OFFICIAL 2010-11 SACRAMENTO KINGS SEASON THREAD - Vol. Too Lazy To Make A New Topic Right Now!

Originally Posted by TyrekeEvans

what happened to all the hate earlier in this thread?
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Sadly, there aren't that many Kings fans posting on this thread right now.

The haters were the Warriors folks anyways. But they aren't doing too well so they got their own team to worry about now.
 
[h2]The Prospect of Emeka Okafor[/h2]

Sam Amick of The Bee reports the Kings are discussing an Emeka Okafor-Kenny Thomas trade with the Hornets.Thomas's contract, as we all know, expires this summer. Okafor's deal runs through 2014. Here's a full salary breakdown, thanks to ShamSports.com.
[table][tr][td]Player[/td] [td]'09-10[/td] [td]'10-11[/td] [td]'11-12[/td] [td]'12-13[/td] [td]'13-14[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thomas[/td] [td]$8.7M[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Okafor[/td] [td]$10.8M[/td] [td]$11.8M[/td] [td]$12.8M[/td] [td]$13.8M[/td] [td]$14.8M*[/td] [/tr][/table]
That 2013-14 season has an early termination option for Okafor. Clearly, in losing Thomas the Kings would only be losing a spot bench forward and theopportunity cost of using his expiring contract in another trade. There are very few big names expected to be available for expiring contracts this tradedeadline -- Carlos Boozer, Stephen Jackson, Elton Brand and perhaps Monta Ellis lead that class. (Despite what you may have heard, Torontoain't trading Chris Bosh for anything less than a couple ofSacramento's top assets -- think Kevin Martin and Jason Thompson, or something like that. Pipe. Dream.)

The real question here is whether Okafor is worth the cost of his own salary for the Kings. That's also an opportunity cost issue: if the Kings take onOkafor without losing one of its longer contracts, the free agency periods of 2010, 2011 and possibly 2012 are essentially wiped out. And that really dependson what you think the Kings could get in free agency right now.

I think free agency is a big risk. The best player the Sacramento Kings have everacquired as a free agent (not including any extensions/re-signings) is Vlade Divac. At the time, the team overpaid for Vlade -- he was making All-Star levelmoney despite a reputation as an average starting center with a few special skills. No one (but Geoff Petrie, perhaps) knew how well Divac would mesh withChris Webber and friends.

Who is No. 2 behind Divac? Bobby Jackson, who at the time of hissigning was a three-year vet with a career 8 ppg average? ShareefAbdur-Rahim? John Salmons? The Kings, even when great, havenever signed high-level free agents. This is not particularly Sacramento-specific, either: few great players move in unrestricted free agency. This comingsummer is a bit of an anomaly that players are even getting to free agency ... and it's still unlikely many of the big names will move.

So I'm not sure the Kings lose much by way of renouncing a big free agency splash for 2-3 years. As I said, you limit your trade deadline opportunitiesby sending away Thomas's contract ... but there was unlikely to be much out there better than Okafor (depending on your feelings about how Boozer wouldmesh here, or whether the Suns will careen and make Amar'e Stoudemire availableagain). Despite being traded recently, Okafor wouldn't be an easily movable contract for a while -- any trade including him is a necessarily big trade, andthose are harder to pull off. So he becomes your "hardest to trade" asset, eclipsing Beno Udrih and Andres Nocioni. Further augmentation to theroster would fall to trades involving the team's bevy of non-stars/non-youths, trades involving the prospects, trades involving draft picks, mid-level orsub mid-level free agent signings and the draft. You'd have to be fairly comfortable that the current team (with Okafor and the 2010 draft pick and someinternal growth) would be able to be a playoff team within a year or two to justify the trade.

And I think that's fair. When Kevin Martin is healthy, the Kings have clearly above average players at point guard (Tyreke Evans), shooting guard(Martin) and power forward (Jason Thompson). The team has one serviceable starter (as of today) at small forward (Nocioni) and center (Spencer Hawes).You'd hope Hawes will be more than that any day now, but let's not be deluded. He's not there yet. He's better than some starting centers outthere, but not too many. He's not clearly above average today ... many would argue he's not average today.

Adding Okafor would give you an above average player at a fourth position. It'd also give the starting line-up its first elite defensive player (Evansisn't there) and it would likely cinch the Kings as an elite rebounding team. Okafor, while less versatile than Hawes, also happens to be a serviceableoffensive weapon: he's smart with the ball, and has a career field goal percentage better than 50 percent. If he hurts the offense, it's in his lack ofability to stretch the defense. Given that Hawes has shot poorly this year but the Kings offense has been on fire (thanks to Martin, then Evans, Thompson andUdrih), I'm not sure how much of a concern that is.

The only real question which remains is what this means for Hawes. He can negotiate a contract extension this summer. As of today, it is quite easy to seethat he and the Kings will be far apart on his value. He's the first prominent Kings kid in the post-Webber era that I think could get to restricted freeagency. (Extending Kevin Martin early was a no-brainer, and Francisco Garcia got a fairly generous deal, which wasn't difficult to anticipate.) Either way, in the interim, Hawes is a good thirdbig. A pissed-off Hawes could be a great third big. It's not terribly easy to explain, but pinning Hawes behind a middling, old center during anawful season felt a whole lot worse than pinning him behind an above average center in his prime during a surprisingly competitve season seems.

All this ignores a few other points that make the rumor itself a positive. I mean, are we actually talking about the Kings considering an expensive move?! Amove that implies the franchise thinks they are fairly close to contending for a playoff spot? That's a huge step from where we were even three weeks ago.If the deal doesn't happen, this is still a blast of excitement in mid-November, and there's no discounting that after the last couple seasons.

Thoughts?
 
Ummm I wouldn't do it, just let Hawes and JT gel and we'll see from then on.

Plus we'll probably in the lotto again this year and if we get a top 3 pick and Hawes hasn't been playing well I think the Kings will look for a bigman like Favors.


This team is looking very promising missing two key players in Garcia and Martin. Let the young guys learn and play.
 
Bulls vs Kings tonight!

The return of Brad Miller! and John Salmons...

Would much rather see Tyreke guard Rose than Beno. Salmons is shooting pretty poorly so far this season so I would let him continue to shoot all he wants.

This will be a physical and ugly game to say the least. Go Kings!

Oh yeah, another potential trade for a defensive center:

[h2]The Prospect of, Um, Samuel Dalembert[/h2]

Apparently, the Kings are highly interested in a defensive-minded center. MarcStein of ESPN reports on TrueHoop that the Kingsare in exploratory discussions with Philadelphia and Boston in a deal that would bring centre (boom!) Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento with Kenny Thomas andAndres Nocioni departing. Essentially, it brings in Dalembert,whose defense is well-reputed but whose offense and sometimes attitude is disastrous, for two seasons while cutting some salary off this season's ledgerand freeing the team from Nocioni's longer contract. Here are the full contract details for the only three players who matter to Sacramento. (Boston, whowould receive Nocioni, would also send a couple of dudes to Philly.) As always with matters of salary, thanks be to ShamSports (who you can also follow for pithy remarks, obscure transaction news and feuds with Sam Amick [noreally!] on Twitter: @ShamSports).
[table][tr][td]Player[/td] [td]'09-10[/td] [td]'10-11[/td] [td]'11-12[/td] [td]'12-13[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Dalembert[/td] [td]$12M[/td] [td]$12.9M[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Nocioni[/td] [td]$7.5M[/td] [td]$6.9M[/td] [td]$6.7M[/td] [td]$7.5M*[/td] [/tr][tr][td]Thomas[/td] [td]$8.8M[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [td]--[/td] [/tr][/table]
The Kings would save a solid $4 million this season, give or take as roughly 10 percent of the season's salary has already been paid out. Next season,the Kings would have $46 million in payroll on the books instead of $40 million, and would be out of the running for a major free agent chase, barringsomething unexpected with the salary cap. The Kings would gain $6.7 million in space in 2011-12 (putting the team at $34 million in commitments withoutaccounting for Spencer Hawes's extension) as the then-31 Nocioni would no longer be on the books. Nocioni's 2012-13 salary is a team option, which isunlikely to be picked up by any team, unless Bueno Aires grabs an expansion club and Dorothy Nocioni is the owner. So basically, the Kings would save roughly$4 million this season, spend an extra $6 million next season and save $6.7 million in '11-12. A net savings of roughly $4.5 million over threeseasons.

That's the money situation. What about the talent?

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As we've discussed, Thomas is a bit of gravy right now. He's playing well on defense and on the boards, but he's really just an expiringcontract. Adding another pivot would guarantee that. Heck, if Jon Brockman were an inch taller, or Sean May were 10 pounds lighter, Thomas would never get offthe bench. Losing Thomas, while sad, because man we have been through a lot with that guy!, would not matter much to the product on the court. Just the productin my chest.

Nocioni has been a good contributor for the Kings, maybe the fourth best offensive weapon at any time. He's also, as we were reminded frequently duringthe Thunder-Kings game, an active defender, though he's less brilliant againstlesser talents, where he loses concentration and chases the ball. Right now, he's the team's most easily swingable big small forward (a minor victory)and one of the team's more reliable shooters (with Omri Casspi,Beno Udrih and a healthy Kevin Martin ... and someday a healthyFrancisco Garcia). You assume Ime Udoka would take overNocioni's spot, at least temporarily, as the suggested three-guard line-up looms with Martin's expected return around the New Year. If it's notUdoka, Paul Westphal can choose between Casspi (the better scorerand more energetic defender) or Donte Greene (the ultra-athletic, hyper-celebratory choice).

But that's all temporary. Long-term, the Kings have plenty of options at the position. Udoka is the team's best defender without question, and hecan hit an open shot (which is arguably all you want from Nocioni, though he tends to create in a pinch, which we'd miss until Martin returns or SpencerHawes regains confidence). Casspi is a bright star -- not star as in NBA Star, but star as in shining light which will always rise with the moon and neverdisappear until it burns out in a wonderful supernova, which won't happen for millions of years. Greene, of course, is the secret lock of hair in theshoebox, the everlasting dream of tomorrow. Garcia might be a lost cause this season (he'll have about 25-30 games once he returns, and he'll need torefind his stroke on that shooting hand), but he's signed up for the long haul and can do a lot of what Nocioni can do, except for the rebounding. He is,basically, Nocioni. Which makes it weird that we have two Nocionis. But it had to happen -- we couldn't go from two Salmonses (John Salmons and Garcia) tozero Salmonses without making it up somewhere else. (Can we try two Martins or two Thompsons next time? Thanks.)

(Quoting myself once again! The Ego is back, baby! Step off, Id.) Chandler is no longer a comparison, as he is spoken for. But look at Dalembert on his ownmerits: a career defensive rebounding percentage of 24.5 percent, a career block rate of 5.8 percent (that is, when on the court he blocks 5.8 percent of allopponent field goal attempts), a career individual Defensive Rating of 101.5, which happens to rank 88th in the NBA ... all time. He has played every game ineach of the past three seasons. He is 75th in NBA history in total blocks, despite averaging only 26 minutes per game for his career (due to fouls and a lackof offensive ability). He was the third best rebounder in the league last season: 6th on the offensive glass (better than J.T.), third on the defensive glass(behind Troy Murphy and Dwight Howard), third overall (behind Howard and Kevin Love). He has finished top seven in the league in block rate in five ofhis eight NBA seasons, and top nine in rebound rate three times.

For a 7-footer, his career field goal percentage of 52.3 percent might be a bit low. But his True Shooting percentage (that's the best measure ofscoring efficiency) is above league average, because unlike most defensive specialist centers he can hit free throws (better than 70 percent in each of thepast four seasons and at 78 percent this year). His turnover rate is atrocious, which means he needs to stop handling the ball. I think a coach like PaulWestphal -- who convinced D.G. to stop taking hurried off-balance threes -- could impart that knowledge effectively. If not, your third big (who might start infront of Hawes -- that'd be a pretty big question) would have terrible hands. Not the worst realization, given how many top-level bigs have terrible hands,and given how good the other two prominent Kings bigs' hands are. (No Hamburglar.)

You know, if too many deals which I support come up, I'm going to be found out as an antsy Nancy who is just rooting for a trade. I'm not. But Iunderstand the importance of interior defense -- look at much Hawes, who improved from dreadful to passable on defense, has helped! Imagine inserting a real,live, intimidating defender to the back line. The Kings, no matter how much they have surprised, are still a bad defensive team. Dalembert would help, thisyear and next. Given that the financial commitment is relatively short, and the price relatively small (no knock on Nocioni -- again, he's a bitsuperfluous here), it's something any team in Sacramento's position should consider. I trust that provided Boston is on board (Philadelphia certainlymust be -- that franchise needs cap space like Jim Eyen needs a personalshopper), the Kings will consider this deal extensively. It's an intriguing one.

UPDATE: I completely neglected J.R. Giddens in this. Take roughly $1 million off this season's savings, and add a relatively old (24)Greene-level two-guard prospect. Giddens played 26 games for Kings assistant Bryan Gates's Utah Flash last season, and turned out a non-elite but good 19.1PER. On the surface, I can tell he shot twos wonderfully and rebounded well for a 6-5 fella.
 
the dalembert trade seems more reasonable because of the length of the contract but im still not convinced..kings should wait, be patient, and explore otheroptions even though a defensive minded center is what this team needs
 
getting okafor/dalembert/or any center without giving up tyreke, kmart, thompson or hawes is big and go Kings! get that 5th win in a row!
 
And the winning streak ends...

Donte with PT and had a good game though.

Surprised with Salmons. Had to get out of the shooting slump on his former team.

Hopefully the Kings can stay around .500 the whole year.
 
.500 the whole year would probably be good enough for the 9th spot in the west.

But I like the thought of Okafor, especially with Hawes playing awful and will probably have these bad spurts throughout the season. Imagine the reboundingthat would be going on with JT and Emeka, wow.

NT23 you think that "buy cheap sneak down" plan will work all season?
 
Originally Posted by Lightweight Champion

.500 the whole year would probably be good enough for the 9th spot in the west.

But I like the thought of Okafor, especially with Hawes playing awful and will probably have these bad spurts throughout the season. Imagine the rebounding that would be going on with JT and Emeka, wow.

NT23 you think that "buy cheap sneak down" plan will work all season?
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Yeah, all you have to do is scope out seats before you go down to see if they remain empty throughout the first half. Then go down during halftime when peopleare walking around.
 
Yeah, tough loss last night. TO has been a big problem this year for the Kings.

On to the next one. Tonight its against the Rockets at Houston.

Main match-up is once again Thompson vs Scola.

Thompson did his thing last time in Sac. Will Scola respond in Houston?

Will T-Mac force himself to get some PT? Haha.
 
3 losses in a row now. Tough loss to the Rockets without Tyreke. Sprained middle finger ftl. Hopefully he will be back tomorrow against the Memphis Grizzlies.

A big game for the Kings considering they can beat this team if they do their job and continue to play with energy and heart. Kings offense should do wellagainst the Grizzlies. TOs will be the big issue.

Lets start another winning streak. One game at a time though.
 
Let's get this W tonight.
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I think we should put Kevin on the trade block when he comes back from injury and try to get another piece to grow with Reke, Omri, JT, and Hawes.
 
Originally Posted by CE0 Mal

Let's get this W tonight.
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I think we should put Kevin on the trade block when he comes back from injury and try to get another piece to grow with Reke, Omri, JT, and Hawes.
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Yes on the W tonight.

SMH No at putting Kevin Martin for a trade.

Good win tonight. Donte Greene starting has been great for the Kings. Hopefully he can continue to provide that spark the Kings need to overachieve this year.
 
Good win for us tonight. The upside to low fan attendance at games is that I was able to move up to 10 rows away from the court after buying the ten dollartickets
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Great win tonight against the winless Nets. 2 wins in a row now.

Beno was effective in stopping the Nets comeback as he made shots just when the momentum was changing.

Hack-a-Omri? Practice, practice.

Tyreke continued to play well too.

Next up are the Hornets!
 
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