In talking about defense, Basketball Value’s +/- indicates the team’s defense with Nocioni was just a smidge better than with Garcia (though not mutually exclusive) last season. The team’s defense with Martin on the court was simply awful.

The best defensive line-up with the players who ended the season as Kings would have been Jackson/McCants/Nocioni/Thomas/Thompson. That team would have averaged 50 points a game, of course.

Unless we trade Noc, or Greene, how does a SF get any playing time, while still trying to bring buckets along? And is Garcia best suited (for our team) as a 2 or 3? I agree that 1 is our biggest need, but does 2 really come second?

Let’s take a look at projected line-up.

1 Beno/whoever we draft (hopefully in reverse order soon.
2 K-Mart/Garcia (if you make Garcia a 2
3 Noc/Garcia/Greene
4 JT/K-9/?
5 Hawes/?

Based on this, it would seem that while we do need a starting 3, we actually have greater need at 1,3, and 4 because if any of these players gets hurt, or even when they come off the floor, we have nothing. I think we could now consider SF our new 3-headed hydra. (Pardon the very small pun.) No true starter, but more depth than any other position. Of course if we bring back Ike, or McCants, that could change.

Ah here it is: http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2009/5/6/866704/ak47

The scenario is trading Beno and Noc to Utah for AK47. Kirelenko’s contract is really expensive, but this trade does a few things that I like.

1. We get rid of the really long contract times for Noc and Beno since Kirelenko’s contract expires 2 years earlier.
2. We get Donte more playing time because he’s now AK47’s backup.
3. We improve defensively and also get one of the best rebounding front courts.
4. Rubio (if we get him) has another athletic guy to feed the ball to.

If this trade happened we’d be lacking some depth at the PG spot but we also have the 23 and 31 pick, maybe to pick up a Patty Mills. This trade relies very heavily on us getting RR since if we don’t, we’ll essentially have no pg.

Look at this lineup and tell me what you think:

Rubio
Martin
Kirilenko
Thompson
Hawes

is like comparing the defense of a tackle and a safety.

Both players are flawed for the position in a sense – Garcia plays small forward like a shooting guard, Nocioni plays the 3 like a small 4. There are limitations with mobility for Andrès, there are limitiations mentally with Cisco (can he get a boneheadectomy?).

In regards to Garcia this is one of those situations, to me, that the statistics don’t tell the story well. He defends hard, plays hard, is extremely likable, the dude has skills and the numbers back that up – but there is something about his BB IQ – it is just “off”. He almost has it, he looks like he gets it, but he just doesn’t. I thought that improved this season but at 27, if he hasn’t figured it out yet… I like him better at the 2 than the 3, as a backup for KMart.

A rebounding 3 is a must for this defensively challenged team – too bad we can’t grow BJax – he is a 1 who rebounds like a 4, imagine him at 6’7".

Has anyone thought about Demar Derozan andhis athletic abilities? What about trading up for him? He can shoot resonably well and is very athletic. He also has a lot of potential, a lot more than donte greene. Right now, he is going number 9 according to draft express. What about trading #23 and and donte greene to a team somewhere in the 6-10 range?

I do like Donte Greene, but I have a feeling that Derozan is just as big a project as Greene but has a lot more potential.

I’d just go with what they have, Nocioni at the 3, Garcia backing him and Martin, with Greene getting 7-8 min a game (hopefully earning more with experience). To shore up depth, an athletic project swing man with the late1st/2nd round pick would be nice. I look at it as Greene will be Noc insurance, and the rook (maybe NBDL bound) will be Garcia insurance.
Someone gets hurt, and Greene gets good PT, and the rookie can sneak a few minutes in.

First, I would say the Kings need to stand pat. SF is a much easier hole to fill than C, PF, or PG.

Second, because of the down year, and the lack of minutes Greene received throughout the year, it’s going to be hard to be completely judge him moving forward. You will have, as such, total mixed opinion about him. (And, less feeling of certainty given his lack of progress.)

Third, if this team isn’t a work in progress, I don’t know what team would qualify. This team isn’t a playoff contender, and if they have time to let Rubio develop, wouldn’t it make sense for Greene to develop as well? As you mention in your piece TZ, Greene is a natural fit along JT. (And, I am concerned that Cisco had a higher block rate than JT.)

Fourth, I vote to stand pat. Nocioni is under contract for the next 3 years. Keeping him, or trading him for a player who is a SF makes sense I suppose, but how likely is that? I think Garcia is an adequate SF in some matchup’s, and because the draft is stronger in PF’s and PG’s, the Kings should angle toward that position through the draft. I feel it is wiser to be patient with Donte and see if he can develop into that player with minutes over the course of the upcoming season, and then look at the 2010 draft and beyond as a real time to fix the SF position.

The one thing this Kings team needs to have is patience. Youth takes time. The Kings have plenty of that, and talent among that youth. This all harks back to the next head coach, and how patient/how much teaching that next head coach will do.

From TZ:

A free agent’s gifts?

I don’t really see any SF’s worth signing that the Kings could afford this summer. I’d rather stick with what we have than add another piece that could potentially impede Greene’s development. I’d still rather have Diogu behind JT or even a cheap C (Gortat?) to replace Moore/Booth behind Hawes.

If Petrie felt he had absolutely had to address the SF so that Garcia could move to SG almost exclusively, I’d rather see that come through the latter picks (23 or 31) and that player could compete alongside Greene as an upcoming prospect.

Summed up:

No. 4 – Must Be PG
No. 23 – BPA (but likely not a PG)
No. 31 – BPA

when Thompson was drafted the word was that he could play some at the 3. I bet if Griffin had ended up here we would have seen some experiments like that…

Anyway, of the players mentioned available with that 2nd first round pick Sam Young out of Pitt seems like the most interesting to me. The guy is a fierce man to man defender but he’s not a stiff on offense. He has NBA level athletic ability, and though he might be slightly undersized for a 3 (6’6" 220) he’s apparently strong as an ox, has good length and has some serious hops. And he seems like a smart player.

Hard to imagine how he won’t end up as a good NBA player.

Put on your big boy pants, take it upon yourself to improve the skills necessary to fill the Kings hole in production at the three ( I KNOW you can do it) and make all this conversation moot.

a free agent this summer, or something? I mean, dude looked like a beast for the Rockets, maybe worth a look? The palace incident was a while ago, he’s been pretty clean since, the guys on the Rockets love him, plus he plays mad sick D, hits from the outside and posts people up. No way the Rockets take the Lakers to 7 game without him, definitely worth talking to. I mean, amiright?