Fixing this mess of a roster.....

[SacKingZZZ]

That's still called a system though. The only think Thomas is better at than Evans is running the pick and roll and shooting, but Tyreke has been getting a LOT better at the first lately. There really isn't some science involved with getting the ball to your best players. Smart is starting to use guys to there strengths here and there, I'm interested to see how far he goes with it.

[VeeJay24]

You guys keep saying you want true PGs but you have to watch the league not just the Kings.

The PG position is different than before; now days PGs are scorers then they are playmakers which makes since since the ball will be in their hands the majority of the time.

If you are not getting someone named Paul or Williams or on the young side Irving then it is not worth it. If Thomas & Fredette can keep progressing the way they are and if Reke can continue to play like he has of late, along with Thornton the Kings' guard rotation will be fine. Reke will be a good shooter; he shoots frees to well for him not to be plus he has good rotation on his shot. If the Kings want to bring in a grinder or defensive type guard; I am all for it; otherwise, they need no parts of Andre Miller, Augustine or Sessions. Heck, I think we have a guy who will be better than Augustine in Thomas; I'll take Jack before I waste anything on Miller and Sessions, Why?

The 2 guys I don't think the Kings should trade are Cousins & Reke; everyone else is trade-able but it would be difficult to trade a guy like Thornton who has shown an ability to be a great scorer and a great clutch player in this league. You have to see if he can do it on a grander stage like a playoff run or in the playoffs. You finally have some cohesion with your bigs; do you really want to tinker with that and run the risk of losing that cohesion. So letting JT walk may end up being a bad move especially if you don't have the right replacement

I think the guys they have to go after hard are Chandler and Batum. Batum will be difficult; Portland thinks a lot of him and want to keep him over Wallace. They may be able to still Chandler from the Nuggets but they will have to offer a lot to keep him from other teams.

I would love to steal Ian Mahinmi from the Mavs and adding a Randy Foye to the guards we already have would be a good move to me; Other than that stand pat.

As far as the Draft, I like Davis, Drummond, Moultrie, Barnes, Kidd-Gilchrist, T. Jones, Harkless, P. Jones, Lilliard or Lamb in that order.

[pillwenney]

That's still called a system though. The only think Thomas is better at than Evans is running the pick and roll and shooting, but Tyreke has been getting a LOT better at the first lately. There really isn't some science involved with getting the ball to your best players. Smart is starting to use guys to there strengths here and there, I'm interested to see how far he goes with it.

That's not true. Isaiah is much better at keeping his head up on the drive and running the team to get specific guys open. He's still not great at it at all, but he's still better than Tyreke at it. Just look at the end of the Denver game. We would run things through Tyreke and, like he so often does, he'd hold onto the ball forever and end up either taking an overly contested shot inside or a crappy pull up jumper. It killed us at the end of that game.

As much as anything, we need somebody in the offense who's job it is to get others involved. Tyreke does this at times, but never consistently.

[VeeJay24]

That's still called a system though. The only think Thomas is better at than Evans is running the pick and roll and shooting, but Tyreke has been getting a LOT better at the first lately. There really isn't some science involved with getting the ball to your best players. Smart is starting to use guys to there strengths here and there, I'm interested to see how far he goes with it.

That's not true. Isaiah is much better at keeping his head up on the drive and running the team to get specific guys open. He's still not great at it at all, but he's still better than Tyreke at it. Just look at the end of the Denver game. We would run things through Tyreke and, like he so often does, he'd hold onto the ball forever and end up either taking an overly contested shot inside or a crappy pull up jumper. It killed us at the end of that game.

As much as anything, we need somebody in the offense who's job it is to get others involved. Tyreke does this at times, but never consistently.

You probably think this is a fair comment? Tyreke, is still young and for the first time is actually being coached. Smart was there to correct him on that right after the game but how about talking about how JT didn't fight to get posted on Afflalo when Denver switched on the plays in question. Reke isn't the only player to ever settle for a jumpshot at a crucial point in the game and he certainly won't be the last. And really are we even talking about this if Thornton doesn't foul Afflalo? No! Reke played an awesome game; he was one of the main reason the Kings were in position to win that game but you want to pick out 2 trips down the floor that didn't go as planned and correlate that to what he will be in the future.

Wake up people this is a young team; the youngest in the NBA to be exact; it takes time. They have direction now; let them develop, please!!!

[pillwenney]

That's still called a system though. The only think Thomas is better at than Evans is running the pick and roll and shooting, but Tyreke has been getting a LOT better at the first lately. There really isn't some science involved with getting the ball to your best players. Smart is starting to use guys to there strengths here and there, I'm interested to see how far he goes with it.

That's not true. Isaiah is much better at keeping his head up on the drive and running the team to get specific guys open. He's still not great at it at all, but he's still better than Tyreke at it. Just look at the end of the Denver game. We would run things through Tyreke and, like he so often does, he'd hold onto the ball forever and end up either taking an overly contested shot inside or a crappy pull up jumper. It killed us at the end of that game.

As much as anything, we need somebody in the offense who's job it is to get others involved. Tyreke does this at times, but never consistently.

You probably think this is a fair comment? Tyreke, is still young and for the first time is actually being coached. Smart was there to correct him on that right after the game but how about talking about how JT didn't fight to get posted on Afflalo when Denver switched on the plays in question. Reke isn't the only player to ever settle for a jumpshot at a crucial point in the game and he certainly won't be the last. And really are we even talking about this if Thornton doesn't foul Afflalo? No! Reke played an awesome game; he was one of the main reason the Kings were in position to win that game but you want to pick out 2 trips down the floor that didn't go as planned and correlate that to what he will be in the future.

Wake up people this is a young team; the youngest in the NBA to be exact; it takes time. They have direction now; let them develop, please!!!

It's not about learning so much as what he is as a player. He can learn better playmaking, but a pass first PG just isn't what he is. He's a playmaking SG.

The jump shot wouldn't be as much of a problem if Tyreke could shoot. But he can't. That makes that jumper a terrible decision.

And come on. It's not like this is the first time Tyreke has done that. It's like, the millionth. It's not really about a knock on Tyreke as a player. It's not a knock on him as a PG. He's not the guy you want setting things up for your team.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Thornton for Gerald Wallace
Hickson for Kevin Garnett

Not sure if those work under the cap together (KG has a ridiculous expiring salary), but that would pretty much fix our defensive woes.

IT/Jimmer
Reke/Garcia
Wallace/Salmons
Garnett/Hayes
Cousins/Thompson

[dozencousins]

Those deals would not even close to work Garnett is getting 21.2 mill vs. Hickson's 2,354,536
& Wallace is getting 10,650 mill vs Thortons 7.1 mill

Something like Hickson & Salmons for Wallace would work salary wise 10.854,536 vs. 10.6 mill though if both teams agreed ?

[pillwenney]

They're actually not too far from working just because we're so far under the cap. Not sure how realistic they are though.

[SacKingZZZ]

Garnett could be an option this summer perhaps. Hate his guts, despise his style, but the kind of guy you love when he's on your side.

One draft prospect I want to mention is CJ Leslie. I thought he was the best prospect coming out of his high school class and I think it's starting to show. Just such a talent and his defensive potential on the wing and as a combo F are off the chart. Like Donte a little except he rebounds and blocks shots like crazy. Really skinny but wirey strong. Mixture of Odom and Jared Jeffries IMO. Can run some point F for you as well.

[SacKingZZZ]

That's still called a system though. The only think Thomas is better at than Evans is running the pick and roll and shooting, but Tyreke has been getting a LOT better at the first lately. There really isn't some science involved with getting the ball to your best players. Smart is starting to use guys to there strengths here and there, I'm interested to see how far he goes with it.

That's not true. Isaiah is much better at keeping his head up on the drive and running the team to get specific guys open. He's still not great at it at all, but he's still better than Tyreke at it. Just look at the end of the Denver game. We would run things through Tyreke and, like he so often does, he'd hold onto the ball forever and end up either taking an overly contested shot inside or a crappy pull up jumper. It killed us at the end of that game.

As much as anything, we need somebody in the offense who's job it is to get others involved. Tyreke does this at times, but never consistently.

Think back a minute though, this team started their resurgence offensively before Thomas was inserted. Evans started running the team really well, but once again, the lack of a true identity or system caused it to falter. When you're a one trick pony, whether that's running, pick and roll, or anything else, teams will figure you out eventually.

Tyreke doesn't do that all the time but he still does. You'll also notice that as this team has started using Thomas for his shooting rather than ball domination, the team has improved.

You know, I've been thinking and I think I know a guy that really could do a lot of what you want: Boris Diaw. He's very good at doing a lot of different things as a passer. He feeds the post well, he can pass out of the post, he can run offense up high, he can also play pick and roll. He's a guy that has made offenses run a lot smoother in the past because of his unselfishness. Could be worth looking into because he could play PF next to Cousins or at SF depending on matchups.

[SacKingZZZ]

It's not about learning so much as what he is as a player. He can learn better playmaking, but a pass first PG just isn't what he is. He's a playmaking SG.

The jump shot wouldn't be as much of a problem if Tyreke could shoot. But he can't. That makes that jumper a terrible decision.

And come on. It's not like this is the first time Tyreke has done that. It's like, the millionth. It's not really about a knock on Tyreke as a player. It's not a knock on him as a PG. He's not the guy you want setting things up for your team.

I agree, and most elite "PG's" are these days. This is also a reason why I think it still makes sense to run more high post offense. Tyreke is getting better about cutting to the basket, and as we saw in that Dallas game, between Chuck, Demarcus, and JT you have probably 10 easy baskets a night with their ability to make plays. Smart has been going to this more (hmmm...wonder if Geoff had a meeting with him ) and he needs to continue to work on it.

John Salmons said something quite interesting during that post game interview last night with Walton and Grant. He said that Smart came up to him and said he's been using him wrong, he was right. Now, you see him as the 2nd option out of the Princeton set coming off a high screen into the high post and into the triple threat position a la Ray Allen. Great design because it puts Salmons in the position he wants to be in without just having him go solo and jab step his man until they give him space or trying to use a crappy pick and roll to get there. Tyreke needs to be used in this play as well IMO. That and also in the role of Thornton and Garcia who are the backcut guys.

[boogie-reke]

You know whats sad here?

That the guy we literally picked in the last draft and gave up on, is probably gonna end up being the one we needed/will need the most looking at this a few years from now.

[ADoaN17]

I think Isaiah needs more minutes. He has been shooting great lately (45%fg 50%3pt), last 2 games (60%fg 73% 3pt) and he is only getting about 27 minutes since the all-star break. Smart seems to play him the whole 1st and most of the third but forgets about him in the second and fourth. He leaves the bench in too long.