Offseason Grades - Sacramento Kings

[bondom34]

Up next in the Pacific (might post a 2nd later today, will see), the Kings.

K_Chile22's Grade:

Sacramento Kings transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Davion Mitchell with pick #9.
Drafted Neemias Queta with pick #39.

Trades
Traded Delon Wright for Tristan Thompson in 3-team deal.

Free agency
Re-signed Richaun Holmes, 4/$46M, 4th year PO.
Re-signed Terrence Davis, 2/$8M.
Re-signed Mo Harkless, 2/$9M.
Signed Alex Len, 2/$7M.
Waived Justin James.
Offseason Thoughts
I like Mitchell well enough, but man. If he works out all thre of your best guys are under 6'5. Maybe he's able to guard up and it works out, but not giving them a big positive bump here, SL MVP notwithstanding.
I get they weren't sure they'd be able to keep Holmes at the time, but Wright for TT seems like a bad trade. I think Wright is better and had more value than TT (small + vs small -). Don't like that trade for them.
Then signing Len on top of it, guaranteeing Metu and Damian Jones, and if you think he should play C, keeping Bagley (for now) is just way too many centers. They didn't need to sign Len when they did. Fortunately none of those centers are on long or large deals, so not a huge deal, just a poor use of roster spots.
Being able to re-sign Holmes on his deal however, is a home run, great deal for him at about $11.6 AAV. Harkless and TD deals invoke no strong feelings.


Grade
C+. Holmes deal is great, Mitchell could be good, but just poor roster spot allocation.

2022 Prediction
Miss the play-in game. 11th or 12th in the West.
Offseason in gif form


Mamba4Goat's Grade:

Sacramento Kings transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Davion Mitchell with pick #9.
Drafted Neemias Queta with pick #39.

Trades
Traded Delon Wright for Tristan Thompson in 3-team deal.

Free agency
Re-signed Richaun Holmes, 4/$56M, 4th year PO.
Re-signed Terrence Davis, 2/$8M.
Re-signed Mo Harkless, 2/$9M.
Signed Alex Len, 2/$7M.
Waived Justin James.

Offseason Thoughts
Trading Delon Wright for Tristan Thompson is still a headscratcher...that being said, Davion Mitchell looks like he could be huge for them. Re-signing Richaun Holmes on a relatively cheap deal is awesome too. Aside from that they just maintained the status quo which is...meh?

Grade
B
Again, Mitchell is a great draft pick, Holmes staying is huge but...running it back doesn't feel like the right move. It sounded like they were relatively active in trades (mainly Buddy Heild trades) which is good though. If they start the season with a Ben Simmons trade while only losing one of Haliburton and Mitchell it would dramatically change my grade though.

2022 Prediction
9-12. Could be a play-in team if things go right otherwise they may be just barely on the outside looking in again.
Offseason in gif form



Bondom34's Grade:

Sacramento Kings transactions

Front office
none.

Draft
Drafted Davion Mitchell with pick #9.
Drafted Neemias Queta with pick #39.

Trades
Traded Delon Wright for Tristan Thompson in 3-team deal.

Free agency
Re-signed Richaun Holmes, 4/$56M, 4th year PO.
Re-signed Terrence Davis, 2/$8M.
Re-signed Mo Harkless, 2/$9M.
Signed Alex Len, 2/$7M.
Waived Justin James.
Offseason Thoughts
For a lot of these grades I tend to have some idea of the bigger moves made but go in and just look at moves a team made in terms of an overall picture. And for this one when everything is laid out this way the whole picture feels pretty poor despite making one of the best value signings of the summer.

Starting at the draft, I know Mitchell looked great in summer league but...summer league. I'm not sure the idea of taking a guard while having Fox and Haliburton already there in place even though I'm firmly in favor of BPA. Saying this other than Moody there really wasn't anyone here who I thought made a ton of sense either (I was low on Sengun, so as much as I question the fit maybe it works).

Moving to trades I just am confused by this. Swapping Wright who was actually solid for the Kings for Thompson seemed at the time like Holmes insurance but it ended up being swapping a vet backup PG who might be lowered on the depth chart by a draft pick for a vet backup big who is maybe your 4th big anyway and was a worse player? I just don't get this one, doesn't seem like its overly consequential but again just don't get it.

And finally on to free agency, the Holmes contract is one of the best values of the offseason to me. Thought he'd have better offers elsewhere (and with incentives I believe this contract is less than this number, Spotrac has this as 4/$46.52M which is even better for the team. But I'm confused by Harkless and Len seems unnecessary given they have Bagley/Holmes/Thompson already on roster along with Barnes and Metu who's listed as a PF/C. Overall there's not a ton here I totally hate but just a lot I don't entirely understand and I'm not sure of. Just feels like a bunch of bigs and a bunch of PGs and not much in between, and the non-Holmes free agency moves were a bit odd/underwhelming.

Grade
C, might be harsh but I looked back and the only thing I really liked was the Holmes contract and there is so much weirdness with this roster

2022 Prediction
Fighting for the play-in but probably 11th-12th in the West

Offseason in gif form

[5paceman]

B+ from me.

They drafted well again with Mitchell/Queta and retained the FA's I wanted in Davis/Harkless/Holmes. They didn't trade Buddy or Bagley, but I never saw a trade I liked enough and they might do well to wait. I liked signing Jones and Len for very little, unsure about Thompson. Could be salary filler, but I respect his play in Cleveland.

Also adding Doug to the coaching staff very good.

Most other fans want them to trade big pieces and go all in and try to make the playoffs with squads that are a first round exit and their core young guys who need to develop anyway. In the toughest conference and division. I'd rather they built something with an eye on the future than collect lackluster expensive win now vets for a run at just ending the streak. And there is more opportunity now with he play-in.

[Ballerhogger]

C- they didn’t anything to get them at least into the play in round . Buddy is still there , luke Walton should be fired. Nothing was done to improve the team

[Texas Chuck]

I feel like this needs 3 grades -- draft A+, trade C, free agency D

Love the draft. 2nd year in a row they just took BPA instead of getting cute in any way. Mitchell is going to be really good. Queta was the guy I wanted Dallas to buy a 2nd to take a flier on and love that pick too.

Trade is fine. I get this board has a strange love affair for Wright despite him being on his 5th team in 2 years, but Thompson is the big man version of him. That is a wash talent wise and it definitely balances their roster. Would rather have seen them combine Bagley's money and maybe an asset or two and really got a difference maker, but this is fine.

Hate free agency. Holmes is a fine player and that's a fine contract. But the problem is they don't need more fine. They have too much fine and not enough difference makers. And then everyone else they signed is either JAG or in most cases worse than JAG.

This is another season with almost no chance at the play-in and what a horrible way for a team with this long of a drought to go into a season. This fanbase needs more hope than well Haliburton and Mitchell were great picks, but neither have star ceilings and I don't think Fox does either.

They remain stuck in mud and need to be much more aggressive than this. Overall grade C- saved by Mitchell.

Simmons could change everything still I suppose, but for now I just feel bad for our Kings fans.

[loserX]

I say this as a huge fan of Mitchell...I'm not sure drafting BPA *was* the right decision for Sacramento this year.

That's fine for teams kicking off rebuilds. Don't worry about position, you have plenty of time to sort that out.

Other teams should be less concerned about BPA and more about getting the most *impact* they can out of the draft. (And if that means trading the pick, that's fine too!)

The Kings are working on one of the longest playoff droughts in history. If the goal was to end it, then spending a top-10 pick on a backup to their best player wasn't the best use of resources. How much is Mitchell really going to lift the team in the bench minutes he gets? Could they have gotten more out of someone else?

And if the goal was to add talent regardless of whether it ends the playoff drought, then that just makes their free agency choices look worse. They should have been S&Ting Holmes, moving Barnes, doing whatever else.

I love Davion Mitchell and I think he has really good days ahead. I still don't like this offseason for the Kings. There's no reason to think this season will be any different than the last.

[HornetJail]

B- or C+

Mitchell looks like a good pickup- albeit a weird one fit-wise.

Holmes is a bargain contract at 4 years $46M (not $54M)- you can say that Holmes doesn't fit the timeline, and you'd be right, but if a player of his caliber wants to come back on a bargain contract, you do it. He's a decent starter making low starter/sixth man money. He'll be worth something good in a trade if the Kings do wise up and tear things down to bottom out and build around the younger players.

The wing depth they brought in isn't bad- Terence Davis looks quite decent and a worthy shot on a 24-year-old wing.

I know this isn't new for Sacramento but there doesn't appear to be any direction. No urgency to get out of the 10th-12th seed in the West. The roster is too talented to tank, but not talented enough to have any shot at the playoffs, weirdly fitting, and horribly coached.

I liked their individual moves but not making some kind of shakeup is not really acceptable. Unless they tear things down, trading Hield, Barnes, etc, (maybe even Fox depending on the return and how Hali and Mitchell look this year) or get aggressive and trade a 1st or two for immediate help, I think Sacramento is stuck barring some incredible lottery luck. I can't give higher than a B- to a team without direction.

[wolves_89]

I'd give the Kings a C for the off-season. They didn't really get much better, but they didn't get worse either. The Fox, Haliburton, Mitchell, Barnes, Holmes, and Hield group could be OK if they were the 2-7 players in the rotation. The problem in Sacramento is they are missing that number 1 type guy. I guess they could still make a move for Simmons, but I'm highly skeptical that he would be the missing piece (since he is so limited in the half-court offense).

[Sactowndog]

I feel like this needs 3 grades -- draft A+, trade C, free agency D

Love the draft. 2nd year in a row they just took BPA instead of getting cute in any way. Mitchell is going to be really good. Queta was the guy I wanted Dallas to buy a 2nd to take a flier on and love that pick too.

Trade is fine. I get this board has a strange love affair for Wright despite him being on his 5th team in 2 years, but Thompson is the big man version of him. That is a wash talent wise and it definitely balances their roster. Would rather have seen them combine Bagley's money and maybe an asset or two and really got a difference maker, but this is fine.

Hate free agency. Holmes is a fine player and that's a fine contract. But the problem is they don't need more fine. They have too much fine and not enough difference makers. And then everyone else they signed is either JAG or in most cases worse than JAG.

This is another season with almost no chance at the play-in and what a horrible way for a team with this long of a drought to go into a season. This fanbase needs more hope than well Haliburton and Mitchell were great picks, but neither have star ceilings and I don't think Fox does either.

They remain stuck in mud and need to be much more aggressive than this. Overall grade C- saved by Mitchell.

Simmons could change everything still I suppose, but for now I just feel bad for our Kings fans.

In a vacuum the draft was great. But the Kings have a surplus of under 6’ 5” players with Fox, Haliburton, Mitchell, Hield, Richardson. Even our 2 way guard Ramsey played well. You draft Mitchell at 9 only if you have the juevos to trade Fox for Simmons and balance out the lack of wings. You aren’t getting a big for a small any other way.

The Wright trade makes no sense either. If you are going 3 guards Delon is one of the few who can possibly guard 3. With the resigning of Holmes, Metu, Jones adding Thompson does not balance the roster.

The Kings might be the only team with a surplus of less than 6’ 5” guards and non perimeter bigs and almost no wings. Monte seems to be a draft coordinator who flails as a GM. He seems to be operating with no coherent strategy.

Overall C-

[bondom34]

Yeah I'm looking back now and feeling like saying C was harsh might be the opposite. But C/C- after reading comments, just feels odd and directionless.

[LightTheBeam]

Initially I was very upset with the Mitchell draft pick, but the pick has certainly grown on me. The man is a dog, hes going to help us win so I like it. At some point in the future we need to make a decision if he's as good as advertised, but we will cross that bridge when it gets here.

The Holmes deal was an absolute home run. I didn't think we had any chance of keeping him without freeing up some cap space.
Davis was great as well. I think hes setting up to be our microwave off the bench. He had some offcourt issues, but aside from that i'll say hes going to end up being underpaid.

No issue with Harkless/Len signings. Both decent defenders, both cheap contracts, both played well for us.

I hated the Wright for Tristan deal. We don't need Tristan, I guess it sets the tone for our team. Hes a good rebounder, a solid vet, has championship experience. But I still liked Wright a lot and thought we could have at least got some incentive in that deal.

Not trading Buddy/Bagley is only the 2nd biggest blunder of the offseason. Truthfully I don't mind them as players, but 2 guys who don't want to be here and it's well known. I can't entirely blame management because they at least tried to move both (notably Buddy).

Keeping Walton is unacceptable. The team hasn't improved under him. Its a cheap move by the owner. I understand wanting consistency, but he wasn't even Monte's guy. I hate keeping a lame duck coach when you have a new GM. Rather rip the bandaid off, but its not my money and I know Covid surely isn't helping.

Id love to see them use some combo of Buddy/Tristan/Bagley/picks to go out and get a real difference maker, but I imagine they have been exploring that with Siakam/Simmons and those teams aren't biting.

Overall Id say a C+ because of Holmes and Mitchell. I think the team is banking on the fact our starting lineup was actually really good last season, and improving the bench from Joseph/GRIII/Bjelica/Whiteside to Mitchell/Davis/Harkless/Bagley/Tristan/Len should make a pretty decent impact. We will see if its enough.

[pillwenney]

I feel like this needs 3 grades -- draft A+, trade C, free agency D

Love the draft. 2nd year in a row they just took BPA instead of getting cute in any way. Mitchell is going to be really good. Queta was the guy I wanted Dallas to buy a 2nd to take a flier on and love that pick too.

Trade is fine. I get this board has a strange love affair for Wright despite him being on his 5th team in 2 years, but Thompson is the big man version of him. That is a wash talent wise and it definitely balances their roster. Would rather have seen them combine Bagley's money and maybe an asset or two and really got a difference maker, but this is fine.

Hate free agency. Holmes is a fine player and that's a fine contract. But the problem is they don't need more fine. They have too much fine and not enough difference makers. And then everyone else they signed is either JAG or in most cases worse than JAG.

This is another season with almost no chance at the play-in and what a horrible way for a team with this long of a drought to go into a season. This fanbase needs more hope than well Haliburton and Mitchell were great picks, but neither have star ceilings and I don't think Fox does either.

They remain stuck in mud and need to be much more aggressive than this. Overall grade C- saved by Mitchell.

Simmons could change everything still I suppose, but for now I just feel bad for our Kings fans.

Disagree that the Thompson deal balances the roster. We already had Metu, Jones and had just drafted Queta when the deal was made, then signed Len, who as a backup, I don't have being that much less impactful than Thompson.

Our roster is still pretty unbalanced: a bunch of guards and Cs and very few forwards.

[babyjax13]

The Holmes signing was such a huge coup. Not a fan of what they did in the draft for obvious reasons, but if they follow up with a trade I could be persuaded. The biggest thing is hanging on to Walton, so it's nothing higher than a D+ for me.

[rpa]

It's really hard for me to give them any kind of a grade here because I've still got no clue what their direction is and grading moves is (IMO) something that needs to be done taking direction into account. Are they "play-in or bust" and not thinking long term? Are they setting themselves up to tear everything down? Are they focusing on building positively value assets and not paying to dump other assets? Are they going to follow the Indiana Pacers style and forever try to reload and never actually rebuild?

It's hard to say they're trying to be a good team--since Walton is still the coach. But they also don't appear to be interested in rebuilding given the signings plus not moving vets at the deadline. So, wtf are they trying to do here?

[Texas Chuck]

I feel like this needs 3 grades -- draft A+, trade C, free agency D

Love the draft. 2nd year in a row they just took BPA instead of getting cute in any way. Mitchell is going to be really good. Queta was the guy I wanted Dallas to buy a 2nd to take a flier on and love that pick too.

Trade is fine. I get this board has a strange love affair for Wright despite him being on his 5th team in 2 years, but Thompson is the big man version of him. That is a wash talent wise and it definitely balances their roster. Would rather have seen them combine Bagley's money and maybe an asset or two and really got a difference maker, but this is fine.

Hate free agency. Holmes is a fine player and that's a fine contract. But the problem is they don't need more fine. They have too much fine and not enough difference makers. And then everyone else they signed is either JAG or in most cases worse than JAG.

This is another season with almost no chance at the play-in and what a horrible way for a team with this long of a drought to go into a season. This fanbase needs more hope than well Haliburton and Mitchell were great picks, but neither have star ceilings and I don't think Fox does either.

They remain stuck in mud and need to be much more aggressive than this. Overall grade C- saved by Mitchell.

Simmons could change everything still I suppose, but for now I just feel bad for our Kings fans.

Disagree that the Thompson deal balances the roster. We already had Metu, Jones and had just drafted Queta when the deal was made, then signed Len, who as a backup, I don't have being that much less impactful than Thompson.

Our roster is still pretty unbalanced: a bunch of guards and Cs and very few forwards.

At the time of the trade Jones was the most proven big man on the roster and I have him very unproven. I can't help that the Kings then signed Len. But much like Dallas, I have the Kings having a lot of centers, but definitely not having too many good ones and Thompson is the 2nd best of the bunch imo. And I have minimal minutes available for Wright. But again, this board loves that guy for reasons I've never gotten. And I felt this way long before his year in Dallas fwiw.

[bondom34]

So, wtf are they trying to do here?

And this is kind of how I landed where I did . They have pretty much nobody who's a reliable forward other than Barnes and a bunch of guys who are only guards or centers, the roster is weird and I don't get the direction.

[K_chile22]

Gonna admit that I somehow missed the whole keeping Luke Walton thing, but also I feel like we think we know more about what a coach does than we actually do

[BoogieTime]

The only moves made really were retaining Holmes and drafting Mitchell/Queta. Are we now grading on the supposition of what they should do, instead of what they have done? Keeping Walton was fail though.

[babyjax13]

The only moves made really were retaining Holmes and drafting Mitchell/Queta. Are we now grading on the supposition of what they should do, instead of what they have done? Keeping Walton was fail though.

They have kept Luke Walton

[Ballerhogger]

Initially I was very upset with the Mitchell draft pick, but the pick has certainly grown on me. The man is a dog, hes going to help us win so I like it. At some point in the future we need to make a decision if he's as good as advertised, but we will cross that bridge when it gets here.

The Holmes deal was an absolute home run. I didn't think we had any chance of keeping him without freeing up some cap space.
Davis was great as well. I think hes setting up to be our microwave off the bench. He had some offcourt issues, but aside from that i'll say hes going to end up being underpaid.

No issue with Harkless/Len signings. Both decent defenders, both cheap contracts, both played well for us.

I hated the Wright for Tristan deal. We don't need Tristan, I guess it sets the tone for our team. Hes a good rebounder, a solid vet, has championship experience. But I still liked Wright a lot and thought we could have at least got some incentive in that deal.

Not trading Buddy/Bagley is only the 2nd biggest blunder of the offseason. Truthfully I don't mind them as players, but 2 guys who don't want to be here and it's well known. I can't entirely blame management because they at least tried to move both (notably Buddy).

Keeping Walton is unacceptable. The team hasn't improved under him. Its a cheap move by the owner. I understand wanting consistency, but he wasn't even Monte's guy. I hate keeping a lame duck coach when you have a new GM. Rather rip the bandaid off, but its not my money and I know Covid surely isn't helping.

Id love to see them use some combo of Buddy/Tristan/Bagley/picks to go out and get a real difference maker, but I imagine they have been exploring that with Siakam/Simmons and those teams aren't biting.

Overall Id say a C+ because of Holmes and Mitchell. I think the team is banking on the fact our starting lineup was actually really good last season, and improving the bench from Joseph/GRIII/Bjelica/Whiteside to Mitchell/Davis/Harkless/Bagley/Tristan/Len should make a pretty decent impact. We will see if its enough.

would kuzma been enough for buddy? out of curiosity i dont think so but yea.

[sacking123]

Draft: C
Trades: D
Free Agency: B-
Overall: C-

Draft: I like the Mitchell pick. The reason I am giving this grade though is for direction and no it's not because Davion is a PG. It's because the clear strategy from ownership has been to make the POs. That pick should have been traded, along with future draft capital if required, for an upgrade to the starting line-up. I really like the Queta pick in the 2nd round though.

Trades: The Wright/Thompson trade was a true head-scratcher IMO. Now the Kings currently have over $25m tied up in 5s that can't play other positions and that isn't including Bagley or Metu. That's a waste of money when the starting center is collecting just over $10m.

Free Agency: The Holmes contract is the saving grace here and the only decent signing that wasn't either an overpay or terrible in terms of roster construction. Would have liked to see if DMC (sign on and if the Kings aren't going anywhere promise to waive to join contender - Kings can give him legitimate backup mins to get him ready for POs one way or another), Ed Davis or another 4 would have been better. Metu also needs time this season and the 5 is the best spot for him at this point in time so no need to sign Len and pick up Jones' option.

Overall:
The largest failure is not successfully negotiating with ownership to sack Walton. A coaching change is what was required to bring out the best in what talent is on the roster and some semblance of a defensive strategy. I predict Walton will be gone before 20 games if the Kings aren't above .500 at the time.
In terms of the roster, the most important position in the NBA at the moment is wings. After not having enough last season, this wasn't addressed in any of the above areas which is truly amazing. The group itself isn't terrible, but the real problem starts to raise it's head when Fox plays 35mpg, Buddy plays 34mpg and Hali plays 30mpg. Where does #9 pick Davion fit into that? He is going to earn minutes straight away and there is only enough small ball you can play without being able to handle the opposition down the other end of the court.