I like Beno, I wish he would pass a little bit more but he gives the Kings the point guard they need to deal Bibby. The Bibby debate is legendary here at StR and I have always sided on keeping him because there was no one else. I think Beno can be a legitimate starting point unlike Salmons or Garcia. I think Beno could also be devastating off the bench in a Bobby Jackson type role if the Kings are lucky enough to get Mayo or Rose.

Beno is playing himself into a long term contract somewhere and unfortunately the Kings don't have Larry Bird rights to him so he would cost the Kings a portion of the mid-level exemption to keep. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the Kings can deal Bibby for Varejeo and an expiring Ira Newble contract. This deal would give the Kings the rebounder and shot blocker the desperate need and the space necessary to sign Beno or Artest to a long term deal while staying under the dreaded luxury threshold.

The Kings aren't going to be great but adding a stud like Varejeo would cure a lot of ills. With a strong draft they could be back on track a little quicker and definitely be in great shape during the great salary purge of 2010.

I'm excited about Beno.  The things is, when choosing a point guard you have to look at talent and style of play.  Even if Beno turns out to be an above average player at his position, he's still a scoring point guard, and sticking with a player like that as the head of our team could affect Petrie's personnel decisions at the other positions as well.  Petrie seems to have a blueprint in mind, at least style-wise, and it will be interesting to see if Beno fits into it.

By the way, does anyone know if Beno is restricted/unrestricted this summer?

The problem with even trying to analyze anything beyond an actual veteran's performance is lack of experience. Though having a new coach, and our prone for injuries even that is difficult to thoroughly analyze with this team.

None of our young talent are proven performers. Except maybe Kevin Martin. Though the only thing he has proven is his ability to score. We're hoping he transitions into a complete figure, but if he can't play comfortably out of his current style we may have to accept a 20 point 5 rebound performance, though I'm sure everyone is hoping with me this would be an extremely conservative estimate.

It's one month into the season, not really time to speculate on who can do what yet.  After the all-star break we'll have better answers.

In terms of who seems to be developing well? Beno seems to do better as he gets more comfortable with the team.  Is he our savior?  Check back after the all-star break.

Douby's minutes have been limited. I only hope he hasn't been given up on completely. Garcia seems to have the will to do whatever he wants, but unfortunately that gets in his way when there are better alternatives see last drive of trailblazers game

Watkins/Williams desperately need more minutes.  Thankfully Hawes is getting some much needed minutes. Unfortunately I guess there just aren't enough minutes to give out.  Trade Reef/thomas for some draft picks or something, I don't know what else to say... Let the younger talent develop, and if it comes at the expense of some games at least we'll get a higher draft pick. The Free Williams post couldn't have been more on point. To me he seems to be a taller more agressive posting Artest...but maybe I'm just biased cause I really love his game.

This whole talk of lottery is starting to seem out of reach... check nba.com standings... there are a lot of teams worse off than us, though it's not entirely impossible to end with a good pick. With that said if we are willing to take a step back if it could even be considered that... by letting our younger bigs develop at the expense of losing the older ones, we may give up enough games to be a lottery team.

Quick synopsis since my thoughts are all over the place blame my boss for making me the office barista.

Team has players with MAJOR potential, Beno, Garcia, Williams specifically.  The team may have some other great talent we aren't very aware of Hawes, Watkins, Douby in this category.
Some people just need to be let go for one reason or another Reef to a team that can appreciate him, and Thomas to the d-league if I had my way. Finally some people we can never really figure out because of all the trade-rumors Bibby, Miller, Artest.

I didn't even mension salmons and mikki, but I would like to see them stick around assuming mikki's butterfingers lose their grease. We will need some sort of veteran presence/leadership on the floor no matter how young we go. Which is why I still miss Corliss Williamson.

Did I forget any thing? I did go way off topic...either way back to work I go, maybe I'll edit this entire post later when my head is clear of outside distractions.

Beno has the potential to be more of a Bobby Jackson type.  Jackson was a point guard who could come off the bench and provide energy and scoring.  He could run the point, but he wasn't a natural distributor.  He pressured on defense, but he was hardly a shut-down defender.  Thus, he could fill in as a starter quite well in the short term, but less so in the long term.  I think the same holds for Beno, which is why he is ideally a sixth man,but also a more-than-capable fill-in at starter.

First of all, great post...

In the poll, I chose the `Yes, he's our PG of the future'. I honestly thought I was the only one crazy enough to select this but was pleasantly surprised that 32% of you guys agreed with me. Yes, Mayo and Rose are very interesting prospects but if ever we do get the number #1 pick, Beasley should be our guy. Beno, from time to time, has showed that he can run our team. His last game clearly showed that he can be special especially if motivated. A player who averages 15 5 5 is, for me, a borderline all-star. Beno is averaging 14.5 3 and 4.4. For someone who was never a full-time starting PG and who's on a team that has yet to find its identity, those numbers are pretty good (Bibby's career avg is 16.8 3.3 6.2 and he's a lottery pick!). He may have not played valuable minutes as a Spur but there is no doubt in my mind that he has learned a lot from Pop (plus he plays Tony and co. in practice). How the Spurs thought Vaughn or undrafted Darius Washington was a better backup PG option is beyond me. Let's face it, aside from Mike, he is the best PG on our team. We should all know by now that Douby and Garcia at PG is a horrible idea, I'd rather start Salmon than them. In fact, if I had to choose between Douby and Beno, I'd sign Beno in a heartbeat. Plus, he's only 25 years old! (Heck, Josh Howard is already 27 years old). Now let me ask you guys a question, assuming we lose Mike and Ron in the near future, which is more bearable 1) having Beno as your starting PG with Beasley and Hawes as your twin towers or 2) paring up Kev with Rose or Mayo with our Hydra manning  the PF position? Regardless of whether Beasley is still available or not, we really should draft another big in this draft unless Mayo or Rose is available of course.

I'd agree if we could get a player like Rose or mayo that'd be great.but rather than speculate on all the salary hypotheticals involved in trading up towards the 'new perfect' roster I'll say this:

Beno seems to have good, but not great talent at the p.g. at this point.One could argue that there are more talented options out there for the King's future.

but as someone who's seen alot of talented people(in my case, musicians)who never could realize their great potential because they:
1)Could never focus enough to gain the discipline to let their talents manifest, or;
2)Couldn't get their heads out of their asses long enough to get out of their own way & let things develop naturally;

I have to say I like how Beno has responded to the pressure of the situation. What seperates a good player from a great one isn't just talent; it's the right mental attitude.Score one for Beno in that direction.
(Note to Beno:Now live up to that. I don't like to be prooved wrong, dang it. )

Let me rewrite that.

Like what I said earlier, we reward Moore and Salmons with the MLE and yet tell Beno to take 12 mil for 3 years or else go look for another team that will give you that money? I'm sure a lot of teams that need help at the PG position would jump at the opportunity of acquiring him (e.g. Clippers)

I like Beno alot, always have. Is he the point guard of the future? Depends on how he develops and how Sac develops/utilizes him. He's more the point of the future than Bibby I assume. Let's hope when Bibby comes back, Beno gets to keep developing(playing). Plugging a recently injured/healed player back into a starting lineup after a long absence can backfire (Webber), and should never be done if the team is clicking. If they are clicking (depends on your expectations I guess but against the Spurs, they were clickin'!) I do think Beno is good enough to start alot this year..over Bibby even. I mean you'll never know until you let it happen and what a great opportunity to let Bibby be an awesome sixth man! Bibby deserves starts, especially to raise trade value, but..? As far as next year's prospects, I do think you have to take a Derrick Rose with a high pick.

That brings me to my next point. With a high pick don't you have to take an athletic big(PF)?? To me that's Sac's BIGgest weakness. A big, 6'9+ (isn't Beasley too shortish-6'7?), athletic, tough, defensive, rebounding, shot blocking, rebounding, shot blocking, rebounding..oh sorry, I was getting excited..power forward! I sure wish we could see Justin Williams or even Watkins enough to know what we have there. If they are breakout worthy like Udrih?/or Udrih?/and Udrih?, it reveals alot about what kind of draft pick Sac needs.

So? Who knows? When the time comes I hope it's all as clear as possible for Petrie. For now, I think Sac's safer with Udrih and ?(insert solid veteran/youngster PG from trade here) at the point than with hydra at cower backward. [Sorry to whoever trademarked the ingenious "cower forward"] So I'm following the college bigs unless we trade for..um, Okafor?

If you guys think Rose will go in the top...what, top three picks and Sac gets in there...OH MY! Can you imagine the pressure?!