The vision of Vlade coming to fruition

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#1
A front office full of competent qualified individuals who really want to be part of the Kings.

Young players with good character, incredible talent and more potential than anyone could have dreamed.

Veterans to mentor our young players and help them learn the right way to play.

A fan base that is re-energized and excited about the coming season in a way reminiscent of the beginning of "The Greatest Show on Court."

It is a good time to be a Kings fan.

I LOVE THIS TEAM!!!

P.S. And don't undervalue the importance of what we're NOT seeing. There have been virtually NO LEAKS from the front office. It is just like the golden days of Geoff Petrie when you know as a Kings fan that any leak you saw did not come from within the Kings. :)
 
#3
Popovich said his favorite player ever to coach was George Hill. Ever! And he has coached Kawhi and Duncan and Manu. This says a lot about Hill in regards to professionalism and efficiency. This is a good day for Skal and Fox and even Mason and Giles. They are the future and now they can be brought along at proper pace with the best chance to succeed. Instead of thrown to fire prematurely and have their confidence undermined unnecessarily. This is what I have been contending against those wanting to give over the team to rookies. Their minutes will correspond to development and merit not necessity.

I only hope this does not preclude us from going after Otto. We can still free up some space to squeeze him in. We may have to move Koufos to get the max space we need.
 
#4
As I just posted in another thread, I'm almost ready to forgive Vlade for how he handled the DMC trade. I never had a problem with what he got for DMC, but we all know that he handled the trade poorly. Arguably he also paid too high of a price in the Philly trade. But those sins can (almost) now be forgiven based on everything else Vlade has done, including two stellar drafts, a great coach, some nice signings, and a stable and competent front office. My Vlade grade is now a revised A-. Vlade, Vlade, Vlade!
 
#6
what excites me the most is any lineup combination would be fun to watch. 3rd stringers of mason, Richardson, Jackson, papa, Giles is still interesting. Usually there are 6-7 key players and a lot of no names filling out the roster. 15 deep without a superstar may not translate into wins but will keep me watching even when they go deep into the bench.
 
#7
what excites me the most is any lineup combination would be fun to watch. 3rd stringers of mason, Richardson, Jackson, papa, Giles is still interesting. Usually there are 6-7 key players and a lot of no names filling out the roster. 15 deep without a superstar may not translate into wins but will keep me watching even when they go deep into the bench.
Exactly. Gone are the days of Desmond mason starting at sf, or Travis outlaw playing any minutes.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#8
As I just posted in another thread, I'm almost ready to forgive Vlade for how he handled the DMC trade. I never had a problem with what he got for DMC, but we all know that he handled the trade poorly. Arguably he also paid too high of a price in the Philly trade. But those sins can (almost) now be forgiven based on everything else Vlade has done, including two stellar drafts, a great coach, some nice signings, and a stable and competent front office. My Vlade grade is now a revised A-. Vlade, Vlade, Vlade!
I have completely forgiven him (as you can probably tell by the return of my all-time favorite avatar). :)
 
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#11
This could potentially be the deepest roster of actual NBA players the Kings have fielded since the glory days(assuming most of our young guys aren't total busts). Orienne Greene, Pooh Jeter, Sean May, Shelden Williams, Ike Diougu used to fill up our roster.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#12
One can definitely say that Vlade has a vision and he has stuck with it up to this point by bringing in competent front office personnel that won't let him get trigger happy. He is doing his part by bringing in a lot of youth and now it's on the staff and the players to prove their worth. It's out of his hands from here. Let's hope in a few seasons we can look back and say that Vlade was our savior from this turmoil we've had to endure for the last decade plus.
 
#13
This could potentially be the deepest roster of actual NBA players the Kings have fielded since the glory days(assuming most of our young guys aren't total busts). Orienne Greene, Pooh Jeter, Sean May, Shelden Williams, Ike Diougu used to fill up our roster.
Wasn't there another Green or Greene? Oh, forget it:p
 
#18
I like that both Hill (3rd year buyout) and ZBo are essentially 2 year contracts.

That fits in Vlade' timeline to get the Kings ready to compete. Once Fox and the kids are ready to play, they will have spots in the starting lineups.

These vets contracts come off the books when the Kings need to start thinking about extending the Kids that deserve it.

Also, we have these solid vets signed through the 2019 season, when we don't have our own 1st round pick. Hopefully, this edges us closer to the playoffs by the 2019 draft.
 
#19
I like that both Hill (3rd year buyout) and ZBo are essentially 2 year contracts.

That fits in Vlade' timeline to get the Kings ready to compete. Once Fox and the kids are ready to play, they will have spots in the starting lineups.

These vets contracts come off the books when the Kings need to start thinking about extending the Kids that deserve it.

Also, we have these solid vets signed through the 2019 season, when we don't have our own 1st round pick. Hopefully, this edges us closer to the playoffs by the 2019 draft.
Agreed. If I am not mistaken, and assuming Hill's third year option is bought out, then Temple, Koufos, Hill and Zach Randolph will all be off the books in the 2019 offseason.

Free agents that year http://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/2019/
 
#21
For those who were hoping for a full on tank year, I don't think that was Vlade's vision.

We will see this team compete every night. I wouldn't be surprised if the kings are still in the hunt for the 8th playoff spot come the all star game. :)
Not sure about being in hunt for the 8th seed given how stacked the West is but I certainly think the vision is that team competes hard every night regardless of who gets minutes or whether they are up by 30 (unlikely) or down by 30 (more likely). The effort will remain the same.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#23
Not sure about being in hunt for the 8th seed given how stacked the West is but I certainly think the vision is that team competes hard every night regardless of who gets minutes or whether they are up by 30 (unlikely) or down by 30 (more likely). The effort will remain the same.
The thing is that the super teams have gotten better, the T-Wolves have gotten, err, interesting (still not sure how the Jeff Teague for Rubio swap works because he was awful for stretches last season), and some of the other playoff teams have gotten weird (five bucks to whoever can tell me whatever the hell it is the Clippers are doing).

Western Conference:
Gods
1. Warriors
Self explanatory. Literally have the best players money can buy (their luxury tax bill is going to be historically high). While Steve Kerr's health struggles have me concerned, the only team really capable of beating them is only able to do so because the best basketball player in the world is on their team. Omri's also probably gonna score a bajillion points if he's in the rotation.
(Fun fact: The Warriors are still paying off Jason Thompson's contract. Coincidentally, the Warriors could probably still win the Finals even with Thompson as their starting center)

Godslayers
2. Rockets
Well this is where things get fun. The Rockets have had perhaps the craziest offseason in the NBA. CP3 is the big new name here but as some of the past big forays into superteam-building have shown us sometimes two superstars can cancel each other out (See Kobe and Nash in Los Angeles). Both Paul and Harden are great players (who I'd also like to punch in the face) but they play styles that are ball dominant and at completely different paces of action). Signing PJ Tucker also helps to offset some of the talent loss accrued in the trade with the Clippers and Nene will hopefully stay healthy this year (not holding my breath). CP3/Harden/Tucker/Anderson/Capela/ with Ariza, Nene, and Gordon off the bench is deep and probably stands the best chance of challenging the Warriors as any team in the west.

3. Spurs.
They've had a quiet offseason (though that's been the case every year aside from the LMA one, which in hindsight was a mistake anyways) but have managed to keep most of their team intact pending Simmons' free agency being resolved and Manu deciding what he wants to do next season. I still have my doubts about whether or not the Spurs have enough firepower to truly compete in the west but this is the Spurs we're talking about, which means Pop will have them humming along at a 60-win pace as per the usual. Parker's leg injury was bad though so we can at least pretend this is the year where the Spurs finally start to slip. They won't though.

On the Up-and-Up
And here's where things start to get weird.
4. Thunder.
The Thunder make it to 4 on the list because they're like the one team from the 4-8 range in the western playoff race to actually gain a good player without losing one or two. Westbrook is the reigning MVP and they acquired a one year rental of Paul George for a low price (Dipo and Sabonis are nice-ish young guys but I wouldn't even give making that move pause). Elsewhere, they lost Taj and replaced him with PPat, who should have plenty of open perimeter shots with Westbrook and George drawing all the attention. Adams/Patterson/Paul George/Jerami/Westbrook is a pretty balanced starting five though I still have concerns about their depth. Russ and George make them really dangerous though.

5. T-Wolves.
Here's where things start to get weird. I feel sorta weird about ranking a young team that barely won 31 games last season at the 5th seed but they've had too good an offseason to not be here. KAT should hopefully take another step forward next season. Jimmy Butler is excellent and reunited with Thibs, who hopefully won't play him 45 minutes a game this time. Wiggins needs to start playing defense but he was a former number one pick for a reason. Taj should provide even more veteran grit among the youngins. The one thing that does give me pause here is the signing of Jeff Teague as point guard. While he put up good numbers in Indiana last season, he's good at a lot of things but not really great at anything. They almost have as many big men as we do so that's cool I guess.
KAT/Taj/Wiggins/Butler/Teague has the potential to be a really good lineup for years to come... It could also be a tire fire.

6. Nuggets.
Jokic is really good. Let's get that out of the way here. Adding Millsap to the mix probably pushes the Nuggets over the hump and into the playoffs next year but I think they're going to miss Gallo more than we think and their point guard situation still gives me a lot of pause. Jamal Murray showed flashes towards the end of last season but he'll need to show more to take the next step as a lead guard. Also, Mudiay. And also, that Nurk trade really backfired on them big time as the Weasel once again worked his magic before bolting for Orlando.

7. Blazers
Portland pre-Nurk trade? Awful. Portland Post-Nurk? Surprisingly fun and good. Considering they have the highest payroll in the NBA, the Blazers are still underachieving but with Nurkic out there just shredding they found second wind. I still have serious questions about their defense and why anyone ever thought it'd be a good idea to give Leonard that contract deserves to be run out of town.

Well, um, these guys are also teams.
8. Jazz.
As awful as KD leaving OKC was, what Hayward did to Utah may be worse as the Jazz's slow, steady, well-crafted rise up as one of the best young teams in the NBA was completely derailed in one fell swoop. I have a lot of faith in Quin Snyder but Hayward was the offensive weapon that allowed the rest of his team to go balls-out defensively and a hobbled Rudy Gay (if that is who they wind up trying to sign to fill the gap) isn't going to be enough to cover that gap. Gobert is an absolute stud, Hood is developing well, Favors is really solid when not injured, and they have other assorted pieces. But between Hayward and Hill, the Jazz are losing nearly 39 points of production a game and, no matter how good you may thing Ricky Rubio is, that's going to be a bit of a struggle to overcome (at least in the early going). They still have enough talent to be a playoff team. They just aren't the sexy pick anymore.

8b. Clippers.
Oh man. Losing Chris Paul may have been bad but I think the bizarre retooling effort the Clippers are trying to do now maybe worse. Between CP3 leaving and Blake being up for free agency, the Clips had nearly the perfect chance to jumpstart a quick rebuilding effort. Instead, they did something else. Jordan/Blake(possibly out to start the season)/Gallo/Lou/Beverly is on paper a serviceable lineup but I just don't know anymore. Doc is a good coach but this "bold new direction" reminds me a lot of the post-Webber Kings, where we reluctantly tried to hold onto our relevancy longer than we should have.

9. Grizzlies.
Well, Grit-and-Grind is finally dead. The Grizzlies have decided to clear the books of a lot of the pieces of the Joerger-era, with Z-Bo, Tony Allen, and Vince Carter all being ushered out the door. Thus far in the offseason, the biggest move they've made has been the signing of Ben McLemore, who might do well getting away from the baggage of his Sacramento tenure but is probably not a huge difference maker. Gasol and Conley are both good players but aren't exactly young anymore. The Chandler Parsons contract is the Memphis version of the Kenny Thomas albatross, choking almost all life out of the transactional portion of that franchise. Even before this offseason, the Grizzlies were showing signs of losing life in the later half of the year and nothing they did this offseason should make that much of a change. This could be the year that Memphis finally falls.

10. Pelicans.
Boogie. Brow. Huge contract for Jrue. D'Antoni disciple coach. Incredibly small amount of assets. There's not much more that can be said. This team goes as far as the two best big men in the league can take it.

These are also teams included in the NBA charter

11. Mavericks.
Dennis Smith could be their next franchise player. Or he could be a bust. Rick Carlisle is a great coach but he's also not a good point guard coach. Elsewhere on the roster, Dirk's zombie continues to decompose. Harrison Barnes showed a lot of fight last season but this roster is still devoid of a lot of top-level talent. Seth is outperforming his contract though. Don't see a playoff run from them this season though.

12. Lakers.
People are suddenly getting all high on the Lakers again. Why? I'm not quite sure but I guess a lot of it has to do with their new front office trying (and failing) to bring in good vets like George Hill to usher in the new Ball Era Lakers. Ball/Ingram/Randle/Clarkson/Nance II is a nice little core to start with but I wasn't exactly blown away by Ingram last season and there's a good chance Thomas Robinson is on their roster again next season so boooooooooooooooo

13. Suns
The good news? Blake Griffin decided not to sign with Phoenix. The bad news if you're a Suns fan? This is the second time in three years that your general manager has thought it a good idea to scrap the rebuild and just randomly sign a soft all-star power forward. Thanks to the reputation the Kings have accumulated over the years, the Phoenix Suns have silently gotten away with being one of the most incompetent franchises in the league for a good five or so years now. After accidentally stumbling into making a competitive team with Bledsoe and Dragic leading the way, GM Ryan McDonough quickly burnt down that house by signing IT (at good value at least), destroying team chemistry in the process and then proceeding to deal away two of those guards for pennies on the dollar, keeping the one guy of the three to accumulate days on the injured list. Alongside such personnel blunders, McDonough also has come away from drafts with relatively little to show for his efforts. Were it not for Devin Booker, his best draft choice would possibly be Tyler Ulis, a guy who he took in the second round despite already having two other dudes on the roster that played his position. Also they were rewarded with their tanking effort this season by falling from the 2nd slot to the 4th overall slot. Josh Jackson and Booker should be a fun little combination at least.


So where do the Kings fit in this equation? Well, given our team's signings of Hill and Z-Bo, I think a full on tank can be ruled out, sort of immediately propelling us past the Suns of the world. The Lakers are sorta waiting on Paul George to show up next off season so we can sorta rule out some kind of big push from them this year. The Mavs are stuck until Dirk hangs 'em up but I'd say they have more talent (at least, known commodity talent) than the Kings do. It may be hard for the Kings to reach that third tier of a teams all struggling for the 8th seed but it is certainly possible if only because who the hell knows what happens with our young dudes this season. If one of Willie/Skal/Papa/Hield takes a big step forward this summer, it could serve to push the team forward into spiraling lower seed western conference teams. If one of our rookies comes in ready to contribute in a big way, even better.

I don't see a playoff push as being very likely but it's not impossible. And after all, it's not all about this year anyways.
 
#24
The thing is that the super teams have gotten better, the T-Wolves have gotten, err, interesting (still not sure how the Jeff Teague for Rubio swap works because he was awful for stretches last season), and some of the other playoff teams have gotten weird (five bucks to whoever can tell me whatever the hell it is the Clippers are doing).

Western Conference:
Gods
1. Warriors
Self explanatory. Literally have the best players money can buy (their luxury tax bill is going to be historically high). While Steve Kerr's health struggles have me concerned, the only team really capable of beating them is only able to do so because the best basketball player in the world is on their team. Omri's also probably gonna score a bajillion points if he's in the rotation.
(Fun fact: The Warriors are still paying off Jason Thompson's contract. Coincidentally, the Warriors could probably still win the Finals even with Thompson as their starting center)

Godslayers
2. Rockets
Well this is where things get fun. The Rockets have had perhaps the craziest offseason in the NBA. CP3 is the big new name here but as some of the past big forays into superteam-building have shown us sometimes two superstars can cancel each other out (See Kobe and Nash in Los Angeles). Both Paul and Harden are great players (who I'd also like to punch in the face) but they play styles that are ball dominant and at completely different paces of action). Signing PJ Tucker also helps to offset some of the talent loss accrued in the trade with the Clippers and Nene will hopefully stay healthy this year (not holding my breath). CP3/Harden/Tucker/Anderson/Capela/ with Ariza, Nene, and Gordon off the bench is deep and probably stands the best chance of challenging the Warriors as any team in the west.

3. Spurs.
They've had a quiet offseason (though that's been the case every year aside from the LMA one, which in hindsight was a mistake anyways) but have managed to keep most of their team intact pending Simmons' free agency being resolved and Manu deciding what he wants to do next season. I still have my doubts about whether or not the Spurs have enough firepower to truly compete in the west but this is the Spurs we're talking about, which means Pop will have them humming along at a 60-win pace as per the usual. Parker's leg injury was bad though so we can at least pretend this is the year where the Spurs finally start to slip. They won't though.

On the Up-and-Up
And here's where things start to get weird.
4. Thunder.
The Thunder make it to 4 on the list because they're like the one team from the 4-8 range in the western playoff race to actually gain a good player without losing one or two. Westbrook is the reigning MVP and they acquired a one year rental of Paul George for a low price (Dipo and Sabonis are nice-ish young guys but I wouldn't even give making that move pause). Elsewhere, they lost Taj and replaced him with PPat, who should have plenty of open perimeter shots with Westbrook and George drawing all the attention. Adams/Patterson/Paul George/Jerami/Westbrook is a pretty balanced starting five though I still have concerns about their depth. Russ and George make them really dangerous though.

5. T-Wolves.
Here's where things start to get weird. I feel sorta weird about ranking a young team that barely won 31 games last season at the 5th seed but they've had too good an offseason to not be here. KAT should hopefully take another step forward next season. Jimmy Butler is excellent and reunited with Thibs, who hopefully won't play him 45 minutes a game this time. Wiggins needs to start playing defense but he was a former number one pick for a reason. Taj should provide even more veteran grit among the youngins. The one thing that does give me pause here is the signing of Jeff Teague as point guard. While he put up good numbers in Indiana last season, he's good at a lot of things but not really great at anything. They almost have as many big men as we do so that's cool I guess.
KAT/Taj/Wiggins/Butler/Teague has the potential to be a really good lineup for years to come... It could also be a tire fire.

6. Nuggets.
Jokic is really good. Let's get that out of the way here. Adding Millsap to the mix probably pushes the Nuggets over the hump and into the playoffs next year but I think they're going to miss Gallo more than we think and their point guard situation still gives me a lot of pause. Jamal Murray showed flashes towards the end of last season but he'll need to show more to take the next step as a lead guard. Also, Mudiay. And also, that Nurk trade really backfired on them big time as the Weasel once again worked his magic before bolting for Orlando.

7. Blazers
Portland pre-Nurk trade? Awful. Portland Post-Nurk? Surprisingly fun and good. Considering they have the highest payroll in the NBA, the Blazers are still underachieving but with Nurkic out there just shredding they found second wind. I still have serious questions about their defense and why anyone ever thought it'd be a good idea to give Leonard that contract deserves to be run out of town.

Well, um, these guys are also teams.
8. Jazz.
As awful as KD leaving OKC was, what Hayward did to Utah may be worse as the Jazz's slow, steady, well-crafted rise up as one of the best young teams in the NBA was completely derailed in one fell swoop. I have a lot of faith in Quin Snyder but Hayward was the offensive weapon that allowed the rest of his team to go balls-out defensively and a hobbled Rudy Gay (if that is who they wind up trying to sign to fill the gap) isn't going to be enough to cover that gap. Gobert is an absolute stud, Hood is developing well, Favors is really solid when not injured, and they have other assorted pieces. But between Hayward and Hill, the Jazz are losing nearly 39 points of production a game and, no matter how good you may thing Ricky Rubio is, that's going to be a bit of a struggle to overcome (at least in the early going). They still have enough talent to be a playoff team. They just aren't the sexy pick anymore.

8b. Clippers.
Oh man. Losing Chris Paul may have been bad but I think the bizarre retooling effort the Clippers are trying to do now maybe worse. Between CP3 leaving and Blake being up for free agency, the Clips had nearly the perfect chance to jumpstart a quick rebuilding effort. Instead, they did something else. Jordan/Blake(possibly out to start the season)/Gallo/Lou/Beverly is on paper a serviceable lineup but I just don't know anymore. Doc is a good coach but this "bold new direction" reminds me a lot of the post-Webber Kings, where we reluctantly tried to hold onto our relevancy longer than we should have.

9. Grizzlies.
Well, Grit-and-Grind is finally dead. The Grizzlies have decided to clear the books of a lot of the pieces of the Joerger-era, with Z-Bo, Tony Allen, and Vince Carter all being ushered out the door. Thus far in the offseason, the biggest move they've made has been the signing of Ben McLemore, who might do well getting away from the baggage of his Sacramento tenure but is probably not a huge difference maker. Gasol and Conley are both good players but aren't exactly young anymore. The Chandler Parsons contract is the Memphis version of the Kenny Thomas albatross, choking almost all life out of the transactional portion of that franchise. Even before this offseason, the Grizzlies were showing signs of losing life in the later half of the year and nothing they did this offseason should make that much of a change. This could be the year that Memphis finally falls.

10. Pelicans.
Boogie. Brow. Huge contract for Jrue. D'Antoni disciple coach. Incredibly small amount of assets. There's not much more that can be said. This team goes as far as the two best big men in the league can take it.
These are also teams included in the NBA charter
11. Mavericks.
Dennis Smith could be their next franchise player. Or he could be a bust. Rick Carlisle is a great coach but he's also not a good point guard coach. Elsewhere on the roster, Dirk's zombie continues to decompose. Harrison Barnes showed a lot of fight last season but this roster is still devoid of a lot of top-level talent. Seth is outperforming his contract though. Don't see a playoff run from them this season though.

12. Lakers.
People are suddenly getting all high on the Lakers again. Why? I'm not quite sure but I guess a lot of it has to do with their new front office trying (and failing) to bring in good vets like George Hill to usher in the new Ball Era Lakers. Ball/Ingram/Randle/Clarkson/Nance II is a nice little core to start with but I wasn't exactly blown away by Ingram last season and there's a good chance Thomas Robinson is on their roster again next season so boooooooooooooooo

13. Suns
The good news? Blake Griffin decided not to sign with Phoenix. The bad news if you're a Suns fan? This is the second time in three years that your general manager has thought it a good idea to scrap the rebuild and just randomly sign a soft all-star power forward. Thanks to the reputation the Kings have accumulated over the years, the Phoenix Suns have silently gotten away with being one of the most incompetent franchises in the league for a good five or so years now. After accidentally stumbling into making a competitive team with Bledsoe and Dragic leading the way, GM Ryan McDonough quickly burnt down that house by signing IT (at good value at least), destroying team chemistry in the process and then proceeding to deal away two of those guards for pennies on the dollar, keeping the one guy of the three to accumulate days on the injured list. Alongside such personnel blunders, McDonough also has come away from drafts with relatively little to show for his efforts. Were it not for Devin Booker, his best draft choice would possibly be Tyler Ulis, a guy who he took in the second round despite already having two other dudes on the roster that played his position. Also they were rewarded with their tanking effort this season by falling from the 2nd slot to the 4th overall slot. Josh Jackson and Booker should be a fun little combination at least.


So where do the Kings fit in this equation? Well, given our team's signings of Hill and Z-Bo, I think a full on tank can be ruled out, sort of immediately propelling us past the Suns of the world. The Lakers are sorta waiting on Paul George to show up next off season so we can sorta rule out some kind of big push from them this year. The Mavs are stuck until Dirk hangs 'em up but I'd say they have more talent (at least, known commodity talent) than the Kings do. It may be hard for the Kings to reach that third tier of a teams all struggling for the 8th seed but it is certainly possible if only because who the hell knows what happens with our young dudes this season. If one of Willie/Skal/Papa/Hield takes a big step forward this summer, it could serve to push the team forward into spiraling lower seed western conference teams. If one of our rookies comes in ready to contribute in a big way, even better.

I don't see a playoff push as being very likely but it's not impossible. And after all, it's not all about this year anyways.
You should be doing this for a living. Awesome post thanks.
 
#25
I see the Clippers, Grizzlies and Jazz all missing the playoffs.
If Kings can add a good SF, through trade, then 7-8 seed may be plausible.

Especially, if a couple of the youngsters elevate their game next year.
 
#27
I don't think we are going to realistically make a push for #8. Likely going to see a big disparity between top 2 or 3 and rest of playoff teams as Tetsujin has described. That said I dont think we are 17-win Philly bad, and 30 wins is achievable. I have high (but realistic) hopes for some of the young guys.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#28
The Kings have zero percent shot at the playoffs. Every single year we hung out hats on the massive talent of DMC to take us to that glory land. We don't have him or that talent anymore.

The kids are young, and young doesn't usually win games.

George Hill and ZBo are nice. But in no way do they make up for the talent we don't have with DMC anymore. They'll be good enough to ensure we don't lose 60-70 games and crush the young guys confidence. I have 30-35 wins, and I think that's being generous. Maybe very generous because this offseason has put me in a good mood.

The future is hopefully bright. It isn't happening this year. No chance.
 
#29
The Kings have zero percent shot at the playoffs. Every single year we hung out hats on the massive talent of DMC to take us to that glory land. We don't have him or that talent anymore.

The kids are young, and young doesn't usually win games.

George Hill and ZBo are nice. But in no way do they make up for the talent we don't have with DMC anymore. They'll be good enough to ensure we don't lose 60-70 games and crush the young guys confidence. I have 30-35 wins, and I think that's being generous. Maybe very generous because this offseason has put me in a good mood.

The future is hopefully bright. It isn't happening this year. No chance.
I agree. If the Kings are in the playoff hunt late into the the season though and they are playing games that matter with the young guys contributing then the season is a success in my opinion. It's one thing to give guys minutes to learn and grow and make mistakes, but to give them those opportunities in games that matter where the team is fighting for something I think will do wonders for their development and their hunger.

I think the youth will be too much to overcome in the end but I'm hopeful the talent is there.
 
#30
The Kings have zero percent shot at the playoffs. Every single year we hung out hats on the massive talent of DMC to take us to that glory land. We don't have him or that talent anymore.

The kids are young, and young doesn't usually win games.

George Hill and ZBo are nice. But in no way do they make up for the talent we don't have with DMC anymore. They'll be good enough to ensure we don't lose 60-70 games and crush the young guys confidence. I have 30-35 wins, and I think that's being generous. Maybe very generous because this offseason has put me in a good mood.

The future is hopefully bright. It isn't happening this year. No chance.
You overestimate Cousins' impact on this team when he's gone for good, meaning to say that a Kings team built around numerous players without Cousins will perform better than a Kings team built around Cousins without Cousins. Young guys are gonna surprise us too. We aren't making the playoffs, that I agree, but I honestly don't think we're going to be too far off any of the Cousins-Kings win totals.