If I were looking to maximize the value of the young talents on the roster and build an offense around their strengths it would be fairly different than what the Kings are currently doing.
Fox plays his best when attacking in transition and with space to get to the basket in the half court. He also benefits from having shooters to kick it out to and who also cover for his lack of outside shooting.
Bogdanovic plays well when he gets a lot of touches and is allowed to make decisions with the ball, especially in the pick and roll. He also plays better when he gets easy open looks to knock down a shot or two early to get his confidence up.
Justin Jackson fits well in most schemes as a role player but is very well suited for a team that gets out and runs and moves the ball well in the half court.
WCS is at his best when he can rim run, set picks and roll aggressively to the hoop, crash the offensive glass and get open 15-18 footers at the elbows.
Buddy just needs to be fed the ball and asked to score.
I don't know what would best maximize Skal - he's been very out of sorts so far this year.
Mason just needs to be allowed to run the team and play his aggressive game off the bench.
What this points to for me is more of a pace and space or dribble-drive type offense. Ironically, George Karl (if he still had anything left in the tank) would actually probably be a good fit for this young team. But that ship has long sailed, then was struck by lightning, caught fire, and sank into the ocean.
But a similar fast paced, attacking offense with four guys out and one dump off, P&R big (Trill) is still something I'd like to see.
Fox
Bogdanovic
Jackson
????
Cauley-Stein
With a bench of
Mason
Hield
Temple
Randolph
Koufos
that plays more of a half court game and looks to Z-Bo and Hield for offense is what I'd like to see.
Could Skal be the starting PF? I'd like him to be, but he's not a true stretch four and is still a liability defensively. Millsap would have been a nice fit as a strong rebounder (a definite weakness for this team) as well as an outside shooter. Kevin Love too though he would cost too much in trade for another guy who is that much older than the Kings young players. Kuzma would be nearly ideal. Omri would have worked too, especially given how well he's rebounded so far this season.
To me it's clear - if the Kings believe in Fox and think Willie can consistently bring effort they should be targeting trades for Hill (he can't be dealt until December 15th I believe) and trying to build a faster, more modern offense as well as identifying who their PF should be going forward if it isn't Skal and/or Giles.
Getting faster, spacing the floor better/taking more threes and attacking more off the dribble would be what I'd like to see Joerger and his staff focus on. And playing the young guys more minutes of course.
Good to have you back Funky Kingston !
Belated Happy Thanksgivings to ALL the Kings fans following our glorious thrashing of the Lakers.
Tis the season for cheer and festivity and more Kings Ws!
Now onto your points above, there is merit but also there is conclusions to be drawn contrary to the evidence albeit small sample size.
Peddling off George Hill and his albatross contract has appeal (he's been worse than Darren C at half the price) but we have to consider what is best for De'Aaron Fox.
Developing FOX as our franchise guy has to be among the TOP priorities and potential moves need to be considered through this lens.
If we conclude, I think rightfully so, Fox has been at his best playing alongside Hill so they can share PG responsibilities, and it is his best interest to get as many quality reps, then I would not be so quick to terminate this arrangement once Hill is eligible to trade. Fox can play off the ball more and relinquish responsibility of initiating in half court sets. Also, the opponent may switch their best back court defender onto Hill which allows Fox to use his speed.
At the same time De'Aaron gets the invaluable experience going up against top flight guards as a starter.
(George Hill to the Clippers has some possibility after they lost Beverly and Milos going down, but I don't see anything on this roster I'd be all that excited about.)
Buddy has found his niche off the bench. Let's not mess with a good thing there.
You definitely don't want to start Mason and Fox, so you are left with moving Boggy back to starter.
To me Boggy he's TOO SLOW to share PG responsibilities. Excellent defender, excellent out of the pick and roll, but as a guy who is going to LEAD fast breaks, and pick up the opposing PG thats not his skill set. So those burdens would fall square on Fox's shoulders. He can do it, but I think he will more prone against the elites to struggle without Hill by his side. I would rather Fox develop under more amenable circumstances so that his confidence does not get undermined. His confidence is super high so let's keep it there.
I also want Boggy shooting the ball more and having the ball in this hands more like breakout game vs Lakers, but this can occur in his current role.
For ALL these reasons I am inclined to keep Hill this season for good of others but mainly good of De'Aaron Fox. This is after all why he was signed!
Along the front line, Z-Bong has found his modest groove against centers. This is where he belongs going up against fellow plodders to the degree the opponent has one, Adams, Lopez, etc. Of course the reason Randolph has been thrust into more prominent role than the team has envisioned and is due to the utter futility of Skal.
The guy has fallen off the 54% FGs to 43% FGs and shooting 35% in November. His minutes have fallen from 23 MPG in October to 14 MPG in November as Joerger has lost confidence in him, playing Vince Carter ahead of him in the second half vs Lakers.
Expect this to continue. If Skal continues to struggle his 6-7 minutes to start the game could be all we see of him.
The revelation against the Blazers following the 46 point thrashing in Atlanta was the spark Mason provides to push the pace and play with a sense of urgency.
With Hill/Fox as starters and Mason inserted into the second unit, there is NO reason not to play with improved pace that we did NOT witness over the first 10+ games.
If you are going to find minutes for Mason,, then Jackson and Malachi are the odd men out most nights.
Again, we have stumbled upon something.
The move to insert Mason into the rotation was obvious t before it occurred.
But moving Buddy to the bench, playing Koufos with Willie, and playing Hill with Fox were less obvious, but they have been modestly effective, and relatively speaking, extremely effective.
Usually I am advocating for change in one degree or another, but this is one of the few times change would be a mistake.
As Skal plays better more of his minutes will come at the expense of Randolph and DNP-CDs for Carter, but that will be up to him.
Willie is starting to embody the type of player I envisioned with more frequency, a Gobert - type lob target with better offense and worse defense. I still do NOT like it when he tries to create offense. It is a suckers bet. It is cringe-worthy when Willie gets that look in his eye and sights to beat his man one-on-one. But when Mason and Boggy are throwing it up for him, thats when Willie can be a force.
It helps too when he goes against teams who put a forward on him like the Lakers did.
Playing along side Koufos seems to have freed up Willie to roam more on both sides. This is more evidence not to mess with what we have.
My current benchmark for the team will be to see their point differential close under 10 PPG, currently an anemic -12.8 per 100 possession. There is NO reason this cannot occur if the Kings continue to build upon games like v Lakers. The defense sparked the offense to the tune of 55% FGs. They need their D to spark their O given that they do NOT have the high octane scorers to compete absent a lot of deflections, stops and easy buckets.
It took 15 games for the Kings to start to forge an identity and blueprint to compete. Whether that translates to wins, we'll see. They still have a long way to go and a lot to prove, but there is reason for holiday optimism and a better 2018.
