Building a Championship team/Kings future

[king125]

In order to be a Championship team or even a team that can go past the first round of the playoffs, there are certain ingredients that you must have. Obviously the team must have a good coach. You need ownership that is willing to pay the money to attract the talent and pieces to have a complete team. And you need a GM that can make great decisions in the draft and find potential superstars. Without all three of these dimensions you are not going anywhere.

As far as player personal is concerned, there is a certain formula you need as well. First off you need a Superstar. When I say Superstar I am not saying just someone who can score, but someone who can dominate their position. This player needs to be a player that is feared and a player that requires opposing teams game plans to be centered around them. Without this player, it is nearly impossible to win a championship. You can still make the playoffs without this guy, but you wont go far unless the rest of your team is amazingly good (Pistons a few years back). Second you need the #2 guy. This guy is an All Star and a guy who could be a Superstar on another team but because he is on a team that already has that guy, he is option 2. Usually the best situation for this guy is to play a position that has an alternate role then the Superstar. If your option 1 is a wing, this guy needs to be in the post. If your option 1 is a post player, this guy needs to be a PG or a strong shooting wing. Having your Superstar and option 2 guy both on the wing or both in the backcourt, you could have some power there, but not enough. If you can somehow land a Superstar and option 2 guy both in the post (Duncan and Robinson) you are pretty lucky. Third you need a role players. You need some guys who are potential all stars or veteran guys who were all stars in the past. You also need some young talent that can have breakout games when your top options are either struggling or being double covered. And obviously you need a good bench. With this formula, you have a shot!

If you look at the past championship teams you can see that this formula is needed. With the Lakers last year you had Kobe Bryant with a non conflicting option 2 in Gasol. Behind them you had a team filled with great role players in Odom, Fischer, Bynum, Ariza, and more. The previous year you had the Celtics you had there Superstars in Garnett and Pierce (non conflicting positions) and extremely good role players in Allen (damn near Superstar or Option 2) and guys like Rondo, Big Baby, Posey. Past teams had there combos as well like Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker for the Spurs. The Heat had the Shaq and DWade combo. And the Jordan/Pippen duo had their run as well.

To be a playoff team you need to have the same ingredients. You might not be as lucky to have the perfect formula, but it will be pretty close. For this season the good teams have the scenario. Lakers (Bryant/Gasol), Mavericks (Dirk/Kidd), Spurs (Duncan/Parker), Nuggets (Anthony/Billups), Blazers (Roy/Aldridge), Jazz (Williams/Boozer), Suns (Amare/Nash). Some of the bubble teams even have there own weaker versions of the formula Thunder (Durant/Green), Hornets (Paul/West), Grizzlies (Gay/Randolph). The team that has the best 1-2 punch with the best reserves will go to the Finals. The East has the same formula for the top 3-4 teams and then after that its a crap shoot for a bunch of bad teams. Toronto and Miami are OK but there Superstars (Bosh and Wade) have no option 2 and that is why they are not a real threat.

So where do the Kings fit in and what pieces are needed to be a playoff team and potential Champion?

Well first off I think we can all agree that Tyreke has all the tools to be a Superstar. He has the "it" factor and is already proving that he has everything needed to be that guy, except experience which he is getting by the day. Our option 2 is Kevin Martin. The problem is that he shares the back court with out #1 guy which makes it easy for teams to game plan around us. Our lack of post presence makes us 1 dimensional and even though together they make a deadly back court we are not going anywhere with these guys as our top 2 options. So should we move Kevin? No. He has a nice contract and could be a very effective role player for this team, if we were able to get a post playing Superstar or Option 2. If you look at our team right now, we have 0 All Stars and a bunch of young talented players. But other then Tyreke we have no players that have the "it" factor. Our team plays with heart and we are very energetic and talented at every position but due to the lack of that Star in the Post, we cant close out any close games we are in. We rely in Tyreke way too much and although I see him as a clutch game finisher in the future, the reality is that he is 20 years old and has only played in 40 NBA games.

It is obvious that we need a Big Guy so where do we get him? Who is out there to trade for? Bosh, Amare, and Boozer would be great but they will never re-sign with us so that is pointless. Is there anyone else that might be available this summer in Free Agency? Not really any good guys and we would end up overpaying for a guy that long term would be a waste. The draft? Is there any big guys coming out of the draft this year that are gonna be sure fire Superstars? GP does a great job in the draft and I am sure he will find a great player in this years draft and maybe he will have the same impact as Tyreke. But the only guaranteed Star coming out this year is John Wall, which would be nice to land if we somehow got the number 1 pick, but still wouldn't fix our problem. Either way the answer to our "big guy" problem is un-answerable right now. With that being said, I think we should do nothing! The west is nasty right now and there are no clear moves that could put us near the top. We obviously are improving and we have some great young talent that could either develop into great role players or be nice trade pieces in the future. But for now, we should have patience until something amazing presents itself.

[RekeHavoc]

I think we need to get that big guy. The thing is, if we traded for Amare/Boozer/Bosh, we'd need to ask them if they'd be willing to resign with us. If Amare would be I'd trade for him, but we'd probably have to be willing to give him a lot of cash in a potential extension. But it'd be worth it seeing as his skillset would compliment Reke perfectly and he's only 26 I think. Boozer is 28, that's a little old for this team IMO, to be a core player, but it wouldn't be horrible. Bosh is only 24 but I don't think he'd want to leave Toronto for us right now since the East is so weak and they've fielded a decent team.

I honestly think Kevin and Reke can't really coexist together. Like you said, you can have 2 franchise bigs like Duncan and DRob coexist together. Because you can always use large PF/Cs who can post, are offensively skilled, good interior passers, good man to man to defenders, and good shotblockers/rebounders. But it's not like that with backcourt guys who are ball dominant, unless you have a post guy that is also ball dominant, and there's your big 3. But with our team the way it is now, Reke needs to be able to go to the rim or cut to the basket majority of the time, and also drive and kick. But he also needs a guy who can handle the ball and make plays for other players, and take some of the load off of him as far as defense goes. Instead Martin sucks on D, and Tyreke is usually guarding the other team's best player and at the same time he's carrying us offensively. Martin is a guy who has a lot of plays ran for him, but he doesn't make plays for other guys and he doesn't defend well. He'd fit well on a team with a great passing PG and a franchise big like the Mavs who have Dirk and Kidd, but when your best player needs the ball a lot for the team to be succesful, then he can't always be guarding the other teams best player. He's going to get tired. When Beno was starting with Reke, Reke did most of the scoring from the backcourt and he guarded other team's best player. But Beno was still knocking down open shots, passing the ball well, and Tyreke wasn't always bringing the ball up. Offensively, Tyreke is best with the ball in his hands because then he can drive, drive and dish, or they can play pick and roll. But with KMart out there, Tyreke winds up standing at the 3 point line half the time, and he's useless right there.

We need to get a lot better inside defensively, offensively, on the boards, hell we need to get better inside everywhere. When you have a trade chip like KMart, you might as well use it to do that. I like JT AND Spencer, but not together. Neither of them are dominant on one side of the ball, or specialize in one area. It never hurts to have 2 good defensive players(see KG and Perkins), or 1 offensive guy and 1 defensive guy. Both of these guys are young and offensively they theoretically fit well together. But on the court both aren't good defenders, JT's technique is poor and Spencer is way too soft. JT fouls too much, Spencer probably not enough. They both have pretty good potential, but that only goes so far and I don't think they bring out the best in eachother. Spencer can do more stuff offensively but his problem is he gets stuck hanging out at the 3 point line thinking he's Ray Allen or Steve Nash, and when he's in the post or at the elbow he makes good things happen. I mean really, the guy has a good hookshot, a decent jumpshot, is a great passer, and having him stand out at the 3 point line is doing him no favors. Seriously if you're the opponent, what would you rather have our offensively skilled center do, stand out at the 3 point line or down low where he's in position to get a rebound(which he needs to get MUCH better at btw), post up, shoot a 15 footer, hit a cutter if he draws the defender out to the elbow, etc? You'd RATHER have him at the 3 point line. Because he's a center. And centers shouldn't be out at the 3 point line. He's not very good on defense, and he needs to play with a guy who takes attention off of him AND plays great defense. Think KG in his prime, or even a guy like CWebb. But those players are really hard to find. At the same time, Spencer is only 21 and he still has a ton of room to grow.

Jason is different. The frustrating thing about him is that all of his problems are in his head. At the beginning of the season he was balling, he was hitting that 15 footer. He was getting stuff going in the post sometimes and he was getting a lot of tip ins. Probably atleast 1-2 a game. Now, he's not nearly as active, he's always stumbling around the court like a zombie, he's not hitting his J, and he quit doing everything else that was working. His defense could be very good, he's 6'11'', strong, pretty good rebounder, and he has some length with those arms. And instead of being a shutdown defender, his defense has gotten worse. He rarely gets a hand and a forearm on the other player when he's getting posted up. He stands straight up too much and plays with 2 hands on the other guy, often resulting in a foul. Or he'll grab their jersey which doesn't help you much at all unless they're about to score, and then he's surprised they call a foul on him. He has a lot of skills but the basketball IQ of a cow. I honestly think that we could have a better big man coach than Shareef, atleast as far as defense goes, because Reef was never a good defender in his career and Jason should be getting better at this stuff. It's not even hard. As a shorter player, even when you' get a mismatch and someone way bigger is on you, if you have good position and your technique is pretty good you won't get killed all the time. A guy with his height, length, and athleticism should be much better.

I think Casspi and Greene fit really well. I can see them both either starting as the 2/3 of this team, or 1 of them off the bench in the future. They fit really well, neither of them are offensively incompetent and both of them are tough players who have skills. Casspi's offensive repetoire is really good, he can post up a bit on smaller players, he drives well to the basket and has a nice floater, he can hit the 3, he rebounds well, he gets out on the break. Greene's a good defender and shotblocker, it's really nice to be able to put a guy with his length and athleticism on Kobe/Melo type of players and he turns them into volume shooters, moreso than they already are. But when Cisco comes back, and with Kevin back, these guys are going to get squeezed for minutes and I don't really like that.

You can build a team 2 different ways really. You can get a team full of pretty good players, or really good defenders, like the Pistons of 03-04, or you can build around 2-3 stars, obviously a few teams have done a bit of both like the 07-08 Celtics, or our own Kings from 02 that didn't come away with a ring. You need some good defenders and some good spot up shooters, you need your role players. Or you can build like the Lakers have, 2-3 stars like a Kobe/Shaq or now Kobe/Gasol. If you have 2 dominant players then you can really just focus on role players. Spurs had 1 dominant guy in TD, and then 2 all stars in Parker and Ginobili, but at the same time those guys complimented eachother. Both could drive, but Ginobili can handle the ball a bit which is helpful since Parker isn't a pure PG really, and Ginobili spots up for 3 a lot since he's a good 3 point shooter benefiting off of TD's post game and Parker's driving ability. Then they surrounded those guys with a bunch of shooters.

I could go on and on but this post is long enough lol, I'll be amazed if any of you care what I have to say enough to actually read it.

[SacKingZZZ]

I seriously question whether Amare is the type to be "that" big guy. 28 is too old? Really? I don't know if I agree. I might if I thought Evans was years away from being able to contribute in any meaningful way. We lucked out here, he's the rare type of rookie where he was ready from day one. Bigs usually peak around 32-33, we better be in position to win in 3-5 years anyway, if not, time to scrap it. One thing I think needs to understood is one thing this team doesn't need is a big demanding the ball in the post. It's pretty simple when you think about it, Evans wants to slash, so a big in the post blocks off the majority of his offense. I'd prefer a big that can spot shoot to one that dominates in the post. Both Martin and Evans are terrific slashers, keep the lane clear!

It all depends on what direction you go of course, but I think Martin and Evans can work, I just think the pieces around them need to be changed if that's the choice. I'm OK with getting a big name big though, different direction however. I'm interested to see what the draft brings. Not a whole lot of superstars, solid draft, but certainly far from spectacular outside of a choice few. Somewhere in between the suckfest of '06 and the depth of last year, only with PF's and C's instead of PG's. Obviously there's a few bigs that can help right away. Aldrich is a name to look out for. He's not a superstar potential guy and he reminds me a little of a more polished and skilled Greg Ostertag, but that's far from a bad thing. This team could use Greg Ostertag himself for craps sake! So a rich man's version ought to do the trick.

I am interested to see what Petrie does, it's a huge free agency year and the opportunity to strike and risk striking out might be worth it. I just don't see him rushing into anything especially when moving a major piece of the puzzle.

Interesting points about JT and Hawes. I agree to an extent. I think in another setting they could do a whole lot more, but the truth is they are mostly offensive players, and while they compliment eachother in some ways, they do far from that with others on the team. It's all a question of shots. There just aren't enough for both Jason and Spencer to be productive along with Evans, Martin, Beno, Casspi, etc. needing shots. I do however think this team could use Hawes far better with far better results than Jason Thompson. As you brought up, Jason does have some issues in regards to technique, at least when Hawes is on the floor your going to get someone that can fit in the offense, set good screens, and stay out of the way if need be (although if there's anyone that should have the ball between the two I think Hawes is the way to go).

[RekeHavoc]

See I disagree that a post player blocks off the lane for them. If anything it keeps the guy defending that player honest. You don't see Bynum or Gasol's man stopping Kobe from getting to the rim. You don't see Duncan stopped Parker getting to the rim. You didn't see Shaq stop Wade from getting to the rim. You didn't see KG and Perkins stop Rondo or Pierce from getting to the rim, although KG had a hell of a lot better jumpshot than the other guys. Plus Amare or Boozer(who i don't think the Jazz will trade, they're starting to play pretty well) CAN hit that 15-20 foot jump shot, face up, as well as do some damage with their back to the basket.

I mean I think maybe the KMart/Evans backcourt CAN work, but then we need a whole different frontcourt. Heck right now if they're the pair then Brockman/Armstrong might be our best frontcourt since Brock is a board monster and Armstrong guards the rim pretty well in his limited PT. Then have Casspi or Green out there. But what do we do with JT/Spencer if neither are in our future? IMO if we keep the KMart/Evans backcourt atleast 1 of JT/Hawes has to go since there aren't enough touches like you said, and we'd need guys to get boards/2nd shot opportunities on the floor since shots from your perimeter players are less likely to go in then shots from your post players if they have a good back to the basket game. I really wouldn't be sure who to trade out of Hawes/JT, because Hawes shows nice flashes of potential(like tonight when he hit KMart cutting twice for dunks and had 4 assists in limited minutes). But JT is a lot more consistent with his effort, except his confidence is more easily shaken and at times while Spencer does nothing, JT is actually a negative because he does something nice and follows it up with 3 things that hurt like hell in the next 10 posessions.

[darkadun]

I agree with most of your guys thoughts. Good points. After thinking long about this, this is the direction I think the kings need to go frontcourt wise.

Hawes has the most potential to be a "all-star" if you wil, being the pro-type "skilled Petrie player" ala Vlade & Miller....good passing, shooting, low-post moves. He actually seems to be a good combo of Vlade and Miller. He can have Miller's great jumper, along with Vlade's low post game, and pass like them both. That has the potential to be a all-star.

However, I think right now part of the problem with Hawes is that we expect things out of him that are not really his game atm; combine that with his age and the team not utilizing him to what his talents actually are, we see why he struggles and seems lost some games.

Ideally, going forward I'd like the kings to figure out a way to work a two-man game between Hawes and Evans/Martin (we've seen it some w/Martin) If those 3 can figure out how to play off each other and utilize each other fully, we now have 3 dangerous options offensively. With Hawes being only 21, I don't see any reason why he can't develop into this kind of player, going forward....

....with that being the case we need to pair Hawes with a PF and backup C that does negate Hawes deficencies, which is play hard, physical defense and clear the boards. Bottom line IMO. In theory, Jason should be that player, that is supposed to be his game, and most likely that is why Petrie paired him with Hawes. JT does play hard physical ball, unfortunetly he fouls too much, doesn't play smart and can't stay on the floor.

I'm not sure what the answer is, it may be better to put JT in a bench role and find and start brockman at PF along with Hawes. I still think we need a backup C like Camby. Someone who can come in who's only role is to block shots and rebound. Camby had 25 boards last night.

[RealJM]

Offensively, I think Boozer's the best 'available' fit for the Kings big man problems.

[darkadun]

True, I like Boozer, and while he is 28, I have not problem with this and think adding someone like him can be very helpful and I"ll tell you why.

I think this team needs some veteran leadership to show these young guys what it takes to actually win. If we could bring in a boozer-type, and then bring in say someone like Andre MIller (for examples sake) and get to the playoffs, it would show the young guys what it take to compete, to finish games, etc...

You sign Boozer to a 4 year deal, sign a vet PG to similiar deal; you have 4 years of a pretty good borderline playoff team; and then in 4 years, Evans will be 24, Hawes, Casspi and Donte will be 25, JT 26, Martin 30...and sprinkle in any good Petrie picks over the next 4 years and you have a good team right there. Who knows how good they could be?

I don't see why something along those lines could not work.

[cdt3]

Boozer's production in his 2nd year in the NBA was 15.5/11.5/.7blks. JT right now is avging 13/9/1blk. JT was getting close to 15/10/1 early in the year but Westphal has pulled him whenever he struggled offensively over the last few weeks. But there is an entire 41 games left for JT to get back to playing very well again.

Vs Cleveland JT had 12 point in the first half down only 2 at half then got only 2 touches in the second half and they got blown out. He had a 19/16/3blks a couple of days before and looks to be already breaking out again.

Have you ever watched a game that Garnett has played in? How about Dirk? Or Duncan? Or Boozer? Or Shaq? Or Lebron? Good thing no GOOD BIGS in the NBA argue calls or foul people in the paint....

It is human nature to think a call is made against you and take it personally...

Kings fans should know this more than anyone with the NBA playoffs because of getting jobbed by the NBA.

[Krimzen]

True, I like Boozer, and while he is 28, I have not problem with this and think adding someone like him can be very helpful and I"ll tell you why.

Boozer is terrible defensively, and is not a good leader. His rebounding is nice, but I do not think he is what this team needs at all.

That said, I wouldn't have a problem with Petrie signing an older defensive-oriented post player as a stop-gap if the right opportunity presents itself. The only problem is that Petrie in recent years has ended up handcuffing us to a lot of MLE deals when he wanted to try and fill a need. I think he understands that the team is in a different place now, and will pull back on the number of years for any veteran he goes after.

The right way to continue building the Kings towards a championship is continue to build assets through the draft. A small-market team like the Kings can't rely on a once-in-a-decade trade or FA signing that gives you another superstar. It happens too infrequently to plan for. So in the meantime you do the best job you can drafting the best available player(s), which Petrie has been pretty good at, and then you worry about the fit later. Draft well, develop your talent well, be wise and judicious with how you use your cap space, and everything will eventually work itself out. That way when the opportunity does knock to add a few missing pieces and make sure all the pieces fit, you have the assets to take advantage of it.

[KF10]

What are the chances to lure a guy like Haywood here? He may be kinda old (29-30?) But he would be perfect here.

[deNIEd]

1. Trade Garcia and Nocioni ASAP
2. Tank and draft Aldrich
3. Blow your load on JJ

Roll into 2010 w/
PG: T. Evans, B. Udrih
SG: K. Martin, D. Greene
SF: J. Johnson, O. Casspi
PF: J. Thompson, MLE
C : C. Aldrich, S. Hawes

[Norbit]

1. Trade Garcia and Nocioni ASAP
2. Tank and draft Aldrich
3. Blow your load on JJ

Roll into 2010 w/
PG: T. Evans, B. Udrih
SG: K. Martin, D. Greene
SF: J. Johnson, O. Casspi
PF: J. Thompson, MLE
C : C. Aldrich, S. Hawes

[Norbit]

Ok throw the realgm homer mindset crap out the door. If toronto/bosh was willing to sign and trade to the kings in the offseason for kmart/thompson/our 1st who would be for that. Is that too much? I know bosh value is lower when hes an expiring but if we were to get him locked up for 5 yrs is it worth it?

[Nicky Nix Nook]

Ok throw the realgm homer mindset crap out the door. If toronto/bosh was willing to sign and trade to the kings in the offseason for kmart/thompson/our 1st who would be for that. Is that too much? I know bosh value is lower when hes an expiring but if we were to get him locked up for 5 yrs is it worth it?

Bosh/Hawes frontcourt would fail defensively. Just look at Toronto now with Bargnani/Bosh frontcourt. There needs to be defense.

If we could trade for Okafor, we might be able to talk about this, although I think it would have to be a future first.

Evans
Greene
Casspi
Bosh
Okafor/Hawes

[Norbit]

Ok throw the realgm homer mindset crap out the door. If toronto/bosh was willing to sign and trade to the kings in the offseason for kmart/thompson/our 1st who would be for that. Is that too much? I know bosh value is lower when hes an expiring but if we were to get him locked up for 5 yrs is it worth it?

Bosh/Hawes frontcourt would fail defensively. Just look at Toronto now with Bargnani/Bosh frontcourt. There needs to be defense.

If we could trade for Okafor, we might be able to talk about this, although I think it would have to be a future first.

Evans
Greene
Casspi
Bosh
Okafor/Hawes

Sorry I didn't mention the follow up moves I thought we should make. I was thinking of either trading for Okafor like you suggested or maybe a Haywood like KF10 has mentioned. I dunno maybe even a Pryzbilla, I believe both he and Haywood are free agents next year.

[RekeHavoc]

1. Trade Garcia and Nocioni ASAP
2. Tank and draft Aldrich
3. Blow your load on JJ

Roll into 2010 w/
PG: T. Evans, B. Udrih
SG: K. Martin, D. Greene
SF: J. Johnson, O. Casspi
PF: J. Thompson, MLE
C : C. Aldrich, S. Hawes

That team wouldn't play any defense...

[pillwenney]

Sorry I didn't mention the follow up moves I thought we should make. I was thinking of either trading for Okafor like you suggested or maybe a Haywood like KF10 has mentioned. I dunno maybe even a Pryzbilla, I believe both he and Haywood are free agents next year.

Przybilla has an early termination option for his contract next year, which he won't likely exercise. In other words, he probably won't be a FA next year. Haywood on the other hand would really be worth looking at IMO. I think that if McGee plays well for the rest of the year, there's a chance Haywood may be a little attainable.

I will say though that if we're holding onto both Kevin and Tyreke, I really don't think I want to spend our FA money on a Joe Johnson or a Rudy Gay. I think we have to go big. Even if we get a Haywood, we need a big that score consistently as in creating his own shot. This may be Spencer, but we'll have to see.

I'd love to do the Okafor deal that was proposed earlier this year, but I would guess it's off the table for now at least. NO is playing better and may still be a playoff team.

There are other possibilities, though.

[PetrieUnderstudy]

I was thinking about this same thing the other day while watching the Kings. Without getting into a Kevin Martin bashing, if "IT" is what we want to call it, Kevin Martin doesn't have "IT". We struggle to win close games because of our offense. A lot of defense is based on effort and the Kings put forth the effort in crunch times but they don't score as much as their opponent down the stretch. Upper echelon teams turn up their defense in the 4th quarter and particularly at the 5 minute mark. Jerry Reynolds has commented on it numerous times that the Kings need to execute down the stretch but I'm not sure it's their fault that they don't. When opposing teams tighten the screws on defense the Kings don't have that go to guy post presence or current superstar to calm the waters. The good Kings teams would go into Vlade and CWeb in the post for their bread and butter and kick it out to good jump shooters like Bibby and Peja if need be. These Kings literally have ZERO offensive post presence at the end of games (or at all) so either Casspi/Beno/etc. better be on fire from outside or Tyreke needs to score on every drive or they lose. It's hard to make jump shots consistently with a guy D'ing you up.

With that said I'd really like to see us make a push for Al Jefferson. He is very difficult to cover in the post. Something like Kevin Martin & Jason Thompson for Jefferson & Minnesota's 1st round pick (from Jazz). Jefferson would give us a great offensive post presence, he's currently only 24 years old (not much older than Thompson), and he's signed to a reasonable contract in comparison to Bosh/Amare/Boozer.

We could then try to move Thomas' expiring and Minnesota pick to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor. Move Nocioni for expirings and draft the best available 2 guard.

Our 2010-11 rotation would basically look like this:

Tyreke Evans/Beno Udrih
Francisco Garcia/2010 draft pick
Donte Greene/Omri Casspi
Al Jefferson/Jon Brockman
Emeka Okafor/Spencer Hawes

Tyreke's driving, Cisco's shooting/intangibles, Donte's athleticism, Al's post scoring/Emeka's shot blocking plus the toughness the bench would is a nice combination.

If Tyreke becomes a top 5 to 10 player in the NBA in the next couple of years, the Kings are contenders.

[Norbit]

I was thinking about this same thing the other day while watching the Kings. Without getting into a Kevin Martin bashing, if "IT" is what we want to call it, Kevin Martin doesn't have "IT". We struggle to win close games because of our offense. A lot of defense is based on effort and the Kings put forth the effort in crunch times but they don't score as much as their opponent down the stretch. Upper echelon teams turn up their defense in the 4th quarter and particularly at the 5 minute mark. Jerry Reynolds has commented on it numerous times that the Kings need to execute down the stretch but I'm not sure it's their fault that they don't. When opposing teams tighten the screws on defense the Kings don't have that go to guy post presence or current superstar to calm the waters. The good Kings teams would go into Vlade and CWeb in the post for their bread and butter and kick it out to good jump shooters like Bibby and Peja if need be. These Kings literally have ZERO offensive post presence at the end of games (or at all) so either Casspi/Beno/etc. better be on fire from outside or Tyreke needs to score on every drive or they lose. It's hard to make jump shots consistently with a guy D'ing you up.

With that said I'd really like to see us make a push for Al Jefferson. He is very difficult to cover in the post. Something like Kevin Martin & Jason Thompson for Jefferson & Minnesota's 1st round pick (from Jazz). Jefferson would give us a great offensive post presence, he's currently only 24 years old (not much older than Thompson), and he's signed to a reasonable contract in comparison to Bosh/Amare/Boozer.

We could then try to move Thomas' expiring and Minnesota pick to New Orleans for Emeka Okafor. Move Nocioni for expirings and draft the best available 2 guard.

Our 2010-11 rotation would basically look like this:

Tyreke Evans/Beno Udrih
Francisco Garcia/2010 draft pick
Donte Greene/Omri Casspi
Al Jefferson/Jon Brockman
Emeka Okafor/Spencer Hawes

Tyreke's driving, Cisco's shooting/intangibles, Donte's athleticism, Al's post scoring/Emeka's shot blocking plus the toughness the bench would is a nice combination.

If Tyreke becomes a top 5 to 10 player in the NBA in the next couple of years, the Kings are contenders.

I liiiiiiiike!

[king125]

I actually really like the Jefferson move. The only difference for me would be Donte at the 2 and Omri at the 3. That lineup has actually worked pretty well earlier this season and with Jefferson and Okefor in the post and Beno, Francisco, Hawes off the bench, the Kings could probably make the playoffs in 10-11. And if Tyreke does turn into a Kobe/Lebron/Wade type guy, then Championship run in 3-4 years and a deadly team for the next 8 years or so. I like it!