Jerry Reynolds grades the Kings offseason acquisitions

[Kings2013]

Saw this over on STR http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2015/8/11/9129475/jerry-reynolds-grades-the-kings-offseason

Reynolds gave these grades for the individual acquisitions

Acy - C+
Anderson - C
Belinelli - B+
Butler - B
Casspi - B+
WCS - A
Curry - A
Koufos - A
Rondo - C

Reynolds usually strikes me as kind of a homer type of guy but his grades here didn't seem too over the top. I have some differences individually, but this is subjective

One thing though Rondo is here with the worst grade on Reynolds list. Actually I think a lot of the board was ambivalent about that before it happened. Vlade is either one step ahead or one step behind on that one. We need him to be that astute executive who has a real analytical eye on how Rondo is going to mesh here, and not just exhibiting sports bar acumen of going after him because he is a big name who is friends with Gay and Cousins is personally a fan of reportedly. I am trusting in Vlade's expertise, and am looking for Rondo to bounce back

[2Mas]

Agree with most as well. This is why I don't get why people say the Kings had a bad offseason? They upgraded to better talent at almost every position. I love the bench additions. Small ball is Casspi's at the 4 & they can all shoot.

I think Rondo on a 1yr deal is awesome. As a RR homer, I'm thinking he'll turn it around, but if not, cut him & let DC do his thing again. But, it's understandable why ppl are iffy on him for sure.


I think the only thing that's bad about the Kings offseason is not firing Karl. I think he's the real issue. I hope I'm wrong, but he's the only one I'm iffy about. Rondo & Cousins are gonna love playing with each other.

[No-Man]

Mine

Acy - C
Anderson - C
Belinelli - A
Butler - B
Casspi - A
WCS - F
Curry - B
Koufos - A
Rondo - C

[codydaze]

Pretty fair grades, I think Curry could be a little lower but I'd agree with the rest. Jerry is definitely a homer in the broadcasts but he's also hilarious, whether intentional or not. I've been hoping Scott Pollard takes his role when he decides to retire.

[SacKingZZZ]

If all those grades are relative to their particular situation in relation to money, years, experience, fit, and everything else involved having a say in the final outcome, then I'd say it's about right.

Rondo is the major swing piece here. If he fits great it kind of sucks because he's on a one year deal, if he doesn't work the benefit is that you have the obvious option of just telling him to leave or trading his expiring potentially since he's on a one year deal.

The only major concerns I have with this team is it's lack of a true stopper on the wing that can play bigger or smaller because that's pretty critical if they are going to play small and switch, and the potential lack of floor spreading ability. Both of those could be solved by one guy if Rondo works out in some of the needed ways. Right now I don't know if I see a great small ball team though. I think the majority of this teams value pieces add up to a big, bruiser type of team that still has a great deal of athletic ability for a full sized team. With Willie and Ben they might have two of the more athletic players at their respective positions.

[KF10]

Didn't the Kings still want to sign Luc depsite failing his medical? If so, he is the player that he can "sick on" to opposing players.

Anyways, I think Jerry's grade report is fair.

@Fischella you still on the WCS firing squad? haha In your opinion, what can WCS do to change your view on him?

[SacTown Kings]

Mine

Acy - C
Anderson - C
Belinelli - A
Butler - B
Casspi - A
WCS - F
Curry - B
Koufos - A
Rondo - C

Wow an F for WCS? Really? Not even a D-??

[Ponchos]

Mine

Acy - C
Anderson - C
Belinelli - A
Butler - B
Casspi - A
WCS - F
Curry - B
Koufos - A
Rondo - C

Barring major injury WCS is going to have a 12+ year NBA career. Don't see why you hate him so much.

[blind prophet]

Glad Jerry gave WCS an A. He's got to see more of him than we have, and its nice to get more confirmation on his aptitude. When/if he starts making all defensive teams in the future, we can tell all these guys to quiet down.

I don't think they can see the fit here with Cousins like many of us can.

[Kings2013]

Not landing Matthews and instead getting Beli/Kosta is interesting. Matthews was Vlade's choice for whatever reason, and the reason he risked those assets was to get up to 4/64 to pay Matthews who was scheduled to visit, who he may have felt good about signing prior to Dallas upping their offer. I think we are better with Beli/Koufos given the risk, but does that maneuver, to go to such lengths to improve at SG signal a lack of confidence in Ben?

[KingFox]

Not landing Matthews and instead getting Beli/Kosta is interesting. Matthews was Vlade's choice for whatever reason, and the reason he risked those assets was to get up to 4/64 to pay Matthews who was scheduled to visit, who he may have felt good about signing prior to Dallas upping their offer. I think we are better with Beli/Koufos given the risk, but does that maneuver, to go to such lengths to improve at SG signal a lack of confidence in Ben?

it signals the fact that we simply needed DEPTH, period lol i wouldn't read into it

and just because we wanted Mathews, it doesn't mean we made that deal specifically for him alone. im sure we knew there'd be a chance we wouldn't get him, and either way, we ended up better off IMO.

[SacKingZZZ]

Not landing Matthews and instead getting Beli/Kosta is interesting. Matthews was Vlade's choice for whatever reason, and the reason he risked those assets was to get up to 4/64 to pay Matthews who was scheduled to visit, who he may have felt good about signing prior to Dallas upping their offer. I think we are better with Beli/Koufos given the risk, but does that maneuver, to go to such lengths to improve at SG signal a lack of confidence in Ben?

Injury aside Vlade went for the most obvious needs, defense and shooting on the wing. He opted not to go for that in the draft and as a result it kind of forced the team to switch gears. I'm sure Koufos was coming regardless, getting Mathews probably meant not Rondo or Belinelli.

It can still all work out much the same however if not better if Mathews ends up not be the player he once was. Also it depends on how improved Ben is next year. I'm not going to doubt his potential improvements as that need guy until he shows otherwise. His size is what it is and while he can spend some time at SF, that's probably not something you want to rely on when going against the star SF's with real size. I'm not sure what Ben's true role is moving forward but having Matthews would have been better for Ben. Matthews has the heft to handle most SF's, with Belinelli next to him that load probably falls on Bens shoulders and we've seen bigger SG's have their way with him physically. There are some ways around that though too and tenacity along with some experience will help him a great deal.

[Kings2013]

Not landing Matthews and instead getting Beli/Kosta is interesting. Matthews was Vlade's choice for whatever reason, and the reason he risked those assets was to get up to 4/64 to pay Matthews who was scheduled to visit, who he may have felt good about signing prior to Dallas upping their offer. I think we are better with Beli/Koufos given the risk, but does that maneuver, to go to such lengths to improve at SG signal a lack of confidence in Ben?

it signals the fact that we simply needed DEPTH, period lol i wouldn't read into it

and just because we wanted Mathews, it doesn't mean we made that deal specifically for him alone. im sure we knew there'd be a chance we wouldn't get him, and either way, we ended up better off IMO.

Here is what I meant by that, and I'm not a cap expert just going by what I read.. If the Kings were to stretch Landry/JT and give away Nik for free they also would have had a lot of cap space. There are folks who believe we could have packaged Nik with one of the contracts, but we at least could have given him up for free. If we stretched JT/Landry and gave away Nik we would have had the same amount of cap minus JT/Landry cap holds. I read at STR that teams only have to stretch the guaranteed amount on JT's contract. So I'm guessing they would have had ~4 mil less if they went this route than giving up assets. IF this is true they might have just stretched JT/Landry if they didn't have to reach a certain amount to pay Wes, maybe. It's conjecture

It's also possible for various reasons they just didn't want JT/Landry on the books anymore past this year and are really confident in our future. Even with the rising cap that amount of space still could net a solid player

[KingFox]

Getting rid of Landry and JT together, was a dream come true. I haven't been that happy since Kenny thomas stopped playing

[ICMTM]

I think you guys are overlooking this. We made moves. We're better. How much better???

[SactoKingsFan]

Acy - C
Anderson - C
Belinelli - B
Butler - C+
Casspi - B
WCS - A
Curry - C
Koufos - B+
Rondo - D

[Worm122]

Acy - C
Anderson - C
Belinelli - B
Butler - C+
Casspi - B
WCS - B+
Curry - C+
Koufos - B+
Rondo - B