Offseason plan

[SacKingZZZ]

You can't just ignore fit for need though, because you end up making mistakes, at this stage it's all about fit. There are a lot of options in this draft to fill the need with a true PF type that can provide that role, then there could be trades. Don't know what's going on with Birdman Anderson and his legal issues (although last I heard he is the target of an extortion scheme) but he was on the block. Ed Davis, Taj Gibson, Larry Sanders, and a few more not truly untouchable players that could provide interior defensive help while not destroying the athleticism of your lineup are out there. It's been a long time since you can look at the PF spot and find some real defensive role player types and after this draft there will be some more, I hope they take advantage of that.

[SadKingsFan]

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.

Right. But it's hard to really know what a guy like Smart is truly
capable of when he's given crap on that end of the floor. We'll never really
know until the talent in that area is upgraded.

Defense can be taught, but there's only so much even a guy like
Larry brown could do. Teach it all you want, but will they magically turn into
a good defensive team as a result? Nope

[SadKingsFan]

You can't just ignore fit for need though, because you end up making mistakes, at this stage it's all about fit.

And what stage are we at here? Seems like you have different views than i
do, because this team is still pathetic in a lot of ways. We need help in nearly
every area.

This team is FAR from complete, so i fail to see how "it's all about fit". We have
about two very good pieces in place (Cousins and Thornton) and one great piece for
the bench in Isaiah Thomas. Other than that, i see nothing special. Evans is very talented, but this is his last year/chance with us in my opinion.

[SacKingZZZ]

And what stage are we at here? Seems like you have different views than i
do, because this team is still pathetic in a lot of ways. We need help in nearly
every area.

This team is FAR from complete, so i fail to see how "it's all about fit". We have
about two very good pieces in place (Cousins and Thornton) and one great piece for
the bench in Isaiah Thomas. Other than that, i see nothing special. Evans is very talented, but this is his last year/chance with us in my opinion.

The development one, the only stage when no matter what you add it still relies on the development of your most talented players unless you are able to expedite that process by acquiring more developed talent. It's very important to not bring in pieces that a) get in the way of that talent, or b) do nothing to make the game easier for that talent. You scour the draft, or sign players, or trade for them with the hopes that over the course of a few years or however long it takes, you've been able to land talent worth building around. I think after 5-6 years or so the Kings have in the players you mention and maybe even Evans still, if coached the right way.

It's all about fit because this team has solid building blocks from a talent perspective, and in that area of building a team for most teams that is two players. If Evans doesn't fit, you would hope to trade him out for something that does while hopefully not downgrading talent wise too much in the process.

[SadKingsFan]

The development one, the only stage when no matter what you add it still relies on the development of your most talented players unless you are able to expedite that process by acquiring more developed talent. It's very important to not bring in pieces that a) get in the way of that talent, or b) do nothing to make the game easier for that talent. You scour the draft, or sign players, or trade for them with the hopes that over the course of a few years or however long it takes, you've been able to land talent worth building around. I think after 5-6 years or so the Kings have in the players you mention and maybe even Evans still, if coached the right way.

It's all about fit because this team has solid building blocks from a talent perspective, and in that area of building a team for most teams that is two players. If Evans doesn't fit, you would hope to trade him out for something that does while hopefully not downgrading talent wise too much in the process.

Well hopefully Evans will still be worth something by then. But anyway, we're talking about the draft here. All of these players need a bunch of time to develop, other than Cousins who isn't too far away.

But my point is if we're still relying on the draft (clearly we are) then why worry
about fit? I can see if we were simply in need of two or three more veterans to tie
it all together and take that next step like OKC, but that isn't the case. Cousins is the only
player we should worry about affecting in terms of who we put next to him.

Other than that, we don't have a coach that's gonna be here long term, we don't have that real second piece to go along with Cousins that makes sense, and we most definitely don't have a point guard good enough to take us into the playoffs.

Isiah thomas is a bench player... period.

Who on our team is in "the developmental stage" worthy of staying on this team
longer than two-three years? Without Cuz, we'd still be at ground zero IMO

[SacKingZZZ]

The development one, the only stage when no matter what you add it still relies on the development of your most talented players unless you are able to expedite that process by acquiring more developed talent. It's very important to not bring in pieces that a) get in the way of that talent, or b) do nothing to make the game easier for that talent. You scour the draft, or sign players, or trade for them with the hopes that over the course of a few years or however long it takes, you've been able to land talent worth building around. I think after 5-6 years or so the Kings have in the players you mention and maybe even Evans still, if coached the right way.

It's all about fit because this team has solid building blocks from a talent perspective, and in that area of building a team for most teams that is two players. If Evans doesn't fit, you would hope to trade him out for something that does while hopefully not downgrading talent wise too much in the process.

Well hopefully Evans will still be worth something by then. But anyway, we're talking about the draft here. All of these players need a bunch of time to develop, other than Cousins who isn't too far away.

But my point is if we're still relying on the draft (clearly we are) then why worry
about fit? I can see if we were simply in need of two or three more veterans to tie
it all together and take that next step like OKC, but that isn't the case. Cousins is the only
player we should worry about affecting in terms of who we put next to him.

Other than that, we don't have a coach that's gonna be here long term, we don't have that real second piece to go along with Cousins that makes sense, and we most definitely don't have a point guard good enough to take us into the playoffs.

Isiah thomas is a bench player... period.

Who on our team is in "the developmental stage" worthy of staying on this team
longer than two-three years? Without Cuz, we'd still be at ground zero IMO

Relying on the draft for what? Talent? I disagree. This team is pretty well stocked with talent, and last year was a perfect example of what happens when you rate talent above fit. JJ Hickson looked like garbage here because he didn't have the chance to be the player he is, goes to Portland and bang boom there's that 20 and 10 guy everyone thought they were getting. A team can only have one 20 and 10 guy if they also have a 20 ppg wing player or two. This is a team also in the stage where it needs to fill in those needs with that cap space rather than going out and trying to add talent on top of the talent you already have. Lesson learned I hope.

I believe Thornton certainly makes sense next to Cousins, and you'll be hard pressed to find another SG who plays with the kind of cojones or has the well rounded wing game that Thornton showed when healthy last year on that nice of a contract. People want to bring up OKC comparisons but this team is built nothing like OKC, nor is any other team really. I've said it before, I'll be interested to see how many rings they get with that squad. If you want to compare this team to another, maybe Memphis is probably a better fit. That's a team that built through the draft and acquired a lot of talent via the draft but never really got that true superstar talent until they landed Zach Randolph. The problem is you eventually have to re-sign all that talent and we'll see what kind of decisions they make. One thing Petrie has always been good at is making the right decision at the right time, and not signing back unnecessary pieces to overvalued contracts when you still have holes elsewhere. Jason Thompson, I'm looking at you! haha.

I think you give Reke another year to develop, at least until the deadline. Last year could have been a positive for him because despite some perceived lack of production or improvement, he did get another year to practice cutting to the rim and more time to learn to play off the ball. For those watching, Thornton made HUGE strides last year. A lightbulb went on over his head last year in regards to his slashing ability. He became a serious threat to get to the rim last year and because of that he became even more complete as a true SG.

It's now up to Petrie and the coaching staff to how it's handled and how it works out from here on. But I disagree that this team is relying on the draft, good thing to, because this year if you aren't drafting number 1, or even if you are, you might be disappointed overall if you need a superstar talent.