RealGM

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 7:30 pm**

I apologize for the fact that the Kings are no longer playing, but there is one bright side to the "unofficial" start of the offseason. It's time for the annual Pre-Draft Summit, led by myself (Andrew Perna). The pieces will be turned into articles, and will be part of a three-pronged attack of draft coverage on RealGM.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and please remember to try keeping the answers as tight and concise as possible.

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?

Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 8:12 pm**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

-Nothing! We were officially lottery bound when Artest was traded away. Even still we probably would not have made the playoffs

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

-We still can score the basketball well. We won 17 games so we can't be strong at many things

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

-Spencer Hawes. After Brad Miller was traded he and Jason Thompson play well.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

-Beno Udrih. I'd actually say Kevin Martin because he went from a super efficient off the ball scorer to almost a volume scorer. I saw that as a regression because what worked best for him he no longer was doing. Beno was expected to be the starting PG and play well the entire season. He lost the starting role for a while and was VERY incosistent. I never thought he was a consistent player and he is who I thought he was. Most would say Udrih was the most surprising.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

I'm 50/50.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

Potential superstars! A superstar point guard would be nice.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?

Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today![/quote]

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 8:29 pm**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Considering that we were the worst team in the league with 17 wins, there is no playoffs aspirations. Well, if we are trying to create a playoff birth, we have to obtain more talent. Period. This team has to have the least talent in the league. Really, outside of Martin, who do we got? Also, we have glaring holes in the PG positions and the SF positions as well. Beno isn't a starter nor Garcia (He is better utilized as a sixth man).

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

I don't think we have a strength that we can rely on consistently every night. But we usually fight harder against good teams rather than subpar teams though. Also, we are a good free throw shooting team, if that counts for anything. Ugh..I think that is it. Other than scoring the ball (which we are kind of somewhat good at)

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Jason Thompson. He proved the critics wrong around the draft/NBA world. He gave us a player with rebounding prowess, hustle and other good stuff.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Beno Udrih. We gave him a long/well paid contract for his services but he didn't met expectations (even though he had a similar year last year but this time with a weaker 3 point shot) I expected him to improve i.e. assists should have been higher, less turn overs, and effectively becoming a playmaker not a scoring first PG

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Knowing that Petrie is now fully control with the coach selections and knowing that he has a great history with the draft, I feel confident that we will get something done positive at the very least.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

PG and PG. We are desperately needing a PG that can effectively run this team. Rubio would be nice.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?

I would like to see either:

Rubio (If he falls)
Thabeet (If he falls)
Holiday
Harden
Jennings
Flynn (Maybe)
Evans (Maybe)

BPA: Harden
Need: Holiday or Flynn (Reach)

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 8:31 pm**

PacerPerspective wrote:I apologize for the fact that the Kings are no longer playing, but there is one bright side to the "unofficial" start of the offseason. It's time for the annual Pre-Draft Summit, led by myself (Andrew Perna). The pieces will be turned into articles, and will be part of a three-pronged attack of draft coverage on RealGM.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and please remember to try keeping the answers as tight and concise as possible.

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

We really weren't playoff bound this year, even with the Vets we started with. My projection was 30 wins and we fell 13 games short. I think had we stuck with Theus as coach we may have won 20-25 games in actuality.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

Biggest strength is getting to the free throw line and shooting well there, in large part due to Martin.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Jason Thompson. Everyone called him a REACH. And he showed he may be a double-double threat every night in the immediate future.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Beno Udrih. BARF. We invested in him and he totally let us down. Very inconsistent. With that said, he's still capable of bouncing back and being a nice piece to our puzzle. But we'd still like to see an upgrade from GOOD Beno.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Very confident. Petrie has assets to spend in a rebuild for the first time since the '98 offseason.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

POINT GUARD, PF/C DEPTH and SF.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
I HOPE Rubio falls to 4, which I think is possible. Otherwise I like Evans/Harden/Flynn and maybe Earl Clarke as a darkhorse.

Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 9:44 pm**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
We would not have made the playoffs but the year before we had 38-44 under Theus and would have been comparable once Martin returned. Kenny Natt was a terrible fit for a young team, Beno's stats went down after Natt took over than under Theus.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Hawes' jumpshots and unlimited post moves, JT's touch off the glass and learning to getting to the basket at will, Martin's effiency to score from anywhere on the court, Noc's and Garcia's toughness, Donte's jumpshot, and BJax heart.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
The youth. They took a lot of lumps but there was a great deal of improvement between the early games and late games although there is still room to grow.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Anyone on defense. Although with 2 young guys in the paint improved throughout the year there is a lot more defensive work to improve on.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Very.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
PG with unrelenting confidence and mental toughness, enforcer or shotblocker off the bench, lockdown defensive SF.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
Curry or Holiday or Flynn or Evans

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 10:20 pm**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
*** We won't be a playoff team for a good while; however, I think we made it perfectly clear that we are in a full rebuilding mode the minute we traded away the pieces who were instrumental in leading us for a playoff push. Namely Artest Bibby and Salmons***

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
*** I think the biggest strenghts were having a nice young core to give them the experience and shooting. These young guys can turn it on***

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
***Jason Thompson turned it on late, but I believe the guy who had an effective season was Spencer Hawes. He was consistent (to me) and he grabbed alot of boards! If he can grow to being a 17/10 guy a night, I would greatly appreciate that!***

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
*** The coaching staff, Beno Udrih AND Donte Greene; These guys were TERRIBLE! Beno, we all thought he'd be a vast contributor in his own way helping to bring about some wins, but he was very discouraging to watch. Donte, well he is the living story of and for the Artest trade! Well he along with who ever we select at the number #23. But he never got off on the right track here. Hopefully he works harder in the offseason. The coaching staff just was plain ol' pathetic.***

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
*** Not TOO confident but basically hoping for the best and expecting the worst. GP I believe is out of touch with the team and what and where he wants to carry this team (direction). But hopefully we're able to remain patient as GP finds his touch again and takes his time with decision making, he's done it before and can do it again***

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
*** POINT GUARD POINT GUARD POINT GUARD! And another draftee prospect at SF. We could do a 'reach' pick again for another big man to be behind JT***

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
*** Well it all depends, if Earl Clarke looks good in work outs then he's my obvious pick, if not then Holiday, Evans, Thabeet, Clarke in that order***

Posted: **Wed May 27, 2009 11:58 pm**

PacerPerspective wrote:I apologize for the fact that the Kings are no longer playing, but there is one bright side to the "unofficial" start of the offseason. It's time for the annual Pre-Draft Summit, led by myself (Andrew Perna). The pieces will be turned into articles, and will be part of a three-pronged attack of draft coverage on RealGM.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and please remember to try keeping the answers as tight and concise as possible.

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Nothing
The Kings were never going to make the playoffs this year, i think there was alot of false hope from fans at the start of the year which evantually led to Reggie Theus' firing after 30 odd games, from there it seemed this Kings were more interested in saving money, hired a bad/cheap coach, Sold Salmons so we could get rid of Miller's contract, various other trades

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Tough to say, im going to say after the deadline, with Noc and McCants in the lineup they spread enthusiam to a team which despretly needed it. Not often after they came into the team did we lie down and die.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Noc and McCants for the reasons above, Id like to keep them this season for sure, All the problems with Noc - saying he shot to much, played out of control at times didnt see that at all i think he averaged something like 13-15 ppg on a good percentage. Same with McCants he had similar concerns coming to the Kings but he put up some big numbers off the bench, shot extremly well and did all that a good 6th man should do.

Other then that Hawes and Thompson, i think Hawes is 19 and Thompson 21, correct me if im wrong, But they won the starting spots and were probably the only glimpses of hope we fans had all year, i cant wait till there 25. Salmons was good to when he was here.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Beno Udric : He plain sucked, Lots of silly turnovers, below average defence, bad shooting, not what we wanted at all after giving him a five year contract, at best he is a backup on a championship team.

Im not going to say K-mart here, he had injurys most of the year and was the best player on a team worse in the NBA talent wise, he was always going to strugle

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Fairly confident with the draft, Petrie has found players the 4 out of the last 5 drafts so im confident he can do it again, Free agency, im not to sure if we have any caproom to spend ? or if we do the Maloofs might not choose to use it for money reasons

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
A Point that can lead a championship team, Im talking someone with at minium the talent of Billups, In a PG loaded draft we get first choice at every PG out there not named Ricky Rubio

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
Select Harden and trade down for Holiday plus sweetner, or even better, trade up for Rubio

Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

Posted: **Thu May 28, 2009 12:18 am**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
We are a very young team, 10 players have 4 years of experience or less, so it would be very hard for this team to have made the playoffs this year. PG play killed us this year and if it was substantially better we may have had a shot, but most likely we would need more exp. and vets.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Having a nice core of talented youth. That's all we can really give you. K-Mart is a great player to have but we need more than him to get back to the playoffs or atleast put up a fight for the playoffs.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
McCants and Noc were nice after the all-star break but Hawes and JT showed us that they can be those two down low in future years.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Beno. He was absolutely terrible. When he had his good games we usually won, but he was crap this year and I was as a disapointed in him as a Father would be if his son decided to take balet instead of playing for the football team.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
I like Peach making our decisions. He has proven he knows how to draft and make deals. Now is a time when we are rebuilding and to rebuild you need to get young and times of struggle will occur, and that is where were at. We got 2 picks in the first round and 3 in the top 31. I know we will atleast get two good players in this draft(hopefully a PG that can kick Beno the balet dancer, to the bench)

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
PG PG PG
One that can lead and play defense.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
Evans, Rubio, Flynn, Maynor would all be alrite with me.

Posted: **Thu May 28, 2009 12:27 am**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
Play some defense. Offensively, we weren't the worst team in the league. It was quite a different story on the defensive end. We also need a LEADER, particularly at the PG position.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
We got to the free throw line pretty consistently. We also shot the 3 at a decent percentage and forced some turnovers.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Spencer was really strong in stretches and Thompson showed that he was worth the #12 pick in the draft.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Beno was obviously a huge disappointment but KMart didn't step up to the plate the way I would have liked him to, either.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
I'm confident in the front office, I'm just not confident that we have the tools to get much better next season.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
PG,PG, PG, PG, PG. Toughness and defense on the front line.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
Ricky (somehow), then Jrue Holiday.

Posted: **Thu May 28, 2009 3:14 am**

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Blackmail?

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

Overall skill level, shooting, and passing (later in the year).

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Spencer Hawes. Not too surprising IMO though.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Beno Udrih. He did however get things going after Salmons was traded because he was able to run the offense more.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Pretty.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

Talent and value.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?

James Harden.

Posted: **Sat May 30, 2009 3:32 am**

ICMTM wrote:
4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

-Beno Udrih. I'd actually say Kevin Martin because he went from a super efficient off the ball scorer to almost a volume scorer. I saw that as a regression because what worked best for him he no longer was doing. Beno was expected to be the starting PG and play well the entire season. He lost the starting role for a while and was VERY incosistent. I never thought he was a consistent player and he is who I thought he was. Most would say Udrih was the most surprising.

Who exactly was he supposed to play off of? A 20-year-old Spencer? Beno, our amazing PG? He had no choice but to play this way. It's clearly not how he should be utilized, but it's not his fault that, despite it not being his strength, he was still our best scorer in isolation.

Despite that, he still in fact scored with elite efficiency for a wing player.

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
Learn some semblance of defense, develop offensive cohesion, and an ability to execute in crunch time.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Despite any real offensive cohesion or an effectively applied system, the team could score and get to the line, mostly because of Kevin Martin. Without him, the team pretty much has no strengths. Maybe outside shooting. The team is pretty good in that respect.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
No huge surprises, but I'd say Jason Thompson was nice considering how many reacted to his drafting. Also, after some real doubts, Spencer Hawes proved to be player with very nice potential.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Like others have said, Beno. I think he'll be better next year, as he did seem to be better after the Noc trade. But still, I think everybody expected him to show a bit of a better command of things and to put up better numbers.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Pretty confident. I'm confident that the draft will improve the team, given Petrie's record. The same goes for draft and even FA at this point.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
PG, high level talent in general.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 4th pick?
If he falls, Rubio, or possibly using the 4th pick to trade up to Rubio. Otherwise, I would possibly look to use the value of a player like Harden or Thabeet to trade down and take an effective PG. For PG's outside of Rubio, I think I like Holiday and Flynn the most right now.

Ultimately though, even if it's not somebody like this, I trust Petrie enough that he knows better than me.

RealGM

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