Starting 5

[Sacballer916]

Who do you think will start day 1? I'd like to see this line up.
Thomas
Evans
Johnson
Robinson
Cousins
Bench- Thorton, Thompson, Hayes, Jimmer, Salmons

[YC42Balla]

Day 1:

G-Thomas
G-Tyreke
F-Johnson
F-Thompson
C-DeMarcus

Later on in the season:

G-Brooks/Thomas (Though one; Thomas works so hard! It'll be tough to take it from him)
G-Tyreke
FJohnson
F-Robinson
C-DeMarcus

[ADoaN17]

I agree with YC42. Brooks/Robinson will have to earn their spot, I doubt they start the first game.

[Dustin5566]

Game 1

Thomas
Evans
Salmons
Thompson
Cousins


Game 50

Thomas
Evans
Johnson
Robinson
Cousins

[702Celtics]

Brooks
Evans
Salmons
Thompson
Cousins

[SacKingsPejaFan]

PG - Brooks
SG - Thornton
SF - Johnson
PF - Robinson
C - Cousins

The new guys will earn it in training camp and pre-season.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Jimmer
Garcia
Outlaw
Darnell Jackson
Hayes

[JSrose115]

Opening lineup:
PG- Thomas
SG- Thornton
SF- Reke
PF- Thompson
C- Cousins

Later mid way
PG- Brooks
SG- Thornton
SF- Reke
PF- Robinson
C- Cousins

[SacKingZZZ]

I would like to see:

PG: Evans
SG: Thornton
SF: Johnson
PF: Robinson
C: Cousins

We'll see if Thornton comes off the bench but I just don't see a team with such an unbalanced roster solving the problem by moving the one piece that has a set position and a set role to the bench. Not with the way Smart uses his bench at least.

Evans is a player that needs the ball to be the player he is, don't like it? Too bad, move him to a team that can use him for his talents, don't waste anymore time with this.

[Krle_12]

Starters
PG: Thomas
SG: Evans
SF: Johnson
PF: Thompson
C: Cousins

Bench Mob:
Brooks
Thornton
Robinson
Hayes

If coached correctly and with a clear defensive and offensive structure, that is a very solid 9 man rotation.

If Smart continues to use his bench in the same manner, that is a very formidable bench mod to unleash on another team.

[pillwenney]

I'm thinking
Brooks
Evans
Johnson
Robinson
Cousins

Bench
Thomas
Thornton
Hayes
Thompson

There simply are no more minutes for Tyreke at PG, and it's a good thing. With the way things are currently constructed, he's going to have to play a lot of minutes at SF, although I don't expect him to start there at this point.

I think the minute breakdown will look something like this.

PG - Brooks - 24, Thomas - 24
SG - Evans - 12, Thornton - 34, Brooks - 2
SF - Johnson - 26, Evans - 22
PF - Robinson - 28, Hayes - 15, Thompson - 5
C - Cousins - 32, Thompson - 16

[SmellingColors]

How I think we should start the year:

Thomas
Evans
Johnson
Thompson
Cousins


How I think Smart will have the lineup:

Brooks
Thornton
Evans
Robinson
Cousins


I hope Robinson doesn't start from the beginning because I think he and Brooks should earn the spot from Thompson and Thomas, but I'm not sure that'll happen. And I'm not sure he'll bring Thornton off the bench like I think he should either. We'll see how it shakes out but I think that starting lineup with Brooks, Thornton and Robinson coming off the bench will be a great spark. Especially if Evans gets his jumper back and Robinson develops like we hope.

[SacKingZZZ]

Depends on how Smart uses his bench. Last year he didn't seem to be a coach that understands the concept of a "spark" bench. It was like two different teams. The starting unit, and then the 5 guys off the bench. Last year the starting unit had all the offensive guys, the bench had all the defensive guys. The starters could score but couldn't defend. The bench didn't have a whole lot of talent but were able to defend. Just simply took an unbalanced roster and eliminated any and all sense of balance it could have had.

[ICMTM]

You earn your spot by showing the ability to get a job done.

I think Brooks, Evans, Thornton will be your 1,3,2 rotation to start. I also agree that giving Evans more time on the ball is a good thing.

[KF10]

Day 1:

G-Thomas
G-Tyreke
F-Johnson
F-Thompson
C-DeMarcus

Later on in the season:

G-Brooks/Thomas (Though one; Thomas works so hard! It'll be tough to take it from him)
G-Tyreke
FJohnson
F-Robinson
C-DeMarcus

That's my 5 as well.

I just don't see the Kings benching Reke in any scenario. It's his final year to show his worth and he is closely working with Petrie a while back ago. There is too much investment in Reke to just having him come from the bench.

Starting IT/MT23 will be nothing but problems, specifically defensively. I don't care if these guys are scoring 20+ points a piece, if they can't defend, you are going to lose a lot of games (just like last year). I'm a big proponent in bringing Reke into the backcourt with either guys (IT or MT23). I would be open to see a Reke/MT23 backcourt again but I prefer a IT/Reke ultimately.

I see James Johnson as our starting SF from day 1. If you look at the interview with Jerry, he inferred that JJ has a really good shot at becoming the Kings' starting SF. I just don't like our current SF rotation (sans JJ). Salmons is another year older and is washed up, Garcia is too injury-prone and inconsistent and Outlaw is blah (although, he had a solid finish at the end of the season as the SF). I would be ok with a JJ/Outlaw SF rotation if that means keeping Salmons off the floor.

I don't see T-Rob taking JT's spot, well not at least beginning of the season. If summer league is a precursor of T-Rob's current progression, he will be on the bench for most of the season. But given his intensity and work ethic, he can compete for the starting PF spot later into the season.

Cousins has the C spot lock in for the next decade (if he stays in Sacramento or we don't move him at PF).

[sackings916]

John Salmons is getting underrated here. Dont confuse a bad situation with lack of talent. Salmons should come off the bench where he can have the ball in his hands. He'll provide scoring and playmaking for the second unit. He needs the ball in his hands either in Iso or running the pick and roll to show his value which was near impossible playing with a Tyreke/Thornton backcourt. Before he got injured last year Salmons embraced the point forward role off the bench and was also shooting much better, but of course this goes unnoticed because the sample size was small due to the injury on top of the fact the team was still losing.

I think the starting 5 will be:
Brooks
Tyreke
Johnson
Thompson
Cousins

and bench rotation-
Thomas
Thornton
Salmons
Robinson
Hayes

Brooks has played better as a starter in the past. The IT/Thornton backcourt off the bench will be nice sparkplugs and provide instant offense, Salmons as a point forward who can also score, TRob will be more effective going against 2nd units at least at first. Hopefully Chuck Hayes has slimmed down and is closer to his weight when he was with the Rockets because we'll need his defense and hustle.

[sackings916]

For the entire month of March after Salmons was moved to the bench he shot:
51% FG
35% 3 pt

[KF10]

^^^

Okay, you have a point.

Honestly, I forgot that Salmons did well when he switched to a bench role. If he continues to accept his role as a reserve, he's ok in my books I guess.

[sackings916]

^^^

Okay, you have a point.

Honestly, I forgot that Salmons did well when he switched to a bench role. If he continues to accept his role as a reserve, he's ok in my books I guess.

It was very easy to forget because of where we were at in the season and its not like the team started winning more. Also its not like Salmons was putting up monster numbers but if you go back and look at the game logs he had some really solid games in March. Salmons is just one of those guys who needs the ball in his hands and get in a rhythm to be effective.

[Inigo_Montoya]

The problem is that either Isaiah or Aaron will rightfully have the ball in their hands. I don't think that he will have a chance to play point forward like he did when covering for Jimmer last year. Salmons is going to have to become a spot up shooter if he is going to be effective. And John as a spot up shooter was disastrous last year. Never passed + shot a horrid 3p percentage.