Jason Thompson

[Smills91]

So, I like the kid. I think he has some solid talent level. I don't know if he'll ever be an all-star. But I do think he'll be a very good player for a long time. He knda reminds me of a taller, bigger, more athletic Corliss Williamson with his style of play. He's a HUSTLER first and foremost, but he also has a nice skillset in that he can pass, dribble, and shoot fairly well, especially for a big guy. I think he's a year or two away from being starter's material on a decent team, but I do think he can be a very good starting PF in the NBA for a long time, maybe a David West caliber big?

[KF10]

Well, at times, he shown flashes of his potential. His speed/quickness for a PF/C is GREAT IMO. He can play SF at times. He is multi-talent big that has guard skills. But at times, he can be inconsistent. Sometimes, he rush several things. But then again, which rookie has not does that?

I always say his game looks similar to David West/Rasheed Wallace type...And probably that is his ceiling if Thompson pans out. Which I will be thrilled.

But as is right now, he CAN contribute but not in a significant way IMO.

[sackings916]

I like what he has shown so far as well, but at this point he has shown that his offense isn't at the NBA level. He needs to develop a post game and be more consistent with his outside shot. But I like what he brings with his size and intangibles, he plays with high intensity always running hard and crashing the boards. If a guy with that size and athleticism is playing hard he's bound to grab boards and to make a difference defensively.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Just you wait, when Thompson gets more experience and a defined role in the game, he's going to surprise everyone. Maybe not this year, which would be a learning experience and a chance to get accustomed to the size and athletecism of NBA bigs, but in the future. Thompson has all the tools, talent, and, most importantly, the desire to impact this league.

I have high hopes for Thompson.

[SacKingZZZ]

That's the thing with Jason, I think he's one of those types that has to be used properly to fit in any given situation. He has shown the hustle to be a good "hustle" big, but I am sure we all expect much more from him. I don't know who to compare him to. Like I've said before he does kind of look like an average, not bad at any thing, but not great at anything either type of player. That doesn't mean he won't harness his abilities down the road.

I'd like to see him as a better rebounding/passing Rasheed Wallace, he may not reach Sheeds level defensively obviously but somewhere around there seems right. I would actually really like to see him more in the pick and pop game. He needs to get that jumper down, he could make a living off of that. With his quickness and ability to drive to the hoop teams will play way off of him. It would also give Spencer room to work in the post and Kevin to drive to the basket. I'd also like to see him start to get used to shooting the corner 3 like Brad does.

[deNIEd]

So in other words, we still lack a future starting PG, PF, and even possibly a C.

[KF10]

So in other words, we still lack a future starting PG, PF, and even possibly a C.

I still believe that Hawes is our future center. He just need to bulk up and gain more experience. Other than that, he is advance for his age. Which is great. And he can be one of the best centers in the NBA in the near future IMO. He is just 20 yrs old.

While reading your post, you didn't said SF. So, I'm assuming that you have Greene slated in the future SF for the Kings? I find that weird if you think we are lacking a future center more than a future SF...To be honest, Greene still needs to prove if he is our guy in the SF position IMO.

[Smills91]

So in other words, we still lack a future starting PG, PF, and even possibly a C.

You should change your screenname to Eeyore. Glass is always half empty with ya, bro.

[element_88]

i also see alot of rasheed in jason thompson, but i also see him as a very very poor man's chris webber, maybe not with the post moves, but in terms of guard like passing, athleticism, and rebounding

[deNIEd]

Better being more pessimistic and being suprised, than optimistic and being disappointed.

My point is, if we set a "champsionship team" as our goal, we need to obtain the pieces and build towards that team.

Lets break our team down.

K. Mart. - Isn't a number 1 option on a championship team, great number 2 option, or number 1 option on an extremely well balanced team and deep team (det).
Beno - Isn't a starting calibear PG on a championship team.
Garcia - Isn't a starting level SF on a championship team, good as a 6th man type player.
Hawes - Capable starter, but again, it's clear he won't be a superstar center (ie top 5), meaning, he cannot be are best big between PF/C. Not an number 1 option.
Greene - Unknown
Salmons - Isn't a starting SF on a championship team, or would be weakest link.
Thompson - Now, if he isn't our number 1 option, and instead, just a good starter (better Corliss) how will he work out with Hawes?

Again, another year passed, and we still need a starting level PG.
Still need a number 1 option big.
Still need inside defense.

[SacKingZZZ]

Better being more pessimistic and being suprised, than optimistic and being disappointed.

My point is, if we set a "champsionship team" as our goal, we need to obtain the pieces and build towards that team.

Lets break our team down.

K. Mart. - Isn't a number 1 option on a championship team, great number 2 option, or number 1 option on an extremely well balanced team and deep team (det).
Beno - Isn't a starting calibear PG on a championship team.
Garcia - Isn't a starting level SF on a championship team, good as a 6th man type player.
Hawes - Capable starter, but again, it's clear he won't be a superstar center (ie top 5), meaning, he cannot be are best big between PF/C. Not an number 1 option.
Greene - Unknown
Salmons - Isn't a starting SF on a championship team, or would be weakest link.
Thompson - Now, if he isn't our number 1 option, and instead, just a good starter (better Corliss) how will he work out with Hawes?

Again, another year passed, and we still need a starting level PG.
Still need a number 1 option big.
Still need inside defense.

I think Hawes has the chance and the talent to be a solid number 2 or maybe even a number 1 option among the bigs in time. I think one day we may be able to rely on him for about 20 a game. Depends on if that is part of the game plan or not of course.

We're rebuilding. This next year and the year after we may be able to finally get up to where most teams need to get in the draft to find their superstars. I think Petrie has done an excellent job with Spencer and maybe Jason too, that may be good enough in time. If not Jason will make an excellent 3/4/5 off the bench. He still could be "the guy" however. On paper, and even on the court so far, he and Spencer make a really solid combo.

[SacKingZZZ]

i also see alot of rasheed in jason thompson, but i also see him as a very very poor man's chris webber, maybe not with the post moves, but in terms of guard like passing, athleticism, and rebounding

Maybe, I definitely see that and knowing Webber and Thompson met and had dinner before the draft maybe says Petrie does too. A few things he has over Webber is his motor and the foot speed. Unlikely he'll ever perfect his skills or have the natural skills Webber had however.

[Smills91]

Better being more pessimistic and being suprised, than optimistic and being disappointed.

My point is, if we set a "champsionship team" as our goal, we need to obtain the pieces and build towards that team.

Lets break our team down.

K. Mart. - Isn't a number 1 option on a championship team, great number 2 option, or number 1 option on an extremely well balanced team and deep team (det).
Beno - Isn't a starting calibear PG on a championship team.
Garcia - Isn't a starting level SF on a championship team, good as a 6th man type player.
Hawes - Capable starter, but again, it's clear he won't be a superstar center (ie top 5), meaning, he cannot be are best big between PF/C. Not an number 1 option.
Greene - Unknown
Salmons - Isn't a starting SF on a championship team, or would be weakest link.
Thompson - Now, if he isn't our number 1 option, and instead, just a good starter (better Corliss) how will he work out with Hawes?

Again, another year passed, and we still need a starting level PG.
Still need a number 1 option big.
Still need inside defense.

Wow, sucks going through life always on the downer. I can handle occassional disappointments if I'm happy along the way, but being surprised once in a while sucks if you're always a downer. That's my take

As for your assessment, I like you're comparison of the Pistons because that's the most realistic scenario for our team right now. I don't think we're going to get a superstar caliber player to build around for a while, but that doesn't mean we can't start competing soon in the next 3 years.

Martin > Hamilton - He just is, it's a great comparison and they play similar games, but Martin is and will be a better overall basketball player than Hamilton. But it's a good comparison.

Garcia = Prince - Seriously, I don't see any reason why Cisco can't be a Tayshaun caliber player on a championship team. In fact, I've always though Cisco was a hybrid type of Prince/Christie

Hawes >< Big Ben in his prime - Hawes is the vastly superior offensive player, but Big ben was equally as dominant a defensive player. Hawes IMO is destine to be Vlade 2.0. The way he shoots, passes and plays the post is uncannily similar to Vlade. I think that give us much more balance at the 5 than the Pistons. Spencer needs to mature physcially and grow with his defensive IQ. Vlade was a SMART defender and I expect Hawes will be the same.

THompson < Sheed - I always expect SHeed to be the better overall talent, but because of THompson's hustle, energy and willingness to not be a nut job this may eventually even out and favor Thompson someday.

Beno << Bilups - This is why I feel PG is the position we have to upgrade at, or at least compensate for with an even stronger bench than what the Pistons had. Billups was just WAY too good to compare with Beno. I like Beno, but I think he's a short term solution at the 1. I'm glad we just didn't have to go over the MLE to retain him. It makes him very tradeable for a team desperate for a PG, and there will always be that team each year.

So I think it's possible to develop this team into a Pistons-like championship type. It may take 3-4-5 years to start resembling that, but with the way Geoff assembles talent, it's very possible IMO. This team is DEEP with talent already, and we still have the ability to land a max FA in a couple years. It's modeling itself after the 01-02 Kings team in terms of how much talent the roster can/will have.

[pillwenney]

Better being more pessimistic and being suprised, than optimistic and being disappointed.

My point is, if we set a "champsionship team" as our goal, we need to obtain the pieces and build towards that team.

Lets break our team down.

K. Mart. - Isn't a number 1 option on a championship team, great number 2 option, or number 1 option on an extremely well balanced team and deep team (det).
Beno - Isn't a starting calibear PG on a championship team.
Garcia - Isn't a starting level SF on a championship team, good as a 6th man type player.
Hawes - Capable starter, but again, it's clear he won't be a superstar center (ie top 5), meaning, he cannot be are best big between PF/C. Not an number 1 option.
Greene - Unknown
Salmons - Isn't a starting SF on a championship team, or would be weakest link.
Thompson - Now, if he isn't our number 1 option, and instead, just a good starter (better Corliss) how will he work out with Hawes?

Again, another year passed, and we still need a starting level PG.
Still need a number 1 option big.
Still need inside defense.

Wow, sucks going through life always on the downer. I can handle occassional disappointments if I'm happy along the way, but being surprised once in a while sucks if you're always a downer. That's my take

As for your assessment, I like you're comparison of the Pistons because that's the most realistic scenario for our team right now. I don't think we're going to get a superstar caliber player to build around for a while, but that doesn't mean we can't start competing soon in the next 3 years.

Martin > Hamilton - He just is, it's a great comparison and they play similar games, but Martin is and will be a better overall basketball player than Hamilton. But it's a good comparison.

Garcia = Prince - Seriously, I don't see any reason why Cisco can't be a Tayshaun caliber player on a championship team. In fact, I've always though Cisco was a hybrid type of Prince/Christie

Hawes >< Big Ben in his prime - Hawes is the vastly superior offensive player, but Big ben was equally as dominant a defensive player. Hawes IMO is destine to be Vlade 2.0. The way he shoots, passes and plays the post is uncannily similar to Vlade. I think that give us much more balance at the 5 than the Pistons. Spencer needs to mature physcially and grow with his defensive IQ. Vlade was a SMART defender and I expect Hawes will be the same.

THompson < Sheed - I always expect SHeed to be the better overall talent, but because of THompson's hustle, energy and willingness to not be a nut job this may eventually even out and favor Thompson someday.

Beno << Bilups - This is why I feel PG is the position we have to upgrade at, or at least compensate for with an even stronger bench than what the Pistons had. Billups was just WAY too good to compare with Beno. I like Beno, but I think he's a short term solution at the 1. I'm glad we just didn't have to go over the MLE to retain him. It makes him very tradeable for a team desperate for a PG, and there will always be that team each year.

So I think it's possible to develop this team into a Pistons-like championship type. It may take 3-4-5 years to start resembling that, but with the way Geoff assembles talent, it's very possible IMO. This team is DEEP with talent already, and we still have the ability to land a max FA in a couple years. It's modeling itself after the 01-02 Kings team in terms of how much talent the roster can/will have.

Woah, woah, woah....equally? Big Ben was once one of the most dominant defensive bigs of this generation. He anchored the 04 Pistons--one of the top defensive teams ever. You're better off arguing the point that Spencer's D will likely be substantially better than Ben's offense ever was.

[deNIEd]

It's not being a downer, its simply, preparing for the worst while hoping for the best.
When you build a basketball team, you can't be hoping that everything and everyone will turn out the way you want it, figure out ways around that, and when the some players do live up to their true potential, or better than you expected, your that much better off.

Pistons method could be an approach we go, however, it's very very unlikely.

If you look at the Pistons team, they had pretty much a top 10 player at every position. Billups I would say was a top 5 pg, rip a top 10 sg, prince a top 15 sf, sheed a top 10-15 pf, Ben a top 5 C (at the time his defense was that good). And their bench was insanely deep, Corliss, Okur, plus a lot more that I don't feel like looking up, but it was deep.

Now, you look at our team.

Beno, no where near a top 10 pg.
Martin - Okay
Garcia - not even close as a top 15 sf, greene...maybe
Thompson - not a top 10-15 pf
Hawes - questionable if he ever becomes a top 5 center ever.
Bench - horrible currently in terms of depth

The pistons team worked, because of their balance and overall talent, we don't have that balance or talent right now, could we yes, but again, the pistons mold is extremely hard to copy.

Again, we need to rebuild, and we need to rebuild through the draft. We simply don't have enough talent to rebuild solely through trades or free agency. The thing that sucks is, if only we had realized this 2 years earlier, we would be close to being done now (07 and 08 drafts).

[Smills91]

Better being more pessimistic and being suprised, than optimistic and being disappointed.

My point is, if we set a "champsionship team" as our goal, we need to obtain the pieces and build towards that team.

Lets break our team down.

K. Mart. - Isn't a number 1 option on a championship team, great number 2 option, or number 1 option on an extremely well balanced team and deep team (det).
Beno - Isn't a starting calibear PG on a championship team.
Garcia - Isn't a starting level SF on a championship team, good as a 6th man type player.
Hawes - Capable starter, but again, it's clear he won't be a superstar center (ie top 5), meaning, he cannot be are best big between PF/C. Not an number 1 option.
Greene - Unknown
Salmons - Isn't a starting SF on a championship team, or would be weakest link.
Thompson - Now, if he isn't our number 1 option, and instead, just a good starter (better Corliss) how will he work out with Hawes?

Again, another year passed, and we still need a starting level PG.
Still need a number 1 option big.
Still need inside defense.

Wow, sucks going through life always on the downer. I can handle occassional disappointments if I'm happy along the way, but being surprised once in a while sucks if you're always a downer. That's my take

As for your assessment, I like you're comparison of the Pistons because that's the most realistic scenario for our team right now. I don't think we're going to get a superstar caliber player to build around for a while, but that doesn't mean we can't start competing soon in the next 3 years.

Martin > Hamilton - He just is, it's a great comparison and they play similar games, but Martin is and will be a better overall basketball player than Hamilton. But it's a good comparison.

Garcia = Prince - Seriously, I don't see any reason why Cisco can't be a Tayshaun caliber player on a championship team. In fact, I've always though Cisco was a hybrid type of Prince/Christie

Hawes >< Big Ben in his prime - Hawes is the vastly superior offensive player, but Big ben was equally as dominant a defensive player. Hawes IMO is destine to be Vlade 2.0. The way he shoots, passes and plays the post is uncannily similar to Vlade. I think that give us much more balance at the 5 than the Pistons. Spencer needs to mature physcially and grow with his defensive IQ. Vlade was a SMART defender and I expect Hawes will be the same.

THompson < Sheed - I always expect SHeed to be the better overall talent, but because of THompson's hustle, energy and willingness to not be a nut job this may eventually even out and favor Thompson someday.

Beno << Bilups - This is why I feel PG is the position we have to upgrade at, or at least compensate for with an even stronger bench than what the Pistons had. Billups was just WAY too good to compare with Beno. I like Beno, but I think he's a short term solution at the 1. I'm glad we just didn't have to go over the MLE to retain him. It makes him very tradeable for a team desperate for a PG, and there will always be that team each year.

So I think it's possible to develop this team into a Pistons-like championship type. It may take 3-4-5 years to start resembling that, but with the way Geoff assembles talent, it's very possible IMO. This team is DEEP with talent already, and we still have the ability to land a max FA in a couple years. It's modeling itself after the 01-02 Kings team in terms of how much talent the roster can/will have.

Woah, woah, woah....equally? Big Ben was once one of the most dominant defensive bigs of this generation. He anchored the 04 Pistons--one of the top defensive teams ever. You're better off arguing the point that Spencer's D will likely be substantially better than Ben's offense ever was.

Maybe I wrote it poorly, maybe you misunderstood poorly or a combination of the two, but that was essentially what I was attempting to communicate.

[King Baller]

Jason Thompson looks like a good NBA prospect. I see him as a Big man version of Kevin Martin. KMart had the physical tools but had to work and go through a couple of NBA seasons to start to reach his potential. I expect Jason to play and take his lumps as he learns the NBA game. If he takes care of his body and works hard in the off season in 3 years he could be a very good NBA PF. He could play center if the Kings manage to sign/trade for a high level PF.

Folks as much as we would have liked it the Kings have not had a top pick so Oden, Beasley, Horford, etc have been out of reach. Those are the types of players that make an immediate impact. Jason, Hawes and Greene will need a couple three season to develop. If they work hard and are coached well they have a good chance to be high level NBA players.

As a fan what I want to see from the Kings as Petrie and Theus build this team is EFFORT. Every night, every play I want to see a hustling young team build a reputation of hard work and mental toughness. If they are getting blown out I want them fighting for every loose ball, every rebound and fouling anyone who dares to drive to the hoop. I don't care if every player fouls out, make the other team earn it, dammit

KB

[Kodiak Is. King]

here here...agreed with seeking to witness hustle and grit.
We have many unknowns this season which will play themselves into our continued dialogue, my sense is this talented, young Kings team is on the up. Thompson will be a key contributor toward the next Kings playoff run (title run!) along with Hawes, Martin, and Greene.
This is nothing new, but I am so ready for the season...and rooting for us to make the Playoffs, not to achieve the #1 pick.

Pleayer I look at the most this season to impress? Garcia

[cdt3]

I love Jason Thompson. He is going to be a heck of a player. Most of the time the college stats you put up are your NBA potential. He was a 20/10/4ast/2.5bolcks in college. He will put those numbers at least in the pros, but it will take him a few years to develop. Probably his biggest weakness now is his moves in the post, and his toughness which will come in time. Look at the difference between Hawes last year and this year. For all of you hating on Hawes, Williams, Thomspon, or Greene I remember one Kobe Bryant throwing up airballs and choking his brains out when playing against the Kings in the playoffs in his first season. I think JT was a PG growing up until his junior year in high school so he is still getting used to being a post scorer. Being a former guard he will be good off the dribble, and passing and shooting range won't be an issue. If he develops the clutchness he had in college and summer league he may be that missing piece we are looking for look out. Hawes and Williams can be 20/10 guys but I don't think they will be clutch game winner. Defense as a big guy is much different than a guard as well which is something he will also have to improve on, but he did lock down Beasley is his one game against him. He is definitely a future Kings big guy.

[deNIEd]

I guess warnings against personal attacks just don't work for you...