Grade the Front Office

[408Kings]

I don't think it's time to grade the FO just yet neccessarily, but time to start the evaluation proccess based on the last 2 and probably this upcoming year. I'm hoping with the moves they've made, that they will go for a Chris Webber type move with our cap space next season.

[Kings2013]

This is a crucial off season for this front office.. We are in a precarious position. We were improved last year and we are forming a nucleus but we are still a move or two from the wheels falling off (Rudy not wanting to re-up next season, and Demarcus not liking the situation of that).

The PG situation is tricky to judge.. IT is the better individual player, I think we can all agree on that, but how Collison fits in with this core as opposed to Thomas is a big question. They really need to know what they are doing here.

The SG situation as of right now, and I've only seen 1 1/2 summer league games, will be better than last season of course, but I don't know how this will shake out. I still would have liked to have gone after Afflalo or a good veteran personally.. Stauskas, is not in great physical condition IMO and I don't know if he is capable of immediately stepping in. I've been a little disappointed with the athleticism I've seen. Will Marshon make an impact, or will they bring someone else in?

I don't know if we are in position to pull of the Smith trade now. Detroit may opt to play the three bigs or sign and trade Monroe than offering Smith up for his less than expiring value

[codydaze]

This is a crucial off season for this front office.. We are in a precarious position. We were improved last year and we are forming a nucleus but we are still a move or two from the wheels falling off (Rudy not wanting to re-up next season, and Demarcus not liking the situation of that).

The PG situation is tricky to judge.. IT is the better individual player, I think we can all agree on that, but how Collison fits in with this core as opposed to Thomas is a big question. They really need to know what they are doing here.

The SG situation as of right now, and I've only seen 1 1/2 summer league games, will be better than last season of course, but I don't know how this will shake out. I still would have liked to have gone after Afflalo or a good veteran personally.. Stauskas, is not in great physical condition IMO and I don't know if he is capable of immediately stepping in. I've been a little disappointed with the athleticism I've seen. Will Marshon make an impact, or will they bring someone else in?

I don't know if we are in position to pull of the Smith trade now. Detroit may opt to play the three bigs or sign and trade Monroe than offering Smith up for his less than expiring value

I wouldn't say his athleticism is disappointing, I think he's a lot more athletic than he's been given credit for but I will say his balance could use some work. When he comes out of his spin dribbles or tries to finish down low he falls off balance and can't get a good shot up. He could also be a lot more physical on rhe defensive end fighting through screens, he shys aways from contact and tries to contort his body around it. As far as stepping in day one, I have 100% confidence he can. His play has been promising and his life will be a whole lot easier catching and shooting when teams double Cousins or Gay. He has some trouble losing his man off the ball sometimes too but I trust his IQ is high enough for Coach Malone to fix that.

[codydaze]

As far as the front office goes, if we don't make another move I'd be highly disappointed in this offseason. With as much as they advertised being aggresive in the draft and looking to make moves, there hasn't been any action to back that up. I'm out in Vegas right now and got a chance to chat with D'Allesandro for a minute and he said they were actively looking for a power forward that can stretch the floor. It seemed to me he was hinting at looking at Ryan Anderson, though he wouldn't say any names specifically. If I'm not mistaken his contract is pretty expensive right? Not sure what a package would look like for that or if I would even agree with that move but we'll see. I think it's possible Acy ends the season as the starter. His jumpshot has looked real smooth, he battles for boards and he's athletic enough to be a decent weak side shot blocker.

[SacKingZZZ]

If the follow up moves that we have been waiting for since last summer don't get done then it will be hard to be completely overjoyed about this team entering the season. That said, of the moves they need to get done, there aren't really a ton of options to make it happen. We'll see if Pete can earn a few more stripes before the season begins.

[ICMTM]

I don't know why we have to wait to be critical?

I think with letting both IT and Evans go it's a clear sign this team values ball movement over on the ball dominance. For the 1st time I see direction from this team. We're at the bottom of assisted buckets and near the top at turnovers. If we can move to the middle of the pack in both areas we may just mess around and become a playoff team.

A lot of analyst feel we're not too far off from winning, and I'm leaning that way. I thought our biggest need was at PG, and we've upgraded at that position. Ben McLemore has to improve as well. If we get improvement from BMac, and Collison plays well, then I think it would be a successful off season.

[OGSactownballer]

Agree entirely.

I see Collison as an UPGRADE over IT.

If you have ball dominance in your shooting guard and a higher usage that's one thing. But when you have potentially the best offensive center and one of the top seven or eight offensive small forwards in the game right now, having an undersized, no d and ball dominant point guard is a huge negative. I keep hearing about his great PER that is fourth in the league last year for point guards. So what! We f'ing won 28 games! More proof to me that metrics do not necessarily translate to real time. We upgraded speed, defense, size (slightly) and spacing ability (ie-ball movement) while saving 1.5 million per year and one year in the contract. Perfect structure to allow Ray the chance to develop as a full size one.

Yes we drafted a shooting guard for the second year in a row. For a squad that had one of the worst field shooting records in the league and has NO DEFINED STARTER AT THE POSITION YET.

We also will addandry to the mix and he was essential an injury casualty ALL of last year. With a minus 2.4 point differential, you think his 10-12 ppg with an almost scoreless second unit just might have made a win total difference?

[bleeds_purple]

I see Collison as an UPGRADE over IT.

If you have ball dominance in your shooting guard and a higher usage that's one thing. But when you have potentially the best offensive center and one of the top seven or eight offensive small forwards in the game right now, having an undersized, no d and ball dominant point guard is a huge negative. I keep hearing about his great PER that is fourth in the league last year for point guards. So what! We f'ing won 28 games! More proof to me that metrics do not necessarily translate to real time. We upgraded speed, defense, size (slightly) and spacing ability (ie-ball movement) while saving 1.5 million per year and one year in the contract. Perfect structure to allow Ray the chance to develop as a full size one.

I agree with the idea that Collision appears to be a better fit. That being said, It's not that metrics don't translate - its that they don't translate without context. Put another way you need to know what role each position should fit (generally speaking) and then find players who's metrics (and the "eye-test") back that up.

As you pointed out Thomas didn't bring what we needed from that position so he had to go even though I love him as a player. After seeing how it all played out I'm really happy to see him go because I think his game will shine in the up-tempo guard-centric system Pheonix employs. I can see Thomas competing for 6th man of the year. I hope they retain Bledsoe and go all out on their double PG strategy. If nothing else it would be ridiculously entertaining.

At the same time, hopefully things will work out for us with more defensive oriented lead guards.

[408Kings]

I hope DC brings what this team needs. I just have reservations, based on his play over the years in his different situations. His assists numbers have declined every year except for 2012/13 in Dallas, in correlation to his usage.

He is what he is and his stats show that he'll probably average for us 15-17 ppg, 3-4 rbs, 6-7 ast, and 1 stl. It's pretty amazing how similar his numbers are year to year. I do, however, look forward to the improvement he'll bring on the defensive end.

[pillwenney]

I have no problem with getting a guy like Collison instead of IT. I just wish he was a significantly better version of what Collison is.

[KF10]

I hope DC brings what this team needs. I just have reservations, based on his play over the years in his different situations. His assists numbers have declined every year except for 2012/13 in Dallas, in correlation to his usage.

He is what he is and his stats show that he'll probably average for us 15-17 ppg, 3-4 rbs, 6-7 ast, and 1 stl. It's pretty amazing how similar his numbers are year to year. I do, however, look forward to the improvement he'll bring on the defensive end.

I would ecstatic as hell if that was Collison's line next year but I have a feeling that his PPG is more closer to 13-14 ppg and his assist will be in the middle-7s/lower 8s apg throughout the season. Which is probably the best for this Kings team, IMO.

[SacKingZZZ]

I don't think the whole point of bringing Collison in was for production or usage purposes, at least I hope that wasn't the point. I think it was to have player willing to swing the ball to someone else in the course of the offense and hopefully to be able to play more effectively in a team defensive scheme.

I want to see a PG willing to dish, get out of the way, and play tough nosed defense.

[bahtoe]

I give the FO different grades. As far as building for the future I give them an A+ as well as the hiring of Malone. They're doing the best they can to get the best players that fit our team. And I believe they're trying to get the most exciting players as well.

Nik stauskas draft a B. I do like his game. He may lack the athleticism McLemore has but the guy plays smart and I sense confidence in him that McLemore doesnt.
In this off season, I give them either a C+ or a B-. I would've loved to see them sign an all star (however I still have a bit of hope since there's still time to make some changes before the season and the start of the reg season)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[SacKingZZZ]

I don't know if you can ever truly grade a front office but I do think you can grade the current state of affairs at any given time. In terms of creating a roster that makes sense they get a D+ or a C- in my book. 1 out of every 3 moves looks like it makes sense thus far but the ones that didn't/don't have only compounded some of the issues needing to be corrected in the first place. Like I've said, a good chunk of their moves aren't too different than the previous regime and they appear to be more like throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks than this is the plan, this is how to get there. This team can't do that if they have any hope of keeping Gay or Cuz long term.

A less is more approach or addition by subtraction isn't necessarily the wrong idea, but for goodness sakes, start making some headway in the areas you say you want to. Don't sit on things if you don't absolutely need them or if you can't realistically make it work within the context of sustaining value or improving your team. This team can't look at this process in terms of creating or sustaining value anyway because they went for the guy they liked in this draft and that pick was probably the only real asset they had to correct those other issues. They are desperately trying to hold onto the talent they are attempting to build around so they can't afford to take a slow route here.