I honestly don't know what Vlade is trying to do. I could say that in the short term he's trying to give Joerger & Boogie smart vets who play smart defense and know their roles in an attempt to sneak into the playoffs while simultaneously stocking up on young talent.
But even if that's the case, Gay, Collison, McLemore, Lawson and Casspi are all free agents after the season. I believe the Kings have options on Afflalo and Tolliver. WCS looks lost and none of the rookies look ready to play in the NBA at all other than maybe Richardson in spot minutes if forced to.
This is a very rudderless ship right now. Even if they somehow managed to be an 8th seed they are going to need a new starting and backup PG, new starting SF and/or a new 2nd scorer next to Cousins.
At this point I hope they are at least taking calls for Boogie. For his sake and the franchise's. Because next summer looks like it will either be a rebuild or yet another major patch job.
Guys...GUYS...
NOT RUDDERLESS!
Intentional, well thought out plan. OBVIOUS plan. It may work, it may not, but people continuing to call an obvious plan rudderless just because they don't like it are being disingenuous.
Yes, we have exactly:
-- brought in a veteran minded win-right now coach who coaches bigs as well as any coach in the NBA
-- brought in as many gritty veteran roleplayer types as we could stack up, dumped them on his porch, and said here you go, make of it what you can
-- and included in that concept is the concept of depth btw -- as long as Cousins stays healthy, we have enough quality people to fill in almost everywhere if somebody turns an ankle.
-- and yes, we have INTENTIONALLY set up the contracts to start going poof next year, for two reasons:
a) if we turn the corner and win enough to make the playoffs, we will have the ability to go shopping, either to resign guys, or upgrade with our new improved stature
b) if we don't turn the corner and have to move Cuz, we have the ability to quickly shed the vets and start going all kiddie all the time. We have limited the awkward transition period without many lingering long term veteran muck contracts to hold us back from the full rebuild dive.
this is NOT "rudderless". This is intentional. Now all that remains is to see if it works. Having a very good coach gives it a chance.
Now Omri's position is lamentable, but a predictable possibility given Rudy's great start. In the last few games we have really begun to see Joerger's coaching soul exposed. He hates sloppiness. Mental, loose plays, loose turnovers. Ben and Willie are on an incredibly short leash right now. Come in, either play like vets, or a quick yank and we'll get somebody who does. Omri remains a possibility, I think especially to get a look at being more effective than Tolliver/WCS have been, now that Kosta is back to backup center. But his game is inherently gaffe prone. Always has been. To a coach attempting to grind off the franchise's sloppy give away possessions nature, to a coach who would prefer a gritty roleplayer who puts up minimal numbers but makes minimal mistakes, Omri still has a wildcard feel to him. An injury, and suddenly he's the depth that keeps us going. But on 50/50 calls of who to put in, its pretty clear Joerger remains eternally scared of Omri ****ing up. And from the few times we did see Omri this year, you could see that in his play at well -- for better at worse he's at his best when he's free flowing and making a boneheaded error every few minutes. But when we saw him this season it was clear he was scared of making mistakes, and in the process wasn't making any good plays either. What's desired by the coach is a discipline that I am not sure comes naturally to Omri at all, who had his best seasons in uptempo open court situations.
As the season goes along and the trade deadline approaches, one of three things will likely have happened. Either:
a) Omri will have earned Joerger's trust and snuck into a backup role (I suppose the starter with our eternal PF problem is possible)
b) we will have had an injury making our depth with Omri important to keep us moving forward; or
c) Vlade, being Vlade, I think will grant Omri a trade to somebody to get his value up for free agency.
but none of that is necessarily going to happen now IN NOVEMBER. Jeesh. A month ago we hadn't even started the season.