Kings Over/Under and Bill Simmons (Grantland) Video

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Bill Simmons and his 'friend' do a podcast every year where they pick over or under the amount of wins a basketball team will get that year. This season vegas put the over/under at 30. Simmons picked under 30, and his buddy picked over, but they both hate the team.

I could nitpick at the little things they got wrong in this video, but the main point they made is one a lot of us have been saying for a while - This is, and has been, a poorly constructed basketball team. A lot of the pieces don't fit. What they didn't mention is that this year, with increased options and depth, the roster CAN work if Smart plays is smart.

It's not hard to see. If you start Evans / Johnson / Thompson / Cousins along with one of the point guards, that is a balanced, working lineup.

I don't take Simmons very seriously, although I like listening and reading his work, but I think this video is a fairly clear representation of how everyone OUTSIDE of the 'KingsFans' circle view the team.

Anyway, I'm also going to add a poll so we can guess the over/under of this years team.

 

[Spike]

Man, it's so tough to call before I know the lineup. Knowing what I know about Smart, I'm going under, because he likes to tinker too much. If he balances the roster, identifies roles, and keeps things consistent, then they should definitely be over 30.

It's like deja vu all over again.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

so our team is being compared to a piece of artwork made out of a persons blood, pee and poop. sounds about right.

 

[DesertFox]

Can't disagree with any of it. One of the under 6-4 gunners needs to go for a 6-7+ forward who can hit 3's and play D.

That one tiny move can suddenly change the entire makeup of the roster. Reke can stay in the backcourt, the floor will be spread, and the gunners can do what they do best without getting in each others way. Salmons becomes relevant again as a backup 2 who can handle the ball, and at the same time if he blows he won't have to play with Garcia/Outlaw sitting around.

Imagine this top 8:

At any time on the floor, there will be at least 2 ballhandlers, 2 shooters, no more than 1 defensive mismatch, and a real sized center.

IT/Evans/???Dudley/Trob/Cuz

Brooks/Johnson/JT

Jimmer/Salmons/Garcia/Outlaw/Hayes rotating the 9th spot depending on matchups.

 

[jcwkings]

I kind of agree, the way the roster is put together, everything will go right and we will be fighting for the playoffs, or it will be complete disaster and win 25 games on talent alone with constant reports of team chemistry issues/ players turning on coaches. Hopefully everything goes right, i certainly don't fault a national reporter for viewing our roster the way Simmons does. The only saving grace is that we have seen glimmers of hope this pre season that our roster could somehow gel, and the guys all seem to like eachother.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

and the guys all seem to like eachother.

i agree. i dont think we have to worry about players fighting like Simmons thinks lol. but this roster all coming together and working on the court is another story. we will see how Smart plays it out. and hopefully he can stick to a lineup/rotation and not mess with it every 3 games

 

[kennadog]

Simmons has never liked the Kings at all.

 

[uolj]

Simmons has never liked the Kings at all.

Sure he has. At least he's certainly never shown a bias against them.

 

[xyrin]

It truly is an extremely poorly constructed team, as much as some Kings fans want to deny that. Petrie has been awful in the draft the past two years when it comes to fit. We'll see how things turn out though.

 

[hrdboild]

From what I've seen so far, a lot is going to depend on how well Thomas Robinson fits in. We pretty much know what to expect from Thomas, Thornton, Brooks, Hayes, Thompson, and Cousins. Evans and Fredette have had good games and bad games, but we pretty much know who they are too. Overall I have the same problem with this team that I had last year though -- too many scorers, not enough team players. And that's unlikely to change. So if I were going to predict how the season would turn out, I'd say we're only going to win games if Johnson and Robinson provide enough defensive hussle to keep the score close against the good teams and then we simply outshoot everyone else.

There were so many opportunities this off-season to make some trades and rebuild the roster into something sensible, but wishful thinking aside we could still be a decent team if the new guys exceed expectations. If Robinson plays like a rookie and/or Johnson regresses then we're going to see a replay of last season I fear (Tyreke at SF included). That would not be good.

 

[Larry David]

Simmons has never liked the Kings at all.

Depends when you started reading him. He gushed about them back in the glory days. There isn't much good to say about the past 6 years.

 

[andjel]

Dismissing possibility of Kings having the same or better winning percentage than last year can be only done by "insight" relying on contagious laughter and poop jokes targeted for low level amusement and attention of people not caring about basketball at all....

Well, mission accomplished

 

[Bricklayer]

Remains just not a good basketball man at all.

 

[Heuge]

I hate that they are probably right. Hope Simmons is wrong. They got Petrie as an artist pegged, imo.

 

[nebs]

LOL I love Bill Simmons. I laughed pretty good at the Pee Poop Art comment.

 

[rhythmless]

Simmons has never liked the Kings at all.

He loved the Vlade/Webb team, he egregiously called out the refs during that time, and he still calls it one of the worst officiated games in the history of the NBA.

The issue that he's taken up in recent years is that this team has no direct plan. He's called us out on it numerous times, and all we've done so far as a team is prove him right.

He was very biased against Tyreke pre draft, but admitted he was wrong on him shortly after. He still says our team doesn't work right, but we all know that as well. He's just saying what we've been saying; "sure, good basketball players, but who's going to do the little stuff?" Everyone is a scorer on this team. No one's a defensive corner 3 guy, no one's a rim presence/enforcer. We didn't need to grab Brooks, we didn't need to try and get Crawford. We need a Leonard, a Battier, a DJ, Camby, etc.

I agree w/House. We have too much talent to not win 30. But with the talent on other teams, I don't see us going over 35.

Also, not sure why friend was 'quoted' (why was it with apostrophes?), as House is regularly referenced as one of the people in his circle before he was a nationally recognized blogger.