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Okay so now with Ron gone and the imminent rebuild, what I would like to see the Kings do next is this:

Move Brad Miller's deal. I love Brad and what he brings to the table. I think he's a terrific player, but the fact is, if we're going to rebuild getting his deal off the books by next summer is what's going to do it.

The deal I have in mind is this:
Brad Miller

for

Drew Gooden
Cedric Simmons - cut
JamesOn Curry - cut
Chicago 1st rounder

Roster looks like this:
C: Moore, Hawes, Shelden
PF: Drew Gooden, Thompson, K9, SAR
SF: John Salmons, Francisco Garcia, Donte Green
SG: Kevin Martin, Quincy Douby, Bobby Jackson
PG: Beno Udrih, Bobby Brown

If we trade Brad for an expiring deal, wipe-out the majority of Moore's deal, renounce the rights to Shelden then the Kings roster next season consists of this even WITH K9 and perhaps SAR on the books

C: Hawes 2 mill, Thompson 2 mill
PF: SAR - 6 mill, K9 - 8 mill
SF: Salmons- 5 mill, Garcia - 2 mill, Greene - 1 mill
SG: Martin -9 mill, Douby - 2 mill
PG: Beno - 5 mill, Brown 1 mill

The Kings would have roughly 42 million + 4 million commited towards draft pics...that'd put us at about 12 - 14 million dollars under the cap for the Summer of 2009 to make a run at Josh Smith or another marquee free agent (Carlos Boozer?). If SAR does retire you can add anothe 6 million to be 18-20 million under the cap. And that's WITH K9 still on the books giving us a nice trading chip of 9 million or so for the 2009-2010 season. That's the route we need to go.

Ideally we move Brad AND K9 for Marbury to accomplish this, but I just think J-Smoove takes the QO and tries his luck next off-season.

Kings then move forward looking like this:
C: Hawes 2 mill, 1st rounder - 1 mill
PF: J-Smoove - 12 mill, Jason Thompson - 2 mill
SF: Salmons- 5 mill, Garcia - 2 mill, Greene - 1 mill
SG: Martin -9 mill, Douby - 2 mill
PG: Beno - 5 mill, 1st rounder 3 mill, Brown 1 mill

I like that core moving forward. You'd have Beno/Martin/Smith locked up long term and then you can extend Hawes/Garcia/Thompson to reasonable deal to fill out the young core. Salmons/k9's salaries would be off the books by the time these guys are due up for extensions. To give the Kings an incredible amount of dispersed salary amongst their players.

I will have to agree with a lot of this. I think that getting rid of miller/SAR should be our main priority right now, and getting josh smith would be awesome. The only problem with that is it would nullify the point of getting either thompson or greene. If we put smith at the 3, Greene would never see daylight, and if we put him at the 4, thompson would get the same treatment. Smith is a great player, but I'm not sure if he is the right guy for the kings right now. Our core could be great and I am excited to see what rises to the top this next season.

jameson curry got waived.

1) Chicago isn't going to do that trade. Half the reason for the rumored deal (maybe more) was to get Nocioni's contract off the cap. They're shooting for 2010 cap space too and Miller would make perfect sense if they're trying to take money off their team salary while remaining competitive. A Miller/Gooden swap does nothing for them salary wise which takes away 1 of their 2 main reasons for doing the trade.

2) For your 2009 cap space calculations you're off on a couple things:
a) You're forgetting that Garcia will be a restricted free agent and the Kings will be extending him the QO. Under the CBA he counts as 300% of his previous years salary (or the QO, whichever is greater--in this case it's 300% of his previous salary). So instead of counting $2mil towards the cap he's going to count roughly $6mil.
b) Beno will be making $6mil, Martin will be just over $9.5 & Salmons at $5.5. Plus we don't know how much Moore's buyout is (which will count against the cap).
c) Lastly (though this doesn't concern your $12-14mil number), even if SAR does retire his salary remains on the cap.

So, even if you count Moore's buyout at $0 (which it obviously won't be), the Kings are looking at about $6mil less in cap space than you calculated unless they renounce Garcia (if they did they'd be looking at about 2 less--though it could be more since you're rounding down for all salaries it looks like).

rpa wrote:1) Chicago isn't going to do that trade. Half the reason for the rumored deal (maybe more) was to get Nocioni's contract off the cap. They're shooting for 2010 cap space too and Miller would make perfect sense if they're trying to take money off their team salary while remaining competitive. A Miller/Gooden swap does nothing for them salary wise which takes away 1 of their 2 main reasons for doing the trade.

2) For your 2009 cap space calculations you're off on a couple things:
a) You're forgetting that Garcia will be a restricted free agent and the Kings will be extending him the QO. Under the CBA he counts as 300% of his previous years salary (or the QO, whichever is greater--in this case it's 300% of his previous salary). So instead of counting $2mil towards the cap he's going to count roughly $6mil.
b) Beno will be making $6mil, Martin will be just over $9.5 & Salmons at $5.5. Plus we don't know how much Moore's buyout is (which will count against the cap).
c) Lastly (though this doesn't concern your $12-14mil number), even if SAR does retire his salary remains on the cap.

So, even if you count Moore's buyout at $0 (which it obviously won't be), the Kings are looking at about $6mil less in cap space than you calculated unless they renounce Garcia (if they did they'd be looking at about 2 less--though it could be more since you're rounding down for all salaries it looks like).

No if SAR retires due to injury then it does not count towards our CAP. The Insurance will also pick up 90% of the salary for him.

Like Mobi said, if SAR retires, the CBA will allow for his salary to come off the cap. As for Moore's contract, I seem to remember that his final year was guaranteed for half the value. He would be owed around $3M if he got cut before the season started (there's probably a point in the 2009/10 calendar where the remaining contract becomes guaranteed).

It's actually only 2 million according to the original breakdown of the deal. I don't personally see manuvering for capspace next year other than to avoid overloading for no reason. Teams CAN go along under the cap, they just have to be within a certain amount (I think its 25%) of it. So if you adjust the numbers appropriately for Garcia's and Beno's actual salaries, then you come to a more accurate figure. If you just hold onto Moore and not cut him (depending on how the team is doing at that point) then it's even closer. 2010 is still the year that you are really aiming at, and that plan shouldn't change. The key thing for us is not so much looking to sign LeBron/Wade/Carmelo, let everybody else chase their tails with that nonsense. What Geoff will do is what he has always done - target the best player(s) for THIS team based on how they fit HERE and how their SKILLS mesh - not the magnitude of their name. With a little luck, we will be at a point where our 2/5/4(maybe) positions will be pretty well locked up by the incumbents (Martin/Hawes/Thompson), and we will be able to specifically target a PG and SF early in free agency that off-season to create a great and BALANCED starting five that can challenge for the title for a number of years to follow.

I have two comments about what people have talked about.

1) I keep on hearing about IF shareef is going to retire. I haven't heard a peep from him about it, yet I havent heard any talk of him practicing with the team either. What's going on with that?

2) I know that we (and every other team) want cap for 2010, but I all know going on the market is lebron, wade, melo, bosh and horford. Who else could we go after?

KM44 wrote:I have two comments about what people have talked about.

1) I keep on hearing about IF shareef is going to retire. I haven't heard a peep from him about it, yet I havent heard any talk of him practicing with the team either. What's going on with that?

This is really the last story that was out there. He did work out with the summer league squad in Vegas.

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1085912.html

I remember that Shareef was practicing with the SL team couple weeks ago.

rpa wrote:1) Chicago isn't going to do that trade. Half the reason for the rumored deal (maybe more) was to get Nocioni's contract off the cap. They're shooting for 2010 cap space too and Miller would make perfect sense if they're trying to take money off their team salary while remaining competitive. A Miller/Gooden swap does nothing for them salary wise which takes away 1 of their 2 main reasons for doing the trade.

2) For your 2009 cap space calculations you're off on a couple things:
a) You're forgetting that Garcia will be a restricted free agent and the Kings will be extending him the QO. Under the CBA he counts as 300% of his previous years salary (or the QO, whichever is greater--in this case it's 300% of his previous salary). So instead of counting $2mil towards the cap he's going to count roughly $6mil.
b) Beno will be making $6mil, Martin will be just over $9.5 & Salmons at $5.5. Plus we don't know how much Moore's buyout is (which will count against the cap).
c) Lastly (though this doesn't concern your $12-14mil number), even if SAR does retire his salary remains on the cap.

So, even if you count Moore's buyout at $0 (which it obviously won't be), the Kings are looking at about $6mil less in cap space than you calculated unless they renounce Garcia (if they did they'd be looking at about 2 less--though it could be more since you're rounding down for all salaries it looks like).

You're right on the rest, good call, but the bolded is false. If SAR retires insurance picks up the tab AND his salary comes off the Kings books in terms of counting towards the cap. So here's hoping that he retires.

Smills91 wrote:You're right on the rest, good call, but the bolded is false. If SAR retires insurance picks up the tab AND his salary comes off the Kings books in terms of counting towards the cap. So here's hoping that he retires.

3 people have said this already but it's not completely true. There are 2 parts to getting him off the cap:
1) A league appointed doctor would have to rule that he was forced to retire due to injury
2) The league would have to approve it.

The league has historically been against granting many of these plus the whole thing about a doctor agreeing about an injury forcing retirement is a complete unknown too.

I just don't see both of those 2 things happening to be honest. Could they? Yeah, but I just think it's so doubtful that talking about it is a waste of time.

KM44 wrote:2) I know that we (and every other team) want cap for 2010, but I all know going on the market is lebron, wade, melo, bosh and horford. Who else could we go after?

Horford is 2011 and Melo is actually signed until at least summer 2011.

Other notable 2010 free agents: JO, all of the 2006 1st rounders will be RFA's that summer (Bargnani, Aldridge, Roy, Gay, Tyrus Thomas, Rondo, etc.), Joe Johnson, Dirk, Rip, Amir Johnson, Stephen Jackson, TMac, TJ Ford, Darko, Redd, Mike Miller, Tyson Chandler, Amare, Nash, Shaq, Manu, & Boozer (if he doesn't opt out next summer)

I dig Josh Smith generally, he's a diverse talent and really athletic big foward - but I don't want Josh Smith for this team. I'd rather have Thompson at PF, which I think he turns out to be (unless there is some big move).

For Josh Smith (or a foward like him, or a PF that's undersized) to be at his best at PF, make the most impact, he has to have a serious defensive center next to him, or a quality two-way center. This is, because you need that top-level center to make up for Smith's below-usual mass for a PF. We have neither of the aformentioned at center, and probably won't. I don't think we will.

Anything less next to Smith and you're setting up a team which will be at a significant disadvantage defensively. Traditional, balanced, bigger kinds of big men groups will just about always over match them (Smith/not up to par complementing center). We won't be a title contender.

I like the situation of a Hawes/Thompson PF/C pairing better than Hawes/Smith.

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With Boozer, while I doubt he'd come here, if we could get a good defensive center next to him, that'd be a really nice thing to have up front. But, if it's going to be Hawes/Boozer (which I bet it would be), that is just not going to be an even solid defensive pairing, which obviously creates an immediate disadvantage, and limitation for the team, in relation to going the distance in the playoffs. Hawes isn't going to be a bad or even average defender, I think he's going to be decent, but he isn't going to be enough next to Boozer. Who is not really a respectable defensive player, he's not known for it.

Hawes/Boozer is better than Josh Smith/Hawes, but still, that's not a title contending team because the defense isn't going be where it would need to be up front. There just isn't enough of a presence individually or combined from Hawes/Boozer. Hawes has to surprise and turn into a stud, quality anchor kind of defender.

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rpa wrote:Other notable 2010 free agents: JO, all of the 2006 1st rounders will be RFA's that summer (Bargnani, Aldridge, Roy, Gay, Tyrus Thomas, Rondo, etc.), Joe Johnson, Dirk, Rip, Amir Johnson, Stephen Jackson, TMac, TJ Ford, Darko, Redd, Mike Miller, Tyson Chandler, Amare, Nash, Shaq, Manu, & Boozer (if he doesn't opt out next summer)

Tyson Chandler next to Hawes would just be tremendous. Chandler is a high-level, all-around defensive big, on top of that he's one hell of an athlete, and in the middle of his prime. Would also bring solid experience. He's limited offensively, but not really a liability. But the thing is, that would be helped well with Hawes, Kevin, Thompson, Garcia, whoever else is around.

For this team, I like Chandler the most out of that whole group there. I think he should be a, or the #1 priority in 2010 (non-team FAs). Obviously not going to get LeBron, Wade, or Kobe.

If Dirk is available I see Petrie going after him as his #1 choice. Depending on what we look like at the 4 spot by then of course.

rpa wrote:

Smills91 wrote:You're right on the rest, good call, but the bolded is false. If SAR retires insurance picks up the tab AND his salary comes off the Kings books in terms of counting towards the cap. So here's hoping that he retires.

3 people have said this already but it's not completely true. There are 2 parts to getting him off the cap:
1) A league appointed doctor would have to rule that he was forced to retire due to injury
2) The league would have to approve it.

The league has historically been against granting many of these plus the whole thing about a doctor agreeing about an injury forcing retirement is a complete unknown too.

I just don't see both of those 2 things happening to be honest. Could they? Yeah, but I just think it's so doubtful that talking about it is a waste of time.

Darius Miles? I'm sure you've heard of him. He was forced into retirement and the league allowed his salary to come off of Portland's cap just last year.

KingInExile wrote:Darius Miles? I'm sure you've heard of him. He was forced into retirement and the league allowed his salary to come off of Portland's cap just last year.

I didn't say it never happens, it does. But from what I remember reading a couple years ago (with many examples) the league rarely granted them even in some fairly extreme cases

SKZZZ wrote:If Dirk is available I see Petrie going after him as his #1 choice. Depending on what we look like at the 4 spot by then of course.

Well, under the case we don't have anything much yet at PF...

Dirk at 32 years old?

While he still would be a top-level player, he is at the end of his prime, would be on maybe a playoff contending team (which would get better, but more on that later). I just don't see the fit or credibility of possibility, from his to us or us to him, stand-points.

If we did get Dirk, that wouldn't truly be something of flexibility up front then. Sure, it would be fun and very skilled offensively, but while Dirk's not a bad defensive player, he's not a significant defender, either. Not somebody you're going to count on to be a defensive presence for you, really. Nor is he a noted rebounder - again, not underwhelming, but not relatively known for it, either.

While we'd be somehwat better defensively up front than we have been, we still aren't going to be able to stop teams with any regularity. We wouldn't be a playoff-level defensive team with Hawes/Dirk as our interior defenders - the bench big men will only be so effective because they won't be playing later in the games, of course.

What player, or players, would be that required notable defensive presence at PF/C? That wouldn't be there with Hawes/Dirk.

Like with Hawes/Boozer, we wouldn't be setting ourselves up to be in the form of a balanced team, or one that can go far in the playoffs, or to compete well against the well-rounded teams. We'd have a highly offensively skilled big man situation, but an unbalanced PF/C combo, and one that isn't compatabible defensively.

I don't think Dirk makes any sense for this team. Nor would I want to build around him as the #1 guy, because he isn't good enough to be that consistently, as has been shown over his career, numerous times.

I just don't see Petrie going after Dirk (in the case of a ? mark at PF), and doubt he'd want to come here.

I'd rather go and take some more time with Hawes/Thompson, than go with Hawes/Dirk. Or go after Chandler. Or wait and try for Horford the next year (or 010, whichever).

No dirk for me thank you. He will be too old and cuban will most likely throw way to much money at him. I would like to see bosh or horford come to sac, but I have no idea why we would want anyone if we are trying to get thompson to be our future. Shouldn't we be going after a pg, cause beno is not an elite point, and that's what we need to compete this team.

Tariq Abdul-Wahad and Jamal Mashburn are just a couple others off the top of my head that had their salaries covered by insurance. It's looking like the same thing is probably going to happen with Eric Snow. It's only uncommon because players rarely have injuries that render them completely unable to play again (usually even the most severe injuries hinder them, but don't keep them from being able to play all together). But when it's requested, it's not that uncommon for the contract to get covered at all. Of course the whole thing relies on just how badly SAR is injured.