How do you solve a problem like Garcia?

My first instinct is to say that Noc loses some minutes. He’s the only guy that isn’t in our long term plans. If Cisco shows he’s on form, then He’ll probably reduce all the guards’ minutes across the board. However, It’s imperative that he earns his minutes by outplaying the current rotation.

I’ve been wondering about Kevin Martin coming back too. I’m not suggesting we trade him or anything, but when everyone’s healthy, there’s going to be a hell of a log jam in the back court!

Cisco isn’t going anywhere this season because he’s BYC. I think other teams would want to wait until the off-season before acquiring Cisco’s 3 years and 17 million or so. It will just be easier to get a deal done then.

I think the Kings will shop Cisco around this summer to see what they can get, and will do the same with Noc once Kevin Martin returns (I think teams already know Noc is available for the right price, but teams haven’t tried to make deals yet because the Dec 15th deadline for most Free Agents hasn’t even come yet).

Or, maybe the Kings don’t deal Cisco because the depth at the 2 & 3 positions is nice, and they just deal Noc for the time being. Or, maybe other teams don’t like Cisco at the price. I’m not sure how any Cisco deal will play out, but right now the Kings don’t have their back up against the wall salary wise on any player for a minimum of the next season. By the time Cisco’s salary will hurt (even a little), it will be the time when Tyreke Evans will come up for an extension. Also, Beno Udrih’s contract expires at the same Cisco has a team option for the last season on his current deal.

Right now I think people are jumping the gun because they see Cisco as a player they like, but aren’t sure what he can contribute to the Kings in the future. My question: Why would other teams see it differently?

My hope is that a team out there really feels that Noc is a worthwhile piece to have, and they don’t mind giving up a 2011 expiring contract to get him. (Perhaps this is where Jason Kapono could be a move the Sixers would be willing to make. The problem is that the Sixers have 65+ million committed in salary next season, and that would be an extra salary beyond 2011 the Sixers would have to commit to. I’m not sure they would be willing to do that at this point.)

I wonder how Cisco fits in, but I won’t wonder what will happen as I don’t really know. All I do know is that Cisco won’t be traded until the following summer at the earliest.

As a guidance counselor for exchange student Omri Casspi, Cisco has been a blessing. Omri has often commented on how much Cisco Garcia has provided (maybe that explains the occassional bone headed move by Omri that seems to surface every game – and is far outweighed by the good stuff – jes’ sayin’).

How valuable is a locker room presence on this particular Kings team?

I agree with PG nothing happens until Garcia shows that his is worth wanting and with the BYC mixed in, he is worth more than just straight contract dollars. Any move by the Kings, like your question, is premature.

A separate question arose: isn’t it interesting that PW does not showcase any one of the potential trade floatsam?

It will be a good thing when they both return.

I think Beno will have a lot to say about Garcia’s playing time.

As in, if Beno continues to play this well, it’s hard to see Garcia breaking into the backcourt rotation. Westphal loves playing Beno-Evans and Beno-Rodriguez and even Beno-Rodriguez-Evans — Garcia can handle, but doesn’t give the same dimension.

Of course, Martin will be the first to mix up that rotation. I suspect Martin could knock Greene out of two-guard minutes completely (moving up to SF/PF) and might knock Sergio out of the rotation (except on bad Beno nights or Reke foul trouble nights). Beno will still get plenty of minutes once Martin returns, but it won’t be minutes alongside Sergio.

Garcia’s the one in competition with Beno for minutes, and that’s mostly with Evans on and Martin off (or Martin at three).

The trick is keeping the personalities happy. Everyone wants to play. But guys also get hurt, so there’s no guarantees the guys we have playing now won’t get the injury bug at some point. Problem “solved.”

Our big men (JT 34, Spencer 28, Thomas 10, Brockman 8, May 4) play about 84 minutes a game, so that means we are playing small ball lineups with a SF playing PF for about 12 minutes a game. So that gives us about 156 minutes to dole out at the 1, 2, 3 and 3.5.

Martin was averaging 42 minutes a game when he went down. That should drop a bit, but you have to think he’s going to be close to the team leader in minutes. Currently that’s Tyreke at 36.

So here’s what you gave to cut down from:
Kmart 42
Tyreke 36
Beno 30
Nocioni 27
Omri 24
Donte 19
Sergio 15
Udoka 11
TOTAL 204 (156 available)

So first we have to figure out how to work Martin into the rotation and then worry about Cisco when the time comes. Hack away.

Obviously Udoka is already getting spot minutes, so he probably doesn’t play much when Kevin gets back. Kmart will probably play 30-36 minutes every night. Nocioni and Beno are going to see a little less PT.

If you sliced it up based on percentages of court time, everyone would have their PT cut about 24% and here’s what you’d see:
Kevin 32
Tyreke 27
Beno 23
Nocioni 21
Omri 18
Donte 14
Sergio 11
Udoka 8
TOTAL 154

But we know Tyreke and Martin are going to get more burn than that, probably at least 36 minutes a night each. So on paper lets cut Udoka out of the rotation and give those minutes to Tyreke and Kevin and take a minute away from Beno, Nocioni and Sergio, and here’s what you end up with:
Kevin 36
Tyreke 36
Beno 22
Nocioni 20
Omri 18
Donte 14
Sergio 10
TOTAL 156

Basically you are going to have Beno, Nocioni, Omri, Donte, Sergio and Udoka battling for about 84 minutes of PT each night.

Trading Nocioni for a big man who takes away minutes from Brockman, Thomas and May (and maybe Spencer) is certainly one solution. Take away Nocion’s 27 minutes a game and Udoka’s minutes and you have 36 minutes for Kevin without impacting the playing time for the rest of the guys.

Note: some of the minutes averages above are for the games the player has played in, and some reflect the players total minutes divided by the team’s 22 games.

I am glad to see this post, I was wondering the same thing last night.. I think Martin brings you the most potential for a strong defender/rebounder.. I know I will get killed for this but his points come at an expense, no defense little movement. Dont get me wrong I think he is an excellent player.

The issue is what makes us better? A strong defender to help with the big rotation and losing 16+ million with Noc and Martin?

When I see evans I thing DWADE a darn good gaurd, not a pg or sg a GAURD. You have lots of flexabilty with Cisco, Beno, Speedy with Omri and DG also.. we need a big man and more defense..

But I think and hope that Andres gets moved, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if Beno, Sergio, Udoka, May, and of course K9 are used in any number of packages as well.

You can’t tell me that defensive coaches like Scott Skiles, Doc Rivers, and Larry Brown wouldn’t love K9 and/or Nocioni along with Udoka for their hustle. And their are plenty of teams that would be willing to use Sergio for the second half of the season (as fun as he is, I am sure Petrie will want to get something back for his expiring too.) And there is some team out their that has seen how solid Beno has been and how great his shooting can be that will take a chance (the Clippers and Warriors would be great fits for him, actually.)

There is going to be at least 1 trade this season, most likely K9 and Sergio’s expirings to get some picks in return at least. Some contender would look at Nocioni and Udoka as very useful to add toughness (think Mark Cuban.)

So I am not so worried about Cisco’s playing time. By February there will be time for him. In the meantime, some depth helps us not feel rushed to bring Martin and Garcia back.

Peaches said: “Hurry back, Cisco,” and I thought, “Yeah, but…” There are only so many minutes to go around. Someboby’s going to have to sit. PW plays a long bench, and that’s a good thing, but it really can’t get any longer at the 1 through 3 positions.

The answer may lie with the unfortunate reality of injuries. Teams always talk about “when we get fully healthy” but most teams never do. Don’t shoot me; I’m just the messenger and I don’t wish it. I’ve seen enough critical injuries at critical times over the years. But it always seems to happen.

when K-Mart and Cisco return, and assuming full health, PW is going to have to do some juggling. And his coaching prowess will be put to the test more than any time so far this year.

The way I see it, there are 6 guys who, by default of skill level, have to get a lot of minutes as our most reliable, talented core group of players. In order, they are:

Tyreke
K-Mart
JT
Beno
Hawes
Omri

These are our Top 6 guys. Forget about position, these are the guys you want on the floor. They are the most reliable shooters, and overall performers.

Then we have ‘wildcard’ players who run hot-and-cold, and level of play can be less relied upon. In no particular order, these four guys are:

Noccioni
Cisco
Sergio
Donte

Their minutes will be granted by PW based on match-ups, shooting touch, from 5 to 20+ minutes, to potential DNP-CDs.

The beauty of the team as I see it is that players who you may presume on the surface as competing for the same minutes can actually play together because of their varied skills. For example,

Donte
Omri
Cisco
Noccioni

all can play the ‘3’ position. But in the right situation, all could be on the court at the same time. Cisco can play PG, Omri can play SG, Donte and Noccioni can swing between SF and PF. This gives PW a lot of flexibility to find the right mix of guys depending on match-ups and hot shooting hand on any given night.

Ultimately, we need a strong low post scorer (read: Chris Bosh) to balance out the roster and make us an upper echelon team. Until then, there is a lot of roster flexibility and complementary pieces.

I don’t get it. Why the hell would adding another player of Cisco’s abilities be a problem. I mean come on guys. I hear this every time we have somebody playing good or better than predicted. ‘Oh no, how will we survive with more than one talented SG or PG or SF.’

Adding more talent is NEVER a problem if the coach knows how to manage that talent and clearly PW has a grip on these issues.

You should all be grateful we have the talent we do and that there is not a lot of pressure on Cisco. Please remember that he was SERIOUSLY INJURED. It was to his shooting arm. That is a serious matter and we just don’t know what he can or cannot do with it.

SO, everybody just relax a bit, enjoy the ride, and hope for the best.

but at the same time understand that there will be a point where minutes and salaries will be a problem with this team. It may be a good idea to strike the iron while its hot.

I think one way or another, Noce is going to have to be shipped. There’s just too much of the same with these players and the emergence of Omri, Donte, and WaBeno just makes it tough to keep all of them. I think trading Noce, probably for just expirings, will help clear some minutes for the returning guys and also for the ones that have been showing they are ready for some more minutes.

I think the versatility of this team will cover for the loss of Noce. Donte can play the 2,3, and 4, same for Omri (4 with really small lineups), Reke plays the 3 with the 3 guad lineup, and also Kevin should be back to play some 3 with the Sergio Beno/Reke lineup.

Yes, having lots of talent is always good but if we have other players that replicate the same skills, then other things such as minutes and salaries should also be considered. I think trading Noce is a bit of a solution to some of the (good) problems the team may see in the future.

Things we know:
1) The team has salary flexibility for next year, ceterius pleribus
2) The team has players that are flexible into different positions, ceterius pleribus
3) The team is only interested in being better as things present themselves

With the above mentioned in mind, I see a cautious approach by the organization to keep the first two points the same while making the third the motivation for doing so. I see the third point dominating the other two.

If an opportunity to get Bosh, Boozer or whomever presents itself this year before the deadline and it makes the team better by not giving up too much, even though the other two points might be effected, I think they do it. However, if a deal is at the expense of objectively looking at how our number 1 and 2 options play together (Martin and Reke), does it really make sense?

Could getting rid of Noc really hurt the team? I don’t think so. It might provide opportunity to get more flexibility in the big man area while giving up some in the small man area. Does this mean we are losing out? Again, I don’t think so. A team can only play 5 at a time. A neglegible subracting of flexibility coming by the loss of Noc in a trade, while providing a greater addition of flexibility at the big man spot seems to be addition by subraction and therefore a good deal, ceterius pleribus.

What about Garcia? Well, he won’t be traded until atleast this summer because of BYC. I am not concerend about who will lose minutes because of his return. I think PW has made it clear by his rotation. He will play the players who play hard and make smart choices during the game. If anything his return will give us more flexibility. And more flexibility is a good thing, in my opinion.

I think its way too early to worry about how a guy that won’t be ready to play for another two months will fit in.
Everyone has my regal permission [:)] to start on the KM issue again as of, say, Friday or so, when he’s two weeks away.

until someone else shows that they can consistently hit a clutch shot (or even consistently wants to take a clutch shot, for that matter). Though Cisco’s skills are largely covered by various other players on the team at this point, his fearlessness in the clutch is an “X-factor” that this team is otherwise utterly lacking. That may not be the difference between Playoffs and early vacation this year, but it may very well be the difference in the next couple of years.