BThriller is a net positive while he’s with us and a big boost when his salary comes off the books. Let’s keep him and keep things relatively stable this season to give our young core the structure they need to develop.

I think that Brad’s passing and ability to spread the floor are vital for our offense as currently constructed. Some plays that he facilitates are beautiful. Having said that I really think that Brad is the whiniest player I have ever seen play. How many times (including last night) have we seen him get frustrated and let that affect his play to the detriment of the team. He gets his super-weak drive and shot easily blocked (while looking for the foulcall to bail him out). Then when no foul is called, he’ll flailingly attack the nearest opposing player. He did it twice last night! Remember the warriors game when he head-threw Anthony Randolph? I think he’s a poor sport and I doubt he is a good influence on the younger players.

I very much look forward to seeing him gone. I think it will be difficult to make up for his playmaking abilities, but we will be better for it.

We need Hawes to really observe and learn from Miller when it comes to the offensive end of the game. Hawes needs to learn to look for Martin on all those cuts and make those passes. He has the ability, he just needs to learn. Miller brings a lot to the table and needs to be utilized correctly. I do agree that he needs to be traded, but not any time soon. I think he needs to see fewer minutes to make room for Spence. Then, he needs to be traded next year near the deadline. He’ll be a pretty nice sized expiring deal for a team that wants to get in on the Class of ’03 sweepstakes. We could get some youngsters/draft picks for him quite easily, or just let his contract expire so that we can sign a big name. Plain and simple: Miller stays. Mikki on the other hand…

Brad does so many things for our offense. He’s not the player he once was but he’s not far off. His game doesn’t rely on athleticism and there’s no reason to think we are going to see a rapid decline from where he is now. I can see him being valuable for at least 3 – 5 more years coming off the bench. It all depends what his next contract is going to cost. I don’t know if he wants to play for a team closer to home or not but I would have to think that he would want to finish out his career here. As always, it comes down to what he’s worth to the Kings versus what he’s worth to to another team.

I see little value in trading him for expiring contracts that only help us dump salary. His contract comes off the books at the end of the 09/10 season so if we are looking to free up cap space for the the 2010 we won’t have to trade expiring contracts. If we can use his expiring to improve the team then do it. If not, let his contract as a King expire, see if we can re sign him to a contract that makes sense, if not let him go.

If your argument is that we wouldn’t get anything for his expiring contract, my counter argument is that it’s rare to see expiring contracts bring much value. You end up getting other expiring contracts and players that aren’t part of your plans most of the time.

As for Mikki, I love the guy, just not his game. I think he’ll be gone by the trade deadline or sooner, maybe we can pick up Keith Van Horn’s expiring contract in return.

From what I see (and it’s, unfortunately, less than what I wish, as having to watch Kings games at 3am of the local time), Miller’s progress appears to have still more of Vlade Divac, perhaps worse low-post defense and better shooting. I remember Vlade’s quote from about 4 years ago, saying something like ‘Well, I can’t run, I can’t jump, all I can do is passing the ball to those guys’ (explaining why he had an average of more than 5 asists per game). I loved him, really.

Yes, probably keep Brad for now and trade him in due course (or not). There’s no point for trading him now.