2023 Off-season Thread

[OxAndFox]

Just want to put this out there. Are we all looking at the wrong positional upgrade? I mean a lot of things are surrounding a fit for Sabonis at the 4.
Maybe the biggest need is to upgrade the 3. Keegan will eventually be the starting 4. IMO he isn't there yet. Will be by year 3 though.

I wonder if we could use Barnes (S&T) and Huerter plus picks to pry George away from the Clippers. I think they're possibly done with that experiment and would like to recoup some draft picks and get out from under his salary. But they also need to remain competitive with the new arena so getting quality starters back would be attractive. I'm comfortable with Monk as the starting 2. He's earned it and I think with a veteran like George around he'd raise his game defensively. There's still work to do on the fringes but we have cap space. Adding George would really signal we're going for it so while we usually wouldn't be a hot destination for FA, maybe all the excitement of our run this year and addition of George would entice the right kind of guys?

Fox/Mitchell
Monk/FA
Murray/Edwards
George/FA
Sabonis/Holmes

I don't think Monte would rule anything out within reason and if you could get PG13 for that you would do it. He would not only flourish here, but he would play his best ball of his career. Don't think the Clippers want that though.

[OGSactownballer]

Another major item that needs to happen?

Get Domas bulked up BIG TIME in the weight room!

I’m not nearly as concerned about his shooting (besides encouraging him to shoot the damn ball more when they leave him standing alone in the mid range - I mean COME ON MAN!!!). But the playoffs exaggerated the issue he displayed all year against muscular mature guys that were 6’10” and under and made him lose position. He especially needs to get stronger in his legs. Doing this will make a huge difference for him and he is just hitting the age where men begin to take on their mature frame and musculature so it’s time to dedicate an off season to working on it.

[OxAndFox]

Another major item that needs to happen?

Get Domas bulked up BIG TIME in the weight room!

I’m not nearly as concerned about his shooting (besides encouraging him to shoot the damn ball more when they leave him standing alone in the mid range - I mean COME ON MAN!!!). But the playoffs exaggerated the issue he displayed all year against muscular mature guys that were 6’10” and under and made him lose position. He especially needs to get stronger in his legs. Doing this will make a huge difference for him and he is just hitting the age where men begin to take on their mature frame and musculature so it’s time to dedicate an off season to working on it.

I'm not concerned about either TBH. He worked on his 3pt shot last off season and will do so again. His mid range jumpers aren't what you want him to do anyway. Sure, he needs to be able to take and make them, but not on any type of volume.
You want Domas either on the 3pt line being the hub and if they aren't coming to him, drain the 3.
Outside of that he needs to work on his inside moves. I'm willing to bet a lot of his moves later in the season and in the POs were due to his thumb. Earlier in the season he would go left and then switch back to the right and still go up with the left hand, or a soft RH hook because the defender was out of position. Then after the thumb injury he started to try and barrel his way in more, leading with his right shoulder. I would be intrigued to know if this was to keep his right thumb close to the defender so they couldn't hack down on it.

[KF10]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

[BoogieTime]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

I’ve been high on his prospects just based on reports, but when I got to look at a bit of tape his defensive awareness was off…

Will be interesting to see how he translates, or if you would prioritize him over, say, Lyles

[LightTheBeam]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

Have you watched his film? I haven't at all aside from maybe 1-2 highlights when we traded for him.

Does he project as a multi level scorer or just a shooter type?

[KF10]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

I’ve been high on his prospects just based on reports, but when I got to look at a bit of tape his defensive awareness was off…

Will be interesting to see how he translates, or if you would prioritize him over, say, Lyles

I think Vezenkov is a must to sign if the Kings are letting Lyles and Barnes walk.

Even if we keep Lyles, I would say Vezenkov is still a must sign. He is probably the easiest player for the Kings to sign during the FA period lol

[KF10]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

Have you watched his film? I haven't at all aside from maybe 1-2 highlights when we traded for him.

Does he project as a multi level scorer or just a shooter type?

I’m not an expert on him and I’ve only see just a few of his tape.

To me, he is a very smart offensive player. He knows how to move without the ball and likes to lose his man when he cuts to the basket. Knows how to score from the three levels of the court and he is a pretty good shooter.

His defense can be a mix bag but I think Brown can help him with this imo.

I’m interested to see him tomorrow.

[Lost in LA]

Another major item that needs to happen?

Get Domas bulked up BIG TIME in the weight room!

I’m not nearly as concerned about his shooting (besides encouraging him to shoot the damn ball more when they leave him standing alone in the mid range - I mean COME ON MAN!!!). But the playoffs exaggerated the issue he displayed all year against muscular mature guys that were 6’10” and under and made him lose position. He especially needs to get stronger in his legs. Doing this will make a huge difference for him and he is just hitting the age where men begin to take on their mature frame and musculature so it’s time to dedicate an off season to working on it.

I'm not concerned about either TBH. He worked on his 3pt shot last off season and will do so again. His mid range jumpers aren't what you want him to do anyway. Sure, he needs to be able to take and make them, but not on any type of volume.
You want Domas either on the 3pt line being the hub and if they aren't coming to him, drain the 3.
Outside of that he needs to work on his inside moves. I'm willing to bet a lot of his moves later in the season and in the POs were due to his thumb. Earlier in the season he would go left and then switch back to the right and still go up with the left hand, or a soft RH hook because the defender was out of position. Then after the thumb injury he started to try and barrel his way in more, leading with his right shoulder. I would be intrigued to know if this was to keep his right thumb close to the defender so they couldn't hack down on it.

Not an expert in any way, but his body looks little on the "soft" side, not quite like Doncic, but he does seem to get overmatched inside at times, maybe as he has no help. Watching the Lakers /Warriors series reminds me that we would have struggled with this style of this match up, as we cannot dictate the pace of the game to be more up tempo.

I think it is time for Barnes to move on or to be bench captain, and we need a SG or wing who can defend, as Huerter is not the answer for the post season.

[OxAndFox]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

I’ve been high on his prospects just based on reports, but when I got to look at a bit of tape his defensive awareness was off…

Will be interesting to see how he translates, or if you would prioritize him over, say, Lyles

Completely agree.
His defense is certainly not up to scratch.
As an example in game 4 of the current PO series early on he had Calathes out on the perimeter with the shot clock winding down and he closed out hard on him and Nick went by and got into the lane. Calathes is a poor 3pt shooter.
I am massive on Vezenkov, but if anyone thinks he is going to come in here and improve the team D, it's simply not going to happen. I also think his rebounding is getting overrated a bit.

[OxAndFox]

Another major item that needs to happen?

Get Domas bulked up BIG TIME in the weight room!

I’m not nearly as concerned about his shooting (besides encouraging him to shoot the damn ball more when they leave him standing alone in the mid range - I mean COME ON MAN!!!). But the playoffs exaggerated the issue he displayed all year against muscular mature guys that were 6’10” and under and made him lose position. He especially needs to get stronger in his legs. Doing this will make a huge difference for him and he is just hitting the age where men begin to take on their mature frame and musculature so it’s time to dedicate an off season to working on it.

I'm not concerned about either TBH. He worked on his 3pt shot last off season and will do so again. His mid range jumpers aren't what you want him to do anyway. Sure, he needs to be able to take and make them, but not on any type of volume.
You want Domas either on the 3pt line being the hub and if they aren't coming to him, drain the 3.
Outside of that he needs to work on his inside moves. I'm willing to bet a lot of his moves later in the season and in the POs were due to his thumb. Earlier in the season he would go left and then switch back to the right and still go up with the left hand, or a soft RH hook because the defender was out of position. Then after the thumb injury he started to try and barrel his way in more, leading with his right shoulder. I would be intrigued to know if this was to keep his right thumb close to the defender so they couldn't hack down on it.

Not an expert in any way, but his body looks little on the "soft" side, not quite like Doncic, but he does seem to get overmatched inside at times, maybe as he has no help. Watching the Lakers /Warriors series reminds me that we would have struggled with this style of this match up, as we cannot dictate the pace of the game to be more up tempo.

I think it is time for Barnes to move on or to be bench captain, and we need a SG or wing who can defend, as Huerter is not the answer for the post season.

I don't really agree with this. Domas is ripped as hell. He is in brilliant shape. The only problem with Domas is that he is a center in a PFs body.

He would have done well against the Lakers too. Don't think just because Looney isn't as good as AD it means AD would have his way with him.
Sure AD would block him occasionally, but AD doesn't have the strength a Looney does and when Domas goes into AD with his shoulder drive, he would fold over, whereas Looney was able to absorb the contact and stay upright. Looney has amazing core strength and that's the main thing Domas struggled with. AD's length would have allowed him to block Domas occasionally for sure, but he would also foul more and if AD gets in foul trouble it's all over for the Lakers.

Let's not overreact on Domas to something that isn't really a problem.

On the Barnes thing, couldn't agree more. A versatile wing defender
I actually think Kessler is going to end up being a starter on this team at the 4. The upgrade needs to happen at the starting SG position and bring Huerter off the bench.
Could that actually be Davion?

Monk/Huerter/Vezenkov/Barnes/Lyles as a small ball bench or maybe they give Holmes a run with Monk in a P&R setting? It works with Domas and Holmes was great with Hali.

[OxAndFox]

Mike Brown will travel to Greece tomorrow to watch Sasha Vezenkov.

If the Kings are able to sign Vezenkov, I think he will bring a nice scoring edge and size for the Kings.

Have you watched his film? I haven't at all aside from maybe 1-2 highlights when we traded for him.

Does he project as a multi level scorer or just a shooter type?

I’m not an expert on him and I’ve only see just a few of his tape.

To me, he is a very smart offensive player. He knows how to move without the ball and likes to lose his man when he cuts to the basket. Knows how to score from the three levels of the court and he is a pretty good shooter.

His defense can be a mix bag but I think Brown can help him with this imo.

I’m interested to see him tomorrow.

Would agree with this. Outside of his shooting his movement off the ball is going to be fun for the Kings. Between him and Keegan, there are going to be so many back door cuts. The offense is going to be out of this world.
Don't forget he is the guy that had 275 points with only 26 dribbles.

[LightTheBeam]

Have you watched his film? I haven't at all aside from maybe 1-2 highlights when we traded for him.

Does he project as a multi level scorer or just a shooter type?

I’m not an expert on him and I’ve only see just a few of his tape.

To me, he is a very smart offensive player. He knows how to move without the ball and likes to lose his man when he cuts to the basket. Knows how to score from the three levels of the court and he is a pretty good shooter.

His defense can be a mix bag but I think Brown can help him with this imo.

I’m interested to see him tomorrow.

Would agree with this. Outside of his shooting his movement off the ball is going to be fun for the Kings. Between him and Keegan, there are going to be so many back door cuts. The offense is going to be out of this world.
Don't forget he is the guy that had 275 points with only 26 dribbles.

Did you guys see this video? -

Read on Twitter

?s=20

I'm interested in adding him as a shooter off the bench. Hopefully his game translates, always love to add another sniper.

But man I'm really cautious about this team continuing to add offensive only players. Shooters are always great, but at some point the focus needs to be about adding two way players.

[FarBeyondDriven]

I think Ayton will be traded this offseason. He never wanted to remain there. I think that's why he's playing with zero effort. I think he's better than he's playing and I wonder if we'd go after him. Sign and trade with Barnes would give the Suns a badly needed wing who can play defense and we can absorb Ayton's contract. A motivated Ayton could work. But I wonder if that's too similar to Sabonis/Turner in Indiana that didn't work?

[OxAndFox]

I’m not an expert on him and I’ve only see just a few of his tape.

To me, he is a very smart offensive player. He knows how to move without the ball and likes to lose his man when he cuts to the basket. Knows how to score from the three levels of the court and he is a pretty good shooter.

His defense can be a mix bag but I think Brown can help him with this imo.

I’m interested to see him tomorrow.

Would agree with this. Outside of his shooting his movement off the ball is going to be fun for the Kings. Between him and Keegan, there are going to be so many back door cuts. The offense is going to be out of this world.
Don't forget he is the guy that had 275 points with only 26 dribbles.

Did you guys see this video? -

Read on Twitter

?s=20

I'm interested in adding him as a shooter off the bench. Hopefully his game translates, always love to add another sniper.

But man I'm really cautious about this team continuing to add offensive only players. Shooters are always great, but at some point the focus needs to be about adding two way players.

Didn't have his best game that's for sure, but showed he can do more than just shoot from the outside.
Agree with the 2 way stuff and I'm sure Sasha would come off the bench. But he won't be coming over here for 12-15mpg. He averages 28mpg in Euroleague. I think if it was 22-25mpg in the NBA he would be fine.

The upgrades defensively need to come in the starting line-up IMO and I'm looking at you Kev Huerter. He needs to come off the bench along with Monk, Sasha, and Lyles. Don't worry about D from the bench guys.

I think the perfect guy here for a starting 2 role would be Melton. I actually think the Kings could turn their D around with someone like him. The only thing I don't like about him is another short guard.

I don't see Monte trading Fox/Huerter/Monk/Keegan/Sabonis (unless it's a swing for the fences type trade) out of the guys that are under contract next season so it doesn't leave much.

[City of Trees]

I struggle scouting how euro players translate, so feel free to ignore my take, but Im sceptical Sasha's athleticism translates. At times his off ball movement looks like I'm watching my Uncle at the YMCA.

[sunsbg]

I think Ayton will be traded this offseason. He never wanted to remain there. I think that's why he's playing with zero effort. I think he's better than he's playing and I wonder if we'd go after him. Sign and trade with Barnes would give the Suns a badly needed wing who can play defense and we can absorb Ayton's contract. A motivated Ayton could work. But I wonder if that's too similar to Sabonis/Turner in Indiana that didn't work?

Ayton and Sabonis would've been a good fit if Domas was a better outside shooter. DA has good touch, was even shooting 3s in the bubble when Rubio was running the offense, but they did go away from it after CP3 took over. As is I think they occupy same space so not really a great fit. Ayton did regress a lot on defense this season too. There are many Suns fans still hurt about a rumored Ayton Sabonis trade with Indiana, which didn't happen. Though I liked DA on the Suns prior to this season I have to admit with Domas in place of him right now we probably beat the Nuggets.

I posted already about my countryman Vezenkov in another thread that I like his fit in Kings offense. I'm very curious to see what kind of player he becomes in NBA, so I hope he makes the move. On one hand even though he'll probably win EL MVP he's mostly a system player for Olympiacos, which is not necessarily bad. For the national team he took all the responsibility and did quite well. He was top 5 in scoring and the best rebounder in EU championship. Scoring-wise he's more than just a shooter. He's actually better as a cutter. Defense is a concern as he's as most Euros just not athletic enough.

[OxAndFox]

I struggle scouting how euro players translate, so feel free to ignore my take, but Im sceptical Sasha's athleticism translates. At times his off ball movement looks like I'm watching my Uncle at the YMCA.

I think it's definitely something that people should think about so everyone is right to be sceptical.

His offensive game will definitely translate though. He isn't going to dominate by any stretch of the imagination, but his IQ will get him easy buckets (and that's what he is going to need to rely on because he won't have that many plays ran for him). He might not be quick, but due to IQ and when you see him, he uses his body quite well and that will hold him in good stead. His footwork inside is pretty good, but his post ups tend to be against smaller players so he doesn't really try and post up "everyone" if that makes sense.
His quick release from the outside will also ensure defenders need to stay attached to him and that helps the spacing even more.

The sceptical thing is certainly his D. He simply won't have the foot speed to keep up with the offensive players.

[OxAndFox]

I think Ayton will be traded this offseason. He never wanted to remain there. I think that's why he's playing with zero effort. I think he's better than he's playing and I wonder if we'd go after him. Sign and trade with Barnes would give the Suns a badly needed wing who can play defense and we can absorb Ayton's contract. A motivated Ayton could work. But I wonder if that's too similar to Sabonis/Turner in Indiana that didn't work?

Ayton simply wouldn't work with Sabonis unless the latter increases his 3 point attempts to say 4-5 and stays at his current percentages which I don't think is realistic at all.

If the Suns are trading Ayton to the Kings, it will be FOR Sabonis with other additions by the Suns. But now they don't have any assets to add so I don't think it could happen.

[City of Trees]

Betonline has the Kings favored to land Draymond if he leaves Golden State. I think it comes down to Coach Brown giving his approval and Draymond taking a big pay cut. My take is Draymond is a wild personality to let in the Kings locker room that had immaculate vibes all season. His knowledge and defense would be welcomed tho.