How to best improve the team this offseason?

“Oh, and don’t worry, I’ve got this Geoff Petrie guy under my thumb”

If that player is Aminu or Johnson, for example, you still draft him. As of today, we are loaded with wing players, but not necessarily stud wing players.

Look to free agency/trades to shore up the middle. Even if we draft a big, he will not have the NBA game (or reputation – see referees) to instantly defend the paint.

If a long term solution cannot be found in free agency/trade, look into obtaining Dalembert or Chandler for a 2nd round pick or similar. Both Charlotte and Philly have rather high payrolls, and they might make a deal like that to save some big bucks. Both players are expiring contract, so you are basically renting their services and then entering the 2011 free agent market with considerable space.

The Kings will be better next year because:
Evans will be better.
Odds are that Landry will continue to improve his game (he has improved every year so far, and now he is a starter). There is no reason that Landry cannot become a Carlos Boozer-type talent.
One of the youngsters (Hawes, Thompson, Greene or Casspi) will break out. I have no idea which one, but one of them will take their game to the next level.

I caution anyone that thinks that the rookie pick (unless it is Wall or Turner) will have an Evans-like impact on this team. Even Cousins and Favors are projects. I’m thinking Omri Casspi-type contribution.

Wall would excel anywhere, including here, but takes away the mismatch that Tyreke is.

Most (if not all) the big men don’t have FT stroke, which worries me. Favors has no real go-to move on offense, and really needs a lot of polish to be ready for the NBA game.

Cousins, for such a talented guy, only averaging 23.5 mins a game is a question mark for me. Favors (with foul trouble) averaged 27 mins. So what is it with Cousins? Foul trouble? Stamina? Head not in the game?

Of all the project big men, Whiteside (who really needs to bulk up) is possibly the one I’m most intrigued by.

about the draft this year. If we don’t have a top 4 pick I would want to take Wesley Johnson If Favors isn’t their. He seems like he would be an excellent fit, personality wise and skill wise even though we don’t necessarily need another wing. He can stroke it from everywhere on the court, not really a dribbler so doesn’t need the ball much, amazing athlete, rebounds well and seems like he has a good head on his shoulders with a strong work ethic. I wouldn’t want cousins at all even though he is a tremendous talent, You don’t want that type of head case on a solid young core like ours. I wish their was some sort of way we could trade for an Al Horford type of player though, maybe some of our young talent and a future pick. I dream about being able to pull off something like that, Not reality.

He is, in a generalized manner, a better, more athletic Beno. Many compare him to Brandon Roy but that’s a lofty comparison to hand down already. Turner is a “combo-guard” in that he can score and set up his teammates. He has a spectacular mid range game already. Needs to extend his range, like nearly every NBA prospect. But he would have that SG body coupled with scoring PG skills. Seems like the perfect guy next to Reke. Either can bring the ball up, initiate the offense, create for others, all that stuff we like. Both can leverage the size mismatches they generate. I’m down.

1. John Wall (for supreme trade value)
2. Evan Turner (see above)
3. Derrick Favors (see Pookey)
4. DeMarcus Cousins (see stats)

You just don’t get many chances at big physical potententially dominant big men. In fact, If we got the #1 I might trade down to #2 or #3 to Minnie or NJ plus one of thier later picks.

Maybe

Could drafting Turner (on the far-out assumption the Kings have a top 2 pick of course) give the Kings the ability to split point duties between Evans and Turner much in the same way some here envisioned Reke/Speed splitting those duties and much like Beno and Reke have done throughout the year?

I’m not going to lie, Turner having an under-developed long-range shot scares me because I feel the Kings lack a good 3-point shooter and Reke would benefit from that. By the same token, a guy with a great mid-range game (uber-Beno as some have compared him) would do wonders for creating scoring opportunities.

We cannot continue to delude ourselves as Kings fans—the Kings do have problems scoring, recently going 8 games without scoring 100 points. Yes, the Kings are REALLY hurting for defense down low, but the offense is not exactly reminiscent of the Suns this year or the Kings at the turn of the century. Add another dynamic scorer to the backcourt with Evans and the Kings would actually be able to get the offense humming on a night-in, night-out basis.

If not Turner, I think I would rather go with Favors than Cousins. Don’t get me wrong, Cousins makes me drool, but in terms of fit the Kings seem to be focusing on a fast-paced game. Cousins seems to be much more of a half-court, find your place, get the ball and shoot kind of guy. Favors, on the other hand, has the athleticism to run the court and help facilitate that fast-paced offense. And that athleticism also leads to a fairly high defensive ceiling.

that we will get a high pick. I’m ready to eat my words but we have to be ready if we get stuck at 5. Considering that we are tied with two other teams, we could be picking higher too. So with that, I would like to ask who would you pick? My money would be on Wesley Johnson or Ekpe Udoh. Kind of stretch for Udoh, but you gotta pick the guy you want. There’s a lot of talent at the middle to late first round even if you look at this past draft. So who is it gonna be if we get #5?

In that range i would have to go with Wes Johnson. Since we are the Kings i think we’ll get the worst out of all the teams we tie with. Johnson is good though, i really like him. I can only hope for Favors.

I thought about it long. I think of all our weaknesses, the biggest is rebounding, especially defensive rebounding.

Because of poor defensive rebounding, we rate poorly defensively, giving the opponent extra opportunities, often under the basket.

Because of poor defensive rebounding, we lose a lot of opportunities to go out on the fast break, thus rating poor offensively.

Maybe/probably we should get a Center. A lot of people seem closed on this, and want a guy with rebounding, shotblocking, scoring and defensive possibilities, able to match up with Dwight Howard. Good luck finding him in this draft. I think you won’t.

But do we really need a big who also has can score, i.e.has a strong post up game? Tyreke is a lay up machine, Landry is very efficient in the post. Having a big guy parking there will make it harder on them both.

Is Hawes the answer? He can draw the opposing big out of the paint with his range (if he would shoot more consistently), but his defensive rebounding doesn’t fill our need. Can he improve there? I’m not sure.

Is JT the answer? Lately, he’s been pretty active on the boards. If he can hit a decent half range jumper, he may be able to make some room for Tyreke and Landry and occasionally use his speed to beat opposing bigs. But that’s a big IF.

Rebounding is more than drafting or trading for one guy who can clean the backboard. It requires more of a team effort, and understanding of what boxing out is.

My point is that this offseason should be dedicated to drawing plans for good team defense, starting with team rebounding. And making the player they draft or trade for plug into these plans.

It’s crass, but it’s too early to talk upgrades until the draft order is set . . . it makes a world of difference who the Kings might be able to bring in. I don’t expect much from the Kings in free agency other than a possible role player or two (not a roll player, see Sean May)

Seems like he would be a very good pick up as a backup pg/change of pace player even though he’s not something the kings really need. Watching him yesterday really impressed me, He’s so fast and i think he’s really good at feeding people in scoring position. It’s just a thought, I only would want him if we got a really decent price on him. He just really impressed me yesterday, the game changed when he was in the game.

to answer the question:

How to best improve the team this offseason?