Offseason plan

[mccaffertyd]

How would you guys feel about an offseason that came out like this:

Sign DJ Augustine
Why: The kings get their possible pg that can truly distribute. I can actually see this as a real possiblity seeing as how Petrie was high on him a couple years ago coming out of Texas.
(Actually I'm not sure if Augustine is a free agent so I'd be willing to part with somebody like JT for him.)

Draft Harrison Barnes
Why: His weaknesses are actually strengths on this team he does not need the ball in his hands to be effective and has the length to potentially be a pretty good defender which is something we could also use help with

Sign Javalle McGee
Why: This guy has springs in his sneakers along with the potential to be a truly great, Marcus Camby type defender in this league and rebounds at a fairly high rate already. I think that he has the talent to be a great compliment to Big Cuz but not sure if Kings management would want to take another risk this far in the rebuiliding process. Although, picking up most big men is a risk (see Thabeet, Drummond) so it might just be about whos less of a risk.

Starting Lineup:

Augustine/It/Fredette
Evans/Thornton
Barnes/Twill/Garcia (or Outlaw or Salmons)
Mcgee/Hayes
Cousins/Whiteside

Very young but I believe that team could contend next year for the 8th spot maybe even better if Cousins becomes better then we ever expected and Tyreke comes back from summer with a jumpshot.

[jeffjtk1234]

Dont really like it at all really. Mcgee is terrible. I dont care how much potential he has pairing him with Cuz is a bad idea. Mcgee has no basketball IQ.

Barnes is ok, I would rather have kidd-gilchrist. I also dont really like augustine.

Sorry to blow it up but that team doesnt contend for the 8th seed. Not a chance.

[BLT]

just curious what would it take from the hornets to move up from 10 to 5? without including Gordon or next years 1st... would it be possible? i figure taking some kind of bad contract would have to be included?

[mccaffertyd]

Dont really like it at all really. Mcgee is terrible. I dont care how much potential he has pairing him with Cuz is a bad idea. Mcgee has no basketball IQ. Barnes is ok, I would rather have kidd-gilchrist. I also dont really like augustine.

Sorry to blow it up but that team doesnt contend for the 8th seed. Not a chance.

I think your confusing basketball IQ with immaturity. He played like a doof when he was with the lowly Wizards but he contributed actually quite well in the playoffs and I personally dont see whats not to like about Augustin the only reason he isn't coveted high is because he played on the worst team in NBA history

[mccaffertyd]

Look we don't need the second coming of Steve Nash, Augustin is a good playmaker and thats what were looking for, right? Our three needs are defensive big to pair with Cuz, Good shooting small forward that can play defense, and a playmaking point guard. McGee might be immature but he's not "terrible" and can actually help this team do wonders defensively. Plus, we have Clifford Ray who's been doing a number on Cuz who's to say he couldn't do the same with Javalle?

[Javidad]

I really dont see a big enough difference between Augustine and Thomas to warrant signing him. I'm not against Mcgee but id rather consolidate the money between him and Augustin and go after Hibbert as a RFA

[pillwenney]

No way is Indiana letting Hibbert go.

[SacKingZZZ]

Hibbert and Cousins just would not work. Cousins has a tendency to stand in place and try to poke the ball away from penetrating guards, so does Hibbert and Hibbert is slow as molasses compared to even Cousins.

[Javidad]

Hibbert and Cousins just would not work. Cousins has a tendency to stand in place and try to poke the ball away from penetrating guards, so does Hibbert and Hibbert is slow as molasses compared to even Cousins.

Hibbert is a clog the paint shot blocker from what Ive seen not a poke the ball away guy. For this to work Cousins would definitely need to focus a lot on conditioning so he could keep up with the PFs in the league.

[Silver Man]

McGee next to Cousins is a terrible idea, and Hibbert and Cousins wouldn't work/it's extremely doubtful the Pacers actually let Hibbert go. I'll have to wait until we know where we land in the lottery to get a sense of what direction we should take this off-season.

[LongLiveIverson]

McGee is getting resigned. So is Hibbert.

FA - Robin Lopez - Spell Demarcus and provides shotblocking and can let Cousins slide over to 4 for stretches. Can get him for a reasonably cheap price.
Landry Fields - Busts his tail on D, can hit the outside shot. ALOT cheaper than the bidding war you will have to win for Batum

Let Jason Thompson, Greene walk. Amnesty Salmons.

Trade Marcus Thornton for Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer
Maybe even Throw in Thompson in a sign and trade.
I'm a Sixers fan too and saw Gibson manhandle us defensively, 9.5ppg, 6rebs 1.7 blocks in 23mins per
Chicago doesn't turn this down, Thompson takes Gibsons place as first big off bench and can actually be effective on a team with a defensive Center (Noah/Asik). Thornton gives them scoring to compliment Rose and Rip can slide to the bench taking Brewers spot.

In the draft you can take Barnes or trade it for a veteran. I would try and swing it for a pure point like Lowry. Lowry, Marcus Morris for 5th, Jimmer and Garcia works financially

In the draft at 35 Darius Miller is a no brainer. Team player who knows how to co exist with stars. Can defend and hit the open shot.

C. Cousins/Lopez/Whiteside
F. Gibson/Hayes/M.Morris
F. T.Williams/D.Miller/Brewer
G. Tyreke/Fields
G. Lowry/I.Thomas

Whats difference? DEFENSE. Lowry, Lopez, Whiteside, Hayes, Darius Miller, Brewer, Garcia, Terrence Williams, Taj all are exceptional defenders. Tyreke and Cousins have no choice to elevate their effort on that side.
When you have talented scorers like Tyreke and Cousins you don't surround them with more shoot first players (Thornton, Jimmer) See Durant Westbrook, Harden...Ibaka, Sefolosha, Perkins, Collins ect. LeBron Wade Bosh have Haslim, Joel Anthony, Battier, Norris Cole, Chalmers..Shaq and Kobe had Fox, Horrace Grant, and Fisher. Wade and Shaq had Haslim Jason Williams. Role players..

[mccaffertyd]

While i can agree with you that defense wont be a problem, we will still have the same problem next year as this year in the fact that our 3 spot is weak and we dont have very many shooters. Your talking about trading our best shooter for a defensive big which is a need for us but i think Gibson could be obtained without giving them Thornton

[mccaffertyd]

McGee is getting resigned. So is Hibbert.

FA - Robin Lopez - Spell Demarcus and provides shotblocking and can let Cousins slide over to 4 for stretches. Can get him for a reasonably cheap price.
Landry Fields - Busts his tail on D, can hit the outside shot. ALOT cheaper than the bidding war you will have to win for Batum

Let Jason Thompson, Greene walk. Amnesty Salmons.

Trade Marcus Thornton for Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer
Maybe even Throw in Thompson in a sign and trade.
I'm a Sixers fan too and saw Gibson manhandle us defensively, 9.5ppg, 6rebs 1.7 blocks in 23mins per
Chicago doesn't turn this down, Thompson takes Gibsons place as first big off bench and can actually be effective on a team with a defensive Center (Noah/Asik). Thornton gives them scoring to compliment Rose and Rip can slide to the bench taking Brewers spot.

In the draft you can take Barnes or trade it for a veteran. I would try and swing it for a pure point like Lowry. Lowry, Marcus Morris for 5th, Jimmer and Garcia works financially

In the draft at 35 Darius Miller is a no brainer. Team player who knows how to co exist with stars. Can defend and hit the open shot.

C. Cousins/Lopez/Whiteside
F. Gibson/Hayes/M.Morris
F. T.Williams/D.Miller/Brewer
G. Tyreke/Fields
G. Lowry/I.Thomas

Whats difference? DEFENSE. Lowry, Lopez, Whiteside, Hayes, Darius Miller, Brewer, Garcia, Terrence Williams, Taj all are exceptional defenders. Tyreke and Cousins have no choice to elevate their effort on that side.
When you have talented scorers like Tyreke and Cousins you don't surround them with more shoot first players (Thornton, Jimmer) See Durant Westbrook, Harden...Ibaka, Sefolosha, Perkins, Collins ect. LeBron Wade Bosh have Haslim, Joel Anthony, Battier, Norris Cole, Chalmers..Shaq and Kobe had Fox, Horrace Grant, and Fisher. Wade and Shaq had Haslim Jason Williams. Role players..

Now that i think about it that actually makes alot of sense seeing as how we have two big time scorers we need to be running more of an iso offense then the type of team ball we play now. Think about it, Iso is where Reke was most effective and i'm sure that iso would benefit Cuz as well. Thornton really doesn't have much of a place in our offense if were running that type of offense though so I agree lets test the market and see what he's worth

[pillwenney]

Robin Lopez can be had for cheap for a reason--he's not very good.

[KF10]

The highest priority for the Kings in the offseason is to bolster its defense. The Kings were pretty much the worst defensive team in the L last season.

We really need a rim protector and a good defensive PG/SG rotation. Also, it helps that the team knows how to play team defense.

Until this issue is resolved, I don't see the Kings becoming a good team. And I'm not sure Smart is the right guy for the job knowing that a guy like SVG and Sloan is available right now.

[SacKingZZZ]

Hibbert and Cousins just would not work. Cousins has a tendency to stand in place and try to poke the ball away from penetrating guards, so does Hibbert and Hibbert is slow as molasses compared to even Cousins.

Hibbert is a clog the paint shot blocker from what Ive seen not a poke the ball away guy. For this to work Cousins would definitely need to focus a lot on conditioning so he could keep up with the PFs in the league.

Watch him again, he's a decent paint clogger but he doesn't move his feet well. If there were no 3 second rule he'd be awesome, but....there is. When caught on a pick and roll you'll typically see him pull the 'ol stand in place and swipe at the ball trick. Can't have two guys doing that, of course one doing it more than the other but still.

[SacKingZZZ]

McGee is getting resigned. So is Hibbert.

FA - Robin Lopez - Spell Demarcus and provides shotblocking and can let Cousins slide over to 4 for stretches. Can get him for a reasonably cheap price.
Landry Fields - Busts his tail on D, can hit the outside shot. ALOT cheaper than the bidding war you will have to win for Batum

Let Jason Thompson, Greene walk. Amnesty Salmons.

Trade Marcus Thornton for Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer
Maybe even Throw in Thompson in a sign and trade.
I'm a Sixers fan too and saw Gibson manhandle us defensively, 9.5ppg, 6rebs 1.7 blocks in 23mins per
Chicago doesn't turn this down, Thompson takes Gibsons place as first big off bench and can actually be effective on a team with a defensive Center (Noah/Asik). Thornton gives them scoring to compliment Rose and Rip can slide to the bench taking Brewers spot.

In the draft you can take Barnes or trade it for a veteran. I would try and swing it for a pure point like Lowry. Lowry, Marcus Morris for 5th, Jimmer and Garcia works financially

In the draft at 35 Darius Miller is a no brainer. Team player who knows how to co exist with stars. Can defend and hit the open shot.

C. Cousins/Lopez/Whiteside
F. Gibson/Hayes/M.Morris
F. T.Williams/D.Miller/Brewer
G. Tyreke/Fields
G. Lowry/I.Thomas

Whats difference? DEFENSE. Lowry, Lopez, Whiteside, Hayes, Darius Miller, Brewer, Garcia, Terrence Williams, Taj all are exceptional defenders. Tyreke and Cousins have no choice to elevate their effort on that side.
When you have talented scorers like Tyreke and Cousins you don't surround them with more shoot first players (Thornton, Jimmer) See Durant Westbrook, Harden...Ibaka, Sefolosha, Perkins, Collins ect. LeBron Wade Bosh have Haslim, Joel Anthony, Battier, Norris Cole, Chalmers..Shaq and Kobe had Fox, Horrace Grant, and Fisher. Wade and Shaq had Haslim Jason Williams. Role players..

Would love Taj Gibson on this team, but heck no to that! You just gave away one of the better up and coming SG's for role players. Sure Gibson is a great fit but it better look a little better than that when a team gives away arguably it's 2nd best player. If you're banking on talented scorers you'd probably be wise to keep Thornton over Evans because he's far more complete offensively and can play off of a dominant big better than Tyreke can. Personally, I still think Evans/Thornton/Cousins at their natural positions can be a perfect trio if used right.

Great defense but that's a team that looks like the 76ers a bit, but with even less shooting. A D-league team playing zone could force that team to shoot 37% and struggle to score 80 points.

And I caution any team that attempts to build itself in the exact personnel based mold that the Thunder have, not saying that's the point you're making specifically. That team is somewhat of an anomaly. Terrible passing team, gamble on defense (although as pointed out in a game the other day during the last 5 minutes of games they button down), not a ton of shooters, no post play, all perimeter other than slashing, etc. I'll be interested to see how many rings that team ends up winning. They have 3 really good individual players that can all play together which is the way in which they make up for their shortcomings but it's like the '04 Pistons somewhat, it just works for them.

[mccaffertyd]

Personally, I think if were talking about a defensively savvy 1/2 combination then it goes without saying that Thornton needs to be moved to the bench so Tyreke can start.

[pillwenney]

I'm more inclined to suggesting we get a real PG to move Isaiah to the bench.

[Javidad]

Hibbert and Cousins just would not work. Cousins has a tendency to stand in place and try to poke the ball away from penetrating guards, so does Hibbert and Hibbert is slow as molasses compared to even Cousins.

Hibbert is a clog the paint shot blocker from what Ive seen not a poke the ball away guy. For this to work Cousins would definitely need to focus a lot on conditioning so he could keep up with the PFs in the league.

Watch him again, he's a decent paint clogger but he doesn't move his feet well. If there were no 3 second rule he'd be awesome, but....there is. When caught on a pick and roll you'll typically see him pull the 'ol stand in place and swipe at the ball trick. Can't have two guys doing that, of course one doing it more than the other but still.

Valid point. However looking at the FA list other than him and McGee what rim defenders are there. I guess maybe Camby but he is definitely getting up there in age.