PMOTT3 and Chuck Texas Early Off-Season Review: Sacramento Kings

[Texas Chuck]

PMOTT3's Review:

Key Losses:

Their minds (i kid, i kid)

Other Losses:

Jason Thompson
Carl Landry
Nik Stauskas
Ray McCallum

The only guy they really lost here of importance was Stauskas imo. Despite having a rough rookie season i still think he's a good shooting prospect.

Draft:

Willie Cauley-Stein

I didn't mind the decision to go with WCS here because i think he's still a very good center prospect. But if it were me I would have taken Winslow or Mudiay at #6. I just feel those guys have higher ceilings and more of a star factor.

Trades:

.Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas, gave swap rights to their 1st to Philly for 2016 & 2017 AND I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) gave an unprotected 18' or 19' 1st to Philly as well? All for basically cap space.
.Ray McCallum for protected future 2nd

I feel like this was just an unnecessary extreme overpay for cap space. Including Stauskas with Landry and Thompson should have been enough imo. This deal has catastrophic potential downside for Sacramento and a King's ransom of upside for Philly. I thought Billy King taught all other GM's in the league why its a bad idea to include pick swaps in a deal..

Just meh on the McCallum deal.

Free Agency:

Rajon Rondo
Kosta Koufos
Marco Bellineli
Caron Butler
Seth Curry
Omri Casspi
Quincy Acy
Duje Dukan

I really really hated the Rondo signing. There's a reason why only like 1-2 teams pursued this guy. I felt like he showed his true colors in Dallas where things got really ugly. I'm just not sure their is a place in this league anymore for PG's who can't shoot at all. I know its only 1 year but for the type of season he just had, 9.5 mil still feels like an overpay.

I will say that they impressed me with the Koufos and Bellineli signings. Both of those players will give them the depth they lacked last year. However, i feel like Bellineli was a bit of an overpay but they do have a really good shooter on the roster now.

Butler is washed up and done imo. I don't expect much from him at all.

Curry was a SL standout but so was Doug McDermott for the Bulls last season so we'll just have to wait and see where that goes.

Re-signing Casspi was a good move and they did it for cheap. From my research he seems to be one of the fan favorites.

Not crazy about Acy and dont even know anything about this Dukan guy but at least these moves were done for cheap as well. Same goes for Anderson.

Current Depth Chart (really rough sketch):

PG: Rondo/Collison/Curry
SG: McLemore/Bellineli/Anderson
SF: Gay/Casspi/Butler
PF: Cousins/Acy/Dukan
C: WCS/Koufos/Moreland

Needs:

They need more shooting and 3-D shooters. As good as Bellineli is at shooting he's too one sided and may cost you on the other end of the floor. I'm not sure if they will start Gay at his position of SF or usr him as a full time small ball PF wing for added spacing. They need to figure that out if they haven't already and I'm not sure how i feel about Cousins at PF and playing WCS next to him as the C if that's the plan also.

I have a strong feeling that the Rondo experiment 2.0 is going to get really ugly and Collison will have his starting gig back. When that happens, i think their bench lacks the scoring they need and I'd like to see them get a scorer to bring off the bench.

Another big need for them is to re-build their identity because right now players in this league have been avoiding them like the plague (see Ellis & Matthews).

Additional Thoughts:

I've been holding out the biggest issue i have with the Kings for right here. They still have a pretty big elephant in the room they haven't addressed. The Cousins-Karl relationship is completely destroyed and the Kings should have let Karl go this off-season and washed their hands clean of him. When your star player is supposed to be a leader and lead by example then how are the other 14 guys going to follow when Cousins isn't listening to Karl? The situation is too toxic right now and i feel like it should be addressed as priority #1. They also need to find stability within that front office and everyone needs to be on the same page.

Win/Loss Prediction: 33-49

I think Rondo is going to be a train wreck, I dont think they have enough shooters to make him look good either. I suspect they will experiment with Boogie/WCS as their front court a lot and i dont see that going well either.

Off-Season Grade: D

Hated the Rondo signing, Hate. Hate. Hate. the Stauskas trade, Felt like they needed to swing for the fences for a player with superstar potential in the draft (Mudiay/Winslow), and hate that they haven't had their come to Jesus meeting with Boogie & Karl. The additions of Bellineli and Koufos are nice but dont make up for it.

Chuck Texas' Review

Losses:

Carl Landry
Jason Thompson
Nick Stauskas
Ray McCallum

I don't mind any of these subtractions really. I don't mind Thompson, but with WCS being drafted he was expendable. Stauskas still feels too far away for what the Kings are hoping to do.

Draft:

Willie Cauley-Stein

I don't mind the pick. Defensive bigs are always valuable and they were placating Boogie which isn't nothing. I would have prefered Mudiay as a potential perimeter star to pair with Boogie or maybe even Winslow or Johnson, but WCS is fine.

Trades:

McCallum for a 2nd
Lowry,Thompson, Stauskas, Swap rights in 2016 and 2017 where Philly can swap any of their 1sts with the Kings first if its a top 10 pick meaning the Kings need to be a top 20 team or they lose a great pick. Plus a 2018 1st that is top 10 protected for a year and then is unprotected. Meaning the Kings can't afford for this roster to not work.

Hate the Sixers trade. Just an absurd and dangerous overpay. Don't want to harp on this, but its a huge gamble on yourself.

Free Agency:

Rondo
Koufos
Butler
Belinelli
Curry
Casspi
Acy


I really like a lot of this. Koufos was a great pick up on a very team friendly deal. Long-term I love the bigs rotation here. I like Belinelli and Casspi as solid vets who fill clear needs off the bench. I like younger players Curry and Acy as both being worth taking inexpensive looks at. Butler is pretty much toast as a player, but he brings exactly what they need into that room. A strong, tough, do it the right way veteran. He will be a big voice in a locker room that needs it with Boogie and Rondo.

And finally, Rondo. Let me start by saying I have long been a big fan of Rondo. I know his game has some serious flaws in terms of shooting/scoring, but I have always loved him. And let me acknowledge that I have soured on him considerably after what he did in Dallas last year quitting on the team. My objective thoughts tho on Rondo for this year is the Kings are going to get the best Rondo he is capable of giving them. And that potentially that player could be a real difference maker. It's a risk and it could easily blow up in their face, but I don't think its going to. I think he really wants one more big contract and he knows he has to perform this year to get it.

Depth Chart(I think):

Koufos/WCS/Acy/Moreland
Cousins/Casspi/Dukan
Gay/Butler
McLemore/Belinelli/Anderson
Rondo/Collison/Curry

Additional Thoughts:

This is the team in the league that I think has the biggest swing between best and worst case scenario. I think this team could fight for a playoff spot in the West and I think they could struggle to win 30 games. Just so much combustion possibilities with Karl, Divac, some of these players. But I also think this is part of what Karl thrives on and is really good at. I don't think he's scared at all at dealing with all these personalties. As far as on-court stuff goes, I think he is the right man for the job.

Win/loss Prediction: 40-42

As mentioned above I think they get a really good year out of Rondo and I think Boogie stakes his claim as the 2nd best big in the league behind Davis. Just not quite enough around him yet to earn a playoff spot in the West.

Off-Season Grade: F

I know that grade looks harsh in light of me liking their free agency pick-ups(even Rondo I hate less than most) and being somewhat okay with WCS. But the front office/coaching situation remains a huge mess. If Divac is refusing to work with other key members of the FO that's a huge problem. This team has to fix its organizational flaws in order to succeed. The teams that win and have sustained success all have top notch organizations. You simply can't short-cut this stuff. And I hate the enormous risk of the trade to Philly. This could be a Brooklyn-bad scenario very very easily. You simply cannot put your franchise at this much risk for so little potential payoff. It would be one thing if that deal led them to getting a player who brought them into contention. But no justification for this. So while I like the team better for this year, I think the long-term dangers here are so great, I have to give it an F.

[HartfordWhalers]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

[Hawk Eye]

I've got my second batch of popcorn ready; this is going to be good.

[sdballer]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

If you are going to compare the win-now moves sac and NO made, at least include all the details.

Sac traded parts deemed around here as useless (stauskus, JT, Landry), the right to swap picks with a franchise dedicated to tanking and one future pick. They used the cap space to sign rondo, koufos, belinelli and butler (total cost around 60m the next few years)

NO traded better spare parts (robin Lopez, Vasquez) plus draft picks that became needles Noel, Elfrid Payton (who became saric and another first) and sam decker. They used their space to sign holiday, Evans and asik for over 140m the next few years.

So yes, sac got worse players for winning now but they did it at less than half the cost, sent out less valuable players and likely sacrificed far less in terms if draft picks.

I know it's the thing to pick on the kings and as a long time suffering fan, they deserve most of it. And the cousins karl thing could still blow up in their faces. But the moves they made this offseason, which is what is supposed to be graded here are far from a d or f.

They needed vets. They needed defense. They needed shooting. They needed another passer. They got those things are really good deals and what they sacrificed is likely to turn into nothing more than a pick in 2-3 years. If you swapped the name on the front of the jersey for almost any other team, most fans would rate this offseason much differently.

[HartfordWhalers]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

If you are going to compare the win-now moves sac and NO made, at least include all the details.

Sac traded parts deemed around here as useless (stauskus, JT, Landry), the right to swap picks with a franchise dedicated to tanking and one future pick. They used the cap space to sign rondo, koufos, belinelli and butler (total cost around 60m the next few years)

NO traded better spare parts (robin Lopez, Vasquez) plus draft picks that became needles Noel, Elfrid Payton (who became saric and another first) and sam decker. They used their space to sign holiday, Evans and asik for over 140m the next few years.

So yes, sac got worse players for winning now but they did it at less than half the cost, sent out less valuable players and likely sacrificed far less in terms if draft picks.

I know it's the thing to pick on the kings and as a long time suffering fan, they deserve most of it. And the cousins karl thing could still blow up in their faces. But the moves they made this offseason, which is what is supposed to be graded here are far from a d or f.

They needed vets. They needed defense. They needed shooting. They needed another passer. They got those things are really good deals and what they sacrificed is likely to turn into nothing more than a pick in 2-3 years. If you swapped the name on the front of the jersey for almost any other team, most fans would rate this offseason much differently.

Lopez wasn't really needed to get Tyreke, and that was massively boneheaded.

But NOP sent out 3 picks, the highest being 6th in what people at the time thought was a weak draft.
Sac just sent out Stauskas (1 year removed from picked 8th), 2 unprotected pick swaps -- which has a 20% chance of being used next year based upon the pre-Vegas lines even with Philly 30th in the league, a position they have yet to be able to get with trying), and a pick that could be unprotected in the year Cousins is no longer under contract.

I think the sent out was pretty close to equal. Especially when looking at the chance of those pick swaps. But NOP went for pieces that, even if they haven't fully worked out, made sense. I cannot say the same about Sac.

In terms of what Sac's needs were, I think it was to get a core that could grow with Cousins so it would be peaking when Cousins is nearing free agency in a few years, and doesn't suck. I'm not sure they hit any of that.
Rondo is on a rental deal, looked horrible in Dallas, and is already 29. Belinelli is non-spectacular and 29. WCS has a reach. I think they blew it even ignoring the trade that was horrific. And then you do have the Cousins - Karl; Vlade - Oliver; Randive - definitely not at fault for anything; and Levien being an unofficial advisor is massive trouble (look at his last two stints and the ensuing power struggles, which in both cases he lost).

People aren't picking on the Kings because it is a thing. People are picking on what the Kings did because of what the Kings did. It is so frustrating hearing the same tired refrain that somehow it is some bias against the team...

[loserX]

I had no problem with drafting WCS. He's a good fit there (and it seems to be the one thing Karl and Boogie agree on, so there's that )

The Philly trade...eesh. They cleared out most of the driftwood and gave themselves a chance to re-tool; that part is good. But I can't find any way to parse it that isn't an overpay. They're taking a huge gamble on themselves at a time when things aren't going very well.

As for the McCallum trade, a future Spurs 2nd is worth right about nothing, but so is McCallum so who cares.

I actually liked all their signings except the Rondo one...he's high-risk now, and they outbid themselves on him. At least it's one year. Koufos is a plus. Belinelli is a plus. Even Caron Butler is a plus because they need someone like him. Casspi is fine and the others are cheap bench filler.

But as Chuck says, the biggest problem this team has is in the front office. Their star player and their coach don't get along. Their owner plays "Undercover Boss" with his new hires. Now I'm hearing they banned their Director of Player Personnel from summerleague? Their HR department must have had a revolving door installed for all the changes. This desperately needed to get better and they made it worse. One of the Kings' biggest deficiencies under the Maloofs was their credibility. Vivek was supposed to fix that and instead we are here.

All that said, I think the team is better on the court than it was, so I can't quite give an F for that. I'm not throwing them a parade either though.

[sdballer]

I had no problem with drafting WCS. He's a good fit there (and it seems to be the one thing Karl and Boogie agree on, so there's that )

The Philly trade...eesh. They cleared out most of the driftwood and gave themselves a chance to re-tool; that part is good. But I can't find any way to parse it that isn't an overpay. They're taking a huge gamble on themselves at a time when things aren't going very well.

As for the McCallum trade, a future Spurs 2nd is worth right about nothing, but so is McCallum so who cares.

I actually liked all their signings except the Rondo one...he's high-risk now, and they outbid themselves on him. At least it's one year. Koufos is a plus. Belinelli is a plus. Even Caron Butler is a plus because they need someone like him. Casspi is fine and the others are cheap bench filler.

But as Chuck says, the biggest problem this team has is in the front office. Their star player and their coach don't get along. Their owner plays "Undercover Boss" with his new hires. Now I'm hearing they banned their Director of Player Personnel from summerleague? Their HR department must have had a revolving door installed for all the changes. This desperately needed to get better and they made it worse. One of the Kings' biggest deficiencies under the Maloofs was their credibility. Vivek was supposed to fix that and instead we are here.

All that said, I think the team is better on the court than it was, so I can't quite give an F for that. I'm not throwing them a parade either though.

In terms of the front office staff, this offseason was a gigantic win. Vivek has apparently stepped back and Vlade is the sole decision maker. The two slimeballs PDA and mullin are gone. Multiple people connected with the team have reiterated that levien has absolutely no role with the kings at all and the only story about oliver is from sportando. The legitimate leaks have mostly stopped. Almost every story about the kings front office is old news or innuendo unsupported by facts and quickly discarded once the click-baiting has served its purpose.

Our malcontent star player is tweeting how excited he is for the kings season, our core players are bonding and taking trips together and the fanbase is more excited than it has been for years. Add those intangibles with the best, deepest roster we've had in almost ten years and I think the kings are going to surprise people this year.

[cammac]

Does anyone really care about SAC they are like guys who have had 12 beers and think it is a good idea to drive home.
D is generous

[stitches]

F! I hated almost everything they did this off season. The Kings all but ensured they will be irrelevant for the duration of Boogie's contract and then... they gave the Sixers their first pick in the year Cousins will be gone. Sure, they might be closer to a playoff spot now than they were before FA/Trade window, but they are nowhere near contender level and have limited a lot of the avenues for improvement in the future.

[sdballer]

Does anyone really care about SAC they are like guys who have had 12 beers and think it is a good idea to drive home.
D is generous

Kings fans care about sac. And apparently raptor fans, jazz fans, laker fans, knick fans etc who care so little that they can never pass up an opportunity to add a little snark to every post about the kings.

[Kings2013]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

More negativity. Except for Mudiay didn't show definitely anything in SL and WCS has a higher floor, Beli is MUCH better than any back up guard we've had, and Rondo could or could not be a quality floor General for the team.

[Texas Chuck]

Does anyone really care about SAC they are like guys who have had 12 beers and think it is a good idea to drive home.
D is generous

This kind of thing is not what we are looking for in these types of threads. Do not do it.

[Kings2013]

F! I hated almost everything they did this off season. The Kings all but ensured they will be irrelevant for the duration of Boogie's contract and then... they gave the Sixers their first pick in the year Cousins will be gone. Sure, they might be closer to a playoff spot now than they were before FA/Trade window, but they are nowhere near contender level and have limited a lot of the avenues for improvement in the future.

The two things can't be the same, intentionally trying to improve the roster and closer to losing Cousins

[HartfordWhalers]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

More negativity. Except for Mudiay didn't show definitely anything in SL and WCS has a higher floor, Beli is MUCH better than any back up guard we've had, and Rondo could or could not be a quality floor General for the team.

Pretty much all the reviews of Mudiay has been that he showed a ton in summer league. I wouldn't use definitively ever to describe summer league -- the land of Josh Selby greatness -- but I would have taken Mudiay at 6 easily before the draft and I certainly wouldn't change that now.

[stitches]

F! I hated almost everything they did this off season. The Kings all but ensured they will be irrelevant for the duration of Boogie's contract and then... they gave the Sixers their first pick in the year Cousins will be gone. Sure, they might be closer to a playoff spot now than they were before FA/Trade window, but they are nowhere near contender level and have limited a lot of the avenues for improvement in the future.

The two things can't be the same, intentionally trying to improve the roster and closer to losing Cousins

Of course it can be the same - when you improve from 25 wins to 35-40 wins and at the same time eliminate/limit options for future improvement.

[sdballer]

Voted an F.

Amazing that they could have drafted Mudiay, and had the cap room for their only decent FA signing of Koufos without any trade. He didn't work out for us being stated as a draft reason is terrible, and I think WCS was a reach.

Collison/Mudiay
McLemore/Stauskas
Gay / Cassipi
Cousins / Landry
Koufos/ Thompson

is a better long term core ignoring the draft picks and the swaps.

Rondo best case helps then needs a big raise, and isn't matching up in terms of core ages. It is a bandaid instead of a real treatment. Bellini is meh.

Compare NOP and Sac's win now pushes around their stars.

NOP -- Gets a 23 year old pg in Jrue, 24 year old in Tyreke, and a mid aged stabilizer (28) in Asik.
SAC -- Gets an 29 year old malcontent Rondo, a 29 year old Belinelli, and a 26 year old Koufos.

So, basically Sac said, lets do what NOP did. But get worse players who are older. I have trouble seeing this play out well long term. And the short term gain isn't all that great.

Add in the continued front office instability, and it is a train wreck. F feels friendly for what their offseason was.

More negativity. Except for Mudiay didn't show definitely anything in SL and WCS has a higher floor, Beli is MUCH better than any back up guard we've had, and Rondo could or could not be a quality floor General for the team.

Pretty much all the reviews of Mudiay has been that he showed a ton in summer league. I wouldn't use definitively ever to describe summer league -- the land of Josh Selby greatness -- but I would have taken Mudiay at 6 easily before the draft and I certainly wouldn't change that now.

Well he averaged 12 points and 6 assists with an nba body, good court vision. He also displayed all of the weaknesses that were cause for concern. He shot 38%, including 14% from 3, he averaged 5 turnovers per game and his d was inconsistent. The kings had a bigger need in their frontcourt and already had their sites on a more experienced guard with the same issues in rondo.

What people seem to conveniently ignore, after bashing the teams lack of assets all year, was that in order to turn around the steady pace of high twenty wins each year, that they were going to have to commit to a plan. They did that and even if they only reach the low 40s in wins, it's s huge step in the right direction. Yes, they potentially have to trade down at worst a couple spots the next 2 drafts but they made moves they needed to make with the limited pieces to make them.

[Texas Chuck]

Of course it can be the same - when you improve from 25 wins to 35-40 wins and at the same time eliminate/limit options for future improvement.

Sounds like you are describing the Mavs last 4 off-seasons.. (yes I know we won more than 40 games but....)

[sdballer]

F! I hated almost everything they did this off season. The Kings all but ensured they will be irrelevant for the duration of Boogie's contract and then... they gave the Sixers their first pick in the year Cousins will be gone. Sure, they might be closer to a playoff spot now than they were before FA/Trade window, but they are nowhere near contender level and have limited a lot of the avenues for improvement in the future.

The two things can't be the same, intentionally trying to improve the roster and closer to losing Cousins

Of course it can be the same - when you improve from 25 wins to 35-40 wins and at the same time eliminate/limit options for future improvement.

Improving 15 wins would likely mean they don't swap picks plus it would likely mean they just have to give the lotto protected pick in 3 years. That was the calculated part of the risk they took plus they signed guys to small enough deals that they'll still have plenty of cap space to make the other tweaks they'll need to.

[Knosh]

Voted F. Imo the trade just didn't make sense for them directionally. Doesn't help that they payed as much as they did. I don't hate the Rondo singing as much, but don't like the Belinelli contract at all.

[Texas Chuck]

Improving 15 wins would likely mean they don't swap picks plus it would likely mean they just have to give the lotto protected pick in 3 years. That was the calculated part of the risk they took plus they signed guys to small enough deals that they'll still have plenty of cap space to make the other tweaks they'll need to.

The thing is while the risk is somewhat minor, the potential loss is enormous. Imagine losing a potential franchise player due to one of those pick swaps or the pick that is only protected one year?

I mean one Boogie injury and the bottom falls out. And now instead of getting the benefit of an unexpected top pick you have to watch it go elsewhere. Seems like you could have found a way to move that salary without taking on so much risk.