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Are we really too young to win? I think there most blogs I have read have the Kings ranked last as far as this years team's potential. I wanted everyone to look at the playoff rosters from last years Western Conference team and compare of the age/stats of the playoff teams and compare them to a projected Kings roster and stats based on the last 2 months of last year plus any summer league improvement. Are teams really that much better than us?

I wanted to compare the Kings vs. the most up and coming team in the WC, Portland.

Here are last year #7 playoff spot team's starters with their ages and stats:
29 Blake 11/5
25 Roy 22/5
20 Batum 5/3
24 Aldridge 18/8/1
21 Oden 9/7/1.1

Here are the projected starting lineup and stats for the Kings this year:
20 Evans 15/6/5
27 KMart 22/4
29 Noc 10/5
24 JT 18/10/1
21 Hawes 16/9/1.5

So basically the ages of Port v Kings is identical and the stats are definitely at least as good. We are not too young compared most young/up and coming team and #7 team last year in the playoffs Portland.

Last time I checked, offensive stats were only half the battle.

We don't have the intangables, defense or team experience to pull a Portland.

Experience, experience, experience. Age and cunning over youth and ability any day of the week.

JT at 18 and 10!? Wow, I'd really like to see that but don't get your hopes up. Might be inflating Spencer's stats a bit there too and underrating Nocionis. The difference here is that the players on Portland HAVE put those stats up, you can almost pencil those in for their players. The ones for us are speculation at this point.

In this topic: massive homerism by TC. And I'm fairly certain the Blazers were the 4th seed, maybe the 5th I don't exactly remember. 7th seed was the Hornets.

dude playoffs are not happening this year

I just....God I don't even know where to begin.

I really don't want to get into it too much, but comparing projected averages of starting lineups that are based off of nothing factual that don't account for pace, bench play, minutes, more importantly efficiency, and most importantly defense--that is just absolutely ridiculous. And that's not even accounting for the fact that Portland just signed Miller AND the fact that they were actually the #4 seed last year--not 7.

If you want to try to make the argument that the Kings can be that good next year, fine. But please try to back it up with something that logically leads to that--not just posting projected, and worse so, irrelevant numbers.

To make the playoffs in the Western Conference requires a team to win at least 45 games or so. Unless, Martin becomes LeBron James, Reke becomes Wade or Cicso becomes Kobe, there is no way we would sniff the playoffs IMO.

My question is, would it really benefit us to make a run for the playoffs? I think we still could use another top 5 pick. Just sayin'!

Maybe not top 5. We still need a lottery pick, but I'd like to see a jump from #4 to like 10-12 next year. Thats feasible & shows signs of improvement.

Add another lottery pick + FA signing next off season + and we have a playoff team.

I also don't even know where to begin...

We had one of the worst teams in summer league...which had 2/5 of our starting lineup on the roster. 1/3 of our key players on that team.

Thompson didn't even average 18/10 in summer league, and you're expecting him to do it against better competition in the regular season?

You have unrealistic expectations for most of our players.

Wait till Evans plays at least 10 games in the NBA to predict how he will do. Playing well in summer league means absolutely nothing.

our team is ideal, but we need to find a better foward, i want noc to come off the bench. but definitely better.

JSrose115 wrote:our team is ideal, but we need to find a better foward, i want noc to come off the bench. but definitely better.

I hold off to the idea right now.

I want to see what are the development of Jason before considering finding a better power forward IMO. If Jason's personal expectation comes true (He has said he wants to average a dbl-dbl next year and wants to become a better defender/less fouls), I don't think we would need another power forward anymore.

Wow the point I made is EVEN more valid now that I see Portland was a #4 seed with a team with less experience as the Kings this year.

Here was the total # of experience for the starters for Port. team Blake 6yrs (29), Roy 3rd (25), Batum Rookie (19), Aldridge 2nd year (24), Oden Rookie (19). A total of 13 years of NBA experience for the starters of the #4 seed last year. The Blazers have a team average team age of 24.7 this year (so in reality was a below 24 in the playoffs last year).

The Kings this year have Evans R (19), Kmart 5 years (26), Noc 5years (29), Thompson 2nd (24), and Hawes 3rd (21). So the Kings starters this year have 16years of experience after this season starts. The Kings have average team age of 24.5 this year.

The Kings this year have more experience than the Blazers did last year and they finished #4 in the conference. My point is the Kings are not too young or too inexperienced or is it unrealistic to be .500+ and make the playoffs.

There are really the Spurs, Lakers, Charlotte, Portland, and Denver are most likely playoff bound the other 3 spots are up for grabs. Considering Houston is too injured, Dallas/Phoenix/Utah scare no one, Clippers/Memphis/Kings/OKC/Golden State are all too young.

Someone has to make the playoffs who doesn't belong and Evans has proven to be a gamechanger at every level. I'm just saying we will be in the middle of the pack this year.

kingsfan10 wrote:

JSrose115 wrote:our team is ideal, but we need to find a better foward, i want noc to come off the bench. but definitely better.

I hold off to the idea right now.

I want to see what are the development of Jason before considering finding a better power forward IMO. If Jason's personal expectation comes true (He has said he wants to average a dbl-dbl next year and wants to become a better defender/less fouls), I don't think we would need another power forward anymore.

my bad for not clarifying, a better small foward

JSrose115 wrote:
my bad for not clarifying, a better small foward

No problem.

cdt3 wrote:Wow the point I made is EVEN more valid now that I see Portland was a #4 seed with a team with less experience as the Kings this year.

Here was the total # of experience for the starters for Port. team Blake 6yrs (29), Roy 3rd (25), Batum Rookie (19), Aldridge 2nd year (24), Oden Rookie (19). A total of 13 years of NBA experience for the starters of the #4 seed last year. The Blazers have a team average team age of 24.7 this year (so in reality was a below 24 in the playoffs last year).

The Kings this year have Evans R (19), Kmart 5 years (26), Noc 5years (29), Thompson 2nd (24), and Hawes 3rd (21). So the Kings starters this year have 16years of experience after this season starts. The Kings have average team age of 24.5 this year.

The Kings this year have more experience than the Blazers did last year and they finished #4 in the conference. My point is the Kings are not too young or too inexperienced or is it unrealistic to be .500+ and make the playoffs.

There are really the Spurs, Lakers, Charlotte, Portland are most likely playoff bound the other 4 spots are up for grabs. Considering Houston is too injured, Dallas/Phoenix/Utah scare no one, Clippers/Memphis/Kings/OKC are all too young.

Someone has to make the playoffs who doesn't belong and Evans has proven to be a gamechanger at every level.

1. I don't just mean total experience, I mean experience together. The Blazers had a few years with their coach, we're getting a new coach. And while their leader, Roy, had had three years of experience, Evans has had none.

2. You're counting on Evans being a gamechanger after summer league? Thats as ridiculous as people saying he's a mistake of a pick after summer league games.

Unless Evans turns out to be a Tim Duncan level player we are not gonna go from a 17 win team to playoffs because of a rookie. And add the fact that we don't have David Robinson coming back from injury too.

Lightning Strike wrote:

cdt3 wrote:Wow the point I made is EVEN more valid now that I see Portland was a #4 seed with a team with less experience as the Kings this year.

Here was the total # of experience for the starters for Port. team Blake 6yrs (29), Roy 3rd (25), Batum Rookie (19), Aldridge 2nd year (24), Oden Rookie (19). A total of 13 years of NBA experience for the starters of the #4 seed last year. The Blazers have a team average team age of 24.7 this year (so in reality was a below 24 in the playoffs last year).

The Kings this year have Evans R (19), Kmart 5 years (26), Noc 5years (29), Thompson 2nd (24), and Hawes 3rd (21). So the Kings starters this year have 16years of experience after this season starts. The Kings have average team age of 24.5 this year.

The Kings this year have more experience than the Blazers did last year and they finished #4 in the conference. My point is the Kings are not too young or too inexperienced or is it unrealistic to be .500+ and make the playoffs.

There are really the Spurs, Lakers, Charlotte, Portland are most likely playoff bound the other 4 spots are up for grabs. Considering Houston is too injured, Dallas/Phoenix/Utah scare no one, Clippers/Memphis/Kings/OKC are all too young.

Someone has to make the playoffs who doesn't belong and Evans has proven to be a gamechanger at every level.

1. I don't just mean total experience, I mean experience together. The Blazers had a few years with their coach, we're getting a new coach. And while their leader, Roy, had had three years of experience, Evans has had none.

2. You're counting on Evans being a gamechanger after summer league? Thats as ridiculous as people saying he's a mistake of a pick after summer league games.

The sumer league is no big deal is a myth, Anthony Randolph was invited to team USA right after scoring 42 points in summer league (avgd 23/8). Blake Griffin avgd a 20/12 and was declared a instant best player and MVP. The current Kings Evans and Thompson avgd 19 this year, and Donte avgd 20+ last year. The last 2 games when Evans and Thompson learned to play together JT threw up 26/10.
This team has more talent than people give them credit. That is all I am saying.

Remember Chris Paul's, DWilliams, and DRose have been close to top 4 draft picks and had teams go from last to playoffs in the last decade.

Flipstorm wrote:Unless Evans turns out to be a Tim Duncan level player we are not gonna go from a 17 win team to playoffs because of a rookie. And add the fact that we don't have David Robinson coming back from injury too.

+1

You (cdt) can say this team has more talent then others think, sure, but it most certainly does not have enough to make the playoffs in a tough Western conference - if we're undervaluing the Kings, then you're undervaluing the rest of the WC. We're not going to be better than Utah, or Portland, or Dallas, and thinking we can is so overvaluing Evans that it's setting the poor guy up for failure no matter how well he does this year.

I like our young team, but I think Portland has key differences at this point.

1) Roy. Does what a leader, and a all-star should for his team. Even more important for a young team getting experience. Along with the coaching, having someone like Roy out there with them is huge.

2) Experience in winning, and as a unit. Young players need to learn to win games, and trust each other to do so. This is a big difference imo.

Now for us, we don't have either atm. I wasn't untill after Brad and John were traded that Hawes and JT were given more minutes. At this point in the season, i'm sure it was frustrating because the season was basically lost, your coach had been fired and your leading scorer was out for a good chunk of games. Not the ideal situation for young players.

I believe, thats why this season is important. Not in the sense of, making the playoffs; but in learning to win, learning to play with each other and seeing what we have in our young team.

Its a new start with a good, experienced coach. Some fresh blood in Evans, and maybe Casspi/Brockman find a niche in the rotation. Thats basically what I look forward too this season, with the season following being the turning point.