Sacramento early offseason in review (HW/bondom34/dbrandon/Slava)
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 3:55 pm
Sacramento Offseason Review
HartfordWhalers wrote:HartfordWhalers Review
Key Losses:
Rajon Rondo
Rondo led the team in minutes, and while not a big loss in terms of I don't think they should have kept him, he is a big loss in terms of the guard rotation looks clearly downgraded with him gone.
Losses:
George Karl (HC)
Marco Belinelli
Quincy Acy
Seth Curry
James Anderson
Caron Butler
Eric Moreland
Duje Dukan
Belinelli was awful and that trade was amazing. I will keep saying how much I loved it. Anderson, Moreland and Dukan will be easily forgotten. That Butler was stretched and will eat into cap space for 2 more years is the sort of small decision I hate. And the sort of small decision the Kings keep throwing on top of each other. They could have killed Butler's salary all this year and done everything they did but had too much dead money still from Wayne Ellington being stretched, it is a cycle of beggaring the future at small stakes. I like Acy, but he is the definition of minimal loss.
Seth Curry played under 700 minutes, so while he might have shot 45% from 3 in that time it is still hard to call it a key loss. He also is already 26, which means if you are looking at the team and thinking about a post Cousins world he might not be the best fit. Still, losing him stings a little. I have him as one of the clear bright spots in an otherwise dismal season.
George Karl... I guess now is as good a time as any to get into last offseason, because it needs to be done at some point. Last offseason Vivek reached out to Calipari (per Woj) and when that didn't work, decided to stick by a beleaguered and feuding Karl. It was overly ambitious and with a horrible (if any?) backup plan, and the result was it inevitably backfired, and did so messily. This offseason the Kings cleaned up the Karl part very nicely, so much so that I want to list it as a key loss in a good, addition by subtraction way. I haven't been doing that yet so won't start, but letting Rondo and Karl go was a massively needed step towards functionality.
Draft:
#8 traded back
#13 Georgios Papagiannis (traded for)
#22 Malachi Richardson (traded for)
#28 Skal Labissiere (traded for)
#59 Isaiah Cousins
Not sold on Papagiannis that high. He has two big plusses -- big and young. But his track record putting that to use doesn't suggest a lotto pick. Being the 8th ranked player in his international class is discouraging -- http://www.draftexpress.com/rankings/International-1997/ especially when some big international center would be there at #22 if not #28.
Now, Sacramento has spent a lot of picks on failed SG's lately ('14: Stauskas, '13: McLemore, '11: Jimmer) but Denzel Valentine picked one pick afterwards would have made a bunch of sense here as well.
Juan Hernangomez I'm really bullish on, so if you were ignoring position I would have considered him over Papagiannis and set up a long term pf/c core of: Hernangomez/WCS instead of: WCS/Papagiannis. But Wade Baldwin was the interesting pick, combining okay outside shooting with defensive fundamentals at the pg position. I'm not totally sold on Baldwin however his fit is perfect.
Skipping ahead, I like Skal a ton at #28. And if you know Skal was picked, then Richardson is a pick that fills a need and looks like a perfectly 'okay' pick with who was on the board. However, thats using a bit of unfair hindsight. So, I think Skal should have maybe gone at #22. Then who goes at #28? I'm leaning Demetrius Jackson (or Tyler Ullis). Get the pg they didn't take at #13. But if I could have fixed that at #13? Then you can go for maybe a Zubac and get your big project, or Patrick McCaw as a similar player as Richardson. So Baldwin/Skal/McCaw would have been my draft.
Trades:
Marco Belinelli to Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Malachi Richardson (22nd)
Marquese Chriss (8th) to Phoenix Suns for a 2020 Detroit Pistons second-rounder and the rights to three players — Georgios Papagiannis (13th), Skal Labissiere (28th) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (27th).
Easy stuff first. The #22 for Marco Belinelli trade was the biggest value steal of the offseason, and just an incredibly move. The Kings -- perhaps the team in the league most in need of shooting and quality vet guards (after all Philly can be more patient) -- just decided to trade one away for a late first round pick. If sirens aren't going off in your head hearing that, they should be. The reason the Kings did the trade was because Belinelli is awful. Or he was last year. Already 30, a poor defender, and basically a situational shooter only; the one thing that he had going for him vanished -- 50% TS% with only 30.6% from 3. Now, there might be less open looks and all that, but for the love of god those numbers were bad and the -4.2 BPM and the -10 on-off are pretty eye catching for a guy in the downswing part of a career. Altogether, I had him as a guy who would cost a late 1st to dump. And I'm not sure I'm not right here, Charlotte once in a while makes a highly questionable decision. And once a year there is a trade like this, or Vasquez to Milwaukee or [censored] that everyone knows was a ripoff the second it happened.
The Chriss trade? I had batted out all sorts of trades of #8 in the weeks up to the draft, figuring Chriss or Jaylen Brown would drop and both aren't great pairings. Chriss being the much worse. And with him in a tier of just himself, you have to either pick against need or extract value otherwise. Sac did the second. #13, Bogdanovic's rights, and #28 are solid value for a move down. And remember, everyone looked Utah moving up for Trey Burke when they did and gave up the picks that were Shabazz and Dieng. Especially when its a high upside toolsy guy like Chriss (and has another one on the other side like Skal), trades like this will make one side look brilliant and one side look dumb in hindsight depending on if a risky prospect works or not. I'm good with this trade for both sides, but...
1) That doesn't mean I like the pick at #13 (I didn't)
2) It is hard not to see this trade as a directional statement (Team takes a center and a pf that are all super raw, and a guy that is a year away from coming over. Very little help now)
3) It is hard not to read into that in terms of Cousins (No help in the second to last year of Cousins contract and extra redundancy at his positions).
For Sacramento, everything hinges around Cousins (until it doesn't).
And there is an obvious alternative. #12 got Teague/Hill. #8 should have gotten a choice of one of them and filler, or maybe in a deal with Phoenix could have gotten Knight? There were definitely ways to add more talent around Cousins right now, and instead Sacramento's draft was an exercise in going all in on not going all in, but comes one year after going all in. That context is key.
Free Agency:
Dave Joerger (Head Coach)
Arron Afflalo 2/$25m (only 1.5m gtd year 2)
Garrett Temple 3/$24m (PO last year)
Anthony Tolliver 2/16m (only 2m gtd year 2)
Matt Barnes 2/$12.5m (PO last year)
Georgios Papagiannis rookie scale
Malachi Richardson rookie scale
Skal Labissiere rookie scale
Claimed Lamar Patterson off waivers
Joerger is a get. Quality hire, good coach. Not really a rebuilding guy in my eye, but a solid guy with a chance to get everyone on the same page team wise. Well done.
Afflalo is not a lock down defender. Afflalo is not a defensive plus. This idea somehow started in Denver and has just stuck on him despite all the evidence to the contrary since then. So, lets start by saying that Afflalo will only help the perimeter defense in the way that he won't be the seize that Beli was. But that is a big change still. And he is a quality good signing, on a great deal that gives the team a ton of flexibility next year. I like this signing a lot, just please don't talk him up as a defensive stud for the love of god.
Then you have Matt Barnes, who last year was assumed to have not much in the tank and then did. The problem I have here is the player option. If you want to preserve cap space for a 2017 free agency run, then you cannot have a Barnes that will be 38 at the end of that season able to opt into 6m of cap room if he isn't worth it then. I come back to, for Sacramento, everything hinges around Cousins (until it doesn't). Does having a 37 to 38 year old Barnes in Cousins last year add anything? And more importantly, does it add anything in the '19 season when Cousins would in theory be re-upped?
I said this last offseason (there review by Pmott3 and Texas Chuck is here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1401512 and worthwhile to revisit just for the claims that Karl maybe wasn't that much of an issue and that was all media driven)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.
If a Rondo who turned 30 mid last year wasn't looking like that, you can imagine I don;t think a turning 37 Barnes looks like it either. And I really like the Afflalo signing, but he is 31 at the start of the season and not signed in 2019. No one is except Temple, which is a real head scratcher. If you are preserving to allow a Cousins + other max player(s) in '19, then why jam up a full 8m on Garett Temple? He isn't well known, but also is already 30 right now.
Tolliver I would have been fine for that money and contract structure for Minnesota. For Sacramento given their needs and overabundance of big man depth? It is a head scratcher.
So, what would I have done different? I see three options for Sacramento:
1) Bring in stop gap vets to help you get better vets next summer or if you are crazy in '19 simultaneously
2) Bring in young vets to be peaking when Cousins hits free agency to make re-signing then as attractive as possible for him (What I was arguing for last year when there were more on the market see Portland for instance)
3) Go full on youth (and trade Cousins)
Afflalo, Temple, Barnes, Tolliver are all stop gaps, but Barnes and Tolliver having contracts past this season is an issue, and Tolliver got a bunch gtd for year 2 for a guy that looks to be a horrible fit.
So, going route 1 you could have done:
Afflalo, Jeff Green (1 year using Temple and Tollier's 16m, and then Brandon Jennings for 1 year on the MLE (Barnes 6m). It would be a better team, and have more flexibility. Or Afflalo, Gerald Henderson (9m), Sergio Rodriquez (6.8m) and then Sullinger with the MLE. Or split the MLE on Tim Frazier (took 4m over 2 years for NOP, and Jarrett Jack (signed for the min at Atlanta) or Felton (min LAC).
I like Afflalo as the signing. But they needed to spend 6m on a pg. They needed to not lock into Barnes and Temple. Maybe above is too ambitious, having Sac get players at contracts the other teams did. So, switch and just take Henderson at 12m even, and then you still get a backup pg and have the full MLE, or can just use the full MLE after the idea in additional thoughts.
The other routes were harder to come up with a brilliant plan -- time is ticking fast and hoping Solomon Hill is good enough that COusins views him as a second banana in 2 years feels overly ambitious. It might not have been so bad if there weren't teams like the Nets were already making those big rfa offers and still striking out. Harkless with his contract situation and Portland's line near the tax, I wonder if you could have swiped him away with a 13.5m starting salary and then declining (4years/50m) instead of the 4/40 increasing he took.
I might hate saying it, but I would have offered Waiters a 6m + TO with the full MLE and seen if he would bite. And even a 6m no team option like Sullinger took in Toronto just because if it works out and he wants to stay, that is more valuable than if Barnes is so so for 1 more year.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Darren Collison
SG: Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple, Ben McLemore, Lamar Patterson, Malachi Richardson
SF: Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes
PF: DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver, Skal Labissiere
C: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufos, Georgios Papagiannis
Casspi should shift down to sf, and otherwise its just a mess still.
Needs: A long term reason for Cousins to stay beyond his current contract. PG is a mess. Rudy Gay should be traded for the betterment of the team most likely.
Additional Thoughts:
Renegotiation and extension. Cousins becomes eligible on 9/30/16, although the Kings spent that money so its a moot point.
However, they could have offered him: $22,116,750 / $23,775,506 / $25,434,263
to replace his: $16,957,900 / $18,063,850 / free agent
Even with the cap at 110m in that third year, Cousins max would be ~31m under the current cap, so he would come out over 5m ahead. And get 5m a year more for the first 2 years (money now is better than money later), with an extra 36m in guaranteed salary in case anything ever happens. I would have been pushing on him hard to see if he would have considered it, even if that meant no Tolliver and Barnes.
Projected Win/Loss: 28-54 When you win 1 in 3 you get 27 and a third of a win.
Off-Season Grade: D+
There were things that get a B+/B easy -- the amazing Belli trade, Joerger, Skal at #28, moving down from #8 when the fit was bad, Afflalo.
There were things that I disliked to varying degrees -- Papagiannis at #13, not addressing more needs in the draft, 2nd year for Barnes, fit of Tolliver, 3 full guaranteed years for Temple. If you just took all that and ignored any context, it might be a B-.
But there is a big directional question over Sacramento. There is a giant pg issue that must be addressed. There is a (possibly, it might all be media driven as they like to make fun of the Kings and not take their jobs or credibility serious) disgruntled Rudy Gay who says he didn;t even check to see who Sacramento added to its roster. The franchise is 10 years without a playoff experience, and has one of the best big men in the league tweeting:
Everything needs to be geared around the actual situation, it doesn't happen in a void. And I think the situation is made worse with Cousins having just spent the Olympics playing with the best (that went) players in the league. We see players switch teams later with bonds formed at these international competitions (and All Star games) playing a big part with where they end up.
Last year I thought Sacramento needed to add some young core players around Cousins (and draft Mudiay). This year they went for young players in the draft, but not ones that inspire that they will build around Cousins instead of backing him and one of the other players up. And vets that feel more stop gap than future core, but cut into future room and leave a gaping hole at pg. Directionally it might not be floundering as bad as last season, but it still feels to be ignoring the big issues as time becomes more urgent, and for that I want to give a D.
Also, I like to suggest a trade for every team in these so here is mine for Sacramento: Cousins to the Celtics for everything you can get in terms of picks and youth. Cousins needs to be traded next offseason unless you get Lowry to sign on and carry the weight with him. You can weight till then and see if you get a difference maker, but the smart move might be to trade Cousins this trade deadline instead. I've been arguing for what feels like years now that Sacramento doesn't need to and shouldn't trade Cousins. I've passed that point, they just boxed themselves out of a good keeping him plan at this point imo.
bondom34 wrote:bondom34 Review
Key Losses:
Seth Curry
Losses:
George Karl (HC)
Rajon Rondo
Marco Belinelli
Quincy Acy
James Anderson
Caron Butler
Eric Moreland
Duje Dukan
I actually think Curry is a bigger loss than Rondo.
Draft:
#8 traded back
#13 Georgios Papagiannis (traded for)
#22 Malachi Richardson (traded for)
#28 Skal Labissiere (traded for)
#59 Isaiah Cousins
Trades:
Marco Belinelli to Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Malachi Richardson (22nd)
Marquese Chriss (8th) to Phoenix Suns for a 2020 Detroit Pistons second-rounder and the rights to three players — Georgios Papagiannis (13th), Skal Labissiere (28th) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (27th).
Free Agency:
Dave Joerger (Head Coach)
Arron Afflalo 2/$25m (only 1.5m gtd year 2)
Garrett Temple 3/$24m (PO last year)
Anthony Tolliver 2/16m (only 2m gtd year 2)
Matt Barnes 2/$12.5m (PO last year)
Georgios Papagiannis rookie scale
Malachi Richardson rookie scale
Skal Labissiere rookie scale
Claimed Lamar Patterson off waivers
Love the coaching hire. This to me was a home run and the perfect fit, if Joerger can't get to Cousins, I think that's it. He's a great young coach who consistently achieved and had solid defense in Memphis. Free agency was overall fine, AA was a great contract and nothing that was a really awful deal to me. The draft was mixed. I don't mind trading back but didn't get the Papagiannis pick, that said Skal falling may have saved their draft. Overall nothing I really hated too much in the end.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Darren Collison
SG: Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple, Ben McLemore, Lamar Patterson, Malachi Richardson
SF: Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes
PF: DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver, Skal Labissiere
C: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufos, Georgios Papagiannis
Needs:
A better PG, and/or a backup PG. Generally talent all around.
Additional Thoughts:
I don't have a ton here, not much I hated, other than the coach not much I loved, but can't complain much.
Projected Win/Loss:
35-47
Off-Season Grade: B
dbrandon wrote:dbrandon Review
Key Losses:
Rajon Rondo
Seth Curry
Losing Rondo is probably a net gain at this point—he's not the right PG for this roster (honestly I'm having a hard time figuring out where he'd fit). Collison works fine, at least for now. But his pending legal trouble makes this a problematic position.
I think Curry is going to be a bigger loss than most non-Kings fans think. He was one of the few guys who really looked like he was getting after it on both ends at the end of last year. He got in on defense and did his job, shot decently, and showed a little off-the-bounce. Seeing him go to the Mavs has to hurt.
Losses:
George Karl (HC)
Marco Belinelli
Quincy Acy
James Anderson
Caron Butler
Eric Moreland
Duje Dukan
Karl tried to make a roster built to play like Memphis and make them play like the late 00s Denver Nuggets, which went about as well as you'd expect. Add in his "drop back into the paint and concede the 3" defense and you have a recipe for a disaster of a season on both ends of the court.
None of the rest of these guys are a huge loss. Acy will be missed for sure, but he's replaceable. Butler would be great as a locker-room leader, but he wants PT somewhere, and he probably shouldn't get it in SAC. The last thing they need is someone else on the team unhappy about role.
Draft:
#8 traded back
#13 Georgios Papagiannis (traded for)
#22 Malachi Richardson (traded for)
#28 Skal Labissiere (traded for)
#59 Isaiah Cousins
I'm still struggling to figure out why they drafted 2 big men when that's the one thing the roster is pretty well-stocked on. Unless Koufos is headed out. And it still doesn't make a ton of sense to me either.
And before Kings fans get all defensive and say "you don't know what you're talking about", I follow more Kings coverage than any other team but the Thunder. I know who Ham and Bruski are and who to listen to and who not to listen to in Kings coverage, and follow everyone from Carmichael Dave to STR on Twitter. I'm one of Vlade's biggest non-Kings defenders on the board, generally. And it still doesn't make sense to me—at least not unless they're looking for Cousins insurance.
The Richardson pick is solid enough, though I'm hesitant about Syracuse guards, who generally turn out to be fool's gold. Papagiannis was a reach. Skal is a good pick, and that far back in the draft I like the Isaiah Cousins pick too.
Trades:
Marco Belinelli to Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Malachi Richardson (22nd)
Marquese Chriss (8th) to Phoenix Suns for a 2020 Detroit Pistons second-rounder and the rights to three players — Georgios Papagiannis (13th), Skal Labissiere (28th) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (27th).
Belinelli was a fleecing of the Hornets, pure and simple. I thought they'd have to ATTACH a pick to get rid of him. Vlade gets a 2 thumbs up for that one.
I actually like trading back (depending on context) for the Kings, though I might have chosen draft targets slightly differently. Bogdanovic might be a sneaky good pickup.
Free Agency:
Dave Joerger (Head Coach)
Arron Afflalo 2/$25m (only 1.5m gtd year 2)
Garrett Temple 3/$24m (PO last year)
Anthony Tolliver 2/16m (only 2m gtd year 2)
Matt Barnes 2/$12.5m (PO last year)
Georgios Papagiannis rookie scale
Malachi Richardson rookie scale
Skal Labissiere rookie scale
Claimed Lamar Patterson off waivers
I LOVE bringing in Joerger as the coach for this roster. Not a huge fan of Afflalo—he's been existing on reputation only on defense for probably 2 years—but he's at least a competent shooting guard, which is something that's been lacking on the Kings roster for a while.
Temple is fine, Barnes and Tolliver are excellent pickups—solid vets who can contribute. I'm surprised Barnes got that much at his age, but for the Kings I'm OK with slight overpays.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Darren Collison
SG: Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple, Ben McLemore, Lamar Patterson, Malachi Richardson
SF: Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes
PF: DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver, Skal Labissiere
C: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufos, Georgios Papagiannis
Why this has Casspi and Cousins at the 4 I don't know.
Needs:
My kingdom for a point guard. This team is crying out for someone who can get the ball where it needs to go. I'd be interested to see if BMac gets traded for PG help. Don't think he'll get a lot in return, but there could be something with the Jazz for Mack, for example.
In the larger sense, the team needs to prove it can leave the drama behind, that the front office is stable, and that the team can be a destination for free agents. Kings have done some damage to their reputation over the last several years. Time to fix it.
Additional Thoughts:
I'm really rooting for this team.
Projected Win/Loss: 42 wins
Off-Season Grade:B. I can't grade them higher because of the surplus of big men and lack of ballhandlers.
Slava wrote:Slava Review
Key Losses:
Rajon Rondo
Good riddance is all I can say here. While he seemed to provide a bit of maturity in the Cousins - George Karl beef, he is simply not worth the headache for a new coach to deal with in what will already be a difficult new assignment. His tendency to stop the ball for hoarding assists and passing up open looks is degenerative for any offense no matter his pretty assist rates. He was also routinely trying and missing hollywood passes leading to a high turnover rate on fast break opportunities.
Losses:
George Karl (HC)
Marco Belinelli
Quincy Acy
Seth Curry
James Anderson
Caron Butler
Eric Moreland
Duje Dukan
I'm glad they moved on from George Karl and while there is no guarantee that a new coach will fare any better given the bad work environment that seems to fester around the franchise that circus was getting a little too stale for everyone and Karl, a cancer survivor does not need this at his age.
The departures of Acy and Curry is inexplicable. They gave opportunities to both and given the returns, both predictably opted out of their contracts. Acy was a fan favourite, being one of the few on the roster to show tremendous tenacity and hustle whenever he took the court. Instead they replaced them by investing $18 mil between Afflalo and Tolliver, while the Mavs signed Acy and Curry for around $4 mil combined.
Draft:
#8 traded back
#13 Georgios Papagiannis (traded for)
#22 Malachi Richardson (traded for)
#28 Skal Labissiere (traded for)
#59 Isaiah Cousins
Isiah Cousins is a very good pick and he might end up having the best NBA career of the 4 they drafted.
Malachi Richardson suffers from bad shot selection, streaky shooting and a degree of selfishness that this team just doesn't need. While he does have a good size and wing span for his position, his lack of quickness or overall unimpressive athleticism is not encouraging.
Papagiannis seems a slow footed big who was probably picked 10 spots higher than he was projected in the most optimistic big boards.
The Skal punt is not bad considering he fell into their hands at 28 and they could use a stretch big on cheap salary. Picking him at 13 and Papagiannis at 28 would have been a lot more explicable.
Trades:
Marco Belinelli to Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Malachi Richardson (22nd)
Marquese Chriss (8th) to Phoenix Suns for a 2020 Detroit Pistons second-rounder and the rights to three players — Georgios Papagiannis (13th), Skal Labissiere (28th) and Bogdan Bogdanovic (27th).
The Belinelli trade was good piece of business, while I don't think he's nearly as bad as he looked on this team, it just wasn't working out for one reason or another and that was a lot of salary to move so getting a first round pick for him is as good as it gets.
I hinted my displeasure at the draft day trade in the Suns review. First of all its pointless to trade down in a weak draft, secondly they are the last team in the league that needed more centers. With Cousins being the premier player, WCS and Koufos on very affordable deals they have probably the best center depth in the league.
So unless the plan is to entertain a Cousins trade or deal WCS for a young PG/wing, those rookies will barely get the development time they need on this roster. Also worth mentioning that their best line ups last season featured going small with either Gay or Casspi at the 4 with Cousins playing his natural position as a center. May be a smarter franchise could have factored that information into their decision making process.
Having traded away about 4/5 of their past lottery picks, this doesn't exactly seem like the ideal organization to be developing rookies either. So the best idea would have been finding a trade for a veteran or just picking the local kid, Chriss who seemed genuinely excited in going there and the pyrotechnics generated by his athleticism could have helped create some excitement.
Free Agency:
Dave Joerger (Head Coach)
Arron Afflalo 2/$25m (only 1.5m gtd year 2)
Garrett Temple 3/$24m (PO last year)
Anthony Tolliver 2/16m (only 2m gtd year 2)
Matt Barnes 2/$12.5m (PO last year)
Georgios Papagiannis rookie scale
Malachi Richardson rookie sclae
Skal Labissiere rookie scale
Claimed Lamar Patterson off waivers
Getting Dave Joerger was their best business this offseason and I'm pretty sure the Kings offering to double his salary went a long way into this being a successful courtship. I respect his ability even if he probably acted a bit unprofessional in Memphis with repeated requests to interview for other jobs while being under contract. His demeanour and approach to basketball might be a breath of fresh air to the franchise, unless ofcourse the franchise gets to him before he gets to them.
Getting Matt Barnes is not half bad considering the dearth of quality wings on the market.
I don't mind the Afflalo and Tolliver deals in general but the fact that they probably let go of better players from their own roster last season who went onto sign cheaper deals elsewhere is not encouraging.
Garrett Temple deal makes Doc Rivers look good for the money he gave Wes Johnson.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Darren Collison
SG: Arron Afflalo, Garrett Temple, Ben McLemore, Lamar Patterson, Malachi Richardson
SF: Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes
PF: DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Anthony Tolliver, Skal Labissiere
C: Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufos, Georgios Papagiannis
(Read in the voice of the kid from sixth sense): I see one PG.
The solo PG might be facing suspension for domestic violence charges.
What's the plan here? Is there going to be some kind of avant grande exhibition of PG less basketball as a silent protest against the small ball movement?
Has Kendall Marshall received a call yet or are they waiting for Mario Chalmers before that? I'd build Kupchak a shrine if he flips Jose Calderon to them for a pick after getting a couple of seconds to absorb that salary from Chicago.
For the sake of long suffering Kings fans, I hope this is a roster in construction.
Needs:
More PGs and less centers.
Additional Thoughts:
Its going to be interesting how they go from a basketball perspective. The owner seems to want an uptempo team but with the lack of a good PG and an overabundance of big men along with a coach who had his success building a slow team reliant on bucking the league wide trend of pace, they are going in exactly the opposite direction.
Even being a Lakers fan and witnessing the rivalry from the early 00s as my first taste of NBA basketball I pity the Kings fans. Season after season appears to be a slog to endure. Cousins seems like the kind of person who sucks the joy out of every room he walks into and they certainly aren't winning games with him so its safe to assume they cannot move forward until they trade him.
Projected Win/Loss: 27-55.
Off-Season Grade: D
(EDIT - I will be *very* interested to see how the voting turns out on this one.)