would actually do well to be "broken" here realistically. We got a couple of wins to restablish the effort and intensity, but too many of course begins to seriously threaten our June prospects. Just as long as they play hard.

Glad I wasn't the only one thinking that.

 

[Larry89]

Tyreke averages 30/7/7 remaining games and kings go 20-62

 

[hoops4kings]

I'm sticking with my original estimate of 27 wins.

That was my guess.

 

[jthompson1]

just quickly looked at the rest of the scheldule and got about 30 or 31. in my opinion

 

[Ed2009]

Tyreke averages 30/7/7 remaining games and kings go 20-62

Very optimistic

 

[QoooooQ]

I had enough of that "I hope we lose as much as possible" crap last year. We had the worst team in the league (hurray!), had bad luck in the lottery (d'oh!) and we STILL got the rookie of the year with the fourth pick (hurray!). Not to mention that Jennings was picked 10th.

With 30 wins this year we can perhaps attract better free agents and our current players will be motivated to put in more work in the offseason with the expectation of further improvement and the playoffs looming in the horizon.

With 22 wins this year we can forget about free agents and our current players will just be trying to forget about another depressing 60-loss season.

30 would be a nice psychological barrier to cross, but we'd have to improve to get there. 27-28 seems more realistic.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

I had enough of that "I hope we lose as much as possible" crap last year. We had the worst team in the league (hurray!), had bad luck in the lottery (d'oh!) and we STILL got the rookie of the year with the fourth pick (hurray!). Not to mention that Jennings was picked 10th.

With 30 wins this year we can perhaps attract better free agents and our current players will be motivated to put in more work in the offseason with the expectation of further improvement and the playoffs looming in the horizon.

With 22 wins this year we can forget about free agents and our current players will just be trying to forget about another depressing 60-loss season.

30 would be a nice psychological barrier to cross, but we'd have to improve to get there. 27-28 seems more realistic.

yes, lets win more games and get that spencer hawes/jason thompson range pick. i can't wait til that happens

a few more wins for what? so we slide down the picking order some more? we still haven't addressed our front court issues and theres a few good big man prospects in this draft. we sure aren't nabbing a cousins or favors at the 10-12th pick.

how many more games til the end of the season? .....

 

[Kingstime]

I think Id be happy seeing these guys play their hardest and mature the rest of the way. If they win these games good for them, they will be feeling really good going into the offseason.

It rarely happens but the year of Oden and Durant the 1 and 2 teams were the Blazers and Sonics, their records were in the mid 30's for wins. No gurantees in the lottery just gotta see what happens.

 

[Superman]

I had enough of that "I hope we lose as much as possible" crap last year. We had the worst team in the league (hurray!), had bad luck in the lottery (d'oh!) and we STILL got the rookie of the year with the fourth pick (hurray!). Not to mention that Jennings was picked 10th.

With 30 wins this year we can perhaps attract better free agents and our current players will be motivated to put in more work in the offseason with the expectation of further improvement and the playoffs looming in the horizon.

With 22 wins this year we can forget about free agents and our current players will just be trying to forget about another depressing 60-loss season.

30 would be a nice psychological barrier to cross, but we'd have to improve to get there. 27-28 seems more realistic.

I don't think there's any real way to quantify this so-called psychological barrier. I understand what you're saying, but I don't know what the real world effects of it actually are, and don't think there's any way to figure that out. It's strictly hypothesis that a big name free agent wouldn't come to Sacramento because of a poor record (especially if said poor record yields a top five pick). It's also undetermined how much more beneficial a 50 loss season is in comparison with a 60 loss season; they're both pretty bad, but either way, we're better than we were last year, and we have a coach in place, and we'll have another high pick and we're not in cap hell. The improvements are already there, honestly.